Saturday, August 31, 2013
Fathers Day Treat: The Moon, Jupiter and Mars in the Morning, 1-2 September 2013
If you are going to be up early on the morning on Fathers Day (for Australia) on Sunday September 1 you will see something nice.
The crescent Moon is close to Jupiter and the triangle formed by Jupiter, Mars and the bright star Procycon will be added too by the thin crescent Moon. True, you do have to be up from around 5:30 am to 6:00am to see this.
The nice views continue for the next few days. On Monday September 2 and Tuesday September 3 the crescent Moon is close to Mars, although the Tuesday apparition will be very hard to see with the Moon close to the horizon.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Neptune Opposition 27 August 2013
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| Location of Neptune in Aquarius, as seen looking east from South Australia at 8:00 pm ACST. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at equivalent local times. | View of Neptune as seen through 10x50 binoculars (alright, the field will be circular, but you get the idea. |
Neptune was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on August 27.
Mind you this dioesn't mean much, as Netune is normally a dim magnitude 8. However, over the past 50 years Neptune has been edgeing closer to Earth at every opposition, it is now a mere 28.9729 AU from Earth, compared with 29.3258 in 1958.
Neptune will be closest in 2041 at 28.8144 AU.
However, for the moment Neptune is magnitude 7.8 (and will be for all of September as well) this means it is potentially visible in strong binoculars (at least 10x50's) under dark sky conditions for the next month, when it is normally only visible in telescopes.
It will be a faint dot, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are seeing the farthest planet in our solar system.
Carnival of Space #316 is Here!
Carnival of Space #316 is now up at the Next Big Future. There's nurseries for rogue planets, warp drives, the most amazing telescope and camera, the floating cities of Venus and much, much more. Balloon on over and have a read.
Labels: carnival of space
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
The Sky This Week - Thursday August 29 to Thursday September 5
The New Moon is Thursday September 5. Mars and Jupiter are
prominent in the early morning. The crescent Moon visits Jupiter on the 1st and Mars on the 2nd. Venus is easily visible in the western evening
sky and is close to the bright star Spica on the 5th. Saturn is not far above
Venus. Nova in
Delphinus is visible in binoculars.
The New Moon is Thursday September 5.
Evening
sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00 pm local time on Thursday September 5. Venus is quite high in the evening sky next to the bright star
Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and Arcturus form a triangle in
the evening sky. The insets show the telescopic views of the planets at
this time. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times. Click to
embiggen.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. On the 5th, Venus is closest to Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a triangle in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still a good time to view this planet in a small telescope, you can show the kids before they go to bed. Saturn sets around 10:30 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Morning sky on Sunday September 1 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide
at 5:30 am local time in South Australia. Mars, Jupiter, and Procyon form a triangle in the morning sky.
The crescent Moon is close to Jupiter. Similar views will
be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini. Mars is passing through the constellation Cancer.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially. On Monday September 2 and Tuesday September 3 the crescent Moon is close to Mars.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars. On Sunday September 1 the crescent Moon is close to Jupiter.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location
of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm
local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be
seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere
locations. Click to embiggen.
Nova Delphinus is magnitude 6, fading slowly from its peak of 4.4. It is now visible only in binoculars, possibly even having mini-outbursts. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus and Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
The New Moon is Thursday September 5.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. On the 5th, Venus is closest to Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a triangle in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still a good time to view this planet in a small telescope, you can show the kids before they go to bed. Saturn sets around 10:30 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini. Mars is passing through the constellation Cancer.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially. On Monday September 2 and Tuesday September 3 the crescent Moon is close to Mars.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars. On Sunday September 1 the crescent Moon is close to Jupiter.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location
of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm
local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be
seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere
locations. Click to embiggen.Nova Delphinus is magnitude 6, fading slowly from its peak of 4.4. It is now visible only in binoculars, possibly even having mini-outbursts. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus and Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. 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, August 26, 2013
Nova Delphinus 2013, 26 August
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| Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:00 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS. 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow). it is clearly dimmer than on the 16th, when it was magnitude 4.4. | Nova Delphinus 2013 on the 16th, when it was at its brightest. Imaged at 10:38 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow) |
Nova Delphinus 2013 has faded, and is now around magnitude 6. After days of cloud and rain, I finally had a clear night to view the nova. The nova is still quite clear in binoculars, helped by the current absence of Moon.
