|
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection
…
| Title |
STEREO Coronal Mass Ejection: From the EUVI to HI-2 |
| Abstract |
This movie collects imagery from SOHO and STEREO-A of a coronal mass ejection (CME) during January of 2007. The instruments in this view, from left to right, are STEREO/HI-1, STEREO/HI-2, SOHO/LASCO/C3, SOHO/LASCO/C2, and STEREO/EUVI. The Heliospheric Imager, HI-2, shows some of the tail of comet McNaught. The dark trapezoidal shape on the left edge of the image in HI-2 is the Earth occulter which will block out the disk of the Earth when it moves into view (since the planet will appear so bright as to saturate the detectors). Due to ongoing work with the STEREO coronagraphs, COR1 and COR2, the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs are used for this movie. The blue Sun in the center of the coronagraphs is STEREO/EUVI ultraviolet images. There is a 22 hour gap in the data coverage for HI-2 which creates the appearance of a jump in the playback. These are not standard images but are called `running difference' images which highlight changes in the view. White pixels correspond to increases in brightness, while dark pixels reflect a decrease in brightness, with respect to the immediately previous image. 'Running differencing' generates some unusual effects. For example, the mottled background is created by the motion of the stars through the field-of-view as the spacecraft pointing direction slowly changes (the Andromeda galaxy is the oblong 'smudge' near the upper left corner). The planets Venus (right edge of HI-2) and Mercury are visible (near center of HI-1), their column of pixels saturated due to their brightness. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * LASCO: Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager |
| Completed |
2007-02-26 |
|
Earth and Moon as Viewed fro
…
| Title |
Earth and Moon as Viewed from Mars |
| Description |
This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk. Because Earth and the Moon are closer to the Sun than Mars, they exhibit phases, just as the Moon, Venus, and Mercury do when viewed from Earth. As seen from Mars by the NASA Mars Global Surveyor on May 8, 2003, at 13:00 GMT (6:00 a.m. PDT), Earth and the Moon appeared in the evening sky. This Earth/Moon image has been specially processed to allow both Earth (with an apparent magnitude of -2.5) and the much darker Moon (with an apparent magnitude of +0.9) to be visible together. The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America. The image also shows the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon, since the Moon was on the far side of Earth as viewed from Mars. The slightly lighter tone of the lower portion of the image of the Moon results from the large and conspicuous ray system associated with the crater Tycho. A note about the coloring process: The Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbital Camera (MOC, a high-resolution camera) only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images. To "colorize" the image, a Mariner 10 Earth/Moon image taken in 1973 was used to color this Earth and Moon picture. The procedure used was as follows: the Mariner 10 image was converted from 24-bit color to 8-bit color using a JPEG to GIF conversion program. The 8-bit color image was converted to 8-bit grayscale and an associated lookup table mapping each gray value of the image to a red-green-blue color triplet (RGB). Each color triplet was root-sum-squared (RSS), and sorted in increasing RSS values. These sorted lists were brightness-to-color maps for the images. Each brightness-to-color map was then used to convert the 8-bit grayscale MOC image to an 8-bit color image. This 8-bit color image was then converted to a 24-bit color image. The color image was edited to return the background to black. Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems [ http://www.msss.com/ ] |
|
Sky and Planets
| Title |
Sky and Planets |
| Explanation |
On February 10th, an evocative [ http://www.jps.net/ssumner/ ] evening sky above Rocklin, California, USA inspired astrophotographer Steve Sumner to record this remarkable sight - five planets and the Moon. Near its first quarter phase, the bright Moon [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/ ] was intentionally overexposed but Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ], Jupiter [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], and Mercury [ http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/MESSENGER/ ] (and, of course, planet Earth's [ http://www.earth.nasa.gov/ ] horizon) are all clearly visible in the deepening twilight. Notably absent in this grouping of naked-eye planets is Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ] which is still putting in an early appearance as the morning star [ http://ispec.scibernet.com/station/morn_star.html ]. This month, Mercury has joined Venus in the dawn twilight while Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars still shine brightly in the western sky at nightfall [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.shtml ] making another gorgeous close grouping with the crescent Moon [ http://www.inconstantmoon.com/ ]. |
|
Pleiades, Planets, And Hot P
…
| Title |
Pleiades, Planets, And Hot Plasma |
| Explanation |
Bright stars of the Pleiades, four planets, and erupting solar plasma are all captured in this spectacular image [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/ ] from the space-based SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In the foreground of the 15 degree wide field of view, a bubble of hot plasma, called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000309.html ]), is blasting away from the active Sun [ http://www.spaceweather.com/ ] whose position and relative size is indicated by the central white circle. Beyond [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2000_05_03/ diagram1.jpg ] appear four of the five [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000505.html ] naked-eye planets [ http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/features/planets/ planetsfeat.html ] -- courtesy [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planets.html ] of the planetary alignment [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ ast30mar_1m.htm#alignments ] which did not destroy the world! In the background are distant stars and the famous Pleiades [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m045.html ] star cluster, also easily visible to the unaided eye when it shines in the night sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ]. Distances for these familiar [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html ] celestial objects are, the Sun [ http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/sun.html ], 150 million kilometers away, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, about 58, 110, 780, and 1,400 million kilometers beyond the Sun respectively, and the Pleiades [ http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/pleiades/ ] star cluster at a mere 3,800 trillion kilometers (400 light-years). SOHO itself orbits 1.5 million kilometers sunward of planet Earth. The image [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/latestimages.html ] was recorded by the Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph (LASCO) instrument on board SOHO on Monday, May 15 at 10:42 UT. |
|
Planets In The Sun
| Title |
Planets In The Sun |
| Explanation |
Today [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast02may_1.htm ], all five naked-eye planets [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ ] (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) plus the Moon and the Sun [ http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ sun.html ] will at least approximately line-up. As viewed [ http://drumright.ossm.edu/astronomy/conjunctions.html ] from planet Earth, they will be clustered within about 26 degrees, the closest alignment for all these celestial bodies [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ ast30mar_1m.htm#alignments ] since February 1962, when there was a solar eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990818.html ]! Such planetary alignments [ http://www.griffithobs.org/SkyAlignments.html ] are not dangerous, except of course that the Sun might hurt your eyes when you look at it [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981212.html ]. So it might be easier [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/ ] to appreciate today's solar system [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] spectacle if |
