The Sky At Night; The Forgotten Nature

[Fowad]

Here we can inform each other of the situation of the masses in night sky and important astronomical events in future and discuss about their conditions

[stargazer]

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Monday, July 11

Look 2° or 3° below the Moon for Antares early this evening, as shown below.

The Moon crosses Scorpius and Sagittarius as it waxes to full. In these scenes, the Moon is always placed for an observer in the middle of North America. European skywatchers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. The Moon is shown three times its actual apparent diameter.
Sky & Telescope diagram

Tuesday, July 12

Happy birthday Neptune! Today it's exactly one Neptune year since the planet's discovery in 1846.
Never again will a major planet of the solar system have failed to complete a full orbit since it was found. See the July Sky & Telescope, page 28. To locate Neptune with your binoculars or telescope (at magnitude 7.9), you can use our printable finder chart.

Wednesday, July 13

Look below the bright Moon for the Teapot pattern of Sagittarius, as shown above.

Thursday, July 14

Full Moon tonight (exact at 2:40 a.m. Friday morning Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon is left of the Sagittarius Teapot after dark.

The little constellation Lyra dangles below Vega these evenings. For much of the time, Beta Lyrae is almost exactly as bright as Gamma. However. . . .
Akira Fujii

The eclipsing binary star Beta Lyrae is coming out of its minimum light at the time of nightfall for the Americas. See the June Sky & Telescope, page 60.

Friday, July 15

After the just-past-full Moon rises well up late this evening, use binoculars to look a little above it for Beta Capricorni and, higher, the wide double star Alpha Capricorni. With good distance vision, you can normally split Alpha Cap naked-eye. Can you still do this with the bright Moon so close?

Saturday, July 16

With summer almost a third of the way through, the Big Dipper is descending in the northwest after dark and starting to scoop to the right, dipper-wise, as if picking up water to dump over the world in the evening next spring.

All descriptions that relate to your horizon — including the words up, down, right, and left — are written for the world's mid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude (mainly Moon positions) are for North America. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) equals Universal Time (also known as UT, UTC, or GMT) minus 4 hours

From: Sky & telescope

[stargazer]

This Week's Planet Roundup

Mercury (magnitude 0.0) remains very low in the west-northwest in twilight. Don't confuse it with Regulus well to its upper left. Mercury and Regulus will pass 3° apart on July 26th.

Venus is disappearing deep into the glow of sunrise.

Mars (magnitude +1.4, in Taurus) is moderately low in the east-northeast as dawn begins to brighten. Look for it very far lower left of bright Jupiter. To the right of Mars (by 6° to 10°: this week) is Aldebaran, similar in brightness and color.
In a telescope Mars is still just a tiny blob only 4.3 arcseconds in diameter. It's on its way to a poor opposition (13.9 arcseconds wide) next March.

Jupiter is coming into better view now in the dawn, but it's still very far from its best. Christopher Go obtained this fine stacked-video image on June 8th. Jupiter's dark South Equatorial Belt (above center) has fully returned and is very wide. The narrower North Equatorial Belt remains darker red-brown, with even darker barges. At the time of the photo the Great Red Spot had just barely passed the planet's central meridian (where the System II longitude was 163°). The SEB practically encompasses the Red Spot, and the Red Spot Hollow around the spot has changed from white to dark. South is up.
Christopher Go

Jupiter (magnitude –2.3, in southern Aries) rises around 1 or 2 a.m. daylight saving time and
shines high in the east by dawn.

Saturn (magnitude +0.9, in Virgo) is southwest after dusk and sinking lower. Shining 14° left of it
is similar, but bluer, Spica. And about 1° to Saturn's right is fainter Porrima (Gamma Virginis), still forming a striking pair with it.
In a telescope, Saturn's rings are 7.6° from edge on. The rings are casting their shadow southward onto the globe as a thin black line. The globe's shadow on the rings is just off the globe's celestial east (following) side. The North Equatorial Belt is a dusky band. Identify the Saturnian satellites visible in your telescope with our Saturn's moons tracker.

Uranus (magnitude 5.9, in western Pisces) and Neptune (magnitude 7.9, in western Aquarius) are about equally high now before the very first light of dawn, in the southeast and south, respectively. Neptune is having its first birthday this week, at least from the human point of view; see July 12 above. Here's our printable finder chart for both planets.

Pluto (magnitude 14.0, in northern Sagittarius) is highest in the south around midnight. A big finder chart for it is in the July Sky & Telescope, page 64.

All descriptions that relate to your horizon — including the words up, down, right, and left — are written for the world's mid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude (mainly Moon positions) are for North America. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) equals Universal Time (also known as UT, UTC, or GMT) minus 4 hours.

From: Sky & Telescope

[stargazer]

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Some daily events in the changing sky for December 2 – 10

by Alan M. MacRobert

Friday, Dec. 2

First-quarter Moon (exact at 4:52 a.m. on this date). The Moon, high in the south at dusk, shines below the western side of the Great Square of Pegasus this evening. It's between the Water Jar of Aquarius to its right, and the dimmer Circlet of Pisces to its left.
Mars is at quadrature, 90° west of the Sun in the morning sky. Therefore, in a telescope Mars is as gibbous as it's going to appear this season (90% sunlit).

