Terry's Astronomy Thread.

[Choofers]

I was gonna post about Titan having an underground ocean but I should have known you already mentioned it !!

Think Titan has some alien lifeforms?

[Bluearrowll]

Originally Posted by Choofers

I was gonna post about Titan having an underground ocean but I should have known you already mentioned it !!

Think Titan has some alien lifeforms?

It's very possible that Titan has lifeforms, but if it did it'd most likely be in the form of cellular bacteria, or something small along that line.


What's in the sky tonight?
July 11, 2012

-Altair is the brightest star halfway up the southeastern sky (halfway from the horizon to the zenith). Look to its left by slightly more than a fist-width, and perhaps a bit lower, for the distinctive little constellation Delphinus, the leaping Dolphin. Its nose points left.

-The sunspot continues to be visible, but the chance of the northern lights hitting your region is now waning.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 11, 2012

Source:
Early morning dog walkers got a visual treat last week as bright stars and planets appeared to line up. Pictured above, easily visible from left to right, were the Pleiades open star cluster, Jupiter, Venus, and the "Follower" star Aldebaran, all seen before a starry background. The image was taken from the Atacama desert in western South America. The glow of the rising Sun can be seen over the eastern horizon. Jupiter and Venus will continue to dazzle pre-dawn strollers all over planet Earth for the rest of the month, although even now the morning planets are seen projected away from the line connecting their distant stellar sky mates.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 12, 2012

-By 11 p.m. daylight time the Great Square of Pegasus, signature constellation of autumn, is already up in the east and balancing on one corner.

-Venus and Jupiter (magnitudes –4.7 and –2.1) shine dramatically in the east-northeast before and during dawn. They remain stacked 5° or 6° apart this week, with Jupiter on top. Watch Aldebaran, much fainter, moving this week from below Venus to its right. Also in Venus's starry background are the Hyades, and above Jupiter are the Pleiades. The asteroids Ceres and Vesta, magnitudes 9.1 and 8.4, are there too!

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 12, 2012

Source:
Engraved in rock, these ancient petroglyphs are abundant in the Teimareh valley, located in the Zagros Mountains of central Iran. They likely tell a tale of hunters and animals found in the middle eastern valley 6,000 years ago or more, etched by artists in a prehistoric age. In the night sky above are star trails etched by the rotation of planet Earth during the long composite exposure made with a modern digital camera. On the left, the center of the star trail arcs is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), the extension of Earth's axis into space, with Polaris, the North Star, leaving the bright, short, stubby trail closest to the NCP. But when these petroglyphs were carved, Polaris would have made a long arc through the night. Since the Earth's rotation axis precesses like a wobbling top, 6,000 years ago the NCP was near the border of the constellations Draco and Ursa Major, some 30 degrees from its current location in planet Earth's sky.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 13, 2012

-During dawn on Saturday morning, the waning crescent Moon in the east poses to the upper right of Jupiter and lower right of the Pleiades.

-Mercury is lost in the sunset.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 13, 2012

Source:
One of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed with Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. In contrast, this mulitwavelength view of the large island universe is a composite of images recorded by space-based telescopes in the 21st century. Color coded From X-rays to infrared wavelengths (high to low energies), the image data was taken from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer ( blue), Hubble Space Telescope(yellow), and the Spitzer Space Telescope(red). While the X-ray data trace the location of multimillion degree gas around M101's exploded stars and neutron star and black hole binary star systems, the lower energy data follow the stars and dust that define M101's grand spiral arms. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 14, 2012

-During dawn Sunday morning, the waning crescent poses dramatically with Jupiter and Venus, as shown here for North America. Think photo opportunity!

