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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 is contagious!

April 29, 2013

by yaska77

The great thing about astronomy is that anyone with a sky over their heads can get involved. You don’t need a truckload of expensive gear, just an interest and a modicum of patience will get you a long way!

Soon after I got my camera and started posting images on this blog, Mick Judd (a talented photographer who I happen to work with) also began skywatching, and he has captured some great shots with limited “astro-specific” equipment.

After we recently discussed the upcoming penumbral eclipse on 25th April (see our images here) Mick went home and over the course of a few evenings has produced the following short video, which we hope you enjoy.

We think it’s great, and just the sort of thing we hope will help others catch the astronomy bug! But how did he do it?  I’ll let him explain that himself!

“To capture the images I used two different eyepieces on a D=60mm F=700mm telescope; an H20 to fit the whole of the moon in the frame and an HF6 for the close-ups of the lunar surface and for Saturn. To attach the camera (a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S mobile phone) I drilled a hole in the middle of a plastic lid from a can of hair mousse, and glued it around the lens hole on the phone’s protective case.

Slotting the plastic lid over the eyepiece housing on the telescope and pushing it into place, it’s then a bit of hit and miss with lining up what I can see in the finder scope with what I can see on the phone’s display. The Xperia Arc S has a lot of camera settings so it’s just a matter of adjusting EV levels and using a bit of digital zoom to fill the frame to avoid seeing the round edge of the eyepiece.

To try and make sure that I capture something that is sharp I slightly tweak the scope’s focus every now and then between shots. The Sunspots were viewed through an additionally fitted Solar filter.  All the footage in the video was captured between 15th and 27th April 2013.”

Top work Judd bloke, and an ingenious set up!

You can see more of Mick’s photos on his Flickr page here

Now everyone get outdoors and enjoy the night sky! :)

Posted in Astronomy, Blog gallery, Eclipse, Moon, Saturn, Sun, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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Transit of Venus 2012 – My “last in our lifetime” washout (but with a silver lining…)

June 6, 2012

by yaska77

The alarm went off just after 4am this morning. Dragging myself to the window in the hope last night’s rain had passed and the sky would allow unrestricted access to the transit of Venus, I drew back the curtains to find a dull cloudy grey blanket with occasional downpours of rain.

On June 5 2012, SDO captured this image of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun (click to enlarge) – Credit: NASA/SDO, HMI

I waited up for half an hour to see if there was any sign of improvement, and if anything it rained more.

While the images already being posted online in their hundreds provide a great catalogue of this special event, I personally lucked out again thanks to the British weather.

Typically, when I got up later the clouds were breaking and the Sun could be seen.  I’m prepared to admit I spent rather a lot of time making a homemade solar filter for my camera using Baader AstroSolar Safety Film, so I was certainly not going to waste a chance to at least test it.

By cutting a hole of equal size in two squares of card, you can then fix the solar film between them, then make a collar for your lens by wrapping strips of card around it and then fixing it to the filter square (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

The next image that follows is bittersweet for me. Sweet in the fact that I’ve been able to image the Sun using a standard zoom lens on my Canon Eos 550D for the first time, but bitter because is shows I could clearly have captured the Venus transit this morning if only the weather had played ball.

C’est la vie.

Shot from my own back garden, the sunspots match those in the SDO image at the top, so I could have captured my own bit of history (click to enlarge) – Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn

Sadly my image is missing the very important detail of the planet Venus during transit, as the sunspots match those seen in the SDO image released by NASA.  If only it could have held out for a few more hours (ha!) I’d have got it, and with some degree of clarity too. Not to be seen again until 2117…

Using this solar filter however has sparked an idea, one which will require some more sunspot activity but also a week of good weather with clear skies at about the same time of the day for several days in a row.

I’d like to show the relative movement of similar massive sunspots over a short period of time.

So should this come to fruition the transit blocking clouds may well have had a silver lining :)

Posted in Astronomy, Blog gallery, Space, Sun, Venus, yaska77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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NASA’s Kepler confirms first planet orbiting two stars

September 15, 2011

by tte-77

Kepler-16b just like Tatooine

Just like "Star Wars" Tatooine newly discovered Kepler-16b is a world where two suns set over the horizon - Credit: NASA TV

Exciting news from the Kepler mission announced at 1800 UTC/GMT + 1 today.

The existence of a world with two suns like Tatooine, as seen in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact.

NASA’s Kepler mission has made the first real detection of a circumbinary planet (a planet orbiting two stars) located 200 light-years from Earth.

The planet, called Kepler-16b, is not thought to be habitable. It is thought to be a cold world, with a gaseous surface. So what’s all the fuss about?

“This discovery confirms a new class of planetary systems that could harbor life,” Kepler principal investigator William Borucki said. “Given that most stars in our galaxy are part of a binary system, this means the opportunities for life are much broader than if planets form only around single stars. This milestone discovery confirms a theory that scientists have had for decades but could not prove until now.”

Scene from Star Wars showing the two suns from Tatooine

Scene from Star Wars showing the two suns from Tatooine - Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd. / NASA TV

Although Kepler-16b lies outside the system’s habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the surface at least we now know how to detect circumbinary planets and maybe we’ll find more, one like Tatooine that can actually harbor life?

Read the full media release from NASA here.

Posted in Exoplanet, Kepler, tte-77 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Eclipse season for the Solar Dynamics Observatory

September 14, 2011

by tte-77

Earth eclipse of the sun

Eclipse season begins from the vantage point in space of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory - Credit: NASA

The beginning of the eclipse season begins from the vantage point in space of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – this recent image shows an Earth eclipse of the sun.

For three weeks near to 0700 UTC our orbit has the Earth pass between NASA’s SDO and the Sun. The eclipses can for around an hour in the middle of an eclipse season. The current eclipse season started on 11 September and lasts until 4 October.

Stationed in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth the eclipse season for NASA’s SDO begins twice a year near each equinox, according to NASA.

Visit NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory here for more eclipse images in the coming weeks.

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

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