Exoplanets vs. Jupiter planet.

A younger version of Jupiter offers clues about planet formation.

It is probably not the first time you hear scientists likened an exoplanet to Jupiter. According to a team of astronomers, a planet called 51 Eridani b is not only similar in size: 51 Eri B has an atmosphere rich in methane "very much like patterns that suggest as Jupiter at the beginning.". It was detected with the new Gimini Planet Imager instrument from Gemini South Telescope in Chile, as big as a small car, and it was made to filter atmospheric turbulence and has been optimized to find planets near bright stars. This exoplanet, for example, is a million times dimmer than its host star which is only about 20 million years old. Our sun is 4.5 billion years.

So how resembles Eri 51 b with the largest planet in our solar system? 
One reason is that it is only twice the size of Jupiter, while those discovered in the past were about five times larger. Also, scientists suspected that was formed in the same way as the gas giants in our solar system. The other exoplanets like Jupiter are too hot, but Eri 51 b has a temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit and is considered "cool" like Jupiter, which has an average temperature of 234 degrees.

It could be so because like on our gas giants, its rocky nucleus was formed over a period of several million years before starting to attract gas. Other planets are likely to have dragged gas heat too fast. Astronomers hope that this young exoplanet can help us better understand how gas giants formed around the sun.

Below are images taken with the video camera attached to my telescope.

The Galilean moons of Jupiter.

Planet Jupiter
Distance: 745,969,326 km. (4982 A.U.)
Illuminated: 99.0%
Magnitude: -2.37

Astronomical Instrument: Celestron Newtonian 8 inch Telescope
Mount C5 / EQ5
Video Camera: Sony CX-130
Ocular: Plossl 20mm, 2x Barlow
Filter: no
Date: January 28, 2012
Edit: Sony Vegas 10
Location: Baia Mare, Romania

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Don't miss the Lunar Eclipse September 2015.

June 15, 2011 Lunar Eclipse image.

On September 28 morning, you can enjoy a special event in the sky if you gaze at the Moon. Every few years, the Moon darkens until it is totally overshadowed by the Earth. You can see this spectacular phenomenon with the naked eye, with binoculars or a telescope.

At around 3:13 you'll see how the Full Moon will start gradually darker until 5: 47 The Earth will be perfect interposed between the Sun and the Moon and its shadow will be projected onto the Moon's surface which a few hours before was shining. After that time, you will see how the Moon will begin to emerge from the shadow of our planet while it continues its orbital path around the Earth.

For those who see this phenomenon by accident do not panic calling the emergency number, or do not believe that the moon is in some kimd of fog. But many people may have seen this kind of event and they passed over without remark what they saw. They heard through the media that an eclipse happened and then they realized they have observed the event and regret that they were not aware of it.

Full Astronomical Calendar of 2015.

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Did I discovered a new Moon crater?

Observe craters Aristoteles and Euxodus (87/67 km), two craters on the Moon's north.

Looking at these pictures, something crossed my mind seeing the mountain formation west of the two craters, that in this area there is a crater, so old and bombed, that is barely distinguishable. If you look closer, those mountains are curved, which may mean that that is what survived from the western edge of the crater, the rest being covered by lava.

This is the second crater "discovered" by me, the first being the one that fits Rupes Recta. There are no data on these alleged craters anywhere on the internet, or maybe I do not know. If this is a new crater discovered (but old), it should be named Lupu, by my name. :)Just kidden.

Moon Age: 9.05 days
Phase: 70.5% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 399.221 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plossl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 10/03/2014
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: FastStone Image Viewer

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An astronomer filmed an asteroid crashing into the Moon (video)

A spanish astronomer says he witnessed an asteroid the size of a refrigerator that breaks into the Moon, the biggest lunar impact caused by an asteroid ever recorded .


The event has been seen by Jose Maria Madiedo , a professor at the University of Huelva


On 11 September 2013 Madiedo operated two telescopes to observe the Moon, when he saw a flash in the Mare Nubium, an old basin full of dark lava .

Light was briefly almost as bright as the North Star , says Royal Astronomical Society ( RAS ) .

It would have been visible to the naked eye for anyone who happened to look at the Moon at the time, in good seeing sky.


There was a long response , with a duration of eight seconds - the longest and brightest ever seen on a lunar impact .

"At that moment, I realized that I saw a very rare and extraordinary event ," said Madiedo to the society.


Madiedo and his colleagues have calculated that the rock has a mass of about 400 kg, and a diameter of between 60 and 140 centimeters. It hit Mare Nubium to about 61.000 km per hour.

The speed was so great that the stone has melted on the impact and vaporized, leaving a thermal glow visible from Earth like lightning , and formed a crater of 40 meters in the lunar surface .

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WOW!! HOLOGRAM MOON!!! (reply)

A user on BEFORE IT'S NEWS, called litereader, said ASTONOMER CAPTURES HOLOGRAM MOON. What a crap. It is a poor quality video through some binoculars I guess, to which he applied some mask effect.
This is his video.




So I was very angry when I saw this, because the title is very catchy, and I was very disappointed when I've clicked on it.