-The Moon actually occults Jupiter for most of Europe and parts of Asia. Jupiter disappears behind the Moon's sunlit limb. A map and timetable can be found on this link for those who will be able to see the occultation: http://www.lunar-occultations.com/io...715jupiter.htm

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 14, 2012

Source:
Awash in a sea of plasma and anchored in magnetic fields, sunspots are planet-sized, dark islands in the solar photosphere, the bright surface of the Sun. Dark because they are slightly cooler than the surrounding surface, this group of sunspots is captured in a close-up telescopic snapshot from July 11. The field of view spans nearly 100,000 miles. They lie in the center of active region AR1520, now crossing the Sun's visible face. In fact, an X-class solar flare and coronal mass ejection erupted from AR1520 on July 12, releasing some of the energy stored in the region's twisted magnetic fields. Headed this way, the coronal mass ejection is expected to arrive today and may trigger geomagnetic storms. As a result, some weekend auroral displays could grace planet Earth's skies along with Sunday's predawn conjunction of bright planets and crescent Moon.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 15, 2012

-Stars twinkle and planets (being extended objects) don't, right? That's what everyone is supposed to learn when they take up skywatching. But how true is it really? See for yourself by comparing Spica and Saturn as they sink together in the southwest these evenings. Saturn is the one on top. Sometimes the difference is dramatic, other times not so much, depending on the small heat waves rippling in the lower atmosphere.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 15, 2012

Source:
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula. Also known as M42, the nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away. The Orion Nebula offers one of the best opportunities to study how stars are born partly because it is the nearest large star-forming region, but also because the nebula's energetic stars have blown away obscuring gas and dust clouds that would otherwise block our view - providing an intimate look at a range of ongoing stages of starbirth and evolution. This detailed image of the Orion Nebula is the sharpest ever, constructed using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the European Southern Observatory's La Silla 2.2 meter telescope. The mosaic contains a billion pixels at full resolution and reveals about 3,000 stars. Click the source link, and then the picture to reveal the full resolution image, a 6000x6000 square!

[Bluearrowll]

Auroral Update:

We are under G2 Geomagnetic Storm conditions right now. If you live in an area where there is currently yellow-orange colour, look up for your light show! This auroral performance is likely to last through to tomorrow based off the chart in the Auroral Tracker.

What caused this storm is the following solar flare:

Stay tuned here for updates:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/arch...ent_month.html

ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 6
Threshold Reached: 2012 Jul 16 0207 UTC
Synoptic Period: 0000-0300 UTC
Active Warning: Yes
NOAA Scale: G2 - Moderate
Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 55 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced Currents - Power grid fluctuations can occur. High-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms.
Spacecraft - Satellite orientation irregularities may occur; increased drag on low Earth-orbit satellites is possible.
Radio - HF (high frequency) radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes.
Aurora - Aurora may be seen as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington state.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 16, 2012

-July is Scorpius month — at least in the evening hours. Scorpius is highest in the south right at nightfall this week. Its brightest star is orange-red Antares, "Anti-Ares," the "rival of Mars" in Greek. Compare its color with the real Mars moving lower in the west-southwest (to the lower right of the Saturn-and-Spica pair).

-Mars (magnitude +1.0, in Virgo) glows orange in the west-southwest at dusk. It's lower right of the Saturn-and-Spica pair, by about 16°. Mars is heading their way; it will pass right between them in mid-August. In a telescope Mars is gibbous and very tiny, only 6 arcseconds wide.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 16, 2012

Source:
A fifth moon has been discovered orbiting Pluto. The moon was discovered earlier this month in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in preparation for the New Horizons mission's scheduled flyby of Pluto in 2015. Pictured above, the moon is currently seen as only a small blip that moves around the dwarf planet as the entire system slowly orbits the Sun. The moon, given a temporary designation of S/2012 (134340) 1 or just P5 (as labeled), is estimated to span about 15 kilometers and is likely composed mostly of water-ice. Pluto remains the only famous Solar System body never visited by a human-built probe and so its origins and detailed appearance remain mostly unknown.

[Sullyman2007]

Wow. Was not expecting to see this thread on FFR! Probably my all time favorite subject in science. Got a telescope from these guys sitting in my closet collecting dust. Cool stuff man.