Saturday, Dec. 3

Orion is up! With winter approaching, bright Orion rises into good view in the east-southeast by 8 or 9 p.m. now. In its middle, the three-star line of Orion’s Belt is nearly vertical — as it always is when Orion displays itself in this part of the sky (viewed from mid-northern latitudes).

Sunday, Dec. 4

Two reappearances of Jupiter’s moons tonight: Europa emerges from eclipse out of Jupiter’s shadow around 10:35 p.m. EST. Then Io emerges around 1:52 a.m. EST. A good telescope will show them gradually swelling into view just off the planet’s eastern edge.

Monday, Dec. 5

Jupiter shines lower left of the Moon this evening. Although they look close together, Jupiter is 1,550 times farther away — and 40 times larger in diameter.
In a telescope, Jupiter’s tiny moon Io casts its shadow on the planet’s face from 8:54 to 11:04 p.m. EST. Then Jupiter’s Great Red Spot crosses the planet’s central meridian around 12:17 a.m. EST. (For all Red Spot transit times and events among Jupiter's moons this month, visible worldwide, see "Action at Jupiter" in the December Sky & Telescope, page 60.)

Tuesday, Dec. 6

Jupiter shines to the right of the Moon in twilight, as shown below. Later in the evening it swings to the Moon’s lower right

Follow the Moon advancing eastward day by day.
Sky & Telescope diagram

Wednesday, Dec. 7

The bright eclipsing variable star Algol should be in one of its periodic dimmings, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 11:56 p.m. EST; 8:56 p.m. PST. Algol takes several additional hours to fade and to rebrighten. (Here's a comparison-star chart giving the magnitudes of three stars near Algol; you can use these to judge Algol's changing brightness.)

Thursday, Dec. 8

The Moon shines in Taurus near the Pleiades this evening, as shown above. You may need binoculars to pick them out of the lunar glare.

Friday, Dec. 9

Look lower right of the full Moon for Aldebaran this evening, and higher above Aldebaran for the Pleiades. Way off to their left shines Capella

The totally eclipsed Moon of October 27, 2004.
S&T: Richard Tresch Fienberg

A total eclipse of the Moon happens for western North America before dawn Saturday morning. Look for the dim, ruddy eclipsed Moon sinking low in the west-northwest before or during dawn. The eclipsed Moon hangs high in middle of the night for Australia and Japan, and in the evening sky of the 10th as seen from much of Asia.

The Moon is totally within the umbra of Earth’s shadow for 52 minutes, from 14:05 to 14:57 UT (GMT). The partial stages before and after totality each last more than an hour. See our article A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon (for central or western North America), or the fuller article in the December Sky & Telescope, page 58.

Saturday, Dec. 10

This evening the Moon shines amid Capella to its upper left, Aldebaran to its upper right, Betelgeuse to its lower right, and Pollux and Castor farther to the Moon’s lower left. Algol is at minimum brightness for a couple hours centered on 8:46 p.m. EST.

From: S&T

[stargazer]

Celestial Events from 2012 Astronomy Calendar

From: Sea and Sky

Important Events in February:


February 20 - March 12 -Best Chance to see Mercury. The planet Mercury will be far enough from the Sun's glare to be visible shortly after sunset. Mercury will

reach greatest elongation from the Sun on March 5, reaching a relatively bright magnitude of about -1. This will be your best chance to see the planet this year.


February 21 - New Moon. The Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 22:35 UTC.

[stargazer]

March 8 - Full Moon. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 09:39 UTC.


March 14 - Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The two brightest planets in the sky will be within 3 degrees of each other in the evening sky. On March 25 and 25, the crescent Moon will be near the two planets, creating a dazzling evening spectacle.


March 20 - March Equinox. The March equinox occurs at 05:14 UTC. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the southern hemisphere.


March 22 - New Moon. The Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 14:37 UTC.

[هانیه امیری]

March 5: Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation .

Today it lies farthest from the Sun. Unfortunately, this planet never climbs high. Because mercury orbits closer to the Sun than any other planet.

You can see this innermost planet in the west shortly after sunset.

[هانیه امیری]

Best Venus-Jupiter conjunction in mid-March 2012

At mid-northern latitudes, these two brightest planets – Venus and Jupiter – stay out for nearly four hours after sunset. That’s about the longest period possible at these latitudes. You can find these two worlds in the west as darkness falls.

The two brightest points of light will remain this close through March 15

[هانیه امیری]

March 16: comet garradd is near Draco


Tonight the famous comet of recent monthes - Comet Garradd - passes by the tail star of Draco :Lambda (λ) Draconis

This is a good target for observers.Don't miss this opportunity

[هانیه امیری]

March 21 : Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) against the background stars of Ursa Major

Comet Garradd glows around7th magnitude as it comes near the Ursa Major. Garradd lies approximately halfway between Dubhe (Alpha [α] Ursae Majoris), and the galaxy M81

This part of the sky never sets from mid-northern latitudes
You need a binocular or a telescope to observe this comet