|
Eight Planets and New Solar
…
| Title |
Eight Planets and New Solar System Designations |
| Explanation |
How many planets are in the Solar System? This popular question now has a new formal answer according the International Astronomical Union [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Astronomical_Union ] (IAU): eight. Last week, the IAU voted [ http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/index.html ] on a new definition for planet [ http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/index.html ] and Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010319.html ] did not make the cut. Rather, Pluto was re-classified as a dwarf planet [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet ] and is considered as a prototype for a new category of trans-Neptunian objects [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Neptunian_object ]. The eight planets now recognized by the IAU are: Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040912.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040516.html ], Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050102.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060730.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050911.html ], Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041225.html ], Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010826.html ], and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010821.html ]. Solar System objects now classified as dwarf planets are: Ceres [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060821.html ], Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060624.html ], and the currently unnamed 2003 UB313 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060207.html ]. Planets, by the new IAU definition, must be in orbit around the sun, be nearly spherical, and must have cleared the neighborhood around their orbits. The demotion of Pluto [ http://www.nineplanets.org/pluto.html ] to dwarf planet status is a source of continuing dissent [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/08/18/colbert-takes-neil-tyson-down/ ] and controversy [ http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20060818.063045&time=07%2006%20PDT&year=2006&public=0 ] in the astronomical community. |
|
Moon And Venus Share The Sky
| Title |
Moon And Venus Share The Sky |
| Explanation |
July is drawing to a close and in the past few days, some early morning risers [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990714.html ] could have looked east and seen a crescent Moon sharing the pre-dawn [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast25jul_1m.htm ] skies with planets Jupiter and Saturn. Planet Mercury will also pass about 2 degrees from the thin waning crescent Moon [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/faq/docs/moon_phases.html ] just before sunrise near the eastern horizon on Saturday, July 29. And finally, on the evening of July 31st, Venus will take its turn near the crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991108.html ]. But this time it will be a day-old crescent Moon near the western horizon, shortly after sunset [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000507.html ]. In fact [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeAlmanac2000.html ], on July 31 (August 1 Universal Time) the Moon will occult [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/occultations/lunar/ 0001lunarocc.html ] (pass in front of) Venus for northwestern observers [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/images2000/ 0008moonvenus_big.jpg ] in North America. This telescopic picture taken on 31 December 1997, shows a lovely young crescent Moon and brilliant crescent Venus in [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ] the early evening sky near Bursa, Turkey [ http://www.mersina.com/Turkey/Marmara/Bursa/index.html ]. And what about the Sun? On Sunday, July 30, a partial eclipse of the Sun [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/extra/ PSE2000Jul31.html ] will be visible from some locations [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/ PSE2000Jul.gif ] in North America. |
|
Children of the Sun
| Title |
Children of the Sun |
| Explanation |
For a moment [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ], planets Jupiter [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/jupiter.htm ], Venus [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/venus.htm ], Mars [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mars.htm ], and Mercury [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mercury.htm ] all posed near their parent star in this Sun-centered view, recorded on November 11. The picture, from a coronograph onboard the space-based SOlar Heliospheric Observatory [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ ], spans 15 degrees with the Sun's size and position indicated by the white circle. Background stars are also visible as the otherwise overwhelming sunlight is blocked by the coronograph's [ http://lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=content/ about_lasco ] occulting disk. But the planets themselves, in particular Jupiter and Venus, are still bright enough to cause significant horizontal streaks in the image. Mercury is actually moving most rapidly (left to right) through the field and days earlier [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2006_11_06/ ] was seen to cross in front [ http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_08nov06.htm ] of the solar disk. So what's that bright double star to the left of Mars? Zubenelgenubi [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040514.html ], of course. |
|
Simulated Transit of Mercury
| Title |
Simulated Transit of Mercury |
| Explanation |
Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, will spend about five hours crossing in front of the Sun today [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/ 20oct_transitofmercury.htm ] - beginning at 1912 UT [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/UT.html ] (2:12pm EST), November 8. Specially equipped telescopes are highly recommended to safely spot the planet's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991210.html ] diminutive silhouette however, as Mercury should appear about 200 times smaller than the enormous solar disk. This simulated view [ http://www.sungazer.net/transitsim.html ] is based on a filtered solar image recorded on November 3rd. It shows active regions and the Mercury transit [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/transit06.html ] across the Sun at six positions from lower left to middle right [ http://www.sungazer.net/transit110806a.html ]. Depending on your location [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/ image1/TM2006Nov08-Fig2.GIF ], the Sun may not be above the horizon during the entire transit, but webcasts of the event [ http://www.exploratorium.edu/transit/ ] are planned - including one using images from the sun-staring SOHO [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/ 2006_11_06/ ] spacecraft. This is the second of 14 transits of Mercury during the 21st century. The next similar event will be a transit of Venus in June of 2012. |
|
Three Planets in Dawn Skies
| Title |
Three Planets in Dawn Skies |
| Explanation |
Three children of the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061116.html ] rise in the east in this peaceful dawn skyview recorded December 7th near Bolu, Turkey. Inner planet Mercury [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mercury.htm ], fresh from its second transit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061114.html ] of the 21st century, stands highest in the bright sky at the top right. Gas giant Jupiter [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ jupiterfact.html ] lies below the cloud bank near picture center. A newsworthy Mars [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/ mgs-20061206.html ] is also visible, right of Jupiter and just above the dark cloud bank. On Sunday, these planets will form a much tighter grouping [ http://skytonight.com/observing/ataglance ] before sunrise [ http://niteskys.com/mercury_mars_jupiter_120806.html ], while in the coming days the western sky after sunset will be ruled by brilliant planet Venus [ http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/ ], also known as the evening star. |
|
Comet McNaught Over Cataloni
…
| Title |
Comet McNaught Over Catalonia |
| Explanation |
