What's Up For September

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/downloads/whatsup20140901-640.m4v

A video guide from Jane Houston Jones (NASA/JPL) to celestial highlights for the month of September. I'll do my best to observe and share as many as possible here.

• Antares, the Moon, Mars and Saturn "dance" among Scorpius & Libra in the evening
• The Moon and Jupiter rise together pre dawn
• The Zodiacal light appears pre dawn with Jupiter leading the way

The Pleiades

Brigantine Beach Skyscape

The Pleiades has always been one of my favorite "constellations." I think it's partly the different mythologies of the "seven sisters" found in different cultures. The Neil deGrasse Tyson Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey series did a wonderful job of presenting several of these stories in Episode 8: Sisters of the Sun.

Last night, the seeing conditions were outstanding! Not a cloud anywhere and cool dry air. With no moon, the Pleiades was clearly visible with the naked eye and fit perfectly in the field-of-view of the Celestron 12x70 Cometron binoculars. With the dark sky, there were so many stars in the cluster that it was actually difficult to spot the "seven" of it's name.

How many stars do you see?

Dancing Planetary Bodies

Over the past couple of weeks, Jupiter and Venus have been dancing a predawn duet. They moved into their closest positions on the morning of August 18th, at that point less than 1/2° apart - less than the apparent width of the Moon. This morning, the Moon got into the dance as the conjunction draws to a close.

Despite an unfavorable weather forecast, I decided to chance it anyway and see if maybe I would at least get a peek at the conjunction through a break in the clouds. At 4:00 am, there was only a break that gave view to Orion's belt and dagger, with about an hour to go, I decided to try my hand at imaging Orion. I captured more than a dozen, 1 second exposures to "stack" back at the beach house. I'm reasonably satisfied with the results as one of my first attempts at trying this technique.

Orion's Daggar
Photoshop stack of 15 one-second exposures from Canon 60D, f/5.6 400mm.

This was a camera and binoculars morning as the winds were too strong and would just shake the telescope around. As it was, even the binoculars were disturbed by the wind when they were mounted on the tripod.

Wind, chill, and clouds were tempting me to go back inside when I noticed a sliver of light behind a thin cloud. As that cloud passed, it revealed the Crescent Moon. A couple minutes later I found Venus and then finally Jupiter completed the trio. With the clouds shifted and allowing a view of the conjunction, they actually added to the drama.

As the sun rose, the planets faded from view and a new bank of clouds moved in front of the Moon. But what a dramatic curtain for this week's conjunction!

Wallops Visit With Camilla

I am really excited to announce that i’ve been invited to Wallops Space Flight Center to participate in NASA Airborne Science Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) media day September 11, 2014. I will also have a special guest traveling with me, none other than that plucky Commander - Camilla Corona! Camilla and I will tour the HS3 Mission facilities at Wallops and visit the aircraft, scientists, engineers, pilots, control rooms, hangers and runways September 11 through 14, 2014.




HS3 is in its last year of a 5 year mission to study how Atlantic Basin hurricanes form and intensify. They have already collected some incredible data and learned many new things about these storms. I can’t wait to take part in this year’s mission. Science flights begin September 3rd, and with any luck, a science flight will take place while I am at Wallops. 


Please send me your questions about hurricanes, the HS3 Mission, NASA Airborne or Wallops Space Flight Center and Camilla and I will do our best to find you the answers. And if you are at Wallops Sept 11-14, come meet us and get your photo with our beloved Commander!

Learn more about Wallops, NASA Airborne, and HS3 by following these links:

HS3 Mission
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/missions/hs3/overview/index.html#.U_eM1IBdVSk
https://espo.nasa.gov/missions/hs3/

HS3 Media Day
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/august/media-day-at-wallops-for-nasa-hurricane-airborne-mission/#.U_fC7YBdVSk

Airborne Science
https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/

Wallops Space Flight Center
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/home/#.U_fCxYBdVSk

Jupiter-Venus Conjunction Peak

The past several predawn mornings have been absolutely stunning times for observation of the stars and planets. The seeing conditions have been exceptional, giving many in the northern latitudes an opportunity to see something quite extraordinary: Jupiter and Venus passing within 1° of each other as they rise ahead of the sun. Today, 18 Aug, was the "big day" when the conjunction was at it's closest.

