Worthing Astronomers - June 2016

SOUTHERN ASTRONOMER THE

MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF WORTHING ASTRONOMERS & WORTHING SKYWATCHERS

How lucky were you?

A report on the Mercury Transit inside..

Out Reach Reports; Our June Workshop preview and what to look at in the night sky this month

The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

WORTHING ASTRONOMERS No fees, no Committee; just enjoying the night sky together.

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ormed in 2008 by a group of regular and practical observers, Worthing Astronomers is a free to join society now with a membership of nearly 450 persons, who have a common interest in Astronomy and its associated subjects – no internal politics, no fees, no committees, just astronomy!

The Southern Astronomer This Issue

Our aim is simple – to bring astronomy to the public in general and to help and assist our membership 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.

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.

Astronomy This Month

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Observing Planets

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Mercury Transit Report

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Meteors; The Sun; Moon Observing

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Constellation of the Month: Draco

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Outreach Events: Past & Up and Coming

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Monthly Sky Map

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Cover Picture: Our cover picture is of the Mercury Transit by Robin Durant observing from his home observatory in Brighton.

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. Doors open at 7.00 pm with the meeting starting at 7.30.

The cloud cover was sporadic for many yet others were able to record detail through their telescopes. One observer's thick cloud was another's light and hazy cloud.

The weather can (and has in the past) put off many from enjoying the hobby but we must look at it that it is just one of the challenges we have to face.

There are plenty of opportunities in the future to see and wonder at, the marvels that lay in the night sky such as the June 10 and 11 public stargazing event on Worthing seafront or, just enjoying it from your own private observation point.

We can be found at: worthingastronomers.org.uk

Contact addresses: info@worthingastronomers.org.uk – general society details Brian Halls

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 Adur Astronomical Society

treasurer@worthingastronomers.org.uk – donations contact Janet Halls outreach@worthingastronomers.org.uk – events contact Steve Bassett, Mike Williams

CONTRIBUTIONS AND UNSUBSCRIBING

webmaster@worthingastronomers.org.uk – contact for website Perry Wilkins

Contributions – written articles (preferably word processed in .txt, .doc or .odt format), photographs or letters to the editor for the July issue should be in by June15 and sent to the editor at the contact address: editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk

editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk – content detail Brian Halls

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.

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.92 – May 2016 DEEP SKY OBJECTS

ASTRONOMY

SUBJECT TYPE

Constellation

MAG

RA (h m)

DEC (° ' )

NGC5466

Glob. Cluster

Bootes

9.1

14 05.5

+28 32

NGC5676

Galaxy

Bootes

11.2

14 32.8

+49 27

NGC5689

Galaxy

Bootes

11.9

14 35.5

+48 44

All times are expressed as Universal Time (UTC – Co-ordinated Universal Time) and can be considered the same as GMT (i.e. BST minus one hour.)

NGC5866

Galaxy

Draco

9.9

15 06.5

+55 46

NGC5678

Galaxy

Draco

11.3

14 32.1

+57 55

Planets information, and all sky-map on page 8, is for the 15th of the month at 21.30UT unless otherwise stated.

NGC5879

Galaxy

Draco

11.6

15 09.8

+57 00

NGC5905

Galaxy

Draco

11.7

15 15.4

+55 31

Summer reaches its climax with the Solstice occurring during the late evening of the 20th.

