Category Archives: Astronomy

While the days are short, the weather is bleak, and the sky is grey - its nice to know that there are some astronomical phenomena that you can look forward in 2021.

Meteor showers, New Moons, and even a partial solar eclipse - get ready, 2021 is going to be a busy year!

While it might be a little late in the month to catch sight of the Quadrantids Meteor Shower, you still have plenty to enjoy in January. January 13 will mark the first New Moon of 2021, and on January 28 you can enjoy the first Full Moon of the year!

Sadly there wont be much going on in February, but there will be a New Moon on February 11, plus as 2021 isnt a leap year, you get to enjoy to beautiful symmetry of the 28-day month as it starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday - so satisfying!

Heading into the spring, March offers a little more excitement with the Equinox on March 20. In April, not only will you be treated to the peak of the Lyrids Meteor Shower between April 22 and 23, but youll also get a Super Full Moon on April 27. This happens when the moon and sun appear directly opposite each other, fully illuminating the surface of the moon - which mean it could look up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than your average full moon.

In May there will be another meteor shower - the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower - which will be at its peak on May 6 to 7, but runs all the way from the end of April right through to May 28, as well as another Super Full Moon on May 26! This is the closest the moon will get to earth all year, so you definitely wont want to miss it! On top of this, if you happen to be outside of the Netherlands on the same day, youll likely get to witness a total lunar eclipse.

If you think the spring sounded exciting, get ready to hear what summer 2021 has in store. June 10 will see a partial solar eclipse for Europe and the US (or a total eclipse in eastern Russia, the Arctic Ocean, Western Greenland and Canada). June is also, of course, the month of the Summer Solstice (June 21).

Going into July, if you look to the sky just after sunset on July 13 you might be lucky enough to see the conjunction of Mars and Venus - the angle from Earth will mean that the two planets will appear as one. Between July 12 and August 13 you also have the chance of spying the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower, with the peak on July 28 to 29.

August is another big month. From July 17 to August 24 you might be able to spot the Perseids Meteor Shower (with the peak on the night of August 12). 2021 is set to be a good year for this shower as a waxing crescent moon on August 12 will set in the early evening, guaranteeing dark skies - perfect for watching a meteor shower.

August 2 will offer a great opportunity to spot a fully-illuminated Saturn in the night sky, while August 19 will be a good night to see Jupiter, which will be brighter than any other time of year and will be visible all night long. In addition to all this astronomical goodness, August 22 will see a Blue Moon.

If youre looking to see some more planets, then keep your telescope at the ready in September and November: similarly to August, September 14 will offer a perfect opportunity to spot Neptune, while November 5 will give you a glimpse of Uranus. Make the most of this chance because, due to their size and distance from the Earth, you dont get very many opportunities to see these two planets.

October is bookended by two meteor showers: the Draconids Meteor Shower, which runs from October 6 to 10 with the peak on October 7; and the Orionids Meteor Shower, which runs from October 2 to November 7 with the peak on October 21. For the Draconids you probably wont have to stay up too late (unusually, the best viewing time is actually in the early evening), while the Full Moon might make it a little tricky to spot the Orionids.

Still looking for more meteor showers? Well, November doesnt disappoint. On November 4 youll be treated to the peak of the Taurids Meteor Shower, and on November 17 youll get the peak of the Leonids Meteor Shower, which runs from November 6 through to November 30.

Then, as 2021 rounds to a close and everyone decorates the Christmas tree, orders the turkey, and buys the gifts, youll be treated to one last astronomical gift: the Geminids Meteor Shower. Running from December 7 to 17, the showers peak is on December 13, where - if the Dutch weather holds out - you could be treated to a whopping 120 multicoloured meteors per hour!

Telescopes and blankets at the ready everyone! Get ready to camp out under the stars and enjoy all the beautiful wonders our solar system has to offer - here's just hoping the sky stays clear enough for you to actually see it all happen!

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From meteor showers to New Moons: The astronomy calendar for 2021 - IamExpat in the Netherlands

The National Observatory of Athens and the University of Patras have just launched an exciting new program for space enthusiasts of all ages.

The Music of the Stars program is a unique space exhibition that opens its doors to kids and adults in 2021, both in-person and virtually, and unlike other programs of its kind, it teaches the blind the magic of astronomy through real sounds from space.

Presenting breakthrough technology, through this latest project by the National Observatory of Athens, which has been under development for several years, visitors have the chance to experience what being in space looks and sounds like.

A large variety of image and video both 3D and interactive material is provided throughout the exhibition, but unlike other, similar space-related programs, The Music of the Stars gives people the unique opportunity to listen to real sounds from space and recordings of sound waves coming from the stars around the universe.

This is something that only astronauts that have actually travelled to space have gotten to experience.

Besides its entertainment character, the program also has an educational purpose for those who have not been able to see photos or videos of what the world outside of our planet looks like.

When you talk to students about the Earths electromagnetic field and how it traps particles, you are not sure to get their attention. If, however, you put the sounds related to that phenomenon, then it is certain that you will grab every listeners attention.

There is an oxymoron scheme that generally associates astronomy with stunning images from space, but never with sounds. Many people have seen photos from space, but how many have actually heard what our universe sounds like? said Fiori Metallinou, astronomer at the National Observatory of Athens and member of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAASARS).

