Full moon last night was gorgeous
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Too cloudy to see Comet Lulin
It's been far too cloudy for the past three days to see Comet Lulin where I live. How about you?
Thunderstorms are expected to drown out one of the most exciting evenings for local astronomers.
Suzanne Willis, interim chair for the Department of Physics, said Comet Lulin, discovered in July of 2007, will be most visible to the naked eye tonight between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m.
Willis said Lulin, which is located near the orbit of Saturn, will make its nearest pass by earth before leaving our range of visibility for good. Sadly for the Midwest region, Lulin will not be easily detectable through the storms this evening.
“Lulin is now observable to us for the first time, and it will be the last in a matter of a few weeks,” Willis said. “Comets are on very long orbits often for periods of 100 years, Halley’s Comet included.”
Visibility of Comet Lulin is best achieved with a very dark sky and binoculars to enhance details of the comet, Willis said.
According to National Geographic Daily News, Lulin could be on its first pass by the sun.
“As the object is exposed to the sun’s heat for the first time, its ices will vaporize, possibly causing the comet to brighten rapidly or even break apart,” the Daily News reported.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Solar Prominence
Solar Prominence 20 January 2009, 10:35UT. Taken with 40mm Coronado PST, x2 Barlow and SPC900NC webcam. Inset: image taken by the Pic di Midi Observatory which measures the angular extent of the prominence to be about 23 degrees.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Perigree Moon
Last month's full Moon over many viewpoints was particularly radient, and it looked bigger than usual. That's because it was the biggest full Moon of 2008 a perigee Moon, 14% wider and 30% brighter than the smallest full Moons of the year.
It's going to happen again at the beginning of 2009.
On Saturday night, Jan. 10th, another perigee Moon is coming. It's the biggest full Moon of 2009, almost identical to the one that impressed onlookers in Dec. 2008.
Johannes Kepler explained the phenomenon 400 years ago. The Moon's orbit around Earth is not a circle; it is an ellipse, with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other. Astronomers call the point of closest approach "perigee," and that is where the Moon will be this weekend.
Perigee full Moons come along once or twice a year. 2008 ended with one and now 2009 is beginning with another.
Another magic moment happens when the perigee Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. 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. This weekend, the "Moon illusion" will amplify a full Moon that's extra-big to begin with because of the Parigree
At perigee, the Moon is only 360,000 km away!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Celestial Body of Three
Occurs a few times w/planets Venus & Jupiter with our moon to form a 'Smile face.' Next time to view such a planetary formation is Nov. 18th 2052!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, by beginners in Astronomy as well as professionals in the field. That's because the Orion Nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers and beginners have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the Orion Nebula.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Harvest Moon
There's been a harvest moon recently, followed by a strange first quarter that puzzled some amateur astronomers but it's perfectly normal for this time of year.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Total Eclipse August 1st
The total eclipse of the Sun tomorrow will only be visible to those who can be in the arctic circle more or less, but look back here afterwards for some stunning pictures of the Solar eclipse
Sunday, July 20, 2008
South side of the Moon with named craters
Showing the craters of Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel, Rupes recta (the right wall), Bullialdus, Regiomontanus, Hell, Walter, Tycho, Maginus and Moretus. You might have to click though to the Sud de la Lune ( South of the Moon ) photo on Flickr to see the individual craters named with notes.
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