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Greetings to our VI Skywatchers:
April promises to make skywatching very interesting - complete with a meteor shower before the month's end!
Lyrid Meteor Showers:
The Lyrid Meteor Showers will occur APR. 21st - APR. 22nd.
The meteors are swift and bright, traveling at approximately 30 miles per second (108,000 mph).
About 20 meteors per hour are predicted. They are known to leave a dusty trail as they enter the Earth's atmosphere.
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Planets
WEST: Jupiter and Venus are seen in the west sky and Venus will be seen above the Jovial planet.
SOUTH: Mars - Mars will remain visible throughout the nights up until the early morning hours.
EAST : Here is Saturn, a bit low in the east sky. Saturn will - on APR - 15th - reach "opposition" (opposite the sun) and will also be closest to Earth at this time. (A telescope is recommended for the best viewing of The Lord of the Rings!)
Enjoy the beauty of our Caribbean Sky as it rivals the majesty of our Caribbean Blue Sea!
😀
Swan
Posted : April 2, 2012 11:33 pm
Topic starter
Greetings to our VI Skywatchers:
.EAST : Here is Saturn, a bit low in the east sky. Saturn will - on APR - 15th - reach "opposition" (opposite the sun) and will also be closest to Earth at this time. (A telescope is recommended for the best viewing of The Lord of the Rings!)
Swan
G'day,
SATURN: Look now to the SOUTH sky as April 15th approaches.
For those who may have missed this article on Saturn's opposition viewing coming up on the 15th of April: Please note that a telescope is recommended to see Saturn and the rings.
Enjoy the beauty of our Caribbean Sky as it rivals the majesty of our Caribbean Blue Sea!
Swan
http://www.space.com/15219-saturn-opposition-skywatching-tips.html
Posted : April 11, 2012 8:56 pm
Greetings to our VI Skywatchers:
April promises to make skywatching very interesting - complete with a meteor shower before the month's end!
Lyrid Meteor Showers:
The Lyrid Meteor Showers will occur APR. 21st - APR. 22nd.
The meteors are swift and bright, traveling at approximately 30 miles per second (108,000 mph).
About 20 meteors per hour are predicted. They are known to leave a dusty trail as they enter the Earth's atmosphere.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________What a nice going away present for me, as we unfortunately leave island a few days after these showers! Thank you Caribbean and thank you Swans for helping my family and I to create such amazing celestial memories in our time on this beautiful rock!
Posted : April 12, 2012 2:31 am
early tonight it looked like there were a bunch of red stars. what was I seeing? alien invasion?
Posted : April 12, 2012 7:35 am
Topic starter
early tonight it looked like there were a bunch of red stars. what was I seeing? alien invasion?
Jamison: Mars, located to the right of Saturn ( S ) and in the SW sky is the only red identifiable object at this time. The Earth's atmosphere can play tricks on us observers also, such as making stars appear as though they "twinkle." I will risk stating this much however: No aliens or alien invasions! 😀
Swan
Posted : April 12, 2012 9:52 pm
Swans, is there a particular time of the night/early morning that we should watch for the Lyrid Meteor showers?
Posted : April 12, 2012 11:14 pm
Topic starter
Swans, is there a particular time of the night/early morning that we should watch for the Lyrid Meteor showers?
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/when-is-the-next-meteor-shower-2012
Tammy & JJ,
This is a great article and will specify the time (s). The meteors will be visible throughout the entire sky AND no moon will interfere with the dark night sky. That is a treat! As that weekend approaches, I will post a reminder. 🙂
Swan
Posted : April 13, 2012 12:06 am
Topic starter
:
From Space.com this morning, another article with a very nice video from NASA on this coming weekend's Lyrid Meteor Showers. I feel that each article brings a bit of new and interesting information with it - also, NASA will air the Lyrids LIVE on the internet...please see the time stated in the article.
All we need now, NASA, is the promise of a clear sky! Otherwise, "Houston, we have a problem..." 😀
http://www.space.com/15282-meteor-shower-lyrid-skywatching-preview.html
Swan
Posted : April 16, 2012 5:08 pm
Topic starter
G'morning to our skywatchers residing on or visiting the VIs and to our friends currently off island also. 😎
I'm posting, as promised, to remind everyone of the Lyrid Meteor Showers.
Note:
- Some predict that the meteors may be seen starting as early as tonight through tomorrow night - of course - and some might still be visible Monday night.
- The BEST time to see the meteor shower will be tomorrow night - after dark - up until dawn. After Midnight seems to be key.
The meteors will be seen all over the sky....you won't need to hunt for them. 😀
The next spectacular meteor shower will be the Perseids, which will occur on August 12 - 13th. The predicted number of meteors per hour are greater than 60.
Enjoy!
Swan
Posted : April 20, 2012 10:46 am
Good Morning, Did anyone see meteor showers last night? We were at Sandy Point with a beautiful sky then it started rainning. We got back to our house around 1am and it was cloudy. I stayed up until 2:30 and saw a few. I need a telescope or binoculars.
Posted : April 22, 2012 2:26 pm
Watched for them until about 1 am and saw nothing - and had a clear sky. ???? Guess they didn't want to be seen that early!
Posted : April 22, 2012 3:25 pm
I'll be watching tonight
Posted : April 23, 2012 1:14 am
