Orbiting The Moon

As of just a few minutes ago, NASA successfully has a spacecraft orbiting the moon!! I don't know about anyone else, but I am extremely excited and interested in this.

While orbiting the moon, this craft will be mapping out the topography of the moon, which will ultimately help to get man (and women) back on the moon.

I guess I'm kind of a geek when it comes to space and our universe, as I love to watch NASA TV. Could be from growing up in the 50's and 60's and following the space program from it's infancy: the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury programs.

As a kid, I always thought the moon was there for me and was mine! Don't ask me why I thought this, but it may be that I never felt that others around me watched the moon as much as I did. Maybe they didn't. I know that most people don't look up at the stars nearly as much as I do nowadays.

Over the next few weeks, we will be able to watch the pictures sent back from this little moon orbiting craft. YOU can watch too, here's the link: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

How amazing is it that we can watch space missions on our computers??!! I love it!

Boy Hit By Meteorite

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space, The Telegraph reports.

Most meteors vaporize in the atmosphere, creating "shooting stars," and never reach the ground. The few that do are typically made mostly of metals. Stony space rocks, even if they are big as a car, will usually break apart or explode as they crash through the atmosphere.

There are a handful of reports of homes and cars being struck by meteorites, and many cases of space rocks streaking to the surface and being found later.

But human strikes are rare. There are no known instances of humans being killed by space rocks.

According to a SPACE.com article on the topic a few years, back:

On November 30, 1954, Alabama housewife Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her couch when she was awakened by a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor that crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her in the hip, causing a large bruise.

On October 9, 1992, a large fireball was seen streaking over the eastern United States, finally exploding into many pieces. In Peekskill, New York, one of the pieces struck a Chevrolet automobile owned by Michelle Knapp. Knapp was not in the car at the time.

On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat.

In 2004, a 2,000-pound space rock bigger than a refrigerator exploded in the late-night sky over Chicago, producing a large flash and a sound resembling a detonation that woke people up. Fragments rained down on that wild Chicago night, and many were collected by residents in a northern suburb.

from space.com

Earth Hour 2009

Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm until 9:30 is the hour that we all turn our lights, our computers and our televisions off for (at least) one hour.

Earth Hour is both a symbolic act and the start of a practical habit, at least I hope it becomes a practical habit. Take it from me, someone who loves the dark and usually has most lights turned off, it can be a great experience.

Lighting accounts for about 11 percent of a typical American home's energy bills, while computers and electronics add another 9 percent. So by shutting off these things when we're not using them, we can lower our load significantly.

Turn your outside lights off also! I love looking at the night sky and find it almost impossible to find a truly dark spot to look for satellites, meteors and just the beauty of all the stars. Try getting timers or motion sensors so that the lights only come on when you need them. I recently bought some solar lamps to light the walkway to my deck. We need to use the sun more than we do.

Some famous buildings will be going dark on Saturday including: The Empire State Building in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Seattle's Space Needle, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Broadway theater marquees in New York City.

Even the flashy Las Vegas Strip will turn dark for an hour.

So turn off the lights - have a candlelight dinner or just sit and enjoy the darkness and turn off all those LED lights from TVs, radios, phone chargers, clocks, and everything else that glows.

Think of it as a retreat, a time to be quiet and peaceful. And you'll also save some money on your electric bill.

The Biggest Full Moon

The full moon Friday night will be the biggest one of the year as Earth's natural satellite reaches its closest point to our planet.

Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days. But the orbit is not a perfect circle.

The moon's average distance from us is about 238,855 miles (384,400 km). Friday night it will be just 221,560 miles (356,567 km) away. It will be 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during the year, according to NASA.

Tides will be higher Friday night, too. Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. Scientists call these perigean tides, because the moon's closest point to Earth is called perigee. The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee.

Some other strange lunar facts:

The moon is moving away from Earth as you read this, by about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Eventually it'll be torn apart as an expanding sun pushes the moon back toward Earth for a wrenching close encounter.

There is no proof the full moon makes people crazy.

Beaches are more polluted during full moon, owing to the higher tides.

The moon will rise Friday evening right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the planet, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes.

At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.

Try this trick, though: Using a pencil eraser or similar object held at arm's length, gauge the size of the moon when it's near the horizon and again later when it's higher up and seems smaller. You'll see that when compared to a fixed object, the moon will be the same size in both cases.

You can see all this on each night surrounding the full moon, too, because the moon will be nearly full, rising earlier Thursday night and later Saturday night.

