Babe Among the Stars: High Jinks in Space
Created | Updated Jun 15, 2013
Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth - Ptolemy
High Jinks in Space
Commander Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS), caused a global sensation in May when he was recorded singing a version of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. He was already well known from the photos he had been taking and publishing on his Twitter feed. My own neck of the woods, the Humber region, appears in this video. This isn't the first time astronauts have entertained us from space, and I hope it won't be the last. I can remember lunar astronauts singing while high-skip/leaping, playing low-grav golf, and kicking up moondust while steering the lunar rover into sharp turns. Good job there are no policemen on the Moon!
X-class Flares
If you have a few moments to spare today, take a look at these awesome images of our local star aka the Sun. Those X-class flares are mind-boggling!
June 2013 Diary Dates
The full moon this month occurs at the time of the closest perigee of 2013, ergo it will be the largest full moon of the year.
- 01: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter line up in the west just after sunset
- 03: Moon is 4° north of Uranus
- 08: New Moon
- 09: Moon is at apogee (252,579 miles from Earth)
- 10: Moon is 5° south of Venus
- 10: Moon is 6° south of Mercury
- 10/11: Gamma Delphinid meteor shower peak
- 12: Best viewing time for Mercury
- 18: Moon is 0.1° north of Spica (alpha Virginis)
- 19: Sun occults Jupiter (this only happens twice in 12 years)
- 19: Moon is 4° south of Saturn
- 20: Mercury and Venus within 2°
- 21: Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere)/Winter Solstice (Southern Hemisphere)
- 22: Venus is 5° south of Pollux (beta Geminorum)
- 23: Full Moon (the Strawberry or Honey Moon) - it will be the largest/closest of the year
- 26: June Bootids meteor shower peak
- 27: Moon is 6° north of Neptune
- 30: Moon is 4° north of Uranus
Chat about your celestial observances at the H2G2 Astronomy Society. Comment on anything in this edition of Babe Among the Stars by starting a new conversation below.
