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Astronomy Events – June 2012

June 1, 2012

by yaska77

The rains of early May soon departed but sunnier days ended with hazy skies. So we’ve not seen much at all recently to be honest! Ever the optimists though, below you’ll find some interesting upcoming Astronomy Events for June where we’ve tried to list something of interest to everyone to keep you all watching the skies!

Don’t miss the special event from 5th to 6th June, there won’t be another in our lifetime!

Sunday 3rd June – The Moon is at Perigee at a distance of 358,480 km

Monday 4th June – It’s a Full Moon tonight, sometimes known as the Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon or Rose Moon

The Full Moon can look beautiful but its brightness can be a problem for astronomers, and make it awkward to photograph! (Click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Tuesday 5th into
Wednesday 6th June – Venus is at Inferior Conjunction and will transit (cross in front of) the face of the Sun. The last such transit was on 8th June 2004, but if you miss this one the next won’t be for another 105 years!

“Depending on where you live worldwide, the transit of Venus will happen on June 5 or 6, 2012. If you live in the world’s Western Hemisphere (North America, northwestern South America, Hawaii, Greenland or Iceland), the transit will start in the afternoon hours on June 5

Shown above at 04:00 UTC (05:00 GMT) at sunrise in the UK, Venus will only transit the Sun’s disc for about another 50 minutes before it’s all over for another 105 years! (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

In the world’s Eastern Hemisphere (Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia or New Zealand), the transit will first be seen at sunrise or in the morning hours on June 6″ (via EarthSky)

The next transit of Venus will be on December 11, 2117

Image of the Transit of Venus captured in 2004 – Credit: Jan Herold

Remember, observing the Sun can be dangerous if you don’t have the correct gear like a solarscope, certified solar viewing filters or a pair of eclipse viewing glasses. Don’t look directly at the Sun or you will damage your eyes and your equipment

Monday 11th June – The International Space Station (ISS) will be visible over British evening skies towards the middle of the month. Usually making a couple of visible passes during the evening, programs like Stellarium can track the orbit of the ISS and show you where and when it’s going to rise

Alternately, you can visit a site like Heavens-Above.com, enter your location using the map and it will list the time of every visible pass from your where you are over the next 10 days. Great eh!?

A long exposure shot of the ISS passing will create a bright white streak across a clear starfield background (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Saturday 16th June – The Moon is at Apogee (405,790 km) the farthest it will get from the Earth on its current orbit

Sunday 17th June - This is the time of year to be looking for noctilucent clouds, which sometimes appear low down in the northwest (after sunset) and northeast (just before sunrise)

These clouds are in the upper atmosphere and are usually too faint to see, becoming visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth’s shadow

Noctilucent clouds as captured over Sweden (click to enlarge) – Credit: P-M Hedén

Tuesday 19th June – New Moon which rises just before the Sun

Thursday 21st June - After sunset Mercury will be at its highest in the sky and is joined by a thin crescent Moon below to its left.   If you’ve got a low horizon just north of west, look out for “earthshine” illuminating the dark side of the Moon

Earthshine happens when light reflected from the surface of the Earth illuminates the dark side allowing us to see details (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Monday 25th June – Mars appears close to the waxing crescent Moon this evening, with Saturn following not far behind. Possibly a good opportunity for a wide angle starfield photograph while the Moon isn’t too bright to spoil a longer exposure? If it’s clear i’ll give it a go!

Look just south of west around 22:30 BST to find the waxing crescent Moon near Mars (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Thursday 28th June – The planet Mercury is in Inferior Conjunction

Friday 29th June – Moon is at Perigee (367,315 km)

Planets visible this month:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Saturn
Jupiter
Uranus
Neptune

Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!

To make it easier to find this list of astronomical happenings you can also locate it in the “Monthly Guide” section in the menu bar to the right. Handy! :)

Guide images created with Stellarium

Archive:
Astronomy Events – May 2012
Astronomy Events – April 2012
Astronomy Events – March 2012

Posted in Astronomy, ISS, Jupiter, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Space, Stars, Venus, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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Astronomy Events – May 2012

April 30, 2012

by yaska77

Despite a relatively good start to April, the proverbial showers soon set in and the second half of the month has been a washout under one rainstorm after another!

It can’t rain all the time though (can it!?), and with May now upon us there’s a whole new list of astronomical events coming up to cater for everyone!

