Messier Objects - M40

Messier 40 is probably the least exciting of any object on the entire catalogue.  American astronomer Robert Burnham Jr. is quoted as saying that M40 is "one of the few real mistakes in the Messier Catalog."

Messier 40, also known as Winnecke 4 is merely an optical double star.  Two stars completely unrelated gravitationally but appear close to each other as viewed from Earth.  There are many examples of this throughout the sky.

The most popular theory as to why this was added to the catalog was based on an observation made by the famous Polish astronomer, Johannes Hevelius.  Hevelius described the pair of stars as a nebula on the back of Ursa Major.  This was probably due to the quality of his telescope at the time as the two stars are quite close to each other.  Messier was able to split the two stars and included it in his list because those with small apertures may confuse it for a comet.  In the 21st century, telescopes are of a quality that it is quite easy to split these two stars at 51.7" apart.  They may have been even closer in Messier's day.

M40 is located approximately 80' from Delta Ursae Majoris, thus seemingly making it easy to find.  I went into the observation with expectations of easily uncovering a double star after moving the telescope in the correct direction.  I was quickly proven wrong.  I found my way to 70 Ursae Majoris which was about 1° away from δ UMa.  I knew M40 must be in the same field so I searched intently around the field of view.  There was a faint pair of stars about a quarter of the field of view away from 70 UMa.  This was the Messier object?  It turned out it was and it was the most spectacularly unimpressive sight I have ever seen.  The map below can help you locate this pair of stars if you are ever working on a Messier Certificate.

M40 Map

There are several other deep sky objects within the same 1° field of view as M40.  NGC's 4284, 4290, 4335, and 4358 are all faint galaxies that were likely too dim for Messier's day.  With a bright waxing gibbous and urban light pollution I would have no hope in my 8".  Perhaps in an extremely dark site during a new Moon with a 16" I could perhaps pick them out.

The observation record is shown below.

M40 Observation Record

This object is basically a checklist item on your way to observing all of the Messier objects.  There is no other real reason to head in this direction unless of course you want to catch those four NGC galaxies with a large aperture telescope.  Good luck if you intend to seek it as it is much dimmer than you would expect.

2018 Week 22: (May 27-June 2)

We have reached the first week of June and the weather has been fantastic.  The transparency and seeing was amazing last week and I was able to get some great observing in!  We have some lunar conjunctions with our local gas giants and a full Moon to brighten our sky.  The chart below highlights this upcoming week in the sky.

Date	Event
May 27	Jupiter 4°S of Moon
May 29	Full Moon
May 31	Saturn 1.6°S of Moon
May 31	Falcon 9 Launch (SES 12 Communications Satellite) 22:29 MDT

The other night I was awoken to one of my kids.  It was around 03:00 and I took the time to look outside at the sky.  Jupiter, Saturn and Mars formed a beautiful arc across the southern sky.  It was a wonder to behold.  I had not seen Mars so brilliant since its last opposition back in 2016.  It will still become larger and brighter as we approach opposition in late July.

Jupiter still continues to shine brightly in the southeastern sky as the Sun sets.  Saturn and Mars follow it up 4 and 6 hours later respectively.  You can still catch Venus in the northwestern sky at evening twilight.

Jupiter

The Spring constellations are out in full force and you can catch some favourites like: Virgo, Libra, Leo, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Hercules and Boötes!  If you have a pair of binoculars try to find the famous Hercules Cluster!

M13 - Hercules Globular Cluster

If you haven't watched a rocket launch live before it is certainly worth seeing.  Another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for Thursday evening around 10:30.  If it isn't scrubbed before then tune into the following website to see it live!

https://spaceflightnow.com/

The weather forecast looks great for the first half of the week then it seems like it devolves into rain by the end.  It will be well worth your time to spend a quiet evening out under the stars on Monday or Tuesday!  Bring bug spray!

