Utah Skies » Earth http://www.utahskies.org Bringing the Joys of Astronomy to the Public Through Awareness, Advocacy, and Education Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:31:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 Earthrise Revisited http://www.utahskies.org/2008/12/23/earthrise-revisited/ http://www.utahskies.org/2008/12/23/earthrise-revisited/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:00:58 +0000 anthonya http://www.utahskies.org/?p=1510 40 years ago this week, astronauts aboard Apollo 8 travelled where no one had gone before, the Moon. As they circled around the back side of the moon, they saw the very first ‘Earthrise’; planet Earth rising above the horizon of another celestial body. At that moment, they were able to see Earth as it truely was, a tiny, fragile planet orbiting in the vastness of space. The accompanying image is one of the most spectacular ever taken. The Apollo 8 mission in December of 1968 marked mankinds first ever journey to another celestial body.

]]> http://www.utahskies.org/2008/12/23/earthrise-revisited/feed/ Winter Solstice, 2008 http://www.utahskies.org/2008/12/21/winter-solstice-2008/ http://www.utahskies.org/2008/12/21/winter-solstice-2008/#comments Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:00:47 +0000 donb http://www.utahskies.org/?p=1472 Due to the tilt of the earth’s axis relative to its orbit around the sun, we experience seasons, and today (about 5am MST, actually) is the Winter Solstice, the point in the earth’s orbit when those of us in the northern hemisphere are smack dab in the middle of winter (of course, that means our friends south of the equator are in short-sleeves and enjoying a sun that’s high in the sky - Summer Solstice). Interestingly, the earth is closer to the sun in December than in July, but our non-circular orbit has no appreciable effect on our seasons.

If you’re an early-bird in the Americas (and assuming it isn’t cloudy in Ireland), you can watch live streaming of the winter solstice from Newgrange between 08:30 UTC and 09:30 UTC. Newgrange is 5000 year old Neolithic passage tomb that was specifically designed such that the morning light of winter solstice sunlight would penetrate into the inner chamber; check out the Newgrange video from 2007.

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