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Tag Archives: Andromeda

Specola Guestbook | June 16, 1924: Knut Lundmark and Sten Asklöf

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 10, 2021 by Robert MackeJanuary 4, 2021
This entry is part 76 of 84 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from June 16, 1924, when Knut Lundmark and Sten Asklöf made a visit. Next to his name, Knut Emil Lundmark (1889-1958) wrote, “Ph.D., Upsala, Sweden.” He had completed his Ph.D. at Uppsala in 1920 and subsequently worked at the Lick and Mount Wilson observatoies. In 1929 he became director of the observatory at Lund University in Lund, Sweden. Lundmark’s scientific work was primarily concerned with galaxies.  He measured the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy in 1919 using  novae as standard candles. [Note: while certain types of supernovae function well as standard candles, novae in general vary in maximum brightness and do not serve the purpose well.] He measured a distance of about 650,000 ly (compared to the modern value of 2.5 million ly), which … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, History, Uncategorized | Tagged Andromeda, Asklof, galaxies, Lundmark, Specola Guestbook, Uppsala, Vatican Observatory | Leave a reply

Expired: ⓜ Full Moon-th Meetup: 29 December, 2020

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on December 22, 2020 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoDecember 22, 2020

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Posted in Announcement | Tagged Andromeda

In the Sky This Week – December 3, 2019

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on December 3, 2019 by Bob TrembleyDecember 3, 2019
This entry is part 126 of 185 in the series In the Sky This Week

At last night’s meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society, the topic of the Starlink satellite constellation came up during the “In the News” segment, and a groan of dismay could be heard from the entire audience. If you are unfamiliar with Starlink, it is a constellation of potentially tens of thousands of communication satellites created by SpaceX with the goal of providing global high-speed internet – that concept sounds great! Starlink satellites during a meteor shower on Nov. 22. pic.twitter.com/wJVk1qu49E — Patrick Treuthardt, Ph.D. (@PTreuthardt) November 25, 2019 The first time I became aware of Starlink was after the 2nd satellite deployment mission of May of 2019, when 60 satellites were put into a 53° Earth orbit. Almost immediately satellite sightings started pouring in from around the world. Videos show a long trail of lights traversing the sky, virtually painting the orbits of the satellites in your mind’s eye, and literally painting them in the cameras of astronomers and astrophotographers … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Commentary, Outreach | Tagged #GivingTuesday, Andromeda, Hera Mission, International Space Station, Juno, Juputer, light pollution, M31, Moon, OSIRIS REx, Pegasus, Saturn, Starlink, Sun, Venus

Dark Sky Painting 3 Edu-painting

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on September 28, 2018 by Deirdre KelleghanSeptember 28, 2018

  August 25th I gave a presentation about the Heritage of Astronomy in Ireland. The event was part of Heritage Week 2018. The talk emphasised the fact that Mayo has some of the darkest skies in Europe, therefore we should embrace that fact.  Our Neolithic ancestors claimed their heritage moments in standing stones and circles. These incredible menhirs are still tactile in the land today. Their heritage moments linking them for centuries to our star and the dark sky heavens above. The audience agreed to be some of the ingredients of my Dark Sky Painting homage.  The dark sky reminds us of our place on Earth  and in the universe.  The dark sky teaches us that we to are part of the landscape.  It is in our sprits as are the flora and fauna that surrounds us in this beautiful county. Our 2018 heritage week  moment. The Edu- Painting The painting shows the view looking to the north-east and slightly … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Education, Galaxy, History, Light Pollution, Meteorites | Tagged Andromeda, Books at One, Cassiopeia, Dark Sky, Deneb, Double Cluster, Heritage, Heritage Week 2018, Mayo, Mayo County Council, Perseus

In the Sky This Week – July 17, 2018

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on July 17, 2018 by Bob TrembleyJuly 17, 2018
This entry is part 53 of 185 in the series In the Sky This Week

