Years ago, I imagined a character named August Two Moons. This would be his year. _mjh

The Sky This Week, 2012 July 24 – 31 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Full Moon occurs on August 1st at 11:27 pm Eastern Daylight Time. August’s Full Moon goes by many names and is variously known as the Grain Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Green Corn Moon, or the Lightning Moon. This will be the first Full Moon for August this year. The second will fall on the 31st.

The Sky This Week, 2012 July 24 – 31 — Naval Oceanography Portal

The Sky This Week, 2012 July 4 – 10 — Naval Oceanography Portal

It’s a bit hard to believe after our record heat wave of late, but the Earth is farthest from the Sun on the 4th at 11:32 EDT. At this time we will be 94,505,851 miles (152,092,424 kilometers) from Old Sol. Back on January 4 we were some 3,103,884 miles (4,995,217 kilometers) closer. As you can see, the variation in the aphelion and perihelion distances of the Earth are quite small compared to the overall mean distance to the Sun, but this quantity, known as the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit, slowly changes over time. Eccentricity is expressed as a ratio, and currently it is about 0.017. It can vary between 0.005 (nearly circular) to 0.06 (about a 12% ellipse) with two superposed cycles of some 100,000 and 400,000 years. These variations are primarily influenced by the gravity of the giant planet Jupiter, and at times of extreme eccentricity this can have a major effect on the planet’s climate. Right now we’re trending toward a more circular pattern, though, so we can’t blame the current weather on Jupiter!

The Sky This Week, 2012 July 4 – 10 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Tree Marriage by William Meredith | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Today is the aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is at its farthest distance from the Sun. The Earth and all the other planets have orbits that are “eccentric,” a slightly squashed circle, and the Sun is slightly closer to one end of the ellipse. The perihelion — the point in the orbit when we’re closest to the Sun — occurs in January, and at that time we’re about 5 million kilometers closer than we are at aphelion in July

Tree Marriage by William Meredith | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Follow the link for more. _mjh

A Good Reason to Wake Up at Dawn – NASA Science

On the 4th of July, Venus will be passing dead-center through the Hyades cluster, a loose grouping of stars 153 light years from Earth.   Using binoculars, scan around the bright planet; you’ll see dozens of stars scattered across the velvety-black sky. The temporary addition of Venus will make it seem that a supernova has gone off in the cluster.

Three mornings later, on July 7th, Venus and Jupiter line up with Aldebaran, the bright red eye of Taurus the Bull.  Aldebaran is a red giant star of first magnitude.  Together with Venus and Jupiter, it forms an almost perfect vertical line in the brightening dawn sky.

Earthshine is also known as “the Da Vinci Glow,” after Leonardo Da Vinci who first explained the phenomenon. more

The best, however, is yet to come.

A Good Reason to Wake Up at Dawn – NASA Science

Sadly, I lost — surrendered, really — the longest day to an anti-natural struggle with a corporate golem over access to flowing electrons. Once again, we slide slowly into darkness and cold. _mjh

The Sky This Week, 2012 June 19 – 26 — Naval Oceanography Portal

The astronomical season of summer officially begins with the occurrence of the summer solstice, which falls on the 20th at 7:09 pm EDT. At this time the Sun will be located directly over the Tropic of Cancer about halfway between Hawai’i and Midway Island. For residents of the Northern Hemisphere this will be the longest day of the year. Here in Washington we’ll experience 14 hours and 54 minutes of daylight. That’s a difference of nearly 5.5 hours over the length of day at the winter solstice! For several days the Sun will seem to pause in his north/south excursion, then gradually begin inching toward the celestial equator, which he will cross on the autumnal equinox. However, thanks to the Earth’s elliptical orbit around Old Sol, the date of the year’s latest sunset won’t occur for another week, so those of you who enjoy late afternoon or early evening activities will still have plenty of daylight to play in.

