Orion at 6.a.m. today 25th November 2014

At 6 a.m. this morning it was still dark - just about - and I was out with my camera to try and get an image of the Orion Nebula as that is the topic of "The Amateur Night Sky Daily" today. I used my Sony Alpha 350 and an 18mm lens. Orion was in the west but it was fairly murky in several regions of the sky. This is a 30 second image.

Unfortunately the pole for the lightning conductor does get in the way  in this image!

I have identified some of the stars in the image - see the annotated version below.

Through my Binoculars

Today's Amateur Night Sky Daily is all about Binoculars and astronomy.

It was partially clear last night and I looked at a few objects with my Russian 7X50 Binoculars. They are an exceptionally solid pair with very good optics. the focusing is smooth and accurate. I know that in 1945 much of the Carl Zeiss factory in Jena Germany was transferred to Russian operation resulting in a quality boost to Russian Products. I inherited these binoculars and can't check how old they are but there seem to be a number of similar pairs selling online. Mine are like a new pair with no marks or damage.

The first constellation I spotted on going out was Cassiopeia - it was almost overhead and because of its position an M shape rather than the W shape I normally think of.

The Milky Way was all around and seemed more dispersed Alpha Perseus Regionthan normal - perhaps I was seeing more of it in the very clear sky. To the right of Cassiopeia was the constellation of Perseus  - the binocular view of the stars around Alpha Perseii (Mirfak) is one of my favourites. Alpha Persii is magnitude 1.72. In between Cassiopeia and Perseus was the Double Cluster - quite Double Cluster in Perseus. Len Adambriliant as always but with 7 X 50 binoculars handheld a little shaky. I need a better way of holding binoculars - I find just putting them on a tripod does help but makes for a stiff neck. The image on the right through my 4 inch refractor earlier this month gives an idea of the view through the 7X50 binoculars. The most spectacular view through my binoculars were the Hyades and Aldebaran. Aldebaran was a really bright orange and the main stars of the Hyades cluster fitted well into the field of view of my binoculars. Orion was sideways rising over the mountains towards the east and the Pleiades were very Pleiades Len Adam

bright almost overhead.

There was cloud to the south over the mountain tops which restricted the view in that direction and clouds were moving in rapidly.

This morning at 6 a.m. it had cleared and I took a 30 second image of Jupiter and Leo using my Sony DSLR

This is the annotated version - I have identified some of the stars in the image. Note the faint smudge of M44 at top right.

This is the pair of Russian 7X50 binoculars I used last night.

This is how I attach them to my tripod.

This morning I invented a way of using my i-phone as a finder using the "Sky View" App

To use Sky View as a finder for the Sun I selected Search

then chose the Solar System

then the Sun - an arrow shows the direction to move the binocular/phone combination

almost there

and there it is

spot on

Where are the Dwarf Planets

The articles in The Amateur Night Sky Daily for today explain what Dwarf Planets are why they are so named.

I pointed out where Pluto  - one of the Dwarf Planets was yesterday - it won't have moved much in a day!

This is where the Dwarf Planet Ceres is today at Magnitude 8.76

and this is where it is in the Solar System

 This is where Haumea is located in Bootes at Magnitude 17.33

and Makemake is in Coma Berenices at Magnitude 16.96

Eris is located inthe constellation of Cetus at Magnitude 18.71

This is today's solar system view of all the Dwarf Planets.

Click the image to go to the interactive Solar System Scope

Where is Mars in the sky?

With no clear nights here recently I have begun to lose track of Mars and other planets (and Dwarf Planets!)

This morning's chart

So Mars in in Sagittarius with Dwarf Planet Pluto - no doubt looking for a cup of tea from the teapot! I have also highlighted Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko which is "nearby" in two dimensions - so if you are wondering where Rosetta and Philae and the comet are - you now know.

To put this into perspective - literally - here is the solar system showing the positions of all these objects. The comet orbit is shown - the vertical lines show how far above or below the eclitic the comet lies in its orbit, It is heading for the Sun.

I like the names Rosetta and Philae - I have visited the island of Philae in Egypt and have spent some time in the British Museum looking at the Rosetta Stone and working out the hieroglyphics that cracked the code!

My neighbour here in Spain asked me if I had looked at the comet through my telescope - I explained how faint it was - but that I had taken an image of the area.

On the chart you will see that Venus rises after the Sun and that the Moon is very close - with a phase of 0.14%. Saturn is near the Moon. You may notice a comet symbol just above the Sun. In fact that is the comet 135P/Shoemaker-Levy at magnitude 18.39. However this is not the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that collided with Jupiter 20 years ago - David Levy discovered a number of comets with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker. You will notice that Saturn is also close to the Sun in the sky.

Back to Mars - who needs a telescope - it is amazing that we can view a billion pixel interactive image from the surface of Mars and look around the immediate area - click on the image to link to the interactive viewer.

 I particularly like this video/animation of "How to get to Mars" (Spirit)

The LMC and the Tarantula.

No Moon images today - fairly total cloud cover. I am looking at NGC 2070 imaged using T30 at Siding Spring. This is the first image in Hydrogen Alpha light.

NGC 2070 nebulosity in Hydrogen Alpha - The Tarantula Nebula

The nebula surrounding the energising star cluster R136 - NGC 2070 in Dorado in Hydrogen Alpha. The telescope T30 at Siding Spring was used to take the image. A 300 second exposure. The Tarantula Nebula lies within the Large Magellanic Cloud. 

There are four star clusters surrounding this object that are better shown in the following luminance image. I call these the Four Horsemen of the Tarantula! 

North is to the right and East is up in this image. 

I can see a ghostly figure here quite clearly with a face with eyes, eyebrows, lips, teeth, holding a bunch of flowers (or an LED torch) in its right hand (NGC 2060). Is this an alien race trying to make contact? It actually reminds me of someone... ......Senility is setting in - I will be carted away soon!

NGC 2070 (30 Doradus) the Tarantula Nebula - and the Four Horsemen.

This 300 second luminance only image (T30 Siding Spring) shows NGC 2070 and also four star clusters surrounding it - from bottom left clockwise they are - NGC 2100, NGC 2093, NGC 2042 and NGC 2044. I call these the Four Horsemen of the Tarantula although there is another cluster below and to the right of the Nebula - NGC 2060 - and of course the cluster energising the Tarantula, R136, partially visible through the nebulosity. There is a very old star cluster there as well - Hodge 301 - with stars that contain reused material from ancient supernovae - identified in the following image. North is up and East is to the left in this image.

Hodge 301 Old Star Cluster in the Tarantula Nebula.

Grebel and Chu estimate that the cluster Hodge 301 indicated is 10 times older than the cluster at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula R136.

This morning's Moon and happy birthday Edwin Hubble - see today's "Daily"

I seem to be in a routine of imaging the Moon every morning using my Sony DSLR Camera - this morning I used my lightweight carbon fibre tripod that I bought to take in my rucksack for bird photograpy and a release cable that makes things a bit easier. I used the 18 to 70 mm zoom lens initially then my 150 -500mm zoom lens for a closer look.

The Moon this morning - rising over the Sierra Cabrera Mountain Range

This is a closer view with the small lens set to 70mm

and a much closer view with the 500mm lens

 It is Edwin Hubble's birthday today - I have dedicated today's "Amateur Astronomy Daily" to Hubble  - here is a sample video - something slightly diffferent! Watch it past the introduction!

The Moon and Jupiter this morning 19th November 2014

The Moon and Jupiter were prominent this morning just after 6 a.m. This was the Moon

This was the Moon for the last 2 days

The Moon was rising over the Mountains

This image shows the Earthshine

Jupiter was on high

NGC 2477 Cluster Project

The Moon is still on the wane and I imaged it this morning with my Sony Alpha 350 and telephoto lens - a quick handheld snap.

 

Here is yesterday's image for comparison

 Yesterday I used the T30 telescope at Siding Spring to take 4 images of NGC 2477 also known as M71. I am trying to produce a meaningful HR Diagram of this cluster so that I can estimate its age to see how closely I can get it to the currently accepted value of 700 million years. (SEDS)

I took B and V images at 60 second and 120 second exposures to try and ascertain the optimum exposure. I had previously taken a V image of the cluster with a 300 second exposure and many of the brighter stars were saturated - meaning that I can not measure their V magnitude. 

