Bob's Spaces

Moon, Spica, and Saturn

Bob Riddle — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:48:19 +0000

21-23 May – 10 pm CDT

Tonight, 21 May, and tomorrow the 22nd, the waxing gibbous Moon will pass by the bright blue-white star Spica and the planet Saturn to the east (left) from Spica. This part of the sky is interesting, as are all parts of the sky, however in this area is a menagerie of animals including Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup (or wine goblet), Hydra the Many Headed Snake, Leo the Lion, and of course the Harvest Maiden Virgo.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, Classroom, constellations, Earth and Space, Moon, Observing, Que tal, Solar System Exploration, Universe Tagged: astrophotography, leo the lion, observing the moon, planet saturn, Spica, star spica, Virgo, waxing gibbous moon

Free Engineering Book

Bob Riddle — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:09:36 +0000

   Just a quick note to alert you to a free book download for the Kindle. The book, Engineering Stories, is written by an engineer colleague of mine, and contains seven short fiction stories about engineers and how they do what they do. The stories are well written and allow the reader to follow the path an engineer takes from initial brainstorming through the development process to the final product.
   If you are doing anything related to STEM education or are just a curious type then I would recommend this book for you and your students.
   Here is additional information on Ken’s blog. Or download it from Amazon.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: book, Classroom, Curriculum, Other sciences, STEM Tagged: engineer, engineering stories, kenneth hardman, stem

Sun Not in Gemini Today

Bob Riddle — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:43:33 +0000

4:00 p.m. CDT

Monday 20 May at 4 p.m. CDT the Sun will cross into the constelltion of Gemini the Twins according to the pseudoscience of astrology. However in reality the Sun is within the constellation of Taurus the Bull due to circumstances beyond our control.
The Earth wobbles on its axis and causes precession of the axes which in turn, among other things, causes the celestial grid system to shift moving the original signs of the zodiac at least one constellation to the west. In effect whatever your zodiacal sign may be according to astrology, you are really the constellation before it according to Astronomy and on this day, the real position of the Sun is still within Taurus the Bull.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Classroom, constellations, Earth and Space, Observing, pseudoscience, Solar System Exploration, Universe Tagged: along the ecliptic, astrology, astronomy, earth wobbles, ecliptic, gemini, gemini the twins, grid system, pseudoscience, signs of the zodiac, taurus, taurus the bull, zodiacal sign

Moon, Meets A Lion

Bob Riddle — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:02:42 +0000

This evening the first quarter Moon is close to the star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, constellations, Earth and Space, Moon, Observing, Solar System Exploration, Universe Tagged: astronomy, astrophotography, constellation leo, first quarter moon, leo the lion, Regulus

ISS This Morning

Bob Riddle — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:42:34 +0000

   Earlier this morning the ISS, International Space station, flew over the midwest in a path that lasted 4 minutes and at its peak the ISS reached 85 degrees in altitude – nearly straight up. The path it followed took it from the southwest horizon across the summer triangle past the star Altair in Aquila the Eagle, towards the east northeast horizon.
   I was hoping to catch the ISS as it flew past some interesting groups of stars like the two small constellations of Sagitta the Arrow and Delphinus the Dolphin however the sky was too bright at this early hour for those stars to show up against the brighter background.
   In this sequence of images the sky at 0530 CDT was fairly bright and there were some high cirrus clouds but the ISS was as bright as Venus appears and was very easy to follow with my camera. The images are 2 second time exposures with an aperture setting of f4, and the lens was backed out to 18mm for a wide field of view.
Click to view slideshow.
   Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, citizen science, Classroom, constellations, Earth and Space, ISS, Observing, Solar System Exploration, STEM, Universe, Weather Tagged: altair, aquila the eagle, cirrus clouds, constellations, delphinus, international space station, iss, iss flyover, sagitta, summer triangle, time exposures

Some Sun Fun!

Bob Riddle — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:01:24 +0000

This morning I spent a few hours under the Sun with students from St. John Laland Catholic School in Blue Springs Missouri as part of their Science Fun Day event. Most of the activities were in the school Center where Mrs. Therese Keirsey’s 4th and 5th grade science class students led the many activities. Students from the school’s Pre-K through 3rd grade took part in the activities and many of them came outside where I had set up my ‘ancient’ Solaris Daystar telescope for Hydrogen Alpha filtered views of the Sun and also my trusty Edmund Astroscan. With the latter I aimed the Sun’s image onto a sheet of paper so there was a sort of group viewing of the Sun before they each took a look through the Daystar.
The highlight for many was seeing how to burn a leaf with the Astroscan telescope! One 1st grade student listened to my explanations and then proceeded to explain to other students what they were seeing – the Sun and several sunspot groups, and he also explained how the astroscan worked.
Click to view slideshow.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Classroom, Curriculum, Earth and Space, Observing, Solar, Solar System Exploration, STEM Tagged: astroscan telescope, hydrogen alpha, science fun, solar viewing, sunspot groups, sunspots

