An Eastern Hemisphere eclipse, then the Moon catches Venus…
Orion Rising over Savage Farm, near Bluemont, VA Imaged with a Canon PowerShot A70 digital camera, 10s @ f/3.5, ISO 200, by Geoff Chester
This post is courtesy of The United States Naval Observatory
The Moon wanders back into the evening sky by the week’s end. New Moon occurs on the 26th at 2:55 am Eastern Standard Time. At this time, anyone who happens to find themselves awash in the vastness of the southern and eastern Indian Ocean will experience the first eclipse of the year. This will be an annular solar eclipse, one in which the Moon doesn’t completely obscure the Sun along the central path. 
This is a result of the Moon being close to its apogee (farthest from the Earth) and the earth being close to its perihelion (closest to the Sun). Most of the eclipse will occur over open water, except for portions of Sumatra and Borneo, where residents will see the fiery ring if the eclipse in the late afternoon.
Look for Luna’s slender crescent shortly after sunset (I saw it tonight at about 6:30pm Mr. G), low on the western horizon, on the evening of the 27th. Two nights later she finds her way to the company of Venus, appearing below the dazzling planet on the 29th and above her on the 30th.
This week is a good one to get acquainted with the constellation Orion (click here for information about Orion). This group of bright stars is probably the most distinctive in the entire sky, and with the possible exception of the Pleiades there’s probably more sky lore associated with Orion than any other constellation.
An interesting exercise for the beginning skywatcher is to simply count the number of stars that you can see within the trapezoidal outline of his four brightest stars. There will be a world-wide campaign this spring to make just such an observation. Known as “GLOBE at Night”, the objective is to use the number of Orion’s visible stars to characterize the brightness of the sky at different locations. The more stars you see, the darker your sky is. Virtually everyone can see his three bright “Belt” stars, but it takes some effort in urban skies to see more. However, it’s worth the effort, especially if you have binoculars or a small telescope.
A small group of three stars seems to hang from the left side of the “Belt”, and if you use the slightest optical aid on the middle member of these three “Sword” stars you’ll instantly see that something is different. This star seems to be surrounded by a faint glowing haze that takes on increasing complexity as you increase the size of your optics. The Great Nebula is actually a small part of an enormous cloud of interstellar gas and dust, a veritable stellar nursery, where infant stars are awaiting the final stages of their birth to visibility. There’s enough “stuff” out there to make over 10,000 stars like the Sun, and that’s just in the part we can see. Observers in truly dark sites can see a huge, faint nebulosity surrounding the entire constellation!
Bright Venus gets a visit from the waxing crescent Moon as the week ends. The dazzling planet is now a few weeks past her greatest elongation, and anyone with a small telescope can see that she now sports a fat crescent phase.
Baleful Saturn now rises at around 9:00 pm and is high enough to be easily seen in the east by 11:00. The ringed planet sports a soft amber glow in contrast to the icy-blue glint of Regulus, the bright heart of Leo, the Lion. The planet’s famous rings are just barely tipped toward our line of sight, and over the next several weeks they will very gradually open by a degree or two. Later this year the earth will cross the ring plane and they will effectively disappear in an event that happens once every 15 years.
I wonder, how do peolple come up with star constilations? Do they just look up at the sky and see if there is somthing that looks like a little dipper (for example) and they decide to call it that or what?
How could you find out?
Wow, it’s been a long time between comments. I was beginning to wonder where my students went.
Yea, i was laying in my backyard looking at the stars and i thought of that question and then i thought about this website so i commented!
I wonder what are shooting stars?? people say thier good luck if you wish on it though i don’t think sooo… =]
hmmm… are we still getting extra credit when comment on your web. mr. grant?
>>>it seems like nobody comments anymore<<<
Yes, you still get extra credit. The idea is to keep you thinking about and discussing science after school.
i am watching the launch of a kepler thats going into space and its looking for other earths. i wonder how fast it really is going when it gets into space?
I watched it too. I always try to watch the launches, way cool.
The shuttles are way better to see from the beach tho, its like the best view possible.
I saw a shuttle launch once from a cruise ship docked in Port Canaveral. That’s about as close as you can get.
when a shuttle goes into space would the speed of the shuttle be the same as its speed flying on earth?
cris i think the speed incresses because there is not air up there causeing friction. you think?
christopher p4>>>>>>>>>>
i think the shuttle would be faster in the earth than it would be in space bcuz space has like less gravity than earth
do you think there is life on mars? i think there is organisoms and differant gasses on there and maybe one day will host life like us?
there has to be life out there, i mean this is a big universe we cant be the only living creatures! |:]
I agree — someplace, but Mars? The new Kepler space craft that just launched last week is looking for planets like Earth in other solar systems. It will look at about 100,000 stars as scientists continue to search for life in the universe.
do u think that if they do find some other life that they will actually tell us or will they hide that from us ?
thats a really qood question..
i wonder about that…
yea there probably coould be life somewhere else other than earth but probly not mars?!?!
isnt mars like really hot
but again..there is a possibility..
Ummm well i belive it is really hot … but if there is where do u think life could be at . and what if there is another earth out there and they are wondering if there is other living things out there????
i printed out the test and i looked at all the questions. i don’t get number 16?
The arrangement of the sun, moon and earth create variations in the tides. These variations are called spring and neap tides. Spring tides are when the earth, sun and moon are in a straight line. This results in a bigger difference between high and low tide. Neap tides happen when the moon, sun and earth are at right angles. This results in the smallest difference between high and low tides.
i thought the test was pretty easy……even though i didnt study but i think i still did qood
because when you mr.grant went over the questions the day before the post test that helped me alot!!!!;)
well that is true there could be life out there somewhere
i just dont really know where there could be..
know 1 knows
but yea i do think mars is real hot
istn it kind of a creepy thought to think that there MITE be other species..or whatever you want to call it..like us?!
i think it is but at the same time it would be cool..
and i agree with bianca because that is true!
Woot Woot ! yeah ! in way it would be weird i mean like if u ever seen the cartoons that say that there is another world but it is like an anti-world where the people that are good are bad and vis verse. Ohhh that would be really crazy !