Tag Archives: Looking Up

Astronomy News

Long Range Sensors Detect…

  • A Close Encounter:  Comets approaching Earth
  • Spring — The Vernal Equinox
  • Observing Highlights this week


Green Comet Approaches Earth:  A small green comet named “252P/LINEAR” is about to make one of the closest approaches to Earth of any comet in modern times, sailing just 5.4 million km from our planet on March 21st. Moreover, the comet appears to have company: A possible fragment of 252P/LINEAR will fly by just one day later. A weak meteor shower could follow the double flyby near the end of March.  Visit Spaceweather.com  or Sky & Telescope for more information.

Happy Spring!  The vernal equinox occurs at 12:30 a.m. March 20th EDT.  Click here for an explanation.

Looking Up this Week: Sky & Telescopes weekly column on observing highlights.  This week, the focus is on the constellation Leo.   On Sunday, March 20th, Regulus, brightest star of Leo, stands above the nearly full Moon this evening, as shown here. Jupiter is the bright “star” farther to the Moon’s lower left.

 

Astronomy News

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.

Astronomy News

Looking Up!

Robot looks upAn Exceptional Solar Flare:  Typical solar flares are finished in a matter of minutes. On Oct. 22nd, a solar flare in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2434 lasted for more than 3 hours. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the eruption.

The CME is not heading directly for Earth. Nevertheless, it does have an Earth-directed component. NOAA forecast models suggest that the cloud will deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field on Oct. 25th. There is a 50% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms when it arrives, so watch for potential auroras on the weekend.  More information, including video of the flare: http://spaceweather.com/

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time. On October 23, 2015 there were 1630 potentially hazardous asteroids.

The Moon is at perigee, Monday, October 26, 9 a.m. EDT.  The Moon will be at its closest to the Earth this month. Expect high tides for the next four days.  Full moon, Tuesday, October 27, 8:05 a.m. EDT. The October Full Moon is known as the Hunter’s Moon.  Thursday, October 29, 8:30 p.m, the Moon passes close to Aldebaran, the eye of the bull, Taurus.

Urthecast and NASA bring you live, high definition video from the ISS. Perched 250 miles (400 km) above Earth’s surface are four high-definition cameras that capture video of our planet from four unique angles. You’ll see storms swirl over the oceans, watch the sun rise and set 16 times a day, and experience the blue marble as it rolls beneath the ISS.   https://www.urthecast.com/live  

You have to be patient–bookmark the site and check in often because when the ISS is on the night side, the screen of course is black. That’s a good time to view the gallery.