Seriously clear tonight, and the moon is well out of the way early evening. The comet is still in the same binocular field as gamma andromedae - which in my mind shall always be known as "the peach star" from now on.
Comparison indicates the comet to now appear almost identical to the Andromeda Galaxy nearby, so it is indeed fading, it was a couple of notches brighter a few nights ago. My eyes were trying to convince me a tail was visible tonight, but my brain is also trying very hard not to be fooled.
Other things were worth looking at on such a sharp night. Messier 42 in Orion is something we take for granted I think, being such an obvious object, but it is always worth looking at, illuminated by the hot young stars of iota, the so called "Trapezium". Messier 35 in Gemini was resolved by my 10x50s tonight, which is not always the case. All three Auriga clusters were visible, M36, M37 and M38, but don't ask me which is which.
Finally I had a look over at Jupiter through my sycamore tree. I had the usual shaky hands syndrome, which made the giant planet appear to be constantly looping the loop, but two moons were definitely visible, and there was possibly a third too.
All this visible in very average binoculars. So much to see up there, and you needn't spend a fortune.
Si
Showing posts with label florion15. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florion15. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Monday, 26 January 2015
Comet Lovejoy and the Triangle
Mananged to get a sneaky peak, as they say, at Comet Lovejoy after I arrived home from work. It is easy to find despite the near first quarter moon, lurking in the same binocular field of view as Gamma Triangulum, the star that marks the eastern point of the base of the celestial triangle.
Again, there seems to be less structure around the nucleus; it may be because of the moon but the comet seems to be sporting a rather rounder, more evenly bright look than before. Perhaps it is because Lovejoy is getting further away.
I'd certainly recommend trying to get a look tonight or perhaps tomorrow night, because with the moon getting brighter, and the comet fading, it may get quite difficult to observe with binoculars.
Ah Triangulum, that most romatically named of constellations. The most does-what-it-says-on-the-tin constellation. It looks like a triangle, so they called it the Triangle. The Babylonians tried to be interesting and call it "The Plough" thousands of years ago, but the Greeks called it "Deltoton", because it looked like the Greek letter delta, which is triangle shaped. Since then, it has been "The Triangle" to Ptolemy and everyone else into the modern era. A boring name for a boring, three cornered little group of stars.
The actuality is that it is an interesting little patch of the sky, with Messier 33 the Triangulum spiral, also visible in binoculars; 3C 48, the first quasar to be observed, and various other nearby galaxies observable in moderate telescopes.
There are plenty of other dull constellations that could be called "Square", "Circle" or "Squiggly Line" but poor old Triangulum gets the bullet. Presumably a triangular one.
Si
Again, there seems to be less structure around the nucleus; it may be because of the moon but the comet seems to be sporting a rather rounder, more evenly bright look than before. Perhaps it is because Lovejoy is getting further away.
I'd certainly recommend trying to get a look tonight or perhaps tomorrow night, because with the moon getting brighter, and the comet fading, it may get quite difficult to observe with binoculars.
Ah Triangulum, that most romatically named of constellations. The most does-what-it-says-on-the-tin constellation. It looks like a triangle, so they called it the Triangle. The Babylonians tried to be interesting and call it "The Plough" thousands of years ago, but the Greeks called it "Deltoton", because it looked like the Greek letter delta, which is triangle shaped. Since then, it has been "The Triangle" to Ptolemy and everyone else into the modern era. A boring name for a boring, three cornered little group of stars.
The actuality is that it is an interesting little patch of the sky, with Messier 33 the Triangulum spiral, also visible in binoculars; 3C 48, the first quasar to be observed, and various other nearby galaxies observable in moderate telescopes.
There are plenty of other dull constellations that could be called "Square", "Circle" or "Squiggly Line" but poor old Triangulum gets the bullet. Presumably a triangular one.
Si
Friday, 16 January 2015
Comet Lovejoy, Venus and Mercury
So, it has been a busy old day, in the night sky.
I've been doing a lot of walking today, two of an hour duration each. On my second one, after the sun had set after a long day shining but not warming anything up in the slightest, I noticed Venus shining above the rooftops of the sheltered housing on Balderton Gate.
I gave my eyes a moment to adjust, and lo and behold, there was Mercury, looking slightly pinkish against the twilight, and considerably fainter than "the planet of love". It is only the second time I've ever seen it, and I was feeling rather proud of myself. It always makes me think of the beautiful transit sequence in the movie "Sunshine".
