The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
THE
SOUTHERN ASTRONOMER
MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF WORTHING ASTRONOMERS AND WORTHING SKYWATCHERS
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Apennines
The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
WORTHING ASTRONOMERS
Free to join, no committees; just enjoying the night sky together.
F
ormed in 2008 by a group of regular and practical observers, Worthing Astronomers is a free to join society now with a membership of over 400 persons, who have a common interest in Astronomy and its associated subjects – no politics, no fees, no committee, just astronomy!
The Southern Astronomer This Issue Preview for 2016 December Workshop Report A Space Legacy Watching the ISS Flyover Sky Notes – January 2015 Moon Watching Planet Gazing Meteors and Comets & Occultations
Our aim is simple – to bring astronomy to the public in general and to help and assist others in observing the night sky. With the aid of this newsletter, website, social media, regular star parties, workshops and public observing events we hope to encourage and share our interests in observing the sky with the public, our colleagues in our own group and with those of neighbouring astronomical societies.
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Cover Picture: Tim Peake in a spacesuit while training for his Principia mission to the International Space Station. Local boy makes good news (well, West Sussex local, anyway...)
We try and meet at least once a month (when sky conditions allow) to do some observing but we do hold every two months a Workshop evening when we get a chance to meet up, exchange ideas and tips and help each other to make the most of observing the sky above us. Occasionally a guest speaker will talk about an aspect of practical, hands on astronomical observing or photography.
Tim became our first UK astronaut in over 24 years, following in the footsteps of Helen Sharman in 1991 who spent a week on the then Soviet space station Mir. Times have changed. The Soviet Union has gone but the original workhorse of the Soviet space fleet, the Soyuz spacecraft and the rocket that was used to launch Helen is still going strong albeit with modern modifications, delivered Tim and his colleagues to the ISS.
These Workshop evenings are held on the first Friday of every other month (February, April, June, August, October and, December) at Goring Methodist Church Hall, Bury Drive off of Aldsworth Avenue), Worthing, BN12 4XB. The admission charge of £3 helps pay for the room and free refreshments and goes towards supporting our membership.
Tim Peake's journey is the first by a UK citizen as an employee of the European Space Agency (ESA) and whereas Helen's flight lasted just under eight days, Tim will be in space for six months and is the first UK/ESA astronaut to stay on the ISS.
We can be found at: http://www.worthingastronomers.org.uk/
Singer, Sarah Brightman had been due to fly to the ISS as a fee paying 'space tourist' in September 2015 but to the disappointment of true music lovers she cancelled the trip. She would have been the first UK citizen to visit the ISS.
There are several astronomical groups in the coastal area of Sussex - several WA members are also members of the Adur Astronomical Society, who meet every first Monday of the month for a lecture regarding an astronomical subject. Details for AAS can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/adurastronomicalsociety/
More on page five.
CONTRIBUTIONS AND UNSUBSCRIBING Contributions – written articles (preferably word processed in .txt, .doc or .odt format), photographs or letters to the editor for the February issue should be in by January 15 and sent to the editor at the contact address: editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk If you no longer wish to subscribe to the group and cancel newsletters and other information, please send an email to: info@worthingastronomers.org.uk with 'Unsubscribe' in the subject line; we do not want our stuff to end up like spam littering your inbox. Contact addresses: info@worthingastronomers.org.uk – general society details treasurer@worthingastronomers.org.uk – donations contact outreach@worthingastronomers.org.uk – events contact webmaster@worthingastronomers.org.uk – contact for website editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk – content detail
Volunteers are always welcome: if you want to find out more, call 01903 521205 or drop us a line at the e-mail address above. If you like the newsletter or its content please feel free to distribute it to anyone you know who might be interested. Content is subject to copyright to the group and/or the individuals whose images or articles are used.
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
SOUTHERN
ASTRONOMY
The planet makes first contact with the Sun at 11.12UT and over the space of the next several hours, the silhouette of the planet will cross the solar disk until disappearing off of the disk about an hour before sunset.
In 2016
This will be the last May transit of Mercury until 2049; all the transits until then will occur in November with Mercury either in transit at sunrise ith a new year to look forward to, it is the time or at sunset – we won't see the entirety of a transit to take a look at what is going on in the skies here in the UK until 2039. above our heads during 2016. The best view will be via projecting the Sun's The first big event for us in 2015 was the total solar image onto a piece of card with the solar diameter eclipse visible from the northern Atlantic which was in the region of about 150mm across. Projection, a deep partial for us here on the south coast. apart from being safe also allows several persons to watch the details as they happen at the same On the day many people saw totality while in the time (below). northern ocean – we had a bit more of a mixed bag here in the southern UK though most of us saw some aspect of the partial phases.