Messier Objects - M82

It was a lot of fun tracking down M81 and M82.  The sky had been clear during the evening all week and I was excited to find some galaxies from the backyard.

M82 is dimmer than its neighbour M81.  It is magnitude 8.41 and out of reach to naked eye observers.  It is also a challenging object for binocular observers but certainly possible from dark sites and a steady hand.

It is known as a starburst galaxy as it is undergoing an extremely high rate of star formation.  It is approximately 12 million light years away making it the closest starburst galaxy to our home.  It also was discovered by Johann Bode at the same time he found M81.  It is also known as the Cigar Galaxy as it appears elongated due to its orientation.  It is separated from its neighbour by about 300,000 light years; three times the diameter of the Milky Way.  This close proximity is responsible for the high rate of star formation.

M81/M82 Map

I used the two guide stars to approximately line up the red dot finder with the region of space that contained the galaxies.  At first I was a little low and ended up searching below M81 and M82.  I then moved the telescope up about one 1° field of view and a blurry light appeared in the 25mm eyepiece.  I realized that I had found M81.  I looked around the field of view carefully with averted vision and noticed a linear blurry region no more than three quarters of a degree away.  This was M82!  When I got used to observing it with averted vision I was able to see it with direct vision although with less contrast.

The following evening I used my 4" refractor to take an image of this region.

M82

The observation record for M82 is shown below.

M82 Observation Record

Enjoy the sights of the night sky and try to catch a galaxy at the next public star night!

Messier Objects - M81

The Big Dipper was settled nicely in the shallow northeastern sky on May 18, 2018 just before midnight.  I used this opportunity to locate M81 and M82.

M81 is a large spiral galaxy that is almost 12 million light years away.  It is also known as 'Bode's Galaxy' as it was discovered by Johann Bode in 1774.  Messier rediscovered the galaxy several years later and it was added to his catalogue.  It's apparent magnitude is around 6.94 and typically out of sight to naked eye observers.  There have been credible naked eye sightings from extremely dark, high altitude locations.  I will try with binoculars from my suburban backyard but I feel pessimistic about my odds.

M81 is situated in a line from γ Ursae Majoris (Phecda) to α Ursae Majoris (Dubhe).  The map below shows how conveniently placed it is for visual observers.

M81/82 Map

I used the two guide stars to approximately line up the red dot finder with the region of space that contained the galaxies.  At first I was a little low and ended up searching below M81 and M82.  I then moved the telescope up about one 1° field of view and a blurry light appeared in the 25mm eyepiece.  I realized that I had found M81.  It was a beautiful sight even if it just appeared as a fuzzy patch.  The thrill is to find the object and not the current generation's disappointment of non-Hubble views.

The following evening I used my 4" refractor to take an image of this region.  As with M3, I hope to get out to a dark site to improve the contrast of the photograph.

M81

Besides the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) this is probably one of the first galaxies I spent time observing.  Galaxies are notoriously difficult to view under city lights due to the abundance of light pollution.

The observation record for M81 is shown below.

M81 Observation Record

If you are ever out with binoculars try to find this target, you'll be well rewarded!

Messier Objects - M3

We had a significant amount of snow on the ground throughout the first half of Spring 2018.  This did not allow me to get out too much with the telescope to observe the sky.  I am currently working on the Messier Certificate which requires the manual observation of all 110 Messier Objects.  This catalogue includes 28 Open Clusters, 28 Globular Clusters, 8 Bright Nebulae, 4 Planetary Nebulae, 40 Galaxies and 1 Double Star.

I made a list of Spring Messier objects in a recent post and set a goal to find some of them this year.

The first object I intended to find was M3, a globular cluster located in the southern region of the lesser known constellation of Canes Venatici.  The map below shows where it can be located in the sky.

M3 Map

There is a bright star, known as α Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli), below the end handle star of the Big Dipper.  Approximately halfway between this star and α Boötis (Arcturus) lies the globular cluster known as M3.  In extremely dark, clear skies this cluster has been seen with the naked eye.

