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Post by himiko sabbrawrra on Jun 6, 2007 13:46:35 GMT -5
I soo have to put this video on here... but I recorded about what a week or so ago the full moon and the brightest star right next to it. It wa very cool.. I wasn't sure if it was a planet that was by the moon or not..
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Jun 7, 2007 23:00:20 GMT -5
I believe that was Jupiter. It was very close to the moon last week.
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Jun 30, 2007 23:22:40 GMT -5
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Jul 26, 2007 7:38:06 GMT -5
Quadruple Sunsets Possible
Ker Than
Staff Writer
SPACE.comWed Jul 25, 11:00 AM ET
Astronomers have spotted a dusty disk in a four-star solar system that could be home to a planet in the making.
Using the infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers spotted the swirling disk around a pair of stars in the quadruple-star system HD 98800, located 150 light-years away in the constellation TW Hydrae.
If a planet did form in the disk, its sky would be bathed in the light of four suns. One pair of suns would blaze brightly, while the other pair, gravitationally bound to the first pair, would appear as little more than faint pinpoints of light.
The finding will be detailed in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
So-called "circumstellar" disks like the one that rings HD 98800 can be the birthplace of planets. Most disks are smooth and continuous, but Spitzer detected a gap in the HD 98800 disk that could be evidence of one or more immature "protoplanets" carving out lanes in the dust.
"Planets are like cosmic vacuums,' said study team member Elise Furlan of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. "They clear up all the dirt that is in their path around the central stars."
Quadruple sunsets
The researchers spied two separate belts of material in the circumstellar disk. One belt sits at 1.5 to 2 astronomical units (AU) from the binary stars and likely consists of fine dust grains. The other is located about 5.9 AU away from and is probably made up of asteroids or comets. (One AU is equal to the distance between the Earth and the sun.) A swath of near-empty space separates the two belts, inside of which a budding planet might roam.
Alternatively, the researchers think the gap could be caused by a gravitational tug-of-war between the system's four stars. The other two stars are also doubled up, and the two binary pairs are separated by about 50 AU-slightly more than the distance between our sun and Pluto.
"Typically, when astronomers see gaps like this in a debris disk, they suspect that a planet has cleared a path," Furlan said. "However, given the presence of the diskless pair of stars sitting 50 AU away, the inward-migrating dust particles are likely subject to complex, time-varying forces, so at this point the existence of a planet is just speculation."
Not uncommon
The stars that make up each stellar doublet orbit around each other, and the two pairs circle one another as well.
Worlds with multiple sunsets are not uncommon. Astronomers used to think that strong gravitational forces from multiple stars might interfere with planet formation, but recent surveys have revealed that the dusty debris disks that function like nurseries for new planets are as common around double star systems as they are around single ones. A few triple-star systems are even known.
"Since many young stars form in multiple systems, we have to realize that the evolution of disks around them and the possible formation of planetary systems can be way more complicated and perturbed than in a simple case like our solar system," Furlan said.
Top 10 Most Intriguing Extrasolar Planets VIDEO: Worlds with Double Sunsets Abound Solar System Makeover: Wild New Theory for Building Planets Original Story: Quadruple Sunsets Possible
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Aug 3, 2007 10:36:49 GMT -5
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Aug 3, 2007 18:18:10 GMT -5
The moon has been rising bright orange in these parts...
I don't think this eclipse will be visible to me here on the east coast
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Post by J'aii-Gun Jiinn on Aug 3, 2007 22:00:59 GMT -5
The sun would be rising wouldn't it?
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Aug 5, 2007 8:46:06 GMT -5
The eclipse will be visible from Australia, Japan, parts of Asia and most of the Americas, but not from Africa or Europe. Pacific observers are favored. On the west coast of the United States, the entire eclipse will unfold high in the post-midnight sky. On the east coast, totality will be truncated by sunrise. That's okay; even a little eclipse can be a dream.
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Aug 5, 2007 12:00:06 GMT -5
BEWARE THE MARS HOAX: It's August, which means it's time for the annual Mars Hoax. An email is going around claiming that Mars will approach Earth on August 27th; the encounter will be so close, the email states, that Mars will rival the full Moon in size and brightness. (Imagine the tides!) Don't believe it. The Mars Hoax email first appeared in 2003.
On August 27th of that year, Mars really did come historically close to Earth. But the email's claim that Mars would rival the Moon was grossly exaggerated. Every August since 2003, the email has staged a revival.
Here's something that is true: Mars is having a close encounter with the Pleiades star cluster, easily seen in the eastern sky before sunrise. Especially good mornings to look are August 6th and 7th when the crescent Moon joins the planet and the cluster to form a pretty celestial triangle. Set your alarm! |
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Aug 6, 2007 9:09:30 GMT -5
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Aug 6, 2007 17:25:47 GMT -5
Mars is having a close encounter with the Pleiades star cluster, easily seen in the eastern sky before sunrise. Especially good mornings to look are August 6th and 7th when the crescent Moon joins the planet and the cluster to form a pretty celestial triangle. Set your alarm!I will be watching! I'm hoping these low clouds blow out before sunrise. |
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Post by J'aii-Gun Jiinn on Aug 6, 2007 21:55:53 GMT -5
 I'll be seeing it going to work 
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Aug 6, 2007 22:41:21 GMT -5
Many times I have to drive out to see events since I live in the woods... but I have an ok view of the East.... not the horizon tho.
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Post by J'aii-Gun Jiinn on Aug 6, 2007 22:49:23 GMT -5
the best place for me is my dad's property up in Adams County Ohio.Straight up this mountain is a flat 10 acre field.There's not a street light for 6 miles. On a clear night You can see satillites going over  .On time we went up to see the Leonoids metor shower.It was quite breathtaking  |
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Aug 7, 2007 22:03:04 GMT -5
Darn summertime humidity... But the Persieds are coming up soon... I have to check when, I forget... always in August though. |
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I'll be seeing it going to work 
.On time we went up to see the Leonoids metor shower.It was quite breathtaking 