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Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Ian Musgrave & Peta O'Donohue <reynella@mira.net>
to ian.musgrave

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19 Feb (1 day ago)
G'Day All

In my previous message I said "Sadly, Australia wont see the ISS and
the shuttle together." Revised predictions show that some parts of
Australia will see the shutlle and the ISS together on the 20th. See
Heavens above for predictions from your site.
Heavens-Above Home Page

Cheers! Ian

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reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

Umm...the shuttle is long gone from ISS now.

The shuttle undocked from the station two days ago.

Bloomberg.com: Germany

[Michaelangelica]

Milky Way: Bigger than we thought

By ABC Science Online's Stephen Pincock

Posted Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:47pm AEDT


The Milky Way is 12,000 light years thick when seen edge-on (file photo). (Reuters: NASA)

* Audio: Milky Way bigger than first thought: scientists (The World Today)

The Milky Way - our home galaxy - is twice as thick as we thought it was, Australian astrophysicists say.

Professor Bryan Gaensler from the University of Sydney and his team have found that the enormous spiral-shaped collection of gas and stars is 12,000 light years thick when seen edge-on, not 6,000 as scientists previously thought.

"This was quite a stunning result," Professor Gaensler said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...20/2167853.htm

[Michaelangelica]

G'Day All

Solar activity is still low, although the Sun has a few Sunspots. But the coming week has some excitement.

Comert Boatini is brightening faster than predicted, so that means it should be visible to the unaided eye under dark skies fairly soon. The major limitation is the Noon, whose brightess will wash out the faint comet for a while. By May 21 the Moon rises sufficiently late that it is worthwhile hunting for the comet again. The comet will never be more than a fuzzy dot, but it should be an fuzzy dot that is fairly easy to see. A spotters map showing the general direction to look is here
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella/sky...fs/may_boa.gif
And a printable PDF map suitable for binoculars, from May 21-29 is here
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella/sky...t_21-05-08.pdf

With the Moon waning, another sight is visible that is quite beautiful. From May 21- May 25 Mars is within binocular distance of the lovely Beehive cluster. On May 23, Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster. To see this properly you need to have dark skies, but even suburban folks can enjoy this with binoculars. Mars is the very obvious modestly bright reddish object above the north-western horizon. The beehive is a faint dusting of stars all crowded together closer by. You will need to observe before 9:00 pm for the best views.

Cheers! Ian

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

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Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis and Michael James Musgrave
reynella@werple.mira.net.au http://werple.mira.net.au/~reynella/
Southern Sky Watch In Space: our gateway to the stars - ABC Science Online

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Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis, Michael James and Andrew Thomas Musgrave
reynella@mira.net Peta, Ian, Jack and Mike do the Web Thang
Southern Sky Watch In Space: our gateway to the stars - ABC Science Online (scroll down right hand menu)
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