Tag Archives: Mars

In the Sky This Week – October 16, 2018

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This entry is part 65 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellation Gemini is nearly overhead in the predawn sky – look for the two bright stars, Pollux and Castor near the constellation Orion. The constellation Leo with the bright star Regulus rises earlier each day in the eastern predawn sky. The Moon joins Mars and Saturn in the southern sky after sunset this week. Jupiter is the “evening star,” appearing low in the southwestern sky at dusk, and setting shortly after dark. If you have a clear horizon, you might be able to catch a glimpse of Mercury a few minutes after 5:00 PM. Observing Target: Comet 46P/Wirtanen Comet 46P/Wirtanen is within the orbit of Mars, and it is heading in our direction – it will pass within 11.5 million kilometers (30.23 lunar distances) of Earth – that’s REALLY close! It should be a fantastic observing target. BUT! It’s a comet… I can’t count the number of times I’ve see media prophecies of  “Comet of the Year” fall flat. … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 9, 2018

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This entry is part 64 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellations Orion and Canis Major have migrated from the east to the south, and now appear high in the southern predawn sky. The constellation Leo with the bright star Regulus rise in the eastern predawn sky. Ursa Major (with the Big Dipper asterism) and Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) appear in the northern predawn sky. Mars and Saturn continue to be excellent viewing targets in the southern sky after sunset – this week the Moon will not be present to wash them out. Jupiter appears in the southwestern sky at dusk, and sets at 8:36 PM. Observing Target: Mizar and Alcor Mizar and Alcor are a naked-eye double star in the handle of the “Big Dipper” (in Ursa Major). In a small telescope, Mizar and Alcor can easily be “split” or resolved into individual stars: Mizar is actually quadruple star system, with two sets of double stars orbiting around their common center of gravity – also known as their barycenter. … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 2, 2018

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This entry is part 63 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon joins the constellations Gemini and Orion high south in the predawn sky. Mars and Saturn continue to be excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset. You might be able to catch a glimpse of Venus this week if you have a clear southwestern horizon; Venus is VERY low in the sky at sunset. Observing Target: M45 – The Pleiades The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) is an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. The cluster contains several hot, B-type stars, and is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. The Pleiades easily visible to the naked eye – binoculars work great for viewing the Pleiades; if you want to use a telescope, you’ll need to use a longer focal-length (lower magnification) eyepiece. Time-exposures of the Pleiades reveal a blue nebulosity surrounding the stars; once thought to be left over from the formation of the cluster, it is now thought to be … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 25, 2018

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This entry is part 62 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

Happy autumn! The autumnal equinox occurred on September 22nd, this is when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, making the length of day and night approximately the same all over the Earth. With the onset of fall, the constellation Orion is now very high in the predawn sky Jupiter will soon be leaving Mars and Saturn behind in the south-southwestern sky after dusk – catch it while you still can! Jupiter and Venus compete for the “evening star” title, but Jupiter will soon win, as Venus will no longer visible in the southwestern sky in a few short weeks. The Moon The Moon is a waning gibbous just after full; rising in the east at dusk, and setting in the west near dawn. The Moon will be near third quarter early next week, rising around midnight, and visible all morning. Observing Target: Mars Now that the dust from the recent storm has settled, photographers are starting to get some great shots of … Continue reading →

Rolling Dunes on Mars

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More and more frequently in recent years, I see images from space that simply take my breath away – this image from Mars did just that. I’m not sure what it is about these rolling dunes on Mars that struck me – maybe it’s that they are so similar to dunes on Earth, yet they exist millions of kilometers away on an alien world. Maybe it’s just that they are beautiful. You can download this image in multiple resolutions here. From the University of Arizona post: Dune fields located among canyon wall slopes are also known as “wall dune fields” and are further identified as either climbing or falling. Falling dunes are defined as large bedforms with lee faces on the downhill side—indicating that this is the direction of their migration—and on moderate slopes greater than 10 to 12 degrees. (A lee face is the the down-wind side of a dune.) On Earth and Mars, these types of dunes are … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 11, 2018

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This entry is part 60 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

Orion is high in the southeastern predawn sky as fall stars rise earlier each morning. The Moon joins Venus and Jupiter in the southwestern sky after dusk for several days early this week. The Moon will join Mars and Saturn in the Southern sky after dusk, appearing very near Saturn on September 17th. The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible in the southwestern sky after dusk. The Moon will be at first-quarter on September 17th, and should be a good observing target all week. Observing Target: The Zodiacal Light Zodiacal light (also called the “false dawn” when seen before sunrise) is a faint, diffuse, and roughly triangular white glow that is visible in the night sky and appears to extend from the Sun’s direction and along the zodiac, straddling the ecliptic. Sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust causes this phenomenon. Zodiacal light is best seen during twilight after sunset in spring and before sunrise in autumn, when the zodiac is … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 5, 2018

