Every clear night in the East at sunset and every clear dawn in the West at sunrise you can see our planet's shadow. It is accompanied by a pink band called the "Belt of Venus" and both are quite easy to see if you have a clear view of the horizon.
Be sure to look on October 24th when the Full Hunter's Moon is rising in the East.
Full Snow Moon Rising out of Earth's Shadow & Belt of Venus Taken at sea aboard Azamara Quest Tasman Strait off the Coast of N. Australia Greg Redfern
It is a daily reminder that you live on a planet that is in perpetual sunlight and as a result casts its shadow out into space. This is the "magic hour" of sunrise and sunset.
Take a look for yourself and contemplate the end and/or beginning of the day.
Hubble Space Telescope is in "Safe Mode" due to a gyro issue. The telescope is fine but ground controllers are assessing the situation. The gyro involved is probably "dead" but HST can continue doing science when it goes back on line as it still has 3 other gyros and can operate one one.
The Earthrise colour photograph taken by astronaut William Anders. It depicts the moment that our shiny blue Earth came back into view as the spacecraft emerged out of the dark from behind the grey and barren Moon. This is arguably the most famous picture taken by Apollo 8. It became iconic and has been credited with starting the environmental movement.
Two of the crates seen in this photo have just been named by the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) of the International Astronomical Union.
Credit:
NASA/IAU
I will be doing a special write up for Apollo 8's 50th, but suffice it to say this image is in all probability the most famous of all from Apollo.
Imaging using the the MUSE spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope reveals a universe full of gently glowing hydrogen clouds.
ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, ESO/ LUTZ WISOTZKI ET AL
This calming picture shows myriad galaxies amidst the soft glow of hydrogen gas caused by a well known process called Lyman Alpha emission (light). Essentially the hydrogen left over from the Big Bang fills the observable Universe and is constantly being energized from a lower to higher energy state causing the glow.
The hydrogen "cocoons" surround ancient galaxies in the early and distant Universe. This discovery will allow new observations of these clouds and their galaxies.
So the next time you look up at a dark, moonless sky, imagine the soft glow of hydrogen that fills our Universe.
Wanna' take a ride on the wild side - of supermassive black holes that is. These beasts are thought to reside at the center of most, if not all, galaxies. Our own Milky Way Galaxy has a 4.4 MILLION solar mass supermassive black hole at its center called Sagittarius A Star or Sgr A* for short.
Look at the first image taken by NASA's new exoplanet hunter - TESS.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) took this snapshot of the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) with just a single detector of one of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7. The frame is part of a swath of the southern sky TESS captured in its “first light” science image as part of its initial round of data collection.
Credits: NASA/MIT/TESS
I LOVE the first light image that shows the Large Magellanic Cloud! One of my fave places in the sky and Universe........
Here is the official statement from Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA, http://www.aura-astronomy.org) regarding the "X-File" - my term not theirs - regarding the solar observatory closure that I blogged on recently. The matter appears to be a law enforcement related matter..... Sorry, no aliens or Roswell unfortunately. Crime even strikes the science of astronomy.... Sky Guy in the Aleutians
Please click on this link to see more of this morning's (9/11/18) pics of Aurora off the coast of Seward, AK underway on Windstar Cruises' Star Legend.
At the completion of Orion’s first visit in 2024, the Gateway will consist of the three right-most modules in this artist’s concept: the power and propulsion module (far right, with solar arrays), ESPRIT (covered in gold insulation), and the U.S. utilization module (with robotic arm).
CREDIT: NASA IMAGE; Planetary Society caption
The long pole in the tent for all of this is the successful launch and flight in 2020 of the uncrewed EM-1. If that doesn't happen on schedule and successfully all of the foregoing will be affected.
Hope everyone in the U.S. had a GREAT & SAFE Labor Day.
I was off the grid for a few days but we are spooling back up today.
NASA's InSight Mars lander will carry a unique instrument capable of measuring heat flowing out of the planet. That could shed light on how Mars' massive mountains -- which eclipse Mt. Everest here on Earth -- first formed.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Here is a nifty video from NASA that discusses efforts to learn about Mother Earth's increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels using data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2).
Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend!
If so, take your computer into a dark room or view at night this gorgeous video from NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studiomade with views my beloved Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
You won't be disappointed.
This is what the Moon looks like through a good telescope with no atmosphere to blur the view.
Water ice confirmed on the Moon.
This precious resource needs to be mapped in detail so we know where to go for mining it for water, oxygen and rocket fuel. If present in a great amount it will form the basis for a long lasting and thriving human presence on the Moon.
The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right), detected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the gray scale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). The ice is concentrated at the darkest and coldest locations, in the shadows of craters. This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface.
