Observing the 2024 Solar Eclipse from Idaho

Posted by admin on April 2, 2024
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: .
This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse over Madras, Oregon, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani. From https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/what-to-expect/.

A total solar eclipse will cross the US mid-morning on Mon, Apr 8. This eclipse appears to be the last total solar eclipse that will cross the US until 2045. So when will the eclipse be visible from Idaho, what will it look like, and how best to observe it?

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Doomed Worlds: A Personal Journey

Posted by admin on January 28, 2024
Posted in: First Friday Astronomy, Public Outreach. Tagged: , , .
Artist’s conception of a hot Jupiter shedding mass.

Though worlds in our Solar System have been rocked by geological upheavals, mountain-shattering impacts, and climatic disasters throughout their histories, we think they have remained essentially intact. The planets we see today have been here since they first coalesced 4.5 billion years ago. But that long-lived stability may be the exception and not the rule. Indeed, astronomers now know many planets face destruction through what’s called tidal disruption, and recent searches have revealed direct evidence of the final moments for these doomed worlds.

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