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arcgeminga · 3 years ago

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What is the mun's opinion of all the gold saints from TLC?

♚— Oh boi. This is gonna be a mouthful. I know you said "all" , but I can't do saints like Avenir and Sage since I haven't read Shion and the Old Twins' gaiden in English. And I'm not about to act like I know Spanish enough to write a review on those saints.

♚ Aries Shion - Should've been the Hades Arc Shion. Like damn, I really like Shion when he's an angry sheep!! I mean, he yeets the five bronzies in Hades Arc like "Fuck dem kids!".

I really like Specter/Pope Shion. But TLC Shion I do not hate. In fact, I can understand how and why he becomes Pope. I really like TLC Aries Shion! I just wished he was more angry sheep, but TLC Shion is not bad. I especially loved his Gaiden, at least the part where Avenir was shown. I feel like they should have explained more on his thoughts on becoming pope or exploring him having some sort of survivor's guilt but hey. I don't dislike him!

♚ Taurus Aldebaran/Hasgard/Rasgado - Honestly, the only thing I can say about Hasgard is that... I don't hate him. I love his English Voice actor (because I'm a really big fan of Jamieson Price since Tales of Vesperia), but for Hasgard himself... I don't really have an opinion or thought on. His teenage years with Sisyphus and Aspros seemed fun, and I'm kinda... hm... sad that their relationship mellowed out? Or at least, we didn't get his and Sisyphus' opinions or reactions to Aspros' death.

♚ Gemini Defteros & Aspros - OH BOY WHERE DO I START!? ----- Gemini Aspros - I understand why Aspros was the way he was towards everyone and his brother. It's honestly not his fault. I am happy that he doesn't have a "split personality" at all throughout TLC, even though that is something I would never diss Saga for (even if it wasn't really a split personality). He was simply manipulated into behaving cruelly because someone showed him something that he was scared of, and that was akin to his brother not needing him. His Gaiden harks back to that too, during that 'flashback' when he told Defteros that he was going to become pope, Defteros donned the gold cloth and said 'yeah so we can be equals and I won't need you' (paraphrasing). If Aspros is just going to be used and tossed away, might as well harden his own heart before then. And it doesn't help that he saw himself as a Specter and his brother as a Gold Saint when he went to the oracles.

I feel for Aspros because, in the end, he had no idea that he had been manipulated hard enough that his goodest boy personality changed. And honestly, I can relate to that. I've had my personality take a deep dive some years ago after I had a panic attack. So I don't fault him for his actions. He was just trying to make the best with what he knew, understood, and could do, even if that meant doing terrible things. After all, it is his mindset that the weakest people are the ones that don't do anything. ----- Gemini Defteros - I also can't fault him for anything. He was dependent on his brother, and there was no way he could understand what was going on in Aspros' tortured mind since Aspros never spoke about his feelings. But I believe that, contrary to what Aspros thinks, Defteros would have been very dependent on him even after Aspros became pope. After all, he didn't have friends, lacked social skills, and couldn't find it in himself to trust anyone aside from his older brother because of how Sanctuary treated him as they were growing up, so he would have been stuck in like a childish headspace of needing a protector and provider, which was Aspros. You can tell that much because he was asking Asmita what should he do when he was possessed by the DEF.

When Aspros died (or rather, when Defteros killed him [which seriously broke his heart]), it forced Defteros to grow up and look after himself. This isn't a terrible thing--but it was a terrible and such a trauma-inducing way to go about it. But how he died--or rather, the fact that he wanted to sacrifice himself to save his brother... honestly it still makes me cry a lot. You can see in his eyes that he loved his brother even after the very end, and wanted him back. And just IMAGINE how many times Defteros' eyes have shown nothing but the purest love for Aspros, and how Aspros had been manipulated to see those eyes as nothing more than hate. ----- Gemini twins in general - If it wasn't obvious already, I love these two so much. I hate--I ABSOLUTELY HATE--that their brotherhood was RUINED, because these two are so... important to me. I see myself and my sister in the Gemini Twins so much. To the point where it's so personal to me. Even after being manipulated and losing his brother, Aspros still held his little brother very close to his heart and lamented and regretted the fact that he will never get the chance to be the brother he should be. And Defteros... I can't explain why his loyalty and patience for Aspros affect me so much, but it does. It does in a way where it hits me more than just an emotional way. I guess that's because I see my sister in Defteros much more than I should.

I love the twins in such a profound way where I cannot find the right words for it. They obviously still love each other so much, even after all is said and done, and I think that is so important. Having that kind of unconditional love for your sibling is the most important thing in my opinion.

God, look at me, I'm crying over the Gemini twins again for like the 100th time oiwhfowef

♚ Cancer Manigoldo - So, Manigoldo... Honestly, I love him, too. But in a different way. When I see Manigoldo, I remember the private threads that a friend and I used to do on Skype, and I am frankly very enamored with him. But also because of that, I do not see him the same way as everyone else too. Besides, he makes up the second half of my OTP, so ofc I'm going to see him differently. Especially since I single ship!

♚ Leo Regulus - He's another one that I like a lot! Not only because he's adorable, but I also see him in a different way because I'm a single shipper, and I will never say aloud who I ship Regulus with. I won't say that he's a part of a different OTP (since I only have one OTP in all of Saint Seiya) but I do like Regulus a lot because of a friend's interpretation of him in Private threads a very long time ago.

Yeah, he might be kinda OP/Gary Sue, but he's not too hateful in my opinion. I wouldn't say he's the best TLC Saint, since my heart is stolen by the twins, but he's a very amiable character when interacting with the characters of the TLC verse, and I wish I can squish his cheeks one day!! He's so adorable! I will say though that he is impressive to replicate a Big Bang(?) by himself... I don't remember if it's the thing that really killed him, but... huh. To be that unafraid of death, I wouldn't be surprised if he has some sort of mental/personality disorder that made him... like that? Something undiagnosed? Hm... thoughts, thoughts.

♚ Virgo Asmita - Asmita is one of the gold saints that, I honestly, don't know about. It's different from how I feel about Hasgard. For Hasgard, I don't have an opinion for, but for Asmita, I just don't know. I love how Teshirogi drew his hands. Like damn, bruh, can we switch hands? We're both Virgo, and I think we can make it work out... /kicked

♚ Libra Dohko - LOL DOHKOOOO!! My sister's favorite. I feel like he's super impulsive in TLC. I haven't read his gaiden at all, so I can't say much about that, but I do like him! Like with Shion though, I feel like he should have had some sort of heavy Survivor's guilt in the end. I'm also insanely curious about what ability Defteros zonked on him to erase the memory of Athena's blood and cloth. I don't know if it's shown in Dohko's gaiden, but I would love to see how TLC Dohko came across and raised Shiryu.

♚ Scorpio Kardia - As a character, I adore him. He's charming, spontaneous, and, like Aspros, wants to live his life to the fullest. And his fullest means just having fun before his short life is ended. Krest might have made him practically immortal, but he's still suffering. However, Kardia also holds a lot of bad memories for me from days before, and his entire character serves as a painful, but a graceful reminder of who I was back then.

♚ Sagittarius Sisyphus - Honestly, I don't ever think he was qualified to be a candidate for the papal throne. He's so melodramatic. Yeah, he might treat everyone with kindness and all, but I feel like he doesn't have the knowledge part down. Let alone, he's a brawn brain! Bruh!! Shooting an arrow at "hades" is always a bad idea!! What made you-?!

Lmfao, if possible, I feel like he and Aspros should have dual-pope'd Sanctuary. One has the brains, but lacks compassion while the other has the compassion but is "shoot first, ask questions and think about that later".

♚ Capricorn El Cid - I... should love El Cid, but my mind goes blank a lot around him. He's impressive, I give you that, but I don't think I have an opinion on him. And I've read his gaiden in Spanish a LONG time ago, so I'm not going to pretend that I know him enough to talk about him.

♚ Aquarius Degel - hm... I think he's cute. Especially in his gaiden, he's really cute.

♚ Pieces Agatha -

#anoymous #OutofGeminga #As you can tell I word vomited about the gemini twins #also that last one is intentional. You will not get anything more or less.

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mhdiaries · 4 years ago

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Iris Clops SDCC 2014 Exclusive Diary

02.28

I went to the casketball game tonight. It was the district championship game, and if we won it would mean a trip to the monster state tournament. The game was against the same gargoyle team that beat us last year. The game tonight was really close with several lead changes, the gym was totes rocking. I was there to cheer for the whole team, of course, but I was also hoping that Manny would have a better game than he did last year. I know he felt responsible for us losing last year, even though I know that the team didn’t blame him for it. Manny is... well, I’m not sure what Manny is. When he first came to Monster High he acted like a real bully, and most students tried to avoid him at all costs. Something must have happened after that game last year though, because he seems like a different monster since then. Anyway, this year there was a much happier outcome - both for Manny and the team - because not only did we win, but Manny made the winning shot! Adding to the excitement - more or less - okay, less, was my epic fail or rather fall down the bleachers. Typical me, I wasn’t watching where I was going and I stepped where there wasn’t one and badly twisted my ankle. Wow, did that ever hurt! The team athletic trainer, Mr. Mummy, saw what happened and came over to check on me. He had some of the ghouls help me to the training room where he examined my ankle, pronounced it sprained and then did a pretty thorough wrap job on it. He gave me some crutches, then called my parents to let them know what had happened. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the bit victory party after the game, which was a drag because I heard that Manny asked where I was at.

03.05

I have decided in the interest of science to keep an ongoing list of my bumps, bruises, sprains, spills and breakages. Thus I have developed a clumsification scale so that each incident can be properly measured based on the approximate pain I feel at the time:

Ouch.

Just Give Me a Minute...

Oh, Hera, That Hurt!

Medic!

Don’t go into the light.

My hope is that I will eventually reach a point where in the midst of an “incident” I can just shout out a number and thus save my breath for holding against the agony. I had the chance to practice using my new scale tonight as I tried to navigate my way through the house on crutches. I called out a series of “1′s” while I bumped my way down the hall from my bedroom to the kitchen. When I got there, dad asked if I was all right, and I told him I was just trying out my new scale. “Oh, good,” he said, “I was afraid you’d finally gone binary on us.” I told him that if I didn’t think I would spend the next 15 minutes on the floor yelling “Four!” I would hit him with one of my crutches. He laughed, kissed me on the top of head and slid open the door to the back porch. He closed the door behind me and flicked on the trail of dim blue-green lights that outlined the path to the “observatory” he built for me. My dad is the kind of monster that keeps his eye more to the earth beneath his feet than to the stars above his head, but he is an amazing engineer and he built my observatory with a roof that opens and the whole thing rotates 360° so my telescope never has to move. He’s not much of a “tell you that he loves you” kind of monster, but he shows it all the time. Tonight I rotated my observatory so that I could see a star called Aldebaran. It’s an orange giant and forms one of the eyes in the constellation Taurus - the bull. As I was focusing in, two meteors crashed into each other sending glowing fragments across the night sky like fireworks. If I were the kind of ghoul that looked for omens I might think this was a sign. Hah! As if...

03.06

I was standing at my locker today, and Manny walked right by me without even acknowledging I was there. Maybe I should expand my scale to cover bumps and bruises of the heart as well. If so, today was a definite 2.

03.07

Gigi came over tonight to do some stargazing. She’s so scary sweet and just so excited to experience every little detail of unilfe outside the lantern that she’s a scream to be around. We looked at the rings of Saturn, Mars and Alpha Centaur, and then a storm moved in, and we couldn’t see anything through the cloud cover. So we sat and talked about different things. I jokingly asked her if she had any wishes left, because I was really wishing I could know what was going on inside Manny’s head. She laughed and said that sometimes wishing is more satisfying than actually having the thing for which you have wished. She says it doesn’t sound logical, but it often is true. I’m not sure I understand, but she has a lot more experience seeing the power of wishes granted than I have, so I suppose I’ll just have to trust her on this.

03.09

Today in the creepateria I was sitting at a table with Draculaura, Clawd, Abbey and Heath. Manny walked by our table with his lunch, and Heath invited him to sit with us. The only open seat was across from me, and I swear it looked as if Manny started blushing. I think he was going to say, “No”, but he ended up sitting down anyway. We were right in the middle of a conversation about a comet that only passes by earth close enough to see once every 500 years or so, and Draculaura has seen it the last two times it appeared. She was telling us how some monsters thought it was an omen of doom the last time it passed and they literally went screaming for the catacombs. We were all laughing, and I suggested we have a comet party at my house the next time it shows up. That’s when Manny said, “Who cares about stars and planets and comets and stuff like that? It’s just a dumb waste of time looking at places you can never go to anyhow.” It took me completely by surprise, and I said, “It’s only dumb if you’ve got so much muscle in your brain there’s no room for imagination.” I don’t think I could have been more hurt if he had called me an eyesore. I asked Draculaura if she would take my tray for me, and I grabbed my crutches, hobbled out of the creepateria and straight into the ghoul’s restroom. As I was sitting in a stall crying my eye out, there was a knock on the stall door. “Go away,” I said. “Is Abbey - I punched Manny in nose for you.” I jumped up and opened the door. “You did what?” I yelled. “Relax, I am only doing the teasing.” I was torn between being angry and continuing my number “4″ sized cry. Abbey told me that Manny was like her brother. “He is big like Manny and is having same problem telling Yeti ghoul how he is feeling - so he makes the large snowballs to throw at ghoul he likes. Manny does not have snowball so he throws words.” I told her that I thought it was the dumbest way possible to let a ghoul know that she is liked. Abbey nodded, “Agreed, snowballs are much better as sting is going away sooner.” I think she is right. This “4″ doesn’t act like it’s about to slide down to a three anytime soon, and I guess Gigi was right about not wishing to know what’s in another monster’s head.

03.10

This morning when I opened my locker there was a small, folded up piece of paper wedged in one of the vent slots. It was folded so tightly, I though some monster must have wrapped up a piece of gum and shoved it through my locker because he couldn’t find a trash can. I almost threw it away but I unfolded it instead. Inside in carefully printed block letters was the message,

I’m sorry.

M.T.

I looked around to see if some monster might have done this as a prank, but everything looked normal, or at least as normal as it ever looks at that time of morning with monsters scurrying around trying to get to class on time. In terms of medicine, it certainly took the sting out of my “4″, and if it didn’t take it all away at least it moved it down to a “1″.

03.12

I’m not sure if it will be possible to put what happened today into words, but I think I have to try. We had a special assembly in the creepatorium that every monster was required to attend. The speaker was a famous centaur explorer/biteologist who was going to talk about his travels and adventures. It sounded pretty exciting when Headmistress Bloodgood was making the announcement over the intercom, and by the time I was able to hobble in, all the seats were taken except one in the very middle of a top middle row. I looked around for Manny and saw him several rows about me sitting with Heath. I managed to get to my seat without doing too much damage to either myself or any other monster, but I had to leave my crutches leaning against the wall, since there was no way I could make it down the aisle holding onto them. As it turned out, the speaker was a bit of a blowhard, and after 30 minutes of telling the assembly how great he was, most of us were figuring out this wasn’t going to be as exciting as we were lead to believe. That’s when he brought out the chimera. Although our speaker assured us that he had tamed it, our biteology textbook said that it was impossible to do so. I guess every other monster in the creepatorium had read the same book, because they all started shifting in their seats and looking for the closest exit. The speaker asked for calm and told us the creature was as harmless as a kitten. Not a beat after he said this, the chimera breathed a cone of fire into one of the stage curtains and mass chaos erupted as every monster tried to leave at once. I vaguely remembered seeing my crutches being kicked down the stairs and then disappearing under the mass of students trying to get out. It seemed like it was every monster for himself, and there was no way I was going to be able to get out. That’s when I felt myself lifted out of my seat and I looked up to see Manny’s face looking down and... smiling. “Need a lift?” he asked. I just nodded and before I knew it we were standing outside the school with everyone else. I kissed him on the cheek, and he gently set me down. I think I need a new scale for how my heart feels now.

