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Astro Earth - January 2008

The Sky is Falling Again

January 31st 2008 13:48
The Sky is falling yet again, another satellite is about to crash Earthwards. Perhaps you may recall back in 1979, NASA's Skylab fell to Earth, various bits of Skylab where found in Western Australia.

The ill fated Sky lab satelite.

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Stella Imaging

January 29th 2008 08:12
Previously images from ground-based telescopes have been invariably blurred by Earth's turbulent atmosphere. Therefore ground based telescopes produced images that often contained aberrations and distortions caused by the Earth’s ever changing atmospheric conditions.

A view of the Cat's Eye Nebula NGC 6543 inhanced image underneath


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Asteroid Update

January 26th 2008 10:22
Have you perhaps read about WD5, the asteroid that was going to hit Mars on Jan 30? You probably haven't heard of asteroid TU24
Asteroid TU24
until very recently. TU24 is approximately 12 times larger and headed our way. It's the largest potentially hazardous asteroid for the next 20 years.
There are many websites and forums on the net discussing the possibilities of asteroid TU24 somehow affecting Earth.

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Asteroid Earth Rondevuez this month

January 23rd 2008 06:46
Reading an article from NASA is quoted as “Asteroid 2007 TU24 has NASA concerned”.
Asteroid TU24 is heading towards and makes its approach on January 27th, 2008.
2007 TU24 was only discovered on October 11, 2007


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Star Gazing Update

January 21st 2008 23:53
A simulation of what the sky will look like


For avid moon watchers tonight 22 January will be a full Moon visible rising from the east around 8:30pm EDST. Also showing is Mars and Saturn


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Mercury Fly-by

January 21st 2008 05:50
A view of Mercury take by the NASA's latest spacecraft Messenger


Mercury and Pluto are perhaps the two most “overlooked” plants in our solar system. There are many reasons why . The main reason is because both objects are difficult to see with the naked eye with the exception of Mercury


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A look at Pluto

January 18th 2008 06:30
Pluto surface appears to mostly light brown in colour. This picture captures the true colors of Pluto as well as the highest surface resolution so far recovered.

Hubble image showing some possible surface features

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Ulysses Sun Mapping Mission

January 17th 2008 09:09
Ulysses being prepaired fpr launch

Originally launched in 1990 from the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990, after which it was propelled toward Jupiter by a combination of solid-fuel motors. Ulysses passed Jupiter on February 8, 1992 the giant planet's gravity bent the spacecraft's flight path downward and away from the ecliptic plane. This put it into a final orbit around the Sun that would take it past the Sun's north and south poles. Ulysses spacecraft continues to venture where no other spacecraft has gone before It has visited Jupiter and had a brief encounter with a comet then back, over the Sun's poles.

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Star Gazing Monthly Updates

January 14th 2008 04:40
Each month I will endeavor to post a blog featuring images of celestial bodies visible throughout Australian night sky. This month being January is perhaps a good time to start.
This month the planets you are likely to see is Mars and of cause the moon. Venus and Mars are also visible but only seen at this time of the year around 5am and that is a bit early for me.
I have enclosed a series of images as a guide to help find the various night sky visitors


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“Bird’s” eye view of Saturn’s moon Iapetus

January 13th 2008 04:32
Cassini is a joint NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe.Cassini was launched aboard a Titan IV/Centaur 1997.

Sarurn with the rings tilted

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Martian impact now unlikely

January 12th 2008 10:27
Chance of a Martian impact now slim

As I mentioned in one of my previous blog [See link] regarding the possible impact on Mars from a 1 km asteroid, 2007 WD5, which at one time had a fairly high 1 in 25 chance of hitting Mars


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Forgotten Heroes of the Early Space Race

January 9th 2008 06:36
We tend to remember the early astronauts we recall names like Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn.
While these astronauts where pioneers in their own right they owe a great debt to the forgotten heroes of the animal world. I am not in favor of using animals in experiments but the plight of the animals used in early space flight test where not ideal to say the least.
I recall reading my father’s newspaper way back in 1957 and seeing a picture of the little Russian dog about to launched into space


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China's long march to the Moon

January 6th 2008 05:14
China has joined the group of Moon adventures with the launch of its lunar orbiter.
The nation proudly unveiled images of the moon taken by its first lunar satellite, launched in October 2007. Chang'e-1, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon.
This achievement is proof of the country's technological prowess and ability to land an astronaut on the moon in the near future. The nation’s thousand year dream of reaching the Moon has finally come true


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Craters of interest on the Moon

January 5th 2008 05:44
Despite the Moon mostly bland appearance it is one of the easiest celestial bodies to study. It does not require expensive viewing equipment and is accessible. We take the Moon for granted as it is a very familiar to us and we tend to overlook the mysteries it holds within its well weathered surface.
To the naked eye the Moon appears as a grey orb with markings on the surface we can see patches of smooth and dark areas.
Depending on the position of the Moon for example a full Moon just rising appears golden yellow next to the horizon it s appearance is an optical illusion. Still we continue gaze at it


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Faint rings seen on planet Uranus

January 3rd 2008 05:37
Planet Saturn is not the only planet in our solar system to have rings. Saturn and Neptune also have a ring system. Perhaps not as well known as Saturn, Uranus has some very interesting all-be-it faint rings. A rare edge on alignment of planet's rings reveals the inner ones to Earth based telescopes.
The rings of Uranus have swung to give us much better look since they were first discovered some 30 years ago. The alignment has given astronomers a unique opportunity to study fine dust floating in the ring system, revealing enormous changes to the rings since the early 1970s more than a dozen rings have become visible.

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Comet brings in the new year

January 1st 2008 06:27
Comet brings in the new year. It has been 13.6 years since its last appearance, but now Comet 8P/Tuttle is again making a pass through the inner solar system. It makes its closest appraoch to Earth on January 1st and 2nd, 2008 but you should be able to easily spot it now with your naked eye. With a predicted magnitude of 5.8, watch for the emerald-colored comet in your night skies.

Comet 8P/Tuttle has left M33 behind and heading toward Earth. On Jan. 1st and 2nd the comet makes its closest approach to our planet--only 24 million miles away. The emerald-colored comet will make a fine target for backyard telescopes. Unfortunately for people on the east coast of Queensland are experiencing a increase in cloud cover making it difficult to see the comet. The comet will still be visable for the next few evenings. The place to look is North west around 8:300 pm Eastern daylight time just above the horizon you may be able to see a faint fuzzy looking star like object. Since Comet 8P/Tuttle was first discovered back in 1790, it has had 5 close approaches to the Earth


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