Astronomers announced the completion of the largest, high-resolution survey of the heavens. The 4 year 2 Micron All Sky Survey contains over 500 million celestial objects.
Checkout the 2MASS website for more info and incredible images.
March, 2003
Saturday, March 29th, 2003
2 Micron All Sky Survey Completed
Astronomers announced the completion of
the largest, high-resolution survey of the heavens. The 4 year 2
Micron All Sky Survey contains over 500 million celestial
objects.
Checkout the 2MASS
website for more info and incredible
images.
Friday, March 28th, 2003
Naked Eye Asteroid
Skywatchers have a rare opportunity this
weekend to view an asteroid without optical aids. Asteroid
4 Vesta is currently shining at about mag 5.9... just within reach of
naked eye observation. Click
here for a star chart to help you find the asteroid. Or, for more
information, checkout this Sky
and Telescope report.
Thursday, March 27th, 2003
Meteors land in
Chicago
Chicago residents got a bit of a surprise
last night when a huge fireball streaked across the sky and then exploded.
NASA estimates that the space rock was a couple of meters across. Some
500+ pieces came down in the Chicago area... hitting houses and cars...
but no people. Astronomers estimate that the Earth is hit by an asteroid
of this size at least 40 times a year.
For more information, checkout NBC5.com
Monday, March 24th, 2003
Aurora Watch
Earth will enter yet another high-speed
solar wind on March 25 & 26. Keep an eye on the northern horizon for
the northern
lights.
Sunday, March 23rd, 2003
Twin Solar Prominences
On March 18th, the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
(SOHO) imaged this beautiful double solar blast. The prominence on the
right spans over 20
Earth diameters.
Saturday, March 22nd, 2003
First Sunset of Spring
This beautiful sunset, the first of the
spring season, was taken by Becky Ramotowski of San Antonio, Texas
Thursday, March 20th, 2003
Gamma Ray Burst And
The Birth of a Black Hole
Astronomers on Wednesday witnessed the death of a
giant star and the birth of a black hole.
For more information, visit CNN.com/SPACE.
Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
NASA Plans Shuttle Fix
NASA engineers are hard at work on
a fix designed to prevent future shuttle accidents from happening. This
could lead to the resumption of flights this fall.
For more information, visit CNN.com/SPACE.
Tuesday, March 18th, 2003
Solar Eruptions Extend
Aurora Watch
A pair of Coronal
Mass Ejections (CME) erupted above sunspot #314 on 3/17 and 3/18. Though the
eruptions were not squarely aimed towards Earth, the glancing blows will
combine with the high speed solar
wind already buffeting the Earth's magnetic field. With that said,
we'll continue our aurora watch
for another night or two... say through Thursday 3/20.
Checkout Spaceweather.com
for more info on the Sun-Earth environment.
Monday, March 17th, 2003
New Mars Mysteries
After a year of data collection, the orbiting Mars Odyssey Spacecraft has raised more questions than it has answered. Checkout Space.com for more info.
Saturday, March 15th, 2003
Shuttle Flights To
Resume This Fall
NASA officials indicated that the grounded shuttle fleet could resume flights as early as this fall. Checkout CNN.com/SPACE for more info.
Thursday, March 13th, 2003
Aurora Watch
We'll be under an aurora watch this weekend as Earth enters the solar wind streaming from a large coronal hole. Given the weekend weather forecast for Park City, this should be a good one. If you'd like to see more incredible images, checkout Skyscapes.com. Or, checkout Spaceweather.com for more info on the Sun-Earth environment.
Wednesday, March 12th, 2003
Extraterrestrial Culture Day
in New Mexico
A Roswell, New Mexico legislator has proposed the creation of a state holiday to honor all past, present and future alien visits to the state.
Tuesday, March 11th, 2003
SETI To Revisit
Promising Targets
After almost four years of searching the skies for alien signals, astronomers will use the giant Arecibo Telescope to revisit the most promising signals for additional study. Find out more at The Planetary Society.
Tuesday, March 4th, 2003
NASA Finds Real
Stardust
Microscopic grains of stardust "shine like a beacon" when scanned by a powerful new instrument, proving for the first time they do indeed come from beyond our solar system, according to U.S. scientists.. Find out more at CNN.com/SPACE.
Saturday, March 1st, 2003
Comet NEAT Heads South
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Comet NEAT has reemerged from it's close encounter with our star and is now visible to southern observers. Checkout this shot taken by Guillermo Oyhenart on 2/27 from Argentina. Find out more at Cometography.com.
