Big Coronal Mass Ejection Due today

The Sun burped day before yesterday and emitted a coronal mass ejection towards Earth when the magnetic field around a sunspot collapsed. The CME and the solar wind should combine today and cause a lot of aurorae at both poles and possibly into the northern tier of the lower 48. If your are going to be in the North country look for green skies tonight. A video of the ejection can be seen on nasa.sdo.gov or at spaceweather.com.

iPhone and iPad Apps (Dave Sorgen)(Some run on other platforms)

Dave uses the following Astronomy apps on his iPhone and iPad. He has included some comments about the apps.

1.  SkyWeek - Events going on in the sky described with an option to view what each item would look like from your location. Provided by Sky & Telescope.

2. 360 Science - News/videos from the National Science Foundation. Wide range of topics including astronomy. 

3. Startracker(HD) - Planetarium app with LOTS of options. Nice music too…

4. Star Rover - Similar to #3, but without the music.

Both 3 & 4 use the iPad’s camera to locate objects in the sky at night to provide an enhanced experience. That is, it’ll find stuff for you, so basically you don’t have to know anything.

5. Earthviewer - Not exactly astronomy. Runs through the last half billion years of tectonic activity interactively. Want to see what California looked like 200 million years ago? This app is for you. Since tectonic activity has a great deal to do with life on our planet this is particularly appropriate especially for the Feb and Mar 2018 sessions.

6. Satellites - Uses tracking data to show the current location of all the space junk/satellites/spent boosters, etc. To keep from overwhelming the user, the user is allowed to select among the following categories for display: Favorites (you pick), Space Stations, Brightest, Weather satellites; Miscellaneous, Communications, Navigation, Scientific, Military and lastly, Rocket Bodies and Debris. Presents a globe with green dots. Tap the dot, get the info on that item. Pretty neat. Lotsa junk up there. Similar to Heavens-Above.com satellite tracker for PCs.

7. Stellarium - Runs on iMac as well as other common operating systems. It’s a FREE, open source planetarium app. Comes with a 350 page manual (.pdf file, 28Mb). The whole package has been under development since 2000. Has the capability of running the sky backwards and forwards in time. Provides a few “canned” events, e.g., historical supernovae.

We will eventually consolidate a list of apps using everyone's input.

References for Feb 2018 Meeting

Below is the reference list for the presentations: “Are We Alone,” 2018-02-13 and 2018-03-13

1. Drake, Frank, “The Drake Equation: Conference on Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life,” @ 1961 Nov
2. Dvorsky, George, “Is It Time to Accept That We Are Alone in the Universe,” iO9.Gizmodo.com @20141105 (a review and expansion of Ward and Brownlee)
3. Grinspoon, David, “Lonely Planets – The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life,” Harper Collins @2003
4. Sagan, Carl E. & Shklovskii, I. S., “Intelligent life in the Universe,” Holden-Day, Inc. @1966 (Currently an e-book – available as a free pdf)
5. Sagan, Carl E., “The Cosmic Connection,” Doubleday @1973
6. Ward, Peter D. and Brownlee, Donald, “Rare Earth – Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe,” Copernicus Books @2000
7. Weisman, Alan. “The World Without Us,” Thomas Dunne Books @2007

 The primary references are: 2, 3 and 6.

Cell Phone/Tablet Astronomy Apps

What's your favorite Astronomy App(s)? Why not share this information with your friends? We are going to publish a list of favorite Astronomy Apps on this Blog and would like your input. My favorites are: Heavens-Above, MoonPhasePro, dateandtime.com, and ISSTracker. Send you favorites (Apple or Android) to: Skywatcherhost@gmail.com

Super, Blue, Eclipsed Moon

On 31 January the Earth will watch our satellite, Luna, our Moon, go into a full lunar eclipse. For those of us on the East Coast this Lunar eclipse will begin at 5:51 Am EST and finish at 11:08 EST as the Moon sets. To be a Lunar Eclipse the Moon must be a full Moon. But there are a couple of other happenings involving this eclipse: it's also the second Super Moon of 2018 and a Blue Moon as well. A Super Moon is one that is several thousand miles closer to Earth than its average distance of 238,500 miles, thus making it appear to be abnormally large, and a Blue Moon is the second occurrence of a full moon in a calendar month, this time January 2018. So enjoy the site.

2018 February 13 Meeting

The Skywatchers SIG will meet for its second 2018 meeting on 13 February. We will discuss the fascinating subject of why we appear to be alone in the universe with heavy emphasis on the case for we are alone. The basic reference for this discussion is the book: Rare Earth by Ward and Brownlee. In March we will follow up with the case for we are not alone in the universe. Given the vast size of the universe we will concentrate on our galaxy, The Milky Way. See you at the Lakehouse for the 7:00 PM meeting. The doors will be open at 6:30 PM

The Only Super Moon of 2017

Did you see it. The only Super Moon of 2017 was yesterday and last night. It was 14 percent wider than the average full moon and 30 % brighter. It was glorious. It is the first in a series of three Super Moons. The next will be on  1 January 2018 and the last of the series of three on 31 January.

Super Moons are not really bigger or brighter in an absolute sense, it just seems so because the moon is nearer in its orbit around the Earth by about 10%.

As an additional bonus the last of this series of Super Moons will also be a blue moon. Blue moons are strictly a feature of our calendar. Two full moons in one calendar month make the last one a blue moon. Also the 31 Jnauary Super Moon will be a Lunar eclipse as well, but it will only be visible over the Western half of North America   😒.

When next you see a full moon look for the rabbit in the moon. Yes there is one and it does not take a pair of binoculars to see it.

SO, ENJOY THE NEXT TWO SUPER MOONs. 😊