Steve’s Virtual Planet

My First Supernova!

There are times when you are witness to something truly remarkable in the night sky. I am always thrilled to get a good view of something new, just because I can, but sometimes the meaning goes way beyond the visual impact. For example, I had a good look at comet Holmes through the Fernbank (FSC) 36 inch scope a few years back one day after it burst forth. I also got a good view through my 80mm refractor (using a solar filter, of course!) of the June 2012 Venus transit from my own driveway, a once in a lifetime event for sure. But as singular events like this go, I cannot get over seeing Supernova SN2014J in M82 this past week using the 36 inch at FSC.

I just happened to be planning to get up to the observatory that night, all rugged up for an evening of sub freezing temperatures and single digit wind chill. Ya know … perfect camping weather! Jupiter was going to show off the GRS at 9:00 and that was going to be my prime target. Well, fortunately, Dr Ed Albin had been checking SpaceWeather.com that day and saw the announcement of the supernova in M82. At magnitude 11, he was sure it would be bright enough to get in the big scope, even from the suburbs.

Well, at 10:15 or so we just had a few people left in the observatory, the ones that hadn’t taken off for hot chocolate somewhere. The dipper had been getting up higher out of the trees so we knew we had a clear line of sight. (always remember to plan your viewing). We wheeled around the scope and the dome .. and .. “there it is”, Ed called out! Even though M82 was a faintish smokey cigar shaped smudge, sure enough, there was a bright star peeping out of it. An exploded star, a type 1A supernova, 12 million light years away from Earth!

I knew it was special and I was as delighted as I could be given the chilly state of my toes and fingers. So, I suppose it didn’t really hit me until later that night after I warmed up. A SUPERNOVA!! The place where the heavy elements are made in a process called supernova nucleosynthesis. Elements like silicon, iron, potassium that allow carbon based life to evolve to what we are. Carl Sagan reminded us some years that we are made of star stuff. Indeed, there it is happening where we can see it. Beyond that .. I am speechless, but I’ll probably have another post here shortly with links to the event as it unfolds in the coming week or so.

What an amazing place and time we live in to see such wonders.

Updated link - 3-28-24

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S.V.P. Tip - Keepin’ Warm

It is amazing how cold you can get just standing around when sky watching. And usually by the time you realize it, you are going to have a hard time getting warm again. Here are some tips related to cold weather viewing. I suggest that you test all the ideas on a mild night when you have the option to pack and head home.

1. Check the weather report and wind forecast a day in advance if possible. Then plan to dress in layers and bring more than you expect you will need. I keep all my stuff with me in a shoulder bag and even some extra stuff for anyone else who might have forgotten something.

2. It’s absolutely essential to have a way to cover your head. Always have a hat, and preferably more than one. Take a woolen cap for milder temperatures and an insulated cap for anything below about 40-45 degrees.

3. Then gloves, of course, but more than one pair - Different weights of gloves can be really helpful, lighter ones for setting up and taking down you gear, heavy duty for just standing around, and light weight with the thumbs and forefingers cut out so you can grab eyepieces and filters and stuff.

4. A scarf or some good way to cover your neck, like a hood on an over jacket - Even a little tiny breeze is enough to make you wish you had one.

5. Insulated (commonly waterproof) winter boots - I’ve tried different kinds of hiking boots and even with double socks, they aren’t enough for standing around for two hours even at 40 degrees.

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Yule bLog

The nights are getting longer and the sun is lower in the sky each day. Our planet is bathed in sunlight at a more oblique angle and the signs all around of Winter are unmistakable. And for centuries, even before written history, human kind has marked our Sun’s arch in the sky each day until we reach the shortest day of the year - The Winter Solstice. Midwinter, Yule, The Longest Night.

The stories of the Winter Season always interest me. And one of the aspects of these legends that makes them a little tricky is the fact that the ancient calendars themselves were … well … off. I will leave it to you to read further on the discrepancies of the Julian versus the Gregorian calendar and the shifting of the actual December date of the Winter Solstice. Nevertheless, the Winter Solstice, the actual astronomical event, stands out as a center point of our attention. When you look at all the festivals and the common themes of light and wreaths and feasts, it seems obvious that the position of our own star, the Sun, has had a big influence over the centuries on how we celebrate the Yule Time.

One thing seems pretty clear when you read through the lists of all these festivals and celebrations, we have been paying attention to the Sun for a long time. Very carefully and for very good reasons! The seasons became obvious when clever people just kept watching the sky and noticed patterns. The cycles of the moon and constellations, the direction of shadows during the day. Year after year at this time, we’ve seen the daylight shrink, the ground freeze and wondered if we would ever plant crops again .. or die! Then, as with every year before, after mid winter the days will begin to lengthen, the ground gradually thaws and the time comes for the Spring planting .. and we can live another year. The Winter Solstice is quite literally the turning point that begins a New Year. Now THAT is really worth celebrating!!

