**NOTICE: I’ll be on vacation until the beginning of May, so a new “Cosmical” will post soon after that! **
If you don’t know the term “Albedo,” it’s the reflection factor of the sun’s light off of some celestial body, like a planet or satellite. Technically, the Earth’s albedo is higher than our moon’s. But only very few of us have been lucky enough to witness the Earth’s albedo. For more information on what an “albedo” is, click here.
A crystal clear sky and a bright full moon (like the one we’ve just been having) can be both a blessing and a curse for sky gazers, depending on your sky gazing goal. She can be so beautiful, shining brightly like that while her bright side faces us directly. But if your goal is to stargaze, her light takes over and blocks out much of the star field.
Next month’s full moon will be while the Moon is closest to the Earth for the year, making it slightly larger and brighter in our sky.
Congrats on a spacey and successful launch! Watching with binoculars…
*vvvvrrroooOOOOMMM!!*
Thanks! 🙂 And congrats for being the first commenter!
Oh, girls! Once a month, completely, unbearably … bright. 😉 😀
Lieks the new website! My degree is in Earth Sciences, which includes a lot of planetary science and astronomy. When it hasn’t been my career, it has always remained my love and, at the very least, a hobby. I look forward to great things here.
Lots of cool news to build on. Earth usually has more than one moon at nearly all times … just, some are only 5 or 10 meters across & we don’t usually see them before they move on.
The Lyrid meteor shower this year will occur during one of the darkest nights of the month (Luna being kind for once!). Between 1:00 a.m. and sunrise on 22 April, has potential to be a great Earth Week show.
There may be a nice comet coming to visit in early March, 2013. Keep an eye on the news for that, designated/named C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS).
And, Saturn’s moon, Iapetus, looks like a walnut. Scientists this week may have discovered an explanation for that.
I could do this every day of the week! All the best to you on this new site. I’ll be sure to try and recruit some traffic for you. Thank you! 🙂
Thank you so much! I have a couple of astronomical calendars I have bookmarked to keep checking. But I appreciate any tips in case I miss something! 🙂
Wonderful as always