Note by Apollia on Nov. 8, 2023: Please join my Patreon if you'd like to support me and my work!





Astronomy Blog - Most Recent Posts

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9/25/2019 - Link: "Venus Could Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years"
6/20/2018 - Link: "How Jupiter May Have Gifted Early Earth With Water"
4/24/2018 - Links: Uranus smells how you might expect
8/2/2017 - August 21, 2017: A total solar eclipse visible in parts of the USA!
3/18/2016 - Link: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto (Link)
3/18/2016 - Links: Informal Names for Places on Pluto
1/21/2016 - Links: The Search for Planet Nine
7/14/2015 - Pluto Flyby - New Horizons' Closest Approach - July 14, 2015, around 11:49 AM UT (7:49 AM EDT)
7/11/2015 - Pluto's Heart (With a Bit of Astrology)
2/6/2014 - Link: A Slate.com article about Pluto New Horizons mission (Link)
2/5/2014 - Water vapor detected on dwarf planet Ceres (Link)
2/5/2014 - The M82 supernova is reported to be at peak brightness
11/2/2013 - Sun., Nov. 3rd: Solar Eclipse, and Daylight Savings Time ends in the USA

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Link: "Venus Could Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years"
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
01:03:11 GMT


Venus Could Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years
Sept. 24, 2019 from SmithsonianMag.com


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Link: "How Jupiter May Have Gifted Early Earth With Water"
Wednesday, June 20th, 2018
21:43:01 GMT


Amusingly, astronomy sometimes seems to echo astrology, such as by saying things like Jupiter is a protector and gives gifts to us here on Earth. :-)

How Jupiter May Have Gifted Early Earth With Water
June 20, 2018 from SmithsonianMag.com


However, the other gas giants may have helped us as well (astronomically speaking). Even Saturn!

Quote:

"The new model suggests that any gas giant would send wet material hurling inward as a consequence of their formation. While massive Jupiter-sized worlds were the most effective, Raymond found that any sized gas giant could trigger the growth. That's good news for researchers hunting watery planets outside our solar system.

In our own solar system, the model shows that ices from the outer solar system snowed down on the Earth in three waves. The first came as Jupiter swelled up. The second was triggered during Saturn's formation. And the third would have occurred when Uranus and Neptune migrated inward before being blocked by the other two and sent back to the outskirts of the solar system."


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Links: Uranus smells how you might expect
Tuesday, April 24th, 2018
14:25:59 GMT


Science has finally proven that Uranus has a perfectly appropriate name. :-)


Scientists finally confirm that Uranus is surrounded by fart clouds
April 23, 2018 from PopSci.com


Clouds above Uranus smell like farts and rotten eggs, Oxford researchers declare
April 24, 2018 from USAToday.com


Uranus smells like farts, astronomers have confirmed - which could indicate there was 'a big shakeup' early in the solar system
From BusinessInsider.com


And here's where I originally found this important news:

Uranus Smells Like Rotten Eggs, Study Says
April 23, 2018 from Weather.com


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August 21, 2017: A total solar eclipse visible in parts of the USA!
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2017
19:38:57 GMT


Last modified August 3, 2017 at 3:54 AM EDT.


There's going to be a total solar eclipse visible in parts of the USA on August 21, 2017!

Some web links about it:

NASA's Total Solar Eclipse 2017 page

Space.com - Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely)

I don't feel like writing in depth about this or anything else, but, just thought I'd point that out, since it's so rare.

I only heard about it because a local library's ebook site recently acquired the book The Solar Eclipse of 2017.


As for why so little has been happening here at Eryss.Com for so long - I've been paying hardly any attention to astronomy and even less attention to astrology lately, due to being preoccupied with other projects, some of which are on my GitHub page.

And also due to some health issues such as fatigue, which I'm guessing astrology probably can't help me with, and possibly might even make worse, such as by wasting time I could have spent on more helpful things.


However, even though I still don't trust astrology at all, I am sort of looking forward to Jupiter transiting my 2nd house, since that's supposed to be associated with good financial luck, and like most people, I could always use more of that.

In fact, I might as well point out I still welcome donations and microdonations.

Generally, the more money I have, the better I feel, which might make me more likely to fully recover from my health issues and get more interesting things done, such as eventually, future editions of the Eryss astrology software.


I've already been doing much better lately compared to the past several years. (Which I guess might be fitting for Jupiter lately transiting my 1st house. Especially unusually, I actually gained some weight, some of which I'd like to lose!)

But, there's still plenty of room for improvement. I'm hoping exercising a lot more will greatly improve my energy.


The Eryss.Com Forum has been closed for maintenance for a long while, but someday will be reopened when I figure out how to block spam more effectively.

Also, I'm still mostly unreachable, since I'm still not checking my public email addresses, since I've been trying to avoid stress. I don't know when I'll resume checking that email, but probably not in the near future.

Currently, not even a donation or microdonation can get my attention quickly, because I have my PayPal messages filtered too, because anything related to money stresses me out. For now, the less I think about money, the better.

Thanks again to everyone who ever donated!

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Link: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto
Friday, March 18th, 2016
08:31:27 GMT


Link

Another cool thing I just found today.

From NASA.gov - New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto (Oct. 8, 2015)


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Links: Informal Names for Places on Pluto
Friday, March 18th, 2016
07:55:44 GMT


Today, I found out that various regions of Pluto have been given informal names.

