Wa 066 march 2014

The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014

SOUTHERN ASTRONOMER THE

NEWSLETTER OF WORTHING ASTRONOMERS & WORTHING SKYWATCHERS

This issue Skinny Moon Night NAW New Venue Global Astronomy Month Messier Marathon For Sale Observing Notes

this page this page/page 2 page 2

SKINNY MOON NIGHT February 1 Despite bitingly cold winds and the ever present danger of cloud moving in and ruining the moment, WA members and members of the public met up at Honeysuckle Lane late afternoon/early evening of February 1 to observe the Skinny Moon.

page 3 page 4 & 5 page 6 page 7

The young Moon was observed at just before 1700hrs and as the sky got progressively darker the fine silver crescent became more apparent until the Earthshine stood out. This was captured in an image

by Steve Bassett that appeared on the website.

Astronomy Meetings All the meetings below begin at 19.30hrs.

Worthing Astronomers (WA) ; details of our new meeting hall are on page two.

Adur AS (AAS) meet at Southwick Christian Community Church, 1-5 Roman Crescent, Southwick BN42 4TY.Admission: £5 for guests, £3 for members.

Foredown Tower Astronomers (FTA) at Emmaus Charity Premises, on the corner of Manor Road and Drove Road, Portslade Old Village, BN41 2PA. Admission £3 for guests.

Worthing Astronomical Society (WAS) meet at Emmanuel URC, St.Michaels Road, Worthing BN11 4SD. Admission: £4 for guests.

AAS, FTA, and WA venues have off road parking facilities and grounds adjacent for setting up telescopes when conditions allow.

WA members will always be made welcome at these groups. More information 01903 521205 or 07801 692244.

Fuller details of what our colleagues in neighbouring societies are doing at their monthly meetings is in the Quick View Diary, page two,.

Worthing Astronomers is a free to join society with a membership of around 300 all interested in the same hobby of Astronomy.

With the aid of this newsletter, regular star parties, workshops and public observing events we hope to encourage and share our interests in observing the sky with the public and our colleagues both in our own group and with neighbouring societies.

Skinny Moon by Gary Isherwood

The planet Mercury lived up to its name and remained an elusive object for the evening in the atmospheric 'murk'.

Despite the conditions it was pretty well attended and a big thank you to Georgina and Andrew of Kaffè Go Go who did the catering – the hot drinks were most welcome that evening and to those who bought their equipment along. I hope you have all thawed out now.

NATIONAL ASTRONOMY WEEK (NAW) Stargazing On Prom - StOP The first week of March has been designated National Astronomy Week, a semi regular event that occurs every few years to coincide with some celestial happening. The event this year is planet Jupiter's excellent placing high in our UK skies – the best for 12 years.

We, along with many other astronomy groups across the country will be sharing views of the planet as well as the Moon that week; as far as objects in the sky to look at, this is almost a re-run of our Stargazing Live event of early January.

Our venue on March 7 and 8 will however be a little different. We will still be using the prom but further down from Splash Point - West Parade, between Sea View Road and Grand Avenue. We want to try something new, parking is far more accessible, and light pollution is considerably reduced with less festoons hanging between the street lamps (see satellite picture next page).

This section of the prom lays between the two sets of beach huts. There is step access from the road to the prom – ideal for moving equipment about though no vehicular access.

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 NAW cont.

It also gives us the chance to spread out a little. However it does not preclude our use of the eastern end of the promenade around Splash Point in the future. We'll be meeting up there from about 1830hrs onwards – with the old proviso, weather conditions permitting.

QUICK VIEW ASTRO EVENTS DIARY X marks the proposed location of the new StOP site

Image by Google

Astro-imager Damien Peach will be talking to Adur Astronomical Society on March 3. As one might imagine this will be a popular talk. Sadly, we are advised that it is open only to AAS members and guests. This is due to the limited seating capacity at their meeting hall.

March All times shown are Universal Time (BST minus 1 hour = UT )

1 - Sunrise 0648h : Sunset 1834h New Moon (08h) National Astronomy Week starts Foredown Tower Astronomers will be organizing three nights March 4, 5, 6 at the Emmaus 3 - AAS: Astro-Imaging, Damien Peach Centre in old Portslade (post code and address details on the front page) if you live in the area 4 - FTA NAW event } or want to pop over and support them, they will make you welcome. They'll be there from 5 - FTA NAW event } see main article 6 - FTA NAW event } 1900hrs to 2100hrs on all three evenings. Later on the month, they will have a talk about 7 - Aldebaran 2.1°S of Moon (21h) Comet ISON – it might be gone but it is still creating interest.

