Astronomy

[jusplay4fun]

this week:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20

■ Full Moon (exactly so at 10:57 a.m. EDT). The Moon rises in the east about 20 minutes after sunset for the mid-latitudes of North America. Right after dark, look three fists above the Moon for Alpheratz, the 2nd-magnitude head of Andromeda and the leftmost corner of the Great Square of Pegasus.

■ It's a busy evening at Jupiter. At 8:41 p.m. EDT the tiny black shadow of Io starts crossing Jupiter's face, entering on the east limb, followed by Io itself about an hour later. The shadow leaves Jupiter's western limb at 10:58 p.m. EDT, followed by Io an hour after that.

Meanwhile, Jupiter's Great Red Spot should transit the planet's central meridian around 10:37 p.m. EDT. Features on Jupiter remain closer to the central meridian than the limb for 50 minutes before and after they transit.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21

■ Once the Moon is well up in the east tonight, look left of it by about a fist and a half for the little Pleiades cluster. Can you pick out this sparkle-patch through the moonlight? Binoculars make it easy.

Look a little more than a fist below the Pleiades for orange Aldebaran on the rise.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22

■ The waning gibbous Moon shines in the east after dark this evening. You may need binoculars to pick out the Pleiades few degrees to its left or upper left, as shown below. Much easier is bright Capella many times farther left of the Moon.

As night advances, Aldebaran comes up below or lower left of the Moon. And by midnight, Orion is clearing the eastern horizon far below them all.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23

■ Tonight the waning Moon shines near Aldebaran, as shown below.

actually ABOVE

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... ber-15-23/

[jusplay4fun]

try this:

https://theskylive.com/planets

[2dimes]

[jusplay4fun]

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18

■ Full Moon. A weird, borderline partial-total eclipse of the Moon awaits you in the early-morning hours of Friday the 19th if you're in North or Central America; in the middle of the night for parts of the Pacific Ocean; and on the evening of Friday the 19th local date for Australia and the Far East.

Mid-eclipse is at 9:03 November 19 UT (4:03 a.m. on the 19th EST; 1:03 a.m. on the 19th PST; 11:03 p.m. on the 18th Hawaii time). The partial phase of the eclipse begins 1 hour 15 minutes before that time and ends 1 hour 15 minutes after.

The Moon will be near the Pleiades, Hyades, and Aldebaran in Taurus. For more see the article, map, and timetable in the November Sky & Telescope starting on page 48.

Cloudy where you are? Are you on the wrong side of Earth? The Virtual Telescope Project starts a livestream at 7:00 UT Nov. 19 (2 a.m. EST).

and

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15

■ By about 8 or 9 p.m. Orion is clearing the eastern horizon (depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone). High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your fingertip at arm's length.

Far left of Aldebaran and the Pleiades shines bright Capella.

Down below Orion, Sirius rises around 10 or 11 p.m. No matter where they are, Sirius always follows two hours behind Orion. Or equivalently, one month behind Orion.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-november-12-20/

[jonesthecurl]

My local Astronomy on Tap finally returns!
https://astronomyontap.org/2021/11/aot-davis-on-thursday-18th-november-2021-from-6-8pm-at-sudwerk-brewing-co-in-person/

[jusplay4fun]

The Sky This Week: Venus blazes bright
Ceres reaches opposition and it’s time to find a turkey in the sky from November 19 to 26.
By Alison Klesman | Published: Friday, November 19, 2021

https://www.astronomy.com/observing/news/2021/11/the-sky-this-week-from-november-19-to-26

Thursday, November 25
Last year, the popular Astronomy Picture of the Day website reimagined the famous Orion Nebula (M42) as the Great Turkey Nebula in honor of Thanksgiving. Although there is no giant turkey in the sky (only on your table, for those who celebrate), the Orion Nebula remains one of the autumn sky’s best sights, and it’s worth taking a peek after you’ve finished your coffee and pumpkin pie.

Orion’s Belt just is clearing the horizon around 7:30 P.M. local time these days. Wait at least an hour or two, then step outside to find its three stars: Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak (from west to east). The Orion Nebula itself lies in the sword asterism and sits a little less than 4° south of Alnitak. It’s bright enough (magnitude 4) to see with the naked eye, but really pops with binoculars or a telescope. This vast star-forming nursery spans about 85' by 60' and is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth. If you zoom in on its center, you’ll spot the Trapezium cluster, comprising several young, hot, massive stars. The four brightest stars are easy to see in a small scope. These stars are so hot and bright that their radiant light is clearing away the gas and dust of the nebula that birthed them.

[jusplay4fun]

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE, NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30

■ Mars is taking its sweet time emerging from behind the Sun's glare into the morning sky, as it does at the start of every apparition. But on Wednesday and Thursday mornings the curve of the crescent Moon points down to show where to look, as illustrated below.

THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
Mercury is out of sight in conjunction with the Sun.

Venus, a dazzling magnitude –4.9, shines in the southwest during and after twilight. Venus has reached its greatest height and greatest brilliancy for this apparition.

Jupiter and Saturn, both in Capricornus, shine in the south to southwest during evening far upper left of Venus. Jupiter is the bright one at magnitude –2.3. Saturn, 16° to Jupiter's lower right, is mag +0.7, only 1/16 as bright.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-november-25-december-4/

[jusplay4fun]

CELESTIAL OBJECTS TO OBSERVE

MEET PROXIMA CENTAURI: THE CLOSEST STAR
BY: DANIEL JOHNSON NOVEMBER 30, 2021

Proxima Centauri is the dimmest and smallest of the Alpha Centauri system, but it has the honor of being the nearest star.

https://skyandtelescope.org/uncategorized/meet-proxima-centauri-closest-star/


This artist’s impression shows what the sky might look like on Proxima Centauri b if the planet has a surface and an atmosphere.
ESO / M. Kornmesser

[Dukasaur]

CELESTIAL OBJECTS TO OBSERVE

MEET PROXIMA CENTAURI: THE CLOSEST STAR
BY: DANIEL JOHNSON NOVEMBER 30, 2021

Proxima Centauri is the dimmest and smallest of the Alpha Centauri system, but it has the honor of being the nearest star.

https://skyandtelescope.org/uncategorized/meet-proxima-centauri-closest-star/


This artist’s impression shows what the sky might look like on Proxima Centauri b if the planet has a surface and an atmosphere.
ESO / M. Kornmesser

Nice!

[jusplay4fun]

Yes, very cool. Examination of the artist's rendering shows much thought and a vivid imagination, too.

[jusplay4fun]

LOTS to see this week in the SKY

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-3-11/

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE, DECEMBER 3 – 11

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5

■ Vega still shines brightly well up in the west-northwest after dark. The brightest star above it is Deneb, the head of the big Northern Cross formed by the brightest stars of Cygnus. At nightfall the shaft of the cross extends lower left from Deneb. By about 11 p.m., it plants itself more or less upright on the northwest horizon.

■ Now that it's December, Orion is striding up clear of the east-northeast horizon by 7 or 8 p.m. By 9 or 10 he's displaying himself high in the southeast in his full wintry glory. Have you looked in on the Great Orion Nebula yet this season? Here's your chance before moonlight starts to flood the sky again. Orion is highest in the south around midnight.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6

■ The waxing crescent Moon hangs with Venus low in the southwest early this evening, as shown below.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9

■ Orion is up after dinnertime low in the east-southeast, and that means Gemini is also coming up to its left (for the world's mid-northern latitudes). The head stars of the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, are at the left end of the Gemini constellation — one over the other, with Castor on top.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10

■ First-quarter Moon (exactly so at 8:36 p.m. EST). The half-lit Moon shines far off the upper-left end of the Venus-Saturn-Jupiter line, turning it into an immense, gently curving line of four objects.

■ Algol should be at minimum light for a couple hours centered on 8:27 p.m. EST.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11

■ At this time of year the Big Dipper lies shyly down at its lowest just after dark, due north. It's entirely below the north horizon if you're as far south as Miami.

THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
Mercury is out of sight in the glare of the Sun.

Venus, a dazzling magnitude –4.9, shines in the southwest during and after twilight.

Mars, far and faint at magnitude +1.6, is emerging low in the sunrise. Look just above the east-southeast horizon about 50 minutes before sunup, way down below Arcturus and Spica.

Jupiter, in Capricornus, shines in the south to southwest during evening far upper left of Venus. At magnitude –2.3 Jupiter is second in brightness only to Venus.

Look two fists lower left of Jupiter for sparkly Fomalhaut, magnitude +1.2.

Saturn, also in Capricornus, is midway between Jupiter and Venus. At magnitude +0.7, Saturn is only 1/16 Jupiter's brightness.

[jusplay4fun]

I am sure that a few minutes ago I saw Venus and Jupiter, with the moon in-between. Saturn is too faint to see with the naked eye where I am. I expected clouds tonight, so I did not prepare for anything other than the most obvious bright heavenly bodies to view.

[jusplay4fun]

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE, DECEMBER 10 – 18

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-10-18/

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11

■ Venus and Jupiter continue to blaze during and after twilight in the southwest and south-southwest, respectively. As twilight fades, dimmer Saturn emerges between them.

Jupiter and Saturn are far past opposition, so don't be disappointed by the less-than-optimal telescopic views. Venus, on the other hand, is enlarging while becoming a thinner, more dramatic crescent. It will continue to do so into the beginning of January.