The sense of hearing, the utilization of the recorded radio waves from space by satellites, give us scientists amazing data. Sounds definitely enchant the students, so imagine what it can do to a visually impaired person. How much can it help them grasp concepts that they cannot see? Ms. Metallinou added.

The initiative to create the Music of the Stars program belongs to the University of Patras and Andreas Papalamprou, electrical engineer and alumni of the university, who has been a major contributor to the National Observatorys latest project.

Mr. Papalamprou started developing the Music of the Stars specifically for the blind, after creating various questionnaires that he sent out to the future users of the program, asking them what they are most excited to learn about space and astronomy.

Afterwards, the University of Patras, with the help of a team of scientists from the National Observatory of Athens, designed the program, using cutting-edge technology and visual footage.

In a recent web conference for the launch of the program, Mr. Papalamprou referred to the innovative software that is being used in the project, which can compile phenomena that occur in space, such as a solar eclipse, into sound.

Firstly, through the questionnaires, we understood how those who cannot see colour or light perceive the concept of space and universe. Then we tried to convert into sound, various images and videos of phenomena that occur in space.

We also made a special application for tablet devices, where sounds and vibrations change depending on where users are touching the screen, helping them to understand events that take place in space, Mr. Papalamprou explained.

People using the application will be able to understand, for example, the outline and shapes of planets, where they are located, or even their colour, which can be translated into musical notes through what we call a sound-colour scale.

The University of Patras has an astronomy education department, as well as a polytechnic school for engineers, so we joined forces to complete this project, which is in fact associated with an Erasmus program, Mr. Papalamprou mentioned.

Several other European universities were also involved in the project and offered their research findings to the University of Patras, which helped speed up the development of the project.

The results of the team effort from our university and other schools are particularly encouraging, as phenomena that we capture visually have been successfully transferred to the auditory range and so, visually impaired people can also capture the magic of the sky and astronomy.

We believe that as scientific research and technology advance, we will be able to offer such life-changing gifts to people.

Butterfly shaped houses land in Vouliagmeni

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The Music Of The Stars: Sounds From Space Teaching Astronomy To The Blind - Greek City Times - GreekCityTimes.com

As astronomers look deep into space, they also see far back in time. Now, astronomers at the University of Tokyo may have found the oldest, most distant galaxy ever seen. These observations come close to revealing conditions in the Universe when the first observable light spread throughout the Cosmos.

The ancient galaxy GN-z11 likely formed just 420 million years after the Big Bang, when the Universe was just three percent as old as it is today. Such an age would place this family of stars near the edge of the observable Universe. This galaxy formed at the dawn of the era of reionization when light first filled the Cosmos.

The galaxy GM-z11 was first seen in March 2016, and astronomers immediately recognized it as one of the oldestgalaxiesever seen. However, this new study refines the age of this distant object, revealing its extreme age and distance.

From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (thats 134 followed by 30 zeros). But measuring and verifying such a distance is not an easy task, said ProfessorNobunari Kashikawafrom the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo.

At extreme distances like those used in studyinggalaxies, astronomers often speak in terms of the redshift of a target, denoted with the letter z. This new study reveals GN-z11 has a redshift value around z=11, the highest shift (and therefore, the greatest distance) ever seen.

Analysis of this ancient family of stars reveals a few properties of this nascent galaxy.

GN-z11 is luminous and young, yet moderately massive, implying a rapid build-up of stellar mass in the past, researchers describe in an article detailing their work, published in the journalNature Astronomy.

Chemical signatures can be seen in the spectra of an object, revealing the composition of a distant target. These can be seen in one of two ways. The first of these, emission lines, are bright lines caused by the release of photons from atoms. The second type of these features,absorption lines, are dark, the result of photons being absorbed by atoms, when light passes through a gas.

When light from distant bodies is broken up into its component colors, these emission lines shift to the red end of the spectrum. This is known as a red shift.

The most distant an object is from us, thefaster it is seen to be receding, producing a greater red shift. Therefore, by measuring the red shift of a target galaxies, astronomers are able to calculate its distance from Earth.

We looked at ultraviolet light specifically, as that is the area of the electromagnetic spectrum we expected to find the redshifted chemical signatures. The Hubble Space Telescope detected the signature multiple times in the spectrum of GN-z11. However, even the Hubble cannot resolve ultraviolet emission lines to the degree we needed. So we turned to a more up-to-date ground-based spectrograph, an instrument to measure emission lines, called MOSFIRE, which is mounted to the Keck I telescope in Hawaii. said Kashikawa.

MOSFIRE was able to determine the red shift of emission lines from GN-z11 at a detail 100 times greater than ever before. If future observations confirm the distance found in this study, than GN-z11 is the most distant galaxy ever seen in theCosmos.

Its remote position puts GN-z11 at the beginning of the reionization era. In this period starlight from the first galaxies started to heat and lift the fog of cold hydrogen gas filling the Universe. The previous record-holding galaxy was seen in the middle of this epoch, about 150 million years later,NASA reports. In the video above, take a look at the Keck Observatory, from 2015. (Video credit: Keck Observatory)

Researchers also found an unexpected sight while studying GN-z11 a bright flash of ultraviolet light from the distant galaxy.