WA - Stargazing On The Prom 8 - Moon: First Quarter (08h) A full week of local events to cover NAW. WA - Stargazing On The Prom National Astronomy Week ends NOT THE WORKSHOP REPORT 9 - The Sky at Night, BBC 4 February 7 11 - Moon at apogee – (20h) 13 - Mercury Greatest Annual Elongation West - 28° (14h) The Observing Planets Workshop did not go ahead as you will all know by now. Unfortunately 16 - Full Moon (17h) things (or more often as not, people) outside of our control or influence decide that if Io and Ganymede double shadow something is not going to happen, it does not happen, despite the inconvenience and transit of Jupiter (22h) problems that this brings to others, some of whom have had to travel some distance using 17 - WAS: Comets public transport.

20 - Spring Equinox (17h) FTA: Comet ISON 22 - Venus at greatest western elongationThis does underline that we need to have alternate places where we can hold our workshop 47° (21h) evenings. Some ideas have come back and we have looked into your suggestions – so a 24 - Moon: Last Quarter (01h) thank you to everyone who has suggested somewhere where we might meet.

27 - Moon at perigee (18h) 30 - British Summer Time begins (01h) After looking at the options available to us – parking, ease of access, facilities and location, New Moon (19h) we have decided on trying the Cornwall Room at Goring United Reform Church which is on 31 - Sunrise 0541h : Sunset 1742h

the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue, and Barrington Road. A quick look at the map will show that this is about ½ mile from Field Place where we have met in the past, so near a bus route, near the rail station. A Google map of the location is shown at the top of the next page.

We have had to review our door entry cost to cover the new fees which we shall incur and will now be £3 at the door. The next workshop meeting at the Goring URC venue will be on April 4 and the subject covered will be the The Observing Planets workshop that was to be the subject for the February event.

I hope everyone will be happy with the new venue and once again, thank you to all of those who have suggested possible venues. Some of these may be of use to us in the future if we

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 continued

continue to grow as we are or for special 'one-off' events.

http://www.globeatnight.org/

Have you done an Orion Star Count yet?

An hour or so after sunset go into the darkest part of your garden or regular observing, location, allow ten minutes for your eyes to dark adapt and take a look at the constellation of Orion.

Note how many stars you can see – go to the above website and log your observation by comparing your view of Orion with the charts on the website. It takes only a few minutes and is helpful in mapping the distribution of light pollution.

In previous years the Globe At Night project has taken place during late winter and early spring, using the constellations of Orion and Leo (for us northern hemisphere observers).

This year there will be a constellation each month through the year. Next month – Leo.

Again, X-marks the location of the Goring URC – the south side of the bridge. The Cornwall Room is behind the green roofed church building. Car park access is also shown – street parking is also available. Southern Region, Durrington railway station is shown as well . For reference, Field Place is just out of view to the top right of the picture.

Picture: Google

GLOBAL ASTRONOMY MONTH - GAM April 2014 As the NAW draws to a close we will be thinking of yet another opportunity to get out observing – both with the public and as a club. We expect to see in April the return of GAM from the Astronomers Without Borders organisation.

Ideas and suggestions as to what we might be able to do will be most welcome while a diary of GAM events – e.g. Sun Day, Moon Watch Week, International Dark Sky Week etc. will be advised in the next issue of the newsletter.

In the past we have held a Moon Watch Week for the public while members have opened up their own back garden observatories for the solar observing Sun Day event.

An added attraction to the month is the opposition and, a few days later, the closest approach of Mars to Earth. An eclipse of the Moon (only the very early stages of which will be visible from the UK before moon set) will also be occurring.

There might even be a chance for us to use Nepcote Green for a deep sky observing session.

The Lyrid meteor shower is also due to put on a display later in the month. Once more, ideas and suggestions for observing sessions are always welcome.

Further details in the April issue of The Southern Astronomer out in late March.

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 MESSIER MARATHON Late March 2014 The buses always come along together is an old saying and it is true in this case.

The following article was written in mid January and a similar piece appeared in the BAA Journal at the end of January. Another saying about certain minds thinking alike springs to mind...

Late winter/early spring sees many deep sky amateur astronomers engaging in a sporting like pastime - The Messier Marathon.

During the space of a few weeks during the spring almost all the Messier objects are (theoretically) visible during a single nights observing - hence the term Marathon.

The Messier Marathon has been popular in the USA for the past 40 years for the very good reason that all the Messier objects (M1 to M110) can all be seen from that continent. We UK observers are hamstrung by the fact that some of the more southerly Messier objects are just below the horizon and never rise from UK latitudes.

Our colleagues in the more southerly Spain should be able to pick up all the objects through an evening. There are 11 such M-objects not visible to us in the UK for one reason or another: M6 M7 M30 M33 M54 M55 M62 M69 M70 M74 M83.

MARATHON TIPS Preparation.