This past weekend Comet McNaught peaked at a brightness that surpassed even Venus. Fascinated sky enthusiasts in the Earth's northern hemisphere were treated to an instantly visible [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070113.html ] comet head and a faint elongated tail near sunrise and sunset. Recent brightness estimates [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/icq/CometMags.html#2006P1 ] had Comet McNaught [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_McNaught ] brighter than magnitude [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/stars/magnitudes.html ] -5 (minus five) over this past weekend, making it the brightest comet [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/icq/brightest.html ] since Comet Ikeya-Seki [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikeya-Seki ] in 1965, which was recorded at -7 (minus seven). The Great Comet [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet ] of 2007 reached its brightest as it rounded the Sun well inside the orbit of Mercury. Over the next week Comet McNaught [ http://cometography.com/lcomets/2006p1.html ] will begin to fade as it moves south and away from the Sun. The unexpectedly bright comet should remain visible [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2006P1_1.html ] to observers in the southern hemisphere [ http://www.assa.org.au/sig/comets/mcnaught.asp ] with unaided eyes for the rest of January. The above image, vertically compressed, was taken at sunset last Friday from mountains above Catalonia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia ], Spain [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain ]. |
|
Nashville Four Planet Skylin
…
| Title |
Nashville Four Planet Skyline |
| Explanation |
So far this February, evening skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ] have been blessed with a glorious Moon and three bright planets, Venus [ http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/ longfe10.html ], Jupiter, and Saturn. But just last week, on January 30th, an extreme wide-angle lens allowed astrophotographer Larry Koehn to capture this twilight view of Moon and four planets above [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ see.html ] Nashville, Tennessee, USA. These major solar system [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] bodies lie along the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ] and so follow a diagonal line through the picture. Starting near the upper left corner is bright Jupiter [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/ solar_system_level2/jupiter.html ], which takes on a slightly triangular shape due to the lens distortion. Just below and right of Jupiter is Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/kids/ saturn_in_sky.html ]. Continuing along the diagonal toward the lower right is an overexposed, six day old Moon [ http://www.inconstantmoon.com/ ] and brilliant Venus seemingly embedded in clouds. The fourth planet pictured is Mercury. Notoriously hard to see from planet Earth because it never wanders far from the Sun, Mercury is [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991111.html ] visible just above the lower right corner. The line from Jupiter to Mercury spans about 92 degrees across the Nashville sky. |
|
Bright Venus
| Title |
Bright Venus |
| Explanation |
Have you seen a bright evening star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ] in the western sky lately? That's no star, that's planet Venus the second "rock" from the Sun [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]. Blazing at -4.6 magnitude [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/ MAG.HTML ], Venus, after the Sun and Moon, is the third brightest celestial body in planet Earth's sky [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.shtml ]. Venus is closer [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990612.html ] to the Sun than Earth and as Venus orbits [ http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/ venus_phase.htm ] the Sun it is seen to go through phases [ http://euclid.sms.port.ac.uk/students/astrowise/ venus/demo1.html ] similar to the Moon. But unlike the Moon, as Venus waxes and wanes [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/ venus_phase.html ] its distance from Earth and hence its apparent size changes drastically. This causes Venus to look brighter [ http://www.science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ ast14jun99_1.htm ] as it looms large in its crescent phases than when it is smaller and nearly full. Taken on January 28th, this dramatic picture finds a crescent Venus near its brightest to the right of a crescent Moon. The brilliant rivals seem poised above a satellite dish of the Scripps Satellite Oceanography Facility [ http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/about_scripps/scripps_tour/ siotour18.htm ]. Closer to the horizon, just below and to the right of the satellite dish, Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000320.html ] pierces the twilight glow. |
|
The Earth and Moon Planetary
…
| Title |
The Earth and Moon Planetary System |
| Explanation |
How similar in size are the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000113.html ]? A dramatic visual answer [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA02441 ] to this question is found by combining photographs taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1973-085A.html ] that headed out toward Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] and Mercury [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm ] in 1973. The Moon [ http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html ] can be seen to have a diameter over one quarter that of Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/earth.html ], relatively large compared to its planetary companion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991231.html ]. In our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ], only Pluto and Charon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980708.html ] are closer together in size. Striking features of the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html ] visible to the passing spacecraft include blue oceans [ http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ocean_planet.html ] and white clouds [ http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html ], showing the Earth [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ ] to be truly a water world [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980530.html ]. |
|
Comet Ikeya-Zhang
| Title |
Comet Ikeya-Zhang |
| Explanation |
Comet Ikeya-Zhang [ http://cometography.com/lcomets/2002c1.html ] is presently heading north in planet Earth's sky [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/images/02C1/ c2002c1chart.jpg ], framed by stars of the constellation Cetus. The comet was discovered [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/07800/ 07812.html ] as a faint, telescopic object [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/RecentObs.html#02C1 ] near the western horizon on the evening of February 1st independently by Kaoru Ikeya [ http://comets.amsmeteors.org/comets/ lcomets/1965s1.html ] of Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, Daqing Zhang in Henan province, China, and later by [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/07800/07813.html ] observer Paulo Raymundo of Salvador, Brazil. But Ikeya-Zhang [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/ article_477_1.asp ] is expected to brighten significantly and in March and April could become visible to the unaided eye. This picture, taken near Tucson, Arizona, USA on the evening of February 9th, covers a field a bit less than the width of the full moon showing the comet's [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/define.html ] condensed coma [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/ coma.html ] and narrow, developing tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001227.html ]. Ikeya-Zhang should pass closest to the Sun (perihelion) on March 18 at a point roughly midway [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/images/02C1/ ikeyaorbit.jpg ] between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. Based on preliminary calculations of this comet's orbit, Ikeya-Zhang [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/ 2002C1.html ] is suspected of being a periodic comet, returning to the inner Solar System every 500 years or so. In fact, it is "speculated" that Ikeya-Zhang may be directly connected with a historic bright comet [ http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/great_comets.html ] seen in 1532. |
