In the Sky Tonight
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Looking West-Southwest After Sunset
There are three bright objects lighting up the western sky this evening after sunset. Low in the western horizon is the sky's brightest star-like object, Venus. If you look to Venus' upper left about fifteen degrees, you will encounter the planet Jupiter. If you turn your gaze eight degrees to the left of Jupiter, you will find the bright alpha star Spica, of the constellation Virgo the Maiden. Since the month of May, viewing of Venus in the west-northwest for us in the Northern Hemisphere has been poor, and confined to early evening twilight. This will continue to be the case until September. By October of 2005, Venus will be visible until two hours after sunset, when it will then set. In November, when Venus reaches greatest elongation, or greatest angular separation from the sun (47 degrees for Venus), it will continue to improve its visibility for the northern hemisphere. This visibility will continue to improve until December 9, 2005, when Venus will attain its greatest brilliancy in its cycle. At this point, it will be setting about three hours after sunset, and is located high in the southwest just before the end of evening twilight. -
mi wun get to c it again... y not d eastern sky...
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u dun have to stay in the west to look at the western sky, just look towards the westOriginally posted by BabyLover:mi wun get to c it again... y not d eastern sky...
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Seen liao.
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huh? u seen it ardy??Originally posted by SBS1908B:Seen liao. -
oso cant c de...Originally posted by poon cho tang:u dun have to stay in the west to look at the western sky, just look towards the west
hope bissy doesnt miss it dis time -
y? u r blocked by bukit timah?Originally posted by BabyLover:oso cant c de...
hope bissy doesnt miss it dis time -
actually hor.. i dunno my hse which part is west leh..kekeke... but the lastime i look every window oso cant c.. so conclusion is im blockedOriginally posted by poon cho tang:y? u r blocked by bukit timah?
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upz for pple to c!
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how was it? did u c? anyone seen it??
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nothing, it was cloudyOriginally posted by BabyLover:how was it? did u c? anyone seen it?? -
har....Originally posted by poon cho tang:nothing, it was cloudy
den tonite wil stil hv?? -
Friday, August 19, 2005
Looking East-Southeast Before Dawn
If you are up in the early hours of dawn, youÂ’ll find that one of the most prominent constellations in our skies has returned. The constellation Orion the Hunter can be found in the east-southeast a couple of hours before sunrise.
“In the constellation Orion, if you were to draw a line from Earth to each star would their distances be the same?” The stars in Orion aren't the same distance from Earth. Most stars in constellations aren't physically bound to each other in any way. A notable exception is in the case of the stars of the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. Instead, they lie at very different distances from Earth. In the case of Orion, the brightest stars in the constellation lie at similar distances, hundreds of light-years away. Rigel is 773 light-years away, Betelgeuse 522 light-years, Bellatrix 243 light-years. These are all just estimates, of course. That's in contrast to the nearby bright star Sirius, which is only 9 light-years away. It's no coincidence that these stars in Orion lie at such similar distances.
When we look toward Orion, we're looking toward the outer edge of the galaxy . . . but into the very arm of the galaxy in which our sun resides (or near which our sun resides . . . astronomers aren't sure). So these bright stars in Orion just happen to be giant stars in that nearby spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. -
they will still be thereOriginally posted by BabyLover:har....
den tonite wil stil hv?? -
hah. ytd saw a veri bright moon. dunno izzit one of the planets. veri bright sia. the light shone onto my bed sia.
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pct, remind me when i at the blog
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Friday, August 19, 2005
Looking East-Southeast At Nightfall
“Why does the moon appear so large when close to the horizon; as opposed to high in the sky? Is it the perspective of being close to the Earth and trees, etc.?”
The moon illusion is a pretty confusing phenomenon. Lloyd Kaufman and James Kaufman, a father/son team of scientists, published what still stands as the best explanation of the moon illusion -- in part because it's based on experimental studies on how people perceive the moon. The Kaufmans basically concluded that people perceive a moon on the horizon to be farther away than a moon seen overhead. Of course, it's not true, but our brains think it is. Then our brains appear to drive home this perception by exaggerating the moon's apparent size to our eyes.
Tonight's full moon is considered to be a blue moon, as it is the third full moon of four between the June solstice and the September equinox. -
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Looking East-Southeast Before Dawn
A skywatcher wrote, “I wanted to ask about the brightest Dog Star Sirius.” You are right to suggest that there’s more than one “Dog Star.” The other one is Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor the Lesser Dog. The brightest Dog Star, Sirius, is in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog. It’s visible now in the east-southeast before dawn. You can always find Sirius by noticing that the three medium-bright “Belt” stars in the constellation Orion point to it.
