In the stars
posted in News, Science |Lots of sky news lately.
First off, there was tonight’s total lunar eclipse. Alas, we couldn’t see it, due to cloud cover. I hope some of you did! I was truly hoping to be able to see this one, because it was due to be total just as it rose here in Alaska. The last time I saw a rising moon that was totally eclipsed was many years ago in Chicago, over Lake Michigan. It was the most awe-inspiring sight: a huge glowing red orb in the sky, quite Tolkein-esque, grim and foreboding. It was huge, of course, because it was down on the horizon, and our perceptions of size are aided by local landmarks (trees, buildings, etc.); items not on the horizon don’t seem as big because there’s nothing to compare them to.
Then, there’s the U.S. planning to shoot down a defunct satellite (oops–it seems that they’ve done it tonight). I’m not quite sure why our gummint has decided to do this, when we’ve had satellites merrily downing themselves for years now, though they played up the "1,000 gallons of hydrazine (EEEK! Deadly chemical!)" aspect quite a bit. OmegaDad’s theory is that the U.S. is doing it because China shot one of their own down a year or two ago, and we have to show them that we, too, can do fancy space shooting. Sort of a cold, cold, cold war, being done in secret out in the open.
Then there’s the fireball seen over much of the northwestern U.S. Tuesday morning, estimated to be centered over Adams County, Washington, with various videos that captured it (wow!). Reports on this meteor came from Idaho and Nevada, too, so it was quite a spectacular one. You must watch those videos; in the second link, go halfway through and that’s when they show some more videos of the fireball.
Last of all, there’s news of a star that has a planetary system that’s practically a clone of ours, at least in galactic terms.
All very cool, to a geeky gal like me!
