tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76281714704277984942024-03-14T00:40:33.936-07:00Visible SunsAstronomy, Light Pollution, the Universe and Us.W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.comBlogger414125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-73013135627169314992024-02-10T12:52:00.000-07:002024-02-10T12:52:52.378-07:00Disco Sunspots!<p> Back in October I posted about <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/10/solar-eclipse.html" target="_blank">using a disco ball to observe a solar eclipse</a>. It turns out that you can also use a disco ball to safely observe sunspots too. Here's how I did so earlier today.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntgJn7v3tzAxtQO-zfJ8J7soYqSPYlfLB9JHVy7oG6254q5svyYyOlYIglDLXw8uW2EjV42YJSv3vSQiy65Fu3keunLHASlfy5vs_fLqr-ge5RiIhVEbwlGokkSL6GuRgmTLdpXyjJBmPauNdrTgrmBREcxNE2YI1G8INxD8THUFcDjPiDcAiClm9r7mF/s4032/DiscoSunGlare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntgJn7v3tzAxtQO-zfJ8J7soYqSPYlfLB9JHVy7oG6254q5svyYyOlYIglDLXw8uW2EjV42YJSv3vSQiy65Fu3keunLHASlfy5vs_fLqr-ge5RiIhVEbwlGokkSL6GuRgmTLdpXyjJBmPauNdrTgrmBREcxNE2YI1G8INxD8THUFcDjPiDcAiClm9r7mF/w300-h400/DiscoSunGlare.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p>Really all you need is a disco ball, a place to secure it in the sunlight and a shadowed area to project the image of the Sun. Here I have my disco ball sitting on a tripod for a Unistellar telescope. I aligned the disco ball so that it reflected an image of the Sun into my house and nearly 70 feet down a dark hallway on to a sheet of white paper. Here's the result:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyQj_b-bntDZ8InGGhmcVNWnpxq89NlHdykGNfuk_rBrQ3K7WWcZXGmKyC16GOwABELxiTigy5vHPFup3K8o6k8DURdUGlURwY4xY18DIu5XG0MaUl4DsbPvkFvRIEy1d3cE2K6D7hfQKEzHOjWjpgjbtuO_mjUXXoLC8ZViezpRZdjIblgxf2fUa21gH/s4032/DiscoProjected%20Sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyQj_b-bntDZ8InGGhmcVNWnpxq89NlHdykGNfuk_rBrQ3K7WWcZXGmKyC16GOwABELxiTigy5vHPFup3K8o6k8DURdUGlURwY4xY18DIu5XG0MaUl4DsbPvkFvRIEy1d3cE2K6D7hfQKEzHOjWjpgjbtuO_mjUXXoLC8ZViezpRZdjIblgxf2fUa21gH/w480-h640/DiscoProjected%20Sun.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><p>It's not a great image, but you should notice a definite gray smudge-like area on the projected image of the Sun. That's a big sunspot that is visible on the Sun today. I also imaged the Sun with a Unistellar Odyssey Pro telescope and solar filter. I got this image which I rotated to match the orientation of the projected image above. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbO5WBEkFHrOObNZXE7ppdHY8yh1H5J9setj0NStkBrs2BGhyphenhyphenFA0gOCKnS4cNJG8SSKe9KR_h_6V2Uo4AnqCQErJW4raE3pNDoH8VQ3IznO6Ly2s3FTIa0CKKEGxisoYR3r0AIuyTvjdGG8PLsHcPcbbDPxHwij2nzyjm_-KNaLhjpq3_jsJukcgtKLnwO/s2880/eVscope-20240210-183025.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="2880" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbO5WBEkFHrOObNZXE7ppdHY8yh1H5J9setj0NStkBrs2BGhyphenhyphenFA0gOCKnS4cNJG8SSKe9KR_h_6V2Uo4AnqCQErJW4raE3pNDoH8VQ3IznO6Ly2s3FTIa0CKKEGxisoYR3r0AIuyTvjdGG8PLsHcPcbbDPxHwij2nzyjm_-KNaLhjpq3_jsJukcgtKLnwO/w640-h480/eVscope-20240210-183025.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>As you can see, that's the same sunspot group in both images. This is another confirmation that a disco ball is an excellent tool for safely observing the Sun. <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-9820881949524303302023-11-10T15:10:00.183-07:002023-11-12T15:20:18.071-07:00Jupiter's Moons: Himalia, Elara and Pasiphae Too<p>It's no secret that I like to use my Unistellar telescopes to track down obscure things and to create animations of them moving in the sky. Back in August I managed to track down Saturn's faint moon Phoebe (<a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/08/saturn-with-five-moons.html" target="_blank">on my blog here</a>). </p><p>Now that Jupiter is in opposition its time once again for me to take a look at it and some of its family of moons. The four Galilean moons are bright and easy to see with any optical magnification - even binoculars will work if you can hold them steady enough. </p><p>Here's a shot of them taken in late October when Jupiter was also near enough to a background star that was almost as bright as one of the moons. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6agXQWPEP94A-W9qZ0r8Tp5EzI3i8c9Qg3FHs6qe00g3wLo1StlntFMb5NuvgdP_IDtjSGoMcswupApRFcRwzhsjV3-aRnIiHIe3UBZQVieu_veXpiuy6WG6nhHBjoTZZ6Jy-ud0eKqiA9B9x-7YYyYKxHhOzLZN43qC8x6qb9vcnGtHwrmMHXoR2wIav/s1118/Jupiter%20moons%20annotated.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1118" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6agXQWPEP94A-W9qZ0r8Tp5EzI3i8c9Qg3FHs6qe00g3wLo1StlntFMb5NuvgdP_IDtjSGoMcswupApRFcRwzhsjV3-aRnIiHIe3UBZQVieu_veXpiuy6WG6nhHBjoTZZ6Jy-ud0eKqiA9B9x-7YYyYKxHhOzLZN43qC8x6qb9vcnGtHwrmMHXoR2wIav/w640-h368/Jupiter%20moons%20annotated.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>Jupiter has 96 (!) known natural satellites, but most people only ever see the four pictured above. Back in 2021 (when there were <i>only</i> 80 known moons of Jupiter) I first <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/09/finding-himalia.html" target="_blank">blogged about</a> trying to extend my view to include Jupiter's moon Himalia. I found it, but wasn't very happy with my results, so I revisited finding that moon again last year (on my blog <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/08/finding-himalia-2022-edition.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and now that I have just seen it again, I suppose that it has become an annual thing for me.<p></p><p>The animated gif below is from two images taken 58 minutes apart on 9 November 2023. Himalia can be seen moving pretty close to dead center and the glow of Jupiter is on the left. I circled it to make it easier to see. <br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6EtJYB9hworzMt1EdI_Xi5wbH68KROUEKCK5SmWqXamCBya4WrOdai79RRO4CQlHEloL03AtQR6ghNwX0bFYoxhIX-UFri4N-Qhm54HPBWkrg9owvRKU2srK8t2uJQs_t1Pd8Tp-rmZ1k0LIU1o4MqCY3gRUlldEEGyNcJcmhoWzL1-YVwiDh8tr65bi/s1200/Himalia%20annotated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1200" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6EtJYB9hworzMt1EdI_Xi5wbH68KROUEKCK5SmWqXamCBya4WrOdai79RRO4CQlHEloL03AtQR6ghNwX0bFYoxhIX-UFri4N-Qhm54HPBWkrg9owvRKU2srK8t2uJQs_t1Pd8Tp-rmZ1k0LIU1o4MqCY3gRUlldEEGyNcJcmhoWzL1-YVwiDh8tr65bi/w640-h458/Himalia%20annotated.gif" width="640" /></a></p><p>That worked out pretty well. Well enough that I wondered if there were any other Jovian moons that I might be able to catch. </p><p>Moons like Amalthea are bright enough, but far too close to the glare of Jupiter for me to ever be able to see. Some of them are just too small and faint, but Elara is just bright enough and far enough from Jupiter for me to be able to photograph it with my 4.5" telescope.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2Y1rxjnSK10cjAjtPSfssERzKmlSwI70HB_N8y8rqaJR2cBHvwCP0Esn57ymYbqtCrwRJI2tyLDD37VJVuG7a22NXqqi4_Ddbi5QY8ARNJnyGxI-qUgeA13LfW0sUKhQLECtw5JDdKLfNlN1iVsvNzRcQMK3vlyM4nmDWAXJvDrBuVXcNNLyCFuCNkYa/s977/Himalia%20Elara%20orbits.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="977" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2Y1rxjnSK10cjAjtPSfssERzKmlSwI70HB_N8y8rqaJR2cBHvwCP0Esn57ymYbqtCrwRJI2tyLDD37VJVuG7a22NXqqi4_Ddbi5QY8ARNJnyGxI-qUgeA13LfW0sUKhQLECtw5JDdKLfNlN1iVsvNzRcQMK3vlyM4nmDWAXJvDrBuVXcNNLyCFuCNkYa/w640-h430/Himalia%20Elara%20orbits.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Elara and Himalia are in the same group (the Himalia group) of Jovian irregular satellites. With a diameter of 105.6 miles Himalia is larger than tiny Elara, which is just 53 miles across. As you can see from the graphic above (which I created using the SkySafari app), Elara is a bit farther away from Jupiter. It takes 260 days (8 1/2 months!) for it to complete an orbit around Jupiter. Himalia orbits just a bit faster, swinging around Jupiter ever 251 days (That's still a long time.). </p><p>I was a little worried because I had some cirrus clouds in the way and
SkySafari (by far my favorite astronomy app) doesn't always have the
best coordinates for these faint irregular moons. I pointed my telescope at the position listed and saw this: </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeen9iyp4Lf6GvdYEWalnzlQIrqs4nOasIHrbaT8GTxL9SdnNR_N-EOKUcIzHd5MzNpGedfyatAZub0cElBdRcIfdVcXjLGytyiFGUy2gTaKD3L-Nyi8hPir3hLZgnCWkepkttzr7rxBAc2xmf6LqiOoei0hSD0b6XNGzsL38DSuL7uAY5YRWDTlZYj05/s900/Elara%20Nov%209%202023.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeen9iyp4Lf6GvdYEWalnzlQIrqs4nOasIHrbaT8GTxL9SdnNR_N-EOKUcIzHd5MzNpGedfyatAZub0cElBdRcIfdVcXjLGytyiFGUy2gTaKD3L-Nyi8hPir3hLZgnCWkepkttzr7rxBAc2xmf6LqiOoei0hSD0b6XNGzsL38DSuL7uAY5YRWDTlZYj05/w640-h480/Elara%20Nov%209%202023.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>There's a moving object in the lower right corner which at first I thought was Jupiter's satellite Elara. It was only later (after I put up an earlier version of this post) that I realized that I hadn't checked to see if there were any known asteroids in the area. Sure enough, that's the asteroid known as (933) Moultona.</p><p>Well, rats. What I needed was more accurate coordinates. Thankfully, JPL's <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/" target="_blank">Horizons System</a> is an easy resource for getting accurate coordinates for small solar system objects.</p><p>I pointed my 4.5" telescope at the right place and gave it another shot. Was I able to spot a moon that's just 53 miles across from a distance of over 376 million miles? Yes, though the glare from Jupiter was far worse than it was for Himalia (and strangely red too).</p><p>It's pretty tough to spot in the full frame, so I have posted a cropped animated gif version with Elara in a circle.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgxIL_LydH-sxYSAJz9yxMZLZLvkvo-_Fb0V8c1zT3A_BggN6Q3oMVGNUvo7eLxzOhyHwNgVcUVD8r1HDU7Zp8bS_zWOxbJK-yz2Zj8FVCfiCZdVT7SmC5CvLj1aXkQn4581PTGXNqYXAcXAuPJ6k9ofvMMnCa9UldymKBP-0j8yjdUSkdlAtjFK67Q3m/s1200/Elara%20annotated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgxIL_LydH-sxYSAJz9yxMZLZLvkvo-_Fb0V8c1zT3A_BggN6Q3oMVGNUvo7eLxzOhyHwNgVcUVD8r1HDU7Zp8bS_zWOxbJK-yz2Zj8FVCfiCZdVT7SmC5CvLj1aXkQn4581PTGXNqYXAcXAuPJ6k9ofvMMnCa9UldymKBP-0j8yjdUSkdlAtjFK67Q3m/w640-h426/Elara%20annotated.gif" width="640" /></a></div>According to JPL's Horizons System Elara has an apparent magnitude of 16.625, just over half a magnitude fainter than what SkySafari listed. There's one other irregular satellite of Jupiter that is near to that magnitude: Pasiphae, with a magnitude of 16.877, it's only a bit fainter than Elara. With a diameter of 36 miles it is smaller but, thankfully, it is also farther away from the glare of Jupiter. In fact it is a lot farther from Jupiter. <p></p><p>Here it is: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrUY6UB96JwCodWL7tCldp9h2J6dTZkGIWAhLCjxyJ-qFlcsepmECDjsphOvjD0L82Ozc9nryrzt0eT3mcxDmwtfpqM9LoUMzXIlqRlvS4qhofpfkEZrOvDD48FubX-frvTw-9bsbCc0MNEugx6AS7VJbiKGzsbmi16b7BQ5G84EWHcUM4aiqRUoUyAEjV/s1200/Pasiphae%20annotated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1200" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrUY6UB96JwCodWL7tCldp9h2J6dTZkGIWAhLCjxyJ-qFlcsepmECDjsphOvjD0L82Ozc9nryrzt0eT3mcxDmwtfpqM9LoUMzXIlqRlvS4qhofpfkEZrOvDD48FubX-frvTw-9bsbCc0MNEugx6AS7VJbiKGzsbmi16b7BQ5G84EWHcUM4aiqRUoUyAEjV/w640-h414/Pasiphae%20annotated.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>Pasiphae has a retrograde orbit (meaning it orbits backward relative to the orbits of all of Jupiter's regular moons) that takes 764 days to complete. Yes, it takes just over two Earth years to circle Jupiter! Since Pasiphae and even Elara and Himalia take so very long to circle Jupiter, what we are seeing here isn't much of any of their orbital motions. Instead, most of their motion in the sky is because Earth itself is a moving object. During the hour or sow between images Earth moved much more in its orbit around the Sun than Jupiter and its family of moons did, allowing them to be seen against the much further background stars.<br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-69414860417126944522023-10-20T12:38:00.000-07:002023-10-20T12:38:37.675-07:00Solar Eclipse!<p>On October 14, 2023 along a line from Oregon through Texas there was an annular eclipse. The rest of the continental U.S. got to see a nice partial solar eclipse. </p><p>I observed the partial eclipse along with about 50 others at Palomar College where I teach astronomy.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0Vd6pCjYBioK2A1McEKAjd3LjMeITbEiqqL4zPhCgtHav7ru7J_EU61l_7v6Hzlb08Izfb0Nsz8R81K2wZTz7VaaQ9f50InSOqb3CQ3tasPElEKHjpDNss6JLxdVaGggqXuhVnbcROcXDCm6_poOTMhZ1D4LwgEAjZ4t5pGHqivgAXw8326I7YcFNc6R/s4032/eclipse%20crowd.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0Vd6pCjYBioK2A1McEKAjd3LjMeITbEiqqL4zPhCgtHav7ru7J_EU61l_7v6Hzlb08Izfb0Nsz8R81K2wZTz7VaaQ9f50InSOqb3CQ3tasPElEKHjpDNss6JLxdVaGggqXuhVnbcROcXDCm6_poOTMhZ1D4LwgEAjZ4t5pGHqivgAXw8326I7YcFNc6R/w400-h300/eclipse%20crowd.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The eclipse crowd at Palomar College (that's my shadow in front)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As you can see from the photo above we had perfect weather and the eclipse did not disappoint. </p><p>Here's a photo taken when the Moon had maximum coverage over the Sun from our vantage point:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KhM_BivjJ8MhpBYJEQmTHr843TCWkd_3Kk8Fgn09gK-FxctHIR4ohqMwangjBITI_VJyLgUB1DGKdibwK5XmsOkQ3ENnvg3HNlP6fHj8FiVK6jCcM7OKuQkT2d4may6dGJZSvO2pxZ_hKyDJOBZui5E1TC0b7uxI_A_UwWnyeI9gp8IO2-fLmAcFpmWL/s2048/Oct%2014%202023%20eclipse%20max.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KhM_BivjJ8MhpBYJEQmTHr843TCWkd_3Kk8Fgn09gK-FxctHIR4ohqMwangjBITI_VJyLgUB1DGKdibwK5XmsOkQ3ENnvg3HNlP6fHj8FiVK6jCcM7OKuQkT2d4may6dGJZSvO2pxZ_hKyDJOBZui5E1TC0b7uxI_A_UwWnyeI9gp8IO2-fLmAcFpmWL/w640-h480/Oct%2014%202023%20eclipse%20max.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image captured using a Unistellar eQuinox 2 telescope<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Thanks to the dedication of Palomar student Tomas Chester we were able to capture a time-lapse video of the entire event. Here's what it looked like: </p><p>
</p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mWJftjVfIZs?si=2vA3n2BiFrqqDYEs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>About two weeks before the eclipse I learned of a very cool outreach tool that helps to make eclipse viewing safe and fun - a disco ball. (See the paper: <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.14173" target="_blank">Why every observatory needs a disco ball</a>). I immediately purchased a disco ball and set it up on the day of the event.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5_4fYoghtc8BdcKGGYY6VomBgDwJYpmo95XZ_NI0wf12nUInT9d_9D0EEooTmNMI-x4UNcLiqowHcp6llaBxVGSTX8HFZNaVbJTeeCCKvghiMoltbjhwMECdidBmOtqX9_BUVafQviR-SnmvOCFyACAKq8EMqM7TEJXvtFMiMTXZeMZKzj3Y-2dmlSmb/s2000/discoball.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5_4fYoghtc8BdcKGGYY6VomBgDwJYpmo95XZ_NI0wf12nUInT9d_9D0EEooTmNMI-x4UNcLiqowHcp6llaBxVGSTX8HFZNaVbJTeeCCKvghiMoltbjhwMECdidBmOtqX9_BUVafQviR-SnmvOCFyACAKq8EMqM7TEJXvtFMiMTXZeMZKzj3Y-2dmlSmb/s320/discoball.jpg" width="203" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-65yaPCJVVkZhrrNyzsXLmC1p17aEhpcjdHYdxYHpwV3-FnwYKqrHXiubobHezSbBXAUOcdKtq6I4h-l1MXNp9opCnQQV4iIb0gj8SKzl8OgV3z1ktKWZ9m3xzQ2L6rfwOT3k6QQplYswwrRL8yR0JfoncvQw2ausKxiWFAf30R7qFNm9w5ePF8tQlkE/s1795/discoeclipse.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1795" data-original-width="1008" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-65yaPCJVVkZhrrNyzsXLmC1p17aEhpcjdHYdxYHpwV3-FnwYKqrHXiubobHezSbBXAUOcdKtq6I4h-l1MXNp9opCnQQV4iIb0gj8SKzl8OgV3z1ktKWZ9m3xzQ2L6rfwOT3k6QQplYswwrRL8yR0JfoncvQw2ausKxiWFAf30R7qFNm9w5ePF8tQlkE/s320/discoeclipse.png" width="180" /></a></div><p>Above left is a standard disco ball. Each of the mirrors acts like a pinhole camera and reflects an image of the sun. The image on the right shows many images of the partially eclipsed Sun projected by the disco ball during the eclipse. It was very popular with our crowd and gave an almost magical view of the event. I highly recommend using a disco ball for <i>every</i> eclipse outreach event. <br /></p><p>This eclipse was sort of a preview for an even better one - a
total solar eclipse that will take place on April 8, 2024. Weather
permitting it will be visible along a path from Mexico, up through
central Texas and up toward the northeast U.S. and into Canada. I plan
