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What’s Up This Week – December 26 – December 31, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers… I hope everyone around the world is enjoying the peace and joy the holidays bring. Why not stay up late and view one of the bluest objects in the cosmos – the “Hubble Variable Nebula!” Let’s not forget Venus, the “Witch Head” or the “Rosette.” For viewers in northern Australia, you’re in for a year end treat as the Moon occults Antares. The year ends on a dark note as we reach New Moon and the “Hunter” becomes the hunted. Be sure to keep your eyes on the skies because…

Here’s what’s up!

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Titan’s Atmosphere Surprised Scientists

When ESA’s Huygens probe passed through Titan’s atmosphere on its way to a successful landing, it was buffeted by turbulence unexpected by scientists. Very little was known about Titan’s atmosphere before Huygen’s landing because the moon is shrouded by a thick hydrocarbon haze. Huygens found that the upper atmosphere was much thicker than expected, and broken up into several distinct layers. The probe also discovered possible evidence of lightning strikes around it.

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What’s Up This Week – November 21 – November 27, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Let’s start the week off with one of the finest globular clusters for both hemispheres – M2. There’s plenty in store as we explore history, take a look at planetary nebulae, seek out galaxies and hunt down open clusters. A pair of occultations will round out the week as we keep our eyes on the skies…

And find out what’s up!

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Liftoff for Venus Express

ESA’s Venus Express lifted off today atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket, beginning its journey to Venus. ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany made contact with the spacecraft two hours after liftoff, and reported that it has oriented itself correctly and deployed its solar arrays. Its onboard systems are working properly, and its low gain antenna is communicating back to Earth – the high-gain antenna will be deployed in three days. If all goes well, Venus Express will arrive at our closest planetary neighbour in April 2006 and begin orbiting maneuvers.

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Amateur Observers Are Seeing Double

As Derek Breit headed for Fremont, California on April 15 to observe a lunar grazing event, little did he know that he was about to make a discovery that would change the way we look at standard stars. As he set up his 12″ Meade SCT and prepared to record the event with a low lux videocamera, it seemed like a fairly routine observation. Until he reviewed his tapes. As frame by frame moved by, he noticed something a little unusual about upsilon Geminorum – a standard star against which others are measured, especially in the infrared. In 55 frames of his video footage, he apparently captured what may be the very first look at a 11th magnitude companion on a slightly variable star not known to be a double.

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What’s Up This Week – October 17 – October 23, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! The time for Mars is now as even small telescopes can see a wealth of details. Mid-week will offer some viewers the chance to see a very rare eclipse of a bright star by an asteroid! We’ll explore bright stars, open clusters, watch occultations and welcome back the children of Comet Halley. So turn your eyes to the skies, because….

Here’s what’s up!

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Rings from the Unlit Side

This beautiful photograph looks down at Saturn, and partially through its rings from the unlit side. Apart from being a pretty picture, scientists can use images like this to precisely measure the concentration of ring particles. If you look carefully, you can also see Saturn’s tiny moon Atlas (32 km or 20 miles across), as a dark spot in front of the planet.

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Charon Passes in Front of a Star

Astronomers from MIT and Williams College have teamed up to capture an event seen only once, 25 years ago. On the night of July 10/11, Pluto’s moon Charon briefly passed in front of a distant star – this is called an occultation. By studying how the light from this star dimmed and then brightened again, the astronomers will be able to determine if Charon has an atmosphere. Charon is small, so it doesn’t have much gravity to hold an atmosphere, but it’s so cold that some gasses could be held in place.

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What’s Up This Week – July 11 – July 17, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It will be busy skies this week as the Moon goes through a series of occultations for viewers around the world – be it a star, Jupiter or even a comet! We’ll begin by exploring the “Butterfly Cluster” and work our way through some new lunar features as the week progresses. The dance of Venus and Mercury continues, so open your eyes to the skies, because…

Here’s what’s up!

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Capturing the Fastest Events in the Universe

A new high-speed camera has been mounted to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This ultra fast camera is called ULTRACAM, and it’s capable of recording some of the most rapid astronomical events. It’s capable of taking 500 pictures a second, so it will be used to watch any object that can change quite rapidly, like black holes, gamma ray bursts, white dwarfs or cataclysmic variables.