December 2014 Urban Observing post 1 December 1, 2014
Posted by aquillam in Astronomy, MichiganAstro, Urban Observing.Tags: Moon, Saturn, Uranus, urban observing, Venus
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November kind of got away from me, again. So here’s a short post to tide you over until the real one in a couple of days.
On December 1, the Moon is less than 1º from Uranus. Jupiter rises around 11 PM.
The Moon and Uranus in Pisces on December 1 at 7 PM
It becomes reasonable to look for Saturn in the pre-dawn sky during the first week of December. Even better, “pre-dawn” is around 7 AM. Mercury however is gone.
With binoculars, you might catch Venus in the southwest half an hour after sunset during the first week.
Mark your calendars for the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks on the morning of the 13th. However, Spaceweather.com reports that observers are already seeing a few of these. Gemini rises around 8:30, but you’ll see the most meteors after midnight.
On December 5, a nearly full moon passes through the Hyades.
Full Moon: Dec 6 at 7:27 EST.
Urban Observing October 2014 October 6, 2014
Posted by aquillam in Astronomy, MichiganAstro, Urban Observing.Tags: Jupiter, lunar eclipse, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Solar eclipse, Uranus, urban observing, Venus
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Special Events
October makes up for a couple fairly quiet months with several events.
eclipses
October gets off to a great start with a lunar eclipse on the 8th. You can read my earlier post about it, or check out http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2014-october-8 to get details about observing it where you are. If it isn’t visible or the weather is bad, check out one of the many live feeds from the Griffith Observatory, Slooh.com, or Stargazers.
Uranus is just off the limb of the partially eclipsed Moon ot 5:45 AM on October 8.
Whenever there’s a lunar eclipse, there should be a Solar eclipse two weeks latter. Most of the US will get at least a piece of this partial eclipse on October 23. I’ll post more about that in a couple weeks. To check if you’ll be able to see it and how much of the Moon will be obscured, check out http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=20141023 or http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2014-october-23.
Meteor Showers
The Draconids run roughly Oct 6 – 10, and peak on the morning of the 9th. The nice thing about this shower is this is circumpolar for anyone in the US or Canada. The bad thing is the peak rate is only about two meters per hour, they tend to be faint, and it’s the day after the full moon, so it’s only really worth watching for the diehard meteor fans.
The Orionids on the other hand are much more worth watching. They run October 1 through November 14 but peak on the evening/morning of October 21 – 22nd. In a typical year the peak is 20 to 25 fast-moving meters per hour. Exceptional years can produce 50 to 70 meteors per hour. Check the American Meteor Society homepage, http://www.amsmeteors.org/ a few days before to find out if this is expected to be an exceptional year. Orion rises at 11:15 on the 21st, and transits at about 5 AM on the 22nd. With sunrise just before 8 AM, the best time to watch for these meteors will be about 4 – 6 AM.
The radiant of the Orionid shower is just above the constellation. The map is for 5 AM on Oct 22.
A Comet at Mars
On October 19, comet Siding Spring has a close encounter with the planet Mars. It will pass a mere 132,000 km away from the planet, which is close enough for their atmospheres to interact. What better time for two new space probes to arrive at Mars! In fact, the Mars exploration teams at NASA are so excited they dedicated a page just to comet Siding Spring: http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/. Expected to be around magnitude 10, you’ll need a telescope to spot the comet.
Mars and comet Siding Spring low in the southwest at 9 PM on October 20.
Moon phases
Full on Oct 8
New Moon Oct 23
Planets:
Mercury is sinking fast in the west as the month begins. Look for it in the morning skies beginning around Oct 21. Greatest westward elongation is actually on Nov 1, so the last few days of the month should be a great time for morning observers to catch this elusive planet.
Mercury before dawn on Oct 25. Venus and the Sun are aligned just below the horizon.
Already lost in the Sun’s glare at the start of the month, Venus is headed for superior conjunction on Oct 25. It’ll appear in the evening skies around early December, and those long winter nights should make for spectacular Venus observing.
Mars is getting farther away from us as it approaches the Sun this month. Matched with it’s rival Antares, and not far from Saturn, it makes a beautiful naked eye observing opportunity at the beginning of the month. It slowly drifts away from Saturn as the month progresses. On Oct 27 & 28 a fat crescent Moon passes it.
The Moon and Mars at 8 PM on Oct 27.
Jupiter is the gem of the morning skies this month. A fat waning crescent Moon passes it on Oct 17 and 18th.
The Moon passes near Jupiter on the mornings of Oct 18 & 19. Chart for 6 AM on Oct 18.
Saturn disappears slowly into the sunset this month. Look for a very young Moon in conjunction with Saturn on Oct 25.
Neptune hangs out in Aquarius this month. It’s actually quite close to the 4th magnitude star Sigma Aquarii.
Looking SSE at 10 PM on Oct 17. Neptune is just above Sigma Aquarii in the south. Uranus is in the southeast.
Uranus is at opposition at the start of the month, so it’s a great time to observe this distant world. Catch it on the morning of October 8 when it sits just off the limb of the eclipsed Moon!