I used the red dot finder on my 8" reflector telescope to align it exactly between the two stars.  I moved the telescope slightly toward Arcturus and the cluster came into view.  It had been awhile since I observed a globular cluster and I certainly enjoyed the sight.  It looked like a blurry patch of light noticeably different than the background stars in my 62.5' field of view.  Light from the city, twilight and the crescent Moon provided enough light pollution that it was difficult to resolve any individual stars.  Later in the evening I was able to see some with averted vision.  It seemed slightly smaller than M13, the globular cluster located in Hercules several constellations away.

The next evening I was able to image M3 using my 4" refractor telescope.  This is shown below.  The galaxy NGC 5263 is also present in the image.  I hope to get out to a dark site and use a light pollution filter to aid in contrast.

M3

Some quick facts about M3 is that it is located approximately 33,900 light years away and contains about half a million stars.  It has quite a high abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium and contains the highest number of variable stars in a globular cluster.  It is approximately 16.2' in diameter and shines at magnitude 6.2.

The observation record is shown below.

M3 Observation Record

This was a fun Messier to find as it was fairly bright and obvious when it was in the telescope's field of view.  Onto the next one!

Astroimaging Lesson 1 - Setup and Autoguiding

This blog has a twofold purpose.  It is to showcase to the public the many wonderful things that can be seen in the sky no matter your experience level.  The other purpose is to act as a journal/notebook of things that I have learned so I can review them at a later time.

This post is to log the information I received last night that I can use to refer to for next time.

I had the great fortune of having a very experienced astroimager come over to help me with my equipment and teach me autoguiding.

Imaging

Autoguiding is basically a process whereby you attach a secondary telescope (guide scope) to the primary telescope.  A small camera is placed in the secondary telescope and hooked up to a computer.  A computer program looks at the stars in that view and locks onto one.  If there are tracking errors associated with the mount due to wind, heavy traffic, people walking it will compensate by ensuring that star stays within a very small pixel range.  This allows the astroimager to take a long exposure photograph through the primary telescope without having to worry about star trails created by mount tracking errors.

In the past I did not use an autoguider and I noticed most of my exposures longer than one minute had star trails.

Mount Setup Procedure

The evening started out with lessons while the Sun was still up.  I hauled out my large tripod and mount to a grassy region in my backyard.  The three key things to ensure are absolutely correct are:

1. Level the mount.  This can be done my looking at the level bubbles on the tripod to ensure the bubbles are in the middle of the circle.  If they are not, adjust the position and height of the legs to ensure this is correct.
2. Balance the telescope.   When the telescope and imaging equipment has been installed on the mount it must be balanced in declination and right ascension.  This can be done by opening the declination clutch and see if the telescope is stable (not moving) at different positions.  This process is repeated for right ascension.  If the balance needs to be adjusted in declination, the telescope needs to move forward or backward on the mount.  However, if the balance needs to be adjusted in right ascension, the counterweight needs to be moved up or down the bar.
3. Accurate Polar Alignment.  This is critical to ensure there is no star rotation with the images taken.  Autoguiding can only take you so far.  The polar axis of the mount should be pointed as close to North (Polaris) as possible.  The next thing to do is to use the polar scope and line up the constellations shown on it as good as possible.  The final step is to place Polaris in the bubble indicated through the polar scope by course and fine adjustments of the mount.  There are other more advanced techniques to polar align that I have yet to learn.

Imaging Equipment Setup

The telescope was installed correctly on the mount and then required several items of imaging equipment.