[Bluearrowll]

Originally Posted by Sullyman2007

Wow. Was not expecting to see this thread on FFR! Probably my all time favorite subject in science. Got a telescope from these guys sitting in my closet collecting dust. Cool stuff man.

Welcome to the thread, where you'll find daily updates and something new to look upon every time you visit the thread!

What's in the sky tonight?
July 17, 2012

-The two brightest stars of summer are Vega, very high in the east as the stars come out, and Arcturus, very high in the southwest. Compare their colors. Vega is icy white with a hint of blue; Arcturus is pale yellow-orange. They're both relatively nearby as stars go. It's 25 light-years to Vega, 37 to Arcturus.

-Venus and Jupiter (magnitudes –4.7 and –2.1) shine dramatically in the east before and during dawn. They're stacked about 8° apart now, with Jupiter on top. Look for Aldebaran, much fainter, moving away from Venus to its upper right. Also in Venus's starry background are the Hyades, and above Jupiter are the Pleiades. The asteroids Ceres and Vesta, magnitudes 9.1 and 8.4, are there too!

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 17, 2012

Source:
Doing something a little bit different today, with a video! How do galaxies like our Milky Way form? Since our universe moves too slowly to watch, faster-moving computer simulations are created to help find out. Green depicts (mostly) hydrogen gas in the above movie, while time is shown in billions of years since the Big Bang on the lower right. Pervasive dark matter is present but not shown. As the simulation begins, ambient gas falls into and accumulates in regions of relatively high gravity. Soon numerous proto-galaxies form, spin, and begin to merge. After about four billion years, a well-defined center materializes that dominates a region about 100,000 light-years across and starts looking like a modern disk galaxy. After a few billion more years, however, this early galaxy collides with another, all while streams of gas from other mergers rain down on this strange and fascinating cosmic dance. As the simulation reaches half the current age of the universe, a single larger disk develops. Even so, gas blobs -- some representing small satellite galaxies -- fall into and become absorbed by the rotating galaxy as the present epoch is reached and the movie ends. For our Milky Way Galaxy, however, big mergers may not be over -- recent evidence indicates that our large spiral disk Galaxy will collide and coalesce with the slightly larger Andromeda spiral disk galaxy in the next few billion years.

[Bluearrowll]

Did you see the northern lights a couple nights ago? Places as far south as Cobourg sure did!
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/new...her_topstories


What's in the sky tonight?
July 18, 2012

-Once you've found Vega and Arcturus (see yesterday), imagine a line between them. A third of the way along it from Vega is the dim Keystone of Hercules. Two thirds of the way is the little semicircle constellation Corona Borealis, the dim Northern Crown, with one modestly bright star, Alphecca or Gemma.

-Mars (magnitude +1.0, in Virgo) glows orange in the west-southwest at dusk. It's lower right of the Saturn-and-Spica pair, by about 16°. Mars is heading their way; it will pass right between them in mid-August. In a telescope Mars is gibbous and very tiny, only 6 arcseconds wide.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 18, 2012

Source:
What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance on images of the dusty slopes of Mars' Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 19, 2012

-This is the time of year when the Big Dipper, in the northwest after dark, begins scooping down to the right as if preparing to scoop up water. And the dim Little Dipper, standing upright from the North Star at the end of its handle, begins to tip left starting its six-month downward fall.

-Uranus (magnitude 5.8, at the Pisces-Cetus border) and Neptune (magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius) are high in the southeast and south before the first light of dawn.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 19, 2012

Source:
Wandering planets Venus and Jupiter were joined by an old crescent Moon near the eastern horizon on July 15. This serene southern skyview of the much anticipated predawn conjunction includes the lovely Pleiades star cluster and bright stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse in the celestial lineup. The radio telescope in the foreground is the Parkes 64 meter dish of New South Wales, Australia. Known for its exploration of the distant Universe at radio wavelengths, the large, steerable antenna is also famous for its superior lunar television reception. On July 21, 1969 the dish received broadcasts from the Moon that allowed denizens of planet Earth to watch the Apollo 11 moonwalk.