***

I had gathered by gear the night before and loaded everything onto the beach wagon. Debating which telescope to take, I opted to leave the trusty C8 behind and take the new 90GT. It turned out to be the perfect choice. I also brought the Cometron 12x70 binoculars and my camera with the 400mm lens. The alarm went of shortly before 4:00 am and I walked to the beach, wagon of gear in tow.

Orion and Moon 18 Aug 2014

Still completely dark, the Moon shone bright overhead, now a waning crescent. Orion was directly below the moon equally striking. I set about capturing some images of Orion and the Moon while I waited for Venus and Jupiter to rise. A fox hunting in the dunes kept me company.

Next, setting up the telescope. With a few minutes to spare, I took some time to enjoy Orion's Nebula with the telescope and binoculars. Periodically, I glanced to my left and followed a line down from Pollux and Castor to the northeast horizon where the planetary duo would make their first appearance. The binoculars were perfect for Orion, with the dagger just fitting within the field of view. I slewed up to the Pleiades for a brief look and then turned my attention to the final preparations for the conjunction. I chose the 9.4 mm eyepiece, to isolate only Jupiter and Venus in the view. With them so close, they just fit. The camera was mounted to the tripod and prepared to capture those first images.

There were a few thin clouds low to the horizon that gave incredible texture to the sky as the red hues began to overtake the predawn indigo. As the dancers took the stage, I found myself so excited to be seeing this event. It isn't often that I find myself in a prime location with excellent seeing conditions for astronomical events. This one couldn't have been more perfect! As Jupiter rose a fist width above the horizon, its four moons; Ganymeade, Io, Calisto and Europa came clearly into view as did the banded stripes of the gas giant's surface. Venus' thick atmosphere continued to reflect the sunlight like a distant headlamp. In the telescope, Venus is a curious swirling disk of light. With the camera, I was even able to capture the Beehive Cluster (M44) gathered slightly to the north, like the company observing the lead dancers.

Lauren joined me and I was able to share my observations with her and she took her own hand at the binoculars, telescope and camera to make her own observations and images. As I was joined by a partner, the fox too was joined by a second. As the planets faded in the rising sun, we began to pack everything back up. Just as the last piece of equipment was placed in the wagon, Lauren noticed the intense orange-red disk of her favorite star rising above the horizon. "Quick, grab the camera!" It was a special morning.

Sunrise Over Atlantic, Brigantine Beach, NJ
photo by Lauren Tucker

Jupiter-Venus Conjunction Aug2014

 

Lauren and I took the kids to the beach this morning to observe the Jupiter-Venus conjunction. Gemini and Orion were vibrant and the Last Quarter Moon was high overhead. We even saw three Perseid meteors, including a big earth-grazer! With a calm surf, Venus rise, Jupiter rise, and Sunrise were a perfect start to our first day at the beach this year. For once, we had the ideal weather and location for an astronomical event!

Jupiter and Venus are now only about 1° apart, easy to block with your outstretched thumb and with the binoculars or a 40mm eyepiece on the 90mm telescope, able to see both planets and some Jupiter's moons simultaneously.

 

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Venus & Jupiter Conjuction

August 13 - 19th, 2014 will bring the morning planets Venus and Jupiter to within a few tenths of a degree of each other in the predawn hour. I made my first observations this morning with the planets about a fist's width apart.

via SkySafari iOS app

My original target was the Perseids, having had dense clouds and rain the previous two nights. I was able to see one streak overhead about 4:00 am, but the sky was too light with the bright waning gibbous moon high to the south and casting shadows on the ground. I decided to bring out the telescope and searched around for other targets. Working from my driveway, I was limited to patches of sky between the trees. North of zennith a large patch of sky revealed a particularly bright Cassiopea and Perseus.

non est ad astra mollis e terris via

While the sky is too bright to see the Milky Way, the higher density of stars was more than apparent as I roamed around these two constellations with the telescope. Landing on the bright center star of Cassiopea, Navi, I thought of one of my boyhood heros. Navi is a renamed star. This star was used by Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom as a navigational star and renamed with the anagram of his name.

