Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 10 - Saturn and Mars visit Milky Way Star Clouds

Saturn and Mars visit Milky Way Star Clouds 
Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Eduardo Fairbairn ; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Planets, stars, nebulas and a galaxy -- this impressive image has them all. Closest to home are the two planets Mars (right) and Saturn (center), visible as the two bright orange spots in the upper half of the featured image. On the central right are the colorful Rho Ophiuchus star clouds featuring the bright orange star Antares lined up below Mars. These interstellar clouds contain both red emission nebulas and blue reflection nebulas. At the top right of the image is the Blue Horsehead reflection nebula. On the lower left are many dark absorption nebulas that extend from the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. The featured deep composite was composed of multiple deep exposures taken last month from Brazil. Although you need a telescope to see the nebulosities, Saturn and Mars will remain visible to the unaided eye this month toward the east, just after sunset.

Mercúrio passa hoje diante do Sol, o que só volta a acontecer em 2019.

Mercúrio vai passar hoje diante do Sol, um fenómeno raro que só volta a acontecer em 2019, e que, esta tarde, pode ser observado em Portugal, através de telescópios com filtros solares, se o estado do tempo ajudar.

O trânsito de Mercúrio, o planeta do Sistema Solar mais próximo do 'astro-rei', durará mais de sete horas: começa pelas 12:12 (hora de Lisboa), atinge o ponto máximo às 15:56 e termina pelas 19:41, de acordo com o Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa.

O planeta, que, aos olhos de quem o observa, surgirá como um pequeno círculo escuro, move-se lentamente ao atravessar o disco solar. À deslocação dá-se o nome de 'trânsito', porque Mercúrio passa entre o Sol e a Terra.

O fenómeno ocorre, na sua plenitude, na Europa Ocidental, no leste da América do Norte, no norte da América do Sul, no Ártico, na Gronelândia, no extremo noroeste de África e no Oceano Atlântico.

TVI 24 - Portugal

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 9 - Mercury's Transit: An Unusual Spot on the Sun

Mercury's Transit: An Unusual Spot on the Sun 
Image Credit & Copyright: David Cortner

Explanation: What's that dot on the Sun? If you look closely, it is almost perfectly round. The dot is the result of an unusual type of solar eclipse that occurred in 2006. Usually it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. This time, the planet Mercury took a turn. Like the approach to New Moon before a solar eclipse, the phase of Mercury became a continually thinner crescent as the planet progressed toward an alignment with the Sun. Eventually the phase ofMercury dropped to zero and the dark spot of Mercury crossed our parent star. The situation could technically be labeled a Mercurian annular eclipse with an extraordinarily large ring of fire. From above the cratered planes of the night side of Mercury, the Earth appeared in its fullest phase. Hours later, as Mercury continued in its orbit, a slight crescent phase appeared again. This was ten years ago -- the next Mercurian solar eclipse will occur tomorrow.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 7 - Three Worlds for TRAPPIST-1

2016 May 7
Three Worlds for TRAPPIST-1 
Illustration Credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser

Explanation: Three new found worlds orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, a mere 40 light-years away. Their transits were first detected by the Belgian robotic TRAnsiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope,TRAPPIST, at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The newly discovered exoplanets are all similar in size to Earth. Because they orbit very close to their faint, tiny star they could also have regions where surface temperatures allow for the presence of liquid water, a key ingredient for life. Their tantalizing proximity to Earth makes them prime candidates for future telescopic explorations of the atmospheres of these potentially habitable planets. All three worlds appear in this artist's vision, an imagined scene near the horizon of the system's outermost planet. Of course, the inner planet is transiting the dim, red, nearly Jupiter-sized parent star.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 5 - The SONG and the Hunter

The SONG and the Hunter 
Image Credit & Copyright: Mads Fredslund Andersen, Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Aarhus Univ., Denmark

Explanation: Near first quarter, the Moon in March lights this snowy, rugged landscape, a view across the top of Tenerife toward La Palma in the Canary Islands Spanish archipelago. The large Teide volcano, the highest point in Spain, looms over the horizon. Shining above are familiar bright stars of Orion, the Hunter. Adding to the dreamlike scene is the 1 meter diameter prototype telescope of the global network project called the Stellar Observations Network Group or SONG. The SONG's fully robotic observatory was captured during the 30 second exposure while the observatory dome, with slit open, was rotated across the field of view.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 4 - A Mercury Transit Sequence

A Mercury Transit Sequence 
Image Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick

Explanation: This coming Monday, Mercury will cross the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth. Called a transit, the last time this happened was in 2006. Because the plane of Mercury's orbit is not exactly coincident with the plane of Earth's orbit, Mercury usually appears to pass over or under the Sun. The above time-lapse sequence, superimposed on a single frame, was taken from a balcony in Belgium shows the entire transit of 2003 May 7. The solar crossinglasted over five hours, so that the above 23 images were taken roughly 15 minutes apart. The north pole of the Sun, the Earth's orbit, and Mercury's orbit, although all different, all occur in directions slightly above the left of the image. Near the center and on the far right, sunspots are visible. After Monday, the next transit of Mercury will occur in 2019.

Magic System pleure la mort de son batteur par noyade

Mauvais tour pour les Magiciens. Comme annoncé sur leur page Facebook, le groupe ivoirien Magic System vient de perdre son batteur et chef d’orchestre Didier Bonaventure Deigna dit Pépito, à l’âge de 46 ans. Le musicien s’est noyé dimanche dans la petite ville balnéaire de Jacqueville, à côté d’Abidjan. Si les circonstances de son décès ne sont pas encore totalement connues, il aurait perdu la vie en tentant de secourir une personne de la noyade.

>> Magic System: «On aime rendre les gens heureux avec notre musique»

« C’est avec une grande tristesse et le cœur lourd que nous vous annonçons le décès de notre batteur Didier Bonaventure Deigna dit Pépito, ont ainsi écrit les Magiciens sur Facebook. Il profitait d’un petit repos suite aux préparatifs du Femua 9, avant la reprise de la tournée française. Pepito était notre choriste, batteur mais surtout le chef d’orchestre depuis 16 ans avec notre groupe Magic System. Il restera à jamais gravé dans nos cœurs. »

"MaGic in the air"

Imagens do Mundo - Barcos decorados em Londres

Numerosos barcos decorados para o festival anual da Asociação de vias fluviais; Canalway, na pequena Veneza, Londres.

DOMINIC LIPINSKI (AP)

Imagens do Mundo - Cruzeiro norte-americano em Cuba

Cubanos assistem à chegada de um cruzeiro norte-americano desde ha varias décadas

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 May 3 - Aurora over Sweden

Aurora over Sweden 
Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand

Explanation: It was bright and green and stretched across the sky. This striking aurora display was captured last month just outside of Östersund, Sweden. Six photographic fields were merged to create the featured panorama spanning almost 180 degrees. Particularly striking aspects of this aurora include its sweeping arc-like shape and its stark definition. Lake Storsjön is seen in the foreground, while several familiar constellations and the star Polaris are visible through the aurora, far in the background. Coincidently, the aurora appears to avoid the Moon visible on the lower left. The aurora appeared a day after a large hole opened in the Sun's corona allowing particularly energetic particles to flow out into the Solar System. The green color of the aurora is caused by oxygen atoms recombining with ambient electrons high in the Earth's atmosphere.