NASA has invited more than 350 student rocketeers from middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities — 37 teams nationwide — to take part in the 2009-2010 NASA Student Launch Projects. Their challenge is to build powerful rockets of their own design, complete with a working science payload, and launch them to an altitude of 1 mile.
These annual rocketeering … Read the rest of this article
On October 8, 2009 at about 03:00 GMT, with no warning, an approx. 10-meter wide asteroid hit Earth’s atmosphere above Indonesia and exploded.
The break-up was so powerful, it triggered nuclear test ban sensors thousands of kilometers away.
A just-released analysis of infrasound data shows that the asteroid detonated with an energy equivalent of about 50 kton of TNT, similar … Read the rest of this article
Two sunspots, which appeared on the autumnal equinox to break several months of extreme solar quiet [see New Sunspots (Finally!)], have faded away, leaving the sun blank once again. The deepest solar minimum in nearly a century appears poised to continue. NASA spacecraft are now reporting a surge in cosmic rays around Earth caused, somewhat ironically, by this low … Read the rest of this article
This weekend’s full Moon has a special name – the Harvest Moon. It’s the full moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox (Sept. 22). In earlier times, farmers depended on the light of the Harvest Moon to gather ripening crops late into the night. Now we appreciate it mainly for its beauty. Go outside this weekend and enjoy the moonlight.… Read the rest of this article
In a year when the sun has been utterly blank 80% of the time, the sudden emergence of two large sunspots in a single day is a noteworthy event. Today is such a day. NASA satellites and amateur astronomers are monitoring a pair of growing sunspots, both apparently members of long-overdue Solar Cycle 24. The emergence of these active regions … Read the rest of this article
The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.
This year-long celebration of astronomy, takes place in 2009 to coincide with … Read the rest of this article
[phpbay]astronomy, 100, “378”, “”[/phpbay]
Astronomy Videos:[tubepress mode=”tag” tagValue=”amateur Astronomy”]
| [phpostock]astronomy,1[/phpostock] |
NASA landed on Mars, photographed distant worlds, added to the International Space Station, took part in a lunar science mission with India and made major progress toward returning astronauts to the moon as the agency celebrated its 50th birthday in 2008. Here on Earth, NASA researchers recorded the continued decline of Arctic sea ice, won awards for aviation breakthroughs, discovered … Read the rest of this article
When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look south. Beaming through the twilight is one of the prettiest things you’ll ever see – a tight three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon. The event is visible from all parts of the world, even from light-polluted cities.
People in New York and Hong Kong will … Read the rest of this article
|
2007: |
Amateur astronomers around the world have been amazed and stunned by the strangest new object to appear in the sky in recent memory. And it’s one of the brightest, too, being easily visible with naked eyes alone if you know where to look.
The object in question is a periodic comet called Comet Holmes (17P). On October 24th it … Read the rest of this article
The Sun Now (Visible light)
|
The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
|
|
Aurora Oval
(Northern Hemisphere) |
Aurora Oval
(Southern Hemisphere) |
|
