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Liftoff for Venus Express

ESA’s Venus Express lifted off today atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket, beginning its journey to Venus. ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany made contact with the spacecraft two hours after liftoff, and reported that it has oriented itself correctly and deployed its solar arrays. Its onboard systems are working properly, and its low gain antenna is communicating back to Earth – the high-gain antenna will be deployed in three days. If all goes well, Venus Express will arrive at our closest planetary neighbour in April 2006 and begin orbiting maneuvers.

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Amateur Observers Are Seeing Double

As Derek Breit headed for Fremont, California on April 15 to observe a lunar grazing event, little did he know that he was about to make a discovery that would change the way we look at standard stars. As he set up his 12″ Meade SCT and prepared to record the event with a low lux videocamera, it seemed like a fairly routine observation. Until he reviewed his tapes. As frame by frame moved by, he noticed something a little unusual about upsilon Geminorum – a standard star against which others are measured, especially in the infrared. In 55 frames of his video footage, he apparently captured what may be the very first look at a 11th magnitude companion on a slightly variable star not known to be a double.

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What’s Up This Week – October 17 – October 23, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! The time for Mars is now as even small telescopes can see a wealth of details. Mid-week will offer some viewers the chance to see a very rare eclipse of a bright star by an asteroid! We’ll explore bright stars, open clusters, watch occultations and welcome back the children of Comet Halley. So turn your eyes to the skies, because….

Here’s what’s up!

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Rings from the Unlit Side

This beautiful photograph looks down at Saturn, and partially through its rings from the unlit side. Apart from being a pretty picture, scientists can use images like this to precisely measure the concentration of ring particles. If you look carefully, you can also see Saturn’s tiny moon Atlas (32 km or 20 miles across), as a dark spot in front of the planet.

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Charon Passes in Front of a Star

Astronomers from MIT and Williams College have teamed up to capture an event seen only once, 25 years ago. On the night of July 10/11, Pluto’s moon Charon briefly passed in front of a distant star – this is called an occultation. By studying how the light from this star dimmed and then brightened again, the astronomers will be able to determine if Charon has an atmosphere. Charon is small, so it doesn’t have much gravity to hold an atmosphere, but it’s so cold that some gasses could be held in place.

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What’s Up This Week – July 11 – July 17, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It will be busy skies this week as the Moon goes through a series of occultations for viewers around the world – be it a star, Jupiter or even a comet! We’ll begin by exploring the “Butterfly Cluster” and work our way through some new lunar features as the week progresses. The dance of Venus and Mercury continues, so open your eyes to the skies, because…

Here’s what’s up!

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Capturing the Fastest Events in the Universe

A new high-speed camera has been mounted to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This ultra fast camera is called ULTRACAM, and it’s capable of recording some of the most rapid astronomical events. It’s capable of taking 500 pictures a second, so it will be used to watch any object that can change quite rapidly, like black holes, gamma ray bursts, white dwarfs or cataclysmic variables.

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What’s Up This Week – May 30 – June 5, 2005

Greetings fellow Skywatchers! With early dark skies this week, now would be a great opportunity to work on some serious galactic studies in the well-placed constellations of Crater and Corvus. The Moon will make a splendid close pass at Mars, occulting it for some viewers and we’ll have two meteor showers to enjoy. It’s time to get out the telescopes, because…

Here’s what’s up!

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Cassini Determines the Density of Saturn’s Rings

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has obtained the most detailed images ever taken of Saturn’s rings, including new details about its B ring, of which little was known previously. Cassini went behind Saturn’s rings on May 3, 2005, and this gave scientists on Earth a chance to probe the ringst. Cassini sent a series of radio signals as it traveled behind the rings; the weaker the signal, the more dense the material in the rings. This allowed scientists to determine the thickness and size of particles at each point in the rings.

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What’s Up This Week – May 23 – May 29, 2005

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! The week might begin with a full Moon, but we’ll have plenty to explore as we learn about the anti-twilight arch and the “Belt of Venus”. We’ll watch as the Moon occults Antares, locate globular clusters, visit the planets and pinpoint asteroids. The weekend brings early dark skies along with challenges for all observers, so get ready to grab a comet by the tail, because…

Here’s what’s up!