Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Satellites tonight
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The International Space Station passes by the Moon and Jupiter, and a small iridium flare.
Labels: iridium flares, ISS, Satellite
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday December 1 to Thursday December 8
The First Quarter Moon is Friday December 2. Venus is easily visible in the western evening while Mercury is lost in the twilight. Jupiter dominates the evening sky once Venus has set. Jupiter is close to the waxing Moon on December 6. Mars is visible in the morning sky and is close to the star Regulus. Saturn is now visible in the morning sky near the star Spica.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Sunday December 3 showing Mars near Regulus and Saturn near Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The First Quarter Moon is Friday December 2.
Mars is in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is not far from the bright star Regulus and draws further away over the week.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the western horizon, setting before twilight.
Saturn is low above the north- eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica.
Evening sky on Thursday December 1 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus in Sagittarius. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)
Bright white Venus is readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour. Venus is now in Sagittarius, on Thursday 1 December it is just below Kaus Borealis, the brightish star that forms the lid of the "teapot" of Sagittarius.
If you have strong binoculars, and a clear level western horizon, wait until a bit after an hour after sunset, and you may be able to see the globular clusters the venus is close to. On the 1st Venus is near dimmish M28, on the 3rd Venus is close to the brighter M22. In binoculars these look like little puffs of cotton wool.
Mercury is now lost in the twilight.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible for most of the night, setting just before morning twilight.
Evening sky on Tuesday December 6 looking north as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time, Ganymede transits Jupiter from 20:47 ACDST (click to embiggen)
In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 9 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday December 3looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,
The variable star Mira is still bright enough to see with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. It will continue to fade, and by mid week the light of the Moon will make it very difficult to see.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Sunday December 3 showing Mars near Regulus and Saturn near Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The First Quarter Moon is Friday December 2.
Mars is in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is not far from the bright star Regulus and draws further away over the week.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the western horizon, setting before twilight.
Saturn is low above the north- eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica.
Evening sky on Thursday December 1 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus in Sagittarius. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)Bright white Venus is readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour. Venus is now in Sagittarius, on Thursday 1 December it is just below Kaus Borealis, the brightish star that forms the lid of the "teapot" of Sagittarius.
If you have strong binoculars, and a clear level western horizon, wait until a bit after an hour after sunset, and you may be able to see the globular clusters the venus is close to. On the 1st Venus is near dimmish M28, on the 3rd Venus is close to the brighter M22. In binoculars these look like little puffs of cotton wool.
Mercury is now lost in the twilight.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible for most of the night, setting just before morning twilight.
Evening sky on Tuesday December 6 looking north as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time, Ganymede transits Jupiter from 20:47 ACDST (click to embiggen)In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 9 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday December 3looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,The variable star Mira is still bright enough to see with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. It will continue to fade, and by mid week the light of the Moon will make it very difficult to see.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, November 28, 2011
Student Science Communicators (part 2)
In the aftermath of the Australian Science Communciators (SA) AGM, I have been elected as Events Manager (well, I made the mistake of coming out from under the table when they called for nominations).
More important than my elevation from my previous role as councillor for skivving off work, was the presenations by the Pultney Grammar School Extension Science Class. This was the finale of a year of investigations, experiments and different methods of presenting their results. They had already produced posters, blogs and podcasts, this was their first presentation to a live audience that wasn't their teachers, schoolmates or parents.
And it was great, although only in year 10 (and using that horribly annoying presentation system where the text slides and jerks around, zooming in and out), they presented clearly and enthusiastically. Despite having to deal with quite complex subjects they were able to communicate them with aplomb and humour. I even learnt things that surprised me.
Like the fact that modern touchscreens use Quantum Tunneling Composites, materials that use the property of atomic scale objects to tunnel through spacetime around solid barriers (as the student said, it's like tossing a basketball at a door, only to have it vanish and appear on the other side).
It's something you can point out to people who dismiss modern physics as being abstruse with no practical application, that the iPhones they are glued to use quantum weirdness to do all that cute swiping actactivations .
That was just one example. Even when the talks were in areas I was very familiar with (like extinction of the dinosaurs), the talks were thoughtfully, well organized and revealed the passion of the students who undertook them.
Not all the students engaged in this project will become scientists, but they are now science literate, and able to comprehend (and explain to others) the importance of science in our day to day world.
More important than my elevation from my previous role as councillor for skivving off work, was the presenations by the Pultney Grammar School Extension Science Class. This was the finale of a year of investigations, experiments and different methods of presenting their results. They had already produced posters, blogs and podcasts, this was their first presentation to a live audience that wasn't their teachers, schoolmates or parents.
