Monday, June 14, 2010

Interesting factoids you didn’t know about Sirius, ‘The Dog Star’

Sirius_A_and_B_artwork Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, also known as “The Dog Star,” is in the ancient constellation of Canis Major, literally meaning “large dog.” Below are a few interesting facts that you may or may not have known about The Dog Star.

Sirius gets its name from the ancient Greek work Seirios, literally meaning “scorcher.” It also goes by other names as well, such as Alpha Canis Majoris, Canicula, and Aschere.


  • What you see as a single star is actually a binary star system comprised of a white main sequence star, Sirius A and its white dwarf companion, Sirius B.
  • The phrase “dog days of summer” comes from an ancient belief that the Dog Star was somehow responsible for the hot weather because, next to the Sun, it was the largest star in the heavens. The term “Dog Days” was first used by ancient Greeks.
  • Ancient Egyptians based their calendars on heliacal rising of Sirius, which is when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon just before sunrise after a period of not being visible.
  • Sirius B is so dim that it cannot be perceived by the naked eye, and was not observed until January 31, 1862 by Alvan Graham Clark. Clark was later honored with the Lalande prize by the French Academy for this discovery.
  • Sirius A is approximately 2.02 to 2.14 times the mass of our Sun and about 1.68 to 1.71 its diameter.
  • Sirius B, also known as “the Pup” is 8200 times dimmer than its companion, Sirius A, but is actually the hotter of the two.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Latest UFO Sightings for 14 June 2010

These are latest UFO sightings reported to MUFON.com. If you have a UFO sighting, please fill out a report form at MUFON.



At midnight on June 10th, a witness in Arkansas noticed “a yellowish light beam - such as a car turning around would project shined on the house.” When the witness got up to investigate he/she “saw a blue-white light glowing from overhead...and flashing....like heat lightning” but wondered why the lighting was staying so long in one place. When looking out the window the witness observed white orbs blinking off and on and slowly moving at the height of the second-story level, directly in front of the window.



At approximately 10:30pm on June 12th, a witness in Georgia was star-gazing. The sky was mostly clear, with scattered clouds, but very good visibility. At approximately 10:45pm, the witness observed “a very white bright sphere” appear in the southern sky and silently travel north in a straight line at tremendous speed. The time it took to travel across the entire sky was approximately 3 seconds. The witness also reported that “there was no change of color, no trail, no deviation in its path.”



At approximately 7:30pm on June 5th, a witness was driving north on Florissant road through downtown Ferguson, Missouri when he/she noticed “an object hovering fairly high in the sky off to my North East approx 1/4 mile or so away.” The witness pulled off the road into a parking lot, stopped the car and tried to take a picture with an iPhone, but the camera malfunctioned. The object then disappeared northwest, only to reappear after only a brief moment. This time the object was closer, (approximately 1/8 mile away), and the witness was able to make out the shape. The witness described the object as “dark gray in color, no lights or sounds at all. It appeared to be a stretched star with 2 points prevalent on each end looking like an introverted “V” and 1 small extroverted “V” on each long side (6 points total ).” The witness tried again to get a photo, but by the time they got their iPhone ready, the object had once again disappeared.

Approximately three minutes after the object had disappeared, the witness described the following:
“I pulled out of the parking lot and was driving North again down Florissant road and went right pass the bank and then continued on until I finally came to the corner of Florissant road and Hereford Rd (about a 1/4 mile pass the bank). It then hit me that I was actually driving my car. I didn’t know I was driving or why I even in my car at all. I didn’t know where I was supposed to be. After about 30-45 seconds I remembered that I was going to the ATM to get some money for my daughter. I turned around and continued to the bank. Everything was a complete blank in my mind for a short time. I was very scared and thought that there was no way that I was the only one that could have seen this. I was totally shaken.”
This is the witness’s MS Paint drawing of the shape of the object:
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At 11:05am on the morning of June 10th in Lansing, Michigan, a witness walking towards Kalamazoo and Grand Avenue saw something bright in the sky and looked up, expecting to see a plane.
“The sun was glinting off of it very strongly when I first saw it - only the "nose" wasn't shining. It moved deliberately across the sky. It was lower than all other planes and did not have contrails. It made no sound. When I got to Kalamazoo I realized it didn't have wings or a fin. The metal and shape reminded me of old 50's trailers that were all steel/aluminum/whatever. I thought, "UFO?", but didn't REALLY believe it. I looked both ways, crossed to the turn lane, looked back up, and I couldn't find it. I searched in the same area of the sky and found it - but it was BARELY there! It was a clear blue sky - clouds would not show up for 2 hours - and even though this was VERY low, it was disappearing. I could see the outline the clearest, the inside was now the same color as the sky. I looked at traffic and then crossed (less than 15 feet) and when I got to the sidewalk, I couldn't find it. It should have been directly ahead of me in the sky (looking northward) I looked in that clear sky for 5 minutes and could find it. 
No one else saw it. Downtown Lansing is full of people at this time of day (State Workers) and it was a warm day, so there were many people walking. I looked around and realized that no one was looking up and that MOST people DON'T. Watch people next time you are out - they are either looking at the ground or at eye-level. Anything could be flying overhead and, if it doesn't make noise, no one's going to see it

via MUFON.com 

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Fascinating Documentary on the Hubble Space Telescope

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YouTube has really changed a lot in the last year or so. I find myself hanging out there more and more these days watching myriad videos on a variety of topics.

A few days ago, I ran across this amazing documentary on the Hubble Space Telescope that was put together by the ESA for public distribution. Astronomy is one of my many passions and I love watching things like this. I hope you will too. The documentary is in 9 parts, (10 videos all together), but I have compiled a playlist at YouTube, so you can click the link below and watch the entire thing without having to click anything again, (when one video finishes, the next will automatically begin). Enjoy.


Hubble Space Telescope Playlist

Saturday, May 22, 2010

A View of Earth From Mars



This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd Martian day, or sol, of its mission. (March 8, 2004)

The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see. The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A

via Flickr

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Alien Contact - A Fascinating Documentary About SETI - Must See!

I stumbled upon this video today and I'm about half-way through it as of this writing and it is just riveting. It is called "Alien Contact" and it's about the organization called SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence).  The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.

This video should be of interest to anyone who has a fascination with extraterrestrials and other worlds. If you have about 45 minutes of free time, I highly recommend watching this documentary. Enjoy.

Alien Contact



Video Link


You can read more about SETI at Wikipedia and also at the official SETI Institute website. You may also be interested in SETI@Home, a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.