Sunspot #1024

Once again,the sun is begining to show signs of activity.I received another email from Spaceweather.com about the sudden appearance of sunspot #1024 which has been growing quickly.According to the site,solar class C  flares have been almost constant in the sunspot region,giving astronomers around the world a chance to dust off their scopes and image a not so quiet sun.My initial reaction to the new activity was of utter disbelief as I looked at the new spots on the SOHO website which is a great site for real time images of the sun.The magnetic polarity of these new spots indicates that they are the newest members of Solar cycle 24 which,is becoming more intense as the solar jet stream stimulates sunspot production.

The image below was shot at prime focus.

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The images below were shot with afocal projection using a 26mm eyepiece.

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Image credit:Andrew

imformation credit: Spaceweather.com,SOHO

Sunspot #1023

I received a email alert from spaceweather.com yesterday alerting me that the sun has a pair of new sunspots which are now visible.I was bit upset about this due to the fact that not only do I have very little time to observe but,we have been under a thick layer of clouds for the past month+ as well.Why is it that whenever we have a bit of space excitement Mother nature always seems to be a wet blanket?.I refer to having new sunspots as space excitement only because the sun has been spotless for such a long period of time.I have officially stopped listening to the local weather forcaster (as of this morning) because they never get the forecasting right.I went to bed lastnight with the impression that I would be waking up to typical cloudcover.When I awoke this morning I was quite thrilled to see absolutely clear blue sky!!! .Once again the forecasters got it wrong but,hey I’m not upset.In fact I”m glad they screwed it up!!!.After I had my gallon of coffee (heh,just kidding….it was only a half gallon!),I quickly set my big scope up and faked the alignment.Gotta hurry cuz,my guess was that it would turn cloudy again and it did after a couple hours.With a few puffy clouds drifting past I was able to get quite a few images of the new spots only to delete them due to DIRTY LENSES .Hmmmm,well I did image spots,just not the type of spots that I was trying for!!.Thats right…I haven’t used the scope in such a long time that it had sadly become a dust magnet *crowd boo’s and hisses*.With little time to spare I performed a quick cleanup and managed to get a few more shots before the clouds moved back in.

According to  Spaceweather.com these new spots are from new solar cycle 24..

From Spaceweather.com – The magnetic polarity of sunspot 1023 identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. Its appearance coincides with the movement of two solar jet streams into a range of heliographic latitudes that promotes sunspot formation. No one knows exactly how the sun’s deep jet streams boost the sunspot count, but they do. As a result, this week’s sunspot activity might herald more to come.

Imformation credit: Spaceweather.com

Image credit: Andrew

Stuff…..

Heh,I know I keep saying this but,”I am still here”.I just wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that I am still here.I haven’t been on line much since a lightning storm wrecked my desktop Pc.I had spent the morning finishing yard work so,I left for a shopping trip and all was well.You know…warm weather a bright sunshine?!.The result of the day was quite the opposite!!!.While I was out,a bad storm had scattered tree branches (along with other debris) all over the freshly mowed lawns.Ugh…more cleanup!.While cleaning the yard…yet again.I never gave the Pc a thought since I was so busy.When I finally did get a chance to go on line I realised that my Pc was completely dead.Sadly,all my pix that I had taken are gone as well.I have a pretty bad habit of NOT backing up my files so unfortunately,all is lost.

Now,I have joined the 21st century and have purchased a new laptop (which I am typing this post on) plus,I am waiting for the telephone company to come a fix the phone lines and help install a wireless router.

Hope I will be on more often very soon?!!!!.

M104 (Sombrero Galaxy)

Yes,I’m still here.I have been really busy cleaning the yard from all the winter storm damage.

One of the other objects that I got some images of a while back is of the Sombrero galaxy.Once again,this is a object that is really tough to see in light polluted skies so,I was quite happy to see it clearly through the eye piece in dark skies.

