... This meteor shower, which reaches a peak of up to 120 meteors per hour, as seen from a clear, dark site, can be observed anytime after about 10.00pm for a few nights either side of the maximum, that is from about the 12 to 16 December. The Geminid meteors, which sometimes appear as brightly coloured relatively slow-moving fireballs, are caused by small particles mostly about the size of marbles or smaller, ejected into space from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Phaethon . ... NASA Site . ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Last week's Snack talked about how black holes can affect the environment around them in such a way as to be very bright . ... It's a common misconception that black holes always have matter swirling into them. ... As this matter gets closer and closer to the black hole it piles up and a large, fairly flat disk forms. This is called the accretion disk , because matter from this disk accretes (that is, falls in) on the black hole. ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

... 2012 December 16 . MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula . ... Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? ... A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage . ... Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A , possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova . ...

... The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be embedded in a nebula with just such a shape. ... From a radiant point in the constellation of the Twins, the annual Geminid meteor shower rained down on planet Earth this week. Recorded near the shower's peak in the early hours of December.. ... Time Lapse: A Total Solar Eclipse . ... The Astronaut Who Captured a Satellite . ... In 1984, high above the Earth's surface, an astronaut captured a satellite. ... Earth at Night . ...

... The Sun has come all of one day away from breaking its record for the longest period of inactivity for the last decade - reaching a mid-summer low and falling into yet another state of "hibernation". Yesterday, on the first day of autumn, new sunspots appeared on the surface of the Sun following an absence of almost 50 days. ... The first low lasted 51 days, from 21 July until 11 September last year. ... Now, almost a year later, it seems the Sun has hit a new low almost as "deep" as the first. ...

... STScI-PRC97-38a HUBBLE SEES SUPERSONIC EXHAUST FROM NEBULA M2-9 is a striking example of a "butterfly" or a bipolar planetary nebula. Another more revealing name might be the "Twin Jet Nebula." If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side of it appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. ... The central star in M2-9 is known to be one of a very close pair which orbit one another at perilously close distances. ... M2-9 is 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus. ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Space Flight . ... Earth Satellites . ... Leonid meteors seen from 13 km altitude aboard an aircraft during the 1999 Leonids Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign (Leonid-MAC). Comet Tempel-Tuttle provides the cometary debris for the Leonid meteor shower. ... Every 17-19 November Earth crosses Tempel-TuttleтАЩs orbit and the Leonids become visible. With clear, dark skies observers may see 10 to 15 Leonid meteors every hour on those mornings. ...

... I fixed the bugs that caused the map_point changes to fail tests. Then I removed the no longer needed dimensional variables from the p structure and got those changes to pass all the tests. ... I put the code under subversion control in a new branch called refactor. ... The code change which processes each drizzle kernel over an entire image rather than a line at a time now passes the unit tests and was checked in. ... I got the keywords argument changes done and got the tests to pass. ...

THE RELATIVE MONTHLY MEAN SUNSPOT NUMBER ON DECEMBER 2013 HAS MADE Wdec.= 61.4, THAT GIVES FOR 42 MONTH (2012, JUNE) DEVELOPMENT CURRENT 24 CYCLES OF SOLAR ACTIVITY THE SMOOTHED MONTHLY MEAN SUNSPOT NUMBER W*june= 61.7 THE BEGINNING 24 CYCLES OF SOLAR ACTIVITY - I 2009 with W*=1.8 THE MOST PROBABLE TIME OF THE MAXIMUM OF THE CURRENT CYCLE- XI.2012 - III 2013 THE MOST PROBABLE HEIGHT OF THE MAXIMUM - Wmax = 66 - 75. ... NEXT WEEK THE LEVEL OF SUNSPOT ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO BE THE HIGH AND AVERAGE. ...

... EXPN DNO D A T E UT TIME FQ SOURCE CORR-Telescopes VT734 355-MO Dec 21 08:00-21:00 C TAU-A Pointing VT735 356-TU Dec 22 08:00-21:00 C TAU-A Pointing VT736 358-TH Dec 24 09:00-20:00 K ORIONKL Pointing VT737 359-FR Dec 25 09:00-20:00 K ORIONKL Pointing VT738 360-SA Dec 26 09:00-20:00 C 0528+134 Mitk-UD KA SH W018c 364-WE Dec 30 06:00-15:00 L 0552+398 Socr-VLBA W071n 6-WE Jan 06 10:00-17:00 L J0745+10 Mitk-AT HO MP UD SH KA W059e 7-TH ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... Observing . ... Sky this Month . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... Can you explain Mercury's retrograde motion? Do other planets appear to do this also? ... When astronomers talk about retrograde motion, generally they refer to the apparent motion outer planets make as Earth passes them while orbiting the Sun. ... Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ... Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. ...

