The Draconid Meteor Shower and InOMN 2011 on October 8!
There will be two special events for tonight (October 8 ) — the Draconid Meteor Shower and the celebration of the 2011 International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN).
InOMN is an annual event celebrated world-wide to encourage people to go out and observe Earth’s nearest neighbor in space — the Moon. For more information and resources for planning your own International Observe the Moon Night event, visit: http://observethemoonnight.org/. The website features activities, educational materials, multimedia and much more!
- Get involved!
Meanwhile, the meteor activity of the Draconids (or Giacobinids) is also expected to be at maximum tonight, 8 October 2011 between 16h00m and 21h00m Universal Time (UTC)*. This irregular shower that sometimes produces meteor storms is linked to comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The radiant point for the Draconid meteor shower almost coincides with the head of the constellation Draco the Dragon in the northern sky.
- Radiant point for Draconid meteors | image credit: Earthsky.org
The glare of moonlight is sure to interfere with this year’s Draconid shower, but you should try viewing it tonight, anyway, to see if the predicted outburst will occur.
Note:
* The predicted date of maximum is the date when the meteoroid density encountered by the Earth is expected to be maximum. Actual maximum local rate observed from a specific area is likely to happen at a different time, depending on your location. Therefore, it is incorrect to just convert the UTC maximum date to local time, as your local circumstances are likely to be different (for example, the radiant not even being visible at the time of nominal maximum!). In the Philippines, the peak activity is expected to occur on October 9 between 12:00 -5:00 AM PHT. The radiant, however will set around 11:00 PM (which means we cannot observe the peak) so it would be best to observe earlier — between 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM.
Looks like the rain will spoil both of these events 😦 But let’s all try our luck tonight and see what will happen. Clear skies!
InOMN Photo Contest Finalist!
This is a bit late, but I would just like to congratulate my dear friend and fellow UP AstroSoc member, Andre Obidos, for making it to the finals of the International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) 2010 Lunar Photo Contest.
Andre’s image, “Moon, Venus and Lightning” was selected as the best in its category (Beginner-Landscape) by public voting.
Aside from being a finalist for the grand prize, he has also received a Galileoscope and other lunar prizes courtesy of NASA Lunar Science Institute.
- Andre’s prizes as a contest finalist 😀
Public voting for the grand prize took place last October 4 – 8, 2010.
Finally, the contest winner was decided on October 12, 2010 and it was Daniel Gastelu of Uruguay with his image, “Our First ‘Telescope+Camera’ Photo“.
To all my fellow amateur astronomers who are also budding astrophotographers or interested in astrophotography, may this contest serve as an inspiration for you to continue appreciating and taking photographs of not only the moon, but also the other wonders of the sky. I encourage you to practice the hobby more and keep on learning. The beauty of the images you take does not only depend on the type of equipment or camera you use. What’s more important is how you appreciate and frame the specific objects you capture. 😀
“Moon, Venus and Lightning” in InOMN Photo Contest!
A photo entry of my friend and fellow UP AstroSoc member, Andre Obidos has been chosen as as one of the Top 5 entries for the Beginner-Landscape Category of the International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) Lunr Photo Contest.
Please support him by voting for his photo, “Moon, Venus and Lightning” .
"Moon, Venus and Lightning" by Andre Obidos (click to enlarge photo)
To vote, please visit the link below. Choose his entry under the Beginner-Landscape Category.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/inomn_photo_contest (voting site)
To view the other 2010 Photo Contest submissions , ( which included mine and photos of another UP AstroSoc member, Bea Banzuela) visit the InOMN MyMoon Lunr Flickr Gallery
Voting will close October 1, 2010 at 5 p.m. CDT. The winners of each category will become finalists for the grand prize. The grand prize winner will be chosen by public voting which will take place October 4 through October 8, 2010.
The International Observe the Moon Night was celebrated world-wide last September 18, 2010.
Good luck to all the participants! 😀
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The image was taken from Marikina City, Philippines using Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. Photo details: 10 mm F/35, 1/8 sec. exposure at ISO 800.
as one of the Top 5 entries for the Beginner-Landscape Categoryas one of the Top 5 entries for the Beginner-Landscape Category
Luna’s Special Day — International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) 2010
Today is the “International Observe the Moon Night” when people in all parts of the globe are encouraged to wait till dark and go outside and pay attention to our closest neighbor in space — the Moon. 🙂 Me and my friends (and also fellow UP AstroSoc members) will set up our observation at the back of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, near the Manila Bay. After watching the beautiful sunset by the bayside, we’ll focus on taking images of the moon for the InOMN Photo Contest. 😛
Alright, there’s really no special happening on the moon later tonight, no spacecraft impact or a UFO flyby. But the “event” is more of a reminder to look up and appreciate what we sometimes take for granted. It’s goal is also to raise the awareness and interest of the public on the recent lunar research and exploration which has brought us a lot of new information about our space companion.
Let’s all see the moon in a whole new light! Observe the moon with your telescopes, binoculars or even just with naked eyes. Appreciate its beauty — take note of it’s phase, the patterns and shades of it’s features. If you’re gonna use telescopes or binoculars, see its mountains and craters, Get involved and invite others! Why? Because so few people ever take the time to just look up and see the splendor of the creation stretching across the skies.
I have included here below some of the lunar photos which me and my fellow amateurs took before. 😀 Enjoy and clear skies!
Waxing Gibbous Moon (Click to enlarge)
Eclipsed Moon (Click to enlarge)
Venus and the Moon (Click to enlarge)
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Some Quick Moon Facts…..
+ The distance From Earth is 363,301 kilometers (225,745 miles).
+ The radius of the moon is 1,738 kilometer (1,080 miles), the diameter is 3476 kilometers (2,160 miles).
+ Total weight: of the moon is 74 sextillion kilograms (81 Quintillion Tons).
+ The surface temperature at the equator during the day is 134oC (273o F), and at night is – 153o C (244o F)
+ Gravity at the surface of the moon is 1/6 that of the Earth.
+ The moon has no significant atmosphere or clouds.
+ Its surface is scarred from hundreds and thousands of meteors that have struck it over billions of years.
+ The Moon’s surface layer is called regolith.
+ The Moon’s orbit is inclined 5 degrees from the Earth’s ecliptic.
+ The face of the Moon is marked by regions, called mare, Latin for “sea”. A name given by Galileo who thought the dark featureless areas were bodies of water. We now know them to be basalt (a type of lava) filled impact basins.
+ The Moon’s magnetic field is 100 to 1000 times weaker than the Earth’s
Journey to the Stars 