Links:

From HuffingtonPost.com - Pluto Is Turning Into The Planet Of Your Nightmares (July 15, 2015)

From Gizmodo.com - Places on Pluto are Being Named for Your Darkest Imaginings (July 14, 2015)

From NASA.gov - New Horizons Map of Pluto: The Whale and the Donut (July 7, 2015)


And from Wikipedia:

Geography of Pluto

An annotated Pluto map

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Links: The Search for Planet Nine
Thursday, January 21st, 2016
09:03:16 GMT


An interesting astronomy blog:

The Search for Planet Nine

And no, they're not looking for Pluto. Pluto did not go missing. :-)


An amusing article from Mother Jones, Jan. 20, 2016:

Scientists Discover "Most Planet-y" Planet in the Solar System


I found both those links via astronomer Mike Brown's Twitter page.

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Pluto Flyby - New Horizons' Closest Approach - July 14, 2015, around 11:49 AM UT (7:49 AM EDT)
Tuesday, July 14th, 2015
09:24:15 GMT


The New Horizons flyby of Pluto will (hopefully) reach its closest approach on July 14, 2015 at approximately 7:49 AM EDT (11:49 AM UT) - just hours from now.

And one article I stumbled across - Wired.com - New Horizons’ Finest Moment Could Be Its Hour of Destruction (posted July 13, 2015) - provides this remarkably exact time: "7:49:58 AM Eastern time"

And also says:

"With all sensors trained on Pluto, New Horizons won’t phone home for 21 straight hours."


Another link - New York Times - New Horizons' Pluto Flyby (July 14, 2015) - says in the last section of the animated slideshow near the top of the page:

"Confirmation that New Horizon survived the flyby is not expected until after 9:00 p.m., in part because signals from Pluto take four and a half hours to reach Earth."


More links:

NASA Television

NASA - New Horizons

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory - New Horizons


Wikipedia - New Horizons


BusinessInsider.com - Pluto Infographics (June 4, 2015)

Io9.com - This is What We've Learned About Pluto in the Past 24 Hours (July 13, 2015)


Quoted from the last link:

"Pluto is 2,370 kilometers (1,473 miles) in diameter, give or take 20 kilometers. This makes it undisputedly larger than Eris, the second largest object in the Kuiper Belt at 2,336 kilometers with a potential error of +/- 12 kilometers, and ends a decade-long debate over which object is larger."


However, Eris still has more mass. Another recent link:

Discovery.com - New Horizons is Seeing Signs of Kuiper Belt 'Blood Spatter' (July 14, 2015)

Quote:

"It’s worth noting that Pluto and Eris’ masses have been precisely known for some time — Eris is around one-third more massive than Pluto. By measuring the characteristics of moons orbiting both dwarf planets, an accurate mass can be calculated."


Wikipedia - List of Solar System objects by size


Addition, Aug. 9, 2015, 1:10 AM EDT: Quoted from this page from The Guardian:

"The New Horizons probe has made contact with Earth, proof that the spacecraft survived its historic flyby of Pluto.

The signal was received at precisely 8.52.37pm Eastern time."

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Pluto's Heart
Saturday, July 11th, 2015
06:43:13 GMT


With a Bit of Astrology

Here's an article from Phys.org about Pluto's "heart", with a picture:

Pluto's 'heart' revealed as New Horizons probe starts flyby campaign

A quote from that article:

New Horizons will swoop to within about 12,500 kilometers (nearly 7,750 miles) of Pluto's surface and about 17,900 miles (28,800 kilometers) from Charon during closest approach at approximately 7:49 a.m. EDT (11:49 UTC) on July 14.


As for the heart - well, I think it's adorable. :-)

So maybe Pluto shouldn't be considered to be in debility in Libra and Taurus after all. :-)

(In astrology, usually Venus is considered the ruler of Libra and Taurus, and Venus is associated with love. )

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Link: A Slate.com article about Pluto New Horizons mission
Thursday, February 6th, 2014
03:35:48 GMT


Link

An article from Feb. 5, 2014, from Slate.com:

Pluto New Horizons mission: The dwarf planet explains the history of our solar system

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Water vapor detected on dwarf planet Ceres
Wednesday, February 5th, 2014
05:38:26 GMT


Link

An article from Jan. 21, 2014, from NASA.gov:

Herschel Telescope Detects Water on Dwarf Planet

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The M82 supernova is reported to be at peak brightness
Wednesday, February 5th, 2014
05:29:17 GMT


An article from Feb. 4, 2014, from SkyAndTelescope.com:

Supernova in M82 At Its Peak


And an article from Jan. 31, 2014, from Gizmag.com:

The M82 supernova is at peak brightness: How to see it


I haven't yet figured out where in the sky to look for it.

But, hopefully astronomy software such as Stellarium* or Celestia would help.

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Sun., Nov. 3rd: Solar Eclipse, and Daylight Savings Time ends in the USA
Saturday, November 2nd, 2013
16:24:01 GMT


From Weather.com:

Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse Over North America This Weekend: How to See It


It will also be visible elsewhere in the world. From EarthSky.org:

Hybrid solar eclipse on November 3


Note if you're in the USA:

Daylight Savings Time ends tomorrow morning - Sunday, Nov. 3rd.


If you type something like "sunrise in hubbard" (or whatever your town name is) into Google, Google might tell you what time sunrise will be, above your search results.


Edit, posted at 8:17 PM. I should probably point out (even though probably most people know this) that you should always avoid looking directly at the sun.

Here's a page from Exploratorium.edu with details on how to make something with which to safely, indirectly view an eclipse:

A How-To Guide for Viewing Eclipses

If it's visible at all here, I'm only going to look at it on my camera's screen (or in pictures), or maybe with one of the lazier methods listed on that page.

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Note by Apollia on Nov. 8, 2023: Please join my Patreon if you'd like to support me and my work!