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Comet’s ‘dust bunnies’ to shower Earth

(LifeWire) — Geoff Chester was just 7 years old when he picked up his dad’s binoculars and aimed them at that familiar luminous object casting its glow over the night sky of Fairfield County, Connecticut. Ever since, he’s been hooked on stargazing.

I could see the craters on the moon, and I was like, wow, he said.

Now in his mid-50s and a public affairs officer for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Chester is still scanning the heavens. He’s in good company; throughout the year there are many opportunities for browsing the great beyond.

Stars and planets

Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer and planetarium programs director of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, said there’s plenty for amateur star watchers to appreciate.

Although Jupiter rules the summer sky, it begins to fade around late September. By November, the planet Mars makes its way into the evening sky, rising in the east just after sunset, Pitts said. Come December, Mars is at its closest position to Earth, appearing as a rosy, non-twinkling star.

Early risers will be greatly rewarded by the jewels of the morning sky. As November rolls in, Venus, Saturn and Mercury show up about 45 minutes before sunrise.

The morning sky is a great time to observe because the overnight temperature change typically has removed a lot of humidity and haze, Pitts said.

The fall and winter sky is filled with starry constellations. Cygnus the swan, as it is known in summer and fall, morphs into the Northern Cross on the northwest horizon in December. Cygnus is the main constellation of summer, Pegasus owns the fall, Orion the winter and Leo is king of the spring sky, Pitts said.

Perennial favorite the Big Dipper hangs in the northern horizon in October and by December appears to stand on the tip of its handle.

Meteors

Of the dozen or so annual meteor showers, the Geminids is one of the most spectacular. It will take place in the wee hours of December 14. NASA: Meteor schedule

The Geminids is really a hot meteor shower, Pitts said. The meteors fall at medium speed, so they’re easy to locate, he added.

The Geminids can be seen from anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, though you’ll want to get away from city lights if possible. In truly dark skies, you may be able to see 60 to 120 meteors per hour.

Meteor showers come from comets, concoctions of carbon dioxide, rocks and dirt. A comet eventually warms up in its orbit around the sun and then discards its dust bunnies, as Pitts called them. Earth cuts through that path and, as the comet dust falls into the heavier atmosphere nearer Earth, the meteors begin to glow.

Finding your way

So how can beginners learn their way around the night sky?

You get a star map and you look for the obvious stuff: the moon, a planet, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Pitts said. Then you start looking for bright stars. See how much you can see where you are.

Next, use binoculars to see what else you can spot.

Lewis Thomas, corresponding secretary for Amateur Astronomers Inc., a club in central New Jersey, advises looking at the moon in its crescent phases, when more shadows help define the mountain peaks and craters. The full moon has very little shadow, he said.

Lean against a building to keep yourself steady, he said. It makes a world of difference.

Buying a telescope

The kind of telescope to buy depends on where you live and how you’re going to use it. If you live in the city, Pitts said, buy a light, portable telescope that you can tote to locations with less surrounding light. If you live outside a city and have the space, you can permanently set up a larger telescope for viewing.

Chester recommends reading Backyard Astronomy by Terence Dickinson before you buy a telescope. The book and related Web site include an overview of telescope manufacturers, a guide to eyepieces and filters, as well as tips for using a telescope.

A reflecting telescope about 4 inches in diameter is a good choice, Thomas said. It will cost about $150, he noted. Anything costing less than that is junk, in Thomas’ opinion. You’re wasting your time with toys.

Some state parks have begun to recognize the dark skies above them as a natural resource for stargazing, Pitts said. Outdoor lighting is regulated, car lights are prohibited and even flashlights are required to have a red filter on them in these parks.

Cherry Springs State Park in north-central Pennsylvania was designated a Dark Sky Park in 2000. Others can be found in New York, Georgia, Michigan and New Mexico. For world-class stargazing in the Southwest, you’ll find telescopes at observatories open to the public along Interstate 10, nicknamed Highway to the Stars. E-mail to a friend

LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Linda K. Harris is a freelance writer and former lifestyle editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Sudan protestors: Execute teacher

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) — Hundreds of protesters brandishing swords and sticks gathered outside Khartoum’s presidential palace Friday to vent their anger against a British teacher jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

About 600 Islamic demonstrators piled out of mosques, chanting: By soul, by blood, I will fight for the Prophet Mohammed. Some of the protesters demanded the teacher’s execution, according to The Associated Press.

The agency reports that some chanted: No tolerance: Execution, and Kill her, kill her by firing squad.

The decision by a Sudanese court to jail Gillian Gibbons late Thursday was widely criticized outside Sudan as too harsh, with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband saying he was extremely disappointed the charges were not dismissed.

Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a prominent cleric and hardliner, told worshippers Friday at the Martyrs Mosque: Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion, according to AP. But he did not urge worshippers to protest.

