What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Headed to sea and Hawaii. With the Moon out of the early evening sky now is the perfect time to look for the Andromeda Galaxy. Use binoculars or your telescope to enhance the view. M31and its two satellite galaxies Greg Redfern Nucleus and Dust Lanes of Andromeda Galaxy Greg Redfern There will be many astropic opportunities on this cruise so I am hoping to share them with you when I can. As always the Internet can be iffy at sea but I will try to stay in touch. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Get the Daily Minor Planet    delivered to your inbox daily for all the good info on asteroids. Sky Guy recommended! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! An early heads up for Fall as there are sights galore in the sky. If you are like me you sure could use a welcome break from the endless election coverage and the world in general. Fortunately Mother Nature has just what we need - the arrival of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. This year Fall officially arrives at 10:21 a.m. EDT on Thursday, September 22nd. Astronomically speaking this is the date and time of the Autumnal Equinox    http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-september-equinox , the precise moment when the Sun is seen directly overhead at noon at the Earth’s equator.  Both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will have almost equal amounts of daylight and night as the Sun rises due East and sets due West everywhere on the planet except for the poles. Seen from space  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248   the Earth is equally illuminated by the Sun. All of this is rep...

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this video of Mars comprised of GROUND based images obtained by master astrophotographer Damian Peach .....simply amazing. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Check out tonight's Full Harvest Moon which is also a Supermoon and Penumbral Eclipse. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Look at this image  and click on it for a larger view - be sure to go to the link to get full resolution by clicking on the image: Over a BILLION stars mapped in our Milky Way Galaxy Credit: ESA Gaia Mission What you are seeing is over a BILLION stars of our Milky Way Galaxy. As stated by the European Space Agency ,  the Gaia spacecraft over the past 14 months has  "pinned down the precise position on the sky and the brightness of 1142 million stars.  As a taster of the richer catalogue to come in the near future, today’s release also features the distances and the motions across the sky for more than two million stars. ". I have included the annotated image because it contains so many of my sky favorites, especially the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies and M-42 in Orion as well. In a word it is "Amazing". It is the most complete mapping project of our Galaxy to date and will only get better a...

Hey Space Placers! Check out these UNREAL pics of rock formation on Mars from Curiosity. Really reminds me of the U.S. Southwest desert. CREDIT: NASA/CALTECH/JPL Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Back from sea. Enjoy this intriguing video that is a simulation of the creation of our Milky Way Galaxy . Sky Guy Back in VA

Hey Space Placers! Check out this new Moon video from NASA: Visiting Normandy Beaches tomorrow. Sky Guy in Honfleur, France