If you’re curious, here’s more links on the topic. There’s plenty to read on these cold nights while sitting around the Yule Log! And don’t forget to thank your local star for .. just being there, driving it all.

Yuletide

The Winter_solstice

Winter-solstice-The-day-the-sun-stands-still

List_of_winter_festivals

Julian_calendar

Gregorian_calendar

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Io’s Shadow Dance

The last few weeks have seen Jupiter climb higher in the sky out of the East North East in the constellation of Gemini. So, even with colder weather moving in, it’s still very easy to get a good look at the Great Planet before your hot chocolate gets cold! And if you plan ahead, you can also have better chance to catch a passing of a moon shadow from one of its Galilean moons.

Io’s shadow is a good one to look for, visible fairly often, in fact every few days. However, it is not always at a convenient time for your time zone. But, nevertheless, it happens often enough to think ahead and do some planning. You can start with an internet search on “Jupiter Moon Shadows”. There will likely be a number of articles, especially about the triple shadow event this past October. But also look for some of the tools for planning these events like the Sky & Telescope Jupiter’s Moon utility. One version is for Java and it will run in most web browsers but they also have an iPhone app. There are various other tools as well. My favorite is the Moons/GRS tab on Sky View Cafe.

The evening of December 12th is a chance to see one of these events. And if you setup your telescope by 9:30 or so, you will be able to see the beginning of the event play out. The initial passing of Io’s shadow begins right about 10:00PM EST, followed by the ingress of Io itself about 10:36PM. The shadow will be very easy to see if you have a steady view of Jupiter. Magnification is less of a factor than clarity, so choose an eyepiece to give you a crisp view. At first, you might even be looking right at it and not even know it. But as you keep watching, you will realize that the tiny spot is very dark and distinct. Indeed, check your planning chart; it is right where it’s supposed to be, a shadow from another world!

You can easily follow the shadow well into the evening until egress a little after midnight. But the real challenge is trying to see Io itself as it crosses the face of Jupiter. Well, to be honest, you are not likely to see it because of it’s size and mostly because of Jupiter’s brightness. But you never know! You might get a lucky alignment where the moon is over the darker southern equatorial belt and there may be enough contrast to make it out. Just look a little bit behind the path of the shadow.

Dress warmly and enjoy the show!

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Lunar Eclipse, sort of

Yes, sort of. In other words, a penumbral lunar eclipse. This means the moon passed through the Earth’s shadow, hence the eclipse part. However, Earth’s shadow comes in two concentric circles - the inner, darker umbral and the outer, fainter penumbral. Follow the link above for lots of eclipse stuff.

Anyhow, on this past Friday, October 18th, the moon was only partially dimmed since it passed though the outer of the concentric shadows. Well, you might think, nice to know that NOW. Well, yes, I must admin, I wasn’t too fussed about it beforehand myself. Besides the forecast was crumby with a strong chance of lousy, so I wasn’t even hopeful I would even SEE the moon through the cloud cover. But guess what, this is one of those occasions where your stock of serendipity pays off. Sister La Luna came through! Literally!!!

Sure enough, at 7:50PM, right at the predicted peak of the eclipse, the clouds actually thinned out almost completely. I was indoors getting ready to start the planetarium show at FSC and I kept peeking outside. You know, kind of, “what if”. And there it was! The partial shadow effect! For real! In the lower right hand quadrant. It held for several minutes and it was quite a distinct but subtle darkening, even possibly a little bit of a reddening. And it stayed put. It wasn’t the clouds making the shadow. It was the Earth!

So, there. Another valuable lesson in skywatching - don’t write off an event beforehand. It may end up being a bust (like I thought this one would be), but you’ll be surprised sometimes that things happen they way they need to. So, be there with your eyes on and be prepared. For anything!

And of course, feel free to howl to your heart’s content!!

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S.V.P. Comet News - ISON!

Comet ISON is in the news more and more over the last few weeks. ISON is barely visible near Mars in the morning before sunrise. It’s 11 magnitude at this writing but destined to brighten up and possibly put on quite a show in the next month or so.

The SpaceWeather.com web site has been carrying frequent reports and the now have a growing collection of images in their image gallery. Check out the Comet ISON Gallery for lots of good views of this Mysterious Traveler.

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S.V.P. Star News - Subaru!

Welcome to today’s S.V.P. Star News! Today’s topic, Subaru!

