Monday, January 31, 2011
See NanoSail-D!
An artist's concept of a solar sail in Earth orbit (Image Credit NASA). [larger image]
You have all probably heard by now that NASA's solar sail satellite NanoSail-D, has unexpectedly been released from it's carrier spacecraft (where it had been stuck) and has successfully unfurled into full solar configuration (Story here and and astronomy picture of the day here).
Okay, so it's old news. But did you know you can see it pass overhead?
For most Australians, for the next week or so, it is in the early morning sky, and not particularly bright, but bright enough to see moving even under suburban skies.
To see NanoSail-D, head over to Heavens Above where they have a dedicated link (next to the dedicated ISS link). Set up your local position and click on the link to find when you can see it.
For CalSky, you have to click on the Satellites menu item, then click on Sat-Library, then search for NanoSail-D2.
Hopefully in the next few weeks it will enter the sky at more reasonable times.
You have all probably heard by now that NASA's solar sail satellite NanoSail-D, has unexpectedly been released from it's carrier spacecraft (where it had been stuck) and has successfully unfurled into full solar configuration (Story here and and astronomy picture of the day here).
Okay, so it's old news. But did you know you can see it pass overhead?
For most Australians, for the next week or so, it is in the early morning sky, and not particularly bright, but bright enough to see moving even under suburban skies.
To see NanoSail-D, head over to Heavens Above where they have a dedicated link (next to the dedicated ISS link). Set up your local position and click on the link to find when you can see it.
For CalSky, you have to click on the Satellites menu item, then click on Sat-Library, then search for NanoSail-D2.
Hopefully in the next few weeks it will enter the sky at more reasonable times.
Labels: Satellite, unaided eye observation
Occultation of Pi Sagittarii Morning February 1, 2011
Morning sky on February 1 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:40 am daylight saving time in South Australia showing pi Sagittarii about to be covered by the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.Just a reminder that the Moon passes in front of the moderately bright star pi Sagittarii on the morning of Tuesday February 1.
The Moon covers the star at around 6:00 am daylight saving time in the eastern states (eg 6:16 Melbourne, 6:09 Sydney, 5:04 in Brisbane), 5:40 am ACDST in South Australia, and uncovers the star at 3:50 am in WA.
Labels: Moon, Occultation
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Australia Day, 26 January 2011
Sun, sea, picnic, beach cricket. What more could you want? (well, maybe an unclouded sky, but hey!)Labels: home life
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday January 27 to Thursday February 3
The New Moon is Thursday February 3. Jupiter is easily seen in the early evening sky. Venus is visible in the morning sky not far from the bright star Antares with Mercury not far below. The Moon vists Venus on 30 January and Mercury of February 2. On February 1 the Moon passes in front of the bright star pi Sagittarii. Saturn is well placed for telescopic observation.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Sunday January 30 showing Venus, The crescent Moon, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The New Moon is Thursday February 3.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks. On the morning of Sunday January 30 the Crescent Moon is near Venus.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus. On the Morning of Thursday February 2 the crescent Moon is below Mercury. You will need a fairly clear, level horizon to see this meeting at its best.
Morning sky on February 1 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:40 am daylight saving time in South Australia showing pi Sagittarii about to be covered by the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The Moon passes in front of the moderately bright star pi Sagittarii on the morning of Tuesday February 1. The moon covers the star at around 6:00 am daylight saving time in the eastern states, 5:40 am ACDST in South Australia, and uncovers the star at 3:50 am in WA.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26. Click to embiggen.
Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the early evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. However, they are drawing apart over this and coming weeks.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Sunday January 30 showing Venus, The crescent Moon, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The New Moon is Thursday February 3.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks. On the morning of Sunday January 30 the Crescent Moon is near Venus.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus. On the Morning of Thursday February 2 the crescent Moon is below Mercury. You will need a fairly clear, level horizon to see this meeting at its best.
Morning sky on February 1 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:40 am daylight saving time in South Australia showing pi Sagittarii about to be covered by the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The Moon passes in front of the moderately bright star pi Sagittarii on the morning of Tuesday February 1. The moon covers the star at around 6:00 am daylight saving time in the eastern states, 5:40 am ACDST in South Australia, and uncovers the star at 3:50 am in WA.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26. Click to embiggen.Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the early evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. However, they are drawing apart over this and coming weeks.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Resources for Questions about Astrology by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Following on from the Zodiac Kefuffle, (see also here and here), the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has updated its long-popular article examining astrology from an astronomical perspective. It also has a resource guide for looking at a wide range of astronomical pseudo-science at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Kepler Finds a Magma Planet
Visualization of Kepler 10b using Celestia.This is a bit of oldish news, but I've got Celestia add-on's on the end of the post, so you can visit this world in Celestia.