Choose a good site with a good viewing sky Get familiar with your equipment, the night sky, and as many Messier objects as possible in advance - this will probably increase your final score in the Marathon significantly Have an additional pair of binoculars handy. This may be of value for locating some objects which may be difficult because of either a long optics of your main instrument (e.g., for M33), help to find objects faster if your finder is not exactly superb, or enable you to look from another place if just this one tree or house is in way to see this or that object

To capture as many M-objects as possible the 'runners' (if we can call them that) observe from the western sky at sunset and progressively work their way eastward over the night until the The most critical objects in the evening are M74 and M77 - you have only a short time first light of dawn the next morning.

The Full Moon occurs mid month so the first weekend and last weekend of March 2014 seem to be well placed for holding a Marathon. Of course, the first weekend of the month coincides with NAW and some of the Messier objects may not be visible but, it could be a chance (if it is clear) to have a practise run, but it is the last weekend of March that holds the best chance to see as many M-objects as possible - weather and conditions permitting.

chance to glimpse them, so try them as quick as possible. If you lose one of them don't try too long, as the other might also get lost, and there are others, like M33, which are also urgent

You will eventually come to a point when you have observed all Messier objects which are currently observable for you, and Fancy it? Like a real marathon a certain amount of stamina to keep going is needed through have to wait for the morning objects to rise; the night; a good location with a good skyline to start with - you don't want to waste precious it is sometimes recommended to take this time lugging 'scopes about to get a better view of something, and like any good runner a team opportunity to go after the Virgo Cluster, around you to pace yourself, and of course - good weather.

M83, M68 and M102 (NGC 5866). At this point, you will have observed all galaxies in As usual it is important that the Messier Marathon observer be in tip top condition and stay Messier's catalogue (unless you missed that way – wrap up warm; a vacuum flask of hot drink to keep you going; a supply of things to one which you can get in the morning).

Depending on experience and your munch on – chocolate is a good source for energy; a comfortable seat; and if possible some observing practice, this will occur some where to keep out of any cold breeze that might blast the observing site briefly; and probably when around or after midnight. Now you most importantly, a few other observers for mutual company. can take a break from the marathon, observe something else, return to certain It goes without saying star maps, a red light, paper and pencils to note your observations and interesting objects for a more detailed down and binoculars are always useful as well. study, or take some warm beverage (the night, to now, was cool in every respect, A Messier Marathon is a visual exercise so there is little time for imaging – save the imaging of wasn't it)? You can even sleep or do something else. Only take care to return the objects when they are well presented in the sky at another time of the year. timely so that you have at least 2-3 hours for the remaining objects before morning The full list of Messier objects to be observed, in order, is on the page opposite and is based twilight, so return latest around 3 am.

upon a list that appears in Don Machholz, Messier Marathon Observer's Guide. This year three bright comets will be visible in the morning sky as well to add to the observing event.

If a full Marathon seems like too much of an ordeal, the alternative is to hold monthly Messier mini-marathons over the year so over that period of time a team of observers can clock up all the objects visible over our local horizon.

A project to work towards perhaps?

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From the website: http://messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/mara thon.html

The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 A list of all Messier objects in order of observing during an evening M NGC Con Type RA Dec Mag Size(') 1 2 3 4 5 6* 7* 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30* 31 32 33* 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54* 55* 56 57 58

M77 M74 M33 M31 M32 M110 M52 M103 M76 M34 M45 M79 M42 M43 M78 M1 M35 M37 M36 M38 M41 M93 M47 M46 M50 M48 M44 M67 M95 M96 M105 M65 M66 M81 M82 M97 M108 M109 M40 M106 M94 M63 M51 M101 M102 M53 M64 M3 M98 M99 M100 M85 M84 M86 M87 M89 M90 M88

1068 628 598 224 221 205 7654 581 650 1039 1904 1976 1982 2068 1952 2168 2099 1960 1912 2287 2447 2422 2437 2323 2548 2632 2682 3351 3368 3379 3623 3627 3031 3034 3587 3556 3992 Win4 4258 4736 5055 5194 5457 5866 5024 4826 5272 4192 4254 4321 4382 4374 4406 4486 4552 4569 4501

Cet Tri And And And And Cas Cas Per Per Tau Lep Ori Ori Ori Tau Gem Aur Aur Aur Cma Pup Pup Pup Mon Hya Cnc Cnc Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo UMa UMa UMa UMa UMa UMa CVn CVn CVn CVn UMa Dra Com Com CVn Com Com Com Com Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Com

5 5 5 5 6 6 1 1 3 1 1 2 4 4 4 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 6 5 5 5 7 3 5 5 C 5 5 5 5 5 8 2 5 2 5 5 5 8 8 8 6 6 5 5

02 42.7 01 36.7 01 33.9 00 42.7 00 42.7 00 40.4 23 24.2 01 33.2 01 42.4 02 42.0 03 47.0 05 24.5 05 35.4 05 35.6 05 46.7 05 34.5 06 08.9 05 52.4 05 36.1 05 28.4 06 46.0 07 44.6 07 36.6 07 41.8 07 03.2 08 13.8 08 40.1 08 50.4 10 44.0 10 46.8 10 47.8 11 18.9 11 20.2 09 55.6 09 55.8 11 14.8 11 11.5 11 57.6 12 22.4 12 19.0 12 50.9 13 15.8 13 29.9 14 03.2 15 06.5 13 12.9 12 56.7 13 42.2 12 13.8 12 18.8 12 22.9 12 25.4 12 25.1 12 26.2 12 30.8 12 35.7 12 36.8 12 32.0

