Hey SPace Placers!
Tonight, 3-10-14, the Moon get close to a bright star in Gemini and if you are in the right location you will see the Moon cover or occult the star.
Check here to see if you will see the occultation. This can be seen with the unaided eye to an extent but binoculars and a small telescope will give you a much better view.
I was on the road all day so sorry this is late….
Sky Guy in VA
Monday, March 10, 2014
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Sky Guy Viewing ALERT 3-9-14 Moon & Jupiter
Hey Space Placers!
Before and after watching Cosmos tonight at 9 p.m. EDT, Sunday, 3-9-14 (see yesterday's blog), make sure you take in the sky. Taking center stage tonight is the dance of the waxing gibbous Moon - one day past First Quarter - and bright Jupiter.
The best time to see this lovely duo is at 8 p.m. as the two will be at their highest elevation about the horizon. A pair of 7x50 binoculars held steady will show the four main moons of Jupiter and a wealth of detail on the Moon. A small telescope is even better.
When looking at the Moon imagine the Chinese lunar rover Yutu hibernating in the night and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flying low over the Moon. Jupiter will have company from Earth once again when NASA's Juno spacecraft arrives in July 2016.
Sky Guy in Warming VA
P.S. Space Placers…….
If you have a BluRay DVD make sure you watch 'Gravity' in a darkened room….you'll be glad you did.
Before and after watching Cosmos tonight at 9 p.m. EDT, Sunday, 3-9-14 (see yesterday's blog), make sure you take in the sky. Taking center stage tonight is the dance of the waxing gibbous Moon - one day past First Quarter - and bright Jupiter.
The best time to see this lovely duo is at 8 p.m. as the two will be at their highest elevation about the horizon. A pair of 7x50 binoculars held steady will show the four main moons of Jupiter and a wealth of detail on the Moon. A small telescope is even better.
When looking at the Moon imagine the Chinese lunar rover Yutu hibernating in the night and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flying low over the Moon. Jupiter will have company from Earth once again when NASA's Juno spacecraft arrives in July 2016.
Sky Guy in Warming VA
P.S. Space Placers…….
If you have a BluRay DVD make sure you watch 'Gravity' in a darkened room….you'll be glad you did.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
New Cosmos Series Premieres Sunday in the US
Hey Space Placers!
Mark your calendar for Sunday 9 p.m. EDT - that's right, we will be on Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. - for the premier of the new Cosmos series.
I wanted to get this out a day early so my international readers get a heads up to determine what channel will carry Cosmos in the myriad of countries that visit.
The original Cosmos was seen by over 800 million people following its debut September 28, 1980 on Public Broadcasting and starred Dr. Carl Sagan. He became a cultural icon and the 1st, I believe, mainstream astronomer to connect with the public. National Geographic Channel is broadcasting the original Cosmos starting today, Saturday so check your local listings.
The new Cosmos is 13 parts as was the original and has astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as the host. He is easily the Carl Sagan of our time or this generation. I can attest that he has "rock star' status among the young - astronomers and non-astronomers alike.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original Cosmos series and look forward to seeing the portrayal of things we did not know of 34 years ago using today's media productions tools of the trade.
I hope you tune in to the original so you can appreciate it before seeing the remake.
Sky Guy in Finally Warming VA
Mark your calendar for Sunday 9 p.m. EDT - that's right, we will be on Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. - for the premier of the new Cosmos series.
I wanted to get this out a day early so my international readers get a heads up to determine what channel will carry Cosmos in the myriad of countries that visit.
The original Cosmos was seen by over 800 million people following its debut September 28, 1980 on Public Broadcasting and starred Dr. Carl Sagan. He became a cultural icon and the 1st, I believe, mainstream astronomer to connect with the public. National Geographic Channel is broadcasting the original Cosmos starting today, Saturday so check your local listings.
The new Cosmos is 13 parts as was the original and has astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as the host. He is easily the Carl Sagan of our time or this generation. I can attest that he has "rock star' status among the young - astronomers and non-astronomers alike.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original Cosmos series and look forward to seeing the portrayal of things we did not know of 34 years ago using today's media productions tools of the trade.
I hope you tune in to the original so you can appreciate it before seeing the remake.
Sky Guy in Finally Warming VA
Thursday, March 6, 2014
UPDATE: Asteroid Disintegration Observed by HST Is A 1st
Hey Space Placers!
UPDATE: Ron Baalke of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), an expert in all things asteroids and comets, advised via Twitter that ASTEROID 2013 R3 was reclassified as a comet - P/2013 R3 on Sept. 27, 2013. Once again the line between what are comets and asteroids merges; they are probably one in the same in some instances only requiring a change in their environment to change over.
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Asteroids ruled my blog yesterday and they do today. Asteroid 2014 EC is flying by a bit closer at 36,000 miles at about 4:29 pm EST and newly designated 2014 EF flew by earlier today at about 104,000 miles. You can hear my interview about asteroids on WTOP here.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has photographed for the first time an asteroid, P/2013 R3, in the process of disintegrating.
