Terry's Astronomy Thread.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 8, 2013

-After dark, look southeast for orange-red Antares. It's one of the two great red supergiants of the naked-eye sky; the other is Betelgeuse in winter. Around and to the upper right of Antares are other, white stars of upper Scorpius.

-This morning marks day 2 of the peak of the Arietids. The best way to observe the Arietids is via radar. Listen to their echoes on Space Weather Radio. http://spaceweatherradio.com/

-New Moon (exact at 3:14 a.m. on this date EDT).

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 8, 2013

Source:
Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier, from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given to these two large and remarkable craters on the Moon. Standouts in the dark, smooth lunar Sea of Fertility or Mare Fecunditatis, Messier (left) and Messier A have dimensions of 15 by 8 and 16 by 11 kilometers respectively. Their elongated shapes are explained by an extremely shallow-angle trajectory followed by the impactor, moving left to right, that gouged out the craters. The shallow impact also resulted in two bright rays of material extending along the surface to the right, beyond the picture. Intended to be viewed with red/blue glasses (red for the left eye), this striking stereo picture of the crater pair was recently created from high resolution scans of two images (AS11-42-6304, AS11-42-6305) taken during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 9, 2013

-After sunset, look for the young crescent Moon about 6° to 8° below Venus very low in the west-northwest (at the times of twilight in North America). Binoculars will help.

-NOAA estimates a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on June 9th when a CME is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

-High latitude sky watchers should be alert for NLCs in the evenings ahead. In recent years they have been sighted as far south as Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska. Observing tips: Look west 30 to 60 minutes after sunset when the sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you've probably spotted a noctilucent cloud.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 9, 2013

Source:
On the afternoon of June 5th, the European Space Agency launched a robotic spaceship named "Albert Einstein" into Earth orbit. Also known as "ATV-4" (Automated Transfer Vehicle 4), the Albert Einstein is a cargo carrier laden with supplies for the International Space Station. Marco Langbroek saw it flying over Leiden, the Netherlands, just two hours after launch:

"The ATV-4 was very bright (mag +1 to +0.5) and easily visible to the naked eye, even from Leiden center," Langbroek. "Still in a low orbit, it was very fast."

To resupply the space station, the Albert Einstein is carrying the most dry cargo ever launched by a European spacecraft - 2,480 kilograms, and the most diverse cargo mix - 1400 different items. It will catch up to and dock with the ISS on June 15th. As that date approaches, the ATV-4 and the ISS will become visible in the night sky at the same time.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 10, 2013

-The thin crescent Moon low in twilight now forms a triangle with Venus and Mercury, as shown at right. Look above the triangle for the Pollux-and-Castor pair.

-NOAA forecasters have downgraded the chance of polar geomagnetic storms today to 25%. A CME expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on June 9th did not arrive on time and might have missed our planet altogether.

-Sky watchers in North America might see an outburst of meteors during the early hours of June 11th when Earth passes through a stream of cometary debris last seen in 1930. Forecasters Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute) and Esko Lyytinen (Helsinki, Finland) predict the return of the gamma Delphinid meteor shower this Tuesday morning around 08:30 UT (04:30 am EDT). The shower is expected to last no more than about 30 minutes with an unknown number of bright, fast meteors. Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office will chat about the shower starting tonight at 11 PM EDT. Link: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/gamma_chat.html

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 10, 2013

Source:
Where are the hottest stars in the nearest galaxies? To help find out, NASA commissioned its Earth-orbiting Swift satellite to compile a multi-image mosaic of the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy in ultraviolet light. The above image shows where recently formed stars occur in the LMC, as the most massive of these young stars shine brightly in blue and ultraviolet. In contrast, a more familiar view of the LMC in visible light better highlights older stars. On the upper left is one of the largest star forming regions known in the entire Local Group of galaxies: the Tarantula Nebula. The Large Magellanic Cloud and its smaller companion the Small Magellanic Cloud are easily visible with the unaided eye to sky enthusiasts with a view of the southern sky. Detailed inspection of the above image is allowing a better galaxy-comprehensive picture for how star formation occurs.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 11, 2013

-The waxing Moon after sunset now forms a wide arc with Castor, Pollux, and low Procyon, as shown at right. Venus and Mercury are not far from the center of the arc's curve.

