REGULAR FEATURES
The Skies Above Bribie By: John Stevenson
So much happening in The May Sky over Bribie, best to get right into it. Rain and clouds have stayed away lately, giving us some beautiful clear nights to enjoy. If you were up before dawn in the last few days you might have noticed probably the best meteor shower of the year, for the southern hemisphere. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower can produce 20 to 40 meteors per hour as the earth travels through this point in space. A good exercise for young budding astronomers is to set a digital camera on a tripod with long exposure to capture some of these “shooting stars” against the background of star trails. Speaking of Astro-Photography, a huge congratulations goes to our very own Katherine Miller for winning a Bronze Award in “Astrophotographer of the Year 2021 Awards”. We are indeed fortunate, to be able to share her stunning photos in The Bribie Islander. Of great interest to stargazers, this month is a Total Lunar Eclipse on 26th May, visible from Bribie Island. Although this event has limited scientific significance, it's a great spectacle to see the earth's shadow slowly move across the moon. For 14 minutes the moon will become dark red and difficult to see, as it's fully immersed in the shadow of the earth. This period is called “Totality”. A total lunar eclipse is visible in Australia on average once every 3 years. Each one is unique because colour varies as the sunlight refracted through the earth atmosphere changes with conditions, such as distance and pollution levels. The Eclipse starts at 7,44pm with totality starting at 9.11 pm….great timing for a complete family observation, binoculars or telescope not needed to enjoy this celestial event.
Omega Centauri
The May sky sees the constellation of Scorpio rising high in the east. It's an easy constellation to recognise, with the bright red star Antares at the scorpion's heart, and a magnificent trail of stars outlining its tail. Using our binoculars to explore the scorpion constellation will show a beautiful open cluster of stars at the tail and a condensed globular cluster of stars near Antares. This condensed globular cluster is well worth viewing in any size telescope as they are amazing objects of nature. Pictured right is a photo of the largest globular cluster in our galaxy, Omega Centauri, (All Photo credits this month go to the talented Katherine Miller). This object is easily seen with binoculars and found by the 2 brightest stars in the Southern Cross actually point to it. Our second photo, also in Centaurus, is a star-forming nebula, NGC 5367, with light from stars illuminating the gaseous nebula around them. Our third photo is of the Loreta Nebula, also a star-forming region in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way. The light from stars illuminates the nebula. Beautiful photos Katherine, thank you.
Loreta nebula
Many people have indicated to me their interest in a public viewing night. There is a small group in the area, who do hold regular viewing nights. Anyone interested please email me and I will pass details of their next observing night on to you. Stay safe and enjoy our beautiful surroundings. Always ready to answer questions by email, and please note the new email address:
bribie.astronomer@gmail.com JOHN STEVENSON
Owner/Operator of Banksia Observatory
NGC 5367 Issue 139 May 7, 2021
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