I am sure you will like this little sky tidbit, especially as we get into the Autumn, when this object is becoming visible again. The Pleiades (also known in Japan as Subaru) is coming up in the east and getting above the horizon about 10:30PM. But it will be getting higher each night over the coming weeks and easier to see in the evening when you’re out for a walk in the neighborhood.

Per the Wikipedia site - “In Japan, the constellation is mentioned under the name Mutsuraboshi (”six stars”) in the 8th century Kojiki and Manyosyu documents. The constellation is also known in Japan as Subaru (“unite”) and is depicted in the logo and name of the Subaru automobile company.” Follow the link above to read more of the rich history of this object’s mythology.

Clear skies!

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Star names & their origin - part two

A few posts ago I started to take an overview of Star names & their origin. As I said at the outset, this series will be more of a reference post since the literature on this topic is vast and not worth trying to recreate. The adage I follow to all the knowledge in the world - “you don’t have to know everything about everything, you just need to know how to locate it”. Anyhow, back to the topic of star names, in this case, the mysterious world of Chinese astronomy and Indian astronomy.

If you follow the links above, you will travel back to the early days of Asian astronomy, although, much of it is rather obscure. The historical record is harder to penetrate but still enough is known to inspire a sense of wonder at the precision of these earlier sky watchers. In both China and India, scholars looked at the sky above and continued to attempt to connect the world below. Their religious, astrological, mathematical and philosophical disciplines were intertwined with their viewpoints of the heavens.

As with many cultures around the world at various times, the practical nature of far eastern astronomy had a lot to do with creating and refining calendars. However, an even greater effort was put into creating some of the earliest star maps and catalogs. The results were usually hand printed with colorful illustrations and icons. The star maps are especially valuable since they occasionally notate a rare transient observation like a comet or even supernovae.

When you scan the link pages above, look carefully at the dates and compare them to the times of the Arab and Greek astronomers. Also see how there was a rich exchange of knowledge between Indian, Chinese and Islamic astronomers for many centuries. Some of this was bound to have had an eventual effect on the burgeoning Renaissance that would develop in Europe.

I’ll leave it to you to drill down into hyperlinks and go exploring back in time. I promise that along the way you will find yourself marveling at the skill and wisdom of those past astronomers. Enjoy the journey!

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Summer Solstice 2013

How time flies (so to speak)! The year is almost half way complete looking at our modern calendar. The Summer Solstice occurs this Friday, June 21, and that will signify the longest day of the year. So starting Friday, the days get shorter and the nights longer. That is some consolation to a star gazer. But, of course, for centuries human kind has known the cycle of the seasons was at its midpoint, even if they didn’t have a calendar hanging on the wall. And they knew that by .. well .. sky gazing.

It always fascinates me how we as a species have developed ways of keeping track of the year over the eons with some kind of calendar. Using the sky as a source for a calendar has a human legacy that began before written history. Use the link to solstice below and you can begin to follow the path through human culture and exploration back to the predawn of civilization. Our Sun has been with us every day and will continue to light our way for many millennium to come. And it’s constant return (fortunately) day after day has left its mark on us.

Just as important as a calendar is the astronomical event itself, born from our position in relation to our star, The Sun. The word solstice comes from the Latin, meaning “sun, to stand still”. This happens twice a year, once this week, and again on December 21st, more or less. Of course, this has been going on for over 3 billion years! It’s not really news but there has been a long tradition of watching the sun and its position in the sky. And over the centuries, we have managed to understand the motion of the Earth around the Sun, even if you don’t yet fully understand the Sun itself.

Next time you’re outside watching your shadow, remember that light, those photons, came from our Sun. The rock you stand on is held in a consistent orbit thanks to the gravitational pull of the Sun. Almost everything around us benefits from the energy that bathes the Earth, the clouds that rain on us, the food we eat. So, celebrate on Friday! It’s Sun Day!!

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Mercury rising!

The first stone from the Sun, Mercury, is coming into view in the evening sky. On June 10th and 11th Mercury will be joined by the 2 (and 3) day old moon with Venus brightly at it’s flank slightly to the North. By June 12, the planet will be 24 degrees from the sun and up high enough to (hopefully) clear the trees here in suburban Atlanta. Around June 19th, Mercury will be really close to Venus.

Mercury will linger in the very middle of the constellation Gemini for most of June. If you can sight Venus in the twilight hour as a start, then you can get you bearings. There are several sky charts online with links below. However, I always suggest using your SkyMap chart to get started. Then go to the the SkyView Cafe online tool to get a pinpoint layout of the western sky. By tweaking the date and time and using a 45 degree view to the west, you will be able to get a large image of the western sky that you can print.

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