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Astronomy Events – May 2013

April 30, 2013

by yaska77

Hot on the heels of an unexpected break in the weather (allowing us to see April’s partial eclipse of the Moon) we’re eager to get stuck in to another new month of astronomical events!

Now spring has finally arrived in the UK we’re hoping to be able to get some new images to show you, and if you get any snaps yourself please feel free to tweet them to us.  Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?

Thursday 2nd May – The Moon is at Last Quarter phase today

Monday 6th May – The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks early this morning (01:30 UTC/02:30 BST) with an expected ZHR of 10 meteors per hour as viewed from the UK (observers from more southern latitudes could see up to 55 per hour).  Appearing to originate from the constellation Aquarius (hence the name), Aquarids are known for bright tails left by fast moving meteors

Aquarid Meteor Radiant 06052013 02.30 UTC Sky-Watching.co.uk

Shown above at 02:30 UTC/03:30 BST on 6th May, the Aquarid meteor shower will be active from the end of April until the end of May (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

Thursday 9th – Friday 10th May – An annular solar eclipse occurs today when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than that of the Sun (blocking most of its light) which causes it to look like a ring (or annulus)

This type of eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide, and will be visible from northern Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean, with the maximum of just over 6 minutes visible from the Pacific Ocean east of French Polynesia

The eclipse begins at 21:25:10 UTC

Friday 10th May – Today sees a New Moon so now is a good time for observing deep sky objects usually affected by moonlight

Saturday 11th May – Bright planets Venus and Jupiter flank the Moon just after sunset.  Shown below at 19:45 UTC/ 20:45 BST, if your NW horizon is flat enough this could be a great target for some photos!

Jupiter, Moon and Venus 11052013 19.45 UTC Sky-Watching.co.uk

Jupiter, the Moon and Venus all pay Taurus a visit soon after sunset this evening, look WNW and see if you can spot them! (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

The planet Mercury is also in Superior conjunction today, so is unobservable until later in the month

Monday 13th May – The Moon is at Apogee today at a distance of 405,825 km (252,168 miles), the farthest point in its orbit from the Earth

Saturday 18th May – This morning the Moon is at First Quarter phase

Saturday 25th May – Today’s Full Moon will experience another penumbral eclipse (where it skims the edge of the Earth’s shadow), this time however it will be virtually imperceptible unlike the partial eclipse witnessed on 25th April

Penumbral Eclipse 25042013 21.22 BST Sky-Watching.co.uk

In April the Full Moon also experienced penumbral eclipse, shown above at 20:22 UTC (21:22 BST) with the Earth’s shadow visible across the northern edge (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

May’s Full Moon is also sometimes known as the Milk Moon, Dragon Moon or Hare Moon

Sunday 26th May – Soon after twilight this evening the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Venus should be visible forming an equilateral triangle to the WNW (West North-West)

Jupiter, Mercury and Venus 26052013 20.15 UTC Sky-Watching.co.uk

Forming an equilateral triangle in the twilight sky, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus appear close to each other just after sunset on 26th May, as shown at 20:15 UTC/21:15 BST (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/Stellarium

These planets will be near neighbours from 23rd to 31st of this month, but appear closest together this evening

And today the Moon is at Perigee at a distance of 358,375 km (222,684 miles), the closest point of its orbit to the Earth

Friday 31st May – Tonight sees the Moon at Last Quarter phase; and twilight planets Jupiter, Mercury and Venus appear aligned soon after sunset

Planets visible this month:

Jupiter
Saturn
Venus
Mercury

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 2013
Astronomy Events – March 2013
Astronomy Events – February 2013

Posted in Astronomy, Meteor, Moon, Night sky, Planets, Resources, Space, Stars, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 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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One up for the amateur astronomer!

May 20, 2011

by tte-77

sky-watching.co.uk - Cassini Imaging Team - Saturn

The great storm raging in Saturn’s northern hemisphere in 2011 - Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA; Color Composite: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

I read a great article today at EarthSky.org about the great Saturn storm and thought it was worth sharing.

