Thursday, December 20, 2012
Find out what the experts are saying about the Dec. 21, 2012, Doomsday prophesies, the end of the Mayan calendar and their potential impact on this area.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Don’t make any rash decisions: Experts say 12/21/12 is going to be just another typical winter solstice. Killer solar flares aren’t expected. Another planet isn’t on a collision course with ours. And the Mayan “long count calendar” ending Friday has no real significance—they had to end it somewhere! What is All the Fuss About? There are a number of theories and predictions that call for earth’s demise on Dec. 21, 2012. They include: What are the Experts Saying? The intrigue created by multiple end-of-the-world predictions has made many scholars and even NASA stand up to make statements debunking the claims. From professors at Tampa Bay’s own New College to the scientific minds at NASA, they’re all saying the same thing: Go ahead and pay …
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Orionids meteor shower promises to be a show worth watching.
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Friday, October 19, 2012
For anyone who has ever wanted to wish upon a shooting star, this weekend is your chance. Earth is passing through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet that started earlier this week, which create the the annual Orionids meteor shower—though you probably won't see much until a bit later. The shower should be at its peak the night of Saturday, Oct. 20 until just before dawn on Oct. 21. This year, the moon will be setting at approximately midnight, which will keep the sky darkened enough that—barring cloud cover—you should be able to see up to 15 meteors per hour. NASA says the best time to look is before sunrise on Sunday, Oct. 21. That's when Earth encounters the densest part of Halley's debris stream. Wake up a few hours before dawn, …
Sunday, August 26, 2012
The day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon brought tears to the eyes of grown men and goosebumps to the arms of children—and brought Americans together in an era of discord and dissent.
Alan Shepherd took off from Cape Canaveral on May 5, 1961, to became the first American in space, narrowly missing the title of "first man in space" because Soviet cosmonaut Juri Gagarin made one orbit around Earth three weeks earlier. I watched Shepherd's takeoff on a black-and-white television in a motel somewhere in Virginia on a vacation with my mom and dad. I was only 5, but I was able to grasp that this was big. Today, kids often have their own TVs and sometimes even parents opt for cable channels over the news. But as children of the 1960s, we watched what our parents watched on four local channels, three of which offered coverage from the major networks. With a World War II vet for a father, we got a heavy dose of news. It wasn't …
Thursday, June 21, 2012
If there are no clouds at night, and you are looking in the right place at the right time, you will see a bright light moving faster than any plane across the sky.
It’s a good week for stargazers in the Cranberry area, even though the star of the celestial show, this time, is man-made. The orbit patterns of the International Space Station will take it over the Pittsburgh area several times over the next few days. If there are no clouds at night, and you are looking in the right place at the right time, you will see a bright light moving faster than any plane across the sky. That light is the International Space Station, home to 6 people, and traveling 17,000 miles an hour, over 200 miles high. To check the exact time it will be over the Pittsburgh area, click here. And you can find out more by visiting NASA's website and the ISS tracker.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
From our sister site, the Moon Patch, Editor Jenna Staul reflects on viewing the night skies Saturday from a place with an out-of-this-world name.
Do you ever get a funny reaction when you tell people that you live in a town named Moon? I do. It's usually something along the lines of "Oh, so you're from the Moon?" Or "How is it out there, living on the Moon?" Never funny. Gets old after a while. Even out here in Patch land, I'll get the occasional lunar-themed quip from a co-worker ("And Patch even covers news on the Moon ..."). It comes with the territory of living in a town with a quirky name. But Saturday night is our night, Moon Township. Break out your telescopes: Saturday night brings us Super Moon 2012. A Super Moon occurs when the moon goes into its full phase at the same time it approaches Earth at the shortest-possible point in its orbit—an event known as a perigee. If …
Ashley Ramirez
8:29 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
Orionids Meteor Shower peak is hopefully 25 meteors per hour! http://bit.ly/ONZNMP more ›