Wed, 31 December 2008
Earth's major motions for 2009
Planet Positions for 2009
Interesting Planet Pairing for 2009
Phases of the Moon 2009
(click to enlarge) Universal Time NEW MOON FIRST QUARTER FULL MOON LAST QUARTER
d h m d h m d h m d h m
JAN. 4 11 56 JAN. 11 3 27 JAN. 18 2 46
JAN. 26 7 55 FEB. 2 23 13 FEB. 9 14 49 FEB. 16 21 37
FEB. 25 1 35 MAR. 4 7 46 MAR. 11 2 38 MAR. 18 17 47
MAR. 26 16 06 APR. 2 14 34 APR. 9 14 56 APR. 17 13 36
APR. 25 3 23 MAY 1 20 44 MAY 9 4 01 MAY 17 7 26
MAY 24 12 11 MAY 31 3 22 JUNE 7 18 12 JUNE 15 22 15
JUNE 22 19 35 JUNE 29 11 28 JULY 7 9 21 JULY 15 9 53
JULY 22 2 35 JULY 28 22 00 AUG. 6 0 55 AUG. 13 18 55
AUG. 20 10 02 AUG. 27 11 42 SEPT. 4 16 03 SEPT. 12 2 16
SEPT. 18 18 44 SEPT. 26 4 50 OCT. 4 6 10 OCT. 11 8 56
OCT. 18 5 33 OCT. 26 0 42 NOV. 2 19 14 NOV. 9 15 56
NOV. 16 19 14 NOV. 24 21 39 DEC. 2 7 30 DEC. 9 0 13
DEC. 16 12 02 DEC. 24 17 36 DEC. 31 19 13
January 26 - Annular Solar Eclipse ( see map, times, and animation!): The first solar eclipse of 2009 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in western Capricornus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a wide track that traverses the Indian Ocean and western Indonesia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much larger path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the southern third of Africa, Madagascar, Australia except Tasmania, southeast India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia.
February 09 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse ( see map, times): The first lunar eclipse of 2009 is one of four such events during the year. The first three eclipses are penumbral while the last (on Dec. 31) is partial. The Feb 09 event is the deepest penumbral eclipse of the year with a penumbral magnitude of 0.899. It will be easily visible to the naked eye as a dusky shading in the northern half of the Moon. The times of the major phases are listed below. July 07 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse ( see map, times.): July's penumbral eclipse is only of academic interest since the magnitude is just 0.156. Although the Moon will be above the horizon from most of Canada, the eclipse is so minor as to be completely invisible to the naked eye. July 21-22 - Total Solar Eclipse ( see map, times, and animation!): To make up for the anemic lunar eclipse earlier in the month, a major total eclipse of the Sun occurs two weeks later. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow extends across India, China, a handful of Japanese islands and the South Pacific Ocean (Espenak and Anderson, 2008). A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean. August 05-06 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse ( see map, times): A shallow penumbral eclipse occurs 15 days after the total solar eclipse. Since its magnitude is only 0.402, it will not be visible to the naked eye. December 31 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse ( see map, times): The last eclipse of 2009 occurs on New Year's Eve. This minor partial lunar eclipse takes place in Gemini, and is visible primarily from the Eastern Hemisphere (Figure 8). Greatest eclipse takes place at 19:23 UT when the eclipse magnitude will reach 0.0763. Eclipse information from: NASA Eclipse Homepage, Eclipses Online (HM Nautical Almanac Office, UK in coordination with the U.S. Naval Observatory) 2009 Meteor Shower Calendar
Information and Table Template Courtesy The American Meteor Society, International Meteor Organization, and Meteors Online. Explanation of the 2009 Meteor Shower CalendarActivity Period: the dates when the ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rates) are equal to or greater than one. Maximum: the date on which the maximum activity is expected to occur. Class: A scale developed by Robert Lunsford to group meteor showers by their intensity: Class I: the strongest annual showers with ZHR's normally ten or better. Class II: reliable minor showers with ZHR's normally three or better.
Information from the "Observer's Handbook 2009" RASC 
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Thu, 11 January 2007 Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night! Image courtesy of Sal Viviano of Washington, Michigan (featured on the Space Weather site Jan.11, 07) An amateur's reflection of the AAS conference.....(Mira B news was fun!)
