artist's impression of the planet orbiting a red dwarf

Extrasolar planet GJ 1214 b

GJ 1214 b is an extrasolar planet found orbiting around a red dwarf star about 40 light years form our sun. GJ 1214b has a radius of about 2.6 times that of the Earth and is about 6.5 times as massive, putting it squarely into the class of exoplanets known as super-Earths. Its host star lies about 40 light-years from Earth in
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Amateur Israeli Astro Photographers

Michael Tzukran Kfir Simon Harel Boren Tal Faibish

Orionids_sm

Meteor Showers 2012

Meteor Showers 2012 The Earth orbits around the sun like clockwork.  Every year it crosses the same debris fields, debris left behind by comets whose orbits intersect Earth’s orbit.  Every year these mineral particles are swept up by the passing earth and are seen in the night sky as “Falling Stars” or “Shooting Stars” as they shed ions as they smash through
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Juno_Mission_to_Jupiter_(2010_Artist's_Concept)

Jupiter and the Juno Mission

Italian; Giove       English;  Jupiter    Hebrew;  Tzedik   צדק   Arabic;   Kawkab al Mushtari  المشتري What do we know about Jupiter? Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, it is the fifth planet from the sun and it is a Gas Giant, with other gaseous planets called Jovian planets after Jupiter. Jupiter has four large moons
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star_trek

Kepler-22b The New Goldilocks Planet

The Newest announced discovery by NASA is that of the Planet Kepler-22b.  Planet Kepler-22b is the first discovery by the Kepler mission that identified a planet in the “habitable zone” of a star similar to our Sun.  The Kepler telescope trails earth in it’s orbit around the sun, recording the brightness of about 100,000 stars within the area of the the Cygnus, Lyra
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Lunar_eclipse_2011_Dec_10

Lunar Eclipse

On the 10 of December 2011 there will be another Lunar Eclipse.  In Eilat we may catch the end of the  total eclipse as the Moon rises at 19:32 and  rises over the Edom Mountains about half an hour later.  The eclipse   will be in totality between 16:07 and  16:57.  I will go to an open area outside the city to
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Sometimes attractive models will give you wrong impessions for life. Why does the Moon wax and wane? Does the Earth wax and wane?

Models of the Earth and Moon

Or how we learned it all wrong in school.   Most orreries show the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun on a single plain. Although your teacher may have given a proper explanation of the shadows on the moon, bad models speak louder then words.  Anyone looking at the model on the left, clearly sees that the Earth is blocking the
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While looking into space both through the eyepiece of the telescope and with the unaided eye there are many  motions that are observed.

Motion through the telescope

While looking into space both through the eyepiece of the telescope and with the unaided eye there are many motions that are observed. The most obvious movement, especially through the telescope is the rapid “motion of the sky”.  Because you are magnifying everything, you see the stars and planets moving very rapidly out of the field of view.  Well, you
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This a great tool for planning what you will see before you go out. You simply set it for your location and you will see the sky in real time or you can change the date and times for planning future programs

Interactive Skymap

This a great tool for planning what you will see before you go out.  You simply set it for your location and you will see the sky in real time or you can change the date and times for planning future programs or for checking what you saw in a previous night”s sky.  Unfortunately ir won’t work in your Iphone or Iphone
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When viewing Jupiter through the telescope we can see the Jovian cloud belts and the 4 Galilean moons. How can you know which moon is where?

Where are Jupiter’s Moons?

When viewing Jupiter through the telescope we can see the Jovian cloud belts and the 4 Galilean moons.  How can you know which moon is where?  We know that Io is the closest Galilean satellite followed by Europa,  Ganymede and Callisto.  It can not be clear to you what satellite is in what place from casually viewing them. This utility is what you need to
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