Posted: 01 May 2010 01:15 PM PDT

Name:

Comments:

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Stargazing: Celestial highlights on tap this week - Florida Today

Posted: 30 Apr 2010 05:02 AM PDT

A few of the brighter satellite passes over the next week will come close to some of the most prominent celestial objects. Following the moving satellite may help you to learn some sky knowledge.

Tonight, the Lacrosse 4 military reconnaissance satellite will get up close with Mars, the god of war. At 8:17 p.m., in the SSW, Lacrosse 4 will rise almost vertically toward the zenith. As it reaches its highest altitude, 81 degrees, it will brush by Mars at 8:24 p.m.

Saturday, at 8:24 p.m., the International Space Station will rise in the west, skimming low to the left passing below Venus. Never gaining more than 18 degrees altitude, the ISS circles north through Perseus and Cassiopeia, finally setting in the NNE.

On Monday, at half past 8:44 p.m., the Cosmos 1143 Rocket appears sky high at an altitude of 70 degrees in the constellatiion Lynx, about half way between Mars and Polaris, the north star. The satellite is on a polar path with an inclination of 81 degrees, so it appears to head directly for Polaris.

Around 4 a.m. Thursday, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. You may expect to see about 10 meteors per hour from a fully dark location. They make parallel tracks through the atmosphere as the stream of debris intersects the earth's path. From the point of view of someone on the ground, they all seem to come from a particular part of the sky. The meteor shower is named after Eta Aquarii, a star near the apparent radiant point.

These shower meteors are bits of left-over dust from Halley's comet. The Earth will encounter the other side of the orbit of Halley's comet again around Oct. 21. This time the meteors to appear to come from the region of the consteallation Orion, so they are named the Orionid meteor shower.

Beginning Saturday, the BCC Planetarium in Cocoa presents The Planets, Africa's Elephant Kingdom, and the U2 Laser Experience at 7, 8 and 9 p.m. respectively. Contact the BCC Planetarium box office at 433-7373 for prices and show times.

The BCC Planetarium in Cocoa is closed today for a private function. If you are planning a visit to the BCC Planetarium, it's a good idea to call the BCC Planetarium box office at 433-7373 to verify business hours and show times. There's another closure on May 22. The website at www.brevardcc.edu/planet/ has pages for show schedules, travel directions, astronomical events and satellite lookup.

Bernie Badger is project coordinator at the Brevard Community College Planetarium in Cocoa.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Meteor lights the sky across parts of the Midwest ... - Examiner

Posted: 28 Apr 2010 07:49 AM PDT

6 comments

All London airports are to close due to volcanic ash. A huge fireball was observed in six Midwestern states shortly after 10pm Wednesday evening. The death toll is climbing after tornado hammers eastern Indian villages. Hundreds evacuate from a volcano in Iceland early on Wednesday. A 6.9 magnitude earthquake shakes the western province of China killing hundreds and injuring thousands. A 75-ft tsunami has struck a town in west Peru after a glacier broke off and plunged into a lake on Monday. Dense fog is a possible factor that led to a plane crash that killed the Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. Severe Weather Reports: 1 tornado was produced yesterday in Bethune, CO. There are no reports of damages or injuries. There were several reports of hail and wind across the Dakotas and Nebraska. Two dustnadoes were spotted in Ogallala, NE.

Did anybody see or feel anything? Just after 10 PM CDT, a fireball was observed streaking across the sky over several Midwestern states.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri witnessed this event. It lasted to about 10:15 PM CDT.

There were several witness reports of this bright fireball and prolonged sonic booms were received by emergency departments and TV stations. Many reportedly described it as a big red fireball with a blue or neon green tail that was visible for approximately 15 seconds.

The National Weather Service confirmed that it was a meteor that people saw moving across the dark sky.

Currently, there is a meteor shower occurring called the Gamma Virginids which peaks April 14th and 15th. This could be linked to the fireball incident last night.

(Live camera animation of the meteor/fireball)

radar2

(Video from Howard County Sheriff Deputy)

**Update**

(A highly-enhanced nighttime visible image from the GOES-11 (GOES-West) satellite and a radar reflectivity image from the Davenport, Iowa WSR-88D seems to corroborate the reports from the public of the meteor flash appearing to move "from northwest to southeast". This also indicates that if the meteor or meteorite landed, it would have in southwest WI or north central IL.)