In the optical sky, minutes-duration transients from cosmological distances are rare. Known objects that give rise to such transients include gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most luminous explosions in the Universe These high-redshift GRBs and their associated emission can be used to probe the star formation and reionization history in the era of cosmic dawn, researchers describe inNature Astronomy.

Although this flash was likely the result of a GRB, astronomers are unable to confirm that analysis fromultravioletdata alone. However, the team was able to eliminate nearly any other possibility for the observation.

Future instruments and observations, including the James Webb Space Telescope, could reveal the progenitors of galaxies like GN-z11, emitting some of the oldest light in the Universe. This would suggest GRBs were taking place just 420 million years after the Big Bang.

Due to theexpansion of the Universe, light from this body traveled a distance of 32 billion light years to reach us, although GN-z11 is just 13.4 billion years old.

Now THAT is far out!

This article was originally published on The Cosmic Companion by James Maynard, founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion. He is a New England native turned desert rat in Tucson, where he lives with his lovely wife, Nicole, and Max the Cat. You can read this original piece here.

Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion is also available as a weekly podcast, carried on all major podcast providers. Tune in every Tuesday for updates on the latest astronomy news, and interviews with astronomers and other researchers working to uncover the nature of the Universe.

Continued here:

Astronomers just discovered the oldest and most distant galaxy ever - The Next Web

Within our galaxy, there are thousands of stars that orbit the center of the Milky Way at high velocities. On occasion, some of them pick up so much speed that they break free of our galaxy and become intergalactic objects. Because of the extreme dynamical and astrophysical processes involved, astronomers are most interested in studying these stars especially those that are able to achieve escape velocity and leave our galaxy.

However, an international team of astronomers led from the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) recently announced the discovery of 591 high-velocity stars. Based on data provided by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the ESAs Gaia Observatory, they indicated that 43 of these stars are fast enough to escape the Milky Way someday.

The study waspublished inThe Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serieson Dec. 17th. The study was led by Dr. LI Yinbi, an NAOC astronomer, and included researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Institute for Advanced Study, the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the ExtantFuture Technology Co., the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo, and multiple universities.

In terms of astrophysical studies, high-velocity stars are a relatively recent discovery. The first was observed in 2005, and in the subsequent 15 years, over 550 have been discovered by multiple observatories. From these, astronomers have been able to deduce four subclasses of high-velocity stars, which include: hypervelocity stars, runaway stars, hyper-runaway stars, and fast halo stars.

This latest discovery is especially significant then because it effectively doubles the number of known high-velocity stars, which are quite rare in our galaxy. The 591 high-velocity stars discovered this time doubled the total numberpreviously discovered, bringing the current totalnumber exceeding 1,000, said Dr. Li.

Hypervelocity stars (HVS), the fastest of the bunch, are especially interesting because they have achieved relativistic speeds (a fraction of the speed of light). In fact, astronomers have estimated that with the right kind of gravitational acceleration, hypervelocity stars can reach 1/10th to 1/3rd the speed of light roughly 30,000 to 100,000 km/s (18,640 to 62,130 mi/s).

It is these stars that have the escape velocity needed to leave the Milky Way. Said Prof. LU Youjun from NAOC, a co-author of this paper:

Though rare in the Milky Way, high-velocity stars, with unique kinematics, can provide deep insight into a wide range of Galactic science, from the central supermassive black hole to distant Galactic halo.

Rare is certainly an apt description. According to previous estimates made by astrophysicists, there are likely to be just 1000 HVS in our galaxy (thats 0.0000005 % of the galactic population). But given their speed and the vast distances they travel, tracking these stars and creating a database of their movements could tell us a great deal about a number of cosmic mysteries.

For the sake of their study, the international team relied in part on data provided by LAMOST. In addition to being the largest optical telescope in China, LAMOST has the highest spectral acquisition rate of any telescope in the world and can observe about 4,000 celestial objects in a single exposure. Since it began conducting surveys in 2012, it has established the worlds largest spectra database.

In addition, the team relied on astrometric measurements performed by the Gaia Observatory, which was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2013. Since then, it has gathered information on the location, proper motion, and velocity of over 1.3 billion celestial objects, making it the largest astrometric database in the world. Both observatories and their massive databases have been invaluable in the detection and study of HVS.

Based on the motion and composition of the objects they observed, the research team identified 591 HVSthat originated in the Milky Ways inner halo. Their low metallicities indicate that the bulk of the stellar halo formed as a consequence of the accretion and tidal disruption of dwarf galaxies, said co-author Prof. Zhao Gang of the CAS School of Astronomy and Space Science.

One of the greatest takeaways from this study the way it demonstrates how combining multiple large surveys can lead to the discovery of rare objects. In the future, astronomers will be able to draw from even larger databases containing survey data provided by next-generation instruments. This data will be especially useful in the study of Dark Matter, the mysterious mass that constitutes 27% of the mass-energy density of the Universe.

By tracking the movement of HVS, astrophysicists will be able to better constrain the shape of the Milky Ways dark matter halo. In addition, they could tell us a great deal about the formation and evolution of the Milky Way itself, as HVS are believed to be the result of galactic mergers and other extreme gravitational forces (i.e. supermassive holes). Having more to study could therefore help astronomers create a history of past galactic mergers.