At sea headed to Iceland and hopefully Aurora and Noctilucent Clouds. Really want to get pictures of them to add to my book which is at the publisher.
Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) wide-angle camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
GREAT night at Shenandoah National Park Night Sky Festival as the clouds cleared and we saw about a dozen Perseids including some bright ones and the glorious Milky Way!
Tonight is the Perseids peak so get out and see them!
NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe today so its off to the Sun and history.
I hope to see some Aurora on my next voyage which are caused by Earth's interaction with the Sun.
The annual Perseid Meteor Shower is underway now and is expected to peak the night of August 12-13. With the Moon being at New phase for this year's shower from a dark sky site you could see about one Perseid a minute.
The Perseid meteors appear to stream away from the shower's "radiant" point near the border of Perseus and Cassiopeia. Sky & Telescope
NASA introduced to the world on Aug. 3, 2018, the first U.S. astronauts who will fly on American-made, commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station – an endeavor that will return astronaut launches to U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011. The agency assigned nine astronauts to crew the first test flight and mission of both Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The astronauts are, from left to right: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric Boe, Nicole Mann, Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover.
What’s inside Jupiter? Scientists believe almost 90% of the planet is hydrogen, with the rest mainly helium and other trace elements. A gaseous atmosphere covers the surface. Below that, increasing pressure liquefies the hydrogen and helium. Below the liquid is a layer where droplets of helium and neon – and possibly diamond – fall like rain. Further in, heat and enormous pressure push hydrogen into a bizarre metallic state. At the very centre is a rocky core more than 10 times the size of Earth.
MARK GARLICK / GETTY IMAGES
Hopefully Juno will be continued by NASA and Congress.
When we look up and see the stars odds are pretty good that each and every one of them has planets. Astronomers think it is possible for each star in the Milky Way Galaxy to have as many as 10 major planets.
Do the math and you are looking at possibly TRILLIONS of planets in our galaxy alone. Oh, and there are TRILLIONS of galaxies out there in the observable Universe.
We have been searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence for decades with no credible and verifiable signal to indicate anyone is out there. Space is a BIG place but.....
Here is a good article that discuses the possibility that we are it as far as intelligent life goes in the galaxy.
Read and ponder......if this is true what a waste of space.
Look at the Moon tonight and remember humans WALKED ON THE MOON 49 years ago today. When you do don't forget to wink at the Moon in remembrance of Neil Armstrong.
Just LOOK at this radio wavelength view of the center of our galaxy! This is the most detailed image ever taken and shows new structures never before seen.South Africa's new MeerKAT radio telescope
took the image and this is what the LOW resolution image looks like.
This image, based on observations made with South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope, shows the clearest view yet of the central regions of our galaxy. At the distance of the galactic centre (located within the white area near image centre), this 2 degree by 1 degree panorama corresponds to an area of approximately 1,000 light-years by 500 light-years.
The colour scheme chosen here to display the signals represents the brightness of the radio waves recorded by the telescope (ranging from red for faint emission to orange to yellow to white for the brightest areas). This image shows a wealth of never before seen features, as well as a clearer view of previously known supernova remnants, star-forming regions, and radio filaments.
Credit: South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)
Read all about today's big astronomy news that involved the 4 billion light year travel of a single article spewed out of the blazing heart of a feeding black hole to be detected in a mile of ice at the bottom of the world........
When a neutrino travels through ice, it gives off a faint glow that can be picked up by IceCube’s photodetectors and tracked back to the area of the sky where the neutrino originated. Credit: ICECUBE COLLABORATION
This question gets asked a lot and the answer is yes - Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) are real. There are reports spanning decades that cannot be explained due to weather, astronomical, aeronautical or meteorological causes. The question then becomes what are these unexplainable?
This article is one of the best I have seen recently and I totally and wholeheartedly agree with its theme - these unexplained sightings need to be scrutinized. The question "Have Aliens Visited Earth?" is also worthy of scrutiny but as the author points out these are considered taboo for professional scientists. So was the study of the Moon and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
I have seen things that I cannot explain and I consider myself a pretty good observer of all things in the sky. And yes, I too have experienced a sighting in the telescope that I could not explain decades ago. I also am open minded enough to know that we do NOT know everything there is to know about the Universe. I don't think we can be so cavalier in our outward dismissal of this topics.
But we also have to be rigorous in our pursuit of the truth and adhere to scientific standards in doing so. The F/A-18F sighting is really compelling to me. Maybe we will the "Rosetta Stone" sighting some day.
SPHERE, a planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has captured the first confirmed image of a planet caught in the act of forming in the dusty disc surrounding a young star. The young planet is carving a path through the primordial disc of gas and dust around the very young star PDS 70. The data suggest that the planet’s atmosphere is cloudy.
