Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The comet was discovered by two amateur astronomers in September.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is on its way for star gazers. Local skywatchers might get to see Hunter's Comet — the newly discovered comet ISON. A NASA astronomer says ISON's fiery tail may be visible to those watching the night sky from October 2013 through January 2014. And the comet may hover into view without the help of a telescope. It all depends on whether the sun's heat vaporizes ices in the comet's body, scientists say in an article posted in the Huffington Post. Comet ISON will fly within 1.2 million miles from the sun's center on Nov. 28, 2013, astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, told the San Jose Mercury News. If the comet makes it …
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The first meteor shower of 2013 begins Tuesday.
The Quadrantid meteor shower is named for an extinct constellation, but the shooting stars that seem to sprout from it still arrive yearly, and the opening of the 2013 show will begin overnight Jan. 1, into Jan. 2. The Quadrantids is one of the lesser-known meteor showers of the year, but that doesn't mean it's anything less than spectacular. Take a look at this Quadrantids meteor shower video or these pictures of the Quadrantids. While the shower begins overnight on the first day of the new year, NASA tells us Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in the wee morning hours of Jan. 4: "[T]he Quadrantids have a maximum rate of about 100 per hour, varying between 60-200. The waxing gibbous moon will set around 3 a.m. local time, leaving about two …
Friday, November 16, 2012
The Leonid meteor shower will be at its peak between Saturday and Tuesday, Nov. 20.
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Friday, November 16, 2012
Keep your eyes on the sky during the pre-dawn hours between Saturday and Tuesday, Nov. 20, because that's when the famous Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak. These meteors are fast -- about 40 miles per second -- and can leave trails of smoke, according to Astronomy.com. They will appear to radiate from the constellation Leo the Lion and can vary in color. "Many Leonids are also bright. Usually, the meteors are white or bluish-white, but in recent years some observers reported yellow-pink and copper-colored ones," according to Astronomy.com. Here's one of the 10 coolest things to know about the Leonids, from Space.com: "Leonids are spawned by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years, it rounds the Sun and then goes back to the …
Abigail Bellamy
1:06 am on Friday, November 16, 2012
Love this! I also found some pretty good info on http://www.spacedex.com/leonids if anyone is interested! more ›