A Pricescoper''s Guide to the Galaxy ( astronomy thread)

[marcy]

Thanks for the heads up Skippy to check out this thread. Have a great time at the VLA. I hope to go see it some day too. I think we''ll be taking some trips now that we can bring our home away from home with us. I also want to go see meteor crater.

Lorelei, Venus is low in the morning sky right now. The moon will be near Venus on Sunday morning about one hour before sunrise looking E. Jupiter is out at night and is really bright; it sets about 3 hours after sunset. The moon will be by Jupiter on the 17th and 18th of this month. I am betting is you saw something bright setting it was probably Jupiter.

The new moon this month is on the 11th so this weekend will be great for stargazing.

On the 13th you can try to find Mercury to the right of a crescent moon about 30 minutes after sunset; they will be pretty low in the WSW.

Have fun checking out the sky!

 

[marcy]

Here is a link for more info and a chart on finding Venus in the morning.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/8/2007 9:07:54 AM
Author: marcyc
Here is a link for more info and a chart on finding Venus in the morning.

Great link - thanks Marcy!!

 

[marcy]

Thanks, Lorelei. I hope you see Venus this week.

 

[Skippy123]

Lookie NASA spacecraft finds possible Mars caves here. That would be cool!

 

[Lorelei]

Excellent stuff Skippers!!! I was looking out of my window at 4am to the East and saw some stars rising, they were so low and bright it was a beautiful thing to watch!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/24/2007 4:18:14 AM
Author: Lorelei
Excellent stuff Skippers!!! I was looking out of my window at 4am to the East and saw some stars rising, they were so low and bright it was a beautiful thing to watch!

Yay, I love this thread! I think if we take moment we get to see how amazing and gorgeous our sky can be! Wow, that sounds amazing and beautiful, you are making me wish I could see that!!!! Thanks for sharing such a lovely sight!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/24/2007 8:01:06 AM
Author: Skippy123

Date: 9/24/2007 4:18:14 AM
Author: Lorelei
Excellent stuff Skippers!!! I was looking out of my window at 4am to the East and saw some stars rising, they were so low and bright it was a beautiful thing to watch!

Yay, I love this thread! I think if we take moment we get to see how amazing and gorgeous our sky can be! Wow, that sounds amazing and beautiful, you are making me wish I could see that!!!! Thanks for sharing such a lovely sight!

Thanks Skippers! The sky was very dark with a hint of cobalt blue, the stars were so bright they were like lamps, you could really see them wheeling across the sky on their usual course, huge bright stars / planets but not many of them, scattered about like jewels....I think one of them was Venus too, it looked huge!

 

[marcy]

Lorelei, that is Venus you are seeing in the morning. Isn''t is gorgeous? I can still see it in bluish skies when I get up about 6:20.

Did anyone see the beautiful full moon tonight? I saw it leaving school tonight.

 

[movie zombie]

its gorgeous out tonight in the santa cruz mountains. full moon is so bright its like someone turned on an overhead light. saw some incredible comets in august.....

movie zombie

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/26/2007 11:52:11 PM
Author: marcyc
Lorelei, that is Venus you are seeing in the morning. Isn''t is gorgeous? I can still see it in bluish skies when I get up about 6:20.

Did anyone see the beautiful full moon tonight? I saw it leaving school tonight.

I think it must have been, it was huge and bright and looked just like the traditional star shape, it is a wonderful sight!!

Where I live too, the east sky is easy to see and I get most of it, soon the moon will be rising out of the fields next month, like a huge golden ball!!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone.

Movie, I bet the view from the mountains is awesome. Did you see meteors or comets last month?

Lorelei, Isn''t Venus awesome in the morning? I know it is the big and bright in the evening sky; but I always think it looks like a giant silver ball in the morning sky. The moon will be great all week long so your eastern view will be awesome!

Venus, Regulus and Saturn will be closing in on each other for the next few weeks in the morning sky. The 3 will be within 6 degrees of each other by October 7th and joined that morning by a crescent moon making a spectacular viewing treat to see. Saturn and Venus will be within about 3 degrees of each other on October 14th. Early risers should try to catch the show.

Mercury is re-emerging in the evening sky right now to the WSW. The moon will be by Pleiades (Seven Sisters) on the morning of the 30th.

Happy star gazing!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/27/2007 9:05:34 AM
Author: marcyc

Hi everyone.

Movie, I bet the view from the mountains is awesome. Did you see meteors or comets last month?

Lorelei, Isn''t Venus awesome in the morning? I know it is the big and bright in the evening sky; but I always think it looks like a giant silver ball in the morning sky. The moon will be great all week long so your eastern view will be awesome!

Venus, Regulus and Saturn will be closing in on each other for the next few weeks in the morning sky. The 3 will be within 6 degrees of each other by October 7th and joined that morning by a crescent moon making a spectacular viewing treat to see. Saturn and Venus will be within about 3 degrees of each other on October 14th. Early risers should try to catch the show.

Mercury is re-emerging in the evening sky right now to the WSW. The moon will be by Pleiades (Seven Sisters) on the morning of the 30th.

Happy star gazing!

That is exactly how it looks Marcy - it is superb!!! It is such a shame that I am usually asleep at that time, I miss so many neat things...

But I will be keeping an eye on the eastern sky this week!

 

[marcy]

I know what you mean, Lorelei. I won''t get up to see things but I do look out the bathroom window when I get up. I plan on trying to catch the view on the morning of the 7th. That will be pretty.

