Watch Perseids Meteor shower along with thin crescent Moon this Thursday

If you happen to be a star gazer then be prepared to see the yearly meteor shower of Perseids and you can also see a young Moon along with Venus, Mars and Saturn in the west-southwestern sky just after sunset.

You can enjoy the best Perseids meteor shower on Thursday night till Friday dawn where if you are lucky and have clear sky you can watch 50 to 60 meteors per hour.

It will be a beauty to watch those meteor shower with thin crescent Moon.

Global Martian Map being developed by NASA for public display and research

Scientists with the help of camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft constructed a map using 21,000 images Thermal Emission Imaging System.



You can just log into jmars and have a look yourself. You can zoom around the images of Mars and it looks really great.The images will be used as a research work on Mars for coming years too.

On August 5, Mars, Venus and Saturn will form a triangle at Night Sky

Are you among those who love to watch night sky ? Coming the first week of August and you will find Venus, Mars and Saturn in a triangle in the night sky.

You can easily locate Venus as it is bright and the other two planets will be close to it forming a triangle on August 5 .However, Mars and Saturn are not as bright as Venus. On July 31, you will find Mars just below Saturn.

People have always dreaded these planetary alignments as they found it bringing mis-fortune but there is no scientific evidence of this fear.

Graph to help you locate the planets on night sky on August 5.

Star R136a1is massive than the Sun

A group of astronomers from University of Sheffield,UK,have discovered a star which is about 300 times more bigger than the Sun using a Very Large Telescope (VLT) .

The team of astronomers have found many stars which are seven times hotter, brighter and bigger than the Sun.




One of such star R136a1 which has been found in R136 cluster is the most massive star ever being found according to the research team and the most brightest one also. The star is more than a million year old and has lost lots of mass.The stars loose mass as they age. Scientists say that if R136a1 will be replaced By Sun then it can outshine Sun the same way Sun outshines the Moon.However it will make life IMPOSSIBLE on Earth as it releases high UV radiations.

Antares

Night sky fascinates me always and I think it fascinates to most of us. I often sit on my terrace during summer nights gazing at sky and the heavenly bodies up there.

Planet Antares is the red giant star and is said to be the 16^th brightest star in the sky at night in the constellation Scorpio.Antares has also being nick named as “the Heart of the Scorpion”. Ancient astronomers have nick named it as the “rival of the Mars” as it resembles the Red Planet in color.

Brief history of Antares:

A German astrologer Bayer of 17^th century said Antares as a Rebel and Tyrannus, Dutch scholar Grotius (1583-1645) said it means a Bat, in Arabic it means “Shone”, Rudolphine Tables says that Antares means “glowing redly”.

Some link Antares with an Arabic hero Antar or Antarah who was the bravest Arab warrior and a great poet of his time. He has written a poem "Ántara's Ode," where he talks about his lady love.

Star Antares, α scorpio according to the Arabic constellation means Al Kalb, the Heart, one of the fortunate stations.

The Chinese in their constellation have included sigma (σ) and tau (τ) on either side of Antares in which sigma (σ) is the most important.

For the Hindus it is α Antares , σ Antares and τ Antares for their nakshatra where the oldest is known as Ruddy which means from the color of Antares.

In ancient Egypt astronomy Antares represented the Goddess Selkit and the light coming from Antares played an important role in the ceremonies of the temple.

It is also seen as one of the 4 keys in the heavens Michael watcher of the East, Gabriel watcher of the South, Raphael Watcher of the North, Oriel (Antares) Watcher of the West.

Antares is referred to as fallen star and quarter guardian of the western gate in the religion of Stygheria.

Astrological influences of Antares on people are that it makes them tough and belligerent. It is of importance to those who work in military as it gives them courage to do daring tasks and help them to chart out strategies.Antares is associated with violent death of people in battle field or in law and is unfortunate for eyes.

Planet Antares said to be 700 times larger than Sun and is about 600 light years away from our planet Earth. The outer layer of Antares is very thin and a spaceship can easily pass through it. If you happen to get a view of Antares you will notice that the area round it has colorful clouds which are due to the fact that Antares is found in such a place where there are star forming clouds. NASA named Apollo 14 lunar module after Antares in 1971.

If you want to have a view of Antares then you May end is the right time as it is opposing the Sun and is visible for the whole night but you can’t see Antares during the end of November as it gets lost in the glare of the Sun.

Star Antares is found in the eastern sky in the early evening in the heart of the constellation Scorpion but you need a telescope to view it. You will find a red colored bright star beside the Moon.

Enjoy this amazing video on Antares Occultation :

Hubble finds a planet with a tail like a comet

Hubble Space telescope has discovered a planet which has a tail like a comet! HD 209458b planet is about 153 light years and was found in the year 2003.




Scientists have measured the gas coming out from the planet.

Scientists have used Hubble to find about the atmosphere of the planet as it crossed infront of its star.

Asteroid Lutetia could lead to discovery of a new world.

European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft Rosetta has captured has captured the so called first close-up images of Asteroid Lutetia on this Saturday ie, 10th July.

The image is spectacular and it shows that the asteroid Lutetia has suffered many impacts as it is 4.5 billion old and the images reveal that it is heavily cratered and it is 75 miles long.



Scientists are taking these pics of Asteroid as "discovery of a new world"!

Could Asteroid Lutetia lead to a "discovery of a new world" only time will say.

Enjoy the video of Asteroid Lutetia flyby :

Solar eclipse on 11th July

There is going to be a solar eclipse on 11th July where you can expect a light show in skies of the South Pacific, southern Argentina and Chile.

It will be a rare solar eclipse as Moon will be passing between the Sun and Earth.



The eclipse will began at at sunrise about 435 miles southeast of the South Pacific island of Tonga, with the Moon's shadow moving toward the northeast before ending at sunset in South America.It will be a great view to see this eclipse on water as most of eclipse will be found in open water.

Don't ever try to watch this eclipse with your naked eye as it is quite harmful.However for a direct view of the Sun, you can use approved solar filter.

If you are the lucky one to view the eclispe :) then please do share your experience or pics if any!

A partial lunar eclipse for viewers in North America on 26th June

North America last saw a lunar eclipse on February 2008 but on this 26th June they will get a view of lunar eclipse. People who are in continent's western half will have a better view of this partial lunar eclipse.

The partial phase ends at 6:00 a.m. PDT.

People across Pacific Ocean and in Australia can watch the entire eclipse.

You can watch this with your naked eyes however with binoculars and telescopes used at low power (20x) will help you to have a better view.

You can have a look at the lunar eclipse safely and it does no harm to your eyes. It is so because the light of Moon comes from Sun and the intensity of its radiation is also low.

I love to watch all the rare astronomical events , whether it is a solar eclipse, meteor shower or a comet.

It is estimated that the next lunar eclipse will be on December 21, 2010 and will be a total lunar eclipse and it will be visible for observers for North America.

I hope the North Americans will not miss the chance to watch this one...

Watch comet McNaught in this June night sky

Do you like to watch comets on a night sky like me ? If your answer is "yes" then you can watch comet McNaught with your naked eyes.The comet's tail will look like a celestial sword angling upward to the northern sky.

The comet was discovered by Robert H. McNaught in September 9, 2009.

It will be a great sight to view the comet from your naked eyes as well as for for photography. It is believed that the light of comet will be 4 times as bright as the faintest star that can be viewed .

The comet as bright as this wo'nt be visible often so better grab the chance as the sky will be dark from June 11 to June 13.