Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO): August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Wish you all a happy Blue Moon August 2012

Nepal Astronomical Society(NASO) wishes all its reader a happy Blue Moon. A blue moon can refer to the third full moon in a season with four full moons. Most years have twelve full moons that occur approximately monthly. In addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains roughly eleven days more than the lunar year of 12 lunations. The extra days accumulate, so every two or three years (7 times in the 19-year Metonic cycle), there is an extra full moon. Lunisolar calendars have rules about when to insert such an intercalary or embolismic ("leap") month, and what name it is given; e.g. in the Hebrew calendarthe month Adar is duplicated. The term "blue moon" comes from folklore. Different traditions and conventions place the extra "blue" full moon at different times in the year. In the Hindu calendar, this extra month is called 'Adhik (extra) masa (month)'. It is also known as purushottam maas, so as to give it a devotional name.

Photo: Blue Moon as seen at 19:14 Hrs, August 31, 2012 from the Maitidevi , Kathmandu,Nepal .

Wish you a happy Moon Observation tonight! Please share your picture of Blue Moon with us if you manage to click on it :)

Friday, August 17, 2012

NASO Founder Vice President Participating in IAU General Assembly, Beijing, 19-31 Aug 2012

Founder Vice President of Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), Mr. Sudeep Neupane, has been to Beijing, China to participate in International Astronomical Union - General Assembly (IAU-GA) going to be held from Aug 19 to Aug 31, 2012. He will be representing (NASO) as well as Nepalese Astronomy Community in IAU. Mr. Neupane will be presenting his oral presentation on special session of Office of Astronomy for Development.

This is the continuation of NASO to represent Nepalese Astronomy at IAU and orther international meetings. So far, NASO has been to many IAU regional and general meetings/assemblies representing the Nepalese astronomy community.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Perseids reaching its pick on 11th, 12th and 13th of August

(Image source: space.com)

The Perseid meteor shower is rising to its peak, as it does every year at this time. The peak mornings will be August 11, 12 and 13. August 12 might be the best morning. August 11 might be better than August 13.

[ IMO observations found the timing of the mean or "traditional" broad maximum varied between λ⊙ ∼ 139.8° to 140.3°, equivalent to 2012 August 12, 07^h to 19^h30^m UT, (Nepali time: 12:45 hrs. to 01:15 hrs. next day morning)] (Source: International Meteor Organization-IMO)]

The Perseids should be a spectacular event because the Moon is in its waning crescent phase, so the light reflecting off its lunar surface should not interfere with the meteors traveling across our night sky.

The moon on those mornings will be near the bright planets Venus and Jupiter in the eastern predawn sky. It’ll be a beautiful early morning scene.

You can see the meteors any time before this date, as they have been flying across the sky since about July 17. And they will remain visible until August 24. (Source:IMO)

The meteors within the Perseid meteor shower are material from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which has a 130-year orbit around the Sun.