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Cool lunar eclipse image

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

You know, it’s not often that I get excited about a partial lunar eclipse. Yes, the “near-perfect” alignment is cool, but it doesn’t get all that dark, and I just find myself wishing the event was a total eclipse.Well, here’s an image I’m really jazzed about. It came to me (as Photo Editor) from one of our long-time imagers, Anthony Ayiomamitis, who lives in Athens, Greece. When I look at his image, I can almost feel the Moon moving through Earth’s shadow.For more of Anthony’s images, check out ...

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New podcast will help you spot visible sky objects

Posted 16 years ago by Matt Quandt

On August 22, we’ll unveil a new podcast. Senior editor Michael Bakich, a master at explaining how to observe, will select three objects or events you can see in the sky. Each week, Michael will highlight: One object you can see without any optical aid One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope We recorded the first episode yesterday, and it sounds great. We’ll post a new episode’s transcript to the blo...

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Russia, Georgia, and the International Space Station

Posted 16 years ago by Dick McNally

Shown on November 5, 2001, this Soyuz spacecraft, which carried the Soyuz 5 taxi crew, is connected to the Pirs docking compartment on the International Space Station. Photo provided by NASA.What does the war between Russia and Georgia have to do with America’s space program? Well, it could be plenty.The space shuttle program is scheduled to end in 2010, leaving the United States and its partner countries dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets to get to the International Space Station. Right now, th...

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Editors help promote awareness for Perseid meteor shower

Posted 16 years ago by Matt Quandt

Reporters from across the country consulted Astronomy magazine editors about the annual Perseid meteor shower that peaked August 12. Here are links to a few of the Perseid stories: "Nature's Fireworks," The Virginian Pilot, Lee Tolliver (Lee also blogged about watching the meteor shower. Read his preview, "Set the alarm for nature's fireworks" and his reaction "An awesome show") "Perseids are coming," Austin American-Statesman, Mike Legg...

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Observing the Perseids

Posted 16 years ago by Megan McChain

As a working college student, I rarely have time to squeeze observing into my busy schedule. However, this week, the Perseid meteor shower presented the perfect opportunity to catch an early morning sky show. So, last night, with a friend and a couple lawn chairs (no binoculars or telescope needed), I drove about 50 miles away from the bright lights of Milwaukee to watch the peak of the shower. The shower was better than I expected. We settled into our observing site around 1 A.M. and watched f...

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Reflections on the eclipse

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

With a statue of Lenin in the foreground, Boris Stromar imaged the eclipse from Novosibirsk, Russia. It looked grim the day before and grim the day after. But we stood under a blistering hot sky near Novosibirsk, Siberia, with nary a cloud in the sky on eclipse day. Never have I seen such perfect eclipse weather. The eclipse was beautiful, lasting 2 minutes 20 seconds, for our intrepid 160 travelers who came along with Astronomy magazine and MWT Associates to witness totality on Augus...

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Clear skies for totality

Posted 16 years ago by Rich Talcott

Twilight ringed the horizon above the Ob Sea during the August 1 total solar eclipse. Rich Talcott photo The weather forecast for August 1 in Novosibirsk, Russia, didn’t look promising. On the evening of July 31, the most favorable prediction called for partly cloudy skies, while the more pessimistic predicted a 70 percent chance of rain. Fortunately for Astronomy Editor Dave Eicher and me — and more than 150 fellow eclipse chasers with our MWT Associates eclipse tour — th...

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NASA chief promotes human exploration

Posted 16 years ago by Dick McNally

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin answers a girl’s question at the Experimental Aviation Association’s annual convention July 29. Dick McNally photo NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin says the United States will establish a base on the Moon in 15 years, and astronauts will land on Mars in 25 years. Speaking of the potential Mars landing, the 58-year-old aerospace engineer said, “I hope to live to see it … it’s within our budget capacity.” The administrator spoke...

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Big Orange helps astronomy

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

I’ve never been a fan of Home Depot. My typical experience involves trying to locate an employee for assistance, only to find an apathetic teenager who doesn’t know a coupling from a chicken coop. I do my best to avoid Big Orange in favor for my local mom-and-pop hardware store. Despite my disdain for Home Depot, I have to tip my hat to Big Orange. The chain recently agreed to provide a new roof for the Custer Institute in Southold, New York. The Long Island astronomy center hosts several...

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Back to the saddle

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Scott Roberts with the apochromatic refractor telescope presented to National Young Astronomer Award winner John Hodge. Explore Scientific, LLCMost amateur astronomers are familiar with Scott Roberts. During his days with Meade Instruments, he was a common visitor to dozens of annual star parties and would often talk with observers on the phone to answer questions regarding telescopes and accessories. Roberts left Meade earlier this year, but promised he would stay committed to amat...