In leaflets distributed earlier this week by Muslim groups and seen by CNN, the protesters promised a popular release of anger at demonstrations called for Friday.

The leaflets condemned Gibbons as an infidel and accused her of the pollution of children’s mentality by her actions.

The teacher was convicted of insulting religion but cleared of two other charges of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, Ali Ajeb, her lawyer said. Watch latest developments in the case

Ajeb said they were planning to appeal the sentence, which runs from the date she was first detained, November 25.

Gibbons, 54, is being held in a woman’s prison in the Omdurman district of Khartoum and she will be deported at the end of her prison term, British consular officials in the city told CNN.

Embassy staff said they were giving the teacher, from the northern English city of Liverpool, full consular assistance. Watch a report on reactions to the verdict

Omer Mohammed Ahmed Siddig, the Sudanese ambassador to Britain, was summoned for a second time to meet with the British foreign secretary late Thursday after the court’s ruling.

Miliband also spoke to the Sudanese acting foreign minister for 15 minutes on the telephone during the meeting, the British Foreign Office said.

Our priority now is to ensure Ms. Gibbons’ welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her, Miliband said in a statement.

The Foreign Office said there would be further talks with the Sudanese government Friday.

Gibbons was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of seven-year-olds in Khartoum to name the toy as part of a school project, the Foreign Office said.

She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan’s constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.

She could have faced a sentence of 40 lashes, a fine or jail term of up to a year, according to the Foreign Office, which expressed Britain’s dissatisfaction with the verdict.

British newspapers condemned Gibbons’ conviction, with The Daily Telegraph calling for the recall of the British ambassador from Khartoum and sanctions against the heads of the Sudanese government.

In an editorial the tabloid newspaper, The Sun, said Gibbons’ jailing was a grotesque insult to Islam and called Gibbons an innocent abroad.

Four vans filled with riot police were stationed outside the courthouse at Thursday’s hearing, but there were no signs of street disturbances or protests.

Staff from Gibbons’ school, including Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School, were present.

Boulos said he was horrified when he found out it was a member of his own staff who complained, not a parent as originally thought.

Defense counsel later confirmed that the complaint came from Sarah Khawad, a secretary at the school.

Gibbons has been working at the school — popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates — since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool this summer, Boulos said.

He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats.
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Meredith roommate claims innocence

PERUGIA, Italy (CNN) — Amanda Knox, the American student held in connection with the death of Briton Meredith Kercher, has protested her innocence to a court in Perugia, her lawyer says.

Knox’s Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23, was also in court Friday for the hearing to decide whether the two can continue to be detained by police.

Investigators looking into the death of British student Kercher say they have clear evidence that ties both suspects to the crime scene.

The two suspects were forbidden any contact with each other and arrived at court in separate police vehicles at around 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET).

Knox, 20, — who shared a villa with Kercher, also 20 — was the first to go before the panel of three judges set to rule on their continued to detention, her lawyer Luciano Ghirga told CNN after the hearing.

He said his client had given a brief statement to the court in which she proclaimed her innocence. Asked how she was feeling he said she was, a bit tense. Watch CNN report on Amanda Knox’s detention

We are happy and hopeful because we have been able to argue our case that the evidence against Amanda is not grave and, therefore, have asked the judge to free her, Ghirga told CNN.

Sollecito’s hearing was expected to go ahead afterward.

Ghirga said a decision in the hearing is expected between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. and 12 p.m. ET).

CNN obtained a copy of the report that Perugia’s chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini was to present at Friday’s hearing.

In the document, Mignini says Knox’s DNA matched a blood stain found on the sink in the bathroom next to the victim’s bedroom.

The report also points to a footprint found by forensic police near Kercher’s body that it says belonged to Sollecito.

Kercher, an exchange student at Perugia’s university, was killed late November 1 in the villa where she lived.

Investigators found her the next day, with a stab wound to her neck.

A report issued more than a week ago by an Italian judge suggested she may have been sexually assaulted at knifepoint before she was killed in her bed.

The prosecutor’s report also says that a search of the villa revealed only one fingerprint belonging to the American, which it said suggested that the property had been cleaned to remove evidence of the crime.

It accuses the suspects of staging a theft to cover their tracks.

One other suspect is still being held in connection with the case. Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, was arrested after fleeing to Germany. advertisement

He is the only suspect to have admitted being in the villa on the night of the killing.

Guede claims that an unidentified assailant attacked the British student, his lawyer told CNN.
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Meredith suspects in court hearing

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) — An American university student and her Italian ex-boyfriend were in court Friday for a hearing to determine whether they will remain jailed as suspects in the killing of a British student.

