Sunday, January 29, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher's Forecast - January 29-February 4, 2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! There's plenty of Moon to study this week, so grab your telescopes and binoculars and let's blast off and learn!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Russia Opens Talks With NASA And ESA With Plans For Manned Lunar Base



On January 19, 2012, Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency began talking to the United States and Europe about the stuff dreams are made of... a manned research base on the Moon. The agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin, led off the discussion with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency for a permanent facility. "We don't want man to just step on the Moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the Moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."

Monday, January 23, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher's Forecast: January 22-28-2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for another week of what can be seen in the night sky? Then get out your telescopes and binoculars and let's begin...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Aurora Alert! Sun Sends CME in Earth’s Direction




As seen here by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a long duration M3-class flare began erupting on the Sun from sunspot region 1401 at 13:42 UTC (8:42 AM ET) today, Thursday, January 19, 2012, sending a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly towards Earth. Scientists predict the CME will arrive at around 16:00 UTC on January 21, 2012 GMT. Spaceweather.com says strong geomagnetic storms are possible and high-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) skywatchers can be on the lookout for increased aurora.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Friday, January 13, 2012

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast - January 15-21-2012

Greeetings, fellow SkyWatchers! We're in for an entertaining week with darker skies and a minor meteor shower. If you're curious about what's up in the night sky - then join us!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher's Forecast - January 8-14, 2012

Written by Tammy Plotner

Sunday, January 8 - On this day in 1942 - precisely 300 years after the death of Galileo, Stephen Hawking was born. The British theoretical astrophysicist, despite his physical limitations, became one of the world's foremost leaders in cosmological theory and his book "A Brief History of Time" remains one of the best written on the subject. Also born on this day in 1587 was Johannes Fabricius, son of the discoverer of variable star Mira, David Fabricius. Like many father and son teams, the pair went on to study astronomy together, and some of their most frightening work dealt with viewing sunspots through an unfiltered telescope - a practice which eventually blinded Galileo!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Dusty Plasma From Enceladus Might Affect Saturn's Magnetosphere

Written by Tammy Plotner



Discovered by the Cassini mission, Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR) has been something of an enigma to astronomers. According to the radio and plasma wave instruments, variations occur in sync with the planet's rotation. However, there are periodic "bursts" of radiation which are in line with Saturn's magnetosphere. What makes this odd? The rate isn't quite the same.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Product Spotlight - Moonglow Technologies All Sky Cam

Written by Tammy Plotner

So when it comes to messin' around with a lot of fancy equipment, I love to see the results - but I'm afraid of the technology behind it. Oh, don't get me wrong. If you give me long enough, I'll figure anything out, but what I don't want is to be frustrated with an expensive gadget, or be afraid to use it because it is expensive. And speaking of the E-word, I also don't want to invest a large amount of money in something I might or might not use. That's why when I saw the Moonglow Technologies All Sky Camera, I knew I had to take a closer look.