NGC5907

Galaxy

Draco

10.3

15 15.9

+56 20

NGC5908

Galaxy

Draco

11.8

15 16.7

+55 25

NGC5949

Galaxy

Draco

12

15 28.0

+64 46

NGC5963

Galaxy

Draco

12.5

15 33.5

+56 34

NGC5965

Galaxy

Draco

11.7

15 34.0

+56 41

NGC5982

Galaxy

Draco

11.1

15 38.7

+59 21

NGC5985

Galaxy

Draco

11.1

15 39.6

+59 20

NGC6015

Galaxy

Draco

11.1

15 51.4

+62 18

NGC5728

Galaxy

Libra

11.4

14 42.4

-17 15

NGC5791

Galaxy

Libra

11.7

14 58.8

-19 16

NGC5796

Galaxy

Libra

11.6

14 59.4

-16 37

NGC5812

Galaxy

Libra

11.2

15 00.9

-07 27

NGC5861

Galaxy

Libra

11.6

15 09.3

-11 19

NGC5878

Galaxy

Libra

11.5

15 13.8

-14 16

NGC5904

Glob. Cluster

Serpens

5.8

15 18.6

+02 05

NGC5921

Galaxy

Serpens

10.8

15 21.9

+05 04

NGC5957

Galaxy

Serpens

11.7

15 35.4

+12 03

NGC5962

Galaxy

Serpens

11.3

15 36.5

+16 36

NGC5970

Galaxy

Serpens

11.5

15 38.5

+12 11

NGC5984

Galaxy

Serpens

12.5

15 42.9

+14 14

NGC5457

Galaxy

Ursa Major

7.9

14 03.2

+54 21

NGC5473

Galaxy

Ursa Major

11.4

14 04.7

+54 54

NGC5474

Galaxy

Ursa Major

10.8

14 05.0

+53 40

NGC5485

Galaxy

Ursa Major

11.4

14 07.2

+55 00

NGC5585

Galaxy

Ursa Major

10.7

14 19.8

+56 44

NGC5631

Galaxy

Ursa Major

11.5

14 26.6

+56 35

NGC5566

Galaxy

Virgo

10.6

14 20.3

+03 56

NGC5634

Glob. Cluster

Virgo

11

14 29.6

-05 59

NGC5701

Galaxy

Virgo

10.9

14 39.2

+05 22

NGC5713

Galaxy

Virgo

11.2

14 40.2

-00 17

NGC5746

Galaxy

Virgo

10.3

14 44.9

+01 57

NGC5750

Galaxy

Virgo

11.6

14 46.2

-00 13

NGC5775

Galaxy

Virgo

11.4

14 54.0

+03 33

NGC5806

Galaxy

Virgo

11.7

15 00.0

+01 53

NGC5813

Galaxy

Virgo

10.5

15 01.2

+01 42

NGC5831

Galaxy

Virgo

11.5

15 04.1

+01 13

NGC5838

Galaxy

Virgo

10.9

15 05.4

+02 06

NGC5846

Galaxy

Virgo

10

15 06.5

+01 36

NGC5850

Galaxy

Virgo

10.8

15 07.1

+01 33

NGC5854

Galaxy

Virgo

11.9

15 07.8

+02 34

NGC5864

Galaxy

Virgo

11.8

15 09.6

+03 03

THIS MONTH

June 2016

QUICK VIEW DIARY 1 3 5

6 10 11 12 15 20 27 30

Sunrise 0354h : Sunset 1929h Saturn at opposition (06h) Moon at Perigee (10h) Venus 4.9°N of Moon (02h) New Moon (03h) Mercury greatest elongation west – 24° (10h) Tim Peake scheduled to return to earth from ISS Venus at superior conjunction (21h) SEAFRONT STARGAZING SEAFRONT STARGAZING Jupiter 1.4°N of Moon (18h) Moon: First Quarter (08h) Moon at Apogee (12h) Full Moon – Flower Moon (trad. English) (10h) Solstice (22h) Moon: Last Quarter (18h) Sunrise 0352h : Sunset 2022h MOON PHASES IN JUNE

Despite occurring on the same day as the Summer solstice, the Full Moon of June is the last Full Moon of spring – Summer time commences 12 hours later – so it is a pretty close thing!

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The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

The planets mid-month (comparative angular diameters) – timed at 21.30UT

OBSERVING THIS MONTH:

T

PLANETS

he planet Jupiter is still in our skies for much of the evening – a bright star like object in the twilight and in the dark hours until just after UT midnight.

The planet holds a fascination for small telescope users as so much can be seen about the planet – four satellites and the belts and cloud features of the planet. Those with larger instruments can use planetary-cameras to capture sizeable images that can be used to create a record of atmospheric changes on the planet. If you have not had a Visibility of the planets and Moon, mid-month chance to see the planet yet, there is plenty of time yet.

(Image credit (below): Andy Li) The next largest planet is Saturn. It rises early Another planet well placed but also needing a good evening and it is almost due south at midnight. It southerly view is Mars. comes to opposition on June 3. The top diagram gives the relative sizes of the planets as they If you are able to get a nice sizeable image of appear in the eyepiece. Larger instruments will Jupiter in your eyepiece then Mars will not show some of the brighter and larger satellites of disappoint either. It came to opposition last month the planet and like Jupiter, its atmospheric cloud and was at its closest to us but now it is beginning system. to recede so, now is a good chance to grab a look at the planet.

No doubt the rings are the 'wow' factor for those not used to seeing the planet through the eyepiece.