The name Sirius comes from a Greek word that means the "sparkling one" or "trembling one." Sirius got this name because, when it begins its ascent in the southeast each year, we see this bright star through an extra thickness of EarthÂ’s atmosphere. The atmosphere causes Sirius to flash its many colors as the star's light is refracted or bent. But, when this star is at its highest in the south, its light appears more steady, and the star shines with the fierce brightness of a diamond.
People sometimes refer to the hottest part of summer as the “dog days” of summer. The dog days are named for the Dog Star Sirius, which is the brightest star visible from either of Earth's hemispheres. It's prominent in the evening during the Northern Hemisphere winter. But its appearance in the summer has also been noticed for many thousands of years. Around this time of year, after being behind the sun for awhile, the Dog Star reappears before dawn.
The early stargazers believed the combination of the sun and Sirius actually caused the hot weather, when the two are so near each other in the sky. The dire influence of the Dog Star was also said to cause fever in men, and madness in dogs. -
hope can c sumting dis time
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Monday, August 22, 2005
Looking East-Southeast Before Dawn
On todayÂ’s chart, we have marked the most prominent constellations in the east and southeast before dawn now. You might notice that you can draw a circle on the sky, using most of the bright stars here. If you start at Capella, you can draw the imaginary circle clockwise to Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, Pollux and Castor.
This pattern of stars on the skyÂ’s dome is sometimes called the Winter Circle. All of these stars, along with the planet Saturn, will be shifting into the evening sky by this winter. These same bright stars can be seen before dawn every late summer and early fall. And they can be seen in the evening every winter.
Saturn moves around the sun only once in every 30 earthly years, and thus it moves only very slowly on our skyÂ’s dome. ItÂ’s been moving among these stars for several years now. The planet Mercury wonÂ’t be following these bright stars into the evening sky. Mercury orbits the sun inward from EarthÂ’s orbit, and so itÂ’s visible only in the west after sunset or in the east before dawn. Mars, however, is now making its way into our evening skies as we speak. You can find it rising now in late evening before midnight in the east-northeast. By dawn, the red planet is high in the southwest. -
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Looking East Before Dawn
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Looking Southwest Before Dawn
A skywatcher in Chicago wrote, "Is there a point of the year...that you would be able to see a planet -- that looks like a planet and not a star -- like, is there a time where I could see Saturn with its rings or Jupiter and its red spot?"
No, there's never a time when the planets in our solar system look like anything but dots of light to the eye alone. The planets get brighter and fainter as they and we move in the solar system, and the distance between us changes. But planets always look starlike to the unaided eye. Right now, three of the five easily visible planets in our sky are up in our dome before dawn. You can find Mercury along with Saturn low in the east. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation tomorrow -- for more about that see our next tonight's sky. You can also find the red planet Mars high in the southwest, accompanying the waning gibbous moon.
Speaking of being able to see planets as anything other than points of light, we got this question from Steve in Ohio: "A local newspaper (southern Ohio) reported that the orbit of Mars was such that it would appear to be nearly as large as the full moon and that it would be visible in the eastern sky this month (August), peaking on August 26. Is this true?"
Sadly, Steve, no. We've had so many questions about this! Around July, an email began circulating that claimed that Mars would appear as large as the full moon. The email's wording was simply erroneous. Mars is going to be bright this year, but nowhere near the size of a full moon! To the eye alone, Mars never appears as anything more than an extremely bright "star." In fact, if you looked for Mars tonight, it would look almost as bright as it will when it actually does reach its closest point to us this year, which is in late October. This point, although very close, is not the historic orbit that happened in 2003, where Mars came closest to Earth in recorded history. You can find the red planet now -- rising in the east-northeast in late evening. -
til now..u mng to c anyting ?
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these few days raining or cloudyOriginally posted by BabyLover:til now..u mng to c anyting ? -
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Looking East-Northeast Before Dawn
Mercury reaches what is called its “greatest elongation” today. That’s its greatest apparent distance from the sun on our sky’s dome, and it generally marks the middle of the best time to see Mercury for any given appearance of the planet, either in the east before dawn or west after sunset.
A skywatcher from California wrote, “How can I see Mercury?” Mercury is sometimes called the most “elusive” planet. But it’s not that this planet is faint. In fact, when it’s visible, Mercury can appear rather bright. But Mercury is the innermost planet in our solar system, and thus it always appears near the sun in our sky, either in the east before dawn or in the west after sunset. It moves between the morning and evening skies half a dozen times each year. Mercury doesn’t stay put in one part of the sky for very long. If you want to see it, you have to know exactly when and where to look. As today’s chart shows, it’s low in the east-northeast before dawn, and will be so for about another week. The next best time to see Mercury for the northern hemisphere will be before dawn in early-mid December 2005, when Mercury will will be bright and rising in the east-southeast morning twilight.
By the way, you can find the planet Mars rising in the east-northeast in late evening now. -
i think i prefer looking at you