The Comet & the Sunjammer Solar Sail

Stargazing
Stargazing is a fun family activity — especially when you can see a comet together!

Astronomers have high hopes for a new comet called “Comet ISON,” which is predicted to reach peak visibility in late November and into December.  Although predicting how bright a comet will appear is notoriously difficult, we may be in for quite a show!  Below we discuss how you can view the comet.  Assuming the comet makes for an interesting site in the night sky, it would help illustrate how the Sunjammer solar sail will be propelled through space, carrying your star’s name on a mission that could last for millions of years!

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Hubble Catches a Spiral in the Air Pump

Galaxy
This new Hubble image shows a nearby galaxy that, like true love, is beautiful, full of wonder and everlasting!

Lying more than 110 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Antlia (The Air Pump) is the spiral galaxy IC 2560, shown here in an image from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. At this distance it is a relatively nearby spiral galaxy, and is part of the Antlia cluster — a group of over 200 galaxies held together by gravity. This cluster is unusual; unlike most other galaxy clusters, it appears to have no dominant galaxy within it.

In this image, it is easy to spot IC 2560’s spiral arms and barred structure. This spiral is what astronomers call a Seyfert-2 galaxy, a kind of spiral galaxy characterized by an extremely bright nucleus and very strong emission lines from certain elements — hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, and oxygen. The bright center of the galaxy is thought to be caused by the ejection of huge amounts of super-hot gas from the region around a central black hole.

There is a story behind the naming of this quirky constellation — Antlia was originally named “antlia pneumatica” by French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, in honor of the invention of the air pump in the 17th century.

Credit: Hubble/European Space Agency and NASA

Why people name stars

Starry Night
Gazing at the beauty of a starry night
Credit: ESO/H. Dahle

Why do people come to websites like NameAStarLive.com and ‘name’ stars?

Love is certainly one of the main reasons: Couples have gazed at the stars above for countless generations.  Like true love, the stars are beautiful and eternal, they are a powerful source of energy and light in an otherwise lonely existence, and their sparkle brings joy to our hearts.   When we view the heavens above, we join with generations – past and future – that have gazed/will gaze upon the same heavenly view in awe and wonder.

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September’s Stars and Planets

If you’re an early bird, you can see the planets Mars and Jupiter in the eastern sky at sunrise this month!  If you have a telescope, consider looking at Mars during the mornings of September 8 and 9 as the red planet moves through the famous “Beehive Cluster” of stars in Cancer.  Both Mars and Jupiter will appear as bright points of light in the eastern sky before sunrise.

Mars and Jupiter
Mars and Jupiter are visible in the Name A Star Live constellations Cancer and Gemini, respectively.  Just look east during the hours before sunrise and look for the two bright ‘stars’ over the horizon.

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Beautiful Space Imagery

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

Large Magellanic Cloud
A beautiful star-forming region in a nearby galaxy!

The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope has captured an intriguing star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud — one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies. This sharp image reveals two distinctive glowing clouds of gas: red-hued NGC 2014, and its blue neighbour NGC 2020. While they are very different, they were both sculpted by powerful stellar winds from extremely hot newborn stars that also radiate into the gas, causing it to glow brightly.

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NASA’s Hubble Sees a Cosmic Caterpillar

Hubble Catepillar

This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust resembles a caterpillar on its way to a feast. But the meat of the story is not only what this cosmic caterpillar eats for lunch, but also what’s eating it. Harsh winds from extremely bright stars are blasting ultraviolet radiation at this “wanna-be” star and sculpting the gas and dust into its long shape.

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Beautiful Space Imagery

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

This is onboard video of our latest mission, The Centennial Flight, that carried your star name into space June 21, 2013 from Spaceport America, New Mexico.  It shows what it would be like to be on board the rocket, looking down as the rocket flies into space.  Toward the end of the video you’ll see a note indicating “Apogee … 119 km.” That’s the point where the spacecraft reaches its maximum altitude (about 74 miles).

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August’s Stars and Planets

The beautiful, ringed planet Saturn rules the night sky this month in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo.  You can use the Moon to find this astronomical jewel, and use just about any telescope to see its rings!  August also presents the best meteor shower of the year, the Perseid meteor shower.  Read about this year’s Perseids in a separate blog post.

The Moon and Saturn
You can use the Moon the evening of August 12, 2013 to find the planet Saturn. If you’re in the northern hemisphere of Earth, just face west-southwest after sunset.  Venus will be the very bright object over the western horizon.

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

These famous lyrics were originally written in 1806 by two British sisters — Ann and Jane Taylor — as a poem entitled “The Star.”
Stars
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Richer (University of British Columbia)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is set,
And the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see where to go
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

July’s Stars and Planets

The beautiful, ringed planet Saturn rules the night sky this month in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo.  You can use the Moon to find this astronomical jewel, and use just about any telescope to see its rings!

The Moon, Saturn and Spica
The Moon, Saturn and Spica the evening of July 16 as viewed from the northern hemisphere

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