on observing that one and I will bring my disco ball with me. </p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-6637106142147651022023-09-23T14:54:00.002-07:002023-09-23T14:58:01.138-07:00Here Comes the Sun<p>The most viewed post on my blog from last year was <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/07/observing-sun-with-evscope.html" target="_blank">Observing the Sun with an eVscope</a>. Everything about that post is now completely out of date thanks to some recent and exciting updates from Unistellar with the new release of version 2.5 of their app.</p><p>What's in version 2.5? The ability to have one of their telescopes to automatically find and guide on the Sun. Of course, to observe the Sun you need a safe solar filter that goes on the front end the telescope. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielzOFJdFcPHGrwD2BNkXmotq6xx9yi5X-Qh0_uwQ_xrSlHl0bi-kd_warHqQnJwfqj8nQ0ZdN2ccJLBPAZuf8_z_1zuofQhkng5Bx7JfQ2ty0xY5dG5HuJNcfO5sf8ItLMTS3Y1FqeJUveo0VYH5gPRAqDAk_PulGu92ir5gX4XmazEfzB7aVoeEMdStS/s4032/eV2withfilter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="a telescope with a solar filter on it" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielzOFJdFcPHGrwD2BNkXmotq6xx9yi5X-Qh0_uwQ_xrSlHl0bi-kd_warHqQnJwfqj8nQ0ZdN2ccJLBPAZuf8_z_1zuofQhkng5Bx7JfQ2ty0xY5dG5HuJNcfO5sf8ItLMTS3Y1FqeJUveo0VYH5gPRAqDAk_PulGu92ir5gX4XmazEfzB7aVoeEMdStS/w240-h320/eV2withfilter.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Above is my eVscope 2 outfitted with the new solar filter available from Unistellar. </p><p>The new version of the app includes the Sun in the catalog (see below), though it strangely describes it as a planet. When you choose the Sun it will remind you that you need to have a solar filter in place <i>before</i> pointing the telescope at the Sun. Pointing at the Sun without having a filter on it will ruin your telescope.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJIce50wswPgrVoYyCREfmK5QISzLOFHe840JLCActdVo3NJYT5l5mWb-KA47WHMAubGNYkk8AA_TnZhNbIj9rUBR6GOLnWE7uxX48iLWvSYQB9kRPM3Mie2RHgcyF0F5k79ea3iH_M0T-Yo7LtsQFut3ilx7gmdiT9sB4HvHspiM1nNQul2iZ9QcP-dZ/s2556/IMG_3475.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="a screen grab from the Unistellar app" border="0" data-original-height="2556" data-original-width="1179" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJIce50wswPgrVoYyCREfmK5QISzLOFHe840JLCActdVo3NJYT5l5mWb-KA47WHMAubGNYkk8AA_TnZhNbIj9rUBR6GOLnWE7uxX48iLWvSYQB9kRPM3Mie2RHgcyF0F5k79ea3iH_M0T-Yo7LtsQFut3ilx7gmdiT9sB4HvHspiM1nNQul2iZ9QcP-dZ/w148-h320/IMG_3475.PNG" width="148" /></a></div><p>Pointing at the Sun is automatic, unlike previously where the telescope had to be manually pointed by looking at the shadow of the telescope. Once the telescope is pointed at the Sun it now automatically tracks on the Sun, which is also a major improvement, as the old version had no tracking. That made focusing very difficult as the Sun was always drifting across the field of view. Now, focusing is <i>much</i> easier, especially with the Sun having so many sunspots. </p><p>So how does it look?</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjj2KMgYIos_UII6uhnTqBR8RpJrV2jsskRX9DpQMp4pgx3_cx7_hpW63QyTXzV24u5Vcs-1dlDiXWDjYkyDavDYjs57-TzGp2R1hfXjTbPkGaq5rOsdpBh-l0Im_IiLwrONd__ftLIxDz2g6FKkmWTPefJM0xKCUMpqmdis0yuEoddQLyVm5fQQx0Cukm/s2048/eVscope-20230923-172833.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image of the Sun showing sunspots" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjj2KMgYIos_UII6uhnTqBR8RpJrV2jsskRX9DpQMp4pgx3_cx7_hpW63QyTXzV24u5Vcs-1dlDiXWDjYkyDavDYjs57-TzGp2R1hfXjTbPkGaq5rOsdpBh-l0Im_IiLwrONd__ftLIxDz2g6FKkmWTPefJM0xKCUMpqmdis0yuEoddQLyVm5fQQx0Cukm/w640-h480/eVscope-20230923-172833.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image of the Sun taken September 23, 2023<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>Great! Unistellar seems to be applying a color shift to the image to give it a pleasing look. Images taken prior to the app update made the Sun look very un-Sun like (see image below taken last year). I used to always convert them to grayscale because I couldn't stand the color. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU94EsN4f55CPOig9Uz3WFEW1J8fcSrIqqqUWjhjhsRtJsdPHm9KFTYGUDNvz9w6Uv-4TAEBAetNPDaWgFEvYdGzEoocHA5QCCQFcG61bqSNntsP_l4M6ualeG9bFcdGTCAOPSZwgQffIfBCJwn0w6_z7IQYQJK-HbuQgDgaNr7Y_YtajJISX1RnLurDkW/s1617/Sun%20Color%20July%2015%202022.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image of the Sun" border="0" data-original-height="1483" data-original-width="1617" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU94EsN4f55CPOig9Uz3WFEW1J8fcSrIqqqUWjhjhsRtJsdPHm9KFTYGUDNvz9w6Uv-4TAEBAetNPDaWgFEvYdGzEoocHA5QCCQFcG61bqSNntsP_l4M6ualeG9bFcdGTCAOPSZwgQffIfBCJwn0w6_z7IQYQJK-HbuQgDgaNr7Y_YtajJISX1RnLurDkW/w320-h293/Sun%20Color%20July%2015%202022.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br />Also, I suspect that the Unistellar app is now applying a sharpening routine to the images of the Sun when you save them, but that's okay, as they look great. </p><p>All of this is perfect timing as there is a solar eclipse happening in 3 weeks, another one in April and solar maximum is just around the corner! Expect to see more solar image posted here soon.<br /></p><p></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-91718872937579982362023-08-06T10:09:00.000-07:002023-08-06T10:09:06.374-07:00Saturn With Five Moons<p>The Unistellar telescopes are not exactly known for being great telescopes for imaging planets. But that's okay, as they deliver much better images of deep sky objects. But there are times when you want to look at the planets. Thankfully, last fall they implemented a software update that greatly improves planetary imaging for Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn (see my post <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-harvest-of-planets.html" target="_blank">A Harvest of Planets</a> for more). </p><p>Last night I used my eVscope to look at Saturn: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjow6UZe6peZ0GzfGtUXNd7MOutCQrjwXcLqyEzLS89pz1B_bg3pueiH-DdyQ1jAQ5RPe0VTHVPANLLrSkFW7EdFT6UAxzGbd6hmMf9wVCWhGs4OpA6-W70bnqB6E6v9IXK8gdQbNOTX4LXZAQTmqq1JELgrl0NRcV_1svKZrjBBtQFp1wHl0gDgrGzeG4m/s2048/eVscope-20230806-052221.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjow6UZe6peZ0GzfGtUXNd7MOutCQrjwXcLqyEzLS89pz1B_bg3pueiH-DdyQ1jAQ5RPe0VTHVPANLLrSkFW7EdFT6UAxzGbd6hmMf9wVCWhGs4OpA6-W70bnqB6E6v9IXK8gdQbNOTX4LXZAQTmqq1JELgrl0NRcV_1svKZrjBBtQFp1wHl0gDgrGzeG4m/w640-h480/eVscope-20230806-052221.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><p>The view isn't quite the same as what you get in a traditional telescope. When you look through a normal telescope you can see Saturn, its rings and its brightest moons too. But here the view is optimized to show just the planet, so the moons sort of drop out of view. </p><p>If instead you point the telescope at Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, then the view is completely different. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQGfQYfmBwpmnqJPKHUBWRhZY3RawDOKi9aexArXNBu4zybScs_-Ty_hz6chhbVHu8Ll1aarvdsw22sXK-lnktVhZHqnjOHLUUEyKHZFyA4QIlvdEErBLbWOW8y7O7Xg_6V4PZAZIc1DYj3a16RAlEidbLCxSLzf9O6tBZUUPFoVy3zYcUM4c1b_AUUuWh/s3200/eVscope-20230806-060446.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQGfQYfmBwpmnqJPKHUBWRhZY3RawDOKi9aexArXNBu4zybScs_-Ty_hz6chhbVHu8Ll1aarvdsw22sXK-lnktVhZHqnjOHLUUEyKHZFyA4QIlvdEErBLbWOW8y7O7Xg_6V4PZAZIc1DYj3a16RAlEidbLCxSLzf9O6tBZUUPFoVy3zYcUM4c1b_AUUuWh/w640-h480/eVscope-20230806-060446.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><p>The optimization used for planets is no longer in place and you can use Enhanced Vision to see farinter objects. I intentionally didn't center things here, but the big bright thing is Saturn, which is completely over exposed. Also visible are many stars and some of Saturn's gazillion moons. How do you tell the moons from the stars? Consulting an app like SkySafari helps, but a surefire way to find them is to photograph them again to see what moves. </p><p>The animated gif below is cropped a bit from the image above. It was made from two images taken 22 minutes apart that were then aligned on the stars. Everything that is moving is part of the Saturn system.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf6KhPA1QU_di6xzc2y2VwGMT-KrTsmarhT8gZh0SIoJiKiUoIj3PRIv_kSvbbOmaHolalOSO66m4WB_DVP-Aaqy9GqBpAEfKnQJ6YiMrTHyrzW8ihWUfShsI8Y88hTVpdgwozvJch9zWo5uWbKQRjiaRsKl8v4qgw0SkQn6buFrM4hcbjCv0VU9u96eS/s1200/Saturn%20w:%205%20Moons%205%20Aug%202023.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1200" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf6KhPA1QU_di6xzc2y2VwGMT-KrTsmarhT8gZh0SIoJiKiUoIj3PRIv_kSvbbOmaHolalOSO66m4WB_DVP-Aaqy9GqBpAEfKnQJ6YiMrTHyrzW8ihWUfShsI8Y88hTVpdgwozvJch9zWo5uWbKQRjiaRsKl8v4qgw0SkQn6buFrM4hcbjCv0VU9u96eS/w640-h472/Saturn%20w:%205%20Moons%205%20Aug%202023.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I've got an annotated version below, but can you spot all five of them? Two of them are close to the glare of Saturn itself. Titan is just to the upper right of Saturn and Rhea is in the seven o'clock position, looking here like it is touching Saturn. Along that same line (Titan-Saturn-Rhea), but much fainter and further out is Hyperion. It is basically in the middle of the image. Extend that line further and you come to the much brighter Iapetus. The left of Iapetus is a star of similar brightness and a much brighter star below that. In between those two stars is faint Phoebe. SkySafari plots Phoebe in the wrong location but lists its magnitude at 16.8. </p><p>Finding Phoebe was my main goal here. The best time to catch it is when Saturn is closest to Earth, which it will be later this month. Phoebe is a small (132 miles across) irregular moon in that it isn't completely round. It is far enough from Saturn (8 million miles!) that it takes 550 days (one and a half years!) to make a full orbit around Saturn. </p><p>Here's the annotated version of Saturn and its moons. It's full sized so that you can actually spot Phoebe: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaZc57M-oocpb6QuBwclJWtZuetC9e3NQuvvA9M1vcvLn5pWnB5Yj9fL4_Q1zvpfwbBoEQos_uVue6ma6BNE5heafwMeISxohrJYcpR0jwjIUAkKiKSaLHdkAAKEkFvngUUDAUkrpqzXzmQlaP9Daajlji7gHZ8eErImM4peK3-MTqTTKK6d0d76gTwim/s1200/Saturn%20w%20%205%20Moons%20annotated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaZc57M-oocpb6QuBwclJWtZuetC9e3NQuvvA9M1vcvLn5pWnB5Yj9fL4_Q1zvpfwbBoEQos_uVue6ma6BNE5heafwMeISxohrJYcpR0jwjIUAkKiKSaLHdkAAKEkFvngUUDAUkrpqzXzmQlaP9Daajlji7gHZ8eErImM4peK3-MTqTTKK6d0d76gTwim/s16000/Saturn%20w%20%205%20Moons%20annotated.gif" /></a></div>I am happy to have tracked down <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/08/finding-himalia-2022-edition.html" target="_blank">another faint moon</a> of the outer Solar System. <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-16004512905119813642023-07-29T15:49:00.002-07:002023-08-09T14:39:34.988-07:00On Top of the World - A Visit to Mauna Kea<p>Earlier this year I was one of 18 educators selected for 2023 to be in the <a href="https://www.seti.org/training-science-teachers-enhance-student-stem-learning-and-engagement" target="_blank">NASA/SETI Institute Astronomy Activation Ambassadors</a> program. It focuses on teaching hands-on methods for teaching about multi-wavelength and especially infrared astronomy. Along the way we've had lots of training which included an online course to complete, a bunch of Zoom meetings and lots of emails. All of this culminated in an intense week of curriculum training and a visit to the <a href="https://www.maunakeaobservatories.org/" target="_blank">Mauna Kea Observatories</a>, specifically to get a first-hand look at <a href="http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/" target="_blank">NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility</a> (IRTF). </p><p>I'm not going to focus on the <a href="https://www.seti.org/nasa-airborne-activation-ambassadors-electromagnetic-spectrum-infrared-astronomy-curriculum" target="_blank">curriculum</a> training here (that's for my students to experience), but instead on the visit to Mauna Kea Observatory. I've been to Mauna Kea before (and <i><a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2014/03/telescope-tourist-mauna-kea-observatory.html" target="_blank">blogged about it here!</a></i>), but it was many years ago and this visit offered so much more. I made this return trip with great reverence and a profound appreciation for what this special place means both to the Hawaiian people and the world of astronomy. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUZX5XK8StgkW_0BpFWJJ3220jSxCa3ri54fB-wDqpuuPPVT2nopab9zTsGuNysTPu6qolMVlywmkiSartZxatOm2IrgMmE9GIIXjBVQh6KLzc94HKSk3QR6yVKiNRgWrzsFRa12oZUlQYaFmaa5Sjs9d94zkqCE7iXbP7JY6xCnl44n6wwgY_-fY5EWL/s4032/IMG_2885.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUZX5XK8StgkW_0BpFWJJ3220jSxCa3ri54fB-wDqpuuPPVT2nopab9zTsGuNysTPu6qolMVlywmkiSartZxatOm2IrgMmE9GIIXjBVQh6KLzc94HKSk3QR6yVKiNRgWrzsFRa12oZUlQYaFmaa5Sjs9d94zkqCE7iXbP7JY6xCnl44n6wwgY_-fY5EWL/w400-h300/IMG_2885.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's me on Mauna Kea with the domes for the <a href="https://subarutelescope.org/en/" target="_blank">Subaru</a> (left) and <a href="https://www.keckobservatory.org/" target="_blank">Keck Telescopes</a> in the background. </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>After first spending time at the headquarters for the <a href="https://www.gemini.edu/" target="_blank">Gemini Observatory</a> and the <a href="https://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/" target="_blank">Institute for Astronomy in Hilo</a> we prepared for our visits to the observatories by spending time at Hale Pohaku, the astronomers quarters, at the 9,300 foot level of Mauna Kea. This allowed us not only to acclimate to the elevation, but to take in its breathtaking night sky. </p><p>The Milky Was so brilliant that you didn't need to be dark adapted at all to see it. Here's a photo of it that I captured with my iPhone: <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNK5SrxxnZDYu3OH4b7m90moPYrB6fbyxfs5RBz981is95k16_UpmiT2Gsbx28DL2wE60VD-nFD6tmpNfQcnjKm4JJENYPB7B0rXCQAymCb0jQGrHiTPtG8GYKUrv6N918Sl_ycq-Y-s_qoqx0gVFwXygXejsb4WSwCJ7EPx6sM-Hb7MkN-lJwJxly0hk/s4032/IMG_2842.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNK5SrxxnZDYu3OH4b7m90moPYrB6fbyxfs5RBz981is95k16_UpmiT2Gsbx28DL2wE60VD-nFD6tmpNfQcnjKm4JJENYPB7B0rXCQAymCb0jQGrHiTPtG8GYKUrv6N918Sl_ycq-Y-s_qoqx0gVFwXygXejsb4WSwCJ7EPx6sM-Hb7MkN-lJwJxly0hk/w640-h480/IMG_2842.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The summer Milky Way as seen from Hale Pohaku, Mauna Kea<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The Milky Way and its spectacular dust clouds were beautiful. It is a shame that because of light pollution most people in the world never get to see it (even fewer see it from such an amazing site as this one!). Of special interest to me are the two stars near the bottom of the image. The one on the left is Alpha Centauri, the famous Sun-like star that's just 4.3 light years from Earth. To its lower right is Beta Centauri, also known as Hadar, a blue giant star located 90 times further away. Both of these bright stars are too far south to see from my home in Southern California, so catching them was a special treat. <br /></p><p>The next day we made a daytime visit to the summit and got our first close look at NASA's IRTF. Fun Fact: the IRTF was built to help support NASA's Voyager missions and made its first infrared observations of Jupiter just before Voyager's first flyby.</p><p>Here's the dome of the IRTF:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMGpKuUhpD5-t98YKWIgK5QHIssOI0wPWMqjjMwoOPITHDZW69b6KEdJ680IdBte5suvB10gw_n_wijW-tIaVMu8z_6OLNd_5J2CZWpUXZBF9cCJv4JuP-WFh7yJcCSiGNjIpVKh02l9cZsrSZtLIhswcBHys6pjcWYFKLLNkWfVYzoMn6aDUxOgX37N2/s4032/IMG_2881.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMGpKuUhpD5-t98YKWIgK5QHIssOI0wPWMqjjMwoOPITHDZW69b6KEdJ680IdBte5suvB10gw_n_wijW-tIaVMu8z_6OLNd_5J2CZWpUXZBF9cCJv4JuP-WFh7yJcCSiGNjIpVKh02l9cZsrSZtLIhswcBHys6pjcWYFKLLNkWfVYzoMn6aDUxOgX37N2/w640-h480/IMG_2881.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Behind the IRTF is the Pacific Ocean and the island of Maui. Inside is a 3.0-meter reflecting telescope:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyawZ01rNqOHdllMLlx_X1z80nSDmMnEki_aG3v5PiLEwIcY0hlHDRQy3WE3RdhvtBYyoqhFfl9yiJizl2nHXD7PGeeha3Ocg8ni2n1RMf8Q3JKOMVrDc-fGpC-65AE6gYKID9pvVx87t8W9HJkjxRDE262q5S3HRbR_FuaOoUILhnm_Xx3OCyCs_xpyFE/s4032/IMG_2905.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyawZ01rNqOHdllMLlx_X1z80nSDmMnEki_aG3v5PiLEwIcY0hlHDRQy3WE3RdhvtBYyoqhFfl9yiJizl2nHXD7PGeeha3Ocg8ni2n1RMf8Q3JKOMVrDc-fGpC-65AE6gYKID9pvVx87t8W9HJkjxRDE262q5S3HRbR_FuaOoUILhnm_Xx3OCyCs_xpyFE/w480-h640/IMG_2905.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><p>The view above looks up to the telescope's secondary mirror. Most infrared telescopes have an undersized secondary mirror to avoid reflecting any of the heat of the telescope itself to the science instruments. </p><p>When the telescope points at the astronomical object being studied infrared light reflects off of its primary mirror, to the secondary mirror and then down to the Cassegrain focus underneath the main mirror where one of the science instruments collects the light.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8lnGABtcTru7iuTulRDCy1w2I7yg0fEOp3xkkMbYEm1iH3sK6Zkl0oH7eG2m3VpvieIGnvsd56Q6w3gtExOv1lsc3QWlnKMgFiLeFoZMQuTy4jtZcXS6LFrbXIVAkFomJfB7KyjiO3ERRzv7E1JPcdcQlBy5gW32NTlQOrra-9OWJIw1d4b1tPLlG3V0/s4032/IMG_2955.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8lnGABtcTru7iuTulRDCy1w2I7yg0fEOp3xkkMbYEm1iH3sK6Zkl0oH7eG2m3VpvieIGnvsd56Q6w3gtExOv1lsc3QWlnKMgFiLeFoZMQuTy4jtZcXS6LFrbXIVAkFomJfB7KyjiO3ERRzv7E1JPcdcQlBy5gW32NTlQOrra-9OWJIw1d4b1tPLlG3V0/w640-h480/IMG_2955.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Science instruments in the IRTF's Cassegrain focus.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>After our daytime visit we returned to the IRTF that night to sit in on some observing. The targets: debris disks around young stars where planetary systems are forming, then studies of the atmospheres of Saturn's moon Titan and Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. These were all studied using spectroscopy, which provides astronomers with a detailed look at the composition of objects. <br /><p></p><p>We got to the telescope before sunset and what a sunset it was.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_isex0Ejtdz-KJAblb_6vsAnOZEwz64zU9K5i0I5Z1SjaDCf_PcNKi3fCBQKhviu4CzsP9AFDRxuY0Z756HnvLbjzF8jYdm105N-EbXSyQ00oCARJpcEhchJTDXb_e5yollPOZrm3s8NplxtHWo97pWMswwWrgIcKhDFC6MTGIhwSiBtIQZJepqg_Nzs/s4032/IMG_2910.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_isex0Ejtdz-KJAblb_6vsAnOZEwz64zU9K5i0I5Z1SjaDCf_PcNKi3fCBQKhviu4CzsP9AFDRxuY0Z756HnvLbjzF8jYdm105N-EbXSyQ00oCARJpcEhchJTDXb_e5yollPOZrm3s8NplxtHWo97pWMswwWrgIcKhDFC6MTGIhwSiBtIQZJepqg_Nzs/w640-h480/IMG_2910.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mauna Kea sunset with the Keck telescopes.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Here's the open dome of the IRTF during the 'golden hour':</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwo7-cI3KXy_zQ2-SIjegZzfNL0mVsNGZlvszIIABxWJFXVo4Fax9GmDiK-NmZPGOj7N9Sa40tst3g1RufVA87j0iSL3u_Q8U9HU_lqFjysExzSBBFrfhuK0Ibq1KZNrZQzncCl8e9Y_ZQSoihHmu6lvp9vkJmEz0e9Kkyzb5BR8l6JiLGJ0sO4i_2smcT/s4032/IMG_2913.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwo7-cI3KXy_zQ2-SIjegZzfNL0mVsNGZlvszIIABxWJFXVo4Fax9GmDiK-NmZPGOj7N9Sa40tst3g1RufVA87j0iSL3u_Q8U9HU_lqFjysExzSBBFrfhuK0Ibq1KZNrZQzncCl8e9Y_ZQSoihHmu6lvp9vkJmEz0e9Kkyzb5BR8l6JiLGJ0sO4i_2smcT/w640-h480/IMG_2913.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>The view was spectacular looking across the mountain, away from the sunset:<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZmxMj3mdh07UNRjRIr10waHfAw6S0aQrRykmAbfJ3c6MHb3_0OuVLFf8Ddzygy393NxRbpw_CnEWdGK2JaKVGARSFdaobtUnYBH2DZ0DnCUvTpuq82ivBAvk0jPRLpMyri8jOby_nau10soeyWtNbETgQ_S1K9x5Q2NSsEcK0c38y3ndtpoE3VOSZf1_/s4032/IMG_2912.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZmxMj3mdh07UNRjRIr10waHfAw6S0aQrRykmAbfJ3c6MHb3_0OuVLFf8Ddzygy393NxRbpw_CnEWdGK2JaKVGARSFdaobtUnYBH2DZ0DnCUvTpuq82ivBAvk0jPRLpMyri8jOby_nau10soeyWtNbETgQ_S1K9x5Q2NSsEcK0c38y3ndtpoE3VOSZf1_/w640-h480/IMG_2912.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>From left to right that's the shadows of the IRTF, Keck I & II and the Subaru Telescope domes. Behind the shadows are the domes of the Canada France Hawai'i Telescope, Gemini North, the 2.2-meter University of Hawai'i telescope and the 3.8-meter United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). Note: the UK no longer operates UKIRT. <p></p><p>Nature put on its own show after sunset as the Moon, Mars (left of the Moon) and Venus (just above the dome) were out in the western sky:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifJaZSojIUZO49x1q2nsDNWutGKgTOuVPPaQffbCgYKenSD5vYy9k1Rcmx57nrsq8bZt8_72JrlL1EzytjNbCZEpiPPmwAzppKXdLbPGbK3S7gVVJ0yE-Me8EofEbbjF9_MdFDZxGMgeUkETkjWshZ1OoYqu7nOpEemBCEK0ukGvY5D1tFBSr5xsBxJLhs/s4032/IMG_2929.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifJaZSojIUZO49x1q2nsDNWutGKgTOuVPPaQffbCgYKenSD5vYy9k1Rcmx57nrsq8bZt8_72JrlL1EzytjNbCZEpiPPmwAzppKXdLbPGbK3S7gVVJ0yE-Me8EofEbbjF9_MdFDZxGMgeUkETkjWshZ1OoYqu7nOpEemBCEK0ukGvY5D1tFBSr5xsBxJLhs/w640-h480/IMG_2929.