Category: Articles

Astronomy Picture of the Day – Orion’s Belt and Sword over Teide’s Peak

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 March 28

Orion’s Belt and Sword over Teide’s Peak
Image Credit & Copyright: Cesar & Carlos Tejedor

 

Explanation: The southern part of Orion, the famous constellation and mythical hunter, appears quite picturesque posing here over a famous volcano. Located in the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, the snow-peaked Teide is one of the largest volcanoes on Earth. Lights from a group planning to summit Teide before dawn are visible below the volcano’s peak. In this composite of exposures taken from the same location one night last month, the three iconic belt stars ofOrion are seen just above the peak, while the famous Orion Nebula and the rest of Orion’s sword are visible beyond the volcano’s left slope. Also visible in the long duration sky image are the Horsehead Nebula, seen as a dark indentation on the red emission nebula to the belt’s left, and the Flame Nebula, evident just above and to the right of the Horsehead.

Earth Sky News for March 28th: Moon, Saturn, Mars on March 28-29

Moon, Saturn, Mars on March 28-29

Late night Sunday and before dawn Monday morning, the moon was close to Mars on the sky’s dome. Late night tonight – and before dawn on March 29, 2016 – expect to see this lovely waning gibbous moon closer to the planet Saturn and star Antares, brightest light in constellation Scorpius the Scorpion.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, look southward. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, look closer to overhead.

Mars is the brightest of the three starlike objects, and you’ll have no trouble spotting it. If you don’t already know Antares, whose location within the constellation Scorpius makes it very noticeable, you can distinguish Saturn from Antares by color. Saturn shines steadily with a golden hue, while Antares sparkles more and appears redder in color.

If the bright moon makes it hard to discern color, try looking with binoculars.

Mars, Saturn and Antares will make a triangle in our sky for months to come.

And what of Antares, the bright star near the planets?

This bright red star is considered the Scorpion’s ruby heart. It’s a red supergiantstar, located roughly opposite in the sky from another famous red supergiant star,Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion the Hunter. In skyline, it’s said that the Scorpion and the Hunter never appear in the sky at the same time. And indeed … they don’t! As a rule of thumb, when you see Antares in the sky, Betelgeuse will be below the horizon. Why? Simply because these two stars are located on opposite sides of Earth in the grand space of our Milky Way galaxy.

Still, Antares and Betelgeuse provide an interesting comparison. Both Antares and Betelgeuse can clearly be seen as reddish stars.

Both Antares and Betelgeuse are near the end of their lifetimes. Massive supergiant red stars are expected to explode as supernovae. The supernova could happen tomorrow or millions of years in the future. Astronomers don’t really know for sure. These stars are far enough from us (hundreds of light-years) that the deadly radiation probably won’t harm Earth.

Antares is truly an enormous star, with a radius in excess of 3 Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the Earth’s average distance from the sun. If by some bit of magic Antares was suddenly substituted for our sun, the surface of the star would extend well past the orbit of Mars!

Antares is classified as an M1 supergiant star. The “M1” designation says that Antares is reddish in color and “cooler” than many other stars. Its surface temperature of 3500 kelvins (about 5800 degrees F.) is in contrast to about 10,000 degrees F. for our sun. Even though Antares’ surface temperature is relatively low, Antares’ tremendous surface area – the surface from which light can escape – makes this star very bright. In fact, Antares approaches 11,000 times the brilliance of our puny sun, a G2 star – but that is just in visible light. When all wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation is considered, Antares pumps out more than 60,000 times the energy of our sun!

Bottom line: The planet near the moon on the morning of March 29, 2016, is Saturn. The star Antares – Heart of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius – is also nearby and so is the planet Mars. Antares is a red supergiant star, destined to explode someday.

 

Source

Larry Sessions

Larry Sessions

Larry Sessions writes for EarthSky about astronomy and other topics related to physical science, emphasizing observations that can be made with little or no equipment. He also writes and maintains his own astronomy website, as well as class websites for the classes he teaches. His North American Skies website has earned a one of “Ten Cool Sites” recognition by the Exploratorium, and the Griffith Observatory Star Award.

A former planetarium director in Little Rock, Fort Worth and Denver, Larry currently is an adjunct faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and at the Community College of Aurora (CCA, Colorado). He is a co-recipient of the 2010 Tom Brosh Adjunct Faculty Award at CCA, and a former longtime member of “Solar System Ambassadors” program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For six years he was a contributing writer for the Sky Calendar on Space.com. In addition, he was formerly the managing editor at the Denver Museum of Natural History, as well as for the award-winning “Weather Guide” calendar from Accord Publishing. His articles have appeared in numerous publications including Sky & Telescope, Astronomy and Rolling Stone. His small book on world star lore, Constellations, was published by Running Press.