Comet nuclei have been observed to break up approaching the Sun and Jupiter. But astronomers have never seen this happen to an asteroid in the asteroid belt before so it is getting quite a bit of attention.
There are about 10 pieces that have been observed so far.
The asteroid was unusual since its discovery late last year and follow up observations have chronicled the ongoing disintegration. Astronomers have ruled out a collision and some other possibilities. The likely cause is due to the effect of sunlight on the crumbly space rock.
You can read more about it here.
Sky Guy in Soon to be warmer VA
UPDATE: Ron Baalke of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), an expert in all things asteroids and comets, advised via Twitter that ASTEROID 2013 R3 was reclassified as a comet - P/2013 R3 on Sept. 27, 2013. Once again the line between what are comets and asteroids merges; they are probably one in the same in some instances only requiring a change in their environment to change over.
---------------------------------------
Asteroids ruled my blog yesterday and they do today. Asteroid 2014 EC is flying by a bit closer at 36,000 miles at about 4:29 pm EST and newly designated 2014 EF flew by earlier today at about 104,000 miles. You can hear my interview about asteroids on WTOP here.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has photographed for the first time an asteroid, P/2013 R3, in the process of disintegrating.
Comet nuclei have been observed to break up approaching the Sun and Jupiter. But astronomers have never seen this happen to an asteroid in the asteroid belt before so it is getting quite a bit of attention.
There are about 10 pieces that have been observed so far.
The asteroid was unusual since its discovery late last year and follow up observations have chronicled the ongoing disintegration. Astronomers have ruled out a collision and some other possibilities. The likely cause is due to the effect of sunlight on the crumbly space rock.
You can read more about it here.
Sky Guy in Soon to be warmer VA
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Metro Bus SIzed Asteroid to Flyby at 38,500 Miles - Asteroids, Asteroids, Asteroids
Hey Space Placers!
Asteroids are getting more headlines today - 3-5-14 - as 2014 DX110 (don't you love these designations???!!!!!) will pass about 217,000 miles from Earth at about 4:06 p.m. EST. There was another asteroid that flew by at over 2.5 million miles from us today. Both of these asteroids are about the same size or a little larger than Chelyabinsk and have been discovered in the past few days.
You can tune in to watch this flyby here at 4:00 p.m. EST.
What will really get people's attention is the official announcement that just came out as I am writing this blog about the newly discovered asteroid 2014 EC that is due to flyby Earth tomorrow at 38,500 miles - that's very close - at 4:29 p.m. EST. Depending on its composition our atmosphere would likely break it up and possibly meteorites would be produced. It would be one heck of a bright fireball but it will safely pass.
Another asteroid, VE1E9BE is due to flyby later tonight at 100,000 miles although there has not been an official announcement on that yet. This information is coming to me via Twitter and Listserv emails.
I will be on WTOP today at 5:10 p.m. EST discussing these asteroid flybys.
I think people are getting the idea that asteroids flyby all the time and the media is picking up on it. There are still sensational and WRONG articles on asteroids as I spotted 3 major errors in one major news organization's website - used comet instead of asteroid for one error. Another described 2014 DX110 as "Huge" - hardly at only 80-90 feet across. But such headline adjectives sell.
I might have more on this regarding the two close flybys depending on what if any news coverage develops.
Sky Guy in Thawing Out VA
Asteroids are getting more headlines today - 3-5-14 - as 2014 DX110 (don't you love these designations???!!!!!) will pass about 217,000 miles from Earth at about 4:06 p.m. EST. There was another asteroid that flew by at over 2.5 million miles from us today. Both of these asteroids are about the same size or a little larger than Chelyabinsk and have been discovered in the past few days.
You can tune in to watch this flyby here at 4:00 p.m. EST.
What will really get people's attention is the official announcement that just came out as I am writing this blog about the newly discovered asteroid 2014 EC that is due to flyby Earth tomorrow at 38,500 miles - that's very close - at 4:29 p.m. EST. Depending on its composition our atmosphere would likely break it up and possibly meteorites would be produced. It would be one heck of a bright fireball but it will safely pass.
Another asteroid, VE1E9BE is due to flyby later tonight at 100,000 miles although there has not been an official announcement on that yet. This information is coming to me via Twitter and Listserv emails.
I will be on WTOP today at 5:10 p.m. EST discussing these asteroid flybys.
I think people are getting the idea that asteroids flyby all the time and the media is picking up on it. There are still sensational and WRONG articles on asteroids as I spotted 3 major errors in one major news organization's website - used comet instead of asteroid for one error. Another described 2014 DX110 as "Huge" - hardly at only 80-90 feet across. But such headline adjectives sell.
I might have more on this regarding the two close flybys depending on what if any news coverage develops.
Sky Guy in Thawing Out VA
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
NASA Budget Brief 3-4-14 @ 2 P.M. EST
Hey Space Placers!
