2018-02-02
Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 2 - Moonrise Eclipse
Image Credit & Copyright: Neelam and Ajay Talwar
Explanation: This atmospheric picture of a distant horizon looks toward the tall Trisul peaks of India's snowy Himalayan mountains. Taken from a remote location on January 31, brightest star Sirius shines at the upper right. The red Moon rising is gliding through Earth's shadow during the evening's much anticipated total lunar eclipse. Enjoyed across the planet's night side, the eclipse was the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2018, kicking off a good year for moonwatchers. But this was a rare treat. The eclipsed Moon also loomed large near perigee, the closest point in its orbit, during the second Full Moon of the month, also known as a Blue Moon. For the July 27, 2018 total lunar eclipse, the Full Moon will be very near apogee.
2018-02-01
Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 1 - Moonset Eclipse
Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak (MrEclipse.com)
Explanation: Near the closest point in its orbit, the second Full Moon of the month occurred on January 31. So did the first Total Lunar Eclipse of 2018, as the Moon slid through planet Earth's shadow. In a postcard from planet Earth, this telescopic snapshot captures the totally eclipsed Moon as it set above the western horizon and the Chiricahua Mountains of southern Arizona. The Moon's evocative reddened hue is due to sunlight scattered into the shadow. Still, the planet's shadow visibly grows darker near the center, toward the top of the lunar disk.
2018-01-31
Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 January 31 - The First Explorer
Image Credit: NASA
Explanation: Sixty years ago, on January 31, 1958, the First Explorer was successfully launched by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency on a Jupiter-C rocket. Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the United States, Explorer I was a thirty pound satellite that carried instruments to measure temperatures, and micrometeorite impacts, along with an experiment designed by James A. Van Allen to measure the density of electrons and ions in space. The measurements made by Van Allen's experiment led to an unexpected and then startling discovery of two earth-encircling belts of high energy electrons and ions trapped in the magnetosphere. Now known as the Van Allen Radiation belts, the regions are located in the inner magnetosphere, beyond low Earth orbit. Explorer I ceased transmitting on February 28, 1958, but remained in orbit until March of 1970.
2018-01-30
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