News: Page 1
- Upcoming Comets
- March 03, 2013 - The year 2013 is headed to a strong start as a year of comets. There are already two bright comets visible without optical aid with a third on its way for the end of the year. C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) C/2011 L4 was discovered all the way back in June of 2011 by the Pan-STARRS team in Hawaii. The comet was originally on track to be magnitude -1 this month, but its brightening trend slowed during ... Read more...
- Quadrantids, 2013
- December 31, 2012 - The new year is almost here again and that means the return of the Quadrantid meteor shower. The shower is named for the now-defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis from where meteors of the shower appear to radiate from. A clear view of this radiant is optimal but unnecessary as meteors may appear throughout the sky. The Quadrantids are characterized by a very short peak period of just a few ho... Read more...
- Perseids Meteor Shower, 2012
- July 24, 2012 - The annual Perseids meteor shower has once again begun. This year's display is expected to be a normal one, peaking on August 12, 2012 at 12-14:00 UTC with a maximum zenith hourly rate of about 100 meteors, or about 1.7 meteors every minute. A waning crescent moon will rise an hour past local midnight in the Northern Hemisphere which may interfere with observations. A daily Perseids rate chart sho... Read more...
- Caglow Website Update
- July 22, 2012 - A few weeks ago, the Caglow website turned three years old. During those three years, the site received only a few additions such as the projects section, the info pages and the image gallery. Much of the site, including the overall design and structure stayed the same. So with its fourth year in progress, the site needed an update. The most prominent change is that logo has been updated with a... Read more...
- Pluto With 5 Moons
- July 12, 2012 - It wasn't all that long ago when scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon on Pluto. Now, less than one year later, a fifth moon has showed up. Provisionally named S/2012 P 1, the moon is less than 25 km in diameter and orbits ~42000 km from Pluto making it the second closest known moon to Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft is expected to arrive at the Pluto system in... Read more...
- Transit of Venus, 2012
- June 04, 2012 - In under 24 hours, Venus will begin its journey across the face of the Sun as seen from the Earth. Such transits last about 6.5 hours and generally occur in pairs separated by 8 years which are in turn, separated by gaps of 105.5 and 122.5 years. The upcoming transit is the second of an 8 year pair with the first having occurred on June 08, 2004. The following transit after this one will occur on ... Read more...
- June, 2012 Lunar Eclipse
- May 28, 2012 - With so much attention being focused on the June 5 Transit of Venus, the June 4 partial lunar eclipse has gone almost unnoticed. The reason for this is quite simple: it is a partial lunar eclipse. In other words, not only does this eclipse occur during the middle of the night when everyone is asleep but the moon is not even completely covered making the effort to be awake seem all the less rewardi... Read more...
- May, 2012 Solar Eclipse
- May 12, 2012 - On May 20, 2012, an annular solar eclipse will be visible to those positioned along its path which runs from Hong Kong to Texas. During this eclipse, the moon will be too small to fully cover up the sun and so will instead leave a ring of sun visible referred to as an annulus. Those located up to several thousand miles from the central track from thr North Pole to Hawaii will be able to see a part... Read more...
- Solar Activity Jump
- March 10, 2012 - The Sun has entered into another active period with a spike in the number of strong solar flares and geomagnetic storms. In the past week, numerous M-class flares have taken place topped by an X5 flare in the middle of the week. There has not been any further X-class flaring but the M-class flares continue. In fact, an M8.4 flare is currently (18:25 UT, March 10, 2012) in progress. Flares in th... Read more...
- New IDS Park: Big Bend
- February 18, 2012 - One of the darkest spots in the United States, Big Bend National Park, was designated an International Dark Sky Park by the IDA. This remove corner of Texas has very cities with the nearest metropolitan areas -- Chihuahua, in Mexico -- located 200 miles away. This, along with the efforts of local towns and the National Park Service, has led to an area where the night sky is virtually untouched fro... Read more...
- The 5 Eclipses of 2012
- January 28, 2012 - The year 2012 will be an exciting one in terms of eclipses for those living along the Pacific. For everyone else, it will be somewhat of a disappointment. There will be 5 eclipses predicted to occur from now until the end of the year and all will be centered on the Pacific Ocean. The first eclipse of the year will occur on May 20-21 and will be an annular solar eclipse where the Moon's diameter... Read more...
- GLOBE at Night, 2012
- January 27, 2012 - Every year, since 2006, the GLOBE at Night project has been busy collecting data on the quality of our night sky from around the world. As the world's population grows, so does the need for more nighttime lighting. Unfortunately, most light fixtures are poorly designed and much of that light ends up in the sky, contributing to the ever-growing problem of light pollution. GLOBE at Night attempts to... Read more...
- Happy December Solstice!
- December 21, 2011 - Today is the day of the December solstice, marking the beginning of winter for the northern hemisphere and summer for the southern hemisphere. The actual moment of solstice occurs at 05:30 on December 22 UT (21:30, December 21 PST). At that moment, the Earth is at the point in its orbit where the South Pole is pointed most directly at the sun as it will reach this year. This means that there will ... Read more...
- Release Season, 2011
- December 20, 2011 - As 2011 comes to a close, the Caglow project begins preparations for a new series of releases. This is the time of year when all subsidiary projects showcase their grand releases of the year. This year, it will be especially grand with all three projects -- Aciqra, Aloac and I -- making their first stable releases as part of the Caglow platform which will reach version 2.1. Here is the schedule... Read more...
- Dec. 2011 Eclipse Summary
- December 10, 2011 - As predicted, a total lunar eclipse occurred on December 10, 2011 which was visible from eastern Europe, Asia, Australia and the northwestern half of North America. Unlike the last total lunar eclipse visible from the United States (December 21, 2010), most of the country where the eclipse was favorable had excellent weather conditions with only thin cirrus clouds over the West coast allowing ... Read more...