From NASA:
From NASA:
March 3, 2014
MEDIA ADVISORY M14-039
NASA Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Briefing Now a Teleconference
Because of inclement weather in the Washington area, NASA's Fiscal Year 2015 budget media briefing on Tuesday, March 4 now will be a teleconference. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and NASA Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Robinson will brief reporters starting at 2 p.m. EST.
Media can participate by dialing into a phone bridge instead of having to be in person at a NASA center.
Audio and visuals from the media teleconference will be carried live on NASA's Internet homepage and on Ustream.
Media who want to participate in the teleconference should contact Sonja Alexander in the NASA Headquarters newsroom at 202-358-1761 or sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. Tuesday.
During the budget briefing, NASA also will take as many questions as possible submitted via Twitter using the hashtag#askNASA.
To listen to the media briefing online or hear the teleconference with visuals on Ustream, visit:
NASA's fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and supporting material will be posted online at 1 p.m. Tuesday at:
Will be interesting to see funding allocations by NASA.
Sky Guy in Frozen & Snow Covered VA
Monday, March 3, 2014
NASA, 'Gravity' & the Twitterverse
Hey Space Placers!
I was launched into the Twitterverse (@SkyGuyInVA) last night during the Oscars and saw1st hand the power of Social Media.
The Oscar show last night was not the best for many reasons BUT Twitter was something to see. The two main threads were the star studded selfie taken at the Oscars that was reported to have beaten President Obama's all time Twitter Tweet and Tweets about 'Gravity'.
'Gravity' nabbed 7 Oscars which is an all time high for a space themed (or any) scifi movie. 1969's '2001: A Space Odyssey' was the last true ground breaker in space related story telling and Gravity was a worthy heir.
In a move of pure social media genius NASA shared with the Twitterverse "#RealGravity" Tweets that showed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as it really is. The images were remarkable and beautiful beyond description - you felt them as you viewed them.
Each time Gravity won an Oscar NASA would release another Tweet. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as on the ground Tweeted congratulatory messages to Gravity.
When the star studded selfie from the Oscars went out I wanted to send out what I consider to be the best selfie EVER as it was taken over the world:
I was launched into the Twitterverse (@SkyGuyInVA) last night during the Oscars and saw1st hand the power of Social Media.
The Oscar show last night was not the best for many reasons BUT Twitter was something to see. The two main threads were the star studded selfie taken at the Oscars that was reported to have beaten President Obama's all time Twitter Tweet and Tweets about 'Gravity'.
'Gravity' nabbed 7 Oscars which is an all time high for a space themed (or any) scifi movie. 1969's '2001: A Space Odyssey' was the last true ground breaker in space related story telling and Gravity was a worthy heir.
In a move of pure social media genius NASA shared with the Twitterverse "#RealGravity" Tweets that showed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as it really is. The images were remarkable and beautiful beyond description - you felt them as you viewed them.
Each time Gravity won an Oscar NASA would release another Tweet. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as on the ground Tweeted congratulatory messages to Gravity.
When the star studded selfie from the Oscars went out I wanted to send out what I consider to be the best selfie EVER as it was taken over the world:
Astronaut Clay Anderson took the selfie and you could say that the Earth Photobombed (appeared in) his selfie. The response from Twitterverse was gratifying last night but upon sending it out to today (3-3-14) in response to a HuffPost Tweet about the Oscar selfie it really took off with dozens of Tweeters responding by "favoriting" and "retweeting" the image.
Once again this shows me that many people on this planet are space oriented and care about humans in space. 'The movie 'Gravity' brought that out as people could see, experience and identify with space and humans in it through the images of LEO and the superb performances by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
NASA using the Twitterverse took people to the real deal or #RealGravity of humans in LEO in a way that only someone who has been there can do. Astronauts Tweeting from space in real time was surreal as were the images.
In 6 months NASA takes a giant leap forward with the launch of an unmanned test Orion spacecraft atop a Delta IV heavy for the Exploration Flight Test-1 mission. Orion will go out to 3.600 miles, a distance designed to test the re-entry capabilities of Orion, orbit Earth twice and re-enter at over 20,000 miles per hour, a speed not seen since Apollo astronauts returning from the Moon.
NASA is building the Space Launch System (SLS) which when combined with Orion can send astronauts to LEO, the Moon, Mars and asteroids. There are a lot of critics that say private industry can do it better than NASA, that we don't need to send humans out in space - let robots do it - that NASA is a dinosaur and is broken.
To all of them I say NASA is the only organization that currently exists that can stave off the extinction of humanity due to a space-related calamity and propel us into a space-based future. NASA is funding private sector space and developing new technology through R&D. ISS is learning about the effect of space on the human body. NASA has sent probes to very planet and is enroute to Pluto. It is not perfect by any means but nothing involving humans is.
I hope you see Gravity or view it again. It is not perfect in its science but it is perfect in its imagery and portrayals. Be sure to look at the real deal NASA LEO images afterwards and make it a point to wave at ISS when it flies over you.
Sky Guy in VA
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