Monthly Archives: October 2010

The scary side of night

Posted on October 31, 2010 by astrobob

Today’s Halloween, a time to celebrate the night if there ever was one. I hope you’ll be out treating, tricking, handing out candy and otherwise reveling in the fun. The sky has its scary side, too. Things like the Owl … Continue reading →

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Bowling for comets and Jupiter gets freckles

Posted on October 30, 2010 by astrobob

Deep inside the big, fuzzy glow of Comet Hartley 2, astronomers have spied its nucleus for the first time using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The core of the comet looks something like a bowling pin except that … Continue reading →

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Orion shows his cards, and an asteroid whizzes by Earth

Posted on October 29, 2010 by astrobob

A big storm blew in this week and left a few inches of snow at my place. Almost all of it’s gone now, but when I drove north of town to take in the starry sky last night, I opened … Continue reading →

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Allow me to introduce you to Venus’ dark side

Posted on October 28, 2010 by astrobob

What should you care that Venus is in inferior conjunction with the sun tomorrow? I mean, you can’t see the planet with the naked eye – it’s too close to the sun in the daytime sky. But there’s at least … Continue reading →

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Will Comet Hartley 2 spawn a new meteor shower?

Posted on October 27, 2010 by astrobob

It’s very unlikely, but two intriguing pieces of evidence point to Hartley 2, the comet of the moment,  as a possible source of two recent bright fireballs seen over Canada and the southeastern U.S. On Oct. 16, two NASA all-sky … Continue reading →

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Space station sidesteps space junk this morning

Posted on October 26, 2010 by astrobob

This morning at 5:25 a.m., while most of us were sleeping, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) fired the thrusters on the docked Progress cargo ship to steer the station from a possible collision with a piece of the … Continue reading →

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Goodbye, white pine

Posted on October 25, 2010 by astrobob

More than a year ago, one of my favorite “scenic” trees, a 60-year-old white pine that once spread its feathery branches over our driveway, was struck by lightning. Weakened by the blow, the tree’s time was up. We hired a … Continue reading →

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Do-it-yourself aurora forecasting

Posted on October 24, 2010 by astrobob

Today’s space weather forecast from the NOAA/Space Weather Prediction Center predicts a fair chance for major auroral storms at arctic latitudes and minor storming for mid-northern latitudes tonight and tomorrow night. Minor storms for both regions are again possible on … Continue reading →

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Scientists discover lunar oasis; shady events on Jupiter tonight

Posted on October 23, 2010 by astrobob

Before we wrap up our appreciation of the full moon, can I add one more way? Last October 9, the LCROSS spacecraft and its companion rocket stage were crashed into the floor of the lunar crater Cabeus near the moon’s … Continue reading →

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10 ways to enjoy tonight’s full moon

Posted on October 22, 2010 by astrobob

The moon’s done it again. Ambled its way along the ecliptic to another full moon phase. Appropriately enough, this month’s full moon is called the Hunter’s Moon. It rises in the northeast in Aries the Ram and stands high in … Continue reading →

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