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Cassini Sees Mimas Eclipse Janus

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was recently in a lucky position in space earlier this month to watch its own private lunar eclipse, as one of Saturn’s moons (Mimas) passed in front of another (Janus). Cassini’s camera was rolling the whole time, and the spacecraft captured 37 images that have been stitched together into a movie of the event. Some large terrain is visible on Mimas, including its gigantic crater (the one that makes it look like the Death Star from Star Wars).

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What’s Up This Week – Mar 14 – 20, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! While the Moon will figure prominently in this week’s scheme, there will be many occultations to view as well as lunar features. We’ll return to visit both the M50 and M44, as well as learn about double star – Algieba There are two minor meteor showers and planets to explore. So grab your binoculars and telescopes, because…

Here’s what’s up!

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What’s Up This Week – Feb 27 – Mar 6, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! As another month ends and a new one begins, let’s celebrate the early evening dark and “set the skies on fire” by studying AE Aurigae! Want a challenge for the big scope? We’ll check out southern galactic clusters for binoculars and telescopes and learn the location of several comets. It’s North America’s turn as the Moon occults not one – but two stars in the same night! And right when you thought you could sleep late, the moments before dawn will offer a morning conjunction worth waking up for! So mark your calendars and hope for clear skies because here’s what’s up!

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

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Is it back? Yes. But this time it’s Antares and Mars! The Moon will be out in full force this week – but what a wonderful place to explore. There is no astronomical delight more loaded with detail than our own natural satellite, so join us as we walk in the Alpine Valley, climb Mons Pico, survey the terrain of Clavius and even scale the “Great Wall”! There be a grand lunar occultation this week and the “Magnificent Machholz” will perform a ‘fly-by’ on Mirfak. Not enough? Then lend me your ears as you’ll discover Radio JOVE. We’ll color the cloudy skies with atmospheric phenomena and learn which “Twin” has many secrets! So open your eyes to the skies…

Because here’s what’s up!

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What’s Up This Week – Nov 22 – 28, 2004

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! For those of you who like observing challenges, this week will provide many interesting opportunities to view occultations of bright stars by asteroids as well as three observable comets. We will explore lunar features for both binoculars and telescopes and look into “The Eye of the Bull”. Although the Moon goes full this week, we can still have fun by learning to observe satellite passes and even chase the ISS! We will begin an in-depth look at the constellation of Cassiopeia by viewing and discussing some of its bright double stars and a galactic cluster. Just as predictable as the morning planets, there’s always something fun to do, a bit of history and things to learn. So open your eyes…

Because here’s what’s up!

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Density Waves in Saturn’s Rings

Researchers have used the Cassini spacecraft to make observations of Saturn’s rings with tremendous clarity, resolving images down to the size of a football field. A team from the University of Colorado at Boulder have used a technique called “stellar occultation” to look through the rings at a distant star, and then watch how the ring particles obscure it. The ring material bunches up into denser areas, with gaps between them as small as 50 metres (160 feet). This is unusual, because they should be spreading out in the vacuum of space – this means that small objects, like moons, are stirring up the material in the rings like ripples in a pond.

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What’s Up This Week – Nov 8 – 14, 2004

Greetings fellow skywatchers! We’re in for more excitement this week as the Moon occults not one, not two, but three observable planets! But that’s not all the action, while we’re in a “planetary” frame of mind, we’ll also study two planetary nebulae, the M57 and M27, as well as seek out a “planetary” located inside a globular cluster. Other studies for both telescopes and binoculars will include instructions for “visiting with Vesta” as we explore one of our Solar System’s brightest asteroids. We’ll learn about easily observed variable stars and double your pleasure – double your fun as we explore two open clusters instead of just one! This week will also include a minor meteor shower and things for the Southern Hemisphere skywatchers to do. There are challenges here, as well as a bit of history and a lot of fun! So mark your calendars – because here’s “What’s Up”!

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Book Review: Moon Observer’s Guide

The Moon is definitely not made of cheese, though viewing it can be much more rewarding than nibbling on cheese. Its many unique features with descriptors like rilles, craterlets, and wrinkles give a certain closeness to our nearest satellite. The “Moon Observer’s Guide”, by Peter Grego defines these, pinpoints where they occur on the Moon’s surface and then adds the familial names for easy reference. You might want to bring cheese when viewing the Moon at night but also bring this book as it certainly will guide you.

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Book Review: Practical Astronomy

The book, “Practical Astronomy”, by Storm Dunlop, is a wonderful beginner’s guide that brings order to the multitude of light sources in the night sky. In easy to understand descriptions and photographs you can learn to identify zodiacal lights, emission nebulae and of course the major constellations. This is an easy to use, easy to carry reference to help plan for and get the most out of your evening’s sky watching.