Larry is a former member the SouthWestern Association of Planetariums. He lives in Denver with his wife, Marlene, and their two dogs, Mikatsuki (“New Moon”) and Yoshi (“Lucky”).

 

Article published on EarthSky

Your Daily Influences for March 28

Your Daily Influences
March 28, 2016

 

Seven of Swords
Plans may fail. Distrust and dishonesty are possible. Success will not be complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dagaz
Dagaz represents the fresh light of a new day. You are close to making a breakthrough. You have the will to change whatever you deem necessary. You may see the world with absolute clarity at this time.

 

 

 

The Buckle of Isis
Someone will, or has told a lie about you regarding this aspect and damaged your reputation in ways that may not become apparent to you for many weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Daily Influences represent events and challenges the current day will present for you. They may represent opportunities you should be ready to seize. Or they may forewarn you of problems you may be able to avoid or lessen. Generally it is best to use them as tips to help you manage your day and nothing more.

Your Charm for March 28th is Aries The Ram

Your Charm for Today

Today’s Meaning:
This aspect of your life will be strongly influenced by a person who is adventurous, energetic, pioneering, courageous, enthusiastic, confident, dynamic and quick-witted. This person is probably somone you already know and respect.

General Description:
First sign of the Zodiac, March 21st to April 20th. Mars the ruling planet, and Iron the correct metal. Those born under the influence of Aries were supposed to be brave, ambitious, optimistic, confident, and fond of adventure. The Aries gems are the Diamond, Jasper, and blood stone. The Diamond was always regarded with much veneration in olden times, and was worn to make its wearer bold and daring. Napoleon Bonaparte had the celebrated Regent or Pitt Diamond (136 carats, valued at about 500,000 lbs) set in the hilt of his sword. At one time it was believed that the wearing of very large diamonds brought ill-luck and misfortune on the wearer.

Shuffling the Cards, Your Past, Present & Future Reading for March 28th

Your Past, Present & Future Reading for Today

 

Past Influence whose impact on your life is waning.

The Hawk

High flying and courageous Hawk uses his sharp vision to see all aspects of the world below him in minute detail. He is gifted at taking in all he sees and quickly creating a powerful plan of action. The Hawk suggests that while a broad view of the situation should be taken, the details cannot be overlooked. The Hawk calls for authoritative action based upon a thorough understanding of the circumstances.

 

 

 

 
Present Influence whose impact on your life is very strong.

Chance

The Chance card denotes a period in which taking risks may produce positive results. This doesn’t mean head off to a casino with your life’s savings! What is suggested is that you should make gains by taking a well calculated risk. For the power of Chance to be fully realized it is essential that you pick your risk carefully, move forward with conviction, and above all else don’t get greedy!

 

 

 

 

 

Future influence whose impact on your life is growing and will be very strong in the future.

Wisdom

A very very few of us are fortunate to be born wise. For most of us our Wisdom evolves, grows as we move through life gathering experience and knowledge. Wisdom denotes your thoughts and feelings derived from the melding of your life experiences with all that you have learned. Our Wisdom can get us through the difficult moments in our lives as well as provide the mental and spiritual tools we need to succeed.

Your Ancient Symbol Card for March 28th is Venus

Your Ancient Symbol Card for Today

Venus

 

Venus represents those qualities we commonly associate with the female/yin persona. Venus traits include fertility and the drive to create, unblemished beauty, love, passion, and togetherness. The occurrence of Venus denotes the dominating presence or need of the qualities listed above. While often very subtle, Venetian influences may have a negative impact unless they are balanced with an influence that can temper the drive of Venus.

As a daily card, Venus suggest you should allow your more feminine traits to guide your actions through this period. Subtlety, efforts to bring people together and allowing your creativity to run free are likely to serve you well at this time. However, like Mars, the powers of Venus are very strong and can do more damage than good if not balanced by other influences.

Your Daily Witches Rune for March 28th is The Ear of Corn

 

Your Witches Rune

The Ear of Corn

Meaning: This rune represents abundance, success and happiness. This is considered a lucky rune and if leading, it is very positive about your query, whether the query is about finance, business, friendship, partnership or spirituality. In conjunction with the Rings, it indicates a happy and prosperous marriage. With the Sun, it means success in your career, and with Waves, success abroad.

Your Crowley Thoth Tarot Card for March 28th is The Chariot

Your Crowley Thoth Tarot Card for Today

The Chariot



The Chariot is the representation of Victory and the personality traits required to attain victory. The Chariot indicates self-awareness and control. Courage—the ability to overcome fear and confront the unknown head on–is a primary ingredient of any victorious campaign and is denoted by the Chariot. So too is force of will. Often success is as much the product of will power and a refusal to surrender as it is anything else. The Chariot also represents the healthy personality of someone who believes in themselves; someone who can take control of the situation and bring events to a positive end. His successes come in competition with others.

Unlocking Secrets with Tarot

 

 

 

 

Unlocking Secrets with Tarot

The Tarot guides you toward truth

By Tarotcom Staff  Tarot

 

Article provided by AskNow

Are important secrets about your future, past and present life lurking in the shadows? Find out what they are quickly and easily with the help of the Tarot!

The deck of Tarot is an incredible tool, which can shed light onto the darkest corners of your life. These amazing cards make it possible to illuminate and bring to light what you have never been able to see before.

What do you want to know? Does something irk you but you can not seem to find the source? Are you ready to shake that nagging suspicion that something is not quite right under the surface. Unseen secrets can be uncovered by using the all powerful Tarot.

This could be your opportunity to no longer feel afraid to the unknown. It is not so hard to figure out what is really happening in your life. The missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle may be just the flip of a card away.

Listen to your gut and ask yourself a difficult question. Is there a person or people in your life who you suspect of keeping secrets from you? Aren’t you tired of sorting through shady behavior, half-truths, deception and disloyal words and actions for evidence and kernels of truth?

Consult the Tarot for honest answers. Remove the wool from your eyes so that you can see what your situation really is like and become more in tune with the reality around you. You need to know the whole story, not just the version others want you to know.

When it comes to knowing what is up in your world, you are not just left to your own devices. No one can be everywhere, all the time. Even with today’s modern technology, the Tarot is still the best private investigator. Why? Agendas, motivations and plans become clear and easy to spot with the cards.

With the Tarot acting as a skeleton key to the closet that holds all the secrets in your life, you never have to worry, wonder or feel powerless against the unseen energies of the universe. Like a honing device, the Tarot can help pinpoint the true, honest aspects of your concerns so that you can focus on solutions.

Does anyone in your life speak to you as though they are censoring what they say? When they share things with you does it sound as though they are using security software for their words? This is a red flag indicating a hidden wealth of secrets, carefully woven into a web of exclusion.

When you consult with the Tarot you have a chance to get the most privileged information about the people in your life: employer/employees, friends, family, lover, boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, landlord, accountant, roommate and anyone else who might be keeping an impactful secret from you!

Who knows what vital tidbits you can get your hands on with the enlightenment of the Tarot? Just imagine having the ability to peer into the secrets you deserve to know! Ask the Tarot about your job, your love life or anything else that is on your mind.

Are they being faithful to you or are they cheating? Are you about to get a promotion or get fired? Are your kids telling you everything you need to know in order to keep them safe? Has an ex been thinking or talking secretively about you?

Furthermore, hard facts about your secret life may be on the verge of coming out. Find out who knows what! All the effort you have taken to skirt around the truth for fear of consequences, judgment or loss may be unearthed during a Tarot card reading. Be prepared to both accept and deliver full disclosure.

How does the Tarot reveal the concealed murky depths? Like a Cryptologist decoding an encrypted message, a Tarot card expert is able to receive messages from these ancient cards so you can put an end confusion and mysteries with trustworthy answers. Even the most enigmatic, classified and confidential events are not stealthy enough to hide from a covert operations specialist like the Tarot.

No matter whether they are trying to keep secrets from you because they love you and think it is best for you to be left in the dark on a particular matter or because they are wishing you ill-will or want to put you at a disadvantage in life, the fact of the matter is they are still hiding a secret from you.

Is whispering in the other room and their hush-hush attitude got your sixth sense tingling? Is cloak and dagger behavior leading you to wonder what is so private and under wraps? It is human nature to be curious!

It is time to expose the truth and unlock the answers. Ask and you shall know with the power of the Tarot!

 

Part of the Daily Insight Group

Your Daily Tarot Card for March 28th is The Chariot

Your Personal Daily Tarot Card

The Chariot



The Chariot is the representation of Victory and the personality traits required to attain victory. The Chariot indicates self-awareness and control. Courage—the ability to overcome fear and confront the unknown head on–is a primary ingredient of any victorious campaign and is denoted by the Chariot. So too is force of will. Often success is as much the product of will power and a refusal to surrender as it is anything else. The Chariot also represents the healthy personality of someone who believes in themselves; someone who can take control of the situation and bring events to a positive end. His successes come in competition with others

Get A Jump On Tomorrow, Your Daily Horoscopes for Tuesday, March 29th

 

 

 

 

Get A Jump On Tomorrow…

Your Daily Horoscopes for Tuesday, March 29th

by Rick Levine

 

General Horoscope

We are enamored with our most outrageous ideas today. We can’t help but reflect the flamboyant Sagittarius Moon by believing everything we say, while mischievous Mercury conspires with bombastic Jupiter to amp up the volume up even higher. However, Mercury’s flowing trine with pragmatic Saturn later this evening pops our balloons; we have no choice but to return to solid ground. The sooner we rein in our enthusiasm, the better for all involved.