Venus is at superior conjunction – that is, it is on Unfortunately the planet is best seen in a clear the opposite side to the Sun as seen from Earth. It southern sky – fortunately, we have an un-obscured is not an easy object to see at the moment due to southerly horizon on the coast, so opportunity to its proximity to the Sun. By mid-June it will be to the see the planet. east of the Sun and is making its way to become

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The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016 an evening object in our skies during the summer and beyond. It sets ten minutes after the Sun. The elusive planet Mercury, which was even more elusive in early May for some of us hoping to see it transit the Sun, is a morning object at the start of the month – it reaches greatest western elongation on the morning of June 5. A good eastern view of the sky to catch the planet in the dawn sky will be required as will some luck.

MERCURY TRANSIT MAY 9

T

he vagaries of the British weather never fail to amaze. After a stint of fair and reasonable weather, the day of the transit proved to be cloudy from our area.

This still did not dissuade a number of WA/Skywatcher members and even more curious members of the public from meeting up down on the grass at Goring (just west of the Sea Lane Cafe.)

Image credit: Ady Manser

Despite the cloud cover – galling as it was to see blue sky out towards the north at one point – members did get to witness and even capture views of the small planet crossing the face of the Sun. Andy Li had created a magnificent large aperture filter for his SCT telescope (left) that would have given superb large views of the event.

All is not lost however as he will be able to use this to capture sunspot images in the future.

(Above). BAA Solar Section Director, Lyn Smith, observing from Scotland faired better a little in the weather stakes and was able to get some images of the Sun and Mercury, plus sunspot group that was traversing the Sun at the time.

Image credit: Lyn Smith

Many thanks for all those who passed on their photographs of the event.

Certainly a great shame that the cloud cover let down so many people but, at the same time, it shows that though it may be cloudy there are breaks which can be used to do observing of bright objects.

The next Mercury transit will be in November 2019.

With the topsy-turvy weather we have it wouldn't surprise me that we have clear conditions for that!

Good to see also, members of the Littlehampton U3A who came to have a look. Many thanks to Simon for putting the word about.

Thanks must go to Steve Bassett who arranged the observing session on Goring seafront and for his advertising of the event on the Skywatchers Facebook page.

Image credit: Andy Li

Image credit: Steve Bassett

Several others also got a glimpse as did the Goring sea-front team and Steve Bassett was able to capture a quick glimpse of it through Andy's 'scope (above right) – Mercury is the small dot upper left of picture.

The cloud was uneven – one observer being blocked out and another less than a mile away getting a clearing as was the case with John Sarcoe and the writer.

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The small dot of Mercury can be seen left of centre of disk Image credit: John Sarcoe

The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

METEORS & SUN COMETS WATCHING S T here are no bright meteor showers forecast for the early summer, though there are two lesser known showers during the early summer period.

We have been seeing many small sunspots and sunspot groups over the last few years of this present sunspot cycle indicating the solar magnetic field is going through a period of 'quiet'.

Why this is we do not know but it appears that every hundred years or so sunspot cycles go 'quiet'.

unspot activity remains quite low, though the occasional large sunspot made an appearance though one of the largest was the large group seen We may very well be entering one of these periods after sixty years of very active sunspot cycles. during mid-May which was captured by member Steve Goddard (below).

Members however keep a watch on the Sun regularly. During April Brian States observed the Sun on 29 days – another well observed month by Brian. His daily average sunspot number was 31.6; this compares well with the BAA April mean of 31.7 and the AAVSO mean of 32.7 for the same period.

MOON WATCHING W

ith summer now here, the Moon appears lower in the evening and night time skies.

However the summer evenings may find people put off by the cold night air of winter, more amiable to the gentle cool of a summer nights observing.

First is the June Lyrids observable between June 11 and 21 with a maximum about June 16. Moon light plays a part in making this shower difficult to observe.

The second June shower is the June Bootids which are active from about June 22–July 2 with a maximum at about 03hUT on June 27. Bright moonlight will be a factor this year.

The Moon is one of the rare astronomical objects that is visible (more or less) every night of the year – just a few days before and after new are the only exceptions.

Image credit: Steve Goddard

Despite the occasional large spot that sometimes erupts into view, sunspots we have observed recently are small clusters of small spots.

The Moon is a good place to start for the newcomer. Their are plenty of charts and maps in astronomy books or even on-line to help guide the new lunar explorer.

What is a sunspot? A sunspot is a cool area on the solar surface (proper name: photosphere). The Sun has a complex magnetic field which gets wound up very much like a rubber band might do as the Sun rotates (something it does in about 28 days.)

