Gemini1999
October 20th, 2004, 08:54 PM
Hey folks -
I got an email from a friend of mine in Vancouver - she and her husband are "armchair astronomers". I thought that I would pass on her latest bit of astronomical phenomenon, but you gotta get up pretty early tomorrow!
Here it is:
from:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/19oct_magicalmorning.htm?list1238336
October 19, 2004: Would you like to see a piece
of Halley's Comet streak past a planet that looks
like an exploding star? No problem. Just set your
alarm.
It's going to happen, in plain view--no telescope
required, on Thursday morning, Oct. 21st.
Go outside before sunrise, around 5:30 a.m. is
best, and look east. The brightest object in that
direction is the planet Venus. It looks like a
star going supernova. Above Venus lies Saturn,
and below, near the horizon, is Jupiter. Every 10
minutes or so you'll see a meteor streak among
these planets. The meteors are pieces of Halley's
Comet.
"Every year around this time Earth glides through
a cloud of dusty debris from Halley's Comet,"
explains Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center. "Bits of dust, most no larger than
grains of sand, disintegrate in Earth's
atmosphere and become shooting stars."
"It's not an intense shower," he says, "but it is
a pretty one."
more info at:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/19oct_magicalmorning.htm?list1238336
Listen to this story via streaming audio at:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/images/magicalmorning/audio/story.m3u
Happy stargazing!
Best,
Bryan
I got an email from a friend of mine in Vancouver - she and her husband are "armchair astronomers". I thought that I would pass on her latest bit of astronomical phenomenon, but you gotta get up pretty early tomorrow!
Here it is:
from:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/19oct_magicalmorning.htm?list1238336
October 19, 2004: Would you like to see a piece
of Halley's Comet streak past a planet that looks
like an exploding star? No problem. Just set your
alarm.
It's going to happen, in plain view--no telescope
required, on Thursday morning, Oct. 21st.
Go outside before sunrise, around 5:30 a.m. is
best, and look east. The brightest object in that
direction is the planet Venus. It looks like a
star going supernova. Above Venus lies Saturn,
and below, near the horizon, is Jupiter. Every 10
minutes or so you'll see a meteor streak among
these planets. The meteors are pieces of Halley's
Comet.
"Every year around this time Earth glides through
a cloud of dusty debris from Halley's Comet,"
explains Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center. "Bits of dust, most no larger than
grains of sand, disintegrate in Earth's
atmosphere and become shooting stars."
"It's not an intense shower," he says, "but it is
a pretty one."
more info at:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/19oct_magicalmorning.htm?list1238336
Listen to this story via streaming audio at:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/images/magicalmorning/audio/story.m3u
Happy stargazing!
Best,
Bryan