Monthly Archives: March 2011

Saturn’s rings surge in brightness this week

Posted on March 31, 2011 by astrobob

On Sunday Saturn reaches opposition, when it will be closest to the Earth for the year. The closer something is to us, the brighter it appears in the sky. Not only will the planet be brighter than compared to months … Continue reading →

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Life’s nice with liquid, gas and ice

Posted on March 30, 2011 by astrobob

Mud turned to ice under our feet last night as the temperature dropped to 20 F. I spoke before a group of naturalists at the Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center north of Duluth. After the talk we walked outside and … Continue reading →

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Crescent moon by way of nova

Posted on March 29, 2011 by astrobob

Waking up to a crescent moon was nice enough this morning. I went out to spy a possible new nova in the summer constellation of Sagittarius. Novas occur in very close double star systems where stars like our sun or … Continue reading →

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See the Spring Triangle and Saturn tonight

Posted on March 28, 2011 by astrobob

I’m not the first to call it the ‘Spring Triangle’ but the name sure fits. We’re talking about Arcturus, Saturn and Spica and what a fine figure they cut in the eastern sky from 10 o’clock onward. I suppose it … Continue reading →

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Curious glows of the night plus the sun gets cookin’

Posted on March 27, 2011 by astrobob

The sun is starting to heat up again. OK, it’s already hot, but do you remember the big sunspot group (1166) that jump-started the northern lights earlier this month with a succession of medium to large flares? After rotating around … Continue reading →

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Mercurial light warms up tonight’s Earth Hour

Posted on March 26, 2011 by astrobob

Wow, it’s been a busy day. So much so I nearly forgot about Earth Hour, an annual ‘turn off the electricity’ event celebrated around the world at 8:30 p.m. local time. It began in 2007 in Australia over concerns about … Continue reading →

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Of frost and space station watching

Posted on March 25, 2011 by astrobob

Space station watchers are back in business again starting tomorrow morning with a 6:34 a.m. pass in the southern sky as seen from the Duluth region. This several-week-long ‘season’ of visibility features grazes of the moon and bright star Vega … Continue reading →

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New aurora video a masterpiece

Posted on March 24, 2011 by astrobob

After more than six months of picture-taking on dozens of cold nights, photographer Ole Salomonsen of Tromsø, Norway has combined some 50,000 still images into a spectacular 4-minute video of the northern lights. Key among his goals was to show … Continue reading →

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Astronomers discover star no hotter than your sauna

Posted on March 23, 2011 by astrobob

I boil water for tea twice a day. And while boiling water burns like heck if it spills on your hand, it’s not usually what we think of when it comes to star temperatures. Those typically range from the low … Continue reading →

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A little tilt is all it takes

Posted on March 22, 2011 by astrobob

I hope the first couple days of spring have lived up to seasonal expectations where you live. They have here, but now a howling snowstorm is on its way, threatening to repave all the lovely, exposed ground with a foot … Continue reading →

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