Maybe my bump map Moon is a hologram too :  Video-Artistic Moon in Sony Vegas 10
...and video below.



Since the user disabled comments on his "news", I thought I have to give him an answer : WHAAA, WHAT A BIG DISCOVERY!!!

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Chang'e-3 and Yutu rover landed on the Moon (images).

685 frames at 85% best quality in Registax.

 The region where Chang'e-3 and Yutu landed.

 Age of the Moon: 27.32 days
Distance: 381.700 km
Phase: 88.8% (0% = New, 100% = Full)

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, Plossl 20 mm, 2x Barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 26/09/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: Registax, FastStone Image Viewer



Saturday December 14, 2013 , Chang'e -3 Chinese space probe successfully landed on the Moon , and Sunday , rover Yutu ( Jade Rabbit) , left the ship platform which carried it there. The first image has been already transmitted (below).

First image of Tutu rover.

CCTV Television provided live images from the time of the successful landing program that authorities consider it a major step for military space .
China hopes to have a space station by 2020. This is the third country after Russia and the U.S. in history successfully sending a rover on the Moon.
The rover will activate it's mission on Sinus Iridum bay, of the northern Moon. The nearest crater of rover Yutu is Laplace F.

Yutu is designed to travel about 10 km during the mission, and has the task of analysis with the help of it's instruments on it the lunar soil, on and around craters, and the material ejected from the impacts and the rays ( albedo) resulted, but also soil analysis from the deep . The purpose of the mission is the discovery of natural resources.
Chang'e -3 , was launched from Earth on December 1, 2013 and has completed it's journey to the Moon in 13 days.

Yutu rover, image made by Chang'e-3 space probe.

Chang'e-3 space probe.

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This is NOT a joke. Comet 2013 A1 will pass VERY close to Mars in October 2014.

Comet 2013 A1. Credit: NASA.

NASA officially says that on 19 October 2014, Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will pass extremely close to Mars, almost certainly to 300,000 km from the planet, possibly much closer. The current accurate estimating is that it will come to about 50,000 km from the surface of Mars. This is about 2.5 times the distance of Mars's Deimos, farthest satellite of this planet, or more than twice the distance to Earth of the asteroid 2012 DA14 from 15 February 2013.

 Since the available observation period is still relatively short, the current orbit determination, is quite uncertain and the distance of the approach will change after further observations to be included in estimates of future orbit.

 Currently, Mars is in the range of possible direct path of the comet and we can not exclude the possibility of an impact with Mars. Estimating the probability of impact is more than 1 in 600, and we expect that future observations will allow us to completely eliminate an impact with Mars.


After more than a million years of travel, the comet comes from the Oort cloud of our Solar System. This comet could be complete, with volatile gases that on short period comets often missing because their frequent returns near the Sun.


During the approach to Mars, the comet will probably reach a total visual magnitude zero or brighter.

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Let's colonize the Moon!

232 frames at 75% best quality in Registax.

Probably many of you when you were kids, you were dreaming of going to the Moon , or you imagined about Moon bases like domes in which cosmonauts would live . This can happen these days once technology has advanced greatly , making a tremendous leap in the last decade. My personal opinion is that the Moon would not be the first candidate for colonization, but Mars.

But the truth is, the easiest way is to get to the Moon, because to reach Mars is required a 6 month journey in space , unlike the Moon on which you can reach in a few days.

If we take into account the colonization of the Moon, which by the way is prohibited by international treaties, the Moon being only studied for scientific purposes, this should be done strategically , not anywhere on its surface.

 Building a Moon base have to be located at one of the lunar poles for several reasons :

1 . Solar energy . There are places at the south pole of the Moon for example, the Sun never sets , except on times of eclipses of the Moon when Earth's shadow covers the Sun as seen from the Moon . With a Sun that never ceases to shine , the eventual Moon base would have constant solar energy. Malapert mountain, south of the Moon, located near the crater Shackleton is always sunny . Solar collection stations could provide electricity for a base if builded somewhere near this mountain .

Peary crater at the south can also be counted as a part of its surface, is constantly exposed to the Sun, estimating that in this region there would be a stable temperature of -50 degrees Celsius , with temperatures comparable to those from Siberia.

2 . Water at the poles . Has already been demonstrated that there is water on lunar poles where sunlight never reaches . This would make the prospective settlers to have resources for consumption.

A Moon base on the unseen face of it is ruled out as it would have hampered direct communications with Earth
Either way , I think the humans will colonize the Moon first and only then a planet.

 But before we think of any settlement , we should think about why would we make such a step . It is hard to believe that for the sake of science it would be invested so much money for a base there. There must be something more valuable, namely the exploitation of resources. Only then it will be colonized , but as yet are not very good reasons to believe that we have something to exploit there for bringing profit and be also able to cover the costs of colonization , little chance . Perhaps only if we discover a mountain of gold there .

One more valuable reason that would quickly implement, would be an imminent asteroid impact with our planet which is known in advance , let's say at least 5-10 years earlier.


