14.03.10-Record Lightning Storm Spotted by Cassini.

 
Saturn is turning out to be a very electrified place. Last year, NASA’s Cassini orbiter spied a massive storm that broke the solar system record; beginning in January 2009, this storm raged on for 7 ½ months, the longest recorded. This marks the ninth storm on Saturn thus recorded; these behemoths tend to be around 1,900 [...]

Event of the Week: A New England Occultation.

 Lunar occultations are always cool events; now you see a star or planet, now you don’t. The way they “wink in” and “wink out” with an improbable abruptness reminds us of the colossal velocity of the Moon about our planet. But beyond being just plain cool, they also still have scientific value; close double stars have [...]

12 Very Special Events for the Century.

“Bizarreness” is part of our business in astronomy. We always get the top billing with the “how big, how far, how bright” records, but one thing that is hard to quantify is just how unique certain events are. Here, I present you a quick list, a baker’s dozen of astronomical oddities that are worth [...]

Antares Occultation; a Semi-Success.

Antares versus the Gibbous Moon. (Photo by Author).
Just a quick mention that we were successful in viewing the Antares occultation by the Moon from Astroguyz’ HQ here in Hudson, Florida. Alas, no sighting of a greenish tinged Antares B (or the planet Krypton…) was recorded. However, the ingress made for a cool video…

Astro-Event of the Week; 02.06.09: An Antares Occultation.

About 10PM EDT Looking East..(Credit: Stellarium).
An occultation of a bright star is well placed for observers in the Americas this weekend. The waning gibbous Moon will occult (i.e. pass in front of) the bright star Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii. The action begins around 10:00 PM EDT and the Moon will cover up [...]

AstroEvent of the Week: 04.20.09: A Morning of Moons and Meteors!

Venus & the Moon Earlier this Year…(note the Ashen Light!) Photo by Author.
There are two reasons to set your alarm this week; one is the annual Lyrid meteor shower, and the second is the lunar/planetary action in the dawn sky. First, the shower. The Lyrids break the lull we’ve had in meteor showers [...]

Next Page »