Wow, has the sun ever been getting busy over the last little while.
As of today (Feb. 8), there were three active regions occurring at once including two across the northern half of the visible hemisphere - including one massive sunspot group - and even a southern hemisphere spot.
Can there be any doubt that we're out of that long, drawn out "solar minimum?" I didn't think so!
Do I sound a bit giddy? Perhaps but that's only because an active sun is an amazing sun in so many wavelengths. The full spectrum view certainly has plenty to offer. Giant blotches of black that mark the relatively cooler regions where twisting magnetic fields break free from the bubbling solar interior, specklings of white magnetic "froth" known as faculae.
However, "narrow band" views such as those offered specific ionized gases such as hydrogen, calcium and sodium also offer a variety of amazing views.
Sadly, without a lot of money, there are very few opportunities to see the sun in some of these wavelengths. While a Hydrogen-Alpha "solar scope" is purchased for a relatively low $700, some of the other specialty solar scopes are considerably more expensive.
Easier methods of viewing are through a couple of websites I like to check on a regular basis. Until recently, there wasn't much to see. Now, however, they offer tons to look at. The sites I follow most are:
Spaceweather.com
Or:
the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
And:
Big Bear Solar Observatory
Of course, if one were inclined to view the sun and didn't own the appropriate equipment, this would be the best way I'd recommend they go have a gander at our nearest star. It's a lot safer than sunglasses or exposed film. Both of those methods will lead to blindness!
Clear skies!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Amazing Mars!
So it’s official. The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is no longer a rover. It’s now slated for more ‘in situ’ science.
This was the announcement made by NASA this week, oddly enough at the same time that Mars makes its closest approach to Earth – if you consider 99 million miles “close” – today (Wednesday, Jan. 27) and the 29th is when Mars is officially at “opposition,” rising opposite the setting sun in the sky.
I’ve always been fascinated by Mars. There’s just something about it. It has a certain “allure” that no other planet seems to have. But what is it about this tiny little world that’s only twice the size of our moon?
I mean, c’mon! Here’s the only planet in our solar system for which we can get a “reasonably” clear view of its solid surface. It’s only visible once every two years as we catch up to it in our respective orbits of the sun. And it has such an interesting ochre colour.
So a week ago, I actually had a clear enough night to not only take the scope and try and view Mars, but also attempt to image it using a lunar and planetary imager. I’ll admit, my images weren’t nearly as crisp and detailed as those by others more skilled and experienced at imaging. But it was fun nonetheless and one quickly gets an idea how the minds of some observers and writers have been attracted to this distant, tiny little globe.
Consider what happened when the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli who, during Mars’ opposition in 1877, while observing Mars in Brera, Italy thought he noticed “linear” features he called “canali” or “channels” in Italian. However, this observation set off a firestorm in the public’s imagination, particularly in the mind of businessman and astronomer Percival Lowell who became convinced they were actually “channels” built by a dying civilization to carry water from their melting poles to the equatorial regions.
Now, in all the years I’ve actually been able to look at Mars through a telescope, I’ve never seen hint of “channels.” However, I didn’t have a telescope like Lowell built to observed these “cannals” – a 24-inch Alvin Clarke refractor that is still in service today. Ironically, it has since been suggested that what Lowell was actually seeing were shadows of his the veins in his eye’s own retina.
The belief in Martians inspired a lot of literature including Edgar Rice Burroughs and his fictitious Mars adventurer John Carter and the Martian Barsoomians, as well as Ray Bradbury with his book The Martian Chronicles.
Space probes from the late 1960s to now have given us ever more evolved views of what Mars really is like and, though there are no martians wandering around (Weekly World News notwithstanding), it has proven a stunningly dynamic world. It’s one that has evolved from what might have briefly been analogous to Earth to a frozen wasteland with subtle hints that water might still exist. Even rocks sent to Earth from Mars, courtesy of a few really big impacts have given us indications that maybe…just maybe…Mars isn’t as dead as we thought it was. One of the best series I’ve read that reflects some of this new understanding of Mars is Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series that chronicles the exploration and colonization of Mars. Not only are the characters rich in personality and humanity, the sweeping vistas and cutting-edge science are stunning!