#monster high #monster high diary #iris clops #sdcc 2014

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chocolatetakoyakis · 5 years ago

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• SAINT SEIYA - HOW THE GOLD SAINT + SHION WOULD REACT TO THEIR CRUSH S/O BEING DRUNK AF ? • ( they may be drunk as well...)

PART 1

MU - ARIES GOLD SAINT :

- think it’s funny at first because he is not used to see you like this.

- is happy that you are having fun at the moment but secretly wants to see your face tomorrow when he or the other will tell you what you did and said.

- is not really annoyed by you, whatever the type of drunk you are because he thinks you’re cute in all of your state ( especially the Sad one because you’re often whining about you being single so he can comfort you by telling you cute things he would never said to you if you were not drunk )

- but becomes quickly concern about what you’re doing especially if you are becoming clumsy when you’re dancing or something. ( he doesn’t want you dead because you accidentally overturn Deathmask’s beer on the floor )

- if you feel sick, he is basically the one who is gonna help you by taking you outside so you can breath fresh air. And even if you’re at the edge of vomiting he’ll be there maybe with the help of Aldebaran or some other gold Saints but will never tell you about it because he doesn’t want you to be ashamed in front him.

- is basically the mama friend that doesn’t drunk that much to secretly keep an eye on you

- will never obligate you anything like « stop drunking, you should eat more, go to bed » because he knows you can handle yourself like the beautiful independent woman you are, he is just here in case of something dangerous could happen to you.

- is pissed when someone try to flirt with you.

- a lot of : I am here S/O don’t worry I’ll stay by your side.

ALDEBARAN- TAURUS GOLD SAINT :

- Like Mu he is a mama friend

- adorable and play along with you because usually you’re are both drunk.

- him being a gold Saint he is less touch by alcohol so he can keep an eye on you.

- glaring at everyone who would make you do dangerous thing. But will not stop you if you really wanna do it but trust me he’ll crush the other if you ended up hurt.

- a lot of jokes, love to make you laugh

- will finish your drink if you’re playing an alcohol game and you can’t stand anymore

- lets you win an arm wrestling with him and says : I swear to Hades that I didn’t let you win s/o ! I PROMISE ! ( poor Hades )

- you being drunk you believed him.

- a lot of : you’re really cute being drunk s/o

SAGA - GEMINI GOLD SAINT :

- Well... I don’t really know who is taking care of who with this man

- didn’t want to drink at first ( because of Ares maybe, like you know he’ll loose control and strip lol. Classic )

- watching his Crush drinking with the other will kill his moral because he really wanna enjoy the night with them. But stay in his corner quiet and listening whatever they’re talking until the moment where his S/O crush threatens him to kick his ass if he stay here just eating peanuts. ( you’re really courageous by the way because fuck he can send you to another FUCKING DIMENTION DAMN )

- so everyone noticed him and made him drink something

- Kanon being Kanon provoked Saga by telling him that he is afraid of drinking because he cannot stand strong Alcohol.

- Saga getting pissed by his twin and drank 3 bottles of Whiskey.. and now he is drunk like completely drunk I mean DRUUUUUUUNK AF.

- s/o felling bad because HELL YEAH EVERYTHING IS BECAUSE OF YOU stay by Saga’s side the whole night listening to him apologizing to Aiolios again and again and again.

- also tried to end his life by jumping from a chair. ( Kanon basically said : DO A FLIP bro )

- is hugging his Crush while saying « Sorry Athena » and is extremely affectionate.

- no one is gonna tell him what happen last night because they’re happy that he spent a good night and feels better days by days

Anyway you two are complete chaos.

A lot of : S/O i loo.lo....looove yo..o..ou .ouu so many many many.

* KANON - 2ND GEMINI GOLD SAINT :

- Expect him to be drunk af with you. Like really.

- want to stay by your side all the night even after the party ( understand what you want to understand)

- very touchy. like small kiss on the cheek and all because his Logic Is basically « SHE IS NOT GONNA REMEMBER A DAMN THING » but isn’t taking advantage of you don’t worry just small attention then he’ll never do again.

- will do it only if he knows that you’re ( even a little ) attracted to him.

- is pissed when you call him Saga like really and pouts for one hour before drinking again

- a lot of Challengens.

- want a kiss if he wins obviously.

- Always has an arm around your shoulders because he doesn’t want ANY GOLD SAINT TO FLIRT WITH YOU EVEN FOR JOKING BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A JOKE TO HIM.

- you having to separate Saga and Kanon because FUCK they’re gonna kill each other.

- will Wake up in your room on the floor while you’re still sleeping on your couch and hardly remember the night.

A lot of : i would steal Poseidon trident one more time for your beautiful eyes.

* DEATHMASK / ANGELO - CANCER GOLD SAINT :

- GOD DAMN like ZEUS DAMN !

- the worst and the best at the same time.

- is more drunk than you and very aggressive toward everyone. Will even glare at you when you’re talking to the others gold Saints.

- will be pissed because HE WANTS YOU TO TALK TO HIM BUT HE IS ACTING LIKE A DICK THE WHOLE NIGHT.

- doesn’t noticed but is a blushing mess next to you

- « can I drink with you ? » « Of course you DumbAss is there a name on that DAMN CHAIR ?! »

- will take advantage of you being drunk to get to know you without mess up his image of the SCARY CANCER SAINT.

- will try to kill Aphrodite because he noticed that deathmask was actually romantically flirting with his Crush and told the others

- you stopping him by holding his hand

- ERROR 303

- HIM FALLING ON THE FLOOR BECAUSE HE DIDNT EXPECT SUCH A CONTACT WITH YOU.

- well you spent a great time with deathmask while talking even if he was a little cold.

- A lof of : not that I’m really interested in your life but what’s your favorite flowers ?

* AIOLIA - LEO GOLD SAINT :

- Tries to act like an alpha Male

- but failed, he cannot control you lol

- is really worried about his crush being drunk with the other especially Milo.

- doesn’t know what to do if any of his friends try to hit on you ( it would never happen because they all know that the poor Leo is madly in love with you )

- tries to orient you toward less dangerous and idiotic activities like watching the sky, eating and even going to bed.

- very jealous.

- you telling him he is no fun

- HEATBROKEN like really

- aiolos telling him that you didn’t mean it and your drunk af

- you apologizing because he was so cute with a light kiss on the cheek

- EGO BOOST X 999999

- will end up drink a little with you but not that much.

A lot of : s/o you should not do that with them ! It’s dangerous

* SHAKA - VIRGO GOLD SAINT :

- doesn’t know why the fuck he is here. Like really doesn’t know..

- anyway now he is here he is gonna have good time I guess.

- DOESNT DRINK AT AT All

- you are the only reason he stays here with those drunk idiots. ( he was about to leave when he finally saw you coming and he decided to stay , Mu looking at him like : REALLY NIGGA ? )

- he is acting like he doesn’t care about you but inside he is very pissed that you are having fun while being drunk with the others.

- if you’re about to do something crazy he is gonna stop you by teleporting you next to him. And looking at you with his deep scary blue eyes.

- Shaka being known as very sage and pure you’ll listen to him ( lol not like AIOLIA )

- Spiritual conversations ( you being drunk you totally don’t know what he is talking about be anyway you like spending time with him so Ok why not )

- you actually sleeping in front of him because he made you sleep with all his stories.

- he will teleport you to your room with a warm smile on his face because he avoided you to being like the other drunk monkeys.

- Nobody in the room noticed that you two leaves the party.

- a lot of: You should not do that S/O, you’re not like them

* DOHKO - LIBRA GOLD SAINT :

- Well was sent by Shion at First but ended up partying with the other

- noticed you first and Came to talk to you because damn you looked so beautiful in that dress

- realizing that you were completely drunk because you almost fell on him while you were walking

- found it cute and funny and decided to spend the night with you

- is also drinking while listening to you telling him what happened before he arrives ( like saga falling from a chair / deathmask having a coma and all )

- flirt with you in a very gentleman way

- everyone noticed and found it cute

- him wanting to dance with you

- A LOT OF PDA

- him always having a charming smile while talking to you because he really enjoy the moment and hope you’ll remember everything tomorrow.

- Support you when you’re doing a drinking contest because even if you are dead drunk he’ll be by your side so nothing could happen to you.

- a lot of : I should have come sooner ! I would have spend more time with you...

Here is the part 1 aha, hope you enjoy it. I didn’t know we were able to put only 10 pictures 😭 but anyway I’ll post it later in the day

#saintseiya #saineseiyaheadcanon #saintseiyaimagine #saintseiyagoldsaint #saintseiyafiction #saintseiyaoneshot #saintseiyaxreader #Mu #Aldebaran #Saga #Kanon #Shaka #Aiolia #dohko #saintseiyaoc #saintseiyaxso

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astrogeoguy · 5 years ago

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A Morning Moon and a Meteor Shower, Jupiter Cruises Past a Cluster, and Some Southerly Sights!

(Above: This week, Jupiter’s apparent orbital motion will carry it from left to right past a globular star cluster designated NGC 6235. The planet, its moons, and the star cluster will all fit into the field of view (simulated here by the circular view) of a backyard telescope at high power, especially around their closest pairing, which will occur on Saturday night. I’ve flipped the view to match most refracting telescopes.)

Hello, Summer Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of July 21st, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event. Contact me, and we’ll tour the Universe together!

Southern Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower

The Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower runs annually from July 21 to August 23. It is caused by the Earth passing through a cloud of tiny particles dropped by a periodic comet – likely Comet 96P/Machholtz and the shower will peak before dawn on Sunday, July 28, but is quite active for a week surrounding that date. This shower commonly generates 15-20 meteors per hour at the peak, but is best seen from the southern tropics, where the shower’s radiant, in Aquarius, is positioned higher in the sky. The waning crescent moon on the weekend should not adversely affect the shower very much.

To increase your chances of seeing meteors, find a dark location with lots of sky, preferably away from light polluted skies, and just look up with your unaided eyes. Binoculars and telescopes are not useful for meteors because their fields of view are too narrow to fit the streaks of meteor light. Don’t watch the radiant. Any meteors near there will have very short trails because they are travelling towards you. Try not to look at your phone’s bright screen – it’ll ruin your night vision. And keep your eyes heavenward, even while you are chatting with companions. Happy hunting!

(Above: The Southern Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower will peak on the coming weekend, July 27-28. The best time for viewing will be before dawn, when the radiant will be higher. The waning crescent moon will not interfere with your hunt.)

The Moon and Planets

The rest of July will bring us dark evening skies worldwide. That’s because the moon will be rising after midnight and waning in phase and brightness. So grab your bug spray and binoculars, or dust off the old telescope, and set up in a spot with a low and open southern horizon. I’ll tour you through the scorpion, the teapot, and the shield in this week’s Skylights!

Tonight, the waning gibbous moon (i.e., more than half illuminated) will rise at about midnight local time. For the rest of the week, the moon will shift eastward and wane in phase while it slides towards next week’s meeting with the sun. The moon will be rising later every night, but the night-to-night difference will be much less than the usual 40 to 50 minutes. That’s because the angle between the eastern horizon and the moon’s orbit is smaller at this time of the year.

From Tuesday to Saturday before dawn, the moon’s orbit will carry it just above Cetus (the Whale), flying like a drone from the beast’s tail to his head. On Friday morning, the pretty crescent moon will sit about two finger widths to the upper left of the main belt asteroid Vesta. Look for a medium-bright star named Lambda Ceti sitting about four finger widths to the right of the moon. Vesta will be located a small distance below, and about halfway along, a line joining the moon and that star. Vesta will be visible as a little pinpoint in binoculars and telescopes.

(Above: As shown here for Friday, July 26 at 4 am local time, the waning moon will be positioned near the major asteroid Vesta. The shallow angle that the ecliptic (yellow) and the moon’s orbit (red) make with the eastern horizon will cause the moon to rise only about 20 minutes later on each consecutive morning.)

On Saturday morning, the crescent moon will land a palm’s width to the upper right (celestial west) of the big triangle of stars that form Taurus the Bull’s face. People in Asia and Australia can see the moon pass directly through those stars, including the bright, orange star Aldebaran, which marks the bull’s angry southern eye. When skywatchers in the Americas see the moon again on Sunday morning, it will be positioned to the lower left (celestial east) of Aldebaran.

Keep an eye out for the moon in the morning daytime sky this week. On Wednesday it will reach its last quarter phase, when its western half is illuminated. Last quarter moons always rise around midnight and remain visible in the southern sky all morning. They are positioned ahead of the Earth in our trip around the sun. About 3½ hours later, Earth will occupy that same location in space.

The planets are spread along the Ecliptic (which closely expresses the plane of our Solar System) from sunset to sunrise. Reddish Mars has been steadily fading from view as it slips downward towards the evening sun. Your best chance to see Mars is to look low in the north-northwestern sky for a short time after 9 pm local time.

(Above: Every days Mars is sinking lower into the western evening sunset, as shown here at 9:15 pm local time.)

Jupiter is the extremely bright, white object shining in the southern evening sky. This week, Jupiter will be visible from dusk until almost 3 am local time. Even a backyard telescope can show Jupiter’s two main equatorial stripes and the four Galilean moons named Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. The moons always form a rough line flanking the planet. If you see fewer than four, then some are either in front of Jupiter or hidden behind it.

Jupiter will do something interesting this week, and then it will repeat it a month from now! On the evenings surrounding Friday, July 26, Jupiter’s orbital motion will carry it close past a globular star cluster designated NGC 6235, which is located in the southern sky in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). At closest approach on July 26, the bright planet will sit only 4 arc-minutes above the cluster. (For comparison purposes, the full moon is 30 arc-minutes across.) You can start looking for the cluster starting tonight. It will be located to Jupiter’s right (celestial west), but your telescope will flip the directions around.

That star cluster is located about 38,000 light-years away, while Jupiter will only be 38 light-minutes from Earth! Both objects will fit within the field of view of a backyard telescope at medium power. To better see the dim, fuzzy globular cluster, try placing the bright planet just outside your field of view. Binoculars might work, too – if your sky is very dark!

From time to time, the small, round black shadows cast by the Galilean moons become visible in amateur telescopes as they cross (or transit) Jupiter’s disk. On Tuesday night, Europa’s small shadow will be transiting the northern part of Jupiter from 11:45 pm to 2 am EDT. On Wednesday night, Ganymede’s larger shadow will be transiting the northern part of Jupiter from 11:30 pm to 1:45 am EDT. On Saturday, July 27, Io’s mall shadow will cross from 10:50 pm to 1 am EDT, with the Great Red Spot joining the fun after 11:45 pm.

(Above: On Tuesday night, Europa’s small shadow will be transiting the northern part of Jupiter from 11:45 pm to 2 am EDT, as shown here at 11:55 pm EDT. Your telescope will likely flip and/or mirror the view shown here.)

Speaking of the spot, due to Jupiter’s rapid 10-hour rotation period, the Great Red Spot (or GRS) is only observable from Earth every 2nd or 3rd night, and only during a predictable three-hour window. The GRS will be easiest to see using a medium-sized, or larger, aperture telescope on an evening of good seeing (steady air). If you’d like to see the Great Red Spot in your telescope, it will be crossing the planet on Tuesday evening from 8:30 to 11:30 pm EDT and on Thursday night from 10:15 pm to 1:15 am EDT.

(Above: Jupiter events for the next month. Blue times are Galilean Moon shadow transits. Red times are Great Red Spot appearances. The actual viewing window spans about 90 minutes before and after those times.)