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer When I heard the learn'd astronomer,When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired, and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. Walt Whitman, 1865 (TOAOAL-II, PP 821-822)
Listener FeedbackLots of great email out there with folk sharing their new astronomical acquisitions. This is a familiar scene:
I had my own great surprise! Can you guess what it is? (click on the picture for the answer) Many thanks to the entire Harris Family!
Observing ListsBen 34, NGC 1904, M79...a rose by any other name....listed in order of creator's birth... Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille (Lac), French deacon and astronomer (1713-1762) This catalog was compiled during his 2-year journey to the Cape of Good Hope in 1751-52, "Catalog of Nebulae of the Southern Sky"(list) Charles Messier (M), French astronomer (1730 - 1817) Between 1758 to 1782 compiled a list of 'non-comet' items. The SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) site is one of the best resources for Messier Objects. (list. Messier compiled his list of deep sky objects in three parts; "Memoires de l'Academie" 1774, "Connoissance des Temps" 1780, and "Connoissance des Temps" 1781. Pierre Francois Andre Mechain , French astronomer (1744-1804) co-worker with Charles Messier at at the small observatory at Hotel de Cluny in Paris. Mechain contributed many object to the 'Messier' catalogue and has may other objects an comets to his credit. (list) Wilhelm (William) Herschel (H) , (1738-1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer who became famous for discovering the planet Uranus. Herschel published "Catalogue of One Thousand new Nebulae and Clusters of Stars" in 1786 and "Catalogue of a second Thousand of new Nebulae and Clusters of Stars; with a few introductory Remarks on the Construction of the Heavens" in 1789 500 more objects were added to complete the 2500 Herschel Objects (list)the Astronomical League has an award for observing 400 of the Herschel Objects. Johann Elert Bode, German astronomer (1747-1826) Bode was the director of the Berlin Observatory, where he published the Uranographia in 1801 that combined the artistic with the scientific. All amateurs should appreciate that he published a small atlas for amateurs called "Vorstellung der Gestirne" which looked at constellations and their mythologies. "Complete Catalog of Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters", Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1779, Berlin (1977) (list) Caroline Herschel (CH), German born English astronomer (1750-1848) was an avid astronomical observer, discoverer of comets (she originally found 8 of them) and deepsky objects (list) collected from 1783-87 which are included in William Herschel's catalogue. John Herschel (h), (1792-1871 son of William Herschel) English born In 1833 Herschel traveled to South Africa in order to catalogue the stars, nebulae, and other objects of the southern skies. This was to be a completion as well as extension of the survey of the northern heavens undertaken initially by his father. James Dunlop (Dunlop), Scottish born Australian Astronomer (1793-1848), James Dunlop's Catalog of southern Deep Sky Objects, compiled 1823-27 "A Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars in the Southern Hemisphere observed in New South Wales" (list) the SEDS site has a highlight listJohn Louis Emile Dreyer (NGC, IC), (1852-1926) was a Danish-Irish astronomer. He worked with Lord Rosse at Birr where the giant six-foot Leviathan, at that time the largest telescope in the world, was at his disposal. His major contribution was the monumental "New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars" (NGC), whose catalogue numbers are still in wide use today, as well as two supplementary Index Catalogues (IC); "Index Catalogue of Nebulae Found in the Years 1888 to 1894". (list) Jack Bennett (Ben), (1914-1990) South African astronomer drew up two lists of southern objects that appeared comet-like in his telescope. His first list (Bennett, 1969) was published four months before he discovered his first comet. The supplementary list (Bennett, 1974) was followed three months later by his second discovery. Bennett's list reads like the "Who's Who of the Deepsky" and provides Southern observers will an extension to more northern lists. (list) Sir Patrick Moore and the Editors of Sky & Telescope created "The Caldwell Catalog: 109 Deep-Sky Delights for Backyard Observers" The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) has published several useful observing lists in their yearly Observer's Handbook, edited by Roy L. Bishop:The Astronomical League has provided extra observing tours beyond the Messier objects for binocular observers, each one for Northern and Southern Deep Sky Objects The Hawaiian Astronomical Society keeps a list of lists, so to speak. Astronomical Society of South Africa has a nice set of 100 deep sky objects ...plus many more. SunsunspotsPlanetsEvening Planets
 Morning Planets
ConstellationsLepus - the Hare - one of the animals presumed to be hunted by Orion
it is more likely that the poor hare was just startled from his burrow by the
great hunter charging Taurus the bull.