You can't see Mercury in the below mobile phone image, but it was at 3 o'clock from Venus about 3-4 degrees away.
I've been doing a lot of walking today, two of an hour duration each. On my second one, after the sun had set after a long day shining but not warming anything up in the slightest, I noticed Venus shining above the rooftops of the sheltered housing on Balderton Gate.
I gave my eyes a moment to adjust, and lo and behold, there was Mercury, looking slightly pinkish against the twilight, and considerably fainter than "the planet of love". It is only the second time I've ever seen it, and I was feeling rather proud of myself. It always makes me think of the beautiful transit sequence in the movie "Sunshine".
You can't see Mercury in the below mobile phone image, but it was at 3 o'clock from Venus about 3-4 degrees away.
After the sun had set, it was time for the sky to darken sufficient for Comet Lovejoy to be seen. I have had two looks at the comet again, and once again the sky is clear enough for it to be a just visible naked eye object with averted vision.
In 10x50s the comet is barely out of the same field of view, WSW of the Pleiades cluster. Tonight, the condensed nucleus, and elongated teardrop coma were clear, and my eyes were trying to convince me there were hints of a tail.
It's always such a danger, trying to convince yourself you are seeing things you expect or want to see. The same thing happened later on, when I wondered if I was picking up Barnard's loop around Orion on the binoculars.
Aside from Comet Lovejoy, what I did definitively see was a lovely starry night. Starfields around Monoceros and Orion were beautiful - I saw all three of the main Monoceros clusters; The Christmas Tree, the Rosette and Messier 50, and all three Auriga Messier clusters.
The night is yet young, so there's plenty of time for everyone to take a look up, optically aided or naked eye. It truly is beautiful up there.
Si
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Further Comet Lovejoy Observations
The day shift was running, another 15km along the Owl Road with no owls, past the fieldfare fields between Hawton and Farndon, and watching a huge buzzard being pursued across the Trent to the power station by a couple of brave and naughty crows.
The night belongs to astronomy, and more specifically Comet Lovejoy.
It was easy to find even in a rather barren area of sky, about ten degrees West of Orion's Belt, and in my 10x50s the effect was of a slightly smaller and fainter Andromeda galaxy forming the apex of an isosceles triangle with two 6th magnitude stars in Eridanus. There is a definite teardrop shape about the comet, but there is no tail in view; hopefully it may become apparent in the run up to perihelion.
The magnitude I would guess is about 4.8-5, and in my urban skies there is no chance of it being a naked eye object unless it brightens to 3.5 - 4. But comets are unpredictable, if it outbursts at perihelion, it may appear rather brighter.
It's only a rare comet, like Hale Bopp of 1997, that really looks like the common mental image of one of these magical visitors from the depths of the Oort Cloud. Lovejoy is not such an object, but I always feel great joy in being able to spot a comet, especially from an urban garden.
Si
The night belongs to astronomy, and more specifically Comet Lovejoy.
It was easy to find even in a rather barren area of sky, about ten degrees West of Orion's Belt, and in my 10x50s the effect was of a slightly smaller and fainter Andromeda galaxy forming the apex of an isosceles triangle with two 6th magnitude stars in Eridanus. There is a definite teardrop shape about the comet, but there is no tail in view; hopefully it may become apparent in the run up to perihelion.
The magnitude I would guess is about 4.8-5, and in my urban skies there is no chance of it being a naked eye object unless it brightens to 3.5 - 4. But comets are unpredictable, if it outbursts at perihelion, it may appear rather brighter.
It's only a rare comet, like Hale Bopp of 1997, that really looks like the common mental image of one of these magical visitors from the depths of the Oort Cloud. Lovejoy is not such an object, but I always feel great joy in being able to spot a comet, especially from an urban garden.
Si
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Evenings with Orion the Hunter
Once again I am at work, and even now my fingers still feel the -4 6am cycle to work this morning. I was wearing two pairs of gloves and thus accidentally changing gear every few metres, but it still isn't preventing the familiar freezing pain from nipping at my fingertips.
Winter thrushes are appearing in numbers on the farmer's field next to the showground; impossible to confirm at this distance but they would appear to have very pale breasts and thus most likely be fieldfares. Above them gulls squabble, and occasionally a kestrel makes its way to find a favoured hunting spot around the margins, looking for any mouse not frozen into the semblance of concrete.