Interestingly, because of the mechanics of all this, the moon is never truly 100 percent full. For that to happen, all three objects have to be in a perfect line, and when that rare circumstance occurs, there is a total eclipse of the moon.

Venus And Jupiter Will Shine Monday Night

Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.

A slender crescent moon, just 15 percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

People who are unaware or have no advance notice will almost certainly wonder, as they cast a casual glance toward the moon on that night, what those two "large silvery stars" happen to be?

Sometimes, such an occasion brings with it a sudden spike of phone calls to local planetariums, weather offices and even police precincts. Not a few of these calls excitedly inquire about "the UFOs" that are hovering in the vicinity of our natural satellite.

Very bright objectsVenus has adorned the southwestern twilight sky since late August. No other star or planet can come close to matching Venus in brilliance. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases in which Venus drew antiaircraft fire.

This winter, Venus is the unrivaled evening star that will soar from excellent to magnificent prominence in the southwest at nightfall. The interval by which it follows the Sun will increase from nearly three hours on Dec. 1 to almost four hours by Jan. 1.

It's probably the first "star" you'll see coming out after sunset. In fact, if the air is very clear and the sky a good, deep blue, try looking for Venus shortly before sunset.

Jupiter starts December just above Venus and is moving in the opposite direction, dropping progressively lower each evening. By month's end Jupiter meets up with another planet — Mercury — but by then Jupiter is also descending deep into the glow of sunset. In January, Jupiter will be too close to the Sun to see; it's in conjunction with the Sun on Jan. 24.

Earthlit ball A very close conjunction of the crescent moon and a bright star or planet can be an awe-inspiring naked-eye spectacle. The English poet, critic and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) used just such a celestial sight as an ominous portent in his epic, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

In addition, there are juxtaposed crescent moon and star symbols that have appeared on the flags of many nations, including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Also on Monday evening, you may be able to see the full globe of the moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called "the old moon in the young moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call "earthshine."

As seen from the moon, the Earth would loom in the sky some 3.7 times larger than the moon does for us.

In addition, the land masses, the oceans and clouds make the Earth a far better reflector of sunlight as compared to the moon. In fact, the Earth's reflectivity varies as clouds, which appear far more brilliant than the land and seas, cover greater or lesser parts of the visible hemisphere.

The result is that the Earth shines between 45 and 100 times more brightly than the moon.
The Earth also goes through phases, just as the moon does for us, although they are opposite from what we see from Earth. The term for this is called "complementary phases."

On Nov. 27, for example, there was a new moon for us, but as seen from the surface of the moon that day, there appeared in the lunar sky a brilliant full Earth. A few nights later, as the sliver of a crescent moon begins to appear in our western twilight sky, its entire globe may be glimpsed.

Sunlight is responsible for the slender crescent, yet the remainder of the moon appears to shine with a dim blush-gray tone. That part is not receiving sunlight, but shines by virtue of reflected earthlight: the nearly full Earth illuminating the otherwise dark lunar landscape. So earthshine is really sunlight which is reflected off Earth to the moon and then reflected back to Earth.

Keeping it all in perspective Keep in mind that this head-turning display of three celestial objects crowded together will be merely an illusion of perspective: the moon will be only about 251,400 miles from Earth, while Venus is nearly 371 times farther away, at 93.2 million miles.

Meanwhile, Jupiter is almost 2,150 times farther away than our natural satellite at 540.3 million miles.

Those using binoculars or a small telescope will certainly enjoy the almost three-dimensional aspect of the moon, but Venus will be rather disappointing appearing only as a brilliant blob of light, for right now, it's a small, featureless gibbous disk.

That will change in the coming weeks, however, as Venus approaches Earth and the angle it makes between us and the Sun allows it to evolve into a "half-moon" phase in mid-January, and a lovely crescent phase of its own during the latter part of February and March.

Jupiter, on the other hand, is a far more pleasing sight with its relatively large disk, cloud bands and its retinue of bright Galilean satellites.

All four will be in view on Monday evening, with Callisto sitting alone on one side of Jupiter, Ganymede, Io and Europa will be on the other side. Io and Europa will in fact, appear very close to each other, separated by only about one-sixth the apparent width of Jupiter.

Venus 'eclipse' for Europe As beautiful as the view of Venus, Jupiter and the moon will be from North America, an even more spectacular sight awaits those living in parts of Western Europe where the moon will pass in front of Venus.

Astronomers refer to this phenomenon as an "occultation," taken from the Latin word "occultÄ re," which means "to conceal."

