December 30, 2009

We wish our friends, colleagues, participating astronomers and students, and everyone all over the planet, a happy New Year's celebration and a happy and prosperous year in 2010.

The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the fourth quarter of 2009. Among the columns from the past three months are: "Lord of the Planets" (October 23), "Which Way Forward?" (November 6), "Water on the Moon!" (November 20), and "Lava World" (December 18).

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. Comet 169P/NEAT will be passing only 0.19 AU from Earth on January 12, although we don't know if the comet will still be bright enough to observe; the event is visible only from the southern hemisphere.

We congratulate Earthrise Team member and "Countdown to 500 Comets" mentor Mike Begbie for his recent relocation back to Harare, Zimbabwe.

A small partial lunar eclipse occurs tomorrow, New Year's Eve and will be visible from Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Mid-eclipse occurs at 19:23 UT (12:23 P.M. MST).

December 17, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet Siding Spring C/2007 Q3 seems to have undergone a small nuclear outburst within the recent past, and also that Comet 217P/LINEAR P/2009 F3 appears to have brightened some as well.

We congratulate the team of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission for their successful launch this past December 14. We expect many exciting new results from WISE during its expected ten months (or so) of operations, and it is possible that WISE could contribute one or more comet discoveries to our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

December 12, 2009

Comet 467 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

The annual Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak tomorrow night (December 13-14); peak display is predicted for 5:00 UT on December 14 (10:00 P.M. MST December 13). Up to 60 to 100 or more meteors per hour should be visible. Since the moon is near its new phase the conditions for viewing the Geminids this year are quite favorable.

November 29, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update includes the apparent asteroid (20898) Fountainhills, which is traveling in a distinctly cometary orbit.

A fairly bright new nova has appeared in the constellation Eridanus, located at 4h47m.9, -10d 11' (2000.0 coordinates), seven degrees west-southwest of the bright star Rigel. It was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki (discoverer of Comet Itagaki C/2009 E1) on November 25, and as of a couple of nights ago appeared near magnitude 8.5. A report and image is available at the Sky & Telescope web site, and a finder chart is available at the AAVSO web site.

November 20, 2009

Comet 466 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly. This update also reflects the fact that Comet Garradd C/2008 Q3 is now visible in the morning sky.

We congratulate Chris Wyatt of Walcha, New South Wales, Australia, for being the newest recipient of our comet observing award, given to those who successfully observe ten or more comets in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. (We are still seeking a sponsor for this award.)

November 17, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

November 12, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that there have been reports that Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is currently undergoing a new outburst.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will swing by Earth early tomorrow morning (Friday, November 13) as it receives a gravity assist towards its final destination of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Finder charts and other viewing information for the flyby are available here.

October 25, 2009

Comets 464 and 465 have now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

October 18, 2009

Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be attending (although not speaking at) the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight that will be held in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday, October 21 and 22.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet 217P/LINEAR P/2009 F3 has undergone a recent outburst and that Comet Siding Spring C/2007 Q3 is now visible in the morning sky.

October 13, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update includes the apparent asteroid (3552) Don Quixote, which is traveling in a distinctly cometary orbit.

October 7, 2009

On Friday morning, October 9, NASA's LCROSS spacecraft, along with its upper-stage booster rocket, will impact the moon in the crater Cabeus near the lunar south pole. These impacts are to occur between 11:31 and 11:36 Universal Time (5:31 to 5:36 A.M. MDT). Up-to-the-minute information about these impact events, including ways to view them, is available at the LCROSS web site and at Sky & Telescope; among other ways, they can be viewed on NASA television.

September 30, 2009

Comet 463 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the third quarter of 2009. Among the columns from the past three months are: "Target: Jupiter!" (July 24), "First Results from Kepler" (August 14), "A New Look at Life," Part I (August 28) and Part II (September 4), and "One Strange Star in Auriga" (September 18).

We congratulate the team of the MESSENGER mission for their successful encounter with Mercury yesterday.

September 24, 2009

We extend sincere condolences to Earthrise Board of Directors member Jeff Diamond for the recent death of his son, Shannon J. Shaw. Shannon was Supervising Petroleum Engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the New Mexico region. Our thoughts are with Jeff and his family during this sad time.

We congratulate Earthrise Board of Advisors member George Whitesides, who has recently been named Chief of Staff for new NASA Adminstrator Charles Bolden.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is now again accessible in the morning sky, and is also undergoing an outburst.

September 16, 2009

Comet 462 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

September 3, 2009

The Earthrise Institute is pleased to announce its cooperation with the New Mexico Museum of Space History and other institutions in the area in staging the White Sands and Hale-Bopp Star Parties that will be held in Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, and White Sands National Monument, New Mexico from September 10 through 12, 2009. Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be speaking on Thursday evening, September 10, in Cloudcroft.

