Mars is again moving to opposition, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west on the 3rd of March 2012.
With the on again off again wet season here in the NT, I almost missed this opposition of Mars. All the details of the Mars opposition can be found at the MarsWatch site.

So now is the time to get your telescopes out and see what surface features you can pick out on Mars as it moves through the constellation of Leo as seen in the animation below running from the 20-2 to the 5-3, thanks to the elegant simplicity of Cartes-Du-Ceil. Each step of the animation is 1 day starting on Monday the 20th of Feb through to the closest apparition of Mars on the 5th of March.
To get yourself oriented under the night sky check out my astronomy homepage www.nightskysecrets.com

Mars with a very good Scope and near perfect skies !

Mars Opposition 2012- Animation !

Comet Lovejoy is also known as C/2011 W3. It’s a periodic comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer. He discovered the comet on the 27th of November 2011. The path of the comet was predicted to head right through the Sun’s corona, resulting in its destruction.

Predicted Demise

Many experts thought that the ice core of the comet wasn’t massive enough to survive passing through the Solar Corona, considering it’s several million degrees in there. The comet passed only 120,000 km up above the actual surface of the sun. Researchers thought the case was cut and dry, but were still very interested in getting to actually observe a comet passing through the suns corona, due to the possibility of valuable research from the event.

Comet Lovejoy from WA - Credit Colin Legg

Reappearance

At 12:35 AM UTC time, on December 16th, the comet surprised everyone by reemerging from the sun. There were five separate spacecraft there to provide a video feed of the event. Two different NASA space observatories for Solar Dynamics, two different probes, and a microsatellite from Europe captured the miraculous rebirth of the comet from a variety of different angles.

In the video, you can see the comet wriggling as the tail enters into the sun. Some researchers say that it might be due to the comet’s interaction with magnetic fields that exist across and through the atmosphere of the sun, but no one knows for sure why the tail moved in the way it did.

The unexpected rebirth of the comet will get continued coverage from video feeds, since scientists are interested to know what exactly the effect of moving right through the sun had on the comet. Some say that the core of Lovejoy must have been at least 500 meters in diameter to have enough sheer matter to not be instantly sublimated by the journey through the star.

The behavior of the comet as it moves back deep into the outer solar system, will give scientists clues as to how extensive the damage was, structurally. Some believe that the comet may now fall apart from the stress.

The interaction of comets and the Sun isn’t yet well understood by scientists, so all such events bring well needed information to the community.

Sun Grazers

Lovejoy is part of a group of comets called “Kreutz Sungrazers.” These are a particular group of comets that have orbits that take them very close to the sun. Some believe that they were originally one large comet that has broken up over time, perhaps from the closer encounters with the sun. the comets are often large enough to actually be visible to the naked eye when they pass near the Earth.

An Emerging Great Comet

At the time of writing the comet was displaying a tail of some 13 Degrees of Arc (more than 1/2 a hand span) This display is visible in the southern hemisphere. Initial photos have been coming out of Australia, showing the spectacular tail. Perhaps it might be as good as comet Mcnaught of 2007. Already it is much better than the well known Hayleys comet.

The Chart Below will show you how to find the comet over the Christmas break:

This was a first for me in 7 years of watching the sky in the NT seeing a Sun Dog. I almost ran off the road on my way home, as to my absolute surprise there was a “Second Sun” in the sky, just before sunset. As a Space Weather follower, I knew I had a Sun Dog. Something I have never seen in our tropical skies.

I raced for the camera and these images are the results. It even brightened before my eyes at one stage. It is amazing that tiny hexagonal ice crystals high in the upper atmosphere can align and have such a dramatic effect. These optical effects occur in a 22deg arc around the sun and can form above, below and to the sides of the sun. The closest I have seen to this is a sunbow, about 5 years ago. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more of these & my guess is now that I am looking I will see more .

As the resident Astronomer & Science show host, I get asked a lot of questions.
This week I have an odd one though.
At Aprox 7pm on Tues 9th Aug a bright blue light appeared in the night sky moving from east to west over a period of aprox 4 to 6 seconds. It was variously reported as being low (lower than an approaching aircraft) Bright blue to white, silent, not exploding or breaking up.
My first thought was it was a meteor or a piece of reentering space junk, then the possibility of an Iridium Satellite flare or the International Space station.
None of these exactly fit the times and descriptions and the mystery deepened when I received a report of a similar sighting the next night on Wednesday traveling in the opposite direction around 10 pm. Next thought is that some visiting Canadian troops my have been engaged in exersizes, but not according to my sources. One could have simply been a meteor, but 2 ?

The Mystery continues …… but there is sure to be a rational explaination. The ISS is still high on my list, not withstanding the time diferences.

There are times when the planets align perfectly and on Thursday morning

the 16th June 2011 the earth and the moon did just that,

for the deepest lunar eclipse in over 10 years.

Sounds like a great excuse for a Lunar Eclipse moon party !

The Perseid Meteor shower is one of my personnel favourites for the year, and this year is predicted to be a good one. Meteorwatch.org are keen for public participation in observing this years shower from the 11th to the 14th of Aug.

I could not resist putting up a link to this great Utube video they have put together to promote the event.

A new generation of solar observatories has been launched, creating a bit of science as it rockets through the atmosphere ….

Launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory [ 3:52 ] Play Now

Its almost like coming out of hybernation …. the wet season is drawing to a close and The Science Guru is emerging from his wet season adventures. Yes, that’s right, its almost time for the Astronomy season to begin here in NE Arnhem land NT with the official end of the wet season this coming Friday.

I have been on many adventures of the mind, body and dare I say Spirit on my own science site. Much of this Activity has turned into written stories and even a little poetry.  For those of you that dont know, I am also the convener of our local writing group, Arnhem Writers that has been busy over the past few months too.

The science show has continued on Gove FM and I will be featuring some of the best of those segments on ATSG very soon ….stay tuned !

Well, the ATSG has been on the move again. This time at the International Science Education Conference 2009 in Singapore. I had the chance to speak with Sue John from Cardiff University Wales UK. We speak about the work Sue has been doing to bring universities and science educators together, for the benefit of both education and the environment …..

Earth Science Education Outreach Play Now

Haley’s comet is the best known of all the comets, and this meteor shower is one of 2  chances each year to catch some of its dusty debris burning up in our Atmosphere … It has passed us now having peaked on the 22nd of October, but it is a timely reminder to watch out for the upcoming Geminid Meteor Shower on the 14th of December ….

The Orionid Meteor Shower and Haleys Comet Play Now