io81 » Space & Astronomy

Meteor shower on the weekend

Qaiss — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:31:41 +0000

On the 13 and 14 of December, the Geminids meteor shower will be the most clearest meteor shower we can see through out the year. As soon as midnight passes, you can get anÂ intense show of bright meteors entering the earth atmosphere, averaging at one meteorÂ a minute. To locate the Gemnini constellation, which is the place that the meteors will clearly show is that same place where the planet Mars is located. So at anytime after 7pm from a north eastern view (obviously you need a compass) Mars will rise from the horizon as a clear reddish/orange dot that does not flicker like the others. At midnight Mars will be in close to a 90 degree angel, strait up.Â At whatever time you followÂ Mars, you can see the meteor shower. Best viewing time with the naked eyeÂ is at midnightÂ with a lower lightÂ pollution area. Lucky me i’ll be in Chabd (theÂ Kuwaiti hamptons:P)

The Orion

Qaiss — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:43:11 +0000

In Kuwaits night sky, at 12 midnight you can see three bright stars in the east. They are very recognizable because they look alike and are on a strait line but slightly tilted. These three bright stars arethe “Hunter” of course he is an imaginary arch-men and these three stars represent his belt. In the naked eye you can see only the three stars but with a telescope a different image appears, a small smoky looking cloud circulates these three stars, called the orion nebula (the formation of stars) I thought of adding some images of the orion constellation and nebula taken by Hubble telescope that is in orbit circling earth each day.

Thats how they look with an amateur telescope

Taken by the Hubble telescope, “Via Universetoday.com”

Mars, clear in the night sky

Qaiss — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:58:49 +0000

Every day at 2 am, when watching the moon which at that time is in the middle of the sky, a small reddish star is close. Thats the planet Mars, you can see how red it is especially in clear nights away from the city lights. From the 3rd till about the 7th of October, Mars will accompany the moons but slowly drifting away, starting from the east and moving to the west, by the 8th the moon will be near invisible but at 2 am you can still see the reddish Mars planet. Dont forget too that Venus still pops out at 3am but with much visible appearance.

Venus is back again

Qaiss — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:23:45 +0000

Some of the benefits of Ramadan is that we stay up late, either we like it or we dont. So if you stay up till 3am you can see a shiny star really bright above the horizon, thats the planet Venus. Its really spectacular because how strong it shines compared to other ~~starts~~ starsÂ in the night sky and offcourse if you really would like to enjoy it, buy a telescope or a simple binoculars that may help to see its shape. By a telescope you can see that its not a full circle but more like a crescent. Due to its position relative to us (earth) we see a crescent of Venus not the whole planet. But with the naked eye you only see a bright star, and its also a nice time to see the moon too because it just passed the full moon phase. Yah and to locate it easier just face east and Venus pops out at 3am Kuwait local time.