Earthsky.com - 8/24/13

Around the world, astronomers are buzzing with anticipation over the approach of Comet ISON. On Thanksgiving Day 2013, the icy visitor from the outer solar system will skim the sun’s outer atmosphere. Word was that, if it survives its pass near the sun, Comet ISON might emerge as one of the brightest comets in years. Although the prospects for an extremely bright comet are not as good now as they appeared at ISON’s discovery in late 2012, still, astronomers and many others are anticipating this comet.

Earthsky.org - 8/19/13

And remember it’s a “seasonal” Blue Moon … the third of four full moons in a season, coming up on the night of August 20-21.

So maybe you’re saying, “But I thought a Blue Moon was the second full moon of a month.”

Yes, it is. The name Blue Moon is part of folklore. Like all folklore, there are alternate versions of the story.

Ras.org.uk- 8/6/13

A team of astronomers from the University of Anitoquia, Medellin, Colombia, have discovered a graveyard of comets. The researchers, led by Anitoquia astronomer Prof. Ignacio Ferrin, describe how some of these objects, inactive for millions of years, have returned to life leading them to name the group the 'Lazarus comets'. The team publish their results in the Oxford University Press journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Comets are amongst the smallest objects in the Solar System, typically a few km across and composed of a mixture of rock and ices. If they come close to the Sun, then some of the ices turn to gas, before being swept back by the light of the Sun and the solar wind to form a characteristic tail of gas and dust.

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Earthsky.org, 8/4/13 -Bruce McClure

Our sky chart shows the eastern sky for about 45 minutes before sunrise at North American mid-northern latitudes (Monday, August 5). Given an unobstructed horizon, clear sky – and possibly binoculars – you just might catch a pale, whisker-thin waning crescent moon in the glow of morning twilight.

At mid-northern latitudes in Europe and Asia, the waning crescent moon shines closer to the planet Mercury, which rises about 90 to 75 minutes before the sun. All other things being equal, the lunar crescent should be easier to spot from the Old World. From Europe and Asia, the thin crescent will be slightly wider than it appears in North America, and moreover, it will rise sooner before sunrise.

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Earthsky.org, 8/3/13

Green lines illustrate the paths of Perseid meteoroids, traveling in space. All six intersect Earth (the blue dot). The orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle is the purple line. An inset shows one of the fireballs shining almost as brightly as the moon.

What are Perseid fireballs? New research by NASA scientists has revealed them. Using a network of meteor cameras distributed across the southern USA, Cooke’s team has been tracking fireball activity since 2008, and they have built up a database of hundreds of events to analyze. The data point to the Perseids as the ‘fireball champion’ of annual meteor showers.