W
We were much luckier with the total lunar eclipse on September 28 – a beautiful deep red moon that also coincided with the closest approach to the Earth by the Moon during the year – a Perigee Moon. Many members saw it from Worthing beach and shared the views with members of the public. Alas. In 2016 there are no partial solar eclipses to seen from the UK though on September16 there will be a partial penumbral eclipse of the Moon and the Moon will rise while in this state. The Moon is not expected to go the coppery red colour as it does with a total eclipse but will take on a 'dull' appearance. There will be a perigee Full Moon on September 14 (a so-called 'super-moon'). There will also be a true 'blue-moon' on May 21 when this will be an intercalary full Moon during the spring season. The first Full Moon after the vernal equinox (and therefore the first Full Moon of spring) is on March 23, the second is on April 22, the third mentioned above in May and the fourth Full Moon of spring is on June 20 at 11.00UT(just a gnat's whisker before the summer solstice on June 20 at 22.34UT). Before that there is a transit of the Sun by the inner planet Mercury on May 9. The last transit by the planet visible in the UK was in 2003 and occurred during a spell of fine weather here. We can only hope for the same in 2016. Below: Mercury Transit 2003. Mercury is in the circle while a large sunspot appear to the right of the bright image
The latter part of 2015 was washed out due to the blanket of cloud and the rain we had put paid to any group observing let alone our individual observing plans. Of course, we have no way of predicting what the weather will be like during 2016 (though we can hope for better seeing conditions when we do get to do some astronomy). OUTREACH The BBC launch Stargazing Live 2016 in January. Unfortunately the BBC tend not to announce this event too soon before airing thus giving astronomy groups – well, the people who organise, little time to arrange and publicise any observing parties over the holidays when, let us be honest, we have more important things on our minds. There is no National Astronomy Week in 2016 – this once biennial event was last held in 2014. International Astronomy Day (IAD) is on May 14. IAD has sprouted from the US/Canada spring National Astronomy Day, organised by the USbased Astronomical League. The idea spread from the US into Canada and has spread to much of the English speaking world, before spreading elsewhere making this truly an international event. Some astronomy clubs in the UK observe (no pun intended) the event.
This event in mid-May, ties up closely with a first quarter Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in the evening sky and of course, Mercury will have transited the Sun the previous Monday before. The Venus transfers from morning star to evening star universal theme of IAD each year is, “Bringing during the summer but it will be occulted by the old Astronomy To The People” – something our own crescent Moon at about 07.30UT on the morning WA-group works very hard towards. of April 6. This event occurs in daylight – certainly the crescent Moon may not even be visible but the Early in the autumn there will be the ever popular planet will be. A fine chance to see an occultation International Observe The Moon Night on October phenomenon if not seen before. Details of course 8. nearer the time. There will be of course other chances to observe Planet Mars comes to opposition on May 22 and it the sky with your colleagues on our own observing is at its closest to Earth on May 31. Mars nights at such diverse places as Goring Gap or opposition come around every two years or so and even on the downs at Kithurst Hill. the last couple have been well placed as the planet is in a winter sky – however Mars will be low EVENTS DURING 2016 in the south during the evenings in the borders between Libra and Scorpius. A good southern March 8 Jupiter at opposition view across an unobstructed horizon (the sea for 9 Total solar eclipse (not UK) us is ideal) will give views of the 18”(arc-seconds) 20 Spring Equinox at 04.30UT wide planet. A moderate or larger telescope will 23 Penumbral lunar eclipse (not UK) make out the polar cap and dusky desert April 6 Occultation of Venus 07.30UT markings. May 9 Transit of Mercury The mighty planet Jupiter comes to opposition on March 8 and will be well placed on the Leo/Virgo border. The planet never fails to disappoint in small or large telescopes – even a good pair of binoculars will show the polar flattening and the four bright satellites. The larger the 'scope the more detail can be seen in the belts and zones. Apart from Comet 2013 US 10 (Catalina) passing through our skies at the moment, there are no other bright comets due though one can never tell what sudden appearance or unexpected outburst might occur such as Comet Holmes did in 2007 when its coma grew even larger than the diameter of the Sun for a few weeks. The regular meteor showers will of course always be around, The January Quadrantids are considered quite favourable as are the Perseids and Orionids in late summer and early autumn. The spring Lyrids, and autumn and winter Geminid and Leonid peaks are obscured by the presence of the brightness of the Moon.