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>After it got dark and the scientific observations were underway at the IRTF I captured its dome against the starry backdrop of the summer Milky Way:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkMMhceieW9s8DadWvKTyABx4BL7RtESunP-5c3mXLJRsw_9wrFvOxEAeQnQs1blVmjPvDs_gt6_XUnY6nNZE5fckSakz8q1ov9rE7J7PsTpY6KdqIGCJhMrMSIM_zlQPQ8jGRGeYM9HgrC3eSfBki6UGrewmlkIzQ1CoQ-aW9VJbWP96xB4H0p6Jkv7Z/s4032/IMG_2941.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkMMhceieW9s8DadWvKTyABx4BL7RtESunP-5c3mXLJRsw_9wrFvOxEAeQnQs1blVmjPvDs_gt6_XUnY6nNZE5fckSakz8q1ov9rE7J7PsTpY6KdqIGCJhMrMSIM_zlQPQ8jGRGeYM9HgrC3eSfBki6UGrewmlkIzQ1CoQ-aW9VJbWP96xB4H0p6Jkv7Z/w640-h360/IMG_2941.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Looking the other way, the Keck Observatory was making use of its adaptive optics laser guide star:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCk7xs9rkuEtXQB3a-FjwMT-FVad5Xow1BhHxM07R0j4V7Xn0eqcSVChCQZO-Ea34jJmScvg3oULJUBMCVwgRBTOg4fHKs7CIzAEuASlK3o3DwiRZ10wQx0MI1FEBy86dItQr87enVmsB2dSP6HKZuBvvormMi7VH7SnFZp2JN9RU9g9vgvMowncZGL43G/s4032/IMG_2944.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCk7xs9rkuEtXQB3a-FjwMT-FVad5Xow1BhHxM07R0j4V7Xn0eqcSVChCQZO-Ea34jJmScvg3oULJUBMCVwgRBTOg4fHKs7CIzAEuASlK3o3DwiRZ10wQx0MI1FEBy86dItQr87enVmsB2dSP6HKZuBvvormMi7VH7SnFZp2JN9RU9g9vgvMowncZGL43G/w640-h360/IMG_2944.jpeg" width="640" /></a> <br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While we were there the observing program using the laser guide star at Keck was headed up by <a href="https://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghez/" target="_blank">Andrea Ghez</a>, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for her studies of the stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The observing here was a continuation of <a href="https://galacticcenter.astro.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">that research</a> and we could see that the laser was indeed pointed toward the center of the Milky Way:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifYM7z_5VID8NE4INL9lDf0EBbYK5Ju5WJYJ34Q24XEy0qaSjeB_kO4TbUFReA5BTy_OxyinfDPICJ41RX7obYXIm6E7tQtQ1aNXljPsMQntPelcP4zZi3Z7aBFOQDNYwRCQgo0u_1S7nOnUPfr-PUDrSzm59UcH6lBV-wbuOJ1pdiZMEJK-7T60THZ5Xa/s4032/IMG_2946.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifYM7z_5VID8NE4INL9lDf0EBbYK5Ju5WJYJ34Q24XEy0qaSjeB_kO4TbUFReA5BTy_OxyinfDPICJ41RX7obYXIm6E7tQtQ1aNXljPsMQntPelcP4zZi3Z7aBFOQDNYwRCQgo0u_1S7nOnUPfr-PUDrSzm59UcH6lBV-wbuOJ1pdiZMEJK-7T60THZ5Xa/w640-h360/IMG_2946.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>All-in-all it was an amazing night that culminated in our having some conversations with the astronomers who used IRTF. They needed to be focused on the work at hand while they were observing, so speaking with them <i>afterwards</i> was the way to go so as to not get in the way of their limited telescope time.<br /></p><p>The next day we were given a daytime tour of the <a href="https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/" target="_blank">James Clerk Maxwell Telescope</a> (JCMT). The Observatory is also on Facebook. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EAObservatory" target="_blank">Find it here</a>.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6x0LQxZ1v6_KK719lcQpmLxLPpkeQmF8dNY7rqUgepiP0zbhwFtjMDXyi7J9zro8F9-JCFBX_QbkgTpvCLFS8Bjs-t2Li8cV0SyUo0IAm9K584DWlpxyYa8YRujEkN4vvpFB1lmuCKYbWvl4iTuNedu5yNE5RniiwQJAq5YCoGzrI5BFTA7PKmFVvz6j4/s4032/IMG_2998.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6x0LQxZ1v6_KK719lcQpmLxLPpkeQmF8dNY7rqUgepiP0zbhwFtjMDXyi7J9zro8F9-JCFBX_QbkgTpvCLFS8Bjs-t2Li8cV0SyUo0IAm9K584DWlpxyYa8YRujEkN4vvpFB1lmuCKYbWvl4iTuNedu5yNE5RniiwQJAq5YCoGzrI5BFTA7PKmFVvz6j4/w640-h480/IMG_2998.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The JCMT observes at wavelengths that are longer than infrared, but shorter than radio waves in the submillimeter part of the electromagnetic spectrum. As such, it looks a lot like a big radio dish antenna:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhomOK4wTTEQBsDhfDoLXuTL_P7P9x2AqPSOu0m5_RnKj8dRuGLVonVqz9Th7Ryo_FIhyWWb_w6itWyFU8T24dVviWgW3CizdVCPS8cfzJnMD3Zah86w33ea8G5WPGLSJWwEXJSFQgx7TPxviBxQutiDzjlQsz7vRq5iWp6cEcoZjLaTfvxSAO81zbCHJJF/s4032/IMG_2968.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhomOK4wTTEQBsDhfDoLXuTL_P7P9x2AqPSOu0m5_RnKj8dRuGLVonVqz9Th7Ryo_FIhyWWb_w6itWyFU8T24dVviWgW3CizdVCPS8cfzJnMD3Zah86w33ea8G5WPGLSJWwEXJSFQgx7TPxviBxQutiDzjlQsz7vRq5iWp6cEcoZjLaTfvxSAO81zbCHJJF/w640-h480/IMG_2968.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The JCMT is one of the telescopes that make up the <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/" target="_blank">Event Horizon Telescope</a> that was used to produce the first image of a supermassive black hole (in the galaxy known as M87). It has also been used to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/07/06/phosphine-confirmed-deep-within-venus-atmosphere-a-possible-sign-of-life/?sh=59aa2c7b1106&fbclid=IwAR3xJ9GCB1OMu-B_V32Li3t6MivKueX4kRBbR6-XHbhJlrx5IPxzLg3Hczk" target="_blank">detect phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus</a>, which <i>*may*</i> suggest the possibility of bacterial life in its atmosphere (at very best its presence is unexplained).</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZfTyuXcGcX-zJg_6DwgiOBima4kboTCQdPNG9SodKrMc4AzITa4exCjF9WhnOw04xznP2bZybIfmwIqRfSk8n4zbdq6S2Tnm2i0yzuug_RtWP6TSm4iyg4fNRS2QrdUsXJ2CBsIdcnnmLc407GmxyoKv_zIJH1tHX9TJGlcO5PsOfD9OHzH_FKKreUwh/s4032/IMG_2991.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZfTyuXcGcX-zJg_6DwgiOBima4kboTCQdPNG9SodKrMc4AzITa4exCjF9WhnOw04xznP2bZybIfmwIqRfSk8n4zbdq6S2Tnm2i0yzuug_RtWP6TSm4iyg4fNRS2QrdUsXJ2CBsIdcnnmLc407GmxyoKv_zIJH1tHX9TJGlcO5PsOfD9OHzH_FKKreUwh/w640-h480/IMG_2991.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Chase, me, project P.I. Dana Backman, Mark Lenfestey, and Vikini Santhanakrishnan underneath the JCMT. Photo by Callie Matulonis. </td></tr></tbody></table>A big thank you to Callie Matulonis for giving us such a great tour that served as a wonderful capstone to an amazing week of astronomy that has had a huge impact on me personally and will carry over into my teaching in many ways. <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-53214617536776666812023-06-24T15:18:00.002-07:002023-06-24T15:23:23.413-07:00Observing High Proper Motion Stars<p>Everything in the universe is in constant motion, even the stars themselves. Yet the stars are so far away that the constellations of the night sky seem to be essentially unchanging. But, everything <i>is</i> moving. </p><p>The various motions of the stars and our own Sun through space can make the nearby stars appear to change their positions relative to more distant background stars. Alas, none of these are the stars that shine brightly in our sky. </p><p>61 Cygni is a binary star that is 11.4 light years distant and can faintly be seen under dark skies. The two stars of the 61 Cygni system are a little smaller and cooler
than the Sun. They take over 600 years to orbit about each other. </p><p>I used my Unistellar eVscope to take an image of this system in September 2021 and again earlier this week. As you can see in the image below, this system of two stars is indeed moving relative to the more distant background stars:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QnGC17hHC42xe3PPmmjb3fFFo1rd-uAvHe5vd1nVj0ia9EM7QTsXzhPI0ENATpv82Q8vzW-Qiu8wQhpPOQGDY55HzpeFCFz6ghrjMORti9QKH505-Xcy9fmJfWVlYbGS-l2I2XDPnJA4JZDuZUZ4wWw-uLUWxQVcekLwMjCJTR2qC07lL_2grGRT2oA3/s1200/61%20Cygni%202021%2023.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="1200" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QnGC17hHC42xe3PPmmjb3fFFo1rd-uAvHe5vd1nVj0ia9EM7QTsXzhPI0ENATpv82Q8vzW-Qiu8wQhpPOQGDY55HzpeFCFz6ghrjMORti9QKH505-Xcy9fmJfWVlYbGS-l2I2XDPnJA4JZDuZUZ4wWw-uLUWxQVcekLwMjCJTR2qC07lL_2grGRT2oA3/w640-h394/61%20Cygni%202021%2023.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>This is motion known as 'proper motion' and, I confess, wasn't something that I thought I would be able to see, because I hadn't actually given it much thought and I am happy to know that for the right stars this is pretty easy to observe. The main thing needed (other than the telescope & camera) is time.<br /></p><p>61 Cygni isn't alone in having a high proper motion. Other stars have it too. One of them is known as Lalande 21185. It is a red dwarf star located just 8.3 light years from Earth, but it is too faint to be seen without a telescope. Here's an image from June 2021 blinked with one from earlier this week:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe5tnvt6ntqsAEEyVZd0gYOZohlyWHH5UZZPYLSMcwgYcZWr6h8DzeHNdW5SarweqTB7tilkD5sk8cfnRnh1i8Ie5Rkf28OqU-gb3h7GOwVfvibxpihFe3sr2CjHq1Wdv0jeGvG488Qv5zyj-xFvpS78i6XYAnbYIG4CxhAjY_B0aMtaK7ZMZkCCiqbaN9/s1200/Lalande%2021185%202021%2023.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1200" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe5tnvt6ntqsAEEyVZd0gYOZohlyWHH5UZZPYLSMcwgYcZWr6h8DzeHNdW5SarweqTB7tilkD5sk8cfnRnh1i8Ie5Rkf28OqU-gb3h7GOwVfvibxpihFe3sr2CjHq1Wdv0jeGvG488Qv5zyj-xFvpS78i6XYAnbYIG4CxhAjY_B0aMtaK7ZMZkCCiqbaN9/w640-h478/Lalande%2021185%202021%2023.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>Finally, here's the star with the highest proper motion: Barnard's Star:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrn0qzpaYjyFjqTey2s7r8LmS8Oq3m1d1SZxtGWjB7aueSep8ZGXoXhuyE3XojEtBBagffn6COmGcj62FVL2wfqezVeUw3RC1ebuTqsQMYJFMk_TzbtJCm_DChHzS7e1AipeWTUEx1jg8vwQ16ym8KyGEdej_6NNs2xoIFtLH9-D87VQpF5ND_bGDPcM0/s1200/Barnards%20Star%202123%20unlabeled.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrn0qzpaYjyFjqTey2s7r8LmS8Oq3m1d1SZxtGWjB7aueSep8ZGXoXhuyE3XojEtBBagffn6COmGcj62FVL2wfqezVeUw3RC1ebuTqsQMYJFMk_TzbtJCm_DChHzS7e1AipeWTUEx1jg8vwQ16ym8KyGEdej_6NNs2xoIFtLH9-D87VQpF5ND_bGDPcM0/w640-h480/Barnards%20Star%202123%20unlabeled.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>Like Lalande 21185, Barnard's Star is a cool red dwarf star that is too faint to be see without a telescope. It is located just six light years from Earth.</p><p>There are other stars that are near to us that have high proper motions and I'll be spending some of my evenings looking to see if I can catch them as they move through the skies. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-60921403713068376042023-06-20T16:04:00.000-07:002023-06-20T16:04:04.995-07:00A Supernova and Two Comets<p></p><p>We've had a wet and rainy winter and early spring. That gave way to an intense "May Gray" and a solid "June Gloom" during the first half of this month, so there hasn't been much time for astronomy this year. </p><p>Thankfully, I had a short and fortuitous break in the clouds early in the evening of May 20th. Just one day earlier a new supernova had been discovered in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. I had imaged the Pinwheel last year, so I had an appropriate image to blink with the new one to show the appearance of the supernova. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1200" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTmSTAeCzYFrVVQacpfRqqkEKOCAK8ubll8jzgar82rZyJFnX9O5btf_7Op4B0-MXiC-vwrNlfr3z-sKY6vY0SKHTxtTQIwcaMHeWVeWDk7Cfa4hAMpKTCI6jyPbxtmmfNzd7x1JsEXgJeleCCskRy43eRxUg0RRsA_EMhS5tQvaV3WoVmp7qjJzkfg/w640-h506/sn2023ixf.gif" width="640" /></div><p>That's the supernova blinking on and off on the right side of the galaxy. It is a Type II supernova, which marks the collapse and explosion of a massive star. M101 is located 21 million light years from our Milky Way Galaxy, meaning that the star exploded 21 million years ago and its light has only now just reached us. </p><p>The rest of May remained cloudy and I wasn't able to see it again until June 15th. It's still visible. This type of supernova stays bright for many weeks, so it will be quite some time before it fades completely away.</p><p>Two faint comets have captured my attention recently. One of this is known as C/2023 E1 (ATLAS). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy_uj_YwGRx8qIrI7cYhlY9EQj1qWCbhULP2IfwlPjnSQCvNfTj5oI9SC8fdZKhbcbQMz_n9Mtgx-dygAGzxoXy2217Yf0rhMP5MULSN8wQ6oJ7lNV-HpNq65lZO9DJlYOklJEJforoO88pYsFJpvbhB_VYFZLnQ-pAikQAznHT9AtUZMXc7emUc3KqPW2/s1840/c%202023E1%20orbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1840" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy_uj_YwGRx8qIrI7cYhlY9EQj1qWCbhULP2IfwlPjnSQCvNfTj5oI9SC8fdZKhbcbQMz_n9Mtgx-dygAGzxoXy2217Yf0rhMP5MULSN8wQ6oJ7lNV-HpNq65lZO9DJlYOklJEJforoO88pYsFJpvbhB_VYFZLnQ-pAikQAznHT9AtUZMXc7emUc3KqPW2/w400-h261/c%202023E1%20orbit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>E1 ATLAS is a short period comet, with an orbit of 85 years. It is currently in the inner Solar System and crossing the orbit of Venus, but if you look at its orbit from the side (below) you can see that it is highly inclined (tipped) relative to the orbits of the planets. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZANmI7Po3hwrX3ppSKpqVeM0yaudTKR37f5nKYkhRMJ0NbUb6OrJXq0kRtzr3smuq6_8FFwcnnqhTSvqX2Yx_0xodag6KpAByw77E-jYclemrT9-sozapkQOxdBXbvU-itY-Eaw4P8RKZS1yzbGgMv-2CEKJDzaYpcUt8GvkQpHY2dtOUVT_NbJ6psGjv/s1840/c%202023E1%20orbit%20side%20view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1840" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZANmI7Po3hwrX3ppSKpqVeM0yaudTKR37f5nKYkhRMJ0NbUb6OrJXq0kRtzr3smuq6_8FFwcnnqhTSvqX2Yx_0xodag6KpAByw77E-jYclemrT9-sozapkQOxdBXbvU-itY-Eaw4P8RKZS1yzbGgMv-2CEKJDzaYpcUt8GvkQpHY2dtOUVT_NbJ6psGjv/w400-h261/c%202023E1%20orbit%20side%20view.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>It is a relatively faint comet, but has had an outburst recently which has made it an interesting target to observe. Below I have animated two images of the comet to show its motion against the background of the stars:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkY6B6AVEvu-o2i195TXtCj3zyB6LSsM_Ly-x7fvfphN1l15uHSJ8CZZL2HhRvKDmMlChP-DI9pmYj6jIsWl-jwekRxtOvypSAPJOdqyFgriHcRlfhlDpex1469zukQsRqsZ8DlXqht-8iSDDZSG0QD32zBJQsa18uqqU4gzT-z3dUhLBjKubL6iHjir3d/s1200/June%2018%202023%2044min.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1200" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkY6B6AVEvu-o2i195TXtCj3zyB6LSsM_Ly-x7fvfphN1l15uHSJ8CZZL2HhRvKDmMlChP-DI9pmYj6jIsWl-jwekRxtOvypSAPJOdqyFgriHcRlfhlDpex1469zukQsRqsZ8DlXqht-8iSDDZSG0QD32zBJQsa18uqqU4gzT-z3dUhLBjKubL6iHjir3d/w640-h430/June%2018%202023%2044min.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br />I captured the all of images here with my <a href="https://www.unistellar.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope, which nicely reveals the comet's blue-green color. <p></p><p>I recently targeted an even fainter comet, that *may*, in the fall of 2024, become one that will be <i>very</i> bright. It is known as Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). </p>Here's where it currently is:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4EvqWqzNmNlIJfwt6YqcCV8EIZjHUeZxlB_z90oGNQ2s7IudA2VSe0sMKS5lbvI3Bbx6mkIGmJOFLF6RfZb6g8b9AfIXz0pTXQu-M2Gdu7dWurPgNAIcNoLvmzjkEE93C2nnzHH8svIfYMdngfXeyNkx6P_qLHP3tvNUAdmJAA8MQ2bc6TG50sDm841l/s1840/c%202023%20A3%20orbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1840" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4EvqWqzNmNlIJfwt6YqcCV8EIZjHUeZxlB_z90oGNQ2s7IudA2VSe0sMKS5lbvI3Bbx6mkIGmJOFLF6RfZb6g8b9AfIXz0pTXQu-M2Gdu7dWurPgNAIcNoLvmzjkEE93C2nnzHH8svIfYMdngfXeyNkx6P_qLHP3tvNUAdmJAA8MQ2bc6TG50sDm841l/w640-h418/c%202023%20A3%20orbit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Yes, it is out past the orbit of Jupiter. Usually comets aren't observed until they get much closer to the Sun. Since A3 is at a much greater distance from the Sun than where comets can normally be observed that means that is it brighter than normal, which might mean that is will become a spectacular, dare I say, Great Comet --but not until it gets closer to both the Sun and Earth and that will not happen until the fall of 2024. </p><p>However, it is faintly observable with a telescope right now. It's small and faint so I cropped and annotated the image so that it could be seen here:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Xl-iH18J-txzJTF-e4_t1KWaU_UDL64ptgUoX4kK9tHNuevOKi-aL5O0kX_59yJVow8gHNJ77yv7akSiAEjU9mWefsZJijtFL_sfc-LEjJitwDH7q-3Mo2jRowQmHG0X38gBmGXn67B1pb6pwbgwvXic1bFVKpPfPQc4h56O2MAS7GptiH5koi_nWT-w/s1200/A3%20annotated%20June%2018%202023.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="1200" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Xl-iH18J-txzJTF-e4_t1KWaU_UDL64ptgUoX4kK9tHNuevOKi-aL5O0kX_59yJVow8gHNJ77yv7akSiAEjU9mWefsZJijtFL_sfc-LEjJitwDH7q-3Mo2jRowQmHG0X38gBmGXn67B1pb6pwbgwvXic1bFVKpPfPQc4h56O2MAS7GptiH5koi_nWT-w/w640-h440/A3%20annotated%20June%2018%202023.gif" width="640" /></a></div>That little dot is chunk of ice that is coming in from the Oort cloud and in about 16 months it will make a pass through the inner Solar System. As it gets closer to the Sun heating will vaporize parts of the comet which likely will give the comet a temporary atmosphere (known as a coma) and a tail or two. If it follows expectations the comet will become brighter than Venus and be easily seen without any optical aide, but comets are famously unpredictable, so only time will tell how it will really look. In the meantime, I'll be looking at it as often as I can. <br /><p></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-67522445069424347872023-03-18T15:40:00.000-07:002023-03-18T15:40:02.454-07:00How to Get Started Using a Unistellar Telescope<p>I am a moderator <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/216220143412749" target="_blank">Facebook group for users of Unistellar telescopes</a> and recently there have a lot of new users asking questions, so I decided to make a short video on how to get started using them. Here it is:</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RSsjg2J3Xbs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-10661752337810891302023-01-29T09:06:00.000-07:002023-01-29T09:06:34.389-07:00It's Not Easy Being Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxKEcKS_P2dtCRo9fgLbkoyJTBF4a_poKlwdxzUthdEH4d_tvM--8udKR6YM_9FfR0PYA80TDElg04aMXssnxfCOKvuo3c6dyF2H5mRhz72t8GT1IQuZ46HZzqLxhbkBUb5-7Y993Jgh9r7SA5oOe-DV9YuMp8CwjKM0o6o8i84Ef7332zjYvId30pvg/s3200/eVscope-20230112-122300.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxKEcKS_P2dtCRo9fgLbkoyJTBF4a_poKlwdxzUthdEH4d_tvM--8udKR6YM_9FfR0PYA80TDElg04aMXssnxfCOKvuo3c6dyF2H5mRhz72t8GT1IQuZ46HZzqLxhbkBUb5-7Y993Jgh9r7SA5oOe-DV9YuMp8CwjKM0o6o8i84Ef7332zjYvId30pvg/w400-h300/eVscope-20230112-122300.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>The internet has been all a buzz about the "green comet" and falsely raising expectations of how it will appear in the sky. <br /><p></p><p>So why are they calling it a "green comet"? That is a bit odd as <i><u>all</u> </i>comets have a green glow about them as they get close to the Sun. I suspect that the real reason they are calling it the "green comet" is that its real name, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), is just too much of a mouthful to use and explain.</p><p>The comet has risen in
brightness to the point where it can barely be seen without optical
aid from a very dark sky. This is about as bright as it was expected to
be, so all the hoopla about it being "bright" doesn't make much sense.
