Growing Sunspot

From Spaceweather.com:  Over the weekend, sunspot AR1393 tripled in size, swelling into an active region more than five times as wide as Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the two-day expansion, click to watch the animation: 

Click picture to watch animation!

-The 5A's

Earth at Perihelion Today

Hello everyone,

Most of us can remember from science classes through the years that the mean distance of the Earth from the Sun is roughly 93 million miles.  Earth’s orbit  however is not a perfect circle but an ellipse.  This means that at one point during a yearly orbit the Earth is closest to the Sun and at another point during a yearly orbit it is farthest from the Sun.  Today Earth is at Perihelion or its closest approach to the Sun in its orbit.  The name for the point furthest from the Sun along its orbit is called Aphelion.

At Perihelion Earth is 91,402,639 miles from the Sun.

At Aphelion Earth is 94,509,639 miles from the Sun.

The diagram below shows an exaggerated look at Earth’s orbit to clearly illustrate the elliptical nature of the orbit with perihelion and appehelion shown.  In reality Earth orbit is much less elliptical but not circular

 

A few other fun facts:

• The Earth travels just under 67,000 mph along its orbit in the Solar System
• Light takes about 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth (at ~186,000 miles per SECOND!)
• Earth Weighs 6,572,000,000,000,000,000,000 TONS (That’s 6500 trillion or 6 sextillion!)

-The 5A's

Quadrantid Meteor Shower Tonight - Moon Interferes.

Hello everyone,

Tonight is the Quadrantid Meteor Shower and for the brave watchers out there, the weather looks as if it will likely cooperate.  However, with a Waning Gibbous Moon in the sky, only the brightest of themeteors will be visible.  Scroll down for sky chart.  From Spaceweather.com:

The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the year's best, often producing more than 100 meteors per hour from a radiant near the North Star. In 2012 forecasters expect the shower to peak around 07:20 UT (02:20 am EST) on Wednesday, January 4. The peak is brief, typically lasting no more than an hour or so, and it does not always occur at the forecasted time, so observers are encouraged to be alert for meteors throughout the early hours of January 4th.

Click HERE to read the whole story at www.spaceweather.com.

Sky Chart:

-The 5A's

The Earth-Moon System

Recently NASA's Juno spacecraft on it's way to Jupiter turned back and took a picture of the Earth-Moon system from 1 MILLION miles away.....and what a view!   Doesn't look like much you say?  Well, from a purely photogenic standpoint for most, it isn't.  However, for those of us who regularly turn our telescopes to the sky and observe other planets and their moons....this image is familar and incredible at the same time....here's looking at US.  Thanks Juno!

-The 5A's

Amazing Total Lunar Eclipse Video!!

Hello everyone,

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is that of a fascinating video created during last month's Total Lunar Eclipse as seen from Tajikistan on June 15th.  The text and surely the video speak for themselves....enjoy!

Total Lunar Eclipse Video

Here is a great composite from the Acropolis.


-The 5A's

Website Spotlight: Wheel of Stars

Hello everyone,

This edition of website spotlight combines astronomy and art with the Wheel of Stars. In short Jim Bumgardner used star data to create a rotating sky where as each star passes the meridian a musical tone is played based on various attributes of that star.  Each star tone's pitch is based on the star's color temperature, volume is based on the star's magnitude, and for stereo panning the star's location on the screen.  Listen to the Wheel of Stars and read more about its creation at http://wheelof.com/stars/.

Thank you to club member Silas for this link!

-The 5A's

Planets Everywhere!!

Hello everyone,

This is a tidbit from Sky and Telescope's This Week's Sky at a Glance page.....

A dawn challenge: Set the alarm to get up Friday [or Saturday] morning well before your local sunrise time, grab binoculars or telescope, and get to a spot with a view of the eastern horizon by a half hour before sunrise. The waning crescent Moon will be hanging in the east. If the air is clear Venus should be easy to pick up far to its lower left. Try next for Mercury, Jupiter, and, for a real challenge, tiny Mars next to Jupiter, as shown here.
Here is a map to help you find all those planets!
 

-The 5A's

Come observe beautiful Saturn with us!

Hello everyone,

This past Sunday, April 3 marked Saturn's opposition for 2011.  A planetary opposition occurs when a given planet is opposite the Sun from Earth.  As such, when the Sun sets in the west the planet rises in the east and vice-versa.  It also means the planet will generally be its brightest on and during the weeks around opposition.  This month will be an exceptional time to observe Saturn with virtually any telescope large or small.  Our Saturday evening our FREE Public Observatory Program offers a great opportunity to see beautiful Saturn and its rings through a telescope that's as long as a bus! 

The Observatory is open free to the public on clear Saturday evenings starting at 9 PM and suitable for all ages.  For directions to the Observatory and all other details please visit our Observatory Program information page.

-The 5A's

Public Observatory Program Starts Saturday, April 2nd!!

Hello everyone,

In just under two weeks on the evening of Saturday, April 2nd the 5A's will open the 18" Clark Refractor at the Amherst College Wilder Observatory for our FREE weekly public Observatory Program.  Come look through a telescope that's as long as a bus and see the rings of Saturn, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and much more!

The program starts at 9 PM and runs ONLY IF THE SKY IS CLEAR.  The program is free of charge and all ages are welcome.  Please visit HERE for more details and directions.  If you visit our homepage at http://www.amherstastronomy.org/ after 7 PM on Saturday April 2nd this blog will be replaced by the status of the program (go or no-go based on weather).

-The 5A's

Sunspot 1158

Hello everyone,

The current solar cycle continues to strengthen.  Check out the following video of the sunspot emerging to its current form over the last 5 days from YouTube user eqshannon:

Sunspot 1158 recently hurled a series of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) toward Earth yesterday that could spark auroras over the high northern latitudes during the next 24 hours.  The sunspot is now wider than Jupiter and the solar flares it has created are the strongest since December of 2006. 

To learn more about sunspots and the potential aurora visit http://www.spaceweather.com/

-The 5A's