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22 June 3 20 Aug 12-13 Sept 1 2 16 22 Oct 15 Dec 23
Mars at opposition Saturn at opposition Summer solstice 22.34UT Perseid meteor peak Annular solar eclipse (not UK) Neptune at opposition Penumbral lunar eclipse (UK) Autumn equinox 14.21UT Uranus at opposition Winter solstice 10.44UT
As usual, details of all things that appear in the skies above our heads will be in the Southern Astronomer for the month in question.
Picture credits: 2001 Mercury transit, © Brian Halls Solar projection, courtesy NASA
The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
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e met formally for the last time in 2015 at our regular venue.
The theme was a rather light one – members adventures in astronomy and then a social aspect. The evening was kicked of by Andy Li with a presentation entitled Three Years of Planetary Imaging. Andy, who came into astronomy only a few years ago showed a picture of his first telescope – an ETX80 f5, instrument. Happy with what he was seeing he looked at taking images of the planets and Moon like he had seen in magazines and on-line.
WORTHING ASTRONOMERS
WORKSHOP REPORT
December 4, 2015
At first using a digital camera he then quickly went on to using a Celestron NexImage planetary camera which uses the same technology as a standard web-cam used for chatting over the internet. With this camera he was able to generate small scale images of the planets but they seemed to have a green cast to them – he quickly figured out that the camera settings and Photoshop would give a more natural look but, the planetary images were still small.
One needs a clear horizon free of cloud or haze for the flash to occur. The phenomenon is an atmospheric effect. Green flashes are enhanced by atmospheric inversions which increase the density gradient in the atmosphere, and therefore increase refraction. Under such conditions the Moon or any bright astronomical object that rises or sets can produce a green flash.
He upgraded his 80mm telescope to a larger 127mm Skywatcher f11 instrument (below).
It is quite dramatic and on a show of hands, a number of those present has witnessed it in the past. The next speaker was Brian Johnson who showed a couple of images of the Hercules double cluster and the nearby Heart and Soul Nebula (above) which were taken last year at the annual Kelling Heath star party.
With no more presentations but plenty of questions to ask the various contributors, the formal half of the meeting was closed to allow the questions to be asked and the holiday themed snacks that were set out.
Chris Pennells had some beautiful images of the September total lunar eclipse which he had taken with a standard Nikon digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera.
Many thanks to all who attended and who took part with a special thanks to Chris Pennells and Della Griffiths for arranging the catering.
With this he was able to produce large scale images of the planets. But the detail in the pictures was still not quite right. He decided to go for a more sophisticated version of the web-cam – a ZWO ASI 120MC. Like the NexImage it produces .AVI movie files which could then be sorted and stacked in a piece of free, downloadable software, which are then tweaked and sharpened to get a pleasing result. He also realised that a larger telescope would also help in creating better definition images and he opted for his third telescope, a 150mm f13 Skywatcher. This telescope produced excellent images but wanting larger light grasp to produce ever better shots of the planets Andy traded in his old telescope and went for his present one, a 235mm f10 Celestron telescope. With this he can produce detailed planetary images and he showed some comparison shots of Jupiter taken between the cameras and the differing The image above was taken at about 02.20UT apertures of telescopes (upper right). with a 10 second exposure and an ISO setting of 400. Small stars can be seen as the Moon passed The results were quite stunning. He has produced through a star-field. some fine images of Venus (which have appeared in previous issues of this magazine). Cloud detail Chris Carter rounded of the presentation end of was a problem due to seeing. the meeting with some images he had taken of the Green Flash from Worthing seafront. The Green Several members commented on the poor seeing Flash or Rayon Vert is best seen on a flat horizon – conditions we have had over the last year for us in our part of the UK that will be the sea during the winter period. The meeting thanked Andy in the usual way.
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Our next Workshop evening is scheduled for February 5; as these meetings are really designed to help everyone – newbie and experienced alike - to get the best from the hobby, ideas and suggestions for what you would like at a meeting, just drop us a line (see page two for details).
The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016 TIM PEAKE'S IN ORBIT:
If you think being an astronaut is glamorous (it is apparently) there is a down side. The ISS requires constant maintenance and for some of the time when not exercising, and working on experiments in the Columbus module, general housekeeping duties have to be done – such as having to unblock and clear one of the two microgravity toilets on board should they stop working; an unpleasant enough thing to do here on Earth let alone in a microgravity environment.
