Vern’s Weblog

Highlights Nov 25 to Dec. 1

Mars will be at opposition next month on Christmas eve.

International Space Station

No really great passes until Sunday and Monday next week.

Sun

The Sun rises at 6:58 to 7:04 am MST and sets 4:41 to 4:39 pm MST this week.  Only one small region 10975 visible today (Sunday Nov 25) located 30 degrees west of center.  Solar activity is predicted to remain at very low levels according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

Moon

The Moon transitions from full yesterday to 3rd quarter phase next Saturday at 5:44 a.m. MST.

Planets

Mercury rises about 40 minutes before sunrise. It is very low near the horizon and difficult to spot in the ESE.Venus is in constellation Virgo and is  very, very bright magnitude at -4.1.

Mars rises around 6:30 pm at the end of the week and increases in brightness to magnitude -1.3 and 15.2 arc sec across. It is in good position for viewing around 10 pm. It will increase another 0.6 arc sec in diameter and 0.4 magnitude in brightness.

Jupiter is in constellation Ophiuchus and is very low in the west and sets 5:45 pm (magnitude -1.7).

Saturn rises 11:30 pm by the end of the week in constellation Leo. It is magnitude +1  in brightness.

Uranus is in constellation Aquarius and +5.8 magnitude.

Neptune is in constellation Capricornus and +7.9 magnitude.

Pluto is above Jupiter but for all practical purposes not visible, lost in the bright sky after sunset.

Dark Sky

On Saturday evening the moon rises after midnight (12:23 am Sunday morning) yielding just over 6 hrs of darkness. About as much darkness as we get in the summer on dark sky weekends, though a bit cooler…

Comets

Comet 17P Holmes is getting larger and dimmer. Its now almost 40 arc-min accross.    (See SkyHound.com  or Seiichi Yoshida’s Comet pages for charts and additional information).

Highlights Nov 11 to Nov 17

Comet Holmes!

International Space Station

No bright passes this week.

Sun

The Sun rises at 6:43 to 6:50 am MST and sets 4:50 to 4:45 pm MST this week.  No sunspots are currently visible. Solar activity is predicted to remain at very low levels according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

Moon

The Moon transitions to first quarter phase on Saturday at 3:32 pm MST.

Planets

Mercury is visible about an hour before sunrise low in the east-south-east just below and left of Spica in constellation Virgo most of the week. It moves to constellation Libra on Saturday. It increases in brightness to magnitude -0.7.

Venus also in constellation Virgo and is a glaring bright magnitude -4.16.

Mars increases in brightness to magnitude -0.97 in constellation Gemini.  It starts its retrograde motion on Thursday so it would be a good time to sketch its location if you happen to be working on the Planetary Observer Club.

Jupiter is in constellation Ophiuchus and is very low in the west and sets about 1.5 hours after sunset (magnitude -1.7).

Saturn rises just after midnight in constellation Leo. It is magnitude +1.1 in brightness and 17.6 arc min across (main body).

Uranus is in constellation Aquarius and +5.8 magnitude

Neptune is in constellation Capricornus and +7.9 magnitude

Pluto is not visible.

Dark Sky

The Moon sets before midnight all week, in fact early in the evening til midweek. You can still get nearly 6 hrs in the darkness this weekend if you are willing to stay out in the cold from 11:30 til dawn.

Comets

Comet 17P Holmes is especially amazing to view in binoculars and small scopes with wide field. It is currently in constellation Perseus and easy to spot in binoculars. Its larger and dimmer and more difficult to spot naked eye in light polluted skies than a couple weeks ago. It fills the field of view in lower power eyepieces on larger scopes, say 11 inches up.  (See SkyHound.com  or Seiichi Yoshida’s Comet pages for charts and additional information).

Comet 8P Tutle in Ursa Minor brightens to magnitude 12.3 this week.  It is not that far from Polaris so it’ll be a challenge for those us with equatorial mounts to manuver to. It should reach magnitude 6 by January.

Meteor Showers

The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks early in the morning of Nov 18 though only about 1 per hour can be expected.  The norther Taurid meteor shower peaks on Nov 12, about 2 per hour is estimated. Sporadic meteor rates are still high, about 16 per hour, before dawn. For more information visit the American Meteor Society webpages. 

Comet 17P Holmes continues to amaze us all.  It has grown a lot, its now about double the size it was a week ago.  FOV in below image is about 28 for 43 arc minutes — so its now around 25 arc min across.

Image taken with Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope, F6.3 focal reducer, and Canon Xti at ISO1600 and 30 sec exposure.  Registax4 used to stack and align 16/20 images. Resized and slightly enhanced with Photoshop CS3.  Sky was clear, very good transparency, no wind, temperature 57°F, turbulence 6/10, and location was Louisville, CO. 

Highlights

International Space Station

If all goes as scheduled the Shuttle will separate from the ISS around 3:30 am tomorrow morning (Monday).  That means we should see both the ISS and the shuttle pass overhead during the Monday morning pass around 5:27 am.There are some good passes every day this week if you like getting up early in the morning around 4 or 5 amMon Nov 5 ISS appears in the SSW at 05:22:28 am MST and disappears in the ENE at 5:27:26 (magnitude -0.2).Tues Nov 6 ISS appears in the SW at 5:47:42 am MST and disappears in the NE at 5:50:35  (magnitude -2.5)

Sun

The sun rises 6:35 to 6:42 am MDT and sets 4:57 to 4:51 pm MDT. No spots are currently visible on the sun (today, Sunday).  According the the Space Weather Prediction Center activity should remain at very low levels this week.

Moon

The Moon is new on  Friday, Nov 9 at 4:03 pm MST.

Planets

Mercury rises about an hour before sunrise in constellation Virgo.Venus is in constellation Virgo also, although higher up in the early morning sky and much, much brighter, a dazzeling -4.2 magnitude.Saturn is constellation Leo visible in early morning hours.Mars is good position for telescope views around 1 am high up in the east in constellation Gemini (magnitude -0.79). Opposition is on Christmas eve, so it will be good object to view in the coming weeks if the air is steady. Use lots of power and experiment with filters to help bring out surface features.

Dark Sky

Hopefully, another great weekend in some dark skies coming up. Lots of darkness this weekend (~11 hrs, 40 miniutes) so plenty of time to see late summer favorites , not to mention fall objects, winter objects, and even a few early spring ones in Virgo. (Sorry too tired to put together dark sky object list tonight).Meteor ShowersNo meteor showers this weekend that are associated with a particular radiant. However, sporadic rates are still high, expect to see about 16 per hour during prime meteor viewing time around 3-5 am.Comets

Comet 17P Holmes is still a fascinating object to view.  The primary coma surrounding the nucleus appears to be forming a tear drop shape pointing to the southwest (lower right).  I’ve yet to view in dark skies.

Image taken from Louisville, CO on Nov 1, 2007 at 11:03 pm MDT with Celestron Nexstar11 at prime focus using Canon Xti camera (15 sec exposure, ISO 1600).  Registax4 used to align and stack 20 frames. Enhanced and cropped with PSCS3. The sky was clear, very good transparency, no wind, temperature 38°F, and turbulence 6/10.