Astronomy News

[Bowwowmeow]

Last night the sky was exceptionally clear, and I could see Orion's belt, and all of Taurus. Most of the time around here the sky is too hazy at night to even see any of Taurus, and not all of the stars in Orion are always visible.

But last night I saw Mars in Gemini, and it was very bright and orange. So I found this news about it.

Mars Doubles in Brightness
11.21.2007

Nov. 21, 2007: During the past month, Mars has doubled in brightness and it is putting on a nice show for backyard stargazers.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/Friedrich-Deters1_med.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/Friedrich-Deters1.jpg)

"Mars is starting to look really nice through my 10-inch telescope," reports amateur astronomer Friedrich Deters of LaGrange, North Carolina, who took the picture at right on Nov. 17th.

"Very nice!" agrees Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, who captured a similar snapshot (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/Dan-Petersen1.jpg) the next night.


The blue polar swirl in these pictures is the "North Polar Hood"—a giant icy cloud that forms over the Martian north pole during winter. Why blue? That's the color of sunlight scattered from very tiny crystals of ice (smaller than the wavelength of light itself) floating in the cloud. The blue hood vs. Mars' red terrain appear in pleasing contrast through any mid-sized backyard telescope.

You don't need a telescope to enjoy Mars, however. It is plainly visible to the naked eye, bright and red, standing out among the pale stars of Gemini as something definitely different.

Finding the constellation and the planet within is child's play on Nov. 26th and 27th. That's when the nearly full Moon glides past Mars, only one degree away, and draws attention to the pair. If you can find the full Moon, you can find Mars. Look east before bedtime on Monday evening, Nov. 26th, or west before dawn on Tuesday morning, Nov. 27th.


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/skymap_north_mars_nov26.gif


Take a cup of coffee outside on Nov. 27th and spend some time sipping it while the sun rises and a hint of blue infuses the twilight sky. The sight of the silver Moon and red Mars backlit by blue sky is breathtaking.

Sky maps: Nov. 26 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/skymap_north_mars_nov26.gif), Nov. 27 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/marsdoubles/skymap_north_mars_nov27.gif).

Why has Mars gotten so bright and attractive? It's because Earth and Mars are converging (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21aug_hurtlingtomars.htm). At closest approach on Dec. 18th, the two worlds will lie only 55 million miles apart. That may sound like a great distance, but it is just a hop, skip and a jump on the vast scale of the solar system. NASA is taking advantage of the close encounter to send a new mission to Mars: the Phoenix Lander. Phoenix launched in August 2007 and is due to reach Mars in May 2008, joining the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity already there.

Take a look at Mars: If it is this good now, what will it be like in December? Stay tuned!


What about you folks down under? I understand that the stars are all different from the southern hemisphere. Is that true? Can you see Mars at night? Where is it in your sky?

[Gliondrach]

They'll probably see it in our Summer. Although it does say that Phoenix is going to visit the planet.

[Oracl]

What about you folks down under? I understand that the stars are all different from the southern hemisphere. Is that true? Can you see Mars at night? Where is it in your sky?
I am embarrassed to say that I'm not too sure where to look for Mars. :o I'm sure we can see it but I'll have to do further research. :reading:

[Bowwowmeow]

It confuses me a little, but since we saw the same eclipse, I would guess that when the moon gets close to Mars in a few more days, you could see it too. :bhead:

[Bowwowmeow]

This will help:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/skymap_north_mars_nov26.gif

:updn:

[Gliondrach]

Nice try. :nahnah:

This shows the sky from the Southern Hemisphere. It looks as if Gemini is over the horizon.

skymaps.com/downloads.html Click on the pdf under Southern Hemisphere.

In the Northern Hemisphere one you can't see Gemini, either. It shows the sky for about 8pm. But the one BWM gave shows the sky later on.

[Oracl]

This will help:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/skymap_north_mars_nov26.gif

:updn:

:rofl:

[Oracl]

This shows the sky from the Southern Hemisphere. It looks as if Gemini is over the horizon.

skymaps.com/downloads.html Click on the pdf under Southern Hemisphere.

Thanks, Gliondrach. :)

[Phoenix]

What about you folks down under? I understand that the stars are all different from the southern hemisphere. Is that true? Can you see Mars at night? Where is it in your sky?

I haven't seen Mars unfortunately. :no: Either that or I simply haven't recognised it. :bhead: I'll have a good look tonight.

They'll probably see it in our Summer. Although it does say that Phoenix is going to visit the planet.

:nanakiss: I have my camera and I'll take lots of photos! :D :laugh:

[Phoenix]

... I'll have a good look tonight.

Apparently Mars is not visible from the :wigglebutt: end of the planet. :pouty:

[Gliondrach]

You can't miss it - it's round, red and has canals. And polar ice caps.

[Gliondrach]

I think I've just seen Mars. It was in the North East. In the sky.

[Bowwowmeow]

Its going to keep getting closer to the earth all month. They say this often causes wars and fights to break out. There may be something to that. :rubchin:

[Bowwowmeow]

Asteroid Shower
12.03.2007

(http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/asteroidshower/audio/story.m3u)
Dec. 03, 2007: Mark your calendar: The best meteor shower of 2007 peaks on Friday, December 14th.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/asteroidshower/Colley1_med3.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/asteroidshower/Colley1.jpg)

"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says NASA astronomer Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center. "Start watching on Thursday evening, Dec. 13th, around 10 pm local time," he advises. "At first you might not see very many meteors—but be patient. The show really heats up after midnight and by dawn on Friday, Dec. 14th, there could be dozens of bright meteors per hour streaking across the sky."

The Geminids are not ordinary meteors. While most meteor showers come from comets, Geminids come from an asteroid—a near-Earth object named 3200 Phaethon.

"It's very strange," says Cooke. How does an asteroid make a meteor shower?

Comets do it by evaporating. When a comet flies close to the sun, intense heat vaporizes the comet’s "dirty ice" resulting in high-speed jets of comet dust that spew into interplanetary space. When a speck of this comet dust hits Earth's atmosphere traveling ~100,000 mph, it disintegrates in a bright flash of light—a meteor!

Asteroids, on the other hand, don't normally spew dust into space—and therein lies the mystery. Where did Phaethon's meteoroids come from?
(http://science.nasa.gov/news/subscribe.htm)
One possibility is a collision. Maybe it bumped against another asteroid. A collision could have created a cloud of dust and rock that follows Phaethon around in its orbit. Such collisions, however, are not very likely. Cooke favors another possibility: "I think 3200 Phaethon used to be a comet."

Exhibit #1 in favor of this idea is Phaethon's orbit (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Phaethon&orb=1): it is highly elliptical, like the orbit of a typical comet, and brings Phaethon extremely close to the sun, twice as close as Mercury itself. Every 1.4 years, Phaethon swoops through the inner solar system where repeated blasts of solar heat could easily reduce a flamboyant comet to the rocky skeleton we see today.

If this scenario is correct, Phaethon-the-comet may have produced many rich streams of dust that spent hundreds or thousands of years drifting toward Earth until the first Geminid meteors appeared during the US Civil War. Since then, Geminids have been a regular shower peaking every year in mid-December.


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/asteroidshower/skymap.gif


3200 Phaethon is now catalogued as a "PHA"—a potentially hazardous asteroid whose path misses Earth's orbit by only 2 million miles. It measures 5 km wide, about half the size of the asteroid or comet that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and can be seen through backyard telescopes—in fact, now is a good time to look:

"3200 Phaethon is flying past Earth just a few days before this year’s Geminid meteor shower," notes Cooke. On Dec. 10th, Phaethon will be about 11 million miles away shining like a 14th magnitude star in the constellation Virgo: ephemeris (http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/03200.html). That's too dim for the naked eye, he says, but a good target for amateur telescopes equipped with CCD cameras.
Cooke doesn't expect the flyby to boost the Geminids—"11 million miles is too distant to affect meteor rates"—but the Geminids don't really need boosting. "It's always a great shower," he says. "Don't miss it."

[Phoenix]

You can't miss it - it's round, red and has canals. And polar ice caps.

I think I've just seen Mars. It was in the North East. In the sky.

I tried to point this out nicely, but since you apparently didn't get my meaning ...

Mars is not :no: visible from the ass end of the planet (where I am currently).

[Gliondrach]

Its going to keep getting closer to the earth all month. They say this often causes wars and fights to break out. There may be something to that. :rubchin:

Yes, there could be something in it. See Phoenix's belligerent post above this one. :biff:

[Phoenix]

That was not a belligerent post. :nahnah: I get on quite well with Fauxmage, so please don't tell her I'm a troublemaker.

I was merely pointing out that I can't see Mars from the southern hemisphere :updn:

[Gliondrach]

Serves you right for living in such a strange place.

[Oracl]

:slappy: :updn:

[Gliondrach]

These people in Oz really are belligerent.

[Phoenix]

We're lovely! :updn: :grumble: :rollingpin: :D

[Gliondrach]

I'll take your word for it.

[Oracl]

You'd better! :rollingpin: :laugh:

[Bowwowmeow]

Saturn's Rings Older Than First Thought?

By ALICIA CHANG (AP Science Writer)
From Associated Press
December 12, 2007 11:34 PM EST

LOS ANGELES - Saturn's shimmering rings may be as old as the solar system, scientists said Wednesday, debunking earlier theories that the rings were formed during the dinosaur age.

Astronomers had thought Saturn's rings were cosmically young, likely born some 100 million years ago from leftovers of a meteoric collision with a moon, based on data by NASA's Voyager spacecraft in the 1970s.
However, new data from the orbiting international Cassini spacecraft suggest the rings existed as far back as 4.5 billion years ago, roughly the same time the sun and planets formed. The probe also found evidence that ring particles are constantly shattering and regrouping to form new rings.

"Recycling allows the rings to be as old as the solar system although continually changing," said Larry Esposito, a Cassini scientist from the University of Colorado.

The findings were presented at an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco and will be published in the astronomical journal Icarus.
Saturn's trademark arcs have awed astronomers since Galileo's time.

Scientists are interested in the rings because they are a model of the disk of gas and dust that initially enveloped the sun and studying them could yield clues about planet formation.

Saturn's ring system consists of seven major rings and thousands of ringlets, mostly made of orbiting ice mixed with dust and rock fragments.
The notion that Saturn's rings may be a permanent feature was based on observations by the ultraviolet spectrograph instrument on Cassini, which viewed the light reflected from the rings and watched stars passing behind them.

The Cassini mission, funded by NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, was launched in 1997 and reached Saturn in 2004. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
---
On the Net:
American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org
Cassini mission: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

[Bowwowmeow]

Asteroid Shower
12.03.2007

Dec. 03, 2007: Mark your calendar: The best meteor shower of 2007 peaks on Friday, December 14th.
"It's always a great shower," he says. "Don't miss it."
I just saw one! :yea:

[Gliondrach]

It's probably too late now but I'll have a look out now and again.

[Gliondrach]

No, it's too cloudy.

[Phoenix]

I just saw one! :yea:

:D

[Bowwowmeow]

Venus and Jupiter Converge!
01.29.2008


January 29, 2008: Wake up before dawn on an arctic-cold February morning .... and go outside?

This Friday you'll be glad you did.

The two brightest planets in the Solar System, Venus and Jupiter, are converging for a spectacular close encounter. The best time to look: Friday morning, February 1st. Venus and Jupiter will be so close together, you can hide them behind the tip of your index finger held at arm's length: sky map (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb1.gif).


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/Thierry-Demange_strip.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/Thierry-Demange-venus-jupiter_2008-01-23_1w_1201126442.jpg)

Venus and Jupiter converging but still far apart on Jan. 23rd.
Photo credit: Thierry Demange of Strasbourg, France. [Larger image (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/thierry-demange-venus-jupiter_2008-01-23_1w_1201126442.jpg)]


You'll need a clear view of the southeastern horizon to see the show. Venus and Jupiter will be hanging low, like landing airplanes, easily hidden behind tall buildings or trees. So go out beforehand (at noon when it is warmer) and find a gap to look through so you won't have to hunt for one in the dark on Friday.