-Early Wednesday morning, the faint asteroid 332 Siri will will occult (hide) a 6.4-magnitude star east of Antares for up to 4 seconds as seen along a track from Oklahoma across northwest Texas, southern New Mexico, and southern Arizona. The star is an unusually bright one to be occulted by an asteroid, but the event happens low in the southwestern sky. Details: http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2..._332_29849.htm

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 11, 2013

Source:
What's happening in the NGC 3582 nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming. The complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57. Visible in this image are dense knots of dark interstellar dust, bright stars that have formed in the past few million years, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. A detailed study of NGC 3582, also known as NGC 3584 and NGC 3576, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth. The above image was taken at the Desert Hollow Observatory north of Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 12, 2013

-The interesting binocular field around Antares holds the dim glow of the globular cluster M4, as many skywatchers well know. But do you also know about Rho Ophiuchi, the fine binocular triple star in the same field? It's the top of a loop of five stars including Antares.

-Mercury and Venus remain in twilight view low in the west-northwest, but Mercury is fading: from magnitude +0.2 to +0.8 from June 7th to 14th. Mercury is upper left of much brighter Venus, magnitude –3.8. Their separation closes from 5° to 3.6° during this time. Above them shine fainter Castor and Pollux.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 12, 2013

Source:
For the first time, the entire surface of planet Mercury has been mapped. Detailed observations of the innermost planet's surprising crust have been ongoing since the robotic MESSENGER spacecraft first passed Mercury in 2008 and began orbiting in 2011. Previously, much of the Mercury's surface was unknown as it is too far for Earth-bound telescopes to see clearly, while the Mariner 10 flybys in the 1970s observed only about half. The above video is a compilation of thousands of images of Mercury rendered in exaggerated colors to better contrast different surface features. Visible on the rotating world are rays emanating from a northern impact that stretch across much of the planet, while about half-way through the video the light colored Caloris Basin rotates into view, a northern ancient impact feature that filled with lava. MESSENGER has now successfully completed its primary and first extended missions.

[ninjaKIWI]

hi terry

[Bluearrowll]

Hi Chocille, hi ninjaKIWI.

What's in the sky tonight?
June 13, 2013

-Look above the Moon after nightfall to spot Regulus and the Sickle of Leo.

-Saturn (magnitude +0.4, in Libra) glows in the south during evening, with Spica 12° to its right. Look almost as far to Saturn's left or lower left for Alpha Librae.

-In a telescope, Saturn's rings are tilted 17° from our line of sight.

-The sunspot number may be low, but the sun is far from blank. Amateur astronomers monitoring the sun report a large number of magnetic filaments snaking across the solar disk. Sergio Castillo captured more than half a dozen in this picture he sends from his backyard observatory in Inglewood, California:

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 13, 2013

Source:
You can see four planets in this serene sunset image, created from a series of stacked digital exposures captured near dusk on May 25. The composite picture follows the trail of three of them, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury (left to right) dropping toward the western horizon, gathered close in last month's remarkable triple planetary conjunction. Similar in brightness to planet Mercury, the star Elnath (Beta Tauri) is also tracked across the scene, leaving its dotted trail still farther to the right. Of course, in the foreground are the still, shallow waters of Alikes salt lake, reflecting the striking colors of sunset over Kos Island, Greece, planet Earth. For now, Jupiter has wandered into the glare of the setting Sun, but Mercury and Venus remain low in the west at twilight.

[ninjaKIWI]

wow so impersonal ...

i still read this thread all the time Terry (we lov u)

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 14, 2013

-The waxing crescent Moon hangs to the lower left of Regulus and the Sickle of Leo this evening.

-If you've been looking for Jupiter, stop. The glare could hurt your eyes. Jupiter is approaching the sun for an extremely tight conjunction. Today they are only 3.5 degrees apart. On June 19th, Jupiter will pass directly behind the solar disk, less than a quarter of a degree from disk center. It's a rare total eclipse of Jupiter by the sun. Because of the glare, the event is invisible to human eyes. Coronagraphs, however, block the glare and monitor Jupiter's approach.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 14, 2013

