Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

                          Eta Aquarid Meteor shower is an annual meteor shower occurring in early May. This is one of the two shower caused by the halley comet.

                          Halley has a period of 75-76 years that means we humans can see this comet only once in a lifetime. Each year earth passes twice through the debris of halley comet, this debris contains small chunks of ice and rocks.

(Image courtesy : http://lovelymemoir.blogspot.in/)

Where to look for them???
          Eta Aquarid Meteor shower originates from constellation Aquarius i.e they appear to come from the constellation Aquarius.

          So to spot this meteor shower look east and locate constellation Aquarius, if you don't know where to locate this constellation, don't worry just look east after 0230 AM, this is the time when Aquarius is visible to us.

          So just camp after 2-3 AM upto dawn and look east at about an angle of 30-60 degree and stare the sky for about 20-30 minutes, so that your eyes adapts to the night sky and then the show will be on till dawn.

This Meteor shower will be bets visible from southern atmosphere, rate will be about 50-60 meteors/hour but for northern atmosphere about 10-20 meteors/hour.









Happy hunting!!!!!!!!
Feel free to comment or mail us @ amateurastronomyclub@gmail.com

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Lyrid-April Meteor shower

                              Lyrid meteor shower the famous and the oldest meteor shower. Proof of having been observed this meteor shower dates back to 600 BC.
                           
                               Lyrid meteor shower is caused because of comet Thatcher(named after A.E Thatcher who discovered it), this comet has an orbit period of about 415 years it passed through earth on 1861 and next time it will at 2276. so when this comet passed through it left a dusty tail and thus every year earth passes through it.
                             
At its peak 20-30 meteors/hour can be spotted but there has been some exception like in 1922 and 1982 when these were at unexpectedly higher rate i.e up to 90-100 and these high rates cannot be expected and just comes at random and if we are lucky enough we may see a lyrid fire ball(a big rock crashing to earth's atmosphere and leaving a long tail).


The best time to watch lyrids meteor shower will be between 1-3 AM, so just go out let your eye adopt to the night sky, wait for 15-20 minutes and there you go!!!!!!!!!!

Where to look for it??????

Well it can randomly from anywhere but still the best strategy would be to look east, North east(as most of these can be seen at near constellation lyra, from which it got its name lyrid).
This shower usually peaks every year on April 22 or 23. So these dates would be the best to go on roof and hunt for them.


Lyrid meteor shower as seen from International Space Station(ISS).

Happy Hunting guys!!!!!!!!Feel free to comment or write us at amteurastronomyclub@gmail.com

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Pink moon, blood moon, April fool's Moon, what is it?

                             Well, Pink Moon is the fill moon which appears in April, as this full
Moon appears on April it is called April Fool's Moon  it is also called blood moon but we don't have any specific knowledge of it, you can Google it to read some of myths.

                             Pink Moon doesn't mean the Moon appears pink but this name was given because of a herb moss pink but ironically in April of 2014 this full Moon will be special as the Moon color will be rusty red or we can say almost pink!!! :P, reason for this special treat will be that  total lunar eclipse will also occur thus

                             This full Moon will be visible on 15th April, to know in which continents this event can be seen click on this link.


NASA's video of  April's full Moon.

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MARS-Spot Mars on Sky

                              Mars-The red planet can easily be spotted on the clear night sky. This planet is visible to the naked eye, the polar ice of this planet can easily be viewed through a telescope


                              Mars is visible throughout the night after 7 pm approximately. To spot mars just look east and locate a reddish object and that's your Mars. this planet outshines every star in its neighborhood, so you don't have to struggle just look east and you will find it. This planet is visible throughout the night.

Happy Hunting!!!!!!!!!!
Feel free to comment and for any queries mail us at www.amateurastronomyclub@gmail.com.

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Sirius-The brightest star in the sky

                      Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, Sirius derived from Greek seirious which means glowing.

Sirius is the most brightest star in the sky and can easily be identified but keep in mind as it is the most brightest star it is not the brightest object in the sky(Jupiter looks more brighter in the night sky, Sirius is the second brightest object after Jupiter).

 So to spot Sirius all you have to do is look south west and locate three stars shown in circle(See below image).

After locating those three stars just try to locate the brightest star left to those stars and there's your Sirius.

Sirius is visible throughout the night after sunset.

Happy Hunting!!!!!!!!!
Feel free to comment and for any query mail us at amateurastronomyclub@gmail.com.

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Spot Jupiter in the night sky

                            The most easiest thing which you can spot on the night sky is Jupiter. To spot Jupiter try to locate the brightest thing in the night sky other than moon and that's it!!!!!!!! there's your Jupiter.

                             This planet is so large that it appears very bright and it is visible almost throughout the night.

So guys just go to your backyard or roof top and locate the brightest star(Planet) and that will be your Jupiter.

Happy Hunting!!!!!!!!!!
Feel free to post comment and for any query you can contact us at amateurastronomyclub@gmail.com

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April-The month of amateur astronomers

Hello Guys,

         April, a great month to watch many astronomical events and you don't need any expensive instrument to experience these events all you need is a clear dark sky and information of what to look for.

So now straight to the point i.e what to look for.

We have three major event this month:
1. On 9th April( IST )  mars opposition will take place i.e sun mars and earth will be in same alignment.
     Mars will be closest to the earth at this point of time but not as closest as it has been in 2003.
   

Courtesy: NASA

You can watch mars opposition live on slooh.com or here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcAuQXyouA&hd=1.

2. Lunar Eclipse: A total lunar eclipse will occur on April 15th.

 Continents which will be able to see eclipse will be North America, some parts of South America and West asia.

Legends:

  Intense Red: People in this region can observe full lunar eclipse from beginning to end. 

  No colour:    People in this region will not be able to see the eclipse.

3. The last major astronomical event for the month will be Lyrid Meteor Shower. This event takes place every year in the month of april and usually can be observed between 16-25th april, This year this meter shower will be at peak on 22nd April. 

           A comet name thatcher left a trail of debris and during this time of year earth passes through it thus causing meteor shower.

When and where to see these events:

1. Mars can be seen throughout the night after 7 pm approximately all you have to do is look east and you will see a star which will be slightly red in colour( you can easily identify it just look east at about 30 degrees) .

2. Lyrid meteor shower can be seen between 16-25th April but will be at its peak at 22-23rd April. You guys can see it with your naked eyes. At an average you can see 10-20 meteoroids per hour.

  The best time to see it at midnight all you have to do is to go to the rooftop and stare at the sky for about 5 minutes do that your eyes can adapt to the night sky and just wait.

 Best of Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!! and happy meteor hunting. 

For any queries feel free to comment or mail us at amateurastronomyclub@gmail.com.

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