Saturn Comes to "Opposition"

So what does this mean with Saturn coming to "Opposition" ?
Simply put it means that as the sun sets in the west, Saturn will be rising in the east.
Or if you drew an imaginary line between, the Sun, Earth and Saturn, it would be at straight line at the time of opposition.
Saturn can now be seen at its closest point to the earth for the year and as such it is an ideal time to view the beautiful ringed planet.
Saturn's rings are slowing closing up as each year passes, this means that in a few years time we will see the rings edge on, making them almost disappear !
Right now though is the time to look though, and if you have never seen Saturn before you are in for a big treat. It is a planet of incredible beauty and the subtle colors will be seen as the scope goes above 6" in mirror or lens diameter.
Your will also be able to pick out 4 or 5 moons of Saturn, depending on your scope size !
Best time to enjoy Saturn is mid evening, when it has risen half way up in the eastern sky.
If you want to learn more on how to find Saturn and the other planets visit http://www.nightskysecrets.com

Bright Fireball (Meteorite ?) in USA

The bright fireball reported in the USA at 5:30 am Pacific time on the 19th Feb, in Washington, Oregon and Idaho has turned up on several security Cameras. There is a lot of uncertainty about the nature of the event. It could be a small asteroid or cometry fragment breaking up in Earth's atmosphere, an increasing number of these are being tracked by the automated telescopes, but none this small, reportedly the size of a basketball.
Thousands of tonnes of meteor dust falls to earth every year, but normally it comes in to the atmosphere in sand or rice grain size. Its always exciting to see a big one like this come in. Rest assured, no human in recorded history has been killed by a meteorite, yet !

Spy Satellite Plummeting to earth

A SPY SATELLITE ALSO REFFERED TO RECONNAISANCE SATELLITE.
Is plummeting out of control into the earths atmosphere and this process will accelerate of the coming weeks as it falls deeper into the outer atmosphere, the drag on the wayward spacecraft increasing as each day passes.
NASA reports that it is very uncommon for satellites lose control and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere uncontrollably. The majority of all satellites that do return to our planet are on a well planned re-entry position. But they have claimed that there have been a few satellites they have lost control of and they simply burn up in the re-entry of our atmosphere.
The U-tube report below gives a good explanation:


Not a lot has been previously publicized about this particular satellite because of its top secret functions and whereabouts. The US Military launched this Satellite for the purpose of its high resolution cameras and discreet methods of spying. The first generation type known as Corona and Zenit took photographs, then ejected canisters of photographic film would descend to earth.

A few up-to-date reconnaissance satellite images have been declassified on occasion, or leaked, as in the case of KH-11 photographs which were sent to Jane’s Defense Weekly in 1985 exposing imagines of the Nicolaiev 444 shipyard in the Black Sea.

However, we do know that it is predicted for a re-entry some time in late Feb 2008. When and were the satellite debris will land, at this time is unpredictable.
Although the date March 6th has been tossed about quite a bit.

When the Spy Satellite USA -193 or otherwise known as NRO L-21, as was first launched in December 2006 by Delta II, ground controllers lost contact shortly after it reached its orbit.

Predictions indicated when re-entry will occur, however, NASA and the US Military are not releasing more information on this Particular Satellite due to the nature of its mission. We do know that this particular USA 193 has been so called “lost in space” and out of NASA's control. Otherwise, top officials will refrain from any other releases fearing that pieces not destroyed in re-entry could contain top secret information.

Statisticians and analysts for the US Military and NASA, along with armchair space enthusiasts are monitoring and watching the satellite to determine if and when the re-entry will occur. The predictions are that, the majority of the Satellite will burn up in the re-entry process through our atmosphere, however, there could be small pieces that could make it through to ground landing.
The Pentagon is considering launching missiles to destroy the satellite before re-entry, however this will litter the lower earth orbit with lots of debris, not a good thing for space flight !

Keep you eyes on the sky, as this satellite is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
You will find information about the location of this bright satellite, as it passes over your town or city, wherever you may live in the world at http://heavens-above.com/
Military officials are trying to determine its re-entry location to collect any leftover, top secret information rich debris.

Venus, Jupiter and Moon 5-2-08

I just couldn't help myself !
After yesterday mornings effort and being keen to get a better shot and capture for the record, I was out at 4:30 am.
Anyhow here are a few shots from this morning, this time at 100iso setting.
A bit better than 400 iso on my Canon S2-IS I think.
The first a close up the second obviously a wide field.

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Venus-Jupiter-Moon Conjunction on 4-2-08

As a follow on from the previous blog post, the moon has now joined the fray with Jupiter and Venus for a lovely morning conjunction.
This week has been an absolute feast for Astronomy, we are even enjoying clear skies here in Gove NT Australia.
This is a very unusual thing for February as this should be the height of our wet season.
But the astronomers up here in the top end are not complaining at all.
The photo here was done in a brightening dawn sky with just a little thin high cloud and was taken with a tripod, rather than handheld like the previous Venus-Jupiter shots.
I think the effect makes for a nice photo anyhow.

Venus - Jupiter Conjunction 1-2-08

Here is a photo (best i could do !) of the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter at just 0.6 degrees apart this morning.
They made a fine sight through a 10" reflecting telescope magnified 44x with a teleview 28mm Panoptic eyepiece.
This nicely framed the 2 planets in the eye piece.
Jupiter was showing all 4 moons on the one side of the planet as the conjunction was visible from my location here in Nhulunbuy Nt Australia.