As Mars opposition nears, the planet shines bright in the southwestern sky before sunrise. I find myself looking out my back window for Mars every morning after I awake. The waxing crescent Moon joins Venus in the western sky near sunset; Jupiter appears more to the south, and is a great observing target for several hours after sunset. The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent visible in the western sky around dusk. The Moon will be at first quarter on July 20th, after which it will be a waxing gibbous, visible in the southern sky after sunset. The Moon will be a great observing target all week! The Moon will travel across the southern sky all week; the first quarter Moon will appear close to Jupiter in the south-southwestern sky on July 20th. The waxing gibbous Moon will appear very close to Saturn in the south-southeastern sky on July 24th. Observing Target: M31 – The Andromeda Galaxy M31 – … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged Andromeda, Conjunction, Galaxy, Jupiter, M31, Mars, Moon, Saturn, Venus

In the Sky This Week – July 18, 2017

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on July 18, 2017 by Bob TrembleySeptember 12, 2017
This entry is part 17 of 185 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus continues to dominate the morning sky in the east, but appears slightly lower in the sky each morning as it pulls ahead of us in its orbit. The waning crescent Moon will appear near Venus the the star Aldebaran on the mornings of July 19th and 20th. The New Moon will be on the 23rd. Jupiter and Saturn appear in the south-southwestern sky after sunset; Jupiter will appear slightly lower in the western sky each day as the Earth pulls ahead of Jupiter in its orbit. The constellations Pegasus and Andromeda appear low in the northeast sky after sunset; the wispy cloud of M31, the Andromeda galaxy, makes a good target for telescope observers. M31 is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is 2.5 million light years distant, and heading straight at us; in a little over 4 billion years, it will collide with the Milky way, and the two galaxies will merge into a large … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged Andromeda, Conjunction, Jupiter, M31, Moon, Saturn

High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 9, 2015 by Bob TrembleyJanuary 9, 2015

The largest NASA Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled, this sweeping bird’s-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest large composite image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor. Though the galaxy is over 2 million light-years away, the Hubble telescope is powerful enough to resolve individual stars in a 61,000-light-year-long stretch of the galaxy’s pancake-shaped disk. It’s like photographing a beach and resolving individual grains of sand. And, there are lots of stars in this sweeping view — over 100 million, with some of them in thousands of star clusters seen embedded in the disk. This ambitious photographic cartography of the Andromeda galaxy represents a new benchmark for precision studies of large spiral galaxies that dominate the universe’s population of over 100 billion galaxies. Never before have astronomers been able to see individual stars inside an external spiral galaxy over such a large contiguous area. Most of the stars in the universe live inside … Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxy, Science | Tagged Andromeda, Hubble
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Specola Guestbook | December 26, 1934: Giuseppe Bugatto

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 7, 2021 by Robert MackeFebruary 1, 2021
This entry is part 84 of 84 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from December 26, 1934, when Giuseppe Bugatto made a visit. Next to his … Continue reading…

Posted in History | Tagged Bugatto, L'Osservatore Romano, Specola Guestbook, Vatican Observatory

Misinformative Books from Surprising Places

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 6, 2021 by Christopher M. GraneyFebruary 22, 2021

Misinformation.  It is a big topic these days, and a big problem.  And when the topic is astronomy and the Copernican Revolution, misinformation abounds, even in the relatively durable, more controlled medium of books.  “Caveat lector!” applies to this topic—“Let the reader beware!” Two recently-published books are especially disappointing in … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, History

Solar Sketching in h-alpha – Prominences dancing on the limb

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 5, 2021 by Deirdre KelleghanMarch 5, 2021

                                Astronomical Sketching Astronomical sketching is not just about drawing pictures. It is about learning. This kind of sketching is about observing the subject very closely at the far end of your telescope. Sketching at … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, Education | Tagged animation, Filaments, gifs, h-alpha, Movement, Proms, PST, Solar Sketching