-00 01 +15 47 +30 39 +41 16 +40 52 +41 41 +61 35 +60 42 +51 34 +42 47 +24 07 -24 33 -05 27 -05 16 +00 03 +22 01 +24 20 +32 33 +34 08 +35 50 -20 44 -23 52 -14 30 -14 49 -08 20 -05 48 +19 59 +11 49 +11 42 +11 49 +12 35 +13 05 +12 59 +69 04 +69 41 +55 01 +55 40 +53 23 +58 05 +47 18 +41 07 +42 02 +47 12 +54 21 +55 46 +18 10 +21 41 +28 23 +14 54 +14 25 +15 49 +18 11 +12 53 +12 57 +12 24 +12 33 +13 10 +14 25

8.9 9.4 5.7 3.4 8.1 8.5 7.3 7.4 10.1

5.5 1.6 7.7 4.0 9.0 8.3 8.4 5.3 6.2 6.3 7.4 4.6 6.0 5.2 6.0 6.3 5.5 3.7 6.1 9.7 9.2 9.3 9.3 8.9 6.9 8.4 9.9 10.0 9.8 8.4 8.4 8.2 8.6 8.4 7.9 9.9 7.6 8.5 6.2 10.1 9.9 9.3 9.1 9.1 8.9 8.6 9.6 9.5 9.6

7x6 10.2x9.

573x45 178x63 8x6 8.5 13.0 6.0 2.7x1.8 35.0 110.0 8.7 85x60 20x15 8x6 6x4 28.0 24.0 12.0 21.0 38.0 22.0 30.0 27.0 16.0 54.0 95.0 30.0 4.4x3.3 6x4 2.0 8x1.5 8x2.5 21x10 9x4 3.4x3.3 8x1 7x4 0.8 19x8 7x3 10x6 11x7 22.0 5.2x2.3 12.6 9.3x5.4 16.2 9.5x3.2 5.4x4.8 7x6 7.1x5.2 5.0 7.5x5.5 7.0 4.0 9.5x4.5 7x4

M 59 60 61 62* 63 64 65 66 67 68 69* 70* 71 72 73 74* 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83* 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110

M91 M58 M59 M60 M49 M61 M104

M68 M83 M5 M13 M92 M57 M56 M29 M39 M27 M71 M107

M12 M10 M14 M9 M4 M80 M19 M62 M6 M7 M11 M26 M16 M17 M18 M24 M25 M23 M21 M20 M8 M28 M22 M69 M70 M54 M55 M75 M15 M2 M72 M73 M30

NGC Con

Type RA

4548 4579 4621 4649 4472 4303 4594 4590 5236 5904 6205 6341 6720 6779 6913 7092 6853 6838 6171 6218 6254 6402 6333 6121 6093 6273 6266 6405 6475 6705 6694 6611 6618 6613 6603

5 5 6 6 6 5 5 2 5 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 B 1 1 1 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 A 2

I4725

6494 6531 6514 6523 6626 6656 6637 6681 6715 6809 6864 7078 7089 6981 6994 7099

Com Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Hya Hya Ser Her Her Lyr Lyr Cyg Cyg Vul Sge Oph Oph Oph Oph Oph Sco Sco Oph Oph Sco Sct Sct Sct Ser Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Peg Aqr Aqr Aqr Cap

12 35.4 12 37.7 12 42.0 12 43.7 12 29.8 12 21.9 12 40.0 12 39.5 13 37.0 15 18.6 16 41.7 17 17.1 18 53.6 19 16.6 20 23.9 21 32.2 19 59.6 19 53.8 16 32.5 16 47.2 16 57.1 17 37.6 17 19.2 16 23.6 16 17.0 17 02.6 17 01.2 17 40.1 17 53.9 18 51.1 18 45.2 18 18.8 18 20.8 18 19.9 18 16.9 18 31.6 17 56.8 18 04.6 18 02.6 18 03.8 18 24.5 18 36.4 18 31.4 18 43.2 18 55.1 19 40.0 20 06.1 21 30.0 21 33.5 20 53.5 20 58.9 21 40.4

Dec +14 30 +11 49 +11 39 +11 33 +08 00 +04 28 -11 37 -26 45 -29 52 +02 05 +36 28 +43 08 +33 02 +30 11 +38 32 +48 26 +22 43 +18 47 -13 03 -01 57 -04 06 -03 15 -18 31 -26 32 -22 59 -26 16 -30 07 -32 13 -34 49 -06 16 -09 24 -13 47 -16 11 -17 08 -18 29 -19 15 -19 01 -22 30 -23 02 -24 23 -24 52 -23 54 -32 21 -32 18 -30 29 -30 58 -21 55 +12 10 -00 49 -12 32 -12 38 -23 11

