By Duncan Lunan The Moon will be New on November 13th, and Full on November 27th, very near Venus on the 9th and occulting it in daylight (see below). There’s some interesting […]
The Sky Above You – November 2023 #Astronomy
The Sky Above You – September 2023
With the evening sky becoming darker as the year goes on, the brighter stars are becoming more prominent and the constellation figures are coming back
Unbuild Your Own Solar System
Prof. Freeman Dyson’s suggestion that an advanced civilisation might break up the planets of its solar system and build a shell around its star, to utilise all the matter and energy available to it . Image of a Solid Dyson sphere, impossible
Did Mars Have Seasonal Weather Patterns?
Patterns in mud cracks show that Mars may have had cyclical moisture patterns. Left: the terrain in the Gale Crater where Curiosity is currently exploring. Right: mud cracks on Earth, where wet-dry cycling has occurred, creating Y-shaped patterns. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, LANL.
The Sky Above You – August 2023
The Moon will be Full on August 3rd, and again on August 31st, a ‘Blue Moon’ Full twice in the same month, and both of them ‘Supermoons’ when it is at its closest to Earth as well as Full.
AU Mic b, a “hot Neptune”: Observing Planet Evolution
An illustration of the planet AU Mic b shedding its atmosphere as it orbits its sun, AU Microscopii. Image credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted, STScI.
Space Notes 10: The Earth from Space
1st colour image of Earth from ATS, Nov 10 1967. Explore the Earth as viewed from Space with Duncan Lunan
The Sky Above You – May 2023
Jupiter is now in the morning sky, rising about 4 a.m. on the border of Pisces and Aries, occulted in daylight by the Moon as seen from Scotland on May 17th.
The Sky Above You – April 2023
The Lyrid meteor shower from the 1861 Comet Thatcher (not due back till 2283) peak on the night of 22nd-23rd April, and as the Moon sets early in the night there’s a better chance of seeing them.
Space Notes: Solar System Exploration
In 1978 NASA was investigating the environment around the Earth’s orbit with Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9
