Comment

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on February 17, 2012 at 5:01pm

Hi Everyone, I just had to post this Hubble image, it is so beautiful and just illustrates God's glory so well.

"The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, or S106 for short, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. The outstretched "wings" of the nebula record the contrasting imprint of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium. Twin lobes of super-hot gas, glowing blue in this image, stretch outward from the central star. This hot gas creates the "wings" of our angel. A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts like a belt, cinching the expanding nebula into an "hourglass" shape."

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on February 1, 2012 at 4:34pm

Hi stargazers, here is this month's observing notes, are very brief, for those who can brave the cold and frost. There is very little out of the ordinary this month, lucky for you, so I will concentrate on a couple of features that always give me a thrill.

Constellation of Orion

Orion is my all time favourite constellation and strides high into the southern evening sky this month, and is a fascinating area of the sky to observe.

Illustration 1: Orion - Picture: Dr. Derek P. Blake.

Next to the Plough (the Big Dipper) Orion is the most recognisable constellation in the night sky, the three stars in a (almost) straight line for the Hunter's belt. These three stars have inspired civilisations for thousands of years. The three great pyramids of Gaza, Egypt, are laid out in the precise orientation as these three stars.

Top left is Betelgeuse is the 12th brightest star in the sky, is called Alpha Orionis by astronomers. it is a semi-regular variable star whose apparent magnitude varies between 0.2 and 1.2, the widest range of any first magnitude star. The star marks the upper right vertex of the Winter Triangle and centre of the Winter Hexagon. The star is classified as a red super-giant because Betelgeuse is one of the largest and brightest stars known. If it were at the centre of our Solar System in place of our sun, its surface would extend past the asteroid belt and possibly to the orbit of Jupiter , wholly engulfing Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, a truly enormous star. Betelgeuse is currently thought to lie around 640 light years away, yielding a mean absolute magnitude of c−6.05.

Rigel [bottom right] is the 7th brightest star in the sky. It is called Beta Orionis even though it is brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse), this is because Betelgeuse is a variable star. Again we do not have a firm calculation for its distance from Earth, estimates put it between 700 and 900 light years away. Rigel is a blue super-giant, of around 24 the mass of our sun. shining with around 85,000 times the luminosity of the Sun, some problems with sunburn here then. At its estimated distance, it seems to have a physical size of around 71 times the radius of the Sun. The picture above right shows our Sun (Sol) and Rigel to the same scale. In stellar navigation, Rigel is one of the most important navigation stars, since it is bright, easily located and equatorial, which means it is visible all around the world's oceans.

Bellatrix [top right in the picture] or Gamma (γ ) Orionis, is the 22nd brightest star in the sky. The name Bellatrix is Latin for female warrior, it was also called the Amazon Star, a loose translation of the Arabic name Al Najīd, the Conqueror. It forms the left shoulder of Orion the Hunter. This is a massive star with mass of around 8.4 that the Sun. The temperature of the outer envelope of this star is 22,000 K, which is much hotter than the 5,778K on our Sun. This high temperature is what gives this star the blue-white colour that is typical of B-type stars. The diameter of this star, is 0.72 ± 0.04. At an estimated distance of 250 light-years this gives a physical size of about six times the radius of the Sun.

Saiph or Kappa Orionis makes up the left foot of the hunter, the name Saiph is from the Arabic saif al jabbar, literally sword of the giant however it does not form a part of Orion's sword, which includes the famously interesting Orion Nebula. Saiph is about 720 light years away and 15-17 times the mass of our Sun, and is about same luminosity as Rigel. It has a much higher magnitude value (2.06) than Rigel due to the fact that, although it is a much hotter star (26,000 K), most of its energy is emitted in the ultraviolet , making it invisible to the human eye, paradoxically making it appear relatively dimmer. Large stars such as Saiph (and many other stars in Orion) are destined to collapse on themselves and explode as supernovae as they are dying stars.

M

Illustration 2: Orion' Belt - picture Dr. Derek P. Blake

eissa or Lambda Orionis, marks the hunter's head and has a traditional name of Heka , "Meissa" derives from the Arabic "Al-Maisan" which means "The Shining One". Meissa is a blue spectral type O giant star and is part of the Collinder 69 star cluster. It has an magnitude 3.39. One of the feaCollinder 69 (Lambda Orionis Association) is a star cluster . Meissa is a double star. This is a wonderful and yet woefully neglected cluster for small telescopes. I've found many of the Cr clusters to be particularly suited to small telescopes. 

