Latest news with #Stellarium
CNET
6 days ago
- Science
- CNET
Look Up at Night and You May See 2 Meteor Showers at Once
Even if you've never really seen one, meteor showers actually happen all year. In fact, they happen so often that they overlap for significant percentages of the year. There are two times when three meteor showers will be active in October, for example. But a rarer feat? Having two meteor showers that peak at the same time. It'll happen later this month, on July 29. The show will come courtesy of the Alpha Capricornids and Southern delta Aquariids meteor showers. The former began on Saturday and runs through Aug. 12, with a peak of July 29. Southern delta Aquariids will start on July 28, peaks early on July 29, and then runs until Aug. 12 as well. That means for one evening, the two meteor showers are peaking at the same time, giving stargazers a much better chance at catching a shooting star. Of the two, the Southern delta Aquarids is typically the larger meteor shower, tossing upwards of 25 meteors per hour during its zenith. Alpha Capricornids is a lesser meteor shower, with about five per hour on average. Combined, they'll output an estimated 30 per hour. How to see two meteor showers at once Since the meteors are coming from two different points in the sky, you would think spotting meteors from both would be difficult, but that is far from the truth. Alpha Capricornids, which hails from the 169P/NEAT comet, originates from the Capricornus constellation. It will rise from the eastern skies across the continental US around sunset and streak across the southern sky, setting in the western sky at sunrise. For the Southern delta Aquariids, its radiant — the point from which its meteors seem to originate — is the Aquarius constellation. Aquarius is right next to Capricornus. That means it also rises out of the eastern horizon, streaks across the southern sky, and sets in the western horizon around dawn. If you have trouble finding either of them, Stellarium's free sky map will help you hunt them down. Set the time, date and location, and you're off to the races. Once you find one, the other one is essentially right there next to it. Tips on spotting meteors As per the norm, the tips here are the same as they are for the aurora borealis and planet parades. Light pollution and weather are your two biggest enemies. Since you can only do anything about one of those, let's focus on light pollution. You'll want to drive as far away from the city and suburbs as possible, as the light pollution will make it difficult to see the dimmer meteors. The further away you are, the better, as even suburban light pollution can obfuscate most meteors. Once out there, you just have to sit and wait. Since the constellations will move across the south as you watch, you may have to rotate your chair if you're out there for a while. Otherwise, a pair of binoculars may help. Telescopes aren't recommended, as they obscure your field of view and may actively obstruct your ability to see meteors.
The Star
12-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
Dim lights so stars can shine bright
It takes about 30 minutes for eyes to fully adjust to total darkness and only then does the night sky reveal its hidden constellations. Most nights, the city's glow keeps regular folk from viewing the stars. Under Kuala Selangor skies, on a recent trip with Tourism Malaysia and Sahabat Langit Utara (Salut), I found myself in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by darkness and silence. With no lights to distract from the stillness of the night, the stars slowly showed themselves. An app called Stellarium, with its gyroscope feature, helped us navigate the sky. Moving my phone around, the app named each star and traced how they join together to form constellations. After an hour, the sky grew clearer. Away from light pollution, the human eye begins to grasp the vastness of the universe. Staring at the Milky Way reminds us that we are just specks of dust and what we see is far more complex than the mind can truly comprehend. The Milky Way can be seen on a clear, cloudless night from places with minimal light pollution.— Filepic As Salut founder Nurul Fatini Jaafar explained, 'The Milky Way appears as a thin band of cloud that stays still and does not fade away. 'It is something we often forget to be grateful for, a natural wonder now hidden from much of the world by one main culprit: light pollution.' To measure darkness, astronomers use the Bortle dark-sky scale, which ranges from Class 1 (the darkest skies where the Milky Way shines brilliantly) to Class 9 (city lights drown out all but the brightest stars). In Kuala Selangor, areas far from city lights can reach Class 3 or 4, dark enough to reveal thousands of stars and the Milky Way's delicate band on a clear, cloudless night. One of Salut's goals is to establish more dark-sky areas, far from urban glow, so our eyes can fully adapt and the cosmos can shine through. According to a 2016 study by scientific journal Science Advances, Singapore's entire population lives under skies too bright to see the Milky Way, with 100% of its territory affected. San Marino (100%) and Malta (89%) face similar levels of light pollution that keep the galaxy hidden from view. It's at a level of light pollution that prevents eyes from ever fully adapting to true darkness. Light pollution in Malaysia is also a concern. A recent Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) study found that fireflies could mistake artificial lights for the flashes of other fireflies, leading them to abandon traditional mating grounds. This shows that light pollution affects not only people but also wildlife. However, there is hope. Earlier this month, the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) announced it was working on a light pollution guideline to help preserve astronomical activities, including astrotourism. Expected to be ready by 2026, the guideline aims to minimise the impact of artificial lighting at night, supporting astronomy initiatives and the conservation of our natural environment. In parts of Malaysia, such as rural Kedah, it is still possible to experience a Class 1 sky. Fraser's Hill, near Kuala Kubu Baru, also offers spectacular stargazing conditions. These locations are among the highlights in Tourism Malaysia's upcoming stargazing packages that open the door to astrotourism. Over time, we forget that stargazing once guided sailors to safe shores and farmers, in terms of changing seasons. The stars are something worth looking up at and preserving for generations to come.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Look up! What's going on in the July night sky?