Puppis - the Poop or Stern - Puppis, the 'Poop' Deck or Stern of the
Argos Puppis is actually part of Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the
Argonauts
Next show....
Updates!"What's up 2007 - 365 Days of Skywatching" by Tammy Plotner and published/sponsored by Fraser Cain at the "Universe Today" website/blog/podcast. CometsMcNaught! (finder chart)
Comets for the Month.Check out the Sky Hound site.Thanks!Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at
www.astronomy.libsyn.com Pumbaa: Timon? MusicDouglas Spotted Eagle "Starry Night" and "Doo'lit'Saa'Da (Another Silent Night) feat. Dine' Children's Choir"Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants. Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 1 November 2006 Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night! Week of Oct. 31, 2006
 The Starlight Night LOOK at the stars! look, look up at the skies!O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there! Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves'-eyes! The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies! Wind-beat whitebeam! airy abeles set on a flare! Flake-doves sent floating forth at a farmyard scare! Ah well! it is all a purchase, all is a prize. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) Happy Halloween Astronomy Style!Here are some great creepy astronomy sites: PlanetsEvening Planets
 Too close to the sun..
Constellations Horologium -the pendulum clock - Horologium was named by Abbe' Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Originally named Horologium Oscillitorium to honor Christian Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum clock in 1656-57 but like most longer astronomical names it was shortened to Horologium . Huygens is also famous for discovering Saturn's rings. Reticulum - the grid - A reticle consists of sets of parallel and perpendicular lines, either in the form of thread or wire or in the form of markings etched in glass. The result is a square grid which may be accurately used to locate and plot the relative positions of objects viewed through the grid. Zeta Reticuli is a double star visible to the naked eye and strangely enough the home of the aliens in the alleged Barney and Betty Hill abduction. Aries - the ram - One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy and one of the 13 zodiacal constellations In Greek mythology Athamas, the king of Orchomenos, was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino, daughter of Cadmus. Phrixus and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino who hatched a plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamus reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed, though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the the strait between the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara (Hellespont which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis (kolkis), where King Aettees took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Medea in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aettees hung in a tree in his kingdom. ViewingOctober30 -First Quarter Moon 11:04 UT 31 -Halloween! November 1 -Uranus 0.5 deg North of the Moon, occultation possible in New Zealand and SE Australia 5 -Full Moon and Taurid meteors peak 8 -Transit of Mercury Naked eye - Binocular - Telescope - Feature Attraction - Astronomy Trick or Treat!Top 10 Astronomy misconceptions""Be very, very careful what you put into that head, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530)
Transit of Mercury Nov. 8 2006Get more information about the Transit of Mercury: Wikipedia,HM Nautical Almanac, "Mr. Eclipse" Viewing the transit safely! New CometsComet Swan (8.5 mag) currently in Hercules check out the heavens-above.com site. From the city it looks like a faint nebulous globular cluster! I did NOT see this! Aerith.net, Heavens-above.comComet C2006 T1 (Levy) currently in Leo. Comets for the Month.Check out the Sky Hound site. Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.comHelp us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat "Intelligent or not, we all make mistakes and perhaps the intelligent mistakes are the worst, because so much careful thought has gone into them" Peter Ustinov MusicRebecca Loebe - All This TimeWoodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants. Comments[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 9 March 2006 Just how many ways can you think of to tell time? Comments[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 9 March 2006 Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!
Welcome!Welcome to Brian from Minnesota, Dave from Alabama and Pat from Montreal and thank you for the email. Hello to Bill from Missouri who sent me a very nice note and also hello to his son who will be starting his Astronomy Merit badge soon! Remember, if it is a nice night out then you have an excuse to go outside and stay up late...as long an you are learning those constellations....and your homework is done!
Tips and Tricks - Time!"Tiiiiiiime is not on my side...no siree!" Local Apparent Time (LAT), also called apparent solar time or sundial time. Noon was what most people still think is noon: when the Sun crosses the meridian or the highest point in its path. Your Local Mean Time (LMT) Astronomers created an imaginary, "averaged" Sun that travels along the celestial equator. Differs from your standard civil (clock) time by many minutes. The correction depends on how far you live east or west from the center of your time zone. Standard time. Time zones are standardized on certain longitudes: 75 degrees W for Eastern Standard Time, 90 degrees for Central, 105 degrees for Mountain, and 120 degrees for Pacific. For every degree you are east of your time zone's standard longitude, add four minutes to standard time to get LMT. For each degree you are west, subtract four minutes. The number of minutes the real Sun lags behind or runs ahead of the mean Sun was named the equation of time. 