It has also been ventured that HVS could allow astrophysicists to accurately constrain the mass of our galaxy, something that remains unresolved. On top of all that, previous research has indicated that HVS can carry their planetary systems with them, which could be one of the ways that life is spread throughout the cosmos (intergalactic panspermia).

Further Reading: Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Astrophysical Journal

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Astronomers Discover Hundreds of High-Velocity Stars, Many on Their Way Out of the Milky Way - Universe Today

Since time immemorial, philosophers and scholars have contemplated the beginning of time and even tried to determine when all things began. Its only been in the age of modern astronomy that weve come close to answering that question with a fair degree of certainty. According to the most widely-accepted cosmological models, the Universe began with the Bang Bang roughly 13.8 billion years ago.

Even so, astronomers are still uncertain about what the early Universe looked like since this period coincided with the cosmic Dark Ages. Therefore, astronomers keep pushing the limits of their instruments to see when the earliest galaxies formed. Thanks to new research by an international team of astronomers, the oldest and most distant galaxy observed in our Universe to date (GN-z11) has been identified!

The team, whose research was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy, was led by Linhua Jiang of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Prof. Nobunari Kashikawa of the University of Tokyo. They were joined by researchers from the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Steward Observatory, the Geneva Observatory, Peking University, and the University of Tokyo.

Simply put, the cosmic Dark Ages began about 370 thousand years after the Big Bang and continued for another 1 billion years. At this time, the only light sources were either the photons released before which is still detectable today as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and those released by neutral hydrogen atoms. The light of these photons is so shifted due to the expansion of the Universe that they are invisible to us today.

This effect is known as redshift, where the wavelength of light is elongated (or shift towards the red end of the spectrum) as it passes through the ever-expanding cosmos on its way to reach us. For objects moving closer to our galaxy, the effect is reversed, with the wavelength shortening and shifting towards the blue end of the spectrum (aka. blueshift).

For nearly a century, astronomers have used these effects to determine the distance of galaxies and the rate at which the Universe is expanding. In this case, the research team used the Keck I telescope at Maunakea, Hawaii, to measure the redshift of GN-z11 to determine its distance. The results they obtained indicated that it is the farthest (and oldest) galaxy ever observed. As Kashikawa explained in a University of Tokyo press release:

From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (thats 134 followed by 30 zeros). But measuring and verifying such a distance is not an easy task.

Specifically, the team examined the carbon emissions lines coming from GN-z11, which were in the ultraviolet range when they left the galaxy and were shifted by a factor of 10 to the infrared (0.2 micrometers) by the time it reached Earth. This level of redshift indicates that this galaxy existed as observed roughly 13.4 billion years ago aka. just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

At this distance, GN-z11 is so far that it defines the very boundary of the observable Universe itself! While this galaxy had been observed in the past (by Hubble), it took the resolving power and spectroscopic capabilities of the Keck Observatory to make accurate measurements. This was performed as part of the Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration (MOSFIRE) survey, which captured the emission lines from GN-z11 in detail.

This allowed the team to produce distance estimates for this galaxy that were improved by a factor of 100 over any measurements that were previously made. Said Kashikawa:

The Hubble Space Telescope detected the signature multiple times in the spectrum of GN-z11. However, even the Hubble cannot resolve ultraviolet emission lines to the degree we needed. So we turned to a more up-to-date ground-based spectrograph, an instrument to measure emission lines, called MOSFIRE, which is mounted to the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.

If subsequent observations can confirm the results of this latest study, then the astronomers can say with certainty that GN-z11 is the farthest galaxy ever observed. Through the study of objects like this one, astronomers hope to be able to shed light on a period of cosmic history when the Universe was just a few hundred millions of years old.

This period coincides with the Universe was beginning to emerge from the Dark Ages, when the first stars and galaxies formed and filled the early Universe with visible light. By studying these, astronomers hope to learn more about how the large-scale structures of the Universe subsequently evolved. This will be assisted by next-generation telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) scheduled to launch on October 31st, 2021.

These instruments will even allow astronomers to be able to study the the Dark Ages itself, a time when the only non-CMB light was the spin line of neutral hydrogen in the far microwave wavelength (21 cm). To be able to probe the very beginnings of the Universe itself and watch as the first stars and galaxies form. What a time an exciting that will be!

The observations that made this research possible were conducted under the time exchange program between the Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.

Further Reading: University of Tokyo, Keck Observatory, Nature Astronomy

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Astronomers set a new Record and Find the Farthest Galaxy. Its Light Took 13.4 Billion Years to Reach us - Universe Today

Astronomy education in Canada is "very, very centred in the European model," said Hilding Neilson, who is Mi'kmaw and a professor in the department of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto. The way introductory astronomy is generally taught, he explained, "it's just this one linear path from the Romans to, essentially, Neil deGrasse Tyson."

Neilson is trying to change the dominant way of approaching astronomy by incorporating Indigenous astronomies in the classroom. Indigenous astronomies, explained Hilding, are "the astronomies and the knowledges of the peoples of the land."

"Every Nation has their own perspective of the night sky, their own interpretation and knowledge of it," he said.

"Indigenous astronomies speak to a connection to the land and to the people. And that knowledge has been here as long as people have been here."

Neilson teaches his students the Mi'kmaw concept of Two Eyed Seeing which, he explained,involves looking at the world through the lenses of both Western science and Indigenous knowledges.

"With one eye we're only looking through one lens," said Neilson. "When we bring both lenses together, we can build a greater picture."

The origins of astro-colonialism, explained Hilding, stretch back in time. As an example, Hilding cites James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific, in 1769, to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Cook, Hilding said, had British orders to "discover" the region, and the voyage triggered colonisation in the area.

Today, said Hilding, astro-colonialism can be seen in the location of telescopes. "Modern astrophysics relies on the biggest telescopes in the world to look for the first stars, to look for evidence of dark matter," explained Hilding.

These telescopes, hesaid, are on Indigenous territories "whether that's in Hawaii on Maunakea, the southern United States, Chile, Australia."

The planned construction of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Maunakea, Hawaii's tallest mountain, has sparked opposition from many Indigenous people in Hawaii.

In 2015, Canadian astronomers successfully lobbied the federal government to commit $254.5 million in funding toward the project.

Hilding has been outspoken about the issue and about the need for Indigenous consent of telescopes and astronomy facilities on Indigenous lands.

Hilding saidit's complicated because, as an academic, his research relies on having access to telescopes like TMT. "If I want to have a permanent job in academia, I need to write papers, I need to publish journal articles. And that depends on using these facilities."

"If the Thirty Meter Telescope existed, I would have the ability to apply for observations of planets going around other stars, looking for the first stars ever born in our universe, to do science that I cannot think about yet. But at the same time, if we don't have permission or consent, how is that ethical? Do I have to choose between being a good astronomer or respecting Indigenous rights? Is that a fair choice at all?"

"In the end, it's just a matter of: we have to respect Indigenous rights first and worry about thirty meter telescopes later."

Producedand written byZoe Tennant.

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Indigenous astronomies and 'astro-colonialism' - CBC.ca

Stargazers are in for a treat throughout 2021 with a packed year of astronomical dates to enjoy.

There's a calendar full of amazing celestial events to look forward to.

From impressive meteor showers, awe-inspiring supermoons and a close-up look at different planets, 2021 has got plenty on offer to appease even the most discerning of observers.

Many, you won't even need any special equipment to experience either. Just find a dark location with minimal light pollution - if restrictions at the time allow - for a front row seat to some of the best natural phenomenon.

Otherwise, get out in the garden and see what you can see.

Grab your diary and make note of some of the biggest and best astronomy events taking place over the next 12 months - all visible from the UK.

January 24

The planet Mercury is known for its unusual non-circular orbit and it's only visible for a few weeks at a time as it's usually drowned out by the glare of the sun.

And in January and February, it will reach its greatest separation from the sun - known as Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation - meaning it will be shining visible in the twilight sky over the UK.

It will reach its optimum point on January 24, and should be visible just after the sun sets. It might be tricky to spot, but there are guides online to help you find where to look.

However in all cases, do not look for Mercury using binoculars until the sun has completely disappeared from the sky due to the risk of permanent sight damage.

March 26

Stargazers won't have to wait too long for the first Super Full Moon of the year - when a full Moon is at its closest point to Earth.

It happens because the planet isn't actually perfectly spherical - and shaped more like an ellipse.

This means that when the moon is closest to the Earth on the same night as a full moon - commonly referred to as a supermoon - it appears as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 per cent brighter in the sky.

The first one of 2021 will be called a Super Worm Moon - because the first or only full moon in March is always known as a Worm Moon, named for the end of winter when worms and other critters typically make their first appearance of the year.

This will be visible in the sky on the night of March 26-27.

April 22 to 23

Those who missed the Quadrantids meteor shower at the start of January will get another chance to catch some shooting stars in the night sky.

April will see the annual Lyrids meteors rain over the UK, which produces around 20 shooting stars an hour at its peak.

The visible meteors are produced by dust particles left behind by comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which leave bright trails as they graze the Earths upper atmosphere at 110,000 miles per hour.

However this year, the Lyrids coincide with a nearly-full waxing gibbous moon, which means visibility may be blocked by the glare - but it will still be possible to get a decent view of the brightest meteors in the shower if viewing from a dark location free of light pollution after midnight.

The Lyrids Meteor Shower will peak overnight on April 22 - 23, 2021.

April 27

April's full moon will also be a super moon, given its close proximity to the Earth.

This moon is given the moniker the Pink Moon - but stargazers shouldn't be fooled into thinking it will turn a rosy shade.

It's actually named after early blooming pink wildflowers which typically appear around the time of the full moon in April. And this month, the moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

April 19 to May 28 (Peaks May 5-6)

This meteor shower looks more spectacular in the southern hemisphere but can still be seen in the north.

It occurs when the Earth passes through debris left behind by Halley's Comet, with the particles burning as they pass through the upper atmosphere.

Stargazers in the northern hemisphere can expect to see about 30 meteors per hour, peaking on the night between May 5 and 6. It is expected to be at its most active at around 3am with up to 50 meteors visible per hour if weather conditions permit.

May 11

The month of May will herald a phenomenon known as a Micromoon - where coincides with apogee, the point in the Moon's orbit farthest away from Earth.

It's essentially the opposite of a Supermoon, and the Micromoon this month is a Micro New Moon - bringing with it the ideal conditions to stargaze.

Because it is further away, it will look much smaller in the sky - and because it appears smaller it may also seem less bright than usual too.