And it was great, although only in year 10 (and using that horribly annoying presentation system where the text slides and jerks around, zooming in and out), they presented clearly and enthusiastically. Despite having to deal with quite complex subjects they were able to communicate them with aplomb and humour. I even learnt things that surprised me.
Like the fact that modern touchscreens use Quantum Tunneling Composites, materials that use the property of atomic scale objects to tunnel through spacetime around solid barriers (as the student said, it's like tossing a basketball at a door, only to have it vanish and appear on the other side).
It's something you can point out to people who dismiss modern physics as being abstruse with no practical application, that the iPhones they are glued to use quantum weirdness to do all that cute swiping actactivations .
That was just one example. Even when the talks were in areas I was very familiar with (like extinction of the dinosaurs), the talks were thoughtfully, well organized and revealed the passion of the students who undertook them.
Not all the students engaged in this project will become scientists, but they are now science literate, and able to comprehend (and explain to others) the importance of science in our day to day world.
Labels: science communicators
Morning Frost (with Flower)
I know theat northern hemispherians will laugh at what Australians consder cold, but I was freezing this morning, and here is the frost to prove it.
Early Morning Frost (with Flower)
Our norther hemisphere compatriots may laugh at what we consider cold, but gee it was cold this morning.
Nice frost patterns though.
Monday 28 November (Tonight), Student Presentations on Science Communication
Tonight (Monday, November 28) at the RiAus Science Exchange Building (scroll down for the map), after the Australian Science Communicators (SA) AGM, students from Pulteney Grammar School who have been undertaking extension work in science, with a focus on science communication, will present their work. This is an excellent opportunity for the students to showcase their work and they are very excited to do so with an audience of those in the area of science communication. Please come along to support these up and coming science communicators, the topics range from robotics to paleontology covering a broad range of issues of interest to everyone.
Please book via eventbright, (yes, I know it says AGM, but the ticket will get you in for the presentations), the AGM starts at 6:00 and the student presentations at 6:45.
The Science Exchange
55 Exchange Place
Adelaide SA 5000
AUSTRALIA
Where is the line between robotics and humanity? (Robotics)
How has cryptography evolved? (Cryptography)
Why do the muscles in the human body cramp? (Kinesiology)
How to manage prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries? (Sport Science)
How have humans evolved and how are they likely to evolve in the future? (Biology/Genetics)
Why do we buy/spend? (Consumer Psychology)
Why do we end the life of a member of our own species? (Criminal Psychology)
How has recently invented revolutionary surgery benefitted amateur and elite athletes? (Sport Science)
Why do we lie? (Lie Analysis)
How has quantum mechanics affected the world? (Quantum Physics)
How does the human body survive? (Biology)
Are computer viruses alive? (Computer Science)
How do we walk? (Sport Science)
How did the dinosaurs become extinct? (Palaeontology)
How sleep affects problem solving ability and memory recall? (Biology)
Please book via eventbright, (yes, I know it says AGM, but the ticket will get you in for the presentations), the AGM starts at 6:00 and the student presentations at 6:45.
The Science Exchange
55 Exchange Place
Adelaide SA 5000
AUSTRALIA
Where is the line between robotics and humanity? (Robotics)
How has cryptography evolved? (Cryptography)
Why do the muscles in the human body cramp? (Kinesiology)
How to manage prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries? (Sport Science)
How have humans evolved and how are they likely to evolve in the future? (Biology/Genetics)
Why do we buy/spend? (Consumer Psychology)
Why do we end the life of a member of our own species? (Criminal Psychology)
How has recently invented revolutionary surgery benefitted amateur and elite athletes? (Sport Science)
Why do we lie? (Lie Analysis)
How has quantum mechanics affected the world? (Quantum Physics)
How does the human body survive? (Biology)
Are computer viruses alive? (Computer Science)
How do we walk? (Sport Science)
How did the dinosaurs become extinct? (Palaeontology)
How sleep affects problem solving ability and memory recall? (Biology)
Labels: science communicators
Venus and Moon, 27 November 2011
The crescent Moon and Venus over the beach at Largs North, Adelaide, around 9:15 pm, Sunday November 27. Click to embiggen.Labels: astrophotography, Moon, Venus
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Semaphore Street Fair, 27 November 2011
So we went to the Semaphore Street Fair this year,saw the pet parade, hung out with the reptile guy, and browsed the local wares.
It made a nice end to the last few weeks, as it's been pretty busy here, what with SmallestOne being sick, and the BettDeckerErschnappender Weisle and I having to work our work schedules around looking after him, then BEW and EldestOne had homework that went way into the night while I did exam marking that went way into the night (you may have noticed I haven't been posting much).