■ Not that you'd have any possible way to see it, but this evening Pluto is less than 1° from Venus, 100 times farther in the background. And it's a lot farther from the illuminating Sun as well as from us. All this means that Pluto, at magnitude 14.4, is 50 million times fainter that Venus!

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12

■ Orion strides up clear of the east-northeast horizon by 7 p.m. now. By 9 or 10 he displays himself high in the southeast in full wintry glory.

■ The Big Dipper lies shyly down at its lowest just after dark, due north. It's entirely below the north horizon if you're as far south as Miami.

But by 11 or midnight the Dipper stands straight up on its handle in fine view in the northeast. By that time Cassiopeia has wheeled over to the high northwest and stands nearly upright on the bright end of its W shape.

[jusplay4fun]

CELESTIAL NEWS & EVENTS

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE, DECEMBER 10 – 18
BY: ALAN MACROBERT DECEMBER 10, 2021

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-10-18/

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15

■ This evening, spot orange Aldebaran about two fists at arm's length lower left of the Moon. Now look in the opposite direction from the Moon a little less far, and just a bit up from there, and you're at the brightest two or three stars of Aries. Of all the zodiac constellations, Aries has by far the smallest distinctive pattern of its main stars.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16

■ Left of Orion after dinnertime is the constellation Gemini. Castor and Pollux, the head stars of the Gemini stick-figure twins, are at its left end; the twins are lying on their sides. Castor is the higher one.

THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
Mercury is hidden deep in the sunset.

Venus, a dazzling magnitude –4.8, shines in the southwest during and after twilight. It's drawing nearer to Earth and nearer to our line of sight to the Sun. Thus we see its crescent enlarge from a big 45 arcseconds to 50 arcseconds tall this week, while it thins from 20% to only 13% sunlit. Any telescope is enough to keep watch!

Jupiter, crossing from Capricornus into Aquarius, shines in the south-southwest at dusk about three fists at arm's length upper left of Venus. At magnitude –2.2 it's second in brightness only to Venus.

Look two fists lower left of Jupiter for Fomalhaut, magnitude +1.2.

Saturn, in Capricornus, is midway between Jupiter and Venus. At magnitude +0.7, Saturn is only 1/15 Jupiter's brightness.

Saturn sets around 8 p.m. Jupiter follows it down a little more than an hour later.

LOTS to see this week in the SKY

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-3-11/

THIS WEEK'S SKY AT A GLANCE, DECEMBER 3 – 11

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5

■ Vega still shines brightly well up in the west-northwest after dark. The brightest star above it is Deneb, the head of the big Northern Cross formed by the brightest stars of Cygnus. At nightfall the shaft of the cross extends lower left from Deneb. By about 11 p.m., it plants itself more or less upright on the northwest horizon.

■ Now that it's December, Orion is striding up clear of the east-northeast horizon by 7 or 8 p.m. By 9 or 10 he's displaying himself high in the southeast in his full wintry glory. Have you looked in on the Great Orion Nebula yet this season? Here's your chance before moonlight starts to flood the sky again. Orion is highest in the south around midnight.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6

■ The waxing crescent Moon hangs with Venus low in the southwest early this evening, as shown below.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9

■ Orion is up after dinnertime low in the east-southeast, and that means Gemini is also coming up to its left (for the world's mid-northern latitudes). The head stars of the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, are at the left end of the Gemini constellation — one over the other, with Castor on top.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10

■ First-quarter Moon (exactly so at 8:36 p.m. EST). The half-lit Moon shines far off the upper-left end of the Venus-Saturn-Jupiter line, turning it into an immense, gently curving line of four objects.

■ Algol should be at minimum light for a couple hours centered on 8:27 p.m. EST.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11

■ At this time of year the Big Dipper lies shyly down at its lowest just after dark, due north. It's entirely below the north horizon if you're as far south as Miami.

THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
Mercury is out of sight in the glare of the Sun.

Venus, a dazzling magnitude –4.9, shines in the southwest during and after twilight.

Mars, far and faint at magnitude +1.6, is emerging low in the sunrise. Look just above the east-southeast horizon about 50 minutes before sunup, way down below Arcturus and Spica.

Jupiter, in Capricornus, shines in the south to southwest during evening far upper left of Venus. At magnitude –2.3 Jupiter is second in brightness only to Venus.

Look two fists lower left of Jupiter for sparkly Fomalhaut, magnitude +1.2.

Saturn, also in Capricornus, is midway between Jupiter and Venus. At magnitude +0.7, Saturn is only 1/16 Jupiter's brightness.

[jusplay4fun]

I have been criticized by some as violating copyright laws. As a teacher and someone who has actually researched this matter before 2021, I will cite this source about Fair Use:

What is fair use?
Fair use is an exception to the rule when it comes to copyright. It pertains to specific cases when copyright-protected works can be used without permission.

