Thursday, June 30th, 2005

Pope's Stargazers Teach Tomorrow's Astronomers
 
Everyone knows the Vatican is interested in Heaven but it may come as a surprise to some that it is also interested in the heavens. Check out this Reuters article for the full chapter and verse...

Wednesday, June 29th, 2005

Shocking!
 
While the Heavens display their deepsky splendors, Mother Nature reminds us of her beauty, too.  Here, absent the stars, Brian Jolley trained his camera on the clouds and caught this "striking" display.

By nightfall in Park City, skies were every bit as cranky!

Tuesday, June 28th, 2005

Conjunction
 
Mercury and Venus converged for a spectacular conjunction last night (6/27). At their closest, the pair were only about 1/10° apart. Click here for an annotated version... or here for a close-up view.

Monday, June 27th, 2005

Three of Nine
 
Mercury, Venus and Saturn converged for a spectacular alignment last weekend. In this image, Saturn is barely visible above the tree line, and brightest Venus is flirting with Mercury. Check out NASA Science News for all the details!

Saturday, June 24th, 2005

Weekend Conjunction
 
Get ready for a fabulous conjunction of planets starting tonight, Saturday June 25th - Mercury, Venus and Saturn are converging for a spectacular alignment this weekend. The trio will form a tight triangle about 1.5° apart low in the western sky shortly after sunset. The grouping will continue to converge until Monday night, (6/27) when Mercury and Venus will be a miniscule 0.1° apart... easily fitting behind your outstretched finger.. Venus, by far the brightest, will show up first to guide you to the others. Check out NASA Science News for all the details!

Thursday, June 23rd, 2005

The Heart of a Comet
 
NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft is rapidly approaching its quarry... Comet Tempel 1. The pair will rendezvous in a big way on July 4th, when Deep Impact releases a probe that will smash into the comet at almost 23,000 mph. As a runup to the event, Deep Impact snapped this sweet shot of the comet's nucleus. Checkout Space.com for more details.

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005

YAC (Yet Another Conjunction!)
 
Get ready for a fabulous conjunction of planets on June 25th - Mercury, Venus and Saturn are converging for a spectacular alignment this weekend. The trio will form a tight triangle about 1.5° apart low in the western sky shortly after sunset Saturday evening. The grouping will continue to converge until Monday night, (6/27) when Mercury and Venus will be a miniscule 0.1° apart... easily fitting behind your outstretched finger.. Venus, by far the brightest, will show up first to guide you to the others. Check out NASA Science News for all the details!

Tuesday, June 21st, 2005

Luna to the East...Venus in the West

As the moon rises gibbous, a brilliant Venus sets shortly after the Sun in the west.

Sunday, June 19th, 2005

Venus Continues To Climb

The 2nd rock, Venus is becoming easier to find each week. It's now visible in the western sky about 1/2 hour after sunset... and then for up to another hour or so afterwards (depending on your western horizon). Venus will climb throughout the summer and dominate the night sky through the fall. Checkout Earth's nearest planetary neighbor the next chance you get.

Saturday, June 18th, 2005

Towards A Strawberry Moon

This weekend, look for the moon to dominate the night sky. Its only a few days till Tuesday's Full Strawberry Moon.. The Strawberry Moon is the name given to the June full moon by native Americans. Checkout The Farmers Almanac to see names of all the full moons. Be sure to use a moon filter if you point your scope towards Earth's nearest celestial neighbor.

Friday, June 17th, 2005

Above The Rim

The orbiting Cassini Spacecraft recently snapped this gorgeous shot of Saturn's moon Titan floating effortlessly above the rings. The Sun is below the rings at this point... leading to a beautiful diffuse lighting of Titan by light passing through the rings. Checkout NASA's Planetary Photojournal for more details.

Thursday, June 16th, 2005

Conjunction

The Moon and Jupiter got really close last night... especially for observers in Australia like Richard Challis. From Park City, the pair never got closer than about 1°... 5-6 times further apart than in this sweet image.