Summer-time To obtain daylight saving time ("summer time"), subtract one hour from standard time. Universal Time (UT). Standard time (and its daylight-saving variant) serves fine within a given time zone. But when a time applies worldwide, such as in an astronomical almanac, you need one reference point. Logically enough, the "universal" time zone that was agreed upon (in 1884) is that of 0 degrees longitude. This longitude is, by definition, that of a line engraved in a brass plate in the floor of the Old Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. UT is often called..... Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Greenwich Mean Time" or UT1, until the popular meaning drifted to match UTC. Astronomers now try to avoid the term altogether unless they are waxing nostalgic. Adding to the confusion, GMT began the day at noon, not midnight. . 
Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, Since 1967 the second has been defined as how long cesium-133 atoms take to emit 9,192,631,770 cycles of a certain microwave radiation in an atomic clock. To keep our clocks in close step with the turning of the Earth, a leap second is inserted into Universal Time when required - about once a year on average. A leap second may be added at the end of June 30th or December 31st UT, giving the last minute of the chosen day 61 seconds. The result is the system by which all the world's clocks are set. UTC is the basis for all time-signal radio broadcasts and other time services. Civil twilight - when the Sun's center is 6° below the horizon the brightest stars are visible and at sea the horizon is clearly defined. Nautical twilight - when the Sun's center is 12 degrees below the horizon this would be the "dark" to obey in the mother's order to "be home before dark"! For nautical purposes it is that time when the horizon ceases to be clearly visible and it is impossible to determine altitudes with reference to the horizon. Astronomical twilight - when the Sun's center is 18 degrees below the horizon and there is no sun glow left at all. John Harrison (March 24, 1693 - March 24, 1776) an English clock maker, who designed and built the world's first successful maritime clock, one whose accuracy was great enough to allow the determination of longitude over long distances. Sky and Telescope article on Time PlanetsVenus - just before dawn between Aquila and SagittariusJupiter - in the wee hours of the morning in the constellation Libra. On the 5th of this month it stopped moving across the sky relative to the background stars and began its westward motion or retrogradation. Go check out the finder forTransit of the Great Red Spot and a JAVA script to help you find Jupiter's moons Saturn - is in Cancer the crab and come summer we should see that planet slow down and turn around as well. Mars - in Taurus between Aldeberon and the Pleiades and speeding right along Naked eye viewing- Moon is a waxing gibbous and becomes full on the 14th (don't forget the penumbral eclipse!)
Mare Frigoris is the long narrow strip of a sea across the lunar N.Pole Binocular viewing- looking for comets! Telescopic viewing- Jupiter's new spot Comets visible with telescopes in the northern hemisphere. - C/2006 A1 Pojmanski Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com Music46Bliss -"In a Long Time"Allison Crowe - "Midnight" Category: Tips and Tricks -- posted at: 6:06 AM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 16 February 2006 Learn how to use your hands to navigate between the stars and some tricky winter(summer)constellations. Comments[7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 16 February 2006 Carpe Amor - Seize the Love!by ee cummings i carry your heart with me (i carry it in i fear here is the deepest secret nobody knows i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart) Welcome!Hello to Frank in Toronto he has a new scope and is floating on that new scope high! Welcome to Ed from the Birmingham Astronomical Society in Birmingham Alabama. This club has a very nice webpage if you are looking for an example of a well laid out club page. I happen to be partial to ours as well! Ed did you know that there is a Birmingham Astronomical Society in the United Kingdom? Lastly a special Howdy to my sister Kellie and her husband Craig and their boys. The final song in the show is for my nephews...Caleb and Ben when you are done looking at the stars put on the p.j.s and listen to the song... it is time for bed! Tips and TricksWe have been easing into astronomy and astronomical skills and I have a new skill for you to roughly gauge distances in the sky. 