Eyes to the sky for the month of July to see the Buck Moon, two different meteor showers crisscrossing the night, and the waning phases of the Moon appearing near some of the brightest planets in the sky. Here is the Astronomical Guide for July 2025: July 2 — First Quarter Moon July 10-11 — Full Buck Moon July 12 — delta Aquariid meteor shower begins July 15-16 — Saturn near Gibbous Moon (after midnight) July 17 — Perseid meteor shower begins July 18 — Last Quarter Moon July 21 — Venus near Crescent Moon, Jupiter nearby (predawn) July 23 — Jupiter near Crescent Moon, Venus nearby (predawn) July 24 — New Moon July 28 — Mars near Crescent Moon (evening) July 28-29 — delta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks The astronomical events for July 2025, including the phases of the Moon, planetary conjunctions, and meteor showers. (Scott Sutherland, moon graphics from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, conjunctions courtesy Stellarium) The Waxing Crescent Moon will be in the western sky during the evening hours on the first night of the month, with the First Quarter Moon rising on the second. We will see the Waxing Gibbous Moon from the 3rd through the 9th, with the Full Buck Moon — the first Full Moon of Summer 2025 — crossing the sky from the evening on the 10th through until the morning on the 11th. However, the Moon will appear full (over 99 per cent illuminated by the Sun) from just after midnight on the morning of the 10th through until the evening of the 11th. The Waning Gibbous Moon will shine in the sky from the 11th to the 16th. Look for it near Saturn in the hours after midnight on the night of the 15th to the 16th. The Last Quarter Moon rises on the 17th, with the Waning Crescent Moon visible in the eastern predawn sky each morning from the 18th to the 23th. See it pass by bright Venus on the 21st, then nestled between Venus and Jupiter on the 22nd, and finally passing Jupiter on the 23rd. The night of the 24th could be the best time to look for meteors (see below), as the New Moon gives us the darkest skies of the month. Then, once the Waxing Crescent Moon reappears in our evening skies, look for it near the planet Mars just above the western horizon after sunset on the 28th. DON'T MISS: When we hear about meteor showers, often only the peak of the event gets any solid mention. It's certainly understandable, since that is when the greatest number of meteors from that particular shower are visible to us. However, meteor showers are not limited to just one night. For the dozen or so notable ones we follow each year, the shortest lasts for around 4 days, while the longest goes on for over two months! During the month of July, we see the start of two different meteor showers, both of which are remarkable in some way. The first begins on the night of July 17. Appearing to streak out of the constellation Perseus, in the northeastern sky, this meteor shower is known as the Perseids, and it is one of the best of the entire year. Originating from a comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids typically deliver between 50-75 meteors per hour during the shower's mid-August peak. It also produces the greatest number of fireballs out of all the meteor showers of the year. Fireballs are meteors of exceptional brightness, many of which can be seen even through urban light pollution. While most Perseid meteors result from miniscule specks of space dust hitting the atmosphere, the fireballs are due to comet debris ranging from a grain of sand up to a pebble in size. The Perseids start off slowly in July. For the first week or so after the shower begins, we may see just a few meteors each hour, flashing out of the northeastern sky. However, by the end of the month, it typically is already producing around 15-20 meteors per hour. Even though that's still around two weeks before the Perseid's peak, that's still equivalent to the peak of a moderate meteor shower, like the April Lyrids! Just one night after the Perseids start, we encounter a second stream of debris in space, resulting in the Southern delta Aquariid meteor shower. While this one tends to put on a better display for those located in the southern hemisphere, skywatchers across Canada should still get a decent show out of it. As with the Perseids, the delta Aquariids start off at a rate of just one or two meteors per hour on the nights of the first week or so. During the last few nights of July, though, this meteor shower reaches its peak, with the rate jumping up to around 20 per hour. Overlapping with Perseids at that time, the sky could be filled with crisscrossing meteors at the end of the month. Astronomers