Aries Horoscope MAR 21 – APR 19

You’re itching to rush out of the starting gate, but circumstances delay your progress until you put a concrete plan into place. Thankfully, you can deftly think through the alternative contingencies while under pressure and map out your strategy. But don’t let logic limit your options; it’s smarter now to combine a rational approach with your visionary ideas. Giving up too soon won’t work in your favor; however, your unwavering commitment to reach your goal is currently your ticket to success.

Taurus Horoscope APR 20 – MAY 20

Practicing self-discipline is crucial today because you will struggle unnecessarily if you try to overextend your limits. Nevertheless, opportunities abound to finish whatever you start if you establish attainable goals and then focus only on the most essential tasks. Positive thinking is a definite plus as long as you don’t assume that your attitude is the only thing that matters. Intention plus hard work leads to a gratifying sense of accomplishment.

Gemini Horoscope MAY 21 – JUN 20

Your ability to rationalize is so amplified now that you could be the victim of your own cleverness. Mischievous Mercury is working overtime today, stimulating conversations to smooth over the rough spots in your life. Be careful not to dance around an unpleasant discussion now because denial can backfire and strain the relationship dynamics later on. Believe it or not, running from the truth is a lot tougher than facing it squarely in the eye.

Cancer Horoscope JUN 21 – JUL 22

You excel at communicating your feelings today, but unfortunately, even your closest friends might not fully understand your perspective. The problem is that certain complex emotions don’t fit into language; a nuance can be lost in translation unless everyone understands the motivation behind your words. Remember that your behavior also speaks loudly, so make sure your actions are consistent with the message you’re trying to get across.

Leo Horoscope JUL 23 – AUG 22

Although your insecurities might not be apparent, you’re still concerned with the emotional response of your coworkers today. Unfortunately, your non-disclosure strategy is ineffective if you try to hide your anxiety by being purposefully vague. However, it’s healthier to share as much information as possible, even if you must do it in bite-size pieces. Your associates are willing to help you even more if they are fully informed. Thankfully, there’s no need to carry your burden alone.

Virgo Horoscope AUG 23 – SEP 22

You could probably get away with sloppy thinking today as long as you don’t let the situation grow out of hand. Authoritative Saturn is beaming a stabilizing energy to your key planet Mercury, enabling you to improve your game while maintaining a sense of control. Thankfully, your allies will cut you some slack now if your logic momentarily falters. Remain true to your spirit and let your imagination run wild and free.

Libra Horoscope SEP 23 – OCT 22

You are adept at minimizing your needs to make a situation more pleasant for someone else. However, you could go overboard today, trying to remedy an emotional problem that’s not your responsibility. Nosing around in other people’s business rarely helps anyone, but you can still be a true friend by listening and showing your support. Caring for those you love is a gift as long as you remember to maintain healthy boundaries.

Scorpio Horoscope OCT 23 – NOV 21

Your emotional and spiritual needs are complex, often prompting you to keep them to yourself. However, your aspirations are wildly vivid and wonderfully specific now, and you may be hesitant to reveal your inner process. But there’s no reason to close yourself off completely today; confiding in another person can help you process your feelings and deepen your relationship. Give yourself permission to wait until you’re ready to share your colorful fantasies with someone you trust.

Sagittarius Horoscope NOV 22 – DEC 21

You’re submerged in a sea of deep thoughts now, but you don’t want to go public with your feelings just yet. Nevertheless, you might come across flippantly — as if your emotions aren’t very important — especially when you talk about them in an offhand manner. Ironically, you may believe that changes are occurring, even if nothing obvious is happening today. Be courageous and seek your voice. Take a risk and reveal your heart.

Capricorn Horoscope DEC 22 – JAN 19

Although living up to your responsibilities is nothing new for you, taking care of business quickly fills up your schedule today. In spite of your ambitious agenda, you still might believe that you can pack another activity into your day. Unfortunately, even the time you set aside for exercise or relaxation is rapidly disappearing now. Thankfully, you can prevent your plans from falling apart by making smart choices early in the day. Less is more.

Aquarius Horoscope JAN 20 – FEB 18

You may feel strange if a casual conversation at work suddenly turns personal today. You might overreact, provoking you to say more than you would normally share and inspiring a real heart-to-heart connection. Although it could feel great at first, the mood likely grows awkward as the discussion continues. Don’t be afraid to push past your comfort zone or you can undo the potentially positive consequences of breaking down an unspoken and unnecessary boundary.

Pisces Horoscope FEB 19 – MAR 20

It’s so tempting to slip into an invisible caretaker role today because you are so empathic when it comes to the feelings of those you admire. It may be a real challenge to avoid playing the role of a martyr now, but giving away too much of yourself too quickly and transform compassion into resentment in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, you can truly help those you love in the long run if you remember to maintain healthy boundaries when opening your heart.

 

Part of the Daily Insight Group