The Kepler spacecraft, which has been finding a host of interesting extra-solar planets, has found the first unambiguously rocky planet around another sun (and the first rocky planet found by Kepler).
Not the first possibly rocky planet, that was COROT 7b, but there is sufficient uncertainty in its mass that it might be an ice/water world.
Kepler measures the tiny dips in intensity in a stars light that occurs when a planet passes in front of its Sun. From the depth of the dip, you can determine how big the planet is. It is only 1.4 times the size of the Earth, one of the smallest exoplanets found.
Using ground-based observations with the Keck telescope they then determined the mass of the planet. From that you can determine the density of the planet. Kepler 10b's density is 8.8 grams per cubic centimeter, which is far denser than Earth at 5.5 grams per cubic centimeter. This means that the world is rocky, possibly even mostly metal. You cn read the original paper here.
Artists conception of Kepler 10b, image credit NASA.Despite being Earth-sized, and orbiting a Sun-like star, Kepler 10b is not Earth-like. It orbits its Sun far closer than Mercury does to ours, its surface is a blistering 1600 degrees C, hot enough to melt many metals. It might be a world a magma lakes and rivers of lava, a bit like Mustafar.
You may wish to add Kepler 10b to Celestia. This is not as straight forward as other extrasolar planets we have added to Celestia, as Kepler 10b's home star is not in the Celestia catalog. So we have to create one.
The file below contains Kepler 10b's parent sun, and two other recent extrasolar parent stars that are not in the Celestia catalog. Simply cut and paste the parameters below to a file and save it as newextrasolar.stc in the extras folder of Celestia.
==================newextrasolar.stc===================================
# Stars which are not included in the main catalog or the extrasolar catalog
#CoRoT survey
"CoRoT-9:2MASS 18430881+0612150:GSC N1RO059308"
{
RA 280.7875
Dec 6.2042
Distance 1500 # from spectral class and magnitude
SpectralType "G3V"
AppMag 13.7
}
#Kepler survey
"Kepler-9:2MASS 19021775+3824032:KIC 3323887"
{
RA 285.574
Dec 38.4009
Distance 2119 # from spectral class and magnitude
SpectralType "G2V"
AppMag 13.9
}
#Kepler survey
"Kepler-10:2MASS 19024305+5014286:KIC 11904151"
{
RA 285.6794
Dec 50.24131944
Distance 564 # light years from published data
SpectralType "G"
AppMag 10.96
}
=====================================================
Now we have the star, we can add the planet. Cut and paste the parameters below to a file and save it as kepler10b.ssc in the extras folder of Celestia. I've used Venus as the texture, for lack of anything else.
===============>8==kepler10b.ssc===========>8 ==========
"b" "Kepler-10"
# Most unambiguous rocky world found as of Jan 2011
{
Texture "venussurface.*"
# Using venus although it may be a magma world
Mass 4.6 # M.sin(i) = 4.6 Earth
Radius 8929.2 # 1.4 Earth radi, from paper
InfoURL "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-10b"
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 0.00229
SemiMajorAxis 0.01684
Eccentricity 0
ArgOfPericenter 267 #guess
Inclination 84.4
#MeanAnomaly 271
}
# likely to be in captured synchronous rotation
}
AltSurface "limit of knowledge" "Kepler-10/b"
{
Texture "venussurface.*"
OverlayTexture "ganymede-lok-mask.png"
}
============================================================
Labels: celestia, exoplanet, extrasolar planet
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Southern Skywatch January 2011 edition is now up!
Morning sky looking east showing Venus, the crescent Moon and Mercury at 5:30 am local daylight saving time on Sunday January 30. Click to embiggen.The January edition of Southern Skywatch is now up. Sorry this is so late, I had all the images set up before Christmas, but then Family stuff, lack of internet, then worrying about relatives and friends in the QLD floods got in the way.
Venus and Mercury meet the Moon in the morning. Venus is now a "half-moon" shape in small telescopes and strong binoculars.
Jupiter is well past opposition, and it is hard to get good telescopic views close to the horizon. However, its Moons are still good to watch.
Jupiter is easily visible in the late evening sky and is within binocular range of Uranus with the pair starting close at the beginning of January.
Saturn is now a good telescopic object.
