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May’s Stars and Planets

There’s a lot going on in the night sky this month: a meteor shower this coming weekend; a solar eclipse visible from Australia and Hawaii; and a beautiful alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury over Memorial Day in late May.

Meteor shower in the Name A Star Live constellation Aquarius May 5/6

Shooting stars — Long exposure photo showing shooting stars emanating from a particular point in the night sky.

Over the night of May 5/6, you may see one of the best meteor showers of the year — the “Eta Aquarid” shower. Composed of tiny dust particles left by Halley’s Comet on its previous visits to our neck of the solar system, this year’s Eta Aquarid meteor shower promises to be impressive because moonlight will not interfere with the show. When the Moon is out, the bright light of the Moon makes it difficult to see many of the fainter “shooting stars” of a meteor shower. But on the night of the meteor shower’s peak — May 5/6 — the Moon will not rise until around 4:00 am (the morning of May 6). It’s called the “Eta Aquarid” meteor shower because the shooting stars all seem to emanate from a particular point in the constellation Aquarius.

The best way to view a meteor shower is to lie down in a lawn chair or on a blanket — face up — and enjoy the show! No telescopes or binoculars needed. The absolute best time to view the largest number of meteors per hour will be between 3 and 4 am May 6. But really, you can still see a lot of shooting stars the evening of May 5 — and over the nights of May 3, 4, 7 and 8 as well. Those of you in the southern hemisphere of Earth (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, etc.) should get a particularly good view.

Remember to bring along insect repellant or warm clothes, as your weather may dictate, and have a great time!

Solar eclipse visible from Australia and Hawaii May 9/10

Annular eclipse — A solar eclipse will be visible by residents of northern Australia on May 10 and Hawaii on May 9, weather permitting. Hawaii residents will see a partial eclipse of the Sun, while lucky Australians — who happen to be along a particular, narrow path across the Australian continent that day — will be able to see what is called an “annular eclipse” (pictured here) where the Moon blocks almost all of the Sun, leaving a “ring of fire” around the Moon’s edges. **Do not look directly at the Sun — even during the height of the eclipse!** The sunlight seen even during an annular/partial eclipse can damage your eyes. Check with local science museums, planetariums and astronomy clubs for information about any special observing programs they may offer during the eclipse … or just watch it on the Internet!

No matter where you live, you can watch the eclipse live, via the Internet.

Also, check out this video that shows the path of the eclipse:

A trio of planets for Memorial Day

In late May — during the Memorial Day period in the United States — the planets Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will align together around sunset, and will be viewable just over over the western horizon. These “planetary conjunctions” do not happen often, so be sure to take a gander at this heavenly display!

Planetary Trio — Facing west-northwest, shortly before sunset on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, as viewed from the U.S. The planets Mercury, Jupiter and Venus form a triangular shape this evening. In fact, they are close together over the evenings of May 23 – 31. You should also see the nearby, bright stars Betelgeuse and Capella.

Star hop to Saturn

Star hopping is when you use bright, easy-to-identify objects in the night sky to find harder-to-identify objects. It’s like using landmarks on Earth.

On the evening of May 21, 2013 you can star hop to Saturn! Face southeast and start with the Moon. Look for the bright point of light down, and to the left of the Moon: That’s the star Spica. Then, look further down and to the left: The bright point of light you’ll see is the planet Saturn. You can easily see Saturn’s rings through just about any telescope. While you look at Saturn’s rings, see if you can detect a dark circle within the rings: That’s the famous “Cassini division.”

For those of you in the southern hemisphere of Earth (such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.), you should face east the evening of May 21 as well (your time). In your case, Spica will be down, and to the right of the Moon, and Saturn will be down, and to the right of Spica.

The Moon and Saturn will be in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo that evening. Spica is Virgo’s brightest star.

Finding your star in the night sky

Stars are located within constellations, which are just areas of the night sky. Scorpius, Aries and Taurus are examples of constellations. Your Name A Star Live Star Certificate displays the name of your constellation. You can use our online World Constellation Guide to determine if you can see your constellation during the evening hours (between sunset and midnight). Of course, you’ll need a telescope to see your star. But you can see your constellation without the use of a telescope. You can also find your constellation by using our Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software. A planisphere is another useful device.

Space Meets Yoga Fashion: First Ever Fashion Line To Be Launched Into Space

Hollywood Sign — Name A Star Live will join eco-fashion brand Teeki at an event to be held at the Historic Vibiana Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday April 25, 2013 at 8PM.