Yellow-tinted Saturn will remain visible all night long this month. Its position in the sky is just to the upper left (celestial east) of the stars that form the teapot-shaped constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). Saturn is quite a bit dimmer than Jupiter. To find it, look about 3 fist diameters to the lower left (east) of Jupiter. Dust off your telescope! Once the sky is dark, even a small telescope will show Saturn's rings and several of its brighter moons, especially Titan! Because Saturn’s axis of rotation is tipped about 27° from vertical (a bit more than Earth’s axis), we can see the top surface of its rings, and its moons can appear above, below, or to either side of the planet. During this week, Titan will migrate counter-clockwise around Saturn, moving from below Saturn tonight (Sunday) to the upper right the planet next Sunday. (Remember that your telescope will flip the view around.)

For night owls, distant and dim, blue Neptune is in the southeastern pre-dawn sky, among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). The planet will be rising before 10:30 pm local time this week. You’ll find the magnitude 7.9 Neptune sitting a thumb’s width to the left (east) of a medium-bright star named Phi (φ) Aquarii.

(Above: The two Ice Giant planets Uranus and Neptune are visible after late evening, as shown here at 1 am local time.)

Blue-green Uranus will be rising at about midnight local time this week. It is sitting below the stars of Aries (the Ram) and is just a palm’s width above the head of Cetus (the Whale). At magnitude 5.8, Uranus is bright enough to see in binoculars under dark skies.

In a similar situation to Mars, Venus is barely bright enough to see within the pre-dawn twilight sky that surrounds it. It is sitting very low in the northeastern sky - sinking ever-closer to the rising sun. Venus will be rising at about 5:30 am local time all week. By the end of the week, Mercury will climb over the horizon to join Venus. The swift innermost planet will become easier to see next week.

(Above: Towards the end of this week, Mercury will ascend to sit to the right of descending Venus, both low in the eastern pre-dawn sky, as shown here for 5:40 am local time. Mercury is just beginning a good period of visibility.)

Touring the Dark July Southern Sky

With the moon rising after midnight and waning in phase and brightness, let’s grab bug spray and binoculars, or dust off the old telescope, and set up in a spot with a low and open southern horizon �� for a tour through the scorpion, the teapot, and the shield!

Once it’s getting nice and dark, face south and look for the Milky Way rising from the southern horizon between Jupiter and Saturn. (Those two planets will only be embracing the Milky Way this summer. They’ll move east of it next year.) Due to haziness near the horizon, and more of Earth’s intervening atmosphere, The Milky Way will be easier to see higher in the sky, where it passes directly through Cygnus (the Swan). By midnight local time, the great swan will be nearly overhead. The rest of the Milky Way will descend to the northeast. It thins as it passes through the “W” of Cassiopeia (the Queen) and Perseus (the Hero) because that area represents the outer edge of our galaxy’s disk.

Looking due south again - in late July, the distinctive constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion) reaches its peak elevation over the southern horizon after dusk. Jupiter is spending this year in the sky just northeast of that constellation’s brightest star, orange-tinted Antares, the “Rival of Mars”. Three white, medium-bright stars aligned in a roughly vertical line to the west of Antares mark the creature’s claws today – however the major stars of neighboring Libra (the Scales) used to take that role. The rest of the scorpion extends to the south, curling eastward into the Milky Way, and terminating in a bright double star named Shaula, which marks the poisonous stinger. Observers above mid-northern latitudes will struggle to see the southerly stars of the constellation. For Moana fans, the Maori people of New Zealand consider those same stars to represent Maui’s fish hook pulling the Milky Way up every night!

(Above: In late July and early August annually, the Milky Way appears to rise from the southern horizon, like steam from the Teapot-shaped constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer. The southern sky, shown here at 10:30 pm local time, is riddled with interesting deep sky objects visible in binoculars and backyard telescopes when the sky is dark. Each coloured symbol represents a good target. Dotted circles are open star clusters, circles with crosshairs are globular clusters, and green symbols are nebulas.)

For contrast with cool, reddish Antares, look at the two hot, white stars, both named Al Niyat, that flank the red supergiant. Magnitude 3.1 Al Niyat I (also known as Sigma Scorpii) is located 2 finger widths to the upper right of Antares. It is a B1-class star with a surface temperature of 36,200 K. Magnitude 2.8 Al Niyat II is located 2.25 degrees to the lower left of Antares. Also known as Tau Scorpii, it is a B0-class star with a surface temperature of 30,000 K. At 734 light-years from the sun, Al Niyat I is nearly twice as far away as Al Niyat II. Use binoculars to find a fuzzy patch that is sitting just a finger’s width to Antares’ lower right. It is a globular star cluster named Messier 4.

Late July evenings bring us one of the best asterisms in the sky, the Teapot in Sagittarius (the Archer). This informal star pattern features a flat bottom formed by the stars Ascella on the left and Kaus Australis on the right, a triangular pointed spout pointing right, marked by the star Alnasl, and a pointed lid marked by the star Kaus Borealis. The stars Nunki and Tau Sagittarii form its handle. The asterism is low in the sky, but it reaches maximum height above the southern horizon around midnight local time, when it will look as if it’s serving its hot beverage – with the steam rising as the Milky Way. By the way – the centre of our galaxy is located just 4.5 finger widths to the upper right of Alnasl!

(Above: The bright planets Jupiter and Saturn are spanning the Milky Way this summer, as shown here at 10:30 pm local time this week. Scorpius, the Scorpion sits to the right (celestial west) of Sagittarius. Small Scutum, the Shield, is above Sagittarius.)

Next, use your binoculars to explore the rich star fields and nebulae sprinkled along the Milky Way above Sagittarius. The bright star clusters known as Ptolemy’s Cluster (also designated Messier 7), the Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24), and Messier 25 will appear as compact, bright, white clouds in binoculars. You can also look for the bright knots of nebulosity comprising the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8), the Omega / Swan Nebula (Messier 17), and the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16). Higher up, you’ll discover more good clusters, including Messier 39 and Messier 29 in Cygnus, Caldwell 16 in Lacerta (the Lizard), the Wild Duck cluster (Messier 11) and Messier 26 in Scutum (the Shield). Use your backyard telescope for a closer look!

Scutum (the Shield) was created by Johannes Hevelius in 1683 by taking some of the stars from next-door Aquila (the Eagle). The small constellation (84th out of 88 by area) occupies some prime celestial real estate along the summertime Milky Way. Scutum, which reaches its highest position over the southern horizon at midnight local time in late July, has a background of rich star fields, which are overlain by some fine open star clusters, including the aforementioned Wild Duck Cluster. Use binoculars to trace out the dim stars that form the constellation and then follow up with your telescope.

Public Astro-Themed Events

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

On Tuesday, July 23, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour planetarium show will be Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Find tickets and details here.

On Thursday, July 25, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour planetarium show will be The Life and Death of Stars. Find tickets and details here.

The next RASC Family Night at the David Dunlap Observatory will be on Saturday, August 10. There will be sky tours in the Skylab planetarium room, space crafts, a tour of the giant 74” telescope, and viewing through lawn telescopes (weather permitting). The doors will open at 8:30 pm for a 9 pm start. Attendance is by tickets only, available here. If you are a RASC Toronto Centre member and wish to help us at DDO in the future, please fill out the volunteer form here. And to join RASC Toronto Centre, visit this page.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#planets #astronomy #space #nebulas #star clusters #globular clusters #Great Red Spot #Jupiter #southern Delta Aquariids #Sagittarius #Scorpius #Scutum #milky way

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furederiko · 7 years ago

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Don't let your shame messes around with the game! The 34th episode of Kyuranger reminds us that no matter how, why, or for what purpose we were born, it does NOT define who we are now...

- Hmmm... there's no intro narration again. Since it's already two episodes in a row, should we assume that this is the new norm? I guess so... - Our story immediately begins with a surprise revelation from our two Vice-Shoguns. Kukuruga confirms that Professor Anton's laboratory... is where they received 'upgrades' too! Recall how the two and Tecchu looked different in the past? Could it be... these Vice-Shoguns are in fact mechanical beings, then? That would explain why they can't seem to die. - This also brings a new theory to mind: could Anton has been faking his death all these time? As pointed out later, the professor had many cyborg enhancements, allowing him the ability to live for more than 300 years. Do you get where I'm leading with this? Anton could very well be... the true face of Don Armage!!! - Let's put that speculation aside for now, and get back to the recap-view. Akyanba decides to activate Champ, who is being kept inactive inside the lab. But is this our very own Champ? The answer to that doesn't take long. While several members stay behind on Battle Orion Ship (Raptor is piloting, Balance reenters Naga's brain using the modified Microscopium Kyu Globe to dig memory about Armage's exact location, while Xiao is... basically dumbfounded by this newfound shrinking ability), the away team encounters not just one, but TWO incarnations of Champ! Bullseye. - The one working with Kukuruga might look like Champ, but when he injures Hammy and Spada without hesitation, it's clear something is amiss. The second one might be proclaiming himself as Yagyu Jubeef. But he's not fooling anyone, not the audience, not even the Kyurangers. LOL. Jubeef is no doubt the genuine Taurus Black, who is merely masquerading behind a fancy luchador mask and silly accessories! Fun fact: Over-Time translates this masked character as Yagyu Jubeef, but the actual Japanese naming is 'Yagyuu Jubee'. Not confirmed, but it might be: 1) a wordplay to the word 'Wagyuu' that refers to a particular variety of japanese cow, popular for its high-priced meat. 2) a nod to a feudal figure Yagyuu Juubei, a name more popularly known as a samurai character from the fighting game series "Samurai Spirits". One interesting bit is also lost in the fansub. Namely the way Jubeef keeps on stuttering whenever he's trying to utter the word 'I'. He generally uses the informal japanese word 'Boku', but somehow always stumbles into saying 'Wagahai', which is obviously Champ's signature manner of speech. It might seem pointless, but it's exactly a hillarious minor detail that gives away Jubeef's true identity. LOL. - Let me take that back. Jubeef DOES succeed in fooling one Kyuranger. Garu the group's simpleton! LOL. Clearly Stinger doesn't buy Jubeef's words either, but it seems he's playing along and acting coy. What for? To find out WHY 'Jubeef' has to go all the trouble of acting this way, instead of just... you know, comes back to the team as his true persona. - His personal reason is... moving, to say the least. Champ discovered in the past, that Anton created him for Jark Matter's evil purpose. That other 'Evil-Champ' is the Bovine All Purpose Weapon Unit-00 ('Ushikai Hanyou Hakai Heiki ZERO-gou' in Japanese), the evil prototype model for his design. And his tendency to occasionally go berserk or out of control (which might be unlocked during that devastating showdown with Scorpio) serves as the proof. Simply put, it's a dilemmatic existential crisis to someone who as long as he has lived believe that he's a righteous robot created for justice. That's why Champ couldn't face the Kyurangers, feeling that he deserves no place to uphold justice with them, and went into hiding. All due to this dark 'lineage'. - Both he and Stinger knew about this fact, because Scorpio has told them before. But at the time, Scorpio's words was too ambiguous to believe, so they didn't really believe him. It's official now, the duo shares a similar 'bad blood' situation. Allowing Stinger to return Champ's own words about not doing everything alone. This is also where Garu nicely comes along. Despite being clueless about Jubeef's identity (even Kotarou calls him dumb LOL), Garu believes that Champ's justice is real, and wants him to rely on them as his friends. Harkening back to their short off-screen bonding moment (took them long enough to FINALLY share the spotlight in this episode's ending dance). Way to go, Garu! - And it... works. 'Jubeef' unveils his not-really--a secret, as the team's final lost member officially returns home to "bear with his shame" with them. Oow... there goes that cool luchador mask! A shame really, because I actually like that better than Champ's actual gigantic head. - It's plain hillarious that both Garu and Champ himself are taken aback with the fact that everyone else already knows. Two of a kind, huh? It's also a heartwarming moment to see Lupus Blue kicking Taurus Black out of his sudden berserk in battle. His signature kind of tough love that he gave to Lucky before. Champ has both Stinger and Garu watching his back now! Both in battle, and in keeping his 'running wild' condition a secret... Fun fact: we finally get to see Ursa Minor Skyblue and Taurus Black perform their signature "Polaris Impact" and "Aldebaran Impact" in battle. Leo Red Orion also steals the scene by using a popular trope in Japanese anime shows: overloading an enemy with infinite power. A major disadvantage for antagonist who can absorb attacks, right? - While Team 2-Reds&Blues deals with Unit-00 and Kukuruga, Xiao forms Ryutei-Oh with Hammy and Spada to deal with the two giant Consumarz. We get a first look of Battle Orion Ship's Voyager Launching Sequence here. Of course, the highlight of this giant battle is when all four Kyuranger robots enters the scene, and Orion Battler actually proposes to use him as the finisher. A truly smart reason for giving the robot sentience! "Ultimate Galaxy! Orion Big Bang Cannon!" genuinely looks impressive. The team does not have a combined human-size cannon like previous Sentai teams, so this works as a great homage to that standard in a relatively new way. Trivia: I used the word 'relatively new' because well... it's not entirely new. The 'giant mecha turning into a massive cannon' is a concept used by "Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger" with their DekaWing Cannon before (which by the way, was also used by Ryutei-Oh in that Space Squad crossover episode! Nice, huh?). It goes even way back with the case of Tetra Boy's Tetra Buster mode in "Choujin Sentai Jetman". - Naga sneezes Balance out of his body, as the two have discovered the exact location of Don Armage's base: Planet Southern Cross of the Crux System. Will they obtain the truth of his immortality there? Let's just wait and see...

Overall: Kyuranger has returned into a complete unit! That was FAST, eh? Similar to Raptor's case, this show reminded us once again that even a robot has a heart of justice. In this case, big but softie Champ received his very own long-awaited focus episode (which might not be the final closure to his personal arc with Prof. Anton). It also put Garu, considered by many among the generally 'underdeveloped' character, into the spotlight. Not only the wolf-man worked exceptionally well as a comic relief throughout, but he was given a powerful moment and speech, that cemented his place as the heart of the group. It was however, not a perfect episode. The handling of Champ's return, albeit heartwarming and moving, did feel a bit sloppy for my taste. Unlike the neat approach the show applied to Xiao, it was implied that during the previous 33 episodes, two Champs were both 'active' within the same timeline. A minor detail that could be problematic to the whole plot once you stop and think about it. It's an issue the show actually could've gotten away with, by simply having Champ putting himself on 'hibernate' mode during the long 300 years (considering he's a robot that runs by Operating System). Sure, it would feel redundant, but at least it would avoid nitpickers like yours truly to start 'questioning' stuffs. LOL. Overall though, I highly appreciated how the episode weaved intricate details from past episodes into one, while sending off a strong thoughtful message of self-acceptance to its audience. For that part, well done! Next week: Hammy Idol Debut feat. Hoshi Minato... PS: According to recent rumor, the next Super Sentai series is expected to start airing on February 11th, 2018. Since two additional breaks have already been scheduled, this partially confirms that Kyuranger will have a total of 48 episodes. Dang it, here I thought moving the broadcast schedule to 09:30 means there will be no breaks. I guess the annoying thing is inevitable, huh? Anyway, this means the show is still 14 episodes away. I wonder what it has in store for us in the final quarter then? Hmmm....

Episode 34 Score: 7,9 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: October 17th, 2017 - Version 3.02. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#tokusatsu #SuperSentai #kyuranger #uchu sentai kyuranger #uchuu sentai kyuranger #review #melancholymoments #friendship

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thepointyview-blog · 7 years ago

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The Pale Blue Dot and Alien Intelligence - Humanity Searching For Other Sapient Life

Is there intelligent life beyond Earth?