Still, it looks pretty nice when photographed with a telescope.</p><p>The comet was discovered at Palomar Observatory in March of 2022. I first saw the comet August 30, 2022 when it was still more than two astronomical units from both Earth and the Sun. Here's how it looked then:</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAH12ap14Ln-CHKEG2XGxvzA_N3CxIRhD7g4r4AIvDtnVDu6tbgISCII8Rkkr2rVAiU6YUVOsbVAfd7i0iucP2h7R89sa5ooqHwR1KK03c9pjmIqyCll5KjzJ_tXv7JGRSOUgE2EXf1Vw4RC8xQlmd5SVntuNvdozE5aW4GJDevE0OSDNlCl4OxmXyw/s2560/eVscope-20220831-035429.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAH12ap14Ln-CHKEG2XGxvzA_N3CxIRhD7g4r4AIvDtnVDu6tbgISCII8Rkkr2rVAiU6YUVOsbVAfd7i0iucP2h7R89sa5ooqHwR1KK03c9pjmIqyCll5KjzJ_tXv7JGRSOUgE2EXf1Vw4RC8xQlmd5SVntuNvdozE5aW4GJDevE0OSDNlCl4OxmXyw/w640-h480/eVscope-20220831-035429.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 30 August 2022, taken with a Unistellar eVscope<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> The comet and its tail are visible at the center of the image. <p></p><p>I didn't observe it again until earlier this month when the comet was <i>much</i> closer to both Earth and the Sun. Here's a photo from early in the morning on January 12, 2023:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HtNR56tLaekNxr0FDiRgnCW_1hCJjDclHBPKVPw3smltAxNRPNLlsV-WSwNk-mkXjHxmv4k9AicbbjYv4JIdmT8lANzfC_l4oqPVCayr0ugHbC9w_Pc8l4spaNt53mZawVmZaFKVZ_9HUloGezii6RZ2QdVErBJSqMjhbb3YaH9Y-7ap-snw8fAB7w/s2560/eVscope-20230112-123823.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HtNR56tLaekNxr0FDiRgnCW_1hCJjDclHBPKVPw3smltAxNRPNLlsV-WSwNk-mkXjHxmv4k9AicbbjYv4JIdmT8lANzfC_l4oqPVCayr0ugHbC9w_Pc8l4spaNt53mZawVmZaFKVZ_9HUloGezii6RZ2QdVErBJSqMjhbb3YaH9Y-7ap-snw8fAB7w/w640-h480/eVscope-20230112-123823.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 12 January 2023, taken with a Unistellar eVscope</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>That green color, which comes from ionized diatomic Carbon molecules, is now visible along with the whitish dust tail and a faint narrow ion tail. It is maybe easier to see the details in this animation which shows the comet's motion against the background stars:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidp3xPK0u--eJEheJ7hZsiLjARwA-RvD6YJ9ZNy_jU4--YPYhrcMFigDg-k3XfNv_GYIGxFqvDBPqfo6PfynakzpyWXIPfwv3f-W76vhO_RZCdl4AFJxiwcaR0iHPMJaTnqLuPjuPUNE11oTw_U5c9egmPHg6vdva6GHuTPUmGc9gK3moi60EWXeUY-Q/s1200/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2012%202023.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidp3xPK0u--eJEheJ7hZsiLjARwA-RvD6YJ9ZNy_jU4--YPYhrcMFigDg-k3XfNv_GYIGxFqvDBPqfo6PfynakzpyWXIPfwv3f-W76vhO_RZCdl4AFJxiwcaR0iHPMJaTnqLuPjuPUNE11oTw_U5c9egmPHg6vdva6GHuTPUmGc9gK3moi60EWXeUY-Q/w640-h480/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2012%202023.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p> It has been a rainy and cloudy January and I didn't get a chance to observe the comet again until January 21st. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-o1jokd80JcyhdqA2SDPo4O3b5Pxxyj1KWAx6EqOS8hOIK15u9Uh1iAqNaxR5eb4ZBGvOeC5U8jN9uQY--GUJ3swt42zJ9YteMJvBtgpqFxBuxKxk-TpXJg0EMzS3qDYBZeemcdNQCWMFwc-XVn4cJ6pzDj4CLPulQzIJ2Slzs7mSPpBW6md7XYI1sw/s2560/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2021%202023.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-o1jokd80JcyhdqA2SDPo4O3b5Pxxyj1KWAx6EqOS8hOIK15u9Uh1iAqNaxR5eb4ZBGvOeC5U8jN9uQY--GUJ3swt42zJ9YteMJvBtgpqFxBuxKxk-TpXJg0EMzS3qDYBZeemcdNQCWMFwc-XVn4cJ6pzDj4CLPulQzIJ2Slzs7mSPpBW6md7XYI1sw/w640-h480/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2021%202023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 21 January 2023, taken with a Unistellar eVscope</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Again, the green glow of the comet's coma, the dust tail and ion tail are all visible, but with everything looking better than it did on the 12th. Here's an animated gif from images taken the morning of the 21st:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTpgLSltWkJfBgHBzQvZ2vf15gX32QLMsspdu2btFKR466W86s1sXvo4WX5jPj2rqG0C3Kfpu7uLLRlyB58yVC5DlwyeAxaMZLLI422NyAwjxUVZcLU7mhvlccJfsZ262G1ywQ-9q0h9txLKRSp2zxJk9NzaQDafj9bRxMDJYQzmmGRr3-opXdRVAWQ/s1200/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2021.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTpgLSltWkJfBgHBzQvZ2vf15gX32QLMsspdu2btFKR466W86s1sXvo4WX5jPj2rqG0C3Kfpu7uLLRlyB58yVC5DlwyeAxaMZLLI422NyAwjxUVZcLU7mhvlccJfsZ262G1ywQ-9q0h9txLKRSp2zxJk9NzaQDafj9bRxMDJYQzmmGRr3-opXdRVAWQ/w640-h480/E3%20ZTF%20Jan%2021.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>By January 26th the comet had moved far enough north that it was a circumpolar object, which meant that I didn't have to get up before sunrise to see it. Also, because the comet's position is changing relative to Earth, our view of the comet and its tails had changed. Below is a two-frame mosaic of the comet:<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR9MfwnfHrHl8m31HlTAmu_StVkBj5RB7GYfEvZYBkuZhyIPxlybMT4J3IhEG8Y-yeGWSbKvK0MxEEOQAyPBmAQ4J7UBKn83Jsv5xTdnemyZxZxPrzyDW-lyUXSKbVbiqh6hd-v5e_AUuRh1W3nvmsfxFJjdmDSy4MhVCGu2t4kn0BGEwvuSS3rkVyUA/s3118/Jan%2026%202023%20E3ZTF%2080%20sec%20mosaic.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3118" data-original-width="2883" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR9MfwnfHrHl8m31HlTAmu_StVkBj5RB7GYfEvZYBkuZhyIPxlybMT4J3IhEG8Y-yeGWSbKvK0MxEEOQAyPBmAQ4J7UBKn83Jsv5xTdnemyZxZxPrzyDW-lyUXSKbVbiqh6hd-v5e_AUuRh1W3nvmsfxFJjdmDSy4MhVCGu2t4kn0BGEwvuSS3rkVyUA/w592-h640/Jan%2026%202023%20E3ZTF%2080%20sec%20mosaic.png" width="592" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosaic image of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 26 January 2023, taken with a Unistellar eVscope<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />I shot this mosaic to capture more of the comet's thin ion tail which was too long to fit in a single frame. <br /><p></p><p>The comet will be closest to Earth in just a few days and when the weather clears I will try to catch it again. <br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-28542267565061592642022-12-25T07:12:00.001-07:002022-12-25T07:12:22.373-07:00Astro Advent 2022<p>Advent can be a wonderful way to count down to Christmas. Unistellar Ambassador <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@KiwiskiNZ@mastodon.nz" target="_blank">John Pickering</a> had the idea to post a new astronomical image, taken this year, each day as we count down to Christmas. While I've been playing along and posting images on both <a href="https://twitter.com/palomarskies" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and on <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@PalomarSkies" target="_blank">Mastodon</a>, I thought I would put them all here as well. </p><p>So here they are:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7Bzuqgs8EhZ12oYBhzIGDE1uH5rzJuG1ZVAmi24Hzy0bEzh-6kGPIK4V7pSvyWohn-CFxjCPpDXxuwPfH4eskP0U91QvB--u26u7DUWIL0MAt7hUWvy66HXBspFZAWdy5cddQhcsGKFGpZLnzjVNJzSaQJcTlac7kaRoXXo32WafnXNJN6gFZvhLDA/s2413/Dec%2001%20JWST.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2413" height="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7Bzuqgs8EhZ12oYBhzIGDE1uH5rzJuG1ZVAmi24Hzy0bEzh-6kGPIK4V7pSvyWohn-CFxjCPpDXxuwPfH4eskP0U91QvB--u26u7DUWIL0MAt7hUWvy66HXBspFZAWdy5cddQhcsGKFGpZLnzjVNJzSaQJcTlac7kaRoXXo32WafnXNJN6gFZvhLDA/w640-h445/Dec%2001%20JWST.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1U9oLqILaIbLihVAPLgoM8sQW1R64fJiOlLdYJFpI0FgbWLoG4fECRtgRZQ9myKU9ppLfMihTkAVIIxEEkV1Sufy_BK1flddpCjMO-mtyBGTdj0SW4eBop7P8J_AO7_i6AlSK6JDacEEM7wTtvloQlX8qQEkE2lmWn5Wv88lGLmWm-tk-oPzMGU8lA/s2413/Dec%2002%20ISS.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2413" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1U9oLqILaIbLihVAPLgoM8sQW1R64fJiOlLdYJFpI0FgbWLoG4fECRtgRZQ9myKU9ppLfMihTkAVIIxEEkV1Sufy_BK1flddpCjMO-mtyBGTdj0SW4eBop7P8J_AO7_i6AlSK6JDacEEM7wTtvloQlX8qQEkE2lmWn5Wv88lGLmWm-tk-oPzMGU8lA/w640-h444/Dec%2002%20ISS.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lvcjmbYznBECW_Sq8b4K45sX4CMXL4r-So-9Vaak3bvTTrDr-PEsA8cz8Il8cC3mxHdkfAPIHgXDFfY1hyaAr0eWYFUA1dGpvs_y0klUzfyDsp_iUk99jTL4TVZq3OCrtIZE2oJGSKs2UQFUBqOADAhxOOun8Bl7pkxD9Ov6Lrv7LMShxlGpb3-r6Q/s2116/Dec%2003%20M1%20Nyssa.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="2116" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lvcjmbYznBECW_Sq8b4K45sX4CMXL4r-So-9Vaak3bvTTrDr-PEsA8cz8Il8cC3mxHdkfAPIHgXDFfY1hyaAr0eWYFUA1dGpvs_y0klUzfyDsp_iUk99jTL4TVZq3OCrtIZE2oJGSKs2UQFUBqOADAhxOOun8Bl7pkxD9Ov6Lrv7LMShxlGpb3-r6Q/w640-h450/Dec%2003%20M1%20Nyssa.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLEPshLkivQ5sT9HElMN1OPDpI2iyO97Fz3YtmU_YHjcq1VEySr9CRmvDHvEaNoBE4CeJ-zGUX9RUPHwQLoMF2BvLmuKzDpJ-VmW1NsSuvExR7HoDpEZ90eLZuylFxsk9YN_9pk-n-v4Le1SKuw6h9iBEuumlfdxQ3E37WNKdNRovt3JrNF89D2cp-gw/s2000/Dec%2004%20Cluster%20Comet.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="2000" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLEPshLkivQ5sT9HElMN1OPDpI2iyO97Fz3YtmU_YHjcq1VEySr9CRmvDHvEaNoBE4CeJ-zGUX9RUPHwQLoMF2BvLmuKzDpJ-VmW1NsSuvExR7HoDpEZ90eLZuylFxsk9YN_9pk-n-v4Le1SKuw6h9iBEuumlfdxQ3E37WNKdNRovt3JrNF89D2cp-gw/w640-h472/Dec%2004%20Cluster%20Comet.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-KFFywhJWyVyP57UOInQBYIYTUbQRzlABRO8qKJJLoz6fubPyu5od2Vh7HBI6lrRD3YJvvwsze_59gRJlEMWmBre7B8MxiNve8eit5oVUK29m21wsL5h2wjqMep1L1z4wEJxVNcsFWWdPW4tW3z5OVrkFI2xdqtuKtAWzXFGwv86dBJspyWvLBJAtw/s2560/Dec%2005%20M57.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-KFFywhJWyVyP57UOInQBYIYTUbQRzlABRO8qKJJLoz6fubPyu5od2Vh7HBI6lrRD3YJvvwsze_59gRJlEMWmBre7B8MxiNve8eit5oVUK29m21wsL5h2wjqMep1L1z4wEJxVNcsFWWdPW4tW3z5OVrkFI2xdqtuKtAWzXFGwv86dBJspyWvLBJAtw/w640-h480/Dec%2005%20M57.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRs8pyM9zhlVV_hdt_fQ_s3_2Wa2P6RMWm64u-ynw4eaM01A29RSZ6N8HLbEDbi19JKVK2-RkbFSAztj5ytCzTABbFXWB-_JLqMQZj58C4g_h2u81PMH3ukHDL32xpqgoPggPVSjTBqAKvoeEPmbLSsYoXy7R-NzHyPhn76F2c8p4ZRdS0THvLU1nJw/s3032/Dec%2006%20M101.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2183" data-original-width="3032" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRs8pyM9zhlVV_hdt_fQ_s3_2Wa2P6RMWm64u-ynw4eaM01A29RSZ6N8HLbEDbi19JKVK2-RkbFSAztj5ytCzTABbFXWB-_JLqMQZj58C4g_h2u81PMH3ukHDL32xpqgoPggPVSjTBqAKvoeEPmbLSsYoXy7R-NzHyPhn76F2c8p4ZRdS0THvLU1nJw/w640-h460/Dec%2006%20M101.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE28q2ij2ExDoXXoLda4ujBYRiuXrwLPdX8-e3rmkphPbkllgkXXGzQRO1dkHOmN0Vx6zcd_zUaZEwhIF6XZhZ3hVRJJkmOTMJzBpcrW2hoGp2r62zPjEWUHrdrmuLlraQSbu31e6RHlEp-8z7GEqp4n6pTZrbu_WzbDry9KEw66sDsfYZ4HCH1cJY3w/s2413/Dec%2007%20total%20lunar%20eclipse.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2413" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE28q2ij2ExDoXXoLda4ujBYRiuXrwLPdX8-e3rmkphPbkllgkXXGzQRO1dkHOmN0Vx6zcd_zUaZEwhIF6XZhZ3hVRJJkmOTMJzBpcrW2hoGp2r62zPjEWUHrdrmuLlraQSbu31e6RHlEp-8z7GEqp4n6pTZrbu_WzbDry9KEw66sDsfYZ4HCH1cJY3w/w640-h444/Dec%2007%20total%20lunar%20eclipse.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20oU60vXuqvOmez7vkUqM_V6Jc7G2n26d2dtVDDIhep1rg8EFOPTcaR46FcxE3kAacyxtxz-T3A3juUpavy_PCkrqNK2rVfyfYU11pf2AngCBn3qgpxDdOGarrZifY6gUwxzCxkZrCiEvlAnXb9J_EdAOqr4Eu8cD1QtHWAsxSn1-IAY2U3SWx_pL_Q/s2224/Dec%2008%20Moon%20Mars.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1668" data-original-width="2224" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20oU60vXuqvOmez7vkUqM_V6Jc7G2n26d2dtVDDIhep1rg8EFOPTcaR46FcxE3kAacyxtxz-T3A3juUpavy_PCkrqNK2rVfyfYU11pf2AngCBn3qgpxDdOGarrZifY6gUwxzCxkZrCiEvlAnXb9J_EdAOqr4Eu8cD1QtHWAsxSn1-IAY2U3SWx_pL_Q/w640-h480/Dec%2008%20Moon%20Mars.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlfWu5ydjtBLgVQEeXwKPrziBOQDzLrdkChEYF0FxOYjmOW8fFfOVF4PN-w4yGXTMfOQd5Vca8kaDfLgXWeCSnXwBoWwaIkS3HGVSdl0XsMfyF3TnOICNX4oJB-rrXu6FJOl0WFkccxsHdkDRQQtDzvvcakxHv-L7LBTvM3OgceJ3Cgm-ZT3XZpM3ew/s1137/Artemis%20I%20December%208%202022%20Inverted%20copy.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="1137" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlfWu5ydjtBLgVQEeXwKPrziBOQDzLrdkChEYF0FxOYjmOW8fFfOVF4PN-w4yGXTMfOQd5Vca8kaDfLgXWeCSnXwBoWwaIkS3HGVSdl0XsMfyF3TnOICNX4oJB-rrXu6FJOl0WFkccxsHdkDRQQtDzvvcakxHv-L7LBTvM3OgceJ3Cgm-ZT3XZpM3ew/w640-h484/Artemis%20I%20December%208%202022%20Inverted%20copy.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No caption on the image for this one. <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">The faint line underneath the star at center is NASA's Artemis I spacecraft, photographed December 8, 2022.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV5-FUrHJ16YIwoOQDtYuiHG1FZcC1znLaX-6sJuh1BDU31M8VCF1VflVeeVWpvsMgRkI8UnX-EasND6Ld7Pd57gv_5jpCA0iaKGCzysebPdVyTu_C75qLSKi6uKtHfIW_yxgViUmP_Bp3qgrFcqU7WutBC1qtlCvjIPGpIjs4_xWxtLS7CYyE65Jcw/s3200/Dec%2010%20NGC%204565.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV5-FUrHJ16YIwoOQDtYuiHG1FZcC1znLaX-6sJuh1BDU31M8VCF1VflVeeVWpvsMgRkI8UnX-EasND6Ld7Pd57gv_5jpCA0iaKGCzysebPdVyTu_C75qLSKi6uKtHfIW_yxgViUmP_Bp3qgrFcqU7WutBC1qtlCvjIPGpIjs4_xWxtLS7CYyE65Jcw/w640-h480/Dec%2010%20NGC%204565.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoJy7Sqx77csFAm7ssuUYismo0Z8-MNtuTCNXcrar0i_j4YCOrMWha54XN_jZLFWFeHlzD-iWgwCyJyiPmxHspmARas2APci1Vyl-QoUjMM03KIFzviVMdZ8lcpVq29wcnOjmh9O7HZ4poX_FeJedrijXlRZ8k4yXWu_bPd_v4J9KO3UZq9VBFrlW0g/s3016/Dec%2011%20M51.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2214" data-original-width="3016" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoJy7Sqx77csFAm7ssuUYismo0Z8-MNtuTCNXcrar0i_j4YCOrMWha54XN_jZLFWFeHlzD-iWgwCyJyiPmxHspmARas2APci1Vyl-QoUjMM03KIFzviVMdZ8lcpVq29wcnOjmh9O7HZ4poX_FeJedrijXlRZ8k4yXWu_bPd_v4J9KO3UZq9VBFrlW0g/w640-h470/Dec%2011%20M51.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTsHCtk3eFWnUhZgzQ9PLOorO0Zwzz3FXMIE_e1NNvMeALybCpwUFBB3WWW8d8i0ToSdohql8vFEVDvSWAJ7fZ8eknOSzAAmvHTroEADBkttFk7_7H5fBSaXoBlOYvqrgXzUjvEBU6RkG1SQHTIvLL9pIaSfPLSVtSVvBMJ_32fg_nmM9XCvtTDr1Tw/s3200/Dec%2012%20M27%20Aug%2027%202022.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTsHCtk3eFWnUhZgzQ9PLOorO0Zwzz3FXMIE_e1NNvMeALybCpwUFBB3WWW8d8i0ToSdohql8vFEVDvSWAJ7fZ8eknOSzAAmvHTroEADBkttFk7_7H5fBSaXoBlOYvqrgXzUjvEBU6RkG1SQHTIvLL9pIaSfPLSVtSVvBMJ_32fg_nmM9XCvtTDr1Tw/w640-h480/Dec%2012%20M27%20Aug%2027%202022.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9991ZbOoi7Ic67XuUECcZBziBxS715XRoTKPbqw-y9SIgnRcAlxAkvuY6Se59DyfDXWl0LfT0GQo_2RMkObAfckpbni1cci2Y0nW_FtZNGANwkQaAgLAD21xx3Gxtw1hdLKX10CPLIIXOvbZOif_LIqcegNcQxOWsjr2hOHtxMZAi-24_PLmXBkUWUw/s3200/Dec%2013%20M13%20Aug%2030%202022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9991ZbOoi7Ic67XuUECcZBziBxS715XRoTKPbqw-y9SIgnRcAlxAkvuY6Se59DyfDXWl0LfT0GQo_2RMkObAfckpbni1cci2Y0nW_FtZNGANwkQaAgLAD21xx3Gxtw1hdLKX10CPLIIXOvbZOif_LIqcegNcQxOWsjr2hOHtxMZAi-24_PLmXBkUWUw/w640-h480/Dec%2013%20M13%20Aug%2030%202022.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFx4TgpbCmE00aM9SZxKRY_gBlcboUVXulrXxAL2Hsq2iENweycMUdBX9FeCwK3QXvJS45tv44sJo5hugsXI92THZuyQrn9HJCRY_TLh8l40k5j2a8oAHzTqnmd7gTn2k78VBQabenpC-pfSDxgSZKfaVmuyzo__VCiPajaLGUF-wZhM8Q6edmxj5d7g/s3200/Dec%2014%20M17%20Aug%2026%202022%2010%20min%20OP%20edit%20copy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFx4TgpbCmE00aM9SZxKRY_gBlcboUVXulrXxAL2Hsq2iENweycMUdBX9FeCwK3QXvJS45tv44sJo5hugsXI92THZuyQrn9HJCRY_TLh8l40k5j2a8oAHzTqnmd7gTn2k78VBQabenpC-pfSDxgSZKfaVmuyzo__VCiPajaLGUF-wZhM8Q6edmxj5d7g/w640-h480/Dec%2014%20M17%20Aug%2026%202022%2010%20min%20OP%20edit%20copy.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGLc7s8Nox1Fv8ahznsFurLZvWZE4fYST-N_T7foFnVoqu_13pV3kAVX434_QTgDJ--8maArZ75rJCvFC1Wm2shob6zC8zdGTfmOzka7-KzFjMgOjCCC1da8qtYmrLx12Vhs0Hr-ddw2L5kiVuo5y-sdro6c_inIOqb3baGBKfqk1f6WtOgpcmJ241g/s912/Letaba%20Occultation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGLc7s8Nox1Fv8ahznsFurLZvWZE4fYST-N_T7foFnVoqu_13pV3kAVX434_QTgDJ--8maArZ75rJCvFC1Wm2shob6zC8zdGTfmOzka7-KzFjMgOjCCC1da8qtYmrLx12Vhs0Hr-ddw2L5kiVuo5y-sdro6c_inIOqb3baGBKfqk1f6WtOgpcmJ241g/w422-h640/Letaba%20Occultation.gif" width="422" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Astro Advent for December 15th was<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> an asteroid occultation that I observed this month as asteroid 1264 Letaba passed in front of a star.</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTiUihpElPNe6ODmKe5tlksCI7c4bX_WstgcawHWatd8n_hLLEshtwv6PCZJCF_5NZ_pjJX34Kr7-1nOB1ZyoR7FibzHMhD5CMjt_Yh9b7KoDXisfOP4jYnER4U629Ho6CiEBVh6Q7sCFB2caFe3UUwuBbbKqLsU7S0T4YjmxrR6ZLwkUnmZEs3QRwg/s2000/Dec%2016%20Flame%20Nebula%20sm.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1472" data-original-width="2000" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTiUihpElPNe6ODmKe5tlksCI7c4bX_WstgcawHWatd8n_hLLEshtwv6PCZJCF_5NZ_pjJX34Kr7-1nOB1ZyoR7FibzHMhD5CMjt_Yh9b7KoDXisfOP4jYnER4U629Ho6CiEBVh6Q7sCFB2caFe3UUwuBbbKqLsU7S0T4YjmxrR6ZLwkUnmZEs3QRwg/w640-h472/Dec%2016%20Flame%20Nebula%20sm.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9aImTSCwlipXpP8DAxEg5MmI5gt8ML9Dvti_hnB4uwK5kF_akHCagFiyYj2aPeKEzgqHKnFynQ-gtB4_BkFqtkt5PelNmlnTaLtlvu05J7Y8W5k25f1J3Jj81kN23pZrGlzVITj_38pFB6yoRYJmfzlefHpzOPQFXLyd6URidZrzMkot7G6lBt0AQg/s3200/Dec%2017%20M8%20Aug%2026%202022%2025%20min%20OP%20BC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9aImTSCwlipXpP8DAxEg5MmI5gt8ML9Dvti_hnB4uwK5kF_akHCagFiyYj2aPeKEzgqHKnFynQ-gtB4_BkFqtkt5PelNmlnTaLtlvu05J7Y8W5k25f1J3Jj81kN23pZrGlzVITj_38pFB6yoRYJmfzlefHpzOPQFXLyd6URidZrzMkot7G6lBt0AQg/w640-h480/Dec%2017%20M8%20Aug%2026%202022%2025%20min%20OP%20BC.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95J2JLI0HmBdtjpgz_pu_TC0PM_r1CuNMk0YVWWvhXML5QyPCDekTN4e9O1Mz5BWV9S7VDdIymMAKJd-DI8HxFNDmcW9r71kbsAqgkTQaPhEf5noZXkyH6LpTv_D8Kvzw0M_NXygM6yWySiogk5_SnYDf5n992HHSAjosZ4gjyew3C545vZZhHbqnXA/s2560/Dec%2018%20NGC%20891.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95J2JLI0HmBdtjpgz_pu_TC0PM_r1CuNMk0YVWWvhXML5QyPCDekTN4e9O1Mz5BWV9S7VDdIymMAKJd-DI8HxFNDmcW9r71kbsAqgkTQaPhEf5noZXkyH6LpTv_D8Kvzw0M_NXygM6yWySiogk5_SnYDf5n992HHSAjosZ4gjyew3C545vZZhHbqnXA/w640-h480/Dec%2018%20NGC%20891.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMWTG2FsbyGoAx5oj4aL5CXVZqvctfmZK3Er-Hs87I5oFzTGYtRhXDMxnvH6L1bZh59Ughp9C_k5fZvwysAVLcsqN31CKgTW6c99ocPt57ct8HNQJhEO4ff17VoR2oQIKb1PZi8Bdj27WboIuoPPwBHZj6D_wszKqYvs-zSrIqAGOQKhlJ0_ZJncnWw/s1200/Dec%2019%20Moon%20labeled.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMWTG2FsbyGoAx5oj4aL5CXVZqvctfmZK3Er-Hs87I5oFzTGYtRhXDMxnvH6L1bZh59Ughp9C_k5fZvwysAVLcsqN31CKgTW6c99ocPt57ct8HNQJhEO4ff17VoR2oQIKb1PZi8Bdj27WboIuoPPwBHZj6D_wszKqYvs-zSrIqAGOQKhlJ0_ZJncnWw/w640-h480/Dec%2019%20Moon%20labeled.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquhUQjVnpqipqKXx5PhAiZO9kpu9FVZv3omnDY28vR2wjc-l_DXWMzdI0WQ2FJr5tgz5xmA5ygfwsXWVHTBw5bDQVIfFqfqiiBmW1IoJ0Id5opdWDNZgblYE96bZ4GSAOjsnxjQQbOzopwY3-W3nNhT-yQwDPfDvZuYQh5QwVGGAp3dgmnHDy4mXbEQ/s2773/Dec%2020%20M76%20Nov%2022%202022%2060%20min%20OP.%20copy%202.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2098" data-original-width="2773" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquhUQjVnpqipqKXx5PhAiZO9kpu9FVZv3omnDY28vR2wjc-l_DXWMzdI0WQ2FJr5tgz5xmA5ygfwsXWVHTBw5bDQVIfFqfqiiBmW1IoJ0Id5opdWDNZgblYE96bZ4GSAOjsnxjQQbOzopwY3-W3nNhT-yQwDPfDvZuYQh5QwVGGAp3dgmnHDy4mXbEQ/w640-h484/Dec%2020%20M76%20Nov%2022%202022%2060%20min%20OP.%20copy%202.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFOLnJY51S9_ZMFKPGQBfLtHXAjwSqTOgeQh83RahkH54mUQWhKBsIHLj1Ygjlgub8KA8eyRHubUQdN3vXBW5HxjOc5sJpMgYNDgLWPAc61VJfqYWYwtcuzIhHKNrH9cTWlTlEps-P9KvxvUI1OA45Zs7CGpUzP9lk5JbKJ4bPXzg9Ci5MQmrVWaXzw/s1200/Dec%2021%20Sun%20size.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFOLnJY51S9_ZMFKPGQBfLtHXAjwSqTOgeQh83RahkH54mUQWhKBsIHLj1Ygjlgub8KA8eyRHubUQdN3vXBW5HxjOc5sJpMgYNDgLWPAc61VJfqYWYwtcuzIhHKNrH9cTWlTlEps-P9KvxvUI1OA45Zs7CGpUzP9lk5JbKJ4bPXzg9Ci5MQmrVWaXzw/w640-h480/Dec%2021%20Sun%20size.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBB6mkmI2ZvtFIoqE43oHQIGFoosuLhJK2LepaoT6XWdnjWGiByBxIzTyxMkEptil25u0YeBqFX15JvdbeHPoMPXuwfWj87oWsyDAHDuUQ4cb1rX2izdz_nimjZcifT4rIfFtRfGFzzhX7LTvfmM6IKelCeYqD0y6KRc3vziJg5s-Okl-8NuTbRSzJjA/s1500/Dec%2022%20Horsehead%20Nebula%20Dec%2021%202022%20copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1500" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBB6mkmI2ZvtFIoqE43oHQIGFoosuLhJK2LepaoT6XWdnjWGiByBxIzTyxMkEptil25u0YeBqFX15JvdbeHPoMPXuwfWj87oWsyDAHDuUQ4cb1rX2izdz_nimjZcifT4rIfFtRfGFzzhX7LTvfmM6IKelCeYqD0y6KRc3vziJg5s-Okl-8NuTbRSzJjA/w640-h454/Dec%2022%20Horsehead%20Nebula%20Dec%2021%202022%20copy.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJTsUbs9qNKVV4_Mi2FwiYsigycAjvFvFhC-lskC5AQTiT6qJx7rbXphd4ulZ_6iXg47lRNbZXXNGYWINhQqbVEEK0mcx_cq9LchPWKv9ySZqEzQ5ETFUrwFuwpcF7QjpdPwHFQOqE-Qqv90nKnAZ8hqr6bKwmPSOuCCYbjQrCJmM1RgyNA1fy4ZadMw/s2000/Dec%2023%20Xmas%20Tree%20Cluster%20copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJTsUbs9qNKVV4_Mi2FwiYsigycAjvFvFhC-lskC5AQTiT6qJx7rbXphd4ulZ_6iXg47lRNbZXXNGYWINhQqbVEEK0mcx_cq9LchPWKv9ySZqEzQ5ETFUrwFuwpcF7QjpdPwHFQOqE-Qqv90nKnAZ8hqr6bKwmPSOuCCYbjQrCJmM1RgyNA1fy4ZadMw/w640-h480/Dec%2023%20Xmas%20Tree%20Cluster%20copy.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKoicQtDgpS7whp4JW97Pp1P53Orz8wAhjkZtT1bAo7JDAvXleWlu_JPJ0DKic-fHaOEIlQw_A5jutzzwVDyhiR2f0w0j2Kwv6p6B8uCKcTgjVy_dcNFZZiHrr2mIhpIzMtY6pmzr19l4q7lc4Dpcida5hCl2lqsQGGZyo41V9RJ9Rt92xY_PF3KuBA/s2000/Dec%2024th%20Rosette%20Feb%2025%20small.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="2000" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKoicQtDgpS7whp4JW97Pp1P53Orz8wAhjkZtT1bAo7JDAvXleWlu_JPJ0DKic-fHaOEIlQw_A5jutzzwVDyhiR2f0w0j2Kwv6p6B8uCKcTgjVy_dcNFZZiHrr2mIhpIzMtY6pmzr19l4q7lc4Dpcida5hCl2lqsQGGZyo41V9RJ9Rt92xY_PF3KuBA/w640-h530/Dec%2024th%20Rosette%20Feb%2025%20small.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3t7DSVOfl9ZbPhXY1owoL_d5cnWXuUfbkwmdG6bt-SfMUp21nuLHDK9SJv8MQZC3DUwSF77BhOcd0KMSg3lSJgKkMhs86qwnQW9Ddox8JZiOq5yrn68kbR8uPYUdSAHiCGKbMXRXP8E63o0GZQI6ad2z_xwn40JCm5W0ZGcxDkK6Bl53n_5IVfBF-g/s3200/Dec%2025%20Vega%20Aug%2027%202022%202%20min%20OP%20copy.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3t7DSVOfl9ZbPhXY1owoL_d5cnWXuUfbkwmdG6bt-SfMUp21nuLHDK9SJv8MQZC3DUwSF77BhOcd0KMSg3lSJgKkMhs86qwnQW9Ddox8JZiOq5yrn68kbR8uPYUdSAHiCGKbMXRXP8E63o0GZQI6ad2z_xwn40JCm5W0ZGcxDkK6Bl53n_5IVfBF-g/w640-h480/Dec%2025%20Vega%20Aug%2027%202022%202%20min%20OP%20copy.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The star Vega<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-2674678073575783462022-11-25T16:08:00.002-07:002022-11-25T16:08:56.213-07:00I'm on Mastodon<p> Hey, I am on <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@PalomarSkies" target="_blank">Mastodon</a> now and this post is basically to confirm my identity there, so feel free to otherwise ignore this.<br /></p>
