The Constellations of Cassiopeia and Auriga

I took this image of Cassiopeia on Wednesday

 

Where is Cassiopeia? I used astrometry.net to find out

I also took an image of Auriga and suroundings

and this is the plate solved image

Ursa Major and some Messier Galaxies

I took this image of the Plough - otherwise called the Big Dipper.

 

There are a number of objects of interest in and near Ursa Major - including a number of Messier objects as shown in the chart below

 Here is one of them - Messier 109

Messier 109 in Ursa Major - 60s exp. SBIG ST9XE C14M101 is another galaxy in the constellation

Messier 101 in Ursa Major SBIG ST9XE C14

Messier 81

Messier 81 in Ursa Major - 60s exp. SBIG ST9XE C14

M82

Messier 82 in Ursa Major - 60s exp. SBIG ST9XE C14

The Hyades and the Pleiades imaged this morning just after midnight.

Last night was clear and I took this image of the Hyades and Pleiades

The Hyades and Pleides Clusters in the constellation of Taurus 30s exp. f/6.3 ISO 1600 Sony A350 DSLRHere is a chart identiying some of the stars

and an expanded chart of the Pleiades

Learning about Astronomy

Today's "Amateur Night Sky Daily" is all about finding current astronomical information and learning about astronomy. It includes links to information sites and some introductory videos about astronomy - there are many of these available online.

Weather has been variable this week as the following images from my observing site will illustrate.

I did manage some early morning shots

Before sunrise looking East 10 seconds exp. ISO 3200

The 10s ISO 3200 image below of Orion setting illustrates the growing problem of light pollution.

A single house at 7 a.m. can produce a lot of light.

Orion at 6.a.m. today 25th November 2014

At 6 a.m. this morning it was still dark - just about - and I was out with my camera to try and get an image of the Orion Nebula as that is the topic of "The Amateur Night Sky Daily" today. I used my Sony Alpha 350 and an 18mm lens. Orion was in the west but it was fairly murky in several regions of the sky. This is a 30 second image.

Unfortunately the pole for the lightning conductor does get in the way  in this image!

I have identified some of the stars in the image - see the annotated version below.

Through my Binoculars

Today's Amateur Night Sky Daily is all about Binoculars and astronomy.

It was partially clear last night and I looked at a few objects with my Russian 7X50 Binoculars. They are an exceptionally solid pair with very good optics. the focusing is smooth and accurate. I know that in 1945 much of the Carl Zeiss factory in Jena Germany was transferred to Russian operation resulting in a quality boost to Russian Products. I inherited these binoculars and can't check how old they are but there seem to be a number of similar pairs selling online. Mine are like a new pair with no marks or damage.

The first constellation I spotted on going out was Cassiopeia - it was almost overhead and because of its position an M shape rather than the W shape I normally think of.

The Milky Way was all around and seemed more dispersed Alpha Perseus Regionthan normal - perhaps I was seeing more of it in the very clear sky. To the right of Cassiopeia was the constellation of Perseus  - the binocular view of the stars around Alpha Perseii (Mirfak) is one of my favourites. Alpha Persii is magnitude 1.72. In between Cassiopeia and Perseus was the Double Cluster - quite Double Cluster in Perseus. Len Adambriliant as always but with 7 X 50 binoculars handheld a little shaky. I need a better way of holding binoculars - I find just putting them on a tripod does help but makes for a stiff neck. The image on the right through my 4 inch refractor earlier this month gives an idea of the view through the 7X50 binoculars. The most spectacular view through my binoculars were the Hyades and Aldebaran. Aldebaran was a really bright orange and the main stars of the Hyades cluster fitted well into the field of view of my binoculars. Orion was sideways rising over the mountains towards the east and the Pleiades were very Pleiades Len Adam

bright almost overhead.

There was cloud to the south over the mountain tops which restricted the view in that direction and clouds were moving in rapidly.

This morning at 6 a.m. it had cleared and I took a 30 second image of Jupiter and Leo using my Sony DSLR

This is the annotated version - I have identified some of the stars in the image. Note the faint smudge of M44 at top right.

This is the pair of Russian 7X50 binoculars I used last night.

This is how I attach them to my tripod.

This morning I invented a way of using my i-phone as a finder using the "Sky View" App

To use Sky View as a finder for the Sun I selected Search

then chose the Solar System

then the Sun - an arrow shows the direction to move the binocular/phone combination

almost there

and there it is

spot on

Where are the Dwarf Planets

The articles in The Amateur Night Sky Daily for today explain what Dwarf Planets are why they are so named.