Like a rubber band that's has been over-wound, the magnetic field will sometimes kink and break through the photosphere and will, in special telescopes look like an arch (below.)

Binoculars are a great way to observe the Moon with low magnifications showing detail off that are not clear to the unaided eye. A small telescope will show even more detail and the lunar surface begins to get more detailed with the dark lunar 'seas' and the bright highland areas, streaked here and there with bright rays that seem to have splashed out from the craters when they were formed by asteroid impacts billions of years ago.

Even if the Moon is not your interest, the new owner of a telescope will often turn it to the Moon so eyepiece resolution and other optical details can be tested before being used in other branches of astronomy.

For anyone taking an interest in astro-photography, the Moon is a superb object to test the camera and imaging set ups before turning the camera onto planetary or deep sky objects.

Grab a look at the Moon if you can during the summer. It is our nearest neighbour in space yet it is now 44 years since the last human left their foot prints in the lunar dust.

June Bootid's – looking north-west after midnight (27th) Image credit: SOHO

There are no bright comets predicted for June.

Where it breaks through the photosphere, it cools the plasma and makes it appear darker than the background of the photosphere. Because it is created by transient magnetic fields, sunspots grow and decay over a period of days or sometimes weeks or even months.

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We might not be able to go there physically but scanning the lunar plains and the majestic mountains through the eyepiece is our next best option.

As usual, if you have any lunar images that you might have taken, share them with us through the pages of the newsletter or, if you are signed up to our Facebook page, there.

The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

CONSTELLATION OF THE MONTH:

DRACO

W

hen the sky gets sufficiently dark enough, face north and look straight up. If you are lucky and light pollution is not too bad from where you are, you will see what you might think is a void of bright stars.

Ursa Major (The Plough) will be on your left, the 'blade' of the Plough facing to the west. To your right is the plain out line of stars forming a cross – Cygnus The Swan. Linking these two areas of sky is a constellation we may know by name but probably do not bother to look at – Draco, The Dragon.

Draco might be better known as the constellation baring the star which was the pole star at the time of the building of the Pyramids about four thousand years ago – Thuban (α-Draconis).

This 3.7m blue/white giant star can be found by using the two inner stars of the Plough (where the handle meets the blade) as pointer stars – they point to Thuban.

The brightest star in the constellation is Eltanin (γDraconis), an orange giant star at 2.2m and laying at a distance of 148 light years. The other brightest star is 2.8m Rastaban (β-Draconis) a yellow giant star over 300 light years from us.

There are several double star systems in the constellation. The star η-Draconis is a double with a yellow primary of 2m and an 8m white companion.

Not far from β is Alrakis (μ-Draconis) which has two 5m white stars in a binary relationship as has the star ν-Draconis. These stars are just under 5m.

Along the Dragon's neck and out towards Cygnus ο-Draconis (omicron) is another multiple star system the primary being a 4.6m orange star while the secondary is an 8m yellow star which appears to have a binary star associated with it. Omicron has the honour of being the north pole star of Mercury!

DEEP SKY One of the most famous DSO's in Draco is the 9m planetary nebula – NGC 6543 – or The Cat's Eye Nebula.

Draco is circumpolar meaning it does not set from our location – the summer is a good time to see it as it is high

with amateur equipment. A list of some of these visual objects is on our DSO list, page 2.

MYTHOLOGY

There is already an established annual meteor shower – The Draconids – which are visible between October 6 and 10 with maximum on October 8.

If like me you find the fables surrounding the constellations interesting, Draco has a couple of stories attached to it.

In one story, the Dragon is that that protected the Golden Apples that Hercules had to obtain as part of his Twelve Labours. The poor unfortunate creature, Ladon, was killed during this labour.

Another story has Minerva defeating the Dragon which was part of a group that were fighting the Olympian Gods. She tossed it into the sky where is resides today.

A favourite for deep sky imagers due to its appearance. First discovered by William Herschel, Interestingly the Arabs had another identity for the its common name however is of more modern constellation. origin after the Hubble Space Telescope took its views of it.

It was depicted as two hyenas ( ζ and η Draconis) attacking a camel calf (a faint star near β) being In a moderate telescope and with the eye, the protected by four adult camels (β, γ, ν and ξ object has a misty green-blue hue. It was the first Draconis). planetary nebula to be studied using spectroscopy

by William Huggins in 1864; his studies showed Nearby are the camel owning nomads depicted by that the nebulae were gaseous in nature. and their cooking tripod is represented by τ, υ and ς Draconis.

