Why Artemis II \u2013 and You \u2013 Matter<\/p>\n
Artemis II marks the moment when humanity begins to step back into space exploration, not as a memory, but as an unfolding story. This mission brings together decades of engineering to prepare NASA for sustainable lunar research, expand our presence deeper into space, and inspire a new generation of astronauts, engineers, and citizen astronomers. It also opens the door for the public to take part in the journey, whether by simply sharing the excitement that fuels exploration, observing the mission with backyard telescopes, or participating in citizen\u2011science projects.<\/p>\n
Even though Artemis II is expected to launch no earlier than April, we already have a sense of what citizen scientists can expect to see. Based on Artemis I observations, Orion should become visible from many parts of the world within the first eight hours to a day after liftoff. Early on, when the spacecraft is still close to Earth, it will move quickly across the sky, giving telescopes only a few minutes to catch it. A few hours later, those viewing windows may stretch to 10 \u2013 15 minutes, and after about a day, passes could last 20 \u2013 30 minutes before Orion fades from view. As it travels farther into deep space, some observers may enjoy longer, slower arcs depending on their observing conditions.<\/p>\n
Through a telescope, Orion will appear as a small point of light, much like a slow\u2011moving asteroid. However, unlike cosmic bodies, Orion could experience brief changes in brightness as sunlight falls on a panel or as the spacecraft shifts. For instance, Unistellar citizen astronomers spotted a mysterious \u201cglint\u201d on Artemis I\u2019s return trip \u2014 a sudden brightening that was never fully explained \u2014 and something similar could happen again.<\/p>\n
Ground-based observations can help confirm Orion\u2019s position and track its brightness, and your participation turns a distant mission into a shared experience. Community science brings people together, reminding us that deep\u2011space exploration isn\u2019t just something happening far away, but something we can take part in from right here on Earth.<\/p>\n
How to Observe Artemis II with your Unistellar Telescope<\/p>\n
To observe the Artemis II mission with your Unistellar Telescope during its homebound journey, follow the instructions on our Planetary Defense Tutorial <\/a>page and scroll down to option B: The Planetary Defense target is not in the Unistellar App\u2019s database. This will instruct you on how to use our Moving Target Ephemerides<\/a> page to plan your observation of Artemis II using the Planetary Defense science mode. This page will provide Deep Links that open the Unistellar app and contain all the observing parameters you need to make a 40-minute-long observation.<\/p>\n Keep your Eye out for Sparks in the Sky!<\/p>\n During the observation of Artemis II, skywatchers have the chance to see an incredible phenomenon: a lunar flash. A lunar flash is a sudden, bright flash of light triggered by the impact of an object from space on the dark side of the moon. Unlike the \u201cshooting star\u201d atmospheric effect a meteor creates in the sky, a lunar flash is purely mechanical, produced by a high-velocity rock hitting another rock (the moon). Although the collisions are not rare, they occur randomly and are usually observed serendipitously as people gaze at the moon. Additionally, when an astronomical object strikes the bright side of the moon, they are nearly impossible to see from Earth. However, from space, astronauts have the ability to see much smaller and closer collisions, including those on the moon\u2019s illuminated side.<\/p>\n Citizen astronomers can use telescopes and digital cameras to view lunar flashes and, most importantly, record their timing. Even though recommended observations last up to 8 hours, each flash lasts less than a second. Don\u2019t let that deter you from moon watching, because when Earth crosses the path of a meteor shower, lunar flashes occur more frequently. Luckily, two meteor showers will take place in the near future, when observers and astronauts will have a heightened chance of witnessing a flash: the Lyrids Meteor Shower\u2019s peak from April 21-22 and the Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower\u2019s peak from May 5-6. To observe a lunar flash, Unistellar observers can simply observe the moon and screen-record observations to pinpoint the timing of any flashes they see. Recording this data can assist astronaut observations to determine the size and velocity of each celestial body.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not necessary to be an astronaut to participate in a historical astronomical event \u2014 observing from Earth is just as important. The journey back to deep space is long, but Artemis II reminds us that we are already on our way. The next era of human spaceflight has begun, and we all have a place in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why Artemis II \u2013 and You \u2013 Matter Artemis II marks the moment when humanity begins to step…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-560496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}