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| Image credit: NOAO |
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| What's Up This Week - Dec 20 - Dec 26, 2004 |
Dec 20, 2004 - Season's Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Take the time from your busy holiday schedule to relax with some astronomy. There will be three minor meteor showers this week: the Coma Berenicids, Delta Arietid and the Ursids. The waxing Moon will become our guide as we locate historic variable Mira. Mare Humorum and Crater Gassendi are great features to learn about on the lunar surface and we'll travel to the outer arm of our own galaxy to study a multiple star system - Sigma Orionis. Not enough? Then I have a special and very challenging surprise for you on Christmas Day! Although the Moon goes full during this seven-day period, those who are just beginning with new telescopes will appreciate its presence as an easy "pointer" to Saturn. So lift your eyes toward the heavens and enjoy the bright stars of Winter...
Because here's what's up! (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Arianespace |
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| Ariane Lofts 7 Satellites at Once |
| Dec 20, 2004 - An Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from the European Space Agency's launch centre in French Guiana on Saturday, carrying a French military surveillance satellite and 6 additional microsatellites. The Helios 2A satellite is part of Europe's spy satellite network that will be independent of the United States'. The microsats included 4 Essaim satellites designed to demonstrate technology for a future network; the Parasol atmospheric sciences satellite, and a Spanish-built Nanosat, which will also demonstrate technology. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL |
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| Lighting Storms on Saturn |
| Dec 20, 2004 - One instrument on board NASA's Cassini spacecraft allows it to detect lightning. As part of initial tests, the spacecraft was able to detect lightning on Earth from a distance of 89,000 km (55,300 miles). As it approached Saturn last July, it began detecting lightning on the Ringed Planet at a distance of 161 million km (100 million miles). This means that lightning on Saturn is 1 million times stronger than on our own planet. One possible reason is because the gas giants could have magnetic fields similar to the Sun, which rotates at different speeds at different latitudes. (Full Story) |
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