Terry's Astronomy Thread.

**Bluearrowll** · 03-31-2012, 11:22 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Thanks Winrar for the compliment! And i'm glad that you spend more time looking at the night sky hi19hi19, but has this thread helped you distinguish what some of the night time objects are? That's part of the goal of this thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
March 31, 2012

-The Moon shines high in the southwest this evening. It forms a gently curving line (as seen from North America) with Pollux and Castor to its upper right and Procyon below it. Procyon is one of the 3 stars in the Winter Triangle, and as it sets earlier and earlier every day, it's an astronomical sign spring and summer are upon us.

Astro Picture of the Day:
March 31, 2012

Source:
Meet M9. M9 is a globular cluster discovered by Charles Messier, and listed it as the 9th entry in his catalogue (hence Messier 9). He listed this globular cluster as a "Nebula, without star, in the right leg of Ophiuchus ...". Optics have improved since the 18th century however, and this 'starless nebula' has been found to contain over 300,000 stars within a diameter of 90 light years. It is some 25,000 light years distant near the central bulge of our milky way galaxy. This picture takes a look at the central 25 light years of the cluster. At least twice the age of the Sun and deficient in heavy elements, the cluster stars have colors corresponding to their temperatures, redder stars are cooler, bluer stars are hotter. Many of the cluster's cool red giant stars show a yellowish tint in the sharp Hubble view. Globular clusters are typically found -outside- the disk of spiral galaxies, and are evidence that a spiral galaxy was once more spherical in shape before flattening into a disk with a bulge.

**hi19hi19** · 03-31-2012, 02:42 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Bluearrowll

And i'm glad that you spend more time looking at the night sky hi19hi19, but has this thread helped you distinguish what some of the night time objects are? That's part of the goal of this thread.

Yes! Back on the 26th I think it was, there was a bright light next to the moon, and it was cool to know it was Venus. I saw it rather early too, the sun had just gone down and it wasn't even totally dark yet.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-1-2012, 10:38 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by hi19hi19

Yes! Back on the 26th I think it was, there was a bright light next to the moon, and it was cool to know it was Venus. I saw it rather early too, the sun had just gone down and it wasn't even totally dark yet.

That's great

Venus is currently at maximum elongation, meaning it's at its furthest point (from our vantage point) away from the Sun. It's over 40 degrees above the sun from our view, which also gives it that very bright image. Try to give yourself a challenge, see how early you can spot the planet. I've been able to see it as early as 5:20pm EST without binoculars.

What's in the sky tonight?
April 1, 2012

-The Belt of Orion points left toward Sirius, and right toward Aldebaran and (farther on) brilliant Venus. The winter constellations continue to sink in the west as April rolls in.

-Look for Venus to dance with the Pleiades between now and April 5! This is the best chance to understand the Pleiades' location in the sky and how they look like in general.

-That V-Shaped cluster with the brilliant red star Alderbaran manning the top of the V is the other popular star cluster, the Hyades. It is much closer to us, and as such spans about 5 degrees of the sky. Aldebaran is actually not part of the cluster however, it's merely a red giant that happens to be in the line of sight between the Earth and the cluster.

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 1, 2012

Source:
This rugged road through the dark Atacama Desert seems to lead skyward toward the bright stars and glowing nebulae of the southern Milky Way. If you follow the road you will get to Cerro Armazones peak in Chile, future construction site for the 40-meter class European Extremely Large Telescope. For now though, sliding your cursor across the image will identify wonders of the southern skies in view. The scene is dominated by the reddish glow of the Great Carina Nebula, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. In fact, the remarkable skyscape is not a composite of varying exposures or a photomontage. Far from sources of light pollution, the landscape illuminated by starlight and the Milky Way above were recorded by a modified digital camera and fast lens. The sensitive system captured both planet Earth and deep sky in a relatively short exposure.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-2-2012, 06:24 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Thank you to whoever mod or admin decided to sticky this thread.

What's in the sky tonight?
April 2, 2012

-Venus is passing through the outskirts of the Pleiades this evening through Wednesday evening, as shown below. Binoculars or a wide-field telescope give a fine view of the delicate cluster behind Venus's overpowering glare.

-The waxing gibbous Moon forms a slightly curving line with Mars and Regulus, as shown below.

