May night sky
D.W.Q.M: Duke Juliano: "There's this man in Florence- claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the moon and stars as large as your hand."
Marco:"Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, The Masque of Mandragora)
Okay, so it's not quite halfway through the month-seriously, I am trying to post these at the beginning of the month...really, I am... ;)
Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Astronomy.
Past events:
May 4th/5th- Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. The Eta Aquarids is one of two annual showers that is caused by the debris field of Halley's Comet. :)
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the Moon and Planets
This month, several planets can be found in the sky just by looking around the moon:
May 13th- the Moon is above Saturn (evening sky)
May 14th- Moon is at apogee (251,407 miles from Earth)
May 20th- the Moon is near Jupiter
May 22nd- the Moon is above Mars and Saturn (Saturn will be the brighter planet)
May 23rd- Full Moon
May 26th- the Moon is beside Jupiter, and is also at perigee (226,329 miles from Earth)
Comets
By now, Comet Machholz is glowing at a 9th magnitude. It should be just visible through binoculars under a dark sky, but a telescope will provide you with better viewing. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it lies practically overhead as it crosses the handle of the Big Dipper into Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs. :)
Comet Temple1 is glowing at about a 10.5 magnitude near Epsilon Virginis the week of May 16th. Temple1 will be blasted by a projectile by NASA's Deep Impact in July. I will probably be writing more about this in June...
This Day in Astronomy...
May 21st, 1965: Physicists Amo Penzias and Robert Wilson discover cosmic background radiation-the "embers" of the Big Bang.
May 29th, 1919: During a solar eclipse, Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested for the first time.
Clear skies and happy viewing!! :-)
Marco:"Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, The Masque of Mandragora)
Okay, so it's not quite halfway through the month-seriously, I am trying to post these at the beginning of the month...really, I am... ;)
Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Astronomy.
Past events:
May 4th/5th- Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. The Eta Aquarids is one of two annual showers that is caused by the debris field of Halley's Comet. :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
the Moon and Planets
This month, several planets can be found in the sky just by looking around the moon:
May 13th- the Moon is above Saturn (evening sky)
May 14th- Moon is at apogee (251,407 miles from Earth)
May 20th- the Moon is near Jupiter
May 22nd- the Moon is above Mars and Saturn (Saturn will be the brighter planet)
May 23rd- Full Moon
May 26th- the Moon is beside Jupiter, and is also at perigee (226,329 miles from Earth)
Comets
By now, Comet Machholz is glowing at a 9th magnitude. It should be just visible through binoculars under a dark sky, but a telescope will provide you with better viewing. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it lies practically overhead as it crosses the handle of the Big Dipper into Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs. :)
Comet Temple1 is glowing at about a 10.5 magnitude near Epsilon Virginis the week of May 16th. Temple1 will be blasted by a projectile by NASA's Deep Impact in July. I will probably be writing more about this in June...
This Day in Astronomy...
May 21st, 1965: Physicists Amo Penzias and Robert Wilson discover cosmic background radiation-the "embers" of the Big Bang.
May 29th, 1919: During a solar eclipse, Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested for the first time.
Clear skies and happy viewing!! :-)
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