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Draconids to put on a good show this October?

9/30/2011

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Usually astronomy enthusiasts don't like a forecast for 'showers' at night... unless of course it's a meteor shower!

This October there's a forecast for an unusually strong Draconid meteor shower, so let's turn to the Weather Network and see what they have to say...

"A meteor shower that happens every October is typically weak and attracts little attention. According to astronomer Andrew Yee however, this year could be a little more interesting.

 “This is the Draconid meteor shower...Typically this is a weak meteor shower, with only a handful of faint meteors visible per hour. This year the Earth is forecast to pass through two or three dust streams that could result in several hundred meteors per hour at its peak,” explains Yee.

Yee adds that Draco is a large constellation with stars as bright as the brighter stars in the Little Dipper. During the early evening hours in October, the head of the celestial dragon is positioned above the dippers.

“The best estimate of the shower peak time is between 3-5 pm EDT on October 8. This favours locations in western Asia and Europe to see the peak display. There is uncertainty in the forecast and if it is off by a few hours later, the peak would happen after sunset in North America,” says Yee.

While the stronger meteor shower gives sky watchers something to look forward to, it also increases the risk of meteor impact on orbiting spacecraft.

“The current forecast of a strong outburst of Draconid activity raises concern to space agencies and satellite operators. The International Space Station and other satellites may have to be reoriented temporarily to minimize the risk of dust particle impacts to critical parts of the space vehicle,” says Yee.

Despite the tiny size of comet dust debris, officials say a particle with 1 mm diameter can cause great damage to a spacecraft."


http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=meteor_outburst_forecast_in__270911?ref=ccbox_weather_category3
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Welcome to Kamloops, Mars!

9/26/2011

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Yes, our fair city has been honoured with a crater on Mars being named 'Kamloops'.
Our crater is just south-west (below and to the left) of the great 'happy face' crater pictured below.
Picture
As per Wikipedia: "Crater Kamloops was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) in 1991. The crater lies at 53.8° south latitude and 32.6° west longitude, with a diameter of 65 km (40 mi)."
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Fantastic new images of Vesta

9/19/2011

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The Dawn spacecraft has started to return fanastic new images of Vesta, our solar system's 2nd most massive asteroid.
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A planet that circles two suns?

9/15/2011

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As crazy as that sounds, the Kepler spacefcraft has found such a planet.

As per the SpaceFlightNow website:
"The first confirmed example of a planet orbiting two suns has been found in the Kepler dataset. The gaseous world is similar to Saturn in terms of size and mass  and experiences a surface temperature dipping to -100 degrees Celsius
so it  is unlikely to host life."

More details here: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1109/15kepler/
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Supernova in M101

9/15/2011

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This is your best chance in decades to get out and observe a supernova.
It's located in M101 (The PinWheel Galaxy) in Ursa Major, and it has reached it's maximum brightness of approx magnitude 10.

Sky & Telescope has an article and observing guide here.
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Hello World!

9/15/2011

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Welcome to the new Kamloops Astronomical Society home page blog.
This is a place to put up announcements, current events, etc.
Please explore this site and look at the other pages for information about the KAS, observing conditions, our 'Dark Sky Preserve Project', photos and more!
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