Tuesday 1st May - Mercury rises before the Sun just after 04:00 UTC (05:00 BST) in the eastern sky

Thursday 3rd May – Venus is still visible after sunset over the west northwest horizon, and will gradually move closer to the setting Sun over the course of the month

Sunday 6th May – The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks this morning with a ZHR of around 30 per hour (see below). The radiant is in the constellation Aquarius that comes up over the eastern horizon around 01:30 UTC (02:30 BST) on 6th May, but meteors could appear anywhere across the sky

Aquarid Meteor Radiant shown at 03:00 UTC (04:00 BST) on 6th May (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Tonight’s Full Moon is also at Perigee (356,955 km)

Monday 7th May – Saturn appears close to the blue giant Spica this evening, shown below to the south at 22:30 UTC (23:30 BST). At this time the Moon is also rising to the east close to the red giant Antares, which means “rival of Mars”

Saturn will be close to the blue giant Spica directly south at 22:30 UTC/23:30 BST (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Saturday 12th May – Last Quarter Moon

Sunday 13th May – Jupiter is in conjunction with the Sun, and won’t be visible all month

If you’ve got a telescope M13 is well worth a look in the early hours of 17th May (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Thursday 17th May – The Great Globular Cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules is at its highest at 01:00 UTC (02:00 BST) this morning (see above). We’ve always wanted to image this, and having had a go at lesser cluster M37 last year (below) we’re hoping it stays crystal clear this evening!

We imaged the M37 cluster in January this year, but M13 is much more impressive! (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Saturday 19th May - Moon is at Apogee (406,450 km)

Sunday 20th May – New Moon which rises and sets with the Sun, so tonight is a good time for looking at deep sky objects

Tuesday 22nd May – Venus appears just above and to the right of the waxing crescent Moon this evening, which will set about an hour and a half after the Sun

Imaging the crecent Moon and Venus can get good results, in January they were opposite to how they’ll appear on 22nd May, when they’ll also be closer! (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Wednesday 23rd May - This is the time of year to start looking for noctilucent clouds, which sometimes appear low down in the northwest (after sunset) and northeast (just before sunrise)

Noctilucent clouds as captured over Sweden (click to enlarge) – Credit: P-M Hedén

These clouds are in the upper atmosphere and are usually too faint to see, becoming visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth’s shadow

Sunday 27th May – Mercury is at Superior Conjunction

Monday 28th May – First Quarter Moon

The daytime First Quarter Moon from April 29th 2012 (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Planets visible this month:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Saturn

Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!

To make it easier to find this list of astronomical happenings you can also locate it in the “Monthly Guide” section in the menu bar to the right. Handy! :)

Guide images created with Stellarium

Archive:
Astronomy Events – April 2012
Astronomy Events – March 2012
Astronomy Events – February 2012

Posted in Astronomy, Meteor, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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Astronomy Events – April 2012

March 31, 2012

by yaska77

March was a good month for sky watching! The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, followed closely by the appearance of the crescent Moon sparked a lot of interest. So what is happening in April to keep that enthusiasm going?

To help out we’ve listed some astronomical happenings of note for the next month, hopefully with a little bit of something for everyone!

Sunday 1st April - Today sees the start of Global Astronomy Month, encouraging all to look to the night sky!

Tuesday 3rd April – Venus is still present as a spectacularly bright object in the early evening sky. Tonight it will appear to pass closest to the Pleiades or “Seven Sisters” (so it should be a great photographic target) but the planet will be just below the open cluster on the 2nd and to the left on the 4th, so we’ve got three evenings to get some images (hope for clear skies!)

Venus will appear in the Pleiades on the 3rd April 2012 shown at 20:00 GMT (21:00 BST). The star cluster is also known as the Seven Sisters (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Friday 6th April – The first Full Moon of spring is sometimes known as the Paschal Full Moon or the Paschal Term

Also called the Pink Moon, supposedly because the grass pink (or wild ground phlox) is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the season, other monikers (varying by location) are the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and – among coastal tribes – the Full Fish Moon, when the shad come upstream to spawn

Traditionally, Easter is observed on the Sunday immediately after the Paschal Full Moon (Paschal meaning passover)

The Paschal Full Moon fell on 17th April in 2011, imaged here using a Sky-Watcher 200P Telescope and a Canon Eos 550D (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Saturday 7th April - Moon is at Perigee (358,315 km) the closest point of its orbit to the Earth, rising soon after 20:00 GMT (21:00 BST)

Tuesday 10th April - As the Moon doesn’t rise until after 00:00 GMT (01:00 BST) tonight is a good opportunity to look at some deep sky objects earlier on without the moonlight interfering!