 

[surfgirl]

Calling Star Captain Marcy...This is Star Gazer Sufgirl reporting for duty...I''ve been in the Caribbean for over a month now and even in the more isolated places like St. Vincent, where I just left, I have had miserable star gazing. Nothing at all to write home about. What gives Captain Marcy? I''m baffled...

 

[marcy]

Surfgirl, I hope you had a great time even if the stargazing wasn''t the best. Without me being there or knowing the conditions I would have 2 guesses. One is the area is very populated so there is a lot of light pollution and overall sky glow. Another thought would be from sea level you are looking through more atmosphere reducing what you can see. Since that area is probably humid that would also dim the stars. Welcome back!

 

[surfgirl]

marcy, I''m guessing it''s the latter, what with the insane humidity here. Because most places didn''t have a lot of bright night lights at all. In fact, I had to get up at dawn on a couple of occassions to get an early flight and I noticed in Antigua there were stars out but it wasn''t even half of what we saw in August on Orcas Island...Never thought about humidity affecting the star gazing but I think you''re on to something there. Too bad though...

 

[Skippy123]

Quick question. This morning when I was walking I saw the moon and it was about 9:30 and the sun was out. Why does that happen? I thought I would ask the Astronomy teacher

 

[marcy]

Surfgirl, it is too bad the stars were not amazing. The place where we go in the summer is at 9100 feet and you have to take a moment or two to find the Big Dipper then orient yourself from there. It is AMAZING!

Skippy, my friend; the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. Between new moon and full moon, the moon is visible in the evening sky. From full moon to new moon; it is rising later each day so it is usually visible in the morning sky or even during the day. Here is a little summary of rising and setting times.

New moon rises and sets with the sun.
First quarter moon rises at noon and sets at midnight
Full moon rises when the sun sets and sets when the sun rises
Third quarter moon rises at midnight and sets at noon

The moon is highest in the sky about 6 hours after it rises

Happy star gazing everyone!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/30/2007 6:36:37 PM
Author: marcyc
Surfgirl, it is too bad the stars were not amazing. The place where we go in the summer is at 9100 feet and you have to take a moment or two to find the Big Dipper then orient yourself from there. It is AMAZING!

Skippy, my friend; the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. Between new moon and full moon, the moon is visible in the evening sky. From full moon to new moon; it is rising later each day so it is usually visible in the morning sky or even during the day. Here is a little summary of rising and setting times.

New moon rises and sets with the sun.
First quarter moon rises at noon and sets at midnight
Full moon rises when the sun sets and sets when the sun rises
Third quarter moon rises at midnight and sets at noon

The moon is highest in the sky about 6 hours after it rises

Happy star gazing everyone!

Thanks Marcy my friend!!! I appreciate it; I thought it was pretty cool to see the moon

 

[marcy]

It is very cool to see the moon in daylight. I like seeing it in the morning when it''s almost full.

 

[marcy]

We''ve got a comet! Woo hoo!. It is visible both morning and evening and is around 8th magnitude so should be visible in binoculars. It could become naked eye in dark skies by the end of the month. You can find a map at http://www.spaceweather.com/

I hope it really brightens for us!

 

[marcy]

They are doing a world wide star count if you wish to participate between now and October 15. The link is http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/starcount/


I think I''ll have my students do it for extra credit.

 

[Lorelei]

Great info - thanks Marcy! I wish the skies would clear here...

 

[marcy]

Lorelei, I hope your skies clear too. I plan on doing this project this weekend. I''ll see how many of my students take me up for extra credit on it.

 

[marcy]

HOT NEWS: Comet 17P/Holmes shocked astronomers today with a spectacular eruption. The 17th magnitude comet has brightened by a factor of five hundred thousand or more during the past 24 hours becoming a naked-eye object in the evening sky. Look for a golden 2.5th magnitude fuzzball in the constellation Perseus after sunset. [

"This is unbelievable!" says Iranian astronomer Babak Tafreshi. "I was amazed to find Comet Holmes so easily with the naked-eye in the light-polluted skies of metropolitan Tehran." Click on Tafreshi''s photo to pinpoint the comet:

The outburst may signify a breakup of the comet''s core or a rich vein of ice suddenly exposed to sunlight--no one knows. At present the comet looks more like a star than a comet; it does not have a discernable tail, but it might grow one as the outburst continues. Amateur astronomers are encouraged to monitor developments using binoculars and backyard telescopes.

Skymap at:

http://www.spaceweather.com/images2007/24oct07/skymap_north_holmes.gif?PHPSESSID=d9ma2nlrjvhksairt7kohmtbl6

 

[marcy]

BIG FULL MOON: Tonight''s full Moon is the biggest full Moon of 2007. It''s no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and this one is a whopper. Why? Read the answer below.

The Moon''s orbit is an ellipse with one side 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. The full Moon of Oct. 25-26 is located on the near side, making it appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we''ve seen earlier in 2007.

In the language of astronomy, the two ends of the Moon''s orbit are called "apogee" and "perigee." Apogee is the farthest point, perigee the nearest: diagram. This week''s full Moon is a "perigee Moon" with extra-high "perigean tides."

The Moon is 14% bigger, but can you actually tell the difference? It''s not so easy. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. A fun experiment: Take a friend outside Thursday night and ask if they notice anything unusual about the Moon. Explain perigee after they answer.

 

[Skippy123]

Wow, that is cool Marcy. Hubby and I went walking last night and we were saying the sunset and then the full moon were amazing. Thanks for the info

 

[marcy]

That is wonderful you saw the moon on your walk last night. It was gorgeous!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 10/26/2007 9:24:55 PM
Author: marcyc
That is wonderful you saw the moon on your walk last night. It was gorgeous!

Marcy, it is pretty amazing tonight too!!!