A judge must rule on requests by the defense to release University of Washington student Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, who have been jailed in connection with the killing of Knox’s flatmate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.

The two were picked up November 6 and a judge confirmed the arrests a few days later, saying there was enough evidence against the two students to hold them while the investigation continued. Lawyers appealed the decision and both suspects deny wrongdoing.

Knox and Sollecito were not seen arriving at court Friday, but police officials and lawyers confirmed the two were inside attending the closed-door hearing.

We are happy and confident because we were able to fully explain our point of view, said Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga. Amanda made a very brief statement proclaiming her innocence.

Ghirga spoke to reporters during a break in the hearing and said a ruling was expected Friday afternoon.

Kercher, a student from Leeds University in England and enrolled for a year of study in Perugia, was found dead November 2 in the apartment she shared with Knox. She died from a stab wound to the neck, and prosecutors said she was killed resisting a sexual assault.

Knox has given conflicting statements since the killing, first saying she was not home the night of the slaying and later telling prosecutors she was in the apartment and had to cover her ears to drown out Kercher’s screams. Watch CNN report on Amanda Knox’s detention.

According to prosecutors, a drop of Knox’s blood found on a bathroom faucet places her at the apartment on the night of the murder or the morning after, and DNA from Knox and Kercher was found on a knife that investigators believe may have been the murder weapon.

The knife was found in Sollecito’s home, and a bloody footprint located near Kercher’s body has been matched to his shoes, placing the 23-year-old Italian at the crime scene, prosecutors say.

Lawyers maintain there is not enough evidence linking the knife to Kercher’s wounds nor the shoes to the footprint.

Sollecito says he was at his own Perugia apartment, working at his computer, but does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him.

Both suspects have explained confused recollections and conflicting statements by saying they had smoked hashish that night, according to court documents.

In addition to Knox and Sollecito, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede is also being held as a suspect. He was arrested in Germany after an international manhunt and is awaiting extradition to Italy.

Guede has acknowledged that he was in Kercher’s room the night she died, but said he didn’t kill her and that an Italian who is trying to frame him did. It is not clear whom Guede accused. DNA testing has confirmed that he had sex with Kercher the night of the murder.

A fourth suspect, Diya Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese who owned the Perugia bar where Knox worked, was recently released from jail for lack of evidence. Lumumba, initially fingered by Knox as the killer, has not been formally cleared and denies wrongdoing.
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56 feared dead in Turkey jet crash

(CNN) — All 56 people onboard a Turkish plane that crashed in southern Turkey early Friday are believed to have been killed, according to the airline’s chief executive officer. The cause of the crash is not yet known.

Search groups have not seen any survivors as of now, said Atlasjet Airlines CEO Tuncay Doganer. Investigating authorities have located the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, according to Turkey’s civil aviation authority.

The MacDonnell Douglas 83, which left Istanbul for Isparta at 00.50 a.m. local time (22.50 GMT Thursday), went down in a mountainous region north of the village of Keciborlu, just as it was preparing to land at Isparta, Doganer said.

He added that the pilot had radioed the tower, saying he was starting his descent.

But the flight, which was carrying 49 passengers and seven crew, never arrived at Isparta airport, which is around 315 km (195 miles) southwest of Ankara, disappearing at around 2 a.m. local time.

Doganer said that conditions at the time of the crash were good. There was no rain or wind, he said. The weather could not have been better.

He added that the flight’s pilots had just returned from training and were extremely experienced. It is not a point of issue that the pilots were sleepless or restless.

Doganer said that rescue teams had experienced problems in reaching the crash site due to the high ground. Video shows the fuselage of the plane largely intact but broken into at least three pieces, with the tail and cockpit separated from the body of the aircraft. There appeared to be no evidence of a fire.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the site, around seven miles from the airport, is strewn with debris and passengers’ personal belongings. The bodies of some passengers are still strapped in their seats.

The agency added that heavy machinery was being used to remove trees and allow easier access to the area.

The governor for Isparta, Semsettin Uzun, said that the site of the crash did not seem to be on the plane’s usual route, the agency reported. It is impossible to understand how the plane landed there.

Families and friends of those on board the plane have headed to airports at Istanbul and Isparta for any updates, according to local media reports, while others have tried to reach the crash site itself.

Doganer said managers from the company will depart for Isparta later today with relatives of those who were onboard the plane.

Atlasjet leased the plane from Worldfocus Airlines, whose pilots were flying it, Doganer said.

Can Ertuna, of CNN affiliate station CNN Turk, said that Atlasjet was a relatively new company and that none of its flights had been involved in such a serious incident before.

In August of this year two hijackers held passengers hostage on an Atlasjet flight before giving themselves up, while in 2005 an Atlasjet plane left the runway due to wintry conditions. There were no reported injuries from either incident. E-mail to a friend

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