1. Autoguiding Scope.  I was using my 540mm refractor so I opted to use the 50mm guidescope.  It was piggybacked on top of the primary scope using a simple bracket.
2. Autoguider.  I used the Orion StarShoot AutoGuider and installed it into the back of the 50mm guidescope with the words facing upwards to ensure a consistent chip position from night to night.  I plugged it into the computer via a USB cable and also plugged the guider into the guide port on the mount.
3. Camera.  I used a Canon 6D camera and used a T-Ring to install it onto the back of the telescope.  When I tested the focus on Venus I noticed I needed more space in the imaging train so I added a 1" spacer and ensured it focused approximately in the middle of the extent of the focuser.  I used the maximum zoom on the live view of the camera and the fine focus knob to ensure the focus was as perfect as possible.  I plugged a automatic shutter release cable into the port of the camera.  In the future I will use a USB connection and take my images using BackyardEOS on my computer.

Basic Alignment

When it has become sufficiently dark the stars will start to come out.  The mount should be turned on and the hand control panel will ask several questions regarding the date and time.  I use an app to ensure the time is accurate as possible.

The hand control will then ask which type of alignment that would like to be done.  I choose two-star alignment.  It will then indicate to put the telescope to the 'starting position' aligned with the arrows on the mount.  After that is done a star will need to be chosen from the panel.  You will need to know your stars and their basic location.  When you choose a star from the hand control the telescope will slew to that region of the sky.  The next step is to use the live view on the camera to ensure the star is in the middle of the view.  There is a course adjustment and a fine adjustment to get the star to the center of the view (use a high zoom on the live view).  When the telescope is aligned to this star it will ask for another.  It is good to get stars at different parts of the sky but typically not overhead.  After the two star alignment you may add additional calibration stars until the telescope slews to the stars without much adjustment.

Autoguiding

I used the program PHD Guiding 2.0 to do all of the autoguiding throughout the evening.

I opened the program and clicked on the 'Connect to Equipment' button located in the bottom left.  It asked me which type of autoguiding camera I was using and fortunately mine was in the system so all the information could be imported without any advanced adjustment which I did not have to learn yet.

Connect to Equipment Button

While it was still light out I created a dark library to ensure I would hopefully not guide on a hot pixel from the autoguider.  To do this I clicked on the 'Darks' menu on the toolbar at the top and navigated to 'Dark Library'.  I ensured the lens cap was on the guidescope and then created a library of dark images.  This process took no more than a few minutes.

When it got dark I slewed the telescope to a known object in the sky I wanted to image.  When the telescope had stopped moving I clicked on the 'Begin Looping' button that sat next to the 'Connect to Equipment' Button.

Begin Looping Button

When I clicked on this button an image of the stars in the region the guide scope was pointed to appeared.  I had to adjust the distance the autoguiding camera was in the guidescope to focus the stars as cleanly as possible.  This was finicky but it was done within a couple minutes.

I used the 'Tools' menu on the toolbar and navigated to 'Auto-select Star'.  The program selected a star that it would use to autoguide.  The program had been run a calibration and it spent about 5 minutes calibrating the setup.  This typically has to be done once per evening unless you are moving the equipment around the yard which is not recommended.

After the calibration was complete I was ready to autoguide!  I clicked on the 'Begin Guiding' button located at the bottom of the window and it began to work.

Begin Guiding

I noticed in the Star Profile sub-window a plot of the target star.  The plot should look quite spiky without a flat top to ensure proper guiding.  The History sub-window showed a graph of the right ascension and declination corrections.  It seemed to be tracking very well with only minor corrections required.

After I had finished photographing the area found within the field of view of the primary telescope I stopped the autoguiding.  I then moved to a new target and auto-selected a new star and began guiding again.

Basic Imaging

I set my DSLR camera to bulb and used a remote shutter as to minimize the vibrations to the mount.  I took several images at a 30 second exposure and several at a 2 minute exposure.  I hope to learn how to process these images some time in the near future.

Using the remote shutter became a hassle as I had to keep monitoring it to close the shutter.  There is an intervalometer setting on it but I wanted to spend more time imaging than fiddling with a remote.  The program BackyardEOS will allow me to control the camera from my laptop thus removing the necessity of learning the intervalometer.

