Madison College Astronomy

05/13/2022

Check out the total lunar eclipse if skies are clear Sunday night/Monday morning. NASA also has a livestream of the eclipse starting at 10pm CDT No special equipament needed beyond your eyes. During a lunar eclipse the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow. These always occur at full moon and can be seen by anyone on the night side of the Earth (anyone who can see the moon). Links in comments.

Most of the eclipse takes place in the evening hours on May 15 for Wisconsin so you don't have to wait for predawn hours for this one. The moon also goes deep into the Earth's shadow for this eclipse (notice how long totality is - almost 90 minutes!). This means the moon should have a deep red color at maximum eclipse. That red is sunlight that has passed through Earth's atmosphere being reflected back at us, so essentially you are seeing all the Earth's sunrises and sunsets at once. Some important eclipse times are below:

Partial eclipse begins: 9:27:52 pm
Total eclipse begins: 10:29:03 pm
Maximum eclipse: 11:11:28 pm
Total eclipse ends: 11:53:55 pm
Partial eclipse ends: 2:55:07 am (on May 16)

05/13/2022

Meet Sagittarius A* - The Milky Way black hole. Cool!!!

Today, at simultaneous press conferences around the world, including at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) headquarters in Germany, astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This result provides overwhelming evidence that...

01/04/2022

"Earth swings closest to the sun for 2022 at 12:52 a.m. CST on January 4. This closest Earth-sun distance is called perihelion, from the Greek roots peri meaning near and helios meaning sun. In early January, we’re about 3% closer to the sun – roughly 3 million miles (5 million km) – than we are during Earth’s aphelion (farthest point from the sun) in early July. That’s in contrast to our average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million km)"

Every year in early January, Earth reaches its closest point to the sun in an event called perihelion. It occurs

11/17/2021

There is a partial lunar eclipse visible early Friday morning (1:19am CST partial eclipse stars, 3:03am CST maximum eclipse, 4:17am CST partial eclipse ends).

This lunar eclipse just barely misses out on being a total lunar eclipse with 99% of the Moon's face being covered by the Earth's shadow; this is the longest partial lunar eclipse since 1440! The media is calling this the "longest partial lunar eclipse in 1000 years" because the next one that is this long will be in 2669.

With 99% of the moon covered you should be able to see some of the red color that the total lunar eclipse is famous for (often called "blood moon"); this red color is sunlight that has passed through Earth's atmosphere and is reflecting off the moon; you are essentially seeing all the Earth's sunrises and sunsets reflected off the moon.

Check it out if you happen to be awake early Friday morning or better yet set your alarm to watch; if you've never seen an eclipse before they are definitely worth watching and require no special equipment to see.

A partial lunar eclipse occurs on November 19, 2021. It will reach the Americas, North Europe, eastern Asia, Australia, and

10/01/2021

Check out the recent sonifications from the Chandra Xray Space Telescope team. They turned images of a star formation region, a supernova remnant, and a supermassive black hole into sound. Give it a listen.

Hear the sounds of space. The videos in this post are what happens when scientists turn astronomical data into sound,

08/31/2021

A woman who once had no interest in science went on to find more than 800 asteroids and 32 comets, including one of the most famous comets of the 20th century.

Shoemaker discovered more than 800 asteroids and 32 comets, including one of the most famous comets of the 20th century.

08/30/2021

Scientists have spotted a previously unrecognized feature of our Milky Way galaxy: A contingent of young stars and star-forming gas clouds is sticking out of one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms like a splinter poking out from a plank of wood. Stretching some 3,000 light-years, this is the first major structure identified with an orientation so dramatically different than the arm’s.

The newly discovered feature offers insight into the large-scale structure of our galaxy, which is difficult to study from Earth’s position inside it.

08/30/2021

In its search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is once again preparing to collect the first of many rock core samples that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study.

The rover will abrade a rock this week, allowing scientists and engineers to decide whether that target would withstand its powerful drill.

08/30/2021

Astronomers at the University of Cambridge have identified a new class of potentially habitable exoplanets called Hyceans. These are huge, hot worlds that could be covered by oceans and have thick hydrogen atmospheres.

Hycean planets are huge, hot worlds covered by oceans, with thick hydrogen atmospheres. They might be key to discovering life

02/17/2021

Perseverance Rover lands on Mars tomorrow! Mission coverage starting at 1:15pm CST:

Information on how to watch the landing of the Perseverance rover.

10/06/2020

On October 6, 2020, Earth sweeps closer to the red planet Mars than it will again for another 15 years.

10/06/2020

Exciting news! The 2020 Physics Nobel Prize was announced this morning and once again it goes to astrophysics!

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 was divided, one half awarded to Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity", the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."

See more in the summary information. The press release and popular information from the Nobel Prize site are typically very understandable. The advanced information can be quite challenging. More information including interviews with the scientists will be added to the Nobel Prize site as it becomes available.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 was divided, one half awarded to Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity", the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at th...