I really thought that my last observation of Lulin would be a one off considering the weather conditions over the last few weeks, but the sky on Monday evening through to Tuesday morning (24.02.09) was exceptional and I knew that I was going to get a second chance at this fantastic comet.
Turning my giant binoculars towards Lulin revealed that the nucleus was not as well defined as my first observation and was rather more diffuse, but bright nonetheless. The coma on the other hand appeared to be quite hazy and I couldn’t discern any colour like I had seen previously. Looking over to the left of my field of view I could just make out the extremely faint and diaphanous dust tail stretching out behind the comet if I used averted vision. On this occasion, and much to my surprise, the tail seemed slightly longer and a little fatter which left me wondering if I was seeing things. While the dust tail was tenuously observable, the ion tail still remained completely undetectable.
I stayed with Lulin for a further half hour before I set my sights on a far more diminutive target: The Black Eye Galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 64. I had tried for this faint DSO at the beginning of the month under Moon lit skies, and surprise surprise had failed to locate it (call me foolhardy). This time around I really didn’t have much of a problem pinning M64 down, and had it in my field of view within a few minutes after tracking up from α Com to HP 64312 and then sweeping about 5° west. The galaxy itself showed up as a faint but condensed blot of elongated light with a hint of what I can only describe as a misty golden centre. A delightful binocular object and like other galaxies I have seen, I found M64 to be no less absorbing.
I managed to continue observing for a further ten minutes before my binoculars began to fog up with dew, forcing me to bring things to an end. However, having had a second run at Lulin and bagging Messier 64, I really didn’t feel hard done by. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty rewarding observing session.
[image edited: 26.02.09]
Tags: C/2007 N3 Lulin, Coma Berenices, M64, Strathspey 25x100, The Black Eye Galaxy, Weather
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Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) was discovered back in July 2007 by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory in Taiwan. Within the next few days this very same comet will make it’s closet approach to the Earth at just 0.41 astronomical units, the equivalent of 61 million kilometers. What the weather conditions will be like over Central Scotland at this time will be anyones’ guess, but I’m not going to hold out much hope for a clear sky.
However, as luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to observe Lulin early this morning as the thick blanket of stratus that had been bearing down over Falkirk was slowly torn apart by high altitude wind shear. Finding the comet was a breeze and my Bresser 10×50 binoculars easily revealed the diffuse, ball like coma and the bright nucleus, but minus the tail or the anti tail.
After spending some time observing with the 10×50s, I decided to set up the 25×100s to see how much more detail I could pull from my light polluted skies. With direct vision the coma was still quite diffuse but I could easily discern the bright nucleus as well as a faint hint of the green hue that Lulin is emitting due to the gaseous out jetting of cyanogen and diatomic carbon. Averted vision caused the entire coma to brighten noticeably and revealed a tenuous glimpse of the dust tail trailing after the comet, but the ion tail was sadly still elusive. This really was a magnificent and thrilling sight and I took the opportunity to produce an isophote drawing which was used for reference when creating the final sketch above.
Unfortunately the clouds decided to quickly reclaim the sky and although my session only lasted around 30 minutes I am extremely glad that I got the chance to observe Lulin. I dare say that my sketch would have yielded far more detail had I made an observation from a dark sky site, but you work with what you’ve got. I’d love to spend another morning under the stars in the company of this comet, especially with better weather conditions, but the prospects of that happening look pretty slim. If you’ve not done so yet, I would highly recommend taking in a view of this stunning comet - you won’t be disappointed!
Tags: Bresser 10x50, C/2007 N3 Lulin, Strathspey 25x100, Weather
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 5 Comments »
The last few weeks have been tough: 144P/Kushida has been virtually non-existent and my deep sky observing has just gone straight out of the window. However, much to my relief Thursday night offered a clear spell, albeit a short one. The sky transparency wasn’t all that great, but I certainly wasn’t complaining - you take what you can get under these kind of circumstances.
I decided that I wasn’t going to squander any of my precious time chasing after Kushida when I could be catching up with my deep sky observing. My targets for the night were Messier 35, an open cluster in Gemini and Messier 103 and Messier 52, both open clusters in Cassiopeia. I set up the tripod from about 22:40 UT and was just finishing mounting my Bresser 10×50s when a cloud layer rolled in over the western horizon and quickly obscured the sky. To add to that, it also began to rain so I had to pack up and head indoors to wait and hope for the skies to clear.