Beyond a mere conversational topic, there is a gigantic scientific effort to answer the question in terms of what is fact. But, until now at least, a belief is as much as we can offer for an answer.

Do I believe it exists? Yes. Why? Because it is unlikely that it doesn't. And, more subjectively, a belief is a matter of hope and I do hope that it does. Because it excites me to imagine life beyond what we know as life. And it would be a rather lonely universe with only one species proclaiming intelligent thought. The argument of which would bring me to the other pitfall of considering extra-terrestrial life – what is life? And what is, beyond that, intelligent life? Can our definitions, no matter how scientific, really capture the essence of that what might exist and think?

Beyond belief, the facts are studied in an interdisciplinary scientific approach. However, this is perhaps the scientific field that leaves the most obvious space for a favorite human tool - imagination. Indeed, even the mathematical approximations themselves often sound like daydreams. For example, the Drake equation, coined in 1961, represents the probabilistic definition of variables needed to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way that are emitting radio signals. The Fermi Paradox describes the discrepancy between the probability that alien civilizations exist and the absence of evidence humanity has not found (yet).

The theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson has described several interesting thought experiments/probable developments of intelligent civilizations in space exploration. One of them is an „astrochicken“, a principle proposed in his book Disturbing the Universe from 1979.

What is an astrochicken?

It is a merger of technology and biology, an organic spacecraft capable of harvesting nutrients from whatever system it has reached to self-replicate both its organic and electronic elements and then travel further still, occasionally sending signals of information to the planet of origin. What it essentially is - a possible means of faster and cheaper space exploration. Much more popular in science fiction is the so-called Dyson sphere, proposed in his 1960 paper "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation", where Dyson claims that an obvious step in energy consumption for a highly developed alien civilization is some form of a sphere built around a star, capturing the highest possible amount of energy. And, most interesting for a plant biologist, a Dyson tree is a hypothetical tree growing on a comet, using solar energy for photosynthesis and creating a (hypothetically) breathable atmosphere in a small area. Obviously, trees capable of growing on comets are far from the realm of the possible currently – but the purpose of a thought experiment is the same as with any imaginative process – the trick is asking oneself „What if?“ What would be the easiest way to develop it? Where would it be developed? What is the scale for which we aim for? What is, lastly, within the reach of physically possible, if we only surpassed a few (crucial) obstacles? However ridiculous it may sound, this principle of thinking is the driving force behind any scientific endeavor and it has been since the dawn of sapience.

If there is intelligent life out there in space, would it be hostile towards humans or not? Our concern for our own survival comes first, naturally. Stephen Hawking claims that, considering how human interaction between 'primitive' and 'advanced' usually turns out, it is entirely possible that a superior alien race would be hostile or exploit Earth (but we should try to find them nevertheless).

In line with that, the Breakthrough Initiatives programs Listen, Message, Watch and Starshot were founded. And on the board of the Breakthrough Starshot program are Stephen Hawking himself, Yuri Milner (the founder of the program) and Mark Zuckerberg.

Listen, initiated in 2016 and with a 100 million dollars as a budget is based on search for intelligent life by detection of artificial radio and laser signals. The idea of recording the electromagnetic transmissions in order to „listen“ to who is out there came from Philip Morrison and Guiseppe Cocconi in 1959, and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has since the beginning focused on emissions from 1420 to 1720 MHz - the Water Hole – detecting the microwave frequencies of components of water.

Message focuses on discussing what we would say to alien life to represent humanity and Earth best. When it comes to messages – humanity has already sent out some. There is the Pioneer 10, a space probe launched in 1972, (lost contact with in 2003), which is still (presumably) on the trajectory to the constellation Taurus, star Aldebaran (and might reach it in 2 million years). It is carrying a plaque designed by Carl Sagan depicting a human man and woman and the information on the origin of the space probe. Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and New Horizons are all space probes launched between 1972 and 2006, directed towards different constellations. Pioneer 11 carries the same plaque as Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1 and 2 carry golden records with greetings, music, natural sounds and images chosen to encompass the human experience, with additional data on Earth's location.

The Golden Record carried by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 (Source: J Marshall - Tribaleye Images / Alamy, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-on-voyagers-golden-record-73063839/)

Watch is about developing the technology for finding Earth-like planets in our cosmic neighbourhood. Previously, the Kelper observatory orbiting the Sun and recording the dimming of stars in the Milky Way to conclude about exo-planets orbiting their stars was launched in 2009.

Starshot is a program aimed at foundations of (space probe) travel to the next star system Alpha Cenaturi.

In the first publication of results from Breakthrough Listen in April 2017 - 692 stars that were examined for unusual and irregular radio signals didn't result in conclusive evidence of habitats hosting life - but the search continues. It is rather a matter of data mining and repeated and persistent observation. Logic implies that if there is an alien civilization developed at some of the planets in the star systems, there will be an unusual signal to pick up on and it is a matter of time when that will happen. The trick is distinguishing among the multitude of captured signals.

„Artificial signals can be distinguished from natural processes through features like narrow bandwidth; irregular spectral behavior, pulsing, or modulation patterns; as well as broad-band signals with unusual characteristics. However, human technology emits signals (known as radio frequency interference) similar to the ones being searched for. This means that algorithms must be designed to ensure that signals are coming from a fixed point relative to the stars or other targets being observed, and not from local interferers (including Earth-orbiting satellites).“ - As described by the Berkeley SETI Research Center team at seti.berkeley.edu/listen and available in the text form at the https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/10.

If we entertain the thought of not being alone in the universe, the most interesting question following for a biologist is how does the „other“ life look like? Is it carbon based? Is it based on cellular life? DNA? Does it breathe (oxygen)? The best prediction to come up with is that the first forms of life detected by us will be extremophile organisms – the „unintelligent“ life. Scientifically, the most probable life form to stumble upon on Mars, where the focus of current astrobiology research lies. You don't have to look further than human imagination of what alien life looks like in the majority of science fiction, book/television/movies to see that we fall into a particular trap over and over again – we create the idea of alien life itself on a humanoid blueprint. This trope is so prominent because fiction needs to appeal to our compassion for the „other“ life perhaps – by simultaneously reminding us that it is almost human and not human at all at the same time. From greenish Martians to a Time Lord that looks exactly like a human (unless you are listening to the heartbeat(s)), we imagine intelligent to look, communicate, behave and react eerily like a human would (exceptions are present, of course).

On the wisdom of Carl Sagan

Space exploration itself is a lesson of perspective and humility, perhaps most obviously shown in the famous Pale Blue Dot photograph and the Carl Sagan book it inspired, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space from 1994 (Random House, ISBN: 0-679-43841-6).

Pale Blue Dot, a photograph taken by Voyager 1, February 14, 1990. The photo shows a small dot – the Earth (on the middle of the brown stripe on the right – taken as Voyager 1 was leaving the Solar system (Source: http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/earth/pale-blue-dot.html, on 07.07.2017)

The photo itself inspired one of the greatest quotes about Earth and its inhabitants ever written by the legendary astronomer and writer Carl Sagan himself:

„Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.“ (Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, Cornell lecture in 1994, the audio of which you can listen to here)

Pointy View: We don't know if/where/or even when alien sapient life exists in the Universe. And even if it is fun to discuss the possibilities, the only question humanity can truly give an answer to currently is – Do we search for it? The answer seems more than obvious – Of course we do. Persistence is perhaps the second most common among the character traits of humanity. The first one – curiosity. But probably the most important lesson to keep in mind in space exploration (and every other human endeavor, individual or collective), are the famous words of Carl Sagan quoted above.

References and Sources:

1. Calla Cofield, „Stephen Hawking: Intelligent Aliens Could Destroy Humanity, But Let's Search Anyway“, Space.com, July 21, 2015. (https://www.space.com/29999-stephen-hawking-intelligent-alien-life-danger.html)

2. Freeman Dyson, Distrubing the Universe, 1979, ISBN 0-06-011108-9.

3. Freeman Dyson, „Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation“, Science 03 Jun 1960: Vol. 131, Issue 3414, pp. 1667-1668 DOI: 10.1126/science.131.3414.1667

4. Breakthrough Initiatives, Accessed on 07.07.2017 (https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/About)

5. „Seti Observations“, on seti.org, Accessed on 07.07.2017 (https://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/seti-observations)

6. Carl Sagan, Linda Salzman Sagan and Frank Drake, „A Message from Earth“, Science 175, (4024), 881-884. (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/175/4024/881.full.pdf)

7. „Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System“, Heavens Above, Accessed on 07.07.2017, (http://www.heavens-above.com/SolarEscape.aspx)

8. „The Golden Record“, Voyager- The Interstellar Mission, Accessed on 07.07.2017, (https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec_more.html)

9. Megan Gambino, „What is on Voyager's Golden Record“, April 22, 2012, Smithsonian.com, (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-on-voyagers-golden-record-73063839/)

10. „Breakthrough Listen Initiative Publishes Initial Results“ April 20, 2017, (https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/10)

11. Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space , 1994 (Random House, ISBN: 0-679-43841-6)

12. „A Pale Blue Dot“, The Planetary Society, Accessed on 07.07.2017 (http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/earth/pale-blue-dot.html)

13. Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, Cornell lecture in 1994, Audio on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M (TheTheoryOfEveryThing, You tube chanell, Published on April 2, 2007)

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sorasunao · 8 years ago

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Garish Room #28 [2017 ver. member A to Z case of Ruki] part 1

- Actor (favorite actor / actress, own acting ability)

Ruki: I watched the movie "Mommy" and the roles in it are very well executed. Antoine-Olivier Pilon plays the role of a guy with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), but I was very impressed, thinking that although he is young, he already has such amazing acting skills. And I like Jake Gyllenhaal. But I haven't acting skills. Since I'm just not that type of person (laughs). Beginning to be shy, I just can't stand it, and therefore I cannot remember the words at all. But during the performances I feel calm. When I hold the microphone, I'm all right. However, in the video, the one who gets recognition is more a director and his mores, not actors, right? Once upon a time I played an insignificant role in one video, but it was a complete failure. I wouldn't like to see it again a second time (laughs).

- Baby (when you behave like a child)

Ruki: By and large, I don't behave like a child. Perhaps I have many negative personality traits. I have no sense of time... basically I'm not at all reliable (laughs). And since that time, when I was a child, it's hard for me to get up in the morning. So, since then, I thought that I wouldn't become an employee of any company. I think that such place is not suitable for me.

- Christmas (memories of christmas)

Ruki: I can't tell stories about that time when I was in the middle and high school (laughs). What I very clearly remember...in those days when I was an elementary school student, there was gilded series of toys in a heat-resistant alloy “Saint Seiya” [*manga and anime]. It doesn't even need to specify which of them I wanted, because usually everyone expects that they can get Seiya, don't they? But I hardly got the figure of character-the villain Taurus Aldebaran. In addition, the part of his horn was rusty. So I was beside myself with anger, these are my memories (laughs). And I also with great difficulty shoved my legs into containers in the form of boots, where candies are usually placed, and decided to walk in them.

- Danger (it was dangerous!)

Ruki: That unpleasant time, when we continued to work with two managers, was creepy, isn't it (bitter smile). I wonder what other guys answer? Is it possible that we had anything more dangerous than this?

- Emergency (things you think you need to do now, as soon as possible)

Ruki: There is a lot of! For example, I still didn’t write the lyrics to 「taion」, which we will record the day after tomorrow, so I need to hurry with this. If we talk about things that do not concern work, it occurs to me that I didn't receive my ID card.

- Fashion (preferences in style)

Ruki: It seems that I have them, but it is not. I really like European-style clothes, but those that I wear every day mostly single-color and without patterns. I have a feeling that among such things I'm looking for suitable ones. The print on clothes is ok, too, but such clothes that I would like to wear is very hard to find. Next, there is no more clothes about which I would have thought "I want this!", so I create it (with the help of my brand). Therefore I wear it, but when some of this is worn by other members, I immediately stop wearing it (laughs). Ah, maybe I yet like it when a person, who I don't know, wears my brand's clothes. I don't take up making things of too high brands, but at the same time I buy unusual things.

- Ghibli (Ghibli's favorite works)

Ruki: Not that I really liked them, but among them there are those that I can watch, as "Spirited Away" or "Kiki’s Delivery Service". Although, I don’t watch them very long (laughs). But those who like Ghibli, certainly, also will choose "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind" and "Laputa - Castle in the Sky", which I don’t like at all. Perhaps this is my prejudice, but I don't like something like "flying in the sky" and such things. And then something else like how they get out of huge cars (laughs). First of all, I donэt like science fiction, but its pretty realistic representation, it's probably a good thing, isn’t it?

- Health (what do you pay special attention in the field of health)

Ruki: I always take biologically active supplements. And I realize that in order not to catch cold, you need to take vitamins. During the tour, even when I sleep, I always put a mask on my face, but, despite this, I still catch a cold. As for food, I don’t pay much attention to it. I eat everything.

- Immorality (about treasons, which became a hot topic in 2016)

Ruki: Treason... Watching this, I felt that I am very sorry for those who are deceived. Couldn't they have discovered it so far? This is also often said in the news. But I think: "How is it?". Well, if we talk about treason as such, then it is considered that before marriage it is allowed. But even if it's not a treason, when someone looking like a persone without drawbacks, does something that causes bitter feelings behind your back, I immediately think: "ahaaaa..." (laughs). "Love intrigue," in a literal sense, an amazing thing, isn’t it?

- Junk (unnecessary things at home)

Ruki: I do not have that. Since I almost immediately get rid of them. I'm not used to things, and I'm not that type of people who think - I'll leave this and this too. Clothes that I don’t wear for a year, I throw out with the thoughts "I, after all, don't wear it", but after that it happens that I regret it very much (laughs). Therefore, I throw out too much of everything. Also the contents of the personal computer - doing the cleaning, I brought everything in order there, but I deleted everything down to very important things that I shouldn't delete (laughs). I often throw away all unnecessary, leaving only the necessary minimum.

- Kimi no Na Wa (the film "Your name")

Ruki: I didn’t watch it. Is it by Ghibli? No? It seems that at the moment I'm completely unaware of anything (laughs). I don’t watch them, if there is a manga with drawings made by the technique of soft touch. Although I often go to the cinema, I look sideways at the one where are always a lot of people. In this movie theater the main film is "Your name", so I immediately think something like "than to go there, I'd rather go to this one" (laughs). And in the future I'm also not going to press this button (with this movie) on the ticket machine.

- Love (the importance that love occupies in your life)

Ruki: During puberty everything else except this (love) wasn't important for me. But as I grew older, everything changed significantly, and if to tell frankly (laughs), I guess it's because now I'm very busy with work. In high school, the band was just a hobby for me, so I wasn’t so passionate on this to really went into it with my head. Since I just approximated to the so-called ‘culture’, I guess that at that time, love in my life was quite significant.

- Moving (сonditions for moving)

Ruki: This is the layout of the house and what is in the neighborhood. As for the layout of the house, it will suit me even if the rooms are not very spacious, just to make the size fit so that I could live there. Since I recently said that I have few things, leaving only the minimum necessary, they should always be in my field of view. As for the environment, then, most likely, I ask questions, are there any supermarkets and pet stores, is it easy to catch a taxi, and whether it is convenient to get from this area to the city center.

translated from japanese to russian by shimizu_ran.vk for the_gazette_quotes.vk

translated from russian to english by me

as always thx for reading and sorry for mistakes ^^

#the gazette #thegazette #ruki #garish room #translation #interview #gr #GR28 #garish room 28

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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Comet Wirtanen Brightens before the Winter Solstice, Telescope Shopping Tips, the Moon covers a Star, and the Full Moon Before Yule Spoils the Ursids!