|
Mercury: Closest Planet to t
…
| Title |
Mercury: Closest Planet to the Sun |
| Explanation |
This picture was compiled from images taken by the NASA spacecraft Mariner 10 which flew by the planet three times in 1974. Mercury [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ] is the closest planet to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ], the second hottest planet (Venus gets hotter), and the second smallest planet (Pluto is smaller). Mercury [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/mercury.html ] rotates so slowly that one day there - "day" meaning the normal time it takes from sunset to sunset - lasts 176 days on Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html ]. It is difficult to see Mercury [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mercury.html ] not because it is dim but because it always appears near the Sun, and is therefore only visible for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise. Mercury is made of rocky material like Earth. No one knows why Mercury has the magnetic field that it does. Tomorrow's picture: Venus: Earth's Sister Planet |
|
Venus: Earth's Sister Planet
| Title |
Venus: Earth's Sister Planet |
| Explanation |
This picture in visible light was taken by the Galileo [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] spacecraft. Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus has a quite different climate. Venus' [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/venus.html ] thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950814.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] is visible it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus including Venera 9, which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mveg/guide.html ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface. There are still many things about Venus's unusual atmosphere that astronomers don't understand. Tomorrow's picture: Uranus: The Tilted Planet |
|
Planets in the West
| Title |
Planets in the West |
| Explanation |
Have you seen any bright planets lately? Chances are if you've been outside under clear skies [ http://currentsky.com/ ] just after sunset, then you have. Now shining in the west as bright "stars [ http://nfo.edu/astro/planets.htm ]" in the night sky, are all five planets of the solar system known to [ http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/discovery/ etpdiscovery.html ] ancient astronomers - Mercury, Venus, Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ funzone.html ], Saturn, and Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ jupiter.html ]. Recorded from Holt, Michigan, USA about 40 minutes after sunset on April 14th, this digital image [ http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/frenchj/const/index2.html ] captures three of them, Venus, Mars, and Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/ saturn_index.html ], along with a young crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000728.html ]. Also indicated are the Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010506.html ] star cluster and bright red giant star Aldebaran [ http://www.earthsky.com/Features/ Skywatching/pronounce.html ] in Taurus. Mercury [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Jan97/ MercuryUnveiled.html ], setting, is lost in the trees and glow along the horizon, while Jupiter is off the top of this view. The coming weeks [ http://www.darkhorizons.org/planets.htm ] will see photo opportunities galore as all five planets gradually move closer together, posing after sunset with the Moon and stars in the western sky [ http://www.skyviewcafe.com/skyview.shtml ]. Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020330.html ], Mars, and Saturn will form the closest trio, drawing within a 5 degree circle (about the apparent size of your fist with arm extended) above Aldebaran by May 3rd. |
|
Dusk of the Planets
| Title |
Dusk of the Planets |
| Explanation |
A great grouping of planets [ http://www.nineplanets.org/ ] is now visible [ http://CarnegieScienceCenter.org/exhibits/planet_calendar.asp ] to the west just after sunset. Over the next two weeks, Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010916.html ], Earth, Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010628.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020205.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020215.html ] -- the innermost six planets of our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ] -- can be seen in a single knowing glance. The image on the left [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/H_OTHER/PLANETS.HTM ] captured them all in one frame. Connecting the planetary dots delineates the edge-on ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990529.html ], the plane in which the planets orbit the Sun [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html ]. The shot was taken on April 23 near Chatsworth, New Jersey [ http://www.state.nj.us/ ], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ], and even includes scattered light from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000403.html ] and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010218.html ]. Besides the planets, the Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010506.html ] and Hyades [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/hyades-p.html ] open clusters [ http://www.seds.org/messier/open.html ] of stars are visible [ http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2002/alignment.htm ]. |
|
Moon and Planets by the Eiff
…
| Title |
Moon and Planets by the Eiffel Tower |
| Explanation |
The great evening grouping of planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020429.html ] is coming to an end. Before all the planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020510.html ] went their own separate directions [ http://CarnegieScienceCenter.org/exhibits/planet_calendar.asp ], however, the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010218.html ] was kind enough to pose [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/planets/gallery_may02.html ] with some of them. The planets [ http://www.nineplanets.org ] in the above picture [ http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/planets.html ], taken last week, are Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970507.html ] and Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020205.html ]. Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ], Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010702.html ], and even Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000320.html ] appear to the lower right of Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-venus.html ] but are too dim to be seen. Over the next two weeks, the Moon will rise [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html ] later and later passing a full phase [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990419.html ] on May 26. Venus and Jupiter will continue to shine, moving together [ http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_572_4.asp ] until their closest approach on June 3. The Eiffel Tower [ http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/ ], however, is expected to remain right where it is. |
|
Trailing Planets
| Title |
Trailing Planets |
| Explanation |
Positioning his camera and tripod on planet [ http://nfo.edu/astro/planets.htm ] Earth, near Maricopa, Arizona, USA, astrophotographer [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/joemoon/ JoeExposurestwilight.html ] Joe Orman created this trailing display of the ongoing sky-full-of-planets [ http://www.darkhorizons.org/planets.htm ] on May 3rd. He initially captured the grouping in a 20 second long time exposure recording the positions of the bright planets and stars. Covering the camera lens for five minutes, he then exposed the same frame for 45 minutes, tracing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980912.html ] the gentle arcs of the celestial wanderers [ http://www.sciam.com/1999/0999issue/0999rennie.html ] as the Earth's rotation carried them toward the western horizon. Of course these planets, Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991111.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010308.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010627.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960723.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020222.html ] all still dazzle [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/ 24apr_relax.htm ] in western skies near sunset, but sky gazers who want to see Mercury should look soon. Mercury starts the evening closest to the horizon - visible here above the wide bright trail left by Venus - and in the coming days Mercury will be the first to leave the evening sky entirely as it moves closer to the setting Sun. Tonight Venus and Mars [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/images/relax/ skymap_north_10may02.gif ] will appear very close together, separated by only one third of a degree. |
