Moment

Pen & PixelWinnipeg Centre’s Ralph Croning used the transparency of crisp prairie January skies to record the closeapproach of Venus and the cresent Moon on the 29th of the month. Ralph used a Nikon D70 at 135 mmand f/3.5 for this 1/3rd-second exposure. The extensive snow cover across the Northern Hemispheremakes the Earthshine particularly prominent at this time of year.Under the microscope and in cross-polarized light, a thin slice of a Buzzard Coulee meteoritespecimen reveals spectacular structural detail. One of the larger features at ~250 microns (1/4 mm)is a chondrule of barred olivine. See Orbital Oddities on p. 79. Copyright Department of Earth andAtmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta. Used with permission.68 Celebrating the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)JRASC April / avril 2009