(Above: This image of Comet 46P/Wirtanen was captured by talented Canadian astrophotographer Alan Dyer on December 15, 2018. More of his amazing sky work is here.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of December 16th, 2018 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

If the skies are clear, from 7 to 10 pm on Sunday, December 16, at the Iroquois Sports Centre in Whitby, astronomers from RASC will set up telescopes to view Comet 46P/Wirtanen (more about the comet below), and the public are welcome to join them. Details are here.

Solstice!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Or, as we astronomers say, “Have a Happy Solstice and a Merry Perihelion!”

For the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of winter, also called the Winter Solstice, occurs on Friday, December 21 at 5:23 pm Eastern Time. At that precise moment, the north pole of Earth’s axis of rotation will be tilting directly away from the sun. Every day, at local noon, the sun reaches its highest position in the sky for that day. But at the Winter Solstice, that highest position is the lowest (i.e., farthest south, celestially) for the entire year, and we receive the shortest amount of daylight. The sunlight that we do get this time of year is diluted because it’s spread over a larger area, the same way a flashlight beam looks dimmer when you shine it obliquely at a wall (try it!).

(Above: At the Winter Solstice, the Earth’s axis of rotation tips away from the sun, putting the noonday sun lowest in the southern sky for the year.)

Fewer hours and weaker sunlight both translate into less received solar energy (insolation) and therefore colder temperatures! Good news for us, though - after Friday, our days start growing longer again! For our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun will attain its highest noon-time height for the year on the solstice, and it marks the start of their summer season.

It is NOT the case, as some people think, that we are colder in winter because we are farther from the Sun (a position called aphelion). That event happens every year in early July! On the contrary – we’re approaching Earth’s nearest position from the Sun (perihelion), which occurs every January 4, or thereabouts.

Some people think that Christmas was deliberately placed close to the solstice, and Easter placed close to the Vernal Equinox, because early non-Christian “pagans” were already holding celebrations to mark the astronomical changing of the seasons.

Telescope Buying Tips

A few people have asked me about buying a first telescope. Two of the most important characteristics in telescope performance are its aperture (the diameter of the main “tube”) and the sturdiness of the mount/tripod. The aperture is the diameter of the main mirror or lens in the telescope - and the larger it is, the more light it can gather, allowing fainter objects to be seen more easily. A larger aperture also increases the telescope’s angular resolution, or sharpness, which is especially helpful for planets.

In a refractor telescope (the type with the lens at the front end of the main tube), look for a minimum diameter of 60 mm. This type of telescope will offer nice views of the brighter planets, the Moon, double stars, and brighter nebulae and clusters. The performance of a telescope improves with the square of the aperture, so an 80 mm telescopes is (80*80)/(60*60) = 1.8 times more powerful than a 60 mm telescope! That’s nearly twice as good!

(Above: A Dobsonian-style telescope offers the ideal mix of ease of use, stability, and light-gathering for seeing the moon, planets, and deep sky objects.)

In reflector telescopes (the type with the large mirror inside the bottom of the main tube), diameters of 6 or 8 inches are common and affordable. Because of that aperture scaling rule, they outperform the refractor telescope by showing dimmer galaxies and clusters, especially under a dark sky, while also showing the same brighter objects. (An 8-inch reflector gathers seven times as much light as an 80 mm refractor!)

The second important factor when shopping is the mount, including the tripod. A high quality telescope on a rickety mount is practically useless. Every time you touch it, for focusing or centering an object, you set off a wild shaking of the image. This is one of the main reasons why cheap department store telescopes are poor investments – people get frustrated when they can’t put objects in the field of view and keep them there.

Skywatcher makes a good affordable series of starter telescopes. Here’s a 70mm diameter model that ticks all the boxes. They have larger aperture versions, too. Look for the “AZ3” part of the model number. It’s a good, lightweight, and sturdy tripod that includes slow motion controls for following the object as the Earth turns. Any other brand with the same specifications should be okay, too.

The type of telescope I recommend most for beginners is the Dobsonian style. While larger and heavier, they are simple and easy to set up and use. They are less portable, but are quite rugged and can be transported in the trunk of your car if padded decently. The beauty of the Dobsonian design is the extremely sturdy mounting system – not a tripod, but a swivelling and tilting box that holds the big tube. Once aimed at a target, a simple nudge with your finger will re-centre the object without any undue shaking. These types of telescopes typically show a generous amount of sky in their eyepiece, making finding targets much easier. I’ll post a picture of this type here.

The best brands of consumer telescopes include Meade Instruments, Celestron, Skywatcher, Orion, and iOptron. Some of the GTA telescope vendors include Durham Skies, New Eyes Old Skies, Ontario Telescope, KW Telescope, and Khan Scope. Many of these vendors offer both new and used equipment, which can be a very cost effective solution. Dobsonians in particular can be found used on sites like Kijiji and the Canadian astronomy selling site Astrobuysell, mainly because people find them harder to store. Prices for good, used telescopes range from $250 to $400. If you are buying used, make sure that you try the telescope on a star – to ensure that you can achieve a sharp pinpoint focus.

One last tip – the eyepiece does the job of magnifying. So look for telescopes that accept eyepieces with 1.25” diameter barrels – the standard for quality equipment. That way you can add extra eyepieces, or upgrade to better quality ones later. Here’s an online beginner telescope buying guide from the Backyard Astronomer's Guide folks.

Bright Comet Update

For the past few weeks, I’ve been updating you about an evening comet that anyone can see worldwide. I gave some basic information on the comet here. Here’s an update on how to see Comet 46P/Wirtanen this week and what to expect.

(Above: The path of Comet 46P/Wirtanen through the sky for the next week, starting below the bright Pleiades Cluster at top right. Yellow dots represent 6-hour intervals.)

Comet 46P/Wirtanen is predicted to brighten until December 16, when its orbit will carry it closest to both Earth and the sun. It’s now bright enough to see without binoculars if you are under a dark sky away from artificial lights. It’s quite easy in binoculars, if you know where to look. Don’t try searching for the comet with a telescope – the patch of sky seen in the eyepiece is so small that you’ll likely miss the comet. But once you know where it is, use the telescope to look closely at it! The moon will increasingly affect the night sky this week, so you should try to see the comet on the first clear night this week.

Look for a faint, green, fuzzy blob surrounding a bright point of light. Reports are that the halo around the comet is as wide as a full moon – that’s half a finger’s width held at arm’s length. If Comet 46P/Wirtanen grows a tail, the tail will extend east (to the left), away from the sun. You can begin to look for the comet as soon as the sky is dark. The comet will then climb to its highest point, halfway up the southern sky, at around 10:45 pm local time. Then it will set in the west at dawn.

The orbit of this comet is carrying it up through the plane of the solar system from below. This week, the comet will continue to drift north, moving it higher in the sky, and to the left, for observers in mid-northern latitudes. Tonight (Sunday), the comet will land four finger widths (or 4°) below, and a little to the left of, the very easy-to-identify Pleiades star cluster. That’s the bright little cluster of bluish stars above the very bright orange star Aldebaran in Taurus. For the rest of this week, the comet will make a bee-line towards the bright star Capella in Auriga (the Charioteer). On Wednesday night, the comet will pass a thumb’s width (1.3° below the Northern Trifid Nebula (also designated NGC1579), setting up a potential photo op for astrophotographers. Wirtanen will pass a pinky finger’s width (25 arc-minutes) above the medium-bright star Saclateni (Zeta Aur) on December 21, and then slide a finger’s width below (i.e., 1° to the east of) the very bright, yellow Capella on Sunday, December 23. In late evening the comet will be nearly overhead, perfect for seeing it through the least amount of intervening air.

The Ursids Meteor Shower Peaks

The annual Ursids meteor shower, produced by debris dropped by periodic comet 8P/Tuttle, will peak during the early hours of Saturday, December 22, when seeing up to 20 meteors per hour is possible, under dark skies. The best time to watch will be from midnight to dawn that morning. Unfortunately, a full moon on the peak night will spoil the show for Ursids meteor watchers in 2018. True Ursids will appear to radiate from a position in the sky above Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) near the star Polaris, but the meteors can appear anywhere during the time between dusk on Friday and dawn on Saturday.

To see the most meteors, find a wide-open dark location, preferably away from light polluted skies, and just look up with your unaided eyes. Try to put the full moon behind a tree or a building. Binoculars and telescopes are not useful for meteors – their field of view are too narrow. Try not to look at your phone’s bright screen – it’ll ruin your night vision. And keep your eyes heavenward, even while you are chatting with companions. If the peak night is cloudy, a night or two on either side of that date will be almost as good. Happy hunting!

(Above: The radiant for the Ursids meteor shower is in the northern sky near the star Kochab in Ursa Minor, which is also known as the Little Dipper.)

The Moon and Planets

This first half of this week will still be a good opportunity to pull out your telescope or binoculars and view the moon after dinner time. (Let your telescope pre-cool outside in a secure location for an hour or two before you look through it. Keep the lens caps on until you begin your observing, and wrap the cold telescope in a plastic bag or telescope case before you bring it inside. That will minimize any frost or dew forming on the cold parts.)

The moon was at its First Quarter phase yesterday (Saturday), so it will wax and be illuminated by slanting sunlight until Friday evening. In the meantime, the moon will move through Cetus (the Sea-Monster), then Pisces (the Fishes), and then return to Cetus’ head on Tuesday night. That night will also bring a chance to easily see the moon pass in front of, or occult, a star.

As the southeastern sky is darkening on Tuesday evening, December 18, the dark leading limb of the moon will move over the medium-bright (magnitude +4.30) star Xi Ceti (also known as Al Kaff al Hidhmah II) at approximately 5:35 pm EST. The star will reappear from behind the moon’s opposite, illuminated east limb at 6:47 pm. Sharp eyes can watch the event without aid, but binoculars or a small telescope will make it very easy. Start looking a few minutes beforehand. It’s fun to watch the star disappear suddenly as the dark moon covers it!

(Above: Between 5:35 pm and 6:47 pm Eastern time in the southeastern sky on Tuesday evening, December 18, the moon will occult the medium-bright star Xi Ceti (also known as Al Kaff al Hidhmah II). Binoculars or a telescope will aid in seeing the event, which is shown here towards the end, at 6:47 pm EST.)

Starting in mid-evening on Thursday, December 20, in the eastern sky, the waxing gibbous moon’s orbital motion will carry it directly through the Hyades star cluster, the stars that form the triangular face of Taurus (the Bull). The moon will enter the cluster at about 8 pm EST. It will be in the middle of the “V” of Taurus at about 11:30 pm. By 4 am EST, the moon will exit the cluster after passing within a finger’s width above the bright, orange, foreground star Aldebaran. By that time, the moon and Taurus will have moved over to sit above the western horizon.

The December full moon, traditionally known as the Oak Moon, Cold Moon, Long Nights Moon, and the Moon before Yule, will occur at 12:49 pm EST on Saturday. This Full moon always shines in or near the stars of Taurus, but by the time the moon rises at 5 pm local time, it will be among the stars forming the feet of Gemini (the Twins). Since the moon is opposite the sun on this day of the lunar month, the moon is always fully illuminated and rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. Interestingly, full moons during the winter months in North America climb as high in the sky as the summer noonday sun, and cast similar shadows.

Wow! The eastern pre-dawn sky is loaded with planets this week! Mercury is currently making an excellent appearance for anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere. It will be low, in a fairly dark southeastern sky, at around 6:30 am local time, and remain in view until about 7:15 am local time while it is carried higher. When viewed in a telescope, Mercury will exhibit a crescent phase. As the week wears on, Mercury will drop lower.

By around 7 am local time, look for very bright Jupiter sitting about four finger widths below, and slightly to the left of, Mercury. On the coming weekend, Mercury will descend to pass less than a finger’s width to the upper left of Jupiter.

(Above: The eastern pre-dawn sky hosts the planets Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn, as shown here at 7 am local time on December 17. On the weekend of December 22-23, Jupiter and Venus will be very close together.)

Venus is much higher in the eastern sky than Mercury and Jupiter, because it rises hours earlier - at about 4 am local time. Viewed through a telescope, Venus will also show a crescent phase and it’s stunningly bright now!

Mars continues to dominate the southern evening sky, even as it is slowly shrinking in size and brightness. This week, the reddish planet will shine in the lower part of the southern evening sky on the border between Aquarius (the Water-Bearer) and Pisces (the Fishes). Mars will set in the west just before midnight local time.

Blue-green Uranus (“YOU-ran-us”) is in the southern evening sky. It’s still close to its peak brightness (magnitude 5.7) and size for this year. You can see Uranus without optical aid under very dark skies, but binoculars and telescopes work better. Look for Uranus about 1.5 finger widths to the upper left (east) of the modestly bright star Torcular (or Omega Piscium). That star sits a generous palm’s width above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet. This week, Uranus will be at its highest point, over the southern horizon, at about 8 pm local time – the best position for seeing it clearly.

(Above: The position of distant blue Neptune, with respect to Mars this week.)

Neptune met Mars last week, but the red planet is rapidly pulling away from the distant blue planet. Tonight (Sunday) Mars will be a palms’ width to the upper left of Neptune. This week, Neptune will become visible in strong binoculars or a telescope once the sky becomes fully dark. The planet will set at about 11 pm local time. With Mars now unavailable to help us find Neptune, look for Neptune about two finger widths to the upper left of the modestly bright star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii), where it’s been for quite some time.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#Comet 46P/Wirtanen #Pleiades #Mercury #Ursids Meteor Shower #Full Moon #occultation #winter solstice #telescope buying tips #astronomy #planets #stars #constellations

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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An Evening Moon, it’s the Week to Peek at Comet Wirtanen, Mercury at Maximum Visibility, and Geminid Meteors Peak, too!

(Above: To record the splendor of the Geminids Meteor Shower, Yin Hao captured this composite of 37 frames spanning 8.5 hours on December 12-13, 2017 at a location in Inner Mongolia. The pair of bright stars centred within the meteors are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Orion is to their lower right, with the Milky Way rising through centre-frame. NASA APOD for December 15, 2017.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of December 9th, 2018 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Taking advantage of the moon, Mars, and other bright objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), starting around 7 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (Mon, Tue, or Thu only). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them – looks are free! Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, December 12, the RASC Toronto Centre will hold their free monthly Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre, and the public are welcome. Talks include The Sky This Month (presented by me) and a short talk about building your own powerful telescope. Check here for details. Parking is free.

If the skies are clear, from 7 to 10 pm on Friday, December 14, at the Iroquois Sports Centre in Whitby, astronomers from RASC will set up telescopes to view Comet 46P/Wirtanen (more about the comet below), and the public are welcome to join them. Details are here.

On Friday, December 14 at 7:30 pm in The Hamilton Spector Building, Hamilton Astronomers will present a free public presentation by François van Heerden entitled Mallincams: For Outreach and Observing in Light-Polluted Areas. More details are here.

On Friday, December 14, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

Bright Comet Update

(Above: Damian Peach of Australia captured this image of Comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 7, 2018. Note the distinctive green halo and the the very faint tail extending to the lower right. This image is inverted from a binocular view. His galleries are accessed at http://www.damianpeach.com/)

Comet 46P/Wirtanen is predicted to brighten until December 16, when its orbit will carry it closest to both Earth and the sun. It’s now bright enough to see without binoculars if you are under a dark sky away from artificial lights. It’s quite easy in binoculars, if you know where to look. Don’t try searching for the comet with a telescope – the patch of sky seen in the eyepiece is so small that you’ll likely miss the comet. But once you know where it is, use the telescope to look closely at it! For the early part of this week, the moon will not affect the night sky, but the moon will become quite bright as we head toward the comet’s peak time this weekend. So you should try to see the comet on the first clear night this week.

