Tag Archives: Saturn

In the Sky This Week – February 12, 2019

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This entry is part 82 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

My wife likes to alter her science student’s misconceptions about what a “scientist” is, and teaches them that anyone can be a scientist! This is especially true for her female students – many of whom never thought about a career in science. Feb. 11th was International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and it was trending hard on Twitter; it was great to see all the different organizations honoring their female scientists! Saturn and Venus are low, Jupiter and the star Antares are high(ish) in the southeastern predawn sky; Venus continues to move down towards Saturn on the horizon. There’s quite a show high in the south-southwestern sky on Feb. 12th! You may note Mars and Uranus nearly on top of each other in the image below: Mars will be less then a degree from Uranus on Feb. 12th,! I expect to post images about this next week. On the evening of Feb. 13th, the Moon will be about 2 … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: The best way to travel

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This entry is part 15 of 176 in the series Across the Universe

First published in The Tablet in January, 2007; we first ran it here in 2015.  Dark and dreary, January is a time to take off to new and exotic climes; or at least, to daydream about such trips. My own January voyage was a visit to my old hometown, snow-dusted Detroit, to attend a science fiction convention. But a panel discussion at that meeting, “Travel Destinations of the Solar System,” challenged us to imagine really exotic localities. Where among the planets would we love to go? And what it would be like to be standing there, in person? Panelist Bill Higgins, a radiation physicist at Fermi Lab in Chicago [and occasional blogger here at The Catholic Astronomer!], regularly presents spaceflight results as a NASA “Solar System Ambassador” at events like this. He described how Pluto and its moon Charon orbit each other while locked in a spin state that keeps each body always facing the other. “What if we could … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 15, 2019 – FAW Edition

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This entry is part 78 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

This week, I’m in Tucson, AZ helping with the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s 2019 Faith and Astronomy Workshop (#FAWVOF). It’s startling to see how high the waxing gibbous Moon is, and how low Ursa Major is in the sky compared to where I see them in Michigan! Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big and Little Dippers) are low in the northern sky at midnight. The conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Antares continues in the southeastern predawn sky all week; I got to see this as I was walking across the facility to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee – Venus was brilliant! Saturn also makes its return to the early morning sky. A waxing gibbous Moon appears near the constellation Taurus high in the southern sky after sunset In Tucson, the star Deneb appears in the western sky after sunset where the stars Altair and Vega appear from Michigan. Mars appears higher in the southwestern sky after … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Desert or a dessert?

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This entry is part 13 of 176 in the series Across the Universe

First published in The Tablet in January, 2005, just after the Huygens probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan. We ran it again here on January, 2015. This text is based on what I submitted, which was edited for length when it was printed.   The most remarkable thing about the images from Saturn’s moon, Titan, which ESA’s Huygens probe has just sent us, is how “familiar” they look. They remind me of Nadar’s 19th century Collodion “wet plate” photographs taken from a balloon above Paris. Black and white, a bit fuzzy, these patterns of light and darkness can be grasped and processed by imagination and memory until we impose meaning on them. I picture myself floating through the clouds, gazing across at an intricate pattern of riverbeds cutting through rough light-colored mountains, flowing down to a flat, wine-dark sea. If these are riverbeds – and they certainly look like textbook examples of the many-branched “dendritic channels” made by rainfall flowing down hills … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 18, 2018

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This entry is part 74 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus shines so brightly in the southeastern predawn sky, you can practically read by it! Jupiter makes its reappearance this week, joining Mercury, Venus and the star Spica. Mars is high in southern sky after sunset all week; the waxing gibbous Moon appears to the east of Mars on Dec. 18th. The star Altair is now the “evening star” to the west at dusk; Saturn has almost vanished into the glare of the Sun. The Moon appears very near the star Aldebaran high in the western sky around 3:30 AM on Dec. 21st. On Christmas Eve, the waning gibbous Moon will appear in the eastern sky after sunset. Observing Target: M1 – The Crab Nebula M1, the Crab Nebula, is a supernova remnant located in the constellation of Taurus. The supernova was so bright in 1054 that it could be seen during the day for nearly a month; the supernova was documented by astronomers in several countries. X-Ray: Chandra Ultraviolet: ASTRO-1 Visible: DSS … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 11, 2018

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This entry is part 73 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mercury joins Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; the Moon will appear near Mars on Dec. 14th. See if you can spot all these objects in the south-southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 11th. Observing Target: Fomalhaut The star Fomalhaut (see above image) is one of the brightest stars in the sky; it is a main sequence class A star approximately 25 light-years from the Sun. In a small telescope, it looks pretty much like any another bright star – but this star has a story! A ring of dust was discovered around this star, being shepherded by a large exoplanet with a 2000-year orbit! This exoplanet has be directly imaged using the Hubble Space Telescope. This humorous video about exoplanet Fomalhaut B was released before Halloween 2012: The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening. The Moon will be … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 4, 2018

