Latest news with #MaryMcIntyre
Calgary Herald
6 hours ago
- Science
- Calgary Herald
How to see the letters X and V on the moon tonight
The full moon is a glorious sight, and the sliver of a brand-new moon a wispy delight, but tonight's first-quarter moon has its own unique treat — for a few hours, you can make out the letters X and V on the lunar surface. Here's how. Article content Article content As the photo shows, the lunar X appears about a third of the way from the bottom of the moon, while the Lunar V is a little above the centre. Both features straddle the line between the light and dark sides of the moon, known as the terminator, with the X appearing a little into the dark side, and the V closer to the light side. Article content Article content Why do the letters appear? Article content Article content They're not really there on the surface, and you can't see them at any other time. What you're looking at is called the 'clair-obscur' effect, in which the play of light and shadow on the surface creates the appearance of shapes; in this case, giant letters, formed by the partially lit edges of craters. Article content When do the letters appear? Article content According to British astronomer Mary McIntyre, the effect kicks off tonight at about 7:30 p.m. ET, and should last about four hours. That means by the time the sun has set and the moon is at its brightest, you should be able to get a good look, clouds permitting. Article content What's the best way to see them? Article content Naked eye is a little tricky, since they are quite small. But decent binoculars (or better yet a small telescope) should bring them into focus. Article content Humans have been looking at the moon since we were human, and through telescopes since they were invented, so it's not surprising that other transient shapes have been noticed and given evocative names, including the jewelled handle, Cassini's moon maiden, Plato's hook and the eyes of Clavius, not to mention the so-called 'man in the moon' that many people see in the full moon. Article content McIntyre has a chart of when to look for them, while BBC's Sky at Night Magazine has a nice picture that shows their locations. The best part about all this is that if you miss them, they'll come back again every 28 days, forever.
National Post
6 hours ago
- Science
- National Post
How to see the letters X and V on the moon tonight
The full moon is a glorious sight, and the sliver of a brand-new moon a wispy delight, but tonight's first-quarter moon has its own unique treat — for a few hours, you can make out the letters X and V on the lunar surface. Here's how. Article content Article content As the photo shows, the lunar X appears about a third of the way from the bottom of the moon, while the Lunar V is a little above the centre. Both features straddle the line between the light and dark sides of the moon, known as the terminator, with the X appearing a little into the dark side, and the V closer to the light side. Article content Why do the letters appear? Article content Article content They're not really there on the surface, and you can't see them at any other time. What you're looking at is called the 'clair-obscur' effect, in which the play of light and shadow on the surface creates the appearance of shapes; in this case, giant letters, formed by the partially lit edges of craters. Article content According to British astronomer Mary McIntyre, the effect kicks off tonight at about 7:30 p.m. ET, and should last about four hours. That means by the time the sun has set and the moon is at its brightest, you should be able to get a good look, clouds permitting. Article content What's the best way to see them? Article content Naked eye is a little tricky, since they are quite small. But decent binoculars (or better yet a small telescope) should bring them into focus. Article content Humans have been looking at the moon since we were human, and through telescopes since they were invented, so it's not surprising that other transient shapes have been noticed and given evocative names, including the jewelled handle, Cassini's moon maiden, Plato's hook and the eyes of Clavius, not to mention the so-called 'man in the moon' that many people see in the full moon. Article content McIntyre has a chart of when to look for them, while BBC's Sky at Night Magazine has a nice picture that shows their locations. The best part about all this is that if you miss them, they'll come back again every 28 days, forever. Article content
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Stargazers in Europe spot a strange cloud from SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket treated stargazers in Europe to a surprise display on the night of June 23, when a plume of rocket propellant briefly became visible to the naked eye. SpaceX's Transporter 14 mission lifted off from California's Vanderberg Space Force Base earlier this week carrying 70 commercial payloads bound for low-Earth orbit aboard one of the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rockets. The June 23 launch saw the first stage of the reusable rocket make a controlled landing on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean, while the payload-bearing upper stage powered on to its target orbit. Transporter 14's upper stage proceeded to deploy its payloads and release a plume of rocket propellant prior to re-entering Earth's atmosphere, which quickly froze and reflected sunlight, becoming visible to eagle-eyed stargazers in Europe. Luckily, the Virtual Telescope Project's all sky camera captured the diffuse cloud of particles in the night sky above Manciano, Italy at 8:13 p.m. EDT on June 23 (0013 GMT June 24) alongside the softly glowing, dust choked band of the Milky Way. Oxfordshire-based astrophotographer and science communicator Mary McIntyre also recorded a number of time-lapse videos around the same time as the plume passed swiftly over the U.K., using meteor and aurora-hunting cameras. Similar plumes have been spotted in the wake of previous rideshare missions where a Falcon 9 upper stage has been ordered to perform a fuel purge. The orientation and movement of rocket upper stages have been known to create unique patterns and majestic swirls in the night sky, though on this occasion the propellant lacked any such defined structure. Some scientists believe that rocket propellant may play a part in the formation of high altitude 'night shining' noctilucent clouds - a phenomenon that is more common at northerly altitudes, but has been spotted manifesting closer to the equator in recent decades.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Flying Banana' traveling 125 mph fires laser into sky and catches aurora hunters off guard (video)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. On two separate nights in May, a strange blue laser sliced through the skies over the Oxfordshire, England countryside, leaving skywatchers baffled. Astrophotographer and astronomy communicator Mary McIntyre captured the eerie spectacle on her remote aurora-hunting cameras — and what she saw didn't match anything she'd encountered before. "The first time I spotted it [May 1], I thought at first it may have been a rare form of blue aurora but then realised it was moving too quickly," McIntyre told in an email. "It just didn't fit with any other aurora we've seen during the 30 or so displays we've captured." Suspecting a spotlight from a nearby RAF base sometimes used for film sets, McIntyre considered that theory, then ruled it out due to the light's speed. Maybe lights from a festival? McIntyre had seen those before, too, but not like this. "We've had lights from festivals before now, but again they looked nothing like this, plus this blue beam was in the sky in the early hours of the morning rather than evening." It wasn't until McIntyre's husband shared the footage from May 1 that a friend in the astronomy community offered an explanation — a high-speed mapping train with a fruity nickname. The culprit for the strange blue light show is a specialized train that records track condition information using lasers at speeds of up to 125 mph. It is officially known as the New Measurement Train (NMT), but its bright yellow paintwork has earned it the playful nickname "Flying Banana". "I couldn't believe it when I spotted it on our cameras again in the early hours of 29th May!" McIntyre said. "While it looks very cool, it's also a shame to have yet another thing that's polluting the night sky," McIntyre continued.
