Terry's Astronomy Thread.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 13, 2012

-Mars is finally passing between Saturn and Spica low in the west-southwestern twilight this evening and tomorrow evening.

Daytime occultation of Venus. This afternoon, telescope users across most of North America can watch the edge of the thin waning crescent Moon cover half-lit Venus in a blue sky. The event happens low for Easterners; the farther west you are, the higher the Moon and Venus will be in your sky. Finding them is the trick. If you live in the area that's within the highlighted portion of the map below, then you can see this happen yourself! Use the list found on the occultation website

to pinpoint exactly when Venus will mysteriously vanish and re-appear out of nowhere in your location! This is something you do not want to miss if you have clear skies.





Astro Picture of the Day:
August 13, 2012

Source:
What would it be like to fly through the universe? Possibly the best simulated video of this yet has been composed from recently-released galaxy data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Every spot in the above video is a galaxy containing billions of stars. Many galaxies are part of huge clusters, long filaments, or small groups, while expansive voids nearly absent of galaxies also exist. The movie starts by flying right through a large nearby cluster of galaxies and later circles the SDSS-captured universe at about 2 billion light years (a redshift of about 0.15) from Earth. Analyses of galaxy positions and movements continues to bolster the case that our universe contains not only the bright matter seen, like galaxies, but also a significant amount of unseen dark matter and dark energy.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 14, 2012

-No less than nine Messier objects float within just a couple binocular fields of view above the lid star of the Sagittarius Teapot (now at its highest in the south in early evening). How many of these can you detect? Some are easy in binoculars, some are tougher and require a dark sky.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 14, 2012

Source:
Where will the next Perseid meteor appear? Sky enthusiasts who trekked outside for the Perseid meteor shower that peaked over the past few days typically had this question on their mind. Six meteors from this past weekend are visible in the above stacked image composite, including one bright fireball streaking along the band of the background Milky Way Galaxy. All Perseid meteors appear to come from the shower radiant in the constellation of Perseus. Early reports about this year's Perseids indicate that as many as 100 meteors per hour were visible from some dark locations during the peak. The above digital mosaic was taken near Weikersheim, Germany.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Incase you missed August 13th's Occultation of Venus, here is a nice composite image of what you would have seen:

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 15, 2012

-Vega passes high overhead after dark for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes (exactly overhead at latitude 39°). Altair is the brightest star high in the southeast, marking the bright eye of Aquila, the Eagle.

-Running down the main axis of Aquila are bunches of dark nebulae, two planetary nebulae, and a globular cluster that await hunting with your telescope.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 15, 2012

Source:
If you could stand on Mars, what would you see? The above image is a digitally re-colored approximation of what you might see if the above Martian landscape had occurred on Earth. Images from Mars false-colored in this way are called white balanced and useful for planetary scientists to identify rocks and landforms similar to Earth. The image is a high resolution version of a distant wall of Gale Crater captured by the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars last week. A corresponding true colour image exists showing how this scene actually appears on Mars. The robotic Curiosity rover continues to check itself over and accept new programming from Earth before it begins to roll across Mars and explore a landscape that has the appearance of being an unusually layered dried river bed.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 16, 2012

-It's already that time of year. If you're up before the first light of dawn, you'll get a preview of wintry Orion coming up in the east-southeast. It's to the right of brilliant Venus, which is in the feet of Gemini near the top of Orion's dim club.

-Venus and Jupiter (magnitudes –4.5 and –2.2) shine dramatically in the east before and during dawn. They've widened to about 24° apart, with Jupiter high to Venus's upper right. They're in Gemini and Taurus, respectively. Look for orange Aldebaran, much fainter, 5° right or lower right of Jupiter. Near Aldebaran are the Hyades, and above are the Pleiades.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 16, 2012

Source:
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This colorful portrait of the nebula uses narrow band image data combined in the Hubble palatte. It shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula in red, green and blue hues. NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.

[Sky Kitten]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 17, 2012

-It's already that time of year. If you're up before the first light of dawn, you'll get a preview of wintry Orion coming up in the east-southeast. It's to the right of brilliant Venus, which is in the feet of Gemini near the top of Orion's dim club.

-At the bend of the Dipper's handle, you'll know to look for little Alcor shining directly above Mizar. That's because the line from Mizar through Alcor always points to Vega, and Vega is now near the zenith (as seen from mid-northern latitudes).