<a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@PalomarSkies" rel="me">Mastodon</a>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-34967031735610498672022-11-25T16:04:00.002-07:002022-11-25T16:04:19.766-07:00A Harvest of Planets<p> In <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/08/finding-himalia-2022-edition.html">my last post </a>(back in August!) I posted this image of Jupiter taken with my <a href="https://www.unistellar.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGXha4u-5q_lZuru4elyxDIJDg2UI7VLfqr1AP-VTSlRxyI04N00b4M3Re3QghM5Ogf_AEFZfoxY6U-Zh3cbXyCHk5SOBXyoO_Tl6WM8Wqy_SHo03BHqQ5BxDyaEupMvOpR7M9NwyPPjHUCrFxpOYKuvy2EB7f7xfHulklk4oBgEdXtRKFNB907obdg/s812/Jupiter%20GRS%20Aug%2028%202022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jupiter" border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="812" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGXha4u-5q_lZuru4elyxDIJDg2UI7VLfqr1AP-VTSlRxyI04N00b4M3Re3QghM5Ogf_AEFZfoxY6U-Zh3cbXyCHk5SOBXyoO_Tl6WM8Wqy_SHo03BHqQ5BxDyaEupMvOpR7M9NwyPPjHUCrFxpOYKuvy2EB7f7xfHulklk4oBgEdXtRKFNB907obdg/w320-h236/Jupiter%20GRS%20Aug%2028%202022.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jupiter, with a hint of the Great Red Spot (right)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's not super great (and it was up-scaled from the original), but it was by far the best image of Jupiter I had ever taken with an eVscope. Of course, an eVscope wasn't designed with planets in mind. Instead, it is a wide-field telescope. That means that the telescope is great at capturing large objects like <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-nebulae-of-messier-catalog-ranked.html">nebulae</a>, but not for planets. </p><p> At least that was true until a few days ago when Unistellar released verson 2.2.0 of their app. The update is specifically to improve the telescope's ability to image planets. It does this (presumably) in the same way that many planetary imagers do, by capturing video, tossing out the bad frames that have been blurred by Earth's atmosphere and then keeping and stacking the best ones. I had looked in to doing this and it seemed to involve multiple software packages to handle the various steps and, frankly, it seemed like kind of a lot of work --so much so that I likely wasn't going to go down that road. The good news is now I don't have to, as the app now does it all for me and the results are <i>stunning</i>. </p><p>Have a look. Here's how Jupiter looks without and then with the new app running:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3DQeJOK_UpnKs3dr97UjjSqvKDj2RuZPNzHJ8yddpxJ-p06etmuT4LzZwHkVdxGzm3jDBTW_O40MxWd07S23_Y4b6r1KjmGwDCT-HatXiv9wkfoVj2RYg4KVMpesf4AKmbvdy9HkmyTqfzVPT3LbeQr8g9Qm-dbC1r2HVbUwuRS6FqmHjovcHIqRVg/s1120/Jupiter%20app.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1120" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3DQeJOK_UpnKs3dr97UjjSqvKDj2RuZPNzHJ8yddpxJ-p06etmuT4LzZwHkVdxGzm3jDBTW_O40MxWd07S23_Y4b6r1KjmGwDCT-HatXiv9wkfoVj2RYg4KVMpesf4AKmbvdy9HkmyTqfzVPT3LbeQr8g9Qm-dbC1r2HVbUwuRS6FqmHjovcHIqRVg/w400-h400/Jupiter%20app.gif" width="400" /></a></div><p>Okay, that blink is pretty fast, so here's a still of how Jupiter looks with the new imaging:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHb_Pxv9fofkuhmpFXMwDiSFKXmfKYYuMSArCYMCO3JrUOj8lOax2UKP9KBs7g0zE203QI4yAl1GxZUpCvDFqjGbzODMF5FGdGAKYp7fl2G44NDjxDWqXX1GoVo4NMyx-kKGIctZEo-7iEvi1Duz7XIBhqElOcmA5DRmlrok2BHbvHTMxOUfPDuM-Lg/s2048/eVscope-20221123-030132.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHb_Pxv9fofkuhmpFXMwDiSFKXmfKYYuMSArCYMCO3JrUOj8lOax2UKP9KBs7g0zE203QI4yAl1GxZUpCvDFqjGbzODMF5FGdGAKYp7fl2G44NDjxDWqXX1GoVo4NMyx-kKGIctZEo-7iEvi1Duz7XIBhqElOcmA5DRmlrok2BHbvHTMxOUfPDuM-Lg/w640-h480/eVscope-20221123-030132.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><p>Yes, the image doesn't compete with the greats like <a href="https://www.damianpeach.com/" target="_blank">Damian Peach</a>, but it is a vast improvement on what was possible before. Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) was easily visible, along with its North and South Equatorial Belts. </p><p>The GRS was so prominently displayed that I decided to shoot Jupiter every 5 minutes for an hour to see if I could capture Jupiter's fast rotation. Here's the result:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglrcm9I-OjAmZqm3ufe5Sx2NGL94lrARD_Rzv2sbZtaqUHsubJoOdrsgEC7QONclTt3tf0D5nC_Negxkx8R13uBOwYnfWuMsL8sFDM_t8fLUsyzElOh7kNDcHze31K8n82HTiZhNVLaeWrvd8-bqi1VmrXTlANloU0Mu49QxoYF0HC2C0MmntsQG79mQ/s395/Jupiter%20rotation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglrcm9I-OjAmZqm3ufe5Sx2NGL94lrARD_Rzv2sbZtaqUHsubJoOdrsgEC7QONclTt3tf0D5nC_Negxkx8R13uBOwYnfWuMsL8sFDM_t8fLUsyzElOh7kNDcHze31K8n82HTiZhNVLaeWrvd8-bqi1VmrXTlANloU0Mu49QxoYF0HC2C0MmntsQG79mQ/s16000/Jupiter%20rotation.gif" /></a></div><p>I aligned the images by hand (so the alignments aren't perfect), but the result makes me happy. Jupiter spins once in just about 10 hours, so one hour of Earth time nicely reveals its rotation. </p><p>The resolution here is just barely good enough that shadows of Jupiter's four major moons should be visible when they land on Jupiter's cloud tops and as the moons themselves should be visible when they transit across the face of Jupiter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqJRywcf6Lmg3leJyKEgGRSiWTN9tivFNy0Ra8rvm-WebPuXHIpwAKNp85N99JFTr__VKrPxVgoUVNUIWTK9sWSc_3Hh33WGo3hwVyGeGyvIUHibObbfRcIpUDcjwXQ7JhMfDBVZPWGoyvwp-KIpHCm6EXOOMta0q4yfEn7rP-cdUki94uBO-tzicBg/s500/Jupiter%20Europa%20transit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="500" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqJRywcf6Lmg3leJyKEgGRSiWTN9tivFNy0Ra8rvm-WebPuXHIpwAKNp85N99JFTr__VKrPxVgoUVNUIWTK9sWSc_3Hh33WGo3hwVyGeGyvIUHibObbfRcIpUDcjwXQ7JhMfDBVZPWGoyvwp-KIpHCm6EXOOMta0q4yfEn7rP-cdUki94uBO-tzicBg/s320/Jupiter%20Europa%20transit.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Look just below the middle of the South Equatorial Belt. See the little white spot? That's likely Jupiter's moon Europa as it was passing in front of Jupiter.</p><p>This technique works on Mars and Saturn too. Of course, Mars and Saturn are smaller in apparent size than Jupiter is, so there's less detail to see, but again, the improvement is really stellar. Previously Mars was nothing more than a reddish-orange dot, with no detail visible at all. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD97KUeFmSIIt8ZTwP8frmqwbZKYkdrVk4cphD7zEjmPQznQU3wWqUKmvuw7fJaPJd0hl_lrOAZK4X4rAjVMeZjj0ERBqhxep_k_Fd61XjgYKd-0Xhr4bNDiUN-AKY8LGlUd9oq6FSjOaRhZ3Jfhds5WnAeMinGoFxH_-96Z9YBdUtZ-Z19fVFAF7q2Q/s1135/SkySafari%20Mars.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="1135" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD97KUeFmSIIt8ZTwP8frmqwbZKYkdrVk4cphD7zEjmPQznQU3wWqUKmvuw7fJaPJd0hl_lrOAZK4X4rAjVMeZjj0ERBqhxep_k_Fd61XjgYKd-0Xhr4bNDiUN-AKY8LGlUd9oq6FSjOaRhZ3Jfhds5WnAeMinGoFxH_-96Z9YBdUtZ-Z19fVFAF7q2Q/w400-h160/SkySafari%20Mars.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />On the left is the view of Mars that was facing Earth as shown in the SkySafari app on the right is my image of Mars. It is still quite small (and enlarged here), but surface detail are clearly visible. I'm no Mars expert, but I believe that the dark area near the middle is Meridiani Planum. The Mars Opportunity rover landed there in 2004. I'll be back to capture other features of Mars soon while it is close to Earth.<br /><p></p><p>Finally, here's Saturn:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-aCuHtgtgL8CVubr66XfdIH2EbRWebWtKvHFYhvNFGx-h6bk6W_jNp_WzABxQwsKVGKUSzTSD95VXzNvUjZtdo3Z4HB_1Uy08ODIx9JgazKGRmyqoQQw8Eou3MTTx-goPLpS0avTuZASZYIsG8icxJYz0mRGy0kjzqz-Y57JrsKAyRPKiTwmSWR_hQ/s1792/eVscope-20221123-022803%202.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="1792" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-aCuHtgtgL8CVubr66XfdIH2EbRWebWtKvHFYhvNFGx-h6bk6W_jNp_WzABxQwsKVGKUSzTSD95VXzNvUjZtdo3Z4HB_1Uy08ODIx9JgazKGRmyqoQQw8Eou3MTTx-goPLpS0avTuZASZYIsG8icxJYz0mRGy0kjzqz-Y57JrsKAyRPKiTwmSWR_hQ/w640-h640/eVscope-20221123-022803%202.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>Again, this isn't an award-winning image, but it is nice to be able to see details pop on these planets. The ability to show them greatly improves the use of the eVscope, especially as a tool for public outreach and that is a win for everybody. <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-85393131318494205032022-08-28T11:32:00.002-07:002022-08-28T11:48:02.864-07:00Finding Himalia - 2022 Edition<p>Last year I decided to see if I could image Jupiter's Moon Himalia and I blogged about it <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/09/finding-himalia.html">right here</a>. I ended that blog post by saying that I would try to find it again in 2022. Well, it is 2022 and the time is right, but fading fast.</p><p>At magnitude 14.6 Himalia is not especially faint. Targets of that brightness are easy to catch with a <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope. The problem is that it is close to Jupiter in the sky and that Jupiter 17.4 magnitudes brighter than this moon! That means that <i>Jupiter is more than nine million times brighter than Himalia!</i></p><p>To diminish the glare from Jupiter it is best to observe Himalia when our view of its orbit is such that it is both far from Jupiter <i>and</i> when Jupiter is close to Earth, which makes the moon's orbit look larger in the sky. Currently Himala's orbit is about 2 degrees across (4x the diameter of the full Moon). <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO77G6upmKSlAQCPI9-2oJT9v_eqI7KyRiDIGkQqd8R4f_QRwuBaF_5OUOC9OwQ49LQnNxy0xZGUR2pO672T2eiwOPjt9OIIARLHBsyTrPVNW1mYGm2n-XUjILFhT6_qaurDTI6fjk3KZu3qM-4KTNmijyzsyrC3tKUK04FNimOZcMc3Uf7_kNRcScA/s2218/Himalia%20orbit%202022.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Himalia's orbit around Jupiter" border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="2218" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO77G6upmKSlAQCPI9-2oJT9v_eqI7KyRiDIGkQqd8R4f_QRwuBaF_5OUOC9OwQ49LQnNxy0xZGUR2pO672T2eiwOPjt9OIIARLHBsyTrPVNW1mYGm2n-XUjILFhT6_qaurDTI6fjk3KZu3qM-4KTNmijyzsyrC3tKUK04FNimOZcMc3Uf7_kNRcScA/w640-h220/Himalia%20orbit%202022.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himalia's orbit around Jupiter (image from SkySafari Pro).<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The peak of both these factors is right now (actually, it was just over a week ago) placing Himalia around 53 arc minutes (almost 1 degree) from Jupiter in the sky.</p><p>This year I was observing with an eVscope2. I also had an Optolong L-Pro filter on the telescope which I was hoping might diminish some of Jupiter's intense glare. <br /></p><p>I looked for this little moon on August 26 & 27 2022. Thankfully, the glare from Jupiter did not look as bad as it did last when I tried this last year (I think that the filter helped), but the glare still makes the view different from one image to the next. Here are the two frames blinked:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hyYtjLjFXv90apgY7Py-73rGwMOoBhATuMsXLNWxVkBlFUaCIEQ2OEkbIPP11-U6sK7ujwdCBRKGGD1hQuZUQb71_3Zt5fsIv8FagMQeeBa9jKBQgunUbGmqlr6vAkXEPR4Ql8c4S-YQS3hTIZMNT4gPRH4d_mGIk5ZgwOqmGswIsDW0bu7VeucvvQ/s1200/Himalia%20Full%20frame%20Aug%2022.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="two images showing Jupiter's moon Himalia" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hyYtjLjFXv90apgY7Py-73rGwMOoBhATuMsXLNWxVkBlFUaCIEQ2OEkbIPP11-U6sK7ujwdCBRKGGD1hQuZUQb71_3Zt5fsIv8FagMQeeBa9jKBQgunUbGmqlr6vAkXEPR4Ql8c4S-YQS3hTIZMNT4gPRH4d_mGIk5ZgwOqmGswIsDW0bu7VeucvvQ/w640-h480/Himalia%20Full%20frame%20Aug%2022.gif" width="640" /></a></div>Yeah, spotting it here is difficult, but you might notice that there is a galaxy (NGC 132) to the right of center. Himalia is beneath it in one frame (taken August 26) and to the right of it in the next. <p></p><p>It is much easier to see in this view that has been cropped, zoomed and annotated:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGBwsmlmsOOEWU4SnE1AS1dg_tTed0VLBXPpH4FiuJIGcXzzjOeP9C2GlcbIwvZO3HtCEtlLPGBfR2oa-WZbZ0iZ9yGjSvHZEANH_s2pataR5UEPxG2w9NPcg4ioX0-BNbwXVCL3f2RkLUbBSIx6kFK9vTChCYkjeFLbhOguinewezIjO34tlISGAFg/s1200/Himalia%20Zoomed%20annotated%20Aug%2022.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGBwsmlmsOOEWU4SnE1AS1dg_tTed0VLBXPpH4FiuJIGcXzzjOeP9C2GlcbIwvZO3HtCEtlLPGBfR2oa-WZbZ0iZ9yGjSvHZEANH_s2pataR5UEPxG2w9NPcg4ioX0-BNbwXVCL3f2RkLUbBSIx6kFK9vTChCYkjeFLbhOguinewezIjO34tlISGAFg/w640-h480/Himalia%20Zoomed%20annotated%20Aug%2022.gif" title="animated gif of Jupiter's moon Himalia" width="640" /></a></div><p>A nice clean detection! <br /></p><p>It turns out that Jupiter's moon Elara was likely in the same field of view of my full-frame images, but at magnitude 16.2 it is quite a bit fainter and I'm not convinced that I caught it. </p><p>While I was pointed near Jupiter I decided to go ahead and look at Jupiter too and was pleased to see that the Great Red Spot was visible. Now the eVscope2 has a really wide field of view and Jupiter looks pretty tiny, but with cropping and upscalling you can easily see its belts, zones and even the Great Red Spot.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uJwVMp0_fDwzqfr1WjWsgDFtuRHi9QmHUn0MY5YuGehJ4ML6Zoi6lMN0mtBywLs6P8syns-rlLGXjx8Znf3OtixSSmFO8hUC2JuNl1TnOjIUHh6H2bTsQdfEh2XRalCSzhKjlcUZiDVBN_os9Rh8WPHqllfzt_pQq8y1G74QZXk3C8cgDBYltUrExg/s812/Jupiter%20GRS%20Aug%2028%202022.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="812" height="471" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uJwVMp0_fDwzqfr1WjWsgDFtuRHi9QmHUn0MY5YuGehJ4ML6Zoi6lMN0mtBywLs6P8syns-rlLGXjx8Znf3OtixSSmFO8hUC2JuNl1TnOjIUHh6H2bTsQdfEh2XRalCSzhKjlcUZiDVBN_os9Rh8WPHqllfzt_pQq8y1G74QZXk3C8cgDBYltUrExg/w640-h471/Jupiter%20GRS%20Aug%2028%202022.png" title="Jupiter" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jupiter with the Great Red Spot<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>I've got some other faint moons to try. I will report back here if I have any success. <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-39404824184283443552022-07-16T12:09:00.002-07:002022-07-16T12:12:59.141-07:00The Cluster and the Comet<p>Back in June I posted about observing comets (<a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2022/06/comets.html" target="_blank">see it here</a>) and even mentioned the one that is currently closest to Earth which has this beautiful name: C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS. </p><p>Comets have different parts to their names. The C means that is is a non-periodic comet. Once it makes this pass through the inner Solar System it is never coming back. <span>2017 was the year of its discovery and the K2 means that it was the 2nd comet discovered in the 2nd half of May. Comets also get the name of their discoverer. In this case that wasn't a person, but rather the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, aka PanSTARRS. </span></p><p><span>The image below shows the comet's orbit through the inner Solar System. <br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H88WtNoigIA/YtLTk3It-zI/AAAAAAAABNs/8PPUxUpOuPwO1hG1l8OmmT0IHBi19nclwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1840/PanSTARRS%2Borbit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="orbit of comet 2017 K2 PanSTARRS" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1840" height="418" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H88WtNoigIA/YtLTk3It-zI/AAAAAAAABNs/8PPUxUpOuPwO1hG1l8OmmT0IHBi19nclwCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h418/PanSTARRS%2Borbit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span>It doesn't get especially close to Earth. It was at its closest a few days ago when it was 1.8 astronomical units (166 million miles) from Earth. Interestingly enough when the comet was closest to Earth it was also nearly in the same direction in the sky as the globular star cluster Messier 10. I managed to catch them with my Unistellar eVscope 2 on July 15th. <br /></span><p></p><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ySAJ0WTchtsFOvnk9SjU7RzCNvX1Hbr3_v8gUXSDjQHVBhVqqbLJ2J0vM3Da93O0wNzdak1QWmiRPl6mX7c3tX1mWONAe7O_JNEUnJB1n4yQvIYkX2PgZXTJB7-Dqw293TZG4j38vyjfDnu5SsMQwjOEMqMS8fr7V7lkvvdDTqYrxNj3l8zmg4f1eQ/s3142/M10%20C:2017%20K2%20PanSTARRS.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2319" data-original-width="3142" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ySAJ0WTchtsFOvnk9SjU7RzCNvX1Hbr3_v8gUXSDjQHVBhVqqbLJ2J0vM3Da93O0wNzdak1QWmiRPl6mX7c3tX1mWONAe7O_JNEUnJB1n4yQvIYkX2PgZXTJB7-Dqw293TZG4j38vyjfDnu5SsMQwjOEMqMS8fr7V7lkvvdDTqYrxNj3l8zmg4f1eQ/w640-h472/M10%20C:2017%20K2%20PanSTARRS.png" width="640" /></a></div>While the cluster and the comet appear to be next to each other, they are merely in the same direction. M10 is more than 14,000 light years from Earth, but when I took this image the comet was just 15 light minutes away. That's not close at all. <br /><p></p><p><span><br /></span></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-51555980373517927032022-07-15T14:51:00.002-07:002023-09-23T14:56:34.117-07:00Observing the Sun with an eVscope<p><b>UPDATE: This blog post is now out of date, to see the newest information have a look at my <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/09/here-comes-sun.html">Here Comes the Sun</a> post.</b> <br /></p><p>This is a good time to observe our nearest star, the Sun. The last several years the Sun hasn't had many sunspots, but there have been plenty of them recently, making the view more interesting.<br /></p><p><b>Observing the Sun with a telescope should only be done with the use of a solar filter that fits over the front end of the telescope. </b><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaOD988WZQhKFPMEJwVUOYm-Br-reZ3CGLEV0pJwboZocS8v4ZA911HANVRv8y1hw_4Opz28PerC9XVmlMFyJSneFXzLedgW_6CKR7mkvDW6cb5JD-OBiTtHRksh15chULdgRKUu3MXvtehClPWtyqrFRZwlryON7cIe4DQUaz913fSvS_ZqpINwUmA/s3783/Solar%20Filter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="eVscope with solar filter" border="0" data-original-height="3783" data-original-width="2027" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaOD988WZQhKFPMEJwVUOYm-Br-reZ3CGLEV0pJwboZocS8v4ZA911HANVRv8y1hw_4Opz28PerC9XVmlMFyJSneFXzLedgW_6CKR7mkvDW6cb5JD-OBiTtHRksh15chULdgRKUu3MXvtehClPWtyqrFRZwlryON7cIe4DQUaz913fSvS_ZqpINwUmA/w214-h400/Solar%20Filter.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I use a solar filter from Thousand Oaks Optical (<span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41">SolarLite 5.75-inch) for my Unistellar eVscope 2. The Sun fits nicely within its field of view. Alas, the field of view is a bit too small for the whole Sun to be seen in an eVscope 1 or eQuinox. <br /></span></div><p><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41">Pointing the telescope at the Sun isn't too difficult. The key is to look at the telescope's shadow. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2OIcv2gPI6pTofpzo7MnmwBRyBFX_8LtvWVeyty7NZ5K3KefEna38ydsrr9M1edHkTQ5OlWLn5GCfapKA7tJFU6s8GEiY4GStAUyA7NN5qkd1L0Sys8zQ1sDWRDF44tlnBoJQQmcBOlBPDeeHSXZsgJT__APnX3NV9sOdh5c9an3_qCUURiq9-g0-g/s1200/Pointing%20at%20Sun.