Category: Weekly Update

Top Astronomy and Astrophysics research from the week of 7/26/2020

Next week’s night sky: On Monday, August 3rd, the moon will be a green corn full moon. This means that the moon is near the Aquarius or Capricorn stars, which always happens in August. On Thursday, August 6th, NEOWISE will pass Messier 53. This is a great photo opportunity if you have a good telescope! A destroyed cluster Scientists have recently discovered the long-lost remnants of a globular cluster ripped apart by the Milky Way! A globular cluster is a huge, spherical collection of more than a […]

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Top Astronomy and Astrophysics research from the week of 7/19/2020

Next week’s night sky The moon will reach its first quarter on July 27. Under some magnification, the sunlight striking the craters and the valleys along the terminator that separates the light and dark sides will be quite interesting! On Tuesday, July 28, the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower peaks at around 3 in the morning! This shower commonly drops around 15-20 meteor per hour, so 15 minutes of looking should get you to see at least 5 meteors! Meteors usually come in clouds, so they will […]

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Top Astronomy and Astrophysics research from the week of 7/12/2020

Next week’s night sky If you have a telescope or binoculars, next week will be full of awesome things to see! Monday is the new moon, This means that the sky will be extra dark, making the stars look more luminous in the sky! Also on Monday, Saturn is at apposition! This means that it will be the brightest it will be all year. Coupled with the new moon, this should make for a spectacular sight! On Friday, from 05:20 -08:00 GMT, Europa’s shadow will pass through […]

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Top Astronomy and Astrophysics research from the week of 7/5/2020

Next week’s night sky A lot of cool things are happening early  this week! On Sunday 7/12, the moon will be in its last quarter. On Monday, July 13, ceres will reverse direction! If you have a telescope, this is an incredibly cool thing to watch. To find ceres, navigate to this website: Stellarium Web Online Star Map, and then look up ceres. On Tuesday, July 14th, Jupiter will be at apposition! This means that it will be brightest and closest it will be all year! You […]

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Top Astronomy and Astrophysics research from the week of 6/28/2020

Next week’s night sky: This is a great week to take a look at the moon! It will be especially bright on Monday, so be sure to look for its large craters and dark seas. Look down below for a map of what you can see on the moon. On Monday, at 5 in the morning, the moon will be only 2 degrees away from Saturn! Look around the sky near the moon for a brighter object. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you should be […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 6/21/2020

Next week’s night sky: The  Boötid meteor shower is active! This shower only rarely produces significant numbers of meteors, usually only at most 1-2 per hour. However, on those rare occasions, when it is extremely active, viewers can see up to one hundred meteors per hour! For observers in the middle of the United States, the best time to watch will be right after nightfall. Because most meteor showers occur at around 2 in the morning, this is an amazing opportunity for most casual watchers to try […]

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