This eye-catching sight will be visible in complete darkness across much of Eastern Europe. Farther west, Venus will disappear behind the dark part of the moon either during evening twilight or just before the Sun sets.

When Venus emerges, it will look like a brightening jewel on the slender lunar crescent. For virtually all of Europe, the Sun will have set by then, the exception being southern Portugal (including Lisbon).

Such favorable circumstances are quite rare for any given location. For example, the last time London was treated to such a favorably placed Venus occultation such was back on Oct. 7, 1961.

And after 2008, there will not be another similarly favorable Venus occultation for the United Kingdom until Jan. 10, 2032.

The Perseids Are Coming

The annual Perseid meteor shower is set to peak on Tuesday, Aug. 12, (you can watch any day before or after the 12th, which is Chelsea's birthday!) after the moon sets in the wee hours of the morning. The best time to view the meteor shower will be between 4 and 5 a.m., according the American Meteor Society. You can actually see meteors (or shooting stars, as some refer to them) any night of the week when you have a clear sky. The Perseids and other meteor showers just guarantee that you WILL see one or more while you are looking.

Meteor showers are best viewed with the naked (oh!) eye. Telescopes and binoculars don't aid in viewing as meteors move too swiftly.

Get away from city lights. While in a dark location you should be able to see 2 or 3 meteors every minute.

Get comfortable! Bring a lounge chair and a blanket and recline with your feet facing due south.

The Perseids should appear to be coming over your left shoulder.

Meteors occur when the Earth cuts through the dirty old paths of comets. The specks strike our planet's atmosphere and burn up, creating brilliant streaks of light. Most importantly, enjoy our beautiful night sky!

Must-See Meteor Shower Friday Morning

By Joe Rao
space.com

The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to reach maximum in Friday's predawn hours. The Quadrantids are notoriously unpredictable, but if any year promises a fine display, this could be it.

Indeed, this may end up being the best meteor shower of 2008. Let's hope not!

The Quadrantid (pronounced KWA-dran-tid) meteor shower provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting but a few hours. The timing of peak activity favors Western Europe and eastern North America. Weather permitting, skywatchers in rural locations could see one or two shooting stars every minute during the peak.
Annual challenge
Each year, many factors combine to make the peak of this display difficult to observe.

Peak intensity is exceedingly sharp: meteor rates exceed one-half of their highest value for only about eight hours (compared to two days for the August Perseids). This means that the stream of particles that produce this shower is a narrow one — apparently derived within the last 500 years from a small comet.

As viewed from mid-northern latitudes, we have to get up before dawn to see the Quadrantids at their best. This is because the radiant — that part of the sky from where the meteors emanate — is down low on the northern horizon until about midnight, rising slowly higher as the night progresses. The growing light of dawn ends meteor observing usually by around 7 a.m. So, if the "Quads" are to be seen at all, some part of that eight-hour active period must fall between 2 and 7 a.m.

In one out of every three years, bright moonlight spoils the view.

Over northern latitudes, early January often sees inclement/unsettled weather.

It is not surprising then, that the Quadrantids are not as well-known as some of the other annual meteor showers, but 2008 may prove to be an unusual exception.

Exception this year
According to the International Meteor Organization, maximum activity this year is expected on Friday at 1:40 a.m. ET.

For those in the eastern United States, the radiant will be about one-quarter of the way up in the east-northeast sky. The farther to the north and east you go, the higher in the sky the radiant will be. To the south and west the radiant will be lower and the meteors will be fewer.
From Western Europe, the radiant will soar high in the east as the peak arrives just as morning twilight intervenes.

Quadrantid meteors are described as bright and bluish with long silvery trains. Some years produce a mere handful, but for favorably placed observers, this could be a shower to remember; at greatest activity, Quadrantid rates will likely range from 30 to 60 per hour for eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada, to 60 to 120 per hour for Western Europe.

Across central and western parts of North America, the shower's sharp peak will have already passed and meteor activity will be rapidly diminishing by the time the radiant has a chance to get very high in the northeastern sky. Nonetheless, hourly rates of perhaps 15 to 30 may still be seen.

The moon will be a waning crescent, not rising until after 4 a.m. and will add very little light to the sky.

History and mystery
Adolphe Quetelet of Brussels Observatory discovered the shower in the 1830s, and shortly afterward it was noted by several other astronomers in Europe and America.

