Spectacular Sunset Effects in Manhattan on July 11 & 12, 2012

Sunset in New York City on July 11 & 12, 2012 will be spectacular!  The sunset on these days are aligned perfectly with the grid of streets and buildings in Manhattan giving photo-opportunities that are worthy of museum walls!

This is a photo that Neil deGrasse Tyson (the planetarium director at the Hayden Planetarium) took in 2001: 

Tyson has dubbed the effect: "Manhattanhenge", likening it to the solar observatory effects (lining up on the solstices) of the ancient stone circle Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in England.  For more details, click here.

On the 12th of July you will see a half-sun: half above the horizon and half below at 8:25 PM.  On the 11th of July you can see the full disk of the sun at 8:24 PM.  However, you should definitely find your viewing spot a little earlier. so you can watch it come into view.

There is a special presentation on July 11 at the planetarium that will be followed by a live viewing of Manhattanhenge outside the museum.

Viewing suggestions from the AMNH website:

 "For best effect, position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible. But ensure that when you look west across the avenues you can still see New Jersey. Clear cross streets include 14th, 23rd, 34th. 42nd, 57th, and several streets adjacent to them. The Empire State building and the Chrysler building render 34th street and 42nd streets especially striking vistas."

Spectacular Sunset Effects in Manhattan on July 11 & 12, 2012

Win! Yale-Peabody Summer Astronomy Fellowship!

EPIC WIN!

I get to spend three days with the telescopes and planetarium at the Yale University Leitner Observatory.  "Excited" doesn't even come close to describing how I feel about this.  

It also comes with some perks: free money, plus a membership to the Yale-Peabody Museum (the original dinosaurs, people) multiple field trips with bus costs, planetarium shows and museum admission covered for all of my classes.  But that's, like, not even the best part.  

TELESCOPES.  Have you seen their telescopes?  Yes!  I am especially interested in learning how to build a scope/viewer that will let me and my students observe sunspots (and future eclipses).  I have no idea if they will teach me how to do it, but I'm going to ask.  

Win! Yale-Peabody Summer Astronomy Fellowship!

Teaching Students to Tell Time with the Stars and Google Sky

Wow!  The set of lessons on "telling time with the stars" from ARIES Exploring Navigation: Location, Direction and Latitude  was just amazing!  My middle schoolers loved it, too--on their self evaluations it was the highest rated set of explorations for them.

You can't get the lessons for free, however, you can contact Charlesbridge Publishing to receive some sample lessons, or purchase a download license for all of the teacher and student lesson materials ($30) from the website.

The tool that you and your students will build to tell time with the stars (and you'll learn how to find latitude and longitude with the stars, too)  is called a Nocturnal. or star dial, nocturlabe or horologium nocturnum.   It has been used for centuries to navigate by the stars.  The photo at the right is a working nocturnal that can be worn as jewelry!

The tricky part to these explorations is that you need to practice in the classroom to make sure the kids know how to use the tool, but they must actually do the star-gazing at home.  The teacher materials provide detailed ideas on posting constellations and guide-stars on the wall in the appropriate locations...but I had a fabulous idea!  Why not use Google Earth (in Space mode) and have the stars in the correct locations already?

I actually used the Google Earth method as a way to give my students a performance assessment on the proper use of the nocturnal.  It worked like a charm, because I could change the positions of the stars accurately for each class, without having to climb the wall.

Here are some photos of my students during their "test":

Teaching Students to Tell Time with the Stars and Google Sky

StarDome: Astronomy.com's Interactive Star Map--Personalized for You!

Fantastic for use on an Interactive Whiteboard, or simply for use as a projection in the classroom.

"StarDome simulates a naked-eye view of the sky from any location on Earth, at any time and on any date. StarDome gives you a graphical overview of the sky and detailed information about stars, deep-sky objects, planets, and selected asteroids and comets. 

You can quickly jump to the next eclipse, transit of Venus, Mars opposition, or Full Moon. View the constellations and explore data on more than 2,500 stars, or zoom in for a closer look at planetary configurations.

The first thing you'll notice when StarDome displays is the large circular, all-sky map. This is an interactive version of the map you'll find every month inAstronomy's pull-out section. The zenith (the point directly above an observer's head) is in the center of the map, and the horizon, complete with compass directions, forms the outer boundary. 

The second thing you'll notice is that the only active tab is the one labeled Explore the Sky. All of the other functions are available in StarDome Plus, an observing tool available only to magazine subscribers."


"Tech talkStarDome is a small program — called an applet — written in the Java language from Sun Microsystems. When you visit Astronomy.com, your web browser downloads the applet and executes it. For StarDome to function, you'll need the Java Runtime Environment version 1.3 or higher, and you'll need to set your web browser to enable Java content."


Click here to go to the Astronomy.com webpage for full instructions on how to use StarDome

StarDome: Astronomy.com's Interactive Star Map--Personalized for You!

Stargazing with your family on Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 24, 2011!

http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/Sky%20this%20Week/2011/11/STW%20NOV23-DEC02.aspx

With family and friends visiting this Thanksgiving, why not take them outside tonight for some stargazing?  It is a favorite activity for kids, teens and adults.  No fancy equipment necessary, but sometimes it helps to have an idea of stuff to look for to hold everyone's interest.  