Look for a faint, green, fuzzy blob surrounding a bright point of light. Reports are that the halo around the comet is as wide as a full moon – that’s half a finger’s width held at arm’s length. If Comet 46P/Wirtanen grows a tail, the tail will extend east (to the left), away from the sun. You can begin to look for the comet as soon as the sky is dark. The comet will then climb to its highest point, halfway up the southern sky, at around 10:15 pm local time. Then it will set in the west at about 4:20 am local time.

(Above: The path of Comert 46P/Wirtanen this week, from lower right on December 9 to upper left on December 16, when the comet is expected to peak in brightness. The southern sky is shown for 6 pm local time. Each yellow dot represents 6 hours.)

The orbit of this comet is carrying it up through the plane of the solar system from below. This week, the comet will continue to drift north, moving it higher in the sky for observers in mid-northern latitudes. Tonight (Sunday) Comet Wirtanen will be located in eastern Cetus (the Whale) and just less than a palm’s width (or 5°) below that constellation’s brightest star Menkar. Because the comet is rapidly moving to the left and upwards, on Monday and Tuesday night it will pass a palm’s width to the lower left, and then directly to the left, of Menkar, respectively.

(Above: The path of Comert 46P/Wirtanen this week. Each yellow dot represents 6 hours. The Pleiades cluster at top left is a bright naked-wyw object.)

On Wednesday evening, the comet will pass two finger widths to the left of a medium-bright star named Omicron Tauri, which represents the Taurus the bull’s foot. On Thursday the comet will move to the upper left of that star. On Saturday night, the comet will land four finger widths (or 4.5°) below the very easy-to-identify Pleiades star cluster. That’s the bright little cluster of bluish stars above the very bright orange star Aldebaran in Taurus. On Sunday, the night when comet 46P/Wirtanen should be at peak brightness, the comet will shift to the lower left of the Pleiades.

The Geminids Meteor Shower Peaks

The Geminids meteor shower, one of the most spectacular of the year, runs from December 4 to 16 annually. In 2018, it will peak before dawn on Thursday, December 14, when up to 120 meteors per hour might be seen under dark sky conditions. Geminids meteors are often bright, intensely coloured, and slower moving than average because they are produced by particles dropped by an asteroid designated 3200 Phaethon.

(Above: The radiant location for the Geminids meteor shower. For best results, wait until the radiant is overhead around 2 am local time. But don’t watch the radiant - the meteors will be shortest there.)

The best time to watch for Geminids will be from full darkness on Wednesday until dawn on Thursday morning. At about 2 am local time, the sky directly overhead, which will be positioned near the bright star Castor in Gemini (the Twins), will be plowing into the densest part of the debris field. True Geminids will travel away from that part of the sky, but don’t just watch that location – the meteors will be shortest there, and they can appear anywhere in the sky. The early-setting crescent moon on the peak night will provide a dark sky for meteor-watchers.

To see the most meteors, find a wide-open dark location, preferably away from light polluted skies, and just look up with your unaided eyes. Binoculars and telescopes are not useful for meteors – their field of view are too narrow. Try not to look at your phone’s bright screen – it’ll ruin your night vision. And keep your eyes heavenward, even while you are chatting with companions. If the peak night is cloudy, a night or two on either side of that date will be almost as good. Happy hunting!

The Moon and Planets

This is the best week of the moon’s monthly circuit around Earth to look at our nearest celestial companion. Tonight (Sunday), a thin crescent moon will shine prettily over the southwestern horizon after sunset. The planet Saturn will be situated a generous palm’s width to the moon’s lower right. Saturn, which is embedded in the western twilight, will set at about 6 pm local time all week long, even as the moon shifts eastward away from it.

(Above: The young crescent moon will appear near Saturn over the southwestern horizon on Sunday, December 9, 2018, as shown here at 5 pm local time.)

During the remaining weekdays, the moon will wax fuller and shift eastward across the southern evening sky, first moving through the dim stars of Capricornus (the Sea-Goat) and then traversing Aquarius (the Water-Bearer) on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday evening, the nearly half-illuminated moon will occupy a spot 4 finger widths below Mars.

The moon will officially reach its First quarter phase on Saturday morning, so it will be slightly more than half-illuminated by the time we see it on Saturday evening. (Lunar phases are only controlled by the angle between the sun, Earth, and moon, not the time of day or night on Earth.) On the evenings around first quarter, sunlight strikes the moon at a shallow angle - arriving from near the moon’s eastern horizon. This light casts dramatic and spectacular shadows from even slightly elevated terrain on the moon’s surface, allowing the fine details of the moon’s geography to be seen in binoculars and small telescopes.

The inner planets are both in the eastern pre-dawn sky this week. Mercury is currently making an excellent appearance for anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere. It will be low, in a fairly dark southeastern sky, at around 6:30 am local time, and remain in view until about 7:15 am local time while it is carried higher. When viewed in a telescope, Mercury will exhibit a crescent phase. On Saturday, Mercury will reach its widest separation (21°) from the sun and also will become its brightest for the current appearance. From Sunday onward, Mercury will descend towards the sun again.

(Above: Jupiter will join the inner planets Mercury and Venus in the eastern pre-dawn sky this week. Mercury will achieve peak visibility on December 15, as shown here at 7 am local time.)

Venus is much higher in the eastern sky than Mercury, because it is now rising hours earlier - at about 4 am local time. Viewed through a telescope, Venus will also show a crescent phase. It’s much brighter than Mercury, too. Venus recently reached its maximum brightness for the year – a stunning magnitude of -4.87!

Jupiter recently passed solar conjunction (when it was in the same part of the sky as the sun) and is returning to visibility in the eastern pre-dawn sky this week. It will be a while before it climbs high enough to catch your eye, but you might glimpse Jupiter low over the southeastern horizon after it rises at 6:30 am local time – just as the sky is beginning to get lighter. Jupiter will return to the evening sky from May onward.

Mars continues to dominate the southern evening sky, even as it is slowly shrinking in size and brightness. This week, the reddish planet will shine in the lower part of the southern evening sky among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). Mars will set in the west just before midnight local time.

(Above: The nearly first quarter moon will land below Mars in the southern evening sky on Friday, December 14, as shown here at 6 pm local time.)

Blue-green Uranus (“YOU-ran-us”) is in the southeastern evening sky. It’s still close to its peak brightness (magnitude 5.7) and size for this year. You can see Uranus without optical aid under very dark skies, but binoculars and telescopes work better. Look for Uranus about 1.5 finger widths to the upper left (east) of the modestly bright star Torcular (or Omega Piscium). That star sits a generous palm’s width above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet. This week, Uranus will be at its highest point, over the southern horizon, at about 9 pm local time – the best position to to see it clearly.

Neptune met Mars last week, but the red planet will now be rapidly drawing away from the distant blue planet. Tonight (Sunday) Mars will be located 1.5 finger widths to the upper left (east) of Neptune. Next Sunday night, Mars will be a palms’ width away Neptune. This week, Neptune will become visible in strong binoculars or a telescope once the sky becomes fully dark. The planet will set at about 11 pm local time. With Mars now unavailable to help us find Neptune, look for the magnitude 7.9 planet sitting about two finger widths to the upper left of the modestly bright star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii), where it’s been for quite some time.

Treats in Taurus

Every year in early December, the distinctive constellation of Taurus (the Bull) returns to our evening skies, rising as darkness falls and crossing the sky through the night. If you missed last week’s information about some of Taurus’ best sights, I posted a sky chart and some images of the best objects here.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#Geminids Meteor Shower #Comet 46P/Wirtanen #Mercury #Venus #Mars #star stable online #planets #astronomy #First Quarter moon #Taurus #meteors

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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An Evening Moon, Asteroid Juno Jumps Out, Leonid Meteors at Maximum, and we Tour the Lucky Water-Bearer!

(Above: This image of a Leonid fireball was taken by Lorenzo Lovato on November 17, 1998. NASA APOD for November 12, 1999)

Hello Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for this week (from November 11th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanetarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Taking advantage of the moon, Saturn, Mars, and other bright objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), starting around 7 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (Mon to Thu). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

The Allan I. Carswell Observatory at York University will also be open for free public Leonid Meteor Shower viewing on the first clear weeknight this week. Details are here.

At the Deer Park Library on Tuesday evening, November 13 at 2 pm, Dr. John Percy, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at U of T will present The Amazing Universe. Details are here.

At Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday evening, November 15 at 8 pm, notable Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will present Generator, an evening of comedy, music, and ideas. Tickets and details are here.

On Friday, November 16, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

Leonids Meteor Shower

We’ve now entered meteor shower season! Over the next few months, we’ll experience a wave of several showers. The Leonids Meteor Shower, which is derived from material dropped by repeated past passages of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, will peak on November 17/18. The maximum number of Leonids will appear before dawn local time, because that is when the sky overhead will be plowing directly into the cloud of particles that produce the shower.

The meteors can appear anywhere in a dark sky, but true Leonids will be travelling in a direction away from a location (the radiant) just above the stars that form the head of Leo (the Lion). You can watch for meteors in the evening, too – but many of them will be hidden from view below the Earth’s horizon. This week’s meagre moon will keep the sky darker – ideal for seeing fainter meteors.

To see the most meteors, find a wide-open dark location, preferably away from light polluted skies, and just look up with your unaided eyes. Binoculars and telescopes are not useful for meteors – their field of view are too narrow. If the peak night is cloudy, several nights on either side will be almost as good. Happy hunting!

The Moon and Planets

This is the best week of the lunar month to pull out your binoculars and telescopes to look at the moon. Each evening, the moon will wax fuller and shift farther from the sun. While this is happening, the sun will be slowly rising over the moon’s surface. Its low-angled sunlight will illuminate peaks and crater edges while casting deep black shadows between them. It also reveals subtle topographic features, such as ridges and cracks on crater floors, that are otherwise invisible. New sections of the moon are highlighted every night. And, the moon will be visible right after dinner – how convenient!

(Above: Venus will appear below Spica this week, as shown here at 6 am local time on Monday.)

Tonight (Sunday), the moon will appear as a beautiful crescent, shining like a Cheshire Cat’s smile over the western horizon after twilight. It will also be sitting a few finger widths to Saturn’s upper left. From Tuesday through Thursday, the moon will cross Capricornus (the Sea-Goat), landing just three finger widths from Mars on Thursday. The duo will set in the west at about midnight local time. (Observers in most of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and southern South America will see the moon pass in front of, i.e., occult, Mars at about 06:00 Greenwich Mean time.) The moon will also reach its First quarter phase on Thursday, when it will appear half-illuminated until it sets at midnight local time.

Turning now to the planets, very bright Venus is now shining in the morning pre-dawn eastern sky. This week, the planet will pass only a finger’s width to the lower left of the bright white star Spica in Virgo (the Maiden).

(Above: Jupiter and Mercury are embedded in the western evening twilight this week, as shown here at 5 pm local time on Sunday, November 11.)

In the evening sky, Jupiter and Mercury are both located very low in the southwestern sky after sunset, embedded in twilight, leaving Saturn and Mars as your best planetary targets.

Even though it is gradually dimming as Earth pulls farther away from it, reddish Mars will continue to dominate the southern evening sky this week. Only the moon is brighter. Look for a bright, reddish, star-like object shining in the lower half of the southern sky after dusk. It’s among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), which we’ll describe below. Mars will set in the west at about midnight local time.

(Above: The moon will land near Saturn on Sunday, November 11, as shown here at 6 pm local time. Mars will be five fist diameters to the upper left.)

Dimmer and yellowish Saturn is located five fist diameters to the lower right of Mars this week. After the sky has darkened, even a small telescope should be able to show you some of Saturn’s larger moons, especially its largest satellite, Titan. Using a clock’s dial analogy, Titan will move counter-clockwise over the course of this week – starting from a position at 4 o’clock (to the lower right of Saturn) tonight, and ending up next Sunday at 11 o’clock (to the upper left of Saturn). (Remember that your telescope might flip and/or invert the view. Use the moon to find out how your telescope changes things and keep a note of it, since that will always be the case.)

(Above: Mars has been sliding towards Neptune, and more easterly Uranus, as shown here at 6 pm local time this week.)

Mars’ orbital motion has been carrying it eastward towards distant Neptune, which will be located about 1.5 fist diameters to the left (east) of Mars this week. The blue, ice giant planet is visible from dusk until just after 1 am local time. Using a decent quality telescope you can see the magnitude 7.8 planet sitting about two finger widths to the left of the modestly bright star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii). Neptune will highest in the southern sky (and best viewing conditions) at about 7:30 pm local time.

Blue-green Uranus (“YOU-ran-us”) is farther to the east than Neptune. It’s still close to its peak brightness (magnitude 5.7) and size for this year. You can see it without optical aid under very dark skies, but binoculars and telescopes will work better. By mid-evening, Uranus will be high enough in the eastern sky to see it clearly. Look for it about 2 finger widths to the left (east) of the modestly bright star Torcular (Omega Piscium). That star sits a generous palm’s width above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet. The planet will be carried higher in the sky until 10:30 pm local time.

(Above: The main belt asteroid Juno will reach opposition on November 17, as depicted here at 9 pm local time.)

On Saturday, November 17, the major main belt asteroid Juno will reach opposition. At that time, Earth will be passing between the asteroid and the sun, minimizing our distance from Juno and causing it to appear at its brightest and largest for this year. The magnitude 7.45 object will be visible in binoculars and small telescopes all night long after it rises in the east at 6:30 pm local time. Juno will be positioned about equally distant from the bright stars Aldebaran in Taurus (the Bull) and Rigel in Orion (the Hunter). It will reach its highest position, about halfway up the southern sky, at midnight local time.

The Water Constellations – Aquarius the Water-Bearer

Evenings in late autumn feature a grouping of constellations over the southern horizon that share a common theme – the Sea. Collectively known as the water constellations, they aren’t very prominent, composed mainly of modest and dim stars, but this week’s moonless sky will offer an opportunity to see them better. Over the two weeks, I’ll talk about each of the watery constellations. Last week, it was Capricornus (the Sea-Goat), which I posted here.

(Above: Aquarius, the Water-Bearer, is located just to the east of Capricornus the Sea-Goat, and north of another water constellation, Piscis Austrinis. All three are in the southern evening sky during November.)

This time, we’ll look at the sea-goat’s eastern neighbour.

Straddling the ecliptic, immediately to the east (left) of Capricornus is another zodiac constellation, Aquarius (the Water-bearer). This is one of the oldest recorded constellations, probably because of its place on the ecliptic / zodiac and because it re-appeared in the morning sky at the time of year that brought the return of desperately needed rains, and the flooding of the Nile, in ancient Egypt. It’s certainly not because of its stars. Its pattern is made from about 14 modestly-bright stars with visual magnitudes near the limit for suburban observers.

Aquarius spans an area that measures about 3.5 outstretched fist diameters wide by 2 diameters high. It is traditionally depicted as a kneeling figure, facing east, who is pouring water from a vessel. A crooked horizontal string of stars represent his right arm outstretched towards the west, his bowed head and shoulders, and his left hand, which bears the jug. This is the most easily seen part of the constellation. Descending from this line is a loose chain of stars representing the flowing water and another representing his torso and legs. In some stories, he’s Zeus pouring out the water of life upon the world. In others, the waters are those of the biblical flood, a story handed down from the Sumerians. As we’ll soon see, the stars of Aquarius are “lucky”.

By the time the sky has darkened enough to see it, Aquarius is due south, positioned about halfway between the southern horizon and the zenith. To help you find it, you can use the great square (or baseball diamond) of Pegasus, which sits much higher and to the left (east). With “home plate” as the bottom star, extend an imaginary line from third base to first base, and continue in the same direction by the same distance (about two fist diameters) to Aquarius’ highest and brightest star, Sadelmelik.

