SkyWatching 2012
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  12-30-11, 11:30pm | Post
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12 Must-See Skywatching Events in 2012
by Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist Date: 30 December 2011 Time: 07:00 PM ET As the year 2011 comes to a close, some might wonder what is looming sky-wise for 2012? What celestial events might we look forward to seeing? I've selected what I consider to be the top 12 "skylights" for this coming year, and list them here in chronological order. Not all these events will be visible from any one locality … for the eclipses, for instance, you'll probably have to do some traveling … but many can be observed from the comfort of your backyard. Hopefully your local weather will cooperate on most, if not all, of these dates. Clear skies! Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that's when you'll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors. From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50-to-100 "Quads" in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors. Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury In February and March, the "elusive" innermost planet Mercury moves far enough from the glare of the sun to be readily visible soon after sunset. Its appearance will be augmented by two other bright planets (Venus and Jupiter), which also will be visible in the western sky during this same time frame. Mercury will arrive at its greatest elongation from the sun March 5. It will be quite bright (-1.3-to-0 magnitude) before this date and will fade rapidly to +1.6 magnitude thereafter. Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in terms of magnitude, with lower numbers corresponding to brighter objects. March 3: Mars arrives at opposition On March 3, the Earth will be passing Mars as the two planets wheel around the sun in their respective orbits. Because Mars reaches aphelion — its farthest point from the sun — on Feb. 15, this particular opposition will be an unfavorable one. In fact, two days after opposition, Mars will be closest to Earth at a distance of 62.6 million miles. Compare this with the August 2003 opposition when Mars was only 34.6 million miles away. Nonetheless, even at this unfavorable opposition the fiery-hued Mars will be an imposing naked-eye sight, shining at magnitude -1.2, just a bit dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star, and will be visible in the sky all night long. March 13: Brilliant "double planet" The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, team up to make for an eye-catching sight in the western sky soon after sunset. They will be separated by 3 degrees on this evening, Venus passing to the northwest (upper right) of Jupiter and shining nearly eight times brighter than "Big Jupe." Although they will gradually go their separate ways after this date, on March 25 and 26, a crescent moon will pass by, adding additional beauty to this celestial scene. May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012 The moon turns full at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and just 25 minutes later it will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2012, at a distance of 221,801 miles. Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days. [Photos: 'Supermoon' of 2011] May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun The path of annularity for this eclipse starts over eastern China and sweeps northeast across southern and central Japan. The path continues northeast then east, passing just south of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. The path then turns to the southeast, making landfall in the western United States along the California-Oregon coast. It will pass over central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, the extreme southwest corner of Colorado and most of New Mexico before coming to an end over northern Texas. Since the disk of the moon will appear smaller than the disk of the sun, it will create a "penny on nickel" effect, with a fiery ring of sunlight shining around the moon's dark silhouette. Locations that will witness this eerie sight include Eureka and Reading, Calif.; Carson City, Reno and Ely, Nev.; Bryce Canyon in Utah; Arizona's Grand Canyon; Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico and just prior to sunset for Lubbock, Tex. A partial eclipse of the sun will be visible over a large swath of the United States and Canada, including Alaska and Hawaii, but no eclipse will be visible near and along the Atlantic Seaboard. June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon This partial lunar eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during the middle of its night. Across North America the eclipse takes place between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of moonset coincides with the moment that the moon enters the Earth's dark umbral shadow. In fact, over the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this eclipse will be a slight shading on the moon's left edge (the faint penumbral shadow) before moonset. Over the Canadian Maritimes, the moon will set before the eclipse begins. At maximum, more than one-third of the moon's lower portion (37.6-percent) will be immersed in the umbra. June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun The passage of Venus in front of the sun is among the rarest of astronomical events, rarer even than the return of Halley's Comet every 76 years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and, most recently, in 2004. The next one will occur in the year 2114. When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32nd of the sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye. HOWEVER ... prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus against the blindingly brilliant solar disc. The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America, Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii, northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar. Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower Considered to be among the best of the annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90 per hour for a single observer, as well as its reliability. Beloved by summer campers and often discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country under dark starry skies. [10 Perseid Meteor Shower Facts] Last summer a bright moon wrecked the shower by blotting out many of the fainter streaks, but in 2012 the moon will be three days past last quarter phase on this peak morning – a fat waning crescent presenting only a minor nuisance for prospective observers. Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun The first total solar eclipse since July 2010. Virtually the entire path of totality falls over water. At the very beginning, the track cuts through Australia's Northern Territory just to the east of Darwin, then across the Gulf of Carpentaria, then through northern Queensland, passing over Cairns and Port Douglas before heading out to sea. The rest of the eclipse path, including the point of the maximum duration of totality (4 minutes, 2 seconds) is, unfortunately, pretty much wasted by falling over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower If there is one meteor display guaranteed to put on a very entertaining show it is the Geminid meteor shower. Now considered by most meteor experts to be at the top of the list, surpassing in brilliance and reliability even the August Perseids. Bundle warmly against the winter chill; you can start observing as soon as darkness falls on the evening of Dec. 13 as Gemini starts coming up above the eastern horizon and continue through the rest of the night. Around 2 a.m. when Gemini is almost directly overhead, you might see as many as two meteor sightings per minute … 120 per hour! And the moon is new, meaning that it will not be a factor at all. Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter On Christmas, many will be looking skyward and wondering what that brilliant silvery "star" is hovering just above the waxing gibbous moon. It's not a star (or Santa returning to the North Pole), but the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, serving as a sort of holiday ornament with our nearest neighbor in space to cap off a year of interesting and predictable sky events that we all can enjoy! Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain  
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1-3-12, 7:48am | Post
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Nana Bargainshare 
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1-26-12, 10:54am | Post
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Maybe tonight...
The Moon And Venus To Reunite Again In The Winter Sky Rendezvous is virtually a repeat of their post-Christmas night get together |
Nana Bargainshare
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1-26-12, 4:10pm | Post
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blonde 
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2-19-12, 9:48am | Post
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Look For Mercury Shining Bright In The Evening Sky
Several good opportunities to see 'elusive planet' that's really not that hard to spot |
Nana Bargainshare
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2-24-12, 6:19pm | Post
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A Dazzling Threesome To Show Off At Night In Celestial Show
See Venus, Jupiter and the moon align — then Mercury and even Mars will join in |
Nana Bargainshare
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3-2-12, 7:53pm | Post
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Mars Swings Into Opposition March 3
Every two years and two months the Earth and Mars line up with the Sun, giving us a relatively close view of the red planet. |
Nana Bargainshare
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3-11-12, 12:31pm | Post
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Nana Bargainshare
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3-17-12, 2:04pm | Post
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NASA To Launch Five ATREX Rockets Within Five Minutes On March 18
QUOTE The five-rocket salvo, which is scheduled to launch Sunday night from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, forms the core of the agency's Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment, or ATREX. The unmanned rockets will release chemical tracers at about 60 miles (97 kilometers) up, allowing scientists to track high-altitude winds that can top 300 mph (483 kph).
These tracers will generate luminous milky-white clouds that should be visible to folks on the ground from parts of South Carolina up through southern New England, researchers have said. |
Nana Bargainshare
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3-17-12, 5:24pm | Post
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thanks Nana
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blonde
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3-18-12, 5:48am | Post
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Really, Nice Catch! We'll be watching!
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-19-12, 4:12pm | Post
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Rescheduled again...
NASA Schedules Eastern Shore Rocket Launches For Early Wednesday This post has been edited by kar522: 3-19-12, 4:12pm |
Nana Bargainshare
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3-20-12, 6:42pm | Post
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WebCast Link
Online Webcast is active, countdown is T-01:21:xx Current probability of acceptable launch window tonight is only 10%, but as of now the countdown is progressing. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-20-12, 7:23pm | Post
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They suddenly cut about 50 minutes off the T clock and launch is now T+4 minutes (post launch time)
Flight recorders and charting has been stopped although system pre-launch tests continue. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-20-12, 7:58pm | Post
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Launch clock has been reset:
QUOTE Posted by RCC on 2012-03-20 at 23:45:43 EDT T-15 minutes and holding. And the live feed has gone silent. They had been airing questions from the NASA Facebook page but now it is just the occasional controller's voice. The weather/visibility at Wallops Island, VA has deteriorated to the point where you can just barely see the one launcher in the frame and can no longer see the lights behind it from the other launchers. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-21-12, 8:46am | Post
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QUOTE Posted by RCC on 2012-03-21 at 01:06:57 EDT
Next launch attempt will be midnight to 3 a.m., Thursday, March 22. Countdown will begin at 7 p.m. tonight and the webcast will begin 8 p.m. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-22-12, 4:22pm | Post
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As of now it is really clear at the launch site, tonight just may be the night!
