Bangalore Current Sky
Size of the Universe - Yeah Size does Matter
>> Thursday, August 05, 2010
BEYOND OUR SUN ... IT'S A BIG UNIVERSE
ANTARES IS THE 15TH BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY.IT IS MORE THAN 1000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY
BELOW A HUBBLE TELESCOPE ULTRA DEEP FIELD INFRARED VIEW OF COUNTLESS GALAXIES...
BILLIONS OF LIGHT-YEARS AWAY
BELOW IS A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF THE DARKEST REGIONS OF THE PHOTO ABOVE
ALL RATHER HUMBLING, ISN'T IT? ... WE CAN'T BE ALONE !!!
Read more...
Photons & Magnitudes
>> Saturday, July 31, 2010
It is interesting to see, how many photons reach a area from a star with given magnitude (and color).
mag Photons / m² / s
0 22.400.000.000
2 3.550.160.751
4 562.662.561
6 89.176.006
8 14.133.445
10 2.240.000
12 355.016
14 56.266
16 8.918
18 1.413
20 224
22 36
24 6
26 1
How many photons does an eye need to see a visual limit (A0) star?
This is for the v-band. The eye has about 7mm diameter thus about 0,000038 m² area.
This leads to some 2700 Photons per sec.
A more detailed article can be found here.http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1993JRASC..87..123R/0000123.000.html
Read more...
mag Photons / m² / s
0 22.400.000.000
2 3.550.160.751
4 562.662.561
6 89.176.006
8 14.133.445
10 2.240.000
12 355.016
14 56.266
16 8.918
18 1.413
20 224
22 36
24 6
26 1
How many photons does an eye need to see a visual limit (A0) star?
This is for the v-band. The eye has about 7mm diameter thus about 0,000038 m² area.
This leads to some 2700 Photons per sec.
A more detailed article can be found here.http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1993JRASC..87..123R/0000123.000.html
5 Planets can be seen in One night till 10 April 2010
>> Thursday, April 08, 2010
This week its a great treat for Astronomy enthusiasts, as five planets (Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn,Jupiter) of our solar system will be visible in the night sky till April 10.
Visibility of five planets in one single night is a very rare event, at most 2 or 3 planets are visible in one evening to next day morning.
Out of the five mercury is always hidden in sun's glare but it is visible till April 10 & rest of the 4 planets can be seen for some 2 to 3 more months.
Tip to find planets : Planets shine, but not blink or twinkle, so search for shining objects in the night sky.
The Known Universe
Recently I cam across a video on the Known Universe created by American Museum of Natural History. It is really a wonderful video that show the known universe. See and enjoy.
Solar Eclipse @ Kanyakumari on 15 Jan 2010
Details about this Eclipse:
* Moon's shadow will cover the sun & you will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire'(Annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon's shadow is smaller than that of the visible disc of the sun. The covered sun, therefore, appears as a 'Ring of Fire', with its rays appearing spread out from the outline of the moon.)
* This is millennium's longest annular solar eclipse that is between 2001 and 3000, maximum duration of the eclipse would be 11 minutes 08 seconds over the Indian Ocean.
* Last time India saw this 'Ring of Fire' was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020.
* In India, the eclipse started at around 11 a.m. and ended at around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse first seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then moved obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It moved to Kerala and ended in Mizoram in the northeast.
The path of the moon's shadow begun in Africa at 10.44 a.m. and passed through Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. After leaving Africa, the path crossed the Indian Ocean.
The central path then continued into Asia through the extreme southern part of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China.
Update : My friend Sharanu has wonderfully written about our Solar Eclipse @ Kanyakumari Adventure on his blog post : My Romance with Sun
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