Mag

Size(')

10.2 9.7 9.6 8.8 8.4 9.7 8.0 7.8 7.6 5.6 5.8 6.4 8.8 8.3 7.1 4.6 7.4 8.2 7.9 6.7 6.6 7.6 7.7 5.6 7.3 6.8 6.5 5.3 4.1 6.3 8.0 6.4 7.0 7.5 4.6 6.5 6.9 6.5 9.0 6.0 6.8 5.1 7.6 7.9 7.6 6.3 8.5 6.2 6.5 9.3 9.0 7.2

5.4x4.4 5.5x4.5 5x3.5 7x6 9x7.5 6x5.5 9x4 12.0 11x10 17.4 16.6 11.2 1.4x1.0 7.1 7.0 32.0 8.0x5.7 7.2 10.0 14.5 15.1 11.7 9.3 26.3 8.9 13.5 14.1 25.0 80.0 14.0 15.0 7.0 11.0 9.0 90 40.0 27.0 13.0 28.0 90x40 11.2 24.0 7.1 7.8 9.1 19.0 6.0 12.3 12.9 5.9 2.8 11.0

* Not visible from UK Type: 1=Open Cluster, 2=Globular Cluster, 3=Planetary Nebula, 4=Diffuse Nebula, 5=Spiral Galaxy, 6=Elliptical Galaxy, 7=Irregular Galaxy, 8=Lenticular (S0) Galaxy, 9=Supernova Remnant, A=Group or Asterism of Four stars, B=Star Cloud, C=Double Star

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 FOR SALE

FOR SALE

Skywatcher SKP13065EQ2 Newtonian Telescope Diameter 130mm Focal length 650mm

Astrotrac and accessories for a quick sale Includes: Manfrotto heads - 488RC ( Midi Ball Head ) & 410 ( Geared Head )

360 degree slow motion control cables Dual setting circles Adjustable height aluminium tripod Adaptor for piggy back camera attachment Equatorial mount for easy tracking Red dot finder Interchangeable eyepieces : 25mm wide angle eye relief 10mm eyepiece 2x Barlow lens 5mm lens Moon filter £120 for the lot

Astrotrac (above)

If you are interested contact Sojnia on 07891 757541 Editors Note: Potential buyers; this is well worth a look at at a very good price as a famous High Street chain are selling the same 'scope with only two eyepieces for £139, while this telescope above, has a number of useful additional accessories

FOR SALE Orion 'RESOLUX' 7x 50 waterproof binoculars – as new and hardly used The high-resolution, flat-field optics for sharp, are ideal for detailed views of night sky wonders (7.5° FOV)

Manfrotto heads (above)

“I can also offer a sturdy tripod, which I used for it at a price to be negotiated As a guide the current retail prices are - Astrotrac £420.00 - Manfrotto 488RC £70.00 - Manfrotto 410 £144.00 Battery Case, cable & batteries £30.00 - Soft Case £20.00 -- Total £684.00 I am offering this collection at £399.00 “ Contact Robin on robin-durant@btconnect.com or 01273541941 Editors Note: Examples of Robins work using the above equipment can be found at his observatory website https://sites.google.com/site/robinsastronomy/

Cost new, £249 – sale price £135 Donated to WA to help raise funds Contact: info@worthingastronomers.org.uk 01903 521205 - anytime

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 OBSERVING NOTES March All times are expressed as Universal (UT) and can be considered as the same as GMT (BST minus 1 hour)

The Sun has been moderately more active the last couple of months. The large sunspot group of January – AR1944 – returned in February and, as is the custom was redesignated AR1967.

TOP TIPS Watching the progress of sunspots as they cross the solar disk day to day, along with the changes they undergo is very interesting.

Observing the Sun however does require a little bit of thought as it is the source of a lot of light and radiation in the form of heat – which may permanently blind the unwary or careless viewer.

Projecting the Sun's image onto a piece of white card behind the telescope eyepiece is the safest method as light (and heat) from the image is dispersed over the screen as in the diagram below; an added benefit is that several people can stand around the screen and observe the Sun at the same time. Ideal for Mercury transits or partial solar eclipses.

The diagram shows a large piece of card over the front end of the telescope – this casts a shadow on to the projection screen.

Above: AR 1967; this image of February 16 shows penumbral filaments covering the main spot – it returned on February 25 as region 1990 Image: Brian Halls/Cokeham Observatory

Both Brian States and Brian Halls produced a relative sunspot count (R) of 95.02 for January – a decided improvement over the last several months.

The equinox occurs during the late afternoon of March 20. At this point the Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator. Translated literally, equinox means "equal night."

