Monday, March 11, 2013

Comet L4 PanSTARRS artist's concept
QOTW 21
Check this website for news about Comet L4 PANSTARRS.  The weather doesn't look good for observing from Portland but please give it a try.  From the website tell me when and what direction to look for the comet.

Monday, March 4, 2013

see caption
QOTW 20
Tunguska in 1908 was the site of another meteor strike in Russia.  Check the website and tell me which meteor (1908 or 2013) did more damage.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

April 2013 S&TQOTW 19
Check the Sky and Telescope website to find where to look in the night sky for Mars this week.  Sky and Telescope is one of the leading magazines for astronomy buffs.  Every month it has a star map of the night sky for that month showing where to look for the various planets and other astronomical highlights.

Monday, February 18, 2013

QOTW 18  The meteor that exploded over Russia last week was the largest one to hit the earth since 1908. Check this article from the Wall Street Journal to find its weight and how the explosion compared with the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima to end World War II.

Monday, February 11, 2013

composite view of continental United States showing Suomi NPP observations of nighttime illuminationQOTW 17  Night time photo of the United States from NASA.  Check this link for the original.  I drove from Portland to Pasco,  WA Friday after school and saw far more stars than I ever do from Portland.  Do your best to find Portland and Pasco in the image and then tell me why I enjoyed excellent stargazing before I reached Pasco.

Monday, February 4, 2013

QOTW 16 
Check this website to learn a little about skin cancer from the Center for Disease Control.  UV radiation is one of the forms of energy coming from the sun and the earth's atmosphere helps protect us from it.  Of the three forms of skin cancer, melanoma is the most dangerous.  What percent of melanoma cases are caused by exposure to UV radiation (either sunlight or tanning beds)?

Monday, January 28, 2013

AR1654: A monster sunspot aiming our wayQOTW 15  A giant sunspot is shown both in a photo and a video on this website.  The sunspot has already emitted a large solar flare.  Read the article to tell me what effects from the flare may be felt on earth.