For the first time ever Name A Star Live (Houston, Texas), the company that makes it real by launching your star name into space, has partnered with the eco-fashion brand Teeki in an effort to help promote awareness of a more sustainable future and lifestyle for humanity. They will be launching the material from which 8 pairs of special edition yoga pants will be made for the new Teeki line “the Age of Aquarius.” The launch known as The Centennial Flight is currently scheduled for liftoff on June 21, 2013 out of Spaceport America, New Mexico.

This “Earth Rise Service” mission will fly Teeki’s payload, attached to UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft™ XL SL-7 launch vehicle. After flying in the zero gravity environment of space, the launch vehicle carrying the payload will safely return to Earth via parachute. Once recovered it will be retrieved and given back to Teeki, who will then take it for manufacturing.

Teeki has joined up in supporting the exploration of outer space “because ultimately it is about a journey of discovery, sustainability, and making our Planet (our only precious habitat) a better and healthier place to live,” said Teeki owner/designer, Lindsay Hemric. Continue reading “Space Meets Yoga Fashion: First Ever Fashion Line To Be Launched Into Space”

The Centennial Flight

Rocket launch — Launch of star names into space from Spaceport America

Name A Star Live launches your star name into space, making you part of a real space mission! After the flight we e-mail you a Launch Certificate, verifying that your star name has flown among the stars.

The Centennial Flight carried into space the star names of all of our customers who named stars with us on, or before, May 22, 2013. Launch occurred on a SpaceLoft XL launch vehicle built and flown by our launch service provider for this mission, UP Aerospace.

Launch occured from Spaceport America, New Mexico – the world’s first purpose built commercial spaceport, and future home to the SpaceShip II missions of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic aerospace company. Continue reading “The Centennial Flight”

Beautiful Space Imagery

Here are some beautiful space photos and videos that have been posted on the Internet recently. Enjoy!

The beautiful, wispy effect of the giant star “Zeta Ophiuchi” on its surrounding clouds in space!

Continue reading “Beautiful Space Imagery”

April’s Stars and Planets

The Moon and Saturn — On April 25, 2013, the full Moon will be near the planet Saturn. You may also notice the bright star “Spica” in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo.

The beautiful, ringed planet Saturn shines at its brightest for 2013 this month. That’s because on April 28 the planet will reach “opposition,” meaning at sunset that evening Saturn will appear just over the eastern horizon, on the exact opposite side of the sky as the setting Sun. But you can get a good look at Saturn and its rings throughout the month, and for the next several months, through even small telescopes. Saturn will reside in the Name A Star Live constellation Libra throughout April.

Saturn will be about 9 Astronomical Units (AU) from Earth in April. An AU is the average distance of the Earth from the Sun, or about 93 million miles. So in April, Saturn will be about 9 times farther away from Earth than the Earth is from the Sun.

If you view Saturn through a telescope, you should be able to make out some of Saturn’s large moons, especially the largest, and brightest, moon: Titan. It orbits the planets once every 16 days. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft “has revealed that Titan’s surface is shaped by rivers and lakes of liquid ethane and methane (the main component of natural gas), which forms clouds and occasionally rains from the sky as water does on Earth.”

Take A Break from Your Taxes and Look at Jupiter!

The Moon, Hyades and Pleiades — The Moon sits between the V-shaped group of stars called the “Hyades” and the beautiful group of stars called the “Pleiades” the night of April 13.

The Moon also passes by our solar system’s giant planet, Jupiter, this month. Jupiter is in the Name A Star Live constellation Taurus in April. The crescent Moon will lie near Jupiter the night of April 14. So if preparing your income tax returns is driving you crazy that night, take a break, step outside and look for the crescent Moon. Jupiter will be the brightest point of light near the Moon. If you have a telescope, look at Jupiter and see if you can view its four largest moons — the “Galilean satellites.” These four moons move very quickly: They noticeably change their position over the course of just a few hours. But those of you in the northern hemisphere of Earth (e.g., North America, Europe) will likely see all four moons that night in the following order (listed from nearest Jupiter and going out): Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

And consider viewing the Moon the preceding evening when it will lie between the “Hyades” and the “Pleiades” in the Name A Star Live constellation Taurus.

Finding your star in the night sky

March’s Stars and Planets

The big news for the night sky this month is the appearance of Comet PanSTARRS to residents of the Northern Hemisphere of Earth (e.g., the U.S., Europe, China). We’ve produced a separate blog article for the comet: Click here to read that article.

