Tag Archives: Moon

In the Sky This Week – September 8, 2020

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This entry is part 163 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

My wife has recuperated from her appendectomy – for the most part – she’s still in the recliner by evening, taking it easy. Her middle-school opening got delayed for a week, but she had to go into school this morning to do set up. She’s not having any students today – they start tomorrow, and knowing the history of Connie catching everything sick students bring into school… well… if I sit and think about it, I’m quite likely terrified at a situation that seems dangerous and completely out of my control. I’m not sure if playing complicated and immersive video games is “handling the situation very well,” but it sure keeps my mind off it… Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southern sky after sunset near the constellation Sagittarius, and are visible for several hours into the early morning. Mars appears in the east-southeastern sky at 3:00 AM this week – the Moon appears in the eastern sky with Mars … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 2, 2020

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This entry is part 162 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

My wife is home recuperating from her appendectomy; she’s healing well and starting to feel better – so naturally, she’s overdoing it… She’s been spending a lot of time in the recliner in the basement, with the parrots and I. Andromeda, our Senegal parrot has been simply loving all the time she’s been spending with Connie! Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southern sky after sunset, moving to the southwest in the late evening and early morning hours; the pair of planets set shortly after 2:00 AM. The Moon appears in the sky above the bright star Fomalhaut for a good part of the night; Fomalhaut rises in the southeast around 10:00 PM, and sets in the southwest around 5:00 AM. Mars rises in the east around 10:00 PM, and appears high in the southwestern sky at sunrise. The Moon appears in a very close conjunction with Mars in the early morning hours of Sept. 6th. Here’s a close-up of … Continue reading →

North of Brahe

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This entry is part 39 of 38 in the series Lunarcy

Center bottom we have the spectacular crater Tycho (diameter 88km) the center of the largest ray system on the Moon that completely wraps around the globe. This is two days after the terminator passed over this crater and already the sun is high enough to show the rays without washing out some of the topographic details. For orientation purposes, the large dark crater at the top is Pitatus. Just below that are two similar sized craters Gauricus (82km) on the right and Wurzelbauer (90km) and off to the right is a much smaller well defined crater with a fairly dark patchy floor, Hell (34km). To the left of Pitatus and you’ll see one of the better double walled craters on the Moon, Hesiodus A (15km) looking like a little bulls-eye target with the small central peak. The parent crater Hesiodus (44km) is above it with a small 5km central crater. Going back to Tycho we can see one of the … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – August 25, 2020

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This entry is part 161 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Get Well Connie! As I was working on images for this post yesterday, I had to rush my wife Connie to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy; hospital rules would not allow me to see her after she was admitted, and it was several hours before she was able to get into the operating room… Her appendix was removed and had not ruptured – which is what we were hoping for. As I’m writing this, she is eating for the first time in 24 hours, and it looks like they are starting on release paperwork. I love my wife dearly, but if she had a mutant super-power, it would be the ability to have calamitous things happen to her, or around her, frequently! Honestly, I’ve joked about this oddity for decades! Every time she gets hurt, I hum the first few bars of the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” theme! That theme song is Connie’s ringtone on my smartphone – … Continue reading →

On the South Shore

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This entry is part 31 of 38 in the series Lunarcy

The whole rim of Mare Nectaris is populated with wonderful features. Here we have the south side with the big scarp Rupes Altai below and left of center stretching from the beautiful crater Piccolomini (90km dia) at bottom going all they way up past the large Catarina (104km) some 495km. You can just barely see another pressure ridge, concentric to Mare Nectaris, running from Catharina down south of the large “U” shaped crater above center, Fracastorius (128km). Unfortunately the nice east-west rima that bisects this crater is just beyond the resolution of this image. But there are many secondary craters on its floor and a splattering of them in the upper left covering Beaumont (54km) a little brother to Fracastorius. These secondaries are likely the ejecta from the Theophilus impact to the north which must have been a fantastic sight!

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In the Sky This Week – August 18, 2020

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This entry is part 160 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Happy Birthday Amanda! Today is my youngest daughter Amanda’s 32nd birthday! Amanda is married to Sam Festian, and they have a 6 month old daughter who is adorable, good-natured, and sleeps through the night. When Amanda was a baby… she was adorable! My wife and I comment frequently how lucky Sam and Amanda are to have a baby that very rarely cries; however, Alayanora is starting to vocalize this weird thing I’m calling the “monster growl.” My wife got some baby dresses with stars and constellations on them – three different sizes… so the baby will be able to wear the “same” dress for months as she grows. Jupiter and Saturn continue to appear in the southern sky during the early morning and predawn hours this week. Keep watching Jupiter  as it slowly gets closer to Saturn over the next couple months. The Pleiades star cluster, Uranus and Mars appear in the eastern sky during the early morning hours this … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook | Oct 18, 1921: William Pickering

