Space and astronomy news
I recently had the chance to try out one of Unistellar’s smart telescopes, the eQuinox 2. Unparalleled in its ease of use, I was literally viewing distant nebula, galaxies, and star clusters within 15 minutes of opening the box.
I also had the opportunity to try out Unistellar’s new Smart Solar Filter, which I’ll discuss more below. But first, more about the telescope itself:
Continue reading “Review: Unistellar’s eQuinox 2 Telescope and New Smart Solar Filter”
The upcoming solar eclipses and the current high sunspot activity means it’s a great time to observe the Sun. Eclipses also mean that large groups of people will be together to view these events. However, rule #1 for astronomy is to never look at the Sun with unprotected eyes, especially with a telescope or binoculars.
So, how can you safely show the changing Sun to a large group of people without having them line up forever to look through a telescope with a solar filter, or having a lot of equipment?
A group of astronomers have a solution: Get a disco ball.
Continue reading “Want to Safely Watch the Sun With a Large Group? Get a Disco Ball”
Astronomy is poised for another leap. In the next several years, major ground-based telescopes will come online, including the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT,) the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT,) the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT,) and the Vera Rubin Observatory. The combined power of these telescopes will help drive discovery in the next couple of decades.
But something threatens to undermine astronomical observing in the coming years: Starlink and other internet satellite constellations.
Now a group of astronomers have shown that even the Hubble can’t escape the satellite problem.
Continue reading “Hubble’s Orbit Has Dropped So Far that Starlink Satellites are Photobombing its Images”We are pleased to once again welcome Casey Dreier from the Planetary Society to the WSH. Casey will update us (as much as possible) about Space Policy changes that may occur once the new American Presidential administration takes office on January 20, 2021.
Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: December 9, 2020 – Casey Dreier: Are Changes Coming to NASA/US Space Policy?”
Modern astronomical telescopes are extraordinarly powerful. And we keep making them more powerful. With telescopes like the Extremely Large Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope seeing first light in the coming years, our astronomical observing power will be greater than ever.
But a new commentary says that climate change could limit the power of our astronomical observatories.
Continue reading “Climate Change is Making the Atmosphere Worse for Astronomy”
We’re in uncharted territory as the world faces the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While the medical community is on the front lines of dealing with this, as well as others who provide critical services in our communities, the best thing many of us can do is to stay home (and wash our hands).
If you’re looking for ways to keep occupied, keep your kids in learning-mode while school is canceled, and expand your horizons — all at the same time — luckily there are lots of space and astronomy-related activities you can do at home and online. We’ve compiled a few of our favorites, including this first one, one that just became available yesterday.
Continue reading “Five Space and Astronomy Activities to do at Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak”
SpaceX has been garnering all the headlines when it comes to satellite constellations. Their Starlink system will eventually have thousands of tiny satellites working together to provide internet access, though only 242 of them have been deployed so far. But now another company is getting on the action: OneWeb.
Continue reading “Here Comes the Next Satellite Constellation. OneWeb Launches 34 Satellites on Thursday”
It’s strange but true. We may not fully understand one of the simplest metrics in observational astronomy: just what time does the Sun rise… really?
Continue reading “When Does the Sun Rise… Really?”
On Oct. 12, a house-size asteroid will pass quite close to Earth – only 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) away. This is just above the orbital altitude of communications satellites and a little over one-tenth the distance to the Moon. But not to fear, it has no chance of hitting Earth.
Asteroid 2012 TC4 was discovered almost 4 years ago to the day, on October 4, 2012, just a week before it made another close pass by Earth.
With a little more advance notice this time around, NASA and asteroid trackers around the world are using the close pass to test their ability to operate as a coordinated International Asteroid Warning Network. This is a growing global observing network to communicate and coordinate their optical and radar observations in a real scenario.
“Asteroid trackers are using this flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid-impact threat,” said Michael Kelley, program scientist and NASA lead for the TC4 observation campaign. You can read more details about the observing campaign in our previous article.
You can watch it pass by too, if you have a at least an 8 inch telescope, according to our David Dickinson, who has a very informative post about 2012 TC4 at Sky & Telescope.
Closest approach will be at on October 12, 2017, at 5:41 Universal Time (1:41 a.m. EDT).
You can also watch a couple of webcasts of the pass:
Virtual Telescope will have a live feed, and the Slooh Telescope crew will also host a live feed starting tonight at 8 pm EDT on Oct. 11.
2012 TC4 is estimated to be 45 to 100 feet (15 to 30 meters) in size.
NASA’s Asteroid Watch says that no asteroid currently known is predicted to impact Earth for at least the next 100 years.
Summer is almost here, and for the northern hemisphere, that means warm nights for observing. But what to observe? We’re here with a list of events and targets for you to enjoy over the summer. Get your calendars handy, and start organizing some events with your friends, and then get out there!
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