Finding the Unexpected

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 4, 2021 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoMarch 4, 2021
This entry is part 61 of 61 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… in 2014, the magazine US Catholic solicited a couple of articles about science fiction from me. One of them ran in 2014 under the title “Get Lost In Space” and the other they included only on their web site. I reprint both of them here… along … Continue reading…

Posted in And Then I Wrote, Popular Culture | Tagged Science fiction

From the V.O. Faith and Science Pages: The Road of Science and the Ways to God

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 3, 2021 by Faith and ScienceJanuary 29, 2021

Today’s featured entry from the Vatican Observatory Faith and Science pages: “The Road of Science and the Ways to God” (click here for it) A book by Stanley L. Jaki: “Originally presented as the Gifford Lectures for 1975 and 1976 at the University of Edinburgh, this challenging work illuminates the … Continue reading…

Posted in From the V.O. Faith and Science Pages

In the Sky this Week – March 2, 2021

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 2, 2021 by Bob TrembleyMarch 2, 2021
This entry is part 185 of 185 in the series In the Sky This Week

This week, the Moon appears in the predawn sky, Mars is in a close conjunction with the Pleiades star cluster, and the planets Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn appear low above the horizon before dawn; Mercury and Jupiter appear in a very close conjunction – less than 1 degree apart, as they swap positions over the course of several days.

Continue reading...
Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged Conjunction, Eagle Nebula, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Pleiades, Saturn, Sun, The Pillars of Creation
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Recent Comments

