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,)
It has been a very long time since I've done one of these posts-I am so sorry! I don't have a good excuse, really, so I won't try to make one up. I know this month is already more than halfway over, but I figured if I want to start these posts again, I should start somewhere. ;)
This post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope.
Sky Events
May 3rd: Jupiter reaches opposition to the Sun
May 6th: Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks (best seen in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere)
May 13th: Full Moon
May 30th: Moon besides Mars, just after dusk
May 31st: Moon besides Saturn, just after dusk.
Comets!
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3(or what's left of it) is making it's closest approach to earth this week (well, on the 15th-I knew I should have written this on Saturday). The comet broke apart in 1995, and fragments B and C are very bright, and can be seen with binoculars, depending on the sky darkness. As of yesterday, fragment B is now at magnitude 7.6 Sky and Telescope is keeping track of the comet-and updating this article daily.
Also in the same article: "Jack Drummond of the Starfire Optical Range predicts that debris shed by the comet many years ago (long before the 1995 breakup) could bring us a meteor shower on the night of May 22–23".
Check out the article for more details. :)
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 total solar eclipse, Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested for the first time.
Just because...an interesting fact
A new section-not sure how often I will actually have something for this section-but if I read, hear, or see something that's interesting, I'll post it here.
(from my Astronomy calendar) Pulsars are incredibly dense. A thimble of pulsar material would weigh as much as all the water in Lake Erie. Whoa...
Clear skies and happy viewing!!
Marco: "Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, the Masque of Mandragora,)
It has been a very long time since I've done one of these posts-I am so sorry! I don't have a good excuse, really, so I won't try to make one up. I know this month is already more than halfway over, but I figured if I want to start these posts again, I should start somewhere. ;)
This post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope.
Sky Events
May 3rd: Jupiter reaches opposition to the Sun
May 6th: Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks (best seen in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere)
May 13th: Full Moon
May 30th: Moon besides Mars, just after dusk
May 31st: Moon besides Saturn, just after dusk.
Comets!
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3(or what's left of it) is making it's closest approach to earth this week (well, on the 15th-I knew I should have written this on Saturday). The comet broke apart in 1995, and fragments B and C are very bright, and can be seen with binoculars, depending on the sky darkness. As of yesterday, fragment B is now at magnitude 7.6 Sky and Telescope is keeping track of the comet-and updating this article daily.
Also in the same article: "Jack Drummond of the Starfire Optical Range predicts that debris shed by the comet many years ago (long before the 1995 breakup) could bring us a meteor shower on the night of May 22–23".
Check out the article for more details. :)
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 total solar eclipse, Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested for the first time.
Just because...an interesting fact
A new section-not sure how often I will actually have something for this section-but if I read, hear, or see something that's interesting, I'll post it here.
(from my Astronomy calendar) Pulsars are incredibly dense. A thimble of pulsar material would weigh as much as all the water in Lake Erie. Whoa...
Clear skies and happy viewing!!
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