In a dark sky, up to 100 stars can be counted in the constellation, but only a few are easily seen near city lights. Try to spot the four stars that extend a wide palm’s width from Sadelmalik eastward to the left. One of the four stars sits a couple of finger widths below the line formed by the other three. At the eastern end of the four sits a modest star designated Eta Aquarii. The radiant of the springtime Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower is located close to this star.

Jumping 1.5 finger widths to the right of Eta brings us to a closely spaced double star that’s only 91 light-years away from us named Sadaltager "Luck of the merchant". Two finger widths to the lower right of Sadaltager is the white star Sadachbia, which comes from the Arabic phrase sa'd al-akhbiya "lucky stars of the tents". Then we hop higher again and westward to Sadelmelik, meaning “Lucky stars of the Kingdom”. Sadelmelik is a very mature, yellow supergiant star located about 520 light-years away. It’s a bit cooler than our Sun, but about 60 times larger in diameter, making it much more luminous.

Ten degrees (a fist’s diameter) to the lower right of Sadalmelik, at the water-bearer’s elbow, sits another of the constellation’s brighter stars, Sadalsuud “the luckiest of all of them all”. This is another yellow giant very similar to Sadelmelik and about as distant. Finally, Aquarius’ western hand is marked by a fainter blue-white star named Albali “Good Fortune of the Swallower”, which sits a fist’s width to the lower right of Sadalsuud. The rest of the constellation, descending in two crooked lines from the lucky stars, is fairly dim. About halfway along them, both lines take a jog to the left (east).

Aquarius contains only a few significant deep sky objects because it is situated away from the galactic plane, the Milky Way. The bright globular star cluster designated Messier 2, which can be spotted in binoculars or small telescopes, is only 4 finger widths above Sadalsuud. It’s 37,000 light-years away! A planetary nebula named the Saturn Nebula (and also designated Caldwell 55) is located below Albali. At 650 light-years away, it’s among the closest such objects to us. Another planetary nebula, the Helix Nebula (or Caldwell 63), is near the bottom of the constellation. These two stellar corpses are visible in decent backyard telescopes. A second, dimmer globular cluster named Messier 72 sits below and between Albali and the Saturn Nebula.

Fittingly, Neptune has been situated in Aquarius since 2011. At present, it sits just to the left (east) of the fairly bright star named Hydor. Neptune won’t leave Aquarius until about 2022! Meanwhile, Mars is presently sitting near the western boundary of Aquarius. It will steadily travel eastward through the constellation until late December.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do! I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#Aquarius #First quater moon #Leonids meteor shower #stars #planets #Venus #Mars #Ice Giants #Juno #water constellations

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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The Full Grain Moon, Comet Zinner Zips towards Capella, and Mercury’s Best Manifestation for the year!

(Above: My friend Michael Watson of Toronto took this detailed image of the full moon on February 22, 2016 when it was only 9 hours past full - the same situation we’ll see tonight, Sunday, August 26, 2018. Notice the strip of shadowed craters along the moon’s right-hand limb - proof that the moon has started to wane. Michael’s lunar images are here.)

Astronomy Skylights for this week (from August 26th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory, or another in your area, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanetarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Events

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday evenings after dark, they offer free public viewing through their telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

The next RASC Public Event at the David Dunlap Observatory will be Speaker Night on Saturday, September 15. There will be a Skylab planetarium tour, space crafts, a tour of the giant 74” telescope, and viewing through lawn telescopes (weather permitting). The doors will open at 6:30 pm for a 7 pm start. Attendance is by tickets only, available here. If you are a RASC member and wish to help us at DDO in the future, please fill out the volunteer questionnaire here. And to join RASC, visit this page.

A Binocular Comet

This fall, astronomers are watching for two comets that are predicted to brighten enough to see with binoculars and possibly even your unaided eyes. I’m going to continue updating you about them, even though, like cats, comets have tails and are extremely prone to doing their own thing, despite what we might want them to do.

(Above: The path of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in the northeastern sky this week, shown here at 11 pm local time. )

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner returns to our vicinity every 6.5 years – hence the “P” for “periodic” in its designation. It has been gradually brightening because it is approaching Earth’s orbit. Later this week, once the bright, full moonlight wanes, you should be able to see the faint fuzzy greenish object in binoculars or a small telescope, if you can escape city lights.

The comet is located in the north-northeastern sky on a track that moves it downwards every night. Tonight (Sunday) it will be found about a fist’s diameter (11°) to the left of the bright star Mirfak in Perseus (the Hero). Next Sunday, it will have descended to land only a finger’s width to the upper right of the very bright star Capella in Auriga (the Charioteer); putting the two objects inside the field of view of a low magnification telescope. Capella will still be fairly low at 11 pm local time, but the comet and star will be carried higher during the course of the night due to Earth’s rotation.

A second comet named 46P/Wirtanen is predicted to become much brighter by December. Right now, it is tickling the belly of the whale (Cetus), but it’s far too dim to look for yet.

The Moon and Planets

August’s full moon, known as the “Sturgeon Moon”, “Red Moon”, “Green Corn Moon”, and “Grain Moon” occurred this morning (Sunday). The Assiniboine People called the August full moon the Black Cherries Moon, and the Inuit call it the Swan Flight Moon. In China, it’s the Harvest Moon and in India it’s Bhadrapad Purnima. This one will shine within the constellation of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), but you’ll be hard-pressed to see the dim stars of that modest constellations due to so much bright moonlight. When the moon rises on Sunday evening, it will appear a hair less than full. Binoculars or a telescope will reveal a narrow strip of shadowed terrain along the moon’s right (its eastern) edge.

For the rest of this week, the waning moon will continue to slide eastward through more water constellations, including Cetus (the Whale) and Pisces (the Fishes). It will also rise later and later, and then linger into the morning sky for your commute to school(!) or work.

When the waning crescent moon rises at midnight on Sunday, September 2, it will be sitting only two finger widths to the lower left of Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus (the Bull). The moon and bright star will cross the sky together while the moon’s eastward orbital motion will slowly draw them apart. Two hours earlier, at 9:50 pm EDT (01:50 UT), observers in Greenland and northernmost Canada will see the moon cross in front of, or occult, Aldebaran.

(Above: Mercury shown at 6 am local time, one day past its greatest elongation west of the sun. the steep Ecliptic (yellow line) causes the planet to rise well before the sun, facilitating our observations.)

For people who live in the GTA and mid-northern latitudes around the world, Mercury will be very easy to see in the eastern pre-dawn sky this week. Today (Sunday), Mercury will reach an angle of 18 degrees west of the Sun, its widest separation for this appearance. That means it will rise in the east well before the sun, in a somewhat darker sky. You’ll be able to see it between about 5:15 and 6 am local time all week. Try to pick a spot with a low and uncluttered eastern horizon.

Extremely bright Venus is quickly descending the western early evening sky each evening as its orbit carries it back towards the sun. Tonight it will set at about 9:30 pm local time, but a week from now that will advance to 9 pm. Meanwhile, the bright planet will appear to be approaching the bright star Spica in Virgo (the Maiden). The effect is caused by Earth’s motion carrying the entire sky westward faster than Venus is moving. They’ll “kiss” this Friday and Saturday evening; a gorgeous sight in binoculars! In a small telescope, Venus’ disk will resemble a first quarter moon, half-lit on the sunward side (although your telescope might flip the view). The planet will also be growing larger in apparent diameter because it is travelling towards the Earth right now.

(Above: The early evening sky, shown here Sunday evening at 9 pm local time, features the naked-eye planets Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.)

We are in the closing chapter for observing Jupiter this year. The earlier sunsets will buy us some extra evening observing time, but its position low in the sky will add a great deal of extra blurring atmosphere between it and our telescopes. This week, the very bright planet will emerge from the southwestern twilight soon after dusk, and then set in the west-southwest after about 10:30 pm local time. Jupiter, which has been slowly shifting eastwards, will continue to pull away from the nearby bright star Zubenelgenubi, the brightest star in Libra (the Scales). In binoculars, you’ll plainly see that Zubenelgenubi is a pair of stars. While you have the binoculars handy, see if you can see Jupiter’s four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede) flanking the planet.

The Great Red Spot (or GRS, for short) takes about three hours to cross Jupiter’s disk. But the planet’s 10-hour rotation period (i.e., its day) means that the spot is only observable from Earth every 2-3 nights. If you’d like to see the GRS, use a medium-sized telescope (or larger). You’ll have your best luck on evenings with steady air – when the stars are not twinkling too much. Try to look within an hour before or after the following times: Sunday, August 19 at 9:46 pm (as the planet is setting), Wednesday, August 29 at 8:07 pm (starting in twilight), and Friday, August 31 at 9:46 pm (as the planet is setting). All times are given in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), so adjust for your local time zone.

Medium-bright and yellow-tinted Saturn will appear not too high up the darkening southern sky shortly after dusk this week. The planet will reach its highest elevation of about 2 fist diameters above the southern horizon at around 9 pm local time, and then descend to set in the west by about 1:30 am. This summer, the ringed planet has been 4 finger widths to the upper right of the “lid” star of the Teapot in Sagittarius (the Archer). As the sky darkens, even a small telescope should be able to show you some of Saturn’s larger moons, especially Titan. Using a clock’s dial analogy, Titan will move counter-clockwise this week from a position at 2 o’clock (left of the planet) to 8 o’clock (right of the planet). (Remember that your telescope might flip and/or invert the view. Use the moon to find out how your telescope changes things.)

Mars will still be very bright this week. Visually, it will appear pink or orangey due to the global dust storm it has experienced recently. Mars will rise over the southeastern horizon at around 7 pm local time (give or take, depending on your latitude) and then climb higher until 11 pm local time, when it will reach an elevation of about 20° (or two outstretched fist diameters) above the southern horizon. (That will be the best hour to view the planet in a telescope because it will then be shining through the least amount of Earth’s distorting atmosphere.) Note that 20° is lower than many trees and buildings, so a clear southern vista is essential. It will set in the west at around 3 am.

(Above: The ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune rise late and remain in view all night, as shown here at 10:30 pm local time this week.)

At visual magnitude 5.8, blue-green coloured Uranus is visible from late evening until dawn. You can see it without optical aid under very dark skies, or in binoculars and telescopes under moderately light-polluted skies. The ice giant planet is located in the eastern sky, about 4.5 finger widths to the left of the modestly bright star Torcular (Omega Piscium), which is above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet.

Using a decent quality telescope you can also see the distant and very blue planet Neptune among the dim stars of Aquarius (the Water-bearer). It will rise in the east shortly before 8:30 pm local time. Look for the magnitude 7.8 planet sitting 1.75 finger widths to the right of the modestly bright star Phi (φ) Aquarii and 4 finger widths to the left of the brighter star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii).

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

#astronomy #space #planets #stars #Comet 21p/Giacobini-Zinner #Mercury #greatest western elongation #Jupiter #Venus #Saturn #Mars #Auriga #Capella

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astrogeoguy · 7 years ago

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It’s Astronomy Week and the Lyrids Peak, plus Galaxies Galore, and Morning Planet Amore!

(Above: This image of the Pinwheel Galaxy Messier 101, located near the handle of the Big Dipper, was captured by Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario. The face-on spiral is as wide as the full moon! www.astrodoc.ca/)

Astronomy Skylights for this week (from April 15th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory, or another in your area, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlantarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Astronomy Week Public Events

Taking advantage of dark moonless evening skies this week, the members of the RASC Toronto Centre will gather for dark sky stargazing at Long Sault Conservation Area, northeast of Oshawa on (only) the first clear evening from Monday to Thursday this week. You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details and watch the banner on their homepage or their Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

On Monday evenings, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday evenings after dark, they offer free public viewing through their telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

To celebrate Astronomy Week, if it’s sunny, each weekday morning from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification.

On Wednesday, April 18 at 6:30 pm at the S. Walter Stewart Library, U of T Professor Emeritus John Percy will present a free public talk entitled Toronto’s Astronomical Heritage. (Details are here.)

If it’s clear on Thursday evening, April 19, I will be setting up my large telescope with other local astronomers for a free public star party in Pomona Mills Meadow, east of St. Volodymyr's Church, 15 Church Lane, Thornhill (first north on John Street, just east of Yonge Street). Observing will start about 8:30 pm. Details are here.

Eastern GTA sky watchers are invited to join the RASC Toronto Centre and Durham Skies for solar observing and stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario in Millennium Square in Pickering on Friday evening, April 20, from 6 pm to 11 pm. Details are here. Before heading out, check the RASCTC home page for a Go/No-Go call in case it's too cloudy to observe.

Saturday, April 21 is Astronomy Day all day at the Ontario Science Centre! Astronauts! Space Activities! Planetarium shows! A screening of Netflix’ new Lost in Space show! Solar Observing on the Telescape (if it’s sunny)! And evening stargazing! The schedule and details are here.

On Friday, April 20, starting at 7 pm, the U of T AstroTour will present their planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Tickets and details are here.

On Saturday, April 21, starting at 3 pm, the U of T AstroTour will present their planetarium show entitled Underdogs of the Solar System. Tickets and details are here.

On Saturday, April 21, starting at 7 pm, the U of T AstroTour will present their planetarium show entitled Our Musical Universe. Tickets and details are here.

(Above: The radiant of the annual Lyrids Meteor shower is located between Lyra and Hercules. The shower maximum occurs before dawn next Sunday, but you can look for them all night long.)

Lyrids Meteor Shower

The annual Lyrids meteor shower, derived from particles dropped by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), runs from April 16 to 25 and peaks before dawn on Sunday, April 22. This shower can produce up to 18 meteors per hour, with occasional fireballs. True Lyrids will appear to be travelling away from a point in space (the shower’s radiant) near the constellation Lyra (the Harp). The first quarter moon, which sets shortly after midnight, should not spoil the show too much.

You can start watching as soon as it's dark. Even when the peak number occurs before dawn, meteors will still be visible before midnight, too. Don't worry about looking directly at the radiant. Bring a blanket and a chaise to avoid neck strain. And remember that binoculars and telescopes will not help: their field of view is too narrow to see the long meteor trails. If you have friends or family along, don’t look at each other while chatting. Keep your eyes to the skies!

To see the most meteors, try to find a dark viewing location that has as much open sky as possible. Light pollution washes out the night sky, dramatically reducing the number of fainter meteors you will see. So a drive to a park or rural site away from city lights is helpful. To preserve your eyes’ dark adaptation, remember to turn your phone’s screen brightness to minimum or, even better, cover it with a red film. Disabling app notifications will reduce the chances of unexpected bright light, too.

(Above: Several bright galaxies hold positions near Mizar and Alkaid, stars in the handle of the Big Dipper. Use binoculars or a telescope to hunt for them.)

Bright Galaxies Near the Dipper’s Handle

In late evening during mid-April every year, the Big Dipper stands upright in the northeastern sky. The bright star Alkaid marks the tip of its handle. The Pinwheel Galaxy is a spectacular, large face-on spiral galaxy, also designated as Messier 101, sits a palm’s width north of Alkaid, forming an equilateral triangle with Alkaid and Mizar, the star at the bend in the dipper’s handle. Although relatively bright and close to us (21 million light-years away), the Pinwheel Galaxy is fairly dim because its light is spread out over a large patch of sky. It’s as wide as the full moon!

(Above: The beautiful Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51, imaged by Ian Wheelband, near Collinwood, Ontario)

Searching about four finger widths (3.5°) from Alkaid in the opposite direction, you will come to the iconic spiral Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51. This galaxy’s angular size (the area of sky it covers) is much smaller, but it will appear brighter in your telescope. It also features a secondary galaxy core. The two galaxies are linked by a bridge of material.

