Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
German astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars circling the centre of the Milky Way, using two telescopes in Chile. The black hole is four million times more massive than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so great that nothing – including light – can escape them. According to Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the results suggest that galaxies form around giant black holes in the way that a pearl forms around grit. ‘The black pearl’ Dr Massey said: “Although we think of black holes as somehow threatening, in the sense that if you get too close to one you are in trouble, they may have had a role in helping galaxies to form – not just our own, but all galaxies. “They had a role in bringing matter together and if you had a high enough density of matter then you have the conditions in which stars could form. “Thus the first generation of stars and galaxies could have come into existence”. The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany said the black hole was 27,000 light years, or 158 thousand, million, million miles from the Earth. “Undoubtedly the most spectacular aspect of our 16-year study, is that it has delivered what is now considered to be the best empirical evidence that super-massive black holes do really exist,” said Professor Reinhard Genzel, head of the research team. “The stellar orbits in the galactic centre show that the central mass concentration of four million solar masses must be a black hole, beyond any reasonable doubt.” Observations were made using the 3.5m New Technology Telescope and the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Both are operated by the European Southern Observatory (Eso). By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Ok, it’s a ways off, but you will have to watch for this interesting celestial arrangement on December 1st. At sunset, or shortly thereafter, look to the South west and see the crescent Moon, Jupiter, and Venus keeping close company. Of course, there nowhere near each other but the brightness of the planets will make them appear next to each other. The proximity effect will not be obvious one day before or one day after so let’s hope the sky is clear in the Southwest at sunset on December 1st.
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
Planets:
8:00 PM…The Moon can be seen in the South Southwest at about 10°.
8:00 PM …Jupiter will be in the South at about 25° above the horizon. Look just to the right of the Moon and it will be obviously bright. Jupiter will setting at about 10:30 PM as will the Moon.
Stars and Constellations:
8:00 PM …The Big Dipper will be North Northwest (NNW) at about 20°.
8:00 PM…If you follow the arc of the handle of Big Dipper, you will come to a bright star. It is Arcturus and it will be at about 15° above the horizon in the West Northwest.
9:00 PM …Vega, a very bright star, will be visible, most of the night, high in the sky. Look straight up and to the West.
9:00 PM…Cassiopeia (makes a big “W”) will be in the Northeast at about 50° above the horizon. The “W” will be on it’s side.
Current Events:
9:00 PM….. Find the Summer Triangle. Vega, Deneb and Altair. Look Straight
overhead and to the south. Deneb will be almost at the Zenith. Vega will be to the West and Altair will be to the left of Vega at about 60°. They will form a triangle.
11:00 PM …The Pleiades will be rising in the East at about 30°.
2:00 AM …..Below the Pleiades, you will find Aldebaran at about 50°
just rising over the horizon, Orion will be in the East Southeast at about 30°. Just to the left of the Orion will be Castor & Pollux (the twins) in Gemini. Look to the East Northeast.
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
PARIS (UPI) — The European Space Agency says the COROT spacecraft has discovered a massive planet-sized object that’s unlike anything previously spotted.
The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is so exotic, agency scientists said they are unsure whether the oddity is a planet or a failed star. The object is about the size of Jupiter but has more than 20 times the mass. It takes 4 days, 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the sun.
COROT, an unmanned mission led by the French space agency, was launched in 2006. It has the dual objectives of searching for extrasolar planets and performing astroseismology.
“COROT-exo-3b might turn out to be a rare object found by sheer luck”, said Francois Bouchy of the French Institute of Astrophysics. “But it might just be a member of a new-found family of very massive planets that encircle stars more massive than our sun. We’re now beginning to think that the more massive the star, the more massive the planet,” he said.
The discovery by COROT — COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits — is to be reported in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Planets:
- 7:30 PM … The Moon will set in the West Southwest at about 10°. If you have a clear horizon, you could also see Venus to the West.
· 12:00 AM … Jupiter will be rising in the South at about 25° above the
horizon. It will be unmistakenly bright.
Stars and Constellations:
- 9:30 PM … The Big Dipper will be North Northwest (NNW) at about 30°. If you follow the arc of the handle of Big Dipper, you will come to a bright star, Arcturus.