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This entry is part 55 of 76 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 October 18, 1921, when William H. Pickering made a visit. Next to his name, William Henry Pickering (1858-1938) wrote, “Harvard Observatory, Cambridge U.S.A.”  He was an astronomer who constructed several observatories. He was the brother of Edward Charles Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory from 1877-1919. Edward was the subject of a previous Specola Guestbook post. He made a visit in 1913. It is possible that the occasion of the visit to the Specola was in preparation for the first General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.  That meeting took place in May 1922 in Rome. Pickering was an inaugural member, and served on the commission for lunar nomenclature and the commission for planetary physics. Among his scientific contributions, he discovered one … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – August 11, 2020

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This entry is part 159 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Look up! The Perseid meteor shower is tonight! After midnight, look to the northeast – you may want to grab a lawn chair and a blanket. Just stare at one fixed point in the sky… and wait… Unfortunately, with the Moon being so close to the radiant, fainter meteors may be hidden from view. Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southern sky during the early morning and predawn hours this week. The Moon appears with Mars in the eastern sky during the early morning hours from August 11-13th. The Moon appears near the star Aldebaran in the eastern predawn sky on August 13th. The waning crescent Moon appears in conjunction with Venus and the stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse in the eastern predawn sky on August 14th. On August 15th, the Moon appears about 3 degrees from Venus.   The third-quarter Moon occurs on Tuesday August 11th – rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise. After Tuesday, the … Continue reading →

Little Brother

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This entry is part 29 of 38 in the series Lunarcy

Outshone by his big brother Copernicus, seen here in the lower left, the sizeable crater, Eratosthenes (diameter 60km) is nevertheless a very interesting crater with nicely terraced walls, a good central peak cluster and a tight herringbone ejecta blanket surrounding the crater. Seen here Eratosthenes forms a southern anchor to the Montes Apenninus. Between Eratosthenes and Copernicus is an eye catching string of secondary craters from the Copernicus impact event. It takes at least a 3″ telescope to make them out clearly and the right lighting. At the south end of this string is a large ghost crater, Stadius (70km) which stands between Sinus Aestuum to the east (southeast of Eratosthenes) and Mare Insularum below Copernicus to the southwest. On the opposite side of Eratosthenes from Stadius is another ghost crater sitting out in Mare Imbrium. This is Wallace (27km) with a more complete rim on the west side than the east. Notice the twin satellite craters below it Eratosthenes … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – August 4, 2020

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This entry is part 158 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Today is my 36th anniversary! Connie and I met at Michigan Tech, and spent many hours under aurora-filled skies while we were in the Keweenaw Peninsula. We have two adult daughters, a six month old granddaughter, and are currently living with Connie’s elderly parents after having sold our house. Connie is a middle-school science teacher, and typically catches something from her students at least three times a year; the thought of her being required to return to an in-classroom environment during on ongoing global pandemic has me both infuriated and nearly frantic. The image below is from the Keweenaw Rocket Range; Connie and I, along with several members of the MTU Science Fiction Club (The PFRC), and a group of SF-fans and teckies (GT) helped fund the monument a couple decades ago – we visited the site in 2016. Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southern sky during the early morning and predawn hours this week. The Moon appears in … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – July 28, 2020

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This entry is part 157 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southern sky at 10:00 PM from July 27th – July 30th. The Moon appears near Jupiter and Saturn in the southeastern sky at 10:00 PM from July 31st – Aug. 2nd. Mars continues to appear high in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Venus appears high above the eastern horizon, and Mercury appears very low above the horizon all week; Hurry if you want to see Mercury, it gets closer towards the horizon with each morning. The first quarter Moon occurred on July 27th – the Moon is currently a waxing gibbous – visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night. The full Moon occurs on August 3rd – rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night. Moon News This is NASA's Lunar Gateway — an international research outpost set to orbit the Moon in 2023. Vital for sustainable, … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – July 21, 2020

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This entry is part 156 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) continues to dominate astronomy news this week; VOF blogger Fr. James Kurzynski posted several beautiful comet pictures of his in an article on this site. Comet NEOWISE appears in the northwestern evening sky before midnight all week. The Moon appears in the western sky near dusk this week – it should make a great observing target by the weekend. Jupiter and Saturn continue to make great late evening and early morning observing targets all week in the southern sky. Mars continues to appear high in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Venus appears near the star Aldebaran, and Mercury appears low above the horizon all week; Mercury reaches its highest point on July 23rd, and then starts back towards the horizon. The new Moon occurred on Monday July 20th – the Moon is not visible at this time… The Moon is now a waxing crescent – visible toward the southwest in early evening. The first quarter … Continue reading →