http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner en-us Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:27:34 -0700 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:56:07 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d13-Leonid-History-Ten-Years-Later-part-2?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner My first day of travel (November 11) was hectic and it wasn't even part of our mission and training. I flew from St. Louis to San Francisco, met up with other researchers, flew to Burbank, and then took an airport shuttle to Lancaster, Califor... Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:56:07 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d13-Leonid-History-Ten-Years-Later-part-2?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d12-Meteors-of-November?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner If there was ever such a thing as a teaching meteor shower, the Leonids would be it, because astronomers have learned more from this shower than from any other meteor shower. Yet, the Leonids are not observable annually like some meteor showers. W... Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:44:30 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d12-Meteors-of-November?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d12-Leonid-History-Ten-Years-Later-part-1?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner During November of 1999 I was part of a select group of researchers that participated in a NASA/US Air Force mission to study the Leonid meteor shower. It was an exciting 11 days, which ultimately led to many new discoveries in the study of meteors, ... Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:20:16 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m11d12-Leonid-History-Ten-Years-Later-part-1?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m10d16-Halleys-Comet-Returnssort-of?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner For anyone interested in watching meteor showers, the Orionids may not be the strongest shower of the year, but they have an interesting lineage: they are dust particles thrown off by the famous Halley's Comet. The Orionids emanate from the constell... Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:30:13 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m10d16-Halleys-Comet-Returnssort-of?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m10d10-Astronomical-Mystery-near-Saturn-Solved?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner The light and dark faces of Iapetus A mystery involving Saturn's moon Iapetus that has confounded astronomers for over four centuries has apparently been solved. Giovanni Domenico Cassini (Paris Observatory, France) discovered Iapetus on October ... Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:32:51 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m10d10-Astronomical-Mystery-near-Saturn-Solved?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d22-The-Sun-and-Global-Warming?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Back in April I wrote an Examiner article titled "Our Finicky Sun" where it was pointed out that the Sun has been mostly spot free for many months. Well, nothing much has changed, except that the sun has been spotless for 210 days... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:40:22 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d22-The-Sun-and-Global-Warming?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d18-Jupiter-Protector-of-the-Solar-System?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner From a science conference held in Germany this week came an announcement that astronomers have identified another comet that was once a temporary moon of Jupiter. The name of the comet is 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu. The careful calculations by the t... Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:53:01 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d18-Jupiter-Protector-of-the-Solar-System?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d13-Longlost-comet-found?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Systematic surveys of the sky are not new for astronomers. For more than two centuries, astronomers have searched the sky for new objects, first with telescopes, and then by photography. Such surveys that have led to the discovery of thousands of min... Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:40:11 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m9d13-Longlost-comet-found?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d14-The-Kappa-Cygnid-Meteor-Shower?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner The Kappa Cygnid meteor shower is not one of the spectacular meteor showers of the year. It is also not a famous meteor shower. In fact, on average, it only produces meteor displays of 4-5 per hour at maximum. So, why am I bothering to talk about thi... Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:33:13 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d14-The-Kappa-Cygnid-Meteor-Shower?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d12-Perseid-Meteor-Shower-Update?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Reports for the night of August 11/12 reveal the Perseids were producing between 15 and 25 meteors per hour according to observers who were patiently watching during the hours after midnight. Some observers noted the display seemed to include fainter... Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:01:08 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d12-Perseid-Meteor-Shower-Update?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d9-The-Perseid-Meteor-Shower-is-Here?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Have you ever been outside after dark during the summer months and you happened to see an object briefly streak across the sky? If so, then chances are you saw a meteor from the Perseid meteor shower. The Perseid meteor shower is the biggest shower ... Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:56:22 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m8d9-The-Perseid-Meteor-Shower-is-Here?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d27-Meteors-from-Aquarius-and-Capricorn?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner  This week officially begins the best period of the year for watching meteor showers. During this week and next week, no less than seven different meteor showers will be active (with more coming around mid-August). The most active of these showe... Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:50:46 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d27-Meteors-from-Aquarius-and-Capricorn?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Something-has-hit-Jupiter--update?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Impact site as seen by the Hubble TelescopeProfessional and amateur astronomers around the world are turning their telescopes toward Jupiter to monitor the dark spot that appeared around July 18/19. Although astronomers are all in agreement that some... Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:13:23 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Something-has-hit-Jupiter--update?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d21-Something-has-hit-Jupiter?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Image obtained by A. Wesley (Australia) on 2009 July 19. The dark spot is in the upper right.Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley (Murrumbateman, Australia) developed an interested in obtaining high resolution images of the moon and planets several yea... Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:49:49 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m7d21-Something-has-hit-Jupiter?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m6d11-Mysterious-Betelgeuse?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner Image of Betelgeuse from Hubble Space TelescopeLocated in the constellation Orion, lies a star that has astronomers buzzing. The star is the red supergiant named Betelgeuse and its behavior during the last 15 years is reminding astronomers that this ... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:02:12 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m6d11-Mysterious-Betelgeuse?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d15-Importance-of-the-Hubble?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner The Hubble Space Telescope The space shuttle Atlantis was launched on May 11 to rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope. The purpose of the mission is to do service work on this great telescope in order to fix a few minor issues and hopefully in... Fri, 15 May 2009 19:04:52 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d15-Importance-of-the-Hubble?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d1-Pieces-of-Halleys-Comet?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner  If you missed the famous Halley's Comet back in 1986, you can see pieces of it on the morning of May 6. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is the first of two showers that occur each year as a result of Earth passing through dust released by Ha... Fri, 01 May 2009 13:04:03 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d1-Pieces-of-Halleys-Comet?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d1-Astronomy-Day-2009?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner It is that time of the year again for the springtime Astronomy Day, but it will be a little different this year. Astronomy Day was the idea of amateur astronomer Doug Berger and was first held in California in 1973.  The concept is to bring... Fri, 01 May 2009 07:01:42 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m5d1-Astronomy-Day-2009?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m4d24-Our-Finicky-Sun?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner  Our sun seems to be dropping into a slight cooling phase and both astronomers and climatologists are watching it very closely. It has long been known that the sun has an 11-year cycle, referring to the period from one peak of maximum activ... Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:04:58 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m4d24-Our-Finicky-Sun?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m4d17-Three-close-encounters-in-one-week?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner The period of February 27 to March 6 will remain a memorable one for astronomers as three small asteroids made abnormally close approaches to our planet. Given the preliminary designations of 2009 DD45, 2009 EW, and 2009 EJ1, the first and last ... Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:16:40 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8054-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner~y2009m4d17-Three-close-encounters-in-one-week?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Astronomy-Examiner