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I was able to get more bearings and I think that was Jupiter I saw. I saw it in the morning as well. It looks like it will be setting around the time the sun rises.
Edit - I saw a halo around the moon tonight. I understand they are like rainbows but coming from higher clouds.
Yesterday I learned of a space craft launched by NASA in 2006 called Dawn. It continues the exploration of the solar system by visiting two denizens of the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres, a dwarf planet about 1,000 kilometres in diameter. This is a considerable size for an asteroid, not much smaller than Pluto, which has a diameter of 1,400 km (note the confusion surrounding terminology: are they dwarf planets, planets or asteroids?). The second object is the asteroid Vesta with a diameter of 500 km. There is a very extensive NASA website on these two. The Dawn craft uses an ion propulsion system and includes Dawn Blog that was started in 2006, and initial photographs of Ceres.
I leave those who are interested to explore the website further.
I found Saturn this morning thanks to Google Sky Map. I pounted the phone in the direction of a star and the map showed it to be Satirn. I could even follow the ecliptic all the way around the earth by pointing the phone. It seemed odd to point the phone toward my feet and see a star map. I guess it hasnt sunk in that the earth is round.
The moon and Jupiter were in conjunction as they rose last night. It was impressive.
Yes, I saw Jupiter, too. It looked impressive, I don't think I've ever seen it so bright. There isa a good chance to see it tonight and if so will use my binoculars to see it.
I looked up google sky map as well, its only for use with modern mobile phones which we don't have.
Before the clouds came in last night, I saw Venus and Mercury almost line up. I've noticed these two before and even saw the phases of Venus when in Wisconsin through binoculars where it is darker a few years ago.
Yes, you would need a tablet or phone to run that app. It is not really necessary to have it, however, if you know where things are.
We have had a lot of snow lately and its now too cold to go out, but I enjoyed seeing Jupiter near the full moon, very bright it was.
EarthSky website has an article about travel beyond the solar system, different kind of engines, and what would be needed to get to the nearest galaxy, Alpha Centauri, some 3.4 light years away There is also a piece on rare ice halo displays, what fantastic patterns!
Apps are for me very strange, I would never know how to set it. Press a button I guess. But you are right, its easy to find any post without it.
Astronomy Now has an article on the probe Huygens that was sent down to Saturn's largest moon, Titan, dropped in 2005 to land on Titan. Huygens was a special mission to study an alien moon, and detached from Cassini, which carried on to map the middle planets of the solar system, especially Jupiter and its moons and Saturn and its moons. Slowly but surely this preliminary survey and others like it are building up a picture of what our solar system consists of, the planets and moons and what they look like in general terms, the major orbiting asteroids, the dwarf planets, and landings done on the most interesting of these. So far Mars is the only planet to be examined more closely. No doubt after this preliminary mapping more detailed probes like the ones sent to Mars will be sent to do a careful analysis of at least some of our fellow-denizens of this minor solar system that is our home.
The article on Titan was interesting. It dawned on me, finally, what tidal locking means. Also the attempt to warp space-time to make travel to Alpha Centauri did not previously seem to be to be something that was possible. Maybe it isn't.
I realize I don't much about astronomy, probably less that an astrologer knows. I can't even name the 12 constellations in the zodiac correctly in order, but I am beginning to identify them.
I had no idea the Huygens probe had been dropped on Titan and had done its work. Ten years ago I was not interested in astronomy.
This may well be the pattern to do an initial exploration of al the moons in the solar system. There must be around 100 of them altogether. But it does show how little we know of our own solar system.
There is another interesting article in EarthSky on the possibility, according to new calculations, of there being two more planets undiscovered beyond Pluto. As Pluto takes over 200 years to complete one orbit round the sun, any others might take much longer. Mind-boggling.
I wasn't aware of the possibly of there being extreme trans-Neptunian planets. I tend to assume that we have better knowledge than we actually do.
