Attention Teachers:
If you would like to get your students to explore the sky, then you will want to subscribe to Astro Alerts.
These brief alerts let you know when and where to look for interesting and easy to spot astronomical objects and events. Many teachers like to add the alerts to their blog or 'Teacher Page' by simply copying and pasting the alert. Some teachers like to add the alert to the weekly email that they send to parents. This provides an opportunity for parents and their children to go explore the evening sky together.
The Astro Alerts are focused on easily observable objects and events, which increases the chances that your students will be successful with their observations of the sky. Also, the Astro Alerts are only issued for objects or events that can be observed at a reasonable hour - usually between sunset and 10 PM.
Here are a couple recent examples of Astro Alerts...
If you would like to get your students to explore the sky, then you will want to subscribe to Astro Alerts.
These brief alerts let you know when and where to look for interesting and easy to spot astronomical objects and events. Many teachers like to add the alerts to their blog or 'Teacher Page' by simply copying and pasting the alert. Some teachers like to add the alert to the weekly email that they send to parents. This provides an opportunity for parents and their children to go explore the evening sky together.
The Astro Alerts are focused on easily observable objects and events, which increases the chances that your students will be successful with their observations of the sky. Also, the Astro Alerts are only issued for objects or events that can be observed at a reasonable hour - usually between sunset and 10 PM.
Here are a couple recent examples of Astro Alerts...
Astro Alert
Issued: November 7, 2022
If you happen to see a bright red-coloured "star" near the Moon on November 10, between 8 PM and midnight, you will actually be looking at the planet Mars! It just looks like a bright red-coloured star. Once a month, as the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Moon and Mars appear close together in the sky. Currently, Mars is located in the constellation of Taurus - The Bull - and it is also relatively close to Earth, which makes it appear brighter than normal. The current Earth to Mars distance is about 86,778,000 km, but the Moon is much closer - it's only about 400,000 km away. So, even though they will appear close together in the sky, Mars is actually 217x farther away!
Issued: November 7, 2022
If you happen to see a bright red-coloured "star" near the Moon on November 10, between 8 PM and midnight, you will actually be looking at the planet Mars! It just looks like a bright red-coloured star. Once a month, as the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Moon and Mars appear close together in the sky. Currently, Mars is located in the constellation of Taurus - The Bull - and it is also relatively close to Earth, which makes it appear brighter than normal. The current Earth to Mars distance is about 86,778,000 km, but the Moon is much closer - it's only about 400,000 km away. So, even though they will appear close together in the sky, Mars is actually 217x farther away!
Astro Alert
Issued: November 1, 2022
If you happen to see a really bright "star" near the Moon on November 4, after sunset and before midnight, you will actually be looking at the planet Jupiter! It just looks like a bright star. Once a month, as the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Moon and Jupiter appear close together in the sky. If you happen to have some large binoculars or a small telescope you should be able to see a few of Jupiter's large moons - there are four of them. They will appear as tiny dots of light on either side of Jupiter.
Issued: November 1, 2022
If you happen to see a really bright "star" near the Moon on November 4, after sunset and before midnight, you will actually be looking at the planet Jupiter! It just looks like a bright star. Once a month, as the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Moon and Jupiter appear close together in the sky. If you happen to have some large binoculars or a small telescope you should be able to see a few of Jupiter's large moons - there are four of them. They will appear as tiny dots of light on either side of Jupiter.
Astro Alerts is a FREE service and it is only available to teachers in Canada. The maximum number of teachers who can subscribe to Astro Alerts is 500 and 75% of these subscriptions are reserved for teachers in Alberta. You must use your work email address to subscribe for Astro Alerts. This is how you will verify that you are a teacher from Canada. Any email address ending in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or any similar personal email address will not receive Astro Alerts.
You can unsubscribe from Astro Alerts at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of the email. You can also send an email requesting to be unsubscribed from Astro Alerts.