Tonight in Connecticut, it is a beautiful evening to stargaze, and the stars will hold the spotlight tonight because there is a new moon (not visible) at around 1 a.m.   

Highlights include transit of Ganymede in front of Jupiter on Monday night--you need a telescope for this one...

Friday, November 25 New Moon occurs at 1:10 a.m. EST. At its new phase, the Moon crosses the sky with the Sun and typically remains hidden in our star’s glare. But for a few lucky people, that won’t be the case today. Observers in South Africa (during the morning hours) and Tasmania (late afternoon) will witness the Moon take a tiny bite of the Sun. Viewers on New Zealand’s South Island will see the Moon devour some 30 percent of our star as the pair sets. Remember that when viewing the Sun during a partial eclipse, protect your eyes with a safe solar filter. Saturday, November 26 Look just above the southwestern horizon early this evening and you’ll see a waxing crescent Moon paired with brilliant Venus. The two will present a pretty photo opportunity with the colors of twilight serving as a backdrop.

Eunomia reaches its peak in late November, when it glows at 8th magnitude while passing in front of the California Nebula (NGC 1499) in southern Perseus. Astronomy: Roen Kelly Sunday, November 27 The asteroid 15 Eunomia glows at 8th magnitude among the background stars of southern Perseus. This normally wouldn’t be an object to highlight, but tonight the 200-mile-wide (320 kilometers) space rock sits right on the edge of the California Nebula (NGC 1499). Although this glowing gas cloud appears prominent in photographs, it is difficult to see through a telescope. Use a Hydrogen-beta filter and observe under a dark sky to make it more noticeable. In contrast, Eunomia stands out because only a few stars in its vicinity shine as bright.

Monday, November 28 If your sky is clear, head outside as darkness falls and look to the southwest. There you’ll see a lovely crescent Moon silhouetted against the background stars of Sagittarius. Although just 17 percent of our satellite is in sunlight, look carefully at its unlit side and you should see a faint illumination. This is “earthshine” — light from the Sun that reflects off Earth, hits the Moon, and then bounces back to our eyes. It shows up well on a thin lunar crescent because, from the Moon’s point of view, Earth appears almost completely lit. Tuesday, November 29 Target Jupiter with a telescope this morning and you’ll swear the giant planet has a black eye. In reality, the dark spot traversing the jovian disk is the shadow of the solar system’s largest moon, Ganymede. The satellite itself first appears against the planet’s bright atmosphere at 1:51 a.m. EST (10:51 p.m. PST on the 28th). Its tiny disk takes just over 100 minutes to cross the gas giant’s south polar regions. But the more interesting event begins at 4:55 a.m. EST (1:55 a.m. PST) when Ganymede’s shadow first falls on the planet’s cloud tops. This conspicuous shadow transit, which occurs after Jupiter sets along the East Coast, lasts until 6:48 a.m. EST (3:48 a.m. PST).

The Summer Triangle – one of the first sights you’ll see on fall evenings – doesn’t even belong to the autumn sky. It consists of the three bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Photo by Jan Kald Wednesday, November 30 Although the calendar may say late November, the Summer Triangle of bright stars remains prominent during early evening hours. Look high in the west-northwest after darkness falls and you’ll spot Deneb, a conspicuous point of light despite being the faintest of the three. Brighter Vega lies directly below Deneb (and nearly halfway to the zenith), while Altair lies about 45° (one-eighth of a complete circle) to Vega’s left.

Brilliant Venus appears less than 1° north of the Teapot asterism's lid December 1. Astronomy: Roen Kelly Thursday, December 1 Venus lies among the background stars of Sagittarius the Archer this week. Shortly after sunset tonight, you can see the brilliant planet less than 1° north of 3rd-magnitude Lambda (λ) Sagittarii, the star that forms the lid of the Archer’s Teapot asterism. The eclipsing variable Algol in Perseus reaches minimum brightness at 6:18 a.m. EST tomorrow morning. If you start watching it during late evening, you can see its brightness diminish by 70 percent over the course of about 5 hours as its magnitude drops from 2.1 to 3.4. Algol appears nearly overhead in late evening and dips lower in the northwest after midnight. Friday, December 2 First Quarter Moon occurs at 4:52 a.m. EST. The Moon doesn’t rise until shortly after noon local time, however, and by the time darkness sets in, our satellite appears 55 percent lit. It then lies in western Pisces, just west of that constellation’s Circlet asterism. Venus appears 0.8° southwest of the globular star cluster M22 this evening. You will likely need large binoculars to see the cluster in the darkening sky shortly after sunset.

Stargazing with your family on Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 24, 2011!

Asteroid Passes Close to Earth...Right NOW!! Grab your telescope!

Look!  It's a bird, it's a plane...holy cow, it's the biggest asteroid we've ever seen come this close (so close...about 210,000 miles...closer than the moon) to the planet in the next hour or so.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-space-asteroid-idUSTRE7A36FN20111104

Asteroid Passes Close to Earth...Right NOW!! Grab your telescope!