Space and astronomy news
[/caption] Astrophotographers capturing the recent annular solar eclipse on January 15, 2010 got an added bonus: upon closer inspection, they found sunspot 1040 also showed up on their images, too. “We didn’t mean to catch sunspots in our Jaffna Eclipse expedition, nor did we plan to,” said Prasanna Deshapriya, one of the members of the …
Continue reading “Eclipse Sunspots Signal Increased Activity”
Caption: Annular solar eclipse on January 15, 2009. Courtesy Daniel Fischer, “cosmos4u” on Twitter. The first of two solar eclipses to occur in 2010 took place Friday, January 15. This was an annular eclipse, which means the Sun was not totally covered by the Moon, creating a “ring of fire.” The eclipse was visible from …
Continue reading “Annular Eclipse Photos, Videos From Earth and Space”
As the International Year of Astronomy comes to a close, those involved hope to sustain the momentum gained during the year in communicating astronomy with the public. The IYA produced a number of excellent new media projects, creating fresh excitement and enthusiasm for astronomy and science. A new non-profit organization and website have been created …
Continue reading “Keeping the Spirit of the International Year of Astronomy Alive”
[/caption] We are not quite at that point where you can ask your computer to swing over to the Orion Nebula and take a few shots for next weeks’ astrophotography competition – oh and a cup of Earl Grey, hot, thanks. But every day seems to get us that little bit closer. If I want …
Continue reading “Wolfram Alpha – A Handy Tool for the Casual Astronomer.”
Only one more day left until Christmas Eve, and astronomers have just discovered a unique feature on the lunar surface. Although accepted for many years to be a natural feature of selenography, modern astrophotography coupled with today’s high-powered telescopes have discovered an area near the lunar North Pole that’s apparently being used as a runway …
Have you enjoyed our lunar studies together this year? We hope you’ve taken the time to follow the phases and to appreciate what you see. Although it would be wonderful to end our this year’s time together viewing the distant cosmos, something very cool is about to happen… In 1982, a second full Moon of …
Ralf Vandebergh’s detail of an image he took on March 21, 2009 showing astronauts working outside the ISS. Credit: Ralf Vandebergh Remember when it was a big deal when amateur astronomers starting imaging the International Space Station as seen from Earth, showing individual modules and other parts of the space station? One of the most …
Continue reading “Wow! Astronauts on EVA, As Seen From Earth”
Are you looking for the perfect family Christmas gift? Well, stop right there on drawing out your credit card, because there is no such thing. Every family is different. Different needs, different circumstances… even different financial situations. But, what I’m here to tell you about is something I’ve found that changed the way my science …
Continue reading “For Christmas – Don’t Think Nintendo Wii… Think Celestron Omni”
“Looking up in the sky is one of the greatest things a human being can do. Going out to a silent and dark site, enjoying the beauty of the Universe with friends. You will forget all the problems here on Earth, because you realize that we are only a little funny thing on this ball …
Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation of Orion; despite that, its formal name (one of them anyway) is Beta Orionis (Alpha Orionis – Betelgeuse – is a variable star, as is Rigel; Betelgeuse is sometimes the brighter, but most of the time is the fainter). Rigel is a blue supergiant (spectral class B8I), …