Comet 461 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

August 31, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

August 13, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

July 30, 2009

Comet 460 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

July 26, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

One week ago Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley reported his discovery of a new black "scar" in Jupiter's atmosphere that is strongly reminiscent of the impact "scars" left by the fragments of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 when they impacted Jupiter in July 1994. Detailed studies have since suggested that this feature is almost certainly the result of an impact by an unidentified comet or asteroid.

This new feature has been imaged by numerous large telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope. Observers who might wish to try to detect it can utilize the table of meridian transit times of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (provided by Sky & Telescope magazine) and adding 2 hours 6 minutes to the listed times; the feature should be visible for about an hour on either side of the resulting time.

July 18, 2009

NASA has just released several high-resolution images of most of the Apollo mission landing sites (which, among other things, show the descent stages of the respective missions' Lunar Modules) taken with the recently-launched Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission.

July 17, 2009

There will be a total solar eclipse taking place on this coming Wednesday, July 22. The path of totality crosses central India and portions of the southern Asian nations of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Burma, then across central China (including directly over the city of Shanghai); it then crosses some of the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, and then across several of the southern Pacific islands, including the famous island of Iwo Jima as well as several of the Marshall Islands and some of the islands of Kiribati. The longest duration of totality -- 6 minutes, 39 seconds -- will be visible from the South Pacific 280 km (175 miles) east of Iwo Jima; this is the longest-duration total solar eclipse of the entire 21st Century. Partial phases of the eclipse will be visible from most of eastern Asia and the southern Pacific Ocean, and (before sunset on Tuesday, July 21) from Hawaii.

The Apollo 11 mission -- humanity's first landing on the moon -- took place 40 years ago this week. We have recently learned of a web site that is webcasting simulationed re-creations of the Apollo 11 events in "real time."

July 15, 2009

In collaboration with the New Mexico State Parks Department, the Earthrise Institute completes its current series of public presentations and co-hosting of star parties as a part of the State Parks Department's "Reach for the Stars" program with a presentation at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, New Mexico on Saturday evening, July 18.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

An interview with Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale is featured in the newest issue of New Mexico Magazine.

July 5, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place on Tuesday, July 7. In theory the eclipse is visible from western North and South America, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Ocean, however the eclipse is so tiny that it is doubtful that it will be detectable at all.

June 27, 2009

The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the second quarter of 2009. Among the columns from the past three months are: "It Fell from the Sky!" (April 10), "The Farthest Thing" (May 1), "It's Been a Long Road" (May 8), and "Back in the Days" (June 5).

June 24, 2009

Comet 459 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly. This update also reflects the fact that we have a new red print comet, Comet Christensen C/2006 W3.

June 18, 2009

Comet 458 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

June 14, 2009

Comet 457 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

June 12, 2009

Comet 456 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly. This particular comet has been listed in the "Southern Hemisphere Only" section of our update page since late April and has been a red print comet since mid-May.

In collaboration with the New Mexico State Parks Department, the Earthrise Institute is continuing its series of public presentations and co-hosting of star parties as a part of the State Parks Department's "Reach for the Stars" program. The next series of presentations will be held in conjunction with the "Desert Starlight" event at Brantley Lake State Park near Carlsbad, New Mexico on the evenings of June 19 and 20.

Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale has recently been named the New Mexico state finalist in the 2009 "Above and Beyond" Awards program; the "Above and Beyond" Award is the civilian equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. This honor was given primarily for the efforts involved in establishing Earthrise and pursuing the overall Earthrise mission, and he gratefully acknowledges this high-level recognition of these efforts. The finalist certificate is posted here.

June 5, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

May 28, 2009

Under contract with the New Mexico Museum of Space History, the Earthrise Institute will be conducting astronomy-themed programs and activities as part of the Museum's Shuttle Camp that begins next Monday, June 1. Shuttle Camp is for students of all school grades, and runs on a weekly basis through early August.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

We extend congratulations to the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis for their recent successful servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and to the European Space Agency (and associated spacecraft teams) for the recent successful launch of the Herschel Space Observatory and Planck Surveyor spacecraft. We look forward to many exciting observations and images from all these various instruments during the months and years to come.

May 15, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that we have a new red print comet, Comet Garradd C/2008 Q3 (currently visible only from the southern hemisphere).

We have now begun a "What's New" archive page for the 2009 entries.

We extend wishes of success to the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on their current servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope!

April 30, 2009

Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be speaking at Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico on Friday evening, May 1, as part of the New Mexico State Parks Department's "Reach for the Stars" program. On Saturday morning, May 2, he will be speaking at the Education Launch being held at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet Itagaki C/2009 E1 has now emerged into the morning sky.

April 23, 2009

Comet 455 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly. This update also reflects the fact that Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 has apparently undergone a "mini-outburst" within the recent past, and also includes Comet Garradd C/2008 Q3, currently visible only from the southern hemisphere but which should become a "Countdown" comet in about two months.

