Tag: meteor shower

Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 12/27/2020

Next week’s night sky: Named for a now-defunct constellation called the Mural Quadrant, the annual Quadrantids meteor shower runs from December 30 to January 12. This shower’s most intense period, when 50 to 100 meteors per hour can occur, lasts only about 6 hours surrounding the peak, which is predicted to occur on Sunday, January 3 at 10:00 GMT (or 5 a.m. Eastern time). Ripples in Space-time There’s something a ittle off about our theory of the universe. Almost everything fits, but there’s a fly in the […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 12/6/2020

Next week’s night sky: On Monday, December 14, the Geminids meteor shower peaks! This is usually the most spectacular meteor shower in December. Meteor rates can reach up to 120 meteors an hour! Combined with the new moon, this shower should be a terrific finishing point for the astronomy of 2020. Two young planetary systems Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered two new young planetary systems. They found that two stars not older than 320 million years, namely TOI-251 and TOI-942, are orbited […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 11/1/2020

Next week’s night sky: On Thursday, the Northern Taurids meteor shower peaks! Look at the sky just after midnight to catch a glimpse of up to 15 meteorites per hour! Sunday is the new moon. This is a great time to stargaze, as the moon will not block any of the dimmer stars. If you have a telescope, consider looking at mars on Sunday. It will stay in almost the same place the whole night, making it easy to find! Mountains on Mars How did Olympus Mons […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 10/25/2020

Next week’s night sky: On November 5, the Southern Taurids Meteor Shower peaks just after midnight! Stay up that late and you will be rewarded with almost 10 colorful meteors an hour! On Saturday, November 7, the moon will not rise for a few hours after sunset. This is a great time for some casual stargazing, as the moon will not ruin the view. Water on the Moon NASA’s flying Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has detected water molecules on the surface of the moon! Researchers […]

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