Month: January 2017

It’s the start of the new year and for astronomy enthusiasts, that means a whole new calendar for astronomical events! Let’s break down the major events to look out for the month of January 2017.

January 3-4: Quadrantids Meteor Shower

Starting off the 2017 astronomical events is an above average meteor shower. The Quadrantids meteor shower has been recorded to show at least 40 meteors per hour at its peak time. Scientists theorize that these meteors are dust grains that was left behind by an extinct comet discovered in 2003. While the shower is an annual event that runs from the first to the fifth of January, this year it will peak on the third and fourth of this month. It will begin short after midnight and can be seen best by those who live in North America.

January 12: Full Moon

Peaking at 11:34 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), this will be the first full moon of the year. You won’t need your telescope for this one but you may, if you want to have a closer look at what the Native Americans once refer to as the Full Wolf Moon. As known by many, a full moon is the lunar phase that happens when the moon is completely illuminated as perceived on Earth. It occurs when the hemisphere of the moon which is facing Earth is almost completely illuminated by the Sun and appears round.

January 12: Venus at Greatest Eastern Elongation

If you want to take a closer look at the second planet in our solar system, this will be a good day to do it. On this day, Venus will reach its greatest eastern elongation of 47.1 degrees from the Sun. A planet’s elongation is the angle between the Sun and the planet, with the Earth as the reference point. The greatest elongation of any given planet happens when the inner plant’s position is its orbital path to the Sun, is at tangent to the observer on Earth. As this is an eastern elongation, expect it to occur shortly after sunset.

January 19: Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation

While the eastern elongation occurs after sunset, the western elongation occurs before sunrise. Mercury will be at 24.1 degrees from the sun.

January 28: New Moon

Commonly known as the first phase of the Moon. When observed from Earth, the new moon occurs at the moment when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical longtitude. While the moon itself is not particularly visible, it would appear the same as it would during a solar eclipse (as a silhouette). In non-astronomical perspectives, new moon refers to the first visible crescent of the Moon after a conjunction with the Sun. It’s a good chance to observe the different phases of the moon and jot them down in your astronomy journal.

With the several events that occur this month, it’s a good practice run for the rest of the year. You can either observe it by yourself or get in touch with the astronomy clubs or organizations in your area and start building your network to always be in the know of the upcoming celestial events worth seeing!

Dark Matter is a theorized type of matter that astronomers and cosmologists define as something in space that appear to be void of mass. The matter cannot be observed in any other means and is only noticeable because it wields gravitational effects on other matter near it. Unlike other matter in space that detected by their radio emissions, stellar activity, or light scattering or via other means, dark matter is invisible.

While it may not be visible via the use of many of the astronomy instruments, this matter is believed to constitute around 26.8% of the total matter in the Cosmos while ordinary matter constitutes around 5%. That means dark matter is most abundant yet the least observable entity in the Universe. It lacks electromagnetic ration meaning it does not emit any electromagnetic waves. Dark matter can only be studied or observed through is gravitational energy it has towards other matter.  Such is its mysterious nature that much of what is known about this matter is only hypothetical.

The vastness of space is dark; it has dark matter and dark energy.  The dark energy constitutes around 68.3% of the total mass of the universe and will constitute around 95.1% of the total mass-energy in the Universe. Note that while ordinary matter is believe to be around 4.9% majority of these matter is unseen because it is partly made up of observable stars and gas inside galaxies and clusters.

When Was The Matter Discovered?

Astronomers Sinclair Smith and Fritz Zwicky did a study of the velocity of galaxies within the Coma and Virgo galactic clusters. It was an analysis done in the 30’s that showed movement of the galaxies that was between ten and hundred times faster than normal, speeds deduced from estimates done based on the observation of stellar density. The two astronomers concluded that the increased speed was due to an unseen entity that was generating additional gravity.

Their finds were not easily accepted with a majority of cosmologists and astronomers being less convinced more so given the distance between earth and the galactic clusters. The complexities or doing accurate measurements of the independent velocities of the various galaxies also added to the debate.

But, more supportive evidence would coming in the 70s as more astronomer and scientists such as Peebles, Rubin and Freeman studies the rotation curves of each galaxy as well as stars in spiral galaxies, which has a faster movement around the galactic core that most visible masses or matter. More studies on dark matter indicated that all galaxies contained the matter and that it stretches far beyond the bounds of any given galaxy visible using telescopes or astronomy instruments.

What Constitutes Dark Matter?

The matter, often referenced as halos, is said to be made up of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS) and Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs).  Further studies on this matter has seen various astronomers, cosmologists and scientists hypothesized that the dark matter may also include atoms and other particles most of which are believed to be in brown dwarfs and black holes in different sectors of the universe.