Posts Tagged ‘astronomy’
Orionid meteor shower…
This beautiful celestial event will peak with 10 to 20 meteors per hour in the early morning hours between Friday October 20th and Sunday October 22nd, though a lesser show should remain visible until October 29th.
This is all remnants of Halley’s Comet, which last visited us in 1986, and won’t return until 2061. So get out there after midnight and before dawn and watch for shooting stars.
Chasing the eclipse…
Scientists are planning to chase the shadow of the moon using NASA’s research jets during the upcoming total solar eclipse in the US, to capture the clearest ever images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere. They will be studying the ionosphere, among other things. For those of us who will be earthbound for the event, you can use this site to type in your zip code and discover when it will most impact your area.
Here is some of the gear you should have gotten. Did you get a telescope? Or a certified filter for your camera? Or will you just be in one of these hot watch spots? If you don’t have the certified ISO glasses, don’t look! But there are other things you can do, laid out here.
Traffic has been awful in many of the best viewing areas, but none can beat South Carolina for maintaining a sense of humor about the entire affair.
While this eclipse is a wondrous thing to witness, remember it’s just a business opportunity for some, while it’s an event carrying different shades of meaning for many cultures, including the Navajo.
You probably shouldn’t try tying the event to Trump supporters as the Boston Globe did, and you should definitely use care, especially if you’re driving because some of those in traffic with you won’t be paying attention to the road. There will be a plethora of pictures from a wide variety of sources, so even if you can’t observe in real time, you won’t miss a thing!
Partial lunar eclipse…
A partial lunar eclipse is happening this afternoon, so if you live in one of the places where it can be seen, you can use this event as a prelude to the total solar eclipse in a couple of weeks.
UPDATE: We have some photos in, taken from some of the places offering really fine views of the event.
Record-breaking super-moon…
The biggest and brightest super-moon in almost 70 years is headed our way on the eve of November 14th. It will appear about 14% larger and 30% brighter than the average full moon, so it really will e special for us regular sky-watchers, not just the astronomers. If you miss this even, you’ll have to wait until 2034 to see something as spectacular, so mark your calnedars!
Olbers Paradox…
German astronomer Heinrich Olbers famously pondered the “dark sky paradox” two centuries ago, and suggested that hydrogen gas was blocking us from seeing all the stars at night.
His theory was dismissed, but thanks to the Hubble Telescope, we know know there are enough stars to fill the night sky, as Olbers thought, and it appears the German may have been correct about why we couldn’t see them.
Peering for Perseid…
This is supposed to be a great year for watching the annual Perseid meteor shower, but I was outside at the appropriate time and didn’t see a single one. That was hugely disappointing, but I’ll try again. You should too, because a meteor shower is such an amazing phenomenon.