The Sky This Week, 2012 June 19 – 26 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Laughing Song by William Blake | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Today is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice in the Southern. For those of us in the north, today will be the longest day of the year and tonight will be the shortest night. Although you would think that the Earth would be closest to the Sun during the summer, actually we’re about 3 million miles farther away than we are in winter. But our planet is tilted on its axis, and at this time of year, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, receiving more direct radiation for longer periods of time each day. It is that slight tilt, only 23.5 degrees, that makes the difference between winter and summer.

We consider the summer solstice to be the first official day of summer, but in the ancient world, it was celebrated as Midsummer, and it was thought to be a time when plants had particularly magical properties. Fairies, ghosts, and spirits were thought to be especially active too, and Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream reflects a lot of those traditional beliefs. In modern times, Midsummer’s Eve is celebrated sometime between June 21 and June 24; it’s still a major holiday in Scandinavia, Latvia, and other locations in Northern Europe, second only to Christmas. It dates back to pre-Christian times, and people take a three-day weekend to dance around maypoles, clean and fill their houses with fresh flowers, and burn straw witches in bonfires to remember the witch burnings of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Laughing Song by William Blake | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

The Sky This Week, 2012 June 12 – 19 — Naval Oceanography Portal

This week brings us into the roughly two-week “season” of summer solstice phenomena. The 13th marks the date of the earliest sunrise here in Washington. This will occur at 5:42 am EDT; by the week’s end sunrise will occur about a minute later. The latest sunset for the year will occur on the 27th. Set squarely between these dates is the solstice itself, June 20th, which will be the year’s longest day. The reason we have these apparent discrepancies results from the Earth’s elliptical orbit around the Sun. This causes our planet’s orbital velocity to vary slightly over the course of a year, while its rotation rate stays relatively constant. I

The Sky This Week, 2012 June 12 – 19 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Partial Eclipse of the Strawberry Moon – NASA Science

On June 4th, 2012, there’s going to be a full Moon.  According to Native American folklore it’s the Strawberry Moon, so-called because the short season for harvesting strawberries comes during the month of June.

This Strawberry’s going to have a bite taken out of it.

At 3:00 am Pacific Daylight Time, not long before sunrise on Monday, June 4th, the Moon passes directly behind our planet. A broad stretch of lunar terrain around the southern crater Tycho will fall under the shadow of Earth, producing the first lunar eclipse of 2012.  At maximum eclipse, around 4:04 am PDT, 37% of the Moon’s surface will be in the dark. …

On the Atlantic side of the United States, the eclipse occurs just as the Moon is setting in the west–perfect timing for the Moon illusion. …

A partial lunar eclipse in June 2010. Credit: Jared Aicher of Boise, Idaho

The eclipsed moon, hanging low in the west at daybreak on June 4th, will seem extra-large to US observers east of the Mississippi. …

Partial Eclipse of the Strawberry Moon – NASA Science

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 29 – June 5 — Naval Oceanography Portal

The Moon waxes to the Full phase this week, adding her glow to the warm nights of late spring. June’s Full Moon occurs on the 4th at 7:22 am Eastern Daylight Time. The popular names for this particular Full Moon are the Flower Moon, Rose Moon, Strawberry Moon, or Honey Moon. These names all derive from Luna’s appearance in the late-night Northern Hemisphere sky. Since the Moon’s path along the Ecliptic takes her to her most southerly excursion of the year, her light is scattered by more particles in the atmosphere, giving her a somewhat "warmer" tone since air molecules preferentially scatter blue light. Early risers in the western parts of the U.S. may also see a ruddy "bite" taken out of Luna’s disc shortly before she sets. This partial lunar eclipse will hide about 37% of the Moon’s face at mid-eclipse, which occurs at 6:04 am CDT (5:04 am MDT, 4:04 am PDT). Look for Luna a mere two degrees below the bright star Spica on the evening of the 31st. On June 3rd she passes four degrees north of ruddy Antares, lead star of Scorpius, the Scorpion.

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 29 – June 5 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Look for the black spot at 1 o’clock. peace, mjh

APOD: 2012 May 30 – Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth

2012 May 30

Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth
Image Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, NASA, EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, U. Dundee

APOD: 2012 May 30 – Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth