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[...] Venus was once thought to have a large moon? It’s true; we’ve written about the spurious moon named Neith (as in the astronomers that say “Neith?” a bit of Monty Python humor) recorded from the time of [...]
The Sky is Waiting.
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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
Astro-Event of the Week; February 23rd-March 1st; A Close Conjunction.
Lots of happenings in this last week of February… the pick for the astro-event of the week was a toughie. I choose the Friday close conjunction/occultation of Venus and the Moon, as it’s one of the closest of the year! And it’s easily observed with the naked eye, and highly photogenic to boot!
Look to the west, shortly after sunset on Friday, the 27th. A few lucky penguins off of the southern tip of South America may actually see the Moon occult Venus; let us know if you’re not a penguin and actually witnessed this! This is also a good time to retry the spot-Venus-in-the-daytime feat from a few weeks’ back; the Moon makes a good guide. Many people are amazed at this simple feat! Venus itself now sports a crescent phase, mimicking the Moon.
The Astro-word for the week is Neith. Did you know Venus was once thought to have a Moon of its own? It’s actually the largest planet in out solar system to remain moonless. This proposed object was first initially sighted by no less than Giovanni Cassini (of the Cassini Gap fame!) in 1672 and then spuriously sighted over the next two centuries! Some even purported to see a phase and solar transits of the elusive object… these sightings were more than likely internal telescopic reflections or background stars, although it was once proposed that another, unknown inferior planet occasionally passed near Venus. The asteroid 2002 VE68 does share an orbital resonance with Venus, but at a diameter of 0.5 km, is an unlikely suspect. Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and the name was proposed in 1884. One wonders what these astronomers of old saw; Cassini obviously wasn’t a rank amateur (no offense to amateurs!) who would be easily fooled by internal reflections; remember, most of those guys made their own ‘scopes from scratch and understood much about optics! These days Neith is part of the unknown curiosities of astronomical history. Any Neith conjunctions (or better yet pics!) during the conjunction-occultation, let us know!
Runners up this week were the launch of STS-119 on the same date, and the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory and a rare (But tough to observe!) four moon transit of Saturn on the 24th. These are still events worth watching out for!