But hey! What’s not to love about Mars?!
Of course, over the past couple of “oppositions” of Mars, the weather has been anything but cooperative and that love has been largely unrequited. In fact, last time it came around, I didn’t get a single glimpse of it. Now, clouds are still calling a halt to most plans to observe Mars.
So keep your fingers crossed that the weather may actually begin to cooperate and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get more chances to marvel at this distant, ochre world.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Hollywood astronomy: Fiction vs. fact
A while ago, I had the misfortune to rent the Nick Cage movie Knowing. Of course, if I had any knowing of what a turkey this thing would be, I might have made alternative arrangements…like shaving my legs or plucking out my fingernails with pliers. Those are a couple of hours I’m not ever going to get back again.
Spoiler alert: If you missed it, alien “signals” to the mind of a girl in the 1950s lead her to write a long list of numbers that turn out to be the dates, times and locations of major disasters leading to one final cataclysm. That cataclysm, in all its absurdity, is a giant solar “superflare” that destroys the Earth.
Never mind that the aliens leave our rescued kids on an alien planet! Alone! Or that they could somehow “know” the future. How about the idea that a giant solar flare could incinerate Earth?! Barring the sun inexplicably blowing up – and it’s unlikely to since it is in a very stable point in its evolution – when was the last time you saw someone burst into flame because they stepped through someone else’s cigarette smoke? Because that would be the equivalent of this scenario.
Yup, from time to time, those of us who know something about astronomy can’t help but shake our heads whenever we see Hollywood play fast and loose with the science. There have been a few real stinkers over the last while. For instance, there are two movies I’ve done my best to avoid. One is called Earthstorm starring Alan Baldwin and pretty much nobody else of note, either.
Plot: giant asteroid impacts moon, causes moon to become unstable, bad things happen on Earth for no apparent reason and someone goes up in a hastily built spaceship with a lot of explosives that somehow saves the day.
So many weaknesses to this but, of the main ones, any idea how big an object has to be in order to impact the moon enough to be a problem? Or how much damage your average asteroid can do to the moon? Throw a baseball at a very large cinderblock building. Anything happen? No? It would be the same thing for the moon.
Last summer was the mini-series Impact starring Natasha Henstridge and, again, pretty much no one else of note.
Plot: A “piece” of a brown dwarf impacts the moon, changing it’s mass and causing it to shift in its orbit around Earth. Again, send up hastily built spaceship with explosives. Except….a “piece” of a brown dwarf? Brown dwarves are essentially “failed stars.” Giant balls of gas like Jupiter. Certainly not something we’re going to miss were it buzzing around our solar system. But a “piece” of a brown dwarf? So basically…the moon was hit by a puff of gas. Note to NASA: don’t let astronauts pass gas when they land on the moon!
Yeah, I could go on, but why? Such is the nature of the beast. Why let facts and physics get in the way of a “good” story, even if it buries the implausibility meter. Still, it would be nice if someone in Hollywood actually asked an astronomer.
Spoiler alert: If you missed it, alien “signals” to the mind of a girl in the 1950s lead her to write a long list of numbers that turn out to be the dates, times and locations of major disasters leading to one final cataclysm. That cataclysm, in all its absurdity, is a giant solar “superflare” that destroys the Earth.
Never mind that the aliens leave our rescued kids on an alien planet! Alone! Or that they could somehow “know” the future. How about the idea that a giant solar flare could incinerate Earth?! Barring the sun inexplicably blowing up – and it’s unlikely to since it is in a very stable point in its evolution – when was the last time you saw someone burst into flame because they stepped through someone else’s cigarette smoke? Because that would be the equivalent of this scenario.