Still, things should be calmer for a little while now, might even gte to do some astronomy.
Labels: home life, miscelaneous
Thursday, November 24, 2011
The ESA Establishes Contact with Phobos Grunt (? 2011 WQ4)
The ESA reports that it has made contact with the errant Mars probe Phobos Grunt, (which failed to leave its parking orbit) this is also confirmed by the Russian Space Research Institute (see also here). Telemetry has been limited, but the transmitter was switched on and communication established. Apparently there is a normal power supply and communications are functioning properly.
It is too late to send Phobos Grunt to Mars, that launch window has closed, but it may be possible to send it to a nearby Phobos sized asteroid.
Still, to be confirmed, Peter Lake passes on the news that Near Earth Object 2011 WQ4 may be Phobos Grunt. Nah, false alarm.
It is too late to send Phobos Grunt to Mars, that launch window has closed, but it may be possible to send it to a nearby Phobos sized asteroid.
Labels: asteroids, Satellite, space probe, spacecraft
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday November 24 to Thursday December 1
The New Moon is Friday November 25. Venus is easily visible in the western evening twilight with Mercury below it. The Moon is close to Mercury on the 26th and Venus on the 27th. Jupiter dominates the evening sky once Venus has set. Mars is visible in the morning sky and is close to the star Regulus. Saturn is now visible in the morning sky near the star Spica.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Sunday November 27 showing Mars near Regulus and Saturn near Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The New Moon is Friday November 25.
Mars is in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is not far from the bright star Regulus and draws further away over the week.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the western horizon, setting shortly before twilight.
Saturn is low above the north- eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica.
Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury, with Mercury near the crescent Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)
Bright white Venus and Mercury are readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible below Venus at the beginning of the week. Venus continues to climb towards Sagittarius but Mercury gets progressively lower to the horizon, being very difficult to see by the end of the week.
On Saturday November 26 the crescent Moon is close to Mercury, and on Sunday 27 the crescent Moon is close to Venus.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible for most of the night, setting just before morning twilight.
Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time (click to embiggen)
In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday November 26 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,
The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. .
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Sunday November 27 showing Mars near Regulus and Saturn near Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The New Moon is Friday November 25.
Mars is in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is not far from the bright star Regulus and draws further away over the week.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the western horizon, setting shortly before twilight.
Saturn is low above the north- eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica.
Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury, with Mercury near the crescent Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)Bright white Venus and Mercury are readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible below Venus at the beginning of the week. Venus continues to climb towards Sagittarius but Mercury gets progressively lower to the horizon, being very difficult to see by the end of the week.
On Saturday November 26 the crescent Moon is close to Mercury, and on Sunday 27 the crescent Moon is close to Venus.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible for most of the night, setting just before morning twilight.
Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time (click to embiggen)In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday November 26 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. .
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, November 21, 2011
Carnival of Space #224 is here.
Carnival of Space #224 is now up at Smaller Questions. There's remote repair of the Voyager spacecraft, the black hole at Cygnus X-1, visiting Mars's Moons and much more. Zip on over and have a read.
Labels: carnival of space
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Port Adelaide Christmas Parade part 2
Port Adelaide Christmas Parade, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Leonid Meteor Shower, November 19, 2011
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Saturday November 19 showing Mars near Regulus and the Moon, with the Leonid Meteor shower radiant indicated with a cross. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.On the morning of Saturday November 19 the Leonid Meteor shower peaks (from the point of view of Australians, that's 18 November UT), with the best time being between 3-4 am.
Unfortunately, the Leonids radiant is just below the last quarter Moon, so very few meteors will be visible (maybe one per hour). You can use the Meteor Flux Estimator to get a prediction for your location. Use the 13 Leonids option and don't forget to set the year to 2011.
If you are going to have a look, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark. Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a handspan up or to the side.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the north-eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The sky will also be particularly beautiful, with the constellations of Orion and Taurus gracing the north-western sky.
Labels: Meteors, unaided eye observation
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Sky This Week - Thursday November 17 to Thursday November 24
The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday November 19. Venus is easily visible in the western evening twilight with Mercury beside it. Venus continues to climb the Scorpion during the week, Mercury begins to sink towards the horizon. Jupiter dominates the evening sky once Venus has set. Mars is visible in the morning sky and is close to the star Regulus. Leonid meteor shower morning Saturday 19.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Saturday November 19 showing Mars near Regulus and the Moon, with the Leonid Meteor shower radiant indicated with a cross. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday November 19.