This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero Galaxy because of its appearance. According to de Vaucouleurs, we view it from just 6 degrees south of its equatorial plane, which is outlined by a rather thick dark rim of obscuring dust. This dust lane was probably the first discovered, by William Herschel in his great reflector.

The Sombrero galaxy can be seen the constellation Virgo at a visual mag of +8.0 and is almost 50 million light years distant.

Information credit: SEDS

Image credit: Andrew

M51 (Whirlpool galaxy)

I managed to get the scope out for some observing a couple weeks back and was treated to some fantastic skies…Yaaaaaay!!!!!!!.The temps were were seasonable and in the mid to upper 20s F with calm winds.I was going to use my DSLR again but,since the temps were half way decent I used the Meade DSI instead.My thought was that I was going to image the comet with the DSI but,realised that it was directly over head which is good for imaging.Problem is,my scope will give me a alert that the OTA will come into contact with the tripod so,that idea quickly vanished.
Knowing that their are lots of other faint fuzzies to be seen I decided on observing/imaging Messier object #51 a.k.a the Whirlpool galaxy.As many of you know,observing this object from light polluted skies is next to impossible?!.In recent posts I have mentioned how different the skies are from my new location compared to the street observing I was used to.Well,M51 was a object that I had never seen with my scope but,still managed to image anyway.This observing night was well worth the time consuming task of setup and alignment (hope to build…or buy a observatory in the near future! ;p ) and the hoots of a distant Owl seemed like a approval for my decision.Hahahahahaha,actually it was a unsettling sound which made me think of a scene from some horror flick.I had a fantastic view of M51 which,appeared as a faint fuzzy gray patch.That was until I got the DSI centered and focused on it.WOW!!!.This galaxy suddenly went from fuzzy to showing alot of detail including the bridge of gas that is being ripped from it’s companion NGC 5195.
Because of numerous reasons i.e foul weather,work and family health reasons, I haven’t had a lot of time to really get to know the workings of the DSI or find the proper settings that work for my style of imaging…heh,ok I don’t have a style! .So,if you see a problem with any of my images and know the solution to fix them,feel quite free to give me a friendly heads up.
Located in the constellation Canes Venatici,M51 (Whirlpool galaxy) is  60,000 light-years across and about 31 million light-years distant.It can be seen not far from the handle of the Big dipper which puts it quite high in the sky in northern latitudes and has a visual mag of +8.4 .
According to the SEDS,M51 is easy and a showpiece if the sky is dark, but is quite sensitive for light pollution which easily makes it fade in the background. Under very good conditions, even suggestions of its spiral arms can be glanced with telescopes starting from 4-inch. Low magnification is best for viewing this pair.
RA 13 : 29.9 (h:m) DEC +47 : 12 (deg:m)
Image credit :Andrew
Imformation credit: www.seds.org/

Getting Sirius about “The Dog star”

It has been a while since I have posted a article on a star and I thought now would be a good time.While I had the scope out the other night (finally! ) I decided to get a shot of Sirius a.k.a the Dog star (which is Orion the hunters larger dog) .Sirius is best viewed during the winter months thru early spring in the northern hemisphere.It is a blue-white star that packs a Sirius bite….hahahahaha!!.Sorry,I couldn’t help myself!!!.Located in the constellation Canis Major,Sirius is only 8.6 light years distant.Being twice as  massive than our own sun,Sirius is also 20 times brighter at a visual mag of -1.46 and almost twice as hot at 9800 K,hence it’s blue-white color.
Sirius is part of a large asterism,which is called the Winter Triangle, along with two other stars… Betelgeuse in Orion and Procyon in Orions smaller dog,which is called Canis Minor.
Only to be seen with a telescope,Sirius also has a companion star which is called Sirius B *see image below*,a small white dwarf, and is  nearly 10,000 times fainter.This does not mean that Sirius B is cooler than Sirius A.Sirius B, in fact is much hotter at approximately 23,000k and is thought to have been slightly larger than Sirius A at one time in it’s life.This leads me to believe that Sirius B is the older of the two?!.