Urban Observing August 2014 August 1, 2014
Posted by aquillam in MichiganAstro, Urban Observing.Tags: astronomy, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, MichiganAstro, Moon, observing, Saturn, telescope, urban_observing, Venus
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Special Events
Meteor Showers
The big highlight of August is, of course, the Perseid meteor shower. With a high number of meteors per hour and a broad peak, it is one of the best of the year. The peak should fall on the night of August 12-13. Unfortunately, the Moon will be full on the 10th, so this won’t be the best year for Perseid watching. However, there are a few other meteor showers at this time of year. If you go out in the early morning hours the week before, say around August 3-5, you should catch a few Perseids in the Moonless skies, as well as a few Delta Aquariids, which peaked on July 28, or some Alpha Capricornids, which peaked on July 29.
Looking east on August 5 at 2 AM. The radiants of the three meteor showers are marked.
Other Events
Speaking of the Full Moon, this month’s full moon is the closest one this year, an occurrence the media have dubbed a “super moon” in recent years. If you can’t really tell that it’s any different from a normal moon, you’re not alone. In fact, the moon illusion from July was probably a bigger effect.
With the full Moon on the 10th, the first week is the best for Moon watching, and the last half of the month will be the best time for evening deep sky observers.
Planets
Mercury reaches superior conjunction on the 8. Look for it in the evening skies soon after sunset beginning around August 20 if you have a clear western horizon and a pair of binoculars. A young crescent Moon makes it a little easier to find on August 27. However, it’ll be an easier catch in September.
Looking west on August 27 at 8:30 PM (about half an hour after sunset)
This is a great month for Venus, even if you’re not big on observing in the morning. It’s the last thing visible in the pre-dawn sky. As it slowly approaches the Sun, it also meets up with Jupiter. Look with binoculars around 5:45 – 6 AM on August 17 – 19 as the two planets converge on the Beehive cluster (M44) in Cancer. On the morning of the 18th, the two planets will only be about a quarter of a degree apart, or about the same separation as Alcor and Mizar! In fact, they’ll be so close, Starry Night can’t show the labels for all 3 objects, so the map is for the night before.
Venus and Jupiter in the Beehive cluster on August 17 at 5:45 AM (about half hour before dawn).
Mars still graces the evening skies, but much farther away now than earlier this year. It makes a nice contrast with nearby yellow Saturn. The first quarter Moon passes about 2 1/2 degrees from it between the 2nd and 3rd. The three objects line up nicely in the southwest at 10 PM on the 3rd.
Looking southwest on August 3rd at 10 PM.
Jupiter is up in the mornings now, quickly pulling away from the Sun. Don’t miss that conjunction with Venus and the Beehive on the 18.
Saturn is probably the best evening planet this month. Look for it near Mars in the southwest at 10 PM.
For those with a telescope, your best Neptune views are coming up. It’s at opposition on August 29. Of course, that means your best chance of seeing this will be in September and October. On August 11, the Moon is only about 4º away from Neptune, so you might be able to use it as a guide.
The Moon close to Neptune not long after it rises in the east-south-east at 11 PM on August 11.
Deep Sky
August is a great time for deep sky observers. The Sun sets a little earlier now, but the nights aren’t too cold yet, so it’s a good time to pull out that telescope.
Some of the nicest open clusters are high in the south around 10 PM. If you have a low horizon, now is the time to look for M6 (the Butterfly cluster) and M7 (Ptolemy’s cluster). A little easier to spot is M11, the Wild Duck cluster. The coat hanger cluster is a good one for binoculars. To find it, start form Vega and follow a line straight to Altair. About 2/3 of the way there, you’ll spot this cluster that looks just like an upside down hanger.
Fans of globular clusters have three of the nicest clusters in the evening skies: M13 (the great cluster in Hercules), M92, and M3.
Two of the best and brightest planetary nebulae are high in the evening skies too: M57 (the ring) and M27 (the dumbbell).
Looking south on August 15 at 10 PM local time. Deep sky objects are labeled. Click for a larger version.
Moon
With all the media hype surrounding the “supermoon”, I’m sure many people will be out looking at the moon. So this month, I thought I’d highlight a few things you can see naked eye.
The first thing you’re likely to notice when you look at the Moon is that there are bright and dark patches. In general, the dark areas are Mare (pronounced with 2 syllables, like mar-ay) and light areas are the highlands. A few thousand years ago, people thought the dark area were actually seas, and the word mare means sea in Latin. The Maria are fairly smooth plains of basalt formed when a meteor punched though the thin crust of the young Moon and allowed the iron-rich magma to well up to the surface.
The very round shape of Mare Crisium (Sea of Crisis) and Humorum (Sea of Moisture) reflect their origins as giant impact craters. Mare Tranquillitatis (Tranquility) is famous for being the Apollo 11 landing site. Apollo 16 and 17 also landed near it, 16 to the south and 17 to the north. Apollo 15 landed in the highlands between Mare Serenitas (Serenity) and Mare Imbrium (Showers). Apollos 12 and 14 landed along the north of Mare Nubium (Clouds). Mare Porcellarum (Storms) is on the western edge, and best viewed when the Moon is in a waning phase.