Friday 13th April – Last Quarter Moon which doesn’t rise until after 02:00 GMT (03:00 BST), another good evening for deep sky observing

Sunday 15th April – Saturn is at Opposition in the constellation Virgo. This means it’s in an opposite position in the sky to our Sun so will rise at sunset and set at sunrise, making it observable all night long. The rings are beginning to open too (as the planet tilts) so they will look impressive even in a small telescope

We captured this image of Saturn by using a CCD camera and then stacking the frames, from March 2011 (click to enlarge) Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Wednesday 18th April – Mercury is at its Greatest Western Elongation so will rise before the Sun and be visible to morning observers, close to the waning crescent Moon

Saturday 21st April – Tonight the New Moon sets at dusk, coinciding with the peak of the Lyrids Meteor Shower (from 16th to 26th April), which will start this evening and last into the early hours of the 22nd

The radiant point will be near the constellation Lyra with a ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) of around 20 meteors per hour (but it has been known to go as high as 90)

The meteors will seem to come from the direction of Lyra, but should appear all over the sky. Image shown at 00:00 GMT (01:00 BST) on 22nd April 2012 (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Sunday 22nd April - Moon is at Apogee (406,420 km) the furthest point of its orbit from the Earth

Jupiter will appear very close to a thin crescent Moon, about 6° up in the west-north-western sky after sunset

Monday 23rd April – The waxing crescent Moon appears just beneath the Pleiades soon after sunset this evening. With the Hyades and Venus both nearby (all to the right of Orion), those with a flat enough western horizon may find this a good photo target

The large craters of Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina will appear very will illuminated close to the terminator on 26th April 2012 (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Thursday 26th April - Fans of the Moon have the chance to see (and image) three large craters this evening. Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina will all appear close to the terminator, similar to the image above that we took on 9th April 2011

Sunday 29th April – First Quarter Moon

Mars, Regulus and the waxing gibbous Moon form a triangle in the sky on 30th April 21.30 GMT (22.30 BST), we'll be aiming to get some images! (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Monday 30th April – Mars, the waxing gibbous Moon and the star Regulus (part of the constellation Leo) form a triangle in the sky this evening. Shown above at 21:30 GMT (22:30 BST), it should be a good target for some photos!

Planets visible this month:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn

Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!

To make it easier to find this list of astronomical happenings you can also locate it in the “Monthly Guide” section in the menu bar to the right. Handy! :)

Guide images created with Stellarium

Archive:
Astronomy Events – March 2012
Astronomy Events – February 2012
Astronomy Events – January 2012

Posted in Astronomy, Meteor, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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Astronomy Events – March 2012

February 29, 2012

by yaska77

February saw some nice astronomical activity, but what can we look forward to in March? Evenings are slowly getting warmer while remaining nicely dark, so here are some upcoming astronomy events for the next month to keep you looking skyward!

Thursday 1st March - First Quarter Moon

Saturday 3rd March – Mars is at opposition in the constellation Leo. This means it’s in an opposite position in the sky to our Sun so will rise at sunset and set at sunrise

Monday 5th March – Mars is at its closest to the Earth today (image below), and Mercury is at greatest Eastern elongation meaning it’s at its furthest from the Sun. It should be visible in the west (under favourable conditions) for the first 2 weeks of the month just after sunset

Mars is at its closest to the Earth today (this time around!), and can be found in the constellation Leo as shown at 21:00 GMT (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching.co.uk/Stellarium

Thursday 8th March – Full Moon, sometimes known as the Worm Moon

Saturday 10th March - The Moon is at Perigee (362,400 km), the closest point of its orbit this month

Tuesday 13th March – Tonight the two planets Venus and Jupiter appear only 3° apart in the night sky. Although they will be closest tonight, the distance between them will only increase slightly over the next few evenings

Jupiter and Venus conjunction as shown to the west at 19:00 GMT on 13th March 2012 (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Thursday 15th March – Last Quarter Moon, plus the Jupiter and Venus conjunction continues in the western sky after sunset