The Moon and Planets

The moon reaches its new phase, when it is hidden from view beside the sun, Sunday evening. On Monday it will reappear as a fine silver crescent sitting over the western evening horizon. For the rest of the week, the moon will wax and shift eastward. For about 90 minutes after sunset on Tuesday, the moon will sit a palm’s width to the lower left of bright Venus. The pair will fit within the field of view of binoculars and make a lovely photo opportunity.

(Above: The young crescent moon will sit to the lower left of Venus on Tuesday evening, shown here at 9:30 pm local time.)

On Wednesday evening, in the western evening sky, the crescent moon will pass through the constellation Taurus (the Bull). The V-shaped face of the bull is formed by a large open star cluster known as the Hyades, one of the closest clusters to Earth. The moon will enter the “V” at about 8:30 pm local time and reach the midway point by the time moonset around 10:30 pm. A few hours later, observers in most of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Central and Northern Russia, Northern and Eastern Scandinavia, Northern Greenland, and Northern Canada will witness the moon occult the bright, orange star Aldebaran, which sits at the southeastern corner of the bull’s face.

(Above: On Wednesday evening, the moon will cross through the V-shaped face of Taurus the Bull, shown here at 9:45 pm local time. Parts of the world will see the moon occult the bright star Aldebaran.)

On the coming weekend, the moon will pass through Gemini (the Twins), and end the week with Sunday evening’s First Quarter Moon phase. The evenings leading up to first quarter are the best ones for looking at the moon under magnification. The steeply slanted sunlight creates breathtaking vistas along the terminator boundary line that divides the dark and light sides of the moon. To see the sights, sweep with binoculars or a telescope from pole to pole.

Venus continues to catch the eye as it slowly climbs higher in the western evening sky. It sets just after 10 pm local time. In addition to Venus’ encounter with the moon on Tuesday, our sister planet will also end the week by approaching the bright star cluster known as the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, in Taurus. Next Sunday evening, the cluster can be spotted with unaided eyes or, even better, with binoculars, just a few finger widths to the upper right of Venus.

(Above: On Sunday evening, April 22, Venus, which climbs higher every evening, will reach a position a few degrees to the lower left of the bright Plieades Cluster, shown here at 10 pm local time. Next week, the two objects will be even closer.)

At the same time that Venus is setting, mighty Jupiter will be rising in the east. The extremely bright planet dominates the southern overnight sky now. It reaches its highest elevation (about three fist diameters) above the southern horizon around 3 am local time, and then descends into the southwestern sky at sunrise.

The Great Red Spot takes about three hours to cross Jupiter’s disk. But the planet’s 10-hour rotation period (i.e., its day) means that the spot is only observable from Earth every 2-3 nights. If you’d like to see the GRS, use a medium-sized telescope (or larger). You’ll have your best luck on evenings with steady air – when the stars are not twinkling too much. The best times to try this week are: Monday, April 16 at 11:23 pm, Thursday, April 19 at 1:01 am, and Saturday, April 21 at 10:31 pm. Try to look within an hour before or after the times I’ve given.

(Above: Three bright planets continue to shine in the pre-dawn sky this week, as shown here at 5 am local time. Jupiter rises in late evening, but remains in view until dawn.)

The ringed planet Saturn will rise in the east shortly before 2 am local time this week. You should be able to see its yellow-tinted point of light until about 6 am, when it will sit about 2.5 fist widths above the southern horizon. Reddish Mars will rise about half an hour after Saturn. Look for it a generous palm’s width to the lower left of Saturn. Mars is steadily pulling away from Saturn. By next weekend, their separation will increase to a fist’s width.

Elusive Mercury has re-joined the eastern pre-dawn sky. This apparition won’t be very good for observers in mid-northern latitudes, but during the coming weekend you can try to spot the planet barely over the horizon just before sunrise. I’ll post sky charts for the observable planets here.

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

#astronomy #planets #Lyrids Meteor Shower #stars #Taurus #Jupiter #Great Red Spot #Mars #Pinwheel Galaxy #Whirlpool Galaxy #Big Dipper #galaxies #Universe #the pleiades #Astronomy Week #ontario science centre

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astrogeoguy · 5 years ago

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The Perseids Peter out, an Aging Moon Moves into Morning with Mercury, and Jupiter Gleams near a Globular!

(Above: On August 26, Jupiter’s orbital motion will carry it across a distant globular star cluster known as NGC 6235. This week, binoculars or a telescope used in a dark sky should show the cluster, sitting less than half a finger’s width east of Jupiter. This simulation shows the event on Wednesday, August 21 at 10 pm local time. For best results, put bright Jupiter just outside your optics’ field of view, and scan both directions from Jupiter to account for the way your telescope flips the image.)

Hello, Summer Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of August 18th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event. Contact me, and we’ll tour the Universe together!

The Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks!

The prolific Perseids Meteor Shower peaked last Tuesday-Wednesday. The active period for this shower runs until August 26, so keep an eye out for a few stragglers this week. Next year, the moon will once again interfere with this shower. But 2021 will bring us a fantastic, moonless Perseids shower.

The Moon and Planets

This week, the moon will depart the evening sky all over the world while it wanes in phase – leaving our nights darker, and ideal for treasure hunting. Meanwhile, Jupiter and Saturn will continue to put on a show in the southern sky. Here are your Skylights for this week!

For the first few half of this week, the waning gibbous moon (i.e., more than half-illuminated) will rise in late evening and pass through the modest sea constellations of Cetus (the Whale) and Pisces (the Fishes).

In the southern pre-dawn sky on Wednesday, the moon will be positioned a palm’s width below (to the celestial southeast of) the distant, blue-green planet Uranus. Look for a modestly-bright star to the upper left of the moon. That star is Xi Ceti, also known as Al Kaff al Jidhmah (spellings vary). Slow-moving Uranus will remain about four finger widths above (or celestial northeast of) Xi Ceti for the next several months, allowing you to locate Uranus in binoculars and telescopes after the bright moon moves away. (More on this below.)

(Above: The distant ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune are located in the constellations of Aries (centre left) and Aquarius (top right), respectively. Both planets are now late evening and overnight targets. But they will soon be well-placed for evening viewing. The sky is shown at 1 am local time on Wednesday night - when the waning moon will pass by Uranus. Note the main belt asteroid Vesta at lower left.)

On Friday afternoon, the moon will reach its last quarter phase. At last quarter, the moon, half-illuminated on its western side, always rises around midnight local time worldwide and remains visible in the southern sky all morning - or the northern sky, if you live south of the Equator.

When the moon rises at about 12:30 am local time on Friday night, it will be traveling through the stars that form the large, triangular, sideways face of Taurus (the Bull). The very bright, warmly-tinted star positioned about two finger widths below the moon will be Aldebaran. This orange-giant star represents the bull’s eye. To end the week, overnight on Saturday, and into Sunday morning, the waning crescent moon will land near the medium-bright star Zeta Tauri, which marks the lower, eastern horn tip of Taurus.

Jupiter will return to being the brightest object in the evening sky this week. As the sky begins to darken, look for the giant planet sitting less than a third of the way up the southern sky. Hour by hour, Jupiter will sink lower – then set in the west just before 1 am local time. Jupiter is spending this summer in the southern part of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). I described Ophiuchus, which resembles a huge Dalek from Doctor Who, here.

On a typical night, even a backyard telescope will show you Jupiter’s two main equatorial stripes and its four Galilean moons - Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede looking like small white dots arranged in a rough line flanking the planet. If you see fewer than four dots, then some of them are in front of Jupiter, or hidden behind it. Good binoculars will show the moons, too!

Here’s a fun exercise on the next clear night once the sky is nice and dark. Grab your binoculars or telescope at low magnification and look just a fraction of a finger’s width to the left (celestial east) of Jupiter for a dim, fuzzy patch. What you are seeing is a globular star cluster, a mass of thousands of stars arranged by their mutual gravity into a densely packed sphere. This cluster, one of hundreds known to orbit our Milky Way galaxy, is named NGC 6235 (from the New General Catalogue of deep sky objects). It is located 38,000 light years away from our solar system! When you see it, you are looking into the distant past. The light from those stars began traveling towards us around the time that Neanderthals died out!

Jupiter is moving steadily towards that cluster, and will pass in front of it next Monday. So the later in the week you look, the closer Jupiter will be to the cluster. Jupiter is overwhelmingly bright compared to the cluster, so try hiding Jupiter just beyond your optics’ field of view. Remember that most telescopes will flip the view around. So check both to the left and right of the planet.

(Above: Situated low in the southern sky, Jupiter and Saturn continue to perform for evening stargazers this week. This year, they are on opposite sides of the Milky Way, as shown here for 10 pm local time.)

From time to time, the small, round, black shadows cast onto Jupiter’s surface by those four Galilean moons become visible in amateur telescopes as they cross (or transit) Jupiter’s disk. On Monday night from 11:02 pm to 1 am EDT, observers in the Americas can watch Io’s small shadow transit Jupiter, although Jupiter will set in the GTA before the transit is complete. On Saturday night from 11:30 pm to 1:55 am EDT, observers in the Americas can watch Europa’s shadow transit the northern hemisphere of Jupiter – but Jupiter will again set during mid-transit for observers in the GTA.

Due to Jupiter’s rapid 10-hour rotation period, the Great Red Spot (or GRS) is only observable from Earth every 2nd or 3rd night, and only during a predictable three-hour window. The GRS will be easiest to see using a medium-sized, or larger, aperture telescope on an evening of good seeing (steady air). If you’d like to see the Great Red Spot in your telescope, it will be crossing the planet tonight (Sunday evening) after 11:15 pm EDT, on Wednesday night from 7:45 pm (in twilight) until 10:45 pm EDT, and on Friday from 9:15 pm to 12:15 am EDT.

Yellow-tinted Saturn is prominent in the southern evening sky, too - but it is less bright than Jupiter. The ringed planet will be visible from dusk until about 3 am local time. Saturn’s position in the sky is just to the upper left (or celestial east) of the stars that form the teapot-shaped constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). To find Saturn, look about 3 fist diameters to the left (east) of Jupiter. The Milky Way is between them.

Dust off your telescope! Once the sky is dark, even a small telescope will show Saturn's rings and several of its brighter moons, especially Titan! Because Saturn’s axis of rotation is tipped about 27° from vertical (a bit more than Earth’s axis), we can see the top surface of its rings, and its moons can arrange themselves above, below, or to either side of the planet. During this week, Titan will migrate counter-clockwise around Saturn, moving from the left of Saturn tonight (Sunday) to the right of the planet next Sunday. (Remember that your telescope will flip the view around.)

(Above: For the next few months, you can use the stars that form the top of Cetus’ head to find Uranus, as shown here for midnight local time. The distance from Uranus to the middle of the three stars labelled Al Kaff al Jidhmah measures about 5 degrees, or a slim palm’s width.)

Tiny, blue Neptune will be rising soon after dusk and then it will climb the eastern sky until it reaches its highest point, due south, at about 2:45 am local time. The planet is among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), sitting half a finger’s width to the left (east) of a medium-bright star named Phi (φ) Aquarii. Both objects will appear together in the field of view of a telescope. Neptune is actually moving slowly toward that star and will “kiss” it in early September.

Blue-green Uranus will be rising in the east shortly before 11 pm local time this week; and it will be visible all night long. Uranus is sitting below (celestial south of) the stars of Aries (the Ram) and is just a palm’s width above the head of Cetus (the Whale). At magnitude 5.8, Uranus is actually bright enough to see in binoculars and small telescopes, under dark skies.

Because it rises earlier every night, Uranus is transitioning into a good, evening target. As I mentioned above, you can use the three stars that form the top of the head of the whale (or sea-monster in some tales) to locate Uranus for months to come - since the planet moves so slowly in its orbit.

This week, Mercury is low in the east-northeastern pre-dawn sky in Cancer (the Crab) – and below the bright stars of Gemini (the Twins). The planet is now descending sunward again. Your best opportunity to see it this week falls between 5:15 and 6 am local time.

(Above: Mercury is past its prime for the current apparition, but it is still readily visible low in the NNE sky between 5:15 and 6 am local time.)

Venus and Mars are lost in the sun’s glare for the next while.

Some Dark-Sky Delights

With the moon gone and the sky darker, grab your binoculars and tour the Milky Way – from the southern horizon where it rises like steam from the Teapot-shaped stars of Sagittarius (the Archer), overhead through the great Summer Triangle bird constellations of Aquila (the Eagle) and Cygnus (the Swan), and then down to the northeastern horizon - through the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia (the Queen).

If you are away from city lights, look for the dark lanes of interstellar dust that divide up the Milky Way. That dust prevents the visible-wavelength light produced by the billions of stars within the plane of our home galaxy from reaching us.

As you scan around, look for bright knots of stars. Larger ones are open star clusters – groups of stellar siblings that have been “recently” born together and are still traveling through the galaxy as a family. (Most stars in the night sky were originally born in groups by the collapse of enormous cold, dark hydrogen clouds.) The small clusters could be open star clusters that are farther away from us, or perhaps, more globular clusters!

Take note of where you find the clusters and look for them on a sky chart - from a magazine like SkyNews, a website, or an astronomy app. I’ll highlight some more delights next week when the moon is approaching its new phase. I’ll post some here.

(Above: The Milky Way in late August rises from the southern horizon near the spout of Sagittarius’ teapot, passes overhead through Aquila, the Eagle and Cygnus, the Swan, and then descends into the NE sky through Cassiopeia, the Queen. this view is for 10 pm local time on August 21, when the moon will rise very late.)

Public Astro-Themed Events

On Tuesday, August 20, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour planetarium show will be Our Musical Universe. Find tickets and details here.

If skies are clear on Thursday evening, September 5, my astronomer friends and I will be setting up our big telescope in Old Thornhill Village, starting at 8 pm. Everyone is welcome to come out for a look at the moon, Jupiter and Saturn, and a variety of deep-sky treasures. The viewing location is Thornhill's very own “dark-sky oasis”, the Pomona Meadow. The meadow is situated north of the cemetery on Charles Lane, and east of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Volodymyr. Park for free at the church and just follow the paved path. The rain or cloud date is Thursday, October 3 at 7 p.m. Dress warmly, and I’ll see you there!

(Above: The site for the Thursday, September 5 Thornhill Village stargazing event is north of John St, and a few hundred metres east of Yonge St.)

The RASC Toronto Centre is running their free, popular six-week introduction to astronomy course called NOVA (New Observers to Visual Astronomy). It is designed to show the novice astronomer the wonders of the night sky and how to enjoy them. It will be held at Yorkville Library from October 15 to November 19, 2019 from 6:15-8:00pm (six consecutive Tuesdays). Classes will be 1 hour and 45 minutes in length, with a 15-minute break in the middle. I teach week five! Spaces will be filled on a first-come first-served basis, and are now open for registration. Click here to go to the registration page.

The next RASC-hosted Night at the David Dunlap Observatory will be on Saturday, September 14. There will be sky tours in the Skylab planetarium room, space crafts, a tour of the giant 74” telescope, and viewing through the 74” and lawn telescopes (weather permitting). The doors will open at 8:30 pm for a 9 pm start. Attendance is by tickets only, available here. If you are a RASC Toronto Centre member and wish to help us at DDO in the future, please fill out the volunteer form here. And to join RASC Toronto Centre, visit this page.

Satellites

There are no visible Iridium Flares or ISS (International Space Station) passes predicted for the GTA this week.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#astronomy #space #constellations #planets #Milky Way #Jupiter #NGC 6235 #globular clusters #Saturn

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