I pointed out where Pluto  - one of the Dwarf Planets was yesterday - it won't have moved much in a day!

This is where the Dwarf Planet Ceres is today at Magnitude 8.76

and this is where it is in the Solar System

 This is where Haumea is located in Bootes at Magnitude 17.33

and Makemake is in Coma Berenices at Magnitude 16.96

Eris is located inthe constellation of Cetus at Magnitude 18.71

This is today's solar system view of all the Dwarf Planets.

Click the image to go to the interactive Solar System Scope

Where is Mars in the sky?

With no clear nights here recently I have begun to lose track of Mars and other planets (and Dwarf Planets!)

This morning's chart

So Mars in in Sagittarius with Dwarf Planet Pluto - no doubt looking for a cup of tea from the teapot! I have also highlighted Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko which is "nearby" in two dimensions - so if you are wondering where Rosetta and Philae and the comet are - you now know.

To put this into perspective - literally - here is the solar system showing the positions of all these objects. The comet orbit is shown - the vertical lines show how far above or below the eclitic the comet lies in its orbit, It is heading for the Sun.

I like the names Rosetta and Philae - I have visited the island of Philae in Egypt and have spent some time in the British Museum looking at the Rosetta Stone and working out the hieroglyphics that cracked the code!

My neighbour here in Spain asked me if I had looked at the comet through my telescope - I explained how faint it was - but that I had taken an image of the area.

On the chart you will see that Venus rises after the Sun and that the Moon is very close - with a phase of 0.14%. Saturn is near the Moon. You may notice a comet symbol just above the Sun. In fact that is the comet 135P/Shoemaker-Levy at magnitude 18.39. However this is not the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that collided with Jupiter 20 years ago - David Levy discovered a number of comets with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker. You will notice that Saturn is also close to the Sun in the sky.

Back to Mars - who needs a telescope - it is amazing that we can view a billion pixel interactive image from the surface of Mars and look around the immediate area - click on the image to link to the interactive viewer.

 I particularly like this video/animation of "How to get to Mars" (Spirit)

The LMC and the Tarantula.

No Moon images today - fairly total cloud cover. I am looking at NGC 2070 imaged using T30 at Siding Spring. This is the first image in Hydrogen Alpha light.

NGC 2070 nebulosity in Hydrogen Alpha - The Tarantula Nebula

The nebula surrounding the energising star cluster R136 - NGC 2070 in Dorado in Hydrogen Alpha. The telescope T30 at Siding Spring was used to take the image. A 300 second exposure. The Tarantula Nebula lies within the Large Magellanic Cloud. 

There are four star clusters surrounding this object that are better shown in the following luminance image. I call these the Four Horsemen of the Tarantula! 

North is to the right and East is up in this image. 

I can see a ghostly figure here quite clearly with a face with eyes, eyebrows, lips, teeth, holding a bunch of flowers (or an LED torch) in its right hand (NGC 2060). Is this an alien race trying to make contact? It actually reminds me of someone... ......Senility is setting in - I will be carted away soon!

NGC 2070 (30 Doradus) the Tarantula Nebula - and the Four Horsemen.

This 300 second luminance only image (T30 Siding Spring) shows NGC 2070 and also four star clusters surrounding it - from bottom left clockwise they are - NGC 2100, NGC 2093, NGC 2042 and NGC 2044. I call these the Four Horsemen of the Tarantula although there is another cluster below and to the right of the Nebula - NGC 2060 - and of course the cluster energising the Tarantula, R136, partially visible through the nebulosity. There is a very old star cluster there as well - Hodge 301 - with stars that contain reused material from ancient supernovae - identified in the following image. North is up and East is to the left in this image.

Hodge 301 Old Star Cluster in the Tarantula Nebula.

Grebel and Chu estimate that the cluster Hodge 301 indicated is 10 times older than the cluster at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula R136.

This morning's Moon and happy birthday Edwin Hubble - see today's "Daily"

I seem to be in a routine of imaging the Moon every morning using my Sony DSLR Camera - this morning I used my lightweight carbon fibre tripod that I bought to take in my rucksack for bird photograpy and a release cable that makes things a bit easier. I used the 18 to 70 mm zoom lens initially then my 150 -500mm zoom lens for a closer look.

The Moon this morning - rising over the Sierra Cabrera Mountain Range

This is a closer view with the small lens set to 70mm

and a much closer view with the 500mm lens

 It is Edwin Hubble's birthday today - I have dedicated today's "Amateur Astronomy Daily" to Hubble  - here is a sample video - something slightly diffferent! Watch it past the introduction!