Takedown

Taking down the equipment is always difficult.  It is usually late at night and you are usually cold.  There are many wires and pieces of equipment that need to be placed in the right spot so you can find them the next evening.  I still have to organize the stuff I dumped on the couch last night!  I hope to have a good takedown system for when I image in the future.

Going Forward

I hope to try setting up again this week to practice the many things that I learned.  I also am looking forward to using the new camera control software to ease some of the astroimaging burden.

Now that I have data (photons collected from space onto the camera chip) I need to learn how to process it using a post-processing program such as Photoshop.  I look forward to the opportunity to learn from some experts who are colleagues in the Royal Astronomical Society.

Perhaps in the further future (Fall 2018?) I would certainly like to try this setup with my 2800mm focal length C11 telescope.  I was taught that it is not as forgiving compared to using the wide field 540mm focal length refractor.

I am very grateful for all the help I received from very kind members of RASC and for the equipment I purchased from All-Star Telescope which is linked below.  If you ever are interested in getting into astronomy give them a call today and avoid the department store products.

https://www.all-startelescope.com/

2018 Week 21: (May 20-May 26)

This week marks the end of night for Calgary!  Night occurs when the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon.  Since we are somewhat high in the Northern Hemisphere we experience 2 months without official night!  For a full discussion on this follow the link below.

http://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-is-twilight.html

Even though astronomers from Calgary mope around in astronomical twilight it certainly does not mean there is nothing to see.  There are a few conjunctions this week that may be fun to check out.  The chart below highlights these dark sky events!

Date	Event
May 20	Moon 1.7°S of Beehive (M44)
May 21	Venus 0.7°N of M35
May 21	Regulus 1.5°S of Moon
May 21	First Quarter
May 21	Falcon 9 Launch (Iridium Next 51-55 & GRACE Follow-On) 13:47:58 MDT

The Falcon 9 Launch that was supposed to happen last week has been rescehduled to this Monday.  Check out the following site at the time listed above.

https://spaceflightnow.com/

The Moon will appear very close to the Beehive Cluster and will be a great sight in a pair of binoculars.  Even though it will be 1.7° from the cluster it will be nearly 9° by the time it gets dark.  Sunday night, put the Moon in binoculars and go slightly West.  The Beehive should appear in your view.

M44 - Beehive Cluster

I am more excited about Venus and M35 being in the same telescopic field of view on Monday!  M35 is one of my favourite clusters and I like showcasing it at public events.  Unfortunately I do not yet have a good photograph of it but perhaps next Winter when it is again high in the sky during the evening.

During the same evening, watch out for the Moon next to the bright star Regulus in Leo.  An interesting sight for the eyes and through optical aid.

Do not forget to turn your eyes to Jupiter.  It shines extremely bright in the southeastern sky early in the evening and progresses across the sky until morning.  If you can rest a pair of binoculars so they don't shake while holding them you will see all 4 of the Galilean Moons orbiting the big planet.  A telescope will bring out the finer equatorial bands and red spot of Jupiter; a marvelous sight.

Venus offers a unique pairing to Jupiter as it resides in the northwestern sky at the same time.  Look for it in Gemini.  If you have good eyes, you can see it before the sun drops below the horizon.

Go outside during the evening and enjoy the stars and planets above during the last full week of May!

2018 Spring Messier Plan: Observing and Imaging

My Observing Plans

This Spring I intend to observe some Messier Objects before they get too far below the western horizon.  I've listed the objects that are visible in the evening during the Spring.  I have purposely left off the 16 Messier objects in the Virgo cluster as this region of the sky intimidates me.  I am hoping to learn more about it this year and perhaps tackle it in 2019.  However, there are still 14 galaxies on my list below.  If I see only a handful I will consider that a success.