A SPACE LEGACY
S
ix years of hard training finally paid off for UK/ESA astronaut Tim Peake on December 15 when he and two colleagues, spacecraft pilot, Yuri Malenchenko and flight engineer Tim Kopra took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked with the ISS just a little over six hours later.
When not doing these things, Tim Peake will be involved in the Principia Mission highlighted by his mission patch of a Soyuz rocket flying into space with an apple falling from the sky (page 2).
He will spend a large amount of his working time in the European Space Agency module, Columbus which is fitted out with a wide variety of scientific, medical and industrial experiments. He will also be the subject of a variety of medical experiments – taking samples of his own blood, collecting samples of his urine for example.
Principia is named after Isaac Newton's seminal three part work, the Naturalis Principia Mathematica in which the principles laws of motion and gravity are described – the same laws that profoundly keep the ISS in orbit around the Earth and the Earth around the Sun etc.
In the 2009 reboot film of the Star Trek franchise, Dr McCoy commented on space being a “disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence.” Space is indeed dangerous especially microgravity (weightlessness) and the ISS is equipped to help astronauts combat and alleviate the effects of this.
The design of the patch was just the first part of the mission which was launched while Peake was still firmly on the ground. After 4000 nominations the name Principia was suggested 20 times and a logo design competition bought in 3000 entry's with 13-year old Troy Wood's design winning.
Tim Peake and his colleagues will need to spend a minimum of 90 minutes a day (much more is preferable) exercising to keep at bay the detrimental effects of muscle wastage and bone decay – regular testing of urine samples helps monitor some of these effects.
THE COSMIC CLASSROOM Children and their education are very much a priority on the outreach side of this flight. There are 12 modules that schools can use to help school age children understand space flight – Cosmic Classroom will be probably the most popular as Tim will broadcast to schools in the UK; for the green fingered there is Rocket Science – schools growing seeds of the peppery salad leaf that have flown into space on a previous mission and understanding how plants grow in space.
All going well, Tim hopes to 'run' the London Marathon on the ISS treadmill on April 24. Of interest to astronomers one of the Columbus experiments – SOLAR by name - is astronomy based and not surprisingly dedicated to solar astronomy.
More can be found at the ESA site: https://principia.org.uk/getinvolved/#activities.
It is split into three main experiments – SOLVIM is designed to measure solar radiation with wavelengths from 200 nanometers 100 micrometers. This covers near-ultraviolet, visible and infra-red areas of the spectrum.
Some UK schools have been approved to contact Tim on the ISS directly via the ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station).
SOLSPEC is designed to measure the solar spectral irradiance in the 165 – 3000 nanometre range with high spectral resolution and SOL-ACES consists of four grazing incidence grating spectrometer. They are designed to measure the EUV/UV spectral regime (17 nanometers - 220 nanometers) with moderate spectral resolution.
When astronauts get time often during what little free time they have, they will sometimes make unscheduled 'radio-ham' transmissions. Hams can also communicate with each other using the ISS packet (computer) radio mode, or receive slow scan television mode images. It all depends on what equipment is in service in at the time. For those interested, more information can be found at: http://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html . BACK TO EARTH Tim Peake and his two colleagues are due to return to Earth in June after 6 months in orbit. The space-flight side of Tim Peak’s Principia mission will have finished but the legacy of the flight will, it is hoped be carried on by those touched the most – children - who were involved with the many aspects of the various teach and learn programmes, to perhaps go on and learn more about science and engineering.
The SOLAR experiment package
© ESN
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016 All going well you will get a picture a little like the one in the previous column – the space-station will appear as a streak and stars as short trails. It will appear brighter than in the picture as the ISS was still under construction when the image shown was taken.
WATCHING THE ISS FLYOVER
A
This system works well with other man-made orbiting objects like Iridium communications satellites which have large solar panels on them.
s it orbits the Earth, the ISS flies over most points of the Earth and we can get to see the space-station and its multinational crew as it comes over the UK.
As the satellites orbit the Earth their orientation alters and sunlight catches the panels for a brief moment and the satellite brightens causing what is called a 'flare'.
It is difficult to publish long term predictions as the ISS can change its orbit slightly so regular checks on the Heavens-Above website http://www.heavens-above.com or Calsky at, www.calsky.org.
