Posts Tagged ‘EarthSky’
Earthsky Tonight—July 2: Watch for the moon near
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight the moon rises around midnight (daylight saving time). It is slightly gibbous, just a day before first-quarter phase. Brilliant Jupiter soon joins it above the eastern horizon. From mid-northern latitudes, by the time the short, summer night brightens into morning twilight the King of Planets climbs about halfway up the sky in the southeast. Observers in the southern hemisphere, who are enjoying their long, winter nights, ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—July 1: Big Dipper points to
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Today our star-hopping adventure begins at the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major. Draw a line through the Big Dipper’s pointer stars – Duhbe and Merak – to locate Polaris the North Star. Polaris isn’t the brightest star in the sky, as is commonly supposed. It is only the 50th brightest or so. Still, Polaris is bright enough to be seen with relative ease on a dark, clear night. This star is famous not for its ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 30:When is the next meteor
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org We get lots of questions about meteor showers. Kathlen in the Bronx wrote, “When is the next meteor shower going to happen?” Gayatri in Oceanside, California wrote, “I have never seen a shooting star. I want to see one. Is there any event happening? How should I find one?” Kathlen, Gayatri, and everyone else who longs to see a “shooting star” or meteor streaking across a clear night sky . . . it is possible to see a ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 29: Find the Libra stars
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Before moonlight floods the nighttime at late night tonight, see if you can spot the constellation Libra’s two visible yet modestly bright stars: Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali. If you live at mid-northern latitudes – like in North America, Europe and Asia – you will see these Libra stars rather low in your southern sky at nightfall and early evening. As seen from middle latitudes in the southern hemisphere – like in ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 28:Look for daytime moon each
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Full moon was two days ago. That means the moon is now in a waning gibbous phase, rising late at night and setting in a westward direction after sunrise. That means you can look in the southwest sky after sunrise tomorrow to see the moon in a clear blue daytime sky. Each day this week you can see the daytime moon in the morning sky. If you look for the moon at the same time every morning, you will see that the moon climbs higher ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight-June 24: Earth passes between sun and
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Pluto – the former planet – comes to opposition on June 25, at 19:00 Universal Time. That is when we on Earth pass more or less between the sun and Pluto, so that this distant world is now opposite the sun in our sky. Of course, in Pluto’s case, it is not exactly opposite since the orbit of Pluto is inclined to the plane of the solar system by 17 degrees. That is a greater inclination than the orbits of Mercury, Venus, ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight-June 23: Waxing gibbous moon passes
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight the moon returns to the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. The brightest star in the immediate vicinity is Antares, whose name means “like Mars,” because of its similar reddish hue. If you remember your Greek mythology, or perhaps episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, Ares is the god of war, the counterpart to the Roman god Mars. You can perform the color comparison yourself, because the planet Mars lies in the ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight, June 22: Moon near Crown of the
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight’s moon appears near the upper part of the constellation Scorpius. These three stars are sometimes called the Crown of the Scorpion. Scorpius – which now rises in the south-southeastern sky at early evening, is the constellation of the Scorpion. Individually, the Crown stars are Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii. It is rare when star patterns on our sky’s dome have anything to do with real associations of stars in ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 21: Solstice brings
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Another beautiful photo today from Dan Bush. This one is from his gallery of sunrises and sunsets. We use this photo today in honor of the June solstice, which happens today at 11:28 Universal Time (5:28 Mountain Daylight Time). No world body has designated an official day to start each new season, and yet today is widely recognized as the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and beginning of winter on the southern ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 19 Waxing moon between
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight the moon is in a waxing gibbous phase, meaning it appears more than half lighted but less than full. Tonight, the moon is to the west of the bright star Spica and to the east of the planet Saturn. Yesterday evening, the moon was closer to Saturn. Tomorrow evening, the moon will be closer to Spica. Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. We have also indicated the whereabouts of the ... Full Story