But you can also see the giant planet Jupiter during the evening hours in March 2013. A particularly good night for identifying Jupiter is March 17 (March 18 for those of you in the Eastern Hemisphere of Earth [e.g., Australia, Japan, China, India]). Plus, Saturn rises after midnight and is visible to you early birds toward the southwestern horizon.

Jupiter and the Moon Continue reading “March’s Stars and Planets”

Beautiful Space Imagery

Here are some beautiful space photos and videos that have been posted on the Internet recently. Enjoy!

The Whirlpool Galaxy (a.k.a. M51, NGC 5194) in the Name A Star Live constellation Canes Venatici.
Image Credit: N. Scoville (Caltech), T. Rector (U. Alaska), NOAO) et al., Hubble Heritage Team, NASA

This spectacular spiral galaxy is about 30 million light-years from Earth and is about 60,000 light-years across. You can see this galaxy with a good pair of binoculars.

LL Ori and the Orion Nebula — The star LLOri in the Orion Nebula.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team

This esthetic close-up of cosmic clouds and stellar winds features the star LL Orionis, interacting with the flow of the Orion Nebula, in the Name A Star Live constellation Orion. Adrift in Orion’s stellar nursery and still in its formative years, variable star LL Orionis produces a wind more energetic than the wind from our own middle-aged Sun. As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas a shock front is formed, analogous to the bow wave of a boat moving through water or a plane traveling at supersonic speed. The small, arcing, graceful structure just above and left of center is LL Ori’s cosmic bow shock, measuring about half a light-year across. The slower gas is flowing away from the Orion Nebula‘s hot central star cluster, the Trapezium, located off the upper left corner of the picture. In three dimensions, LL Ori’s wrap-around shock front is shaped like a bowl that appears brightest when viewed along the “bottom” edge. The beautiful picture is part of a large mosaic view of the complex stellar nursery in Orion, filled with a myriad of fluid shapes associated with star formation.

This is a NASA video explaining that meteor that exploded over Russia last month.

This is a 4-minute, NASA video about Comet PanSTARRS that may be visible this month. For more information, see our blog article about this comet.

Comet PanSTARRS

Step outside in mid-March 2013 and you may just see a comet that has the astronomical community abuzz! It’s called comet “PanSTARRS,” named after the observatory in Hawaii that discovered the comet in 2011.

Not to worry: The comet won’t hit Earth like that asteroid did in Russia last month! At its closest approach to Earth on March 5, the comet will be about 100 million miles (161 million kilometers) away. At its closest approach to the Sun on March 10 it will be just inside the orbit of Pluto.

But that’s close enough to make for a spectacular site — assuming the comet cooperates! Comets are notoriously unpredictable: As David Levy, the famous comet discoverer, once put it, “Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.” At one extreme, the comet could release a nice display of dust resulting in a bright, beautiful tail visible to the naked eye, or at the other extreme it could break apart and fizzle out. As of this writing, most predictions are that the comet will be about as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.

Comet PanSTARRS — NASA image showing positions of comet PanSTARRS in March 2013 relative to the western horizon

The comet will be visible to Northern Hemisphere observers shortly after sunset. It will appear low on the western horizon. If I had to bet, I would wager we’ll see the head of the comet with our naked eyes, but will likely need a pair of binoculars to see the comet’s dusty tail.

You may want to start looking for the comet as early as March 10, and check it every evening through late March. After that, the comet will grow significantly fainter. During March the comet will appear in the Name A Star Live constellations Aquarius, Pisces and Andromeda.

Be sure to check out this neat NASA video about comet PanSTARRS. It’s very informative and lasts shortly over 4 minutes.

Finally, an even brighter comet is expected to be seen in November 2013: Comet ISON. We’ll have more to say about that comet later this year.

February’s Stars and Planets

There’s quite a lot happening in skies this month: A large asteroid will zip by the Earth, you can easily see the mighty planets Jupiter and Saturn, Mercury and Mars can be found next to each other right after sunset, the constellation Orion and its famous nebula are in a prime position for evening viewing … plus, there’s a comet on the way!

Record Setting Asteroid to fly by Earth

A large asteroid will fly really close by Earth February 15, near the low Earth orbits (LEO) in which our Name A Star Live satellites typically fly. The asteroid — called “2012 DA14” — is about the size of a gymnasium. It will fly approximately 18,000 miles (28,500 kilometers) from Earth’s surface. That’s really close: By comparison, geostationary satellites used to transmit television signals to people’s homes orbit the Earth at about 22,000 miles (38,000 kilometers). However, scientists assure us that there is no chance of the asteroid hitting Earth.

