Category: Articles

A Little Humor for Your Day – “How to Live a Long Life”

How to Live a Long Life

A passer-by noticed an old lady sitting on her front step: “I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look! What is your secret for such a long, happy life?”

“I smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day”, she said. “Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint. Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food. On weekends I pop a huge number of pills and do no exercise at all.”

“This is absolutely amazing at your age!”, says the passer-by. “How old are you?”

“Twenty four.”

 

To view more great humor, visit Turok’s Cabana

Astronomy Picture of the Day – Sunflower Galaxy Wide Field

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.

2016 August 4

M63: Sunflower Galaxy Wide Field
Image Credit & Copyright: Data – Deep Sky West, Processing – John Vermette

 

Explanation: The Sunflower Galaxy blooms near the center of this wide field telescopic view. The scene spans about 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the sky toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. More formally known as Messier 63, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Surrounding its bright yellowish core, sweeping spiral arms are streaked with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with star forming regions. A dominant member of a known galaxy group, M63 has faint, extended features that could be the the remains of dwarf satellite galaxies, evidence that large galaxies grow by accreting small ones. M63 shines across the electromagnetic spectrum and is thought to have undergone bursts of intense star formation.

Earth Sky News for August 4th: Moon and Mercury after sunset

Moon and Mercury after sunset August 4

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Tonight – August 4, 2016 – we give you fair warning. It won’t be easy to catch the thin waxing crescent moon pairing up with the planet Mercury in the western twilight some 45 to 60 minutes after sunset on August 4. Bring along binoculars, if you have them, and find an unobstructed horizon in the direction of sunset. Better yet, stand atop a hill or balcony, which will enable you to see that much farther over your western horizon.

Our chart above shows the sky scene as viewed from mid-northern latitudes in North America. From mid-northern latitudes in Europe and Asia, the planets will be similarly positioned in the western sky, yet the moon will be offset in the direction of Venus.

From the Southern Hemisphere, as anywhere worldwide, look in your western sky after sunset for the moon and planets. But, from the northern tropics and the Southern Hemisphere, be mindful that the line-up from top to bottom – Jupiter, Mercury and Venus – will be closer to perpendicular to the horizon, as illustrated in the chart below.

From around the world after sunset, the moon and Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet, shine in between the sky’s brightest and second-brightest planets: Venus and Jupiter, respectively.

Venus, the second planet outward from the sun, lurks beneath the moon and Mercury, on the sky’s dome.

Meanwhile, Jupiter, the fifth planet outward, sits above the moon and Mercury.

Although Venus is the lowest planet in the sky, and is the first planet to set after sunset, this world ranks as the third-brightest celestial body, after the sun and moon. With binoculars or the unaided eye, you may be able to spot Venus as early as 30 minutes or less after sunset. Click here to find out when Venus sets in your sky. If you spot the moon before you see anything else after sunset, remember that the lit side of the moon points in the general direction of Venus. Binoculars could come in handy for sighting Venus, Mercury and a zoomed-in view of earthshine on the moon.

If you miss the moon, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter after sunset on August 4, you can still use the moon to help you find these worlds over the next several days. As dusk deepens into darkness tomorrow – on August 5 – look for the moon to have moved in the direction of Jupiter.

Assuming you have clear skies, it’ll be possible to catch all five naked-eye planets by nightfall. In their order going outward from the sun, these five planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

It’ll be considerably easier to spot Mars and Saturn, because they’ll be out until midnight at mid-northern latitudes and well past midnight at more southerly latitudes. At mid-northern latitudes, as darkness falls, look southward to spot Mars and Saturn near Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. From the Southern Hemisphere, look high overhead as darkness falls for Mars and Saturn.

Bottom line: On August 4, 2016, at dusk and nightfall, use the moon to locate Mercury in the western sky, and go on from there to spot all five bright planets.

 

Author

 

BRUCE MCCLURE

Bruce McClure has served as lead writer for EarthSky’s popular Tonight pages since 2004. He’s a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also writes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.

Article originally published on EarthSky