Along the Ecliptic

Bob Riddle — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:04:19 +0000

Today the Sun, in its apparent eastward motion along the ecliptic, crosses the boundary between Aries and Taurus as it moves into the area of sky defined as the constellation Taurus the Bull. This is the true or Astronomical position of the Sun as opposed to the position of the Sun according to the pseudoscience of astrology.
Also this evening the waxing crescent Moon will be near the star Procyon in Canis Minor the Little Dog.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, Classroom, constellations, Earth and Space, Observing, STEM, Universe Tagged: along the ecliptic, astrology, astronomy, constellation taurus the bull, ecliptic, little dog, procyon, pseudoscience, taurus the bull, waxing crescent moon, waxing moon

A Diamond for Mom

Bob Riddle — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:55:14 +0000

About an hour after local sunset go outside and face south and look for the planet Saturn above the southeast horizon. Then look up to the right for the bluish-white colored star Spica.
Spica, a star in Virgo the Harvest Maiden, marks the lower corner of the asterism known as ‘the Diamond of Virgo’. To see the asterism look up to the left from Spica for the reddish star Arcturus in the kite-shaped constellation Bootes the Herdsman. Then look nearly straight up, the zenith, for the dimmest of the diamond stars, Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Then look down to the right for the star Denebola, the tail of Leo the Lion.

This evening also treat her to a look at Venus, Jupiter, and the waxing crescent Moon over the western horizon. See my post from yesterday for more about this.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, constellations, Earth and Space, Observing, Solar System Exploration, Universe Tagged: canes venatici, constellation boötes, cor caroli, Diamond of Virgo, evening planets, jupiter, leo the lion, saturn, star arcturus, star spica, Venus, waxing crescent moon

Moon, Venus and Jupiter

Bob Riddle — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:45:32 +0000

Yesterday, Friday, was the start of another lunar cycle with the new Moon. This evening, Saturday, the very thin waxing crescent Moon will be just above Venus at sunset – both possibly too low and still close to the Sun to be seen. However, as the 3-part slide show below displays, over the next few days the waxing crescent Moon will not only increase in phase appearance and visibility, but the Moon will be close to the planet Jupiter on Sunday evening.

On Monday the 13th the Moon will be close enough to the open star cluster, M-35, and an even fainter NGC-2158, to be seen in the field of view of 7×50 binoculars, as the banner graphic at the top of the page shows.

The open star cluster M-35 (aka NGC 2168) contains around 2500 stars spread across an area about the size of the full Moon, and M-35 is located approximately 2800 light years from the Earth. Less than 1/2 degree from M-35 is the smaller appearing and more compact NGC-2158. This is an older open star cluster containing about the same number of stars as M-35, but NGC-2158 is several times farther – around 12,000 light years distant from the Earth.

Click to view slideshow.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, citizen science, Classroom, Earth and Space, Moon, Observing, Solar System Exploration, Universe Tagged: evening skies, jupiter, m-35, ngc 2158, observ, observing the moon, open star cluster, Venus, waxing crescent moon

Solar Eclipse

Bob Riddle — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:10:41 +0000

Friday 10 May the new Moon will pass between the Earth and Sun setting up the circumstances for a solar eclipse. However this solar eclipse, is an annular eclipse, the type where at mid-eclipse the Moon does not completely cover the Sun as this animated graphic shows.
Most are probably familiar with a total solar eclipse as this graphic shows. The disk of the Moon has completely covered the disk of the Sun blocking out everything except the Sun’s corona. Typically during a total solar eclipse the apparent size of the Moon and Sun are essentially the same or the Moon appears larger than the Sun so that at mid-eclipse the sun is completely covered by the Moon.

The difference between these two solar eclipses has to do with the shape of the Moon’s orbit. It is elliptical and that means that the Moon is not always the same distance from the Earth were it following a circular orbit. Each month the Moon reaches apogee, the farthest it will be from the Earth that month, and perigee, when the Moon is closest. So, if the new Moon occurs at or near apogee, when the Moon is farthest from the Earth, the Moon will appear smaller than the apparent size of the Sun. And if this also happens when the three, Earth, Moon, Sun, are aligned then we have the settings for an annular solar eclipse.

The date for this eclipse has some personal meaning to me as did the solar eclipse last year that was also on May 10th so I wrote about the eclipse and something called the Saros Series in a recent Scope on the Skies column. Click here to download a copy of my April-May Scope on the Skies column about the eclipse and the Saros Cycle.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information.

Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, Classroom, Earth and Space, Observing, Solar, Solar System Exploration, STEM, Universe, Weather Tagged: annular eclipse, annular solar eclipse, apogee, corona, eclipse the sun, new moon, perigee, solar eclipse, solar eclipses, total solar eclipse