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="835" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2OIcv2gPI6pTofpzo7MnmwBRyBFX_8LtvWVeyty7NZ5K3KefEna38ydsrr9M1edHkTQ5OlWLn5GCfapKA7tJFU6s8GEiY4GStAUyA7NN5qkd1L0Sys8zQ1sDWRDF44tlnBoJQQmcBOlBPDeeHSXZsgJT__APnX3NV9sOdh5c9an3_qCUURiq9-g0-g/s320/Pointing%20at%20Sun.gif" width="223" /></a></div>When the shadow is smallest the telescope is pointed at the Sun. <p></p><p>Focusing isn't easy. You can't use the <span>Bahtinov mask. Instead, look very closely at some sunspots or even the edge of the Sun and carefully adjust your focus. It is usually best to take several images with slightly different adjustments and pick your best one. </span> </p><p>Most solar filters impart some color to the view of the Sun which is white in color (yes, many people refer to the Sun as a yellow star, but trust me, it's white). The combination of the Thousand Oaks filter with the fact that the eVscope is sensitive to near infrared light gives the Sun a color that isn't too pleasing to me (or very Sun-like):</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7IxIGTT9Ek0AG-QCUwKADLbduT_rz0IXJsSSdphYY1t_DktPy6M6ouMaC25ehjixEoikpLQ-I0ZMKjjOcQfSW6OqeXlGAzGD48eeMwDYwnsk0knjwGGvwj1-bKnQCx2YJReuvPy3Zth3pYbgcczzmbZtNw0LqoGQQkOdkvJyi1VhRhouFAzwVqSoJw/s1617/Sun%20Color%20July%2015%202022.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="color image of the Sun" border="0" data-original-height="1483" data-original-width="1617" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7IxIGTT9Ek0AG-QCUwKADLbduT_rz0IXJsSSdphYY1t_DktPy6M6ouMaC25ehjixEoikpLQ-I0ZMKjjOcQfSW6OqeXlGAzGD48eeMwDYwnsk0knjwGGvwj1-bKnQCx2YJReuvPy3Zth3pYbgcczzmbZtNw0LqoGQQkOdkvJyi1VhRhouFAzwVqSoJw/w400-h366/Sun%20Color%20July%2015%202022.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>This is easily fixed by simply converting the image to grayscale. I also usually do some very simple post-processing (on my phone!) to improve the sharpness and contrast of the image. <p></p><p>When an eVscope is used to observe the Sun, it will not track on it, so you'll need to periodically move it to keep the Sun centered in view. This is very easy to do in version 2.0 of the Unistellar app.<br /></p><p>Other than watching sunspots come and go, what can you do by observing them? I recently photographed the Sun seven days in a row to produce this short animation showing the Sun's rotation:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNiC4xsYJquJ70u0XqjINkCqhNHM5quHXv4TdBSnTUkZNsIZUFwPRunSP2R4VQ1gxr-1hkLXah8qEmWX53_l9_nx01hVbfBXUOA9vqY0h7EkXjryUn08GPkJEG_hCCdjc9qwhjtRxgfp-9ZgkN4q17HbrI_ZExMxM7G3XzhSd1S6FIpHV3q--Kw3Hiw/s1200/Sun%20Rotation%20July%209%20-%2015.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1 week of the Sun's rotation" border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="1200" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNiC4xsYJquJ70u0XqjINkCqhNHM5quHXv4TdBSnTUkZNsIZUFwPRunSP2R4VQ1gxr-1hkLXah8qEmWX53_l9_nx01hVbfBXUOA9vqY0h7EkXjryUn08GPkJEG_hCCdjc9qwhjtRxgfp-9ZgkN4q17HbrI_ZExMxM7G3XzhSd1S6FIpHV3q--Kw3Hiw/w640-h596/Sun%20Rotation%20July%209%20-%2015.gif" width="640" /></a></div>I cropped, aligned and rotated my images in Photoshop so that I could create this sequence. <br /><p></p><p>The Sun takes about 27 days to make a full rotation, but it isn't a solid body, which means that its rotation period is different at its equator than it is at its poles. As the Sun spins this differential rotation helps to twist and warp its magnetic fields. When these magnetic fields break the Sun's surface (called the photosphere) they partially block the flow of heat from the Sun's interior giving rise to sunspots.<br /></p><p>The immensity of the Sun is beyond the human experience. To give you a sense of perspective, let's look at one frame from the sequence above:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhtzDYjR-QeqAJ6yePpBO4CjI0f6YbwAgLxYLT86OVbvWtHh9gRd4lSCV4RZ57vytZ18Pf1j1LaiOWjJkjfIkVo40rKtzjKdpSCQijiUIrjW6IIMET2Ls8kTxOSJ5aoilQDMNMffMjtHSqGMOsPCHyyl5VktRZA-bcw9bSPAJ9EE5oaS-V3vbsm7CNA/s1435/Sun%20Earth.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1428" data-original-width="1435" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhtzDYjR-QeqAJ6yePpBO4CjI0f6YbwAgLxYLT86OVbvWtHh9gRd4lSCV4RZ57vytZ18Pf1j1LaiOWjJkjfIkVo40rKtzjKdpSCQijiUIrjW6IIMET2Ls8kTxOSJ5aoilQDMNMffMjtHSqGMOsPCHyyl5VktRZA-bcw9bSPAJ9EE5oaS-V3vbsm7CNA/w640-h636/Sun%20Earth.png" width="640" /></a></div>Do you see the blue dot that I added? That's the size of Earth compared to the Sun. Yes, the Sun is huge. 109 Earths could fit across its diameter.<p><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41">The Sun is the source of the energy that powers life on Earth. As Earth orbits around the Sun we get different amounts of sunlight due to the fact that Earth's axis is tilted. When, as we are now, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun we get more daylight and that daylight is more intense. This gives us summer. At the same time those in the Southern Hemisphere are experiencing winter. It is this tilt that creates our seasons. </span></p><p><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41">Most people mistakenly assume that the seasons are caused by Earth's distance from the Sun. Earth's orbit is ever so slightly elliptical, meaning that our distance from the Sun does indeed change, but it isn't a big change. Surprising to most people is that fact that we are <i>closest to the Sun in January</i> during winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This does mean that the apparent size of the Sun in our sky changes from early January when we are closest to the Sun to early July when we are farthest from it. </span></p><p><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41">You would never notice this distance with your eyes (you shouldn't look directly at the Sun anyway), but it is clearly visible with a telescope:<br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PyotTkXOU07pkiTJaCsKNfCqWrDc-H8AB7mn5c6VL7kmzHZ6AHm-HezWHlOOBu-pN7VjLu-Z9mIxzc_OUTiprHikADIch0hppEnxXKjLlN7Z0y-IccpUSZ810-8mGsasXgq5lZHX8f2AXIhMGob1_lEuHZeHUsTHly6H7OjmnGUDGAgRglk5TpeF5g/s1200/Sun%20January%20July.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PyotTkXOU07pkiTJaCsKNfCqWrDc-H8AB7mn5c6VL7kmzHZ6AHm-HezWHlOOBu-pN7VjLu-Z9mIxzc_OUTiprHikADIch0hppEnxXKjLlN7Z0y-IccpUSZ810-8mGsasXgq5lZHX8f2AXIhMGob1_lEuHZeHUsTHly6H7OjmnGUDGAgRglk5TpeF5g/w640-h480/Sun%20January%20July.gif" width="640" /></a></div>I am sure that I'll come up with some other solar observing projects in the future, but that's it for now. <br />W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-66032634779600879542022-06-30T14:09:00.005-07:002022-06-30T14:11:42.359-07:00Go Long!<p>Nebulae, star clusters and galaxies are always popular targets in astronomy, but I sometimes like to go long and take a deeper look into the universe. The most distant objects that are consistently visible are quasars. For those who don't know, quasars are infant galaxies that have supermassive black holes in their cores. Black holes, as you might expect, are black, but when they have things like stars and gas clouds falling into them everything around the black hole gets super hot and shines with intense brightness allowing them to be seen from billions of light years away. </p><p>When quasars were first found they were quite mysterious. They looked very much like stars in our own galaxy that were emitting radio waves. Nobody understood what they really were for quite sometime, but the first piece of the mystery to be solved was that they are immensely far away and therefore shining with a brightness that at the time could not be explained. The first quasar to have its distance identified was 3C 273 [Note: Quasars have terrible names!].</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVtGhpJTRKsU8Y_pN7S5CYUGBPVS_XkCcP46jWvNe58_5ulN8TltI0Pjqj1KFMVKrbAUo2iLMak74qWYFVlzSHkVtj22icbmVrCI-2dvF4lt09nA870xzU2bAkLbBCQFIIeX6L93N7xYVpw_5inUQQQUZTOGdYL3DeZ6EzRv0V3c8oUJNmjB3jiAeVA/s1280/QSO%203C273%20April%201%202021%202%20min%20copy.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Quasar 3C 273" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVtGhpJTRKsU8Y_pN7S5CYUGBPVS_XkCcP46jWvNe58_5ulN8TltI0Pjqj1KFMVKrbAUo2iLMak74qWYFVlzSHkVtj22icbmVrCI-2dvF4lt09nA870xzU2bAkLbBCQFIIeX6L93N7xYVpw_5inUQQQUZTOGdYL3DeZ6EzRv0V3c8oUJNmjB3jiAeVA/w400-h300/QSO%203C273%20April%201%202021%202%20min%20copy.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quasar 3C 273<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Determining the distance to a quasar is a matter of taking its spectrum to determine its redshift. From there getting the distance of the quasar is pretty straight forward if you understand exactly how the universe itself is expanding. There is still some disagreement as to the exact rate at which the universe is expanding, so the distances that I'll use here are not precise. 3C 273 lies some 2 billion light years from our home galaxy the Milky Way which, because that's how long its light took to get here, means that we see this core of a baby galaxy the way it looked 2 billion years ago. <br /></p><p>It's important to put that figure into perspective. The light captured here with my 4.5-inch eVScope left that quasar 2 billion years ago. That was right around the same time that primitive, single-celled life was starting to seriously add oxygen into Earth's atmosphere [this was actually quite terrible for most things that were alive at the time, but that's another story]. <br /></p><p>The quasar known as PG 1427+480 [See, I told you they had terrible names, though most of them are a nod to their coordinates in the sky.] is marked in the image below:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb9Wr8B-sRmmHzFSm4DyFO9gfP47snoF1qJhUoN24BaQqpqxZGVolyIDtZZqz8L2coT_zWCyE2_vGQwQqrt2IXkSKvccZGzov0Sq3KvGrtWFOOZrkiBGKOxjTrWSkz1CmXMujEIbxhNk4LxFJ542vh_bmXHp5Y8ppfscjl3DzAJjZd547d4qOs-r5Gw/s2560/PG%201427+480%20marked.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb9Wr8B-sRmmHzFSm4DyFO9gfP47snoF1qJhUoN24BaQqpqxZGVolyIDtZZqz8L2coT_zWCyE2_vGQwQqrt2IXkSKvccZGzov0Sq3KvGrtWFOOZrkiBGKOxjTrWSkz1CmXMujEIbxhNk4LxFJ542vh_bmXHp5Y8ppfscjl3DzAJjZd547d4qOs-r5Gw/w640-h480/PG%201427+480%20marked.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>PG 1427+480 is even farther away, with a distance 2.8 billion light years. <p></p><p>Hopefully you haven't gotten tired of seeing dots yet. This next one is HS 0624+6907: <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiR8txv_oWZ-K87EjrPv_Zr1KOyk12ZCIGJLJkkqJjOinKl6TOrhWzVpZug46IkbKHGV0DRUKk8BbOE-8GRiHtZ9NsXk2arzhZmbeQHzKvsyRZEqk_24W9jq1Z8VAEWJQQl_aVisnYrc7vqwRtFtSHJQ7iQf0TxwOpttcBWNdRpv7GSw6_tJRPokv9Q/s1280/QSO%20HS%200624+6907%20marked.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiR8txv_oWZ-K87EjrPv_Zr1KOyk12ZCIGJLJkkqJjOinKl6TOrhWzVpZug46IkbKHGV0DRUKk8BbOE-8GRiHtZ9NsXk2arzhZmbeQHzKvsyRZEqk_24W9jq1Z8VAEWJQQl_aVisnYrc7vqwRtFtSHJQ7iQf0TxwOpttcBWNdRpv7GSw6_tJRPokv9Q/w640-h480/QSO%20HS%200624+6907%20marked.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>HS 0624+6907 is around 4.2 billion light years away. Light from this quasar left it when Earth was very young, around 500 million years before life began here.<br /><p></p><p>The last one in this post is faint, so I've cropped the image from the full frame:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0naHFEt8AxBooRwuTWwDy2lsIUMi5jH4TnW6YHgBQjWbmMoFKIrS9p-RM7QAHQk2nVhS_woRMyU3bjUx09sAh6vOErhBq65Ay5CbL2C89fl_Gw8zcnJo737C_pTHysQBCvP-EwiudSOYvG-vYHhPef-Rgk3r1YoaBHJJDwhPhkJc7-EoSd1FH60Duw/s1314/S5%200014+81%20marked%20crop.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Quasar S5 0014+81" border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="1314" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0naHFEt8AxBooRwuTWwDy2lsIUMi5jH4TnW6YHgBQjWbmMoFKIrS9p-RM7QAHQk2nVhS_woRMyU3bjUx09sAh6vOErhBq65Ay5CbL2C89fl_Gw8zcnJo737C_pTHysQBCvP-EwiudSOYvG-vYHhPef-Rgk3r1YoaBHJJDwhPhkJc7-EoSd1FH60Duw/w640-h494/S5%200014+81%20marked%20crop.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>That little dot is a quasar known as S5 0014+81. The image shows light that left the quasar 11.96 billion years ago. Think about that. The light recorded here left the quasar long before Earth itself was formed. Seeing this can really give you a sense of perspective. <br /><p></p><p>To find these quasars I rely heavily on the SkySafari Pro app, especially to identify the star fields. There's also a couple of sites on the Web that are helpful. The <a href="http://quasar.square7.ch/fqm/fqm-home.html" target="_blank">Frankfurt Quasar Monitoring</a> site is a great resource and there's a text list of over 450 quasars <a href="http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/KHQ/anhang.txt" target="_blank">here</a>. There are various Cosmology Calculators online where you can input an object's redshift (z) and get a distance. You can find one <a href="https://www.kempner.net/cosmic.php" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-54275082996646637452022-06-22T12:25:00.003-07:002022-06-22T12:41:55.359-07:00The Omega Glory<p>No, this isn't a post about the terrible Star Trek episode with the same name (I haven't blogged about Star Trek for quite some time now), but rather about the amazing globular star cluster known as Omega Centauri. </p><p>Last summer I blogged about the <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/08/globular-star-clusters-of-messier.html" target="_blank">Globular Star Clusters of the Messier Catalog</a>. In the post I mentioned that Omega Centauri is located too far south in the sky for Charles Messier to have seen it. The cluster barely makes it into the sky from my home, climbing just 9 degrees above the horizon. (I live at 33 degrees North, for anyone living further north, the cluster is even lower in the sky or not visible at all). Unfortunately a rather large hill completely blocks its view for me. </p><p>Thankfully, I attended a star party in late April that had an unobstructed view of the southern sky and I was able to see this fine star cluster for the first time in years. It was also the first time I was able to catch it using my Unistellar eVscope2 and the view was impressive.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_UcVOJeUG1-XhAUVMmqdxqJUD5KxlqMVx3MoRp3-K012bW3a9QN_YQVk1w8PUgTHkFYS2ITq8mQBI0FYFuatS-P70G9gPTOHeHiVTAU5WhGF6X13TGQEFwaJmNHdAieAp6hEFZ2T50tJ8YBcqTyTEY7Jmqv9PEeMISMhniS_e0fFVTBXyNCDC89mA/s3200/Omega%20Centauri%20April%2023%202022%202%20min.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="globular star cluster Omega Centauri" border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_UcVOJeUG1-XhAUVMmqdxqJUD5KxlqMVx3MoRp3-K012bW3a9QN_YQVk1w8PUgTHkFYS2ITq8mQBI0FYFuatS-P70G9gPTOHeHiVTAU5WhGF6X13TGQEFwaJmNHdAieAp6hEFZ2T50tJ8YBcqTyTEY7Jmqv9PEeMISMhniS_e0fFVTBXyNCDC89mA/w640-h480/Omega%20Centauri%20April%2023%202022%202%20min.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2-minute exposure of Omega Centauri<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The cluster is amazing in every way. From dark skies it is visible without the use of optical aid from binoculars or a telescope. The cluster is <i>4 million times more massive than our Sun</i>, making it the most massive of our Milky Way galaxy's globular star clusters. At its core the stars are so closely packed together that they are estimated to be just one tenth of a light year apart. Keep in mind that the closest star to our own Solar System is over 4 light years away. Imagine what the night sky would look like from a planet orbiting one of the stars within this cluster.<br /></p><p>Omega Centauri may very well be the remnant of a smaller satellite galaxy that has been caught and disrupted by the Milky Way. <br /></p><p>To put things into perspective compare the view above with that of another globular star cluster, Messier 13 the "great globular cluster in Hercules": <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRN66XOSJ9DC17hva9oKvSkAdyWmhcJeb-o6D2S_a0DMJti0BJAcKBo2X0EByTmkuHpDCXvvn1C8YVa26XsSHkhkVvnsvErIonOrS0wYZziBEGUuSIBFvhvrJNiRRTA5ECjh6tIGasvyKLwolEZ_Gq_5WRS-Kx1Zc44kBR7tIGNS75p8NBVUN8J1NxaA/s3200/M13%20June%2015%202022%2020%20min.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Messier 13" border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRN66XOSJ9DC17hva9oKvSkAdyWmhcJeb-o6D2S_a0DMJti0BJAcKBo2X0EByTmkuHpDCXvvn1C8YVa26XsSHkhkVvnsvErIonOrS0wYZziBEGUuSIBFvhvrJNiRRTA5ECjh6tIGasvyKLwolEZ_Gq_5WRS-Kx1Zc44kBR7tIGNS75p8NBVUN8J1NxaA/w640-h480/M13%20June%2015%202022%2020%20min.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><p>This image of M13 was also taken with my eVscope, but when the cluster was high in the sky and with an exposure that was <i>10 times longer</i> (20 minutes, instead of 2)! Don't get me wrong, M13 is a nice cluster, but it's not really "great" when compared to Omega Centauri. </p><p>Why? Not only is Omega Centauri much more massive than M13 (M13 is <i>only</i> 500,000 times the mass of the Sun), but it is also closer to us. M13 is located around 22,000 light years from Earth, while Omega Centauri is 17,000. This closer distance and much greater number of stars make combine to make Omega Centauri truly glorious. <br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-65469655851444439112022-06-20T15:47:00.004-07:002022-06-21T13:39:54.762-07:00Comets!<p>Comets are wonderful to observe. I've seen many of them over the years. The first time I ever photographed a comet was on film (Yes, I'm old). I captured comet Halley back in 1986 and comets Hyakutake and <a href="https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/kar6.html" target="_blank">Hale-Bopp</a> a decade later.</p><p>Probably the next comet I photographed was C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2013/03/comet-and-moon-over-arizona.html">came around in 2013</a>. Then there was C/2020 F3 NEOWISE which was pretty good. I wasn't blogging in 2020, but I did get some decent shots of it, including this: <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTartLAjtYzVPX_YHiStgCsI71ur86AG_RkekQWHJTM1nlvmSOGyUEI4gNNYz0w1hBSABOWbp4hpkQ5KrB2_cE9IpXw0In_Ac3AfedjQnXXt4bz99j6W3koG5K9JP3U3_1uIKKW8z_gylSsxO1FfUswgEHslExtDWtg6wHZVCahD682xIoabI_eLISVg/s1200/Kardel%20Comet.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="photo of Scott Kardel with Comet NEOWISE" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="854" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTartLAjtYzVPX_YHiStgCsI71ur86AG_RkekQWHJTM1nlvmSOGyUEI4gNNYz0w1hBSABOWbp4hpkQ5KrB2_cE9IpXw0In_Ac3AfedjQnXXt4bz99j6W3koG5K9JP3U3_1uIKKW8z_gylSsxO1FfUswgEHslExtDWtg6wHZVCahD682xIoabI_eLISVg/w285-h400/Kardel%20Comet.png" width="285" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self Portrait with Comet</td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Most comets aren't bright enough to see visually or capture with a DSLR camera, but there usually are several that are within easy reach of a small telescope. </p><p>The very first comet observation I made with a <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope was the night of my first light: November 14, 2020 when I caught Comet C/2020 M3 ATLAS.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5dWy6ctlrT6roGl1U7d8aLqIxngaxbd207qIVrL01u5jQAgPsKnAfeV-xLhnlweVzG2ewf2EQE1AAE57buee3ajEBxy10lhIrTXdGe6gyBwE4BH3pQX1UI-SP8l7gqXFtJcrQ39TaqnIZo6xzaasweW3mDYUoUe81z84WQalzwRm7NnfUFI8H9abzg/s1120/Comet%20C:2020%20M3%20ATLAS%20Nov%2014%202020.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Comet C/2020 M3 ATLAS" border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1120" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5dWy6ctlrT6roGl1U7d8aLqIxngaxbd207qIVrL01u5jQAgPsKnAfeV-xLhnlweVzG2ewf2EQE1AAE57buee3ajEBxy10lhIrTXdGe6gyBwE4BH3pQX1UI-SP8l7gqXFtJcrQ39TaqnIZo6xzaasweW3mDYUoUe81z84WQalzwRm7NnfUFI8H9abzg/w640-h640/Comet%20C:2020%20M3%20ATLAS%20Nov%2014%202020.png" width="640" /></a></div>My settings for the telescope weren't as good as they could have been, but I was happy to catch something that I wouldn't have caught otherwise. The comet's motion in the sky made it look like a blurred streak, but you can see its tail.<br /><p></p><p></p><p>The following spring a different Comet ATLAS, C/2020 R4, came pretty close to Earth. I photographed it April 28th when it was just half an astronomical unit (~47 million miles) from Earth.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0LmJMae3IPQo_8mkCWwW0pb-OrPZdwol1v4x6mVvF-8vEt54YjetL_jfAgL55FmniIqMQxaxBgFqph_BtpOo1dhgz-rRplkgtWbR_hl4OMNpwb5eIJKshHcQpTCznKgPqKATyfe8Q1VoS4EUJ51RB3GviNN-TymWuIn4EmHOPbgCS73OEpTxOGc7MQ/s960/C%202020%20R4%20(ATLAS)%20April%2028.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="animated gif of C/2020 R4 (Atlas)" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0LmJMae3IPQo_8mkCWwW0pb-OrPZdwol1v4x6mVvF-8vEt54YjetL_jfAgL55FmniIqMQxaxBgFqph_BtpOo1dhgz-rRplkgtWbR_hl4OMNpwb5eIJKshHcQpTCznKgPqKATyfe8Q1VoS4EUJ51RB3GviNN-TymWuIn4EmHOPbgCS73OEpTxOGc7MQ/w640-h480/C%202020%20R4%20(ATLAS)%20April%2028.gif" width="640" /></a></div>In this sequence, which covers just 20 minutes of time you can see that the comet has a faint tail. <br /><p></p><p>2021 also had a much more spectacular comet: Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard which was visible in our morning skies in late November and early December. It was a wonderful comet to photograph. </p><p>Here's an animated gif of Comet Leonard that I took with my eVscope2 on the morning of December 3, 2021: <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPc_-ddQucVPSgKsJAJfVzIeVfe7z4-TNXC_DAkyzbugzuvJanrqDIANLecOY3Hh233ihA8fwY4hdHrqsNgUCGtXdndHunqwzNXsAzha_skDXQKfJ9lqE3YPvzJCw6FoX3b6GeNp7kcOHa3JKCqIXeCgWgld5hLnEaCpAvcWVu5Z9N9DXQek38whe1uw/s1200/Comet%20Leonard%20December%203%202022.