It's worth the effort because Venus and Jupiter will be less than 1o apart, like twin headlights piercing the rosy glow of sunrise. It's a beautiful scene. In fact, you may not be able to take your eyes off of it. Venus and Jupiter are literally spellbinding.

There is a physiological basis for this phenomenon. When two planets appear so close together, they grab an extra share of your brain's attention. Consider the following:

"Your eye is like a digital camera," explains Dr. Stuart Hiroyasu, O.D., of Bishop, California. "There's a lens in front to focus the light, and a photo-array behind the lens to capture the image. The photo-array in your eye is called the retina. It's made of rods and cones, the fleshy organic equivalent of electronic pixels."

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/fovea2.jpg
The fovea is responsible for
our central, sharpest vision.


Near the center of the retina lies the fovea, a patch of tissue 1.5 millimeters wide where cones are extra-densely packed. "Whatever you see with the fovea, you see in high-definition," he says. The fovea is critical to reading, driving, watching television. The fovea has the brain's attention.
The field of view of the fovea is only about five degrees wide. On Friday morning, Venus and Jupiter will fit together inside that narrow angle, signaling to the brain, "this is worth watching!"

If you can tear your eyes off Venus and Jupiter, glance to the right: Another close encounter is underway. The crescent Moon appears directly beside the red giant star Antares. With only 2o between them, the Moon and Antares will fit inside your fovea as well.

Friday morning should not be missed, but if you do miss it, don't worry, the show continues as February unfolds. Venus and Jupiter will remain relatively close together for several days to come while the Moon moves in to join them. Mornings of note include Sunday, Feb. 3rd (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb3.gif), when the Moon, Venus and Jupiter arrange themselves in a slightly-bent line, and Monday, Feb. 4th (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb4.gif), when the trio form one of the most exquisite celestial triangles you'll ever see.

Cold, what arctic cold? Sky maps: Jan. 31 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_jan31.gif), Feb 1 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb1.gif), 2 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb2.gif), 3 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb3.gif), 4 (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/venusjupiter/skymap_north_venus_feb4.gif).

[Tails4wagging]

Thanks BWM I love looking at the stars. We are expecting an artic blast on friday. Great as my friend is packing the van at 5pm ready for an early start, saturday. Hope it doesnt snow.:shakehead:

[Gliondrach]

They should be easy to spot, seeing as how they'll have their names written next to them in the sky.

[Bowwowmeow]

Did anyone watch the eclipse? (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html)
I took a few pictures before the moon disappeared behind the clouds. :s:igh: I wish the weather had been as nice this week as it was last week. :grumble:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/Nature/Eclipse20081.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/Nature/Eclipse20083.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/Nature/Eclipse20084.jpg

[Oracl]

Excellent pics, BWM! :thumbsup:

Looking at the website you linked to, it seems we didn't get to see it here in Oz. :shakehead: :pouty:

[Tails4wagging]

I woke at 04.10 and saw half of it.

[Gliondrach]

That top picture is very striking.

[thevegantwins]

:wow: Mr. TVT and I were awake too, it was at 10pm here and we forgot. :(

[veggiesosage]

[FONT=Papyrus][SIZE=3]Did anyone watch the eclipse? (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html)


Unfortunately was totally clouded over all night for us over here. I was really looking forward to it as its the first one where I've had a gert big lens.

Good pics but it looks like you've got a bit of a ghosting issue going on in your first one.

[Bowwowmeow]

Unfortunately was totally clouded over all night for us over here. I was really looking forward to it as its the first one where I've had a gert big lens.
Shucks. I was hoping you would get some good pictures of it. It was supposed to be extra colorful.

Good pics but it looks like you've got a bit of a ghosting issue going on in your first one.
:D I've never had a ghost before. I kind of like it, though, in this one. :ghost:

[Gliondrach]

I thought it was BWM's thumb over the lens.

[Tails4wagging]

Hope this link works?

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/apo80225.html


Scary stuff. They could even create a universe!:shakehead:

[Gliondrach]

That link doesn't work but there is a link under the Error 404 message.

On that page, if you click on the link to the Higgs Mechanism you can read about that and some bosun also call Higgs. You will find out that it is really a device to watch Maggie Thatcher at some party where everyone then goes to Mass. They also mention that bosun - probably because there's a lot of talk about waves.

[Bowwowmeow]

Tails forwarded this presentation to me:

Now, THIS is really fascinating - it's rather dazzling to see it presented this way.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image001.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image002.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image003.jpg

I certainly thought this was enlightening. Beyond our sun ...
It's a big universe.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image004.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image005.jpg

Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.
It is more than 1000 light years away.
Now how big are you?
------------------------------ ------------------------------------

Now TRY to wrap your mind around this.........


This is a Hubble Telescope Ultra Deep Field Infrared View of countless
"ENTIRE" Galaxies Billions of Light-Years Away.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image006.jpg

Below is a close up of one of the darkest regions of the photo above.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/lauralb2/image008.jpg


Humbling, isn't it?



Now How Big Are You?
And exactly how big are the things that upset you today?

[Gliondrach]

Mind boggling. I'm grateful that our star is just the right size to have the right sized planets going round it.

[Oracl]

Good point! :laugh:

[Tails4wagging]

I read recently that we humans are the size of a virus to the planet of jupiter.

How can religious folks say there is a god looking after us when we are so so miniscule.

[Gliondrach]

Perhaps God likes small things. Have you not heard of the god of small things?

[Tails4wagging]

Perhaps the universe is filled with gods of different sizes.??:dizzy:

[Bowwowmeow]

Crescent Moon Alert
04.04.2008

April 4, 2008: The date was March 8th, less than a month ago. In a remote corner of Kansas, the sun was going down and the deepening twilight beckoned to photographer Doug Zubenel driving through the countryside. Something photogenic, he knew, was about to happen.

He turned his car onto an unfamiliar dirt road and proceeded into the sunset. "The brilliant sun did not allow me to see the cement railings on a bridge over a small creek. The next thing I knew, I had totaled my car!" Zubenel emerged from the wreckage, phoned 911, and while he was waiting for the tow truck to arrive, took the picture:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/crescentmoon/Doug-Zubenel2_strip2.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/crescentmoon/Doug-Zubenel2.jpg)
"It was a beautiful 1-day old crescent moon,"
says Zubenel.
"It looked a lot better than my car!"


This perilous scene is about to repeat itself—three times.

First – On Sunday evening, April 6th, a 2% crescent moon emerges from the glare of the sun like the wry smile of a Cheshire cat beaming through the tawny-orange sunset. Finding this delicate sliver may require some careful scanning of the western horizon and it would be wise to exit the car (or at least brake) before looking. The next night is easier.

Second – On Monday evening, April 7th, a 6% crescent materializes a little higher in the sky. Set against the cobalt-blue of early evening, the moon reveals its lovely da Vinci glow (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/04oct_leonardo.htm), a pale impression of the full Moon inside the vivid crescent. Five hundred years ago, Leonardo da Vinci was first to explain this phenomenon: it is Earthshine, the light of our own planet Earth illuminating the Moon's dark terrain. A crescent moon with Earthshine is widely regarded as one of the prettiest sights in the heavens. But the best is yet to come….

Third – On Tuesday evening, April 8th, a 12% crescent Moon moves into conjunction with the Pleiades. "Into conjunction" is astronomy jargon for "side-by-side." The Moon will be so close to the Pleiades that, to the naked eye, they seem to touch, but that is impossible because the Pleiades are 400 light years away.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/crescentmoon/pleiades_gendler_med.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060109.html)
Above: A deep-sky exposure of the
Pleiades star cluster by amateur
astronomer Robert Gendler.


Also known as the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades are a cluster of young stars. The brightest seven of these blue-white beauties form a little dipper shape as wide about as the Moon (0.5o). In spite of their great distance, the Pleiades are faintly visible to the naked eye even from urban areas.

On April 8th, the Moon will lead you directly to the Pleiades. Binoculars are recommended: scan around the Moon and you will find not just seven but dozens of sparkling stars, some of them winking in and out behind the mountainous lunar limb. The Moon itself may take your breath away as you sweep your optics across the cratered Earthlit landscape.

As on previous evenings, the best time to look is shortly after sundown, facing west: sky map (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/crescentmoon/skymap_north.gif). The crescent Moon, Earthshine and a star cluster in the same field of view--it doesn't get much better than that.


Epilogue: "I have another car now and I will be heading out Sunday afternoon for an encore performance, not of the wreck, but of the Moon," says Zubenel. He shares his story hoping that it will inspire others to photograph the upcoming display--carefully!

[Oracl]

:)

[Gliondrach]

I'll be looking tomorrow especially.

[veggiesosage]

Time to get the gert big lens out...

[Bowwowmeow]

I wish I had a gert big lens. :daydream:

[Gliondrach]

Here's a link to a site about astro-archaeology, or archeo-astronomy.

This is the official website of the Center for Archaeoastronomy founded at the University of Maryland. Until recently we also hosted the web pages of ISAAC, the International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture—these can now be found here.

From 1977 until 2005 the Center published a peer-reviewed journal, called Archaeoastronomy: the journal of Astronomy in Culture. This is currently published on behalf of the Center and ISAAC by the University of Texas Press. For several years, the Center also published the Archaeoastronomy & Ethnoastronomy Newsletter, essays from which are available to read on this website.

The Center continues to publish peer-reviewed books and conference proceedings, most recently with another of its professional partners, Ocarina Books.

wam.umd.edu/~tlaloc/archastro/

[Gliondrach]

I'll make it clickable for a few minutes. Then I'll make it unclickable again. To save on outward links from the forum. Can you copy and paste?

[Gliondrach]

We often leave the links unclickable by making a gap in the ht tp and w ww bits. You can copy and paste the address and then close the gaps before clicking them.

[Gliondrach]

Highlight what you want to copy. Right click on it. Choose 'copy' from the menu that appears.

Put the cursor where you want to put the copy, right click again and choose 'paste'. The copied text is then pasted.

[Oracl]

Spectacular! :wow: Thanks, Tails. :)

[Phoenix]

Beautiful. :agree: Thanks Tails.

[Gliondrach]

Yes, it's spectacular. But did you take the photograph?

[Gliondrach]

That's all right, then. Because this thread is just for things you've made yourself. Some cheats might post something that they saw elsewhere and claim it as their own. I know you'd never do that.:whistle:

[Bowwowmeow]

Merged with Astronomy thread. :)

[Gliondrach]

Very unusual.

[Gliondrach]

You can see my house in that one. It's the one with the light on in the sitting room.

[Gliondrach]

Do you sleeptype?

[Fauxmage]

Here is a brand-new picture of a never before seen side of the planet Mercury:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/firstresults/rays_strip.jpg

[Gliondrach]

I thought it had a dense sulphuric acid atmosphere and lakes of nitric acid. That's how it used to be portrayed.

[Gliondrach]

Keep us posted. Fascinating news.

[Oracl]

Yes, very beautiful. :)

[Fauxmage]

The Perseids are Coming
07.31.2009

July 31, 2009: Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, the source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower won't peak until August 11th and 12th, the show is already getting underway.

Brian Emfinger of Ozark, Arkansas, photographed this early Perseid just after midnight on Sunday, July 26th:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/perseids2009/Brian-Emfinger2_strip.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/perseids2009/Brian-Emfinger2.jpg)

"I used an off-the-shelf digital camera to capture this fireball and its smoky trail," says Emfinger. "It was a bright one!"

Don't get too excited, cautions Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "We're just in the outskirts of the debris stream now. If you go out at night and stare at the sky, you'll probably only see a few Perseids per hour."

(http://science.nasa.gov/news/subscribe.htm)
This will change, however, as August unfolds. "Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on August 12th. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour."

