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| This web site is a joint venture of the
Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium and
Vermont Public Radio with support from the Partnership
for a Nation of Learners, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Institute of Museum and Library
Services leadership initiative. |
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| July 12, 2010 |
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| String of Planetary Pearls |
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| The planets Venus - brightest and to the right, Mars - much fainter to the upper left, and Saturn - slightly brighter than Mars and farther left - will slowly merge closer together, low in the western skies through early August. |
| Posted by Mark Breen @2:28 PM |
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| - Susan from Londonderry said... |
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Hi Mark:
I was reading in the Boston Globe that there is a chance of seeing Northern Lights in the NE region tonight. Is that true for Vermont? 8/3/10
12:47 PM | |
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Hi Susan,
Mark is on vacation this week, but I'm happy to respond to your question! www.spaceweather.com indicates that two coronal mass ejections are slated to buffet earth tonight and/or tomorrow night. This will likely make for northern lights at high latitudes, but it remains to be seen whether or not we'll see them this far south. Cloud cover may also block the view. Even so, there may be enough patched of clear sky to see aurora should it occur here!
- posted by Chris Bouchard
8/3/10 12:47 PM |
| | | - anonymous from Chelsea, Vermont said... |
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| We thought we saw Aurora Borealis last night. It was the most spectacular display of very bright flashing lights all over the Northern Sky. Did anyone else see that? It was Saturday night, July 17, around 9:30 to 10:30. Was it just heat lightning? 7/18/10
2:31 PM |
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There was a lightning-filled thunderstorm passing to your north Saturday night. There isn't an actual thing called "heat lightning". Instead, lightning can be seen up to 60 to 70 miles away, while thunder only travels 20 miles or so - thus you see the lightning flashes, but there is no noise. - posted by Mark Breen
7/20/10 2:31 PM |
| | | - anonymous said... |
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The string of planets and stars in the evening between 9:15 and 9:45 PM EDT. Venus is the brightest, with the star Regulus to the lower right and quite low in the west. Mars and Saturn are to the upper left of Venus.
The Moon joins the planets this week. By Wednesday it is a waxing Crescent to the lower left of Venus. The Moon is running pretty low over the southern horizon, passing well below Mars and Saturn on the 15th, and well to the lower left of Saturn on the 16th. The Moon is half illuminated – its First Quarter – on Sunday, the 18th, found to the lower left of the star Spica. 7/12/10
2:31 PM | |
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| Mark Breen is the senior meteorologist and director of the planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium and host of VPR’s “Eye on the Night Sky.” |
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