Catch A Comet By The Tail

NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft snapped this shot of Comet Tempel 1 on Monday (6/13) from a distance of just over 11.6 million miles. The spacecraft is on a collision course with the comet... on purpose. On July 4th, the spacecraft will launch a probe directly into the comet... taking pictures all the while. Checkout this NASA Press Release for more details.

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005

Scorpius 'round Sundown

Presently, Scorpius is well above the horizon at sundown, and well placed for viewing its deepsky treasures as it transits around midnight...

Jupiter & The Moon

The solar system's largest planet, Jupiter and Earth's nearest celestial neighbor, the Moon got together for an evening stroll across the sky last night. Look for the pair to be even closer tonight though... as they shrink the distance between them to slightly more than 1°. Look for the pair as soon as it starts to get dark... these two are the first to show themselves. Click here to visit our conjunctions page... for more info and pics on other such events.

When you're given a lemon...

...make lemonade, or in the case of Utah Skies astrophotographer Brian Jolley, when you're given clouds, image some lightning! "I got a few lucky exposures off," said Brian of his efforts...

Tuesday, June 14th, 2005

Large Earthlike Planet Discovered

Astronomers announced the discovery of the most Earthlike planet yet. The planet which orbits the dwarf star Gliese 876 is believed to be twice as large and seven times as massive as Earth. Interestingly, this makes it the smallest extrasolar planet ever discovered. Checkout the National Science Foundations Press Release for more details on this incredible discovery. Credit: Trent Schindler, National Science Foundation

Monday, June 13th, 2005

Aurora Watch Continues

Sunspot #775 (pictured above in an image by Wah!) erupted twice on Sunday producing two long duration C-Class solar flares. Additionally, a Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) was triggered. While not squarely Earth-directed... it should deliver a glancing blow when it arrives after dark Monday or Tuesday night. Keep an eye on our Geomagnetic Monitor (upper right) as well as Spaceweather.com for the latest information. And... be sure to keep an eye on the northern horizon after dark tonight!!

Atlas Through The Looking Glass

The orbiting Cassini Spacecraft snapped this sweet shot of Saturn's Moon Atlas while looking through the rings. Checkout NASA's Planetary Photojournal for more details. Saturn is sinking quickly in the west along with the stars of the constellation Gemini... shortly after dark. Those interested in viewing the ringed planet should do so quickly as it'll disappear from view in the coming weeks.

Saturday, June 11th, 2005

Jupiter Overhead

The giant planet Jupiter can now be found sitting high and towards the south shortly after sunset. Great views of the solar systems largest planet can be had as soon as its dark enough to find it. Be sure to monitor the motion of the 4 Galilean Moons as they dance around Jupiter night after night.

Friday, June 10th, 2005

Solar Get Together

Some of Earth's nearest celestial neighbors had a little get together last night (6/9). The Moon posed between the ringed planet Saturn (left) and the bright stars Castor & Pollux of Gemini. Click here for an annotated version.

Venus Came to Play, Too

Earlier in the evening, after the Sun set, Venus lead the procession...

Thursday, June 9th, 2005

Cassiopeia A: Death Becomes Her

An enormous light echo etched in the sky by a fitful dead star was spotted by the infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This stunning false-color picture shows off the many sides of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. It is made up of images taken by three of NASA's Great Observatories, using three different wavebands of light. Check out the JPL site for more images and info.

Mars Express Discovers Aurorae on Mars

A martian aurora has been detected by the SPICAM instrument on board Mars Express on 14 August 2004. Its emission, 30 km across and about 8 km high, corresponds to an area where the crustal magnetic field is very strong (dark red in the image). Browse to the ESA Mars Express website for more info.

