Vern’s Weblog

The following is a list of some interesting things that I’m planning to check out this week, May 20 thru May 26, 2007. Some of the events and times given are specific to the Colorado front range (40° N and the MDT timezone).

International Space Station

The ISS flys over twice each day this week. Unfortunately they occur early in morning. The best are:
Sun May 20 the ISS rises in the WSW at 4:43:14 am and disappears at 04:48:11 in the NE mag -0.5
Tues May 22 the ISS rises in WNW at 3:51:46 am and disappears at 03:54:42 NE mag -0.7

Sun

The sun rises 5:43 to 5:39 am MDT this week and sets 8:15 to 8:20 pm MDT. Region 10956 is currently just west (right) of the center of the solar disk (see http://raben.com/maps ). The region has an area of 190 millionths solar hemisphere (578 million square kilometers, just a bit larger than the surface area of the entire Earth). It has been decreasing in area and should rotate from our view Saturday morning. Solar activity is expected to be at low levels this week.

Moon

First quarter is this Wed, May 23 at 3:02 pm MDT. There should be good views of the following features on the days listed:
Mon. May 21: Mare Tranquillitatis, Posidonis, Hercules,
Tues May 22: Aristotles, Cathrina, Cyrillius, Julius Caesar, Arago, Baco, Cauchy, Theophillus,
Wed May 23: Cassini, Hipparchus, Montes Alpes, Valles Alpes, Ptolomeus,
Thurs May 24: Archimedes, Beer, Montes Appenines, Rupes Recta –straight wall, Alphonsus
Fri May 25: Clavius, Copernicus, Tycho,
Sat May 26: Hainzel, Kies, Dome Kies PI, Lansberg,

Take a look at crater Ptolemaeus late on Wednesday or early Thursday when the sun angle is low and the terminator is nearby. In the floor of Ptolemaeus and to the right of center is the brightly lit crater Ptolemaeus-A. Adjacent to and to the upper left of it appears a formation which looks like the letter “U”. This is a “ghost crater”, Ptolemaeus-B. Ghost craters are believed to be formed when lava flows flood the crater almost to the rim.

Planets

Mercury is constellation Gemini at magnitude -0.5 in the WNW. It sets 9:12 to 9:47 pm this week. Look for it around 8:40 pm to 9 pm.

Venus is constellation Gemini. It is still a brilliant magnitude -4.2 high up in the western sky. It appears in a telescope as small crescent quarter moon.

Saturn is in constellation Leo and is magnitude +0.9. It is still high up in the SSW in the early evening. It is still an amazing to view.

Above image from last Saturday evening at Cactus Flats North taken with Phillips Toucam and Celestron Nexstar11 at cassegrain focus.

Jupiter rises 9:30pm to 9:04 pm so it is visible as soon as it gets dark. It is in constellation Ophiuchus and -2.6 magnitude in brightness. The great red spot (GRS) crosses the center of Jupiter at the following times this week:
Mon. May 21 at 3:02 am
Mon. May 21 at 10:53 pm
Wed. May 23 at 4:40 am
Thurs. May 24 at 0:31 am
Sat. May 26 at 2:09 am
Sat. May 26 10:00 pm
The GRS is visible about an hour before and after the central meridian transit.

Pluto is near the northern border of constellation Sagittarius. It is currently magnitude +14.

Neptune are in constellation Capricornius is +8 in magnitude.

Uranus is constellation Aquarius and is +6 in magnitude.

Mars is in constellation Pisces and is magnitude 0.9 in brightness and is 5.5 arc-sec across

Comets

C/2007 E2 Lovejoy is high up north in the constellation Draco, just south of the little dipper. It dims from magnitude 10.6 to 11.1 this week. The ephemeris predicts the coma to be 3.5 arc-min wide.

Asteroids
There are 8 asteroids that can be seen in small scopes this week:
7 Iris is constellation Gemini and is magnitude +10.4
3 Juno is in constellation Virgo and is magnitude +10.5
21 Lutetia is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude +10.1
4 Vesta is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude +5.5
85 Io is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude 10.9
270 Anahita is in constellation Scorpio and is magnitude 10.9
9 Metis is in constellation Sagitarius and is magnitude +10.3
2 Pallus is in constellation Pegasus and is magnitude +10.4
Refer to you star chart program for specific location as they move fairly quickly.

Double Stars

Algieba in constellation Leo has 2.2 magnitude primary and a 3.5 magnitude secondary a close 4.4 arc-sec away.

Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double is a quad star system in the constellation Lyra. The Epsilon1-Epsilon2 pair is separated by 208 arc-seconds. The northern Epsilon1 pair are 4.7 and 6.2 magnitude and separated by 2.6 arc-sec. The southern Epsilon2 pair are 5.1 and 5.5 magnitude and separated by 2.3 arc-sec.

For a challenge, 35 Comma Berenices has a primary component 5.1 in magnitude with the orangish 7.2 magnitude secondary only 1.04 arc-sec away. Lots of power and good seeing will be needed.

Dark Sky

The moon interfers with observing dark sky objects this week unless you get up real early.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Astronomy, Sky this Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.