Labels: southern skywatch
The Sky This Week - Thursday January 20 to Thursday January 27
The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 26. Jupiter is easily seen in the evening sky. Venus is visible in the morning sky not far from the bright star Antares with Mercury not far below. Saturn is well placed for telescopic observation.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Sunday January 21 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 26. The Moon is closest to the Earth on the 22nd.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 4:30 am daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26 showing Saturn, the Moon and the bright star Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
On Tuesday January 25 and Wednesday January 26 the waning Moon is close to Saturn. On the 26th the Moon is very close to the bright star Spica too.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26. Click to embiggen.
Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the late evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. However, they are drawing apart over this and coming weeks.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Sunday January 21 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 26. The Moon is closest to the Earth on the 22nd.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 4:30 am daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26 showing Saturn, the Moon and the bright star Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
On Tuesday January 25 and Wednesday January 26 the waning Moon is close to Saturn. On the 26th the Moon is very close to the bright star Spica too.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Wednesday January 26. Click to embiggen.Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the late evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. However, they are drawing apart over this and coming weeks.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, January 17, 2011
Find Your Zodiacal Constellation – A Teachable Moment.
Left panel, northern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 daylight saving time on Monday January 17 showing the stars that form some of the zodiacal constellations (similar views will be seen elsewhere in the southern hemisphere at the equivalent local time. Right panel, stars with constellation figures overlain (click to embiggen).
One of the reasons that the recent zodiac kerfuffle became a news item is that, amongst other things, most people don’t know that the star sign in their daily newspaper horoscope is not actually associated with the constellation of the same name (and hasn’t really been so since around 1600) and most people can’t find their zodiacal constellation in the sky.
But this is a teachable moment. Most people do know their star sign, and although astrology is rubbish it would be fun to try and find your star sign in the sky. Finding a number of the zodiacal constellations can be difficult as they are dim and hard to see in our light polluted skies, but it’s worth the effort.
If you go outside tonight at 10pm local daylight saving time, Southern hemisphereians can see five of the 12 Zodiacal constellations (Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer). Tonight (January 17), if you look due north you will see a bright red star which forms part of a V shaped group of stars. This is the head of the constellation Taurus, the bull. To the right you will see the Moon. It is between the two stars that from the tips of the bulls horns. To the left you will see a small pretty cluster of stars, the Pleiades (well worth viewing in binoculars). The diagram above shows what you should see, and has the constellation figure shown as well on the right (for northern hemispherians, look south, the constellations will appear upside down to the depictions shown here).
Diagram showing the zodiacal signs in relationship to the constellations, The yellow band is the zodiacal sign location, and the red block is the zodical sign of Taurus in the newpaper horoscopes (click to embiggen).That’s the constellation of Taurus, but not the zodiacal sign of Taurus. The horoscopes you read in the papers start the astrological zodiacal signs from the position of the sun at the Vernal Equinox (in the northern hemisphere). Due to the precession of the equinoxes, as the Earths axis of rotation changes its direction like a spinning top, the location of the Vernal Equinox has shifted by 23 degrees over the last 2000 years. As well, the astrological zodiacal signs are not associated with the boundaries of the constellations, but are slabs of sky 30 degrees long by 14 degrees wide[1].
So the zodiacal sign of Taurus (indicated by symbolic bulls horns (♉), now covers the constellation of Aries (and a bit of the tail of Cetus, the whale, and the left leg of the bull). In fact the three brightest stars of Aries lie entirely outside the chunk of sky that makes up the zodiacal sign of Taurus. In the diagram the zodiacal constellation band is shown in yellow, and the zodiacal sign of Taurus in red.
The constellation of Taurus is covered by the zodiacal sign of Gemini (symbolized by two parallel lines (♊) . The Constellation of Gemini is to the right of the constellation of Taurus in the north-east, the bright stars Castor and Pollux (the twins) being easily visible (tomorrow night, January 17, the Moon will be in Gemini, and on the 19th it will be in cancer). The zodiacal sign of Cancer (symbolized by stylised crab claws (♋)) covers the constellation of Gemini (excluding the star Castor), bits of the constellations Orion, Auriga and a sliver of Cancer.
And so it goes; the constellations that symbolize the zodiacal signs are no-longer associated with associated with those signs. Not that it matters, the properties of the zodiacal signs are purely imaginary constructs, but it is worthy of reflection that the zodiacal sign of the mighty, charging bull is now represented by an unprepossessing collection of faint stars (as is spectacular Scorpio).
