Steve Bevan's Night Skies

See a Comet Tonight!

It's an exciting time when a comet becomes visible to the naked eye.  Right now the opportunity to exists to see Comet 17P Holmes, now visible in the constellation Perseus.  This came to us as a surprise because until late last week it was all but invisible to all but the most powerful telescopes.  Literally overnight, the comet brightened by a factor of one million and of course we're excited.  Right now, you have the chance to see it as a fuzzy, yellowish star.

Where can you see Comet Holmes?  Easy.  Take a look at the clip above, originally posted on AstroShorts.

Jupiter and the View from Here

Jupiter from Oshawa Ontario October 8th at 8 PM.  (Click on picture to enlarge)

October marks the final days of viewing the summer delights.  Take a look to the southwest after dark.  Scorpius is diving below the horizon with the gas giant planet Jupiter shining like a bright star immediately above.  The teapot which designates Sagittarius also marks the location of some of my favorite objects.  This region is rich in nebulae -stellar nurseries of incredible detail- and both open and globular star clusters.

Now let's take a look at the skies in New Zealand.  It looks totally different doesn't it?  Take a look at the top of the second picture and you can see that teapot shape of Sagittarius, now inverted for us Northern Hemisphere residents.  Near the center of the picture is Jupiter again.  The skies of the Southern Hemisphere are seen from a totally different perspective and most of us from the Northern Hemisphere usually have a hard time adjusting to the new view.  Of course, if you live in Wellington New Zealand, it's us Northern types that have the odd looking skies.

Pictures produced by Starry Night Pro Software, copyright IMAGINOVA Canada

The Birth of the Space Age

Sputnik 1 was the first man-made satellite.  Launched on October 4th, 1957 by the Soviet Union, Sputnik was outfitted with a simple transmitter which announced the presence of man in space.  The space race it spawned and its associated technological leaps and sprints have defined much of the latter half of the 20th century.  You can argue the benefits and the potential threats of life in the post-Sputnik age but you cannot deny that the world changed on that date.  The world became a small place.  A more dangerous place.  And to me, a more hopeful one as well.

Sky Events for October

Want to know what's up in October's Skies?  Casey and I produced this piece for IMAGINOVA Canada.