May 26

The full moon in May is known as the Flower Moon, to signify the abundance of wildflowers that begin to bloom throughout the month.

The third of four super moons this year, it will once again be at its closest point to earth, making it seem much bigger and brighter than usual.

June 10

In June, the moon will partially obscure the sun as it passes by Earth in orbit. From around 10am and lasting till around midday, the moon will block out 20 per cent of the sun at maximum eclipse - which will take place at 11.13am GMT.

The safest way to watch this astronomical phenomenon will be to do so via specially manufactured eclipse glasses, or by making a pinhole camera. Never attempt to view an eclipse with the naked eye.

The solar eclipse will be visible from 10am on June 10, 2021.

July 17 to August 24 (Peaks August 12 - 13)

Possibly the brightest meteor shower of the year for those of us in the UK, the Perseids can dazzle stargazers with as many as 100 shooting stars an hour at the peak.

This celestial phenomenon, described as nature's fireworks, is caused as the planet crosses paths with a debris cloud in the solar system left by the giant Swift-Tuttle comet.

As the bits of rock and dust hit our atmosphere at astronomical speed, they burn up and in some cases cause fireballs streaking across the sky.

It's visible between July 17 and August 24 and peaks every year overnight between August 12 and 13. To spot these meteors, you don't need any special equipment as many are visible to the naked eye, but viewing from a dark location away from light pollution is alway recommended for the best view.

August 2 and 19

Saturn that will move to the direct opposite side of the Earth from the Sun in August, making it the closest it will get to Earth on August 2.

Due to its close proximity it will be brightly illuminated by the sun and will be visible in the sky all night making it the perfect opportunity to catch a closer look of this planetary giant - and the Seeliger effect will make the rings appear brighter than normal

And just a couple of weeks later, on August 19, Jupiter will come into opposition, and will be bigger and brighter than at any point in the rest of the year. You should be able to see its four largest satellites (it has 79 in total) with a good pair of binoculars, appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet.

August 22

This calendar event only happens once every few years - it's where the old adage once in a blue moon comes from.

There are normally only three full moons in each season of the year. But since full moons occur every 29.53days, occasionally a season will contain four full moons. The extra full moon of the season is known as a blue moon.

However this is based on the old definition of what constitutes a blue moon. The modern interpretation defines a blue moon as where there are two full moons in a month.

But going off the original blue moon rules, the seasonal full moon in August - known as the Sturgeon moon, is technically one, too.

September 14

In normal circumstances, there's pretty much no way to see Neptune in the night sky without some sort of special equipment.

But those armed with simple binoculars or a basic small telescope will be able to catch a glimpse of this faraway world in autumn as it moves into opposition with Earth. It will reach opposition on September 14 and will be visible all night.

October 21 to 22

This annual meteor shower is caused when the Earth passes through debris left by Halley's Comet. The Orionids are named after Orion, because the meteors seem to emerge or radiate from the same area in the sky as the constellation.

It's not as active as some of the other meteor showers visible throughout the year, but from adark location, with the moon is out of the way, you might see 10 to 20 meteors per hour at its peak.

The meteors themselves aren't the brightest and are really fast so you'll need to be focused, but they make up for it with some of the longest-lasting bright streaks - known as trains - after it has gone.

October 8 to 9

This meteor shower is typically a modest one, though there have been spectacular exceptions in the past - including a stormy display in 2018.

It's created by the dust debris left by the Comet Giacobini-Zinner and coincides with the head of the constellation known as Draco the Dragon, found in the northern sky.

This year's shower peaks on the night between October 8 and 9 and and is best viewed in the evening at nightfall, unlike most other meteor showers where activity is typically highest after midnight.

November 5

Uranus is normally hidden and out of view to onlookers and you'd struggle to see it with the naked eye even in the most optimum of conditions and with the exact coordinates of where to find it.

But its position in November means that those with binoculars or a small telescope will get a rare opportunity to get a really decent look at the elusive giant, which will not only be big, bright and easy to spot, it will also move slowly in the sky over the course of a month either side of November 5.

November 6 to 30 (peak November 16- 17)

The fast, bright Leonids are associated with Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and named after the Leo constellation.

This year's shower will peak between midnight and dawn on November 16 and 17.

The Leonids are also known for their spectacular meteor storms every 33 years or so, when hundreds and even thousands of shooting stars can be seen - however there's a bit of a wait for the next one, which is not expected until 2034.

A typical shower usually produces about 10 to 20 meteors per hour at its peak, though it's not often to spot as many as this in the UK as some are below the horizon.

November 19

Stargazers in the UK will get the chance to see a lunar eclipse in November.

This time, it will take place in the early morning, beginning at 6am. The moon will start to eclipse at 07.18am, moving partially into the Earth's shadow.

The eclipse will take around an hour and a half to complete, finishing at 07.24am.

December 4 to December 17 (Peak December 13-14)

One of the last major showers of the year, the Geminids are particularly impressive with their multi-coloured firework-like meteors.

While most are white, some are yellow and a handful are green, red and blue thanks to traces of metals like sodium and calcium in the debris that creates them - left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon and offering surprisingly colourful bursts of light.

At its peak, this shower has been known produce more than 100 meteors per hour - and the Geminids in 2021 are predicted to have the highest average rate of the year, making it one to watch out for.