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="animated gif of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPc_-ddQucVPSgKsJAJfVzIeVfe7z4-TNXC_DAkyzbugzuvJanrqDIANLecOY3Hh233ihA8fwY4hdHrqsNgUCGtXdndHunqwzNXsAzha_skDXQKfJ9lqE3YPvzJCw6FoX3b6GeNp7kcOHa3JKCqIXeCgWgld5hLnEaCpAvcWVu5Z9N9DXQek38whe1uw/w640-h480/Comet%20Leonard%20December%203%202022.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">23 minutes of Comet Leonard's motion against the background stars.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>On the morning of December 6, 2021 the comet was just 0.4 astronomical units (37 million miles) from Earth: <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBEM-7Zj7NEbTNP9VxMmjw0vrT4OQkeq_wJVbsvY7zzaqc6tl8ZfiWXjhrppjM_Jy7zFSnl5pYJ6EESKDfYZoNeGJFUUavtT_iDhNViX0dLMtT_ewLGrow2G1m9cE7u4FRPdQEBKiavKaen0z9ABtdpoZwUdPdyTHQYzADcwix6JIUnwQ5pIYmH276w/s3200/Comet%20Leonard%20Dec%206%202%20min.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)" border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBEM-7Zj7NEbTNP9VxMmjw0vrT4OQkeq_wJVbsvY7zzaqc6tl8ZfiWXjhrppjM_Jy7zFSnl5pYJ6EESKDfYZoNeGJFUUavtT_iDhNViX0dLMtT_ewLGrow2G1m9cE7u4FRPdQEBKiavKaen0z9ABtdpoZwUdPdyTHQYzADcwix6JIUnwQ5pIYmH276w/w640-h480/Comet%20Leonard%20Dec%206%202%20min.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>I again took a number of images, but this time I tried stacking them so that they were all aligned on the comet itself to hopefully bring out more detail on the comet's tail and blue-green coma (atmosphere). Here's the result:<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IEhQ6A-1EzFK3Rfr_S3Dfo7L1z3Fw3Pq1fCzyGc0bBObaQhC47rBmbK0Qcx3TwuZmQ5OcscM2g72sIq3k1Qc13jDrvZMyAh3rTyDoHxaCLWMd9KiB3nP954IdU42sKF1-hY8WF6eFXdDqa7L8dQ4UYWvDcH5Uj8P1MPWDTLP44b44KZClygaGE0tcg/s3200/Comet%20Leonard%20Dec%206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image stack of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)" border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IEhQ6A-1EzFK3Rfr_S3Dfo7L1z3Fw3Pq1fCzyGc0bBObaQhC47rBmbK0Qcx3TwuZmQ5OcscM2g72sIq3k1Qc13jDrvZMyAh3rTyDoHxaCLWMd9KiB3nP954IdU42sKF1-hY8WF6eFXdDqa7L8dQ4UYWvDcH5Uj8P1MPWDTLP44b44KZClygaGE0tcg/w640-h480/Comet%20Leonard%20Dec%206.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The stars in these sorts of images always look a little strange, but I hope you'll agree that comet's tail and coma are more prominent here.</p><p>Afterwards Comet Leonard got even better, but that was a sight for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. <br /></p><p>So when is our next bright comet coming? No one really knows. According to <a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/future-n.html" target="_blank">Visible Comets in the Future</a> our next comet that might reach naked eye brightness is Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF which is expected to be bright enough to see in January and February of next year, though the brightnesses comets are notoriously difficult to predict. </p><p>The brightest comet that is currently visible is C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS. Here's an image of it that I took earlier this month:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOvii03vyhQZ32NFJ9vc5p99Pb-P6zyn4MgV3MhW-Hm_SwaOey5NjaBu8aYEInthhsJekmcpB7wndXDvLLIH2JJqbRQFvzFO--vRxrrkoV2vHgxEn80Wl6zK-al3oiAG54okIbzBufOCi2tjejWlmXK2HeR9SKq9V-OdilF_tLmUwRpcKdd74LYaolw/s1200/c2017K2%20PanSTARRS%20June%206%202022.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Comet C/2017K2 PanSTARRS" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOvii03vyhQZ32NFJ9vc5p99Pb-P6zyn4MgV3MhW-Hm_SwaOey5NjaBu8aYEInthhsJekmcpB7wndXDvLLIH2JJqbRQFvzFO--vRxrrkoV2vHgxEn80Wl6zK-al3oiAG54okIbzBufOCi2tjejWlmXK2HeR9SKq9V-OdilF_tLmUwRpcKdd74LYaolw/w640-h480/c2017K2%20PanSTARRS%20June%206%202022.gif" width="640" /></a></div>Comet PanSTARRS should be a little brighter in July when it is closer to Earth and I will be sure to take a look. W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-25943599030456460492022-06-16T17:00:00.004-07:002022-06-16T17:00:44.046-07:00Things That Go Bang in the Night<p>White dwarfs are hot glowing remnants of stars that were at least somewhat like the Sun. Over billions of years of time isolated white dwarfs gradually cool down (possibly crystalizing into Earth-sized diamonds!) and fade away. But white dwarfs that are located in binary star systems can have a much more spectacular time than just gradually dimming from view. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSbZ1HC-12_57KbPRBJDDYUwcYHlwu5dh-gZmbxY9lS3-2S2rKTIH3fJDHaf3PEnE7Ef8KMO5MtUXAY2uTL_bCoyKiHmy16OpgzBtSZNhCO-Khve8HMDb30tfhBbugDqTjRtS8rOirfBrUOAFsG2-HI3m6K0TXcsfP12_Njoy1Er7Fef-Lpv-KLDWZg/s792/aquilae_illustration_bl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Binary star system" border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="792" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSbZ1HC-12_57KbPRBJDDYUwcYHlwu5dh-gZmbxY9lS3-2S2rKTIH3fJDHaf3PEnE7Ef8KMO5MtUXAY2uTL_bCoyKiHmy16OpgzBtSZNhCO-Khve8HMDb30tfhBbugDqTjRtS8rOirfBrUOAFsG2-HI3m6K0TXcsfP12_Njoy1Er7Fef-Lpv-KLDWZg/w320-h247/aquilae_illustration_bl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist's illustration of a white dwarf (right) pulling gas from its companion star. <span class="caption"><a href="https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2001/v1494aql/" target="_blank">Credit:</a> NASA/CXC/M.Weiss</span></td></tr></tbody></table> </p><p>In some of these binary systems hydrogen gas is pulled off of the white dwarf's companion star which piles up on the surface of the white dwarf. Eventually there's enough gas there that it detonates producing a nuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf. This is what astronomers call a nova. </p><p>The nova explosion does not destroy either star and can eventually repeat. There are 10 of these recurring novae that have been observed to repeat in our Milky Way galaxy. </p><p>One of these recurring novae is known as U Scorpii (U Sco for short). Normally U Sco is too faint to observe with my <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope, but it is an easy target when a nova outburst occurs. On June 6th I got word that U Sco had an eruption underway so I decided to take a look. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghzNNVwpEdo8MEl7VJ82pnkl8nQNqXKjos0VqO9By4Ea5QYt9KzRv05yRKqRmeikzSVFfNWYiVFjWat5cnlJPGTMQwD8eGdBz0mPrhiD6jdeFFCralHX8XQ5OTOdSiI1TReU-jFp91enOyxFmFHQL9-_GxAh_nDnG9UMjrlKdZ9Jk0on-YaveNl6S0og/s2800/Nova%20U%20Scorpii%20June%206%202022%20round.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="U Scorpii" border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="2800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghzNNVwpEdo8MEl7VJ82pnkl8nQNqXKjos0VqO9By4Ea5QYt9KzRv05yRKqRmeikzSVFfNWYiVFjWat5cnlJPGTMQwD8eGdBz0mPrhiD6jdeFFCralHX8XQ5OTOdSiI1TReU-jFp91enOyxFmFHQL9-_GxAh_nDnG9UMjrlKdZ9Jk0on-YaveNl6S0og/w400-h400/Nova%20U%20Scorpii%20June%206%202022%20round.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">U Scorpii (bright star at center)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One characteristic of this nova is that it fades in brightness very rapidly. To record its fade I have been looking at it periodically since June 6th. Sure enough, it will soon be back to its normal too-faint-for-me-to-see status. The image below shows U Sco dropping in brightness by a factor of 100 in just 10 days. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2N7iN5Vm4uuXYC5XC7jLyrxYmqfuYLZEw3QBzzVJePHh-MurkhJGC3NvByBfQGvw4Jm7n46wXTy0Q8qNLsiFcU7EQPV8HbXOOWP-UQILB4i5BYr9I9WZEgR2v2f6UrDpaiUpb4UnvmTUV5JjHPMJ3UEu4Sgv1iDjJ8cYkp5pqe6J4sRrDo2mD7SxeA/s1200/Nova%20U%20Scorpii%20June%206-15.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2N7iN5Vm4uuXYC5XC7jLyrxYmqfuYLZEw3QBzzVJePHh-MurkhJGC3NvByBfQGvw4Jm7n46wXTy0Q8qNLsiFcU7EQPV8HbXOOWP-UQILB4i5BYr9I9WZEgR2v2f6UrDpaiUpb4UnvmTUV5JjHPMJ3UEu4Sgv1iDjJ8cYkp5pqe6J4sRrDo2mD7SxeA/w640-h480/Nova%20U%20Scorpii%20June%206-15.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>The nova is still dropping in brightness and will soon fade from my view entirely. </p><p>A second type of explosion involving white dwarfs is known as a Type Ia supernova. This is a much bigger deal. Again we are talking about white dwarfs in binary star systems, only instead of an explosion <i>on the surface</i> of the star, the entire thing blows apart, most likely from the merger of two white dwarfs (although, maybe not - astronomers are working on that). </p><p>These explosions are big enough for my little telescope to be able to see them from distances of tens of millions of light years (whereas U Sco is just ~60,000 light years away). </p><p>Last year I was able to observe one of these explosions, supernova 2021hiz, in an obscure galaxy known as IC 3322A. I followed up my observation a year later to produce this comparison showing the galaxy with and without the supernova:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzdLbV1eM38t3UmpZuj3Sv0SbH7n1mM4fjwaj3w_CKBiPvdDZTmMkMzLohLgAPcAdUkaxbpezgQp3ecCRP8an_nqu7AGcj7hnVosLaS1wSCtCIMnvvuK1hQOULCzcEgY-Kl5a3yt7kvbpfAfZ294M7TJTMc1lLVttdptYjAnHGn4nmO_iMdj-sfnuwA/s773/Supernova%202021-2022.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="773" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzdLbV1eM38t3UmpZuj3Sv0SbH7n1mM4fjwaj3w_CKBiPvdDZTmMkMzLohLgAPcAdUkaxbpezgQp3ecCRP8an_nqu7AGcj7hnVosLaS1wSCtCIMnvvuK1hQOULCzcEgY-Kl5a3yt7kvbpfAfZ294M7TJTMc1lLVttdptYjAnHGn4nmO_iMdj-sfnuwA/w640-h600/Supernova%202021-2022.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The galaxy is just a faint smudge of a line (it's a spiral galaxy seen from the side) and the supernova is the bright dot on the upper edge that blinks on and off. Notice that the light of the supernova is actually brighter than the rest of the entire galaxy. </p><p>Think about that. One supernova explosion can outshine all the light produced by hundreds of millions of stars. That's amazing. <br /></p><p>Another bright Type Ia supernova (sn 2022hrs) took place this spring in a galaxy known as NGC 4647. NGC 4647 is conveniently in the sky next to one of the galaxies in the Messier Catalog, M60. Last year I photographed all of the objects in the Messier Catalog, which means that I had a before image to go with the new image of the supernova. </p><p>Here's the before and during comparison: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-0dPN5CSJfQBxCiUSlbQ2qBfqpjijTm536FvKguv7GJH82zmvESZbtVS50YkjfvqESk8Uf9SxGpNs_XXtpHxh--1uVcInexBfmCLv0Y6xIlQ0w2icU9y_FAGt9SSNRMTdwCo65j2K4ZmqZTgS3oroEZMm7fUnfSN1GsgMGTciKOVulcq5FWlP0S5sg/s885/sn2022hrs.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="885" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-0dPN5CSJfQBxCiUSlbQ2qBfqpjijTm536FvKguv7GJH82zmvESZbtVS50YkjfvqESk8Uf9SxGpNs_XXtpHxh--1uVcInexBfmCLv0Y6xIlQ0w2icU9y_FAGt9SSNRMTdwCo65j2K4ZmqZTgS3oroEZMm7fUnfSN1GsgMGTciKOVulcq5FWlP0S5sg/w640-h518/sn2022hrs.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>This supernova exploded some 63 million years ago and light from it arrived on Earth in mid April 2022. I am happy to have had the opportunity to catch it. </p><p>By the way, the last supernova observed in our Milky Way galaxy was also a Type Ia supernova. It was recorded by Johannes Kepler back in the year 1604. <br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-8485891847516681612022-06-10T12:25:00.006-07:002022-06-10T12:28:03.795-07:00Observing Spacecraft<p>Even though it has been a while since I've updated this blog I've still been doing a lot of backyard astronomy. I've been looking at all the usual stuff (comets, galaxies, asteroids, etc.), but I've also seen a lot of spacecraft. Most of them have been annoying to look at, like this trail from a geostationary satellite crossing into my image of part of the famous Orion Nebula:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwN_NuWIFPOMPtsK3xmx9GlcqGS55A1fPDOZCvz6DWraZ6S6MGqkl04u0v0NK22YDH2W1EYZmX_tOxdrJG-gr7hSuHwhfiMaktEp95DX3QE439ipQO0BIoJ8DKnzZKqgKLQNe-6BHDqD9u90DnnPM8Et4l-rwDrjPXWsZuMZkRgcbIviFYhpCxuoDssA/s884/Orion%20Satellite%20crop.JPEG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="884" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwN_NuWIFPOMPtsK3xmx9GlcqGS55A1fPDOZCvz6DWraZ6S6MGqkl04u0v0NK22YDH2W1EYZmX_tOxdrJG-gr7hSuHwhfiMaktEp95DX3QE439ipQO0BIoJ8DKnzZKqgKLQNe-6BHDqD9u90DnnPM8Et4l-rwDrjPXWsZuMZkRgcbIviFYhpCxuoDssA/w400-h301/Orion%20Satellite%20crop.JPEG" width="400" /></a></div><p>Satellites are an ever increasing problem for astronomy as tens of thousands of them are being launched into low-Earth orbit. This is an annoyance for amateur astronomers, but can present serious problems for astronomical observatories both on Earth and in Earth orbit. </p><p>Occasionally it is desirable and even useful to have a look at a satellite or spacecraft. For instance last November the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter made a close flyby of Earth.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9pBMXzb98XiN7IjkkvNqf6QwGw6luhXt7KAa3Iybb9MKFfDifPRJ435-xTBPsmygkZl0ie0_bWJAH-AGoAj_OIO4NqZG4DBHTRvKuf51hGECg0F_2d2-gcQ68_WzkGYpRkPiSjFe6SZWB-DGV_lJsx_NgAdeeibnPVjGpZ97X00Yh1pQwycKpiVF4Q/s8000/Solar_Orbiter_s_riskiest_flyby.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="8000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9pBMXzb98XiN7IjkkvNqf6QwGw6luhXt7KAa3Iybb9MKFfDifPRJ435-xTBPsmygkZl0ie0_bWJAH-AGoAj_OIO4NqZG4DBHTRvKuf51hGECg0F_2d2-gcQ68_WzkGYpRkPiSjFe6SZWB-DGV_lJsx_NgAdeeibnPVjGpZ97X00Yh1pQwycKpiVF4Q/w640-h360/Solar_Orbiter_s_riskiest_flyby.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The flyby, which brought the spacecraft less than 300 miles from Earth, was perfectly placed for telescopic observers in North America. <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> asked people within their network to observe the event in science mode for ESA and provided an ephemeris which made it easy to know exactly where to point a telescope to observe it. And it was pretty amazing to see.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3x8pkcpOhRqJ1iNnA_Cm-bclLj5TOH18GmTqi33-QoLBlVWmD8mPXvwK8DgREqfNWmkOnKqHdTMGAEye7LHHPNbUVujqSd5L2CTZ02_ds9Csrfi3mjpk8F7HNFbdUcVQZZQZWzdGNVH_VW0znR29rN0KkeN2oK3uAc7GqFUbJlABlpa1D6IDncjF_wQ/s3200/ESA%20Solar%20Orbiter%20trail.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3x8pkcpOhRqJ1iNnA_Cm-bclLj5TOH18GmTqi33-QoLBlVWmD8mPXvwK8DgREqfNWmkOnKqHdTMGAEye7LHHPNbUVujqSd5L2CTZ02_ds9Csrfi3mjpk8F7HNFbdUcVQZZQZWzdGNVH_VW0znR29rN0KkeN2oK3uAc7GqFUbJlABlpa1D6IDncjF_wQ/w640-h480/ESA%20Solar%20Orbiter%20trail.png" width="640" /></a></div>I observed simultaneously with 2 eVscopes. One was collecting data in science mode, while the other took the image above. The line in the image above is a trailed image of the spacecraft which was visibly moving across the image as the exposure was being taken. The animated gif below shows a speeded up version of the motion of the spacecraft across the field of view (which is rotated from the image above).<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GgQp-YyPhCL9NDxZhWMuPuQT0cNlSX-ysPsNy9GcXofyy_NHEn61fewmdzpKnfiwGVTCn2CGwnH3UOVuC0jMZuji9_kXsMFSddpj0V9zZZJRGR92QOoVwH171flZtoKxDS_fBuGRYjOKHxBfjgsXn4mS4HKMlWYEMM-DNVco9EQuPi9v3LdQy9a4IQ/s840/movie_defense_solarorbiter_20211127_9fqfjy.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="840" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GgQp-YyPhCL9NDxZhWMuPuQT0cNlSX-ysPsNy9GcXofyy_NHEn61fewmdzpKnfiwGVTCn2CGwnH3UOVuC0jMZuji9_kXsMFSddpj0V9zZZJRGR92QOoVwH171flZtoKxDS_fBuGRYjOKHxBfjgsXn4mS4HKMlWYEMM-DNVco9EQuPi9v3LdQy9a4IQ/w400-h400/movie_defense_solarorbiter_20211127_9fqfjy.gif" width="400" /></a></div>The event was a success, I have heard that ESA was happy with the observation campaign and I am glad that I was able to contribute.<p></p><p>About a month later on Christmas day the James Webb Space Telescope finally launched into space and as it moved out to its permanent location in space it was visible to small telescopes here on the ground. </p><p>Here is a sequence of images I took of JWST on January 1st, 2022. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedcb9RTK-7dhrV7XSLD5nA_-eWTiWF5Juvf3eKla5xmLDUpLMJIZqpzGVPU__eLoP2M3-k2rfCZAGGRPT5jtI2sgNzHCkk0Z2pMhrrJqTwjROMypF_XAKOLQPGW30-RbavOzzoLkJuYjnI1SbLI7A7mthH2Tg8anpXmiBZpn7cic2KQx-RpvppR5S5g/s1200/JWST%20Jan%201%202022.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedcb9RTK-7dhrV7XSLD5nA_-eWTiWF5Juvf3eKla5xmLDUpLMJIZqpzGVPU__eLoP2M3-k2rfCZAGGRPT5jtI2sgNzHCkk0Z2pMhrrJqTwjROMypF_XAKOLQPGW30-RbavOzzoLkJuYjnI1SbLI7A7mthH2Tg8anpXmiBZpn7cic2KQx-RpvppR5S5g/w640-h480/JWST%20Jan%201%202022.gif" width="640" /></a></div>It is visible in the image above as a streak moving from the center towards the upper right. JWST is poised to make significant contributions to astronomy and I was happy to be able to see it. I was one of several observers who contributed science observations of it and we were able to spot changes in brightness as the sunshield unfolded along with other results that will soon be published.<p></p><p>Finally, one other target of note: the International Space Station. The ISS is the largest and brightest of Earth's artificial satellites and it currently has seven people living there. Many amateur astronomers have taken spectacular images of the ISS that show tremendous detail and I was curious to know if I could even spot it at all using a telescope. Thankfully, Unistellar's <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/ephemeris/" target="_blank">Ephemeris Generator</a> allows observers to point their telescope at the ISS. The Unistellar telescopes can't track the space station, but instead the telescope it pointed at where it will be at a particular time. </p><p>My first attempt at spotting the station was successful, but the image was pretty terrible:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ubo2p8_GooUTm9ioPvukpBoqnS3AB0vWjRuwosqs4oW9W89hQhVy9M1NNzMl8uHy2VTnvmxqh4LMDzWnuMFxGHPOX8b2tqZgKGgpNEHxzwAB9-_vBLSLfgtWDQ11Fb5KDyVIlkMqMfG0M7s_M6O_m2XcF0617Xy7Y6xYJG67LU1VBRIwAE_SL48OuQ/s1920/ISS%20May%2012.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ubo2p8_GooUTm9ioPvukpBoqnS3AB0vWjRuwosqs4oW9W89hQhVy9M1NNzMl8uHy2VTnvmxqh4LMDzWnuMFxGHPOX8b2tqZgKGgpNEHxzwAB9-_vBLSLfgtWDQ11Fb5KDyVIlkMqMfG0M7s_M6O_m2XcF0617Xy7Y6xYJG67LU1VBRIwAE_SL48OuQ/w400-h300/ISS%20May%2012.gif" width="400" /></a></div><p>I was happy that I saw it all, but decided that I could do better and I June 1st I gave it another try. Here's what I saw:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwckxgh7aas7Odu02QA7E7groCE5vM1xnna32BpavMvlTRQPH0tkk8fYxHOullLH_7FHpPgbhD21_Gub0yxo6LMuIszstsWX5_st7l5BY5Q8XGJwonhoObnVoxc-sLBJyl1uFRShnoKATiz7lT6vVV3uLrnW9UQ5wL0q7ke5pVxhMfSE4e17PEJZN8WA/s1920/ISS%20June%201%202022.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwckxgh7aas7Odu02QA7E7groCE5vM1xnna32BpavMvlTRQPH0tkk8fYxHOullLH_7FHpPgbhD21_Gub0yxo6LMuIszstsWX5_st7l5BY5Q8XGJwonhoObnVoxc-sLBJyl1uFRShnoKATiz7lT6vVV3uLrnW9UQ5wL0q7ke5pVxhMfSE4e17PEJZN8WA/w640-h480/ISS%20June%201%202022.gif" width="640" /></a></div>If you blow up one of the frames it looks like this:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gn84ZCdLVJ5VQJeICjfFnNxHhqRAxGnVmMr1gNObOgz9Hh_RJ8lWtjRSIyjJDyw2rT-RUlO6V5lHUeT6fVjUos1pqzXxPlMKFINX5-PW-b8X-UyUYaNfBO9IIHlwatdhg0op3keRrtPY8dV3WoA25jVLxLaK3YMfnHP2Dk0p2Rt6D8bkaEb_Ffp5vg/s773/ISS%20Zoom%20June%201%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="773" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gn84ZCdLVJ5VQJeICjfFnNxHhqRAxGnVmMr1gNObOgz9Hh_RJ8lWtjRSIyjJDyw2rT-RUlO6V5lHUeT6fVjUos1pqzXxPlMKFINX5-PW-b8X-UyUYaNfBO9IIHlwatdhg0op3keRrtPY8dV3WoA25jVLxLaK3YMfnHP2Dk0p2Rt6D8bkaEb_Ffp5vg/s16000/ISS%20Zoom%20June%201%202022.jpg" /></a></div><p>Much better. I suspect that I can still improve but the solar arrays, especially on the right, are clearly visible and it is vastly better than my first attempt from May. </p><p>Clear skies! <br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-56245561852493484532021-11-07T15:59:00.001-07:002021-11-07T15:59:06.914-07:00Asteroid Encounters<p>This year I have observed more asteroids than ever before with 29 detected so far. Some them have been as a part of the <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/citizen-science/" target="_blank">Unistellar Citizen Science campaigns</a>, but most of them have just been for fun. For instance, earlier this week I looked at the asteroid 626 Notburga which was in the constellation of <span>Cassiopeia.</span></p><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hn3qtWNiSbQ/YYhOpLvAGJI/AAAAAAAABEc/gZ-jO6-D9Y8WxAjyZC0tGqAbPb3_qPc3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/626%2BNotburga%2BNov%2B4%2B2021.