aren't quite sure exactly which comet or asteroid the delta Aquariids come from, but right now, the most likely 'parent body' is an oddball comet called 96P/Machholz. Discovered in 1986, Comet Machholz has a strange orbit and chemical composition compared to other similar comets. One hypothesis for this is that it could be an alien comet from some distant star system that was ejected and then captured by the gravity of our Sun. Thus, each delta Aquariid meteor could represent a piece of some distant solar system burning up in our atmosphere! READ MORE: The summer constellations shine this month. In the south, Leo leads the way as the constellations cross the sky, with Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Serpens/Ophiuchus, and Aquila in a loose lineup just after sunset. Higher up in the sky we will see Boötes, Hercules, and Cygnus. The constellations in the southern sky at midnight on July 15-16, 2025. (Stellarium) After midnight, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, and Cetus follow, with Taurus rising predawn and the "bow" of Orion poking up above the horizon just before sunrise. High up, Pegasus, Andromeda and Perseus swing around from the north. Meanwhile, if you are facing north, Pegasus, Andromeda, and Perseus will be near the northern horizon at the start of the night. Cygnus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Camelopardalis ("The Camel") will be visible low in the evening sky, along with Lynx to the northwest. Ursa Major ("The Big Dipper"), Ursa Minor ("The Little Dipper"), and Draco will be circling the north celestial pole. The constellations in the northern sky at midnight on July 15-16, 2025. (Stellarium) After midnight, Auriga and Taurus will rise in the northeast, with Orion showing up before dawn. Thumbnail image shows a Perseid meteor captured by Nelson Liu from Ottawa on August 13, 2023. Click here to view the video
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Tomb built for Alexander the Great's best friend is aligned with winter solstice, study suggests
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A grand tomb that may have been built for Alexander the Great's best friend and bodyguard around 2,300 years ago has an astronomical secret: Its burial chamber is aligned so that sunlight enters it on the winter solstice, a new study proposes. However, not everyone agrees with this interpretation. Some experts note that the ancient Macedonians used a lunisolar calendar, meaning the winter solstice's date would have moved from year to year. The tomb, now called the Kasta monument (also known as the Kasta tomb or Kasta tumulus), is near the ancient city of Amphipolis in northern Greece. In 2014, archaeologists excavated the tomb's burial chamber and found the skeletal remains of at least five people. For whom the monument was built is a matter of debate, but Hephaestion (also spelled Haphaestion), whose death in 324 B.C. sent Alexander the Great into severe grief, is considered a leading candidate by some scholars. In the new study, independent researcher Demetrius Savvides created a 3D model of the tomb and used Stellarium, an astronomical program that tracks how the positions of the sun and stars change over time, to re-create what the sky around the tomb looked like in 300 B.C. He found that on Dec. 21, the date of the winter solstice, the sun's light would have fully illuminated the burial chamber between approximately 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time, Savvides wrote in a study published May 15 in the Nexus Network Journal. Related: Was Alexander the Great eaten by sharks? Inside the wild theories for what happened to the iconic ruler's body. Sunlight reaches other parts of the monument at different times, he found. Around late July, it touches the entrance. Throughout autumn, the sunlight gradually travels on and near two carved sphinxes and finally passes between them, fully illuminating the burial chamber on the winter solstice. "It is highly probable that rituals were held within or in close proximity to the Kastas Monument, particularly on and around the winter solstice," Savvides told Live Science in an email. Initially, when the tomb was being built, it had no orientation to the winter solstice. But during its construction, the design was changed to create the solstice alignment, Savvides wrote in the paper. An alignment like this would have symbolized "themes of renewal, life, and cosmic order," Savvides said in the email. These themes are also seen in the tomb decoration, which shows a mosaic of Persephone, a goddess of vegetation and agriculture who is also queen of the