Tag Archives: moon

There’s a Partial Solar Eclipse Happening October 23: Here’s what you need to know to see it!

Published by on in Astronomy
Reply

 

There’s a partial solar eclipse happening Thursday, October 23 and you can see it all from Houston*!

 The New Moon of Thursday, October 23, 2014, aligns with the Sun and the Earth well enough to cast its shadow towards Earth. However, no one will see a total eclipse for two reasons. First of all, the Moon was at apogee (greatest distance from Earth) on October 18, and is therefore smaller than usual in our sky. As a result, it is not quite big enough to cover the Sun, and the only eclipse possible would be an annular eclipse. Also, the Moon shadow is aligned to a point in space just over the Earth’s upper limb, so nobody will even get to see an annular eclipse. The near miss, however, allows the penumbra, where the Moon partially blocks the Sun, to land on the Earth. With North America near the upper limb of the Earth at the time, Houston will be within the penumbra. Therefore we will see a partial solar eclipse, in which the Moon will cover almost a quarter of the Sun’s disk at most.

partialeclipse

At 4:59pm CDT, look for the Moon to take a ‘bite’ out of the Sun’s disk. The Moon covers the northern limb of the Sun, which is the right side of the Sun as it sets in the west. Maximum eclipse, with the Moon covering almost 1/4 of the Sun’s disk, is at 5:58.  At 6:43, the Sun sets while still in partial eclipse. After this, the next partial solar eclipse visible from Houston occurs August 21, 2017. 

ECLIPSE TIMES

Eclipse begins: 4:59 PM, CDT
Mid-eclipse: 5:58 PM
Sunset: 6:43 PM

The Museum’s own George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park will be open to the public from 1:00 -6:00 p.m. on October 23 for observing the Sun and, starting at 5:00, the eclipse.  

*CAUTION: Never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye or through an unfiltered telescope. Permanent eye-damage will result. 

Blood Moon Strikes Back! Total Lunar Eclipse Wednesday, October 8!

Published by on in Astronomy
Reply

A total eclipse of the Moon will occur early Wednesday morning, October 8. Houstonians will be able to see virtually the whole event, which happens right before dawn.

Lunar eclipses occur when the full Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. The first part of the Earth’s shadow that the Moon will encounter is the penumbra. The penumbral shadow’s faintness means that sharp-eyed observers will notice only a slight dimming of the Moon between 3:14 AM and 4:15 AM. The Moon moves into the darkest part of the earth’s shadow, the umbra, at 4:15 AM, and will be totally eclipsed by 5:24 AM. Totality lasts until 6:25, at which time the Moon has crossed the shadow and begun emerging from the other side. The Moon is still emerging from the shadow (and thus still partially eclipsed) as it sets at 7:26.  Note that this eclipse happens close to dawn, which is when a Full Moon is about to set. Therefore, you’ll need an observing site clear of obstacles to the west so you can watch the setting Moon in eclipse.  (That’s why we’re not observing from George Observatory, as we have in the past. Our tree line would interfere with the view).

Eclipse Diagram - James Wooten

The Moon’s brightness during a total eclipse depends on the amount of dust particles in the atmosphere. A large amount of dust from a volcanic eruption, for example, can make the totally eclipsed Moon almost invisible. With little dust in our atmosphere, the Moon glows reddish-orange during totality. This is because only the Sun’s red light comes through the Earth’s atmosphere and falls on the Moon even while it is in the Earth’s shadow. As the diagram shows, the Moon will pass through the northern part of the shadow, for about an hour of totality. As a result, the southern limb, closer to the center of Earth’s shadow, will appear darker.  And since we’ll be watching the Moon set in the west, the northern limb will be to the right and the southern limb to the left.

This is the second of four consecutive total lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015, all of which are visible in the USA.  We’ll see our next total lunar eclipse in Houston just before dawn on April 4, 2015.

 

Seeing Stars with James Wooten: The Equinox Approaches

Published by on in Astronomy
Reply
This star map shows the Houston sky at 10 pm CDT on September 1, 9 pm CDT on September 15, and dusk on September 30. To use the map, put the direction you are facing at the bottom. The Summer Triangle is high overhead. This consists of the brightest stars in Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila. Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the south, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius to his left. From the Big Dipper’s handle, ‘arc to Arcturus’ in the west. Mars pulls away from Saturn in the southwest. The Great Square of Pegasus is in the east, heralding the coming autumn.

This star map shows the Houston sky at 10 pm CDT on September 1, 9 pm CDT on September 15, and dusk on September 30. To use the map, put the direction you are facing at the bottom.
The Summer Triangle is high overhead. This consists of the brightest stars in Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila. Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the south, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius to his left. From the Big Dipper’s handle, ‘arc to Arcturus’ in the west. Mars pulls away from Saturn in the southwest. The Great Square of Pegasus is in the east, heralding the coming autumn.

This month, Mars remains in the southwest at dusk this month as it pulls away from Saturn. Mars continues to fade a little each night as Earth continues to leave it farther behind. Mars is near Antares in Scorpius by the end of the month.

Saturn is now lower in the southwest at dusk. It drops into the Sun’s glare late next month.

Venus is now getting harder to see, as it will pass behind the Sun late next month. You can still look for it very low in the east in dawn twilight.

Jupiter is now higher in the east at dawn; it is the brightest thing there until Venus rises. 

The Big Dipper is left of the North Star, with its handle pointing up. From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ in the west at dusk. 

Antares, brightest star of Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the southwest, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius due south. The Summer Triangle is high overhead. The stars of summer are here.  Look for the Great Square of Pegasus rising in the east, indicating that fall is approaching.

Moon Phases in September 2014:
1st Quarter: September 2, 6:11 am
Full: September 8, 8:38 pm
Last Quarter: September 15, 9:05 pm
New: September 24, 1:12 am

At 9:29 pm on Monday, September 22, the Sun is directly overhead at the equator; everyone in the world has the same amount of daylight. This, then, is the autumn equinox.  For us the days, which have been getting shorter since June 20, actually become shorter than the nights after this equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, day becomes longer than night and spring begins. 

Click here for the Burke Baker Planetarium Schedule. 

On most clear Saturday nights at the George Observatory, you can hear me do live star tours on the observation deck with a green laser pointer. If you’re there, listen for my announcement.

 

 

Clear Skies!

A total eclipse over Houston: What color was last night’s ‘blood Moon’?

Published by on in Science
Reply

I hope you saw the eclipse last night and didn’t lose too much sleep. The weather was perfect and the Moon performed as predicted. The press excitedly dubbed it a ‘blood Moon,’ but we didn’t know what color the Moon would actually be.

Here’s the Moon entering eclipse and fully in the Earth’s shadow (taken from my front yard). Is it a ‘blood Moon’ after all? You be the judge.

Photo by Gary Young. All rights reserved.

Photo by Gary Young. All rights reserved.

These photos were taken by my husband, Gary Young. (I was the frozen assistant.) We used a Takahashi FCT-76 telescope and a Canon 60D camera to capture the photos.

It was a spectacular eclipse, with Mars nearby to the right and Saturn off to the left. Both planets were very bright and easy to identify. The star near the Moon (and just off the field of these images) was Spica in the constellation Virgo.