-Mercury is having a good apparition low in the dawn. About 45 minutes to an hour before sunrise, look for it above the east-northeast horizon far lower left of brilliant Venus. Mercury is still brightening, from magnitude –0.4 on the morning of August 18th to –1.0 by the 25th. Though by then it's a little lower.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 17, 2012

Source:
Magnificent island universe NGC 5033 lies some 40 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici. This telescopic portrait reveals striking details of dust lanes winding near the galaxy's bright core and majestic but relatively faint spiral arms. Speckled with pink star forming regions and massive blue star clusters, the arms span over 100,000 light-years, similar in size to our own spiral Milky Way. A well-studied example of the class of Seyfert active galaxies, NGC 5033 has a core that is very bright and variable. The emission is likely powered by a supermassive black hole. The bright nucleus and rotational center of the galaxy also seem to be slightly offset, suggesting NGC 5033 is the result of an ancient galaxy merger.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 18, 2012

-In these waning weeks of summer, autumn's Great Square of Pegasus is already looming up in the east after dark. It's somewhat larger than your fist at arm's length, and is balancing on one corner.

-Mars, Saturn, and Spica (in Virgo, very similar at magnitudes 1.1, 0.8, and 1.0 respectively) form a changing triangle low in the west-southwest at dusk, as shown above. Look for them far lower left of Arcturus. Saturn and Spica are moving to the lower right away from Mars, lengthening the triangle day by day.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 18, 2012

Source:
What does the Curiosity rover look like on Mars? To help find out, NASA engineers digitally synthesized multiple navigation camera images taken last week into what appears to be the view of a single camera. Besides clods of Martian dirt, many of Curiosity's science instruments are visible and appear in good shape. Near the middle of the rover is an augmented reality tag intended to enable smartphones to provide background information. Far in the distance is a wall of Gale Crater. As Curiosity will begin to roll soon, its first destination has now been chosen: an intriguing intersection of three types of terrain named Glenelg.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 19, 2012

-Nine Messier objects float within just a couple binocular fields above the lid star of the Sagittarius Teapot, now at its highest in the south in early evening. How many can you detect in my photos, or on your own? Some are easy in binoculars, some are tougher and require a dark sky.

-Jupiter (magnitude –2.2, in Taurus) rises in the east-northeast around midnight or 1 a.m. daylight saving time. Once it's well clear of the horizon, look for fainter orange Aldebaran twinkling 5° or 6° to its right or lower right. By dawn Jupiter shines very high in the southeast, about 30° upper right of even brighter Venus.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 19, 2012

Source: My Camera
I visited Wasaga Beach for the weekend, and head home in just over a few hours as of this post, but I noticed that it was a particularily clear and moonless night - a rather cool night also helped improve atmospheric seeing conditions. I brought my camera up with me just like I do every time I head up here, and planted myself at a small urban park and could easily see Saggitarious's Tea Pot and Scorpius pulling the milky way - however I could not see the milky way myself at this point. From my prior experience in Cyprus Lake However (the 2nd picture), I knew that Scorpius pulls the bulge of the milky way. So I positioned my camera accordingly and this was the result. After taking a few photos of 2 minute exposures each, I could see the faint, washed out milky way for myself; even though Wasaga Beach does have a large amount of street lights. I suppose it is very helpful that the bulge of the milky way was in the west - precisely where huge Lake Huron borders the town here. These 2 shots are the same part of the Milky Way - the only difference is the amount of light pollution near by. The top photo is in the middle of Wasaga Beach, the second photo is 400km from my home city.

[EzExZeRo7497]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Those two pics you took are beautiful man. :')

[elvis236]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Love the thread! It's super particular to my interests!

It's nice to see that there's not just a focus on Galactic or purely Solar System images. From my experience, people tend to forget the extragalactic component of astronomy since the media seems to prefer reporting on stuff that's closer to home.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Love the thread! It's super particular to my interests!

It's nice to see that there's not just a focus on Galactic or purely Solar System images. From my experience, people tend to forget the extragalactic component of astronomy since the media seems to prefer reporting on stuff that's closer to home.

For the most part, this thread is observational astronomy oriented. I don't know how into the subject people in this iforum are, so I make a mix of things: some of the events I mention can be seen just by looking up in a city sky; others require a dark sky and binoculars or even a telescope.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 20, 2012

-Venus (magnitude –4.4, in Gemini) rises in deep darkness around 3 a.m. daylight saving time (depending on where you are), emerging above the east-northeast horizon like a UFO a good two hours before the first glimmer of dawn. By early dawn it's blazing high in the east — vastly outshining Pollux and Castor to its left and Procyon to its lower right.