Mars is low in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is close to bright star Regulus but draws away over the week.
On the morning of November 19 the Leonid Meteor shower peaks, with the best time being between 3-4 am. Unfortunately, the Leonids radiant is just below the last quarter Moon, so very few meteors will be visible. You can use the Meteor Flux Estimator to get a prediction for your location. Use the 13 Leonids option and don't forget to set the year to 2011.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the north-western horizon.
Saturn enters the morning twilight at the end of the week, but will be difficult to see unless you have a clear, level eastern horizon. On Wednesday morning, November 23 the Moon, Spica and Saturn form a triangle just above the horizon at around 5:00 am local daylight saving time.
Evening sky on Saturday November 19 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury in the constellation of the Scorpion. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)
Bright white Venus and Mercury are now readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible besides Venus at the beginning of the week, and the two of them climb the constellation of the Scorpion at the beginning of the week. As the week wears on, Venus continues to climb, but Mercury begins to head towards the horizon.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible all night long now.
Evening sky on Saturday November 19 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time (click to embiggen)
In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday November 19 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,
The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. .
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Saturday November 19 showing Mars near Regulus and the Moon, with the Leonid Meteor shower radiant indicated with a cross. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday November 19.
Mars is low in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is close to bright star Regulus but draws away over the week.
On the morning of November 19 the Leonid Meteor shower peaks, with the best time being between 3-4 am. Unfortunately, the Leonids radiant is just below the last quarter Moon, so very few meteors will be visible. You can use the Meteor Flux Estimator to get a prediction for your location. Use the 13 Leonids option and don't forget to set the year to 2011.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the north-western horizon.
Saturn enters the morning twilight at the end of the week, but will be difficult to see unless you have a clear, level eastern horizon. On Wednesday morning, November 23 the Moon, Spica and Saturn form a triangle just above the horizon at around 5:00 am local daylight saving time.
Evening sky on Saturday November 19 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury in the constellation of the Scorpion. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)Bright white Venus and Mercury are now readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible besides Venus at the beginning of the week, and the two of them climb the constellation of the Scorpion at the beginning of the week. As the week wears on, Venus continues to climb, but Mercury begins to head towards the horizon.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible all night long now.
Evening sky on Saturday November 19 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time (click to embiggen)In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday November 19 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. .
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, November 14, 2011
Mercuy and Venus via Mobile Phone
You will need to click on the image to embiggen to see them, they are between the traffic lights and the street light.
Carnival of Space #223 is here.
Carnival of Space #223 is now up at Vintage Space. There's 30 Doradus, Extrasolar Moons, a brief guide to pulsars, science fiction for SETI, zapping space junk and lots, lots more. Zap on over and have a read.
Labels: carnival of space
Venus and Mercury Climb The Scorpion, 13 November 2011
Venus and Mercury glow through the thin cloud on the evening of 13 November, 2011 as seen from Adelaide at around 8:45 pm. Antares is near the bottom centre.Of course, the 10th and 11th, when Venus and Mercury were closest to Antares, was clouded out.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
An Aquatic Lantern Parade
The completed lanterns for the floating lantern procession as part of the Dragons Breath festival lined up on the slipway at Birkenhead ready to set sail to the former Port Adelaide Sailing Club .
You can't see the Dragon, that was towed by the Dragonboats. The floating lanterns in the picture were pulled by the Archie Badenoch. My job was to ride tail-end Charlie on the rafts and make sure they didn't get tangled or hooked up on something, and ferry ropes to and from the Archie as they couldn't come in close to the shore. I was entrusted with a wakie talkie even.
Have you ever seen a floating lantern parade from the water? It's fantastic. From a kayak you ahve a real river level view. My job wasn't too onerous, especially since we spent a lot of time circling waiting for the artists to set up, and I could hitch a ride on the last raft.
As dusk fell, the lanterns glow began to appear, our little procession sailed under Birkenhead Bridge and we arrived at the old sailing club accompanied by swirling music.
We sailed around a bit, showing off the lanterns then tried to bring them in. Unfortunately it was dark now, great for the lanterns, but the area around the saling club is full of snags lurking underneath the surface. So this made navigating a little tricky. The Dragon pulled by the Dragon boats got hooked up, but then got off. I was towing the line in for the lead float from our group, when the float got hooked on an underwater snag. A single kayak is not good at dragging or shifting 6 connected rafts, so I did a lot of paddling and going nowhere.
Eventually we had the rafts tied up, I had a quick visit to the festival then paddled back to the Birkenhead slip. The night was warm with little wind. Sliding along the dark river, with the lights reflecting it it, was a perfect way to finish off the evening.