Held at arm's length, your pinky finger is about 1 degree wide. Your three middle fingers, held together, are about 5 degrees wide. If you hold out your fist, it will measure a 10 degree width of the sky. If you hold up just your pointer finger and your pinky finger, it will be about 15 degrees of sky between them. If you spread the thumb and pinky of one hand as far apart as they will go, it will be about 25 degrees from outside edge to outside edge. Now this is an approximate measuring device of course but it works very well. So now I can go out and say that Saturn is 15 degrees SE of Pollux (of Castor and Pollux in Gemini) Special Valentines GiftIn show #3 we talked about planispheres and how to use them. Planisphere are a wonderful tool and for the N. Hemisphere there are many that you can find for free online. Alas for the southern hemisphere I couldn't find one decent FREE planisphere. Chris, from the Astronomy in your hands website, is giving Astronomy a Go Go! podcast listeners a free planisphere! It is the city version but after looking at his site if you like the Milky Way version you can subscribe and get them all. In order to make sure that folks don't just randomly find and pilfer these gifts I have hidden them on the show notes! For If you listened you will know what to do...(look at the bottom of the page) Constellations For most amateur astronomers constellations are shapes and containers that help us find other things that we really want to see like comets, double stars, and Messier objects. We have been working our way through the 88 'official' constellations since January and tonight we add 3 more all of which are tough!
 Northern Hemisphere looking South  Equator, looking West and up  Southern Hemisphere looking North and up Naked eye viewing- There are always celestial clues that time is just whizzing by. Not nearly as critical
as the flooding of the Nile,
when I start to seen Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Bootes,
in my window at bed-time I know that it won't be long until the early summer (or winter in the
S.H. )constellation will be visible. Binocular viewing- We are going to look back at the moon tonight and find the bright crater Copernicus Telescopic viewing- If you have a telescope lets look for those Messier objects we talked about earlier. M79 and M50...you will be helping me get ready for next months marathon! NewsCassini listens as well as looks! So if you think that Cassini is only taking fabulous pictures listen to this. The Cassini spacecraft has captured radio emissions believed to come from a large lightning storm on Saturn. This image shows a rare and
powerful storm on the night side of Saturn. Space Station Flies in Higher Orbit The International Space Station (ISS) is in a higher orbit after a weekend boost from one of two unmanned cargo ships docked at the orbital platform. The maneuver will help place the ISS in position for the arrival of ISS Expedition 13 Russian ISS flight controllers said the reboost maneuver, which occurred at 5:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT) on Feb. 11, also allowed them to test techniques to dodge space debris in orbit, according to the Interfax News Agency. Part of a solar system running in reverse? 
In a NASA news release from Monday reports that NASA scientists have discovered a solar system with planets rotating to two different direction. Our solar system is a one-way boulevard. All the planets --- from Mercury out to Pluto and even the newly discovered objects beyond --- revolve around the Sun in the same direction. The fact that a solar system can have planets running in opposite directions is a shocker. This solar system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus,
is a work in progress. At its center is a young star. No planets have formed yet and likely won't
for millions of years. What Remijan and Hollis saw were two flat and dusty disks rotating around the
equatorial plane of the central star in opposite directions. TriviaAnswers for Show #91. Which constellation has the most Messier Objects? Answer: Sagittarius 2. What constellation mentioned tonight is the 'missing' constellation of the zodiac? Answer: Ophiuchus Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com MusicSaffire -"Uppity Blues Woman, Don't you tell me!"Eddie Rocks -"I don't want to live on the Moon" Gift Directions! North 1 2 3 Middle 1 2 3 South 1 2 3 Category: Tips and Tricks -- posted at: 6:48 AM Comments[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 12 January 2006 Learn some tips and tricks for stargazing, meet some constellations old and new, catch up on the news and have some fun. Comments[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 12 January 2006 WelcomesWelcome to Joe from Middlefield, Connecticut at 41.5 degrees N and Jeremy from Bristol England at 51.4 degrees N. Jeremy is a member of the Bristol Astronomical Society and was kind enough to pass along their website. It is a good website so go take a look. As always you can email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com. We would love to hear from you! Tips and TricksWe have a special award tonight, the first GoGo! Award goes to Damon in NE Texas. Damon and I have been talking offline about binocular viewing and how to keep the binoculars steady. What ever binoculars you have right now are the best ones to start viewing with! Leaning against a wall or post, propping your elbows on the top, trunk or boot of the car are fast and easy ways to steady yourself but eventually you will want to incorporate some tools to help especially if you plan on sharing what you see with others. In a pinch you can put the binos on a regular camera tripod. I have some links on the show note for instructions for mounting binos to tripods and for building your own binocular mounts. I love the parallelogram style mounts because they allow me to set the binoculars up on an object and then lower the binos to a child's level while keeping everything centered. Look ma no hands! Damon is off to build a set which is why he gets tonight's GoGo! Award. Binocular viewing -
Do it yourself equipment http://www.shoestringastronomy.com/diy/diy.htm Free online book "What's up in 2006" by Tammy Plotner There is nothing better than being out under a dark clear sky with thousands of stars above your head. Here are a few tips to make your sky viewing as comfortable and successful as possible
Constellations for Show #5
" Arthur's slow wain (wagon) his course doth roll,
In utter darkness round the pole;
The Northern Bear lowers black and grim;
Orion's studded belt is dim;
Twinkling faint, and distant far,
Shimmers through mist each planet star,
Ill may I read their high decree!"
