a view

lpg wrote:Baja Night Sky #86 -- Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016: Iridium Flare, Crescent Moon joins Mercury,M25 Star Cluster, Scorpio: 1) Tonight at 6:41:50pm,one of the brightest Iridium flares for the year will burst over La Ventana/ElSargento for 3-5 seconds in the south about 4 fists above the horizon.Look for the satellite coming from the north 30 seconds earlier. 2) Youcan still catch 5 planets in the morning sky From 5:45-6:15am. Mercury will be easy to spot on Saturday morningin the SE just below a beautiful thin crescent Moon. Venus, Saturn, andMars lie along the arc from Mercury to a bright Jupiter high in thewest. 3) On Friday morning, thecrescent Moon will be above Venus. Sitting below and "touching" theMoon is M25, an open cluster of 600 or so stars born during the reign of dinosaurs. You can see about three dozen of these stars with binoculars. Theycover an area the size of the moon and are more than 2000 light years fromEarth. 4) Myfavorite constellation, Scorpio, hangs in the morning sky like a giant fishhook just west of Saturn. The red star Antares marks the heart of thescorpion. The black hole at the center of the Milky Way isjust to the left of the two stars in the tail of Scorpio. Search this area withbinoculars for several famous open star clusters. Tom at

Baja Night Sky#81 -- Monday, April 13, 2015:   Clearmoonless skies are returning to the Cape Region this week so if you find yourselfwondering what to do, step outside and look at the night sky.   1) By 8pm, Arcturusand Spica are rising low in the east, the 4th and 15th brightest stars respectivelyin the night sky.  They are easy to findusing the Big Dipper, which is standing on its handle in the NE. As the saying goes, "Follow the arc of the BigDipper's handle to Arcturus and speed/spike/slide on to Spica."  Arcturus is in the kite-shaped constellationBootes. Can you spot the kite? Spica is in Virgo the Virgin at the lower right of its diamond asterism. Just to Spica's right is the slightly squished diamond shapeof Corvus the Crow. Leo the Lion is climbing the sky above Spica. Look for thebright star Regulus at the bottom of the backward question mark making up Leo'smane.    2) Now look for Venus, Aldebaran, and the Pleiadeslow in the west. You can't miss Venus glowing more than 10 times brighter than Sirius far to the upper left of Venus. The Pleiades or Seven Sisters are less than afist width to the lower right of Venus. Aldebaran in Taurus is about twice asfar from Venus at its upper left. 3) Finally, look low to the south. Do you seethe four stars forming a cross on its side? No, it's not the Southern Cross;It's the False Cross asterism in Vela the Sail. It could also pass as a kiter'sfoil! When the Southern Cross is in the South it stands upright. You can  spot it there between 11:30pm & 1:30am. It's worth staying up for this week. The brightest of the two stars tothe left of the Cross' base is Alpha Centauri, also known as Rigil Kentaurus.It is our closest neighboring star at 4.3 light years. If you have binoculars,use the bottom and left cross-bar star of the Cross as pointers. Follow them  three times their distance to Omega Centauri,the biggest and brightest Globular Cluster orbiting the Milky Way. You can seeits glow without binoculars, but it is easier to find with them. You arelooking at a ball of 5 million stars more than 17 million light years awayoutside of our Milky Way Galaxy.    4) I was intrigued by the recent announcement inthe Ventana View of  the publication of The Warming, a novel by a recent arrivalin El Sargento, Lorin R. Robinson.  Idownloaded the book from Amazon onto my tablet and spent the night readingit.  While some people discount the possibilityof human activity causing global warming, the Pentagon is planning how theywill meet the threat of rising sea level, mass migrations, terrorism, war, foodshortages, and increased disease that global warming could bring.  I am not looking forward to spending summerback in Sacramento where severe drought and higher-than-normal summer temperaturesare already making living there less attractive. The Warming, which is set in mid twenty-first century, looks at howthese threats might play out around the world. I found thechapters about a family in Bangladesh, an eco-activist in China, anda doctor in South Sudan especially gripping. Woven through these adventures is the story of a Woods HoleOceanographic Institute professor who becomes disillusioned with the slownessof academia, industry, and government to come up with workable solutions to The Warming.Professor Jon Carver steps out on his own adventure to find the best way tomeet these challenges. Along the way he makes some startling discoveries abouthis past life, and, of course, discovers romance. I was only disappointed thatthe author did not have his protagonistassure me that I will still be able to see enough stars in 2050 to have something to write about in the BNS.  5) Recent issues of the BNS are posted at www.ranchosotol.com.  Tom at 

