We had some fun last weekend testing the roof opening for both Alpha and Bravo buildings.  Bravo is the second completed observatory housing 2 piers, almost identical to Alpha building.  There are a few cosmetic items to complete as well as installing the steps going into the building.  I hope you enjoy the video. We sure did!

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Published on Jun 3, 2012

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Halos around the moon – or sun – are a sign of thin cirrus clouds drifting high above our heads. They are a sign of nearby storms.

A ring or circle of light around the sun or moon is called a halo by scientists. We get many messages throughout each year from people who’ve just spotted a ring around the sun or moon. People want to know: what causes a halo around the sun or moon?

There’s an old weather saying: ring around the moon means rain soon. There’s truth to this saying, because high cirrus clouds often come before a storm. Notice in these photos that the sky looks fairly clear. After all, you can see the sun or moon. And yet halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet or more above our heads.

These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals. The halos you see are caused by both refraction, or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals. The crystals have to be oriented and positioned just so with respect to your eye, in order for the halo to appear.

That’s why, like rainbows, halos around the sun – or moon – are personal. Everyone sees their own particular halo, made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different from the ice crystals making the halo of the person standing next to you.

Because moonlight isn’t very bright, lunar halos are mostly colorless, but you might notice more red on the inside and more blue on the outside of the halo. These colors are more noticeable in halos around the sun. If you do see a halo around the moon or sun, notice that the inner edge is sharp, while the outer edge is more diffuse. Also, notice that the sky surrounding the halo is darker than the rest of the sky.

Bottom line: Halos around the sun or moon happen when high, thin cirrus clouds are drifting high above your head. Tiny ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere cause the halos. They do this by refracting and reflecting the light. Lunar halos are signs that storms are nearby.

Earthsky.com

The moon turns full today – February 14, 2014 – on what we in the U.S. celebrate as Valentine’s Day. Do you celebrate it in your country? If so, happy V-Day! If not … we love you anyway. Today’s full moon is the second full moon after the December solstice. It reaches the crest of its full phase at 23:53 Universal Time. That’s 6:53 p.m. EST, 5:53 p.m. CST, 4:53 p.m. MST or 3:53 p.m. PST. The bright star near the full moon is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion.

Want to impress your Valentine with some names for the February full moon? In North America, we often call this particular full moon the Wolf Moon, Snow Moon or Hunger Moon. We’ve also heard the name Ice Moon for this full moon.

But the February full moon can assume any number of different names. It was called the Snow-blinding Moon by the Micmac people in eastern Canada. This full moon was the Wind Moon to the San Ildefonso of the Southwest. And it was the Blackbear Moon to the Kutenai of the Northwest. The list could go on and on, as evidenced by Keith’s Moon Page.

Every full moon stands opposite – or nearly opposite – the sun. Try noticing how high above the horizon you see the moon tonight. Its distance above the horizon indicates approximately how far below the opposite horizon the sun is at that time.

Any time you see the moon near the horizon, it might have an orange or reddish color. The reason is Earth’s own atmosphere. The moon’s (or sun’s) light must pass through a greater thickness of atmosphere when rising or setting (that is, when it is near the horizon) than when overhead. Since the atmosphere scatters the bluish component of light, while allowing the redder light to travel straight through to our eyes, objects often appear redder than normal when near the horizon. So any moon, full or not, may look reddish when seen near the horizon.

This year, the full moon falls on February 14, Valentine’s Day. The phases of the moon recur on (or near) the same calendar dates every 19 years. So the full moon won’t come on Valentine’s Day again until February 14, 2033! After that, a Valentine’s Day full moon will occur on February 14, 2052, on February 14, 2071 and February 14, 2090!

Bottom line: Valentine’s moon! The moon is full on Valentine’s Day 2014. Some names for the February full moon. Also, watch tonight as the moon and star Regulus travel together across the sky tonight from dusk until dawn.

                        Earthsky.com

It was widely reported on Wednesday that China’s first moon rover – called Yutu or, in English, Jade Rabbit – failed to connect with mission controllers in Beijing following its second hibernation in the long, cold lunar night. Then yesterday afternoon, another report suggested signs of life from Yutu. Today (February 13, 2014), a spokesman with China’s lunar probe program has said that Yutu is able to pick up signals, although it is still experiencing a mechanical control abnormality, according to an English-language report fromnews.xinhuanet.com. Pei Zhaoyu, the spokesman, said:

… the rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive.

One of the first to pick up a signal from Yutu yesterday was an amateur group that monitors radio signals from deep space (uhf-satcom.com). It reported that a downlink signal from the Yutu rover had been detected, indicating that Yutu is back.

Chinese media first reported Yutu’s malfunction on January 27, as night was falling in the rover’s location, when Yutu was about halfway through its three-month mission to study the moon. At that time, China’s state-run Xinhua news released a report in the voice of the rover itself, saying:

Although I should’ve gone to bed this morning, my masters discovered something abnormal with my mechanical control system. My masters are staying up all night working for a solution. I heard their eyes are looking more like my red rabbit eyes.