It's strange shape in images is due to the possibility of us looking at several 'bubbles' of METEORS matter that have been ejected from its progenitor star (which give planetary nebula's their name.)

A fairly new meteor shower The Eta-Draconids, These have interacted with each other over time to was discovered in February 2011. Several regular produce the complex 'eye' that we see. meteor observers observed a small number of meteors appearing to come from the same radiant There are several faint galaxies and clusters of close to the nearby star, η which gives this galaxies in the constellation – some too faint to see obscure stream its name.

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The Cat's Eye – Hubble and Chandra Telescopes composite Image credit: HST

The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

OUTREACH EVENTS JUNE WORKSHOP

WORTHING ASTRONOMERS AT MOON ROCK DISPLAY WORTHING COLLEGE 20th April 2016

W

orthing Astronomers received an invitation to attend with a stand at an event at Worthing College. There was a magnificent display of meteorites and samples of moon-rock, a member of staff walking around in a very convincing astronaut suit, and a very important guest, none other than Mr Nigel Peake accompanied by his wife Angela (picture below) who are as most people must be aware by now, are the parents of Major Tim Peake who is, as this issue goes out to you all, orbiting the Earth in the ISS and reaching the end of his time in space.

June 3

O

ur June Workshop event is on Friday June 3 and will be held at the usual venue – check our inside cover, page 1.

We see the return of Dan Oakley of the South Downs National Park who will be talking to us about the good news concerning the Parks Dark Sky status and how it will affect us as amateur astronomers.

There will be a look at some ideas about the best astronomy apps to use on your mobile devices; pictures of the Mercury transit taken by members; some hints on map reading and, the intriguingly named, How To Make Fifty Shades of Grey More Colourful! If you have any pictures of the transit that you would like to show, please pop it into an email and send it to editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk for inclusion in the presentation.

Hope to see you there.

Chris Pennells and Jan Halls (joined later by Brian Halls) were on hand to answer questions and publicize the group. A large amount of interest was shown in what we do by several members of staff and many parents from visiting schools in the Worthing area recognised us from our public outreaches on the seafront and said how much they enjoyed the events we provide.

WORTHING ASTRONOMERS AT GORING PRIMARY SCHOOL 14th May 2016

On this occasion we were contacted by Goring Primary School through the Worthing Skywatchers Facebook group, inviting us to attend their summer fair which had the theme of Space.

Chris Pennels, Jan & Brian Halls attended with some telescopes to view the Sun and plenty of information about viewing the Sun safely.

WA display at Worthing College – images taken by Chris Pennells and information about the group by Jan Halls

Fortunately, despite an earlier forecast to the contrary, the weather was kind and allowed us wonderful views of the Sun even though there were a few clouds that occasionally crossed over the Sun. It proved very popular and many youngsters queuing up for a look were greeted with some good Solar viewing.

Again as like our other previous event, many parents accompanying their children recognised us from our public viewing events on the seafront.

Our thanks to the school for inviting us along to be part of their activities.

Reports by Janet Halls WA display table at Goring Primary – alas, the play ground was off limits to certain WA members!!

All images this page: Janet Halls

JUNE SEAFRONT OBSERVING The evenings of June 10 and 11 will see Worthing Astronomers and Worthing Skywatchers down on the seafront for another free public event to show members of the public a view of the planets, the Moon and of course anything else that is in the sky at the time. We'll be down there (weather permitting of course) from about 7.30 p.m. BST onwards,

Nigel and Angela Peake at Worthing College

If you would like to share the evening with members of the public please feel free to bring down your telescope. As is usual with this sort of event, we have to advise that Worthing Astronomers cannot be held responsible for the safety of any equipment that is used at a public event. Those wanting to provide telescopes for the evenings should double check their household insurance policies – telescopes and the such are generally covered with cameras and other equipment likely to be away from the home but are still insured.

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The Southern Astronomer No.92 – May 2016

An all sky view in mid June at about 21.30 UT

By popular demand the Stellarium star map makes a reappearance this month. As we can see, the Milky Way is rising in the east during the evening and contains many deep sky objects some of which we shall be discussing in future Southern Astronomers.

Mars, Saturn and Jupiter are also gracing our skies and our always popular with the newcomer to astronomy and the lay person as well – a chance we hope fully we shall share with members of the public during our outreach events on the 10th and 11th of the month.

The birds are in flight – both Cygnus The Swan and Aquila The Eagle – are coming up – and that very odd bird, Pegasus is rising in the north east during the latter part of the night.

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