BAJA NIGHT SKY #74 -- Week of February 8/9 2015: 1) Keep an eye on Venus, the evening star for the next several months. Red Mars is less that a fist above Venus now, but Venus, the 2nd planet from the sun, is on a much faster track than Mars, the 4th planet. During the next two weeks, Venus will catch up and pass Mars as it climbs higher in the sky after sunset. It will double in brightness twice before reaching its greatest elongation from the sun this summer, about 45 degrees, when it will set 3 hours after sunset.
2) On Friday, February 20, Venus and Mars will close to less than half a degree apart, and their conjunction will include a two-day-old sliver of a crescent moon. Around 7pm should be a good time to view this triple gathering. 3) With the moon rising around 10pm or later for the next two weeks, dark skies should prevail. There is no need to know a thing about the night sky to enjoy it. Just sit outside and let your eyes roam the sky. And imagine what you might think if you were a Native American residing here 5000 years ago. If that does not stir a sense of wonder inside you, spend more time alone under the stars.
4) Between 9:30 and 10pm this week, the two brightest stars in the night sky are almost directly in the south. Find Sirius, the brightest star, high in the south beneath Orion. Can you pick out the stars that give it the shape of a dog --Canis Major -- standing on its hind legs? About 4 fists below it, low in the south, Canopus, the second brightest star, sparkles in changing colors as its lights passes through different layers of atmosphere. Every couple hundred thousand years, Sirius and Canopus trade places as the brightest star in the sky. As our galaxy makes a complete rotation around its massive black-hole center, the stars it carries along move at different rates, and now and then Canopus moves closer to our Sun and becomes brighter. By the way, while you are looking at Sirius, turn your back to it and look at the opposite horizon. You are looking in the direction we are moving as our Milky Way galaxy makes one complete rotation every 240,000 or so years. We have come a long way since Canopus was the brightest star in the night sky for our early ancestors. Tom in El Sargento at

BAJA NIGHT SKY #73 for week of February 1, 2015 -- With weather services finally forecasting clear Baja Night Skies, here are highlights to watch for. 1) On Tuesday evening, Feb. 3, this month's Full Moon will rise about 6:11pm. A few minutes later, the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, will rise just to the moon's left. Rising opposite the sun, Jupiter is at its brightest this month. At 2.5 times as massive as all the other planets combined, Jupiter acts as Earth's guardian. The giant planet's stronger gravity captures many asteroids that might otherwise crash into planet Earth. By 10pm, the Big Dipper will be standing vertically on Alkaid, the star at the end of its handle, in the NE (over Cerralvo in LV/ES). The star Regulus in Leo will sparkle in the east just below Jupiter, and to Regulus' left is the double star Algieba (use binoculars). The Winter Circle made up of 6 of the sky's brightest stars floats overhead, and in the south, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, hangs high in the sky over Canopus, second brightest star. 2) Also Tuesday, from 6:50 to 6:56pm, the International Space Station (ISS) will make its first bright evening pass this year over Baja Sur. The ISS represents one of the greatest international scientific efforts to date. The first one included a team of French, Spanish and Mexican astronomers who journeyed to Santa Ana, Baja Sur, in 1769 to record the transit of Venus across the face of the sun; the results were used to determine the best estimate then of Baja's longitude and the distance to the sun. Look for the ISS to rise in the SW soon after 6:50pm. Around 6:52pm it will pass just to the SE of Venus and Mars, then pass almost overhead before grazing the star Mirach, in Andromeda, about 6:53pm. It will disappear in the NNE near the star Merak in the bowl of the rising Big Dipper. 3) Ten Million Stars You May Have Never Seen: For a few weeks from 4:30-5:30am (earlier thereafter), a spectacular globular cluster of 5-10 million stars sits 20 degrees above the southern horizon. Look from a location shielded from street and house lights. Measure two fists at arm's length to find a point 20 degrees above the due-south horizon. Use binoculars to scan for a hazy glow about the size of the moon in the region you located. A small telescope will show individual stars around the outside of a compact ball of millions of stars, some of the oldest in the universe. Before the invention of the telescope, this patch of light was thought to be a large, dim star so it was given a star's name, Omega Centauri. Now astronomers know that there is a halo of some 180 globular clusters orbiting around the Milky Way Galaxy. Omega Centauri is the largest and most luminous one. If you spot this luminous patch in the pre-dawn sky, you are seeing an object that is more than 15,000 light years away. For something closer to home, find the two bright stars just above the due-south horizon. The brighter one, Alpha Centauri, is the closest visible star to our Sun at 4.37 light years. At the ISS's velocity of 17,100 mph it would take about 170,000 years to get there. 4) If you are up between 4 and 6am these mornings, J-shaped Scorpious in the SSE is worth exploring with or without binoculars. That bright "star" next to the scorpion's head is Saturn. 5) Last year we visited Rancho La Duna for the first time and I think I saw 1000 stars I had never seen before. The dark sky, along with beautiful setting and hospitality of our gracious host Gabriela, made the visit an unforgettable experience. See the information below to participate in stargazing there this year. Tom in El Sargento at BajaNightSky

Another chapter in the history of spaceflight was written today at 8:29am PST, as the EFT-1 mission ended with the splashdown of the Orion capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California. Though designed to carry astronauts into deep space, the Orion was unmanned for the flight, which was planned to certify the spacecraft and test critical flight systems.