|
Planets Over Stonehenge
| Title |
Planets Over Stonehenge |
| Explanation |
Stonehenge [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990912.html ], four thousand year old [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980408.html ] monument to the Sun [ http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/education/archeoslides/ index.html ], provides an appropriate setting for this delightful snapshot [ http://www.astrocruise.com/planets.htm ] of the Sun's children [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ ] gathering in planet Earth's sky. While the massive stone [ http://www.amherst.edu/~ermace/sth/poetry.html ] structure dates from around 2000 B.C. [ http://mathforum.org/dr.math/problems/masell10.1.97.html ], this arrangement of the visible planets [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_572_1.asp ] was recorded only a few days ago on the evening of May 4th, 2002 A.D. Bright Jupiter stands highest above the horizon at the upper left. A remarkable, almost equilateral triangle [ http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/formulas/ faq.triangle.html ] formed by Saturn (left), Mars (top), and Venus (right) is placed just above the stones near picture center. Fighting the glow of the setting sun, Mercury can be spotted closest to the horizon, below and right of the planetary triad. Still easy to enjoy [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24apr_relax.htm ] for casual sky gazers, this photogenic and slowly shifting planetary grouping [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/planets/ gallery_may02.html ] will be joined by a young crescent [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020419.html ] Moon beginning Monday, May 13. |
|
Mercury Spotting
| Title |
Mercury Spotting |
| Explanation |
Can you spot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991210.html ] the planet? The diminutive disk of Mercury, the solar system's innermost [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ mercury.html ] planet, spent about five hours crossing in front of the enormous solar disk yesterday (Wednesday, May 7th), as viewed from [ http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/mercurius/transit.html ] the general vicinity of planet Earth. The Sun was above the horizon during the entire transit [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/mt-2003/ mt-display.html ] for observers in Europe, Africa, Asia, or Australia, and the horizon was certainly no problem [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_05_07/ ] for the sun-staring SOHO spacecraft. Seen as a dark spot [ http://www.solarphysics.kva.se/ Mercurytransit7May2003/ ], Mercury progresses from left to right (top panel to bottom) in these four images from SOHO's extreme ultraviolet camera. The panels' false-colors correspond to different wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet which highlight regions above the Sun's visible surface. This is the first [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/transit03.html ] of 14 transits of Mercury which will occur during the 21st century [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/catalog/ MercuryCatalog.html ], but the next similar event will be a transit of Venus [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/index.html ] in June of 2004. Need help spotting Mercury? Just click on the picture. |
|
New Horizons at Jupiter
| Title |
New Horizons at Jupiter |
| Explanation |
Headed for the first close-up exploration of the Pluto-Charon system [ http://www.plutoportal.net/ ] and the icy denizens of the Kuiper belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/kb.html ], NASA's New Horizons [ http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission.htm ] spacecraft is pictured here in an artist's vision of the robot probe outward bound. The dramatic scene [ http://www.swri.org/press/jest.htm ] depicts the 465 kilogram spacecraft about one year after a planned 2006 launch, following a flyby of gas giant Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031114.html ]. While the Jupiter flyby [ http://www.swri.edu/9what/releases/ JEST.htm ] will be used as a gravity assist [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/grav/primer.html ] maneuver to save fuel and cut travel time to the outer reaches of the Solar System [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html ], it will also provide an opportunity to test instruments and study the giant planet, its moons, and magnetic fields. The Sun is seen from eight hundred million kilometers away, with inner planets Earth, Venus, and Mercury aligned [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ] on the left. A dim crescent of outermost Galilean moon Callisto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010731.html ], orbiting Jupiter just inside of the spacecraft's trajectory, appears to the upper right of the fading Sun. Left of Jupiter itself is Europa [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030919.html ] and in the distant background are the faint, unresolved stars and dust clouds of the Milky Way [ http://home.arcor-online.de/axel.mellinger/ ]. New Horizons' planned arrival at Pluto-Charon [ http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/plutocharon.htm ] is in the summer of 2015. |
|
Solar System Portrait
| Title |
Solar System Portrait |
| Explanation |
On another Valentine's Day [ http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1166 ] (February 14, 1990), cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the Voyager 1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031120.html ] spacecraft looked back to make this first ever family portrait [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00451 ] of our Solar System. The complete portrait is a 60 frame mosaic [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/ photogallery-solarsystem.html ] made from a vantage point 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ]. Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System (far left) linking up with gas giant Neptune, at the time the Solar System's [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/overview.html ] outermost planet (scroll right). Positions [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/solar_system/ family_diagram.jpg ] for Venus, Earth [ http://www.seds.org/billa/psc/pbd.html ], Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are indicated by the corresponding letters while the Sun is the bright spot near the center of the circle of frames. The inset frames [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980517.html ] for each of the planets are from Voyager's narrow field camera. Unseen in the portrait are Mercury [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Jan97/Mercury Unveiled.html ], too close to the Sun to be detected, and Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight scattered in the camera's optical system. Small, faint Pluto's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011018.html ] position was not covered. |
|
Moon and Planets Sky Credit
…
| Title |
Moon and Planets Sky Credit & Copyright: Wojtek Rychlik [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com ] |
| Explanation |