Tuesday 20th March – Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere

Wednesday 21st March – The planet Mercury is in Inferior Conjunction (closest to the Sun) so it will be too bright to be visible

Thursday 22nd March – New Moon which doesn’t rise until the Sun comes up, so with it out of the way it’s a good night to view some deep sky objects

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon in alignment from 23rd February 2012

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon in alignment from 23rd February 2012 (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Saturday 24th March – The planet Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun; and Venus, Jupiter, the Moon and Mercury are aligned at sunset (in a switch around from the above), although Mercury will be lost in the glare from the Sun

Sunday 25th March – British Summer Time (BST) begins in the UK and clocks go forward one hour from 01:00 GMT to 02:00 BST. Following on from yesterday evening’s alignment, the Moon will appear to the right of Venus this evening, closer than they appeared on 26th January (as below)

Venus twinkles brightly near to the earthshine bathed crescent Moon from 26th January 2012 (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Monday 26th March - Moon is at Apogee (405,780 km) the furthest point of its orbit from the Earth

Tuesday 27th March – Venus is at greatest Eastern elongation, and takes part in a great night sky display this evening. The Moon sits between the Hyades (in Taurus) and Pleiades star clusters, just above Venus and the setting Jupiter

A great target for those with a DSLR camera, why not tweet us any images you get? Shown at 21:00 BST (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Friday 30th March - First Quarter Moon

Planets visible this month:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus

Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!

To make it easier to find this list of astronomical happenings you can also locate it in the “Monthly Guide” section in the menu bar to the right. Handy! :)

Guide images created with Stellarium

Archive:
Astronomy Events – February 2012
Astronomy Events – January 2012
Astronomy Events – December 2011

Posted in Astronomy, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Astronomy Events – February 2012

February 1, 2012

by yaska77

January was packed with astronomy interest, partly due to a little program called Stargazing LIVE! But what to fuel the fires of interest ongoing? Maybe we can help you there.

Here are some upcoming astronomy events during February to help keep us all watching the skies!

Wednesday 1st February – We love the Pleiades star cluster (M45), but it could be a challenge to see the Seven Sisters as the waxing Moon appears just below it this evening. Look for it high up to the south at 19:00 GMT. Can anyone get a photo showing both?

M45 The Pleiades cluster is just above the Moon at 19:00 GMT (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Friday 3rd February – Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) begins a pass of globular cluster M92 this evening (at the top of the constellation Hercules). The cluster will dip down close to the northern horizon around 21:00 GMT but be up again in the north east by 02:00 GMT (4th February). At this time the comet will be above and to the right of the cluster, but moves up passing through the constellation Draco by the end of the month

Tuesday 7th February – Full Moon and Mercury is at superior conjunction. This means the planet won’t be visible until into the second half of the month

Thursday 9th February – Venus appears less than half a degree from Uranus this evening, can anyone image them both in the same shot? If so, why not send them to us on Twitter? We’d love to see them!

Saturday 11th February – Moon at Perigee, the closest point of its orbit at 367,920 km

Mars passed through the Beehive Cluster in October 2011, as seen in our image above (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Monday 13th February – The Beehive Cluster (or “Praesepe”, Messier 44) is at its highest in the south at 23:00 GMT, almost right in the centre of the constellation Cancer. We got a quick look at this great sight in October 2011, and it should be visible with good binoculars or a small telescope

Tuesday 14th February – Last Quarter Moon

Sunday 19th February – Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun

Tuesday 21st February – New Moon which sets just before nightfall, so tonight is one of the better ones for observing deep sky objects like galaxies and nebulae. We hope you have clear skies!

With the Moon appearing as a thin crescent it should make it easier to image with Venus alongside (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Saturday 25th February -  Venus and the crescent new Moon appear together this evening, shown above as they will appear in the western sky at 19:00 GMT. Close conjunctions such as these can make good photograph targets, as seen below of the Moon and Venus conjunction from the end of January

Venus and the Moon in conjunction on 26th January 2012, complete with Earthshine in our image above! (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Monday 27th February – Moon at Apogee (404,860 km), the furthest point of its orbit from the Earth

Planets visible this month:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus

Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!

To make it easier to find this list of astronomical happenings you can also locate it in the “Monthly Guide” section in the menu bar to the right. Handy! :)

Guide images created with Stellarium

Archive:
Astronomy Events – January 2012
Astronomy Events – December 2011
Astronomy Events – November 2011

Posted in Astronomy, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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