April 19, 2009

Comet 454 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

April 15, 2009

Comet 453 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

April 1, 2009

As has been mentioned previously on this page, 2009 has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). Among the IYA's "cornerstone" projects is the "100 Hours of Astronomy," a global "star party" that will be held throughout the planet between April 2 and April 5. Numerous local star party events have been scheduled in over 130 countries, and the nearest one to any reader can be found by consulting the map on the "100 Hours" web site.

Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be traveling to Lebanon at the end of this week to give presentations to students at the Houssam Hariri High School in Saida and at a "100 Hours of Astronomy" event in Saida on the evening of April 4.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

March 27, 2009

The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the first quarter of 2009. Among the columns from the past three months are: "Worlds of Ice" (January 30), "Mysteries of the Zoo" (February 13), "Saturn's Children" (February 27), and "Springtime of the Sun" (March 20).

March 24, 2009

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet Christensen C/2006 W3 has now emerged into the morning sky.

March 17, 2009

Comet 452 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly. We are also pleased to add several new names to our list of comet observers, many of whom successfully viewed the recent bright display of Comet Lulin C/2007 N3.

One of our most steady financial donors over the past several years has been the First National Bank of Alamogordo, New Mexico, and we are now pleased to present a link to their web site from our Contributor's Page.

We congratulate the team of the Kepler mission for their successful launch this past March 6, and we wish it success in its quest to detect Earth-sized planets orbiting around other stars. Through our collaboration with the PlanetQuest project we are in the process of developing educational components to the Kepler mission.

March 2, 2009

Comets 450 and 451 have now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

February 23, 2009

Comet 449 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

We are saddened to note the recent passing of Eleanor Helin, known affectionately as "Glo" to her friends and colleagues. Glo was one of the early pioneers of near-Earth asteroid research, and among her many discoveries was the first-known Aten-type asteroid (those with orbital periods less than one year). She was also the initiator of the NEAT program, the first automated survey program for near-Earth asteroids. Finally, Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale personally thanks her for graciously donating one of "her" asteroids for an asteroid-naming project he conducted while teaching an undergraduate astronomy course at New Mexico State University.

February 17, 2009

The New Mexico State Parks Department has issued a press release announcing the upcoming presentations that we will be giving at various State Parks in southeastern New Mexico during the coming three weeks under the State Parks Department's "Reach for the Stars" program.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the current naked-eye visibility of Comet Lulin C/2007 N3.

February 14, 2009

In collaboration with the New Mexico State Parks Department, the Earthrise Institute will be conducting presentations (and co-hosting associated star parties) at various State Parks in southeastern New Mexico during the coming three weeks as a part of the State Parks Department's "Reach for the Stars" program. These presentations and star parties are being planned in part to coincide with the appearance of Comet Lulin C/2007 N3 in our nighttime sky during its forthcoming approach to Earth. These presentations will be held at: Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park near Calrlsbad on Friday, February 20; at Brantley Lake State Park near Carlsbad on Friday, February 27; and at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell on Friday, March 6. Each presentation will begin at 6:00 P.M. MST. We will also be giving presentations in several regional schools in conjunction with these Parks presentations.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. This update reflects the fact that Comet Siding Spring C/2007 Q3 is once again visible from the northern hemisphere, and that Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 has undergone yet another outburst (the fourth of the current viewing season) within the past few days.

February 1, 2009

Comet 448 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

January 25, 2009

There is an annular solar eclipse taking place tomorrow, January 26. The path of annularity is mainly over water, crossing the southern Indian Ocean, but it crosses the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo (with the city of Jakarta being right at the southern edge of the path) near the eastern (evening) end of the event. The partial phases of the eclipse will be visible from all of Australia and most of Indonesia; from southeastern Asia and southeastern India; and from southern Africa.

We have posted a new update to our comet update page in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program.

January 9, 2009

Comet 447 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

We congratulate Martin Masek of Liberec, Czech Republic, for being the newest recipient of our comet observing award, given to those who successfully observe ten or more comets in our "Countdown to 500 Comets" program. (We are still seeking a sponsor for this award.)

January 3, 2009

Comet 446 has now been added to the "Countdown to 500 Comets" program, and our comet update page has been updated accordingly.

January 2, 2009

We wish everyone all over the planet a happy and prosperous New Year in 2009!

2009 has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). There are a number of "Cornerstone" projects that are being conducted under the banner of the IYA, and one of these is the Cosmic Diary, which is intended to show the human side of those who conduct astronomy for a living. Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale is one of the participants of the Cosmic Diary, and will be maintaining a personal blog there throughout the year. All Earthrise participants and friends are invited to check out Alan's blog, and the blogs of all the other Cosmic Diary astronomers, regularly thoughout 2009.

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower is expected to peak tomorrow morning, January 3. The maximum, which is usually very brief, is expected around 13:00 Universal Time (6:00 A.M. MST), which means the prime viewing locations will be in western North America. The peak rates could exceed 100 meteors per hour.

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