I estimated the nova to be magnitude 6.1 tonight. My reference stars were 18 Sge (M6.1) and BU 363 (M6.2).
The nova is fading slowly, with occasional outbursts. It looks like remaining binocular visible for some time now. So there is still time to see one of the brightest novas for years in our night sky.
Viewing guides are here, and my previous images here, here and here.
Labels: binoculars, nova
The Bride of the Son of the Zombie Mars Hoax that will not Die
However, on August 27, in the early morning Mars, Jupiter and Procyon form a nice triangle (the image to the left is at 6:00 am ACST, as seen from Adelaide).
For an overveiw of what the Mars hoax is and why it is so wrong, see the Return of the Zombie Mars Hoax that will not Die.
NEO 2013 QR1 (And Others?) Sunday 25 August 2013.
 |  |
| 2013 QR1, (large dark streak) and two possible companions (or internal reflections). Imaged with iTelescope T12, 11 frames of which only 8 had 2013 QR1 in them (it was moving really fast), the two other traces continued when 2013 QR1 was out of frame, and the middle trace overtook the upper trace, so I don't think they are internal scope reflections. Click to embiggen to see the two faint traces clearly. | Animation of 8 frames with 2013 QR1 in the field. In the small version here you can just see the brighter of the two companions, if you click on the image and embiggen it, the third companion is visible if you squint (unless you really want a 25 Mb animation file it's not that clear) |
Unfortunately, the closest approach was out of reach of the iTelescopes, but I got it in the SSO scopes around 3 hours later.
I got a bit more than I bargained for though. Along with 2013 QR1 were two other fainter, fast movers. I don't know yet if they are known asteroids, or unknown asteroids, or even satellites. But I'll try and get them again tomorrow (the middle one probably not, it was moving faster than the other two and will probably be far way by tomorrow night).
I have no idea of how to do astrometry when the traces are streaks, so I don't know how to trace it back through existing MPC orbits. Anyone have any ideas?
Labels: asteroids, iTelescope, NEO
Sunday, August 25, 2013
NEO Asteroid 1999 CF9, Saturday August 24, 2013
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| Near Earth Asteroid 1999 CF9 on Saturday August 24 at 8:00 pm AEST. Taken with iTelescope T9 at Siding Spring Observatory. The Image is a stack of 11 images, stacked badly on the asteroid (the double dot near the centre, the other weird dot sprays are hot pixels) using ImageJ and a MAXIMUM Z project. Click to embiggen | 18 Images of the asteroid made into a GIF animation. Click to embiggen. |
Near Earth Asteroid 1999 CF9 came close to Earth on August 23 at 00:28 UT at distance of 0.06 AU (around 25 Earth-Moon distances). It has an estimated diameter of 1.1 km.
Unfortunately the iTelescopes were clouded out on the 23rd, at closest approach, but I was able to get this shot of 1999 CF9 on Saturday 24 August. It was moving just a little bit too fast to the autoguider of T9 to track it properly, so it drifted a little bit (enough to confuse the stacking algorithm in ImageJ), but not enough to stop me getting astrometry off it.The Asteroid was around magnitude 14.5 in these images.
Now waiting for 2013 QR1 imagery to come in. This fast mover is more difficult.
Labels: asteroids, iTelescope, NEO
Bushwaking at Bridgewater
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
A Sundiving Keutz Sungrazer Evaporates (and doesn't cause a Coronal Mass Ejection)
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| Sungrazing comet in SOHO LASCO C2 imagery from 21:38 UT 19 August to 02:24 20 August. I have stacked and overlaid the individual images in ImageJ to show the path of the comet (the bright dot coming in from the right hand side that fades and smears out). The bands are the coronal mass ejection. Click to embiggen. | Animation of the same images of the comet. Yopu can see the comet burn away as it approaches the occulting disk (the white circle shows where the surface of the Sun is). If you look carefully you can see the remnants of the tail being blown away in the last few images. (click to embiggen also) |
The Sundiving Kreutz comet I wrote about yesterday entered the SOHO LASCO C3 camera field today, and disintegrated. In the C2 imagry you can see the bright comet eneter the camera view then fade away as it approaches the SUn and evaporates, you can even see the remamants of the tail being blown back by the solar wind.
