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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-Event: A Fine Holiday Conjunction.
The Moon+Jupiter on Dec 25th at 7PM EST.
(Created by the Author in Starry Night).
Looking forward to Christmas? The sky has a present for all on the evening of December 25th. On this date, the 95% illuminated waxing gibbous Moon will make a splendid pairing with the -2.7 magnitude planet Jupiter. Look to the east for the pair at sunset. In fact, this is also a great time to try and pick out Jupiter in the daytime, a feat that is made simpler by the nearby and easy to spot Moon. Use binoculars to guide your eyes to the ghostly disc of Jupiter against the daytime sky, and then attempt a naked eye sighting. The �bluer� the sky, the better chance you have of picking out a low-contrast Jupiter against the background near the Moon� a fun feat to attempt!
A daytime Jupiter as seen on September 8th, 2012.
(Photo by author).
The Moon will actually occult (pass in front of) Jupiter and its retinue of moons for observers in South America and South Africa. The occultation is centered on 00:10 UTC December 26th, and will occur in the daytime for observers west of Brazil. (see graphic below) This is actually part of a short cycle of three Jovian occultations by the Moon occurring over the next few months, with the next ones occurring on January 27th & February 18th of 2013 (also occurring in the southern hemisphere). For North American observers, Jupiter will pass from 29� arc minutes of the limb of the Moon as seen from Miami (25� 30� north latitude) to 39� arc minutes as seen from Montreal (45� 30� north). This occurs around 6:15PM EST with the Moon at about 30-40� degrees elevation above the horizon. The Moon rises around 3:30PM from middle northern latitudes on the evening of the 25th.
The occultation path for December 25th-26th. (Created by the author in Occult 4.0).
Now for the obligatory �Wow!� factor. The Moon appears about half a degree (30� arc minutes) across, while Jupiter appears about 1/38th the size with a disk 47� across. But of course, that�s just an illusion; Jupiter is 41 times larger than our 2,084 miles in diameter Moon, but is over 1,600 times farther away. �And that also means the reflected sunlight took only just over a second to leave the lunar surface and enter your eye, but took over 34 minutes to depart Jupiter for your viewing convenience. What madness is this, that tiny rocky satellites can cover gas giant worlds? Sometimes, the universe just makes you say �Wow!�
Jupiter just passed opposition on December 2nd, and will not do so again until January 5th, 2014. Neither Jupiter nor Mars reach opposition in 2013. I�ll leave it�to any astute readers to calculate when that last happened� the Moon also reaches Full this week at 10:23 UTC on the 28th. This is the last Full Moon of 2012. The December Full Moon is also known as the Full Frost, Winter or Oak Moon. This is also known as the �Moon before Yule� when it falls before Christmas (which it�doesn’t�this year) and the �Long Nights Moon� being the closest to the northern hemisphere Winter Solstice. This is also the most northern Full Moon of 2012, (a direct result of the solstice tie-in) with a 19� 49� north declination. Happy holidays; expect our action-packed look at �all things astronomical� in 2013 before 2012 is out!