A manned Moon expedition.
Frankly, I would be very happy to be one of the first inhabitants of the Moon, and if such a base would be built there, I'd do it, but only if I'm there with people which are carefully psychologically analyzed, not risking conflicts during that period. Imagine of not geting along with someone you live in a space of 400 square meters, say over a period of 5 years.


I can imagine how nice it would show the Earth from the Moon. It would be much bigger than the Moon as viwed from the Earth. To this marvel, we add the overwhelming beauty of our planet, bright and blue, full of white clouds as snow with spectacular swirls. I would even be able to see phases of the Earth.

I would look through the telescope to see my own planet, remembering how I looked from the Earth, to the Moon.
Besides the admiration that I have for the mother planet, I would make more tests when I get dressed in the lunar environment protection costume. First I would play with Moon's sand, I'd made ​​some dangerous maneuvers like jumping, somersaults, and I would be looking for any changes of the surface, eg, gas that is supposed to emanate, flashes or lightning which were recorded by observers from the Earth, and maybe I'd find other unexplained phenomena that we could not see it, unless it was a research base there.

I hope I have inspired people in this article, to look for the Moon more, and see that maybe one day, we'll never know, this rocky "planet" will may be our temporary home one day, in case of some desastruos future threats, and we will say, "well, I never  thought, or looked on the Moon and here we are, on it, and loving it, glad that we have it".

Age of the Moon: 27 days
Distance: 387.568 km
Phase: 17% (0% = New, 100% = full)

Image above info:
Optics: Celestron C8 "-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plossl, 2x Barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 11/09/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: Registax, FastStone Image Viewer


Comments from Reddit:
japko
Is it just me, or is there a probability that this could cause a war for moon land?

AlphaBetaParkingLot -

Possible? Yes.
But I would hope the same farsightedness that places both Antarctica and the moon (and all else in space) off-limits to claim by any nation would prevent it. These treaties, do indeed prevent a nation from colonising the moon as part of their nation, but it either allows, or could reasonable be amended to allow, a sort of International Space Station on the moon, that is a joint operation owned by many nations.
Although it would be cool to build a colony with no ties to a Earth nation at all... it would be unreasonable considering someone has to pay for it, build it, etc.

 H_is_for_Human - I'd rather see a situation like the ISS than a situation like Antarctica.

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Lunar Eclipse October 18, 2013.

Moon's orbit is inclined about 5 degrees with respect to Earth's orbit around the Sun . A Full Moon usually passes through Earth's shadow , with no eclipse , but two to four times a year, the 5 degree difference comes into play and the Moon passes partially through Earth's shadow . Observers on Earth can see a dim Moon. However, on October 18, 2013 , no part of the lunar disk will be completely in the shadow of the Earth and no part of his disk will appear dark.

The decreased light of the visible disk of the Moon is usually noticeable to a trained eye , especially when a relatively small part of the Moon's disc enters the penumbra .

Even if the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon during a total eclipse, our planet is much smaller compared to the Sun, and thus indirect sun light still manages to go around the Earth . This sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere , often releasing light blue waves and leaves a bright red or orange light to land on the lunar surface .

Maximum eclipse will take place at 11:51 p.m. UTC , at which time 76.5% of the lunar disk will be in the penumbral shadow of the Earth. The eclipse will last 239 minutes from 9:51 p.m. to 1:50 UTC.

Viewers of regions in America, Oceania , Europe , Africa and Asia can fully see the event. 2013 Eclipse is one of the four lunar eclipses in a short series of descending node of the lunar orbit .

 The next total eclipse will take place on 15 April 2014

Partial eclipse of the Moon from 25 April 2013.

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Comet ISON passes Mars and the speculation that it would be a spaceship.

"Comet ISON will make a visit to the Red Planet," said astronomer Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. "On October 1, the comet will pass 0.07 AU from Mars, about six times closer than Earth this comet will ever come." . Mars rovers and satellites will have a closer view of it.

At this time, August 24, 2013, Comet ISON is 3 AU from Earth, ie 3x distance between Earth and the Sun, where an astronomical unit is equal to 149 597 870 700 m x 3, is about 448,793,610 km. Its current speed is about 100.000 km / hour but will increase as it gets closer and closer to the Sun.

It is speculated that ISON is a spaceship, due to a photo taken by the Hubble Wide Field Camera 3, which Internet users have edited it playing with contrasts and found that it has a triangular shape looking more like an unidentified object. Anyone can see this if you access the original picture and drop the brightness in the menu.

ISON original.

ISON low brightness.

 Why ISON appears that consists of three pieces? These things can not be covered up. And why should it be? If the comet was breaking, we would have seen that this is reported by NASA as an interesting evolution of the comet.
One explanation could be the motion of the Hubble telescope around the Earth. Maybe the image contains 3 images stacked in a single one.
 It appears that in the Hubble image are actually three images superimposed over each other to produce a better picture of the background galaxies. Since ISON moved to a considerable distance, while taking pictures, there are 3 separate pictures. Each picture is the distance in which the comet, Earth and Hubble moved during the exposure.
We will soon see this comet with our own eyes !

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