Messier	Constellation	Type	Date Observed
M3	Canes Venatici	Globular Cluster	May 18, 2018
M5	Serpens Caput	Globular Cluster	May 20, 2017
M9	Ophiuchus	Globular Cluster	-
M10	Ophiuchus	Globular Cluster	-
M13	Hercules	Globular Cluster	May 21, 2017
M16	Serpens	Emission Nebula/Open Cluster	July 9, 2018
M19	Ophiuchus	Globular Cluster	July 12, 2018
M40	Ursa Major	Double Star	May 22, 2018
M51	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M53	Coma Berenices	Globular Cluster	-
M62	Ophiuchus	Globular Cluster	July 12, 2018
M63	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M64	Coma Berenices	Spiral Galaxy	-
M81	Ursa Major	Spiral Galaxy	May 18, 2018
M82	Ursa Major	Irregular Galaxy	May 18, 2018
M92	Hercules	Globular Cluster	-
M94	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M97	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M94	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M97	Ursa Major	Planetary Nebula	-
M101	Ursa Major	Spiral Galaxy	-
M102	Draco	Spiral Galaxy	-
M104	Virgo	Spiral Galaxy	-
M106	Canes Venatici	Spiral Galaxy	-
M107	Ophiuchus	Globular Cluster	-
M108	Ursa Major	Spiral Galaxy	-
M109	Ursa Major	Spiral Galaxy	-

I will update this blog post as I observe the objects contained therein.  I observed the globular cluster M5 last May and it was beautiful.  I was able to capture an image of it at the time which is shown below.

Messier 5

The next evening I spent some time in Hercules and officially logged and imaged M13.

Messier 13

It is obvious that I need to revisit these clusters to attempt to get better images. 

My Imaging Plans

This year I intend to use a focal reducer, higher ISO DSLR camera, autoguider and a dark site.  The first two will allow me to take shorter exposures to avoid star trails. 

The autoguider is essentially a camera that attaches to a guide scope piggybacked on the imaging scope.  The autoguiding camera keeps its eye on the view and automatically adjusts the imaging scope to compensate if the mount has small tracking errors.  This allows for long exposures.  With higher ISO you can take shorter exposures at the cost of noise.  However, since an autoguider allows for longer exposures, you can decrease the ISO and eliminate some noise.

A dark site will generally just improve the image quality as urban light pollution will not be as invasive.

This brings me to what I need to learn.

• Autoguiding
• Accurate Polar Alignment
• Post Processing

The first bullet point is described above, however, I still need to learn how to do it! 

The next bullet point refers to how you have your mount set.  The mount's polar axis should point in the direction of Polaris.  However, Polaris is not exactly on the North Celestial Pole so some adjustment has to be made.  I use a basic polar scope.  It points through the polar axis of the mount and I can use it to align my mount to the North Celestial Pole.  Without a properly polar aligned telescope the autoguider can't really save you and you'll get star rotation during long exposures.

There is a new device on the market called the Polemaster which hooks up to your telescope and computer.  The computer software provides instructions on how to adjust your mount to ensure sub-arcminute accuracy on your polar alignment.  This may be a handy tool.

Post processing is another thing I find intimidating.  There are some great workshops in and around the Calgary area that I hope to take so I can develop skills in photoshop.  This will allow me to repair, denoise and enhance my images.

I am looking forward to finding a dark site and use an autoguider to take long exposures of those elusive dim galaxies!  I tried a few galaxies from my backyard and got handcuffed with light pollution.

I will share my observation journals and images on each of these Messier objects as I can find them!  I will try to tackle the easier globular clusters from the backyard and perhaps head to a dark site for the elusive galaxies!

2018 Week 20: (May 13-May 19)

The weather looks to be dry and warm for most of the week and will be a good time to get out.  We will only have official night for less than two weeks.  Twilight will encompass us until July 19!  There are a few things to check out this week as shown in the chart below.