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This entry is part 59 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

A beautiful thin waning crescent Moon was high in the southeastern sky as I saw my wife off to her second day of school this morning. The Moon will be lower and thinner at 6:00 AM for the next couple days. After dusk, the splash of planets across the southeastern sky continues to be free from the glare of the Moon this week; Jupiter will only be visible for a couple weeks before disappearing behind the Sun. Venus is very low above the southwestern horizon, and Jupiter appears higher and a bit towards the south at dusk. The Moon The Moon is a waning crescent, visible in the eastern sky before dawn. The Moon will be new on September 9th. Next week the Moon will reappear in the southwestern sky as a waxing crescent at dusk. Observing Target: M92 – The Other Cluster in Hercules “Messier 92 is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Hercules. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1777, … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – August 28, 2018

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This entry is part 58 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

Sirius “the Dog Star” appears in the southeastern predawn sky below the constellation Orion. If you look closely you may catch a glimpse of Mercury low in the east shortly before sunrise. The splash of planets across the southern sky is free of the glare of the Moon – assuming your skies aren’t obscured by smoke, or the ever-present cloud cover Michigan frequently offers, they should make for excellent observing all week. In the southwestern sky at dusk, Jupiter continues to move slowly westward toward Venus, as Venus moves slowly southward. Venus continues to appear lower in the sky each evening. The Moon The Moon is a waning gibbous heading towards third-quarter on September 3rd. Next week the Moon will be a waning crescent. Observing Target: The Double Cluster NGC 869 and NGC 884 are open clusters located about 7600 light years away in the constellation of Perseus. The clusters most likely formed around 12.5 – 13 million years ago. “The clusters are both located in the Perseus … Continue reading →

NASA Space Place: A Trip Through the Milky Way

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A Trip Through the Milky Way By Jane Houston Jones and Jessica Stoller-Conrad Feeling like you missed out on planning a last vacation of summer? Don’t worry—you can still take a late summertime road trip along the Milky Way! The waning days of summer are upon us, and that means the Sun is setting earlier now. These earlier sunsets reveal a starry sky bisected by the Milky Way. Want to see this view of our home galaxy? Head out to your favorite dark sky getaway or to the darkest city park or urban open space you can find. While you’re out there waiting for a peek at the Milky Way, you’ll also have a great view of the planets in our solar system. Keep an eye out right after sunset and you can catch a look at Venus. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you’ll see Venus’s phase change dramatically during September—from nearly half phase to a larger, thinner … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – August 21, 2018

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This entry is part 57 of 65 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellations Orion, Gemini and Taurus rise earlier each morning in the eastern predawn sky. When I see this, I cannot help but think “Winter is coming.” The southern sky continues to have a beautiful splash of planets, and will make for good observing this week; deep-sky objects may be washed-out by the nearly full Moon, which will be visible almost all night this week. Mars and Saturn are high in the southern sky at midnight, the Moon joining them between August 22-24. Jupiter moves slowly westward towards Venus, as Venus appears lower in the southwestern sky each evening. Southern Hemisphere: From Cape Town, South Africa the splash of planets that appear on my southern horizon are nearly directly overhead at 8:00 PM. The Moon The Moon is a waxing gibbous heading towards full on August 26th. Afterwards the Moon will be a waning gibbous. The Moon may or may not be a good observing target this week – the … Continue reading →

Skyward: August 2018

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Mighty Mars and the Adirondacks The summer of 2018 featured our fifteenth Adirondack Astronomy Retreat in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. It is also the last one that Wendee and I will host. Usually the dark and pristine sky from the AAR, as the retreat is known, provides brilliant walkways amongst the distant stars of the globular star cluster Messier 15, or the spiral arms of a galaxy all but lost in the vacuum of space and the mists of time. But not this year. For the first time in fifteen years, Mars, relatively nearby, shone like a big red traffic light in the sky. All night long in the sky, during this particular summer, Mars ruled the night. The last time Mars looked this good, it was the late summer of 2003. I looked through Obadiah, my six-inch diameter refractor, and I decided that this was by far the best view I have ever had of Mars. … Continue reading →

Possible Subsurface Lake Discovered on Mars

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The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft has bounced radar signals through underground layers of ice and found evidence of a pond of water buried beneath Mars’ south polar cap. Observations of the Planum Australe region at Mars’ south pole were made between 2012 and 2015 using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument (MARSIS); MARSIS is the first radar sounder ever to orbit another planet. Ground-penetrating radar works by sending pulses at the surface and timing how long the reflected signals take to return to the spacecraft, and measuring how strong those signals are. The properties of the material beneath the surface influence the returned signal; these data can be used to map the subsurface topography. The MARIS investigation reveals that south polar region of Mars is made of many layers of ice and dust down to a depth of about 1.5 km in the region analyzed for this study. “Analysing the properties of the reflected … Continue reading →