For sky watchers in North America, the watch begins after nightfall on August 11th and continues until sunrise on the 12th. Veteran observers suggest the following strategy:

Unfold a blanket on a flat patch of ground. (Note: The middle of your street is not a good choice.) Lie down and look up. Perseids can appear in any part of the sky, their tails all pointing back to the shower's radiant in the constellation Perseus. Get away from city lights if you can.

There is one light you cannot escape on August 12th. The 55% gibbous Moon will glare down from the constellation Aries just next door to the shower's radiant in Perseus. The Moon is beautiful, but don't stare at it. Bright moonlight ruins night vision and it will wipe out any faint Perseids in that part of the sky.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/perseids2009/perseid_map2_450.gif (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/perseids2009/perseid_map2.gif)

Above: Looking northeast around midnight on August 11th-12th. The red dot is the Perseid radiant. Although Perseid meteors can appear in any part of the sky, all of their tails will point back to the radiant. Image copyright: Spaceweather.com, used with permission.

The Moon is least troublesome during the early evening hours of August 11th. Around 9 to 11 p.m. local time (your local time), both Perseus and the Moon will be hanging low in the north. This low profile reduces lunar glare while positioning the shower's radiant for a nice display of Earthgrazers.

"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," explains Cooke. "They are long, slow and colorful—among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.

The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show

[Gliondrach]

I'll keep a look out for them. But it will probably be cloudy here. Still, I'll wear a tin hat just in case. I think I'll use my Waffen SS helmet this time.

[Fauxmage]

What Hit Jupiter?
08.03.2009

August 3, 2009: It began with a furrowed brow, a moment of puzzlement, quickly dismissed.

The date was July 19, 2009. Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley was photographing Jupiter from his backyard observatory in Murrumbateman, Australia, when something odd caught his eye.

"My attention was fixed on the Great Red Spot, which was setting beautifully over Jupiter's horizon," recalls Wesley. "I almost didn't notice the dark blemish near Jupiter's south pole, and when I did, I put it out of my mind."

It's just another dark storm on Jupiter.

"That's what I thought at first, but something about the dark mark puzzled me, it didn't look right, and I couldn't stop stealing glances at it."
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/whathitjupiter/discovery_strip.jpg (http://jupiter.samba.org/jupiter-impact.html)
Above: South is up in this July 19th discovery image taken by Anthony Wesley using a 14.5-inch telescope in Murrumbateman, Australia.


Slowly, Jupiter's rotation turned the blemish toward Earth, Wesley got a better look at it, and the truth struck him like a thunderbolt.

It was an impact mark. Something hit the giant planet!

"I had seen the scars caused by fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hitting Jupiter in 1994, so I knew what an impact looked like," he says. "After I'd convinced myself that this was real, I could hardly use the computer. My hands were shaking. It was quite unbelievable."

He quickly emailed his photos to friends and colleagues around the world, and within hours telescopes great and small were turning toward Jupiter to photograph the aftermath of a powerful collision.

"We believe it was a comet or asteroid measuring perhaps a few hundred meters wide," says Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at JPL.

"If something of similar size hit Earth—we're talking about 2000 megatons of energy--there would be serious regional devastation or a tsunami if it hit the ocean."
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/whathitjupiter/212jupiter_med.jpg (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-112)


In a stroke of luck almost as big as Wesley's, JPL astronomers Glenn Orton and Leigh Fletcher were already scheduled to observe Jupiter on July 20th, barely a day after impact, using NASA's Infra-red Telescope Facility (IRTF) atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The 3-meter telescope revealed a fresh cloud of debris about the size of Mars floating among Jupiter's clouds.

The cloud appears bright at this wavelength (2.12 microns) because particles in the cloud are reflecting infrared radiation from the sun, explains observer Glenn Orton.

"The object, whatever it was, exploded in Jupiter's upper atmosphere," says Orton. "It blew itself to smithereens. What we're seeing now are bits and pieces of the impactor and possibly some strange aerosols formed by shock-chemistry during the impact."

On July 23rd, the Hubble Space Telescope took its first pictures of the blast site. Hubble was still undergoing checkout and calibration following the STS-125 servicing mission in May, but this event was too big to skip. Space Telescope Science Institute director Matt Mountain allocated emergency telescope time to a team of astronomers led by Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

As usual, Hubble photos stole the show. They revealed a swirling maelstrom of dark cindery debris jostling with natural storms near the top of Jupiter's atmosphere:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/whathitjupiter/hs-2009-23-a-web_print_strip.jpg (http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2009-23-a-print.jpg)
Above: A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Jupiter impact scar taken on July 23, 2009, taken using Hubble's new camera, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

Shuttle astronaut and veteran Hubble repairman John Grunsfeld says he was delighted by the photo "because it was the first image to be released from the brand-spanking new WFC-3 camera that Drew Feustel and I installed in May. Thanks to WFC-3, we got to see the impact in stunning detail."

"The debris cloud is lumpy because of atmospheric turbulence," explains planetary scientist Amy Simon-Miller of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Polar winds blowing 25 m/s (~55 mph) are causing it to spread out and grow larger. This will make the cloud even easier to see through backyard telescopes."

(http://science.nasa.gov/news/subscribe.htm)
Judging from the behavior of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts fifteen years ago, she estimates that the 'Wesley debris cloud' could remain visible for many weeks to come. Researchers will put the time to good use. Further studies of the cloud might yet reveal the great unknown: What hit Jupiter?

"We just don't know," says Yeomans. "No one saw the object prior to impact."

Indeed, there was no warning. The object emerged from darkness, unknown and uncatalogued, and—wham!—before anyone could photograph the body intact, it had become a cloud of debris. (There is a lesson here for Earth, but that is another story.)

The cloud's chemical composition holds clues to the nature of the impactor. Orton says ground-based observers are now analyzing light reflected from the cloud to figure out what it is made of. "If the spectra contain signs of water, that would suggest an icy comet. Otherwise, it's probably a rocky or metallic asteroid."

Meanwhile, it's a big dark mystery—the kind that Wesley can't take his eyes off of. "I am still observing Jupiter almost every night using my 14.5 inch telescope," he says. "The cloud is expanding and taking on some interesting shapes."

"I wonder," he says, "what will happen next?"I want a telescope.

[Gliondrach]

I'll definitely start wearing my tin hat.

[Fauxmage]

Horse Flies and Meteors
08.10.2009


(http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/horseflies/audio/story.m3u)
August 10, 2009:

Earth, like a speeding car, races around the Sun sweeping up everything in its path. There are no insects in space, at least none that we know of, but there are plenty of meteoroids, little flakes of dust from comets and asteroids. They hit Earth's atmosphere and--splat!--they disintegrate as fiery streaks of light called meteors.

This week lots of meteors will appear over Earth's northern hemisphere when our planet plows through a swarm of dust shed by periodic comet Swift-Tuttle. It's the annual Perseid meteor shower (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/31jul_perseids2009.htm), which peaks on August 11th and 12th.

(http://science.nasa.gov/news/subscribe.htm)
Just as bugs tend to accumulate on the front windshield of a car, Perseids accumulate on the front windshield of Earth.

Earth has a windshield? It's the atmosphere, which protects us from solar wind and comet dust much as a car's windshield protects passengers from wind, rain and bugs. Earth's front windshield is the early morning sky. Earth circles the Sun dawn-side first, scooping up whatever lies on that side of the planet. That's why it's usually best to look for Perseids just before dawn.

A good time to see Perseids this year is before dawn on Wednesday morning, August 12th, when Earth's front windshield is overhead. You could see dozens of meteors despite the glare of a 66% gibbous Moon.

Side windows, the ones to the left and right of passengers in cars, are good, too. Zooming down a bug-infested lane, side windows don't intercept many insects, but the ones they do gather are worth examining. Bugs that strike side windows do so at a shallow angle, leaving long and colorful streaks.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/horseflies/perseid3_sk.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000812.html)

Above: A Perseid meteor. Credit: S. Kohle & B. Koch.


This also happens to meteors. When the constellation Perseus (the source of the Perseids) hangs low near the horizon, meteors streaming from Perseus will skim the the top of Earth's atmosphere, much like a bug skimming the side window of an automobile. Astronomers call these meteors "Earthgrazers." They tend to be long and colorful.

Look for Perseid Earthgrazers on Tuesday night, Aug. 11th, between about 9:00 and 11:00 pm local time.

Earthgrazers don't come in large numbers. The special geometry required to produce them keeps counts low, but even one or two is enough. A breathtaking Earthgrazer is the sort of meteor you're likely to remember for years.

[Gliondrach]

It's overcast here.

[Fauxmage]

It was a little misty last night, and I think I saw several faint ones behind the haze, but I did see two very nice long ones streaking across the clearer section of sky straight overhead. :)

[Stormy]

Taken from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/aug/12/perseids-meteor-shower-list

And apparently we are due them in Britain tonight I believe in the early hours of the morning up to a hundred meteors an hour as stated below!!


Perseids shower: full list of 2009 meteor showers, where and when

The spectacular Perseids show tonight is just one of a number of meteor showers taking place in 2009 - all visible to us on earth. This is the full list



Meteors streak past stars in the night sky near Amman

Perseids in action. Photograph: Ali Jarekji/Reuters

The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to put on a dazzling sky show tonight. Astronomers say up to 100 meteors per hour are expected to streak across the sky during the shower's peak.

In North America, the best time to watch was before dawn today. In the UK, The best time to observe the Perseids will be 2am to 4am tonight. Stargazers are advised to face away from the moon or block it from view behind a wall - a high quarter moon also risks outshining the dimmest shooting stars after midnight.

But it's not the only show you'll get from the heavens this year. This data, courtesy of the International Meteor Organization, shows all the predicted visible meteor showers for this year, with date and position to get the best view. Take a look and let us know what you think.

• DATA: download the full list of meteor showers as a spreadsheet

• Can you do something with this data?
Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group or mail us at datastore@guardian.co.uk

• Get the A-Z of data
• More at the Datastore directory
• Follow us on Twitter
2009 meteor shower calendar

Click heading to sort
Shower

Activity

Max Date (best date to view)

Solar longitude (Earth's position on its orbit)

Radiant position coordinates, right ascension

Radiant position coordinates, declination

Zenithal Hourly Rate (maximum number of meteors per hour under perfect conditions)