The Orion was launched earlier today at 7:05am EST from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy booster on a four-and-a-half-hour flight. The launch was delayed from its scheduled Thursday liftoff due to a sudden rise in local winds that exceeded safety parameters, followed by a pair of valve malfunctions.

The capsule and its dummy service module flew on a two-orbit trajectory that took it farther than any man-rated craft since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. At its highest altitude, Orion traveled 3,600 mi (5,800 km) away from our planet. When it returned to Earth, it was moving at a speed of 20,000 mph (32,000 km/h) and generated temperatures reaching 4,000⁰ F (2,200⁰ C).

Splashing down in the Pacific 270 mi (435 km) off the coast of Baja, it is awaiting recovery by specially-trained US Navy divers in Zodiacs from the USS Anchorage assisted by the salvage ship USNS Salvor. Once the craft is determined to be safe, it will be brought aboard Anchorage before being taken ashore and transported by road to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Over the next few weeks, scientists and engineers will assess data from its telemetry and flight recorders.

NASA says that the next flight of the Orion will take place no later than 2018, when it will be launched using the agency's Space Launch System (SLS).

 Baja Night Sky for November, 2013:  Venus dominates the SW sky after sunset. The constellation Orion is just rising in the east as Venus sets in the west about 9pm. Jupiter should be visible rising in the east by 11pm,  and will be almost overhead as you face south around 5am, just above Orion to its lower right.  Wed. Nov. 6: Check out Venus soon after sunset when a four-day-old crescent moon passes just above the planet. After the sky darkens,  use binoculars to look between Venus and the crescent moon for two hazy gas clouds, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae. Saturn and Mercury are presently too close to the sun to be seen. Sunday morning before dawn Nov. 17: The annual Leonids meteor shower peaks early this morning. It will probably disappoint as a bright moon will be up most of the night. Sunday evening Nov. 17,  6pm:Tonight the full moon will rise just before 6pm a few degrees north of due east. Tides will rise higher than normal for a couple of days on either side of full moon. Mon. Nov. 25: Mercury & Saturn  are  moving out of the sun's glare in the east before dawn. This morning you can see them about 1 degree apart low in the eastern sky 30-60 minutes  before sunrise.  With binoculars -- or the unaided eye if we are lucky -- try to spot comet Ison just below the two planets as it heads for the sun. Thurs. Nov. 28: Comet Ison  is on track to loop around the sun today.  If the sun's heat and gravity do not break the comet into pieces as is passes near the surface (600,000 miles), it should put on a spectacular show for us before sunrise during December. 

BAJA NIGHT SKIES - After six months of seeing only a handful of the brightest stars in Sacramento, California, I was relieved to find a sky full of stars upon arriving in El Sargento this week. Jupiter is the bright planet rising in the east around 7:30 pm near the red star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull. By 9 pm, the constellation Orion has risen above the eastern horizon. Venus is the planet rising in the east around 5 in the morning. The bright star Spica is just below Venus but shines at only 1% the brightness of Venus. There are three night-sky events to report on today. 1. Tonight (Sunday, Nov. 11) there will be double Iridium satellite flares each lasting only a few seconds. If skies are clear, they should be visible from Cabo San Lucas at 6:51:55 pm and 6:52:44 pm, from Los Barriles about 10 seconds later, and from La Ventana / El Sargento about 22 seconds after the Cabo time. Look towards the northeast, a little more than half way to the zenith. Both flares will be extremely bright in the Los Barriles area. They cannot be seen from La Paz. 2. New moon falls on Tuesday, November 13. The moon will rise with the sun and travel across the sky during the day, hidden in the solar glare. Check the next few evenings after sunset to see if you can spot the young crescent moon as it moves east from the sun. In Australia, new moon occurs just after sunrise on the 14th and will pass directly in front of the sun to produce a spectacular total solar eclipse. I wish I were there. 3. November's annual Leonids meteor shower lasts three days from Friday, November 16, through Sunday, November 18. The best viewing window will probably be midnight to dawn on Saturday morning. Although most years produce only 15 to 20 meteors an hour, a few years have surprised us with that many per minute. That is not expected this year, but one never knows. Tom Spradley in El Sargento