Fun with Astronomy!

I am laughing as I am writing this blog. I just discovered a kid's learning website called kidsastronomy.com. What I found most amusing were the many songs about Astronomy. A few examples of these songs are: 'Why Do The Stars Twinkle', 'A Shooting Star Is Not A Shooting Star', and 'What Does A Greenhouse Do', just to name a few.

Not only did they make me laugh, but they also served as an educational tool! The rest of the website included games, puzzles, quizzes and jokes. Yes I know this is intended for children, but I did enjoy it and found the information really useful. I am sure that this is a wonderful learning tool for curious minds.

As time went on I started searching for other fun websites on Astronomy. The rest of this blog is the product of my search.

A joke I found was: Two atoms bump into each other. One says 'I think I lost an electron!' The other asks, 'Are you sure?', to which the first replies, 'I'm positive.'
I hope you have fun with Astronomy too!


'Twas The Night Before Christmas, NASA-style

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the stars
Not a creature was stirring, not even on Mars.
The space boots were hung by the airlock with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The robots were nestled all snug on their tires,
As visions of upgrades danced through their wires;
Mom put on her headset while I counted prime numbers,
We had settled our brains for a long winter's slumber,
When out on the dome there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my sack to see what was the matter.
Away to the porthole I flew like a flash,
And tore open the air filter with a great clash.
The moons on the crest of a new volcano,
Gave an alien luster to objects below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a small UFO, and eight rocket reindeer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than light, his rockets they came,
And he whistled, and shouted and called them by name:
"Now Saturn! now, Sputnik! now, Titan and Atlas!
On, Redstone! on, Delta! Apollo, Polaris!
To the top of the dome! to the top of the wall!
Now blast away! blast away! blast away all!"
As meteors blaze through the heavens up high,
When they meet with the atmosphere and burn in the sky,
So up to the dome-top the rockets they flew,
With a ship full of toys, and St. Nicholas, too.
And then in a twinkling, I felt on the ceiling
The heat of the thrusters and landing tiles peeling.
As I covered my head, and was turning around,
Through the airlock old Santa Claus came with a bound.
He was dressed all in plastics, from his feet to his head,
And his clothes were all covered in dust that was red;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a scientist opening his pack.
His visor- how it twinkled! his filter how scary!
His gloves were from Earth, the logos quite merry!
His space boots, how costly! they played songs and glowed!
The frost on his suit was as cold as Pluto;
The stump of his air tube held tight in his teeth,
And oxygen swirled round his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a nod of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the space boots; then turned with a jerk,
And spreading his fingers just like Dr. Spock,
He quietly exited out the airlock.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like a high flying missile.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."


Copyright: Gail Koske Phillips and Patrick Koske-McBride

Auroras- why the different colours?

Auroras are a display of incredible beauty and are more commonly known as the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis).
They have always fascinated mankind and some of our ancestors believed that the “lights in the sky” served as paths which the souls of the dead traveled towards the gods. Others thought that the dancing colours were omens of great events, both good and evil.
The auroras at the Earth’s magnetic poles occur when highly charged particles from the solar wind interact with elements in the earth’s atmosphere. The charged particles are drawn towards the magnetic poles following lines of magnetic force generated by the earth’s core.
What fascinated me was the colourful display from the auroras and I never understood why and how the colours appeared. As a matter of fact the colour of the aurora depends on which atom of oxygen or nitrogen is struck in the atmosphere and at what altitude.

• Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
• Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
• Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
• Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude

The dancing of the auroras occurs because of the shifting of the magnetic and electrical forces reacting with one another.
Although auroras occur around the Arctic and Antarctic there are times when they move further south, usually during times when there are many sunspots. Since sunspots follow an 11-year cycle and they have an impact on auroras the next opportunity for seeing them outside their normal range is 2011 and 2012.
Auroras not only occur on Earth but have been spotted on Saturn and Jupiter as well. This phenomena is something everyone should see, myself included.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

I’ve decided to write this blog about Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). They are asteroids that come threateningly close to Earth, 0.05 AU or less into Earth’s orbit. According to Near Earth Object Program in order for an asteroid to be considered a PHA it also has to have an absolute magnitude (H) or 22.0 or less, as well as coming 0.05 AU or less close to the Earth. Currently there are 906 known PHAs and by monitoring their orbits we can make more accurate predictions on the threat of an impact on Earth.

The smaller the magnitude of a PHA the larger the diameter. Example: a 3.0 magnitude (H) asteroid has a diameter of 670 km - 1490 km, while a 30.0 magnitude has a diameter of 3m – 6m!