Look up into the sky tonight [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 19mar_planets.htm ] and without a telescope or binoculars you might have a view [ http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/gmackie/billions.html ] like this one of Moon, planets and stars. The lovely photo [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com/planets.html ] was taken on March 23rd, and captures the crescent Moon on the horizon with Venus above it. Both brilliant celestial bodies are over-exposed. Farther above Venus is the tinted glow of Mars with the Pleiades star cluster just to the red planet's right. The V-shaped arrangement of stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040304.html ] to the left of Mars is the Hydaes star cluster. Bright red giant Aldebaran [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/ aldebaran.html ], not itself a member of the Hyades cluster, marks the top left of the V. During the next week [ http://www.griffithobs.org/planetsgather.html ], all five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, along with the Moon will grace the evening sky [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_1226_1.asp ] together - a lunar and planetary spectacle that can be enjoyed by skygazers [ http://www.spaceweather.com/ ] around the world. But look just after sunset, low on the western horizon, to see Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030412.html ] before it sets. The next similar gathering [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000524.html ] of the planets will be in 2008. |
|
A Sky Full Of Planets
| Title |
A Sky Full Of Planets |
| Explanation |
Look up tonight [ http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/01/heavenly.show.ap/ ]. Just after sunset, the crescent moon and all five "naked-eye" planets (Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971130.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971014.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970528.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971030.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970829.html ]) will be visible (depending on your latitude), lying near our solar system's ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ]. Venus and Jupiter will shine brilliantly as the brightest "stars" in the sky, but Mercury will be near the horizon and hard to see. A pair of binoculars will also reveal Uranus and Neptune and observers with a telescope and a good site may even be able to glimpse faint Pluto just above the Western horizon in the fading twilight (not shown on the chart above). Enjoy this lovely spectacle any clear night [ http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/dec97sky.html ] through about December 8. A similar gathering is expected in May 2000 [ http://www.skypub.com/special/alignmnt/whypanic.html ] but the planets will be hidden from view by the solar glare. A night sky as full of planets as this one will occur again though ... in about 100 years. |
|
2004 April 2
| Title |
2004 April 2 |
| Explanation |
Doing their part in the ongoing dance of the planets [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 19mar_planets.htm ], Mercury and Venus both reached their greatest elongation or maximum apparent distance from the Sun only a few days ago, on March 29th. Eager to record their celestial accomplishment, astronomer Jimmy Westlake snapped this view of the two inner most planets [ http://www.theman.themoon.co.uk/Beginners/ MercuryVenusOrbits.htm ] shining in western twilight skies above Yampa, Colorado, USA. The picture was taken using a digital camera mounted on a tripod. Mercury is [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/3planets/ elongation.html ] easily the brightest celestial object near the horizon, appearing to the right of the foreground structure and just above a thin cloud silhouetted by fading sunlight. Still, near the top of the picture brilliant Venus dominates the scene as the magnificent evening star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ]. After climbing in western skies throughout the month of March, Venus lies just below the Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010322.html ] star cluster. Tonight and tomorrow night, skygazers can spot Venus [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_1194_1.asp ] at the southern edge of the Pleiades. |
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Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin C
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| Title |
Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ]; |
| Explanation |
This picture by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] shows just how cloudy Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is. Venus [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34067 ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/venus.htm ] has a quite different climate. Venus [ http://spacelink.nasa.gov/NASA.Projects/Space.Science/Solar.System/Pioneer.Venus/Venus.Discoveries ]' thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980830.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/earth.html ]. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus is visible [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/venus_guide_031024.html ] it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/moon.html ]. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] including Venera 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1975-050D ], which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/ ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030427.html ]. This visible light picture of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] was taken by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951206.html ] that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Many things about Venus remain unknown, including the cause of mysterious bursts of radio waves [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1995JATP...57..557S ]. |
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Sedna at Noon
| Title |
Sedna at Noon |
| Explanation |
Standing on Sedna [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/ 2004/14/image/e ] - the solar system's most distant known planetoid [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040316.html ] - your view of the Sun at high noon might look something like this. An artist's dramatic vision, the picture shows the Sun suspended above the nearby horizon as a bright star immersed in the dusty ecliptic plane. Within the dust-scattered sunlight [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/H_OTHER/ ZLITE.HTM ] are more familiar members of the solar system, including planet Earth. But at a distance of about 13 billion kilometers (8 billion miles) Earth would only be visible in binoculars or a small telescope. In Sedna's dark, daytime skies [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/ y2004/14apr_sedna2.htm ], the noonday Sun is also joined by the faint stars and obscuring dust clouds of the Milky Way, suspended on the left above stark, ruddy terrain. For Sedna-based [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 16mar_sedna.htm ] sky gazers, all planets have interior orbits and would remain close to the Sun in Sedna's skies. Of course, for earthbound astronomers, interior planets Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040521.html ] and Mercury also remain near the Sun, with Venus scheduled [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/ index_vthome.htm ] for a rare crossing of the solar disc on June 8 [ http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/venus/transit.html ]. |
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A Planet Transits the Sun
| Title |
A Planet Transits the Sun |
| Explanation |
Today an astronomical event will occur that no living person has ever seen: Venus will cross [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/vt_edu2004_venus_back_his.htm ] directly in front of the Sun. A Venus crossing [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/index_vthome.htm ], called a transit, last occurred in 1882 and was front-page [ http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/venus/News/NYT12071882.pdf ] news [ http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/venus/News/News.html ] around the world. Today's transit will be visible [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1021_1.asp ] in its entirety throughout Europe and most of Asia and Africa. The northeastern half of North America [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/02jun_viewersguide.htm ] will see the Sun rise with the dark dot of Venus [ http://www.saao.ac.za/~wpk/tov1882/tovwell.html ] already superposed. Never look directly at the Sun [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/safety.html ], even when Venus is in front [ http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/venus/TransitFAQs.html ]. Mercury's closer proximity to the Sun cause it to transit every few years. In fact, the above image mosaic of Mercury crossing the Sun [ http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/venus_transit_2004.html ] is from two [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991119.html ] transits [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991210.html ] ago [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030513.html ], in November 1999. Will anyone living see the next Venus transit [ http://www.astronomy.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/001/745fvezh.asp ]? Surely yes since it occurs in 2012. |