These are quite dramatic to witness and capture in the same manner as described previously.
For the moment during January, the ISS passes over our heads in the pre-dawn (details below are for the first week of January): Date 3/1 5/1 6/1 7/1
Time at Highest 06:52:35 06:41:52 05:38:04 07:24:33 04:55:27 06:31:06
Again, the Heavens Above and Calsky sites advise on these objects as well.
Description
Low in south-east; pass north of Venus 27° altitude; passes north of Venus passes south of α-Libra passes north of Jupiter at 07.23 appears low in south-east before setting passes south of γ-Virgo 06.30
If you want to learn a bit more about photographing the ISS one of our members, James West, has a Word press site where his Castro imaging (and his amazing wildlife images as well) can be seen: https://ejwwest.wordpress.com/imaging-the-international-spacestation/ . The site is well worth a visit,
Passes over the UK on January 1st and 2nd will be in daylight or not illuminated by sunlight and are not shown
One of the projects that James undertakes is capturing the ISS through the telescope as in one of his images (below).
If seen in a darkish sky, the ISS looks like a bright moving star, rising in the west and heading eastwards. This is a perfect time to capture these passes through the lens of a camera if it is capable of making a time exposure. The camera needs to be pointed in the right direction – if you are not sure, use the sky maps for each pass on the Heavens Above web site and on some firm stand or tripod.
© James West
The ISS is often described as being the size of a football field – therefore the extensive arrangement of modules, truss work and the various habitation modules can be seen with an amateur telescope and when it was flying, the space-shuttle orbiter, as well. Another area of interest is that occasionally the ISS passes in front of the Moon and even the Sun and its silhouette is seen against the brighter background. Of course, these require a certain amount of skill and luck. Again, James describes how he does it. Alternately you can go out in your garden or look out of south-west facing window (evening) or a south-east window in the mornings and just watch the ISS pass overhead.
© Brian Halls
A pair of binoculars will add a dimension to the observing as the ISS whizzes across the star-fields and remember, no matter how you watch the ISS flyover, you are watching a group of astronauts manning our first outpost in space.
Make sure the lens is set for wide field and the timer mechanism for your camera is set to 'bulb'. If you can set your ISO to 400 or so, the better. When the ISS comes into view open the camera shutter (a cable release is good here if possible) and wait for the ISS to pass over then close the shutter.
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
ASTRONOMY
THIS MONTH
JANUARY 2016
All times are expressed as Universal (UTC – Co-ordinated Universal Time) and can be considered the same as GMT . Planets information, and all sky-map on page x, is for the 15th of the month at 21.30UT unless otherwise stated. Little by little the mornings will begin to lighten as do the evenings. There is a difference of about 35 minutes between sunrises at the start and end of the month but nearly 40 minutes between sunsets on January 1 and 31. The evenings still remain conveniently dark for observing. QUICK VIEW DIARY 1 2 9 10 15 16 24 20 30 31
Sunrise 0805h : Sunset 1608h Moon: Last Quarter (02h) Moon at apogee – furthest in its orbit from Earth (12h) Earth at perihelion – closest in its orbit to the Sun (23h) Venus 0.1N° of Saturn (04h) New Moon (01h) Moon at perigee – closest to Earth in its orbit (03h) Moon: First Quarter (23h) Full Moon (English trad. Old Moon) (01h) Moon occults Aldebaran (03h) Moon at apogee – furthest in its orbit from Earth (09h) Sunrise 0742h : Sunset 1652h
OBJECT
TYPE
Constellation
MAG RA (h n)
DEC (° ' )
M36
Open Cluster
AUR
6
05 36.3
+34 08
M37
Open Cluster
AUR
5.6
05 52.3
+32 33
M38
Open Cluster
AUR
6.4
05 28.7
+35 51
NGC1664
Open Cluster
AUR
7.6
04 51.1
+43 41
NGC1778
Open Cluster
AUR
7.7
05 08.1
+37 01
NGC1857
Open Cluster
AUR
7
05 20.1
+39 21
NGC1893
Op Cl, nebula
AUR
7.5
05 22.7
+33 25
NGC1907
Open Cluster
AUR
8.2
05 28.1
+35 20
NGC1502
Open Cluster
CAM
6.9
04 07.8
+62 20
NGC1532
Galaxy
ERI
9.9
04 12.1
-32 52
M79
Glob Cluster
LEP
8.4
05 24.2
-24 31
Cr65
Open Cluster
ORI
3
05 26.0
+16 00
Cr69
Open Cluster
ORI
2.8
05 35.1
+09 56
Cr70
Open Cluster
ORI
0.4
05 36.0
-01 00
M42
Cast, Nebula
ORI
4
05 35.3
-05 23
M43
Bright Nebula
ORI
9
05 35.5
-05 16
M78