Now on to the very interesting area of Orion's sword, which drops at an angle from the left side of the belt, this is an area that I never tire of observing, it included the fascinating Orion Nebulae. As we have found previously nebula are the birth places of stars, nebulae are actually clouds of cosmic dust and gas, which often comes together over time to form stars and planetary systems. Back in the fifties a star was actually observed 'switching on' within this nebulae. Nebulae are beautiful because the stars within and behind the cloud, illuminates the dust and gas with their various colours.

Illustration 3: Orian Nebula or M42 - picture Hubble Telescope

T

Illustration 4: Pleiades, M45 - picture Dr, Derek P. Blake

he above picture from the Hubble Telescope shows the Orion Nebula to it's full extent. The nebula is a is a diffuse nebula, which means that they are extended and contain no well-defined boundaries, is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases, which glow making the nebula easy to see. The nebula is visible to the naked eye [as my picture above] in the night sky. M42 is about 1,344 and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun. Older texts frequently referred to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. Because of it's relative proximity to Earth, it has studied extensively and has given us a great deal of knowledge on how stars and solar systems form. The Nebula is a part of a much greater nebula known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the famous Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are continually forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infra-red.

For anyone wishing to explore further there is a wealth of information on the internet.

The Pleiades, M45 Another of my favourite sky objects [pictured right (right of centre)] can be seen with the naked eye and those with good eyesight will be able to see the principle seven stars. The cluster to the upper right of Taurus and, is often called the Seven Sisters, it is one of the brightest and closest open clusters to Earth. The Pleiades cluster is about 400 light years away and contains over 3000 stars. The cluster is about 13 light years across, and is moving towards the star Betelgeuse in Orion [ See above]. Surrounding the brightest stars is a blue 'reflection nebulae' caused by reflected light from many small carbon grains. These reflection nebulae look blue because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red light. The grains form part of a molecular cloud through which the cluster is currently passing. (Or, to be more precise, did 400 years ago!)

February: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter

Observe the Great Red Spot Image: NASA

This list gives some the best times during February to observe the Great Red Spot which should t hen lie close to the central meridian of the planet.   The GRS can move in position around the surface and a second set of calculations puts the times of transit a little later than those given.

2nd 23:13 19th 22:22

5th 20:44 22nd 19:53

7th 22:23 24th 21:32

10th 19:54 26th 23:12

14th 23:12 29th 20:43

17th 20:43

©Dr. Derek P. Blake 01-02-12 With thanks to Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

The full PDF version of these notes can be downloaded from the Discussuin section of the group.

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on December 28, 2011 at 5:39pm

I hope everyone had a stellar Christmas, and now that all those mince pies, Christmas cake and interminable turkey curries, sandwiches and burgers have faded into the misty past, you can get back to enjoying the freezing evenings gazing at the sky through condensated eyepieces.

Night of Jan 3rd/4th: the Quadrantid Meteor Shower

The early morning of Jan 4th will give us the best chance of observing the Quandrantid meteor shower.  The shower will peak on the morning of the 4th of January.  Thankfully this year,the Moon (in its first quarter) will be setting in the West so the sky will be relatively dark.   The point - where the meteors appear is in the constellation Bootes not far below the tail of Ursa Major, the Great Bear (The Big Dipper). The peak hourly rate can reach 200, but they are not particularly bright so a good dark observing site will help observe them.   Whilst observing this part of the sky look at the central star of the tail of the Great Bear (The Big Dipper).  Binoculars will easily reveal that there are two stars - Mizar,the brighter and Alcor, the Horse and Rider.   You may even spot this with your unaided eye.   A small telescope will show that Mizar is a nice double star!   If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you!

January 10 after sunset - A chance to spot Vesta

After sunset looking south-west on the 10th January you will be able to spot the constellation of Aquarius. Just up and to the left (just 3 arc minutes) from the fourth magnitude star Tau Aquarii will lie the minor planet Vesta shining at magnitude 8.   Though not the largest of the objects in the asteroid belt (that is Ceres) now termed a dwarf planet, Vesta is the brightest.

Illustration 1: Vesta

[Illustration in PDF version]

January 12^th, 13^th & 14th after sunset: Venus in conjunction with Neptune

If you have never seen Neptune, then this month gives you a reasonable chance of picking it up with binoculars close to Venus in the evening twilight sky. Venus shines brightly at magnitude -3.9 whilst Neptune shines at a magnitude of just +8. On the 13th, they are just over one degree separating them with the 4th magnitude star Lota Aquarii just below Venus so they will all lie well within the field of view of a pair of binoculars. This is not a common sight and the vicinity of the easily identifiable Venus (brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon) will make it easy to spot.