Still, getting out in the fresh air and seeing the constellation that gave your zodiacal sign its name over 2000 years ago is a good excuse for some sky watching.
[1] There are 4 different major forms of astrology, some set the zodiacal signs by the vernal equinox, some don’t, the newspaper ones do.
Labels: astrology, constellations, science, zodiac
Sunday, January 16, 2011
A Horoscope I'd like to see
A horoscope I’d like to see:
(This follows on from my article on the recent Astrology kerfuffle and was written (but not used) in 2005 for Australian Sky and Space. The positions are correct for 2005, but Mars has obviously moved by now)
Even though the Sun passes through the classical constellation Ophiuchus, it is not included in the astrological zodiac. Also Cetus, where several planets can spend some time, is excluded (most recently Mars was briefly in Cetus). As well, Pluto wanders a bit further from the Zodiac than the others due to its high eccentricity, but the constellations it wanders into are excluded from the astrological zodiac. And what about asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and Plutinos? Astrologers are divided over whether to include them in charts, and although you can find astrological predictions on the internet that do include these objects, your average horoscopes exclude them. And what about space probes? Size and mass is no obstacle to astrological relevance, surely these messengers of human curiosity and hope should be included? Sadly, they are not.
I think it is a great shame that these constellations and objects are excluded from western horoscopes, they would be far more colourful than the wishy-washy current versions that suggest that Mars may be making you a little more aggressive. So I have written the kind of horoscope I would like to see.
Camoleopardis, the Giraffe
You may have to stick you neck out on this occasion. With Voyager 1 in your sign, you have a restless urge to go boldly where no hominid has gone before, but you only get as far as the video store before the bow shock hits. On the 12th of September 2013, a piece of shuttle booster will fall in the garden of all maiden aunts of Camoleopardians.
Ophiuchus, the Serpent bearer
You will find yourself tied up in knots today. The influence of Quaoar would normally help you find a creative way out of the loop, but Varuna will rain on your parade. You may, or may not, have a life changing decision to make on an odd numbered bus. Flipping a coin may, or may not, assist you to come to a decision of some kind.
Serpens: The serpent
You may be feeling a little bit snaky today, if not positively Stygian, and the influence of Pluto in this constellation will make you feel colder and glummer than before. At 12:15 am on Tuesday the hot water heater of all Serpians will explode, making cold showers inevitable.
Cetus: The Whale
With Mars in conjunction with Sedna, International Whaling Commission Members should beware of angry Inuit trying to sell blubber sandwiches. On Friday all Cetians will find a harpoon embedded in their fishpond, even if they didn’t have a fishpond to start with.
Some explanation:
Sedna is the Innuit goddess of the sea, and protector of seals and whales. Quaoar is a North American creation deity and Varuna a water deity. The Kuiper Belt objects named after them really were in the constellations named in 2005 when I wrote this, as was Voyager and Pluto. Mars was in Cetus at the same time as Sedna .
(This follows on from my article on the recent Astrology kerfuffle and was written (but not used) in 2005 for Australian Sky and Space. The positions are correct for 2005, but Mars has obviously moved by now)
Even though the Sun passes through the classical constellation Ophiuchus, it is not included in the astrological zodiac. Also Cetus, where several planets can spend some time, is excluded (most recently Mars was briefly in Cetus). As well, Pluto wanders a bit further from the Zodiac than the others due to its high eccentricity, but the constellations it wanders into are excluded from the astrological zodiac. And what about asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and Plutinos? Astrologers are divided over whether to include them in charts, and although you can find astrological predictions on the internet that do include these objects, your average horoscopes exclude them. And what about space probes? Size and mass is no obstacle to astrological relevance, surely these messengers of human curiosity and hope should be included? Sadly, they are not.
I think it is a great shame that these constellations and objects are excluded from western horoscopes, they would be far more colourful than the wishy-washy current versions that suggest that Mars may be making you a little more aggressive. So I have written the kind of horoscope I would like to see.
Camoleopardis, the Giraffe
You may have to stick you neck out on this occasion. With Voyager 1 in your sign, you have a restless urge to go boldly where no hominid has gone before, but you only get as far as the video store before the bow shock hits. On the 12th of September 2013, a piece of shuttle booster will fall in the garden of all maiden aunts of Camoleopardians.
Ophiuchus, the Serpent bearer
You will find yourself tied up in knots today. The influence of Quaoar would normally help you find a creative way out of the loop, but Varuna will rain on your parade. You may, or may not, have a life changing decision to make on an odd numbered bus. Flipping a coin may, or may not, assist you to come to a decision of some kind.
