The Asteroid That Will Nearly Miss Earth In 2013

         Dear Diary...

      The Spanish OLS (Observatorio Astronomico de La Sagra), an observatory that tracks down small Solar System objects like comets and asteroids, discovered asteroid 2012 DA14 in late February of 2012. At the time, it passed by the the Blue Planet as far as 7 times the Earth-Moon distance. It was classified as an asteroid that may hit the Earth during a later orbit in 2013, this alarm was considered dangerous since the asteroid is 44 meters (144 feet) long, and it weighs nearly 210,000 tons.

Artist's conception of asteroid DA14

        According to NASA’s JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and ESA (European Space Agency), this asteroid has an orbit of 366.24 days, much like our planet’s, so the asteroid comes into contact with the Earth’s orbit twice every year.  This asteroid will visit the Earth on next year’s valentine’s day (15^th February 2013) at a distance of 27,000 Km (16,777 miles).

Orbit of Asteroid 2012 DA14

      Comets are annoyingly hard to predict, astronomers can't exactly calculate their coordinates with perfect accuracy. The closest pass-by after February 2013 will be in 2020, more information on the matter will be published as more asteroid-stalking material will be keeping astronomers busy.

Venus, Jupiter, and Tango

      Dear Diary...

     The two brightest planets are putting on a show this week, and all you have to do is look west. This Venus-Jupiter conjunction is a time when they’ll be separated by just 3 degrees, what some astronomers (and interesting people) like to describe this event as the Tango. A degree in the sky is just an easy measure of distance, every full moon covers about 0.5 degrees of the night sky, so this 3-degree separation is, in fact, 6 full moons wide. Remember, the brighter planet is Venus, it’s actually 2.2 times brighter; since Jupiter’s magnitude is -2.1 and Venus’ is -4.3.

  

Screenshot from Stellarium

       Why is this a big deal? A conjunction between Venus and Jupiter occurs every 13 months, but due to the Earth’s rotation and celestial dance, we only get to witness it once in every 39 occurrences, which brings this event to a once-every-24-years date. Where will you find them? Venus and Jupiter remain in the West nearly four hours after sunset. 

Venus and Jupiter conjunction - Credits to Sky & Telescope

They met back in 1988, only being separated by 2 degrees, they’ll meet again this week. It just makes this event more interesting since the next time humans will witness this exact light show will be in 2036.

Artist's perception of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction

     Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction on March 15, 2012. This is the best evening Venus-Jupiter conjunction for years, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Venus and Jupiter stay out for nearly four hours after sunset. Venus and Jupiter are close throughout March 2012.

Jupiter and Venus along the ecliptic

Is the Moon Responsible for the Titanic Tragedy?

     Dear Diary...

     April 2013 will mark the hundred and first anniversary of the Titanic Tragedy. A group of astronomers at Texas State University are convinced (and so am I), that the Moon and the Sun are, even if partly, to blame for the accident, read their publication here.

The Titanic, haven't you seen the movie?

     Sky & Telescope magazine published in their April 2012 issue this theory put forward by Donald Olson, Russell Doescher and Roger Sinnott (the people with the cool jobs).

     The Titanic, the largest ship on the seas at that time, was travelling from Southampton to New York City, but hit an iceberg near the end of its voyage, killing nearly 1,517 passengers.

Titanic's Path

This collision caused its plates to buckle inward and a number of holes got filled with water and so it sank, bow-first, at 3:30 am on April 15^th, its wreckage remains 3,784 meters (12,415 feet) below sea level. The remains were discovered during a secret Cold War navy mission in 1985.

Titanic's Wreckage

Orion, the Astronomy, Mythology, and Mystery

Part 1: The Astronomy

Dear Diary...

            Let’s begin our tour of the constellations with Orion, or the Hunter in Greek mythology. First of all, let’s find it the sky; it’s observable from both hemispheres because it’s located on the equator, and it can be observed from November till mid-March. It’s very easy to spot because of its asterism: Orion’s belt that is three stars forming a line.

The Orion Constellation

         It’s an interesting constellation, let’s start with α Orionis: Betelgeuse. It’s a massive supergiant 950 times the mass of our Sun, that portrays the right shoulder of the hunter with a visual magnitude of nearly 0.7 making it the 7^th brightest star in our night sky, and it’s some 640 light years away. This star, although it’s only a few millions years old should go supernova (and I mean serious boom) any time now! According to astronomers, ‘anytime now’ means maybe tonight, maybe ten thousand years from now, because the scale they’re working on is so grand. Furthermore, given how distant it is, the star might have blown up already and we’re just waiting for these particles to reach our telescopes.

The stars of Orion

             Next, comes Rigel, β Orionis, a star that is 862.9 light years away. Bellatrix, or γ orionis, is the 27^th brightest star in our night sky with a visual magnitude of 1.6. The name Bellatrix is Latin for the female warrior, it’s also referred to as the Amazon star. As we go down the list, we get to δ Orionis, Mintaka is some 692 light years away, and together with Alnitak and Alnilam form Orion’s belt.

Relative distance of the Orion stars

   Once you spot this constellation, it can help you locate other constellations and neighboring objects, like Gemini’s Castor and Pollux using Betelgeuse, Taurus’ Aldebaran, and Canis Major’s Sirius using Orion’s belt.

Use Orion for quick and easy celestial navigation

Constellations, The Sky's Lanterns

Dear Diary…

            As a Blue Planet citizen, (or planitien), you get to see almost 2,000 stars if you’re lucky. Let’s talk about constellations, simply because stars are pretty. General definition of constellation: it’s a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.

They are one of the sky’s many compasses, guiding agriculturists, and mariners; before navigation systems, satellites, GPS and compasses, men relied on stars. Modern astronomers divide the sky into this gallery of eighty-eight constellations with defined boundaries.

The Constellation Leo

Think of the constellations as a way to map out the sky. For ancient astronomers, stars were fascinating twinkling objects they needed to understand. Evers since 1922, the IAU (International Astronomical Union), with the help of Henry Russell documented 88 different constellations, deriving from Ptolemy’s work. Of course, different civilizations around the world meant different appellations and concepts for these constellations.

Twinkle Twinkle