The Great Red Spot -again

With Jupiter remaining high in the evening night sky, the Great Red Spot will still be visible on the following dates and times, always a fascinating feature to observe.

2nd   22:30 21st 23:15

5th   20:00 22nd 19:07

7th   21:39 24th 20:46

10th 19:09 26th 22:25

14th 22:27 29th 19:55

17th 19:57 31st 21:34

Also worth a look through a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope are four of the largest of the 16 Moons of Jupiter. Let me know if you have managed to see either the GRS (telescope needed) or the moons.

Lunar Observation – Finding your way around our Moon

January 3rd evening: Two Great Lunar Craters

This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as they are close to the terminator. Tycho is at the bottom of Moon (through binoculars and at the top through a re-erected telescope) in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is said to be about 108 million years old. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep.   At full Moon - seen in the image below - the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be seen arcing across the surface.   Copernicus is calculated to be about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains.   It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater.   Both can be seen well through binoculars.

[Illustration in PDF version]

This image of the Moon shows very clearly the debris field from the crater Tycho, it must have been very spectacular to watch, but I guess that there were neither telescopes nor binoculars around then. Like Jupiter he Moon serves as a sweeping brush for us, sweeping up asteroids and meteors that may otherwise have hit the Earth, causing a great deal of devastation. Of course Earth has its atmosphere, which causes all but the largest objects to burn up before hitting the surface. The Moon has little or no atmosphere, so objects meet with almost no resistance, which accounts for its pock-marked surface and the presence of so much meteoric dust.

It is notable that during the design and development of the LM (Lunar Module) NASA was advised that the dust would be several meters deep, this was based upon the then estimated age of the Moon of 4.5 billion years. The LM design, therefore included four very large weigh-distributing pads at the ends of the undercarriage. Upon arrival Apollo 11 found that the dust was just a few centimetres thick, subsequent landings at other landing sites found the same amount of dust distribution. As there are no weather systems associated with the Moon, dust distribution is constant with no drifting, it remains where it settles. The reason for this is that either the Moon is much younger than the 4.5 Billion years estimated or the ingress of meteoric dust has not been a constant. With thanks to Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on December 28, 2011 at 1:55pm

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to show you all this amazing picture of an 'Einstein Ring' provided by the ESA/HUBBLE and NASA telescope. An Einstein Ring, otherwise known as a Gravity Lens proves two things, 1) that inter-galactic space has a 'fabric' (it is not totally empty space) which is why spacial bodies are set in their courses, and 2) that the warping space is possible. The StarTrek warp drive is based on this theory. How is this possible? The Gravity Lens is created by the gravitational field of a very large spacial body, in this case by a red foreground galaxy, where the gravitational field 'warps' the fabric of space and creates a sort of magnifying glass, like water droplets distorting light. The ring is caused by the light from two distant galaxies (blue galaxies) on the peripheral of the lens (possibly the two galaxies at 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock), the galaxy in the centre being being magnified almost perfectly. This also shows how God can hold the universe in His hands and how He 'spread' the universe out when it was created, if the universe was empty space it would seem to be difficult to hold it in even God's hands. Praise Him that science confirms His word.

(BTW. It called an 'Einstein Ring' as they arise from a prediction of his General Theory of Relativity.)

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on November 30, 2011 at 5:41pm

Here's the text of December's observing notes, download the full version with charts and pictures from the discussion section:::::::

Observing Notes for December 2011

 

 

Well we don't expect to see the star of Bethlehem this Christmas but we have got an observable partial eclipse for you on December 10^th and no less than two Meteor Showers the Geminid Meteor Shower on the 14^th & 15^th and the Ursid Meteor Shower on the 22^nd and 23^rd.

 

Lunar Eclipse – December 10^th.

Sadly, the UK will only be able to see the last part of the partial phase and it will probably only appear as if a "bite" has been taken out of the cheese.   The Moon will rise in the North-East so the farther north and east your are the better.   The Moon rises at 15:24 in Aberdeen, 15:49 in Manchester, 15:51 in London but 16:09 in Exeter.  The Earth's shadow finally clears the Moon's surface at 16:18 pm.   As this will be the night of the Full Moon it may be worth travelling to the northern tip of Scotland for this one, the lucky ones will already live there.

 

Geminid Meteor Shower - 14^th & 15

If you are an early riser you will have the chance in the early mornings of December 14th and 15th to observe the peak of the Geminid meteor shower.   Sadly, again this year,the Full Moon is on the 10th and it will lie close to the radiant this night.   This means that you will only see the brighter trails by looking high up away from the glare of the Moon.  An observing location well away from towns or cities will also pay dividends though.   The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon.  This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets.  The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart.  If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.