Because the Sun is positioned above the equator, day and night are about equal in length all over the world during the equinoxes. The long, hot, balmy days of summer are on their way – maybe. A chart of the equinoxes and solstice for 2014 is on page 9.

Producing a photograph of the Sun (like the one on the top right) requires a bit more detailed thought – one that will be described in a forthcoming Southern Astronomer.

Moon The Moon is barely new during the evening of March 1. Two days later it is a thin sliver in the evening sky just after sunset. The terminator (the line between the light and the dark) is crossing the eastern edge of the large round feature called Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises).

Now is a good time to have a look at what was long ago (certainly before life on Earth occurred) quite a sizeable crater on the Moon that filled with lava to create the dark floored plain we know today. Hour by hour the terminator slips silently across the face of the Moon showing a little piece more bit by bit, of the lunar surface.

Twenty-four hours later, the whole of the Mare Crisium can be seen. This mare also shows that asteroid/meteor bombardment continued even after the lava (believed to have had the same viscosity of engine oil) oozed across the original crater floor and welled up.

Two sizeable craters, in the south Picard and to the north, Pierce are the largest objects on in Crisium. However, with the sun rising over the floor of the mare, shadows are being cast and what is clearly visible, even in a telescope with a moderate magnification are surface rippling – named officially as dorsa, or more commonly know as 'wrinkle ridges'. These are believed to have been caused by various stages of lava flooding during the Moon's early history.

As the suns rises over the lunar surface, the surface of mare can be seen to be mottled by

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 Observing Notes continued

darker areas of lava patches and as the Sun progressively reveals more of the Moon ray features emanating from craters can also be seen across its surface, notably Proclus (see issue 64) that lays on the mountains to the western edge of the mare.

The picture on the left shows the Mare Crisium at about 4 days past new.

Picard, Yerkes, Peirce and Swift (sometimes known as Peirce B on some charts) are all visible in small to moderate telescopes.

There are some fine craters to observe as well that are partially filled with shadow that are north and south of the mare.

To the north of Crisium (orientation of image, south uppermost, and terrestrial west (lunar east) to the left) is the crater Cleomedes and to the south, not shown in this picture is Petavius.

Lunar sunset over Crisium is also well worth observing, from about 14 – 19 days after new.

INTERESTING AND BIZARRE FACTS ABOUT THE MARE CRISIUM On early lunar maps created soon after the invention of the telescope, it was named the 'Caspian Sea' though William Gilbert who created a naked eye map of the Moon about 9 years before the telescope named it 'Britannia'.

The present name was given it by Giovanni Riccioli in his lunar map of 1651.

The Mare Crisium is the final resting place of the Soviet spacecraft 'Luna 15' which crashed into the Moon on July 21, 1969. At the time the Soviets announced that it had done the job it was sent up to do but, only many years later was it admitted that Luna 15 was supposed to have soft landed on the Moon, scooped up some lunar material and then returned it to the Earth, thus stealing the glory of Apollo 11.

Another Soviet mission, Luna 24 did successfully return samples from Mare Crisium's surface to Earth in August 1976.

A Bridge To Far The Mare Crisium is also the site of the infamous 'O'Neill Bridge Mystery'.

Image: Brian Halls

Occultation The Moon passes through the southern portion of the M67 open cluster during the early hours of March 13.

In the summer of 1953, amateur astronomer John O'Neill was observing sunset over the Mare Crisium and he observed a patch of light on the mare floor that appeared to emanate from a low spot between two 'headlands' at the western edge of the mare, just to the west of the feature Yerkes. The mix of shadow and light gave him the impression that he was seeing light passing under a bridge; the shadow of the bridge above it.

O'Neill wrote to one of the foremost amateur observers at the time H Percy Wilkins in the UK, who wrote back for more details from O'Neill. Alas, during the interim period, O'Neill had died suddenly. Wilkins investigated and confirmed O'Neill's observation.

Planets Mid-month Mercury is at its greatest western elongation (morning sky), though to see it you will have to be very lucky to have a clear south-east horizon at just before 06h. It will be 19° south-east of Venus on March 14. The next best opportunity to see Mercury from the UK will be in the late autumn.

Venus is in the morning sky and has been mentioned, is not far from Mercury mid-month.

Venus also comes to its own greatest western elongation – 47°. As might be imagined, both these inner planets will show a half-phase at their respective elongations due to their angle to the Sun. With a moderate telescope it is possible to see shading in the clouds surrounding the planet and estimates of the phase angle are always required by the BAA Venus section.

Eyepiece filters can be used to enhance the visual appearance of the planet but, the planet is only 12°-13° from the horizon.

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Wilkins announced his confirmation to the press and after some unguarded comments about aliens and flying saucers to a BBC reporter were broadcast, it all but destroyed Wilkins' reputation and career as an amateur lunar observer.

Today we know that the shadow of the 'bridge' (and the light shining through its span) is actually a mix of sun light falling on and shadow cast by a small crater.