They will peak on the night between December 13 and 14 and best watched from a dark location.

Original post:

Super moons, meteor showers and other stargazing and astronomy dates in the UK for 2021 - Manchester Evening News

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, Go Ask Mom editor

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center's Teen Science Cafe is this week, and it will focus on answering astronomical questions with Python code

This is part of a regular, now virtual, series, that's designed for teens who want to explore a variety of STEM topics.

This month's program is set for 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 8, and will feature Tony Rice, a NASA ambassador who also contributes regularly to WRAL. When writing about astronomy topics for WRAL, he often creates Python scripts to answer specific astronomy questions that range from how often common conjunctions like the "great conjunction" on Dec. 21 happen, how often is there a full moon on Halloween and more.

Rice, according to the event description, will walk participants through some of the code and then will live code, test and get an answer to an astronomy question. These are free, but all attendees must register. More information is on Morehead's website.

(As a reminder, Take the Kids: With renovations complete, Morehead Planetarium reopens this weekend with new exhibits if you're up for an in-person visit.)

The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences also has regular Teen Science Cafes, and the next one is slated for Jan. 15. The topic is climate change.

Original post:

Morehead's Teen Science Cafe to focus on how astronomical questions are answered - WRAL.com

Astronautical engineer and astronomer George Robert Carruthers, a name well-known and dearly regarded in the space science community, and a good friend of the National Air and Space Museum, passed away on Saturday, December 26 after a long illness. His fame derives in part from the fact that he developed and built a compact and powerful ultraviolet electronographic telescope, which became the first (and still the only) astronomical instrument sent to the Moon. It was placed on the lunar surface on Apollo 16 in 1972, and it performed extremely well, leading to enhanced knowledge of the Earths outermost atmosphere and of the vast spaces between the stars and galaxies invisible to the eye.

The flight-backup of that astronomical instrument was first displayed at the Museum in the mid-1990s. It was first set out on the lunar surface of our Apollo Lander exhibit on the east end of the building next to the Lunar Lander LEM, and more recently in the Apollo to the Moon gallery, safely protected in a sealed vitrine. After several years however, collections care specialists noticed upon inspection that it gave off an acrid odor. Something was decaying. A 2016 blog describes the Museums efforts to restore the film cannister, which was the suspected culprit.

Now, with his passing, we want to better appreciate the man who built the machine. Carruthers was born on October 1, 1939, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first child (of four) of George Archer Carruthers and Sophia Singley Carruthers. His father was a civil engineer at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but early on he moved his family to a small farm on the outskirts in the town of Milford. Although he had chores around the farm, such as helping his mother with the chickens, George was always quiet and focused, devouring space travel comics, books from the library, and later Colliers series on the dream of spaceflight. By the time he was 10 years old, he built his first telescope from lenses he saw for sale in an astronomy magazine.

After Georges father suddenly died in 1952, his mother took the family to Chicago to stay with relatives, and he carried his dreams of space flight along, nourishing them at the Adler Planetarium and elsewhere. Although he had an avid interest in science and space, he was more successful in science projects and competing in science fairs than in formal classes. George always went his own way. But mindful teachers recognized his brilliance, and he was propelled to college at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he brightened up in the laboratories and dutifully worked through his undergraduate years and graduate years, receiving a PhD in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in late 1964.

As George was completing his thesis in experimental plasma dynamics trying to better understand the forces rockets and missiles experience in the upper atmosphere, he also spent his summers back home experimenting with plasma engines for small rockets. These interests and activities propelled him to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) after graduation. Still working on his thesis, George applied for an NRL postdoc in Herbert Friedmans newly-created Hulburt Center Associate Program sponsored by the NSF. When he gave a lecture there about his thesis research, he was immediately accepted, first as a postdoc candidate in December 1964, and then, after two postdoctoral years, as a full staff member in 1967. He remained at NRL until 2002, retiring as a senior astrophysicist in the Space Sciences Division.

The camera that George designed, built, tested, and patented in the 1960s met all the requirements for an Apollo lunar surface experiment. It was small, lightweight, powerful, easy to use, and, most of all, had to be operated by a human and required that the individual bring home the goods. It was an electronically amplified photographic camera. Decades before the advent of powerful solid-state sensors, photo-chemical photography was the main means of faithfully recording images that could yield scientific data. Yet, photography was highly inefficient. So, to view faint objects in the heavens, a bigger telescope was needed. A larger telescope would not fit on sounding rockets, satellites, or Apollo, however. The most competitive solution was to find a way to amplify the incoming light signal so that photographic recording was possible. Thats what George did. He didnt invent the concept, but the design he applied proved to be highly efficient, reliable, and easy to use.

Because Carruthers camera designs required that the instrument return to Earth to be studied, his work in the 1970 and 1980s focused on space missions that were human operated. However, by that time, the solid-state revolution had produced purely electronic sensors, charge-coupled devices (CCDs) that could relay imaging data to Earth efficiently and reliably.

George reacted to this sea-change in technology in several ways. His detectors had wider fields and spatial resolution than the first CCDs, but he knew that the CCDs soon would compete. Still, he adapted his designs using CCDs rather than film to achieve even more powerful and useful ends. He also increasingly reached-out beyond his laboratory to inspire young minds to get involved in his never-ending quest to create new tools to explore the universe.

