The Sky Tonight via Sky & Telescope

January 26, 2013

Full Moon (exact at 11:38 p.m. EST). The Moon is in dim Cancer, with Procyon shining off to its right during evening, and Pollux and Castor above it.

Algol is at its minimum brightness for a couple hours centered on 6:26 p.m. EST. Watch it gradually rebrighten though the evening.

Hubble Focuses on "the Great Attractor"

A busy patch of space has been captured in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Scattered with many nearby stars, the field also has numerous galaxies in the background. Located on the border of Triangulum Australe (The Southern Triangle) and Norma (The Carpenter’s Square), this field covers part of the Norma Cluster (Abell 3627) as well as a dense area of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Norma Cluster is the closest massive galaxy cluster to the Milky Way, and lies about 220 million light-years away. The enormous mass concentrated here, and the consequent gravitational attraction, mean that this region of space is known to astronomers as the Great Attractor, and it dominates our region of the Universe. The largest galaxy visible in this image is ESO 137-002, a spiral galaxy seen edge on. In this image from Hubble, we see large regions of dust across the galaxy’s bulge. What we do not see here is the tail of glowing X-rays that has been observed extending out of the galaxy — but which is invisible to an optical telescope like Hubble. Observing the Great Attractor is difficult at optical wavelengths. The plane of the Milky Way — responsible for the numerous bright stars in this image — both outshines (with stars) and obscures (with dust) many of the objects behind it. There are some tricks for seeing through this — infrared or radio observations, for instance — but the region behind the center of the Milky Way, where the dust is thickest, remains an almost complete mystery to astronomers. This image consists of exposures in blue and infrared light taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. ESA/Hubble and NASA Mission: Hubble

Remembering the Apollo 1 Crew

On Jan. 27, 1967, veteran astronaut Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White and rookie Roger Chaffee (left-to-right) were preparing for what was to be the first manned Apollo flight. The astronauts were sitting atop the launch pad for a pre-launch test when a fire broke out in their Apollo capsule. The investigation into the fatal accident led to major design and engineering changes, making the Apollo spacecraft safer for the coming journeys to the moon.

Image Credit NASA

Large Magellanic Cloud

Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy. Vast clouds of gas within it slowly collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a riot of colors, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is ablaze with star-forming regions. From the Tarantula Nebula, the brightest stellar nursery in our cosmic neighborhood, to LHA 120-N 11, part of which is featured in this Hubble image, the small and irregular galaxy is scattered with glowing nebulae, the most noticeable sign that new stars are being born.

Image Credit ESA/NASA/Hubble

The Sky Tonight via Sky & Telescope

January 25, 2013

Around 10 p.m. this week (depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone), brilliant Sirius is at its highest due south.

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky — and are you far enough south to see the second brightest, Canopus? In one of the many interesting coincidences that devoted skywatchers know about, Canopus lies almost due south of Sirius: by 36°. That's far enough south that it never appears above your horizon unless you're below latitude 37° N (southern Virginia, southern Missouri, central California). And there, you'll need a flat south horizon. Canopus transits the sky's north-south meridian just 21 minutes before Sirius does.

When to look? Canopus is at its highest point when Beta Canis Majoris — Mirzim, the star a few finger-widths to the right of Sirius — is at its highest point crossing the meridian. Look straight down from Mirzim then.

Early Dual-Pol images from Houston radar

Ok guys last update on this for now. DP data as I said has finally started flowing from the NWS Houston radar. I grabbed a few screen shots and will share them here. As I promised before, I will write another blog soon describing the advantages and disadvantages of each product! Stay Tuned!

Normal Reflectivity (Z)

Differential Reflectivity (ZDR)

Differential Phase (KDP)

Correlation Coefficient (CC)

Hydrometeor Classification (HCA)

Update: Dual-Pol Upgrade Completed!

The NWS office in Houston has completed their DP upgrade! Data is now flowing. I'm currently trying to get a screen pic from RadarScope, but it looks like its going to be a little while for the system to update. HGX (Houston/Galveston Weather Office) says during the next rain event a little more calibration is needed. I cant wait till then.

Here is the status update from the NWS:

Stay tuned for more!