David Dickinson, Author at Universe Today

July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 by David Dickinson

Our Guide to Saturn Opposition Season 2019

Saturn nearing opposition from July 2nd. Image credit and copyright: Efrain Morales.

Saturn opposition season never disappoints. Slowly, one by one, the planets are returning to the dusk sky. In June, we had Jupiter reach opposition on June 10th. Now, although Mercury and Mars are fleeing the evening scene low to the west at dusk and Venus lingers low in the dawn, magnificent Saturn reaches opposition tonight on July 9^th, rising to the east as the Sun sets to the west.

June 27, 2019June 27, 2019 by David Dickinson

Our Complete Guide to the July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse

This image combines many exposures of different durations taken to reveal aspects of the widely-viewed total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, which was visible from the United States. In the centre the faint circle of the Moon can be seen, with its surface features dimly illuminated in light reflected from the Earth. Around the edge red prominences can be seen and further out the white glow of the corona is sculpted by the Sun's magnetic field.

You couldn’t order up a geekier solar eclipse from the cosmos. Next Tuesday on July 2^nd, the second of three eclipse seasons begins for 2019, with the only total solar eclipse of the year spanning the southern tip of South America, including the nations of Chile and Argentina. As an extra-special part of the spectacle, however, the path of totality for the eclipse passes right over the La Silla observatory complex in the Atacama Desert.

June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 by David Dickinson

Is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Vanishing as We Near Opposition 2019?

The changing face of Jupiter during opposition 2019. Image credit and copyright: Sharin Ahmad

Jupiter opposition season is nigh, and with it, the largest planet in our solar system and its iconic Great Red Spot present us with a key mystery.

Jupiter in 2019

Jupiter reaches opposition for 2019 on June 10^th. For an outer planet with an orbit exterior to the Earth, opposition simply means it’s ‘opposite’ to the Sun as seen from our Earthly vantage point. This means that Jupiter will rise in the east and dominate the sky throughout the June night, after the Sun sets in the west.

May 27, 2019May 27, 2019 by David Dickinson

Catching a Ride on the Starlink Satellite Train: Midnight Marvel, or Night Sky Menace?

Starlink satellites prepare for deployment. Credit: SpaceX.

Have you seen Starlink? It all started, as all good breaking astronomical events seem to do, late on a Friday night. We got the notification first from veteran satellite tracker Dr. Marco Langbroek over in the Netherlands via the venerable See-Sat-L message board, and on Twitter soon after:

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019 by David Dickinson

Mars Odyssey Reveals Phobos Using THEMIS

Phobos THEMIS — Phobos in three different phases (from left: half, crescent and full) as captured by 2001 Mars Odyssey's THEMIS imager. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/SSI

Welcome to the moons of Mars, as you’ve never seen them.

NASA’s aging 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter recently snapped some unique views of the twin moons Phobos and Deimos, in an effort to better understand their texture and surface composition. The images are courtesy of the spacecraft’s THEMIS (the Thermal Emission Imaging System) heat sensitive instrument, and show the thermal gradient across the surface of the moons in color. Odyssey has been studying the moons of Mars since September 2017. The recent images of Phobos taken on April 24, 2019 are especially intriguing, as they occurred during full illumination phase.

May 14, 2019May 14, 2019 by David Dickinson

The International Space Station Rides High Through the May Sky

The International Space Station rides high over the Florida peninsula. Credit: NASA

May is graduation month, and with it, school star party season is about to conclude. If you happen to be out this coming weekend showing the sky off to the public, keep an eye out for one of the top celestial sights that you won’t see at the eyepiece, as we’re in for a slew of good visible passes of the International Space Station worldwide.

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 by David Dickinson

Watch the Moon Buzz the Beehive

The Moon meets the Beehive on the evening of May 10th. Credit: Stellarium

Been following the Moon this week? The first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon this past weekend not only marked the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan worldwide, but also sets us up for an interesting Friday night encounter, as the waxing crescent Moon crosses the Beehive Cluster.

May 2, 2019May 2, 2019 by David Dickinson

Keep an Eye Out for the Eta Aquarid Meteors This Weekend

Never heard of the Eta Aquarid meteors? 2019 offers a good chance to check out this normally obscure meteor shower.

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019 by David Dickinson

Friday’s SpaceX Dragon Launch CRS-17 to Light Up the U.S. East Coast

CRS-16 — A SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket poised to launch Dragon from Cape Canaveral. Credit: NASA

Update: The CRS-17 launch has slipped to Friday, May 3rd, to give NASA time to evaluate electrical issues aboard the International Space Station. Follow us (@Astroguyz) on Twitter for further updates on the visibility prospects of the mission leading up to launch.

Ever seen a rocket launch before? Catching one is easier than you might think. You just need to be looking in the right direction at the right time, and have clear skies. If you happen to be watching from the U.S./Canada eastern seaboard before dawn this Friday (May 3rd), you just might catch the spectacular dawn launch of a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket with Dragon on the CRS-17 (also known as SpX-17) mission headed to the International Space Station.

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 by David Dickinson

Astronomers Catch a Superflare From a Puny Star

You can be thankful that we orbit a placid, main sequence, yellow dwarf star. Astronomers recently spied a massive superflare on a diminutive star, a powerful, radiation spewing event that you wouldn’t want to witness up close.