Friday, March 26, 2010

Come pull an "ALL NIGHTER" with us at Astronomy.FM!




Come pull an "ALL NIGHTER" with us at Astronomy.FM!
While in the U.S., March Madness is often associated with the sport of basketball... to astronomers around the world; March marks the start of a brief season where you can possibly view all or most of the Messier objects in a single night, from a single location.

Global Rent-A-Scope has installed a new video camera system, which will see first public light as part of Astronomy.FM's March Madness Messier Marathon to be held LIVE starting at dusk on March 27, 2010 - 7pm MDT (9PM EDT, March 28 at 0100 GMT) - and will continue until dawn.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010



A dramatic 3D Mars view based on terrain modeling from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data shows "highs and lows" of Mojave Crater.This enhanced view shows material that has ponded and is backed up behind massive blocks of bedrock in the crater's terrace walls. Hundreds of Martian impact craters have similar ponding with pitted surfaces. Scientists believe these "pitted ponds" are created when material melted by the crater-causing impacts is captured behind the wall terraces.

Mojave Crater, one of the freshest large craters on Mars, is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. In a sense, it is like the Rosetta Stone of Martian craters, because it is so fresh. Other craters of this size generally have already been affected by erosion, sediment and other geologic process. Fresh craters like Mohave reveal information about the impact process, including ejecta, melting and deposits.