SOURCE: IMO
Quadrantids (QUA) Jan 01 - Jan 05 Jan 3rd 283°16 230° +49° 120
Alpha Centaurids (ACE) Jan 28 - Feb 21 Feb 7th 319°2 211° -59° 5
Delta Leonids (DLE) Feb 15 - Mar 10 Feb 25th 336° 168° +16° 2
Gamma Normids (GNO) Feb 25 - Mar 22 Mar 13th 353° 239° -50° 4
Lyrids (LYR) Apr 16 - Apr 25 Apr 22nd 32°32 271° +34° 18
Pi Puppids (PPU) Apr 15 - Apr 28 Apr 23rd 33°5 110° -45° Variable
Eta Aquariids (ETA) Apr 19 - May 28 May 6th 45°5 338° -01° 85
Eta Lyrids (ELY) May 03 - May 12 May 9th 48°4 287° +44° 3
June Bootids (JBO) Jun 22 - Jul 02 Jun 27th 95°7 224° +48° Variable
Piscis Austrinids (PAU) Jul 15 - Aug 10 Jul 28th 125° 341° -30° 5
South. Delta Aquariids (SDA) Jul 12 - Aug 19 Jul 28th 125° 339° -16° 20
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) Jul 03 - Aug 15 Jul 30th 127° 307° -10° 4
Perseids (PER) Jul 17 - Aug 24 Aug 12th 140°0 48° +58° 100
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) Aug 03 - Aug 25 Aug 17th 145° 286° +59° 3
Alpha Aurigids (AUR) Aug 25 - Sep 08 Sep 1st 158°6 84° +42° 7
September Perseids (SPE) Sep 05 - Sep 17 Sep 9th 166°7 60° +47° 5
Delta Aurigids (DAU) Sep 18 - Oct 10 Sep 29th 186° 82° +49° 3
Draconids (DRA) Oct 06 - Oct 10 Oct 8th 195°4 262° +54° Variable
Epsilon Geminids (EGE) Oct 14 - Oct 27 Oct 18th 205° 102° +27° 2
Orionids (ORI) Oct 02 - Nov 07 Oct 21st 208° 95° +16° 30
Leo Minorids (LMI) Oct 19 - Oct 27 Oct 23rd 210° 161° +38° 2
Southern Taurids (STA) Sep 25 - Nov 25 Nov 5th 223° 52° +15° 5
Northern Taurids (NTA) Sep 25 - Nov 25 Nov 12th 230° 58° +22° 5
Leonids (LEO) Nov 10 - Nov 23 Nov 17th 235°27 152° +22° 100
Alpha Monocerotids (AMO) Nov 15 - Nov 25 Nov 21st 239°32 117° +01° Variable
Dec Phoenicids (PHO) Nov 28 - Dec 09 Dec 6th 254°25 18° -53° Variable
Puppid/Velids (PUP) Dec 01 - Dec 15 Dec 7th 255° 123° -45° 10
Monocerotids (MON) Nov 27 - Dec 17 Dec 9th 257° 100° +08° 2
Sigma Hydrids (HYD) Dec 03 - Dec 15 Dec 12th 260° 127° +02° 3
Geminids (GEM) Dec 07 - Dec 17 Dec 14th 262°2 112° +33° 120
Ursids (URS) Dec 17 - Dec 26 Dec 22nd 270°7 217° +76° 10
Coma Berenicids (CBE) Dec 12 - Jan 23 Dec 30th 278° 170° +26° 5

Simon Rogers byline pic Posted by Simon Rogers Wednesday 12 August 2009 14.02 BST guardian.co.uk

[Stormy]

Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight

Taken from http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/200908...xpectedtonight


* Slideshow:Perseid Meteor Shower

Robert Roy Britt
Editorial Director
SPACE.com Robert Roy Britt
editorial Director
space.com – Tue Aug 11, 9:19 am ET

The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show this week for those willing to get up in the wee hours of the morning and wait patiently for the shooting stars.

In North America, the best time to watch will be between midnight to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, but late Tuesday night and also Wednesday night could prove fruitful, weather permitting.

The Perseids are always reliable, and sometimes rather spectacular. The only things that puts a damper on the August show are bad weather or bright moonlight. Unfortunately this week, as the Perseids reach their peak Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the moon will be high in the sky, outshining the fainter meteors.

Still, skywatchers around the globe will have a good chance of spotting the brighter meteors. Some already are enjoying the show.

Already underway

The Perseids are bits of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has laid down several streams of debris, each in a slightly different location, over the centuries as it orbits the sun. Every August, Earth passes through these debris streams, which spread out over time.

"They are typically fast, bright and occasionally leave persistent trains," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist. "And every once in a while, a Perseid fireball will blaze forth, bright enough to be quite spectacular and more than capable to attract attention even in bright moonlight."

Low numbers of Perseids, including some bright fireballs, have already been reported as Earth began entering the stream in late July. Seasoned observers have counted up to 25 per hour already, or nearly one every two minutes.

Most meteors are no bigger than a pea. They vaporize as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating bright streaks across the sky.

The Perseids appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which rises high in the sky around midnight and is nearly overhead by dawn. Like most meteor showers, the hours between midnight and daybreak are typically the best time to watch, because that's when the side of Earth you are on is rotating into the direction of Earth's travels through space, so meteors are "scooped up" by the atmosphere at higher rates, much like a car's windshield ends the lives of more bugs than does the rear bumper.

Astronomers expect up to 200 meteors per hour in short bursts of up to 15 minutes or so. But many of the fainter meteors will simply not be visible due to moonlight, and rates will go down even more for those in urban areas. More likely a typical observer under reasonably dark skies might hope to see a meteor every couple minutes when the bursts come, and fewer during lulls.

When to watch

The best time to watch is between midnight and dawn Wednesday. Forecasters say the best stretch could come between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. ET (1-2 a.m. PT), which would be after daybreak in Europe. Some Perseids might be visible late Tuesday night, and Wednesday night into Thursday morning could prove worthwhile, too.

Meteor forecasting is still in its infancy, however, so the best bet for anyone truly hungry to spot shooting stars is to get in as much observing time as possible from around 11 p.m. Tuesday night until dawn Wednesday, and if you miss that show, try the same time frame Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.

Meteors should be visible in the pre-dawn hours, weather permitting, all around the Northern Hemisphere.

"Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on Aug. 12," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour."

Viewing tips

The best location is far from city and suburban lights. Ideally, find a structure, mountain or tree to block the moon. Then scan as much of the sky as possible. The meteors can appear anywhere, heading in any direction. If you trace their paths backward, they'll all point to the constellation Perseus.
People in locations where any chill might occur should dress warmer than they think necessary to allow for prolonged viewing.

Seasoned skywatchers advise using a blanket or lounge chair for comfort, so you can lie back and look up for long periods. Allow at least 15 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the darkness. Then expect meteors to be sporadic: You might see two in a row, or several minutes could go by between shooting stars.

Avid meteor watchers might want to try scanning the northeastern horizon from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time (your local time, wherever you are) for Perseids that graze the horizon.

"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," Cooke explained. "They are long, slow and colorful – among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.

* Original Story: Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight

[Gliondrach]

That's a good list, Stormy.

It's sunny here with a few clouds. It might stay clear tonight. Or it might not.

[Stormy]

Apparently it is going to be clear tonight and because I don't think you are that far away in distance from me then hopefully we will both get to see them :)

[Gliondrach]

There's nothing on telly tonight so I might be at the window or on the balcony. But there are so many street lights around here that shine sideways and pollute the darkness.

[Gliondrach]

The sky is dark but it must be cloudy because I can't see any stars.

I blame the EU.

[Stormy]

Live streaming for the next hour apparently or as long as the laptop battery lasts of the people doing this ....

http://perseids.camstreams.com/

It is a bit annoying really as we were down that way last week so would have been good to be up there!!

[Gliondrach]

Thanks for that, Stormy. Although it hasn't connected yet. Unless they've stopped broadcasting.

[Fauxmage]

I'm not seeing any either. Maybe its too late. But thanks Stormy!

Hehe, even Google has adopted an icon of a meteor shower today. You can see it if you do a Google search.

[Gliondrach]

Let's hope they don't knock the moon out of its orbit.

Scientists To 'Bomb' Moon In Water Search

Nasa scientists are hoping to make a splash by "bombing" the Moon with two spacecraft later today.

The aim is to crash projectiles at the lunar south pole, kicking up a six-mile high dust cloud that may contain water.

British researchers helped Nasa pick the spot for the attempt, which will be broadcast live on the American space agency's website.

The Cabeus south polar region was identified by the University of Durham team as a site with high concentrations of hydrogen - a key component of water.

It is believed water ice could lie at the bottom of dark craters at the Moon's poles, where temperatures are lower than minus 170C.

The spacecraft consist of a LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) and its 2.2 tonne empty Centaur launch rocket.

They have been attached since blasting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida in June.

The probe and rocket will separate, then at 12.31pm the larger rocket will smash into a narrow, shaded crater at 5,600 mph.

The impact will throw 350 tonnes of debris over six miles into the air, making the event watchable from Earth.

Following close behind, the LCROSS satellite will fly through the material and four minutes later plunge into the crater itself.

LCROSS will trigger its own dust cloud a third of the size of the first one.

As the debris is propelled into sunlight, scientists on Earth will study its composition with ground-based telescopes.

Dr Vincent Eke, from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham, said: "Water ice could be stable for billions of years on the Moon provided that it is cold enough.

"If ice is present in the permanently shaded lunar craters of the Moon then it could potentially provide a water source for the eventual establishment of a manned base on the Moon.

"Such a base could be used as a platform for exploration into the further reaches of our Solar System."

uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091009/twl-scientists-to-bomb-moon-in-water-sea-3fd0ae9.html

[gabbles]

All that water from the explosion might rain down on us.

[Fauxmage]

If there is any.

I don't know whether to hope there is or not. I don't mind finding out for the sake of knowledge, but people don't need to spread out into the solar system, as far as I am concerned. They have done enough damage here.

[Gliondrach]

They're here! Head for the hills.

Martian colony in Britain

Published: 8:23AM GMT 02 Dec 2009

Samples of a colony of Martians have been put on display in the Natural History Museum, in London.

The microscopic aliens are on a slice of a meteorite in the museum.

Nasa scientists, who used a scanning electron microscope to take snaps, say the bumpy surface resembles a fossilised colony of microbacteria – a simple form of life.

The meteorite from Mars fell on Egypt in 1911.

Last month it emerged that Nasa scientists believe Martian bacteria arrived on Earth on a meteorite which smashed into the Antarctic 13,000 years ago.

Their fossilised remains have been found in the rock, which was blasted out of Mars 16 million years ago as the solar system was forming.

The meteorite, called Allen Hills 84001, made headlines in 1996 after fossils were found in it. Scientists believed they were bacteria from Earth that contaminated the rock while it lay in the frozen wastes.

But a Nasa report says there is strong evidence they originated on Mars.

The Nasa study, led by Kathie Thomas-Keprta, found carbonate discs and tiny magnetite crystals inside the space rock. Scientists were able to use high resolution electron microscopes that were not available 13 years ago.

They concluded "unusual chemical and physical properties" in the meteorite were "intimately associated within and throughout these carbonate disks". That, they said, was evidence of interaction with water on Mars more than 3.5 thousand million years ago.

telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6707476/Martian-colony-in-Britain.html

[Fauxmage]

Blue Moon on New Year's Eve
12.29.2009

Dec. 29, 2009: Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there's going to be a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve.

"I remember the last time this happened," says professor Philip Hiscock of the Dept. of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. "December 1990 ended with a Blue Moon, and many New Year's Eve parties were themed by the event. It was a lot of fun."

Don't expect the Moon to actually turn blue, though. "The 'Blue Moon' is a creature of folklore," he explains. "It's the second full Moon in a calendar month."


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/bluemoon/derosa1_med.jpg (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/bluemoon/derosa1.jpg)
The full moon of Dec. 2, 2009, over Turin, Italy. Photographer Stefano De Rosa notes that the blue colors are cast by Christmas lights surrounding the pictured church.


Most months have only one full Moon. The 29.5-day cadence of the lunar cycle matches up almost perfectly with the 28- to 31-day length of calendar months. Indeed, the word "month" comes from "Moon." Occasionally, however, the one-to-one correspondence breaks down when two full Moons squeeze into a single month. Dec. 2009 is such a month. The first full Moon appeared on Dec. 2nd; the second, a "Blue Moon," will come on Dec. 31st.


This definition of Blue Moon is relatively new.
If you told a person in Shakespeare's day that something happens "once in a Blue Moon" they would attach no astronomical meaning to the statement. Blue moon simply meant rare or absurd, like making a date for the Twelfth of Never. "But meaning is a slippery substance," says Hiscock. "The phrase 'Blue Moon' has been around for more than 400 years, and during that time its meaning has shifted."


The modern definition sprang up in the 1940s. In those days, the Farmer's Almanac of Maine offered a definition of Blue Moon so convoluted that even professional astronomers struggled to understand it. It involved factors such as the ecclesiastical dates of Easter and Lent, and the timing of seasons according to the dynamical mean sun. Aiming to explain blue moons to the layman, Sky & Telescope published an article in 1946 entitled "Once in a Blue Moon." The author James Hugh Pruett cited the 1937 Maine almanac and opined that the "second [full moon] in a month, so I interpret it, is called Blue Moon."That was not correct, but at least it could be understood. And thus the modern Blue Moon was born.

