MORNING SKY SHOW: Set your alarm for dawn. Venus and Jupiter are converging in the eastern sky for a spectacular conjunction just before sunrise. At closest approach on Aug. 11-13, the two planets will shine like a bright double star--easy to see even from brightly-lit cities. Bonus: The Perseid meteor shower peaks at the same time, so you might catch a bright fireball, too. Sky maps: Aug. 11, 12, 13.
"On Monday morning, the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter was spectacular--truly a magnificent sight," says Marek Nikodem, who sends this picture from Szubin, Poland:
See the red streak next to Jupiter? "That's a Perseid meteor," says Nikodem. "This was a good start to the week. I'm hoping for more."
Good news: More are coming. Perseid meteor rates are expected to increase 10 fold in the next 24 hours. The odds of catching one next to Venus and Jupiter will increase by the same amount. Submit your photos here!
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"ALWAYS AND FOREVER" METEOR CRATER PENDANT: Have you heard of Moissanite? It's a very rare mineral discovered by 19th-century chemist Henri Moissan in Arizona's Meteor Crater. At first, he thought it was diamond, but later realized it was even more rare. It's a diamond lookalike that, until the 1950s, was found naturally only in meteorites.
On Aug. 2nd, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this Moissanite pendant to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $229.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever," the sterling silver frame bends around the Moissanite in a heart-shaped curve--all highlighted by glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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