[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
February 5, 2013

-With the Moon gone from the evening sky, this week is a fine time to look for the zodiacal light from the Northern Hemisphere. At a clear, dark site with clean air, look west at the very end of twilight for a vague but huge, tall pyramid of pearly light. It's tilted left to align along the constellations of the zodiac — or more exactly, along the ecliptic line. So it points toward toward Jupiter. What you're seeing is sunlit interplanetary dust — comet and asteroid debris — orbiting the Sun near the plane of the solar system.

-Comet PanSTARRS update. The incoming comet that we hoped would make a fine showing in March has been weakening. It may not even reach naked-eye visibility, what with its low altitude in evening twilight. The comet is currently expected to peak at magnitude +1 or +2 in March, not 0 or brighter as formerly predicted.

Astro Picture of the Day:
February 5, 2013

Source:
What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't human? Then you might be the robotic Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater last August and has been busy looking for signs of ancient running water and clues that Mars could once have harbored life. Pictured above, Curiosity has taken a wide panorama that includes its own shadow in the direction opposite the Sun. The image was taken in November from a location dubbed Point Lake, although no water presently exists there. Curiosity has already discovered several indications of dried streambeds on Mars, and is scheduled to continue its exploration by climbing nearby Mt. Sharp over the next few years.