Hope you had a chance to see the partial eclipse on Saturday. We were fortunate to be in the path of totality at the Hyatt Tamaya resort in Albuquerque. Unbeknownst to us, the Sky & Telescope Magazine eclipse tour was also there and we had about 100 folks viewing and photographing the eclipse in the …
This one came up quickly after its discovery by a Japanese amateur astronomer. You may be able to catch it just before sunrise low on the eastern horizon. See this link for details. Let me know if you spot it.
Another launch by Elon and another group of Starlink satellites headed for the ~500km orbital plane above the earth. This time with a Canon DSLR on a tripod. Complete with cicada soundtrack! You can see them dim one by one as the train moves into earth’s shadow.
You have certainly heard about the total solar eclipse which will be visible across the center of the US next April. There is also a annular eclipse this October where due to the elliptical orbit of the moon, the sun is not completely blocked. This website has a lot of good information about both eclipses …
I should have stayed up past midnight! A very large solar flare on Saturday triggered a geomagnetic storm in the Earth’s upper atmosphere giving rise to aurora much further south than normal. There is a geeky NASA website that tracks the intensity of solar storms and when the “K index” gets into the red zone, …
Get your coffee pot ready if you want to catch the annual Leonids meteor shower. Like most showers, it has a broad peak days before and after but the predicted maximum will be after midnight on Friday morning (November 18th). The waning crescent moon will be a minor factor when it rises around 1:30 but …
If you are an early riser you may be able to see the eclipse from Balsam in the morning. The moon will be low in the west at totality but if you have a clear view of the setting sun you might get a good luck. It will be setting shortly after totality. Check out …
This is a classic fireball from the Orionids shower. It was captured 1:34 AM on the morning of October 20th. Meteor showers are named for the constellation (in this case Orion) from which meteors seem to come from. They are actually coming from the direction of Earth’s orbit around the sun so they get named …
Assuming we get a break from the long pattern of clouds and rain, tonight will be a good time to see some meteors. There are three different showers with normally modest rates along with a new moon. More info here .