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Messenger Launch
| Title |
Messenger Launch |
| Explanation |
Streaking [ http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2004/ 040803.htm ] into the early morning sky on August 3rd, a Delta II rocket [ http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/delta/delta2/ delta2.htm ] launches NASA's Messenger spacecraft [ http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.html ] on an interplanetary voyage to Mercury [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html ]. Scheduled to become the first probe to orbit Mercury, Messenger will begin by looping through [ http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/ mission_design.html ] the inner Solar System in a series of close flybys of planet Earth and Venus. The flybys are designed as trajectory changing gravity assist [ http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/grav/primer.html ] encounters to ultimately achieve the goal of orbiting Mercury in 2011. Prior to entering orbit, Messenger will also flyby Mercury in 2008 and 2009 as the first spacecraft to visit the Solar System's innermost planet since Mariner 10 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011124.html ] in the mid 1970s. This dramatic view [ http://www.geocities.com/ovpathfinder/ MESSENGER.html ] of the Messenger launch was recorded from a pier in Jetty Park at the north end of Cocoa Beach about 2.5 miles from the Cape Canaveral [ http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capveral.htm ] launch site. So what's that erratic blue streak on the right? It's the reflection from a camera blurred in the time exposure. |
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A Double Conjunction Eclipse
| Title |
A Double Conjunction Eclipse |
| Explanation |
The crescent Moon [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html ], Venus [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/venus.htm ], and Jupiter [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/jupiter.htm ] all appeared together in the early morning hours of April 23rd. Some locations on Earth [ http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/RPIF/EARTH/earth.html ] were able to witness [ http://www.staigerland.com/live/astrocam/ ] a rare double conjunction [ http://www.oregano.demon.co.uk/terms.htm#conjunc ] eclipse, where the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980129.html ] occulted both Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980202.html ] and Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970603.html ] at the same time. The next [ http://www.skypub.com/news/news.shtml ] double conjunction eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970924.html ] will involve Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971130.html ] and Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ] and will occur on February 13, 2056. |
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X-ray Transit Of Mercury
| Title |
X-ray Transit Of Mercury |
| Explanation |
This sequence of [ http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/sxt_co/980626.html ] false color X-ray images captures a rare event - the passage [ http://www.arrakis.es/~xgarciaf/paso.htm ] or transit of [ http://www.dsellers.demon.co.uk/venus/ven_ch4.htm ] planet Mercury in front of the Sun. Mercury's small disk [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ] is silhouetted against the bright background of X-rays from the hot Solar Corona [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970217.html ]. It appears just to the right of center in the top frame and moves farther right as the sequence progresses toward the bottom. The dark notch is a coronal hole near the Solar South Pole [ http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], while a flaring coronal bright point can be seen to the left of the notch in the top frames. The frames were recorded [ http://www.lmsal.com/SXT/html2/Mercury_Transit_of_Solar_Corona.html ] on November 6, 1993 by the Soft X-ray Telescope [ http://www.lmsal.com/SXT/homepage.html ] on board the orbiting Yohkoh satellite [ http://www.lmsal.com/cgi-bin/yopos ]. Transits of Mercury (and Venus) were historically used to discover the geometry of the solar system [ http://beast.as.arizona.edu/textbook/text/CH03.html ] and to map planet Earth [ http://pacific.vita.org/pacific/cook/ ] itself. |
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A Jupiter-Venus Conjunction
| Title |
A Jupiter-Venus Conjunction |
| Explanation |
Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] and Jupiter [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/jupiter.htm ] appeared unusually close together in the sky last month. The conjunction was easily visible to the unaided eye because Venus [ http://www.aspsky.org/html/tnl/18/18.html ] appears brighter than any background star. The two planets were not significantly closer in space - Venus just passed nearly in front of Jupiter as seen from the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990131.html ]. Visible in the above photograph [ http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/conj0299/conj0299.html ] are actually five planets. The faint dot near the top is Saturn [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ]. Venus is the brightest spot near the center, and Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ] is just above it. Perhaps the hardest to see is Mercury [ http://stardate.utexas.edu/resources/ssguide/mercury.html ], visible below Venus but above the foreground Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980904.html ]. A single line nearly connects all the planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980825.html ], a result of all planets orbiting the Sun [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html ] in a single plane called the ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ]. |
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March of the Planets
| Title |
March of the Planets |
| Explanation |
This March stargazers [ http://www2.astronomy.com/astro/SkyEvents/Current/SkyEvents.html ] have been treated to eye-catching [ http://members.home.com/rmscott/gallery_space_sky01.html ] formations of bright planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990308.html ] in western evening skies. On March 3rd, looking toward a beautiful sunset from a beach on the Hawaiian [ http://www.mhpcc.edu/~erobello/homepage_ernie/ernie1.html ] isle of Maui, photographer Rick Scott recorded this fleeting, four-planet [ http://members.home.com/rmscott/space_sky01/ maui_4_planets_19990303.html ]"hockey stick" array. Mercury, closest to the horizon and immersed in fading sunlight, is easily visible between silhouetted clouds. To the left and up in the deepening blue is Jupiter with a brilliant Venus above and Saturn shining in the darkened sky near the top of the image. The planets are seen [ http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/planet_view.htm ] to lie close to the ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ] - the apparent path of the sun - which is nearly perpendicular to the horizon for Hawaiian latitudes [ http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/pvs/pvs.html ] at this time of year. |
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Reflections on the Inner Sol
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| Title |
Reflections on the Inner Solar System |
| Explanation |
Only Mars [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/ 07jul_marshoax.htm ] is missing from this reflective view of the major rocky bodies of the inner solar system [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ]. Captured on July 8th, the serene, twilight picture looks out over the Flat Tops Wilderness area from near Toponas, Colorado, USA and includes planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Earth's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050430.html ] large natural satellite, the Moon. The Moon is in a young crescent phase [ http://www.earthsky.com/skywatching/moonphases.php ] about three degrees above bright planet Venus. Forest fires [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050707.html ] contribute to a layer of smoke in Earth's sky that almost hides planet Mercury [ http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.html ], still visible very near the horizon. Just a week earlier Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ venus.html ] and Mercury were joined by Saturn, forming a notable grouping in the west also enjoyed by skygazers across planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050702.html ]. |