The next PHA coming close to Earth is Apophis asteroid number 99942. It will approach the Earth closely in 2029. From collected data in 2005 enough information was given that the asteroid will not impact the Earth, merely coming really close.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids can be quite accurately tracked because of their predictable orbits, and in my opinion knowing where they are is important.

Alan Hildebrand

The discovery of the catastrophic Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico was made by Alan Russell Hildebrand in 1990.

Hildebrand received his bachelor's degree in geology at UNB, and later returned to school to complete his Ph.D. in planetary sciences. He is currently Canada Research Chair in Planetary Sciences and is also a research scientist for the Geological Survey of Canada. Most of his work focuses on the K-T event as well as meteorite impacts and processes.

According to the main theory dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago by the K-T event (Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction even). The reason being an asteroid or comet hit the earth killing 75% of all species and 90% of all biomass was destroyed. The crater Hildebrand discovered has a diameter of 180km. Finding this crater took many years and was quite an accomplishment.

The Chicxulub Crater

P/Comet Holmes-- breaking news!

On the evening of October 25 was my first viewing of Comet Holmes. This night lab proved to be a wondrous event. We were able to see the comet with and without a telescope!!! A very rare sight.
This periodic comet has never been so bright since its discovery by Edwin Holmes on November 16, 1892. On Wednesday October 24, 2007 P/Comet Holmes grew 400,000 times brighter than the day before- it became visible in Perseus.
It went from a +17 to+3 in apparent magnitude in a few hours. From too faint to see with our Mt A telescopes, to naked eye visibility.
Unfortunately the moon was very bright that evening making it a little more difficult to see.

The key question is how and why did it brighten so rapidly? No one has figured out the answer yet. There has been a huge increase of gas outflow, the reason unknown.
A few possibilities are:

• loss of outer crust
• impact with asteroid, which exposed new ice
• build up of gas inside that broke through crust
• impact with meteoroid stream
• chemical reactions in nucleus disrupted comet
• comet fragmented

Comet Holmes is found between Mars and Jupiter and its distance from the sun is 2.44AU and from the Earth is 1.635AU. It can be seen in the constellation Perseus and will remain there for quite a few months.
Currently Comet Holmes does not show an actual tail, but does have a cloudy region surrounding it which may become a tail. If it does get a tail it will always point away from the sun.
Hopefully it will remain visible for a while longer and will develop a tail.

Life on Mars?

The fascination of Mars began in the late 1870s, by an Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli who used a telescope to observe canals on Mars. This fired public interest especially the imagination of Percival Lowell, an businessman interested in astronomy. In Arizona, he founded an observatory where his observations of Mars convinced him that the canals were "dug by intelligent beings-a view which he energetically promoted for many years."

By the 1900s popular songs told of sending messages between Mars and Earth by means of huge signal mirrors. Books were published displaying stories of Martians living their lives on Mars.

Hopes were deflated with the first robotic spacecraft on Mars in the 1960s. Pictures showed a desolate world, with Moon-like craters. In 1975 chemical testing was done on Mars but tests proved negative.

In the 1990s NASA scientists began to rethink the possibility of past or current life on Mars. Mars is too cold with an atmosphere that is too thick to contain liquid water on its surface. Yet scientists kept encountering features that seemed to have been formed by flowing water.

One theory states that Mars was once much warmer and wetter, with a thicker atmosphere that could have very well supported oceans, rivers and rain. The other theory states that Mars was always cold, but water trapped as underground ice was released from time to time when heating caused ice to melt and rush onto the surface. In either case, the change of what happened remains a mystery. Many believe that this change could have occurred from climate change over many years, which thinned the atmosphere.

1996- Scientists had a meteorite believed to have come from Mars. It contained what might be the residue of ancient microbes.

Mars, our red planet, was given an immense amount of public attention on July 4, 1997, when Mars Pathfinder landed on a windswept, ancient flood plain. Pictures of towering volcanoes and huge chasms were sent to Earth. This was a surprise and evidence leaning toward life on Mars.

So now I leave you to create your own opinion on past and present life on Mars.

Shooting Stars - Astronomically incorrect

Shooting stars or falling stars have always captured my interest. Did you know that these beautiful astronomical sights have nothing to do with stars?!

These streaks of light darting across the night sky are caused by tiny bits of dust and rock falling into the Earth’s atmosphere and burning up. Meteoroid is the proper name for the bits of rock and dust. The trail of light is called a meteor, but they are commonly called shooting stars. The part that doesn’t completely burn up and hits the Earth (if any) is called a meteorite.

When you see a great number of meteors one after each other, this is called a meteor shower. These occur at certain times of the year, and happen when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet. If you are lucky enough to be able to experience one of nature’s amazing phenomenon then do, it is worth it.