Some claims have circulated saying that the comet hit the Sun and caused to coronal mass ejection you see. This caim is nased on the C3 images, where it is a bit hard to see the comet as it approaches the occulting disk when the CME blows. In the C3 images it is clear the CME blasts out when the comet is more than two solar diameters from the Sun (also, the CME blasted out from the far side of the Sun, away from the approaching comet).
Labels: comet, Soho, sun grazer
The Sky This Week - Thursday August 22 to Thursday August 29
The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday August 28. Mars and Jupiter are prominent in the early morning. Mars will not be as big as the Moon on August 27, that's a hoax. Venus is easily visible in the western evening sky and climbs towards the bright star Spica. Saturn is not far above Venus. Bright (easily binocular visible) Nova in
Delphinus.
The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday August 28.
Evening
sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00 pm local time on Saturday August 24. Venus is quite high in the evening sky heading for
Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and Arcturus form a kite-shaped pattern in
the evening sky. The insets show the telescopic views of the planets at this time. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times. Click to
embiggen.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a kite shape in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still a good time to view this planet in a small telescope, as there will be the little interference from horizon murk and air turbulence until somewhat later in the evening (and you can show the kids before they go to bed). Saturn sets around 11 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Morning sky on Sunday August 25 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide
at 6:00 am local time in South Australia. Mars, Jupiter, and Procyon form a triangle in the morning sky.
Similar views will
be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter and Mars are passing through the constellation Gemini, towards the end of the week Mars is also close to the bright star Pollux.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially.
The Mars Hoax is with us again. Despite what you may have heard on the internet, Mars will not be as big as the full Moon on August the 27th. This hoax has been going around since 2003, when Mars was closest to the Earth. Full details here.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere locations. Click to embiggen.
Nova Delphinus is magnitude 5, fading slowly from its peak of 4.4. It will probably remain above magnitude 6 for several days, possibly even having mini-outbursts. It is bright enough to be seen faintly with the unaided eye from dark sky locations, and best seen with binoculars. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus and Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday August 28.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a kite shape in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still a good time to view this planet in a small telescope, as there will be the little interference from horizon murk and air turbulence until somewhat later in the evening (and you can show the kids before they go to bed). Saturn sets around 11 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter and Mars are passing through the constellation Gemini, towards the end of the week Mars is also close to the bright star Pollux.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially.
The Mars Hoax is with us again. Despite what you may have heard on the internet, Mars will not be as big as the full Moon on August the 27th. This hoax has been going around since 2003, when Mars was closest to the Earth. Full details here.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere locations. Click to embiggen.
Nova Delphinus is magnitude 5, fading slowly from its peak of 4.4. It will probably remain above magnitude 6 for several days, possibly even having mini-outbursts. It is bright enough to be seen faintly with the unaided eye from dark sky locations, and best seen with binoculars. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus and Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. 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, August 19, 2013
Nova Delphinus 19 August 2013 (and update)
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| Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:00 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS. 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow). The image is badly Moonlight affected. | Animated GIF of the nova taken with iTelescope T12 (Siding Spring Observatory) on the 15th and the 17th (sadly the peak on the 16th was clouded out). Click to embiggen |
Nova Delphinus 2013 has faded, but is still hovering around magnitude 4.8-5.0. After two nights of rain, there was a sufficient gap in the clouds for me to view the nova. I was pleasantly surprised to find the nova is still quite obvious in binoculars, despite the almost full Moon being nearly on top of it (and this wispy cloud interfering).
I estimated the nova to be magnitude 4.8. With the strong Moonlight this estimate is not definitive, but my 4.8 magnitude reference stars (49 Vul 4.8, QR Vul 4.74 and 12 Vul, 4.87 all bracketed it fairly neatly. Definitly brighter than 17 Vul at 5.05.
