Space - Tullamore Astronomical Society

Recommendations

Info

UPCOMING ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS Compiled by John Flannery, South Dublin AS Summary Winter Solstice occurs on December 21 st at 18:35hrs: Winter officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere. Eclipses No eclipses occur during this time. The Planets Heads Binocular users may just about spot Mercury in the evening sky around time of greatest eastern elongation on November 3 rd (24°) given a clear south-western horizon. Your best chance of seeing the planet falls during December in the morning sky. Mercury begins December about 5° above the south-eastern skyline at the beginning of civil twilight and climbs higher each day until greatest western elongation (21°) on the 12 th when it can be found at an altitude of 9.5° around the same time of morning. Thereafter, it slowly retreats sunward (but remains quite bright at magnitude -0.4) and will probably be lost to view by New Year’s Day. A word of caution; if you are looking for Mercury in any sort of optical instrument make sure you do not accidentally sweep up the Sun in the field. It therefore makes sense to look for the planet in binoculars or a telescope after sunset or before sunrise. Advanced amateurs do observe the planet in daylight close to the Sun but only by taking careful precautions and having telescopes with setting circles that allow you to accurately “home in” on Mercury’s position in the sky. Venus has remained quite low in the evening sky all year but is now beginning to pull clear, gaining in altitude during the two-month period covered by these notes. It lies highest in our evening skies in mid-December (still only about 12 in altitude though) and reaches greatest brilliancy on December 9 th (magnitude -4.6). Telescopes will show the phase of the planet change from half to a thin crescent over the next two months, while the diameter of the disk swells from 24.5" to 55". You should be able to spot Venus as a tiny crescent in binoculars by the end of the year. The Moon is nearby on November 5 th and December 4 th , making for an attractive sight. Still awaiting launch at time of writing is the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission, designed to study the atmosphere and space-environment of Venus. Following launch, the spacecraft will take 153 days to reach Venus after which it will settle into orbit and begin science operations. Although previous missions such as Magellen have used radar to pierce the veil shrouding this mysterious world, we are still no closer to understanding UP why Earth’s sister planet boasts a greenhouse effect run riot. Mars continues to steal the show as it reaches opposition on November 7 th in the constellation Aries and shines at magnitude -2.3 throughout the night. The disk measures 20" at this time and the Red Planet is sure to be carefully scrutinised by backyard observers. Or so we hope! Recent reports on the International Mars-watch page (http://elvis.rowan.edu/marswatch/) suggest that a dust storm first noticed brewing on the planet in mid-October has now increased in intensity. Should the storm grow in size it will gradually obscure features for observers and the disk will look bright orange. Any reports you have should be forwarded to the Mars-watch web site mentioned above. A detailed article on observing the planet during this apparition can be found at http://www.tnni.net/~dustymars/Article_2005.htm The Moon is close to Mars on November 14 th and December 11 th . Jupiter necessitates an early rise as it is strictly a morning sky object during November and December. You will probably only first spot the cream-coloured planet from the second week of November onwards as its time of rising becomes progressively earlier ahead of the Sun. Jupiter shines at magnitude -1.7 at the moment and the disk is quite small (for Jupiter!), measuring 32". The planet moves from Virgo into Libra at the start of December. Look for the Moon nearby on the mornings of November 29 th and December 27 th . Saturn rises before midnight at the beginning of November and a little earlier each night until the end of the period covered by these notes. It brightens slowly from magnitude 0.3 to magnitude 0.0 during November and December as it closes in on its January 2006 opposition date. The beautiful ring system is easily visible in a small telescope but if you’ve been keeping a keen eye on the planet the last few years you will notice that they are gradually closing up -- their Earthward tilt is now around 17.5°. It’s all to do with the inclination of Saturn’s orbit and ours; twice during Saturn’s 29 year long circuit of the Sun the rings appear edge-on to Earth-based observers as we pass through their plane. The rings will next be edge-on in September 2009 and will disappear from view in all but larger amateur telescopes. The Ringed Planet is still a dramatic sight at the moment close to the Beehive star cluster in Cancer that was mentioned in the previous issue’s notes. With the Moon close to the planet too on the evenings of November 22 nd and December 18 th it will add to an already dramatic sight in binoculars. Details for Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are beyond 10 Réalta – Volume 7, Issue 2 – November/December 2005 – Tullamore Astronomical Society