A giant storm began raging on Saturn in late 2010. The image above shows the storm raging in Saturn’s northern hemisphere and was the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 19, 2011.

The storm has continued until now in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The storm began as springtime arrived on the northern half of Saturn for the first time in nearly 30 years and is so powerful that at one point it stretched around the entire planet. Just to clarify – Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system about 9 times larger in diameter than Earth.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and the European Southern Observatory released these images of the storm on May 19, 2011.

These three images show the great northern storm on Saturn in 2011 in infrared (center and right) and visible light (left) - Credit: ESO/Univ. of Oxford/T. Barry

The three shots show the great northern storm on Saturn in 2011 in infrared (center and right) and visible light (left). All three were obtained on Jan. 19, 2011, during the mature phase of the storm.

The Very Large Telescope Imager and Spectrometer took the infrared images on the right and center. The central image is taken at a wavelength that reveals the structures in Saturn’s lower atmosphere, showing the churning storm clouds and the central cooler vortex.

Trevor Barry, of Broken Hill, Australia – an amateur astronomer (!) took the visible-light image on the left which is sensitive to much higher altitudes in Saturn’s stratosphere where unexpected beacons of infrared emission flanking the central cool region over the storm can be seen. To read more about the image click here.

Here it is… it was amateur astronomers, in December 2010 that first saw the storm in Saturn’s northern hemisphere, when the ringed gas giant was rising in Earth’s sky, returning for another season of observation.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona

NASA says this storm is the most violent ever observed on Saturn by an orbiting spacecraft. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft obtained a false colour infrared image in late February 2011. The image you can see above shows clouds of large ammonia ice particles dredged up by the storm.

Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained the false colour image and scientists colorized the image by assigning red, green and blue to brightness detected from the micron wavelengths.

The storm continues.

Article source: EarthSky

Posted in ESO, NASA, Saturn, tte-77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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Endeavour crew to check thermal protection

May 17, 2011

by yaska77

Today the crew of Endeavour STS-134 will perform the standard scan of the space shuttle’s thermal protection system, using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System attached to the end of Endeavour’s robotic arm.

While the inspection is underway, Mission Specialists Mike Fincke and Drew Feustel will work on preparing the spacesuits onboard the shuttle that will be transferred to the International Space Station after docking on Wednesday for use during the mission’s four spacewalks.

Endeavour's robotic arm grapples the Orbiter Boom Sensor System - Credit: NASA TV

The STS-134 crew started its first full day in orbit with a wakeup call at 23:56 EDT Monday (03:56 GMT/04:56 BST Tuesday), which was “Beautiful Day” by U2, played for Commander Mark Kelly.

During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the ISS, and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.

Source: NASA

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Endeavour launch at 11 hour countdown hold

May 15, 2011

by yaska77

NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour is still on course for it’s launch on 16th May at 08:56 EDT (12:56 GMT/13:56 BST) and is currently waiting in the built in 11th hour countdown hold.  Typically lasting between 13 to 14 hours, the built in hold allows technicians to finish launch pad inspection and move the rotating service structure (RSS) to the “park” position.

This time is also used to carry out crew Weather and Engineering briefings, and activate the orbiter’s inertial measurement units and communications systems.

With weather forecasts currently giving a 70% chance of a launch things are looking good for lift-off tomorrow.

Those of you with Google Earth can also use a handy new feature that will track the space shuttle during launch and landing (in Google Earth) using real-time data from NASA Mission Control. For more information (including installation instructions) have a look here

We’ll post the live NASA TV feed here as usual in the run up to launch, and keep you informed of STS-134′s progress during the 16 day mission!  If you’re able to watch the launch live then definitely give it a look, it’s the penultimate shuttle mission so a sight we’ll only get to marvel at one more time after this.

Resources:

Shuttle Countdown 101
Real-time Google Earth Shuttle Tracking

Posted in yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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