Saturn from last evening just before midnight taken with Nexstar11 and Phillips webcam 840K
And one just a few minutes after midnight with Nexstar11, Televue 2.5X Powermate, and Phillips 840K webcam.
12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence was better than usual, about 6/10. Aligned, stacked, and wavelet filtered with Registax4.
Image below is of NGC 2392, the Eskimo Nebula in constellation Gemini. The one from the Hubble is admittedly just a tad bit better.
Image from last night, Feb 5 after 11 pm, 12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence was better than usual, about 6/10. All images from Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, (4 second integration, 9/14 gain). 30 frames aligned, dark subtracted, flat field corrected, aligned, stacked, and enhanced with Registax4.
NGC 2371 and 2372, the double-bubble nebula in constellation Gemini. A couple teardrops with 14.8 magnitude star in between.
Images acquired from Louisville, CO. Temperature was 12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence about 6/10. All images from Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, (4 second integration, 9/14 gain). 30 frames aligned, dark subtracted, flat field corrected, aligned, stacked, and enhanced with Registax4.
NGC 2903 is 8.9 magnitude spiral galaxy in constellation Leo:
It was great ccd weather last night here in Louisville, temperature was 12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence was better than usual, about 6/10. All images from Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, (4 second integration, 9/14 gain). 30 frames aligned, dark subtracted, flat field corrected, aligned, stacked, and enhanced with Registax4.
The following is a brief summary of some things to see in the sky this week, Feb 3 thru Feb 9, 2008.
International Space Station
No bright passes this week.
Sun
For those of us at 40 degrees north latitude, the sun rises at 7:09 am on Sunday. It sets at 5:24 pm. By the following Saturday it rises at 7:03 am and sets at 5:31 pm.
One small region, number 10982, is visible just west of the center of the sun’s disk. It is currently decreasing in size and may disappear in a few days.
Moon
On Monday morning at lunation 27.1 the moon appears as a very thin waxing crescent low in the southeast below Venus and Jupiter.
The moon is new on Wed Feb 6th at 8:44 pm.
On Thursday the Moon sets at 6:17 pm at 0.9 days after new the Moon. It will be difficult to spot in the bright twilight. Only a thin patch near the center of the thin crescent may be visible.
By Friday at lunation 1.9, the Moon will easy to see low in the west.
On Saturday at lunation 2.9 look for the craters Endymon and Geminus in the north. The sun will be rising over the lunar plane of Mare Crisium. The long shadows emphasis lunar rilles and other features. Slew toward the south and look for craters Langrenus and Petavius.
Planets
Mars is high overhead in constellation Taurus in the early evening. It within a couple degrees of 2nd magnitude star Alnath which is shared by constellation Auriga and Taurus. On Saturday it will be -0.35 magnitude in brightness and 11 arc sec across the disk.
Saturn is in constellation Leo which is visible in the eastern sky around 9pm. It is 0.6 magnitude in brightness and the disk is about 20 arc sec across.
Jupiter and Venus may be seen low in the southeast before sunrise in the constellation Sagittarius. Jupiter is magnitude -1.7 and 33 arc sec across. Venus is magnitude -3.9 and 12 arc sec across.
Dark Sky
The upcoming weekend will have dark skies — the moon sets around 8:36 pm Saturday.
Nebula
The great Orion Nebula, Messier 42, is still high up in the south in the early evening. In dark skies and large aperture scopes subtle shades of green, blue and red may be seen.
Look eastward toward the constellation Gemini and locate the bluish-green nebula NGC2392 which is sometimes referred to as the Eskimo or clown face nebula. In small scopes it appears as a small faint oval patch surrounding a conspicuous 10.4 magnitude central star. In large aperture scopes the central star appears to be surrounded by disk which is split by an outer concentric ring.
Galaxies
The galaxies Messier 81 and 82 in constellation Ursa Major are in good position for viewing around 9 pm. By 10 pm the galaxy NGC 2903 in Leo is up high enough to view as well. In small scopes ngc 2903 appears as an elongated oval with a bright central core. In larger scopes small bright and dark patches may be seen within the galaxy.
Globular clusters
Brightest globular visible this time of year is Messier 79 down below Orion in constellation Lepus. In a telescope it has bright dense central core surrounded by a less dense halo of stars.
Comets
17P Holmes is in constellation Perseus east of the star Algol. It is currently around 80 or so arc minutes across. You’ll probably need binoculars and dark skies to locate it.
Look for the comet 46P/Wirtanen early in the evening in the constellation Pisces. It is magnitude 9.2 in brightness and x arc min across.
29P/Schwasmann-Wachmann is in constellation Auriga and is around magnitude 11.6. It has a very small coma, only 15 arc-secs wide so it will appear stellar in the eyepiece. You need to sketch the star field carefully or capture images separated by half hour or so in time to locate it.