[darklordsarumon9]

Restating that this is the best thread on all FFR.
Cheers <3

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 20, 2012

-The Teapot of Sagittarius is in the south-southeast at nightfall and highest in the south later in the evening. Hidden in the star fields above it is the magnitude-9.5 asteroid 18 Melpomene, which you can ferret out with a telescope.

-Just before Sunrise, the first glimpses of the constellation Orion are slowly becoming visible to mid northern latitudes again.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 20, 2012

Source:
Skygazers around planet Earth enjoyed the close encounter of planets and Moon in July 15's predawn skies. And while many saw bright Jupiter next to the slender, waning crescent, Europeans also had the opportunity to watch the ruling gas giant pass behind the lunar disk, occulted by the Moon as it slid through the night. Clouds threaten in this telescopic view from Montecassiano, Italy, but the frame still captures Jupiter after it emerged from the occultation along with all four of its large Galilean moons. The sunlit crescent is overexposed with the Moon's night side faintly illuminated by Earthshine. Lined up left to right beyond the dark lunar limb are Callisto, Ganymede, Jupiter, Io, and Europa. In fact, Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth's Moon, while Europa is only slightly smaller.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 21, 2012

-Draco the Dragon arches his back over the Little Dipper in the north at this time of year. With your scope, here you can search out the Cat's Eye Nebula, some interesting double stars and galaxies, and (if your scope is big enough) a quasar with a look-back time of 8.6 billion years!

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 21, 2012

Source:
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this remarkable stereo view from lunar orbit. Created from two photographs (AS11-44-6633, AS11-44-6634) taken by astronaut Michael Collins during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the 3D anaglyph features the lunar module ascent stage, dubbed The Eagle, as it rises to meet the command module in lunar orbit on July 21. Aboard the ascent stage are Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first to walk on the Moon. The smooth, dark area on the lunar surface is Mare Smythii located just below the equator on the extreme eastern edge of the Moon's near side. Poised beyond the lunar horizon, is our fair planet Earth.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 22, 2012

-Arcturus is the brightest star high in the west after dark at this time of year. It and Vega, almost overhead, are the two leading stars of summer. Look off to the right of Arcturus, in the northwest, to spot the Big Dipper.

-Venus and Jupiter (magnitudes –4.6 and –2.1) shine dramatically in the east before and during dawn. They've widened to about 10° or 12° apart now, with Jupiter higher. Look for Aldebaran, much fainter, below or lower right of Jupiter. Also in Jupiter's starry background are the Hyades, and above it are the Pleiades.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 22, 2012

Source:
How do stars form? A study of star forming region W5 by the sun-orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope provides clear clues by recording that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are older than stars near the edges. A likely reason for this is that the older stars in the center are actually triggering the formation of the younger edge stars. The triggered star formation occurs when hot outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into knots dense enough to gravitationally contract into stars. Spectacular pillars, left slowly evaporating from the hot outflowing gas, provide further visual clues. In the above scientifically-colored infrared image, red indicates heated dust, while white and green indicate particularly dense gas clouds. W5 is also known as IC 1848, and together with IC 1805 form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the Heart and Soul Nebulas. The above image highlights a part of W5 spanning about 2,000 light years that is rich in star forming pillars. W5 lies about 6,500 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 23, 2012

-As twilight behind to fade, use the Moon in the west-southwest to guide your way to Saturn, Spica, and Mars glimmering through the dusk (in that order of visibility) as shown below.

