Exciting! New Meteor Shower Camelopardalids

Go to bed early Friday night and set your alarm for the wee hours, as we have a brand new meteor shower coming our way.  When we pass through the old dust trails left by Comet 209P/LINEAR, the radiant will appear to be in the constellation Camelopardalis, hence the name of the shower Camelopardalids.  I'll be honest, I wasn't familiar with Camelopardalis until now.  It lies in the northern sky between Ursa Minor, Ursa Major and Cassiopeia. Thus, this is prime viewing for us northerners.  This shower will peak around 3:00 AM 5/24/2014, and from what I'm reading is going to be short lived. According to this Wikipedia article, there may be 100 to 400 MPH!  I hope you have clear skies!

Sun Dog

This photo was quickly taken while I was mowing my lawn. This is a sun dog. 

I often look for these and find them to be more common than I once thought.  Typically you'd spot a sun dog as the sun is close to the horizon, but I have seen them higher in the sky.  Notice the cirrus clouds; this is key for the creation of a sun dog.  The sunlight is refracted through the high altitude ice crystals within the cirrus clouds, and bright 'mock suns' are created 22° on either side of the sun.

Here I've circled the sun dog for easy identification..

Sun dogs are beautiful atmospheric phenomenon, and fun to spot.  Start looking out and I'm sure you'll see one soon.

A New Year

Ah, a new year is here.  It's time to be re-inspired.  Take on new goals and chart new adventures.  Most of the time, and especially with cold nights, I'm content with a few minutes outside.  I'll check the cloudiness, spot a few constellations and other naked eye visible objects; M31, planets, satellites, etc.  Lately taking the time to set up and take down my observing equipment has been a bit off-putting.  The solution to this is going to be better organization.  I'm consolidating accessories into a single box, I've purchased a new finder scope (the Orion 9x50 RACI) for easier spotting and a green laser (which I may or may not mount, but will be great for pointing with others present), I also plan to put together a new observing chair.

Tonight's sky was pretty clear, so I got myself excited to head out.  I decided I'd take another stab at shooting the Orion Nebula with my DSLR.  I set the camera on a tripod with a 210 mm lens and connected it to my laptop via USB in order to use a remote shutter program called SM Tether.  This software allows me to do a much better job at adjusting the focus and shutter speed since I can preview each image on the laptop immediately after taking the photo.  So here's my official first shot: 1:48 exposure time from 54 frames.

Observing the Venus Transit

So, for most of us the window for observing the transit of Venus has passed.  I began by watching the live stream on CosmoQuest with Phil Plait, Fraser Cain, Pamela Gay & co.  Watching Venus enter the Sun's disk was pretty exciting.  Thankfully it wasn't long before the clouds above my sky broke, and I made a dash for my binoculars.  Bonus - in addition to satisfying my personal desire to see the transit first hand, I was able to share it with my wife, daughter and a friend who had never even considered the thought of observing the sun, especially not with binoculars!  The projection through my binoculars was quite successful.  I don't have a proper mount for my tripod, so I had to hold the glass steady.  The fact that my house faces west meant I was able to project right on to my white siding - perfect!

Pictured here on the left is myself trying to hold the binos steady (not easy). To the right is the resulting projection.  Not bad!  You can easily see Venus on the lower right of the Sun's image.  The shadows along the northern part of the sun are from the local clouds.

Below is a close up of the projected image. I increased the contrast for easier viewing.  Very cool!

If you didn't have an opportunity to see this event for yourself, I'm sure the internet will be full of recorded streams and images for your viewing pleasure.  I believe you can find CosmoQuest recordings here, and NASA data here.

Transit of Venus

Hey! Be sure to mark your calendar for June 5th and 6th to see the historic transit of Venus.  This will be the last one of your lifetime, as the next transit will be in December 2117.  You can check your local transit times here.

The transit of Venus occurs when Venus passes through the same orbital plane as Earth, thus enabling us to see it cross in front of the Sun (rather than above or below it).  This is the same concept as the Moon eclipsing the Sun.  This alignment occurs only every 243 years, with pairs of transits occuring 8 years apart (2004 was the last one) seperated by 121.5 and 105.5 year gaps.

Observing The Transit
First of all, never look direcly at the sun without proper eye protection.  There are a few different ways you can go about observing the sun.  The simplest and least expensive method would be some sort of projection.  I won't go into all the details, but you can make a pinhole projector or project through a lens.  You can use this technique if you have binoculars.  (Never look at the sun through binoculars unless you have approved solar filters attached to the binoculars.)  Hold the binoculars steadily pointed at the sun and a sheet of paper some distance away from the eyepiece on which to focus the sun's disc. This method is best if you have a way to secure the binoculars in position so the image is not constantly moving in and out of focus from your moving arms - trust me. It's also a great way to share the view with others.  Me personally,  I'll be projecting through binoculars.  You can read more about these methods at spaceweather.com

Enjoy the event, and clear skies to you!

Hello May, Goodbye Venus

This month the Evening Star will dazzle as it begins its march toward the horizon (and across the sun).  Venus will be at its brightest this week, reaching a magnitude of -4.7.  The planet is making its way closer to earth, and will reveal its slim illuminated moon-like crescent phase in binoculars or a small telescope. Venus is soon to become the "Morning Star".

Cinco de Supermoon

This Saturday many of you will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Upon exiting your party, if you find that the Moon looks larger than you last remember, I'll tell you now that it was not the libations.  The full moon on May 5th will be a "supermoon", appearing roughly 14% larger and 30% brighter!  That's pretty fascinating! So let's take a look at how this will come to be.

Perigee: the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, especially the moon, or of an artificial satellite at which it is nearest to the earth. (definition from dictionary.com)  The moon's orbit is not a perfect circle, so there is a point in its orbit when it is closer to earth than any other point, and when it is farther away than any other point (apogee).  See my image below.

There are a few coincidences occurring together to make this full moon so spectacular.  For one, the full moon is coinciding with the perigee.  In addition, the perigee distance varies by about 3%, and this one will be as close as it gets. So, be sure to enjoy this special full moon, and have a safe Cindo de Mayo.





Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration