The EYE ON THE SKY® AstroCruises Royal Caribbean Page
edited by Dan Benedict
THANKS! for joining EYE ON THE SKY® AstroCruises in 2002
aboard the
Majesty of the Seas and
Nordic Empress!
Watch this space for notices of other EYE ON THE SKY® AstroCruises on Royal Caribbean cruises!
Book through AstroCruises Travel for free membership in AstroCruisers (TM) astronomy club
and other agency discounts, value-added bonuses and special deals.
Here are some Web sites with information on topics we discussed during the lectures and starwatches on Royal Caribbean cruises:
General Astronomy News
For the latest astronomy and space news, try:
You can receive Weekly News Bulletin and Skywatcher's Bulletin from Sky &Telescope via e-mail.
Tonight's Sky
The most interesting sights you can see with the naked eye in the current sky are listed in:
For a graphical display of the night sky as seen from your home, you have several good options:
- To know what the sky will look like from your location, you need to know your latitude and longitude. For locations in the U.S. you can find latitudes and longitudes (in degrees/minutes/seconds) through the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Remember that locations in the U. S. are always "north" latitude and "west" longitude. For locations outside the U.S. you can find latitudes and longitudes through the Arizona State University Libraries site.
- With your latitude and longitude, you can generate custom sky charts at Heavens-Above and Sky & Telescope by following their directions, or
- Go to the Your Sky: Sky Map Custom Settings page at http://www.fourmilab.to/yoursky/custom.html. You'll need to enter your latitude and longitude in the Observing Site boxes in either decimal degrees or degrees/minutes/seconds, remembering locations in the U. S. are always "north" latitude and "west" longitude. For easier-to-read maps I suggest you change the defaults in the Display Options to the following:
- Uncheck Deep Sky Objects box
- Uncheck Constellations-Boundaries box
- Change value in Show Stars Brighter Than Magnitude to "3.5"
- Change value in Stars-Names for Magnitude to "1.5 and brighter"
- Uncheck Stars-Bayer/Flamsteed Codes box
- Click the [Update] button and then bookmark the resulting page in your Web browser so you don't have to repeat this step every time.
For moon phase information and sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and civil twilight times for your city, see:
Satellites
To find out about when and where to look for satellites at your home, go to (and then bookmark after entering your location):
To find out how to watch for satellites, go to:
All space shuttle launches are under review following the loss of the orbiter Columbia February 1, 2003. Shuttles launched at night to the International Space Station can be seen along the East Coast at least as far north as New York City, and you can find information about planned launches by going to the Kennedy Space Center's page at:
Meteor Showers
The American Meteor Society furnishes information about these (and other) meteor showers here:
- Quadrantids (peak January 3-4)
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/quadrantids.html
- Perseids (peak August 12-13)
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/perseids.html
- Leonids (peak November 17-18)
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/leonids.html
- Geminids (peak December 13-14)
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/geminids.html
Green Flash
The most complete source of information I've found about the "green flash" is:
Eclipses
Information about future eclipses can be found at:
Thanks again for joining EYE ON THE SKY® AstroCruises on Royal Caribbean cruises, and we hope to sail with you again soon! Bon voyage!
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