Labels: home life, kayak, miscelaneous
SmallestOne is a Even Number Old
SmallestOne was an even number old on 11-11-11. Curiously, the base10 representation of 11-11-11 is one less than the the square of his age. SmallestOnes age is a singel digit, his brothes are double digits old. All three are now even numbers old, but the sum of the two digits of both older boys age is a prime number, the sum of these two primes is SmallestOnes age.
SamllestOne got to pay with his PlayDoh, but didn't get cake, we ended up taking him to hospital for suspected appendicitis. Turned out to be a false alarm, but little man had a birthday that was memorable for the wrong reasons.
Labels: home life
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Images of the 2005 YU55 flyby
For a good wrapup of the 2005 YU55 flyby, pop over to Universe Today's recent post.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Farewell Asteroid 2005 YU55
Well, asteroid 2005 YU55 has come and gone (well it's still visible in good scopes at magnitude 12, but it's moved past the Earth-Moon system). Thousands of people watched, either with their own scopes, rental scopes or on webcasts, as a faint dot skimmed through the sky at absurd speeds.
And utterly failed to impact the Earth, orbiting satellites or the Moon, or cause earthquakes, CME's or rains of toads. Just like us boring astronomers said.
stts internet connectivity for many hourse and could not follow the events or commandeer a telescope.
Initial images and an animation from Astroswanee here.
And utterly failed to impact the Earth, orbiting satellites or the Moon, or cause earthquakes, CME's or rains of toads. Just like us boring astronomers said.
stts internet connectivity for many hourse and could not follow the events or commandeer a telescope.
Initial images and an animation from Astroswanee here.
Labels: animation, asteroids, astrophotography, NEO
NASA posts first Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55
The first movie of 2005 YU55 generated from 6 still images from the Goldstone radar facility.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=77341&media_id=119737731
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=77341&media_id=119737731
Labels: animation, asteroids, NEO
Live Webcast of 2005 YU55
SLOOH remote scopes will have a live webcast of asteroid 2005 YU55 on in 40 minutes if you don't have a scope http://events.slooh.com/
Other live feeds of asteroid 2005 YU55
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003250/
Other live feeds of asteroid 2005 YU55
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003250/
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Viewing Asteroid 2005 YU55 from Australia
Chart of the northern sky as seen from Australia on 9 November 2011, from astronomical twilight on. Ticks show the asteroids position at half hour intervals. Click to embiggen.Asteroid 2005 YU55 zips past us in the next few days, coming as close as 0.85 of the Earth-Moon distances away. It will be closest to us on November 8, 23:39 UT, this translates out to around 10:30 am AEDST on the 9th in Australia.
However, while Australians miss out on the closest approach, from astronomical twilight on the 9th Australian observers will be able to see it scream along low above the northern horizon.
The speed of the asteroid, and the strong background light from the Moon make this an observational challenge. With strong Moonlight, you will need at least a 6" scope to be able to see the 11-12th magnitude asteroid (remember unaided eye visibility threshold is around magnitude 6 without moonlight, and in binoculars under moonlight you are pushing to go below magnitude 8, unless you have super tripod astronomical binoculars), and it moves so fast you will be able to see it move visibly against the background stars as you watch. Astrophotography will be particularly challenging.
The closeness of the asteroid means that it's orbital elements break most planetarium programs (eg. Stellarium puts the asteroid in completely the wrong position, and SkyMap is a little off). You will have to generate a topocentric ephemeris from the using the MPEC ephemeris generator, if you enter the latitude and longitude of your site, into the box in the ephemeris generator it will create a correct topocentric ephemeris for your site. My GRAS observing tips are here, and more observing tips here.
Despite the challenges, seeing this zippy little dot of light will be quite interesting, so why not have a go?
Labels: asteroids, astrophotography
Asteroid 2005 YU55 will also not Cause Earthquakes.
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As you can see from the latest images of asteroid 2005 YU55, it doesn't look much like a space ship, as claimed by certain internet personalities. Also, I'll remind you that the asteroid will not hit Earth or the Moon.
But will it cause earthquakes (or change the Moons orbit)? That's another persistent rumour flying around the bloggosphere. Lets look at it this way, the asteroid has a diameter of 0.4 km, the Earth.s diameter is 12742 km, something like 30,000 times that of YU55. Now, tidal force is proportional to the mass of the objects and falls off as the cube of the distance, and YU55 is 0.85 Lunar Distances away so we would expect that the tidal force of YU55 on Earth will be negligible.