  • Christopher M. Graney March 6, 2021 at 3:42 pm on Misinformative Books from Surprising PlacesThanks, Joel. And Ed, what is the source that said Galileo confirmed Copernicus? Can you give a link?
  • Joel Hopko March 6, 2021 at 11:54 am on Misinformative Books from Surprising PlacesProfessor Graney -- Ironic but perhaps understandable that the painstaking technical work of centuries should be reduced to a melodramatic contest of intrenched religious bigots bent on obscuring the truth versus "enlightened" clear seeing individuals heroically battling the establishment. After all, melodrama consistent outsells even the best technical literature. Still...
  • Ed Yepez March 6, 2021 at 7:45 am on Misinformative Books from Surprising PlacesA quick "google" come up with Galileo confirming Copernicus. If I understand correctly, they made observations that ageeed with heliocentrism, but "Confirmation" came later (Newton?)
  • Fr. James Kurzynski March 2, 2021 at 8:20 pm on Georges Lemaitre – Father of the “Big Bang”You're very welcome Fr. Madley! Thank you!
  • Fr. Jeffrey Madley March 2, 2021 at 11:57 am on Georges Lemaitre – Father of the “Big Bang”Excellent article about Msgr. Lemaitre, Fr. Jim. Nice to know people in the Church have contributed to science.
  • Fr. Bruce Wilkinson February 23, 2021 at 4:05 pm on In the Sky This Week – February 23, 2021I completely agree with you that putting cameras on EVERY space mission - without question and without fail. The ability to see the accomplishments of the various robotic missions have inspired future generations to want to become part of the space exploration crowd
  • Ed Yepez February 20, 2021 at 7:51 am on The Sun Rules!Excellent! Thank you very much for presenting this in such an understandable form. Also let me appreciate the math.(a lot of which I had forgotten) With Kepler, how you can make the correct observations, yet still come to an erroneous conclusion? But the observations remain correct, even useful for further...
  • Bob Trembley February 19, 2021 at 5:16 am on In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021I joined a NASA Night Sky Network Zoom Watch Party - it was pretty cool! When I joined, an engineer was talking about his work on the helicopter - those wings are HUGE! I watched the the landing with my in-laws; it was cool to see the same image up...
  • Richard Hill February 19, 2021 at 12:54 am on Skyward by David Levy: February 2021Very nice meteor photo! Reminds me of one Geminid I saw as I was walking to night lunch on Kitt Peak. It passed right through Orion. Burned a memory in my brain.
  • Benjamin Goodison February 18, 2021 at 5:26 pm on In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021... and three days later, Perseverance finally touched down successfully and is snapping its first images!I'm sure there were more than a few spontaneous prayers in the NASA control room in those last few minutes... there certainly were at my end :) Really looking forward to the wealth of new...
  • Bob Trembley February 16, 2021 at 8:31 am on In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021Oh my goodness! Thank you SO MUCH for the kind replies!
  • Joseph O'Donnell February 16, 2021 at 8:00 am on In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021Thank you for this. Always so helpful and enlightening.
  • Stan Sienkiewicz February 16, 2021 at 7:47 am on In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021Bob, another great post. Wonderful way to start the day. Thanks for putting in the time to create these posts. Educational, beautiful, and awe inspiring. I really appreciate seeing these each week. Thank you, Stan
  • Fr. James Kurzynski February 12, 2021 at 10:40 pm on Space Exploration As An Act Of Interfaith Dialogue.Thanks Joel! I greatly appreciate your insight and encouragement!
  • Fr. James Kurzynski February 10, 2021 at 10:46 am on Polar Vortex, Snowy Owls, Puffins, and Answering the Question: Fr. James, If Global Warming Is Real, Why Am I So Cold?Thanks for you response! My apologies if it came across that Wisconsin was the southernmost Snowy Owls travel. That was not my intent. In my prep, I saw articles of sightings as south as Texas. The point being that some birds go south, others don't, and its a bit of...
  • Jim Cook February 10, 2021 at 8:05 am on Polar Vortex, Snowy Owls, Puffins, and Answering the Question: Fr. James, If Global Warming Is Real, Why Am I So Cold?Wisconsin is actually NOT very far south to find Snowy Owls in winter, as you can see from its eBird range map: https://ebird.org/science/status-and-trends/snoowl1/range-map I've subscribed to eBird's Snowy Owl reports list for almost 10 years now and while some years have seen more reports of sightings than others, they typically...
  • Fr. Timothy Sauppé February 8, 2021 at 8:38 am on A telescope made by an Angel…Br. Guy: This would make a great beginning to your opening address to the Solar Eclipse Retreat in 2024 for Bishops/Priests. I am going to save this. Fr. Timothy Sauppé
  • Richard Saam February 7, 2021 at 10:20 am on JWST update – Hexagons in SpaceI want to make an additional point on hexagons: In the realm of crystallography as described in solid state physics, there is an equivalence between real(energy) and reciprocal(momentum) hexagonal space. This was mathematically presented in Charles Kittel's (recently deceased) text "Introduction to Solid State Physics". And then something to ponder:...
  • Joel Hopko February 1, 2021 at 11:23 am on Space Exploration As An Act Of Interfaith Dialogue.Fr. Kurzynski -- I too was very moved by the Emirates and the other national efforts (Japanese, Indian etc.) Like you I found in them an expression of the human spirit and even the religious wellsprings that can inspire us toward a shared destiny beyond our fear and confusion. Thanks...
  • Richard Saam February 1, 2021 at 10:33 am on JWST update – Hexagons in SpaceAdding to Fernando's comments 'hexagons are pretty much everywhere in the universe': It can be argued that universal space time can be expressed as oscillating virtual hexagonal (~50 cm, ~8 hr) lattice units conforming to the conservation of energy and momentum and the universe vacuum energy density. There is some...

Top Posts

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    Misinformative Books from Surprising Places
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  • Finding the Unexpected
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    Hunting for Saffordites East of Mt. Graham and the Vatican Telescope. pt. 2
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    In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021
  • Across the Universe:  Lights all askew in the heavens...
    Across the Universe: Lights all askew in the heavens...
  • Specola Guestbook | December 26, 1934: Giuseppe Bugatto
    Specola Guestbook | December 26, 1934: Giuseppe Bugatto
  • In the Sky This Week – September 22, 2020
    In the Sky This Week – September 22, 2020

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