Bright Nebula
ORI
8
05 46.8
+00 05
NGC1662
Open Cluster
ORI
6.4
04 48.4
+10 57
NGC1981
Open Cluster
ORI
4.2
05 35.2
-04 26
NGC2112
Open Cluster
ORI
9.1
05 53.8
+00 25
NGC1496
Open Cluster
PER
9.6
04 04.5
+52 40
NGC1499
Bright nebula
PER
5
04 03.2
+36 22
NGC1513
Open Cluster
PER
8.4
04 09.9
+49 31
NGC1528
Open Cluster
PER
6.4
04 15.3
+51 13
NGC1545
Open Cluster
PER
6.2
04 20.9
+50 15
NGC1582
Open Cluster
PER
7
04 31.8
+43 47
M1
Planetary Ne
TAU
8.4
05 34.5
+22 01
HYADES
Open Cluster
TAU
0.5
04 27.0
+16 00
NGC1647
Open Cluster
TAU
6.4
04 45.9
+19 06
NGC1746
Open Cluster
TAU
6.1
05 03.8
+23 46
NGC1807
Open Cluster
TAU
7
05 10.7
+16 32
NGC1817
Open Cluster
TAU
7.7
05 12.4
+16 41
Above: A list of some bright deep sky objects that can be seen in binoculars or small telescopes during the month.
The Moon in January
The planets in mid-January
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
OBSERVING THIS MONTH:
MOON WATCHING
Alps Alps
The Mountains of the Moon
T
he Moon is the constant companion of our night skies. Except for a few brief days prior to and after the new Moon, it is visible in the skies for most of the month at one time or another.
Caucasus Caucasus
Because it is there for much of the time many amateur astronomers tend to ignore it and wait for the planets or deep sky objects to appear, or they may not appreciate what a fantastic world the Moon is to look at.
Apennines Apennines
We know the Moon to be a rugged place of flat plains and highland areas. Just looking at the Moon in the sky with your normal unaided (that is, with no magnification) eye, the differences in its visible face is quite noticeable. How, I wonder did not the early philosophers not note this more in their works. If they had might our understanding of astronomy and science have altered from the way history laid it out to us?
glacial movement or constant running water, this famous lunar valley is, what geologists call a graben – a depressed block of land bordered on either side by faults. This valley collapsed and subsequently filled with lava. A small rill can be seen running along its floor – it is small but has been imaged in amateur instruments – a challenge for anyone wanting to have a go as is the Hadley Rill mentioned earlier.
One feature, or to be precise a group of features that never fail to fascinate are the lunar Alps, Caucasus and Apennines, which come into view this month on the evening of January 16.
The southern portion of the Alps borders the Mare Imbrium but the northern slopes are on the edge of one of the more forgotten lunar seas, the Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold).
The mountain ranges of Earth are caused by the constant movement of the tectonic plates which our oceans and landmasses ride around on. The Moon suffers no tectonic behaviour. The lunar mountains in question are the result of massive impacts that carved out the Mare Serenity and the Mare Barium billions of years ago (top right).
Study of these mountains is fascinating. When observing it is difficult to take in that we are looking at 3000 peaks in the Apennines alone. The Alps has hundreds of peaks ranging from 5 – 8 000 feet and one large mountain at 12 000 feet, while the Caucasus has a mountain soaring 19 000 feet high.
Subsequent activity has added and removed features until we are left with lava filled plains with latter impactors creating craters.
I remember as a child looking at an Arthur Mee’s Children's Encyclopedia (circa early 1930's) which once belonged to my father when he was a boy. There was a picture there that took my breath away – an artist impression of the lunar mountains with tall jagged peaks rising into the lunar sky. This was a reasonable belief as there is no eroding effects of wind, rain or cold on these lunar mountains.
In the telescope the Alps come into view during the early hours of January 16 but we will not see them and the Apennines until the following evening. The northern end of the Apennines was visited by astronauts in 1971, when they landed at a rill situated at the base of one of the higher mountains (15 000 feet) – Mount Hadley. The rill has all the appearances of a dried out river bed but was created by the collapse of a lava tube (a flow of lava in a channel below the surface) which occurred when the lava drained away and the surface above collapsed in on it. This rill – the Hadley Rill – can be seen when the lighting conditions are just right; ideally a telescope in the 200mm range is best and the atmospheric seeing is good. The lighting and shadow won't be good this month.