How fast the nova will fade is not clear. It seems to have plateaued out and may stay at 4.8-5.0 fro a while with occasional outbursts, it may last long enough fro the Moon to go from the sky. Or it may fade rapidly. Either way, there is still time to see one of the brightest novas for years in our night sky.
Labels: binocular, iTelescope, nova
A bright SOHO comet does a Sundive
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| Bright sungrazer comet in SOHO Lasco C3 images on 18 August 2013. Inset shows expanded image of comet. Click to embiggen. Image Credit SOHO/NASA | GIF animation of latest 20 images of comet as it heads for the Sun, it will get brighter over the next day or so before disintegrating. |
A small Kreutz group comet has entered the field of view of the SOHO spacecraft. Karl Battams reports that it's around 30-50 meters wide and may reach magnitude 2 or more before being vaporised by the Sun in the next day or so. Sadly, it will be too close to the Sun to be visible from Earth when it reaches these magnitudes.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
No nova, but awesome comedy
Nova Delphinus 15 August 2013 from iTelescope
Haven't done photometry yet, and New Mexico and SSO were both clouded out tonight, so no recent telescope pictures. Tomorrow hopefully.
Labels: iTelescope, nova
Nova Delphinus 16 August 2013
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| Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:35 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA, 15 second exposure (click to embiggen to actually see anything, Nova indicated by arrow) | Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:38 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow) |
Nova Delphinus is generating lots of excitement as it keeps on brightening, the AAVSO has reports of magnitude 4.5 and 4.4 (see the light curve here). I did photometry on my images using 9 reference stars from magnitude 5.7 to 3.5, and I get magnitude 4.3 for the nova. Just on visual estimation alone I am confident that it is brighter than 4.6. Because the magnitude 4.45 and 4.2 comparison stars are several binocular fields away from the nova it's difficult to make a careful comparison of the brightness (for me anyway), but 4.5-4.4 is realistic. Apparently this puts Nova Delphinus 2013 in the top 35 brightest nova in recorded history.
What that means is that the nova is currently (just) visible to the unaided eye despite the moonlight and light pollution in the suburbs. You do need to use averted vision to see it clearly, but it is there.
What will the nova do now. It's hard to tell, it may brighten a little bit more over the coming day, so it will still be bright tomorrow night, or it may start fading. The only thing to do is keep watching!
Don't forget viewing guides are here, and my previous images here.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Nova Delphinus Visible to the Unaided Eye (brighter than magnitude 5)
I saw nova Delphinus with the naked eye just now! Averted vision, but I could see it under light polluted skies, cloud came over before I could get the camera out! Definitely brighter than mag 4.8. Go and look now!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
My First Images of Nova Delphinus 2013
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| Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:25 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA 15 second exposure (click to embiggen) | Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:23 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen) |
Got my first images of the nova! while I could see it reasonably well around 7:30 pm, even with light pollution and low altitude, by 10:30, when it was 30 degrees from the horizon it was very clear and obvious indeed in my 10x50 binoculars (still too dim for the unaided eye with my suburban skies).
You will need to enlarge the images to see the nova in them, in the 3xzoom the trails are streaked becuase of the magnification and exposure time. Still not bad for a point and click camera.
Using ImageJ I measured the brightness of representative stars in the image, the correlating that with their magnitude I calculated that the nova was magnitude 5.8, a bit brighter than the early reports (which is consistent with my visual impression).
You can compare the images with the charts here.
Magnitude comparison charts are here http://www.aavso.org/comparison-star-chart-nova-del-2013
ALERT! Bright (Mag 6!) Nova in Delphinus
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| Location of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere locations. Click to embiggen. | Black and White map suitable for printing at a scale useful for binoculars, view from the Southern hemisphere, click to embiggen. A high definition PDF map that is better for printing is here. |
Via Patrick Patrick Schmeer, a magnitude 6 nova has been discovered in Delphinus http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J20233073+2046041.html
This nova has now been idependetly confirmed and is currently around magnitude 6.1 (Rfiltered mag) and picked up in binoculars. Image here.
Location R.A. = 20 23 30.68, Decl.= +20 46 03.7 (J2000 coordinates)
While bright enough to bee seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions most people will need binoculars to see it. PDF map here.
UPDATE: Got it in binoculars (too much light pollution for the unaided eye). At least magnitude 6 with 10x50 binoculars, will need to wait until it is a little higher for a more accurate magnitude determination.
 |  |
| Stellarium simulation of the view through binoculars (actually this is equivalent to a few binocular fields stitched together for ease of explanation). The cross is the location of the nova. click to embiggen | Simulation with lines drawn in to help find the nova, click to embiggen. |
At magnitude 6 (or so)the nova is readily visible if you know where to look, but is a bit non-descript. It's best to hunt it with a printout of this binocular location Map in your hand (use a torch with red cellophane over the end to not destroy you night vision, wait at least 5 minutes before searching so your eyes accommodate to the dark). However, this desription may help you find it in binoculars as well.
This description will work for between 9-10 pm, local time. Facing north, the brightest star above the northern horizon is Altair (see top chart above, Vega is brighter but is off to the north-west and low to the horizon). Alitair is easily recognisable by the two dim stars that flank it either side. below Altair by around a hand-span is a straight line of dimmer, but easily recognisable stars. This is Sagitta.
Below and to the right of Altair (and to the right of Sagitta) is a tear-drop shaped group of stars. this is Delphinus. If you draw an imaginary line along Sagitta towards the horiozn, and an imaginary line form the two middle stars of the tear-drop of Delphinus westward, then where the two lines meet is close by the nova.
Aim you binoculars towards this intersecting point. thorugh the binoculars you will see two brightish stars. the one down the bottom has a second dimer star to the left of it, the one up the top is the nova (again, consult the maps for guidance, it may need several back and foths for you to be sure you have seen it).
Magnitude comparison charts are here http://www.aavso.org/comparison-star-chart-nova-del-2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
At the Gov with the Bad Astronomer
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Sky This Week - Thursday August 15 to Thursday August 22
The Full Moon is Wednesday August 21. Mars and Jupiter are more
prominent in the early morning. Venus is easily visible in the evening twilight and climbs towards the bright star Spica. Saturn is in the western evening
sky not far above Venus. Bright (easily binocular visible) Nova in Delphinus.
The Full Moon is Wednesday August 21. The Moon is at Perigee (closest to Earth) on the 19th.
Evening
sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00 pm local time on Thursday August 22. Venus is quite high in the evening sky heading for Spica. Venus, Spica, Saturn and Arcturus form a delightful pattern in the evening sky. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times. Click to
embiggen.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus leaves Beta Viriginis behind as it climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. By the end of the week Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a broad triangle in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still an excellent time to view this planet in a small telescope, as there will be the little interference from horizon murk and air turbulence until somewhat later in the evening (and you can show the kids before they go to bed). Saturn sets around 11 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Morning sky on Sunday August 18 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide
at 6:00 am local time in South Australia. Mars, Jupiter, and Procyon form a triangle in the morning sky.
Similar views will
be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter and Mars are passing through the constellation Gemini, towards the end of the week Mars is also close to the bright star Pollux.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere locations. Click to embiggen.
Nova Delphins is magnitude 6, bright enough to be seen faintly with the unaided eye from dark sky locations, best seen with binoculars. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
The Full Moon is Wednesday August 21. The Moon is at Perigee (closest to Earth) on the 19th.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset. The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus leaves Beta Viriginis behind as it climbs higher in the sky and approaches the bright star Spica. By the end of the week Venus, Spica, Saturn and the star Arcturus form a broad triangle in the evening sky
Saturn is easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo. This is still an excellent time to view this planet in a small telescope, as there will be the little interference from horizon murk and air turbulence until somewhat later in the evening (and you can show the kids before they go to bed). Saturn sets around 11 pm local time.
Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter and Mars are passing through the constellation Gemini, towards the end of the week Mars is also close to the bright star Pollux.
Mars rises only a little higher in the morning twilight, but is now reasonably visible before the sky pales substantially.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and continues to move away from Mars.
Mercury is lost to view.
Location of Nova Delphinus 2013 as seen looking north from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local time.The location is marked with a square. Similar views will be seen at the equivalent local time in other Southern Hemisphere locations. Click to embiggen.
Nova Delphins is magnitude 6, bright enough to be seen faintly with the unaided eye from dark sky locations, best seen with binoculars. A printable binocular map and telescopic coordinates are here.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Saturn so prominent in the sky. 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.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. 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
Another kind of stars
Labels: home life, miscellaneous
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Science Week Begins 10-18 August 2013
National Science Week runs from 10 to 18 August this year, and there are loads of great science events for you to go to.
Today SmallestOne and I went to Science Alive, once again a geat experience with many fantastic science disciplines on display with hands on events. There were microscopes to look through, fossil digs, brain hats and the ubiquitous slime (what kid of any age doen't like slime).
There was a great robotics workshop too, SmallestOne got o do his first ever robotics program, which worked!
There were two new things this year, and it seemed almost every other booth had them: vortex cannon and 3D printers. When I last went in 2011, neither were to be seen, but this year they were in profucion. The 3D printers were amazing, SmallestOne got a printed whistle out of it, the leaps and bound this technology is making is astounding.
The vortex cannon were pretty good too, SmallestOne got to have a go and together we shot prefect circles of smoke into the ceiling. Some people could shoot rings through previous rings.
One that was not so charming was the vortex cannon that was linked to an X-Box video camera, it could target and fire smoke rings at the nearest person. The kids loved it, laughing deligtedly as smoke ring hit them. but a robotic system that can tagert and fire somekrings at individuals can target and fire othe, not so nice things.
A sobering thought to an otherwise delightful science fest.
So, why not head out this week for a heaping of sciencey goodness. You can't see the Bad Astronomer though, he's booked out.
Labels: home life, science communicators, science week
Southern Hemisphere Perseid Update 11-13 August 2103
Just a reminder that the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the morning of Tuesday August 13 between 4:15 am-6:45 am AEST (that's August 12, 18h15m to 20h45m UT).
Despite this being a quite reasonable meteor shower in the Northern Hemisphere, for most of Australia and a large chunk of the Southern Hemisphere the radiant is below the horizon, and only the very occasional meteor will be seen shooting up from the northern horizon.
Basically, anywhere south of the latitude of Brisbane (27.3 degrees South) will see few, if any, meteors. That includes about 2/3rds of Australia, New Zealand, a large chunk of South Africa and most of Argentina, Chile an Uruguy.
Rates from representative locations in northern Australia, observing hints and a link to the Meteor Flux Estimator are in my previous Perseid post.
Some sites have reported disappointing meteor rates so far, but the International Meteor Organisations Live Meteor rate chart looks like it's heading for the usual peak (compare with 2012 and 2011).
For a bit of amusement, as you get up at 3:30 am in the cold and dark to watch for meteors shooting up from below the northern horizon, here's the XKCD list of important meteor showers.
Labels: Meteors
At Science Alive 2013
Labels: science communicators, science week
NEO 2005 WK4, August 10, 2013
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| NEO 2005 WK4 at 18:00 UT 10 August, 13 hours after closest approach. 19x15 second images taken with iTelescope T9. The images were stacked in ImageJ and a Max intensity Z project made, then despeckeled.The sequence is an improvement on the previous attempts that were | Animated gif from the 19 frames |
Near Earth Asteroid 2005 WK4 (420 m diameter came close to Earth on August 9 at 05:02 UT at distance of 0.02 AU (around 8 Earth-Moon distances). The asteroid was around currently magnitude 14.0 when I took this.My previous images are here and here.
Here's a YouTube version of the animation as well
Labels: asteroids, iTelescope, NEO
Venus and the Moon, August 10, 2013
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| The crescent Moon and Venus 5 minutes after sunset.Taken in auto mode on my Canon IXUS, 400 ASA at 3x Zoom. (click to embiggen to see Venus clearly). | The crescent Moon and Venus later that evening when the cloud cleared again. Good Earth-shine. Taken on my Canon IXUS, 400 ASA, 3xZoom, 4 seconds exposure. (click to embiggen). |
Not as much luck tonight as last night, did see Venus and the crescent Moon together, but intermittent cloud meant I couldn't get that nice part of the twilight when there is interesting detail about. Also missed daylight Venus due to persistent cloud (well did see it through cloud 5 minutes before sunset, but that doesn't really count).
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