Archive for February, 2008

Sky at Night: February 2008 – Messenger to Mercury

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm  
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February 2008 – Messenger to Mercury: Mercury is a world of extremes and enigmas – the closest one to the Sun. The spacecraft Messenger, which has just reached it after a four year journey, now offers enthralling pictures of its hidden side, which has never been seen before. Sir Patrick …

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LunarPhase Pro Version 3 Released

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 1:17 pm  
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LunarPhase Pro’s Front Screen

Version 3.30 of the LunarPhase Pro Moon Observer’s Toolkit and Interactive Moon Atlas software was released recently.

The software’s ever-expanding feature set includes these facilities:

  • Watch Jack Horkheimer’s weekly “Stargazer” programme direct from the “Reports” menu. You can also enter a date to see any programme

    • …

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A Crawl Around Cancer – the Crab

Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 9:58 pm  
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I recently did a spot of observing with my trusty 20x60mm binoculars. It was also an opportunity to reacquaint myself with some of the familiar celestial sights after a winter of little observational activity.

Just past the meridian, as soon as darkness falls during April evenings, is the zodiacal constellation …

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Lunar Eclipse: February 21 2008

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm  
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This month sees the first of two lunar eclipses this year. While the eclipse this month is a total eclipse, August sees only a partial eclipse. February’s eclipse details are shown below. Times are in UT. The diagram (slightly reduced in size) was created with LunarPhase Pro.

In a …

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