Blue moon has other connotations, too. In music, it's often a symbol of melancholy. According to one Elvis tune, it means "without a love of my own." On the bright side, he croons in another song, a simple kiss can turn a Blue Moon pure gold.

The modern astronomical Blue Moon occurs in some month every 2.5 years, on average. A Blue Moon falling precisely on Dec. 31st, however, is much more unusual. The last time it happened was in 1990, and the next time won't be until 2028.


So cue up that old Elvis record and "enjoy the extra moonlight on New Year's Eve," says Hiscock. "It only happens once in a Blue Moon."

[Gliondrach]

Hubble telescope sees Pluto changing colour

AOL News. Friday, Feb 05, 2010

Newly released Hubble Space Telescope photos show Pluto is changing colour and its ice sheets are shifting. That has surprised astronomers.
The photos paint a Pluto that is significantly redder than it had been for the past several decades. To the layman, it has a yellow-orange hue, the color of molasses, but astronomers say it has about 20 per cent more red than it used to have.
The pictures show nitrogen ice growing and shrinking, getting brighter in the north and darker in the south. Astronomers say Pluto is changing more than the surfaces of other bodies in the solar system. That is surprising because a season lasts 120 years in some regions of Pluto.
Once considered a planet, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet by astronomers in 2006.

[Bowwowmeow]

Wow that's pretty. It really doesn't look like a photo though.

[nagev]

For what it's worth and those interested, Mercury and Venus will be visible about an hour after sunset for the next couple weeks. This week they're pretty close (a few degrees) but next week the move further apart.

[Gliondrach]

I 'phoned the Astronomer Royal to ask why he hadn't told me about this and he said it was the first he knew about it.

I'll get my binoculars ready tomorrow. :sailor:

[nagev]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/about/pressreleases/89145892.html
http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/SkyCalendar/Index.html

Who is the Astronomer Royal?

[Gliondrach]

Just a silly title for someone whose job it is to advise the queen about starry things. The present one is Mr Martin Rees.

[nagev]

Well that seems strange Mr. Martin Rees didn't know about this...

[Bowwowmeow]

I hope the rain clears up so I can have a look. I am so used to seeing maybe 20 stars in the sky here in the Bay Area I can barely find constellations when I go to Bear Valley, since it seems as though there are millions in the crystal clear sky there, and I am not familiar with all the extra stars that show up in the constellations I can recognize. It's beautiful!

[Gliondrach]

It was overcast here again today. There aren't many stars visible even on a clear night. I remember the first time I saw the stars in all their glory. I was in India. I looked up and was astounded by the spectacle. There seemed to be millions of them visible. I couldn't recognise anything, not only because I was further to the south but because there were so many.

[nagev]

There's a lot of light pollution here in my small town, but I can usually faintly pick out most constellations in town. Although out of town on our property it's amazing how many more stars are visible.

[nagev]

Clear skies here tonight. I could see them, Venus is pretty bright (it's brighter than any star and so is only next to the Moon and your nearby lights in terms of brightness).

[Gliondrach]

I thought the sun was the brightest.

The constellations I can easily see and pick out are the Great Bear - the starry one - Orion and Cassiopia.

[nagev]

Good point. :o I guess I meant in the night sky, but your point is well taken. That reminds me of that riddle, 'what's the closest star to us?' People often say Alpha Centari or some other star name or shrug. :)

I used to know the majority of the Norther constellations (I taught astronomy labs and class while in college). Now I'm down to a few and I have to spend some time trying to remember specific stars, constellations and other objects. :(

[Gliondrach]

There's a good series on television here called Wonders of the Solar System. In the introduction for tonight's programme it says: 'He (Brian Cox, an astronomer) enters a cave in Mexico where bacteria breathe toxic gas and leak concentrated acid; relatives of these micro-organisms coud be surviving in newly discovered caves on Mars.

[nagev]

Relatives? Why would relatives be on Mars?

[nagev]

If anyone is interested, here's on online 'planetarium.' You can change the date and time and it tells you what objects are.

http://www.neave.com/planetarium/

[Gliondrach]

Very good. I'll have a look later when it's dark.

[Gliondrach]

Relatives? Why would relatives be on Mars?

Perhaps they could have come here on a meteorite, which started off as a piece of rock chipped off the surface of Mars - like the rocks found here and there. Or a flying saucer.

[nagev]

Saturn and Mars are also out. They're more towards the South (not directly South, but Mars is a bit SSW and Saturn is a bit SSE) right around dusk.

[Gliondrach]

It even shows you where the sun is. But not that helicopter flying overhead.

I was a bit puzzled with the directions at first but then remembered that you have to view it as if you were holding it above your head.

[nagev]

Yes, not showing the helicopter flying overhead is unfortunately a real limitation to the simulation. If they could program that and airplanes and maybe birds in, then it might be a bit more useful. ;)

[Gliondrach]

They'll have to go into partnership with goggle earth.

[nagev]

Can you see your place of residence on Google Earth?

[Gliondrach]

No. I don't want to load any extra software from goggle. I can see it on something that shows satellite map pictures.

[nagev]

Ahh. I think what I meant to say was on Google maps. The maps.google.com site. They have a street view.

But I see what you mean about having it on the Google Earth Program. I think the current version also lets you view the Moon and Mars on there.

ETA: I just checked it (I hadn't thought of that before on Google Earth). It also has a sky view, not as versatile as that other link (in terms of showing time of day, at least as far as I can see now). However, it's kind of neat in that you can zoom in on galaxies, stars, clusters and what not and get actual images of those plus you can click on them and get more information. It does list constellations too.

[Gliondrach]

There's some great info available these days.

[Bowwowmeow]

Hubble catches planet being devoured by its star

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20100524/capt.photo_1274732261799-1-0.jpg?x=213&y=170&xc=1&yc=1&wc=409&hc=326&q=85&sig=h3TDtRKYM2_5iREn_82Gxw-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/NASA-Cosmic-Origins-Spectrograph-NASA-Hubble-Space-Telescope/photo//100524/photos_ts_afp/f385732eea70d5f536066bfdf0ab7c97//s:/afp/20100524/sc_afp/usscienceastronomy)
AFP/NASA – This NASA artist's concept image shows that the hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy may be enveloped by its own parent star.


Mon May 24, 4:19 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Hubble space telescope has discovered a planet in our galaxy in the process of being devoured by the star that it orbits, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The doomed planet, dubbed WASP-12b, has the highest known surface temperature of any planet in the Milky Way -- around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

But it could be enveloped by its own parent over the next ten million years, the paper's authors have concluded.

Using a new instrument called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph that was installed on Hubble in 2009, the researchers observed how the planet was whipped into an elongated shape by gravitational forces.

"We see a huge cloud of material around the planet, which is escaping and will be captured by the star. We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own system" team leader Carole Haswell of The Open University in Great Britain said.

Discovered in 2008, WASP-12b is located about 600 light-years from Earth in the Auriga Constellation and is more than 300 times the size of Earth.

It also has a mass 40-percent greater than that of Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system.
It is so close to its parent star that it orbits it in little more than 24 hours.

Astronomers already knew that stars will swallow a planet that comes too close to it, but this is the first time that the phenomenon has been observed so clearly.

The paper, which was published in the May 10 edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, confirms a theoretical paper published in the journal Nature last Friday by Shu-lin Li, an astronomer at Peking University in Beijing.

Shu-lin had predicted that the planet's surface would be distorted by the star's gravitational pull, and that gravitational tidal forces would make the interior so hot that it would greatly expand its outer atmosphere.

[nagev]

That's interesting. :)

I like the artist's conception of it.

[Bowwowmeow]

Yes I do too. That would be a fun job. Making artists' conceptions of astronomical subjects.

[nagev]

I agree. :)

Although, I'm not particularly good with that kind of stuff, so it might make it more interesting for me.

[Gliondrach]

Many famous comets originally formed in other solar systems

Embargoed until 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday, June 10, 2010

Boulder, Colo. - June 10, 2010 - Many of the most well known comets, including Halley, Hale-Bopp and, most recently, McNaught, may have been born in orbit around other stars, according to a new theory by an international team of astronomers led by a scientist from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colo.

Dr. Hal Levison (SwRI), Dr. Martin Duncan (Queen's University, Kingston, Canada), Dr. Ramon Brasser (Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France) and Dr. David Kaufmann (SwRI) used computer simulations to show that the Sun may have captured small icy bodies from its sibling stars while it was in its birth star cluster, thereby creating a reservoir for observed comets.

While the Sun currently has no companion stars, it is believed to have formed in a cluster containing hundreds of closely packed stars that were embedded in a dense cloud of gas. During this time, each star formed a large number of small icy bodies (comets) in a disk from which planets formed. Most of these comets were gravitationally slung out of these prenatal planetary systems by the newly forming giant planets, becoming tiny, free-floating members of the cluster.

The Sun's cluster came to a violent end, however, when its gas was blown out by the hottest young stars. These new models show that the Sun then gravitationally captured a large cloud of comets as the cluster dispersed.

"When it was young, the Sun shared a lot of spit with its siblings, and we can see that stuff today," says lead author Levison.

"The process of capture is surprisingly efficient and leads to the exciting possibility that the cloud contains a potpourri that samples material from a large number of stellar siblings of the Sun," says co-author Duncan.

Evidence for the team's scenario comes from the roughly spherical cloud of comets, known as the Oort cloud, that surrounds the Sun, extending halfway to the nearest star. It has been commonly assumed this cloud formed from the Sun's proto-planetary disk. However, because detailed models show that comets from the solar system produce a much more anemic cloud than observed, another source is required.

Levison says, "If we assume that the Sun's observed proto-planetary disk can be used to estimate the indigenous population of the Oort cloud, we can conclude that more than 90 percent of the observed Oort cloud comets have an extra-solar origin."

"The formation of the Oort cloud has been a mystery for over 60 years and our work likely solves this long-standing problem," says Brasser.

The article, "Capture of the Sun's Oort Cloud from Stars in its Birth Cluster," by Levison, Duncan, Brasser and Kaufmann, was published in the June 10 issue of Science Express.

Funding for this research was provided by NASA's Astrobiology Institute, Outer Planets Research and Origins of Solar Systems programs, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Germany's Helmholtz Alliance.


For more information contact Maria Martinez at (210) 522-3305, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510.

ht-tp://ww-w.swri.org/9what/releases/2010/cometorigins.htm

[Bowwowmeow]

June 24, 2010: This Saturday morning, June 26th, there's going to be a lunar eclipse—and for many residents of the USA, it's going to be a big one.

The eclipse begins at 3:17 am PDT (10:17 UT) when the Moon enters the sunset-colored shadow of Earth. By 4:38 am PDT (11:38 UT), the moment of greatest eclipse, 54% of the Moon's diameter will be covered. From beginning to end, the event lasts almost three hours.


http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/06/24/contacts_strip2.gif (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2010-Fig02.pdf)
The Moon's path through Earth's shadow on June 26th. You can convert Universal Time (UT) to your local time here (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/TimeZone.html). Image credit: F. Espenak/GSFC. [larger image (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2010-Fig02.pdf)]

Although the eclipse is only partial, it will be magnified in size and charm by the "Moon Illusion"--a result of the eclipse occurring close to the horizon from viewing sites in the USA.

For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon—cameras prove it—but the human brain insists otherwise.

Who are we to argue?

The effect will be particularly strong in western and central parts of the USA and Canada where the Moon will be setting as the eclipse reaches maximum. (Observing tip: Look low and to the west just before dawn.) The fact that the extra size is just an illusion in no way detracts from the beauty.

People in New England and northeastern Canada will just miss it. The Moon sets shortly before the eclipse begins.


http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/06/24/visibilitymap_strip_corrected_.gif/image_full (http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/06/24/eclipsemap.jpg)

A global map of eclipse visibility. US readers should note that the eclipse will not be visible from New England and only briefly visible along most of the Atlantic seaboard. Image Credit: F. Espenak/GSFC [larger image (http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/06/24/eclipsemap.jpg)]

Halfway around the world, observers in India, Japan, and parts of East Asia will experience the same phenomenon. They'll see the eclipse on Saturday evening as the Moon is rising. The Moon Illusion will be fully active as Earth's shadow sweeps across low-hanging lunar terrain.

