Saturday 16th August - Looking back to 2011 - Supernova SN2011B in NGC 2655 galaxy. The Little Dumbbell Nebula and Caroline Herschel's NGC 381 Cluster

In 2011 I imaged the supernova SN2011B, the second one to be discovered in 2011.

The image is the result of aligning then averaging 100 1-second images.

 I took the opportunity to image a number of interesting objects

 This is known as the "Little Dumbell" Nebula, NGC 650 or Messier 76. This is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Perseus.

The NGC 381 image below is of an open cluster that Caroline Herschel discovered in 1783. 

Day 147 Friday 15th August 2014 - Clouds - Still looking back to 2009 and Supernova 2009ay

Supernova 2009ay as reported in The Astronomer Electronic Circular 2544

Day 146 Thursday 14th August 2014 Clouded out - look back to 2009. Supernova 2009at

As I am clouded out here I have been looking at old images I have taken of Supernovae.

Supernova 2009at in NGC 5301

Day 145 Wednesday 13th August 2014 Mirror Lock Up and Canon 40D Images from earlier in the year

Both telescopes were set up today but it became windy and later cloud descended on the mountain. I managed a few galaxy images of very poor qulity because of the wind on the C14 but did not manage to get the Canon/4 inch set up.

Earlier in the day I checked the connection of the Canon to APT, PHD connectivity to the guiding cam and themount without problem.

 The APT (AstroPhotographyTool) Software recognises the Canon 40D and comes up with this message

C.Fn. means Custom Function in Canon speak and is an option on the menu

Its address is C.Fn III -7 and needs to be set to 1:Enable.

I checked that this was so - although difficult to see the menu in the bright sunshine when I was doing it this afternoon.

 Here are some images I took earlier this year using the Canon40D

California Nebula

Spectra of Capella and nearby stars using a grating

 

Day 143 Tuesday12th August 2014 Wildlife images from Mojacar and El Cabo de Gata

Mojacar Cormorants

       

 

 

 

 

Female Stonechat (Above and Below)

 

Day 142 Monday 11th August 2014 Chart of the 2013 and 2014 Supernovae

Moon still too bright - the entire sky is white - Perseus is too low in the sky to see any Perseids at this latitude. No observing.

Following yesterdays list of 2014 Supernovae - here is a chart illustrating supernovae discovered in 2013 and 2014. The 2014 SN are labelled.

 This is the sky at 11pm tonight looking south - except of course the "supermoon" will be in the sky!

Day 141 Sunday 10th August 2014 Supernova discoveries so far this year.

Supernova of 2014 so far. Data courtesy of CBAT imported and filtered to Software Bisque SkyX Observing List