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Three Planets by the Sea
| Title |
Three Planets by the Sea |
| Explanation |
On Tuesday, June 28th, the setting Sun flooded the horizon with a beautiful warm light in this view from [ http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sparda/ NEW/Newall.htm ] the beach beside the pier at Brighton in Adelaide, South Australia [ http://www.nla.gov.au/ ]. The Sun also illuminated three planets gathered in the western sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050624.html ], Mercury, Venus, and Saturn. From this perspective Mercury [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/3planets/ elongation.html ] is at the highest point in the celestial triangle, brilliant Venus [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/venus_daytime/ ] is just below, and Saturn stands farther to the left and below the close pair [ http://www.alpheratz.net/observing/ VenusMercuryAppulse_2005-06-27/ ]. Of course, the planets only appear close together on the sky but are actually quite far apart in space. The orbits [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/ Solar/action?sys=-Sf ] of Mercury and Venus are both interior to Earth's orbit, while gas giant Saturn [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ saturnfact.html ] lies in the outer solar system, over nine astronomical units [ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/au.html ] from the Sun. Late next week [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], Venus and Mercury will share western skies with the young crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050513.html ]. |
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Planets in the West
| Title |
Planets in the West |
| Explanation |
This week [ http://www.griffithobs.org/skyreport.html ]end three planets will grace the western sky [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/ 22jun_spectacular.htm ], forming a lovely trio easily visible shortly after sunset. Saturday evening in particular will find Saturn [ http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm ], Venus [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/ 050513_venus_returns.html ], and Mercury [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/3planets/ elongation.html ] all within a 2 degree circle (about the size of your thumb held at arm's length) above the western horizon. Recorded last Sunday, June 19, this image shows the same three planets arrayed along the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040501.html ] above a Colorado Rocky Mountain skyline. Venus is easiest to pick out of the twilight, the brightest celestial beacon below picture center, with Saturn above and to the left of Venus, and Mercury closest to the horizon, right of prominent Pinnacle Peak. By Saturday [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], the wandering planets [ http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/osskids/ animate/mac.html ] will draw even closer together. For help spotting the planets here, put your cursor over the picture. |
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Three Planets from Mt. Hamil
…
| Title |
Three Planets from Mt. Hamilton |
| Explanation |
Venus, Mercury, and Saturn wandered close [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050624.html ] together in western evening skies last week. On Saturn [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/kids/ fun-facts-saturn.cfm ]day, June 25, astronomer R. Jay GaBany recorded this snapshot of their eye-catching planetary conjunction, from historic Lick Observatory [ http://www.ucolick.org/ ] on Mt. Hamilton [ http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/ ], California, USA. The view looks toward the Pacific shortly after sunset with the lights of San Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay area in the foreground. Of course, Venus is [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050107.html ] the brightest of the trio. Mercury [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/ planets_index.html ] is nearby on the right and Saturn is below and left, closest to the horizon. Farther to the right of the planetary triangle are Pollux and Castor, twin stars [ http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/gemini.html ] of Gemini, with Regulus [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/regulus.html ], bright star of the constellation Leo, at the very upper left corner of the picture. In the coming days [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], Venus and Mercury remain close, while Saturn continues to drop below them, toward the horizon. |
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Planets over Paranal
| Title |
Planets over Paranal |
| Explanation |
Very bright planets and very large telescopes [ http://astro.nineplanets.org/bigeyes.html ] are part of this sunset view of Paranal Observatory [ http://www.eso.org/paranal/ ]. The observatory's four, massive 8.2 meter telescope units are situated on top of the 2,600 meter high mountain, Cerro Paranal [ http://www.eso.org/paranal/site/paranal.html ], in the dry Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The individual unit telescopes can be used separately or in combination and are named [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000707.html ] Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000927.html ]. Together they are fittingly known as the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. Of course, the very bright planets are Venus (near center), joined by Mercury (below) and Saturn (left) in late June's western evening skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050702.html ]. |
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Old Moon and Sister Stars
| Title |
Old Moon and Sister Stars |
| Explanation |
An old [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050513.html ] crescent Moon shares the eastern sky over Menton, France [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050318.html ] with the sister stars [ http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/ pleiades_myth.html ] of the Pleiades cluster in this early morning skyscape recorded [ http://vjac.free.fr/conjunctions/230606.html ] just last Friday, June 23rd. (Bright Venus was also near the eastern horizon, but is not pictured here.) Astronomical images of the well-known Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060109.html ] often show the cluster's alluring blue reflection nebulae, but they are washed out here by the bright moonlight. Still, while the crescent Moon [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/ question3.html ] is overexposed, surface features can be seen on the dim lunar night side illuminated by earthshine [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/ 12apr_earthshine.htm ] - light from sunlit planet Earth. Of course, you can spot a young crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020419.html ] in the early evening sky tonight. Having left the Pleiades behind, a lovely lunar crescent now appears in the west, lining up with [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/ article_1748_1.asp ] planets Mars, Saturn, and Mercury along the solar system's ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040501.html ]. |
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![Moon and Planets Sky Credit & Copyright: Wojtek Rychlik [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com ]](http://mm04.nasaimages.org/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size1/NVA2-4-NA/6310/moonplanets_rychlik_full.jpg&userid=1&username=admin&resolution=1&servertype=JVA&cid=4&iid=NVA2&vcid=NA&usergroup=NASA_Astronomy_Picture_of_the_Day_Collecti-4-Admin&profileid=16)
![Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ];](http://mm04.nasaimages.org/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size1/NVA2-4-NA/6350/venus2_gal_big.jpg&userid=1&username=admin&resolution=1&servertype=JVA&cid=4&iid=NVA2&vcid=NA&usergroup=NASA_Astronomy_Picture_of_the_Day_Collecti-4-Admin&profileid=16)