I was reading the recent Scientific American in the library yesterday and found that scientists looking for exoplanets are more interested in planets that are super-habitable, using the quantity of biomass that a planet can support to define better habitability. Such planets would be larger that ours with a sun that is smaller. The planet would be also better situated in the habitable zone around the sun than the Earth currently is. The larger gravity would reduce the heights of mountains and depths of the oceans. The sun would live longer. In our case, the increased heat of the Sun would bring us to the inner range of the habitable zone in half a billion years making earth a dead planet 1.75 billion years from now even though the Sun will continue for 4 to 5 billion years.
I was thinking that I do like high mountains, so maybe our planet is not so bad even though the quantity of biomass could be increased with a different environment.
Space.com has an interesting detailed post on the planets beyond Pluto.
What you write about the Scientific American article is very interesting. It is clear, I think, that this is uppermost in the mind of the major space researchers like NASA. The Saturn moon that the Huygens probe landed on was chosen because of its large seas (see Lakes of Titan). There is a long separate post on this and with many footnotes. They turn out to be liquid ethane, methane and propane. What they are looking for are large bodies of water or ice that can provide a plentiful supply of potable water with minimal (or even better with no) chemical alteration. There is a separate Wiki page on the project called Titan Mare Explorer, which NASA have applied for funding. Hoping to launch in 2016. No doubt that is also why Mars is of interest as its has ice caps like Earth does.
The idea of landing a probe in a sea breaks through my mental box of what is possible. I usually assume probes have to land on solid ground.
The skies have been overcast, but I found a book: Dinah Moche, "Astronomy A Self-Teaching Guide", that I have started reading. I also downloaded a planetarium app from Celestron that is used to guide their telescopes. If I can't see the stars outside, I can always look at that.
I seem to remember that US astronauts landed in the Pacific?
I guess that's what gives smart phones the edge, a range of apps that extend their usefulness. And for astronomy, in the dark your screen is lit up. Funnily enough I have been considering getting a sky chart to guide me through the constellations, but I have not done it yet. I saw Mars when the moon was waning (its easier to see then as the moon can be dazzling when its full.)
Dinah Moche, Astronomy A Self-Teaching Guide looks like a useful book. I might buy it for myself.
I will definitely have to get back into it soon. . I've been focusing on other things but I will get back into studying it pretty soon.
One thing I found interesting was the maria, or seas on the moon. . I chose my "Lake of Dreams" location a few years ago from the list of them. . now I'm thinking it would be nice to memorize them. The most famous ones might be the Sea of Tranquility or the Sea of Serenity; Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Serenitatis respectively. When I did a quick search on Lake of Dreams, I found it's interestingly also a 3-acre lake in Vegas, surrounded by a forest, and also a 77-acre campground in Michigan. Random, non-astronomy related fact. Unless you're viewing from another planet, then it would be astronomy. :p
Maria on the Moon
But I can redeem myself because I just found a doubly-related fact about astronomy. One of the maria is called Mare Humboldtianum, named after explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. . .
also known as "Q" from Star Trek.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ldt_-_1843.jpg
At least, in that portrait.
Yes, landing in water on earth is probably the easier way to land. I didn't realize there was anything liquid on those other planets to land on.
Regarding the names of the mare, or maria, or whatever they are called, on the moon, I don't even know where all the great lakes are on earth except for the one I live near.
I've never read Kosmos, perhaps I aught to give it a go.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
YesNo, I think Titan is one of the few planets that does have liquid lakes on the surface. They are quite big, too, not like to ponds or even the lakes in the Lake District. More like Lake Michigan, even bigger: Lakes of Titan.
Saturn's largest moon Titan is the only "planetary-like" object in our solar system that we know has surface seas. Not that they are very tempting to swim in let alone drink - methane seas means it is likely to be somewhat oily. The February 2015 issue Astronomy Now has a long article on this planet from which I quote a small part:
"Yet there is more to Titan than just lakes, which make up around ten percent of the surface. There are also dunes of ice crystals blown by the gentle winds that Huygens detected on the way down, as well as the presence of cryo-volcanoes. A balloon mission in contrast to TIME (an application for funding a floating probe that was not selected by NASA) would be able to circumnavigate the Titan from the air and take in all the different types of scenery, hovering over areas of interest, dropping down to take samples and perhaps even deploying landers or mini-rovers
Titan is actually quite good for this sort of thing, with its thick atmosphere and low gravity. A balloon could do a complete circuit of Titan in about two weeks.".