Serpens: The serpent
You may be feeling a little bit snaky today, if not positively Stygian, and the influence of Pluto in this constellation will make you feel colder and glummer than before. At 12:15 am on Tuesday the hot water heater of all Serpians will explode, making cold showers inevitable.
Cetus: The Whale
With Mars in conjunction with Sedna, International Whaling Commission Members should beware of angry Inuit trying to sell blubber sandwiches. On Friday all Cetians will find a harpoon embedded in their fishpond, even if they didn’t have a fishpond to start with.
Some explanation:
Sedna is the Innuit goddess of the sea, and protector of seals and whales. Quaoar is a North American creation deity and Varuna a water deity. The Kuiper Belt objects named after them really were in the constellations named in 2005 when I wrote this, as was Voyager and Pluto. Mars was in Cetus at the same time as Sedna .
Labels: astrology, scepticism, science, zodiac
A Storm in a Zodiacal Teacup
The Sun in the constellation Ophiuchus on December 12.A recent article by astronomer Parke Kunkle has had the twitterverse and astrologers in an uproar by pointing out that Sun no longer enters the constellations associated with the zodiac due to precession of the equinoxes.
Tropical Astrologers are boasting that Kunkle is wrong, and their system is better than that of Sidereal Astrologers, because their constellations are defined by the Vernal Equinox, and yar-boo-sucks to those silly astronomers.
However, in Tropical Astrology the zodiacal sign Aries (the Ram) actually points to the constellation we call Pisces. Now, most people couldn't find their own constellation in the sky, but I'm sure they would be perplexed to know that Astrological Aries is the constellation known to and ourselves and the ancient Greeks as Pisces (also, the vast majority of horoscopes that people are familiar with are Sun Sign horoscopes which Tropical Astrologers look down on in the first place). So Parke Kunkle is correct, the Zodiacal signs most westerners are familiar with are not associated with the constellations they are named after.
Yes, zodiacal constellations and actual constellations are two entirely different things. The astrological signs of the zodiac may bear the same names as modern constellations but have little correspondence to either modern constellations or constellations as ancients such as Ptolemy knew them. Both Astrological Tropical and Sidereal zodiacal signs are sections of the sky 30 degrees long and 14 degrees wide, centred on the Suns path. No matter how big or small the actual constellation, the sign associated with that constellation is one twelfth of the length of the Suns yearly journey. Again, we will pass silently over the fact that the tropical zodiac signs are named for constellations that no longer reside in their 30 degree swath due to precession of the equinoxes.
The other thing exercising the astrologers is whether Ophiuchus should be part of the zodiac. Now, boundaries for the astronomical constellations have varied quite a bit since the time of Ptolemy (whose astronomical constellations had very different boundaries to the zodiacal constellations) , but both the modern constellation of Ophiuchus and the ancient Greek one defined by Ptolemy had Ophiuchus crossing the ecliptic, as do all the other constellations of the Zodiac. Now we have an astrologer fulminating:
"This is an old hoax. Historically, Ophiuchus has never been listed as a constellation in the sidereal zodiac. It is a constellation out there, but it’s off the ecliptic (that is, it’s not along the path of the Sun through the sky). I’ve read that Ptolemy mentions it in his literature as an off-zodiac constellation, meaning that the Sun never travels through it...."Sorry mate, the Sun does travel through it (and has done so since Ptolemy described it back around 100 AD, and probably even earlier based on the Farnese Atlas see the image above), as does the Moon and planets, in fact the Sun spends more time in Ophiuchus than it does in Scorpius. It's good that astrologers are so familiar with the sky they get their predictions from.
What's more, several astrologers have suggested that Ophiuchus should be incorporated into the zodiac (see here, here and here). So I wouldn't call the proposal for Ophiuchus to be a Zodiacal constellation a "hoax", Mr. Astrologer.
Labels: astrology, scepticism, science, zodiac
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sorry to Dissapoint the Nibiru Folks, It's Just a Sun Halo
This image is doing the rounds of a news aggregator site at the moment.The text breathlessly exclaims:Is this "halo" magnetic, does it interfere with biological processes on Earth? Could it be the source of a magnetic disruption which destroyed or altered the navigational abilities of the now dead birds, bats, and fish?
Sorry guys, but this is a plain old 22° halo. It occurs when sunlight is refracted through hexagonal ice crystal high in the atmosphere. It is one of the commonest sky phenomena there is. Here is a few images I've made of halos around the Moon.