The meteors are named after the obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis, the Mural or Wall Quadrant (an astronomical instrument), depicted in some 19th-century star atlases roughly midway between the end of the Handle of the Big Dipper and the quadrilateral of stars marking the head of the constellation Draco. (The International Astronomical Union phased out Quadrans Muralis in 1922.)

Meteor showers are generally caused by debris from comets. Most of the "shooting stars" result from bits the size of sand grains, which vaporize as they streak through Earth's atmosphere.

The parentage of the Quadrantids was long a mystery, however. Then Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., noticed that the orbit of 2003 EH1 — a small asteroid discovered in March 2003 — ''falls snug in the shower.'' He believes that this 1.2-mile-wide (2 kilometers) chunk of rock is the source of the Quadrantids; possibly this asteroid is the burnt-out core of the lost comet C/1490 Y1. Whatever...

Geminid Meteors - Best Meteor Showers of 2007

What could be the best meteor display of the year will reach its peak on the night of December 13-14.

Here is what astronomers David Levy and Stephen Edberg have written of the annual Geminid Meteor Shower: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor."

The Geminids get their name from the constellation of Gemini, the Twins, because the meteors appear to emanate from a spot in the sky near the bright star Castor in Gemini.

Also in Gemini this month is the planet Mars, nearing a close approach to the Earth later this month, and shining brilliantly with yellow-orange hue. To be sure, Mars is certain to attract the attention of prospective Geminid watchers this upcoming week.

The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the famous Perseids of August.

Studies of past find the "Gems" have a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors, with relatively fewer objects of medium brightness.

They are of medium speed, encountering Earth at 22 miles per second (35 kps). They are bright and white, but unlike the Perseids, they leave few visible trails or streaks. They are four times denser than most other meteors, and have been observed to form jagged or divided paths.

Geminids also stand apart from the other meteor showers in that they seem to have been spawned not by a comet, but by 3200 Phaethon, an Earth-crossing asteroid. Then again, the Geminids may be comet debris after all, for some astronomers consider Phaethon to really be the dead nucleus of a burned-out comet that somehow got trapped into an unusually tight orbit. Interestingly, on December 10, Phaethon will be passing about 11 million miles (18 million kilometers) from Earth, its closest approach since its discovery in 1983.

The Geminids perform excellently in any year, but British meteor astronomer, Alastair McBeath, has categorized 2007 as a "great year."

Last year's display was hindered somewhat by the moon, two days past last quarter phase. But this year, the moon will be at new phase on Dec. 9. On the peak night, the moon will be a fat crescent, in the south-southwest at dusk and setting soon after 8 p.m. That means that the sky will be dark and moonless for the balance of the night, making for perfect viewing conditions for the shower.

According to McBeath, the Geminids are predicted to reach peak activity on Dec. 14 at 4:45 GMT. That means those places from central Asia eastwards across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska are in the best position to catch the very crest of the shower, when the rates conceivably could exceed 120 per hour.

"But," he adds, "maximum rates persist at only marginally reduced levels for some 6 to 10 hours around the biggest ones, so other places (such as North America) should enjoy some fine Geminid activity as well.

Indeed, under normal conditions on the night of maximum activity, with ideal dark-sky conditions, at least 60 to 120 Geminid meteors can be expected to burst across the sky every hour on the average (Light pollution greatly cuts the numbers).

The Earth moves quickly through this meteor stream producing a somewhat broad, lopsided activity profile. Rates increase steadily for two or three days before maximum, reaching roughly above a quarter of its peak strength, then drop off more sharply afterward. Late Geminids, however, tend to be especially bright. Renegade forerunners and late stragglers might be seen for a week or more before and after maximum.

Generally speaking, depending on your location, Gemini begins to come up above the east-northeast horizon right around the time evening twilight is coming to an end. So you might catch sight of a few early Geminids as soon as the sky gets dark.

There is a fair chance of perhaps catching sight of some "Earth-grazing" meteors. Earth grazers are long, bright shooting stars that streak overhead from a point near to even just below the horizon. Such meteors are so distinctive because they follow long paths nearly parallel to our atmosphere.

The Geminids begin to appear noticeably more numerous in the hours after 10 p.m. local time, because the shower's radiant is already fairly high in the eastern sky by then. The best views, however, come around 2 a.m., when their radiant point will be passing very nearly overhead.

The higher a shower's radiant, the more meteors it produces all over the sky.