Date	Event
May 13	Mercury 2°S of Moon
May 15	New Moon
May 17	Venus 5°N of Moon
May 19	Falcon 9 Launch (Iridium Next 51-55 & GRACE Follow-On) 2:03pm

Early tomorrow morning around 5:30am the innermost planet, Mercury, will be in next to the very slim waning crescent Moon and the planet Uranus.  As the Sun quickly follows them up I hesitate to say it will be a difficult observation.

The Moon begins a new cycle two days later and will again be visible to us in the evening sky.  Another two days later the Moon will tuck in quite close to Venus.  Since the Moon will be a gentle waxing crescent it will appear less than 10x the brightness of Venus.  At this time our neighbouring planet will be 84.2% illuminated as a waning gibbous.  If you can catch it through a telescope you will notice it is not a perfect circle.

On Sunday, watch out for another Falcon 9 launch as it takes 5 Iridium satellites to orbit replacing the original Iridium constellation (a set of satellites in space is called a 'constellation').  This will slowly make the famous Iridium Flares extinct and public outreach astronomers will have to find other things to showcase in the sky!  Watch the launch at the link below.

https://spaceflightnow.com/

If you would like to chase constellations this week with your naked eye see the map below that is calibrated for May 17, 10:30pm at 51°N latitude.

Skymap 10:30 May 17, 2018

You can run through the zodiac constellations that are present at this time from Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo and Libra.  Cancer is difficult to see from the city as it is a very dim constellation.  Jupiter will appear in the scales of Libra while Venus is in the eastern edge of Taurus, close to Gemini.

The Big Dipper asterism (not a constellation) will appear directly overhead, use it to find Polaris; the North Star.

You may notice a bright star rising in the northeastern sky.  This is Vega, in Lyra, one of the brightest stars in the sky.  Also, try to spot Arcturus in the constellation Boötes which is slightly brighter than Vega.

Each blog post has links to other posts that may describe some of these things in more detail.  If you ever see anything in the sky you have questions about send a message to our Facebook group below.

www.facebook.com/simonjastronomy

Enjoy the nigh sky this week!

2018 Week 19: (May 6-May 12)

We are now in the first full week of May and there is an important observing event for astronomers.  The chart below highlights this week.

Date	Event
May 6	Mars 3°S of Moon
May 7	Last Quarter
May 8	Jupiter at Opposition
May 12	Mercury 2°S of Uranus

That time has arrived again for the year.  Jupiter will be at opposition.  It will be positioned directly opposite the Sun as viewed from Earth.  This will give us the brightest, largest view of the big planet.  I am sure you've probably seen a bright object encroaching into the evening sky from the East over the past month.  This is Jupiter.  On Tuesday it will rise as the Sun is setting.  A pair of binoculars, held steady, will reveal its 4 Galilean Moons and a telescope will resolve its equatorial belts and big red spot.  I will likely be observing this planet all week and all month long trying to take high frame rate videos to produce photographs.

Jupiter

Also happening next week, the Moon will be at its Last Quarter phase as it rises in during the middle of the early morning while it is still dark.

There are not any public events happening around town next week but stay tuned the following week for a free lecture on astro navigation during the Cold War.

If you want to catch Venus it is quite easy to see at this time.  If you look toward the West at sunset you will see a bright point of light in the sky.  You will likely see it even before the sun sets as it is so bright.  As it gets darker it will be much easier to see and during a dark night at a dark location its light will even cast shadows.  It is currently at a waning gibbous phase with an illumination percentage of 85.8% with a diameter of 12.1".  It will be in this phase until August when it slips into a waning crescent as shown in the image below.

Venus

Saturn and Mars are both hanging out in Sagittarius this week rising at 1:15am and 2:30am respectively.  Unless you like to stay up really late or get up really early you'll have to wait a few months to see them at a reasonable time.  Mars will be in opposition this year on July 27 where avid astrophotographers will have their best opportunity to catch some major features on the planet's surface!

Keep your eyes on the sky and see if you can spot some of your favourite constellations!  I will try to post a Spring constellation map later this week so you can print it out and match them from your backyard!