underworld, Savvides noted. In addition, the tomb has a possible depiction of Cybele, a goddess who was associated with birth and fertility and was married to Attis, a god also associated with vegetation who died and was resurrected. One interesting question this research raises is whether Alexander the Great's tomb, which was constructed in Alexandria, had a burial chamber with an alignment like this, Savvides said. "The use of solar illumination and a consistent geometric design aligns with Hellenistic traditions where rulers, like Alexander the Great, used solar symbolism to reinforce their authority," Savvides said. "If we were to locate Alexander's tomb, it might resemble the Kastas Monument," Savvides said. Alexander's tomb has never been found and might be underwater or underneath Alexandria. Juan de Lara, a researcher at the University of Oxford who has investigated the alignments of ancient Greek buildings, had mixed reactions to the research. RELATED STORIES —Did Alexander the Great have any children? —How did Alexander the Great die? —'I nearly fell out of my chair': 1,800-year-old mini portrait of Alexander the Great found in a field in Denmark "I think it's great that scholars are asking these questions and using this technology to generate new ideas. In the case of the tomb, the researcher presented daring hypotheses," de Lara told Live Science in an email. "However, we must remember to be very careful when relating such findings to 'solar' events, as the Macedonians used a lunisolar calendar — meaning that the dates shifted from year to year." In other words, their winter solstice would have fallen on a different day each year, meaning this day of illumination might have been difficult to observe annually as the day changed. Additionally, de Lara noted that northern Greece is very cloudy in the winter and the effect may not have been noticeable.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Rare 'Parade of Planets' Is Happening This Week. How to See the 3-Planet Alignment
Rise and shine, there's a cosmic treat in store! As the moon wanes after its last-quarter phase, the pre-dawn hours grow darker, setting the stage for a stunning planetary alignments don't happen every day, so if you're an early riser or looking for a reason to wake up before sunrise, this week's 3-planet alignment will be worth it. After all, when was the last time you caught three bright celestial bodies in such close proximity? A mini parade of planets will align above the eastern horizon, offering stargazers their very own cosmic makes this event so special? In addition to the beauty and divine timing surrounding this rare event, it reminds us of the sacred planetary rhythms happening a pair of binoculars and set your alarm! Here's how, when and where to watch this week's 3-planet alignment. This week, a beautiful lineup of Saturn, Venus and the moon will rise before the sun, and adorn the night three planets will be visible to the naked eye: Saturn up high, the moon just below and Venus glimmering brightly near the horizon. Saturn will be the dimmest of the trio, but still visible. The best time to catch a glimpse of the planetary alignment is from May 20 to May 24. Read below for a detailed breakdown of the moon's stages for best viewing. Tuesday, May 20: The moon will reach its last-quarter phase, rising at about midnight and setting just after noon. Thursday, May 22: The crescent moon will appear just a few degrees from Saturn an hour or so before dawn, while Venus shines brightly lower in the sky. Friday, May 23: The moon, now at a slimmer crescent, will sit close to Venus, while Saturn remains May 24: This is your last chance to catch a glimpse of the moon before it vanishes into the sun's glare for the new moon phase. Rising on the lower eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise, it will sit beside Venus. Together with Saturn, all three planets will appear in a line from top to bottom. Between May 20 and May 24, Venus, Saturn and the moon will be visible to the naked eye when looking toward the eastern horizon. With a pair of binoculars, far away from major light pollution, conditions will be just right for viewing. You could also catch a glimpse of 'Earthshine' on May 23, which is when the glow on the dark side of the moon is caused by the sunlight's reflection from the Earth's find the best viewing time for your location, Time and Date recommends using their Night Sky Tool. Be sure to select the correct date and look in the pre-dawn hours. Moreover, for the most accurate location-specific information, refer back to online planetariums such as Stellarium. Read the original article on People
