Sunspot 1504 poses a growing threat for Earth-directed M-class solar flares and continues to expand into a large-sized sunspot cluster. Now spans the size of at least 4 planet Earths.It erupted in southern hemisphere on June 13th at 13:19 UTC, producing a
ESA’s Mars Express has provided images of a remarkable crater on Mars that may show evidence that the planet underwent significant periodic fluctuations in its climate due to changes in its rotation axis.On 19 June 2011, Mars Express pointed its high-resolution
The Transit of Venus is over. It was the most spectacular event for all skywatchers as well for the whole astrophysics science community. Technology in 2012 allowed us to observe the Transit from mighty Earth’s telescopes as well as from solar-observing space fleet and
A transit like this occurs when Venus passes directly between Earth and the Sun. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot gliding slowly across a portion of the Sun. The last time the event occurred was on June 8, 2004, and was viewed by millions worldwide. This year,
On June 5th, 2012, Venus will transit the face of the sun in an event of both historical and observational importance. Amateur astronomers who manage to locate Venus in broad daylight will find that the planet has turned into a delightfully slender crescent. This
The upcoming transit of Venus will occur on June 5th in the Western Hemisphere and on June 6th in the Eastern Hemisphere. We bring you some facts and tips on how to make your skywatching more memorable.Why this is a rare event?The orbits
Scientists plan to use the moon as a mirror to watch this year’s June 5-6 transit of Venus with the Hubble Space Telescope. That’s because Hubble can’t look at the sun directly – the bright light could damage the telescope’s super-sensitive instruments.This
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth.This is unexpected because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth, is only about
A transit of Venus is the observed passage of the planet across the disk of the Sun. The planet Venus, orbiting the Sun “on the inside track,” catches up to and passes the slower Earth. Venus, appearing as a small dot in the foreground, will move from left to
This weekend will provide the full Moon’s closest approach of the year to Earth. On Saturday, May 5, 2012 the Moon could appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012, according to some calculations.Every month, as the Moon circles the