Yet we know now that erosion in the shape of micrometeor impacts occur and this has created mountains of the moon that though mighty are humped rather than jagged – a little like super-massive versions of our own south downs. Future lunar mountaineers will have to overcome their own unique problems when climbing these mountains but they won't be as difficult perhaps as their terrestrial brethren.
Smaller telescopes will show up the larger features close by. One obvious feature is the breach that separates the northern Apennines from the southern Caucasus/Alps region. This area is the point where the two lunar seas mentioned above meet.
Binoculars will show the arc of the Apennines and the positions of the Caucasus and Alps, while a small telescope will show the breach between the two lunar seas and many large and small craters and their own distinctive features.
The northern tip of the Apennines is Cape Fresnel while at the other end of the mountain chain 400 miles away, is the crater, Eratosthenes a prominent circular formation visible even in a fairly small telescope.
Larger instrument may be required to see some of the finer detail mentioned such as the Hadley and Alpine Valley rills – good seeing and the right lighting, though a good web cam connected to the telescope will produce detailed studies of these features once they have been processed.
This crater is a much younger feature than the mountains and it compares well with the nearby, larger and much more famous crater, Copernicus.
Alternately of course one can just look through the eyepiece and enjoy the view, scanning these mountain ranges and their features, climbing lofty peaks all from the comfort of your observing seat in If we head further north to the Alps, a feature that is most prominent your favourite observing spot. is the Alpine Valley. Whereas valleys on Earth are carved out by
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
by midnight and for much of the hours of darkness. constellation of Pisces. Neptune at 8m will be in Aquarius during the early evening and it will be Jupiter rises mid-evening and will be a bright about 30° west of the Moon on the 15th. m -2.3 star like object. The planet will be reasonably he planet Mercury rapidly changes its position high by midnight and for much of the hours of darkness. during the month – at the start it is an evening object and by the end of the month it is in the east, Another major planet also visible in the morning is rising before the Sun. A good south westerly Saturn. Slightly smaller in the eyepiece than horizon will be needed to see the planet at the Jupiter the northern portion of the planet and rings beginning of January. At the end of the month, are well placed for observation as are some of the Mercury will be in the glow of dawn and will be a brighter moons. For the new comer to astronomy, difficult object but, it will be approaching Venus for conjunction early next month. the planet is well worth a view as no matter how good an image can be of the planet to see it for Venus remains a morning object showing a 'real' in the eyepiece is a wonderful moment. gibbous phase and shines at a bright -4m in the predawn sky mid-month. On the morning of January 9 As mentioned previously, it approaches Venus on Venus is in conjunction with Saturn with an 8” (arc the morning of the 9th. Both planets will fit into a minute) separation. The two planets separate low power, wide angle eyepiece, with Saturn quickly so the morning of the 9th is critical to see satellite Iapetus, bright and to the west of Saturn. this close conjunction. The two outer planets of the solar system Uranus Rising in the south-east during the dark hours and Neptune will appear as small coloured disks Above: A small telescope, low magnification view before the dawn Mars is starting to become a more in the telescope. of Venus and Saturn on the morning of January 9. interesting object for those with telescopes. In the
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PLANET GAZING
Coelix graphic above, Mars' angular diameter can be seen slowly getting bigger; 5.6” at the start of January and 6.8” by the end.
Some years ago the two planets appeared close to each other in the sky – a purely visual effect, but they are now well separated.
Jupiter rises mid-evening and will be a bright -2.3m On the 15th Uranus will be 6° east of the Moon in star like object. The planet will be reasonably high the south-west – green 5.8m 'star' in the
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
METEORS & COMETS
B
right predicted comets are in short supply this year though we have got C/2013 US10 (Catalina) passing through our skies at the moment. A reasonable object for the naked eye before the end of year holidays and a fine object in binoculars or a small telescope it produced two fine tails – the dust tail and an ion-tail. The fine image by Graham Green (below) shows the two tails well.
