Vern’s Weblog

Comet 8P Tuttle is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 6 in early January.  Its currently maybe 9.8 or so.  My third try on this one.  Its getting a bit further south now so its a bit easier for those of us with equatorial mounts than it was last month.

Image taken from light polluted Louisville, CO with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, 9/14 gain, 128 frames integration (~4 sec exposure). Registax4 used to dark subtract, flat field correct, align, and stack 30 frames, 75% quality, #2 wavelet at 2.4 to sharpen slightly, histogram corrected from level 8 to 200. Enhanced, aligned and animation created with Photoshop Elements2.

Highlights Dec 9 to Dec 15, 2007

• Geminid Meteor shower on Thursday night (100 per hour predicted at 1 to 2 am)
• Mars is approaching opposition and is in good position for viewing around 8:30 pm
• Comet Holmes is still a great object to view in binoculars

International Space Station

No bright passes this week.

Sun

The Sun rises at 7:11 to 7:16 am and sets 4:38 to 4:39 pm this week.  A fair size region 10978 is visible about midway between east limb and center disk. It is currently growing rapidly in size and is 220 millionths solar hemisphere in area (+38% increase in size since yesterday).  Solar activity is predicted to be at low levels according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

Moon

Moon is in first quarter next week on Dec 17 at 03:18 am.

Planets

Venus rises at 3:50 am  in constellation Libra and is very, very bright magnitude at -4.

Mars rises around 5:49 pm to 5:15 pm this week and increases in brightness to magnitude -1.6 and to 15.9 arc sec across. It is in good position for viewing around 8:30 pm.

Saturn rises 10:34 pm by the end of the week in constellation Leo. It is magnitude +1  in brightness.

Dark Sky

Still a great week to get some dark sky views, though maybe just from the backyard. Moon is still not much of problem until late in the week. On Saturday it sets at 10:38 pm.

Comets

Comet 17P Holmes is getting larger and dimmer in constellation Perseus. It is over a degree across and easy to spot in binoculars even in light polluted skies. 

Comet 8P Tuttle is now about magnitude +9 in constellation Cepheus.

Comet 46P Wirtanen is magnitude  +11.6 in constellation Aquarius. Look for it early in the evening around 6pm.

(See SkyHound.com or Seiichi Yoshida’s Comet pages for charts and additional information).

Meteor Showers

Geminid meteor shower peaks Thursday night, Dec 13-14 this week. Moonset is 8:24 pm, so its not a problem. The American Meteor Society says the average is usually about 100 per hour at the peak time from 1 to 2 am. Look half way up in the sky in any direction. See the American Meteor Society webpages at http://www.amsmeteors.org for more information

Highlights Dec 2 to Dec 8, 2007

International Space Station

Sun Dec 2 rises at 5:40:40 pm in SSE and disappears at 5:42:12 pm in the ESE (magnitude -0.2)Mon Dec 3 rises at 6:01:05 pm in the SSW and disappears at 6:03:57 pm in the SE (magnitude -1.9)

Sun

The Sun rises at 7:06 to 7:12 am MST and sets 4:38 MST this week.  A couple small regions just rotated over the eastern limb (left), region 10977.  Solar activity is predicted to remain at very low levels according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. Solar minimum is expected to occur around March 2008.

Moon

The Moon is new next Sunday, Dec 9 at 10:40 am.

Planets

Mercury is not visible.

Venus rises at 3:25 am early in the week, 3 hrs and 40 minutes before sunrise.  It is in constellation Virgo and is very, very bright magnitude at -4.1.

Mars rises around 6:27 pm to 5:54 pm this week and increases in brightness to magnitude -1.4 and to 15.6 arc sec across. It is in good position for viewing around 9 pm.

Jupiter sets about an hour after sunset in the southwest, it will disappear from early evening view in the next couple weeks.

Saturn rises 11 pm by the end of the week in constellation Leo. It is magnitude +1  in brightness and about 2 degrees southwest of galaxy triple M95, M96, M105.

Uranus is in constellation Aquarius and +5.8 magnitude.

Neptune is in constellation Capricornus and +7.9 magnitude.

Pluto is not visible.

Dark Sky

Dark sky weekend coming up for those truly dedicated and warmly dressed. If you stay out all night you can get 11 hours and 22 minutes of astronomical darkness. Early December skies have lots to offer. Fall galaxies M31 and  M33 are high up in the darkness after sunset. The Pleiades, M45, open cluster in Taurus is always beautiful in binoculars and small scopes. Open cluster M36, M37, and M38 in Auriga are easy binoculars objects as well. Later in the evening around 10 pm, everyone’s favorite nebula M42 and M43, the great Orion nebula, is in good position. In dark, transparent skies the bluish and reddish colors become apparent and the nebulocity appears three dimensional.  In nearby Gemini, take a look at the “Eskimo” or “Clown Face” greenish planetary nebula NGC 2392. 

Comets

Comet 17P Holmes is getting larger and dimmer in constellation Perseus. It is nearly a degree across and easy to spot in binoculars even in light polluted skies. 

Comet 8P Tuttle is now about magnitude +10 in constellation Draco.

Comet 46P Wirtanen is magnitude  +11.6 in constellation Aquarius. Look for it early in the evening around 6pm.

(See SkyHound.com  or Seiichi Yoshida’s Comet pages for charts and additional information).

Meteor Showers

Early December this year is a good time to go out meteor watching. The sporadic rates are near maximum and there are a number of minor meteor showers as well. Expect to see about 16 per hour in the early morning.  See the American Meteor Society webpages at Posted in Astronomy, Sky this Week | No Comments »