EarthSky News - July 29 - Test of Asteroid Defense System

July 29 Test of Asteroid Defense System by:

A test of NASA's asteroid defense system Asteroid 2012 TC4 might give Earth a close shave, or pass more distantly, in October. Scientists are trying to reacquire the asteroid this summer - find it again in space - to determine its precise orbit. This weekend … Mercury farthest from sun Look for Mercury in the western twilight, starting around 45 minutes after sunset. This weekend … Watch for Delta Aquarid meteors The Delta Aquarid shower is long and rambling and overlaps with the Perseids. Since the moon will be bright during this year's Perseid peak, now is the time to watch meteors. Perseid meteors: All you need to know In case you're wondering … Star of the week: Epsilon Lyrae Binoculars reveal that Epsilon Lyrae is a double star - two stars in one. A telescope shows that each component star is also a double. The double double star!

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Next few evenings … Mercury farthest from sun Mercury will be pretty much on line with 2 much brighter celestial objects, the moon and the planet Jupiter.

Awesome beauty of the Eagle Nebula Here is the famous Pillars of Creation photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It's one of the features within the Eagle Nebula. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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EarthSky News - July 28 - Today's Launch, Tonight's Moon and Jupiter

July 28 Today's Launch, Tonight's Moon and Jupiter  by:

Watch launch of new ISS crew today Live launch coverage from Kazakhstan begins at 14:45 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT). You can also watch the spacecraft dock with the ISS, starting at 21:15 UTC (5:15 p.m. EDT).  Translate to your timezone. Tonight … Moon, Jupiter and Spica Jupiter is the brightest object in the evening sky besides the moon. Spica is a bright star in the constellation Virgo. An awesome sight! How many distant comets? Mysterious long-period comets might be more common - and bigger - than astronomers thought. Studies like this one will help reveal what kind of hazard they might pose. Scientists observe gravitational anomaly in lab crystal  An exotic effect in particle physics, theorized to occur in immense gravitational fields — near a black hole, or in conditions just after the Big Bang — has been seen in laboratory crystal.

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Moon, Jupiter and Spica Moon and Jupiter closest tonight. Don't miss them!

Venus and the Pleiades    Venus - the brightest planet - is in the east before dawn now. Chirag Upreti caught Venus on July 22 over Acadia National Park in Maine. The dipper-shaped cluster above it is the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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