2024 January 9

Every February 2, we wonder if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow.

In Saturn’s case, astronomers know some of Saturn’s moons will cast shadows across the planet’s iconic rings every 15 years. This effect only occurs when the planet’s rings are perpendicular to the Sun. The next time this will happen is in May 2025.

Watch as four of Saturn’s moons orbit the planet, based on images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 9.5-hour span in 1995. Enceladus is first and Mimas is close behind. Both of these moons cast small shadows on Saturn, but among the two, only Enceladus’ shadow cuts across the rings. Dione follows next and casts a long shadow across the planet’s rings. About 12 seconds in, the moon Tethys moves swiftly behind the planet toward the right.

Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI.

Video of the Day!

Hubble has discovered that Jupiter’s red spot - a storm larger than Earth - is wobbling!

What is casting dark shadows across 36,000 light-years of space in this Hubble Space Telescope image?

The mysterious dark rays appearing to emanate from galaxy IC 5063 have intrigued astronomers, and there are a few different ideas about what is causing them. They could be like the shadows of clouds when light from the setting Sun pierces through them.

Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. One idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and W.P. Maksym (CfA).

ALT TEXT: Rust-colored view of space, with a bright, narrow purple region at the center, a galaxy. Background stars and galaxies are scattered sparsely—this is a dusty rather than starry scene. To the upper left of the bright central region are dark dust lanes. Opposite these to the lower right, one dark area extends from the central bright region and splits into two dark rays. Similar dark rays can be seen to the top left, behind the dust lanes. The edges of the entire image are dark, fading from the colored center.

Wed. 4/16: We'll be open from 8:30 - 9:45 tonight!

Follow this link to learn more about the BSU Center for the Advancement of Stem Education!

Space News!

A star located 12,000 lightyears from Earth engulfed one of its planets! It was previously believed that planets were engulfed by their stars expanding, but that isn't the case here. The planet, over millions of years, orbited closer to its star, to the point it was eventually engulfed by the star. The image is an artist's rendition of what happened.

We had an error on here earlier - fixed now.

Public nights are here!

Wed. 9/25: We'll be closed tonight due to clouds. We'll try again next Wednesday!

Our first public event this Fall occurs Sept. 27, 7:30 - 9:00 pm, weather allowing! (Check the day of the event to see if we're on).

A lot will be happening in the eastern sky! The nearly-full Moon, Saturn, the Double Cluster, and the Andromeda Galaxy will be rising in the east. High in the southwestern sky we'll have the Ring Nebula and globular cluster M13. We'll also have the Big Dipper and the double star Mizar, the central star in its handle.

The bright Moon will wash out dimmer, fuzzier objects, but the Moon itself will be lovely!