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This entry is part 72 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

A very thin waning crescent Moon joins the weeks-long conjunction of Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky on Dec. 4th. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars is slowly fading in brightness as the Earth pulls away from it in its orbit (see solar system image below). The very thin waxing crescent Moon will appear near Saturn in the southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 8th. The constellation Orion is high in the southeastern sky at midnight. Observing Target: M33 – The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (or NGC 598) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Andromeda Galaxy and our Milky Way. M33 is one of the most distant objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. NGC 604 is a large star-birth region within The Triangulum Galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to the Orion Nebula in our Milky Way galaxy, but nearly 100 times larger! More … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 27, 2018

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This entry is part 71 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus and Spica continue their predawn conjunction in the southeastern sky. Mars is high in southern sky after sunset all week. The International Space Station will pass very near Saturn low in the southwestern sky at 5:42 PM ET on Nov. 27th. To be honest, when I saw this in Stellarium I thought something was a bit weird – I knew there wasn’t going to be a bright star near Saturn … then I clicked on it to find it was the ISS. This ISS flyover will only be visible in southeastern Michigan (sorry). To check of you can see the ISS this week, go to heavens-above.com – you can get charts like this: The nearly third-quarter Moon will appear very near the star Regulus in the southeastern predawn sky on Nov. 29th. The Moon The Moon is a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise. On Nov. 30th the Moon will be at third-quarter, rising … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 13, 2018

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This entry is part 69 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

There will be twin “morning stars” in the eastern predawn sky for the next several days; Venus will appear very near the star Spica for the next week. A waxing crescent Moon joins Saturn in the southwestern sky on Nov. 13th. In the south, Mars joins that same waxing crescent Moon on Nov. 13th. The Moon appears very close to Mars high in the southern sky on Nov. 15th after sunset. Apparently this is the week for conjunctions… Observing Target: NGC 7000 – The North America Nebula The North America Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus; the shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America. The nebula covers an area more than four times the size of the Moon, but has low surface brightness, and cannot typically be seen with the unaided eye. Comets Comet Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto (C/2018 V1) was discovered last week by three amateur astronomers! This week, look for the comet near the … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 30, 2018

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This entry is part 67 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon will appear low in the eastern sky between the constellations Gemini and Orion during the early morning hours on Oct. 30th. That same Moon will appear high in the sky as dawn’s light begins to show. There will be a conjunction of the crescent Moon and the star Regulus low in the eastern sky, early in the morning hours on Nov. 2nd. A very thin crescent Moon will appear with the star Arcturus in the eastern predawn sky on Nov. 5th. Mars and Saturn continue to put on a show in the southern sky after sunset. Observing Target: The Dance of the Planets Over the next week, the positions of Jupiter and Mercury change drastically in southwestern sky at dusk! Mercury stays low but gets brighter – Jupiter makes a quick dive towards the horizon, and will soon to be hidden by the glare of the Sun. Comets Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the news: You can find Comet 46P/Wirtanen in … Continue reading →

NASA Night Sky Notes for November 2018

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November’s Dance of the Planets By Jane Houston Jones and David Prosper November’s crisp autumn skies bring great views of our planetary neighbors. The Moon pairs up with Saturn and Mars in the evenings, and mornings feature eye-catching arrangements with dazzling Venus. Stargazers wanting a challenge can observe a notable opposition by asteroid 3 Juno on the 17th and watch for a few bright Leonid meteors. Red Mars gleams high in the southern sky after sunset. Saturn sits westward in the constellation Sagittarius. A young crescent Moon passes near Saturn on the 10th and 11th. On the 15th a first quarter Moon skims by Mars, coming within 1 degree of the planet. The red planet receives a new visitor on November 26th, when NASA’s InSight mission lands and begins its investigation of the planet’s interior. News briefings and commentary will be streamed live at: bit.ly/landsafe Two bright planets hang low over the western horizon after sunset as November begins: Jupiter … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 23, 2018

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This entry is part 66 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellations Leo and Ursa Major appear in the east-northeastern sky before sunrise; the bright star Regulus is hard to miss in the eastern sky. The constellations Orion and Taurus are high in the southwestern predawn sky. Mars and Saturn are great observing targets this week; sadly, Saturn is getting lower in the southwestern sky each evening. The full and waning gibbous Moon will be visible nearly all night long this week – rising later in the east with each evening. Jupiter and Mercury appear low in the southwestern sky at dusk – Mercury may be quite the challenge to see. Observing Target: Conjunction of the Moon and Aldebaran There will be an early morning conjunction of the Moon and the star Aldebaran on Oct. 27th. Comets Appearing wider than the planet Jupiter, comet 46P/Wirtanen continues to make the news: You can find Comet 46P/Wirtanen low in the southern sky after midnight this week – the Moon may wash it … Continue reading →