But what about a control, we know of another massive object one Lunar Distance away, that's the Moon itself. The Moon diameter is 3476 Km, nearly 10,000 times that of YU55. Does the Moon cause Earthquakes? No.
If the Moon doesn't cause a significant number of earthquakes, then a lump of rock nearly 10,000 times smaller isn't going to either (and if YU55 hit the Moon, the effect on the Moons orbit will be negligible too, it would be like ramming a Hot Wheels car into an Aircraft Carrier).
Labels: asteroids, NEO, Pseudoscience, Radio Astronomy
Carnival of Space #222 is here.
Carnival of Space #222 is now up at the Next Big Future. There's a laser that can rip spacetime apart, lots of space exploration, life on distant planets, space stations that never were and much, much more. Zap on over and have a read.
Labels: carnival of space
The Sky This Week - Thursday November 10 to Thursday November 17
The Full Moon is Friday November 11. Venus is easily visible in the western evening twilight with Mercury just above it. Venus and Mercury line up with the bright star Antares on the 10th, and continue to climb the Scorpion during the week. Jupiter now dominates the evening sky once Venus has set. Mars is visible in the morning sky and is closest to the star Regulus on the 11th. The variable star Mira is bright.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Friday November 11 showing Mars near Regulus and the brighter stars. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.
The Full Moon is Friday November 11
Mars is low in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is closest to the bright star Regulus on the 11th, and then draws away over the week.
Comet 45P Honda is in the morning sky, but will be very hard to see in the twilight sky without a decent telescope.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the north-western horizon.
Saturn enters the morning twilight at the end of the week, but will be difficult to see unless you have a clear, level eastern horizon.
Evening sky on Thursday November 10 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:30 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury near the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)
Bright white Venus and Mercury are now readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible above Venus at the beginning of the week, and the two of them climb the constellation of the Scorpion as the week wears on.
On the evening of Thursday 10th, the planets line up with the bright red star Antares.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible all night long now.
Evening sky on Tuesday November 15 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time, with Europa transiting Jupiter (click to embiggen)
In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, on the 15th Europa and its shadow transits from 21:30 AEDST.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Sunday November 13 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,
The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. From Sunday on, as the Moon rises later in the evening, observation of the star will be easier.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Friday November 11 showing Mars near Regulus and the brighter stars. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.The Full Moon is Friday November 11
Mars is low in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is closest to the bright star Regulus on the 11th, and then draws away over the week.
Comet 45P Honda is in the morning sky, but will be very hard to see in the twilight sky without a decent telescope.
In the morning Jupiter low is above the north-western horizon.
Saturn enters the morning twilight at the end of the week, but will be difficult to see unless you have a clear, level eastern horizon.
Evening sky on Thursday November 10 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:30 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury near the bright star Antares. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)Bright white Venus and Mercury are now readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.
Mercury is visible above Venus at the beginning of the week, and the two of them climb the constellation of the Scorpion as the week wears on.
On the evening of Thursday 10th, the planets line up with the bright red star Antares.
Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible all night long now.
Evening sky on Tuesday November 15 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time, with Europa transiting Jupiter (click to embiggen)In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.
Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.
There are some good Jupiter Moon events, on the 15th Europa and its shadow transits from 21:30 AEDST.
Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Sunday November 13 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. From Sunday on, as the Moon rises later in the evening, observation of the star will be easier.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
Latest Radar Images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 from Goldstone
This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was taken on November 7, 2011 by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, California.With the updated orbital elements from these observation, the asteroid is still on track to zip harmlessly past Earth and the Moon.
You can read the full press release here.
Monday, November 07, 2011
From Comet Elenin to asteroid YU55 why the Heck are People complaining about NASA?
There is one element that runs continuously through the various Doomsayers claims about comet Elenin/2005 YU55/Nibiru/whatever random chunk of cosmic scenery has caught their attention this week.
It's NASA.
Seriously, what is it about NASA that has everyone thinking it is all of astronomy. It's never asteroid 2005 YU55's orbital elements its NASA's trajectory. NASA can never get a break, if NASA doesn't make a comment of some obscure piece of cosmic debris, they are covering things up. If NASA does make a comment, or provide outreach materials, that's a cover up too.
Look folks, NASA is the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration, not the world astronomy arbiter. The International Astronomical Union represents professional astronomers world wide, and amateur astronomers are represented by hundreds of state or regional association or just do their own thing.
NASA is probably an obvious target because they have a great outreach program, and make a lot of material available for free (like their orbital dynamics program) , but for example, it's not NASA that generates the orbital elements of YU55 that is represented in their orbital diagrams, it's the entire astronomical community, amateur and professional (represented through the Minor Planet Ephemeris Service).