At least there are benefits to these freezing nights. Like two nights ago, the clearest, darkest night I have seen for a long while. The stars were glittering diamonds on their velvet display case; the Milky Way was overhead in Cassiopeia, flowing like Cleopatra's bathwater. Straddling the southern aspect, most prominent of all winter constellations, was the mighty hunter himself, Orion.
From my garden as midnight approaches, he appears to have suddenly leapt out from behind a tree in order to shoot a terrible creature of myth, or perhaps even me. To his upper right his bow is raised, and if that isn't enough, he is wielding a club with his other hand.
Confusing overkill? Some representations have the bow as a shield, but I can't stop my brain convincing me it's a bow. After all, who hunts with a club?
However he hunts, it has certainly been successful, because in clear skies you can see the body of Lepus, the celestial hare, at his feet. The hare was present the other night, and to see it from my urban garden is all but miraculous, thus illustrating how clear the sky was.
I didn't use my binoculars; when you do, the starfields are magnificent, probably the finest you will see from the UK. There are stars everywhere, and not the faint ones associated with Cygnus and the Milky Way within; these are genuine jewels of the sky. The great nebula sits ghostlike, illuminated by the light of the searing hot iota orionis "trapezium" and the new stars forming within.
It is a beautiful view.
However, even without the binoculars there is still plenty to see and think about. The hot coal of Betelgeuse glows firey at the top left, big as 20 suns, monstrously unstable and thus variable in brightness. It is reckoned to be candidate for going supernova within a few million years, and it will be as bright as the full moon when it does.
At the opposite corner sits Rigel, a hot, blue white star that is a single to our eyes, but is actually a triple star system adding up to a whole 120,000 times more luminous than the sun. There is, of course, the nebula, still plain to the naked eye - and then the belt, the central star of which, Alnilam, is a blue-white supergiant also doomed for a supernovic ending.
It is 350,000 times more luminous than the sun, and all in all is the intrinsically brightest star you can see easily in the night sky.
After Christmas, Futurelearn are running a course on this constellation. So, why not familiarise yourself with it now, as the great hunter bestrides the night sky.
Winter thrushes are appearing in numbers on the farmer's field next to the showground; impossible to confirm at this distance but they would appear to have very pale breasts and thus most likely be fieldfares. Above them gulls squabble, and occasionally a kestrel makes its way to find a favoured hunting spot around the margins, looking for any mouse not frozen into the semblance of concrete.
At least there are benefits to these freezing nights. Like two nights ago, the clearest, darkest night I have seen for a long while. The stars were glittering diamonds on their velvet display case; the Milky Way was overhead in Cassiopeia, flowing like Cleopatra's bathwater. Straddling the southern aspect, most prominent of all winter constellations, was the mighty hunter himself, Orion.
 |
| Orion from wikimedia, uploaded by Mouser |
From my garden as midnight approaches, he appears to have suddenly leapt out from behind a tree in order to shoot a terrible creature of myth, or perhaps even me. To his upper right his bow is raised, and if that isn't enough, he is wielding a club with his other hand.
Confusing overkill? Some representations have the bow as a shield, but I can't stop my brain convincing me it's a bow. After all, who hunts with a club?
However he hunts, it has certainly been successful, because in clear skies you can see the body of Lepus, the celestial hare, at his feet. The hare was present the other night, and to see it from my urban garden is all but miraculous, thus illustrating how clear the sky was.
I didn't use my binoculars; when you do, the starfields are magnificent, probably the finest you will see from the UK. There are stars everywhere, and not the faint ones associated with Cygnus and the Milky Way within; these are genuine jewels of the sky. The great nebula sits ghostlike, illuminated by the light of the searing hot iota orionis "trapezium" and the new stars forming within.
It is a beautiful view.
However, even without the binoculars there is still plenty to see and think about. The hot coal of Betelgeuse glows firey at the top left, big as 20 suns, monstrously unstable and thus variable in brightness. It is reckoned to be candidate for going supernova within a few million years, and it will be as bright as the full moon when it does.
At the opposite corner sits Rigel, a hot, blue white star that is a single to our eyes, but is actually a triple star system adding up to a whole 120,000 times more luminous than the sun. There is, of course, the nebula, still plain to the naked eye - and then the belt, the central star of which, Alnilam, is a blue-white supergiant also doomed for a supernovic ending.
It is 350,000 times more luminous than the sun, and all in all is the intrinsically brightest star you can see easily in the night sky.
After Christmas, Futurelearn are running a course on this constellation. So, why not familiarise yourself with it now, as the great hunter bestrides the night sky.
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