2014 – Page 24 – Observations

Daily cosmobite: Mars and the Moon

January 22, 2014

Early risers can see the red planet Mars high in the north-east sky before dawn. Tomorrow morning the gibbous Moon approaches the planet; it is above and to the left or north of Mars, while on Friday morning the Moon, now at last quarter phase, is above and to the right or east of the planet.

Harry plays hide and seek with crater Humboldt

January 21, 2014

Daily cosmobite: Pollux

January 21, 2014

Pollux is the second of the two bright stars of Gemini the Twins. It is above and to the right or east of its twin Castor. The name Pollux means the Boxer. It is a giant reddish star that is ten times the width of our Sun and is 34 light years from us.

Daily cosmobite: happy birthday Buzz!

January 20, 2014

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who was born in New Jersey, USA on this day in 1930, took part in the first manned landing on the Moon. He had been an US Air Force pilot flying combat missions in Korea. After the Korean War he obtained a doctorate from MIT on how spacecraft can rendezvous while in orbit.

Daily cosmobite: Pluto mission anniversary

January 18, 2014

Sunday is the anniversary of the launch of the New Horizons spacecraft (American time) in 2006 towards the then major planet Pluto. To the disappointment of some of the scientists involved with the mission, later that year the International Astronomical Union demoted the planet to dwarf status.

Daily cosmobite: the Twins

January 17, 2014

Pollux and Castor are the two bright stars of Gemini the Twins. In the early evening they are low in the north-east, directly below Orion. Being a constellation named in the northern hemisphere the twins are upside down with the two bright stars representing the heads of the twins at the bottom.

Daily cosmobite: zodiac constellations

January 16, 2014

These are the constellations the Sun passes in front of during the year. Looking from west to east in the early evening the following zodiac constellations are visible: Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer.

Daily cosmobite: Jupiter and the Moon

January 15, 2014

The giant planet Jupiter is visible low in the north-east after dusk in the early evening. It is in the constellation of Gemini the Twins, which is recognisable through its two bright stars, Pollux and Castor.

A visit to Sydney Observatory in 1885

January 14, 2014

Visitors with Sydney Observatory’s main telescope, the 29-cm Schroeder lens telescope. From The Sydney Mail Saturday 12 January 1895. Courtesy Sydney Observatory Sometime in early to mid 1885 the young journalist Thomas Heney received a ‘card of admission’ to Sydney Observatory “to view the moon and planets” and went on an evening visit.

Daily cosmobite: Sydney approaches Earth

January 14, 2014

A space rock or asteroid named after Australia’s first and largest city is today at its closest to Earth for the year. Discovered by John Broughton at Reedy Creek Observatory on Queensland’s Gold Coast, 15550 Sydney circles the Sun every five years or so between the paths of Mars and Jupiter.

Daily cosmobite: the Seven Sisters

January 13, 2014

If we extend a line through Orion’s belt westwards we reach a faint group of stars called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Although without a telescope most people can only see six stars in the group, the Ancient Greeks called them the Seven Sisters.

Daily cosmobite: Uranus moons’ anniversary

January 11, 2014

The astronomer William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, the two largest moons of the planet Uranus, on this date in 1787. The next two moons, Ariel and Umbriel, were only found in the middle of the next century.

10_Wilson_penzias200_US National Park Service

Daily cosmobite: cosmic discoverer birthday

January 10, 2014

Nobel Prize winner Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on this day in 1936. In the mid 1960s Wilson, together with his colleague Arno Penzias, discovered the uniform microwave radiation that permeates the Universe.

Daily cosmobite: the January sky

January 9, 2014

This month after dusk we have a good view of favourite constellation of the Australian summer sky, Orion, high in the northern sky. Above and to the right or east of Orion is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, while closer to the horizon are the twin bright stars Pollux and Castor.

Motion Sun solstices equinoxes_Nick Lomb

The daily motion of the Sun throughout the year as seen from the southern hemisphere

January 8, 2014

An animated diagram showing the daily motion of the Sun at the turning points of the year, the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes, as seen from southern latitudes at places such as Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.

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