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!

Autumn Observing

I think autumn is my favorite season.  The weather cools off just enough so that you don't have to sweat outside.  The air temp is just right so that you can shut off the AC and open all the windows in the house, and the leaves on the trees begin to turn beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow.  But the nights; the nights get a chill in the air, the humidity lifts, the sun sets earlier and the sky gets darker as the sun dips ever further beyond the horizon. 
It seems the entire past week has been nothing but clouds and rain, so it goes without saying that there's pretty much been no observing.  The exception would be just a few minutes of observing some variable stars for reporting to the AAVSO.  If you have clear skies, take advantage and get out there.  Jupiter is up over the horizon around 7:30 PM  nowadays, so no excuses; and be sure to see Uranus nearby.  You'll at least need binoculars to see Uranus.  With an 8" mirror you can easily resolve the blue planet - pretty cool (I've seen all 8 of our planets in the scope this year).  Don't forget to look for Comet Hartley 2 while you're out there.

With Cassiopeia high in the sky after dark, this season is a good one to see such objects as the Double Cluster in Casseiopsia (a naked eye object if your skies are dark enough) and the Andromeda Galaxy (also a naked eye object, how cool!).  Check out Cygnus, in which you can find open clusters M29 and M39. The Milky Way is also right overhead after dark, and once you let your eyes dark adapt, lay down and just stare upward, it's such an amazing sight - you'll probably spot a few meteors while you're at it. 
Speaking of meteors, late in October we'll have the Orionids meteor shower (as well as the Hunter's Moon); not as spectacular as the Perseids, but we had clouds on the Perseids maximum night, so I'm really looking forward to this next shower.  I'll post more details about this shower at a later date.
Enjoy these Autumn nights (hopefully without the rain).

Skunked

I have done little observing the past two weeks, and it's not because of the weather.  My problem is with the local skunk.  I'm sure it sounds silly, even I think so.  The first time I saw him he came around the side of the house, and swaggered into my neighbors yard, and eventually made a U turn back to my yard.  He was there again when I woke up in the wee hours to view comet McNaught, forcing me back into the house.  Last Friday I had set up a little more equipment then usual, hoping to spend more than 2 hours observing - but guess who crashed the party?  Yes, within 30 minutes the mephitidae snuck up behind me.  No regular flashlight spooked him before, so I had with me a larger and brighter light which sent him scurrying away.  But even if he does scurry away, I just can't relax. Time to educate myself about Mr. Skunk.

A brief lesson on the Skunk, and why he wants to be my neighbor.

 The striped skunk is a solitary, omnivorous, nocturnal animal, with powerful claws (for digging) and the ability to accurately spray an offensive liquid up to 16' as a defensive mechanism (hence why they fearlessly walk around in the open).  Their diet includes, but is not limited to,  insects, grubs, berries and fungi.  Their vision is relatively poor, only being able to see approximately 10 feet (perhaps another reason why he get's so close to me).

This information alone is enough to understand why the skunk keeps visiting me.  On the border of my yard stands a Red Mulberry tree.  Obviously Mr. Skunk is feasting nightly on these berries, as is evident by the seed filled droppings I've been finding around my yard - pretty rude if you ask me.  But I can't possibly get rid of the berries, there are far too many on the ground to pick up.  I really don't think there's much I can do about this except remain vigilant while outside.