To be continued.

The Sky this morning - 17th November 2014

6 a.m. and going out with my 8 X 30 binoculars another glittering sky dominated by Orion to the South West with Jupiter very bright at magnitude -2.2. After a minute or so I realise that in fact there is a glow to the sky and spot the Moon at altitude 35 degrees towards the East. I automatically look at the Great Nebula in Orion through my binoculars first - a sort of ritual now - and particularly notice the pairs of stars sitting in a line at different angles to that line.

I didn't see this - I used a remote telescope to take this image

 or this - taken with my Sony camera and telephoto lens at 400mm

but that's getting closer to the visual impression - without the colour of course.

It certainly wasn't like this - taken with the Sony Alpha at 500mm.

 

I used the same camera and lens to quickly snap the Moon this morning

The Moon this morningThe Moon data for 6 a.m. this morning corresponding to my image above from the SkyX follows - it tells that the Moon is in Leo at 35 degrees with a phase of about 27 percent and is waning.

Object Name: Moon

Altitude: +35° 25' 51"

Constellation: Leo

RA (Topocentric): 11h 31m 37s
Dec (Topocentric): +00° 14' 19"
RA (2000.0): 11h 30m 51s
Dec (2000.0): +00° 19' 13"
Azimuth: 122° 08' 23"
Phase (%):  26.69% (waning)
Rise Time: 02:44
Transit Time: 08:57
Set Time: 15:06
Air Mass: 1.72
RA Rate (arcsecs/sec): 0.337273
Dec Rate (arcsecs/sec): -0.162214
Date: 17/11/2014
Time: 06:00:00 STD
Constellation (Abbrev.): Leo
Moon Ecliptic Longitude: 172° 42' 46"
Moon Ecliptic Latitude: -02° 17' 44"
Moon Parallax: 0.9103
Moon Angular Diameter:   0° 29' 46"
Moon Distance (km): 401,477.53
Moon True RA: 11.4934
Moon True Dec: 0.7828
Moon Topocentric Ang. Diameter: 0.5007
Moon Alt w/Refraction: 35.8905
Moon Total Libration l: -2.2287
Moon Total Libration b: 2.9845
Moon Optical Libration l: -2.2363
Moon Optical Libration b: 2.9367
Moon Physical Libration l: 0.0076
Moon Physical Libration b: 0.0477
Moon Position Angle: 24.6372
Phase Angle: 117.7887
Moon Pos. Angle of Bright Limb: 112.0213
Moon's Age (Days Past New): 24.22
Sidereal Time: 08:37
Julian Date: 2456978.70833579
Click Distance: 0.0000
Frame Size (arcmins): 30.0423
Celestial Type: 35
Index: 10
Constellation Number: 45

Early morning stars

When I was 11  (many years ago) I was given a 1 inch drawtube telescope for Christmas, (I still have it). I can remember looking out a bedroom window at the bright star Betelgeuse with the telescope wondering why I could still only see a point of light - although it did dance around quite a lot like a little orange firefly. A few moments ago at 5.50 a.m.I was able to repeat that experience. It was cloudy yesterday and cloudy and very windy through the night so I had closed the external shutters in an attempt to reduce the noise. This morning it was dead calm so I opened the shutters and there was a very starry sky to the west. Orion was there and I used my old auction bought 8 X 30 Carl Zeiss binoculars to look at Betelgeuse and repeat the experience. It did bring back memories of using that 25mm telescope all those years ago. That was when my interest in astronomy started  - fueled by a TV programme that started not long after that called "The Sky at Night". What caught my attention though this morning was the Hyades star cluster.  I was never able to appreciate the Hyades because they were not immediately apparent - particularly through my bedroom window in Hartlepool with that little telescope! Through my bedroom window in the Sierra Cabrera mountain range in Southern Spain this morning half an hour ago it was a different matter. Aldebaran was brilliant and the stars of the Hyades stood out quite distinctly - ah well one more look out of the window and back to sleep I think.