This area is called O'Neill on the Wilkins 300-inch lunar map of 1953.

The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014

A chart showing the dates of the solstices and equinoxes for 2014.

The graph line shows the rises and falls of the Sun's declination throughout the year.

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 Observing Notes continued

Transits Times of the Great Red Spot (GRS) of Jupiter March 1: 2:09, 12:05, 22:00; 2: 7:56, 17:52; 3: 3:47, 13:43, 23:39; 4: 9:35, 19:30; 5: 5:26, 15:22; 6: 1:18, 11:13, 21:09; 7: 7:05, 17:00; 8: 2:56, 12:52, 22:48; 9: 8:43, 18:39; 10: 4:35, 14:31; 11: 0:26, 10:22, 20:18; 12: 6:14, 16:09; 13: 2:05, 12:01, 21:57; 14: 7:52, 17:48; 15: 3:44, 13:40, 23:35; 16: 9:31, 19:27; 17: 5:23, 15:18; 18: 1:14, 11:10, 21:06; 19: 7:01, 16:57; 20: 2:53, 12:49, 22:44; 21: 8:40, 18:36; 22: 4:32, 14:27; 23: 0:23, 10:19, 20:15; 24: 6:11, 16:06; 25: 2:02, 11:58, 21:54; 26: 7:49, 17:45; 27: 3:41, 13:37, 23:32; 28: 9:28, 19:24; 29: 5:20, 15:16; 30: 1:11, 11:07, 21:03; 31: 6:59, 16:55 Reproduced courtesy of Sky Publishing The GRS will be well placed for observing 50 minutes or so either side of the times given.

ASTRO LINGO AU – the Astronomical Unit, defined as the mean distance between Earth and the Sun – 149,597,870,700 metres. ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The planets and the Moon also follow this path.

As previously mentioned, the beginning of March sees National Astronomy Week and the campaign object is the planet Jupiter.

The reason is because the planet lies high in our skies – something it does every 12-years or so – so we get a good view of the planet.

The atmospheric belts of Jupiter can be seen with a low magnification with a small telescope but it takes a moderate telescope to observe the turbulent storms that make up the belts.

The planet is also surrounded by a retinue of satellites which sometimes cross the face of the planet (transit) or go behind Jupiter (eclipse). Every so often the shadow of a satellite can be seen crossing the face of the planet.

On the evening of March 16 a rare view of two satellite shadows will be seen on the face of the planet after their respective satellites have transited. The table of events is: 17:02 UT, Ganymede begins transit of Jupiter.

20:16 UT, Ganymede ends transit of Jupiter.

21:06 UT, Io begins transit of Jupiter.

22:02 UT, Ganymede's shadow begins to cross Jupiter.

22:22 UT, Io's shadow begins to cross Jupiter.

22:22 UT, ** A multi-shadow transit event begins. ** 23:22 UT, Io ends transit of Jupiter.

We will be having a group observing session for this. As the weather has been wet and the Moon is full, a dark sky site like Nepcote Green would have no advantage, so the suggestion is we meet on Worthing promenade at a location to be decided – either the site used for NAW or Splash Point – we'll advise, so keep an eye open on your mail box.

If anyone cannot make it to the group observing event, we would still highly recommend planetary nebula – is a kind of emission nebula observing this event from your own usual observing ground. Images, and written impressions of the event are always welcome. comprising an expanding shell of gas ejected from a red star late in its life. Of course these objects are neither planetary or nebulae but the name has stuck since William Herschel coined the term as these objects looked like forming planets through his telescope. stellar classification – is a system where stars are classified by the colour of their spectra. the system is O B A F G K M – known better by its un-PC mnemonic “Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me”.

O = blue B = blue-white A = white F = yellow-white G = yellow K = orange M = orange-red Each class is subdivided. Our own Sun is classed as G; surface temperature is also added – this gives our Sun a sub-category of 2.

Our Sun is therefore classed as a G2 star.

There are even more subdivisions based upon predominance of certain lines in the spectra.

The GRS will be briefly visible, early on the night but, as usual there is a list in the left hand side bar indicating the best dates and times to see the GRS – best evening dates are March 1, 3,4,6,8,9,11,13,15,16,18,20,21,23,25,27,28,30.

Another planetary visitor to the evening skies is Mars. Due to come to opposition and nearest approach to Earth in early April, the planet is a small red disk in a small telescope but in a more moderate or larger 'scope, details of the surface of the planet can be made out.

Mid-March it shines at -0.9m and is about 13” arc in diameter and rises at 20.47UT. Also joining Mars in the late evening sky is Saturn which rises just after 23hUT, the northern face of the rings being tilted in our direction by 23°. It is 0.8m and 17” arc in diameter. It comes to opposition in May. Comets & Meteors C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) is about 10m high in the south – between the 'left leg' of Hercules and Corona. A little lower and to the east is 9m C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) in Scutum.