LEO and GEO orbits — Name A Star Live’s Orbital Archives of star names typically fly in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) — see the white dot just above the Earth image in this diagram. The asteroid (yellow dot) will fly between satellites in LEO and satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), which are approximately 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above the Earth.

The asteroid will fly through the Name A Star Live constellations Virgo, Leo, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Because the asteroid will be traveling so fast and so near the Earth, it will be very difficult to view. You would need a telescope in order to see it, but due to the asteroid’s speed it will be difficult to track the asteroid with the typical amateur telescope. In other words, even if you could find the asteroid in your telescope, the odds are it would move very quickly out of your field of view. But assuming you had a telescope with above average tracking ability, then those of you living from Eastern Europe, east, to Australia would have the only significant chance of seeing the asteroid as it will fly past you during your nighttime hours. Those of us in other parts of the world (such as North America, South America and Western Europe) are out of luck as the asteroid will fly by us during daytime hours.

See NASA’s really neat video about this record setting asteroid flyby!

But We’ll Probably Get to See a Comet Next Month!

In March, astronomers believe we may very well get to see “Comet PanSTARRS”. Unlike this month’s asteroid, Comet PanSTARRS could be viewable with the naked eye (i.e., no telescope or binoculars required). Warning: It’s difficult to predict how bright a comet will become. But this one stands a good chance of being a standout! We’ll have more to say about this comet in next month’s blog.

Seeing the Planets

Jupiter is in the constellation Taurus throughout February: It’s easy to spot near the V-shaped group of stars in Taurus, marked by the bright, red star Aldebaran. Aldebaran comes from the Arabic, meaning “the follower” as Aldebaran appears to follow the Pleiades star cluster throughout the course of the night.

February 17 night sky — You can use the Moon to find Jupiter on the night of February 17, depicted in this image. The Moon will be in the constellation Taurus that evening. Look for the bright point of light near the Moon — that’s the planet Jupiter. Take a look at Jupiter through just about any telescope and you’ll likely see up to four of Jupiter’s large moons! Nearby are “The Pleiades” star cluster. Many people mistake this group of stars for the “Little Dipper,” which is actually in another constellation (“Ursa Minor”). You can also get a good view of the nearby constellation Orion.

February is also a good month this year to see the elusive planet Mercury. Mercury never rises very high in the night sky, but you can see it this month shortly after sunset. Be sure to look for Mercury during the first half, or so, of the month as Mercury retreats back into the sun’s glare by the end of the month.

Mercury, Mars, Moon Feb 11 — You can use the thin, crescent Moon shortly after sunset February 11 to find the planets Mercury and Mars. All three objects will be above the western horizon.

Finding your star in the night sky

Beautiful Space Photos

Here are some beautiful space photos and videos that have been posted on the Internet recently. Enjoy!

This is a new view of a 20,000-year old supernova remnant called the “Great Manatee Nebula,” named after the endangered Florida Manatee that this nebula resembles. Also known as “W50,” this is one of the largest supernova remnants ever viewed by the the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). It is nearly 700 light years across and covers two degrees on the sky – that’s the span of four full Moons! Click here to see a comparison of this nebula with an actual Florida Manatee.

The aftermath of a cosmic cataclysm, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a comfortable 11,000 light-years away. Light from the Cas A supernova, the death explosion of a massive star, first reached Earth just 330 years ago. Still expanding, the explosion’s debris cloud spans about 15 light-years near the center of this composite image. The scene combines color data of the starry field and fainter filaments of material at optical energies with image data from the orbiting NuSTAR X-ray telescope. Mapped to false colors, the X-ray data in blue hues trace the fragmented outer boundary of the expanding shock wave, glowing at energies up to 10,000 times the energy of the optical photons.

Asteroid flying by Earth — NASA image of an asteroid flying by Earth

On February 15 an asteroid about half the size of a football field will fly past Earth only 17,200 miles above our planet’s surface. There’s no danger of a collision, but the space rock, designated 2012 DA14, has NASA’s attention.

“This is a record-setting close approach,” says Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program at JPL. “Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we’ve never seen an object this big get so close to Earth.” Click here to see neat NASA video about this event + read more info.

Landscapes: Volume 3 from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Landscapes has issued another one of their beautiful videos showing images of landscapes here on Earth and the nighttime sky: Be sure to check this video out!

Here is a touching video made in honor of a young Dutch designer who passed away last year from cancer. The video is entitled “Stardust” and was directed by Mischa Rozema of Amsterdam-based media company PostPanic. The film’s subject is the interstellar probe, Voyager 1. For more information, see PostPanic’s Vimeo page.