There was a rare event on 9th May 2016 on hot sunny Monday around 4pm. The planet mercury passed between us and we saw the silhouette of the planet using specialized telescopes and projection method at the urban observatory of Karachi named as Kastrodome. A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible...
In this post I will share photos of planet conjunction taken by me from Karachi and Mirpur sakro, Pakistan. Let me explain conjunction so you may have an idea about it. A conjunction occurs when two astronomical objects have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptical longitude, normally when observed from the Earth. This implies an apparent close approach between the planets as seen in the...
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) known to be the Comet of the century, discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012 is the one we are hearing since a few months. But before we get into the observation and other technical details, let me explain what is a comet. What is Comet? From the simplest definitions taken from Wikipedia, “A comet...
Often during Astronomy related conversations I used to hear word equinox and then they used to say Fall equinox and the spring equinox. The word seems weird but it has the explanation in it. Equinox is derived from Latin word aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox the day and night are of almost equal lengths. Equinox is on September 22 and March 20, so who...
The two brightest objects in the night sky the Moon and Venus were visible towards west just after the Sunset. Just above the Moon within 5 degrees was the star Spica (the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo). Karachi astronomers and Astrophotographers will lucky to have this opportunity as it was visible in Karachi and there weren’t too many clouds. I was lucky...
The Perseid meteor shower is a major annual event for sky-watchers and 2013 looks to be a great show. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year. Luckily, the Moon (the source of light at night in the sky), will be set before the midnight, that is before the peak time of shower of meteor shower. That means...
The Moon Since the birth of human, they have always wondered what the Moon is, why it is like this and what is the significance of Moon. The Moon, the most closest celestial object that could be seen with naked-eye is at an average distance of 384, 401 Km from our home Earth. Humans have used Moon as a source of light at night...
From my childhood I was obsessed by Moon, the largest celestial object that could be seen in sky at night. The reason I was obsessed with it could be, it is in sky for most part of a month. I did not get any useful information and guidance to Astronomy until I found a book of Science in which there was some discussion on...
2 days before the peak of Geminids Meteor Shower back in December 2010, I was sitting on my seat while programming, I got an email. It was an email in which we planned to go to Kalri Lake, Sind for watching the Geminids meteor Shower. The peak of Geminids Shower is on 13 Dec. Unfortunately, the 13 was Monday and considering the work load...