But keep this in mind: At this time of year, meteor watching can be a long, cold business. You wait and you wait for meteors to appear. When they don't appear right away, and if you're cold and uncomfortable, you're not going to be looking for meteors for very long! The late Henry Neely (1878-1963), who for many years served as a lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium, once had this to say about watching for the Geminids: "Take the advice of a man whose teeth have chattered on many a winter's night — wrap up much more warmly than you think is necessary!"

Hot cocoa or coffee can take the edge off the chill, as well as provide a slight stimulus. It's even better if you can observe with friends. That way, you can keep each other awake, as well as cover more sky. Give your eyes time to dark-adapt before starting.

Bundle up and good luck!

Andromeda Takes Center Stage In Night Sky

Now that the bright moon has left the evening sky, it's a good time to turn our attention to one of the most amazing sky objects, which is passing almost directly over our heads this week between 7:30 and 8 p.m.

This object was known as the "little cloud" to the Persian astronomer Abd-al-Rahman Al-Sufi, who described and depicted it in his Book of Fixed Stars in the year 964. But it may have been commonly known to Persian astronomers at Isfahan as far back as 905, or even earlier. An expert on star nomenclature, Richard Hinckley Allen, once reported that it also appeared on a Dutch star map from the year 1500.

The light from that "little cloud" is actually the total accumulation of light from more than 400 billion stars. It is listed as Messier 31 (or M31) in Charles Messier's famous catalog — a list of hazy objects that resembled comets but later proved to be galaxies, nebulae and star clusters.

Here is the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye.

Bigger than the Milky WayM31 has been estimated to be nearly 200,000 light-years in diameter, or one and a half times as wide as our own Milky Way galaxy. Its bright nucleus is the hazy patch that is visible to the unaided eye. Like our own galaxy, M31 has several attendant satellite galaxies. Two of these, M32 and M110, can be picked out with low magnification in a small to medium-sized telescope, in the same field of view as M31. There are yet two other smaller companions (NGC 147 and 185) that are much fainter and placed much farther away, close to the border of nearby Cassiopeia.

As you look at the Andromeda Galaxy you'll be doing something that no one else in the world except a stargazer can do; you will actually be looking back into the distant past.

There is a good reason why this patch of light appears so faint to the naked eye. When you see it, consider that this light has been traveling 2.5 million years to reach you — traveling all that time at the tremendous velocity of 671 million mph.

The light you are seeing is around 25,000 centuries old and began its journey around the time of the dawn of human consciousness. The light you are now getting is at least 480 times older than the Pyramids; the distance it has traveled is so inconceivable that even to write the number of miles is all but meaningless.

When it began its nearly 15-quintillion-mile journey earthward (that's a 15, followed by 18 zeros!), mastodons and saber-toothed tigers roamed over much of pre-ice-age North America, and prehistoric man was struggling for existence in what is now the Olduvai Gorge of East Africa.

Nebula or galaxy?For a long time, M31 was popularly referred to as the Andromeda "Nebula." Although big reflecting telescopes such as Lord Rosse's 72-inch at Birr Castle in Ireland were in operation during the mid-19th century, its true nature was not confirmed until astronomer Edwin P. Hubble finally resolved M31 into individual stars with the 100-inch telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1923.

Nevertheless, there were those who many decades earlier suspected that M31 was much more than just a luminous cloud. Read this prophetic comment out of W.H. Smyth's "A Cycle of Celestial Objects," written back in 1844:

"Sir John Herschel ... concludes that it is a flat ring, of enormous dimensions, seen very obliquely. It consists probably, of myriads of solar systems at a most astounding distance from ours, and affords a distinct lesson that we must not limit the bounds of the universe by the limits of our senses."

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

What Was I Thinking?

I just realized that I didn't blog today (yesterday, actually.) I have no idea why. I didn't even think to check the blog to see if any comments were left.

So, I'm not sure what I'll say, though I'm sure something will come to mind.

I did get up to watch the eclipse. Looking west this morning at 5:00 am I couldn't see the moon from my house. So Hannibal and I got in the car and headed down Potowomut Road where there's a little fishing spot. I did spot the moon as I drove there and thought it would be a good place to sit and watch. Wrong. The moon was so low that the trees around the river were blocking the view. So I decided to head out to Post Road where there are more buildings than trees. As I was driving I was not able to find the moon at all. Then I realized that I was looking east, where the sun was starting to rise. DUH. Once I turned and looked west I saw the moon, found a spot to park and got my camera out, just as the clouds blocked the moon from my view. I waited for about a half hour and never saw the moon again. So I went to Dunkin Donuts and got a donut and headed home, knowing there's another eclipse coming before long.

