Minda asks:

"I am looking for real, legitimate information concerning the planet catalogued as 2003UB313, first photographed with the 48 inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on October 31, 2003 - the so called Planet X. Is it a planet or an asteroid? Is there expected to be any problems associated with this body and its orbit?"

"I've been told some hard to believe stories about the affect it will have in the year 2012. Is this a version of the 'Urban Myth'?"

Jesse Richuso (Morehead Planetarium and Science Center) responds:

"Planet X" is a term used to describe a number of theoretical, undiscovered bodies in our solar system. Some astronomers think that irregularities found in the orbits of a few solar system objects are evidence of Planet X. However, astronomers have also found evidence to disprove the existence of Planet X. To learn more about this topic, visit ...

Hi Charlie,

We only see one side of the Moon because it rotates exactly one time per revolution around Earth. This physical phenomenon is called synchronous rotation.

Wait a second, you may be thinking... if the Moon rotates, then shouldn't we see its backside eventually? Nope! If the Moon did NOT rotate, then we would get to see the Moon’s entire surface at some point as it orbited Earth. But, it rotates at just the right rate to keep the same side facing Earth.

You can try this for yourself. Find a friend and have him or her pretend to be Earth. You be the Moon, and "orbit" your friend. If you keep facing one wall of the room as you orbit, you won't be rotating, and your friend (Earth) will be able to see all sides of you. But, if you orbit your friend and keep facing him or her, you will rotate yourself one time per revolution.

It may sound like an amazing coincidence, but synchronous rotation occurs naturally as objects in...

Jay,

This seems like something everyone should know, right? Well, it's actually not that simple. First of all, the sky is not just blue. It's Carolina Blue.

As light from the Sun travels through Earth's atmosphere, it runs into things. When light travels through water droplets or hits dust particles, it gets bounced off in different directions. This doesn't explain why the sky is blue, though, because every color of light is similarly affected by dust and water droplets because they are so much larger than the wavelength of visible light (400-700 nanometers).

When light hits gas molecules, which are smaller than wavelength range of light, it is scattered. This effect is called Rayleigh Scattering. Different wavelengths of light are scattered at different angles. Red, orange, and yellow light are mostly unaffected because they have longer wavelengths. Blue light, though, is scattered greatly because of its shorter wavelength.

If you look closer to the Sun in...

We have been getting a lot of phone calls this morning here at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center about a strange comet-like object that suddenly appeared near the constellation Cassiopeia around 7 p.m last night (December 10, 2007).

While the object looked like a comet, it was actually a fuel dump from a rocket! 

Thanks to spaceweather.com for more information:

"This cloud mimicking Comet 17P/Holmes is fuel dumped from the upper stage of an Atlas rocket that launched a classified satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office on Dec. 10th. The event created a splendid display for about 50 minutes and then faded into the night." - www.spaceweather.com

JESSE RICHUSO (MOREHEAD PLANETARIUM AND SCIENCE CENTER) SAYS:

Hi Bill,

This is one of the most frequently asked questions at our skywatching sessions or planetarium shows that feature the Moon. Can we see any of the objects that astronauts left there, like the flags, lunar rovers, or the descent stage of the lunar module? I think it would be really cool if we could, but unfortunately we can't, for a combination of reasons: the Moon is too far away, and the objects are too small.

The largest objects that astronauts left on the Moon are the descent stages of the six lunar modules. They're each about 15 feet wide. In order to see something that size at the distance of the Moon (about 250,000 miles on average), you would need a telescope with a diameter of at least 100 meters (300+ feet). The largest telescope on Earth is about 10 meters in diameter. Even the Hubble Space Telescope, which has a diameter of 2.4 meters, cannot see anything...