Day: February 23, 2022

February 23 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 February 23

Orion over Green Bank

Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Green

Explanation: What will the huge Green Bank Telescope discover tonight? Pictured, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) on the lower right is the largest fully-pointable single-dish radio telescope in the world. With a central dish larger than a football field, the GBT is nestled in the hills of West Virginia, USA in a radio quiet zone where the use of cell phones, WiFi emitters, and even microwave ovens are limited. The GBT explores our universe not only during the night — but during the day, too, since the daytime sky is typically dark in radio waves. Taken in late January, the featured image was planned for months to get the setting location of Orion just right. The image is a composite of a foreground shot taken over a kilometer away from the GBT, and a background shot built up of long exposures during the previous night. The deep background image of Orion is fitting because the GBT is famous for, among many discoveries, mapping the unusual magnetic field in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

February 23, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Third Quarter phase. Sometimes called a Last Quarter Moon, this phase occurs roughly 3 weeks after the New Moon when the Moon is three quarter of the way through it’s orbit around the earth. If you live in the northern hemisphere the Moons left side will be illuminated and the right side will be dark. For those of you in the southern hemisphere it will be the opposite with the right side illuminated. On the day of the Third Quarter phase the Moon will rise around midnight on the eastern horizon and set in the west around noon the next day. In the days following the Third Quarter Phase the Moon’s illumination will decrees each day until the New Moon.

Visit the February 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Last Quarter Phase

The Last Quarter on February 23 has an illumination of 55%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On February 23 the Moon is 21.68 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Last Quarter
Illumination: 55%
Moon Age: 21.68 days
Moon Angle: 0.55
Moon Distance: 365,161.04 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,042,298.57 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you want to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Los Angeles, California, USA

February 23, 2022
12:00 am GMT 4:00 PM PST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:04 Pisces 20
Moon:22 Scorpio 11
Mercury:08 Aquarius 47
Venus:21 Capricorn 02
Mars:21 Capricorn 37
Jupiter:12 Pisces 25
Saturn:18 Aquarius 06
Uranus:11 Taurus 21
Neptune:22 Pisces 11
Pluto:27 Capricorn 37
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 43 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 20
Chiron:10 Aries 14
Ceres:02 Gemini 38
Pallas:03 Aries 09
Juno:08 Aquarius 23
Vesta:22 Capricorn 14
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:3
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:4
Cardinal:7
Fixed:7
Mutable:5

 

Northern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

February 23, 2022
10:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:05 Pisces 16
Moon:04 Sagittarius 58
Mercury:09 Aquarius 55
Venus:21 Capricorn 41
Mars:22 Capricorn 18
Jupiter:12 Pisces 38
Saturn:18 Aquarius 13
Uranus:11 Taurus 23
Neptune:22 Pisces 13
Pluto:27 Capricorn 38
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 41 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 27
Chiron:10 Aries 17
Ceres:02 Gemini 51
Pallas:03 Aries 29
Juno:08 Aquarius 45
Vesta:22 Capricorn 42
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:4
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:3
Cardinal:7
Fixed:6
Mutable:6

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

23 February 2022
03:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:04 Pisces 58
Moon:00 Sagittarius 53
Mercury:09 Aquarius 33
Venus:21 Capricorn 29
Mars:22 Capricorn 05
Jupiter:12 Pisces 34
Saturn:18 Aquarius 11
Uranus:11 Taurus 22
Neptune:22 Pisces 12
Pluto:27 Capricorn 38
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 41 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 25
Chiron:10 Aries 16
Ceres:02 Gemini 47
Pallas:03 Aries 22
Juno:08 Aquarius 38
Vesta:22 Capricorn 33
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:4
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:3
Cardinal:7
Fixed:6
Mutable:6

Wisdom Spell

Would You Have Been Called A Witch In Salem?