I do enjoy the lunar eclipse so much more than a solar eclipse. I remember once, years ago, when we were having a solar eclipse, I decided to go outside (I was downtown at the time) and I looked up towards the sun (which you are NOT supposed to do), my eyes starting to hurt and they continued to hurt for weeks afterwards, so I do not recommend that. It's alot safer to watch a solar eclipse on TV or use a special pair of glasses or welders glass.

Here's some upcoming dates to watch the night sky:

September 1 is the peak of the Aurigids meteor showers.
October 8 is the peak of the Draconids meteor showers.
November 18 is the peak of the Leonid meteor showers.
December 14 is the peak of the Geminid meteor showers.

I do enjoy the night sky. Maybe that's why I like to stay up late.

The rest of my day was spent sleeping (I've been exhausted lately) and working on Castle stuff.

On the day that I went to the Castle, I left a letter for the owner at the house and mailed one to him at the address of the house. The mailed one was returned to me and I haven't been by the Castle lately to see if the one I left is still there. I have no clue as to where the owner of that house is. I did check and he's not in prison, nor has he been arrested for anything. I would sure like to know what's up with him and the house though. I can't imagine another winter passing and that place still being vacant and abandoned.

I guess that's it for now. My brain can't think too much longer at this late hour.

Rise and Shine - It's Eclipse Time

The Earth's shadow will creep across the moon's surface early Tuesday, slowly eclipsing it and turning it shades of orange and red. The total lunar eclipse, the second this year, will be visible in North and South America, especially in the West.

People in Europe, Africa or the Middle East, who had the best view of the last total lunar eclipse in March, won't see this one because the moon will have set when the eclipse begins at 4:51 a.m. EDT. It will take an hour to reach full eclipse stage.

An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. It's rare because the moon is usually either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.

Since the Earth is bigger than the moon, the process of the Earth's shadow taking a bigger and bigger "bite" out of the moon, totally eclipsing it before the shadow recedes, lasts about 3 1/2 hours, said Doug Duncan, director of the University of Colorado's Fiske Planetarium. The total eclipse phase, in which the moon has an orange or reddish glow, lasts about 1 1/2 hours.

The full eclipse will be visible across the United States, but East Coast viewers will only have about a half-hour to see it before the sun begins to rise and the moon sets. Skywatchers in the West will get the full show.

During the full eclipse, the moon won't be completely dark because some light still reaches it around the edges of the Earth. The light is refracted as it passes through our atmosphere, scattering blue light - which is why the sky is blue - but sending reddish light onto the moon.

"When someone asks why is it (the moon) red, you can say because the sky is blue," Duncan said.

The next total lunar eclipse occurs Feb. 21, 2008, and will be visible from the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Perseid Weekend

The Perseids take place in mid-August, offering a striking contrast to the chilly nocturnal weather of November and December when the Leonids and Geminids take center stage.

The combination of nice conditions and picturesque meteors offer prime viewing pleasure.

The Perseids stand out because they occur at the time of warm summer nights and because they produce a consistent annual display of bright meteors.

The Perseids slowly have increased in number in recent weeks and are expected to peak overnight Saturday and Sunday with up to 60 "shooting stars" an hour.

While other showers might sporadically spawn higher numbers, the Perseids offer dependable yields of eye pleasures, often with persistent light trails that linger in the air.

The Perseids produce many bright blue-white meteors that usually catch the attention of people who are outside for reasons other than meteor watching.

The best time to watch the nightly exhibition is between 2 a.m. and dawn when the constellation Perseus, from where the shower seems to originate, is highest in the sky.

Can't wait up that late? The Perseids usually start appearing around 10 p.m. Some of the early ones streak more slowly, providing longer and more spectacular meteors.

People in the Northern Hemisphere have a good view of the Perseids, but because the constellation Perseus hardly rises above the horizon, their Southern Hemisphere counterparts have much less luck.

The Perseid meteors come from dust-size grains left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle, which every 130 years flies into the inner solar system. Most of the time the comet orbits beyond Pluto.

During August, the Earth moves into the comet debris trail, and the particles splat into the atmosphere, much like bugs hitting a windshield.

Rather than leaving behind a bloblike carcass, the Perseids disappear into a blaze of streaking light, incinerated by intense friction as they smack into the sky at speeds of about 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second).

Bright lights are the bane of night sky watching; therefore, viewers should make sure to head to dark, open spaces far from cities for optimal viewing.