... This year's eclipse is unique in duration. ... Although, at the present time, there are 6 solar observatories belonging to leading space agencies in orbit around the Earth, the eclipse of 22 July, 2009, will only be seen by two of them: the Russian CORONAS-PHOTON satellite equipped with TESIS telescopes and Japan's HINODE satellite fitted with an XRT space telescope. ... TESIS will be the first of the two devices (and the very first on Earth) to witness the solar eclipse. ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... I think I will break from my usual format of Bad Astronomy/ Good Astronomy by saying that the way we define seasons currently is not strictly bad, but I feel (in my opinion!) that it could be better. The definition of when the seasons begin is at the moment of solstice or equinox; that is, winter (in the north) starts on December 22 nd and summer starts on June 22 nd . ... Now imagine breaking up the Sun's 46 degree up-and-down yearly swing into 1 day intervals. ...

... Looking Back on an Eclipsed Earth . ... Reminiscent of popular images of the lovely Pleiades star cluster that lies within our own Milky Way Galaxy, this false-color x-ray view actually explores the center of a much more extended cosmic family -- the Fornax cluster of galaxies some 65 million light-years away. ... Earths North Magnetic Pole . ... A magnetic compass does not point toward the true North Pole of the Earth. Rather, it more closely points toward the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth. ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Colin Johnston . ... Milky Way . Stars . ... Monthly Sky Notes . ... June . ... This red supergiant is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius and is of awesome size. ... Returning to Vega (which will be the pole star in about 12 000 years from now), follow an imaginary line between it and Arcturus, this line will cross two more constellations, faint and sprawling Hercules and that celestial smile Corona Borealis. ...

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The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at ESO s Paranal Observatory in Chile has obtained the sharpest view ever of the dusty disk around the close pair of aging stars IRAS 08544-4431. For the first time, such disks can be compared to the disks around young stars and they look surprisingly similar. ... The inset shows the VLTI reconstructed image, with the brighter central star removed. The background view shows the surroundings of this star in the constellation Vela the Sails. ...

... The change in the temperature dependence of the resistance, R ( T ), of ceramic YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 - x as oxygen is removed from the sample has been studied. The superconducting transition temperature shifts progressively downward in the process. ... The temperature dependence of the resistivity, ( T ), is linear, with a progressively increasing slope, only at T > 400 K. It is suggested that oxygen condenses on Cu-O chains at T 400 K. PACS: 74.60.Mj, 74.70.Vy, 81.40.Rs, 72.80.Ga ...

... StelVertexArray (const QVector< Vec3d > &v, StelPrimitiveType pType=StelVertexArray::Triangles, const QVector< Vec2f > &t=QVector< Vec2f >(), const QVector< unsigned int > i=QVector< unsigned int >()) . ... template<class Func > . ... OpenGL compatible array of 3D vertex to be displayed using vertex arrays. ... OpenGL compatible array of edge flags to be displayed using vertex arrays. ... OpenGL compatible array of indices for the vertex and the textures. ... QVector< Vec3d > StelVertexArray::vertex...

... Both Surface temp any object `near' beam to be within 2°C of ambient 21 May 2010 FTT Technical meeting 2 Camera Thermal Operation Scenarios No enclosure cooling fan running: not acceptable if the air temperature in the enclosure is lower than -5°C [0°C from camera spec] No control over humidity ­ dew point problems Start-up issues in cold weather allows some ventilation but otherwise allows ... Peltier on: set temperature of -85°C produces T = 8°C camera has a 50mm silent fan. ...

This file is an archive of all of the changes which have been made to the Bright Supernovae pages in 1998 (which is when I started logging them). ... Added images from this page to the 1997cw and 1997cx entries. ... Added several images to the 1996 SN , 1997 SN , 1998 SN , 1998S , and 1998eg pages from "The Astronomer" mag Variables, Novae and Supernovae Images page. ... Added images to the 1998aq , 1998S , 1998bu , and 1998es web pages from a list of images on Laszlo Kiss's Latest images web page. ...

... Get used to using the mouse and its buttons for such tasks. Figure out the function of each of the three mouse buttons. ... Fire up textedit application and practice editing text files. ... Figure out basic options like cut and paste of text around the file, saving and loading files, searching for strings in the text and replacing strings. ... Familiarise yourself with other UNIX functions by creating various files of text etc. and trying out the various functions listed in handouts. ...

The revision of the MASS/DIMM star catalogue N. Shatsky, V. Kornilov March 16, 2008 Abstract The compilation of the (updated) version of the MASS (MASS/DIMM) device target catalogue is described. ... Then the list was cleaned according to following criteria: I. Remove stars too faint for a MASS device. ... Here the color equation of the Sternb erg device was taken: M AS S mag = V mag + 0.45 (B - V ); stars with M AS S mag > 3.2 were removed. ... This was made based on the GCVS4.2 catalogue data. ...

... Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, +44 (0)28 3752 2928 . ... Although the comet itself never comes dangerously close to the Earth, the particles of dust that it has shed during its many past passages through perihelion found their way into the Earth's atmosphere, appearing as meteors in the cold December sky. ... Animation 1 . ... An Ursid meteor captured by the Armagh Observatory's NE-facing meteor camera in the early morning of 23rd December. ... Meteor Showers Online . ...

... For the past years I have been working on the problem of synthesis of light curves of close binary systems, consisting of a normal star and a compact object (point object with fixed X-ray luminosity). ... Possible existence of a bright spot on the disk's lateral surface is taken into account. ... The last of then will be published in Gordon and Breach Publishers ( Cherepashchuk A.M., Katysheva N.A., Khruzina T.S., Shugarov S.Yu. ... Cherepashchuk A.M., Katysheva N.A., Khruzina T.S., Shugarov S.Yu. ...

... A rough estimation is that in the United States there is one planetarium per 100,000 population, ranging in size from the Hayden Planetarium's 20-meter dome seating 430 people, to three-meter inflatable portable domes where children sit on the floor. ... Together dblo associates make a huge impact in the architecture, interior design and development arena in London. ... With the holidays around the corner what better way to spoil your family than with your very own private home cinema. ...