Sirius (/ˈsɪriəs/) is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word Σείριος (Seirios, lit. 'glowing' or 'scorching'). The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris.
January and February are perfect months for both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere observers to view the brightest star in the sky: Sirius. As part of the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog, Sirius also earns the nickname of the Dog Star. From the Northern Hemisphere, Sirius arcs across in the southern sky. From the Southern Hemisphere, it swings high overhead. It’s always easy to spot as the brightest point of light in its region of sky
(unless a planet happens to be near it, which none are in early 2021).
Although white to blue-white in color, Sirius might be called a rainbow star, as it often flickers with many colors. The flickering colors are especially easy to notice when you spot Sirius low in the sky.
The Apollo Space Program was carried out by a government organization called the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. The program required teamwork and creativity; brilliant scientists and brave astronauts had to find ways to overcome serious setbacks.
The Apollo Space Program's last mission was in 1972. By then, a group of astronauts had traveled outside of the earth on a spacecraft and twelve had landed on the moon. All the Apollo missions left from John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, which people can visit today and see some real moon rocks!
Aurora is a beautiful curtain of rippling light in the night sky, it is an awe-inspiring and unforgettable sight for those lucky enough to have witnessed it.
It all starts with our closest star, the Sun. The Sun is incredibly energetic and is constantly making what we call the solar wind -- a stream of tiny particles. These fly out into space and are deflected by the magnetic field that surrounds planet Earth. There are huge eruptions on the Sun called solar flares that make the solar wind even stronger. When that happens the particles have so much energy that they don’t just fly into Earth’s magnetic field – they smash into it!
The solar wind particles then follow Earth’s magnetic field to our planet’s north and south poles. Eventually the particles crash into gases in our atmosphere. All that energy is then released as light! Solar wind particles colliding with oxygen produce a fabulous green colour. Nitrogen makes beautiful shades of blue and purple. This is what causes the aurora.
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked-eye comet that can appear twice in a human lifetime. Halley last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061.
Halley's periodic returns to the inner Solar System have been observed and recorded by astronomers around the world since at least 240 BC. But it was not until 1705 that the English astronomer Edmond Halley understood that these appearances were reappearances of the same comet. As a result of this discovery, the comet is now named after Halley.
During its 1986 apparition, Halley's Comet became the first comet to be observed in detail by spacecraft, providing the first observational data on the structure of a comet nucleus and the mechanism of coma and tail formation.