It almost makes you feel sorry for people living on the dreamy islands of the South Pacific. There the eclipse takes place directly overhead, high in the midnight sky where the Moon Illusion does not work. That's okay. A partial lunar eclipse is a beautiful thing (http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_16aug08.htm) all by itself.
Enjoy the show!

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

[Bowwowmeow]

I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that we don't get fogged in. :crossfingers: I want to try my mirror lens out on this one.

[nagev]

Cool! Thanks for the heads up.

[Bowwowmeow]

Well I woke up at 3:15 am and saw it begin. I waited a while and went for a drive, looking for some clear patch of sky. I saw a little more, but the further I drove the more socked in the fog got! So I didn't find a good place to stop and try to take a picture. I did get to see it though, peeping through the clouds.

[Bowwowmeow]

And now I am going back to bed! :tired:

[Gliondrach]

That's a shame. Your photograph might have appeared in the newspapers.

[Bowwowmeow]

Ah well that is the trouble with living here in the Bay Area near the ocean and the bay. You often get cloudy skies at night, when the wind dies down and doesn't blow things away. Same thing happened at the last eclipse.

I might have been at my house though, if I hadn't gotten a last minute request from a customer. My oldest one left now in fact. Just over the summit of the mountain I live on, to the west, there is a beautiful place to get a stunning view of the entire California central valley and the eastern-most Coastal Range. Practically half the state width-wise! A great place to view sunsets and moonsets, through crystal clear skies. So I will be ready next time!

Every time I arrive at my place after dark, and glance up at the night sky, I am truly stunned at what looks like millions of stars in view. Here in the Bay Area it seems like we are lucky to see 20-30 on a "clear" night, not really so clear after all, on account of moisture in the air, and city lights never allowing true darkness.

[nagev]

Golly gosh darnnit! I was going to get up, but I've had some kind of sinus infection or headcold and I've slept terribly the last few days, so I forgot all about it.

:(

Oh well.

Too bad about the fog for you, at least you saw some of it. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

I hope you are feeling better nagev.

[Gliondrach]

Perhaps Nagev should use a neti pot? I don't mean a netty pot.

[nagev]

I hope you are feeling better nagev.

Thanks. In terms of my cold/sinus dealie, yes I think it's getting better. I'm sleeping through the night and I don't have aches or a fever anymore. :) Although I still have a persistent cough.

Perhaps Nagev should use a neti pot? I don't mean a netty pot.

I have one and I use it. :)

[Gliondrach]

Which, a neti pot or a netty pot?

[nagev]

I do not know what is a netty pot, but I do have and use a neti pot. Definitely not a yeti pot. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

Nagev uses a neti.
But he's never heard of a netty.
I hardly suppose
Anyone knows
What it is, not even the Yeti.

[Gliondrach]

A netty is Geordie for the W.C.
Which have pots for people to pee.
Some pots go under
Things on which we slumber
And they are commonly called a potty.

[nagev]

:lol:

[Bowwowmeow]

August 5, 2010: You know it's a good night when a beautiful alignment of planets is the second best thing that's going to happen. Thursday, August 12th, is such a night.

The show begins at sundown when Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon pop out of the western twilight in tight conjunction. All four heavenly objects will fit within a circle about 10 degrees in diameter, beaming together through the dusky colors of sunset. No telescope is required to enjoy this naked-eye event:

http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/08/05/Pete-Lawrence2_med.jpg/image_mini (http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/08/05/Pete-Lawrence2.jpg)
A Perseid meteor photographed in Aug. 2009 by Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK.

The planets will hang together in the western sky until 10 pm or so. When they leave, following the sun below the horizon, you should stay, because that is when the Perseid meteor shower begins. From 10 pm until dawn, meteors will flit across the starry sky in a display that's even more exciting than a planetary get-together.

The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Every 133 years the huge comet swings through the inner solar system and leaves behind a trail of dust and gravel. When Earth passes through the debris, specks of comet-stuff hit the atmosphere at 140,000 mph and disintegrate in flashes of light. These meteors are called Perseids because they fly out of the constellation Perseus.

Swift-Tuttle's debris zone is so wide, Earth spends weeks inside it. Indeed, we are in the outskirts now, and sky watchers are already reporting a trickle of late-night Perseids. The trickle could turn into a torrent between August 11th and 13th when Earth passes through the heart of the debris trail.

2010 is a good year for Perseids because the Moon won't be up during the midnight-to-dawn hours of greatest activity. Lunar glare can wipe out a good meteor shower, but that won't be the case this time.

As Perseus rises and the night deepens, meteor rates will increase. For sheer numbers, the best time to look is during the darkest hours before dawn on Friday morning, Aug. 13th, when most observers will see dozens of Perseids per hour.

http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/08/05/perseidmap_strip.jpg/image_full (http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/08/05/perseidmap_strip.jpg) Looking northeast around midnight on August 12th-13th. The red dot is the Perseid radiant. Although Perseid meteors can appear in any part of the sky, all of their tails will point back to the radiant.

For best results, get away from city lights. The darkness of the countryside multiplies the visible meteor rate 3- to 10-fold. A good dark sky will even improve the planetary alignment, allowing faint Mars and Saturn to make their full contribution to the display. Many families plan camping trips to coincide with the Perseids. The Milky Way arching over a mountain campground provides the perfect backdrop for a meteor shower.

Enjoy the show!

[Bowwowmeow]

Well I just got back from viewing the alignment at dusk. It was truly beautiful, especially as the crescent moon set and turned orange. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

Well I just saw six Perseids in the last half hour. :)

[Gliondrach]

Damn! I was thinking about them earlier yesterday but forgot about them. I'm not even sure if the sky was clear. I will have a look tonight.

[Bowwowmeow]

I've just seen 26 in the last half hour. I guess that qualifies as a real meteor shower! I'm going to bed now. It's 4:30 in the morning.

[Gliondrach]

It's been raining here all day. Thick clouds.

[Bowwowmeow]

Aw.

Got any observatories nearby? Those are usually built where clear skies are likely to occur most of the year. We've got several in the California mountains. I suppose it helps to be in natural drought country though.

[Bowwowmeow]

I did get a photo of the alignment, though it's a bit "grainy":

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4889269451_29a5eb5d5c_z.jpg


That is Venus, Saturn, and Mars, though I don't know yet which is which!

[Bowwowmeow]

There are still plenty of Perseids to see. I just saw two while I was outside with Daisy for her bedtime wee-wee.

[Gliondrach]

That is Venus, Saturn, and Mars, though I don't know yet which is which!

Saturn is the one with the rings. And Mars is the one with two moons.

[nagev]

I was out camping the night of the 12th, but unfortunately right at dusk clouds moved in and it rained all night and then cleared by morning. However I've been seeing meteors for a few weeks now. :) Not at 26 in a half hour though.

Mars in the upper left, then Saturn to the right, then Venus just below that. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

Saturn is the one with the rings. And Mars is the one with two moons.
:wigglebutt:

I was out camping the night of the 12th, but unfortunately right at dusk clouds moved in and it rained all night and then cleared by morning. However I've been seeing meteors for a few weeks now. :) Not at 26 in a half hour though.

Mars in the upper left, then Saturn to the right, then Venus just below that. :)
Thanks.

[Bowwowmeow]

As the summer night sky draws near its close, there are still some cosmic objects that may beckon skywatchers equipped with a small telescope, binoculars or their own two eyes.

Compiling such a list is, of course, very subjective, but here (with apologies to David Letterman) is my own "Top 10" list of summer sky objects to try and catch before they're gone. They are listed in ascending order of merit from this seasoned stargazer:

10)The Cowboy Boot
It's a fact: Thumb through most astronomy books or skywatching guides and you'll find all the accolades going to the most brilliant and splashy star patterns such as Orion, the Hunter, Scorpius, the Scorpion or (for southern observers), the region around Crux, the Southern Cross.

But while the small, faint star patterns usually get short shrift, there's one pattern I always look for, partly because it serves as an excellent gage for determining the quality of the night sky and also because it serves as a "pointer" to one of the summer's best deep-sky objects.

It's nicknamed the Cowboy Boot. This sky map (http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=constellations_narrow_020823_0 2.gif&cap=Skywatchers+can+find+the+cosmic+Cowboy+Boot%2C +the+Arrow+and+more+lurking+inside+the+three+small +constellations.+Credit%3A+Starry+Night+Software+[%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2Fspacewatc h%2Ftop-10-summer-sky-objects-100903.html%3EFull+Story%3C%2Fa%3E]%0D%0A)shows where to look for it.

This star arrangement appears in the constellation Vulpecula, the Little Fox, which on most charts seems to be nothing more than a formless splattering of dim stars. But astronomer Hugh Rice, who more than a half century ago used to work at New York's Hayden Planetarium, showed part of this group - on his star maps - resembled a cowboy boot.

The boot even boasted a spur that many cowboys wear.

9) The Dumbbell
Sighted in wide-field binoculars or a telescope's viewfinder, Rice's cowboy boot pattern helps us locate the beautiful Dumbbell nebula (M27). Picked up with very low power as a glowing bubble encompassing two hazy patches of light; it assumes a dumbbell appearance in larger telescopes.

The name "Dumbbell" was, in fact, derived from the description by the Rev. T.W. Webb (1807-1885) of "two hazy masses in contact." And while you're scanning in this area of the sky, be sure to also look for the Arrow (Sagitta) and Job's Coffin, a lozenge-shape pattern of four stars that represents Delphinus, the Dolphin.

8) A Ghostly Doughnut
The little constellation of Lyra is supposed to represent Apollo's harp. Six fainter stars form a little geometric pattern of a parallelogram attached at its northern corner to an equal-sided triangle. Vega gleams at the western part of the triangle. But tucked in this region is the acclaimed Ring nebula.

The two lowest stars in the parallelogram are Beta and Gamma Lyrae. Beta is sometimes also known as Sheliak. Between these two stars, but a trifle nearer to Gamma, is where you will find the Ring nebula.

The nebula shines at magnitude +8.8, and thus is far too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. Any good pair of binoculars will locate it, though it will look almost star-like in appearance because of its small apparent diameter.

The ring shape might just begin to become evident to most eyes in small telescopes using a magnification of 100-power, although at least a 6-inch telescope is recommended to see the ring clearly. With larger instruments and higher magnifications, the ring appears distinctly as a "tiny ghostly doughnut."

7) Draco the Dragon
While most folks are familiar with the Big and Little Dipper, in the same region of the sky is a long, winding group of stars which portrays the mythological creature of a dragon named Draco, which during late evening hours is riding high above Polaris, the North Star.

This sky map (http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=0406245_DragoClose_02.jpg&cap=A+closer+look+at+the+Draco+constellation+in+th e+summer+sky.+Credit%3A+Starry+Night+Software+[%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2Fspacewatc h%2Ftop-10-summer-sky-objects-100903.html%3EFull+Story%3C%2Fa%3E]%0D%0A) shows the location of the constellation Draco in early September.

Draco is a very ancient star grouping. The earliest Sumerians considered these stars to represent the dragon Tiamat. Later it became one of the creatures that Hercules killed. One of Draco's tasks was to guard the garden of Hesperides and its golden apples that Hercules was supposed to retrieve. In the stars, Draco coils around Polaris and we now see Hercules standing (albeit upside down) on Draco's head.

The Dragon's head is the most conspicuous part of Draco: an irregular quadrangle, not quite half the size of the Big Dipper's bowl. The brightest star is Eltanin, a second magnitude star, shining with an orange tinge. Interestingly, a number of temples in Ancient Egypt were oriented toward this star.