. Mysterious Signal: December 1, 1999 . During activities a blinding light was perceived and mysterious markings appeared on the construction tarp. On closer inspection, it seemed to be a message of a personal nature.

Astronomy Discussion Forums . ... Atm ћ Astrophotography ћ Blackholes ћ Blackholes2 ћ CCD ћ Celestron ћ Domes ћ Education . ... New model: How do the Sun and Moon appear to move across the sky - mito111 - September 15, 2011 - 04:22 UTC . ... Note the change - rick_crockett - April 19, 2007 - 09:38 UTC . ... A Question Regarding Photons and Absolute Zero - inalitalllane - December 25, 2004 - 22:06 UTC . ... Virtual Space Agency - dupagepilot - November 18, 2003 - 12:03 UTC . ... www.astronomy.net . ...

Last Updated: December 9, 1992 This README file can be found on the FTP site (cs.uwp.edu) in the directory /pub/music/lyrics/g/gibson.debbie or /pub/music/lists/btl/lyrics along with all of the below named files. The album files contain lyrics for the entire album, as they appear in the CD booklet. out.of.the.blue electric.youth anything.is.possible The lyric files for each individual song contains the 'sing along' version which should accurately represent what is actually sung on the album. ...

Browse the articles below for new ideas for your classroom. Mercury September/October 2005: Astronomy Education and Public Outreach: Steps and Missteps Toward an Emerging Profession (pdf) . Focus on Education articles as they appeared in Mercury: . ... March/April 2000: . ... Education Newswire articles as they appeared in Mercury, by issue. ... January/February 2000 . November/December 1999 . ... March/April 1999 . ... November/December 1998 . ... November/December 1997 . ...

... Data Reduction FAQ > The reduced science spectrum displayed in the Reflex window appears good but when I try to plot it, it is quite different. How can I get it? ... Observing with ESO Telescopes . ... ESO-MIDAS . ... Reflex . ... ESO Data . ... ESO HST Image Galleries . ... ESO Data Access Policy . ... ESO Science Newsletter . ... ESO Annual Reports . ... Seminars at ESO Santiago . ... Seminars at ESO Garching . ... ESO Telescope Bibliography . ... Last Update: 01.04.14 ESO . ...

M1 image More About M1 Nice Color Picture . ... M16 image More About M16 HST image . ... M31 image More About M31 Nice Color Picture . ... M42 image ; M43 image More About M42/43 Nice Color CCD Picture . M51 image More About M51 Color Image of M51 M51 Supernova . M57 image More About M57 Nice Color CCD Picture Very Deep M57 Image . ... M81 image More About M81 M81 Supernova Ultraviolet Image of M81 More about Ultraviolet Imaging . M82 image More About M82 M82 False Color M82 True Color . ...

... Laboratory for Spectroscopy of Molecular Structures . ... News . ... A new article entitled Description of optical properties of cholesteric photonic liquid crystals based on Maxwell equations and Kramers-Kronig relations has appeared in Physical Review E. Congratulations to Grigoriy Ksyonz on his first publication! . 25 th February 2013 . ... 22 nd November 2012 . ... 22 nd February 2012 . 4 th Workshop on Liquid Crystals for Photonics 2012 will take place in Hong Kong December 9-11, 2012. ...

Statistics of sunspot activity . The sunspot indices . My observations . NGDC's observations . The solar regions . ... 2015 . ... December . ... December, 2015 . Visual indices of solar activity by author's observations . ... Average . ...

... The main periodicity in the Sun 's activity is the 11-year cycle called the solar cycle. ... During the cycle, changes occur in the Sun's internal magnetic field and in the surface disturbance level. ... At the beginning of a cycle the solar magnetic field resembles a dipole which axis is aligned with Sun's rotation axis. ... The sunspot number - and Sun's activity - is at maximum in the middle of a cycle, when the Sun's internal magnetic field is most chaotic. ... Space Physics Text Book of Oulu ...