EARTH CLOSEST POINT TO THE SUN THIS YEAR

Sunday the Earth was closest to the Sun as it passed by on its elliptical orbit. Each winter when we are cold here in the Northern Hemisphere the Earth is actually 91 million miles away from the sun. This is the closest it will get to the Sun. It is called the perihelion and happens every year early in January. Six months later around July 4th, the aphelion, occurs when the Earth is at the farthest point. Even though the Earth is 3% closer to the Sun in the winter, it is colder here in Jacksonville because of the planets tilted axis. The tilt causes seasons which overrides any effect of the slightly more intense sunlight due to perihelion.

We are also speeding around the sun faster now than in summer.

When the Earth rounds the Sun it picks up speed as it gets closer to the sun due its increase in gravity. The Earth's orbit slows down in Summer around the Aphelion. So the next time you are stuck in traffic, it might make you feel better to know you are actually speeding through the cosmos at about 66,000 miles an hour.

BUILDING BLOCKS TO EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE FOUND

The amazing Hubble Space Telescope designed to peer out to the edge of the cosmos has detected the first ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system. It spotted methane on planet HD 189733b. More and more planets are being discovered beyond the 11 planets within our solar system.

If there is any life in outer space, planets will serve as the likely platform for life to form on. Life arises from organic molecules which are the building blocks.
Mark Swain of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) says “This is a crucial stepping stone to eventually characterising prebiotic molecules on planets where life could exist”, Swain is lead author of a paper to be published in the March 20th issue of
Nature.

JACKSONVILLE METEOR SHOWER

Every year since the civil war the Geminids have shown up in mid December. This picture shows last years Geminid meteor photographed by Christopher Colley of Lombard, Illinois. This year fog may block your view of the shower which peaks Thursday night into Friday's sunrise.

You can expect around 120 to 160 meteors per minute with an increase in frequency by sunrise. Start looking anytime after 10 pm towards the east or northeast. Shift your eyes west by sunrise.

The streaks of light may appear yellow since the Geminid's are caused by an asteroid and not like your typical icy dusty comet. The asteroid is about 3 miles wide and will pass about 2 million miles from Earth. An asteroid this size was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.


Here is a NASA map of the sky to help you look in the correct direction.