Yup, from time to time, those of us who know something about astronomy can’t help but shake our heads whenever we see Hollywood play fast and loose with the science. There have been a few real stinkers over the last while. For instance, there are two movies I’ve done my best to avoid. One is called Earthstorm starring Alan Baldwin and pretty much nobody else of note, either.
Plot: giant asteroid impacts moon, causes moon to become unstable, bad things happen on Earth for no apparent reason and someone goes up in a hastily built spaceship with a lot of explosives that somehow saves the day.
So many weaknesses to this but, of the main ones, any idea how big an object has to be in order to impact the moon enough to be a problem? Or how much damage your average asteroid can do to the moon? Throw a baseball at a very large cinderblock building. Anything happen? No? It would be the same thing for the moon.
Last summer was the mini-series Impact starring Natasha Henstridge and, again, pretty much no one else of note.
Plot: A “piece” of a brown dwarf impacts the moon, changing it’s mass and causing it to shift in its orbit around Earth. Again, send up hastily built spaceship with explosives. Except….a “piece” of a brown dwarf? Brown dwarves are essentially “failed stars.” Giant balls of gas like Jupiter. Certainly not something we’re going to miss were it buzzing around our solar system. But a “piece” of a brown dwarf? So basically…the moon was hit by a puff of gas. Note to NASA: don’t let astronauts pass gas when they land on the moon!
Yeah, I could go on, but why? Such is the nature of the beast. Why let facts and physics get in the way of a “good” story, even if it buries the implausibility meter. Still, it would be nice if someone in Hollywood actually asked an astronomer.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The end is nigh!...or not.
Okay, I’m confused.
Find an online discussion group, chances are pretty good that you’re going to find someone touting one end-of-the-world scenario or another. According to one, it’s Planet X, the other it’s some “grand alignment” of the Sun, Earth and galactic core, other’s still it’s this government or other with their Illuminati, Masons, Lizard Space Aliens vaccination, death camps, injected mind-control device, invasion of the body snatchers…take your pick! There’s so many scenarios, you’re almost faced with an embarrassment of riches for ways in which to shout “The End is Nigh!!!!” They even clash and contradict…”It’s the Illuminati,” “No, it’s the space aliens,” “Pole shift!” “No, they do,” “Yes, they don’t.”
And as the calendar shuffles through the 20-aughts, a veritable doomsday “religion” is growing out of the belief that 2012 is the year that it all comes to a crashing end. A smaller group contends it’s a shift in “consciousness,” the details of which are, of course, a tad sketchy. But the ones getting the most traction are the big “We’re all going to Die!!” scenarios. Nice to have something to look forward to, isn’t it?
Want someone to blame it on? How about the Mayans?
Bit of background: Centuries ago, a large Central American civilization developed as civilizations do, growing, coming to prominence and then dying out for a variety of sociological factors. The Maya were a people who were superb astronomers, mathematicians and obsessed with time-keeping. They developed a calendar that relied on several cycles of the passage of time, culminating in the “long count” calendar. The latest cycle expected to end in what, by our calendar, corresponds to 2012.
For years, this has spawned a minor cottage industry of doomsayers who are convinced any one of these scenarios is going to mean the end of everything. Books have been written and a quick scan through the Internet will find no shortage of sites with some whacky predictions. So let’s take a look at these
One of my favourites is “Planet X.” This is the idea that an unseen companion to the sun – a “brown dwarf” by many accounts - is on its way to the inner solar system and will cause all manner of disruption to Earth’s orbit and the alignment of the poles. The problem with that is, there’s absolutely NO evidence for such a companion.
Of course, there are those that argue that the “government” is hiding the truth. Of course, this ignores a considerable amount of actual astronomy. Particularly laughable is the idea that an object the diameter of Jupiter and with a mass eight times or greater could “hide” in the outer solar system. And let’s not forget the thousands of amateur telescopes pointing with access to the night sky.