The faintest of the four stars in the quadrangle, however, is worth looking for: Nu Draconis, a wonderful double-star for very small telescopes. The two stars are practically the same brightness, both appearing just a trifle brighter than fifth magnitude and separated by just over one arc minute (or about 1/30th the apparent diameter of a full moon).

6) The "Double-Double" Star
Back to the constellation of Lyra once again, this time for a look at another double-star. In fact, you could almost call this one "Nu Draconis squared."

Epsilon Lyrae is better known as the "double-double" star. Exceptionally good vision on a clear, dark night will reveal Epsilon as undoubtedly two tiny stars (designated Epsilon 1 and Epsilon 2) that are very close together.

The separation is approximately one-ninth the apparent diameter of the full moon. This feat is probably right at the limit of perfect vision.
Binoculars will make the two stars clearly visible. But if you train a s (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/top10summerskyobjectstoseebeforefall/37445630/SIG=12ldn2035/*http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/?cmpid=space470)mall telescope (http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/?cmpid=space470) on them, then each of these two stars are themselves shown to be double-stars.

So here, in what initially might appear as a single speck of light in the sky, we have a system of four stars, revolving intricately about each other. The two stars that make up Epsilon 1 take at least several hundred years or more to orbit each other. An even longer interval of nearly a thousand years has been assigned to the two stars that make up Epsilon 2.

Meanwhile, both pairs of stars appear to be revolving about each other and have a common center of gravity with a period that probably is on the order of a million years or more.

5) The Wild Ducks

Several clouds of stars surrounded by a few dark regions for contrast can be seen with binoculars in the bright area of the Milky Way about halfway between the star Altair and the constellation of Sagittarius.

Four faint stars in a stretched-out diamond are about all that is visible of Scutum, the Shield. One of the Milky Way's great star clouds is also within Scutum.

Near the northern star of the Shield is the 11th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalogue of "fuzzy" objects masquerading as comets. Messier 11 is one of the richest and most compact of galactic clusters, described by one experienced observer as resembling "a flight of wild ducks."

4) A Cosmic Chrysanthemum
Quite possibly the most celebrated object in the summertime skies is the Great Cluster in Hercules, known also as M13. Anyone who has visited the summer gathering of amateur astronomers near Springfield, Vt., known as Stellafane, know that this famous cluster is often on display in the observatory that houses the famed Porter turret telescope.

To locate M13, look toward the four stars, known as the "Keystone," which supposedly forms the body of Hercules. It's between the two western stars of the keystone that we can find the Great Globular Cluster of Hercules about a third of the way along a line drawn from the stars Eta to Zeta.

This sky map (http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=090715-hercules-cluster-02.jpg&cap=The+Great+Cluster+in+Hercules+is+one+of+the+ob serving+highlights+in+the+summer+sky.+This+map+sho ws+the+sky+looking+south+at+around+11+p.m.+your+lo cal+time) shows the cluster's approximate position.

Actually, it was not Messier, but Sir Edmund Halley (of comet fame), who first mentioned it in 1715, having discovered it the previous year: "This is but a little Patch," he wrote, "but it shows itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent."

Located at a distance of about 25,000 light years, the Hercules Cluster has been estimated to be a ball of tens of thousands of stars roughly 160 light years in diameter.

If you use good binoculars and look toward that spot in the sky where M13 is you likely will see a similar view: a roundish glow or patch of light. Moving up to a telescope, the view dramatically improves. With a 4 to 6-inch telescope, the "patch" starts to become resolved into hundreds of tiny pinpoints of light. In larger instruments, M13 is transformed into a spectacular celestial chrysanthemum

3) The Coat Hanger
Most amateur astronomers have heard of such beautiful open star clusters as the Pleiades, Hyades and the Beehive. Yet few have ever heard of the "Coat Hanger."

But if you turn your binoculars to the region of the sky roughly halfway between the bright stars Vega and Altair, you will discover this intriguing group of stars. It is not too far away from the Cowboy Boot of Vulpecula that was number 9 on our list.

For some reason that I have never been able to fathom, the Coat hanger Cluster is rarely mentioned, if at all, in most popular astronomy books. Yet, it is the brightest of all the star clusters in this part of the sky!

However, it only appears as a proper coat hanger only for Southern Hemisphere observers, where it appears right side up. In a clear, dark sky you might even perceive it with the naked eye as a fuzzy patch of light. This is one object best suited for your binoculars; even a small telescope with low power will provide too much magnification and will cause the stars to appear too widely spaced apart.

2)Albireo: Blue and Gold
Without question, this is one of if not the most beautiful double-stars in the night sky. Located in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan, Albireo supposedly marks the swan's beak.

A small telescope or even a pair of steadily held binoculars will readily split Albireo into two tiny points of light of beautiful contrasting colors: the brighter one a rich yellowish-orange, the other a deep azure blue, both placed very close together.
An absolutely stunning view will come with a telescope magnifying between 18 and 30 power.

Albireo is believed by astronomers to be a physical pair, although there has never been evidence of any orbital motion between these two colorful stars. The projected separation between the two is just over 400 billion miles. At least 55 of our solar systems could be lined-up edge-to-edge, across the space that separates the components of this famous double star.

1)Our Milky Way Galaxy
Summertime is undoubtedly the best time to observe the beautiful Milky Way (http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=090715-hercules-cluster-02.jpg&cap=The+Great+Cluster+in+Hercules+is+one+of+the+ob serving+highlights+in+the+summer+sky.+This+map+sho ws+the+sky+looking+south+at+around+11+p.m.+your+lo cal+time). With a good pair of binoculars or a telescope you can now observe millions of sparkling little stars that make up this glowing, irregular belt of luminosity.

On early summer evenings it appears to arch from the north-northeast to the south-southeast, with its brightest and most spectacular region running across the Summer Triangle and beyond toward the south-southeast horizon.

There appears to be a great black rift dividing it into two streams, beginning with Cygnus and extending down toward the south. Also in Cygnus is the black void known as the Northern Coal Sack. This Coal Sack and the Rift are not holes in the Milky Way, but rather are vast clouds of dust "floating" out in interstellar space which present a solid and impenetrable curtain between us and the more distant stars.

Never visible from large cities with their bright lights, smoke and haze, the Milky Way can still be readily viewed from distant suburbs and rural locations. Before the invention of the telescope, the true nature of the Milky Way Galaxy ("Gala" is Greek for milk) was a mystery.

The brightest part of the Milky Way is in the constellation of Sagittarius, near the star El Nasl. In fact, this region is roughly our galaxy's center.
Even to the unaided eye, the view is one of excitement and beauty. The Sagittarius Star Cloud, about 30,000 light-years distant, seems to be the nucleus, with the sun and all the outer stars of the galaxy revolving around it at the rate of 155 miles per second. It apparently requires about 200 million of our Earth years to make one complete revolution, or one "cosmic year," around the center of our galaxy.



Gallery - Amazing Milky Way Photos (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/top10summerskyobjectstoseebeforefall/37445630/SIG=12i1j1bj1/*http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=3880&gid=281)
Telescopes for Beginners (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/top10summerskyobjectstoseebeforefall/37445630/SIG=12ldn2035/*http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/?cmpid=space470)
For Star-Gazers, September Brings New Night Sky (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/top10summerskyobjectstoseebeforefall/37445630/SIG=12c2ii48m/*http://www.space.com/spacewatch/september-night-sky-stargazers-100901.html)

[Gliondrach]

It's usually too cloudy here to see the sky clearly. I would like to see the milky way. I'll have a look with my binoculas.

The star maps go to an error page.

[Bowwowmeow]

I'll fix them. They were copied straight from a Yahoo article, and they lead to error pages at the Yahoo site as well. Fortunately there is a link to the original article, with working links.

[nagev]

For those up early (or up late, depending on your point of view), about an hour and a half before Sunrise, Venus and Saturn will be close to each other (about 17 degrees, the Moon or Sun are about 0.5 degrees in diameter) and to the South East (Spica will be kind of between them). The Moon will pass them, over the next two mornings.

By the end of next month Mercury will be visible on the horizon (same general place about an hour before sunrise.

[Gliondrach]

Thanks. I'll look out for them.

[Gliondrach]

Winter solstice marked by eclipse

There will be a total lunar eclipse on Tuesday morning, when the Earth casts a shadow onto the Moon. Skip related content

On the day of the winter solstice, December 21, the full Moon will start to pass through the cone of Earth's shadow at 6.32am.

The partial eclipse begins when the Moon first enters the dark inner, umbral part of the Earth's shadow, and will become a total eclipse at 7.40am.

It will reach its maximum at 8.17am, and end at 8.53am.

From southern parts of the UK, the initial partial phase and the beginning of totality will be visible, but the Moon will be dropping down into the western sky as dawn approaches.

From those locations, when totality begins, the Moon will be very low in the west-north-western sky, close to the horizon and in a rapidly brightening sky.

From locations in Scotland and Northern Ireland, totality will be visible in its entirety, but the Moon will be low down after the time of greatest eclipse.

John Mason, from the British Astronomical Association, said: "Observers should go out at about 6.30am when, if the sky is clear, the Moon will be visible in the western sky, and they will be able to watch as more and more of the southern part of the Moon becomes immersed in the Earth's shadow.

"They can continue watching until the eclipse becomes total at 7.40am, and hopefully for a little while after this time, if they have an unobstructed western horizon."

Dr Mason added: "For observers in the British Isles, the very low elevation of the Moon during the total phase means that it is not possible to predict just how dark the Moon will be when it is eclipsed, or what colour it will appear. One will just have to go out and have a look."

ht--tp://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20101220/tuk-winter-solstice-marked-by-eclipse-6323e80.html

[Bowwowmeow]

:( It's quite cloudy right now. I see it has commenced, as the clouds thin at times, but I don't know if it'll clear up enough at totality for me to take a nice picture of it. :sigh:

[nagev]

Cloudy here too. I continued to check, but no break in the clouds. :(

[Gliondrach]

I saw it. I woke up at some time in the early morning. My bedroom was bright with moonlight. Dozed off. Woke up again. Looked at the Moon. The eclipse had begun. It was 6.37. The Moon's left-hand side was beginning to become dark. Even though most of the Moon was still bright the moonlight in my bedroom had turned dingy. Just before 7 o'clock the Moon was half covered. The room was much darker - I wouldn't have known there was any moonlight if I had just looked at the walls. The Moon had just a crescent of light on its right side at about 7.15 when it was obscured by something. I realised it had gone behind some scaffolding of a new building (for students). There was only a partial glimpse of it behind this scaffolding until it disappeared behind a roof at 7.27.

I went downstairs to open the curtains in the sitting room and to throw some food out for the birds. The eastern sky was a murky blue-grey with orange at the horizon.

Later on, when it was light, I saw that a crane was also obstructing the view near the scaffolding.

This is the first time there's be a lunar eclipse on the winter solstice since 1638.

Imagine what terror the people would have felt 4,000 years ago if this had happened. There they would have been, watching the Sun weakly rising in the sky and not knowing if it would rise the next day because it had been getting weaker and weaker for weeks. And then the Moon goes out! The members of my order probably wouldn't have been able to calm them.

And I'm glad the rules have changed and I didn't have to officiate at a ceremony at dawn this morning. It was cold enough just watching from my bedroom.

[Gliondrach]

There was a partial eclipse of the sun this morning but it was too cloudy to see.

[Bowwowmeow]

I don't suppose it's news, but I saw some beautiful earthshine on the crescent moon this evening, coming back from town.

[Gliondrach]

The Quandrantid meteor shower is supposed to be visible in the early mornings. Or it was earlier in the week. And Jupiter is visible in the south in the early morning. Or did they say in the evening?
ht--tp://ww--w.bbc.co.uk/search/?q=stargazing

[Gliondrach]

There was a good programme on telly just now about the moon, It was called Do We Really Need the Moon? I thought we could probably do without it if we had to but it seems we do really need it. It was said that the moon might have been responsible for the start of life here. Rock pools are formed by the tides and the tides are formed largely by the moon's gravitational pull. It's thought the constant filling and drying of these pools lead to life starting.