The dust tail is the tail we usually associate with a picture of a comet while the ion-tail comprise gasses being expelled by the comet that are ionised by solar UV radiation. which in turn makes them react to the solar magnetic field carried by the solar wind. Consequently, the ions are swept out of the coma into a long, distinctive ion tail. Because the most common ion, CO+, scatters blue light better than red, the ion tail often appears to the human eye as blue. During January the comet will fade but should be visible at about 5m. It rises in Bootes (at the base of the constellations 'kite' shape) just after midnight at the start of the month; by the 15th it will be close to the star Alkaid in the tail of Ursa Major – though more familiar to most of us as the end star in the handle of The Plough. By the end of the month the 6m comet will be circumpolar, being about 8° from the pole star Polaris.
name from an old (and now defunct) constellation called the Quadrant that was placed close to the junction of the handle of the Plough asterisk, and the constellations of Accord and, Bootes.
The normal period of this stream is January 1 – 6 though some sources put it more between December 28 and January 12. The shower gets its
Again the two bodies pass each other during the morning of January 20 at 03.24UT. The phase of the Moon will be very similar to that of the December occultation.
During the eighteenth century any stars that were not part of constellations and seemed 'to be going spare' were soaked up by continental astronomers in a race to produce as many 'new' constellations The Moon is not the only system body that occults as they could. stars. The minor planet 41 Daphne passes in front of a star (the catchy named) 9.7m UCAC4-459006417 on January 17 at 22.41UT. The Quadrantids is the last major shower
until the spring, though there are minor showers
which are also regular but less well known. Peak is As one can imagine, the star is just a pinpoint of scheduled to occur at about 08.00UT on the 4th so light, while an asteroid is an object a few kilometres big, so the observation track on Earth is not very best seeing will be the night of January 3rd/4th. wide.
OCCULTATION OF ALDEBARAN The Moon over last year and this year passes close to the bright star Aldebaran. On December 23 it occulted (eclipsed) the star once again – despite bright moonlight and light cloud being a minor problem many people saw it.
The track of this 12m asteroid passes south-east to north-west over the UK during the evening and we are certainly on the track . Something for the adventurous to have a go at.
AND FINALLY How did you find this new look newsletter?
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Too many words. Not enough words? Too many pictures? Not enough pictures?
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Was the layout distracting? Or was it refreshing?
In the telescope or binoculars it will be a fuzzy object. Close relations to comets are meteors. This month we normally see a bright meteor shower – The Quadrantids which produce blue-yellow meteors, and peaks on January 4. Moonlight may interfere (the Moon will be close to last quarter).
edge of the Moon as it reappears an hour and ten minutes later (lower picture by Peter Wells.)
Have you any ideas on what you would like to see?
The over exposed image of the Moon shows Aldebaran, high lighted by the white cursor arrow, just prior to the occultation. The image in the last column shows Aldebaran just peaking over the
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Either way, please let us know what you think of the new look and REMEMBER – we cannot produce this without input from the membership, so if you have something you would like to say or share, drop us a line (page 2 for details).
The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
THE NIGHT SKY IN MIDJANUARY FROM ANYWHERE IN SUSSEX To use this chart, go out about 21.30, face south and hold the chart above your head so the bottom of the chart is facing south and the top of the chart is facing north. The descriptions on the chart will match the stars in the sky (assuming a dark location and little or no cloud.
The Milky Way spreads south-east to north west and comprises a number of deep sky objects (DSO) that are worth having a look at and just a few of these objects are listed on page 7. Most of these are open clusters – quite literally clusters of stars which are clubbed together in apparent random fashion. Not all the objects require a telescope. On a dark evening look towards Aldebaran, just past the meridian on the all sky chart shown above. There is a cluster of stars that surround it. Named long ago as The Hyades. The Hyades are a really loose open cluster of stars (see last months newsletter). Aldebaran appears to be a part of this group but it is actually a line of sight effect – Aldebaran lays much closer to us than do the Hyades.
of the Hyades and this is the much tighter formation of The Pleiades. To the north-west the summer constellation of Cygnus is setting – the rich selection of deep sky objects that it contains can be enjoyed during the clear and warm (!) evenings of summer. Almost overhead during mid evening is the constellation of Perseus with its two globular clusters of stars, a picture of which appears on page 4. Auriga consists a number of DSO and a list of the brighter ones can be found on page 7. Almost due south is Orion with its complex collection of interesting stars like the red supergiant Betelgeuse or the bright white-blue star Rigel.
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The Southern Astronomer No.88 – January 2016
Another open cluster that requires little searching for lays north west Hopefully we will get sky conditions that will give us a chance to enjoy the January night skies.
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