astronomy

Are we alone in the universe?  The discovery of TRAPPIST-1 and its seven Earth-like planets could be moving the needle on the answer.

The TRAPPIST-1 star system is relatively close to our solar system, about 40 light years, or 235 trillion miles, away in the constellation Aquarius. And, because they are not in our celestial neighborhood, they’re called “exoplanets.”

Five years and 540 million miles after launch, the solar-powered spacecraft Juno has reached Jupiter.
It took 48 minutes for Juno’s radio signal to reach Earth. But despite concerns over electronic-frying radiation and potentially damaging debris in the planet’s ring, it safely reduced speed and slid into orbit late Monday.
“Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was always looking for what paramours and other secrets,” said Wayne Wooten, an astronomer at Pensacola State College. “That’s what Juno is going to be probing for – Jupiter’s deeply-hidden secrets.”

  Mars and Earth are getting a bit chummier this month, as the Red Planet moves to its closest distance in more than a decade. 

Mars’ position – just under 47 million miles from Earth – is called “opposition” That’s when the sun, Earth and Mars are in a straight line with Mars rising in the east just as the sun sets in the west.   

“Opposition is the same thing as a full moon,” said Pensacola State College astronomer Wayne Wooten. But, because of Earth’s slightly elliptical orbit, Earth is still getting even a little closer to Mars.

If you’re up a little before dawn over the next month, you may want to go outside and view another celestial treat, compliments of most of the solar system.

Five planets will span the sky together in the early morning hours: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter will all be visible to the naked eye from January 20 to February 20.

There's a meteor shower on tap for this weekend, and it might even turn into a full-fledged meteor storm. But you’ll have to get up pretty early to watch it.

Between one and three o’clock Central time Saturday morning Earth will pass by debris from Comet 209P/Linear, which orbits between us and Jupiter. That dusty debris is what creates the meteor shower. The shower could as many as one hundred shooting stars per hour in the skies over northwest Florida.