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September 16, 2018  

2018 Autumnal (Fall) Equinox In New Hampshire Will Be On Saturday, September 22, 9:54pm (Eastern).

by Anura Guruge

Click pictures to ENLARGE.

Attribution WILL be enforced.

Sunrise & Sunset Times for Concord, New Hampshire around the September Equinox.
(From Time-and-Date).

Note that daylight is NOT exactly 12 hours!
If anything we get closer to 12 hours 3 days later.
There is a reason for that. It is our latitude above the equator.
If we were closer to the equator it would have been closer to 12 hours.
See this explanation in Time-and-Date.

My equinox diagram.

Click to ENLARGE, study and admire.

Related Posts:
Search on ‘equinox’ for lots of other posts with tons of pictures & diagrams.

by Anura Guruge

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August 30, 2018  

Sunlight-Powered ‘LightSail 2’, Set To Launch Soon, Is Worth Getting To Know.

by Anura Guruge

Click to access the official site — the ‘Planetary Society’.

This YouTube video provides a GOOD introduction.

This YouTube video is just plain COOL.

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail

This is pretty neat. A tiny spacecraft, the size of a loaf of bread, powered by a Solar Sail — yes, powered by sunlight, but not in terms of solar energy per se.

It is set to launch soon — maybe in the next few weeks. So, keep an eye on the news. I will try to keep you posted.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

August 25, 2018  

A Naked Eye Visible Comet, FINALLY, 21P/Giacobini–Zinner — In September 2018.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21P/Giacobini–Zinner

Click to ENLARGE and admire. From the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

It will NOT be spectacular, and it is definitely not a great comet, BUT, if it is naked eye visible, it, with its green tinge (due to its chemical composition), should be quite the sight up there. We have not see a decent comet since the mid-1980s. Comet ISON, on which I expended considerable time and energy, vaporized when it got too close to the Sun.

No such danger with 21P/Giacobini–Zinner. This is not a sungrazer.

The ‘P’ in the 21P denotes that it is a periodic comet; i.e., a comet that has made at least 2 well observed orbits around the Sun. Actually 21P orbits the Sun every 6 years. It is very periodic. It doesn’t go too far away. Just beyond the orbit of Jupiter. It is well known and well studied comet that was discovered in 1900.

I will keep you posted. I was excited to hear that it might be naked eye visible. Wow.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

June 30, 2018  

A Brilliant Mars – Moon Conjunction Over New Hampshire, Saturday, June 30, 2018.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE. Base sky map, AS ALWAYS, from neave.com/planetarium/.

The Moon does not rise above our trees till around 11:30pm. So, you have to wait for that. Gets better later it gets. Really cool around 1am.

You will still be able to see Mars and the Moon tomorrow (Sunday) and for a couple of days further. But, the Moon will NOT be as fool.

Mars is at a 15-year CLOSENESS, i.e., it hasn’t been this close to Earth in 15-years. So, it is unusually BIG.

Try and catch it. It will be worth it.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘Astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

June 19, 2018  

2018 Summer Solstice In New Hampshire Will Be At 6:07 am (Eastern) On Thursday, June 21.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

Kind of late in the morning this year —
7 minutes after 6 am.
Last year it was soon after midnight.

I will NOT be up.
Way too early for I.

Plus 

MY LEAST FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR!

Days start getting shorter — and I hate that.

To I, it means Winter is on the way.

06:07 am Eastern in the USA — 10:07 am GMT.

Click to ENLARGE. From ‘timeanddate.com’, of course. Note, LONGEST day of the year, but days start getting shorter right away! Bummer.

Last  Two Year.

https://nhlifefree.com/2015/06/17/summer-solstice-2015-in-new-hampshire-will-be-on-sunday-june-21-2015-1239-pm-eastern-1639-gmt-fathers-day-also-2/Related Posts:
Search ‘Solstice’ or ‘Full Moon’ for posts from prior years. 
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

May 23, 2018  

Did The President Of ‘SpaceX’ Get The Job Because Of Her Befitting Name — ‘Shotwell’?

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell

Never heard of her until earlier today. I went to have a quick look at CNBC and she was being interviewed. See below:

I like Elon Musk and SpaceX and as such stopped for a second to listen. She was impressive. I had not realized that SpaceX had a female President. Then I saw her name. Wow. ‘Shotwell’. What a great name for somebody heading a rocket company. You sure hope they shot well.

Given my fascination with names I had to look it up. Alas it is not a name that was given to archers. Shame that. They think it comes from a place name.

Never mind. Great name for the President of SpaceX. I hope she continues to shoot those rockets well

Related posts:
Search on ‘space’.

by Anura Guruge

April 16, 2018  

JPL Small-Body Database Browser Has A New NON-Java ‘Orbit Diagram’ Viewer.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

The announcement in ‘small type’.

In action. In this case with the 2018 GE3 asteroid that came very close to Earth on Sunday — with no warning at ALL.

I discovered this, to my utter joy, yesterday, when I was researching the rogue asteroid, 2018 GE3, that whizzed past Earth on Sunday with nary a notice. You can see the orbital diagram for that above, in the NEW orbital viewer.

It is NOT Java-based. That is so, so good. Running Java applets had become such a pain — with Web browsers, like Chrome, quite rightly, obsessing about the security vulnerabilities.

I had more or less stopped using the JPL Small-Body Database because the orbital viewer no longer worked.

And then … BINGO. Voila!

It is brilliant. Very nifty and has a built in screenshot capture as well as full-screen mode. You couldn’t ask for more.

Thank YOU, JPL. Good use of our taxpayer dollars.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

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