Babe Among the Stars: Supermoon.Interrupted.
Created | Updated Jun 30, 2013
Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth - Ptolemy
Supermoon
The Full Moon of June 2013 was spectacular - for some. Others were clouded out, myself included. For those who were disappointed, plenty of happy viewers uploaded their images online for the rest of us to drool over. Oh well, the next one is only 13 months away!
Active Sun = Aurorae
A large coronal hole formed above the Sun's northern hemisphere on 19 June. A coronal hole is a tear in the magnetic field, letting the solar wind escape into space. The energised plasma reached Earth's magnetic field on 23 June causing spectacular aurorae at high latitudes.
APOD is 18
Last month Astronomy Picture Of the Day celebrated 18 years since its launch - a phenomenal achievement in the constantly-changing WWW. APOD now makes their webpages available in multiple languages, including Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish, but who needs words when there are pictures such as these?
July 2013 Diary Dates
Everyone who lives, who has ever lived, is captured in that faction of a dot, underscoring our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
The Earth was once described enigmatically as a 'pale blue dot' by the late, great, cosmologist Carl Sagan. He had been moved by the image of our planet taken in 1980 by Voyager 1 some 6 billion km away. On 19 July the Cassini spacecraft will photograph Earth from Saturn, creating a new 'pale blue dot', this time through the rings of Saturn, while the gas giant is eclipsing the Sun from a billion miles away. The Cassini-Huygens team announced the event in advance so we can all wave on that day. I can't wait to see the unprecedented image and be assured I'll link to it next month for you to enjoy.
- 01: Pluto peak visibility (magnitude 14 in Sagittarius)
- 04: The Earth is at aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun)
- 06: The Moon passes 4° south of Mars
- 08: New Moon
- 10: The Moon passes 7° south of Venus
- 15: The Moon passes 0.3° north of Spica, alpha Virginis
- 16: The Moon passes 3° south of Saturn
- 19: Don't forget to wave as Cassini takes your photo!
- 22: Full Moon, July's is called the Buck Moon, Hay Moon, Crane Moon or the Summer Moon
- 22: Venus and Regulus are within 2°
- 22: Mars and Jupiter are within 1°
- 25: The Moon passes 6° north of Neptune
- 27: The Moon passes 3° north of Uranus
- 28/29/30: Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower peak
Chat about your celestial observances at the H2G2 Astronomy Society. Comment on anything in this edition of Babe Among the Stars by starting a new conversation below.
