NASA has released a jaw-dropping animation showing what may be one of the rarest cosmic events ever witnessed -- a black hole ripping a star to shreds. Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, scientists believe they captured a tidal disruption event, wher...
In my last column, two weeks ago, I said I would be discussing local observations of mid-August's great Venus-Jupiter conjunction in today's column. There are, however, so many wonderful sights to see these next few weeks that they will dominate the column today.
The new sights include the lineup of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury; the lineup of Jupiter, the moon and the star Pollux; and the many sights available at a free local Skywatch this month. Even sights we'll miss this coming weekend -- a total eclipse of the moon and a harvest moon -- are fascinating topics.
We'll get a total lunar eclipse in New Jersey next year, and this year's official harvest moon we will get in early October.
JUPITER-VENUS-MERCURY LINEUP AT DAWN: It's a very long, nearly vertical line of three planets that is best seen about 30 or 45 minutes before sunrise this week in the eastern sky. The highest-up planet is the second-brightest one, Jupiter. The brightest is Venus, more than 20 degrees (more than two fist-widths at arm's length) to the lower left of Jupiter. (Amazingly, on Aug. 12, Venus and Jupiter were separated by much less than a little finger's width; they now keep getting farther apart). The third bright planet, Mercury, completes the line at about 20 degrees more to the lower left of Venus. The key thing is that you must have a view down to very low in the east-northeast and go out no earlier than about 6:15 a.m. to catch Mercury just risen before it fades away in the brightening morning twilight.
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MOON-JUPITER-POLLUX COMPACT LINE: Any time between about 1:30 a.m. and dawn Sept. 16, you can catch Jupiter about one thumb's width at arm's length to the left of the crescent moon. Once these two are risen high enough up and the sky is still dark, you can extend the line another thumb's width left to find the brightest star of Gemini the Twins, Pollux. See if you can notice Pollux's near-twin in brightness, Castor, not far from Pollux. (Here's some vocabulary fun: The medical term for thumb is "pollex," so Pollux will be a pollex left of the moon.)
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Hurricane Erin's clouds hide bright sights, but other wonders are visible: Sky Watch
A surprising expansion of Hurricane Erin is helping to throw clouds along the coast for the next three days, changing what cosmic sights you'll get to behold.
FREE PUBLIC SKYWATCH: The South Jersey Astronomy Club will hold an extra Skywatch or two in the second half of the year. The next one is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12, with a bad-weather backup date of Sept. 13. The event will feature free views through the excellent telescopes at Belleplain State Forest in northern Cape May County. The go/no-go weather call and directions for how to get to the field at Belleplain can be accessed at sjac.us.
Be sure to come around 7:30, or the constellation Scorpius will sink below the southwest horizon. The brightest star of Scorpius marks his heart and is called Antares. The Summer Triangle of bright stars Vega, Altair and Deneb will hang high at this time. Dozens of telescopic sights will be visible.
NO ECLIPSE OR HARVEST MOON: This coming Sunday, the moon will be full, but only Asia, parts of Eastern Africa and Australia will get to view the total eclipse of the moon that occurs that day. The harvest moon is technically the full moon closest to the time of autumn equinox. That title usually falls to a full moon in September, but this year the timing is just off and that honor falls to the full moon of Oct. 6. I'll discuss more about harvest moons when that October full moon comes up.
NEXT COLUMN: Two Tuesdays from today, my next column will discuss Sept. 19's spectacularly tight conjunction of the moon, Venus and Leo's heart star Regulus. The column will also feature the autumn equinox, Saturn at its all-night best and the anniversary of the last rare true blue moon that occurred in the Northeast, including South Jersey.
Fred Schaaf is the author of 13 books on astronomy and welcomes your messages at [email protected].
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