Results tagged “space”

Did you look up last Wednesday and Thursday to see two of the brightest objects in the sky -- the Moon and Jupiter -- trek ever so close to each other? It's tough to say that maxedaperture's photo above doesn't really do it justice (because it sure as hell does the Moon itself justice), but the real view was so bright to make even non-fans of astronomy look up and, as a friend told me later, make him nearly run his car into a ditch. (Please practice safe sky viewing and pull over!)

Missed last weekend's shiny appearance of the International Space Station in the nighttime sky? No worries -- there's plenty more to tilt your head northward for in the next couple of weeks: namely, planets! The Post has the rundown, beginning with Jupiter -- which will really steal the show, hopping around the celestial canvas all month. D.C. residents can watch the largest planet in the Solar System ascend the eastern sky on the 14th, and find it dancing with a full moon on the 5th and 6th. Saturn also has some funky stuff going on: it is the halfway point for Saturn's orbit around the sun, and as such, its massive rings will appear totally flat from our vantage point on Earth. The report says that August 15th will probably be your best shot to see this transition (and hey, look for Mercury that night, while you're at it.) Venus and Mars are also highly visible this month. And if that's not enough, there will also be a meteor shower on the 11th. Got a nice, tranquil place to enjoy the movement of gigantic bodies through space? Let us know in the comments.

Space Shuttle Endeavor -- which took off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, July 15 -- will be clearly visible to Washingtonians this weekend, as it hurtles through space with the International Space Station at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour and 220 miles above the Earth. Get out those cameras, folks, because the flybys will be "hard to miss" -- the Station and the Shuttle combined are bigger than a football field and reflect sunlight incredibly well. According to the Post, the view will be "like a very bright star passing with the apparent speed of an airliner crossing overhead." Sounds like a sight to behold. The best times for viewing, if clouds don't get in the way, will be between 9 and 9:30 this evening.

              

Any fan of the space program should recognize quite a few faces roaming around D.C. this week. Last night, the biggest gathering of Apollo astronauts in years arrived at the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum for the annual John H. Glenn Lecture featuring the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, along with NASA's first Flight Director, Chris Kraft, and of course, astronaut and Senator John Glenn himself. The audience was filled with other Apollo astronauts, as well as the STS-125 crew that flew the space shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Telescope in May.

    

Forty years ago next month, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the Moon. The National Air and Space Museum is celebrating Apollo 11's historic journey throughout July, with book signings, presentations by experts on the Saturn V rocket, the Lunar Module, and even one on the "so-called Moon-landing hoax." The capstone lecture featuring the entire Apollo 11 crew and Mission Control creator Chris Kraft sold-out instantly through a free lottery last month, unfortunately.

Space nerds, get ready: The relaunch isn't the only good news coming to the solar system this May. Cosmic correspondent Blaine Friedlander notes in the Washington Post that all five naked-eye planets will be out and about this month. Saturn can be found around 9 p.m. in the southern sky. Look for Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the morning, and expect Mercury briefly after sunset in the early days of this month. Can some kind Taurus out there explain what this means in astrological terms? Specifically, will I ever find my winning Powerball ticket?

There's a ton of stories this morning about some bright flashes of light and booming noises coming from the skies over eastern Virginia, parts of Maryland and North Carolina. The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that the National Weather Service’s Wakefield station's phone was "ringing off the hook" last night after around 9:45 p.m., as residents frantically called in to report flashing, bright lights and in some places, an explosion-like sound. No immediate explanation came from the NWS, but a team is now investigating what might have caused the fiery flashes. WTOP has a report that suggests that the phenomenon was most likely a fireball, which can occur when a piece of meteor rock enters the Earth's atmosphere.

We mentioned last week that the two brightest planets in our sky would soon converge together with the crescent Moon in the early evening, making their final swoop towards each other tonight. Flickr user (and our reliable astro-photographer) philliefan99 took this image on Saturday night, when they were still fairly far apart, but knowing the rain would make it tough to photograph on Sunday. We're looking at partly to very cloudy skies tonight, but try to scope them out anyway. If it's clear, the three will be visible just after sunset -- as you can tell from the photo above -- so look up while you're leaving the office today. Venus, Jupiter and the Moon will be huddled in the southwestern sky near the horizon and will be so close that you can cover all three with your thumb at arms length. Enjoy the show!

Reader Mike Eisenhut sent us this photo yesterday (knowing this writer's predilection for space stuff) of Jupiter and Venus glowing brightly behind the Washington Monument. That's Venus just to the left, about halfway up the Monument, and Jupiter to its upper left.