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Introducing NASA’s “lone gunmen”

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

NASA’s lone gunmen say they have designed a better, safer, cheaper version of the Ares I crew launcher (above), one of the cornerstones of the post-Shuttle space program. NASARemember the “lone gunmen,” the trio of militantly nonconformist Uber-geeks on The X-Files who tracked government conspiracies? It appears NASA’s got an infestation of them, too. In a story this week by Jay Reeves of the Associated Press, I learned of a merry band of dissident NASA engineers and managers ...

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The Astronomical League acknowledges webmasters

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Bob Schneider, the administrator of the Astronomical League Webmaster Award, announced the winners of the group’s annual contest. First place goes to Del Gordon of the Huachuca Astronomy Club. Besides providing information about the club and its events, he uses the site to promote the people in the club. “I believe that the people are what make the club,” Gordon told Astronomy. In the future, he wants to improve the site’s interactivity and encourage members to participate in the message board...

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Three ways to spin an asteroid

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

The Galileo spacecraft photographed the binary asteroid Ida (the big one at left) and its tiny satellite Dactyl in 1993. Galileo Project/JPL/NASASpinning asteroids or skinning cats — there are so many ways to do it. Let’s look at three methods recently in the news: One: The effects of sunlightIn today’s issue of Nature, several scientists outline a mechanism by which sunlight striking at an angle “spins up” loose, rubbly asteroids, causing them to cast off debris that eventually coalesces into ...

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Extreme observing

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Several astronomy clubs send us their newsletters covering group activities and upcoming sky events. I recently received “Desert Skies” from the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association. While perusing it, I came across the story concerning rattlesnake alerts for observers. Holy cow! Now that is an observing site danger. Here in Wisconsin, I think the only wildlife danger at an observing site would be blood loss from mosquito attacks. I suppose it is a fair trade for those dark skies. Altho...

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The fruits of Extreme Weather

Posted 16 years ago by Megan McChain

For the past few months, the staff at Astronomy has been working on a special publication titled Extreme Weather. On newsstands now, the magazine covers the science of weather and its effects. Extreme Weather features articles on violent weather, weather science, weather imaging, and more for both casual observers and serious enthusiasts. We have received some excellent feedback from weather experts around the country who have previewed the magazine. Jeff Masters from Weather Underground, In...

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Prolific SOHO reaches benchmark

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

On June 25, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) discovered its 1,500th comet. This tally tops all other comet discoverers throughout history combined. From ESA: When it comes to comet catching, the SOHO has one big advantage over everybody else: its location. Situated between the Sun and Earth, it has a privileged view of a region of space that can rarely be seen from Earth. From the surface, we can see regions close to the Sun clearly only during an eclipse. Roughly 85% of SOHO disc...

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Place your bets

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

Last week, I spent some time under the sunny, clear skies of Las Vegas, Nevada. I was the invited guest speaker at the Atomic Testing Museum. This facility — a real gem — sits 7 blocks from the famed Strip in downtown Las Vegas. The museum chronicles the development and testing of thermonuclear weapons. The exhibits (many of which are interactive) proceed chronologically, and several videos show test explosions. If you visit, don’t miss the 6-minute show in the museum’s Ground Zero Theater. It ...

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Pluto has been plutoided!

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Look out, here comes the “Is Pluto a planet?” debate — again. I wade into these waters with trepidation and wearing armored hip waders. But on the other hand, how often does a guy get a chance to stir up a pot of angry astro-hornets? I won’t regurgitate the backstory. If you are reading this, you have a browser and an Internet connection. If you are not current on the drama, just Google “Is Pluto a planet?” and come back when you recover from your seizure. On June 11, the International A...

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How to make a bad first impression

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

The EISCAT European space station in the Arctic Circle will pepper an unfortunate solar system in Ursa Major with a Doritos ad. EISCAT How little do we think of potential extraterrestrial life? Not much, it seems. The University of Leicester helped Doritos — yes, THAT Doritos — send a message to a solar system 42 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. What was the communication? A peaceful salutation? A threat? Nope, it’s a Doritos ad. From a University of L...

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Astronomy pays (sometimes)

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

The orbits of stars within the central 1.0 X 1.0 arcseconds of our galaxy. Andrea Ghez/UCLA Reinhard Genzel, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, has won this year’s Shaw Prize for astronomy. Genzel pulled off a pretty neat trick by observing individual stars circling the center of the Milky Way, our home in the universe. The stars he observed were close to the galactic center — within light-hours, not light-years, of the center. ...