Wednesday, June 8th, 2005

The 2nd planet, Venus was an easy target early last night... before the clouds came and ended our quest. What was a bit more challenging... and not even evident until image processing time.. was the tiny crescent Moon visible to the right of the frame. If skies remain clear (questionable here in Park City) the two should swap positions... with the Moon climbing above and to the left of Venus after dark tonight (6/8). Look for the pair low above the western horizon shortly after dark. The moon will make its way through the neighborhood and pose alongside the ringed planet Saturn on Friday evening (6/10). Adding to the Friday night event will be the bright stars Castor & Pollux of the constellation Gemini.  Visit our Conjunctions Page for dates & times of select future events... as well as images of previous events.

Sliver of a Moon

In it's conjunction with Venus, the Moon showed ghostly earthshine and it dipped below the clouds.

Tuesday, June 7th, 2005

Solar System Photo Ops

The 2nd planet, Venus is marking its return to the evening sky by posing alongside a tiny crescent Moon tonight & tomorrow night (6/7 & 6/8). Look for the pair low above the western horizon shortly after dark. The moon will make its way through the neighborhood and pose alongside the ringed planet Saturn on Friday evening (6/10). Adding to the Friday night event will be the bright stars Castor & Pollux of the constellation Gemini.  Visit our Conjunctions Page for dates & times of select future events... as well as images of previous events.

Monday, June 6th, 2005

Daytime Meteor Shower

The annual Arietid Meteor Shower is upon us. Haven't heard of the Arietids? You're not alone. This little known meteor shower peaks during the daytime. Your best chance to see one of these meteors is just before sunrise on Wednesday (6/8). Spectacular Earth-grazers can occasionally be seen cruising low and parallel to the horizon. Checkout Spaceweather.com for more details.

Sunday, June 5th, 2005

Opportunity is Free!

NASA's Opportunity Rover, mired in a martian sand dune for more than a month, has finally been extricated by a tenacious and diligent NASA operations, engineering, and science team.  See SpaceflightNow for more info.

500 Days And Still Going!

NASA's Spirit Rover just reached the 500 Sol Mark (500 Martian Days). Spirit continues to provide valuable scientific data... well beyond its expected lifespan. Checkout the Mars Rover Mission pages for more information. Mars is climbing higher in the southeastern sky in the morning. It'll provide us with some sweet views later this summer and into the fall.

Saturday, June 4th, 2005

Weekend Aurora Watch

Earth will enter a high speed solar wind this weekend. This may trigger aurora like those captured recently by Jeffrey R Hapeman of Wisconsin. This is especially likely at higher latitudes. Skywatchers are encouraged to monitor the northern horizon after dark tonight & tomorrow night. Keep an eye on our Geomagnetic Monitor and Spaceweather.com for updates.

Saturn Though The Looking Glass

The orbiting Cassini Spacecraft snapped this exquisite shot of Saturn looking through the rings. After months focused on Saturn's moons, the Cassini team has shifted its focus to Saturn's gorgeous ring system. Checkout NASA's Planetary Photojournal for more details. Saturn is sinking quickly in the west along with the stars of the constellation Gemini... shortly after dark. Those interested in viewing the ringed planet should do so quickly as it'll disappear from view in the coming weeks.

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

All Eyes On Comet Tempel 1

In preparation for the July 4 rendezvous between The Deep Impact Probe and Comet Tempel 1, NASA's great Space based observatories (Hubble & Spitzer) began monitoring the approaching comet. Checkout SpaceDaily.com for more info.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2005

Spectacular Saturn

Three tiny Satunian Moons seem to be in the race of their lives as they round the back side of the ringed planet. Captured in this sweet Cassini image are Mimas, Janus and Enceladus. Checkout NASA's Planetary Photojournal for more details.

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005

Spitzer Images Spectacular Stellar Nursery

The orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope has peered through the hazy Eta Carina nebulosity to reveal a large and diverse collection of embryonic stars. Astronomers had suspected the to be fertile ground for star formation, but were amazed by just how much activity they found. Checkout this Spitzer Press Release for more details.