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 2, 2012

Source:
What's large and blue and can wrap itself around an entire galaxy? A gravitational lens mirage. Pictured above, the gravity of a luminous red galaxy (LRG) has gravitationally distorted the light from a much more distant blue galaxy. More typically, such light bending results in two discernible images of the distant galaxy, but here the lens alignment is so precise that the background galaxy is distorted into a horseshoe -- a nearly complete ring. Since such a lensing effect was generally predicted in some detail by Albert Einstein over 70 years ago, rings like this are now known as Einstein Rings. Although LRG 3-757 was discovered in 2007 in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the image shown above is a follow-up observation taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3. Strong gravitational lenses like LRG 3-757 are more than oddities -- their multiple properties allow astronomers to determine the mass and dark matter content of the foreground galaxy lenses.

**nois-or-e** · 04-2-2012, 06:33 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Bluearrowll

Thank you to whoever mod or admin decided to sticky this thread.

I told you in pc mang, yw ;D

**Myattboy** · 04-2-2012, 12:09 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Wow, every image is breathtaking. Thank you for sharing

I'm getting into astronomy myself but unfortunately i live in one of the worst light polluted area's in the UK.
I've managed to get a few decent views of Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon but i'm really interested in viewing some DSOs. Currently saving my pennies for a telescope upgrade and trying to locate a dark site near where i live.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-3-2012, 06:47 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Myattboy

Wow, every image is breathtaking. Thank you for sharing

I'm getting into astronomy myself but unfortunately i live in one of the worst light polluted area's in the UK.
I've managed to get a few decent views of Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon but i'm really interested in viewing some DSOs. Currently saving my pennies for a telescope upgrade and trying to locate a dark site near where i live.

Where abouts in the UK? I can pull up a light pollution map for the UK so you can see places that aren't as polluted that may or may not be nearby for the telescope you're after. Also, what kind of telescope are you looking for?

What's in the Sky Tonight?
April 3, 2012

-The Moon now forms the bottom point of a narrow triangle with Mars and Regulus, as shown below.

-Venus is the closest it will come to the middle of the Pleiades. This evening for the Americas, Venus is passing just �� southeast of Alcyone (the brightest Pleiad) and �� south of the Atlas-Pleione pair. Venus is magnitude –4.5, which means Alcyone, at magnitude 2.85, is 900 times fainter!

-Saturn rises with Spica in Virgo late in the evening, clearly visible by midnight.

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 3, 2012

Source:
Many stars form in clusters. Galactic or open star clusters are relatively young swarms of bright stars born together near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Separated by about a degree on the sky, two nice examples are M46 (upper left) 5,400 light-years in the distance and M47 (lower right) only 1,600 light-years away toward the nautical constellation Puppis. Around 300 million years young M46 contains a few hundred stars in a region about 30 light-years across. Aged 80 million years, M47 is a smaller but looser cluster of about 50 stars spanning 10 light-years. But this portrait of stellar youth also contains an ancient interloper. The small, colorful patch of glowing gas in M46 of the same colour is actually the planetary nebula NGC 2438 - the final phase in the life of a sun-like star billions of years old. It is found near the bottom of M46 within our line of sight to the cluster. NGC 2438 is estimated to be only 3,000 light-years distant and likely represents a foreground object, only by chance appearing along our line of sight to youthful M46.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-4-2012, 08:15 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

What's in the Sky Tonight?
April 4, 2012

-Two planet-and-star pairings mark the evening sky of spring 2012. After nightfall this week, Mars shines high in the south with Regulus to its right (by 5�). As evening advances, Saturn rises into view low in the east-southeast with Spica to its right (by 5��).

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 4, 2012

Source:
What's the closest active galaxy to planet Earth? That would be Centaurus A, only 11 million light-years distant. Spanning over 60,000 light-years, the peculiar elliptical galaxy is also known as NGC 5128. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies, Centaurus A's fantastic jumble of young blue star clusters, pinkish star forming regions, and imposing dark dust lanes are seen here in remarkable detail. The colorful galaxy portrait was recorded under clear Chilean skies at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Near the galaxy's center, left over cosmic debris is steadily being consumed by a central black hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun. That process likely generates the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray energy radiated by Centaurus A.

**Myattboy** · 04-4-2012, 08:29 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Bluearrowll

Where abouts in the UK? I can pull up a light pollution map for the UK so you can see places that aren't as polluted that may or may not be nearby for the telescope you're after. Also, what kind of telescope are you looking for?

Stoke-on-Trent. That would be great, thank you.
Something suited for Astrophotography but not ridiculously priced as i know I'll be needing a good camera as well.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-4-2012, 11:36 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Myattboy

Stoke-on-Trent. That would be great, thank you.
Something suited for Astrophotography but not ridiculously priced as i know I'll be needing a good camera as well.