The third comet visible is a little further to the east of Scutum and about 17° above Venus is C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) at 8m.

Diagrams for locating the comets on the opposite page.

There are no major meteor showers due during the month.

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014

Three comets for the early morning sky (as seen at 0500UT on the morning of March 15).

Top left, C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS).

Top right, C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy).

Left, C/2012 X1 (LINEAR).

The centre of the red cross hairs denote the position of the comets.

Lovejoy, above Scutum, lies close to a rich field of deep sky objects.

Graphics by Stellarium

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 Observing Notes continued

Deep Sky Last month we did some star hopping in the Castor part of Gemini. This month we continue with the rest of that constellation.

We take a look at the part of the Pollux 'stick man' of Gemini (page opposite).

Pollux, (β Geminorum) is 1.1m and lays about 34 light years from us. It is twice the mass and is nine times the diameter of our own Sun. This would seem to indicate that Pollux has exhausted its hydrogen core (a fate that will occur to our own Sun in several billion years) and is classified as a K-class star which gives it its distinctive orange hue. In 1993 a large planet twice the size of Jupiter was discovered orbiting the planet with a period of 590 days.

Using Pollux as our guide we star hop down to the star that marks the 'waist' of the Pollux 'stick-man', Wasat (δ Geminorum). Its stellar classification is F (yellow-white star) and it lays about 60 light years way. It is part of a triple star system, one star of which is visible in a small telescope or a pair of binoculars.

Using Wasat as the guide, and low magnification or even your guide 'scope, scan to the east and we come to 63 Geminorum which is the brightest of three stars that form an equilateral triangle. Centre on this star then move about a degree (a Full Moon diameter) to the southeast and you will find NGC 2392 - The Eskimo Nebula (sometimes referred to by more politically correct writers as the Clown or Clown Face Nebula). At 9 -10m it was first noted by William Herschel in 1787; it gets its common name from the appearance of a face framed by a fur parka.

It is a bipolar planetary nebula – materials from what is left of a central star are thrown out in all directions – if we were looking at it from a slightly different angle in space it might look a bit like The Dumbell Nebula with two 'lobes' either side. The nebula is believed to be in the region of about 2000 years old while the star itself lays at about 3000 light years away. The nebulosity itself is believed to be less than a light year across but expanding at the rate of 20 AU per year.

When we look at the constellation of Gemini we are looking outwards from our Milky Way Galaxy so it is relatively devoid of deep sky objects though, a favourite amongst amateurs is the 16m Medusa Nebula, out to the border with Canis Minor. It requires a telescope of at least 20cm for it to be seen. Like the Eskimo, it is a planetary nebula.

BAA DEEP SKY SECTION MEETING If you are particularly interest in observing Deep Sky objects, the BAA Deep Sky Section are having a meeting at The Deco, Abington Square, Northampton NN1 4AE http://www.thedeco.co.uk/ beginning at 9.45 a.m.

Subjects being talked about are Globular Clusters, Developments in Planetary Nebula studies, plus some technical talks on imaging – 'Adventures With Image Noise' and 'Remote Imaging the Deep Sky'.

If you are a member of the BAA, entrance is £10 or £15 for non-members. Pay at the door.

Further details at: http://britastro.org/baa/index.php? option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=6&Itemid=129

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GEMINI FACTS The name Wasat is derived from the Arabic word for 'middle'.

Wasat lies close to the ecliptic – the apparent path the Sun, Moon and planets appear to take through the sky as seen from Earth. This means that the star is sometimes occulted by the Moon or even a planet. Venus will next occult Wasat on August 12, 2420 – so set your diaries for that!!

Pluto was discovered just half a degree from Wasat on photographic plates in 1930.

Though Pollux is known as β Gem it is actually brighter than Castor (α Gem).

In Greek mythology Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Queen Leda – Castor, conceived by her husband, the king of Sparta while Pollux was conceived after the unfortunate Leda was seduced by the randy old king of the gods, Zeus, while disguised as swan.

They were said to have been born from an egg, which must have raised a few question from the king of Sparta, as were their twin sisters, Helen (she of Troy fame) and Clytemnestra, future queen to Agamemnon.

The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014

Using a low power eyepiece or even the finder scope of your main telescope, try and find Wasat, 63 Gem and the Eskimo Nebula.

Once NGC 2392 is found, centre it in your main telescope and examine it with as higher power as you can – if your image of the object is not clear, revert to lower power to give a sharper image.

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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014

Image by Stellarium

The sky from Sussex at around 20.30 UT on March 15 Contributions – written articles (preferably word processed), photographs or letters to the editor for the April issue should be in by March 14 and sent to the editor at the contact address: editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk Detailed occultation predictions in PDF format may be had by contacting the same address. (Please include exact latitude, longitude and approx height above sea level – these can be found using a service like Google Earth, for example.)

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