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Fernando Roquel in Caguas Puerto caught Aldebaran after the occultation, when it re-emerged from behind the moon.
On Sunday, as seen from North America, the moon “occulted” or passed in front of the star Aldebaran in daylight. Many then saw Aldebaran near the moon Sunday evening.
Species lost from the eastern forests of the U.S. – from left to right: Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet and Bachman’s Warbler. Image credit: Alexander C. Lees ©Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates,
Several bird species are taking their final bows on the global evolutionary stage, and winking out. The situation in northeast Brazil is particularly dire.
The April 10, 2013, landslide at Bingham Canyon mine contained enough debris to bury New York City’s Central Park 66 feet deep, according to a new University of Utah study. The slide happened in the form of two rock avalanches 95 minutes apart. The first rock avalanche included grayer bedrock material seen around the margins of the lower half of the slide. The second rock avalanche is orange in color, both from bedrock and from waste rock from mining. The landslide also triggered 16 small earthquakes. Photo by Kennecott Utah Copper, via University of Utah.
April 10, 2013. On April 10, 2013 – three years ago today – an enormous landslide took place at the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah. Amazingly, no one was hurt.
Tonight – April 10, 2016 – look for the waxing crescent moon to shine close the star Aldebaran on the sky’s dome. Look west, after sunset. From North America, especially the along the Atlantic Coast, it’s possible to miss Aldebaran in the moon’s glare, as this star appears a hairsbreadth below the lit side of the moon. From there, Aldebaran will have just come out from behind the moon, after having been covered over (occulted) by the moon in the late afternoon of April 10.
In October 2013, Cassini flew high above Saturn, looking down toward its north pole. It took a series of shots that were then assembled into this amazing mosaic by software engineer Gordan Ugarkovic.
NASA said late in the day on Friday that the hypothetical object known as Planet 9 – which so far has not been discovered – is not affecting the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. Contrary to recent reports in the media, Cassini is not experiencing:
… unexplained deviations in its orbit around Saturn.
This computer-simulated image shows a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The black region in the center represents the black hole’s event horizon, where no light can escape the massive object’s gravitational grip. The black hole’s powerful gravity distorts space around it like a funhouse mirror. Light from background stars is stretched and smeared as the stars skim by the black hole. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe, J. Anderson, and R. van der Marel (STScI)
A near-record supermassive black hole discovered in a sparse area of the local universe suggests these monster objects might be more common than once thought.
Hyades star cluster, with bright red star Aldebaran, seen through a telescope. Copyright 2012 Jerry Lodriguss/AstroPix.com. Used with permission.
As darkness falls, look for the waxing crescent moon in between the bright reddish star Aldebaran and the planet Mercury. The lit side of the moon points to Mercury near the horizon, which may become visible to the unaided eye around one hour after sunset. Binoculars, though, will enable you to spot Mercury all the sooner after sundown. Once again, rely on the lit side of the moon to point in the direction of Mercury, which will plunge beneath the horizon around nightfall, or about 90 minutes after sunset at mid-northern latitudes.
Crab Nebula. Photo by Mark Shelton.
Visible only through telescopes, the Crab Nebula – aka M1 – is all that remains of a cataclysmic supernova explosion that lit the daytime sky in A.D. 1054.
The moon and Venus over North Carolina by Ken Christison.
That glow over the unlit part of a crescent moon – called earthshine – is light reflected from Earth.
Beautiful photos in this post!
If you don’t see the moon and Mercury this evening (April 8), try again on another April 2016 evening (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere). The lit side of the waxing crescent moon points in the direction of Mercury.
Tonight – April 8, 2016 – if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you have a good chance of catching the waxing crescent moon and planet Mercury in your western sky after sundown. Find an unobstructed horizon in the direction of sunset, and watch for the moon and Mercury to pop out over the sunrise point on the horizon some 45 to 60 minutes after the sun goes down. If you miss them tonight, try tomorrow!