Sir Walter Scott, 1805,
'The Lay of the Last Minstrel',
Canto First, Verse XVII.
 
PlanetsMars is still easy to pick out as the rusty red point west of the Pleiades and above the tale of Cetus the whale.Saturn sits in Cancer and outshines all the stars in that constellation. Start at Gemini the twins and move east to the yellow large point of light. There is a great article on the Planetary website with several Cassini frames stitched together to animate the movement on the rings and the moons http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000342/ Jupiter is east of Virgo in the constellation Libra in the early morning hours. Next week we will start our weekly investigation into the planets starting with Mars. NewsAfter a remarkable 13-year voyage of discovery, TOPEX/Poseidon, the first great oceanographic research vessel to sail into space, ended its mission this month. In a cosmic version of laser tag, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft and an Earth-based observatory successfully exchanged laser pulses with each other while millions of miles apart. Polaris. (NASA news) The North Star is thought to be a steady, solitary point of light that guided sailors for ages, but there is more to this star than meets the eye. The North Star is actually a triple star system. Rovers The most recent self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the solar panels still gleaming in the martian sunlight and carrying only a thin veneer of dust. Of the nine recognized major planets in our solar system, Pluto alone remains unvisited by a man-made craft. New Horizons, the first of NASA's "New Frontiers" missions, was selected by NASA to fill this gaping hole in the exploration of our own solar system. Scheduled to launch January 17, 2006, New Horizons' journey will last at least 9 years and possibly as long as 15 years. NASA'S HUBBLE REVEALS THOUSANDS OF ORION NEBULA STARS "Orion is a bustling cauldron of activity. This new large-scale Hubble image of the region reveals a treasure-house of beauty and astonishing detail for comprehensive scientific study," said Jennifer Wiseman, NASA's Hubble program scientist. NASA'S SPITZER FINDS POSSIBLE COMET DUST AROUND DEAD STARThe Spitzer space telescope in an infared telescope that was launched in August of 2003.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted what may be comet dust sprinkled around the white dwarf star G29-38 that died approximately 500 million years ago. "Astronomers have known for decades that stars are born, have an extended middle age, and then wither away or explode. Spitzer is helping us understand how planetary systems evolve in tandem with their parent stars," said David Leisawitz, NASA's Spitzer program scientist. Re-entry of Stardust If you live in the Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho or Western Utah you should be able to see some part of this man made meteor. The closer you live to the trajectory, which runs from Crescent City, to Mt Shasta, Cal and then through Winnemucca and Elko Nev, and finally to Western Utah, the higher in the sky it will be. With the Stardust mission returning it's comet samples and reentering at the highest speed of any man made object, you'll be able to know exactly when and where to see this amazing man made "meteor". As it stands, the capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere (135 km altitude) at 09:56:39 UT on 2006 January 15 (01:56:39 PDT). Follow the link above to find the tracking charts TriviaAnswers to the quiz from Show #4
Well that is it for Astronomy a Go Go! Show #5, I'm glad you tuned in as always you can email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com. We would love to hear from you! MusicIntro music:Big George Jackson Band's Blue SkySend off music:Ginnicide's Goodnight Category: Tips and Tricks -- posted at: 7:28 AM Comments[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Astronomy a Go Go!
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