Remote Sensors: Astronomy

  • New SF/Science show for kids on PBS
  • Looking up, this week’s sky highlights
  • Hubble Sheds Light on Super Exoplanets

  • Pluto’s largest moon may have once had an ocean
  • READY JET GO! is a PBS KIDS earth science and astronomy series for children ages 3-8. The series follows two neighborhood kids: Sean, who has an all-consuming drive for science facts, and Sydney, who has a passion for science fiction and imagination. They both befriend the new kid on their street, Jet Propulsion, whose family members happen to be aliens from the planet Bortron 7. Catch this great new science based show for kids week days at 2:30 pm.
  • Looking up, this week’s sky highlights: Sky & Telescope’s weekly observing charts, where to find Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. Jupiter is at opposition, good time to point your telescopes at it.Dusk March 4

Dawn Mar 5

  • New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope are helping characterize the atmospheres of exotic exoplanets. Theory says that the super-Earth 55 Cancri e contains crystallized carbon in its interior, earning it the nickname “diamond planet.” Theory also says that on the hot, young super-Jupiter 2M1207, rain could be made of vaporized rocks, silicates as fine as cigarette smoke particles.  Deeper within its atmosphere, that rain may turn to iron sleet.  Read more from Sky & Tel website.
  • Pluto’s largest moon may have once had an ocean
    It’s possible that Charon once had a subsurface ocean that has long since frozen and expanded. Read more from Astronomy website.