Tag Archives: Saturn

In the Sky This Week – February 23, 2021

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This entry is part 184 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Millions of people around the planet have seen NASA’s Perseverance Rover descent and touchdown video – I’ve watched it over and over! I tweeted that this landing made me feel like a kid during the Apollo era again! Cameras were not part of the rover’s initial design – and were allowed to be added with the ideas that “they won’t do any harm to the rover, and IF they work, great… you get what you get.” Well what NASA got was a video seen across the globe, and a HUGE positive media boost – not to mention the invaluable engineering data these cameras have provided. Can I just put out there that cameras should be default part of EVERY NASA mission from now on? Look at the Juno mission to Jupiter – the insanely popular citizen-scientist processed images and videos from Juno were obtained from a camera that was not originally part of the mission’s specs, but were added as … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – February 16, 2021

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This entry is part 183 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover lands on Thursday Feb. 18th, and NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities and events as the rover nears entry, descent, and landing. Touchdown on Mars is scheduled for approximately 3:55 p.m. EST Thursday! This will be the second landing on Mars using the sky crane maneuver to lower the heavy rover down to the surface. The waxing crescent Moon appears high in the west-southwestern sky after sunset on Feb. 16th. The Moon appears near Mars high in the southern sky after sunset on Feb. 18th, then by the star Aldebaran on Feb. 19th and 20th. Mercury and Saturn appear low above the east-southeastern horizon before dawn this week; by early next week those two planets will be a bit higher above the horizon, and Jupiter will join them. In a previous post, I wondered if a space telescope observing the Sun would catch a glimpse of these planets… sure did! … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – February 2, 2021

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This entry is part 181 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

From now through next week, there will be an astounding mega-conjunction of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn in the in the east-southeastern sky morning sky. The planets change positions quite a bit each morning, with Venus dancing with Saturn on Feb. 5th and 6th and then with Jupiter on Feb. 11th. Mercury joins the planet party on Feb. 8th, gaining altitude each morning until it appears much higher above the horizon than the other three planets by Feb 16th. This mega-conjunction would be even better if it was visible to us humans living on the planet, but that pesky atmosphere makes the planets invisible to all but the most determined daytime planet hunters (and I do happen to know some of those). On Feb. 16th Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are all aligned along the plane of the Ecliptic… and then there’s Mercury – hanging out high above Jupiter. Seen from this vantage point, Mercury’s orbital inclination is highly evident! Maybe … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 12, 2021

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This entry is part 179 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus appears very low above the southeastern horizon before sunrise. Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury continue to form a triple conjunction in the southwestern sky at dusk – Saturn may be a bit difficult to see; Mercury appears slightly higher above the horizon each evening. Mercury appears in the southwestern sky at dusk – the Moon joins Mercury on the evening of Jan 15th. Mars appears high in the southern sky after sunset; the constellations Orion, Taurus and Canis Major appear lower and to the east of Mars. If you look almost straight up at 3:00 AM, you can sky-hop from the Big Dipper to Arcturus and Spica.   The Moon is a waning crescent – visible low to the east before sunrise. The new Moon occurs on Jan. 13th – the Moon will be hidden in the glare of the Sun. After Jan. 13th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent – visible toward the southwest in early evening. If … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 5, 2021

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This entry is part 178 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

For the images in this week’s “In the Sky” post, I turned light pollution off in Stellarium – these images show a multitude of stars you cannot see from an urban or suburban locations. I remember camping at a VERY dark sky location in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and not being able to find any familiar guide stars because there were SO MANY stars! This is one of the best reasons to get away from the city lights, and visit a dark sky location! Mercury is visible low above the southwestern horizon at sunset – appearing a bit higher above the horizon each evening. Jupiter and Saturn are also visible low above the southwestern horizon at sunset – appearing a bit lower each evening. The three planets join to form a triple conjunction on Jan 10th, but it may be a challenge to observe due to the nearness to sunset. Mars appears high in the southwestern sky after sunset, and through … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 22, 2020

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This entry is part 176 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

One of the more positive aspects of 2020 has been several successful sample return missions: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) HAYABUSA2 mission has successfully returned 5.4 grams of rocks and dust from the asteroid Ryugu, the China National Space Administration’s ChangE5 mission returned 1,731 grams of lunar regolith, and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s sample head was overflowing with material taken from the surface of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx is due back at Earth in 2023. These missions have me seriously excited, and I hope they are the beginning of a near-future filled with sample return missions! After yesterday’s “Great Conjunction,” Jupiter and Saturn will move slightly away from each other every night – they’ll be great observing targets for that new telescope you got for Christmas! When I created this image, I saw a pattern of stars above Jupiter and Saturn that I did not recognize – I clicked on one and found it was a string of #Starlink satellites. Mars, … Continue reading →

