Nov 18, 2009 6:41 AM
Space Shuttle Atlantis will be docking with the International Space Station today. Talk about a sight to behold! You could catch a glimpse of this bright duo soaring over your neighborhood! Click on the link and enter your zip and find out when you can see a stunning flyby:
http://spaceweather.com/flybys/?PHPSESSID=tubfegm2kraom3q71dlu3ur3h2
A few years back, I caught an ISS flyby and it was awesome! Imagine a Jupiter or Venus-type bright spot smoothly sailing across the sky. No blinking lights, so you know it's not a plane. Really cool! Definitely appointment-worthy. Good luck and let me know if you catch a glimpse of it!
Maria LaRosa
CBS3 Nov 4, 2009 8:44 AM
It's time for the Taurid meteor shower!
This long-lasting shower (November 5-12) is not known for producing a ton of meteors per hour, but is known for tons of space drama…a few big, bright fireballs! Nothing like seeing a slow-moving, sparkling ball of fire streak across the sky!
It is this time of year when the Earth passes through the dust cloud left behind during Comet 2P/Encke's trip around the Sun. The resulting meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Taurus (hence, the meteor shower's name). The viewing conditions will not be ideal the next 2 days, but by Friday, if you brave the chilly November air, you might be rewarded with a spectacular light show. Tonight, towards midnight, the constellation Taurus will be near the Moon, close to the constellation Orion (an easier find due to its signature belt of 3 bright stars in a line).
Maria LaRosa
CBS3 Nov 2, 2009 7:49 AM
We are about 7 weeks away from Winter (I hear the collective booos out there!), but one planet is entering its Spring season…Mars. And now is the best time to see what a Martian winter has to offer through a telescope---a blue ice cap!!
Mars' seasonal ice caps are made up mostly of frozen CO-2. This gives the northern polar ice cap a nice blue hue. It quickly fade with the warmer Spring sunshine, so if you have the opportunity to check it out, do it! And let me know if you see anything.
By the way, Mars will be up above the eastern horizon late, but it's also very bright right now. By the end of the month, it will be in the top 5 brightest spots of light in the sky.
In other space news: there's a full moon tonight. November's name? The Frosty Moon! Enjoy!
Maria LaRosa
CBS3 Oct 20, 2009 7:18 AM With mainly clear skies and cool but not cold temperatures expected overnight, it just might be the night for you to check out a meteor shower. In the case of tonight (Tuesday/Wednesday), I am talking about the Orionids. Always a great show, the Orionids occur this time of year as Earth passes through the remnants of Halley's Comet's dust tail. Every streak you see (looking like they radiate from the constellation Orion) was a particle once part of the famous comet…pretty cool! The shower will peak tonight, so the best time to see as many as a dozen meteors an hour is in the dark skies before dawn. Also, try and get away from city lights. The constellation Orion is easy to find…look for his belt's distinctive 3 aligned stars. I remember trekking way out in the country years ago, bundled up and lawn chair ready, sitting back and watching the show---worth every layer I had to put on and every hour of sleep I lost! Let me know if you check it out and if you get to see any 'shooting stars.' Maria LaRosa CBS3 Oct 8, 2009 10:28 AM Saturn is known for its beautiful rings. We've studied them, admired them, taken lots of pictures of them. You might think we knew pretty much all there is to know about them. Not true! A recent inspection of a section of sky revealed something we had no idea was there: a "new" ring. And this is one BIG ring! NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered ice and dust circling Saturn nearly 4 million miles out from the planet. Don't try and look for this new ring with your telescope…the particles are fine and widely dispersed (the telescope discovered it only by using its infrared 'eyes'). In fact, it is estimated it would take 300 Saturns lined up end to end to span the diameter of this gigantic ring of dust. NASA says it would be 2 full moons wide in the sky if you could see from here on Earth. Amazing! Click on this link to see an artist's idea of what the ring looks like: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20091007a.htmlSaturn, by the way, will be a morning sky feature through much of October. Look east low in the sky before sunrise (won't be the brightest, but still a good target. Sunrise these days: just after 7am). Maria LaRosa CBS3 Sep 28, 2009 8:35 AM A few lovely things to take note of in the night sky, so just a heads up to look up over the next few days: 1) Venus is a stunning bright spot in the brightening morning sky through October. Look east before sunrise (sunrise as of Monday, Sept. 28, is 6:54 AM) 2) Jupiter will that big, bright spot near the moon on the 29th. By the way, the next full moon is October 4th (the Full Harvest Moon) Sep 22, 2009 8:11 AM Today marks the transition from summer to fall. At 5:19 EDT, we can officially welcome Autumn as the Sun crosses the celestial equator (that's essentially the imaginary plane that goes through the Earth's equator). A few tid-bits: "Equinox" means "equal night," or equal hours of day and night. Also, our Autumnal Equinox is the southern hemisphere's Vernal Equinox…they're welcoming Spring! Next big seasonal shift: the Winter Solstice, December 21 at 12:47pm. Sep 2, 2009 6:51 AM With the fantastic September weather we've been having, star-gazing has been a treat! Low humidity means great visibility---you probably forgot we had that many stars in the sky! Well, Jupiter is certainly the yummiest of those treats, bright and beautiful through most of the night. In fact, catch an eyeful tonight (9/2) as it sits by the nearly full moon just after sunset. Now, if you're a little more ambitious, grab your telescope and see what happens to Jupiter tonight. It's losing all its moons! Sort of… Beginning at 12:43am, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto line up in front of and behind the solar system's largest planet. It will take about 2 hours for all the moons to slip out of sight. Jupiter will appear moonless for a time! By the way, Jupiter is a great backyard telescope find anyway---it's colorful ribbons of clouds are always a stunning sight! Maria LaRosa CBS3 Aug 31, 2009 6:45 AM When you imagine the 2nd largest planet in our solar system, Saturn, can you imagine it without its distinctive rings? Probably not. You just may have to after September 4th. Saturn isn't actually losing its many rings, but rather the planet is tilting in such a way that the rings are edge-on as observed from Earth. The disappearing act (called a ring plane crossing) is maximized on Friday, September 4th. The last time Saturn did this was 14 years ago. The rings will be back, of course, it will just a little while! An amateur astronomer made a time lapse 'movie' of 5 years of Saturn observations to show Saturn's "wobble." Really cool! Click here to see it Aug 25, 2009 11:42 AM Where's the cake? Well, maybe it's not that kind of birthday, but one certainly worth celebrating. Exactly 400 years ago today, on August 25, 1609, the Italian astronomer and philosopher Galilei Galileo showed a few very important Venetians his new creation, a small telescope. The telescope, itself, wasn't much to look at. Essentially a slim, brown stick, it magnified objects he observed in the sky. His contributions as a result of his developing the telescope are countless...discovering moons orbiting around Jupiter, and showing the Moon was not smooth at all, just a few of the ground-breaking conclusions. Remember: you can catch a glimpse of one of Galileo's telescopes at the Galileo exhibit at the The Franklin Institute…but it only runs through September 7th: http://www2.fi.edu/exhibits/traveling/galileo/ | |