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Moondust mirrors

Posted 16 years ago by Francis Reddy

Peter Chen displays his 12-inch “moondust mirror.” AAS photo by Richard Dreiser © 2008 American Astronomical Society Once upon a time, the buzzwords in telescope making were Teflon and Formica. In the future, though, they may be epoxy and lunar dust. Peter Chen and his colleagues at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, presented a novel recipe for making telescope mirrors at the American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis June 4. For years, Chen has been ...

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Survival of the fittest

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

Astronomers now recognize 88 constellations. A memory aid I’ve used through the years is that there are the same number of constellations as keys on a full piano keyboard. Today’s star groups cover the sky with no overlaps and no gaps between them. This, however, is a fairly recent development. Before 1928, celestial mapmakers were free to populate the skies as they pleased, with only the mildest restraint placed upon them by astronomers and other cartographers. The fact that many of the star g...

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Are quirky supernovae “quark novae”?

Posted 16 years ago by Francis Reddy

Three of the most luminous supernovae on record — 2006gy, 2005gj, and 2005ap — pose problems for theorists. For example, 2006gy’s peak luminosity reached 50 billion Suns. That’s 10 times brighter than the average type Ia supernova and 100 times brighter than a representative type II. And 2005ap was 2 times brighter still. What’s a theorist to do? In our January issue, I noted that astronomers suspected some of these events might be so-called “pair-production” supernovae. This mechanism wa...

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Long time listener, first time caller

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Gus Grissom snuck dimes aboard the Liberty 7 capsule. Alan Shepard trumped that by taking a modified 6 iron and a golf ball on Apollo 14. Today, NASA permits astronauts to take a few items along on shuttle flights, as long as they aren’t potato chips. STS-124 Pilot Ken Ham appeared on “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” a sports talk show syndicated by ESPN radio. He talked about the upcoming Discovery flight and the trinkets he’ll take aboard — sports jerseys and CDs of the double Mike show. Wait...

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Lots to see on the Moon

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

I just finished the second edition of Observing the Moon — the Modern Astronomer’s Guide by Gerald North (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Nice. If you fancy yourself a lunar observer, have made a commitment to one day observe the Moon, or even if you’re thinking about checking the Moon out once in a while, I highly recommend this book. North produced the first edition of Observing the Moon — the Modern Astronomer’s Guide in 2000, and that version went through several reprintings. As the auth...

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Off Orbit

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Back in March, I wrote about Astrocast, a non-profit web channel that produces videos on astronomy. The show is designed to reach anybody with an interest in the sky, who may have seen astronomy information on television or the web and wants to learn more. This is an exciting time for the hobby. Before, interested people had to rely on magazines, books, newsletters, or group meetings as their resources. Now, we also can tap into video and audio files from web sites. Because of technology and e...

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A second helping of astro-hype

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Have you heard the news? Astronomers have observed the early phase of an exploding star. It’s 2008d, the “supernova caught in the act.” If you are in the science media, you can’t help having heard about it. For days, we’ve been in the midst of a blitz that would make the Luftwaffe envious. Fortunately, the supernova discoverers are firing press releases at us, not dropping bombs. At one point yesterday, I almost reached for my spam filter. As is often the case, multiple scientists had a han...

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A visit to Space Place

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

The Space Place's Jim Lattis as he showed us around the facility. David J. Eicher Tucked away in a strip mall in Madison, Wisconsin, lies one of the nicest astronomy education and outreach facilities that I’ve ever seen. The Space Place, located at 2300 South Park Street in Wisconsin’s capital, is a cavernous wonderland that entertains students with the wonders of the heavens. Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich and I were treated to a private tour of the facility by its director, Dr....

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NASA engineers propose to get up close and personal with an asteroid

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

NASA engineers have proposed a mission to an asteroid threatening Earth. Bruce Damer (DigitalSpace) I’m happy to report NASA may be planning to do more about the as-yet unaddressed asteroid threat to Earth than helplessly watch giant space rocks whiz by the home planet from time to time. The Guardian, a British newspaper, reported recently that some NASA scientists have written a report outlining a mission to asteroid 2000SG344. The object is about 130 feet (40 meters) wide. It last passed close...

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WorldWide Telescope

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Have you downloaded Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (WWT)? If not, you can find it here, free of charge. Once you kick the tires, be sure to join our community. WWT communities provide tours, images, and other information relating to the night (and day) sky to members. So far, our community features tours covering galaxies, orbiting observatories, our impending (meaning long after you're gone) merger with Andromeda, and naked-eye open star clusters. We've also published a few o...

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