Pursuing the Conjunction

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The forecast lately has been rain, rain and more rain. So I decided to get active in pursuing the conjunction as it builds toward December 21st.  Saturn and Jupiter the largest planets in the solar system getting closer and closer. The actual historic alignment may well pass my eyes by but the journey towards the day is worth doing. I took this photo on December 7th at 17:16 Jupiter easy to spot Saturn less so at that time. I had visions of drawing the two planets as they got lower in the apricot sky. Alas, that was not to be due to the precipitation overload in the following days. However, I did manage a partial drawing later that evening, which includes the lovely Delphinus. That drawing (below) had to be abandoned because of cloud and the fact that Jupiter dipped below my horizon before I got to add more detail to that small section of our galaxy. Pursuing the conjunction … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 15, 2020

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This entry is part 175 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southwestern sky at dusk, getting closer getting closer to the Dec. 21 conjunction with each passing day! The waxing crescent Moon joins the pair of planets on Dec. 16 & 17. Venus appears in the southeastern predawn sky all week, getting closer to the horizon with each passing day. Mars, Uranus, the Pleiades star cluster and the bright star Aldebaran appear in the east-southeastern sky after sunset this week. The constellation Lyra, with the bright star Vega appear above the western horizon after sunset this week. The Moon is a waxing crescent- visible toward the southwest in early evening. The first quarter Moon occurs on Dec, 21st – visible high in the southern sky in early evening. If you click on the Moon image above, or click this link, you will go to NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration, 2020 page – it will show you what the Moon looks like right now. If you … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 24 2020

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This entry is part 174 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southwestern sky at dusk, getting closer together with each passing evening. Mercury and Venus appear in the east-southeastern predawn sky all week – Mercury may be difficult to spot this week being so near the horizon. Mars appears high in the southeastern sky after sunset – the waxing gibbous Moon appears near Mars on Nov. 25th The constellations Orion and Taurus appear in the eastern sky a few hours after sunset, and move across the southern sky to appear in the western sky before sunrise. The Moon is a waxing gibbous – visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night. The full Moon occurs on Nov. 30th – it rises at sunset, is visible high in the sky around midnight, and is visible all night. If you click on the Moon image above, or click this link, you will go to NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration, 2020 page … Continue reading →

Science Week remote workshops

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This week was Science Week 2020 here in Ireland. My workshops have been a feature of the event for many years. Driving all over the country, presenting drawing workshops would be the usual format for me. However, this year the new normal was remote drawing workshops. |My Science Week remote workshops were born. A lot of hours goes into creating videos with drawing involved. Getting myself organised with a desk that had an overhead camera. Sorting out the filming, editing and sound by myself was a bit of a task. A learning curve for me that was well worth the journey and the effort. My videos were in use for Science Foundation Ireland’s Science Week in various schools around Ireland. They were also in use for Mayo Science Festival. I have to say that I missed the interaction with the children. However, I was very impressed with the drawings produced and was delighted that some teachers sent a selection to … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 17, 2020

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This entry is part 173 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mercury appears with Venus in the eastern predawn sky all week; both planets appear a bit closer to the horizon each morning – by next week, Mercury will be much closer to the horizon. Mars and Uranus continue to appear high in the eastern sky after sunset. If you have a large enough ‘scope, you can see Uranus: This is my shot before scaling it up to the closeup. Uranus is only 15 pixels wide. I took a lot of creative interpretations of the data to get the details you see in the final image, so I would consider it more an artistic rendering than a photo. pic.twitter.com/HbbjhxULFH — Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) November 16, 2020 Jupiter and Saturn continue to appear in the south-southwestern sky at dusk, and setting in the southwest a few hours after sunset; from Nov 17-20, the waxing crescent Moon joins the pair of planets. My wife told me that she had her astronomy students look … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 10, 2020

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This entry is part 172 of 184 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mars appears high in the eastern sky after sunset, and it appears high in the southern sky at midnight. Mercury appears with Venus in the eastern predawn sky all week – the planets are joined by the waning crescent Moon on the mornings of Nov. 12th and 13th. The conjunction of the two planets, the Moon and the star Spica on the morning of Nov. 13th is likely to be distracting to drivers travelling eastward – drive safe! Jupiter and Saturn appear in the south-southwestern sky at dusk – still great observing targets, but look quick – you only have a couple hours before they set in the southwest. I was wondering what those 2 stars were I was seeing through the skylight as I was making my coffee at 3:00 AM… “I’ll bet they are Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini.” Called it! 🙂 I really miss having people look through my telescope and say “Oh WOW!” or … Continue reading →