Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. | | | NEO ALERT: Discovered just yesterday, small asteroid 2008 EZ7 will fly past Earth tonight at a distance of only ~100,000 miles. Using an ephemeris from the Minor Planet Center, advanced amateur astronomers may be able to find and photograph the space rock racing among the stars. Submit your images here. ASTEROID MOON ECLIPSE: On Saturday evening, March 8th, a moon of asteroid Eugenia will pass directly in front of the 5.7th magnitude star SAO 94227. This will cause the star to wink out for a fraction of a second sometime between 9:42 pm and 9:45 pm PST. The "path of totality" stretches from Florida to southern California: maps. Astronomers, point your GOTO telescope to these coordinates: 4h 57m 22.3s, +17o 09' 13" and report what you see. HOLMES ON TOUR: Comet 17P/Holmes is touring California--the Nebula. Amateur astronomer Chris Schur sends this picture taken March 6th from rural Payson, Arizona: Photo details: Stellarvue SV80s, Canon XTi, ASA800, 30 mins "Both the comet and the nebula were were naked-eye objects at our 5100-ft elevation observatory," says Schur. Almost everywhere else, however, a telescope+digital camera is required to see the faint but beautiful duo. The photo-op continues until about March 12th when Holmes exits the California coast and sails off into an ocean of stars. Astrophotographers, you know what to do: sky map, ephemeris. more images: from Rolando Ligustri using a remotely-controlled telescope in New Mexico; from Sebastian Voltmer of the Black Forest, Germany; from Michael Jäger of Stixendorf, Austria; from Patrick Bornet of Saint Martin sur Nohain, Nièvre, France; SUNDOWN: Can't wait for the sun to go down? Maybe it needs a little help. This man in the Shahdad Desert of Iran demonstrates the proper technique: Saied Bahrami Nezhad took the picture using his Canon 400D. "The sun is so large, but with a little ingenuity we can place it underfoot," he says. The moral of this photo: photographing the sunset can be fun. Try it! more images: from Rodrigo Roesch of Glenview, IL; from Paul Evans of Brighton, UK; from Günther Strauch of Borken, NRW, Germany; from Gary Freitag of Mountain Point Ketchikan, Alaska; from Aymen Ibrahem of Alexandria, Egypt; |