Then there’s the “grand alignment” of the sun with the galaxy’s core. On Dec. 21, 2012, the sun is supposed to miraculously align with the center of the galaxy, resulting in some strange channel of “energy” opening up, etc., etc.
Okay, some basic information: Core of the galaxy (RA refers to "right ascension" in hours, minutes and seconds, Dec refers to "declination" in degrees, minutes and seconds)
RA 17h45m40.04s, Dec -29deg 00' 28.1" Sun's position on Dec. 21, 2009 will be RA 17 h, 59m 44 s, Dec -23deg 26' 28". On Dec. 21, 2012, the sun’s position will be RA 18h 0m 57s, Dec. -23 deg 26' 22"
So the sun's position will be more than one hour of arc further east from the relative position of the centre of the galaxy's position in the sky in RA, and less than 6 seconds of arc further north in declination. In the meantime, the sun doesn't come closer than 6 degrees of the known galactic centre's relative position. Again, remembering that we are 26,000 light years away from the galaxy's true centre...thankfully. By comparison, Jupiter is the largest planet in the sky and subtends just 45 arc seconds across the sky while the moon covers half a degree.
Most mysterious of all is the “pole shift.” Some how, either Earth’s magnetic field is supposed to spontaneously flip over night or the Earth itself is expected to flip end-over-end, either through magnetic flux from the sun or gravity of said Planet X. Magnetic flips of polarity do occur but they take time and, of course, life has continued onward throughout the eons as it has. So strike that one. In the meantime, nothing has ever actually “flipped” so how it’s supposed to happen now is beyond comprehension.
Of course, one might find such stuff little more than entertaining diversion and, for most of us, they’d be right. What worries me is the small groups, like those who upon learning of a “Saturn-like object following” Comet Hale-Bopp (it was actually a star distorted by the photographic process) decided the mothership had arrived to take their souls and they committed suicide.
The general interest in such doomsday scenarios also speaks to a more fundamental flaw in humanity…the obsession with our own demise. We seem obsessed with death, an obsession that plays out in any number of disturbing and destructive ways.
Me, I prefer to look to the future. Like, Jan. 1, 2013.
Find an online discussion group, chances are pretty good that you’re going to find someone touting one end-of-the-world scenario or another. According to one, it’s Planet X, the other it’s some “grand alignment” of the Sun, Earth and galactic core, other’s still it’s this government or other with their Illuminati, Masons, Lizard Space Aliens vaccination, death camps, injected mind-control device, invasion of the body snatchers…take your pick! There’s so many scenarios, you’re almost faced with an embarrassment of riches for ways in which to shout “The End is Nigh!!!!” They even clash and contradict…”It’s the Illuminati,” “No, it’s the space aliens,” “Pole shift!” “No, they do,” “Yes, they don’t.”
And as the calendar shuffles through the 20-aughts, a veritable doomsday “religion” is growing out of the belief that 2012 is the year that it all comes to a crashing end. A smaller group contends it’s a shift in “consciousness,” the details of which are, of course, a tad sketchy. But the ones getting the most traction are the big “We’re all going to Die!!” scenarios. Nice to have something to look forward to, isn’t it?
Want someone to blame it on? How about the Mayans?
Bit of background: Centuries ago, a large Central American civilization developed as civilizations do, growing, coming to prominence and then dying out for a variety of sociological factors. The Maya were a people who were superb astronomers, mathematicians and obsessed with time-keeping. They developed a calendar that relied on several cycles of the passage of time, culminating in the “long count” calendar. The latest cycle expected to end in what, by our calendar, corresponds to 2012.
For years, this has spawned a minor cottage industry of doomsayers who are convinced any one of these scenarios is going to mean the end of everything. Books have been written and a quick scan through the Internet will find no shortage of sites with some whacky predictions. So let’s take a look at these
One of my favourites is “Planet X.” This is the idea that an unseen companion to the sun – a “brown dwarf” by many accounts - is on its way to the inner solar system and will cause all manner of disruption to Earth’s orbit and the alignment of the poles. The problem with that is, there’s absolutely NO evidence for such a companion.
Of course, there are those that argue that the “government” is hiding the truth. Of course, this ignores a considerable amount of actual astronomy. Particularly laughable is the idea that an object the diameter of Jupiter and with a mass eight times or greater could “hide” in the outer solar system. And let’s not forget the thousands of amateur telescopes pointing with access to the night sky.
Then there’s the “grand alignment” of the sun with the galaxy’s core. On Dec. 21, 2012, the sun is supposed to miraculously align with the center of the galaxy, resulting in some strange channel of “energy” opening up, etc., etc.
Okay, some basic information: Core of the galaxy (RA refers to "right ascension" in hours, minutes and seconds, Dec refers to "declination" in degrees, minutes and seconds)
RA 17h45m40.04s, Dec -29deg 00' 28.1" Sun's position on Dec. 21, 2009 will be RA 17 h, 59m 44 s, Dec -23deg 26' 28". On Dec. 21, 2012, the sun’s position will be RA 18h 0m 57s, Dec. -23 deg 26' 22"
So the sun's position will be more than one hour of arc further east from the relative position of the centre of the galaxy's position in the sky in RA, and less than 6 seconds of arc further north in declination. In the meantime, the sun doesn't come closer than 6 degrees of the known galactic centre's relative position. Again, remembering that we are 26,000 light years away from the galaxy's true centre...thankfully. By comparison, Jupiter is the largest planet in the sky and subtends just 45 arc seconds across the sky while the moon covers half a degree.
Most mysterious of all is the “pole shift.” Some how, either Earth’s magnetic field is supposed to spontaneously flip over night or the Earth itself is expected to flip end-over-end, either through magnetic flux from the sun or gravity of said Planet X. Magnetic flips of polarity do occur but they take time and, of course, life has continued onward throughout the eons as it has. So strike that one. In the meantime, nothing has ever actually “flipped” so how it’s supposed to happen now is beyond comprehension.
Of course, one might find such stuff little more than entertaining diversion and, for most of us, they’d be right. What worries me is the small groups, like those who upon learning of a “Saturn-like object following” Comet Hale-Bopp (it was actually a star distorted by the photographic process) decided the mothership had arrived to take their souls and they committed suicide.
The general interest in such doomsday scenarios also speaks to a more fundamental flaw in humanity…the obsession with our own demise. We seem obsessed with death, an obsession that plays out in any number of disturbing and destructive ways.
Me, I prefer to look to the future. Like, Jan. 1, 2013.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sun activity ramping up
Is it possible? Could it be true? The sun's drought of sunspots is coming to a close?
Are we finally starting to see "activity?" Recent indications from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov) seems to be indicating that's the case. Maybe.
Keep in mind folks, the sun usually has something "happening." It is, after all, the largest nuclear fusion reactor we have anywhere near us. Nature's way of lighting up the cosmos. Seething, searing and lately...well...boring!
For those of us who know how, looking at the sun (safely, but more on that later) can be an exciting affair. Sunspots that would dwarf the planet Jupiter, giant filaments of superhot gas extending high off the planet, giant planet-sized "bubbles" of hot plasma boiling to its surface.
Over the last couple of years, though, the sun has been anything but!
It works like this. The sun is essentially just very hot gas. Deep in its core, atoms of hydrogen are squished together to form helium and energy. As the energy of this process makes its long, million-year way out from the center of the sun, it causes the layers of gas above to bubble and boil and generate electrical fields. Like a bar magnet, these fields have a "north" and "south" orientation that generally flips once every 11 years or so. When it does...weird things happen. We see "black spots."
Sunspots aren't really "black" of course. In white light, they're incandescent as the rest of the sun. In a properly filtered view, that means they look "black" compared to the rest of the sun.
In 2002, we experienced the last "peak." However, with every peak there is a valley and this one started about 2006 or 2007 when the last of the previous cycle's "big" sunspots began to fade. And that's where it's got just plain "weird."