The Salem witch trials — a period of mass hysteria and panic that overtook colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 — are often regarded as one of the most fascinating episodes of American history. After all, the story is so dramatic and so strange that it almost reads like fiction: Young girls begin having mysterious screaming fits; they are diagnosed as having been bewitched, and soon a hunt begins for the witches. Although the Salem witch trials are now the source of scary stories and creepy TV shows, it’s important that we remember that they were real, and they were terrible: twenty people were killed for being “witches”, and many more were accused and imprisoned.

It’s fairly horrifying to consider how easy it was for a woman to be convicted and executed for witchcraft in the 17th century—and just how little power she had to prove her innocence. As Marilynne K. Roach, historian and author of Six Women of Salem: the Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, explains, “In 1692 anyone might have been accused of witchcraft.” There are some factors that made one more susceptible to accusations than others, however. Read on to see if you fit the parameters of these supposed “witches” and thank your lucky stars that you don’t live in the 17th century.

1. You’re a woman

Click here to read the rest of this article

23 February 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Third Quarter phase. Sometimes called a Last Quarter Moon, this phase occurs roughly 3 weeks after the New Moon when the Moon is three quarter of the way through it’s orbit around the earth. If you live in the northern hemisphere the Moons left side will be illuminated and the right side will be dark. For those of you in the southern hemisphere it will be the opposite with the right side illuminated. On the day of the Third Quarter phase the Moon will rise around midnight on the eastern horizon and set in the west around noon the next day. In the days following the Third Quarter Phase the Moon’s illumination will decrees each day until the New Moon.

Visit the February 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Last Quarter Phase

The Last Quarter on February 23 has an illumination of 55%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On February 23 the Moon is 21.68 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Last Quarter
Illumination: 55%
Moon Age: 21.68 days
Moon Angle: 0.55
Moon Distance: 365,161.04 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,042,298.57 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

 For Your Local Time and Date

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

23 February 2022
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:05 Pisces 11
Moon:03 Sagittarius 48
Mercury:09 Aquarius 49
Venus:21 Capricorn 38
Mars:22 Capricorn 14
Jupiter:12 Pisces 37
Saturn:18 Aquarius 12
Uranus:11 Taurus 23
Neptune:22 Pisces 13
Pluto:27 Capricorn 38
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 41 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 26
Chiron:10 Aries 16
Ceres:02 Gemini 49
Pallas:03 Aries 27
Juno:08 Aquarius 43
Vesta:22 Capricorn 39
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:4
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:3
Cardinal:7
Fixed:6
Mutable:6

Southern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Cape Town, South Africa

23 February 2022
03:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM SAST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:04 Pisces 58
Moon:00 Sagittarius 53
Mercury:09 Aquarius 33
Venus:21 Capricorn 29
Mars:22 Capricorn 05
Jupiter:12 Pisces 34
Saturn:18 Aquarius 11
Uranus:11 Taurus 22
Neptune:22 Pisces 12
Pluto:27 Capricorn 38
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 41 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 25
Chiron:10 Aries 16
Ceres:02 Gemini 47
Pallas:03 Aries 22
Juno:08 Aquarius 38
Vesta:22 Capricorn 33
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:4
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:3
Cardinal:7
Fixed:6
Mutable:6

 

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

23 February 2022
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:04 Pisces 35
Moon:25 Scorpio 39
Mercury:09 Aquarius 05
Venus:21 Capricorn 13
Mars:21 Capricorn 48
Jupiter:12 Pisces 29
Saturn:18 Aquarius 08
Uranus:11 Taurus 22
Neptune:22 Pisces 11
Pluto:27 Capricorn 37
True Lunar Node:26 Taurus 11 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:26 Taurus 43 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):24 Gemini 22
Chiron:10 Aries 15
Ceres:02 Gemini 42
Pallas:03 Aries 14
Juno:08 Aquarius 29
Vesta:22 Capricorn 22
Eris:23 Aries 51
Fire:3
Earth:7
Air:5
Water:4
Cardinal:7
Fixed:7
Mutable:5