Common contexts for fair use include criticism, news reporting, teaching, or research. In these cases, the copyrighted work is typically used as reference material, and in a way that is “beneficial to society.”

https://blog.hootsuite.com/understanding-image-copyright/

I think my posts come under fair use. I view what I do as teaching. Further, my posts do not generate any commercial or financial reward for me (or anyone I work for as a commercial business). Third, I think my posts increase interest in both published periodicals, Sky and Telescope as well as Astronomy as the posts do not give complete the picture and leave out some critical details.

Therefore I am NOT in violation of copyright laws.

So before offering more criticism, please research "fair use" and avoid ad hominem attacks.

[HitRed]

THREAD LOCKED

[jusplay4fun]

Good one, HitRed.

[jusplay4fun]

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-17-25/

THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP

Jupiter, magnitude –2.2 at the Aquarius-Capricornus border, shines in the south-southwest at dusk about three fists at arm's length upper left of Venus. Look two fists lower left of Jupiter for Fomalhaut, magnitude +1.2.

Saturn, in Capricornus, is nearly midway between Jupiter and Venus. At magnitude +0.7, Saturn is only 1/15 Jupiter's brightness.

Saturn sets by 7 or 8 p.m. Jupiter follows it down about 1½ hours later.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Enjoy viewing heavenly bodies. The heavenly hosts sing Allelulia..!

And give thanks to Fair Use, too.

[jusplay4fun]

from NatGeo:

By Victoria Jaggard, SCIENCE Executive Editor

Impatient people should probably avoid careers in space exploration. I was in middle school when astronomers started talking about building a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. And I was a high school senior when the mission concept for the Next Generation Space Telescope—later renamed the James Webb Space Telescope—was first proposed. It’s been such a long and bumpy road for this mission that some people joke JWST really stands for the Just Wait Space Telescope.

But now, after 32 years, Hubble’s successor (pictured above) is at last poised to launch on its epic journey.

The telescope is currently slated to lift off from a spaceport in French Guiana no sooner than Saturday. From there it must journey roughly a million miles away, to a special region in space known as a Lagrange point. Here JWST can keep Earth and the sun constantly aligned from its perspective so that its giant sunshield can protect the telescope from their light and heat. JWST’s giant golden mirror can then collect faint whispers of infrared light from the depths of the universe, hopefully gathering clues to how the first stars and galaxies came to be.

Amazingly, there is a big benefit to the long wait. As our Nadia Drake reports, planets orbiting other stars were still entirely theoretical when JWST was designed. But in the years since, astronomers have found thousands of alien worlds orbiting other stars (an artist’s rendering, below)—including some that seem to be well suited for life as we know it.

[jusplay4fun]

I am sure I saw ALL three planets last night, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. The sun had set, but the sky showed a little light. I had to find Venus through a tree, but the lack of leaves allowed me to see it through the bare branches. Jupiter was very high in the sky and then I found Saturn in between. I went out again some 30-45 minutes later and I think Venus had set by then, or was too low in the horizon.

I enjoyed the opportunity to see ALL THREE planets.

[jusplay4fun]

https://stellarium-web.org/

Great Link above

I think William shared it a while back, maybe on page 4 of this thread.

[jusplay4fun]

[url]Neave.Com/planetarium[/url] is a pretty good tool
I don't know how to do hyperlinks, that may take you somewhere bogus, just look it up manually if that's the case

Actually he had it on page 5.

https://stellarium-web.org/

I took time to re-read the first several pages and there is good stuff there. The link above is what I have been looking for, what I can see in the night sky and the site is interactive, too. There are a few gems there..!

Also, I enjoyed the initial excitement of discussions and of seeing things in the sky by some of us. Really COOL..!

[HitRed]

The James Webb has only 3 posts here.

[Dukasaur]

The James Webb has only 3 posts here.

I meant to watch the launch last week but I missed it. Anybody watch it?

[jusplay4fun]

The James Webb has only 3 posts here.

It was launched a few days ago and there are no photos yet from it to draw attention from many folks.

25 Dec 2021 NASA's Webb Telescope Launches To See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m. EST Saturday on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport.

above from NASA website https://jwst.nasa.gov/

The long-delayed telescope, launched on Christmas Day, is the successor to the highly successful but aging Hubble Space Telescope. Webb's capability is expected to far surpass the famous Hubble: The new scope's much larger primary mirror gives it more than six times the light-gathering area than Hubble had.

Ultimately, Webb will be about 100 times as powerful as the older Earth-orbiting observatory. That means it will be able to spy much fainter and much farther space objects. Webb is also tuned to see in the infrared part of the spectrum, giving it the ability to see objects that were largely hidden to Hubble.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/29/1068727334/the-james-webb-space-telescope-has-started-unfurling-its-giant-sunshield