Over the last two years, the sun has experienced unusually long periods of "spotlessness." It begs the question...what's going on?
The sun has gone through similarly long periods of low sunspot numbers. But astronomers have only been studying the sun for about 400 years, beginning when Galileo turned his primitive telescope to the sun and projected its bright image onto a white piece of paper.
From 1645 to 1715, the sun experienced a prolonged period without significant numbers of sunspots. During that time, Europe also experienced a "mini ice age" of unusually cold temperatures. Other data has begun to hint that, maybe, there is a link between sunspot activity and climate. Ironically, the sun's brightness actually increases with increased sunspots.
So indications seem to be that the sun is returning to greater activity. But the scientific effort to find answers continue. In the meantime, the hope - at least, for those of us who like to look at the sun - is that we're finally seeing the first of a continuing trend of increased activity.
Can you see it? Well, yes, if you're very careful. It's all about protection because viewing the sun without proper protection WILL result in blindness.
Here's some very UNSAFE methods of viewing the sun: through clouds, smoked glass, film negatives and sunglasses. Safe ways: Proper designed-for-solar viewing "eclipse glasses," Thousand Oaks or other astronomy related solar filters (glass or mylar) or minimum #14 welder's glass.
Failing that, if you own a telescope, there is also eyepiece projection. But make sure it's a telescope and eyepiece combo you didn't spend too much money. The concentrated sunlight from an unfiltered telescope is hot enough to melt tin. The exposed eye would end up in a lot worse condition, to say the least.
Of course, the best way to view the sun now is through websites like SOHO mentioned above, Big Bear Solar Observatory (http://www.bbso.njit.edu/) or even the STEREO spacecraft) http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft.shtml). No special protection required.
Clear and sunny skies!
Are we finally starting to see "activity?" Recent indications from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov) seems to be indicating that's the case. Maybe.
Keep in mind folks, the sun usually has something "happening." It is, after all, the largest nuclear fusion reactor we have anywhere near us. Nature's way of lighting up the cosmos. Seething, searing and lately...well...boring!
For those of us who know how, looking at the sun (safely, but more on that later) can be an exciting affair. Sunspots that would dwarf the planet Jupiter, giant filaments of superhot gas extending high off the planet, giant planet-sized "bubbles" of hot plasma boiling to its surface.
Over the last couple of years, though, the sun has been anything but!
It works like this. The sun is essentially just very hot gas. Deep in its core, atoms of hydrogen are squished together to form helium and energy. As the energy of this process makes its long, million-year way out from the center of the sun, it causes the layers of gas above to bubble and boil and generate electrical fields. Like a bar magnet, these fields have a "north" and "south" orientation that generally flips once every 11 years or so. When it does...weird things happen. We see "black spots."
Sunspots aren't really "black" of course. In white light, they're incandescent as the rest of the sun. In a properly filtered view, that means they look "black" compared to the rest of the sun.
In 2002, we experienced the last "peak." However, with every peak there is a valley and this one started about 2006 or 2007 when the last of the previous cycle's "big" sunspots began to fade. And that's where it's got just plain "weird."
Over the last two years, the sun has experienced unusually long periods of "spotlessness." It begs the question...what's going on?
The sun has gone through similarly long periods of low sunspot numbers. But astronomers have only been studying the sun for about 400 years, beginning when Galileo turned his primitive telescope to the sun and projected its bright image onto a white piece of paper.
From 1645 to 1715, the sun experienced a prolonged period without significant numbers of sunspots. During that time, Europe also experienced a "mini ice age" of unusually cold temperatures. Other data has begun to hint that, maybe, there is a link between sunspot activity and climate. Ironically, the sun's brightness actually increases with increased sunspots.
So indications seem to be that the sun is returning to greater activity. But the scientific effort to find answers continue. In the meantime, the hope - at least, for those of us who like to look at the sun - is that we're finally seeing the first of a continuing trend of increased activity.