After his Apollo success in 1972, his notoriety from being the man who sent the first astronomical camera to the Moon made him very attractive to the dedicated groups that were campaigning to make science, technology, and engineering accessible to people of color. He became a symbol and conduit for their efforts, helping them change from debating on how to do it, to actually doing it.

Indeed, by the 1990s, George Carruthers devoted more and more of his life and energies to mentoring students in and around Washington, D.C. Fostered by administrative staff at NRL and NASA, he was constantly sought out to give lectures and address classes, and he became active in a number of STEM organizations, starting with the National Technical Association (NTA) that had been promoting science and engineering literacy among African Americans since the 1920s. Carruthers joined a chapter in 1978, writing short essays and notes keeping readers updated on opportunities in aerospace. He became editor of their Journal and remained with the NTA until 2013.

George also brought students into his laboratory to experience research in real-time. In the 1980s, he took part in creating what was called the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program, (SEAP) which supports summer co-op students to work and be mentored by NRL scientists to experience and appreciate science firsthand. Added to this, and to his NTA work, in the late 1980s, he was encouraged by Valerie Thomas to join a local activist organization, Project S.M.A.R.T., created by Congressman Mervyn Dymally, who chaired the Congressional Science and Technology Subcommittee. Carruthers engaged in a wide range of activities often orchestrated by Thomas and others, including public observatory viewings at Howard University, monthly Saturday speakers, and S.M.A.R.T. Day programs at our Museum.

George was no stranger to the Museum. I was always amazed with his outreach activities when he met with students in small groups, helping them appreciate what it feels like to experience space science, talking with them as a peer, not a professor. He was very obliging in the 1990s when we asked him to restore the flight backup instrument that we had in storage so that we could display it. He not only restored it beautifully but added the flown film cassette that he had in his storage room, which eventually emitted an acrid but harmless smell. One of the most touching parts of the story is that he had students who were in his laboratory at the time helping him conduct the restoration.

Over the years, Carruthers has received numerous awards and honors for his work. Notably in 2013, he was awarded the 2011 National Medal for Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama.

David H. DeVorkin is Senior Curator for the history of astronomy at the National Air and Space Museum. Portions of this blog derive from a manuscript biography he is preparing on the life of George Carruthers.

Read the original here:

George Robert Carruthers: Astronautical Engineer and Astronomer - National Air and Space Museum

Probably the least famous planet in our Solar System, Uranus is without doubts one of the most exceptional and unique worlds.

Flipped on one side as a result of a massive collision, this cyan-tinted world hides unexpected wonders and unique features: extreme seasons, astonishing rings andorbiting moons named after Shakespeares characters!

Observed since ancient times, with first observations tracing back to Hipparchos (128 BC), Uranus was the first planet to be recognised as such with the aid of a telescope. For centuries, in fact, the planet had been mistaken for a star before Sir William Herschel pointed his homemade 7-foot telescope at it, in 1781.

And even then, he thought he was glancing at a comet. It was only after few years that the object was universally accepted as another planet orbiting the Sun. The discovery gained Herschel the official protection of King George and the astronomer, to express his gratitude, proposed to name the planet after the King. Finally, the recent discovery of a new metal (Uranium) led the scientific community to accept another of the proposed names: Uranus, the Greek god of the sky.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun at 2.9 billion km and has the third-largest diameter and the fourth-largest mass in the Solar System. Compared to Earth, it is 4 times wider: by comparison, if our planet were a tennis ball, Uranus would be a basketball.

But size is not what makes it unique and bizarre. Possibly the result of a massive collision, Uranus axis is tilted about 98 degrees (Earths tilt is 23.5) meaning it appears flipped on one side, with one of its poles pointing toward the Sun. It is the only planet in the Solar System spinning almost on its side!

Another peculiarity of this Ice Giant is that, along Venus, it is the only planet in the Solar System to rotate counterclockwise, with the Sun rising in the west. A day on Uranus is relatively short at 17 hours whereas a year, the time Uranus takes to make a complete orbit around the Sun, takes around 84 Earth years, a full human life.

And that is not all. The extreme tilt of the axis also contributes to the planets weird seasons with the northern hemisphere experiencing 21 years of continued day light in summer, 21 of years of dark in winter and 21 years of equally split daylight and night-time in the spring and fall.

Together with Neptune, Uranus is usually classified as "Ice Giant". The Ice refers to the composition of the mass that contains a hot dense fluid of water, ammonia and methane, which planetary scientists tend to call ices, for they solidify at cold temperatures. And never mind the fact that inside the atmosphere these ices boil under the extreme pressure. They still classify as ices.

The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, but it is methane that confers Uranus its distinctive pale blue colour. As seen in other giant planets, the upper atmosphere experiences extreme storms with winds up to 900 km per hour in the direction of rotation. The planetary temperature is the coldest in the Solar System with peaks at -224 C.

Like Saturn, Uranus has its own systems of rings: 13 ultra-thin hoops of tightly packed icy rocks and dust that encircle the planet vertically rather than horizontally, due to the extreme tilt of the planets axis.

Uranus has also 27 known moons in its orbit, largely composed of ice water and rock. They are named after the characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope: from Juliet and Ophelia to Ariel and Umbriel, Uranus is certainly in good company.

Read more:

Astronomy: The bizarre planet: Uranus - RTL Today