Source:
Sharpless 115 stands just north and west of Deneb, the alpha star of Cygnus the Swan in planet Earth's skies. Noted in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless (as Sh2-115) the faint but lovely emission nebula lies along the edge one of the outer Milky Way's giant molecular clouds, about 7,500 light-years away. Shining with the light of ionized atoms of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen in this Hubble palette color composite image, the nebular glow is powered by hot stars in star cluster Berkeley 90. The cluster stars are likely only 100 million years old or so and are still embedded in Sharpless 115. But the stars' strong winds and radiation have cleared away much of their dusty, natal cloud. At the emission nebula's estimated distance, this cosmic close-up spans just under 100 light-years.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 15, 2013

-Mercury is drawing closer to Venus as it fades in the twilight, as shown below. They're 3.3° apart now and will be 2° from each other at their closest on the 19th.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 15, 2013

Source:
Over a five hour period last Tuesday morning, exposures captured this tantalizing view of meteor streaks and the Milky Way in dark skies above Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. During that time, astronomers had hoped to see an outburst from the gamma Delphinid meteor shower as Earth swept through the dust trail left by an unknown comet. Named for the shower's radiant point in the constellation Delphinus, a brief but strong outburst was reported in bright, moonlit skies on June 10, 1930. While no strong Delphinid meteor activity was reported since, an outburst was tentatively predicted to occur again in 2013. But even though Tuesday's skies were dark, the overall rate of meteors in this field is low, and only the three lower meteor streaks seem to point back to the shower's estimated radiant.

[noname219]

Can I add some pictures of aurora borealis that a group of co-workers took last week ? (thanks in advance)






If you're interested, there's the whole 48 picture set you check here : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2819197&type=1

[Bluearrowll]

@Noname219: Absolutely, feel free to share images in the future as well. Those are awesome! Where abouts were those taken?

What's in the sky tonight?
June 16, 2013

-First-quarter Moon (exact at 1:24 p.m. EDT). The Moon shines under the dim head of Virgo.

-Venus (magnitude – 3.8) is gaining altitude very gradually, low in evening twilight. Look for it in the west-northwest. Mercury has closed to just 2° or 3° from Venus, but Mercury is fading fast: from magnitude +0.6 on the 15th to +1.6 on the 22nd. Look for it to Venus's upper left (for mid-northern observers) early in the week, directly left around June 16th and 17th, and below Venus by the 20th.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 16, 2013

Source:
Taken by Maximilian Teodorescu on June 15, 2013 @ Dumitrana (Ilfov), Romania, using a SW Mak 150mm (F/12), Canon 550D, ISO 800, 1/1250s. The Moon is waxing full this week, which means there's more bright territory for spaceships to cross. Yesterday, astrophotographer Maximilian Teodorescu of Dumitrana, Romania, caught the International Space Station passing in front of the Moon in broad daylight. "In the past I have captured the silhouette of the ISS in front of the Sun or Moon," says Teodorescu. But this time the ISS was not silhouetted. It was even more brightly lit than the Moon behind it. "I photographed them both in plain daylight, with the Sun still hanging at 26 degrees above the horizon."

Travelling at 17,000 mph, the ISS flits across the face of the Moon in only a fraction of a second. Teodorescu knew when to activate his Canon 550D digital camera using precise transit predictions from CalSky.

[noname219]

Originally Posted by Bluearrowll

Where abouts were those taken?

About 20 minutes from where I live, in Sept-Iles, Quebec.
I'm well placed to see these at nights. On the map you posted earlier this month, I'm between the Kp = 3 and Kp = 5 line.

Originally Posted by Bluearrowll

[Bluearrowll]

Originally Posted by noname219

About 20 minutes from where I live, in Sept-Iles, Quebec.
I'm well placed to see these at nights. On the map you posted earlier this month, I'm between the Kp = 3 and Kp = 5 line.

Very nice, during geomagnetic storms it's very likely the auroras will be over you rather than in the North. The map that was posted is always visible under the "Aurora Tracker" tab in the OP, along with other helpful aurora tracking information.


What's in the sky tonight?
June 17, 2013

-The Moon this evening forms the end of a curving line with Spica and Saturn, counting to the Moon's left. Look below the Moon for the four-star figure of Corvus.

