Astronomy: September 2010
... opposition! Phases of the moon Last Quarter September 1st, 5:22pm New Moon September 8th, 10:30am First Quarter September
Posted by Spaceosaur
Posts in the past four weeks
Wednesday
Sep 01 2010
17:53 UTC
Sep 01 2010
17:53 UTC
Monday
Aug 30 2010
17:06 UTC
Aug 30 2010
17:06 UTC
New Moon Mission: Chandrayaan-2 Payloads Selected
Seven instruments will be aboard India's second unmanned mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced today. The mission, which is a cooperative effort between ISRO and the Russian Federal Space Agency, will include an orbiter, a lander and a rover, which officials hope will launch in 2013. The instruments will
Posted by Universe Today
Sunday
Aug 29 2010
09:16 UTC
Aug 29 2010
09:16 UTC
Mobile Phone Moon again (and Jupiter)
... proble is that the moon is over exposed when Ii try it, and using various filtering materials didn't help. Cormac has a Nokia n79 phone, and he was able to use the customised 'scene mode'; here are his settings: flash mode --> off w
Posted by Astroblog
Friday
Aug 27 2010
16:28 UTC
Aug 27 2010
16:28 UTC
Tonight's the Night Mars Will Not Look as Big as the Full Moon
... wasn't going to write an article about the Mars-Moon Hoax this year because I thought it was too passé, but I just looked at some stats and saw that our article on the topic from 2007, "Will Mars Look as Big as the Full Moon On August 27? Nope" has gotten over 50,000 hits
Posted by Universe Today
Thursday
Aug 26 2010
19:17 UTC
Aug 26 2010
19:17 UTC
We still have the 7 years old hoax here…
Ok.. August.. and it's August 27th. The 7 years old hoax is back. During the week my readers keep asking about Mars get bigger as the Full Moon. and other questions are about earth will have 2 sun and the sundog phenomenon in China as 4 suns in earth. Quite interesting to see how people
Posted by Avivah Yamani Riyadi
Thursday
Aug 26 2010
13:02 UTC
Aug 26 2010
13:02 UTC
Does this perigee make my Moon look fat?
I've been posting a lot of extreme close-ups of the Moon, but sometimes you can learn something by taking a step back. For example, I imagine if I went out in the street and asked people what shape the Moon's orbit was, they'd say it was a circle (or, given recent poll results, they'd say it
Posted by Bad Astronomy
Wednesday
Aug 25 2010
17:22 UTC
Aug 25 2010
17:22 UTC
The Sketch Process
It's pouring with rain so, rather than set off home and get drenched, I thought I'd spend a few minutes on the blog and hope that the deluge dies down before I leave. Knowing my luck it will probably get worse. Anyway, I thought I'd put together a short item on the theme of sketching.
Posted by In The Dark
Tuesday
Aug 24 2010
01:19 UTC
Aug 24 2010
01:19 UTC
Perspective of the Solar System
After weeks of foggy skies in San Francisco, the sky has started clearing, yielding spectacular sunsets and sky shows at Ocean Beach. I have been writing about (but not seeing much of) the amazing sight of the planets dancing across the evening sky. With the clear skies, the view was great, showcasing Venus and Mars very close together, with Saturn just to the lower right and the bright Zodiac start Spica (in Virgo) just to the upper left. This configuration traces a curve in the sky and if you
Posted by The Urban Astronomer
Saturday
Aug 21 2010
11:09 UTC
Aug 21 2010
11:09 UTC
Desert RATS On The Move
For some fourteen years now NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) team has been testing out the viability of many of NASA´s vehicles, space suits, habitats and robotic systems in extreme environments. Like their durable name-sake, the Desert RATS have proven to be resilient and flexible, adapting to the changing NASA environment.
Posted by Universe Today
Thursday
Aug 19 2010
18:46 UTC
Aug 19 2010
18:46 UTC
The Moon is shrinking!
The Moon is shrinking!Well, a little: new results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that over recent geological time, the Moon has shrunk by approximately 100 meters in diameter!Here's the evidence, or at least one piece of it:[Click to unshrinkenate.]That image shows the Gregory scarp, a cliff across the surface of the Moon. Scarps like
Posted by Bad Astronomy
Thursday
Aug 19 2010
14:49 UTC
Aug 19 2010
14:49 UTC
MESSENGER Looks Back at the Earth and Moon
... new image to add to the family photo album! The MESSENGER spacecraft is working its way to enter orbit around Mercury in March of 2011, and while wending its way, took this image of the Earth and Moon, visible in the lower left. When the image was taken in May 2010, MESSENGER was 183
Posted by Universe Today
Thursday
Aug 19 2010
04:47 UTC
Aug 19 2010
04:47 UTC
To the Heart and Stars
My boyfriend loves photography. I'm glad that somehow I introduced to him sky photography because he's more on portrait photography. I can't imagine myself observing the heavens without him beside me. Below are some of his photos of the night sky. He's really patient and meticulous in taking his pictures. That's why I can honestly
Posted by The Sky Above
Wednesday
Aug 18 2010
20:54 UTC
Aug 18 2010
20:54 UTC
A Nice View of Moon and Planets
Correspondent Alan Garde took this lovely image of the line-up of Moon, Mercury, Saturn, Venus and Mars on Wednesday August 11 (click to embiggen). This was taken from Eleebana NSW, near Lake Macquarie. Alan liked the way the Moon was placed under the tree, and I agree with him. Alan says "The picture wasn´t exposed as well as it might have been. The instrument of phenomenal dynamic range that is our eye tricks us most of the time." Alan also says he clearly and regularly picked out V...
