Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower

We may be in for a treat over the next few days. Tuesday is the peak day of the Delta Aquaids meteor shower. A meteor is, of course, what we also call a shooting star. Typically a shooting star is a sand grain size bit that comes whooshing into our atmosphere and burns up leaving a bright trail. These meteors will seem to be emanating from the star Delta Aquarii in Aquarius hence the name of the shower.

In fact it's not so much that the meteor crashes into the earth's atmosphere but the other way around. The earth traveling at 18 miles per second around the sun crashes into these bits of dust each year at this time. The dust is a trail of debris left behind from a couple of sun grazing comets.

It’s easy to find where to look right now. That really bright star in the east after about 10:00 pm is Jupiter. Can’t miss it. Aquarius is just to the left of Jupiter right now. Best time for viewing though is around 2 AM when Aquarius will be high in the south. Don't fret if it's cloudy on Tuesday as that's just the peak day. In fact I saw a couple of meteors last night after returning from the Mongolian Bar. . . Of course I saw Elvis too but no matter


So get up and get viewing. We'll be up on Enee Marie right Sue? Sue? . . . SUE!

click on the pic to enlargify!

Happy Birthday Moon

This as we all know is the 40th anniversary of that one small step for man. I think it is interesting to put the Apollo 11 landing in historical perspective. In the 24-30 months before this event America was bombarded with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. We were treated to the 68 Democratic convention in Chicago and the massacre by the Manson family. In Vietnam we had the Tet offensive and later the secret and illegal bombing of Cambodia. By the end of ’69 34000 Americans will have given their lives to this ill conceived war and I had a lottery number of 15!

Want more bad news? Hurricane Camille pounded the gulf coast with sustained winds of 190 mph. Still a record. And worst of all. . . The Cubs blew an 11 game lead in September and the dreaded Mets won the world Series.

Toward the end of all this. . . Something wonderful happened and the whole world stopped and watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. Besides being a technological marvel (Apple computer didn’t exist yet!) it was a bright moment in an other wise pretty dark period and not just for America but for everyone on the planet.

You can now see new photos taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that show the left behind LEM, some experimental equipment, and the trails left from the astronauts as the trekked to and from their lunar lander from various lunar missions. Here's a link to the pics.

I’d tell you to go out tonight and take a nice long view of the moon but. . .new moon Tuesday so can’t see it much now. Maybe a sliver in the morning.

Jupiter will be rising in the east and very bright after about 9 pm. Jupiter is huge by the way and more massive that all the other planets combined. Can’t stand on Jupiter though. It’s gas and liquid all the way through and out the other side!

Astronomy Minute for July 13

Get up early this coming Sunday to see a nice collection of things just before sunup. You’ll see bright Venus in the east. Going up from there you’ll see the bright star Aldebarn followed above that by Mars and the Pleides star cluster. To the left of venus is the pretty thumbnail moon.

(Click chart to enlarge)




















Of course summer is a great time to gaze at the milky way. It will be running up and down out of the south nearly all evening now. Looking toward the hook in Scorpio and you’re looking right toward the center of our galaxy which is about 50,000 light years distant. Scientists are fairly certain there is a giant black hole at the center of our galaxy formed of roughly 2.6 million solar masses. Uh, you can’t see it because, well, it’s black!

Astronomy Minute for July 6, 2009

Well, as long as the moon is full today and it is we might as well talk about it. As you probably have noticed the full moon rises right at sunset. That’s why it’s full. What you may not have noticed is that the summer moon follows the path of the winter sun through the sky. The sun rises in the north east this time of year and takes a high path through the sky. That’s why it’s summer. The moon on the other hand rises in the south east and takes a low southerly path through the night sky. Why? Take a look at the diagram. The earth, moon and sun are nearly in the same plane so while we are tipped inward toward the sun in the summer we are then naturally tipped away from the full moon in the summer. Just the reverse of what happens in the winter.

ON July 10, Friday, the moon will be accompanied by Jupiter through the night sky. They rise together around 10 PM.

Also moon related, the Lunar Reconisance Orbiter is now sending back pictures of the lunar surface as promised. These are of a clarity and detail not available last time we were there. Ultimately the orbiter will map the entire lunar surface and when it goes into its lower orbit be able to image objects as small as a few feet across. Yes, we will finally see all the debris we left up there and yes it is all on the side of the moon facing us. You can see the early pics at www.nasa.gov and follow the link to LRO.