Not all of the dark patches are big enough to be Maria. Cater Grimaldi is a small dark spot just below Mare Porcellarum, barely visible to the naked eye. Younger craters tend to be bright, and the easiest to spot are surrounded by bright rays. Crater Tycho’s rays spread across nearly a third of the Moon’s face. Crater Copernicus’ rays are very easy to spot where they cross Mare Imbrium. Crater Aristarchus makes a bright spot between Mare Imbrium and Mare Porcellarum, though it’s small size makes it a bit hard to spot naked eye.
The Full Moon, with some of the major maria and craters labeled.
Urban observing July 2014 July 2, 2014
Posted by aquillam in Astronomy, Urban Observing.Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, meteor shower, Moon, Saturn, urban observing, Venus
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I guess time flies when you’re having fun, because the start of July really snuck up on me.
Special Events
Aphelion occurs on July 3. This is the day when the Earth is farthest from the Sun. Clearly, our distance from the Sun is not related to the temperature outside here in the northern hemisphere!
Meteor Showers
July and August bring some of the best meteor showers of the year. The July ones in particular tend to have prolonged peaks, so there are many good nights for watching meteor showers. The June Bootids are winding down as the month begins. A weak shower, this one is primarily worth watching because the radiant is near zenith at 1 AM, which is not only a good position, it’s also after Moonset, which eliminates at least one big source of light pollution. Mid July brings the Alpha Capricornids, active July 11 – August 10. The peak will be the night of July 29, but it’s a wide peak, so a night or two on either side should be good too, a timeframe that happens to coincide with the new moon and the next few nights. Although it typically only produces about 5 meteors an hour, a relatively high number of fireballs makes it worth watching anyway, even from poor urban skies. The Delta Aquariids are active from July 21st to August 23rd with the peak on July 28. This is a strong shower with a rate of around 16 meteors per hour, but often fairly dim meteors with few fireballs. However, it is one of the best showers for observers in the tropics.
Locations of the radiants of the Alpha Capricornids and Delta Aquariids on July 28 at 2 AM. Image made with Starry Night.
Moon
The full moon is July 12 at 7:25 UT. That’s 3:25 AM local time Ann Arbor. New Moon falls on the 26th, so the end of the month is your best chance for deep sky observing.
Planets
Mercury returns to the morning sky at the opening of the month. It reaches greatest Westward elongation on the 13th. It is at it’s closest to Venus on the 16th, and they make a rather nice pair in the predawn sky.
Looking ENE half an hour before dawn on July 16. Image made with Starry Night.
Venus is still slowly making its way towards superior conjunction. It starts the month close to the red giant Aldebaran. Look for it among the stars of Gemini’s feet along with a very old moon, Mercury, and a rising Orion on July 24 at 5:30 in the morning in Ann Arbor.
Venus, Mercury, and a very old moon about 45 minutes before sunrise on July 24. Image made with Starry Night.
Mars and the star Spica make a striking pair in the evening skies this month. They’re at their closest to each other on July 13. On July 5, the first quarter Moon will pass less than a degree from Mars, making it possible to get both into the field of view of a small telescope.
Looking SSW at 10 PM on July 5. Mars and the Moon are in conjunction. Image made using Starry Night.
Jupiter is basically lost in the glare of the sun this month. Conjunction occurs on the 24th, so look for it to reappear in the morning skies in August.
Saturn is the gem of the evening skies this month. Look southward at 10 PM all month to find it. On July 7, a fat first quarter moon passes less than half a degree from Saturn.
Looking SSW at 10 PM on July 7. Saturn and the Moon are in very close conjunction.
Deep sky objects
As the nights lengthen, it becomes reasonable to look for deep sky objects at 10 or 11 PM again. M13, the great cluster in Hercules is one of the nicest globular clusters in the sky. It’s also relatively easy to find, being not far from one of the stars in the Keystone. Not far away are two more nice globular clusters, M3 and M92.
Looking toward zenith while facing south (ie north is at the top, east is to the left.) Click for a larger version. Image made using Starry Night.
You can’t beat summer nights for planetary nebulae. M57 is one of the higher surface brightness nebulae, and is relatively easy to find, being located between two stars in Lyrae. An OII or nebula filter can make this pop out of even some pretty bad city skies. Nearby, if you have darker skies, you’ll be able to see the larger but lower surface brightness dumbbell nebula. It’s a tough catch from Ann Arbor, but not completely impossible.
If you’re a fan of open star clusters, two of the nicest, the butterfly cluster (M6) and Ptolemy’s cluster (M7), finally make it above the horizon at a reasonable time in the end of July. Not far from the double star Shaula in the tail of Scorpius, these can be a bit tough to spot in light polluted skies, but if you can get them in your telescope, they’re well worth it.
Looking south on July 22nd at 11 PM. Image made with Starry Night.
Sideways Orion 
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