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-22-12, 7:22pm | Post
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Still a go for tonight. T-40 minutes and counting.
Launch control just mentioned that contrary to some facebook rumors, the launchings tonight are NOT a celebration of today's release of the new Angry Birds: Space Edition. Instead, he says, it is a celebration of Captain Kirk's (William Shatner's) birthday! 
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-22-12, 9:18pm | Post
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Obviously there has been no launch. The launch window lasts until 3:00am, after that unless there is some almost guarantee of perfect conditions at all three sites, control of the airspace is returned to US ATC (Air Traffic Control) and Marine waters are once again open to commercial and private boat/ship traffic. The problem right now is that there is very good conditions at Wallops Island, VA, all good except an occasional cloud at the NC viewing station, but no direct view or line of sight from the NJ viewing site. All three areas have to come together in order to get the needed views for the scientific test to be a success. (The VA launch site obviously gets the view of the launch itself and the direct , straight up/straight out view of the event during the release of the luminous payload. NC viewing station gets the view from the South of the event and NJ gets the Northern view.
I kind of expected this when I went outside while on the phone with my Dad and saw far away lightning flashes followed by very faint thunder, telling that it was not from heat lightning but from low pressure weather causes somewhere far out to the North-East of our position. Meaning that NJ and other points North on the East coast are experiencing off shore thunderstorms between the NJ viewing station and the VA launch site. It really is a shame because everything was coming together so well at all three stations right up to the opening of the launch window. And now with a thunderstorm in the way there is only a very slim chance that a break in the clouds, with no lingering haze/fog to block the Northern viewing station's line of sight will happen. Really the whole plan of this test at this time was to have some normally cool, clear March evening air conditions so everyone could view and record the event. Unfortunately the unusually warm March weather systems have thrown a monkey wrench into the experiment. So the scientists who are actually sponsoring this test may have to put everything in storage until the same time next year and hope for some more normal cyclical weather conditions. The liaison between the launch control and the scientists was really stoked that not only would this test coincided with Captain Kirk's birthday (William Alan Shatner born March 22, 1931) but also with Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977), Wernher von Braun, I mean, how cool is that? |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-22-12, 9:38pm | Post
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As I thought, tonight's launch is scrubbed. There will be no launch attempt on Friday/Saturday due to known thunderstorm activity in all areas.
We are scheduled to be getting 3+ inches of rain out of this weekend. |
Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-24-12, 3:32am | Post
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Nana Bargainshare
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3-27-12, 6:19pm | Post
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The rockets went off this morning at around 2 minutes to 5am. All delivered their payload and the display was awesome!
  
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-27-12, 6:21pm | Post
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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3-27-12, 6:24pm | Post
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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4-12-12, 3:58pm | Post
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Nana Bargainshare
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4-18-12, 4:37pm | Post
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It's Time To Hit The Shower — The Lyrid Meteor Shower
Put on something warm, kick back in a comfortable chair and watch for the show |
Nana Bargainshare
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4-24-12, 1:41pm | Post
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Venus and the Crescent Moon Set to Shine Together Tonight
Look to the night sky on Tuesday, April 24, to see Venus and the crescent moon giving off a celestial glow. |
Nana Bargainshare
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4-30-12, 1:08pm | Post
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That's Not Just A Full Moon This Week, It's A 'Supermoon'
Perigee will be the nearest to Earth of any this year, so it will be living large |
Nana Bargainshare
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5-10-12, 1:55pm | Post
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Catch The Sun's 'Ring Of Fire' In Annular Eclipse
May 20 solar spectacle should be visible in most of North America — here's how to watch |
Nana Bargainshare
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5-14-12, 8:50pm | Post
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Correction to MSNBC: Visible to most of WESTERN North America:
Space.com Link QUOTE 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse Occurs May 20 Skywatchers in East Asia and the western United States should circle Sunday (May 20) on their calendars. That's when a solar eclipse will block out most of the sun, leaving a spectacular "ring of fire" shining in the sky for observers located along the eclipse's path. Other parts of the United States and Canada will still see a partial solar eclipse, without being treated to the ring of fire effect, though the East Coast will miss the event since the sun will have set before it begins. The eclipse will occur in the late afternoon or early evening of May 20 throughout North America, and May 21 for observers in Asia 
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Licensed Pilot & Resident Bird Brain
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