-Watch the gibbous Moon pass Spica and Saturn. The Moons here are plotted for the middle of North America. They are three times actual size.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 17, 2013

Source:
What creates these long and nearly straight grooves on Mars? Dubbed linear gullies, they appear on the sides of some sandy slopes during Martian spring, have nearly constant width, extend for as long as two kilometers, and have raised banks along their sides. Unlike most water flows, they do not appear to have areas of dried debris at the downhill end. A leading hypothesis - actually being tested here on Earth - is that these linear gullies are caused by chunks of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) breaking off and sliding down hills while sublimating into gas, eventually completely evaporating into thin air. The above recently-released image was taken in 2006 by the HiRISE camera on board the NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently orbiting Mars.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 18, 2013

-The magnetic field of sunspot AR1775 is growing more complex, increasing the chance of an eruption. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of M-class solar flares on June 19th.

-During the early hours of June 18th, a long-duration flare from this active region hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) over the sun's eastern limb. However, none of the rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) were in the line of fire.

-The Moon now shines just below the line between Spica and Saturn.

Astro Picture of the Day:
June 18, 2013

Source:
Consider it a solar eclipse ... of Jupiter. On June 19th the sun will pass directly in front of Jupiter, completely eclipsing the giant planet. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory are monitoring the convergence. The CME in the movie was blasted into space by a farside active region described in today's lead news item. Jupiter appears to be in the line of fire, but it is not. The cloud is merely passing in front of the planet; even the CMEs are eclipsing Jupiter today. Updated images of the "eclipse" may be found at the SOHO Realtime Images web page. http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...me-images.html

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 19, 2013

-Dim little Mercury is closest to bright Venus low in twilight this evening. Look for it 2° to Venus's lower left.

-Saturn glows to the upper right of the waxing gibbous Moon as night falls.

News Posted Today:
June 18, 2013
Winds on Venus: Getting Stronger


Astro Picture of the Day:
June 19, 2013

Source:
How many different astronomical phenomena have come together to create the above vista? Several. First, in the foreground, is Crater Lake - a caldera created by volcanism on planet Earth about 7,700 years ago. Next, inside the lake, is water. Although the origin of the water in the crater is melted snowfall, the origin of water on Earth more generally is unclear, but possibly related to ancient Earthly-impacts of icy bodies. Next, the green glow in the sky is airglow, light emitted by atoms high in the Earth's atmosphere as they recombine at night after being separated during the day by energetic sunlight. The many points of light in the sky are stars, glowing by nuclear fusion. They are far above the atmosphere but nearby to our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Finally, the bright arch across the image is the central band of the Milky Way, much further away, on the average, than the nearby stars, and shaped mostly by gravity. Contrary to appearances, the Milky Way band glows by itself and is not illuminated by the airglow. The above image is a six-frame panorama taken during about two weeks ago in Oregon, USA.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 20, 2013

-Look lower left of the Moon at dusk, by almost two fists at arm's lengths, for orange-red Antares. Between them is the three-star row of the Head of Scorpius, nearly vertical.

-This is Midsummer's Night, the shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The solstice is at 1:04 a.m. on the 21st EDT; 10:04 p.m. on the 20th PDT.

News Posted Today:
June 19, 2013
A Billion Pixels of Mars-scape


Astro Picture of the Day:
June 20, 2013

Source:
Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this deep galactic portrait puts some astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, The Hamburger Galaxy. The tantalizing island universe is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million light-years away in the northern springtime constellation Leo. NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals M65 and M66 in a grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. Gravitational interactions with its cosmic neighbors are likely responsible for the extended flare and warp of this spiral's disk.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
June 21, 2013

-As Mercury fades and descends below Venus day by day, how long can you keep it in view?

-After dark, look for fire-colored Antares to the lower right of the bright Moon.

News Posted Today:
June 20, 2013
The Myth of the Supermoon


Astro Picture of the Day:
June 21, 2013

Source:
Today, the solstice is at 05:04 Universal Time, the Sun reaching the northernmost declination in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. A June solstice marks the astronomical beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south. It also brings the north's longest day, the longest period between sunrise and sunset. This composite image follows the Sun's path toward the end of the June solstice day of 2012 as it approaches the western horizon in a colorful, clear sky. The scene looks north and west along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast from Santa Severa, Italy. Appearing in the well-timed sequence, the small figure of the photographer himself is illuminated against the wall of the town's medieval castle.

[top]

this thread is so awesome, keep it up blue

[Riotpolice]

Thanks blue for an awesome thread!