NASA At Home: An ideal diversion for Sheltering in Place

 Have you ever wanted to take your mind off of current events and reached for your telescope?

Especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions, there is a lot of demand for high quality astrophotography and measurements that can be obtained from home, and I was quite pleased to find that NASA, the United States' Space Agency, is responding to this demand in a big way with a NASA at Home program.

I'm yet to explore the program in detail, but my brief investigation has suggested that there are podcasts from current/former astronauts and scientific personalities, ebooks available for free on NASA's contributions to exploration in space and the history of space exploration, activities and specialized materials to help children learn more and get inspired about space, and even more content that I haven't gotten into yet.

I'm also pretty stoked about the space images featured on a daily basis on the home page of NASA's web portal, and the virtual tours available on the site are a great way to while away an afternoon. If you are looking for a way to get through a terrible at-home science class, try promising your eight year old that they can explore the Houston command center after school tonight if they behave.

If you end up checking it out, comment below and share your impression!

Asteroid Florence Scheduled to do a near pass by the Earth Tomorrow

September 1st, 2017 is not only the beginning of a new month, the day of remembrance for Eid al Adha in the Muslim world, or the start of the new school year in the United States.

It is also the day that Asteroid Florence will be passing only 4.4 million miles away from the Earth. Best of all, it should be visible to either the naked eye or simple light telescopes, if pointed in the proper direction and at the right time.

Space.com had a great write up discussing the way that the asteroid was going to travel between the planets in it's grand trip, and their video helps to visualize the areas that the asteroid traverses when we can't immediately visualize it, but you can't blame people for being both excited and concerned when a 4.8 kilometer wide rock flies by the planet at breakneck speeds.

I hope that you guys and dolls get a chance to check it out, and that this near-Earth object and out home world never meet.

The Great American Eclipse seems to have rekindled Americans' Enthusiasm for the skies

Just in case you happen to live in a different part of the world, a good portion of the United States was fortunate enough to see a full solar eclipse earlier this month on August 22nd, 2017, and even more of the Northern American continent was able to see a partial eclipse.

I didn't happen to be located on the path of the totality, but I had a free hour during the eclipse in my area and I got to see the sun with a bite taken out of it. Even a partial solar eclipse is pretty cool when you can see it from your driveway.

What I find interesting is the number of people who suddenly became enthusiasts overnight, and it seems like the "popular science" crowd picked up on astrophotography for the first time, while the children of the space age had their childhood dreams of exploring the moon, near planets, and distant stars reawakened.

Check out some of the pictures that have been posted to the different forums, and if you haven't look into the video available from NASA.

It's a sight to be seen.

Nasa Website Dedicated to the eclipse Streams

Reddit's Astrophotography Forum

Ideal conditions for Lunar photography June 12th and June 13th

Assuming that you have access to clear skies and  bit of patience, tonight and tomorrow night offer a fantastic opportunity to observe the (nearly) full moon here in the United States.

The west coast is scheduled to be relatively calm for the next two days and only recently having crossed the midpoint of its cycle, the moon will appear nearly full tonight and tomorrow night.

Make sure to look to the skies, and share your results.

Clear skies and a full moon make for a wonderful experience

Here on the West Coast of the United States, the weather has been surprisingly clear for days in a row. I've been lucky enough to encounter clear skies and a full or nearly full moon several nights in a row, and as a result I've had great views of a full round circle framed by trees that are yet to develop foliage.

What sorts of sights have you been able to capture in your parts of the world?

A Once in a Lifetime Sight: Super Moon, November 14th 2016

I've written before about the Super Moon phenomenon. In some rare cases the moon becomes visible to us here on Earth at a closer portion of it's transit around the planet, and appears larger to us due to the slightly decreased distance.

As has been discussed many times, the moon appears a bit larger if it is a bit closer, but there is a greater reason to mention the upcoming phenomenon. This will not simply be remarkable, but nearly unique. The moon, as observed on November 14th of this year by those lucky enough to have clear skies, will look larger than it will until 2034.

That's right, we will have to wait 18 years until we see such an event!

True, it is the same moon, but the last time that the moon would have appeared so close was in 1934, truly a lifetime (several of my lifetimes) away.

I'd recommend taking a look into the skies.

Another Night of Aurora Light

Over the past few days, I have been rather busy, but I wanted to share a bit of a journey that I went on. There have been very high indices for ggeomagnetic activity in the past week, and there is a high likelihood for geomagnetic activity in the upper atmoshpere for the next couple of weeks. Geomagnetic activity, as well as a high particle count for solar radiation, has resulted in highly visible and spectacular views for the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis.

I feel very lucky to live in a place where I can simply hop into the car and drive out to a dark field to watch the Aurora Borealis stream across the sky, fade in and out of view, and shift from green to blue and purple.
I wish you all the best of luck in your pursuit of that elusive phenomenon!