Did anyone else notice a bright light flash outside - presumably in the sky, around 10:45pm -11pm on Wed 10th June. The light persisted for around 3 or 4 seconds and was roughly south in orientation, reasonbly high, but it was not directly visible. No sound was heard, so a bolide can be ruled out. It could have been a brilliant meteor. Anyone else notice anything? [Read more about Mystery Flash]
The Philae Lander on the usrface of comet P67, which went into battery-save hibernation in November, has woken up. That's according to this BBC report of the European Space Agency (ESA). [Read more about Philae Lander has woken-up]
Mark explains light years and the mind-boggling distances they describe.
The term ‘light year’ is often used to describe a stars distance, but is it a measurement of time, or distance? The answer to this could be ‘yes’ and ‘yes’, for there is a case that it applies to both. Certainly, a light year is used by astronomers as the standard measuring ‘yard stick’ with regard to stellar distances, but this in turn offers up some rather intriguing consequences as we shall see... [Read more about Trip the Light Fantastic]
And here’s some more fantastic news, Rosetta's lander Philae has woken up after seven months in hibernation on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and by all acounts ‘is doing very well’... [Read more about Rosetta and Philae Update]
After 9 years and billions of miles travelling, NASA’s New Horizons probe finally reaches Pluto in July. The mission goal is to understand the formation of the Pluto system, the Kuiper Belt, and the transformation of the early Solar System.
The spacecraft will study the atmospheres, surfaces, interiors and environments of Pluto and its plethora of moons. It will also study other objects in the Kuiper Belt depending on which are in position to be explored... [Read more about New Horizons: Almost there!]
In this month's edition:
| Sun | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| Actual | 07:26 | 16:07 |
| Civil Twilight | 06:46 | 16:46 |
| Nautical Twilight | 06:02 | 17:30 |
| Astronomical Twilight | 05:21 | 18:12 |
| Moon | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| 22:04 | 13:40 |
