On May 22nd, Mars will be at opposition. It’s the astronomical term for when Mars and the Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. This makes the face of Mars fully illuminated from Earth, and also brings the Earth to it’s closest approach of Mars, at 75 Million Km. Hubble images the red planet to celebrate the occasion. So get your telescopes out and be ready to take some pictures, because Mars is smiling! Mars will rise in the East at sunset, since they are on opposite sides of the Earth. It will appear bright with a rusty hue, and...
We know that the giant bright light in the sky that keeps us warm is so much more than we can see. A star, like countless others in the sky, close enough to outshine all of them. The Sun is a dynamic object, endlessly churning and burping plasma beyond it’s boundaries into the solar system and beyond. NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes have been keeping eyes on the Sun for years to characterize its 11-year magnetic cycle. And every so often they have a front-row seat to the massive blasts that just can’t be seen with human eyes. The first...
When were the planets discovered? Uranus and Neptune were definitely not found until modern science began, since a telescope was required to see them. The other five planets were not actually discovered per se. Since they are visible to human eyes, they have been observed since prehistoric times, and we see examples of cultures across the ancient world who observed them. The five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Starting this weekend, you can see them all across one part of the sky, a visual alignment that hasn’t occurred since 2005. Planets are so-named because of the Greek...
