Hello again, my dear Ramblers..
I hope all of you are well.
This week's scintillating blog covers one of my long-time interests: stargazing and astronomy. This will be a first in a series of stargazing blogs. Ever since I was a young boy, I have always been fascinated by the wonders of the sky. Yes, our azure firmament (jet black at night..haha) has been a source of wonderment and amazement for ages. From the North Star guiding 15th century mariners in search of new horizons to a blood-red moon inciting fear in ancient cultures, the cosmos is a place that has always made mankind want to gaze up. Even in our modern times (with the advent of mobile electronics), there are still those that seek to look up and gaze upon God's creation.
I hope that the recent Perseid meteor shower was an amazing show for my Ramblers in the Western Hemisphere. Here in the Eastern Hemisphere, it was mid-afternoon when the peak occurred and I ended up missing it. Also, as for anyone not in a cave for the last year, the historic flyby of our former ninth planet Pluto occured this summer as well. The New Horizons spacecraft, launched in 2005, finally reached Pluto after a three billion mile journey. It was an exciting time for me and my fellow stargazers, as the first high-resolution photos of Pluto and it's largest moon Charon reached Earth.
For the first time, Pluto was resolved from a brownish-grayish blur to a world with clear surface features. Now, all of the classic 9 planets' surfaces were known. Of course, the dial-up-like speeds that New Horizons beams the data and the immense distance between it and Earth; mean that it will take 16 months for all of the new data will reach us. Stay tuned for more exciting photos and findings.
Now, on the next part, (thought that I wouldn't get to it, huh??) Now that the final four months of 2015 are almost upon us, I wanted to share some of the exciting cosmic events that are to take place during this time. Here they are in chronological order (by month, of course):
1) September
On the 4th, you can look up to gaze upon our natural satellite, as it reaches the 3/4 point in it's orbit around the Earth. Yep, that means last-quarter phase. "Last quarter" means that the moon is on the last quarter of it's orbit, not that a quarter of it's surface is illuminated by the sun. As an added bonus, it will appear to pass in front of Aldeberan, a red supergiant star that forms the eye of Taurus the bull.
Just over three weeks away on the 27th and 28th, residents of the central and eastern United States will get to witness a complete total lunar eclipse. It will be visible from the eastern Pacific Ocean, Americas, Europe, Africa, western Asia. According to the folks over at Space.com, the further west you are, the more likely it will begin before the moon pops over the horizon. Folks in my part of the world, unfortunately, will miss this passing of the moon into the Earth's shadow. During a lunar eclipse, the moon will usually appear a deep coppery red. This is due to sunlight being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere (read..all the sunrises and sunsets on Earth). The color the moon depends upon the amount of clouds and pollutants in the atmosphere at the limb of our planet.
2) October
One notable event occurs on the 26th of this autumnal month. The largest planet of our Solar System, Jupiter and our "twin" Venus (the third-brightest object in the night sky) will appear very close together in the heavens..about 1 degree of separation. (A clenched fist at arm's length is 10 degrees).
3) November
Turkey month (in the U.S.) brings about one of the cosmos' greatest spectacles..a meteor shower. From about the 5th to the 12th, the Taurid metor shower will peak. The radiant (the part of the sky the meteors appear to come from) is the above-named constellation of Taurus. That will lie in the northeastern part of the sky, about 68° above that horizon. As with some other meteor showers, the moon won't affect the visibility of the shower.Unlike other objects of the night sky, no special equipment is needed to view a meteor shower. All one has to do is to look, not at the radiant itself, but about 90° from it. The best viewing time will be the pre-dawn hours, as the Earth is turning towards the space debris left over from Comet 2P/Encke. (Imagine driving through a snowstorm and the heavy flakes appear to originate from a point directly in front of your car..same principle).
4) December
As if one meteor shower isn't enough, the month that brings you the cold embrace of winter also brings a second meteor shower. This time, it is the Geminids, named after the constellation Gemini (their radiant). This shower will peak on the 13th and 14th, again during the predawn hours. Of course, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, this would mean sitting outside during a very chilly night. If you only can stay up and shiver for one meteor shower this year, I would recommend this one! According to Space.com, up to two meteors a MINUTE could be in the offing. (One year, I personally, stayed up to witness this, the "king of showers". I braved the biting cold to try to see the dazzling streaks of light as debris the size of dust and sand grains burn in the upper atmosphere. I recall seeing only one or two..it got too cold for me!)
Of course, any stargazer worth their salt would know that the colder it is, the better the "seeing" is. Cold air tends to be more stable (read: move less) and the clearer objects will appear through the telescope. That is "seeing". Of course, you won't need a telescope to view this shower.
As I am now in the tropics, I don't really have to worry about frigid nights so much as the errant thunderstorm that would serve to block my view of this cosmic spectacle. If it is clear, you can bet I will stay up to watch the Geminids!
Remember fellow Ramblers: Always reach for the stars, for you never know what you will find up there!
Images:
Top, "Night Sky in Mountains" by Alex Grichenko via PublicPicturesDomain.net
Second, image courtesy of NASA.gov via commons.wikimedia.org
Third, by Maki Yanagimachi www.stuff.co.nz
Bottom, "Snowy Range Perseids" by ©2012 David Kingham Nature Photography. All rights reserved
As always, please feel free to leave questions and comments in my Comments section.
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