The whole issue of NASA faking stuff is a non-starter, the astronomical community would know straight away and call them out on it, as one poster wrote in the comments to another post:
It's NASA.
Seriously, what is it about NASA that has everyone thinking it is all of astronomy. It's never asteroid 2005 YU55's orbital elements its NASA's trajectory. NASA can never get a break, if NASA doesn't make a comment of some obscure piece of cosmic debris, they are covering things up. If NASA does make a comment, or provide outreach materials, that's a cover up too.
Look folks, NASA is the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration, not the world astronomy arbiter. The International Astronomical Union represents professional astronomers world wide, and amateur astronomers are represented by hundreds of state or regional association or just do their own thing.
NASA is probably an obvious target because they have a great outreach program, and make a lot of material available for free (like their orbital dynamics program) , but for example, it's not NASA that generates the orbital elements of YU55 that is represented in their orbital diagrams, it's the entire astronomical community, amateur and professional (represented through the Minor Planet Ephemeris Service).
The whole issue of NASA faking stuff is a non-starter, the astronomical community would know straight away and call them out on it, as one poster wrote in the comments to another post:
Remember that NASA can't lie to us (amateur astronomers). We have the tools to verify what they say and the knowledge of how space objects behave.So, people worrying about NASA, get over it.
Since decades, nobody has ever been seen lying, although we are plenty to check.
We are thousands around the world with big telescopes. We survey asteroids and comets for them, we can do the calculations for them. The astronomers community is connected with Twitter, Facebook and others ... We are able to raise alerts ! And we do for each discovery.
If one day an asteroid is not EXACTLY at the place it should be in the sky, we will raise an alert. But we never do that because trajectories are really accurate and space objets do not decide to change their path. They follow physics rules that are simple and well well known. No surprise with trajectories...
Labels: NEO, science communicators
Mercury and Venus climb the Scorpion
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Left image: Venus and Mercury lurk just above the clouds below the head of the constellation of the Scorpion on 29 October 2011. The crescent Moon fills in the scene. Centre Image: Mercury and Venus, ostensibly in the head of the scorpion, are hidden behind clouds n November 4. Right Image: Mercury and Venus above the head of the Scorpion on November 6 (Click on any image to embiggen).
Mercury and Venus are slowly climbing up the constellation of the Scorpion, naturally the more spectacular events have been clouded out. Still, the November 10 line-up with Antares should be good if the weather holds off.
Labels: Mercury, unaided eye observation, Venus
Asteroid 2005 YU55 will not hit the Moon either
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| | Animation of the trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 compared to the orbits of the Earth and the Moon on 8-9 November 2011. Image credit NASA/JPL Richard Hoagland has been saying that asteroid 2005 YU55 will hit the Moon. His reason for saying this, apart from some numerical co-incidences which are just that, coincidences (perihelions of YU55 2011-09-09.8, C2010 X1 is 2011-09-10.7, spooky), is that the "close" encounter of Comet C/2010 X1 Elenin and YU55 changed YU55's orbit. Unfortunately for his thesis, at that time Elenin was a stream of dust and rubble not up to deflecting the orbit of anything much. Also, we know that a close encounter between Comet Elenin when it was still intact and the asteroid 1999 RQ176 failed to deflect that asteroid. |
And you would need substantial deflection, look at the animation above (and see also here), to hit (or zoom just above) the Moon would require a significant change of orbit, not just the minuscule deflection an incoherent cloud of dust could cause. What I wrote of YU55 and Earth applies here; a 50% margin of difference in the orbit would still cause the asteroid to miss the Moon by 120,000 Km.
As well, it has to twist the orbit completely, the plane of the asteroids orbit lies above that of the Earth and Moon (see diagrams above and here). To cause that big an orbital change requires a large gravitational filed, not the field of a cloud of dust.
But then again, Richard Hoagladn thinks that the "encounter" between Elenin and YU55 is "intelligently designed" to communicate a message to us.
Frankly, I think alien intelligences have better ways of communicating than with a game of cosmic billiards
Labels: asteroids, Pseudoscience, science communicators
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Sunspot 1339 Bubbles with Flares
Sunspot Group 1339 (that's the rally big group to the left of Centre). Image credit SOHO/NASA.Sunspot Group 1339 has been firing off M class flares nearly continuously. My email in-box is groaning under their weight. The orientation of the sunspot group is not quite good enough for there to be a good chance of auroras, but the possibility is there, so keep an eye out over the next few days.
Also, if it keeps up firing off M class flares the chances of seeing aurora are higher.
This sunspot group is big enough to seen with safe solar projection techniques.
