~ Launch into Gold Coast Libraries these school holidays ~

For all things ‘Out Of This World’
6th to 16th April 2021
 
There are FREE space events and activities being held over these school holidays at Gold Coast Libraries for kids from 2 years to 12 years old.
 
As part of this exciting space event, presenter Noeleen Lowndes will deliver an astronomy experience for kids aged 7 years to 12 years. Noeleen is NASA’s SOC educator in Australia and a member of the Southern Astronomical Society on the Gold Coast.
 
Please go to the Gold Coast Libraries ‘What’s-on’ link below, as bookings to all events are essential:
​ https://new.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Whats-on
 
Go deep into space with at-home resources and activities at:
https://new.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Explore/Kids#panel-1-4
 
Astronomy & Space events for 7 -12 years
 
Destination to the planet Mars
Tuesday 6th April at Runaway Bay Library from 3.00pm to 3.45pm.
 
Our Amazing Moon
Tuesday 13th April at Nerang Library from 3.00pm to 3.45pm.
 
Starry Starry Night - How to learn the Night Sky
Friday 16th April at Elanora Library from 3.00pm to 3.45pm.
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The eastern sky cleared long enough for the beautiful full Moon to be seen lighting up a moonlight trail on the water, just like a stairway to the Moon…just awesome!
 
This lunar phase is the closest full Moon to the Autumnal Equinox (21st March) so Easter occurs after this Full Moon making the 4th April Easter Sunday for 2021.
 
My Image was taken on the 29th March 2021 with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens set at 40mm attached to a camera tripod, exposure time was 1.3 seconds and ISO 200 at F4.

While coming back on the sea ferry across Moreton Bay, I looked up into the sky and saw this pretty Sun halo around the Sun and just as I took the picture a couple of welcome swallows flew by in the sea breeze :-) 
 
A solar halo is a very interesting optical phenomenon that’s caused by the Suns light interacting with ice crystals in very high cirrus type clouds. You can also see the same phenomenon when you have a full Moon in the night-time sky. Another interesting fact is this ring around the Sun or Moon is exactly 22 degrees!
 
You can find out more about the science of solar and lunar halos at:
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
 
My image was taken on Sunday the 28th March 2021 with a Canon G7X camera Mark 11 camera; the exposure time was 1/400th second with ISO200 using manual focus.

~ Conjunction of Mars with Pleiades Star Cluster ~
In Taurus (The Bull) 
(On the 5th March 2021)

We finally had a clear evening at last to see the conjunction of Mars with the Pleiades star cluster, which is in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull).
 
I had to take my pictures here at home through a very light polluted sky…but at least I’ve captured the event, car headlights going up and down the street lit up the trees :-)
 
My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm lens on a tripod. Both images were exposures of 5 seconds with ISO 2500 with five images captured and stacked in DSS to help with the urban light conditions.

What are some skywatching highlights in March 2021?
 
Look for Mars close to the Pleiades in the first couple of weeks of March. Then wake up early to observe the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which return as morning planets this month.

After an early morning rain shower I raced outside to see if there was a rainbow in the sky…and to my utter delight there in the western sky was a stunning double rainbow with a supernumerary bow under the primary.
 
You have to be very quick to capture these brilliant coloured rainbows because the clouds move quickly and the Sun comes out and it all vanishes just like that!
 
Supernumeraries are formed because two rays of light may follow slightly different paths within a raindrop but still emerge in the same direction.
 
This gives rise to interference between the two rays and produces the alternating bright and dark bands in the supernumerary bows. The intensity of the colours gives an indication of the size of the raindrops.
 
To read more about rainbows and explore the science behind Atmospheric Optics please go to Les Cowley’s excellent website at: https://www.atoptics.co.uk
 
This image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Sigma 10-20mm lens @12mm, ISO 200 and exposure time was 1/250th second. 

This is the first 360-degree panorama taken by Mastcam-Z, a zoomable pair of cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The panorama was stitched together on Earth from 142 individual images taken on Sol 3, the third Martian day of the mission (Feb. 21, 2021).
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU

​To read the story please go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-rover-gives-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-landing-site

For more information about Perseverance
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured thrilling footage of its rover landing in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
 
The real footage in this video was captured by several cameras that are part of the rover's entry, descent, and landing suite.
 
The views include a camera looking down from the spacecraft's descent stage (a kind of rocket-powered jet pack that helps fly the rover to its landing site), a camera on the rover looking up at the descent stage, a camera on the top of the aeroshell (a capsule protecting the rover) looking up at that parachute, and a camera on the bottom of the rover looking down at the Martian surface.
 
The audio embedded in the video comes from the mission control call-outs during entry, descent, and landing.

​For more information about Perseverance, visit
​https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 

​Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wow…that was just Amazing, the members of NASA’s Mars exploration team have done it again, just absolutely awesome!!!

Please go to the story on the NASA website link at:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover-safely-lands-on-red-planet

Members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team watch in mission control as the first images arrive moments after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.
 
The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities and events as the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover nears entry, descent, and landing on the Red Planet, with touchdown scheduled for approximately 3:55 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 18.

Australian (AEST) Friday 19th at 6.55am Feb.19th
 
Live coverage and landing commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will begin at 2:15 p.m. on the NASA TV Public Channeland the agency’s website, as well as the NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV.

During landing, the rover will plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph (about 20,000 kph). A parachute and powered descent will slow the rover down to about 2 mph (3 kph). During what is known as the sky crane maneuver, the descent stage will lower the rover on three cables to land softly on six wheels at Jezero Crater.
 
Perseverance also is carrying a technology experiment – the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter – that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.
 
“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that landing on Mars is never easy,” said NASA Associate Administrator for Communications Marc Etkind. “But as NASA’s fifth Mars rover, Perseverance has an extraordinary engineering pedigree and mission team. We are excited to invite the entire world to share this exciting event with us!”
NASA is offering many ways for the public to participate and stay up to date on landing information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.
 
To read more of this story and go to the many links please go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-share-thrill-of-mars-perseverance-rover-landing
 
For more about Perseverance:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020
and
https://nasa.gov/perseverance
For more about Ingenuity:
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Landing Animations
This video depicts key events during entry, descent, and landing that will occur when NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars February 18, 2021.
 
My other Mars blogs are at: http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/archives/07-2020

~ Thursday 18th February 2021 ~ 
ABC Science writer Genelle Weule has written an excellent article on Mars today,
please go to the link below to read all about this incredible mission to the red planet by NASA.
 
NASA's Perseverance rover gears up to land on Mars in 'seven minutes of terror'
 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-02-18/mars-perseverance-rover-nasa-seven-minutes-of-terror-landing/13164886
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