logo
Celebrate Astronomy Day & 35 years of Hubble at Shreveport Observatory

Celebrate Astronomy Day & 35 years of Hubble at Shreveport Observatory

Yahoo25-04-2025
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — On May 3, the Shreveport-Bossier Astronomical Society will celebrate National Astronomy Day and 35 years of the Hubble Space Telescope with an observation session at the Shreveport Observatory.
Click here for more local news
Guests will have the option to look at several astronomical objects. Telescopes will be available to observe the Moon, Jupiter and its moons, Mars, numerous galaxies, star clusters, double stars, nebulae, and more.
The session will be from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. If it is raining or the sky is cloudy, it will be canceled.
The Shreveport Observatory is located eight miles south of LSU-Shreveport. Travel south on Highway 1. Turn right on Highway 175 for 1.7 miles and turn left on Astronomical Way. For more information, visit ShreveportAstronomy.com or contact Dr. Cran Lucas at (318) 573-6929 or Email cranlucas@gmail.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Planet Parade' On Thursday: See Venus, Jupiter, Saturn And Mercury
‘Planet Parade' On Thursday: See Venus, Jupiter, Saturn And Mercury

Forbes

time5 hours ago

  • Forbes

‘Planet Parade' On Thursday: See Venus, Jupiter, Saturn And Mercury

With Venus and Jupiter beginning to drift apart after their tryst on Tuesday, Aug. 12, the 'planet parade' building in the east before sunrise is starting to spread out. Best seen about an hour before dawn, Venus and Jupiter — both shining very brightly and immediately apparent to the naked eye — can be seen above the eastern horizon while Saturn is shining in the south. Although you may struggle to see it until just before sunrise, Mercury is below Venus and Jupiter and will get higher each morning this week. Uranus and Neptune are also in the sky, but neither is visible to the naked eye. A spectacular 'planet parade' (also called an alignment) featuring six planets is visible during August 2025. getty Venus and Jupiter were in close conjunction in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Aug. 12, separated by just 0.9 degrees. By Thursday, Aug. 14, they will be about two degrees apart. Best seen at least an hour before sunrise, Venus and Jupiter will be very bright in the eastern sky. Dimmer Saturn will be visible in the southern sky. Mercury will be visible just above the eastern horizon about 45 minutes before sunrise. The 'Swift Planet' is not easy to see because it appears below 10 degrees altitude, according to NASA. It will be farthest from the sun (and, therefore, highest in the sky) on Aug. 19 and remain visible until around Aug. 26. On the left of Venus and Jupiter will be Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, while to the lower-right of the planets will be Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation. The following 'planet parade' will happen during October 2028, when five planets will be visible together, again before sunrise. The planets an hour before sunrise on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, during the "planet parade." Stellarium It's easy to tell a planet from a star because while stars twinkle, planets do not. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury will all shine with a steady light, while stars twinkle due to atmospheric distortion. Venus and Jupiter are also much brighter than any of the stars in the sky. The five naked eye planets in the solar system — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — can all be easily observed without a telescope. Uranus and Neptune require at least large binoculars and typically a telescope. The 'planet parade' will be bolstered this weekend and into next week not only by a more easily visible Mercury, but by a waning crescent moon. On Monday, Aug. 18, a 26% crescent moon will be seen near Venus and Jupiter. On Tuesday, Aug. 19, Mercury will be at its highest in the morning sky as a 16%-lit crescent moon forms a curve with Venus and Jupiter. On Wednesday, Aug. 20, a 9%-lit crescent moon will be close to Venus, with Mercury below and Jupiter above. On Thursday, Aug. 21, a 4%-lit waning crescent moon will be beneath Jupiter and Venus, close to Mercury. Further Reading Forbes A 'Planet Parade,' A 'Black Moon' And A Meteor Shower: The Night Sky In August 2025 By Jamie Carter Forbes Why Friday May See The Perseid Meteor Shower At Its Best By Jamie Carter Forbes A 'Planet Parade,' A 'Black Moon' And A Meteor Shower: The Night Sky In August 2025 By Jamie Carter Forbes When To See The Fabulous Sky Show On Tuesday As 'Shooting Stars' Fall By Jamie Carter

This comet is traveling 100x faster than a bullet. NASA still managed to photograph it
This comet is traveling 100x faster than a bullet. NASA still managed to photograph it

Yahoo

time13 hours ago

  • Yahoo

This comet is traveling 100x faster than a bullet. NASA still managed to photograph it