-Uranus (magnitude 5.8, at the Pisces-Cetus border) and Neptune (magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius) reach good heights in the southeast by late evening.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 20, 2012

Source:
What's happening near the center of this cluster of galaxies? At first glance, it appears that several strangely elongated galaxies and fully five bright quasars exist there. In reality, an entire cluster of galaxies is acting as a gigantic gravitational lens that distorts and multiply-images bright objects that occur far in the distance. The five bright white points near the cluster center are actually images of a single distant quasar. This Hubble Space Telescope image is so detailed that even the host galaxy surrounding the quasar is visible. Close inspection of the above image will reveal that the arced galaxies at 2 and 4 o'clock are actually gravitationally lensed images of the same galaxy. A third image of that galaxy can be found at about 10 o'clock from the cluster center. Serendipitously, numerous strange and distant galaxies dot the above image like colorful jewels. The cluster of galaxy that acts as the huge gravitational lens is cataloged as SDSS J1004+4112 and lies about 7 billion light years distant toward the constellation of Leo Minor.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

A graphical explanation of yesterday's picture:



What's in the sky tonight?
August 21, 2012

-In twilight the waxing crescent Moon makes a lovely quadrilateral with Saturn, Spica, and Mars low in the southwest, as shown above. They all just fit in a 6° binocular view. By coincidence, this is also the evening when Saturn, Spica, and Mars form an equilateral triangle.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 21, 2012

Source:
What happens to matter that falls toward an energetic black hole? In the case of Cygnus X-1, perhaps little of that matter actually makes it in. Infalling gas may first collide not only with itself but with an accretion disk of swirling material surrounding the black hole. The result may be a microquasar that glows across the electromagnetic spectrum and produces powerful jets that expel much of the infalling matter back into the cosmos at near light speed before it can even approach the black hole's event horizon. Confirmation that black hole jets may create expanding shells has come recently from the discovery of shells surrounding Cygnus X-1. Pictured above on the upper right is one such shell quite possibly created by the jet of microquasar and black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. Rolling your cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. The physical processes that create the black hole jets is a topic that continues to be researched.

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
August 22, 2012

-Look for the Saturn-Spica-Mars triangle to the right or lower right of the Moon in twilight, as shown above.

-And to the Moon's upper left, look for 3rd-magnitude Alpha (α) Librae. It's a fine, very wide double star for binoculars. You'll find its two components lined up about horizontally.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 22, 2012

Source:
Is that a cloud hovering over the Sun? Yes, but it is quite different than a cloud hovering over the Earth. The long light feature on the left of the above color-inverted image is actually a solar filament and is composed of mostly charged hydrogen gas held aloft by the Sun's looping magnetic field. By contrast, clouds over the Earth are usually much cooler, composed mostly of tiny water droplets, and are held aloft by upward air motions because they are weigh so little. The above filament was captured on the Sun about two weeks ago near the active solar region AR 1535 visible on the right with dark sunspots. Filaments typically last for a few days to a week, but a long filament like this might hover over the Sun's surface for a month or more. Some filaments trigger large Hyder flares if they suddenly collapse back onto the Sun.

[elvis236]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

It was actually pretty cool, my friend and I were doing some solar observing the other day and we saw that giant solar filament and pretty surprised at how large it was.

It was only once I came home later that day that I noticed that it was being reported in the media as being exceptionally large and was getting quite a bit of coverage.

Gotta say, I really like that black and white image of the filament and sunspot you've got there though. It's pretty cool to see the two on one image!

[Bluearrowll]

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

It was actually pretty cool, my friend and I were doing some solar observing the other day and we saw that giant solar filament and pretty surprised at how large it was.

It was only once I came home later that day that I noticed that it was being reported in the media as being exceptionally large and was getting quite a bit of coverage.

Gotta say, I really like that black and white image of the filament and sunspot you've got there though. It's pretty cool to see the two on one image!

What did you use for solar observing? Must be quite neat to see the picture of the day for yourself

What's in the sky tonight?
August 23, 2012

-By about 9 or 10 p.m. (depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone), the Big Dipper sinks in the northwest to the same height that Cassiopeia rises in the northeast.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 23, 2012

Source:
During the past week, nightfall on planet Earth has featured Mars, Saturn, and Spica in a lovely conjunction near the western horizon. Still forming the corners of a distinctive celestial triangle after sunset and recently joined by a crescent Moon, they are all about the same brightness but can exhibit different colors to the discerning eye. This ingenious star trail image was recorded as the trio set on August 12 with a telephoto lens from the shores of Lake Eppalock, in central Victoria, Australia. Focused on foreground eucalyptus trees, the image slightly blurs the trails to show more saturated colors. Can you guess which trail is which? Of course the reddest trail is Mars, with Saturn on the right a paler echo of the Red Planet's hue. Left is hot and luminous Spica, bluish alpha star of the constellation Virgo.