Think of it......this is a new world formed out of the same material that created its star. It is currently a cloudy world.
Planets are natural and plentiful byproducts of star formation. There are probably trillions upon trillions of planets in our galaxy alone. We know of almost 4,000 confirmed planets beyond our own Sun with 3,000+ more awaiting conformation and new candidates being spotted all the time.
There are MILLIONS of Chelyabinsk sized asteroids out there and they are very hard to detect due to their size. So the more assets the world has to find them the better off we are.
Tonight at local midnight around the world the Waning Gibbous Moon will be joined in the southeast sky by the bright planet Mars. This will be a neat sight to see as the Moon and Mars will be close together as they rise and remain close all night. Mars is getting closer to Earth by the second and will
continue to get brighter until July 31, 2018 when it will be at its closest since 2003.
Go outside and see the duo no matter where you live.....it will be worth it. Oh, and now that you know where Mars is watch it get brighter over the next few weeks - it is quite the sight to see.
110 years ago today the equivalent of 5-10 million tons of TNT exploded above Tunguska, Siberia and took out 80 million trees across 800 square miles. We know it was caused by an incoming comet or more likely an asteroid. Fortunately, no one was killed.
If the Tunguska Event were to happen over a large city, a lot of people would die and be injured. That is the fact behind the creation of Asteroid Day. We are looking for asteroids every clear night and from spacecraft. We are developing the technology to detect and deflect the threat. But we have a long way and millions of asteroids to go.
Visit the website today, learn about the threat and what we are doing about it. See if there is an event going on in your area and tune in to the live webcast.
And remember......."the dinosaurs are dead because they didn't have telescopes or a space program".
We have both but we need to do more, much more to stay safe.
NASA announced this week that James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) won't launch until 3/30/21. This is a significant delay and will cost an additional $800 million to finish JWST which will require Congressional approval.
A LOT going on here - read all about it. Make sure you read the IRB report as it is very telling.
NASA & Northrop Grumman got to get it right on the ground so JWST is right in space, so TEST, TEST, TEST AND TEST AGAIN!!!!!
Almost Full Strawberry Moon w/ Saturn far lower right
Almost Full Strawberry Moon
All around the world the Full Strawberry Moon meets the planet Saturn the night to June 27-28. Saturn will be right next to the Moon in the middle of the Milky Way which you won't be able to see very well because of the Moon's glare.
Saturn is directly opposite the Sun today which marks its closest and brightest appearance for 2108. In almost any telescope the rings are visible and make for a memorable sight.
At midnight you can see three bright planets as in this photo I took - Jupiter (R), Saturn in the Milky Way and Mars L.
3 Planets in a row - Jupiter (R), Saturn in the Milky Way just inside the sats clouds on the left, and Mars (L)
Greg Redfern
It won't be clear for me but I hope it will be for you....
Massive bombardments create huge impact basins that filled with lava 4 billion years ago NASA
Be sure to click on the NASA Viz link to see some great visualizations about the Moon from NASA.
The Moon will be full on June 28th so take a look at the gray areas - the Maria - that form the 'Man in the Moon', 'Lady in the Moon' and other visuals.
Take a look at this amazing image that shows what is in all probability 3 new planets:
The gaps between the rings are likely due to a depletion of dust and in the middle and outer gaps astronomers also found a lower level of gas. The depletion of both dust and gas suggests the presence of newly formed planets, each around the mass of Saturn, carving out these gaps on their brand new orbits. Credit: ESO, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); A. Isella; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF). Discovered using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) these are considered to be the first three planets discovered by ALMA - that's how strong the evidence is that there are new exoplanets in this system. The parent star HD 163296 is only 4 million years old so once again we are seeing how planets are a natural byproduct of stellar birth. Our solar system at 4.6 billion years old is ancient compared to this one. Sky Guy in VA
I saw both of these lunar bound spacecraft while they were being built and wrote the June 2009 Sky and Telescope magazine article about their 2-for-1 mission launch.
Me and LCROSS at NASA Ames
Me and LRO at NASA Goddard
Humanity is going back to the Moon and LRO will finally have some company with the upcoming Chinese Chang'e 4 and 5 missions.
Here's to more good data LRO and thank you LCROSS for you daring demise in search of lunar water in Cabeus Crater.
All around the world people can see the Waxing Crescent Moon and brilliant Venus in the West after sunset tonight.
You can't miss it.....
Enjoy the view and try taking a pic with any camera.
Earthshine from our planet's clouds and oceans will illuminate the dark portion of the Moon - the part that is not illuminated by the Sun - so that you can see craters and the Maria (impact basins).
Get out and enjoy the view.....
Oh, and that bright "star" in the south is Jupiter.
The Milky Way will be up too when it is dark as you saw in my pics yesterday.