- 9:30 PM… Arcturus will be a bright star at about 20° above the horizon in the West. At about 7:30 PM, if you continue the arc of the Big Dipper and Arcturus, you come to Spica in the West Southwest just above the horizon & to the left of the setting moon.
· 9:30 PM … Vega, a very bright star, will be visible most of the night
high in the sky. Look straight up and to the West Southwest.
· 9:30 PM… Cassiopeia (makes a big “W”) will be in the Northeast
at about 40° above the horizon. The “W” will be on it’s side.
Current Events:
· 9:30 PM….. Find the Summer Triangle. Vega, Deneb and Altari. Look
Straight overhead and to the south. Deneb and Vega will be left and right of each other and Altari will be below (forming a triangle).
· 1:30 AM … The Pleiades will be rising in the East at about 40°. Below
the Pleiades, you will find Aldebaran at about 20° and just peaking over the horizon, Orion will be in the ESE at sunrise (about 4:40 AM).
Note: Stars “twinkle” since they are essentially a “point source” of light seen from tremendous distances. Planets will not “twinkle” because they are much closer and reflect our own Sun’s light.
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
From Sunset and all thru the night, Jupiter and the Moon will make a terrific pair. Look in the South East at Sunset and to the south at around Midnight. This view is for Thursday the 17th. Each night, Jupiter will be farther to the right of the moon. Enjoy how bright Jupiter is dispite the brightness of the full moon.
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
| Date: |
Time (PM) |
Duration |
Look to: |
Degrees |
| 7-18 |
9:49 |
2 min |
SSW |
33 ° |
| 7-18 |
11:24 |
2 min |
W |
30° |
| 7-19 |
10:12 |
3 min |
WSW |
72° |
| 7-20 |
9:00 |
3 min |
SSW |
33° |
| 7-20 |
10:35 |
3 min |
W |
30° |
| 7-21 |
9:24 |
3 min |
WSW |
72° |
| 7-22 |
9:48 |
3 min |
W |
30° |
| 7:24 |
9:00 |
3 min |
W |
28° |
Watch for the ISS flyovers in the next week or so. While most of the time, the ISS will be seen only about 30 degrees above the horizon, it will be very bright and unmistakable in it’s movement. Notice that on the 21st. the ISS will be very high in the Sky. Watch for this, it’s worth it.
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
On July 4th at sunset, aprox. 8:45 PM, look to the West and see Saturn, Mars, Regulus and the Moon in a nice line. They will be low on the horizon so look for a place that has an unobstructed view of the western horizon. Once the sun sets look for bursting colors and pyrotechnics in the night sky. Happy 4th !
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Planets:
2:00 AM … The Moon will rise in the East at about 10°.
10:30 PM …Saturn will be in the West at about 10° above the Horizon. To the lower right you will see Regulus. A little farther to the right will be Mars. Mars will appear as a large red object. Unfortunately, you will need a reasonably unobstructed view of the Western Horizon since Mars will only at about 10°. You might see Saturn, Regulus and Mars earlier (9:30-10:00) after the sun sets if it gets dark enough.
12:00 AM … Jupiter will be rising in the South Southeast (SSE) at about 20° above the horizon.
Stars and Constellations: 10:30 PM … The Big Dipper will be high in the sky in the Northwest (NW) at about 60°. If you follow the arch of the handle of Big Dipper, you will come to a bright star, Arcturus. 10:30 PM… Arcturus will be a bright star at about 60° above the horizon in the South Southwest (SSW). If you continue the arc of the Big Dipper, you come to Spica in the Southwest. 10:30 PM … Spica will be seen below Arcturus at about 30° above the horizon.
10:30 PM … Vega, a very bright star, will be visible most of the night high in the sky. Look in the East at about 55° above the horizon.
10:30 PM… Cassiopeia (makes a big “W”) will be in the North Northeast at about 20° above the horizon.
Current Events:
· 10:30 PM….. Find the Summer Triangle. Vega, Deneb (in ENE at 40°) and Altari (in the ESE at 30°).