It's nice and all the speculate, but couldn't have someone asked a meteorologist before getting all Stargate on us.
The Nibiru crowd are getting excited about the bright blob near the sun, claiming it's a winged disk.
Well, one thing it's not is Venus, on January 4, when this image was taken in Indonesia, Venus was 47° away from the Sun, well outside the 22° radius of the halo (as was Mercury, but usually Venus and occasionally Jupiter are bright enough to to photograph in daylight).
Most likely (in no particular order) are, a parhelion from a parhelic circle crossing a dimmer, internal halo that doesn't show up on the photo (see here for a complex halo, and other images here and here), a random flare off high atmospheric ice crystals or internal camera lens flare.
But a planet it is not.
And why the author of the piece thought that a halo in Indonesia was responsible for bird kills in the US is beyond me. I did like the idea that sonic booms from the "intense seasonal meteors" could be responsible for bird kills, the Quadrantids are quite modest (nice picture here), and we don't see more die off's during the Geminids for example.
There's a really simple explanation for the bird die off's, it's just normal seasonal die-off's, blown out of proportion by media attention.
Labels: Halo, scepticism
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday January 13 to Thursday January 20
The Full Moon is Thursday January 20. Jupiter is easily seen in the evening sky. Venus is visible in the morning sky not far from the bright star Antares with Mercury not far below. saturn is well placed for telescopic observation.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Monday January 17 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The Full Moon is Thursday January 20.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares. On the 17th Venus and Antares are at their closest.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible abouve the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Monday January 17. Click to embiggen.
Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the late evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. They won't be this close again until 2024.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am daylight saving time on Monday January 17 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The Full Moon is Thursday January 20.
Bright white Venus is now readily seen in the early morning sky not far from the bright red star Antares. On the 17th Venus and Antares are at their closest.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus is now in "First quarter" phase and will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "gibbous" over the coming weeks.
Mercury is now readily visible in the morning sky below Venus.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation in the early morning. It readily visible abouve the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Evening sky looking west showing Jupiter and Uranus at 9:30 pm local daylight saving time on Monday January 17. Click to embiggen.Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the late evening. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. They won't be this close again until 2024.
Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Thinking of all in Queensland.
With the devastating floods in Queensland our thoughts are with all those people who have lost loved ones or homes, and those facing the flood peak in Brisbane tonight. While I am fortunate in that most of my family and are out of the flood zones (except John, who have have a wet floor tomorrow), many people are not so lucky. You might like to help out with a donation via the Premier's Flood Relief fund or the Red Cross.
Labels: housekeeping
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday January 6 to Thursday January 13
The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 12. Jupiter is easily seen in the evening sky. The crescent Moon visits Jupiter on January 10. Venus is visible in the morning sky not far from the bright star Antares with Mercury not far below.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am daylight saving time on Saturday January 8 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 12.
Bright white Venus continues to rise above the eastern morning horizon and is now readily seen in the early morning sky.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "First quarter" over the coming weeks.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Mercury is low on the eastern horizon at the start of the week, but climbs higher during the week. You will need a clear level eastern horizon initially to see it.
Evening sky looking west showing the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time on Monday January 10. Click to embiggen.
Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the early morning. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am daylight saving time on Saturday January 8 showing Venus, Mercury and the bright Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 12.
Bright white Venus continues to rise above the eastern morning horizon and is now readily seen in the early morning sky.
Venus, Antares and Mercury form a large triangle in the morning sky. Venus's crescent shape is easily seen in small telescopes. Venus will progressively decrease in size and wax towards "First quarter" over the coming weeks.
Saturn, is high enough for telescopic observation. You might be able too see the big storm on Saturn if your telescope is big enough.
Mercury is low on the eastern horizon at the start of the week, but climbs higher during the week. You will need a clear level eastern horizon initially to see it.
Evening sky looking west showing the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time on Monday January 10. Click to embiggen.Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen.
Jupiter can be readily seen from twilight until it sets in the early morning. Jupiter now spends most of the evening above the north-western horizon.
Jupiter is excellent in binoculars and small telescopes.
Jupiter and Uranus are still close together, and are readily seen together in binoculars. Uranus is the second brightest object north of Jupiter and the star 20 Piscium. Uranus in fact bright enough to be (just) seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. A binocular spotters map is here.
Jupiter's Moons are always interesting, in binoculars or telescopes of any size. There are lots of opportunities to see cool Jupiter Moon events (scroll down until you hit Jupiter).
If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
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