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hn3qtWNiSbQ/YYhOpLvAGJI/AAAAAAAABEc/gZ-jO6-D9Y8WxAjyZC0tGqAbPb3_qPc3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/626%2BNotburga%2BNov%2B4%2B2021.gif" width="640" /></a></div>The image above is an animated gif of two images taken 75 minutes apart showing Notburga's motion though the sky. The individual exposures were short so it wasn't easy spot the nebula that was nearby it in the sky. So in between these two images I took a longer one to try to bring out a part of the Heart Nebula. <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcSmQAgy3Ac/YYhPcJ7vviI/AAAAAAAABEk/Hus2NaRzxFo9z8spZ77P2_rpGtYFBVT4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Notburga%2BNov%2B4%2B2021%2B75%2Bmin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcSmQAgy3Ac/YYhPcJ7vviI/AAAAAAAABEk/Hus2NaRzxFo9z8spZ77P2_rpGtYFBVT4QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/Notburga%2BNov%2B4%2B2021%2B75%2Bmin.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Here the asteroid appears as a line and there's some hint of the red hydrogen gas of the Heart Nebula across much of the upper right portion of the image. <p></p><p>Since asteroids look like moving dots or streaks it is sometimes more interesting to catch them when they are near some other astronomical object in the sky. A great resource to find out when as asteroid will be near a bright star, a deep sky object or even another asteroid are the observing guides at <a href="https://minplanobs.org/MPInfo/php/observingguides.php">MinorPlanet.info</a>. I've used that to find all of the close encounters on this page.</p><p>Here are asteroids 712 Boliviana (top right) and 89 Julia (below center) from back in October:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsXsiLB6o08/YYhRzp0clsI/AAAAAAAABEs/iHl1KyG5IUYuYVzBGlD4IR8ux0Mn8kFnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/output_lSdE9u.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsXsiLB6o08/YYhRzp0clsI/AAAAAAAABEs/iHl1KyG5IUYuYVzBGlD4IR8ux0Mn8kFnwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/output_lSdE9u.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>Just this week asteroids 1 Ceres and 1140 Crimea have been passing the bright star Aldebaran.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sP0yaCgnwpg/YYhSkHNLXoI/AAAAAAAABE0/8mnW0p84uOAk12FInANpb8Iho1RpGmxiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Ceres%2BAldebaran%2BCrimea.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sP0yaCgnwpg/YYhSkHNLXoI/AAAAAAAABE0/8mnW0p84uOAk12FInANpb8Iho1RpGmxiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/Ceres%2BAldebaran%2BCrimea.gif" width="640" /></a></div>Aldebaran is the bright star at center. Asteroid (and dwarf planet) 1 Ceres is the bright moving object to its lower right. Much fainter <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> is 1140 Crimea. It is the faint moving dot in the upper left. At the time of the images Crimea was actually 25 million miles closer to Earth than Ceres. That doesn't help it much in brightness though because it is much smaller. 1146 Crimea is just 17 miles across while Ceres is 587 miles across!</span><p>In early October asteroid 27 Euterpe passed directly in front of one of my favorite globular star clusters: Messier 22. I caught the event on two nights as the asteroid was near the cluster, but it was cloudy the night it passed in front of it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PHO-pJ2S1SE/YYhWAFwjnlI/AAAAAAAABFE/xCIaSrsF00scSYtze2ZOZ5KNnsrRe49HACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/M22%2BEuterpe%2BOct%2B3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PHO-pJ2S1SE/YYhWAFwjnlI/AAAAAAAABFE/xCIaSrsF00scSYtze2ZOZ5KNnsrRe49HACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/M22%2BEuterpe%2BOct%2B3.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p>Euterpe is to the right of the cluster. At the time it was 21 light minutes from Earth, while the star cluster is some 10.600 light years away.</p><p>An even bigger disparity in distance was back in March when asteroid 70 Panopaea passed directly in front of spiral galaxy NGC 3344. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4dboc1H3Ys/YYhXS2avaVI/AAAAAAAABFM/X4VT_JiXnHA_Fvww0Ptg1y_U7R5__-9FgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/70%2BPanopaea%2BNGC%2B3344.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4dboc1H3Ys/YYhXS2avaVI/AAAAAAAABFM/X4VT_JiXnHA_Fvww0Ptg1y_U7R5__-9FgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/70%2BPanopaea%2BNGC%2B3344.gif" width="640" /></a></div>That night asteroid 70 Panopaea was 17 light minutes from Earth while the spiral galaxy is more than 22 million light years from our Milky Way Galaxy. <br /><p>In the coming weeks and month I will be looking for more interesting asteroid encounters and posting some of them here. <br /> <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-49804060479667732852021-10-15T14:16:00.000-07:002021-10-15T14:16:13.906-07:00The Messier Catalog<p>I don't know about you, but I <i>finally</i> kept a New Year's resolution. What was it? To use my <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope to observe and photograph all 110 objects of the Messier Catalog. Yes, I know some people do Messier marathons and catch them all in just one evening, but it takes time if you want to take a photograph each and every one of them. Besides, I do like to sleep. </p><p>I caught my first Messier object this year, the famous Orion Nebula (M42), on January 3rd. The last one that I observed was on October 9th: the galaxy known as M77.</p><p>I will certainly be revisiting each and everyone of these objects in the future (especially since I'll will soon have the eVscope2), but for your visual enjoyment here are a few mosaics of the objects of the Messier Catalog.</p><p>Messier 1 through 20: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-twzmXMnAhGk/YWnmg-XHpfI/AAAAAAAABCQ/npC7WPiqlnUk9YENjrcuhrcUu6PMkMgNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1-20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-twzmXMnAhGk/YWnmg-XHpfI/AAAAAAAABCQ/npC7WPiqlnUk9YENjrcuhrcUu6PMkMgNQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/1-20.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Messier 21 - 40:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGMLPwV3ShY/YWnntkhC-rI/AAAAAAAABCY/N_HCqOxRsQE48dhDe3gYEc89t_b_51IAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/21-40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGMLPwV3ShY/YWnntkhC-rI/AAAAAAAABCY/N_HCqOxRsQE48dhDe3gYEc89t_b_51IAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/21-40.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Messier 41 - 60:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVHLp_-YWao/YWnoN2BjkXI/AAAAAAAABCg/b8PfCrfT7LUO_680OSJ_M27Q3Mvuk2TDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/41-60.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVHLp_-YWao/YWnoN2BjkXI/AAAAAAAABCg/b8PfCrfT7LUO_680OSJ_M27Q3Mvuk2TDgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/41-60.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Messier 61- 80:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYqakXjvWPU/YWnox14kPVI/AAAAAAAABCo/grhNzr1EfjAN4qR--eLZawBeK6FMyh1pQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/61-80.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYqakXjvWPU/YWnox14kPVI/AAAAAAAABCo/grhNzr1EfjAN4qR--eLZawBeK6FMyh1pQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/61-80.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Messier 81 - 100:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qTxp5ZYp_Yk/YWnpbK6peqI/AAAAAAAABCw/vL0_LwmDOp80ORXDgrBB8TlXeB4qKWUOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/81-100.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qTxp5ZYp_Yk/YWnpbK6peqI/AAAAAAAABCw/vL0_LwmDOp80ORXDgrBB8TlXeB4qKWUOgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/81-100.png" width="640" /></a></div><p> and finally Messier 101 - 110:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VG_fHHZR5BY/YWnpuspxnLI/AAAAAAAABC4/LYVEjf27So0UQfl8kP8by4aDOVSeyl8WgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/101-110.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="2048" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VG_fHHZR5BY/YWnpuspxnLI/AAAAAAAABC4/LYVEjf27So0UQfl8kP8by4aDOVSeyl8WgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h328/101-110.png" width="640" /></a></div>I've previously blogged about the <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/08/globular-star-clusters-of-messier.html">globular star clusters</a> and the <a href="http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-nebulae-of-messier-catalog-ranked.html">nebulae of the Messier Catalog</a> and I've still got a few things left to say about the whole thing, but I'll save those thoughts for another time. <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-21262606170995931052021-10-02T16:15:00.000-07:002021-10-02T16:15:59.514-07:00Andromeda and Her Attendants<p>Our galaxy the Milky Way is one of several dozen galaxies that make up the Local Group of galaxies, which itself is on the outskirts of the much larger Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The largest and most dominant member of the Local Group is the famous Andromeda Galaxy (M31). M31 is thought to be bigger than our Milky Way in just about every way.
It is physically larger, more massive and has more stars than the Milky
Way. </p><p>If you have dark skies and know where to look on these fall evenings you can see M31 with your own eyes as a fuzzy smudge. It is worth making the effort to see it, especially knowing that this galaxy is far enough away that its light travels for 2.5 million years to reach us, making it the farthest thing that humans can usually see without a telescope (Some have claimed to see galaxy M33, which is farther, but spotting that is much more rare and difficult).</p><p>A telescope will reveal M31 as a much larger and brighter fuzzy smudge
that more than fills up the field of view. It is only through
photography that details such as its dark dust lanes become visible. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XRQAELFWtOQ/YVjXLJWTEGI/AAAAAAAABBw/8VXgOmxmLr8tE49e8QV4GOHp_8yERoKCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/M110%2BJuly%2B31%2B2021%2B5%2Bmin_eVscope-20210813-063838%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1683" data-original-width="2048" height="526" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XRQAELFWtOQ/YVjXLJWTEGI/AAAAAAAABBw/8VXgOmxmLr8tE49e8QV4GOHp_8yERoKCgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h526/M110%2BJuly%2B31%2B2021%2B5%2Bmin_eVscope-20210813-063838%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>The image above is a partial mosaic (that I really need to finish) of the Andromeda Galaxy that I made with my <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope. It reveals two of Andromeda's many companion galaxies. The round, fuzzy object to the upper left of the central portion of M31 is the dwarf elliptical galaxy known as M32 and in the lower right is M110, another dwarf elliptical galaxy that orbits M31. <p></p><p>To give you a sense of depth, M32 is about 110,000 light years farther from us than M31 is, while M110 is around 400,000 light years past M31. <br /></p><p>But M31 has more companions that can be photographed with the eVscope. One of them is NGC 147, the faint smudge at the center of the image below:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1AlYoL0s670/YVjaAPRxy5I/AAAAAAAABB4/8yICyKq0_FcM9BtPPz4OAy4E3KiM6ucSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/NGC%2B147%2BSept%2B10%2B2021%2B12%2Bmin.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1AlYoL0s670/YVjaAPRxy5I/AAAAAAAABB4/8yICyKq0_FcM9BtPPz4OAy4E3KiM6ucSQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/NGC%2B147%2BSept%2B10%2B2021%2B12%2Bmin.PNG" width="640" /></a></div> It's not immediately obvious the NGC 147 is a companion to M31, especially since it lies some seven and a half degrees from it in our sky, but they are together in space separated by some 300,000 light years. <br /><p></p><p>NGC 147's nearest neighbor in the sky is NGC 185, another satellite galaxy of M31 (below, center).<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ8dV8UHc3Q/YVjdE3N0HVI/AAAAAAAABCA/02QZxANWuyYMsOeuDGeNZi3GXCTqGJjewCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/NGC%2B185%2BSept%2B10%2B2021%2B12%2Bmin.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ8dV8UHc3Q/YVjdE3N0HVI/AAAAAAAABCA/02QZxANWuyYMsOeuDGeNZi3GXCTqGJjewCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/NGC%2B185%2BSept%2B10%2B2021%2B12%2Bmin.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>These two galaxies are both found in the constellation of Cassiopeia nearly one degree apart from each other. Of the two, NGC 185 is closer to us by some 500,000 light years, which helps to explain why it is the brightest of the two. <p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Andromeda%27s_satellite_galaxies" target="_blank">Wikipedia lists</a> more than two dozen other galaxies that are companions of M31 and I believe that all of them are out of reach from my 4.5" telescope, except possibly for one of them. Aside from M31 and the Milky Way Galaxy there is one other spiral galaxy in the Local Group, M33 in the constellation of Triangulum. It's the smallest of the three and might be in orbit around M31, we aren't certain.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JRihujBp1qY/YVjl3-JUTPI/AAAAAAAABCI/Rz3s6khcUTUuCZ4Bblv2-6jpTCg1NUkOACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/M33%2BOct%2B1%2B2021%2BLR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JRihujBp1qY/YVjl3-JUTPI/AAAAAAAABCI/Rz3s6khcUTUuCZ4Bblv2-6jpTCg1NUkOACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/M33%2BOct%2B1%2B2021%2BLR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>At a distance of 2.73 million light years M33 is farther away than M31 and it has a much lower surface brightness too, but it has some interesting structure to it, with both star clusters and nebulae visible within it making it possibly a fine attendant of the princess Andromeda.<br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628171470427798494.post-45048749488761967152021-09-13T14:54:00.001-07:002021-09-13T14:54:12.100-07:00Finding Himalia<p> You probably already know this but Jupiter has a <i>lot</i> of moons. At last count there are 80 of them.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_q9EP4UFkc/YT-ye4PJBkI/AAAAAAAABAU/6bqIPgj-iDY83_pPLOY96UvTJFDY6N1aQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2038/Jupiter%2BSatellite%2BOrbits.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="2038" height="293" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_q9EP4UFkc/YT-ye4PJBkI/AAAAAAAABAU/6bqIPgj-iDY83_pPLOY96UvTJFDY6N1aQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h293/Jupiter%2BSatellite%2BOrbits.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The orbits of Jupiter's moons shown in SkySafari Pro<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Four of the 80 are big, famous and easily seen in just about any telescope. Galileo saw them back in 1610 and they are often referred to as the Galilean Moons. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V0AuF4DH4OI/YT-y_iuxjII/AAAAAAAABAc/8GPioE-euqke1I9YRqzXrgGXjGcr9XtiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Jupiter%2BMoons%2BSept%2B8%2B2021%2BEJCIG.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="2048" height="230" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V0AuF4DH4OI/YT-y_iuxjII/AAAAAAAABAc/8GPioE-euqke1I9YRqzXrgGXjGcr9XtiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h230/Jupiter%2BMoons%2BSept%2B8%2B2021%2BEJCIG.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left to right: Europa, Jupiter, Callisto, Io and Ganymede. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Those four moons of Jupiter are often viewed by amateur astronomers, but what about the others? Can they be seen? As it turns out, yes they can. They are small, faint and difficult targets because they are also located somewhat close to the glare of Jupiter.</p><p>The largest of Jupiter's moons that isn't one of the famous four Galilean ones is Himalia. Himalia has never been seen from close range by spacecraft, but it is thought to be possibly over 100 miles across.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixvinvAseqU/YT-08cWGAdI/AAAAAAAABAk/LG4dyR7VFKABjzFh5_dLAFMP6waPZkexwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Himalia%2Borbit.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixvinvAseqU/YT-08cWGAdI/AAAAAAAABAk/LG4dyR7VFKABjzFh5_dLAFMP6waPZkexwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h384/Himalia%2Borbit.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himalia's orbit is located far outside the orbits of the Galilean Moons<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Himalia is so far from Jupiter that it takes about 250 days for it to complete an orbit. Compare that to Earth's Moon which takes 27 1/3 days or Jupiter's Moon Io which circles Jupiter in just 42 hours. </p><p>While Himalia is far from Jupiter it is still a difficult target to see. The best time to catch Himalia is when Jupiter is closest to Earth. This means that Himalia will be somewhat brighter and there will be a larger apparent gap between it and Jupiter.</p><p>I took a look for Himalia about a week after Jupiter's most recent closest approach and found two things. 1) SkySafari, which is an otherwise excellent app, doesn't accurately plot Himalia's position. That's okay, there are other ways to get accurate coordinates for a planetary moon. 2) The glare from Jupiter is excessive. Take a look:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B6SatOS_tPs/YT-4p2ovFZI/AAAAAAAABA8/WJ6Wd65DoeIKWOpmvVXomtjW8H4TECkEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Himalia%2BAug%2B27.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B6SatOS_tPs/YT-4p2ovFZI/AAAAAAAABA8/WJ6Wd65DoeIKWOpmvVXomtjW8H4TECkEQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/Himalia%2BAug%2B27.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><p>That's an image from August 27th taken with my <a href="https://unistellaroptics.com/" target="_blank">Unistellar</a> eVscope. Himalia is easily bright enough to be seen with the telescope, but the glow of Jupiter complicates things. When I took a close look at the image I found one star-like object that wasn't where a star should be. To make sure I had the right thing I needed to look again to see if it moved. Himalia's distant orbit around Jupiter means that it is moving pretty slowly through space, but Jupiter itself is moving around the Sun, as is Earth, and means that looking again the next night would place the moon in a different location against the background of the sky. </p><p>Here's my image on August 28th:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPYlvZPtno8/YT-64bXgQDI/AAAAAAAABBM/Y_DR5aiiXmwzBpsEASaGw_IJxYx3a_eAACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Himalia%2BAug%2B28.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPYlvZPtno8/YT-64bXgQDI/AAAAAAAABBM/Y_DR5aiiXmwzBpsEASaGw_IJxYx3a_eAACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/Himalia%2BAug%2B28.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><p>The glare from Jupiter is different, but I do have overlapping stars. To see if I caught Himalia I just needed to align and blink the images. Here is the result:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJYqhjKCLEM/YT-7_93plGI/AAAAAAAABBU/yxepnMMJXcsaWdXBACgiNBpudLl_pwyIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Himalia%2Bfull.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJYqhjKCLEM/YT-7_93plGI/AAAAAAAABBU/yxepnMMJXcsaWdXBACgiNBpudLl_pwyIgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/Himalia%2Bfull.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Can you spot it? Yeah, it's difficult. Look on the leftmost third of the image, or, better yet just look below where I cropped and zoomed the images <i>and</i> circled Himalia:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4LFhWRqEP0/YT-9fQC1AVI/AAAAAAAABBc/Jmo5Q-cKiqE772L5ZX42I_7cpZUlIsVWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Himalia%2Bcropped%2Bzoom%2Bcircle.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4LFhWRqEP0/YT-9fQC1AVI/AAAAAAAABBc/Jmo5Q-cKiqE772L5ZX42I_7cpZUlIsVWgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/Himalia%2Bcropped%2Bzoom%2Bcircle.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br />I checked its relative location and relative brightness and I'm confident that I actually bagged it, but I confess that it was trickier than I thought it would be. <p></p><p>I'll give this a shot next year when Jupiter again is in the proper position to find Himalia. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p>W. Scott Kardelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05481991575798615373noreply@blogger.com0