Astronomy Picture of the Day

Each day, NASA publishes a spectacular image called: Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Additionally they publish a short description of the image written by a professional astronomer. Below you see a smaller version of today's picture. To visit the APOD website, please click on the image below (opens a new window).

Did You Know?

Welcome back to "Did You Know?"!

For the longtime supporters of the Austin Planetarium, we are sure that you remember this monthly column. It is amazing, but Steve Rung, and Torvald Hessel, started this "blog" back in August 2004! Over the years we wrote monthly articles, which quickly turned out to be the most popular part of our website.

However, as the years progressed, we realized the need to update the website as a whole, and also to recreate a new "Astro News" site. With the help of board member Anthony Platsmier, and the design work from NAKA MEdia we upgraded the website, but for Astro News, we simply did not have time, and in March 2010 we wrote the last article.

Needless to say: this has been a thorn in our sides, and we always had in the back of our heads to resuscitate the site, but to add a whole bunch of new stuff! Plus, wouldn't it be great if all those old articles were available again, and better yet: searchable? Well... here you go!

The International Space Station over Austin

Did you know that surprisingly often you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from down here on Earth?

The ISS circles the Earth approximately once every 90 minutes, and this orbit varies a lot. So, from time to time, the ISS will be visible also from your location. During the day this is not really visible, but when it is dark, the sight of the ISS is quite spectacular! The ISS will look like a very bright star, but one that moves.

The times that the ISS is visible is not constant, but there are some general rules. We already stated that during the day, the ISS will be washed out, just like the other stars in the sky. But also in the middle of the night the ISS is not visible, because we need (reflected) sunlight to light up the ISS in order to see it. So the two time periods the ISS will be visible is just after sunset and just before sunrise.

It is even possible to see the ISS slip into the earth's shadow! It will than look like that the ISS simply disappears.

Below we have printed a table from another website called "Heavens Above". This table shows when the ISS is visible over the coming 10 days, from Austin. This table automatically updates. If you are in a different location, or want to see passes further in the future (or past) please visit the Heavens Above website directly.

Clicking on the dates will give you a star chart with the path of the ISS. Also the headers are clickable, and an explanation of the data will be given.

Getting Started in Astronomy

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what you could see from the city? City lights obscure most of the faint, fuzzy objects enthusiastic astronomers love to observe, this is known as "light pollution", but there are still many beautiful sights available to viewers in the city. This page will let you know what you need to get started observing the night sky (less than you might think), help introduce you to those objects, and give some examples of the books and inexpensive software available to assist you. This will be a work in progress, so check back often for updates.

You might be pleasantly surprised what you can see from a city, but you must approach this with realistic expectations. Let’s take a look at the different equipment that will be required to maximize your viewing pleasure.

Solar Weather

The images below are current images of the Sun in various wavelengths. These images are taken by the SOHO satellite, and are updated several times a day. Click on the images for more information.