Ask The Science Guru

Mars Opposition 3rd March 2012

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:51:31 +0000

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 C2011-W3 – A must see Comet

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:23:28 +0000

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:

Tropical Sundog

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:41:08 +0000

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 .

UFO’s ? – Strange Blue Lights Nhulunbuy NT

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:46:19 +0000

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.

The Deep Lunar Eclipse – June 2011

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:52:48 +0000

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.

I watched in awe as the moon started it’s track into the Earths deep
shadow or Umbra, as it is known. Sitting beneath the overhanging
branches of a mature Mahogany tree as it framed the moon in the cool
morning air of Nhulunbuy was magical. Add the mellow sounds of Pink
Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”and the scene becomes surreal. As the eclipse
progressed and the black “bite” out of the moon grew larger the Pink Floyd
music could not have been better better choreographed had I tried.
It did not seem long before the entire moon was in the deep shadow
and glowing an eerie Coppery red. With the sky darkening sporadic
meteors shot across the western sky as if to herald the deepest part
of the eclipse. At the height of the moons eclipse, the centre of the moon

darkened while the outer edges took on a dark red glow, framed by the

now easily visible surrounding stars. Clouds started to roll in at this point,

but I was satisfied to have seen the Eclipse from start to the deepest point

of its plunge into the earths shadow.

I look forward to the next eclipse on December 11th at midnight.

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

Kepler Mission – New Earths

admin — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:19:11 +0000

The Kepler planet hunting space telescope has achieved astounding success in not only finding 1500 new planets around other stars. It has discovered what has never been done to date, finding earth like planets ….

Top Ten Discoveries on the Moon – Part 2

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:55:56 +0000

We continue our discussion of the final top four findings on the Moon of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter …..

Top Ten Discoveries on the Moon – Part 1

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:59:25 +0000

The Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter has made some startling discoveries on the moon.

Here we discuss the first six of these groundbreaking finds …..

Perseid Meteor Shower

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:00:04 +0000

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.

Mimas the Death Star

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:25:58 +0000

Mimas, the well known moon of Saturn bears a striking similarity to the Star Wars “Death Star”, but what about the science behind it ? …….