Space and astronomy news
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Have you been watching Jupiter and the Moon make a pass at each other in the early morning sky? What an incredible sight. With the slightly later rise of Selene during the weekend hours, we can take advantage of the earlier evening to do some deep sky studies. However, if you’re just …
Continue reading “Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast: August 7-9, 2009”
So what’s the latest telescope I’ve been testing? This time it’s a Vixen R130Sf Newtonian Reflector Telescope and PortaMount II. I can tell you right now that I’ve never laid my hands on a telescope that I was more comfortable with out of the box than this one… But, I guess I really need to …
Ah, yes… The skies have long been dark and the constellations have been on the move since the last time we’ve visited! Hercules now stands overhead when darkness falls. Summer Bugs and Scorpius are already going west of the meridian and Ophiuchus, the “Snake Charmer” has taken its place. In the southern hemisphere, they are …
Continue reading “Kid’s Astronomy: Sagittarius – Summer Central!”
[/caption] Of all the wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, those that lie between 400 nm to 700 nm are the ones most familiar to us. That’s because these are the waves that comprise what we call visible light. When we see objects, it’s because they’re being illuminated by visible light. When we see that the …
[/caption] Ancient, dome-like rock structures contain clues that life was active on Earth 3.45 billion years ago, according to new research — and the findings could help shed light on life’s history on Earth and other planets, including Mars. Abigail Allwood, who studies planetary habitability at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led the research. She and …
Continue reading “Ancient Domes Reveal 3.45-billion-year-old Life History”
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It’s another lunatic weekend as we start off with Regulus and Selene making a close pairing in the Friday evening sky. Why not take a break from difficult galaxy studies and try your hand at some very cool variable stars and multiple systems? It’s time to get out your telescopes and binoculars, …
Continue reading “Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast: June 26-28, 2009”
[/caption] Almost everyone who is familiar with space images has seen this beautiful and color emission and reflection nebula – but take a really close look. This isn’t a Hubble image. It was done with a ground based camera! When looking at M20 through a telescope, what you will see won’t match the photo above, …
For anyone who does astronomy outreach work, is interested in practicing binocular astronomy or is just looking for a great teaching tool, I’ve got something you really need to take another look at – the Celestron 10X50 UpClose Binoculars and Green Laser Pointer Optics Kit; great for binocular astronomy. Almost a year ago I did …
[/caption] Cosmologists have found a new and quicker technique that establishes the intrinsic brightness of Type Ia supernovae more accurately than ever before. These exploding stars are the best standard candles for measuring cosmic distances and are the tools that made the discovery of dark energy possible. An international team has found a way to …
Continue reading “Cosmologists Improve on Standard Candles Measurement”
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! With the Moon just a bit more out of the early evening picture, let’s enjoy the galaxy season as we begin our studies with one of the most massive and luminous spiral galaxies known. If it doesn’t hit you in the eye, then surely our globular cluster studies will! Be sure to …
Continue reading “Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast: May 15-17, 2009”