Friday, July 10, 2009
A Record Breaking Image of the Moon
Run, don't walk to the Lunar World Record 2009 page. It's the "...world's largest ground-based lunar image mosaic. It contains 288 separate high resolution panes, painstakingly stitched and matched together to form a seamless image." It's zoomable too. Fantastic! Hat tip to Starts with a Bang.
Labels: Moon
Thursday, July 09, 2009
The Sky This Week - Thursday July 9 to Thursday July 16
The Eastern Horizon as seen from Australia at 6:00 am local time, click to embiggen.The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday July 15.
Saturn is visible in the early evening and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-western horizon. It is about a quarter of the way between the bright stars Regulus and Spica.
On Friday July 10 the waning Moon is not far from Jupiter. Jupiter can be seen just above the eastern horizon before 10 pm local time but it is still best seen in the morning with the other bright planets, Venus and Mars.
Mars is just above the beautiful Pleaides cluster, and Venus is close to the A-shaped Hyades cluster (see chart above), on the morning of Monday July 13 Venus is close to bright red Aldebaran in the Hyades, forming a second "eye" in the head of Taurus the Bull.
If you are an early morning riser with a small telescope, Jupiter's Moons are readily visible (also in binoculars) and Venus is in 'waxing Moon" Phase.
Labels: weekly sky
Mars, Venus and Aldebaran line up
A beautiful sight this morning. Mars (far left) Venus and the red star Aldebaran (lower right) all in a line. Mars is above the Pleiades cluster as well, making a very pleasant scene. (Click on image to embiggen)Keep watching as Venus and Aldebaran draw closer over the next few days
Labels: astrophotography, Mars, Pleiades, Venus
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Carnival of Space #110 is here.
Carnival of Space #110 is now available at Kentucky Space. There,s Moon photos, space in 3D, finding Earth from Mars and lots, lots more. Shoot on over and have a read.
Labels: carnival of space
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse July 7, 2009
Tonight sees a very weak penumbral eclipse, where the Moon will just brush the outer edges of the outer shadow of the Earth. Maximum eclipse is 7:30 pm AEDST, 7:00 pm ACDST and 5:30 pm AWST. The northern edge of the Moon will undergo a faint darkening, so faint that only the people with the best visual acuity will see it (and in WA the eclise is in twilight, so it will be impossible to see there).
Update: Meh! didn't notice that I worte AEDST, that was meant to be AEST. Still, the Moon looked marvellous rising through thin cloud, but there was no way I could see any prenumbral darkening through the cloud.
Update: Meh! didn't notice that I worte AEDST, that was meant to be AEST. Still, the Moon looked marvellous rising through thin cloud, but there was no way I could see any prenumbral darkening through the cloud.
Unexpected Rainbows (Part 5)
They crop up all over the place. This one is behind the boulders on the island at Victor Harbour.Labels: rainbows
Monday, July 06, 2009
Dark Rings of Saturn
The Sun is getting close to passing through Saturn's ring plane. As a result the rings are becoming dark. Here is an image of the "dark rings" taken by Anthony Wesley of Canberra. A full Saturn Gallery is here.
Labels: astrophotography, Saturn
Friday, July 03, 2009
The Sky This Week - Thursday July 2 to Thursday July 9
Current Phase of the Moon:
The Eastern Horizon as seen from Australia at 6:00 am local time, click to embiggen.
The Full Moon is Tuesday July 7. On Saturday July 4 the Moon is very close to the bright red star Antares.
Saturn is visible in the early evening and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-eastern horizon. It is about a quarter of the way between the bright stars Regulus and Spica.
Jupiter can be seen just above the eastern horizon before 10 pm local time but it is still best seen in the morning with the other bright planets, Venus and Mars.
Mars and Venus are close together, and in a very beautiful region of the Morning sky, Near the Pleaides, Hyades and the Constellation Orion (see Chart). Mars and Venus continue to draw apart during the week. Mercury is now lost to view, and will reappear in the evening later this month.
If you are an early morning riser with a small telescope, Jupiter's Moons are readily visible (also in binoculars) and Venus is in 'waxing Moon" Phase.
The Eastern Horizon as seen from Australia at 6:00 am local time, click to embiggen.The Full Moon is Tuesday July 7. On Saturday July 4 the Moon is very close to the bright red star Antares.
Saturn is visible in the early evening and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-eastern horizon. It is about a quarter of the way between the bright stars Regulus and Spica.
Jupiter can be seen just above the eastern horizon before 10 pm local time but it is still best seen in the morning with the other bright planets, Venus and Mars.
Mars and Venus are close together, and in a very beautiful region of the Morning sky, Near the Pleaides, Hyades and the Constellation Orion (see Chart). Mars and Venus continue to draw apart during the week. Mercury is now lost to view, and will reappear in the evening later this month.
If you are an early morning riser with a small telescope, Jupiter's Moons are readily visible (also in binoculars) and Venus is in 'waxing Moon" Phase.
Labels: weekly sky
Cosmic Diary - Black Holes
Cosmic Diary is now 6 months old and has a new feature article Black Holes by Nadine Neumayer of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Munich, Germany. From the blurb:
Few scientific topics capture people's imaginations as well as black holes. The mere mention is often enough to interest and captivate an audience. But how much do scientists actually know about these astronomical anomalies? How are they related to quasars, x-rays, and galaxies? And of course, if they swallow light, how can we see them? This article will help put many pieces of the puzzle together, resulting in a clear image explaining all about the nature of black holes.
Labels: International Year of Astronomy
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Ring around the Moon
Even cloudy night can bring beautiful sights, as I have mentioned before. In this case high, thin clouds have made a coloured ring around the Moon, a kind of Moonbow. It looked more dramatic to the unaided eye, as the long exposure to pick up the colour overexposes the Moon.Labels: astrophotography, Moon, Moonbow
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