 

The Ursid Meteor Shower - 22^nd and 23^rd.

This time the Moon will not be a problem on the night of the 22nd/23rd December when the Ursid meteor shower is at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great.   The radiant lies close to the star 'Kochab' in Ursa Minor – the Little Bear (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation.   Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so its worth a look, you may be in luck, if it's clear.

 

The Great Red Spot -again

With Jupiter remaining high in the evening night sky, the Great Red Spot will still be visible on the following dates and times, always a fascinating feature to observe.

2nd   21:52       21st 22:33

7th   21:00       24th 20:03

9th   22:38       26th 21:42

12th 20:08       31st 20:51

14th 21:46

17th 19:16

Also worth a look through a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope are four of the largest of the 16 Moons of Jupiter. Let me know if you have managed to see either the GRS (telescope needed) or the moons.

Lunar Observation

Speaking of moons the 3^rd & 4^th together with the 16^th and 17^th of December will be a good time to observe the Alpine Valley on our own Moon, you will need some form of telescope for this with at least a 30x magnification.

Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium.  Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley.   It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long.   As shown in the image a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe.  Over the next two nights following the 3rd/4th the dark crater Plato and the young crater Copernicus will come into view.   This is a very interesting region of the Moon!

 

Alpine Valley slashes through the lowlands of the Alps mountains. Opinions vary as to how the valley was formed. One view is that it began as two fairly parallel rills. A shock caused by a major impact, such as the one that formed the crater Copernicus, might have caused the surface between the two rills to sink. Others suggest a more dramatic origin. Based on how straight and out of place the Valley seems, they feel that a major impact sent a huge projectile hurtling at a low trajectory so that it ploughed a furrow through the mountains. And some simply feel that the Alpine Valley is just a large rill.

Running down the centre of the Alpine Valley for its full length is a narrow rill, as is just visible in the above photograph. It’s said to be visible in medium-sized amateur telescopes under ideal observing conditions. But you have to catch it when it’s near the terminator and the Sun just illuminates the valley floor.

Get out those star maps and the planispheres, that hopefully you have printed out and assembled by now, and see what else you can spot in the December night sky, an hour away from the mince pies will do you the world of good. If you have a clear sky, this time of year is the best for observing crystal clear skies, it may be cold but crisp dry winter nights are made for observing. Don't forget the flask with hot drinks and maybe a couple of those microwave (or the ones you just click) hand warmers in your overcoat pockets. Don't forget to put your telescope outside for at least and hour in cold weather, to let it acclimatise, this will stop fogging and condensation forming on eyepiece/collecting lens/reflector mirror. You may also wish to seal the open end of your reflector telescope with its cover before you bring it indoors, this will allow the mirror and the air inside the tube to warm up slowly and again reduce condensation and marks on the mirror.

Good observing and a joyous Christmas.

Derek

 

With thanks to Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on November 27, 2011 at 3:55pm

Thought you all like to see this fantastic picture:

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on November 6, 2011 at 12:42pm

Here is a case of pseudo-science masquerading as real science, two scientists in the US have come up with a new idea on how to detect intelligent extraterrestrial life by looking for their city lights. Science daily reports:

“In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, astronomers have hunted for radio signals and ultra-short laser pulses. In a new paper, Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and Edwin Turner (Princeton University) suggest a new technique for finding aliens: look for their city lights. "Looking for alien cities would be a long shot, but wouldn't require extra resources. And if we succeed, it would change our perception of our place in the universe," said Loeb. As with other SETI methods, they rely on the assumption that aliens would use Earth-like technologies. This is reasonable because any intelligent life that evolved in the light from its nearest star is likely to have artificial illumination that switches on during the hours of darkness.”

Read More Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111103190356.htm

 

Interesting, but, I fear flawed in so many ways, the two greatest flaws of which are that we have not developed telescopes (of any kind) that can actually 'see' planets in neighbouring solar systems. We can detect 'possible' planetary systems by observing the slight wobble caused by the gravitational tug of a orbital body, but that is not 'seeing'. Secondly, when the full dark-side of a planet is facing us it means that the planet is between us and its parent sun, so any artificial lighting would almost certainly be bleached out by the light from that star. As I say, pseudo-science pretending to be mainstream, if it were April first I would suspect a prank, but as it's not I suspect a funding scam.

