... December 4, 1997 . A Sky Full Of Planets . Credit: T. Bridgman ( GSFC and Greenbelt Astronomy Club ), Carina Software . ... Just after sunset, the crescent moon and all five "naked-eye" planets ( Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter , and Saturn ) will be visible (depending on your latitude), lying near our solar system's ecliptic plane . Venus and Jupiter will shine brilliantly as the brightest "stars" in the sky, but Mercury will be near the horizon and hard to see. ... About APOD > . ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Earth Satellites . ... Sadly C/ 2014 Q2 will probably not be as spectacular a sight as Comet C/ 2011 W3 (Lovejoy), visible near Earth?s horizon in this nighttime image from the International Space Station on 22 December 2011. ... The comet made its closest approach to Earth on 7€а January 2015, at a distance of 72 million km (45 million miles).€а In January the comet will race though the constellations Eridanus, Taurus, Aries and Triangulum. ...

Astronomy Picture of the Day . Three Planets in Dawn Skies . ... Credit: Tunc Tezel Explanation: Three children of the Sun rise in the east in this peaceful dawn skyview recorded December 7th near Bolu, Turkey. Inner planet Mercury , fresh from its second transit of the 21st century, stands highest in the bright sky at the top right. Gas giant Jupiter lies below the cloud bank near picture center. A newsworthy Mars is also visible, right of Jupiter and just above the dark cloud bank. ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... The Magazine . ... Observing . ... The double star 54 Leonis, spiral galaxy NGC 3198, and emission nebula NGC 3199 . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... Bright planets meet at dusk . ... Astronomy magazine subscribers can read the full article for free. ... Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ... Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter....

... Events . ... The orbit of the Moon is too small to be seen on this scale, but the 2008 December 1st alignment was especially interesting because additionally Venus was occulted by the Moon (this occultation was visible from Europe and NW Africa). Some more photos of the 1 December events received from Jonathan Bingham . ... Venus coming out from behind the Moon; photograph by Jonathan Bingham . ISS; photograph by Jonathan Bingham . ... International Year of Astronomy, Ireland National Node . ...

... Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. December 17, 1996 . Mariner's Mercury . ... Explanation: Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, remains the most mysterious of the Solar System's inner planets. ... The only spacecraft to explore Mercury close-up was Mariner 10 which executed 3 flybys of Mercury in 1974 and 1975, surveying approximately 45 percent of its surface. ...

NASA's Galileo spacecraft, now in orbit around the planet Jupiter, this morning began the first scheduled return of data from its companion atmospheric probe that parachuted into the jovian atmosphere last Thursday. ... Forty minutes of data collected by the probe stored in the orbiter's onboard computer memory will be radioed to Earth over the next four days and presented to Galileo scientists for analysis. ... Space History Galileo . ...

... Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University . A multidisciplinary course exploring the origins of life, planetary formation, Earth's evolution, extrasolar planets, habitable zones, life in extreme environments, the search for life in the Universe, and space missions. DiRuggiero, Norman, and others, 3 credit hours. ... The JHU Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences also offers courses that may be of interest to students interested in astrobiology: . ...

Signs Constellations Of The Zodiac . Articles | ... The band of the zodiac is some sixteen degrees wide, extending about eight degrees north and south of what's called the ecliptic -- the Sun's path through the stars. ... Since that time, the March equinox Sun has shifted about thirty degrees westward through the constellations of the zodiac. ... While signs neatly extend eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, aligning with the borders of the zodiac, constellations do no such thing. ...

... S.P. KOROLEV ROCKET AND SPACE CORPORATION ENERGIA . ... OAO RSC "Energia" . ... News . ... S.P. Korolev RSC Energia is the prime manned space flight organization in the Russian rocket and space industry, responsible for the development of the ISS Russian Segment, its integration into the Space Station and its operation, including development and operation of its principal modules (Zvezda, Pirs, Poisk, Rassvet, etc.), manufacturing, launch and operation of Soyuz TMA and Progress M spacecraft. ...

3) Planets and Brown Dwarfs . ... By its nature, this method is most sensitive to massive planets orbiting close to their stars. ... That means that some of the more massive extrasolar planets could actually be brown dwarfs (although the statistics of the finds suggest that most of them are not). ... Another possible difference between brown dwarfs and massive planets is how they are born. ... They would base the fundamental definition on the mode of formation: a planet is built from planetesimals. ...

... It was designed to observe the solar wind approaching Earth, from a position near the Lagrangian point L1, and it is part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Initiative . ... The original plan called for "Wind" to approach its final station over two years, undergoing two close encounters with the Moon to boost its speed. ... If however the object is moving , the encounter is not symmetric, and in the end the spacecraft may have gained or lost speed, depending on its trajectory. ...

... The study of extra solar planets will be one of the most important areas of research in astronomy in this century. ... The first planets outside the solar system were found in 1992 around the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12 by Alex Wolszczan at the Arecibo Observatory . ... Three space missions based on this principle (MOST, COROT and Kepler ) have already been launched or approved, and have the last one at least has the potential to find Earth-sized planets. ... SIM ( NASA ) is one of such missions...

... Radio Astronomy . ... ASRAS Board Members . ... To see the most up to date news and events happening with ASRAS log in with your user name and password and then click on the Activities page. ... Messier Marathon (Member Observing) CANCELLED Saturday, April 9, 2016 9:00 PM Location:Farash Center Ionia NY . ... ASRAS Members meeting - Friday May 6 at Farash Center - Ionia NY . ... ASRAS Board members meeting - monday May 9 @ Farash Center Monday, May 9, 2016 7:00 PM Location:Farash Center Ionia NY . ...

In this presentation I will recap what we know about the dwarf planet Pluto its companion moons, including some recent results from the Division of Planetary Sciences October 2014 meeting (Tucson, AZ). Next I will describe NASA s New Horizons mission, launched in January 2006, who has been traveling across the solar system and will reach the Pluto system in July 2015. ... I will end the presentation with the latest news from the New Horizons mission and its plans after the July 2015 Plutoflyby. ...

... In typical nightly use, the wide field and planetary telescope and cameras record images of favorably placed objects in the sky, including constellations, bright variable stars, nebulae through narrow-band filters, comets, the Moon, and planets. ... Shared Skies telescopes are available for use by students at the University of Louisville and the University of Southern Queensland, and by teachers and students in middle and high schools mentored by faculty at the universities. ...

I was wondering what conditions should be met to have the "darkest" sky .. ... Upon the above publication of the Southern Galactic hemisphere, TunГ Tezel started seeking opportunities to create the Northern counterpart image. ... So, the initial quest of having the darkest possible sky have delivered us these two all-sky images of the two galactic hemispheres as seen from Planet Earth. Zoomable and 'full-screenable' fisheye view of the "darkest sky" Southern Galactic Hemisphere image. ...

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... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Bad Astro Store . ... Slacker Astronomy . ... Keep Bad Astronomy close to your heart, and help make me filthy rich. ... Life Under the Moon . ... Seeing Jupiter's Moons . ... Time Zones and the Spherical Earth . A Companion to the Earth? ... December 19, 1999) . ... Big Moon, Little Moon . ... How Big is the Moon? ... 14, 2000) . ... 2008 Phil Plait. ... Subscribe to the Bad Astronomy Newsletter! Talk about Bad Astronomy on the BA Bulletin Board! ...

. Mars has become the center of intense interest since the Martian Meteorite results were announced. Currently there is a lively debate whether or not primitive life formed there or not.