Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 1, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JANUARY 1 ■ After the noise and celebration at the turning of midnight tonight, step outside into the silent, cold dark. The waning gibbous Moon will be shining high in the east, with the Sickle of Leo floating about a fist at arm’s length above it. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, Decemer 11, 2023, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, DECEMBER 11 ■ Tonight, the brilliant orange-red supergiant Betelgeuse will be covered by a faint little asteroid, 319 Leona, for up to a second or two. But only if you’re located near the middle of the narrow occultation track. It runs from central Asia across the […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, October 16, 2023, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 ■ Now that it’s mid-October, Deneb has replaced Vega as the zenith star after nightfall (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes). MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 ■ The Great Square of Pegasus is now high in the east-southeast after dark. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17 ■ Look for bright Capella […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 10, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 ■ The Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest after dark. From its midpoint, look to the right to find Polaris (not very bright) glimmering due north as always. MONDAY, AUGUST 7 ■ A few Perseids trickle in starting in late July, then they […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Ivo Scheggia] A few days ago, a bright fireball was photographed from the Alps mountain range in Switzerland as it blazed across the sky. The fireball, likely from the Taurids meteor shower, was notable not only for how bright it was, but for the rare orange light it created […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Jared Tennant Dusty debris from periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle was swept up by planet Earth this week. Vaporized by their passage through the dense atmosphere at 59 kilometers per second, the tiny grains produced a stream of Perseid meteors. A bright, colorful Perseid meteor flash was captured during this 20 […]
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[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION / Jia Hao] Known in the north as a winter meteor shower, the 2014 Geminids rain down on this rugged, frozen landscape. The scene was recorded from the summit of Mt. Changbai along China’s northeastern border with North Korea as a composite of digital frames capturing bright meteors near […]
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION / Ron Garan, ISS Expedition 28 Crew, NASA [People on] planet Earth typically watch meteor showers by looking up. But this remarkable view, captured on August 13, 2011 by astronaut Ron Garan, caught a Perseid meteor by looking down. From Garan’s perspective onboard the International Space Station orbiting at […]
Spanish astronomers spotted a meteorite with a mass of about half a tonne crashing into the lunar surface last September. They say the collision would have generated a flash of light so bright that it would have been visible from Earth. … “This is the largest, brightest impact we have ever observed on the Moon,” […]