Scanning to the East, I noticed the variable double Capella. And then, right at the top of the tree line a light that at first fooled me for a distant streetlight, I realized I was seeing Venus rising. I slued the telescope toward Venus and observed the bright fuzzy disk as it rose higher in the sky. The sky transitioned from a deep blue to pale pink-orange, but remained dark enough for Jupiter to rise to be seen. While the sky was now too bright to make out any surface features, I could see Io and Europa clearly.

 The coming mornings should bring even more impressive views of this planetary pairing, and if I'm lucky enough to get some darker skies, just maybe the Beehive Cluster will come into view.

By August 23rd, Venus and Jupiter will be 5° apart and swapped places with Jupiter now higher. On the 23rd, they will be joined by a razor-thin waning crescent Moon to their right. - See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/venus-jupiter-2014-press-release/#sthash.pM6sO9eI.dpuf

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Camp Faux Real

The summer proceeds with pleasant, clear nights. With low humidity and temps down into the 60s, we have had some excellent seeing conditions. My family has been backyard camping the past couple of weeks at what my boys coined "Camp Faux Real".



The whole family has been spending the evenings at our "campsite" and using our Celestron telescopes and binoculars to stargaze after dark. The waxing moon, as it has grown from crescent to full has been a favorite target. We’ve all marveled at the incredible texture visible when the moon is not as illuminated and the brightness as it passes first quarter. Once it approaches gibbous, the light from the moon causes the telescope’s eyepiece to glow like a lightbulb! We’ve been using ND, polarizer and orange and yellow filters to cut the glare and increase contrast.



Another favorite target has been Alberio, the "Eye of Cygnus.” While this dim star to the SE of Vega is not very impressive by eye, with even low power magnification, it “splits” into an amber and a sapphire star! An easy target to find and really beautiful. Our biggest success, however was pairing the C8 with 9.4mm EP +2x Barlow to split-split the Double-Double in Lyra! That warranted a round of high-fives!

 

During the day, we’ve attached our Baader solar filters to the front of the scopes and have been observing sunspots. i’ve also been prototyping a sun finder to more easily (and safely) align the telescope. The results have been good so far, and I’m ready to graduate to more substantial materials for the next prototype now that “proof-of-principle” has been achieved.

  

We will be heading to one of southern New Jersey’s barrier islands for a couple weeks and are looking forward to darker skies. The scopes and binocs are of course coming too and I will update RooftopAstronomy.blogspot.com and @mwilkinson3 with our observations. Here’s wishing for good seeing!

ASU Mars Day 3.1 Reflections

#MarsOnEarth landed at the Barringer Meteorite Crater!

The Martians have landed!

A group photo with the largest piece of the meteorite that was recovered. This piece of iron is about 1% of the full size meterorite that created the impact crater.

Meteorite Crater, just off the "Mother Road" (Route 66) between Flagstaff and Winslow has been a site that has piqued human curiosity. There was long debate as to its origin, which was not settled until the early 1900's. Hard to believe that it could be seen as anything but a meteorite impact through today's lens, but it was. The mine shaft in the center are a testament to that belief, but the mistaken impression that a large iron meteorite would be found underneath the crater. The belief was at that time the meteorite would bury itself, not explode and scatter on impact. It is amazing to think this is, as meteor craters go, a small crater. If it were on the moon, it would be too small to notice by eye or even a small telescope. Copernicus, for example is more than 90 times the size of Barringer! Despite the scale, o human terms, it is huge. The entire NFL could simultaneously play every Sunday game with 2 million spectators gathered around the rim! We are small!

One of the most amazing features of the crater was the inversion if the rock strata at the edge of the rim. The impact of the meteorite literally peeled back the strata and folded them on top of surface. So instead of the red sandstone being capped by the limestone, the sandstone is on top of the limestone. Gives one a sense of the power expended upon impact!

 

 

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