-Saturn (magnitude +0.8, in Virgo) shines in the southwest as the stars come out. Below it by 4½° is Spica, nearly the same brightness but twinklier. After dark they move lower to the west-southwest.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 23, 2012

Source:
While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets. This is number 27 on his now famous not-a-comet list. In fact, 21st century astronomers would identify it as a planetary nebula, but it's not a planet either, even though it may appear round and planet-like in a small telescope. Messier 27 (M27) is an excellent example of a gaseous emission nebula created as a sun-like star runs out of nuclear fuel in its core. The nebula forms as the star's outer layers are expelled into space, with a visible glow generated by atoms excited by the dying star's intense but invisible ultraviolet light. Known by the popular name of the Dumbbell Nebula, the beautifully symmetric interstellar gas cloud is over 2.5 light-years across and about 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula. This impressive color composite highlights details within the well-studied central region and fainter, seldom imaged features in the nebula's outer halo. It incorporates broad and narrowband images recorded using filters sensitive to emission from sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. CAn you see the remaining core of the original star that created this nebula in the centre?

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 24, 2012

-The waxing Moon this evening forms a quadrangle with Saturn, Spica, and Mars.

-Mars (magnitude +1.0, in Virgo) glows orange low in the west-southwest at dusk, lower right of the Saturn-and-Spica pair by about 13°. It's heading their way; Mars will pass between Saturn and Spica in mid-August. In a telescope Mars is gibbous and very tiny, 6 arcseconds wide.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 24, 2012

Source:
What's happening over the south pole of Titan? A vortex of haze appears to be forming, although no one is sure why. The above natural-color image shows the light-colored feature. The vortex was found on images taken last month when the robotic Cassini spacecraft flew by the unusual atmosphere-shrouded moon of Saturn. Cassini was only able to see the southern vortex because its orbit around Saturn was recently boosted out of the plane where the rings and moons move. Clues as to what created the enigmatic feature are accumulating, including that Titan's air appears to be sinking in the center and rising around the edges. Winter, however, is slowly descending on the south of Titan, so that the vortex, if it survives, will be plunged into darkness over the next few years.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 25, 2012

-The first-quarter Moon is left of Spica and Saturn this evening, as shown here.

-Uranus (magnitude 5.8, at the Pisces-Cetus border) and Neptune (magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius) are high in the southern sky before the first light of dawn.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 25, 2012

Source:
Why is this aurora strikingly pink? When photographing picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA last month, the background sky lit up with auroras of unusual colors. Although much is known about the physical mechanisms that create auroras, accurately predicting the occurrence and colors of auroras remains a topic of investigation. Typically, it is known, the lowest auroras appear green. These occur at about 100 kilometers high and involve atmospheric oxygen atoms excited by fast moving plasma from space. The next highest auroras -- at about 200 kilometers up -- appear red, and are also emitted by resettling atmospheric oxygen. Some of the highest auroras visible -- as high as 500 kilometers up -- appear blue, and are caused by sunlight-scattering nitrogen ions. When looking from the ground through different layers of distant auroras, their colors can combine to produce unique and spectacular hues, in this case rare pink hues seen above. As Solar Maximum nears over the next two years, particle explosions from the Sun are sure to continue and likely to create even more memorable nighttime displays.

[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
July 26, 2012

-By 10 or 11 p.m. the Great Square of Pegasus is up in the east, balancing on one corner — an early warning of the inevitable approach of fall.

-Saturn (magnitude +0.8, in Virgo) shines in the southwest as the stars come out. Below it by 4½° is Spica, nearly the same brightness but twinklier. After dark they move lower to the west-southwest.

Astro Picture of the Day:
July 26, 2012

Source:
Framing a bright emission region this telescopic view looks out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan. Popularly called the Tulip Nebula the glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust is also found in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. About 8,000 light-years distant the nebula is understandably not the only cosmic cloud to evoke the imagery of flowers. The complex and beautiful nebula is shown here in a composite image that maps emission from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms into red, green, and blue colors. Ultraviolet radiation from young, energetic O star HDE 227018 ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. HDE 227018, is the bright star very near the blue arc at image center.