The article goes on to say that both TIME and this project remain "stuck in developmental hell". I guess that means they are having to rework and resubmit their proposals.
The idea of a "cryo-volcano" bursts another conceptual box for me. On a very cold planet one can get action from the "volatile" elements that have volcano like effects. Here is another article on the difference between a "gas" and an "ice" planet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatiles
Last night was clear and Jupiter was very bright being on the same side of the sun as the earth. I probably will not be able to see the retrograde motion of Jupiter (movement toward the west through the sky relative to the stars, if I got that right) since it is hard to make out the stars around it because of the light pollution, but I'll see if I can follow it's path. When the planet is in opposition is when one should be able to see this.
A huge planet with many rings has been identified in another galaxy. This BBC item explains how it might look in our own skies: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31001936
Has anyone heard of the Aragoscope? My friend posted a link to it on Facebook, http://www.gizmag.com/aragoscope-len...lescope/35761/ the author of the article says it could produce images much sharper than the Hubble.
The Aragosphere sounds interesting being a large diffraction lens. I don't really know what one of these are, but it looks like are like 3d glasses which made it all the more confusing. Anyway it would be nice to get one of these telescopes working.
It is also amazing that astronomers can find such things as a ring planet as it passes over a star. How do they know that is what they are looking at?
I saw a news item about the recent asteroid that passed near Earth. It has a tiny moon circling it. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/26/us/asteroid-flyby/
So far the skies have been too cloudy to see Jupiter. I would like to watch Jupiter appear to move westward through the sky by comparing it to stars in the background. Normally planets should go eastward. On February 6th, Jupiter should be in opposition to the Sun.
There was a nice snow fall last night so finally the clouds are producing something interesting to look at. I finished the first chapter of Moche's "Astronomy" and I continue in my realization of little I knew about the sky since I started paying attention to it because of this thread.
It occurred to me two nights ago, that it makes sense that ancient people would be able to identify the planets. They are so bright. They are the first things after the Moon that stand out and then they move about unlike the stars which seem relatively stable in their rotations around the Earth. And they sort of follow the Sun's path. I didn't realize how obvious all of this was.
That second paragraph really, really made me smile for some reason, YesNo. I'm still in the very beginning stages of the astronomy knowledge quest. But that's a good place to be, I wot. I am very much planning on getting back into it very soon - I have been meaning to, but I have just been into poetry and chess so much - but okay, I am going to tomorrow.
Germany is building a telescope to launch in 4 years time that will be available for public use. You can read about it in Popular Astronomy January-February 2015 pp. 19-20. Great to get kids interested in space, no doubt many schools will be using them, 24 hours a day, no problem with clouds. I expect there will be a long waiting list for individuals to use it, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
Yes, it looks cute, there are other asteroids that have moons.
They measure the size by time lapse of its shadow passing over the sun. It is a big planet with an even vaster ring-system
We are getting more images of Pluto and its moon Charon as New Horizons hurtles closer to Pluto.
I finished the second chapter of the Astronomy book I was reading. It was about the various telescopes and how they examine electromagnetic waves of different frequencies to get information. It occurred to me that our whole visibility on the universe, even to parts that are not visible to our eyes, is due to electromagnetic waves.
I sort of knew that but didn't realize it. Gravity and quantum fields are added in with the assumption that what works down here works up there as well.
Interesting. Perhaps a related issue is the infinity of the universe from the Big Bang. There is a fascinating discussion here: http://earthsky.org/space/what-if-th...475b-394044013. The discussion by readers following is also interesting.
The comments were entertaining. And they go on and on.
On the 9th, I was able to see Jupiter. I understand it was in opposition on that day. It was very bright, as I suspect it should be since it is nearer to the Earth at that point. I wasn't able to notice that it moved westward. I couldn't get reference stars in the background to compare its position to.