Comment by peter 118 on October 26, 2011 at 10:51pm

il keep my eye open for leonid meter shower, wont be long before orion is back this time of year

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on October 26, 2011 at 9:43pm

Attached below the document Jupiter Profile as promised:

Jupiter%20Profile.pdf

Comment by Dr. Derek P. Blake on October 26, 2011 at 9:40pm

I have just posted November's observing notes under the discussion heading above in PDF format, here is the text of those notes, but without pictures and charts (which are included in the PDF version).

 

Hi Star Gazers, here we are with November's Observing notes, gosh, doesn't time move quickly, it just seems weeks ago that we were outside in the warmth of summer.

Leonid Meteor Shower

Well we have another meteor shower for you this month on the nights of November 16^th and 17^th, cloud permitting. Each year around that time Earth passes through the debris field of the comet Temple-Tuttle and this produces the annual Leonid Meteor shower. The shower is named Leonid due to the fact that its point of origin appears within the constellation of Leo (the lion) and from within the head or 'Sickle' of the lion, and seem to shoot across the constellation of Orion (an easy to identify constellation). Once again, seeing will be reduced by a bright waning gibbous moon in the eastern sky, so the best time to observe them will be after 11 pm before the Moon has risen high into the sky. Believe it or not this meteor shower deposits 12 or 13 tons of particles across the Earth.

MARS

Leo is a focal point this month with the planet mars making a welcome return close to the star Regulus. It will remain close the this star for around five days. Mars can be identified by its slightly pink colour, but is often a disappointing sight through binoculars or small telescopes. I would recommend that to view the planet a telescope with a object aperture greater than 6” (150mm) be used. Remember that Mars is rather smaller than the Earth, just over half the diameter of Earth with a mass of just 0.107 that of Earth's. Don't worry if you miss Mars in November, the seeing will improve as we go into 2012.

Venus

Just after sunset (around 4:40 pm) on the 27th, of November you may, low south western horizon and clear skies permitting, be able to spot Venus, at magnitude -3.9 down to the lower right of a two and a half day old Moon.  

 

Moon

Look out for the "earthlight" illuminating the darkened portion of the Moon - often called the "old Moon in the new Moon's arms". 'Earthlight' is the sunlight reflecting from the Earth onto the night side of the Moon, so that we can see the outline of the Moon even though it is only a thin crescent. This effect makes some lovely photographs.

 

Neptune

Neptune, at a magnitude of 7.8 should be easily seen in binoculars with a dark, early evening, sky.   On November 20th - 27^th on the 22^nd it will lie due south at 6pm GMT, a few days before new Moon.  Neptune lies about 1.6 degrees above the star Iota Aquarii as shown on the chart.   Iota Aquarii can be found by moving 5 degrees to the left and slightly upwards from the star Delta Capricorni.   On the 22nd, Neptune is seen in its discovery position in 1846!

 

Comet Garradd and Asteroid Eunomia

Here is two treats during the same period, between November 20^th and November 27^th both of these objects will be visible

At around magnitude 6, Comet Garradd will be visible in binoculars this month and can be seen in the north-west during November.   It will be easiest to spot around the time of new Moon not far from the star Alpha Hercules down to the lower left of the Keystone.   Due to its orbit and distance from the Earth, its position changes very little during the month.   The fact that its closest approach to the Sun is about the distance of Mars means that its velocity is far less that comets that come close to the Sun and this also helps to reduce the apparent motion across the sky.

During November the asteroid no 15, Eunomia, comes closest to the Earth and, at around magnitude 8, should be visible in binoculars or a small telescope.   It is passing through Perseus which, lying below Cassiopeia (the big 'W' or 'M' depending on your point of view) rises high into the eastern sky this month.   On the 28th it passes almost overhead and will lie in front of the California Nebula - which shows well on photographs but is very hard to see visually.   One way to be sure that you have seen it is to sketch or photograph the star field on a couple of nights and see which object as moved.   If you have made two images you can flip between them to spot the movement across the sky.

Jupiter

Last but far from least the Gas Giant Jupiter is high in the evening sky, go out after 23:00 hrs and look up slightly to the South-east and see a really bright star, you have just found Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System. For more info on Jupiter see separate document – 'Jupiter Profile'. Of great interest always is the 'Great Red Spot' an storm system that has been raging for hundreds of years. Here is a list of the best times to observe the Great Red Spot:

1st @ 21:15 15th @ 22:45 23rd @ 19:15

6th @ 20:15 18th @ 20:15 25th @ 21:00

10th @ 23:30 20th @ 22:00 30th @ 20:00

13th @ 21:15 27th @ 22:30 All times GMT

Information, charts and pictures courtesy of:

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics - Manchester University

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• …
• 5
• Next ›
• Page