Astronomy: Page 2

Tonight, I saw Mercury for the first time.  Mercury is a hard planet to see, even though it is quite bright, because it's orbit is so close to the sun.  The angle Mercury makes with the Earth and the Sun is never more than about 25 degrees and most of the time it is much less.  As a result, you can't ever see Mercury during the night but at a couple of times in it's orbit you can see it at either dawn or dusk.  Right now, Mercury is close to it's greatest eastern elongation and can be seen low...

There's not much going on this week in the skies above, but there are a lot of conjunctions to take a peek at! And of course, there's the comet Garradd that's still showing its tail to us down here on Earth, so make sure to catch it before it's gone. The rest that's going on this week:

His name is Don Pettit, but I like to call him Space MacGyver. He's well known for his paper clip fixes and ingenious coffee invention in zero gravity, and we've all seen the NASA astronaut in his Saturday Morning Science videos during his first stay on the International Space Station. And now he's back on the ISS with a brand new physics-related show... Science Off the Sphere.

The comet Garradd is almost at its peak now, plus there's plenty more events going on this week, so be sure to observe!

Since the first time we've been to Mars, the question was 'Did there used to be life here?'. That all changed for the better when NASA told us that the Opportunity rover found signs of water- the essential part to life. NASA officials on Wednesday said the rover discovered a mineral vein of gypsum running along the rim of a crater called Endeavor. The gypsum was deposited by flowing water billions of years ago. The vein is about 20 inches long. They found it while studying a rock called Tisdale...

This week's AON might be a little short, but finally, the Garradd comet's peak has come! I picked the Garradd comet to follow because it's a bright and easy-to-follow comet. Be sure to observe it! If you need help finding it, you can find more information here.

Perhaps my only reason to stray from my democratic roots... Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wants to send Americans back to the moon. And that's not all. In a direct quote, Gingrich promised: "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American."

There isn't much going on this week, unless you like to observe the moons of Jupiter!

NASA reports that the sun erupted late last night with a large solar flare—an M8.7 class flare. The classification is calculated according to the peak flux of 100 to 800 picometer x-rays near Earth measured from the GEOS weather satellite. There are 5 letter classifications for solar flares, each with a linear 1-9 number scale of severity. M is the fourth most powerful class, with X leading the way. But last night's earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), captured by the Solar Dynamics...

Remember—winter is the perfect time to observe! There are a lot of events going on this week, so pull out that observing chair. Here they are:

This week's AON has lots of conjunctions—be sure to observe them! Here it is:

Recent research published in an issue of Nature suggests that there are actually more planets in our universe than stars. Using the Milky Way as the focus, the researchers found that each star has an average of about 1.6 planets in orbit around it, which suggests that extrasolar planets (exoplanets) outnumber stars, bringing new hope for the search of extraterrestrial life.

If you slept in during the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower this morning, don't fret, because plenty of early risers did manage to wake up—with their cameras. Even if you did wake up and managed to withstand the cold morning air, you might not have seen anything. Cloud cover could have made it impossible, as well as bright city lights. But some stargazers made it their mission to photograph the Quadrantids, and lucky for you, they did.

More than 100 missions targeted at Earth's moon have been launched by space explorers since the late-1950s. NASA landed a total of 12 men on the lunar surface, collecting more than 800 pounds of moon rocks and lunar soil samples. But still, the moon remains a mystery, especially its formation. NASA's new mission aims to find out exactly how the moon came to be with the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, part of NASA's Discovery Program.

There are a lot of events going on this week! As I mentioned last week, there will be new features from now on. Check them out in the info section below!

This week's AON may be a little short, but the ones to come will be packed full with information. I am really hoping for the skies to clear so I can observe soon!

This is a really quick video I took of a moonrise last year. It has been sped up by a factor of 8 and was taken using a 2600 mm equivalent lens (75 times zoom for a 35 mm lens). The mountain it is rising over is about 40 miles away.

I think most of these are iPad apps, which I don't have, but I'd love to see some reviews of some of these apps to find out whether they're worth downloading or not.

This week's AON is brief, but there's plenty to see. Without adieu, here's the news:

Astronomy World will be posting a weekly blog post that informs fellow observers upcoming interesting events in the sky. These will include:

Explore the night sky on your iOS device, or better yet, in the third dimension on a 3D TV. More information here and here.

Explain the details and highlights of your latest observation session here!

Any beginners can post questions and we will be happy to answer.

A little about myself and astronomy:    I created this world because I love astronomy.  I really, really, love astronomy. When I was ten, I went to a restaurant and saw a huge wall mural of the Andromeda Galaxy. At my house, we had a tiny refractor telescope. I knew this wasn't enough, so I bought (with help) an 8 inch Dobsonian reflector.  I looked up one time to try to find something to look at and saw something fuzzy- the Orion Nebula.  This is when I really got into using my telescope.  I...

I really, really, love astronomy. When I was ten, I went to a restaurant and saw a huge wall mural of the Andromeda Galaxy. At my house, we had a tiny refractor telescope. I knew this wasn't enough, so I bought (with help) an 8 inch Dobsonian reflector.  I looked up one time to try to find something to look at and saw something fuzzy- the Orion Nebula.  This is when I really got into using my telescope.  I still have my Dobsonian, but I am hoping to get a new telescope or an azimuth mount for...

Post any problems or questions you have with your telescope.

The next total lunar eclipse won't occur until April 2014, so if you're interested in seeing the moon engulfed in a light orange to blood red hue, set your alarm and get out there before 9:05 a.m. EST (6:05 a.m. PST, 1405 GMT). I'm planning on taking some High Definition time lapse video of the darkening and reddening that will occur.

When Cerek mentioned astronomy-inspired artwork in his Astronomy World introduction post, I immediately thought of Russell Crotty. Crotty is a California artist who creates beautiful sculptures and drawings inspired by astronomy, landscape, and surfing.

All ideas are welcome!