The Sky is Waiting.
The January 26th path of the 106 Dione
occultation over the US SE.
(Created by the author using Google Earth).
You asked, and we answered. No sooner than our �Astronomy Top 100� hit the cyber-doorstep than we received �what about event X?� from several astute readers and lovers of the cosmos.� We love the feedback. That what makes this site tick and makes every year�s list of must-see events ever more weird and wonderful, just like the cosmos itself. [Read more...]
Sunday night’s occultation path across the US…(Credit: NASA/IOTA).
We bring you this week�s edition of astronomy events a tad early to point your eyes skyward towards an interesting event; the occultation of a 10th magnitude star constellation Virgo. The asteroid is 52 Europa, and the event will last for up to 18 seconds for viewers from Montana across the central US down to our very own neck of the woods in Central Florida. [Read more...]
Lunar occultations can be fun events to observe. As the moon continues its 27+ day long path around our planet, it sweeps out a 0.5 degree wide path and occasionally covers up a distant background star or planet. Such occasions can be fun events to observe, as the star winks out and later seems to pop back into existence from behind the lunar limb. Such an event occurs this Sunday, the night of March the 13-14th, as the waxing crescent Moon occults the semi-bright star Mu (�) Geminorum.
And now for a difficult challenge…
I give you a�New England Occultation.
First up, I’d like to apologize for the short notice on this week’s featured event, which occurs seconds before midnight tonight June 30th over New England and the Canadian Maritimes. [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.
Astro-Vid of the Week: Chasing Occultations
The Moon approaches Lambda Geminorum (arrowed).
The morning was damp with dew and the hour was late. I silently hoped for batteries and gear to hang on, and dared not jitter the scope or camera, for fear of bumping off kilter the perfect alignment of optics and settings that was now producing an exquisite image of a waxing gibbous Moon with a flicker of a star just off of the approaching dark limb. WWV radio clicked away the moments in the background night. [Read more...]