viewing for the most part during this time. Data & Phases of The Moon Data Summary November: 5 th : below Venus in evening sky 14 th : Full Moon right of Mars 15 th : Full Moon left of Mars 21 st : Last Quarter above Saturn 28 th : thin Crescent next to Spica in Virgo 29th: thin Crescent below Jupiter in morning 30 th: Crescent right of Mercury in morning December: 4 th : Crescent below Venus evening 11 th : waxing Gibbous right of Mars 12 th : waxing Gibbous left of Mars 18 th : waning Gibbous right of Saturn 19 th : waning Gibbous left of Saturn 27 th : Crescent below Jupiter morning 29 th : thin Crescent left of Mercury morning Phases New 1 st Qtr Full Last Qtr Nov 2 nd Nov 9 th Nov 16 th Nov 23 rd Dec 1 st Dec 8 th Dec 15 th Dec 23 rd Dec 31 st I.S.S. Passes As we come into winter, the angle of the ISS’s orbit means it can only be viewed either early evening or early morning, mostly occurring twice each day. Nov 3 rd to Nov 20 th : early evening object, with sometimes 2 passes occurring 93 minutes apart. Nov 21 st to Nov 30 th : not visible over Ireland. Dec 1 st to Dec 17 th : early morning object, almost twice each morning. Dec 18 th to Dec 31 st : not visible over Ireland. The passes are too numerous to list here, but if you have access to the web, check out the reliable and free www.heavens-above.com for a comprehensive list of passes –Ed. Asteroids While sourcing material for these sky notes I discovered that a reasonably bright asteroid for binoculars, (19) Fortuna, will be close to Mars during November. Fortuna reaches opposition on the night of November 4 th when it can be found as a magnitude 8.9 speck of light 4.5° slightly north of east from Mars. Should the Irish weather cooperate around this time, carefully draw the star field over a few successive nights. You’ll find that the “star” that moves will be the asteroid. The apparent gap between Mars and the asteroid actually shrinks to about 2.5° by the end of November but Fortuna’s brightness has declined somewhat to magnitude 9.8 by this time, making binocular observation rather more difficult. Fortuna was discovered on August 22 nd , 1852 and lies 159 million kilometres from Earth when at opposition this year. The asteroid ranked third in order of discovery, (3) Juno, is at opposition on December 9 th in the eastern part of the constellation Orion. It peaks at magnitude 7.6 which is quite bright for Juno because this particular opposition occurs close to the asteroid’s minimum distance from the Sun in its eccentric 4.36 year long orbit. The asteroid falls within the same low power binocular field as Beta Eridani at this time, lying 3° northwest of the star. Meteors November The Taurids peak on the night of Nov. 3 rd /4 th in the constellation Taurus, high in the southeast at 9pm (as a guide). These average 10 per hour, with only a tiny sliver of the Moon on view, so it will be a dark night. The Leonids peak on Nov. 17 th , but an almost full Moon will spoil the view – only the brightest of meteors will be seen. Leo rises after midnight from the east. Rates that we were familiar with in recent years (but were clouded out for) that occur every 33 years will not be realistically met, but this shower could still throw in a few surprises. December The Geminids peak on December 14 th , but succumb to the nearly Full Moon. They can be considered even richer than the better known Perseids. The hours before midnight will probably be the most productive to observe The Ursids, peaking on Dec 22 nd . The waning gibbous Moon rises just after 11pm and will interfere with your watch somewhat after that. The Ursid radiant is close to Kocab (Beta Ursae Minoris) and so the shower is visible all night from our latitude. Name Max ZHR Taurids Nov 4 th 10 Andromedids Nov 14 th 5 Leonids Nov 17 th 30+ Geminids Dec 14 th 25+ Ursids Dec 22 nd 10 Skynotes Extra The Moon A favourable lunar libration close to the Full Moon of December 15 th will tip the rugged southern highlands more towards us, allowing observers to view craters normally too close to the limb. It’s a fine opportunity to become acquainted with this terrain little explored by amateur Réalta – Volume 7, Issue 2 – November/December 2005 – Tullamore Astronomical Society 11
Page 1 and 2: REALTA 9+- Reviews, Events And Lect
Page 3 and 4: Key organisers and folks involved i
Page 5 and 6: NEWS UPDATE From Around The Univers
Page 7 and 8: Moon discovered orbiting Solar Syst
Page 9: Two New Moons for Pluto? New images
Page 13 and 14: Great Irish Women Astronomers By Gi
Page 15 and 16: One would expect one or some of the
Page 17 and 18: Goldilocks and the (many) more than
Page 19 and 20: cold or just right, while the chair
Page 21 and 22: SPACEFLIGHT News Russian Spacecraft
Page 23 and 24: Contributions Wanted Do you ever no

Space - Tullamore Astronomical Society

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?