Object	Host Galaxy	Date				Type	Discoverer
2014A	NGC 5054	2014	1	1		IIP	Kim, Zheng et al. (LOSS)
2014B	NGC 4939	2014	1	2		IIP	Kim, Zheng et al. (LOSS)
2014C	NGC 7331	2014	1	5		Ib	Kim, Zheng et al. (LOSS)
2014D	UGC 7170	2014	1	1		Survey)   Ia	Howerton, Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient
2014E	UGC 7034	2014	1	7		Survey)   Ia	Howerton, Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient
2014F	NGC 6667	2014	1	11		II	Itagaki
2014G	NGC 3448	2014	1	14		IIn	Itagaki; Wiggins
2014H	Anon.	2014	1	14		Ia	Li, Mo, Wang, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014I	Anon.	2014	1	17		Ia	Parker
2014J	NGC 3034	2014	1	21		Ia	Fossey
2014K	Anon.	2014	1	22		Ia	Cortini
2014L	NGC 4254	2014	1	26		Ic	Zhang, Wang et al. (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014M	Anon.	2014	1	18		Ia	Ma, Wei, Shang, Wang, Wang
2014N	ESO 246-G22	2014	1	27		IIP	Parker
2014O	ESO 263-G4	2014	2	2		IIP	Parker et al.
2014P	ESO 264-G49	2014	2	2		IIn	Parker
2014Q	Anon.	2014	1	29		Ia	Morokuma et al. (KISS); Zhou, Mo, Wang, Zhang (TNTS)
2014R	UGC 5055	2014	2	8		Ia-p	Zhou, Chen, Wang, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014S	Anon.	2014	2	21		II	Tanaka et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014T	Anon.	2014	2	22		IIn	Tanaka et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014U	NGC 3859	2014	2	23		II	Tanaka et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014V	NGC 3905	2014	2	21		II	Smartt, Smith et al. (Pan-STARRS1 3pi Survey)
2014W	Anon.	2014	1	25		Ia	Dhungana, Ferrante et al. (ROTSE)
2014X	ESO 379-G31	2014	3	1		Ia	Parker
2014Y	Anon.	2014	3	2		IIn	Zhang, Wang, Mo (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014Z	ESO 114-G4	2014	3	6		Ia	Parker
2014aa	NGC 3861	2014	3	7		Ia	a  Arbour
2014ab	Anon.	2014	3	9		t Survey)  IIn	b  Howerton, Drake eet al. (Catalina Real-time Transien
2014ac	NGC 5837	2014	3	9		Ia	c  Leonini et al.
2014ad	Anon.	2014	3	12		Survey)   I-p	d  Howerton, Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient
2014ae	MCG 11-15	2014 03	3	201		Ia	alanutsa (MASTER)
2014af	Anon.	2014	2	7		IIP	f  Denisenko (MASTER)
2014ag	MCG 34-101	2014 03	11	201		Ia	ress (MASTER)
2014ah	MCG 30-44	2014 03	12	201		Ia	eonini et al.
2014ai	NGC 2832	2014	3	21		Ia	i  Forbes, Romanowsky et al.; Itagaki
2014aj	UGC 3252	2014	3	24		Ia	j  Itagaki
2014ak	NGC 2446	2014	3	26		Ia	k  Xu, Gao (Xingming Sky Survey)
2014al	Anon.	2014	3	28		Ia	l  Balanutsa (MASTER)
2014am	Anon.	2014	3	26		Ia	m  Denisenko (MASTER)
2014an	Anon.	2014	3	31		Ia	n  Tominaga et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014ao	NGC 2615	2014	4	17		Ia	o  Kumar, Bigley, Zheng et al. (LOSS)
2014ap	Anon.	2014	3	20		Ia	p  Ciabattari et al.
2014aq	Anon.	2014	4	14		Ia	q  Walker et al. (La Silla-Quest Survey)
2014ar	ESO 266-G15	2014	4	18		Ic	r  Bock
2014as	NGC 5410	2014	4	18		Ic	s  Grennan
2014at	NGC 7119	2014	4	20		Ia	t  Parker
2014au	Anon.	2014	4	20		Survey)   IIP	u  Howerton, Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient
2014av	UGC 4713	2014	4	19		Ibn	v  Xu, Gao (Xingming Sky Survey)
2014aw	Anon.	2014	4	25		Ia	w  Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient Survey)
2014ax	UGC 10318	2014	5	3		IIP	x  Boles
2014ay	UGC 11037	2014	5	4		vae)       II	y  Holoien et al. (All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNo
2014az	NGC 7691	2014	4	30		IIp	z  Parker
2014ba	NGC 7410	2014	5	7		Ia-p	a  Parker
2014bb	NGC 5214	2014	5	9		Ia-p	b  Ciabattari, Mazzoni, Rossi
2014bc	NGC 4258	2014	5	19		II	c  Smartt et al. (Pan-STARRS1)
2014bd	Anon.	2014	4	23		II-p	d  Tominaga et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014be	Anon.	2014	5	7		Ia	e  Li, Mo, Wang, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014bf	MCG 41-7	2014 05	22	201		IIP	o, Li, Li, Wang, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014bg	UGC 9396	2014	6	5		Ia	g  Villi, Bombardini, Benazzi
2014bh	Anon.	2014	5	22		Ia	h  Li, Li, Mo, Wang, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014bi	NGC 4096	2014	5	31		IIP	i  Kumar, Zheng, Filippenko (LOSS)
2014bj	Anon.	2014	5	22		Ia	j  Yuk, Zheng, Filippenko (LOSS)
2014bk	Anon.	2014	5	28		Ibn	k  Morokuma et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014bl	Anon.	2014	5	20		Ic	l  Li, Wang, Mo, Zhang (THU-NAOC Transient Survey)
2014bm	NGC 6456	2014	6	6		Ia	m  Ciabattari, Mazzoni, Donati
2014bn	IC 1370	2014	6	8		Ia	n  Ciabattari, Mazzoni, Petroni
2014bo	Anon.	2014	5	19		Ia	o  Tominaga et al. (Kiso Supernova Survey)
2014bp	Anon.	2014	6	5		Ia	p  Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient Survey)
2014bq	Anon.	2014	6	3		Ia	q  Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient Survey)
2014br	ESO 147-G17	2014	5	5		Ibc	r  Parker
2014bs	NGC 5270	2014	5	30		Survey)   Ia	s  Howerton, Drake et al. (Catalina Real-time Transient
2014bt	IC 5128	2014	5	31		Ibc	t  Parker
2014bu	NGC 694	2014	6	17		IIP	u  Monard
2014bv	NGC 4386	2014	6	18		Ia	v  Cortini
2014bw	Anon.	2014	6	10		IIn	w  Ciabattari, Mazzoni, Rossi
2014bx	NGC 6808	2014	7	20		Ia	x  Parker
2014by	UGC 9267	2014	7	15		Ia	y  Bombardini, Villi

Day 140 Saturday 9th August Moon is very bright- but behind clouds. The Cicada Story.

It was very cloudy tonight so there was no activity on the observing front.

During the day Cicada activity was high - quite a noise - especially when I found a single male on a pillar on the terrace. As soon as I got close it went quiet.

This is it

 Here is David Attenborough to explain what is going on,

Day 139 Friday 8th August 2014 The Moon with the iPhone NightCap App and more Rosetta videos.

The Moon is bright tonight and it is quite humid.

Here is the Moon over the pool. I used the NightCap App on my iPhone with a 1 second exposure for this.

I started up the scope but a bit pointless really  - this photograph says it all! The red light on the scope is on the TCF Si Focuser.

I am still following up on Rosetta - this video is worth watching

and this one

Day 138 Thursday 7th August 2014 Humidity stops observing and Cabo de Gata Images

An extremely humid evening so no observing  - the Moon is very bright as well. 

I took more images on my recent trip to Cabo de Gata on the South East tip of Spain. Here are some of them.