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The fastest-moving objects are often the most challenging subjects to photograph – which means NASA scientists had a challenge ahead of them when the ATLAS comet warning system flagged the fastest solar system visitor yet. The Hubble Space Telescope has managed to capture the sharpest ever photograph of the comet known as 3I/ATLAS as it travels at 130,000 miles per hour / 209,215 kph. The 3I/ATLAS, which was first spotted on July 1, has the fastest velocity of any solar system visitor to date, NASA says. The comet's 130,000 mph speed is nearly 100 times the speed of some bullets. The comet's speed suggests that 3I/ATLAS may have originated from a very distant, developing planetary system, which means the comet could be a space fossil with clues about the universe's history. The challenge, of course, was how to photograph something moving 100 times the speed of some bullets and still get a sharp enough photograph that scientists could infer some data from the image. NASA put the Hubble Space Telescope up to the task, using the orbiting telescope's onboard WFC3 charge-coupled camera. The researchers used a single gyroscope to allow the camera to follow the movement of the comet, creating a sharper, more detailed image. The stars in the background of the image are streaked because the camera was moving in order to follow the quick-moving comet, much like the panning technique blurs the background of photos taken following fast action on Earth. The resulting photograph is giving researchers a wealth of different information about the speedy solar system visitor. Researchers now estimate that the comet's nucleus is between 1,000 feet (320 m) and 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) in diameter. The photograph also shows the dust ejecting from the comet on the side that the sun is heating up. The comet's rate of dust loss indicates the comet may have originated 300 million miles from the sun, researchers estimate. 'No one knows where the comet came from,' said David Jewitt, the science team leader for the Hubble observations. 'It's like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second. You can't project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path.' The 3I/ATLAS comet was first discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) at the beginning of July 2025. While the comet isn't Earth-bound, its speed indicates the comet could be billions of years old. Researchers will continue to study the comet until it passes too close to the sun to observe sometime in September, though it's expected to be visible again on the other side of the sun around December. You may also like Take a look at the best cameras for astrophotography or the best lenses for astrophotography. Solve the daily Crossword

Get Prepared to See Six Planets Line Up in the Upcoming Planet Parade
Get Prepared to See Six Planets Line Up in the Upcoming Planet Parade

CNET

time15 hours ago

  • CNET

Get Prepared to See Six Planets Line Up in the Upcoming Planet Parade

Fresh off the excitement of the Perseids meteor shower is a chance to see six planets lined up in the sky at once. These events, colloquially known as planet parades, only occur about once or twice a year, with the most recent one in February showing off all seven planets in our solar system at once. The next one will feature six of our closest celestial neighbors, and the event starts on Aug. 20. The six planets sharing the sky will be Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. Mars will technically be there at the beginning of the night, but it dips below the horizon right after sunset, so it won't be visible when all of the others are. Of those, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye, while the others will require high-powered binoculars or, preferably, a telescope. Even though they're spread out across the eastern and southern skies, the planets pair up with this one, making many of them pretty easy to find if you know what to look for. From east to west, here's where each one will be. Mercury - Eastern sky near the Cancer constellation. It'll pop over the horizon just before sunrise, so you'll have limited time to view it before the sun comes up and obfuscates it. - Eastern sky near the Cancer constellation. It'll pop over the horizon just before sunrise, so you'll have limited time to view it before the sun comes up and obfuscates it. Venus - At the lower tip of the Gemini constellation in the eastern sky, a couple of hours before sunrise. - At the lower tip of the Gemini constellation in the eastern sky, a couple of hours before sunrise. Jupiter - Will be near Venus, also in the Gemini constellation. It rises about an hour before Venus does. - Will be near Venus, also in the Gemini constellation. It rises about an hour before Venus does. Uranus - Will be near the upper tip of Taurus, rising after midnight. This one will require some magnification. If you see Pleiades, a cluster of stars at the upper tip of Taurus, you've gone too far upward. - Will be near the upper tip of Taurus, rising after midnight. This one will require some magnification. If you see Pleiades, a cluster of stars at the upper tip of Taurus, you've gone too far upward. Saturn and Neptune - These two are right next to each other and will be sitting between the Pisces and Cetus constellations in the southern skies. Neptune will be closer to Pisces while Saturn will be closer to Cetus. Since it takes a long time for planets to move through the night sky, Aug. 20 is the starting point, and it'll run through the rest of the month. Once September hits, Mercury will be too close to the sun, which will obscure it. From that point, there will be a five-planet parade for a while until Venus sinks below the horizon in early October. So, in all, you'll have a chance to see at least five planets for over a month. Will the planet parade be visible from my region? Yes. We double checked Stellarium's sky map from a variety of locations across the country, and everything above will be applicable everywhere in the continental US. Per Starwalk, the parade will also be visible in other parts of the world after the following dates for about the same amount of time (one to two weeks). Abu Dhabi - Aug. 9 - Aug. 9 Athens, Beijing, Berlin, Tokyo and London - Aug. 10 - Aug. 10 Mumbai and Hong Kong - Aug. 11 - Aug. 11 Reykjavik, São Paulo and Sydney - Aug. 12 The planets will move based on date, though. The above locations are where they'll be around Aug. 20, but if you're looking a week or so later, they'll be in the same general area, but will shift to a slightly different part of the sky. Will I need any special equipment? Yes. Neptune and Uranus, especially, will require some sort of magnification to see. We recommend a telescope, but high-powered binoculars may work if the sky is dark enough. Saturn is also difficult to see without magnification, so you'll want it for that too. Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury should be visible on their own with the naked eye. We also recommend taking a trip out to the country, as light pollution from suburbs and cities can make it even more difficult to see Neptune and Uranus. The moon will be out as well, which may make Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury harder to see. Other factors like weather may also make it more difficult to see all of them. If you're lucky, you may see a few shooting stars at the tail end of Perseids as well.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store