I've seen Jupiter several times lately, it is quite distinct being very bright. It is in the east and a smaller planet is below it, probably Mars. I can't wait for the snow to go and spring to come to see it better with my binoculars.
Last night was one of the best nights to look at the sky. It was clear but cold. I wasn't motivated to get out the binoculars, but tonight, if it stays that way I'll look for that comet. It is probably past Lepus. It occurred to me if I wanted to see Jupiter reverse directions I could use the app on my phone, however, that is sort of cheating.
Don't know anything about mobile phones, but I just read this article in EarthSky. I can't imagine suns that big, mind-boggling. And no-one knows how they are possible. They don't seem to fit the life-cycle of suns that we know of.
It looks like the existence of those large stars falsifies some of the current views of how stars are formed. They are rather close to us. If they are likely to result in a supernova, we might be engulfed in it. But I am not sure. Just how far do the destructive effects of a supernova extend? Unlike an asteroid, we wouldn't know it was coming.
I could see Venus clearly in the west and Mars became visible with the binoculars above it. Jupiter was very bright in the east although I was not able to make out its moons with the binoculars. Perhaps I could see them in a darker area. I remember once seeing the phases Venus goes through with binoculars in northern Wisconsin. It was very dark there.
Also, I found a book by John W. McAnally, "Jupiter and How to Observe It". He mentioned the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers: http://alpo-astronomy.org/ If I ever build that telescope this spring-summer, I'll probably join this organization. They keep recordings of amateur obsevations along with a form and style for making records. At the moment with my binoculars, I don't see the cloud segments on Jupiter anyway.
I found out that the supernova would have to be within 100 light years of the earth to be a threat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-Earth_supernova
These stars are further out than that.
I have no idea how far a supernova of such a massive star extends. But planets near supernova would be turned to cinder. When our sun is ready for that we are done for. But that is just the life-cycle of all stars. I think we have many hundred thousand or even billions of years before our sun goes, at least according to what astronomers today know.
That is an interesting website you found! I've added it to my astro bookmark to look closer at it later.
I say Jupiter again but trying to stand outside and watching with my binoculars I couldn't make out anything like the planet's moons. Have to wait until spring, I guess.
I looked through a telescope only once. I saw Saturn with its ring. It was a beautiful feeling.
All I have are binoculars and Google's sky map app on my phone to help me identify what is up there. I am normally not in a dark enough area to see what most people from the past would have easily recognized. The planets (Venus and Jupiter) are very clear. Orion, Sirius, the two main stars in Gemini, the Pleiades and Aldebaran are also amazingly bright. But I can't even see the big dipper clearly.
We wouldn't be here without those supernovas creating the elements that make up the earth. There is a conjecture that an ancient supernova might have caused one of the extinction periods, but it didn't remove all life. Although the sun has some billions of years to go, the earth will probably no longer be in the habitable zone of the sun much sooner.
I was just looking at Jupiter close to its high point in the sky and I think I can see three of the four Galilean moons with my 7X50 binoculars. Galileo had a 26mm refractor telescope 500 years ago to see these: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/ed...s/galileo.html
Thats very encouraging, I look forward to using my 7x50 binoculars in the spring. Too cold still.
Our sun will long outlive the earth and then will destroy it. http://www.space.com/28553-don-t-pan...l?cmpid=559072.
It looks like we will be able to move to Mars once Earth becomes uninhabitable when the Sun becomes too bright.
I am going to try to reproduce all of Galileo's experiments with the binoculars. Some of them are pretty easy to do like observe the craters on the moon.
After reading McAnally's book on Jupiter, I think I see why I wasn't able to see the moons previously. It was not that the "transparency" wasn't acceptable but that the "seeing" wasn't good. The seeing affects how the Earth's atmosphere distorts what one is trying to look at. A way to improve it is to observe later in the evening. When I saw the moons it was nearly midnight. I should also let the binoculars cool down so they are close to outside temperature before trying to use them. That might be a challenge since it has been rather cold here as well. Also I should not stand on the sidewalk or be near a building early in the evening that is cooling down from the warmer day.