Calling all science teachers! Are you interested in blowing stuff up? Does a 'normal' day in your class involve safety gear? Are you making the science of learning fun and active?

If you answered yes to any of those questions (or even just 'maybe') then you owe it to yourself to check out the Iron Science Competition (www.ironscience.ca)

I have been wanting to see Neptune for a very long time. On many occasions I have tried to observe this distant world but I have failed for various reasons. Mostly due to the not so dark skies around my house in Surrey. Sometimes it is confusing to find the 7.8 magnitude faint Neptune among a bunch of 5 or 6 magnitude stars near by. But my lucky moment arrived in the early morning of July 10th (2009).

I read on SkyNews magazine that Jupiter was passing by Neptune for the next few days. So I decided to give it another try. For my observing site I chose my coop work place, The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton. Fortunately this place had relatively darker skies compared to Surrey. So I arrived at my work place at 3am in the morning of July 10th hoping to finally see Neptune. The sky was clear, and I saw Jupiter shining brightly between the Dish of the 26m telescope and the gibbous moon.
 

If you are into stargazing this site is a must know. heavens-above.com gives you pretty much everything you need to know about those mysterious slow moving stars that you might come across if you stare at the sky for just as little as 5 minutes. After you have created an account with your location on Earth it will tell you when you could see ISS, Hubble, Iridium flares, other major satellites, and occasionally the space shuttle when it is in orbit. What's more it even tells you when you could view that ISS toolbag that was accidentally put in orbit.

I usually go to this site before I go out and observe just to see what other cool things would happen when I'm staring at the stars. Iridium flares are my favorites. These sudden flaring of bright stars in the sky are caused by iridium satellites that were put in orbit for communication purposes. Each of these satellites has three antennas that are very reflective. Sometimes these antennas are in such a orientation that they directly reflect sunlight towards you. The result: They suddenly become very bright in the sky for a short period (seconds), brighter than most stars (sometimes about magnitude -9). The website keeps track of the orientation of these satellites and will tell you exactly when and where you could see these. Cool huh! They are very good to impress people who don't know what they are. Once I saw a flare which blinked several times. I was really amazed by this and later found out that it was because the satellite was spinning on it's axis (most probably a broken one). So if you see any bright stars suddenly come to life chances are you probably saw one of these rather than a supernova.

The other most interesting thing is the ISS. It is the brightest satellite out there. So bright you can't miss it. On June 13 space shuttle Endeavor (STS 127) is scheduled to launch for the space station. If you get a chance to see ISS after this date and before it docks to the space station, you would see Endeavor following close behind ISS as it prepares to dock. It's quite a sight. If you got a chance to see it keep in mind that two Canadian astronauts Robert Thirsk (ISS) and Julie Payette (Endeavor) will also be there.

So I heared about this comet from one of my friends and decided to check it out myself. This comet actually looks green. That is due to C2 and CN gases that gets released due to sunlight as the comet gets closer to the sun. This comet is in a highly eccentric orbit which means that it will not come around the sun for another long long time.

So I went outside at around 8.30pm despite the bitter cold wind with my 20X50 binoculars to find the comet. Before I went outside I looked online where the comet currently is. When I want to find an object in the night sky I always go to www.heavens-above.com. So I found out that it was in LEO close to star Regulus. At first I couldn't see it with my naked eye. Then I scanned the area with my binoculars and stumbled on it. It looked like a smudge with a slightly bright centre. My binoculars couldn't bring out the green colour, and it looked greyish. When I looked at it for a bit I could faintly figure out a small faint tail that extend a short distant Eastward. It was quite a sight. I have not seen a comet with a tail yet. Even though this tail is faint and tiny I was glad I could see it. Luckily for me and you this comet will hang around until about March 2nd. But it will get fainter every day as it goes away from the sun. So if you want to catch this comet before it disappears forever, don't wait.

More info about the comet can be found here.

It's been 400 years since Galileo first had a look at the stars through his telecope. This Galileo moment was the first step in our current scientific understanding of the universe.

Wonder how Galileo felt when he saw phases in Venus, moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn for the first time? Well if you haven't seen these already you will have a very good chance of seeing them yourself this year as the whole world turn towards the night sky. The United Nations has declared the year 2009 as the International Astronomy Year. To celebrate this year there will be many starparties and events happening all around you throughout the year organized by various Astronomy groups. Or if you are a stargazer yourself this will be a great oppurtunity to get a taste of your hobby to your family friends and relatives.

If you want to plan and organize a star party or a sidewalk star gazing event yourself or would like to know what Astronomy events are happening near you, a good website to go to is www.astronomy2009.ca. Clear skies!!! and Happy New Year!!