Astronomy events schedule

tonightssky

Just Posting some recent stuff, This is all related to the Spectacular New Years Eve conjunction...

Comet Lulin: by the end of the month this should be a naked eye object visible in the morning sky. stay tuned for updates.

George Jones

Yes, I saw this tonight.

Sorry!

woah that is awesome.. never knew this place existed at these forums haha :p

where r u located in order to see those three planets .. cud i see them say from toronto??

i'm sure i can see venus ... its usually pretty close to the moon when i notice it and pretty damn bright.

George Jones

I saw them last night from the centre of Saint John, New Brunswick.

Where in Toronto? It would be difficult, for example, to see Mercury and Jupiter right now from Bay and Bloor. You need a fairly unobstructed view of the western horizon just after sunset. I saw them from an overpass that spans a highway and some railroad tracks which run through an east-west corridor.

Sorry!

well i actually live in mississauga so i get a pretty good un obstructed view of the sky kind of close to the lake

tonightssky

Mercury should be fairly easy to spot still, but Jupiter is setting eariler and eariler each day, so look as soon as possible. Last night I could barely image all three together, Jupiter is starting to get lost in twilight. (and yes, almost everyone in the world sees the same sky, at least in the same Hemisphere)

And im located in Omaha, Nebraska

I attempted to spot Comet N3 Lulin this morning with my small scope, but Didnt have luck, I think it is still too dim to be found during the begining of twilight - at least in the city light pollution.

More later...

hypatia

Looking at the planets have been great, and I saw a straggler of a meteor while in the parking lot at work the other morning. It made a dashing path across the sky, very nice.

tonightssky

Hey guys, tonights full moon is the biggest it will be all year! literaly! it will appear 14% larger than most nights, its barely noticable, but check it out before at sunrise, while its near the horizon.

Also Jim Saueressig of Burlington Kansas took this image early yesterday morning of the comet. (it is to the right of the bright star circled) Some estimations put it between 6 and 7 Magnitude, not yet visible to the naked eye, but observers are seeing a great coma and anti-tail!



NOTE: I did not take this photo, to view more of Jim's photos check out his Flickr

Check my website for the latest on Comet N3 Lulin! www.Tonightssky.org

tonightssky

Comet Lulin: now is the best time to check out this comet, its currently a magnitude 5.6 from recent estimates. It is visible with binoculars to big city light polluted skies. Many incredible images have been taken, this WILL be the brightest comet of 2009. It should peak in its brightness by February 24th probably at mag 5.4 to 5.2 Also on the 24th, the comet travels right next to Saturn - while Saturn's moon's transit the planet!!! - this is a very rare occurance. IF you live in dark skies, the comet should be visible to the naked eye!

use the sky map below to locate the comets position, or on the 24th, find saturn and use binoculars, the comet and planet will be in the same field of view!



To view more images, and to get more information on this comet, as well as more sky maps check out my webpage on the comet...

http://www.tonightssky.org/latestnightskyevents.html

remember to check out my website Tonight's Sky

hypatia

Cygnus the Swan, is over head this month. For anyone new to sky/star watching, this summer month brings us the "Northern Cross". Three stars make up a triangle, a blue-white star named Vega, northern most Deneb and closest to the horizon, Altair.
One way to recognize the Summer Triangle is notice that there is a cross within the Triangle. The constellation Cygnus is that cross.
I hope everyone gets to go out sometime this week and take a peek.

Sorry!

Hey guys, every night while I walk home I always look up at the stars. I always see two objects that I wonder what they are.

One is extremely bright and yellow. I always assumed that it was Venus. Its pretty big in the sky.

The other is a twinkling red object. No idea what this could be. I assume since it twinkles its a star sometimes it appears as if it changes from the redish colour to a blueish off white.

George Jones

It's difficult to say without more information.

Are you looking towards the south around midnight? If so, you could be seeing Jupiter (left, very bright, whitish) and the red giant star (right) Antares.

chemisttree

Sounds like Antares (red toward the south) and Arcturus (orange, overhead in the evening).

Sorry!

After looking at pictures of Antares it does look like it could be what I'm seeing. Although the object I see looks relatively smaller than most of the other stars around it.

And yes I am looking to the south when I see the other object. Pictures of Jupiter do look pretty similar. I'll try to get pictures tonight guys. thanks :D

hypatia

November is perhaps my favorite month to watch the sky. It of course, is the hunters moon, but Saturn hangs out just to the left of it for the next few days.
Keep a eye out 17th, The Leonid meteor showers peek performance!

bcmarshall

Sorry, I'm a newbie here and didn't know how to start a new thread, so I figured I'd post a question in this one since it has a lot of subscribers.

I'm arguing with a friend about how a half-Earth would appear from the Moon. Since we see the Moon in phases, it makes sense that watching the Earth from the Moon would also offer the same phenomenon, Full Earth, Half Earth, New Earth. My question is if one is looking at a Half Earth from the Moon, would the shadow line appear horizontal or vertical.

My belief is that since the Moon is in a roughly equatorial orbit around the Earth, then the equators of the two objects are facing each other, with their axes within a few degrees of being parallel. Since we see the Half Moon as vertical from here, I conclude since there is no mechanism I can envision which would alter the perception, it should appear as a vertical line on the Earth as well.

My friend believes the shadow line should appear horizontally across the Earth.

I'd welcome any comments or explanations.

bcmarshall

My apologies. I figured out too late how to start a new thread and did so. Please post any responses at the other link, http://www.physicsforums.com/showthr...28#post2452328

Thanks.