They did an experiment with a flask of sea water and chemicals thought to have been present in those early days. The water was heated to simulate evaporation caused by the sun's heat. And ultra-violet light was shone on the water. The result was the formation of the building blocks of RNA which is vital to life.

Why the Moon is getting further away from Earth
1 February 2011

The speed at which the Moon is moving away from Earth could affect life on the planet, but this could take billions of years to happen, writes space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

It's easy to take the Moon for granted, even on a clear night when it can light up the sky. It really feels as if it has always been there just as it is now, throughout history. But that's not strictly true.

It is thought that the Moon was formed when a proto-planet about the size of Mars collided with the early Earth around 4.5bn years ago. The debris left over from impact coalesced to form the Moon. Computer simulations of such an impact are consistent with the Earth Moon system we see in the 21st Century.

The simulations also imply that at the time of its formation, the Moon sat much closer to the Earth - a mere 14,000 miles (22,530.8 kilometres) away, compared to the quarter of a million miles (402,336 kilometres) between the Earth and the Moon today.

The Moon continues to spin away from the Earth, at the rate of 1.48in (3.78cm) per year, at about the same speed at which our fingernails grow.

Without the Moon, the Earth could slow down enough to become unstable, but this would take billions of years and it may never happen at all.

The migration of the Moon away from the Earth is mainly due to the action of the Earth's tides.

The Moon is kept in orbit by the gravitational force that the Earth exerts on it, but the Moon also exerts a gravitational force on our planet and this causes the movement of the Earth's oceans to form a tidal bulge.

Due to the rotation of the Earth, this tidal bulge actually sits slightly ahead of the Moon. Some of the energy of the spinning Earth gets transferred to the tidal bulge via friction.

This drives the bulge forward, keeping it ahead of the Moon. This large mass of water then exerts its own gravitational pull on the Moon which causes the moon to speed up.

The Moon's increased speed causes it to drift away from the Earth with an ever-increasing orbital diameter. This phenomenon is similar to the experience one feels on a children's roundabout.

The faster the roundabout spins the stronger the feeling of being slung outwards.

While 1.48in may not seem like much, this small difference over a long enough period of time could affect life on Earth.

As the Moon is speeding up due to the tidal bulge and the Earth's rotation, the opposite effect is happening to the Earth and it is slowing down.

On early Earth, when the Moon was newly formed, days were five hours long, but with the Moon's braking effect operating on the Earth for the last 4.5bn years, days have slowed down to the 24 hours that we are familiar with now, and they will continue to slow down in the future.

We can see some evidence of the slowdown in the fossil records of some creatures.

By looking at the daily growth bands of corals we can calculate the numbers of days that occurred per year in past periods, and from this we can see that days are getting longer, at a rate of 19 hours every 4.5bn years.

The length of a day, or in other words the rotation speed of the planet, plays a big part in its stability.

Just like keeping a plate spinning on a stick, the key is to have the plate spinning fast, as if it slows down it crashes to the floor. In a similar way, as the Earth's rotation slows down, our whole planet may start to slowly wobble and this will have a devastating effect on our seasons.

We have the seasons we currently do, due to the Earth's tilt at an angle of 23 degrees on its axis.

During summer the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun so we get longer days and warmer weather. However in winter the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun giving us shorter days and cooler weather.

If this were to change, and the Earth became unstable, then parts of the world could experience much greater temperature swings than we are used to through any given year, with freezing Arctic temperatures in winter followed by blazing hot temperatures in summer.

As humans we have the ability to adapt to our local surroundings to meet our needs. If humans are still around when and if it happens it is quite likely we would survive these massive changes with air conditioning in the summer and a lot of heating in winter.

Unfortunately most animals are not so adaptable and if these changes happened rapidly due to an unstable planetary wobble, then most animals would not be able to evolve quickly enough to hibernate or migrate out of harm's way.

The human race has little to fear at present. By the time any change occurred, humans might even have generated technology that could speed up the Earth's rotation or transport us to other liveable planets within our galaxy.

Do we really need the Moon? explores our relationship with the Moon. Watch it on Tuesday at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.

ht--tp://ww--w.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12311119

You'll be able to watch it here - although perhaps not if you're not in the UK:
ht--tp://w--ww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yb5jp

[Bowwowmeow]

I better put my hammock up. The Aquarids are coming. :shootingstar:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/27apr_eta/

[Gliondrach]

I better put my hammock up. The Aquarids are coming. :shootingstar:



Don't you have a spare bed for when people who come to stay?

[Bowwowmeow]

Well I only saw three, but they were big and bright and left long streaks across the sky. The last one I saw was the best I've ever seen. :)

[Gliondrach]

Could next week's 'supermoon' cause chaos around the globe?

By Katy Holland, Mar 09, 2011

Could the moon could cause havoc on the world's weather next week? Could it even trigger a natural disaster?

On March 19th, astronomers say that the moon will pass within just 221,567 miles of the earth - the closest it has been since 1992.

This phenomena, known as the 'supermoon', or lunar perigee, has been shown in the past to precede natural disasters, including a tsunami in Indonesia in 1974.

In anticipation, the worldwide web is alive with predictions of tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and even earthquakes next week.

A lunar perigee occurs once a month. However, next week's perigee coincides with a full moon - a combination of events that happen just once every two or three years.

Scientists say it has no impact on Earth, and the Met Office made the following statement: 'The moon does not affect the weather.'

However, it is well known that the moon does affect the tides, and some experts believe that this could have an effect in coastal areas, with tides that are higher and lower than usual.
h--ttp://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/03/09/could-next-weeks-supermoon-cause-chaos-around-the-globe/

[Bowwowmeow]

I left my camera on for ten minutes last weekend, early in the morning, and I think I captured a Perseid.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6090/6041754110_d504a91b20_b.jpg

[Gliondrach]

I've seen what looks like a very bright star or planet the last two nights. I thought it might be Jupiter. My brother 'phoned me yesterday to say it is a supernova. I wish I had seen it when it first appeared - I might have been able to see the light around it. As I said, it just looks like a bright star. I looked through binoculars last night. The sky was hazy so that might have obscured any light show around it. I'll have another look tonight if it's clearer.

Supernova explosion will be visible from UK

Astronomers say light from supernova of dying star 21m light years away can be seen with binoculars or telescope

Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 September 2011

An exploding star in a galaxy far from Earth should be visible from Britain soon after twilight this evening. Amateur astronomers will be able to observe the flicker of light from its violent death throes through a good pair of binoculars or a telescope, clear skies permitting.

The supernova – the nearest of its kind to be spotted in 40 years – lies in the Pinwheel galaxy, 21m light years from Earth.

The distance means observers on Earth will see the death of the star as it played out 21m years ago, the time it has taken the light from the exploding star to reach our planet.

Under clear skies, the supernova can be found by looking first for the Plough (also called Ursa Major or the Big Dipper) in the sky immediately after sunset. The "handle" of the Plough has three stars.

"As you look at the sky, draw an imaginary line through the second and third stars in the handle and follow that line up and left. The supernova is four degrees along, or around the distance taken up by five full moons in the sky," said Dr Mark Sullivan, an astrophysics research fellow at Oxford University.

The supernova will appear in the sky as a bright star on the edge of one of the Pinwheel galaxy's spiral arms. "Whilst it looks more or less like just another bright star, unlike its companions this supernova will soon fade away, and after a few days it will only be visible with larger telescopes," Sullivan added.

The Oxford team spotted the supernova on 24 August. Working with a group called the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) collaboration, the scientists used the Hubble space telescope to observe the supernova.

The team noticed the supernova about five days after the star exploded and will continue observations until mid-October.

The discovery is particularly important because it is a type 1a supernova, the kind used to measure the expansion of the universe.

"For many people it could be a once in a lifetime chance to see a supernova of this kind blossom and then fade before their eyes; we may not see another one like it for another 40, or perhaps over 100 years," Sullivan said.

ht--tp://ww--w.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/08/supernova-explosion-visible-from-uk

[Bowwowmeow]

Yes I noticed it too. I thought it was a planet at first, but my brother told me about it.

[Gliondrach]

A large asteroid is due to pass close to the Earth at about 23:28 GMT (UK time) today - about 4 1/2 hours from now. It is about 430 yards wide. It will pass as close as 201,000 miles to us - closer than the Moon. It's called 2005 YU55. Let's hope the boffins have done their sums properly and it doesn't hit us.

[Bowwowmeow]

I will be hoping the sky is clear enough to get some photos of this: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02dec_lunareclipse/

Gotta wake up at 4 AM though. Yikes! :tired:

[Gliondrach]

Wake up, BWM!

It is nearly 4 o'clock where you are.

[Bowwowmeow]

I did, I did! :p

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--0Zz3ZlD8tY/TuN3eBridCI/AAAAAAAAAsY/eUPNZFQDuNE/s512/Eclipse%2525203.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q0daMmb9fVQ/TuN3etDY5cI/AAAAAAAAAso/HJezaLOdLAk/s512/Eclipse%2525204.jpg


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bDXI5xRYuOw/TuPRGqwDLzI/AAAAAAAAAt0/3dStAvd0CCY/s512/Eclipse%25252011.jpg


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ay60XJILHgk/TuPOd5ynMxI/AAAAAAAAAtY/lLNCCX6jRy8/s512/Eclipse%2525207.jpg

I think I started to lose focus here. It's a manual focus mirror lens, not the best quality, and once it gets this dim you can't see to focus.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3Ujc9_hGlwo/TuPOdy6fi7I/AAAAAAAAAtM/4Pog3sZhBnU/s512/Eclipse%2525208.jpg


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7RWj_k6Exl8/TuNx84G2WQI/AAAAAAAAAr0/vUAofT-5jI4/s512/DSC_0058.JPG


It was also setting into the cloud cover.

Maybe by the time the next one comes I'll have a much better telephoto lens. :)

[Gliondrach]

Nice pics. Were you inside or outside when you took them?

[Bowwowmeow]

Outside. It was about 25 degrees F. I had to drive over the summit of my mountain, to a spot about four miles away, to get a good view. I was there for about an hour and a half total. I ran the engine every once in a while to keep the heater going. I sat inside the van while I wasn't out taking pictures.

[Gliondrach]

You must be keen.

[manzana]

It is interesting to see the moon when it is glowing warm and lying low in the sky, appearing huge on the horizon. I have only seen it a couple of times like this.

http://aprilemillo.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/solmoon_ayiomamitis.jpg

[Bowwowmeow]

I've seen many moonrises like that. I forget the official term for the effect. Unfortunately it doesn't get captured in photographs.

That's a pretty picture though.

You must be keen.
No just crazy. :crazier:

I don't know how I forgot to mention I also saw a shooting star. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/13dec_geminids/

I bet that's what I saw during the eclipse. A Geminid.

[Bowwowmeow]

Well I bundled up like an Eskimo in three sweaters, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, boots, gloves, a knitted cap, my fake fur coat, and a quilt, and went outside to watch the shower. I saw twelve Geminids in an hour, but I was starting to fall asleep, believe it or not. It was 27 degrees F when I went outside an hour ago, and there was ice all over my chaise lounge. :snow: :)

[Gliondrach]

Do Daisy and Rufus accompany you on these trips. Or are they sensibly tucked up at home?

[Bowwowmeow]

Oh they were dying to come outside with me. I had to block them at the door. I was only on my driveway tonight.

They did demand to come with me for the eclipse though. I was afraid Rufus would vandalize something if I didn't take him, and no sense leaving Daisy behind in that case.

[Gliondrach]

How is the vandal's leg? Does it give him any trouble?

[Bowwowmeow]

Oh it's fine. I don't think it will ever cause him trouble again.

[Gliondrach]

Good. :yea: