February...The month of Planets

Here comes the February once again to bring you the planets of our solar system. The skies will be dazzled with these planets all throughout the month and don't you afford missing it. All you need to do is just know the timings in which the planets can be seen on your stairs. Let me present you the schedule of planets and their shows.
1. Go upstairs and find the Venus in the south western part of your sky. By the end of the month Venus will be in such a position that it could be seen 4 hours after the sun set.
2. Jupiter can be seen overhead to the left of the Venus.
3. Mercury can be seen up in the sky to the west side of the horizon. The Mercury rises after the late night.
4. Mars will rise in the East , most probably around 8:30 pm.
5. Saturn rises in the East by 11:30 pm after the Mars rises. But the Mars and Saturn can be distinguished by their Orange-red and glow colours, respectively.

So ultimately we have 5 planets dazzling the February night skies, as every time. Don't miss watching any of the 5 planets. Stay glued for more updates. I will keep the blog updating with more info.

Signing off for today yours Pranu :)
31-01-2012 

Asteroid fever is over now

The long await is over today and nothing as feared has happened with the asteroid 2012 BX34. The space rock as seen from the NASA was approximately11 metres in diameter and passed the Earth at a distance of 36,750 miles. The astronomers called it a "bus-sized" and declared it as a very small object to enter the earth's atmosphere and pose some sort of hazard. Even though this is over today, this declaration can be of further help to avoid the asteroids smaller than this into consideration. But due to its closer move, the world suspected a hit from it. In fact its recorded as the 20th closest asteroid, ever. Scientists at NASA's Asteroid Watch tweeted: "Thanks to spotting assistance from pro and amateur astronomy community, we were able to observe 2012 BX34 with the Goldstone DSN radar."

References : PhysOrg.com, HeraldScotland
Date: 28-01-2012

Pranu :-)