Labels: Solar flare, sunspot
Biopark Lizzie
This celebrates the official opening of the old sailing club site as the new home of Dragon-boats SA and the Port Adelaide Artists forum. From 10 am there will be "try a Dragonboat", art displays, auctions, sausage sizzles, markets and live music.
If you turn up for the lantern parade, you might just see me in a kayak, helping out.
Labels: home life, miscelaneous
Saturday, November 05, 2011
A Very Harty Party
A Little Bit of Culture
Earth from Mars, November 2011
Earth as seen from Mars looking north-west in the late twilight of November 8, 2011 as visualised in Stellarium. The location is approximately the same latitude on Mars as Adelaide is on Earth.For Some reason one of the top search terms for people visiting my blog, now that Elenin has gone, is "Earth from Mars". So, here it is for you searchers.
Labels: Earth, Mars, stellarium
Friday, November 04, 2011
Asteroid 2005 YU55 will Not Hit the Earth (but you knew that)
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Now that comet 2010 X1 Elenin is a handful of dust, the Doomsayers have had to find a new object to panic about. They have found it in the form of the asteroid 2005 YU55. This 400 meter chunk of rock is now the focus of their inchoate fears. It has eclipsed the previous doom asteroid, Apophis, which is of a similar size, for the moment, despite not being on the list of potentially hazardous asteroids.
As with Elenin, this panic is largely due to people not appreciating the scale of the solar system. In comparison to the distance between the Sun and Pluto, YU55's upcoming encounter with Earth is close. But the asteroid comes no closer than 85% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon (350,000 km). In contrast, Apophis will come within the orbits of geosynchronous satellites in 2029, (12,000 km, over 20 times closer) and will not hit us. Heck, earlier this year 2011 MN skimmed above the geosynchronous satellite zone without hitting us. And back in 1976 2010 XC15 came within 0.5 Earth-Moon distances without hitting us.
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Could we be mistaken about the orbit of 2005 YU55? We have a very good idea of the orbit of this asteroid based on over 700 observations between 2005 and 2010. It's orbit was refined further when it was observed by the Arecbio radio telescope in 2010. Remember, we have a very good understanding of the orbital dynamics of asteroids, thanks to a gentleman called Newton. We are able to send tiny spacecraft across the trackless void to rendezvous with asteroids, something impossible if we could not predict their orbits with high precision.
But let's look at this another way, let's assume that our understanding of the orbit of 2005 YU55 was so bad that it could be within 50% of it's predicted position. Then at its closest it would be about 125,00 km away, well away from us, and no threat of collision.
Chart of the sky as seen from Australia on 9 Nov from astronomical twilight on. Ticks show the asteroids position at half hour intervals. Click to embiggen.It will be closest to us on November 8, 23:39 UT, this translates out to around 10:30 am AEDST on the 9th in Australia, still from astronomical twilight on the 9th Australian observers will be able to see it scream along low above the northern horizon.
With strong Moonlight, you will need at least a 6" scope to be able to see the 11-12th magnitude asteroid (remember unaided eye visibility threshold is around magnitude 6 without moonlight, and in binoculars under moonlight you are pushing to g below magnitude 8, unless you have super tripod astronomical binoculars), and it moves so fast you will be ale to see it move visibly against the background stars as you watch.
The closeness of the asteroid means that it's elements break most planetarium programs (eg. Stellarium puts the asteroid in completely the wrong position, and SkyMap is a little off). You will have to generate a topocentric ephemeris from the using the MPEC ephemeris generator, if you enter the latitude and longitude of your site, into the box in the ephemeris generator it will create a correct topocentric ephemeris for your site. My GRAS observing tips are here, and more observing tips here.
I've also made a Celestia file for you. As usual, copy the code below and save as it as a file 2005YU55.ssc in the Celestia extras folder.
======================2005YU55.ssc=============================
"2005 YU55" "Sol"
{
Class "asteroid"
Mesh "ky26.cmod"
Texture "asteroid.jpg"
Radius 0.4 # maximum semi-axis
MeshCenter [ -0.000718 -0.000099 0.000556 ]
InfoURL "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_YU55"
EllipticalOrbit
{
Epoch 2455800.5 # Epoch 2011 Aug. 27.0
Period 1.22
SemiMajorAxis 1.1427166
Eccentricity 0.4289481
Inclination 0.51346
AscendingNode 39.31601
ArgOfPericenter 268.77407
MeanAnomaly 348.84963
}
RotationPeriod 0.9
Albedo 0.15
}
===========================================================
Labels: asteroids, celestia, Pseudoscience, science communicators
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