Archives for the 'skywatching' Category
Venus in the Morning
Published on 31 Oct 2007 at 10:55 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under skywatching.
If you get up a little before dawn and look to the East, you can’t help seeing an extremely bright object in the sky. That is the planet Venus. There is no way to miss it (unless a tree or building is in the way!).
Venus outshines anything else in the sky except the […]
Measuring and Mitigating Light Pollution
Published on 6 Oct 2007 at 10:58 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under politics, skywatching.
Light pollution is the bane of astronomers world wide. Now, we all know that outdoor lighting is sometimes needed at night. But, outdoor lighting is almost always over done. At night, there are plenty of reasons to have lights on outside. Streetlights improve traffic safety. Sporting events are played at […]
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Seeing Mercury this week
Published on 30 Sep 2007 at 12:21 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under astronomy, skywatching.
Mercury swings around the Sun very quickly. It takes only 88 days to make a complete orbit. Being quite a bit closer to the Sun than the Earth, Mercury never seems to stray far from the Sun in the sky. However, it is now about 25° to the east of the Sun […]
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Harvest Moon
Published on 26 Sep 2007 at 1:25 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under astronomy, sky lore, skywatching.
Full Moon occurs today at 19:45 UT (2:45 pm Central Daylight Time). You may have gone out to look at the Moon the last few nights and thought that it looked full, but really it was not quite full. The Full Moon is defined by the moment that the Moon is most nearly […]
What’s that bright thing in the morning sky?
Published on 21 Sep 2007 at 11:59 pm.
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Filed under skywatching.
If you get up in the morning before dawn and look East, you’ll see a really bright object. There is no mistaking it. It is nearly ten times brighter than the brightest star. What is it? I’ve been asked several times this past week. Well, the answer is that it […]
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Jupiter Now and Then
Published on 13 Sep 2007 at 11:55 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under planets, skywatching.
Earlier this week, I did a laboratory exercise with my students that required them to know the current coordinates of a planet. That planet was Jupiter. I thought that I might mention a few things about that.
Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to orbit the Sun. Right now, it appears to be in […]
The Alpha Aurigid Meteor Shower
Published on 29 Aug 2007 at 12:27 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under meteors, skywatching.
Earlier this month, the Earth passed through a swarm of meteoroids shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, giving rise to the Perseid Meteor Shower. Comets are a mixture of ice, rock, and dust. As they swing by the Sun, the ices melt (sublimate) and act to cause the comet to shed some of the solid […]