By the way if you are one of the few still thinking we did not go to the moon you are in a group of 3% of the population. Disappointingly that number briefly jumped to 20% after Fox TV (known for their accuracy and commitment to sensational journalism) had a special on this old and boring conspiracy theory. So if you think TV can’t mold public opinion think again! For a good website that de-bunks all the popular myths that “prove” we didn’t go just check this out. I'm guessing Fox's next special will be about JFK and Elvis and their love nest in Boliva! Of course you can't really argue with a conspiracy buff. No matter what you show them they can just enlarge the conspiracy to include the falsifcation of that data as well. But, like my uncle Hank used to say, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. You frustrate yourself and you annoy the pig!

Lastly we have a chance to catch a glimpse of the international space station. I say a glimpse because this baby is really cranking - orbiting the earth every 90 minutes. There are two chances this week in Grenada but I’m not sure it will be dark enough for either but you might give it a try. The first is Tuesday at 6:31 pm. Satellite will appear in the SW about 18 degrees above the horizon and then disappear in the NNE 11 degrees above the horizon. If you can see it, it will be up there for 5 minutes. The second will be on Wednesday. It appears later so it will be darker but it will also be lower and visible for a shorter time. Look in the WNW at 6:56 disappearing 2 minutes later in the NNW.

Sky and Telescope has a very nice satellite tracker. This link is already set up for Grenada but you can change that if you like. You can put in your location and get a listing of the next few possible sightings from that location.

Caribbean Sky - June 29 - July 5

Today, June 29, the moon is in first quarter and speaking of the moon the United States has returned to the moon with an interesting spacecraft. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is now in a 200km high polar orbit of the moon. In this orbit the moon is basically spinning under the orbiter as the orbiter goes round and round in a north south plane allowing it to map the entire terrain of the moon to incredible detail. Should be able to see the peanut shells that Neil Armstrong left behind.

Take a look at the moon on Tuesday. That bright star just off to the right is Spica in the constellation Virgo. One of the brightest stars in the sky.


(Click on the pic for larger version.)




On Friday the 3rd the earth will be at aphelian. That’s the point in it’s orbit where it is the farthest from the sun. Yes this happens now and not in winter! Seasons are controlled by the angle of the sun and not how far away it is.




IF you’re up early on the 4th you’ll see a nice grouping in the eastern sky just before sun rise. The brightest thing you see is Venus. Just above it is Mars and to the left is the good old Pleides or seven sisters the most famous of the star clusters. The bright star just below Venus is Aldebaran the bright start in the Taurus constellation. NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which flew by Jupiter in 1973 will reach and pass by Aldebaran in about two million years. Mark your calendars!

Wow, if the Pleides are rising again I guess we’re sneaking up on being in Grenada for about a year since I featured the Pleides in an early report.

The Nearest Star

You know how when you were a kid there were just some things you knew and you couldn’t remember when or how you came about knowing them. For example: Rhode Island is the smallest state or England is an island or Ernie Banks hit 512 home runs or specifically for us today that Alpha Centauri is the closest star. Right. Well nearly.

The official name of that nearest star is Rigel Kentaurus and it is in the constellation Centaurus. What I didn’t know growing up in South Bend Indiana was that I couldn’t see this nearest star from there and not just because I wasn’t allowed outside. But you can see it from Grenada.

Take a look to the south anytime after dark and you should be able to easily identify the southern cross. Follow the cross bar on the cross to the left to a pair of bright stars. The one on the right is Hadar, part of the Centaurus constellation and the one the left is Rigel Kentaurus (or Alpha Centauri). . . the nearest neighbor to our sun. AND although it is a binary system, the main star is a near twin of our sun. Those of you listening for awhile have heard me talk of things being hundreds or thousands or even millions of light years away. This guy though is only 4.4 light years away. Hey let’s go!

Hmmm… we might be able to get a rocket up to 100,000 km/hour. Ok, 4.4 light years, carry 3...divide by pie. . .Ok then. Trip would only take about 4000 years. Much longer by sailboat! I think we’re staying put!

Well enjoy the sighting anyway and just in case the centurians are watching - wave nicely.

Click on the picture below for a bigger version.

The imaga above is from Starry Night software. It is a really fun program for searching about the night sky. It's what I use for these astronomy minutes and for the Compass column. Oh, I go outside now too and look around! Check it out.

Finally, Now that I've successfully lured you to the end of this blog here's a blatant plug for my book, The Why Book of Sailing. It's either a sailing book about physics or a physics book about sailing. Here's some testimonials from other cruisers:

"I read it and then I sleep"
Exodus

"It is a book I've ever read"!
Puddle Jumper

"It's got pictures"!
Dionysus

I could go on and on. Here's a link to the book on Amazon.

See you next week!