This week Carnival of Space is in YouTube! or if you prefer reading rather than watching, then head over to Habitation Intention for the tradisional version.
A Comet and An Eclipsed Moon
•June 13, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis month, we have a treat from the sky – a naked-eye comet (maybe?) and a partial lunar eclipse.
Our potential naked eye comet was called Comet McNaught. It was discovered in September last year by Robert McNaught. If Comet McNaught sounds familiar to you, there’s no surprise because you must have heard of (or seen) the Great Comet of 2007 which is also known as Comet McNaught, and was also discovered by this same guy from Australia (these two comets are not the same, this one is C/2009 R1 while the other is C/2006 P1). Robert McNaught has discovered a total of 54 comets until now, so there is lots of Comet McNaught in the sky…
If predictions hold, this comet should glow around 5th magnitude as it flies across the constellation Perseus into Auriga. On June 21, it will pass less than 2 degrees above Capella, the brightest star in Auriga. For those who are familiar with the night sky will know that Perseus and Auriga are now visible near the horizon in the early morning just before the sun rises, so it may not easy to spot the comet although it’s bright – the morning twilight and clouds near the horizon may interfere with the observation. Anyway, go and give it a try and see if you can spot it. (Click here for the path of the comet, here for ephemeris and here for some pictures)
And on to the eclipsed Moon…
Partial lunar eclipse of Jan 2010. Credit: thChieh.
There will be a partial lunar eclipse on Jun 26, 2010. This partial lunar eclipse is visible from much of the Americas, the Pacific and eastern Asia. It is not well timed for observation in Malaysia though… The partial eclipse happens when the sky is still bright, and the greatest eclipse – when roughly 50% of our Moon passes into Earth’s shadow – happens when the sky is not totally dark yet, at 7:39 pm. But still, it’s dark enough for us to observe the “missing” part of the Moon.
Lunar eclipse is one of the easiest observations you can make. No matter where you are, as long as you can see the Moon during the time of the eclipse – in Malaysia, look east right after sunset – you can observe the event. No telescope is required!
Below are the timelines for the event. Click here for more details.
4:57 pm: Penumbral Eclipse Begins
6:17 pm: Partial Eclipse Begins
7:39 pm: Greatest Eclipse
9:00 pm: Partial Eclipse Ends
10:19 pm: Penumbral Eclipse Ends
So there you go. Two events to keep you busy for the month.
Clear Skies!
Launch Your Face/Name to Space
•June 11, 2010 • Leave a CommentNot everyone can be an astronaut, I’m one example… Although I may not be physically in space, at least I’ve my name flying in space with a few spacecrafts (as if that’ll make me feel better). Now NASA takes one step further with the space shuttle mission by asking us to send our face to space aboard the final two shuttle missions – Discovery (STS-133) and Endeavour (STS-134).
Here is how to part of history:
- Go to “Send your Face to Space” website,
- click on the Participate button,
- read and agree the terms and conditions,
- fill in your details,
- select your mission,
- upload your picture (it’s OK if you don’t have or don’t want to upload your picture, they can just fly your name only)
- click submit,
- print and save the confirmation page with your flight information.
- After the landing of the space shuttle, return to the website to print your Flight Certificate (a commemorative certificate signed by the Mission Commander)
Go and sign-up… as of now, there are a total of 112065 participants. Hopefully, you can also be part of this statistic.
Carnival of Space #155
•May 29, 2010 • Leave a CommentCarnival of Space #155: Short, Medium, and Haiku-long is now up. Proceed to Backseat Driving for a roundup of what happen in space this week.
Moon Occulted Venus Pictures
•May 18, 2010 • Leave a CommentNot taken by me unfortunately… It was raining at my place!! grrrr…..
Spaceweather.com has some beautiful pictures of the occultation (scroll to the middle section). Go over there and take a look!
Moon Occults Venus This Evening (May 16)
•May 16, 2010 • 2 CommentsI totally forgot about this…
If you see this post before sunset today, then you have the chance to see the crescent Moon blocks out (or occults in astronomy term) the planet Venus near the western horizon. If not, then I hope I have some pictures to show you here :). This event is visible in northern Africa, Middle East and southern Asia. Click here for details on timing and locations.
Unfortunately in Kuala Lumpur, the disappearance of Venus behind the Moon is not visible, but in southern Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, you may glimpse Venus disappear behind the Moon because the sky gets dark first in those location. I think the sky is still too bright in KL when the occultation occurs. Even in Johor, the occultation occurs around 7:30 pm, in which sometimes the sky may still be quite bright. For the reappearance of Venus behind the Moon, Malaysia is in the position to witness the event. Just check your location and timing with the same link as above.
You do not need any optical aid to see this; both the Moon and Venus are bright and easily visible to the naked eye. You can also set up a camera to capture the event. It’s quite simple actually, just mount your camera to a tripod, aim and shoot. You can do it even with a compact camera, not necessary an SLR camera, as long as the camera allows you to play around with its setting.
It’s hot and sunny in my place here now, although I can see some clouds start rolling in at the horizon, hopefully the clouds will break and let me enjoy this celestial wonder!
Carnival of Space #153
•May 14, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis week Carnival of Space is full of 3D photos. Head over to Cumbrian Sky with your red-blue glasses for eye-poping Martian landscapes.
My Dark Sky 
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