On Monday 10 September in Wisconsin, USA amateur astronomer Dan Petersen saw something incredible while viewing Jupiter from his backyard – a bright white flash on the planet’s surface.
The unexpected explosion lasted for about two seconds and appeared to be about 100-miles wide, Petersen wrote on community blog CloudyNights.com. “My best guess is that it was a small undetected comet that is now history,” he added.
In Dallas, Texas, another amateur astronomer George Hall happened to capture the flash on video. Watch it below.
The possible crash adds to the theory that Jupiter acts as an impact shield for Earth, NBC News’ Alan Boyle explains:
Astronomers suspect that giant Jupiter’s gravitational pull serves as a cosmic shield, sweeping up incoming objects that would have a deadlier effect if they were to slam into our planet. Some scientists say that without Jupiter, life on Earth wouldn’t have had much of a chance.
As per usual our skies were cloudy last night. I’m beginning to believe the clouds wait to roll in just before particular astral events, usually the ones I most want to see! Last night (as noted in our Astro Guide for April) the planet Venus appeared as if part of the Pleiades star cluster.
Thankfully tonight Venus hasn’t moved on all that far, and a break in the clouds just after sunset gave us the chance to get some photos!
The bright planet Venus shines next to the Pleiades cluster, and the setting Jupiter is accompanied by some of her moons (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
Taken with a Canon Eos 550D using a 50mm lens (4 sec exposure, f/3.5, ISO400), virtually none of the stars you can see in the image above were visible to the naked eye!
A cropped full size view of the beautiful Pleiades next to a radiant Venus (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
This is a fullsize cropped section of the image. Yesterday Venus would have appeared lower down and closer to the lower left edge of the cluster, so they would both have appeared in the field of view if the Canon were attached to a telescope. Another missed opportunity.
Still, the great thing about astrophotography is that there’s always something worthy of imaging, and we like the shots we got this evening.
Following on from our last post which featured a couple of conjunction images from the middle of March, we’ve been out snapping again to capture the conjunction with the new crescent Moon!
Shot with a Canon Eos 550D and a 50mm lens at f/2.8 ISO100 on a 3 sec exposure - Venus, Jupiter and the Moon on 24th March 2012 (click to enlarge) Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
The photograph above was taken on Saturday 24th March. Venus shines at the top of the image above Jupiter with three of its moons visible.
The crescent Moon glows faintly with earthshine, where light reflected from the Earth helps show features usually lost in the shadow.
This time a 4 second exposure, f/3.5 ISO100 - More of the Moon is lit by the Sun as it shines next to Venus (Jupiter is below the cloud) from 26th March 2012 (click to enlarge) Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
The image above was taken two days after the first photo on Monday 26th March, and you can see how much more of the waxing crescent Moon is lit. Some of Jupiter’s moons are also visible again (at full size).
This evening the Moon sits between the Hyades and Pleiades clusters (see our Monthly Guide for details) and if it stays clear we’ll be out there again trying to get more shots.
Who could ever get bored of imaging the night sky?!
There has been a fair amount of coverage in the media recently about the conjunction between Jupiter and Venus. Typically when they appeared closest (on 13th March) the clouds settled in firmly overhead and refused to move.
Thankfully yesterday and this evening it has been relatively clear by comparison! A little bit of haze failed to ruin the opportunities for some photos, so here are a few from over the last two evenings.
Taken using a Canon Eos 550D and a 50mm lens at f/2.5 ISO200 on a 4 sec exposure - Jupiter and Venus on 14th March 2012 (click to enlarge) Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
The image above, taken on Wednesday 14th March shows the bright Venus above Jupiter (with a few of its moons).
Venus will gradually move up and past the top of Jupiter over the next two weeks.
The same camera (and settings) as above captured Jupiter and Venus on 15th March 2012, this time on 3 sec exposure (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
The image above was taken one day later on Thursday 15th March, and you can see how Venus has moved in relation to Jupiter. In this image now only one moon of Jupiter (Callisto) is visible next to the planet.
There are many more photo opportunities involving Jupiter and Venus this month, check our monthly guide for details (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
We can’t be sure the weather will continue to be kind, but should it be generous we’ll try and get some more interesting photos! Perhaps if the haze lifts we’ll even be able to get our telescopes out again!
Where are the days going!? Day 6 and another image in our advent calendar count-down, and today’s is one of our own snaps, taken from my back garden using my own ‘scope and camera.
Conducting your own astro tour with a telescope (and some planetarium software) from your own garden is a great way to learn about stars and the solar system. And nothing beats seeing this stuff with your own eyes!
Day 6
Astronomy Advent Calendar 6th December - Jupiter has 64 named moons but most are under 10km in diameter (click to enlarge) - Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
Jupiter is a great planet to use to help engage kids in astronomy, as with a good pair of binoculars you’ll be able to point out the moons and with a small telescope surface features should be visible.
This single shot (short exposure) of Jupiter also includes four of it’s larger moons; the three to the left are Callisto, Ganymede and Io, and the one to the right is Europa. NASA recently annonced the possibility of there being liquid water under the surface ice of Europa, making it a prime candidate for the possibility of life existing somewhere else other than the Earth in this solar system.