Image was at prime focus taken with a 10″ Meade LXD75sn and Pentax istDs DSLR.Skies were clear and the temp was in the mid teens F.

Information credit: Stars

Image credit: Andrew

The Orion nebula 2009

Hey,I finally got the chance to observe/image!!!.Time has been a factor as most of you know and along with the lack of time,foul weather has been putting a monkey wrench into the gears of observing.With clear skies and temps in the low 20’s F I just couldn’t pass at the chance.Having not had the scope out since the last day of August..(heh,I didn’t realise that it had been so long!),I spent the afternoon putting the gear together which included searching for much of the equipment and reconfiguring the autostar for my new observing site.I set the scope up at 5pm which I felt would give the scope ample time to cool down to the outside temps.Again,not running the scope for such a long period of time I was a bit worried that it might have developed some bugs that I wasn’t prepared to deal with.I must say the scope performed nicely with only a couple minor glitches that can/will be worked out at a later time.
One of my first targets was the famous Orion nebula which I give a wow factor of 10!.Again,I am used to observing at a very light polluted site so,seeing this old friend in true dark skies was incredible.I connected the DSLR to the scope and began taking pix.My first exposure was rather short at 45 seconds which would have already begun to show the effects of light pollution at the previous site.To my excitement,no light effects could be seen so,being bold I upped the exposure time to 2 minutes.Fully expecting the shot to be washed out from the headlights of occasional passing cars (not directed towards the scope)I was very pleased to see a image that was as dark as if I had taken a 10 second exposure *see image below*
My next targets (which I will post images of in the next week) were of globular cluster M79 and open cluster M41.Heh,I actually saw M 41 with bino’s and couldn’t identify the object until last night.I then slewed the scope towards Venus but,found it tough to get a decent focus due to it’s brightness.
In all, I observed for about 3.5 hours before becoming completely chilled to the bone with temps that were hovering just above zero.So, I reluctantly packed the scope away for the night.
Clear dark skies = Good!!!!.
Image credit: Andrew

Sun halo

I didn’t have a chance to see the full moon due to clouds and snow but,I WAS treated to a icebow,which is a  atmospheric phenomenon caused by light being refracted by ice crystals high in the atmosphere.Seeing the halo was by chance as I had decided to step outside to get a breath of fresh air when I suddenly saw a very bright sundog.

In a short period of time (5-10 minutes) the sundog grew into a halo which brightened and became more colorful as time wore on .

Image credit:Andrerw

The night sky of winter

I think a lot of people will agree with me when I say “The night sky in winter is perhaps the best time of year for observing”!.Of course,like the other seasons it does have it’s issues such as;the bone chilling cold,winds that seem to go right through a person and lets not forget the persistent precipitation….even when the skies are clear!.Regardless,winter in the Northern hemisphere offers spectacular views.One of my all time favorites is seeing the Pleiades and the Hyades star clusters which are being followed by Orion “the hunter”.I haven’t had much time to bring the scopes out so,any observing I have done has been by eyes or with a pair of borrowed bino’s.

Too much ice :(

This is yet another observing season that has gotten off to a bad start.Not only does my work schedule have me away from my scopes and pc several days a week but,when I do have the time to observe,the weather seems to go down hill the moment I arrive home.As some of you may have heard (or seen) much of the north eastern U.S was covered in a thick layer of ice,causing numerous car accidents and  blackouts for  thousands of people.Many of whom are still without power.We here were pretty lucky in the  blackout department as we only lost power for a day and a half.Aside from the lack of electric power,we were quite comfortable.I had the woodstove roaring which kept the house at a comfy 75 degrees and a gas stove (kitchen) for cooking.

On Saturday,the sun peeked through the clouds which caused the ice covered trees to glissen as if they were made of lead crystal.It kind of reminded me of a scene from the movie  Superman.Power was restored late that same day and we returned to our normal daily routines. 

Perhaps I will be able to get some eye piece time in soon if mother nature cooperates.My fingers are crossed!!!!.

The images below were taken at my home in Vt last Saturday.