Can you see it? Well, yes, if you're very careful. It's all about protection because viewing the sun without proper protection WILL result in blindness.
Here's some very UNSAFE methods of viewing the sun: through clouds, smoked glass, film negatives and sunglasses. Safe ways: Proper designed-for-solar viewing "eclipse glasses," Thousand Oaks or other astronomy related solar filters (glass or mylar) or minimum #14 welder's glass.
Failing that, if you own a telescope, there is also eyepiece projection. But make sure it's a telescope and eyepiece combo you didn't spend too much money. The concentrated sunlight from an unfiltered telescope is hot enough to melt tin. The exposed eye would end up in a lot worse condition, to say the least.
Of course, the best way to view the sun now is through websites like SOHO mentioned above, Big Bear Solar Observatory (http://www.bbso.njit.edu/) or even the STEREO spacecraft) http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft.shtml). No special protection required.
Clear and sunny skies!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Morning spectacle
I'm not a morning person.
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an understatement. I loathe mornings. Despise 'em. Detest them with a passion usually reserved to animal rights activists towards the cosmetics industry or the relationship between Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper.
But the weather people are calling for clear skies this week. Which means I might just have to, as some of my Facebook friends are fond of saying, "suck it up, buttercup!"
You see, there's some interesting goings-on in our eastern sky these mornings. Mercury, Venus and Saturn have been doing a little planetary dosey-doe with Saturn rising up from it's passage behind the sun to greet the descending Mercury and Venus. Well, Saturn is now passing Venus to within a single binocular field of view for the next few days.
To make things even more interesting, a very thin crescent moon joins the celestial tableau Thursday and Friday mornings. All of this visible less than an hour before sunrise.
These types of groupings are hardly unique, nor are they terribly "significant" in the way that astrologers, etc., would like you to believe. However, they are great because they present great opportunities to delve into the "3D" nature of our solar system.
Consider this...the moon is roughly about 320,000 kms from us. Venus, however, is over 120 million. And Saturn over a billion. To say these scales boggle the mind is a little like saying lightning is going to give you a "jolt!"
So now I'm thinking, there may be a good reason to get up in the morning. But if I do and the weather people are wrong, take note. I'll be...um...VERY annoyed!
Clear skies!
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an understatement. I loathe mornings. Despise 'em. Detest them with a passion usually reserved to animal rights activists towards the cosmetics industry or the relationship between Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper.
But the weather people are calling for clear skies this week. Which means I might just have to, as some of my Facebook friends are fond of saying, "suck it up, buttercup!"
You see, there's some interesting goings-on in our eastern sky these mornings. Mercury, Venus and Saturn have been doing a little planetary dosey-doe with Saturn rising up from it's passage behind the sun to greet the descending Mercury and Venus. Well, Saturn is now passing Venus to within a single binocular field of view for the next few days.
To make things even more interesting, a very thin crescent moon joins the celestial tableau Thursday and Friday mornings. All of this visible less than an hour before sunrise.
These types of groupings are hardly unique, nor are they terribly "significant" in the way that astrologers, etc., would like you to believe. However, they are great because they present great opportunities to delve into the "3D" nature of our solar system.
Consider this...the moon is roughly about 320,000 kms from us. Venus, however, is over 120 million. And Saturn over a billion. To say these scales boggle the mind is a little like saying lightning is going to give you a "jolt!"
So now I'm thinking, there may be a good reason to get up in the morning. But if I do and the weather people are wrong, take note. I'll be...um...VERY annoyed!
Clear skies!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Ready, aim...BOOM!
NASA is taking aim at the moon and zero-hour is fast approaching.
At 7:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, a NASA-launched Atlas 5 rocket upper stage will crash into the southern hemisphere of the moon, in a crater called Cabeus followed by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) probe it launched? Why, you might ask? What has the moon ever done to us?
Well, funnily enough, there are those out there who believe those mysterious "powers that be" who have nothing better to do but cover things up and generally do nasty things to civil liberties and aliens alike, have concocted yet another nasty plan, this time to attack the moon and its requisite alien residents. It took me about three seconds of searching to find this prime example: http://tinyurl.com/ybtzgzj
For the rest of us though, it's about the science and the purpose of this particular experiment is to further confirm the existence of water on the moon.
"Why," you might ask. "Didn't they just say there was water on the moon?" Well, yes they did. However, it never hurts to confirm one observation with another. Besides, the previous methods were generally passive scanning methods. Picking up "signals" of a sort from radiation coming from the moon that tell of water. With this method, material will be "kicked up" by the impact of the two-ton upper stage, followed by the LCROSS probe itself. LCROSS will see the first impact while the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that went up with LCROSS in June will observe the second impact. This is the same LRO that has brought us some stunningly "up close" images of the moon, including photographs of past Apollo sites, including equipment and even tracks left by the astronauts.
Sadly, we're going to miss it here in Ontario since the impact will be occurring just as the sun is coming up. However, professional and amateur telescopes out west will be pointing skyward in a hopes to catch the double plume of debris. Although the impact would theoretically be visible in backyard telescopes, it will still be relatively dim. Amateur astronomers with telescopes 10 inches across and larger are nevertheless being encouraged by NASA to aim their backyard scopes at the moon, just to see what they can see.
It just goes to show that there are still ways that amateur astronomers contribute to the science. Meanwhile, the pros will be scanning the debris cloud with spectrographs to find evidence of water molecules kicked up by the impact.
Needless to say, everyone's going to have something to talk about, come Friday afternoon. Astronomers will be chatting happily about results and what it means to possible human visitation and even colonization of the moon. Conspiracy nuts will be forewarning the coming doom of the "retaliation from the moon." I expect it to be entertaining, either way.
Clear skies!
At 7:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, a NASA-launched Atlas 5 rocket upper stage will crash into the southern hemisphere of the moon, in a crater called Cabeus followed by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) probe it launched? Why, you might ask? What has the moon ever done to us?
Well, funnily enough, there are those out there who believe those mysterious "powers that be" who have nothing better to do but cover things up and generally do nasty things to civil liberties and aliens alike, have concocted yet another nasty plan, this time to attack the moon and its requisite alien residents. It took me about three seconds of searching to find this prime example: http://tinyurl.com/ybtzgzj
For the rest of us though, it's about the science and the purpose of this particular experiment is to further confirm the existence of water on the moon.
"Why," you might ask. "Didn't they just say there was water on the moon?" Well, yes they did. However, it never hurts to confirm one observation with another. Besides, the previous methods were generally passive scanning methods. Picking up "signals" of a sort from radiation coming from the moon that tell of water. With this method, material will be "kicked up" by the impact of the two-ton upper stage, followed by the LCROSS probe itself. LCROSS will see the first impact while the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that went up with LCROSS in June will observe the second impact. This is the same LRO that has brought us some stunningly "up close" images of the moon, including photographs of past Apollo sites, including equipment and even tracks left by the astronauts.
Sadly, we're going to miss it here in Ontario since the impact will be occurring just as the sun is coming up. However, professional and amateur telescopes out west will be pointing skyward in a hopes to catch the double plume of debris. Although the impact would theoretically be visible in backyard telescopes, it will still be relatively dim. Amateur astronomers with telescopes 10 inches across and larger are nevertheless being encouraged by NASA to aim their backyard scopes at the moon, just to see what they can see.
It just goes to show that there are still ways that amateur astronomers contribute to the science. Meanwhile, the pros will be scanning the debris cloud with spectrographs to find evidence of water molecules kicked up by the impact.
Needless to say, everyone's going to have something to talk about, come Friday afternoon. Astronomers will be chatting happily about results and what it means to possible human visitation and even colonization of the moon. Conspiracy nuts will be forewarning the coming doom of the "retaliation from the moon." I expect it to be entertaining, either way.
Clear skies!
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