Vern’s Weblog

The following is a list of some interesting things to see up in the sky this week, June 3 thru June 9, 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 brightest pass of the ISS this week is on Monday evening when it will be a bright -0.8 magnitude. It rises above the horizon at 9:33:58 pm MDT in the SW. It is highest at 9:38:46 and disappears below the horizon in the ENE at 9:43:34 pm MDT.

Sun
The sun rises 5:35 to 5:33 am MDT and sets 8:26 to 8:30 pm MDT.
A new region 10960 rotated into view over the east limb (left) last Friday and has produced multiple M-class flares.
Solar activity is expected to be at moderate levels this week.

Moon
The moon is the third quarter on Fri at  5:43 am MDT.

Planets
Mercury is very low in constellation Gemini in the WNW after sunset. It is +0.7 to 1.3 in brightness and appear in the scope as a miniature 5 day old crescent moon.
Venus is in constellation Cancer. It is -4.2 magnitude in brightness and appears in the scope as a small first quarter moon.
Saturn is in constellation Leo and is magnitude +1.1 magnitude.
Jupiter is at opposition on Tuesday. It is in constellation Ophiuchus and magnitude -2.5.  The Great Red Spot (GRS) crosses at the following times:

Monday  morning June 4 at  4:32 am
Tuesday morning June 5  at  0:23 am
Thursday morning June 7 at  2:01 am
Thursday evening June 7  at  9:52 pm
Saturday morning June 9  at  3:39 am
Saturday evening June 9  at 11:30 pm
Monday morning June 11 at  5:17 am

Comets
The following comets are brighter than magnitude +12 this week:
C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy) is in constellation Draco magnitude +11.3 start of week but dims to 12
C/2007 E1 (Garradd) magnitude +11.8 is in constellation Gemini.
2P Encke is in constellation in Aquarius and is magnitude 11.0 brightness
See http://aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html for more details

Asteroids
There are lots of asteroids to observe! This week there are 238 numbered asteroids brighter than mag +14. Obviously that is too many to list here. However, the following 9 asteroids are brighter than magnitude +11. Positions are for next Sat June 9 at 10:00 pm.
2 Pallas   is in constellation Pegasus (RA 22:49:03 Dec +10 28′43″) and magnitude +10.2
3 Juno     is in constellation Virgo (RA 13:00:06 Dec +04 17′45″) and magnitude +10.7
4 Vesta    is in constellation Libra (RA 16:22:37 Dec -14 25′19″) and magnitude +5.6
8 Flora    is in constellation Pisces (RA 01:10:46 Dec +02 42′29″) and magnitude +10.7
9 Metis    is in constellation Sagittarius (RA 18:19:58 Dec -26 20′59″) and magnitude +10.0
21 Lutetia  is constellation Scorpio (RA 16:20:33 Dec -20 37′53″) and magnitude +10.2
40 Harmonia is in constellation Capricornus (RA 21:19:31 Dec -17 49′57″) and magnitude +10.7
85 Io       is in constellation Ophiuchus (RA 17:12:50 Dec -05 57′25″) and magnitude +10.7
192 Nausikaa is in constellation Sagittarius (RA 19:27:12 Dec -32 32′23″) and magnitude +10.6

Asteroid positions change of course, so check your star chart software or the JPL Horizons Ephemeris at:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbwobs.cgi

Dark Sky
The moon rises after midnight starting Thursday so we can get some time in the dark this weekend. Saturday evening should be good with moonrise not til 2:06am Sunday morning. Unfortunately the nights are short this time of the year. There are about 5 hours of dark next Saturday and on June 16th there are 6.

Objects on my dark sky imaging list this week are:

The “Bat Symbol”, Abell 36 in Virgo.

Abell 1656 in Coma Berenices, a 1 degree square of sky containing hundreds of galaxies

Just for the fun, Abell 2065 galaxy cluster in Corona Borealis - according to RASC Handbook, the most difficult object for amateur scopes (visually requires 20 inch+ aperture and superb sky)

The “Bug Nebula” NGC 6302 in Scorpio

The “Cheerio Nebula” NGC 6337 in Scorpio

The “Little Ghost” NGC 6369 in Ophiuchus

The Rho Ophiuchus nebula region IC4604

Region 10960 has been quite active for the past several days and finally rotated into view yesterday. It has produced multiple M-Class flares see http://raben.com/graphs

Image from around 1pm MDT taken with Baader white light solar filter, Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope, and Canon Xti camera. No wind, temperature around 70°F, turbulence 6/10, excellent transparency, and clear sky.

Mare Humorum, “the sea of rain” is the home of magnificent crater Gassendi and some rather neat concentric circular ridges. As part of my effort to complete the Astroleague Lunar certificate I was checking off a few craters, in this case Gassendi and Agatharchides and thought it might make a neat webcam shot.  The view was by coincidence close that of Rukl Chart #52.

Image taken late Saturday evening from Louisville, CO with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope and Phillips Toucam 840K webcam at cassegrain focus.  Sky was mostly clear, temperature 60° F, turbulence 5/10, and no wind. Transparency was good even with high humidity.