Somebody up there was listening because within half an hour the clouds had drifted away leaving behind them a reasonably clear sky. I headed back out at around 23:20 UT, this time just with the 10×50s hand held and immediately trained them on Gemini. By using the stars Tejat and Propus as a guide, M35 wasn’t at all hard to find and instantly jumped out at me from the 7° FOV. At a magnitude of 5.3 M35 is a fairly bright DSO and under suitable sky conditions the open cluster can even be made out with the naked eye. Through my bins the cluster offered a wonderful view with some subtle granularity, but that could possibly have been down to the atmospheric conditions. After spending some time studying M35 I moved on to Cassiopeia, but not before stopping to take in some of the sights in Auriga. Namely M36, M37 and M38 which for me are just some of the finest distant open clusters observable in the night sky. If you’ve not looked at these three open clusters before, do so - you won’t be disappointed.
Finding M103 in Cassiopiea was no hard task as the open cluster sits quite close to the star Ruchbah, but at magnitude 7.4 M103 is not as vivid as M35 in Gemini and is not quite as dense. I’d have to agree with Harlow Shapely who classified M103 as a loose and poor cluster, but while M103 lacks the pizazz of M35 it still makes for a noteworthy observation. Messier 52 on the other hand proved to be a harder nut to crack as it remained elusive to me no matter how many times I swept out from the star Caph towards the constellation Cepheus. Visibility really wasn’t tack sharp and some thin fractocumulus clouds were impeding my view so my lack of success was probably down to that.
As the conditions steadily declined I decided to wrap things up and return to M52 at some future point when the weather proved to be far more agreeable. I’d also like to return to M35 and M103 with the 25×100s but that’s for another time. For the moment I’m happy I was able to get out and score two DSOs off the list and take in some satisfying observations.
Tags: 144P/Kushida, Auriga, Bresser 10x50, Caph, Cassiopiea, Cepheus, Gemini, Harlow Shapely, M103, M35, M36, M37, M38, M52, Propus, Ruchbah, Tejat, Weather
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It’s been almost a fortnight since I posted any fresh material up here, but it really has been an on-going battle with the weather. Saturday night offered some respite from the stormy conditions that hit the east of Scotland by late afternoon and I was able to get out for half an hour with the Bresser 10×50s to take in a view of Messier 41 in Canis Major. The hazy visibility and the local light pollution really didn’t do this beautiful open cluster any justice, but it was still nice to get out and do some star gazing for a change. In addition to this I’ve also been doggedly trying to pursue 144P/Kushida as it glides through the constellation of Taurus, but I’ve had very little success with this elusive comet. My last observing session was over two weeks ago and since then I’ve only managed to snatch the odd hour or two during the last couple of nights, but still to no avail. Bad sky transparency and general light pollution have ensured that my runs at Kushida have become a frustrating chore rather than an exciting challenge. Still I am optimistic that I can grab a decent if not better observation of this ghostly comet as it slowly reaches perihelion in the next few days.
Even although the weather has proved to be a thorn in my side when it comes to observational astronomy, I have found myself becoming more and more interested in it as a subject. The formation of cloud systems particularly interests me, which I have began to photograph over the last week or so. On the back of this I decided to start a new project called White Light which is built upon the open source photoblogging software Pixel Post. White Light join Flickr (you can view my photostream over at http://www.flickr.com/photos/photonjunkie/) will serve as a testing ground for my photographic skills and as a to showcase for some of my more interesting ’skyscapes’ which I hope you will enjoy. While I try to harmonize my passion for astronomy with my new found cloud obsession, I really do wish that the weather would clear up just enough so I can catch a glimpse of Kushida. As someone once said: “Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.” I guess I’ll be clinging on to that cheap and universal cure then . . .
[Post edited 07.02.09]
Tags: 144P/Kushida, Bresser 10x50, Canis Major, M41, Taurus, Weather
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For a brief time on Thursday evening the clouds melted away and allowed the blue sky to shine through unsubdued. Making the most of the opportunity I got out and took some wide field shots of the rising gibbous Moon. As I did so, the remaining clouds played across the sky and helped (I think) add a sense of depth to these two shots.
The two exposures above were taken in JPEG mode at 1/80th of a second using a focal length of 70mm with an f/stop of 5.6 and an ISO of 100. Both images were then processed in Photoshop CS2 where I adjusted the white balance, applied some mild noise reduction and used two soft light layers to increase the contrast. All though I like both shots, for me the first one is my favorite - there’s a certain scale and intimacy to it that really does grab me.
We’re due for another perigee Moon (the point of closest approach) on Saturday evening, so fingers crossed that the weather will be kind and allow me to get back out to do some imaging. Here’s hoping!
Tags: DSLR, Moon, Perigee Moon, Weather
Posted in Astrophotography | 2 Comments »