Nevertheless, I’m aware that I might not survive this lunar night.

So that its delicate electronics could survive the extreme cold of a lunar night, the rover needed to hibernate, or shut down most of its systems, when nighttime came to the portion of the moon on which the rover sat. If a mechanical problem kept it from hibernating properly, then Yutu could “freeze to death.”

The Chang’e 3 lunar lander – which carried Yutu to the moon and successfully landed on December 14, 2014 and released Yutu to the lunar surface – is apparently still in contact with mission control.

China’s Chang’e 3 mission is the first soft landing on the moon since 1976. China is only the third country in the world to land on the moon, after the U.S. and former Soviet Union.

Whatever happens … hats off to Yutu and its builders!

EarthSky.com

Deborah Byrd

The brightest and second-brightest luminaries of nighttime – the moon and the planet Venus, respectively – will be putting on quite a show in the early morning hours on January 28 and 29. No matter where you live worldwide, get up some 90 to 60 minutes before sunrise. Look low in the southeast – or in the direction of sunrise – to observe the attractive morning couple.

Rising times for the sun, moon and Venus in your sky

If your sky is clear, there is no way to overlook Venus, the most brilliant of planets, in the predawn and/or dawn sky. Look first for the thin waning crescent moon, and then seek for the exceptionally bright star-like object in close vicinity to the moon. The moon and Venus are visible to the eye because these worlds reflect sunlight.

When can you see earthshine on a crescent moon?

Moreover, the moon and Venus show the whole range of phases in Earth’s sky. In fact, if you observe Venus in a telescope at dawn tomorrow (January 28), you’ll see that the crescent phase of Venus very much resembles that of tomorrow’s crescent moon.

Understanding moon phases

Yet, the crescent Venus is actually waxing toward full while the crescent moon is waning toward new. In fact, the moon will turn new on January 30, to usher in the second supermoon of January 2014. At that time, the moon will move out of the morning sky and into the evening sky.
Second supermoon of the month falls on January 30, 2014
Venus, on the other hand, won’t reach full phase until October 25, 2014. At this time, Venus will transition out of the morning sky and into Earth’s evening sky.
Be sure to catch the beautiful pairing of the moon and Venus before sunrise on January 28 and 29. Whereas the moon will leave the morning sky after a few more days, Venus will remain the dazzling morning “star” until October 2014.

Courtesy EarthSky

The mission set down on moon on December 14, 2013 at 9:12 p.m. Beijing time. China is the third country to land on the moon, after U.S. and former Soviet Union.

For some great images check out the link for EarthSky:

Best images from China’s Chang’e moon mission so far

Hello All!  Follow the link to see video of the night sky at our observatories in Pie Town, NM. Some of the clearest darkest sky in the U.S.!  If you click on “Recent Anomalies” under the video you will be able to see some meteors fly across the screen. Note:  You may have to have Quick Time to view.

http://interactiveastronomy.com/skypi.html

The “Live” image on the left is our logo during daylight hours.

Our planet Earth reaches perihelion – its closest point to the sun for the year – on January 4, 2014. The word “perihelion” is from the Greek words peri meaning near, and helios meaning sun.

(click on the image to open)

Earth is closest to the sun every year in early January, when it’s winter for the Northern Hemisphere. We’re farthest away from the sun in early July, during our Northern Hemisphere summer. So you can see that Earth’s distance from the sun isn’t what causes the seasons. On Earth, it’s mostly the tilt of our world’s axis that creates winter and summer. In winter, your part of Earth is tilted away from the sun. In summer, your part of Earth is tilted toward the sun. The day of maximum tilt toward or away from the sun is the December or June solstice.

Are the December solstice and January perihelion related?
Earth is about 5 million kilometers – or 3 million miles – closer to the sun in early January than it will be in early July. That’s not a huge change in distance. It’s not enough of a change to cause the seasons on Earth.

(Click on the image for a larger view)

Though not responsible for the seasons, Earth’s closest and farthest points to the sun do affect seasonal lengths. When the Earth comes closest to the sun for the year, as now, our world is moving fastest in orbit around the sun. Earth is rushing along now at 30.3 kilometers per second (almost 19 miles per second) – moving about a kilometer per second faster than when Earth is farthest from the sun in early July. Thus the Northern Hemisphere winter (Southern Hemisphere summer) is the shortest season as Earth rushes from the winter solstice in December to the March equinox.

Latest sunrises also in early January for mid-northern latitudes
In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer season (June solstice to September equinox) lasts nearly 5 days longer than our winter season. And, of course, the corresponding seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite. Southern Hemisphere winter is nearly 5 days longer than Southern Hemisphere summer.

It’s all due to the shape of Earth’s orbit. The shape is an ellipse, like a circle someone sat down on and squashed. The elliptical shape of Earth’s orbit causes the variation in the length of the seasons – and brings our closest point to the sun, in 2014 on January 4, at 12:00 Universal Time.
Courtesy EarthSky