Light pollution help:
This is the United Kingdom.

As for telescopes, do you have a budget limit on what you're willing to spend on a telescope? The spoiler will list telescopes under $250.00 that are good.

**Staiain** · 04-4-2012, 12:12 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

This actually made me aware that I've never seen the milky way cause of light pollution....

**Myattboy** · 04-4-2012, 02:50 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Bluearrowll

Light pollution help:
This is the United Kingdom.

As for telescopes, do you have a budget limit on what you're willing to spend on a telescope? The spoiler will list telescopes under $250.00 that are good.

I'll probably take my current telescope to the area near Montgomery first then take my new one to Aberaeron. Much closer than what i've been thinking. I was planning on going north to Scotland, haha. Thank you for the info.

I do like the look of the Orion StarBlast and the fact it comes pre-assembled does sound good as mine was a pain in the ass.
My current telescope is an Astromaster 130EQ : http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/...ope_d3424.html
I've learned how to align it but am now interested in a computerised mount. My budget would be around �400-�600 and i maybe able to stretch a little further.
Again, thank you for help mate.

**Bluearrowll** · 04-4-2012, 03:09 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Originally posted by Myattboy

I'll probably take my current telescope to the area near Montgomery first then take my new one to Aberaeron. Much closer than what i've been thinking. I was planning on going north to Scotland, haha. Thank you for the info.

I do like the look of the Orion StarBlast and the fact it comes pre-assembled does sound good as mine was a pain in the ass.
My current telescope is an Astromaster 130EQ : http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/...ope_d3424.html
I've learned how to align it but am now interested in a computerised mount. My budget would be around �400-�600 and i maybe able to stretch a little further.
Again, thank you for help mate.

With a budget in that area, you enter a whole new field of view.

http://www.telescope.com/Orion-StarBlast-6i-IntelliScope-Reflector-Telescope/p/27126.uts?keyword=Orion%20StarBlast

Take a look at this telescope. It comes with a computer object finder which becomes functional after you align it with 2 very bright stars. Its database contains thousands of objects that you can punch in and the telescope will move to that specific spot in the sky that it should be in (provided it's been aligned correctly).

I am getting ready to leave for class now, and I need to prepare for my astronomy final exam tomorrow, and I can go into further detail if you want. But this is definitely one to take a look at. As an added bonus it's one of Skyandtelescope's hot products of 2010 (means it's very good.)

I suggest taking a look at the video gallery and customer reviews, they're quite helpful and sometimes customer reviews have photos taken with the product!

**Bluearrowll** · 04-5-2012, 06:33 AM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

And as I'm posting this, I'm getting ready to depart for my astronomy exam. I'll find out how I did next week. I added some new features to the thread throughout yesterday.

What's in the Sky Tonight?
April 5, 2012

-The Moon is nearly full this evening. Look left of it for Gamma (γ) Virginis (Porrima), a tight telescopic double star. (Its separation is 1.8 arcseconds this spring; it's widening year by year). Look farther lower left of the Moon for steady-shining Saturn and twinkly Spica, as shown here. And look to the Moon's lower right for the four-star pattern of the constellation Corvus, the Crow.

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 5, 2012

Source:
Sweeping from the eastern to western horizon, this 360 degree panorama follows the band of zodiacal light along the solar system's ecliptic plane. Dust scattering sunlight produces the faint zodiacal glow that spans this fundamental coordinate plane of the celestial sphere, corresponding to the apparent yearly path of the Sun through the sky and the plane of Earth's orbit. The fascinating panorama is a mosaic of images taken from dusk to dawn over the course of a single night at two different locations on Mauna Kea. The lights of Hilo, Hawaii are on the eastern (left) horizon, with the Subaru and twin Keck telescope structures near the western horizon. On that well chosen moonless night, Venus was shining as the morning star just above the eastern horizon, and Saturn was close to opposition. In fact, Saturn is seen immersed in a brightening of the zodiacal band known as the gegenschein. The gegenschein also lies near 180 degrees in elongation or angular distance from the Sun along the ecliptic. In the mosaic projection, the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs at an angle, crossing the horizontal band of zodiacal light above the two horizons. Nebulae, stars, and dust clouds of the bulging galactic center are rising in the east.

**Winrar** · 04-5-2012, 01:54 PM

Re: Terry's Astronomy Thread.

Oh man, one night I'd love to come to the east side and see what you're probably seeing every night.

Terry's Astronomy Thread.

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