The Sky is Waiting.
Cepheid variable star RS Puppis. Credit: NASA/HST.
It�s arguably one of the greatest questions in modern science. Where are they? Are we truly rare as an intelligent species, or does our brand of curiosity permeate the cosmos? �We recently watched a fascinating presentation in the SETI Talks series by Tony Zee that brought up one interesting possibility, a mode of communication that might be staring us in the face right now. [Read more...]
Time for sundown on DST? (Photo by author)
This coming weekend, most of North America will perform that yearly Spring ritual of setting their clocks one hour ahead to Daylight Saving Time, or DST. �Now reckoned as the second Sunday of March, the DST shift for 2014 on March 9th falls nearly as early as early as it can this year, missing that mark by just one day. And three Sundays later, the European Union follows suit, shifting forward to Summer Time on March 30th. [Read more...]
Astronaut Chris Cassidy snaps a pic during a recent spacewalk. (Credit: NASA).
�Tis both the best of times & the worst of times for our noble national space agency. On this day way back in 1958, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Over the past 55 years, NASA�s list of achievements have included landing men on the Moon, placing a permanent human presence in low Earth orbit, and sending probes to explore every planet from Mercury to Neptune. NASA is also a wonderful public resource, a reference for students of space to mine for a wealth of information about our universe. As a science-writer, I find myself searching NASA daily as a rich resource, all in the public domain. [Read more...]
An artist’s concept of asteroid capture.
(Credit: NASA).
We never miss a chance to catch the fascinating series of talks posted weekly on YouTube via the SETI Institute. Beyond just aliens, these thought expanding seminars cover the length and breadth of space science. Often, the talks are highly technical, but we almost always grab something out of even the advanced ones. [Read more...]
Commemorative stamp for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
(Credit: US Postal Service).
Apollo 11 isn�t the only space-related event commemorated in mid-July.
History was made on this day back in the summer of 1975 with the link up of Soyuz-19 and Apollo in low Earth orbit. �This was the last flight of the Apollo space program, and the symbolic end of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. [Read more...]
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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.
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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.
AVOW: Watch the Launch and Docking of Progress 58 Live
Progress-58P rolls to the launch pad.
Credit: Roscosmos.
It�s back!
By popular demand and the never ending quest for content, we�re proud to be reinstituting one of our most popular features from over the years here on Astroguyz, the Astronomy Video Of the Week (AVOW).
Hardly a day goes by in our online adventures that we don�t come across an amazing lecture, live broadcast or animated gif highlighting the wonders of space. It�s a brave new world out there, and with AVOW, we strive to distill �em down to the very �best of the best� along with some brief commentary. [Read more...]