Posted by Astroblog
Wednesday
Aug 18 2010
09:08 UTC
Aug 18 2010
09:08 UTC
perseids and planets: evidence
did anyone get out to see the perseid meteor shower or the planets last week? in case you were clouded out or just not lucky this time around, you can see a nice 2010 perseids photo gallery, from which i've chosen a couple to share. this is a shot by david harvey from mount lemmon in arizona, USA on august 12, 2010:this capture comes from amir abolfath, from the alamut castle in iran, august 14, 2010:today's APOD shows a lovely view of the current planetary alignment from a beach in portugal.
Posted by astropixie
Tuesday
Aug 17 2010
20:30 UTC
Aug 17 2010
20:30 UTC
Mercury, Crescent Moon and a Triangle in the Sky
On August 12 and 13 the crescent Moon was near Mercury and Venus respectively. I had cloud on both nights, although some readers were lucky on the 13th. Long time contributor had cloud and rain on the 13th, but was able to get off the shot you see to the left (click to embiggen, you will not regret it). He's captured the Earthshine on the Moon wonderfully, as well as the glowing triangle and Mercury.
Posted by Astroblog
Saturday
Aug 14 2010
07:16 UTC
Aug 14 2010
07:16 UTC
Crescent Moon and Venus
... with thin crescent moon and Perseid meteor shower happened last Aug. 13, 2010 in the Philippines. Unfortunately, some parts of our country were not able to witness the astronomical events due to thick clouds. August is a month of monsoons and typhoons in the Philippines. That
Posted by The Sky Above
Friday
Aug 13 2010
13:00 UTC
Aug 13 2010
13:00 UTC
Ash hole on the Moon
The Moon is a funny place. It's literally the closest astronomical object to us in the entire Universe, but in some ways we know surprisingly little about it. It's literally covered in craters, but for a long time their origin was a mystery. Until the 1870s, most scientists thought they were volcanic in origin and
Posted by Bad Astronomy
Friday
Aug 13 2010
10:17 UTC
Aug 13 2010
10:17 UTC
And it's Still Cloudy
Venus and the Cresent Moon shine through the clouds on the evening of August 13, as seen from Adelaide, South Australia. Click to embiggen (Venus may not be clear on some monitors). See subtitle, says it all really. Mars, Mercury and Saturn are completely hidden.
Posted by Astroblog
Thursday
Aug 12 2010
22:56 UTC
Aug 12 2010
22:56 UTC
Tumbling Boulders Leave Trails on the Moon
There's probably a great story in this image, if only someone was there to witness it as it happened! This is an image from Moon Zoo, the citizen science project from the Zooniverse that asks people to look at images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and search for craters, boulders and more. And often, the
Posted by Universe Today
Wednesday
Aug 11 2010
08:14 UTC
Aug 11 2010
08:14 UTC
planets and the perseid meteor shower
tonight and the next few nights, the solar system treats us to the lovely sights of the perseid meteor shower. go outside and enjoy nature's display of meteors as the earth passes thru the interplanetary debris left by comet swift-tuttle. you can also see where other people on earth have seen perseid meteors fly across the sky, or report your own sightings, via twitter, to help with the online project meteor watch. even if you don't want to relax peacefully waiting for the meteor shower, you can
Posted by astropixie
Monday
Aug 09 2010
07:47 UTC
Aug 09 2010
07:47 UTC
Planets & Moon Get-Together + Perseids Meteor Shower
All these happen in one night: 13th August 2010 – Friday. And you do not want to miss them. This Friday, find a place with an unobstructed western horizon and have your dinner there while enjoying the sunset. As the Sun sets around 7:30 pm, the first two objects that will catch your attention will
Posted by My Dark Sky
Friday
Aug 06 2010
00:08 UTC
Aug 06 2010
00:08 UTC
There's Water On the Moon's Surface, But Interior Could Be Dry
With all the recent news of water on the Moon, a new paper published today in the journal Science may offer a surprise or it may bring us back to previous assumptions about the Moon. A new analysis of eleven lunar samples from the Apollo missions by Zachary Sharp from the University of New
Posted by Universe Today
Thursday
Aug 05 2010
22:51 UTC
Aug 05 2010
22:51 UTC
Back from the Void
It's been a while since I've posted any news here, but work and family commitments have kept me extremely busy of late. However, I've still found some time to do a little observing. Not as much as I'd like to, but just enough to stave off the symptoms of cosmic withdrawal. All things considered, the past
Posted by Space Jockey