2019 Week 5: (January 27-February 2)

We are now in the fifth week of 2019 and heading straight into February.  For the first time in 2 years there is nothing exciting happening in the sky!  There are no rocket launches scheduled and no public events planned either.  This defeats the whole purpose of this blog!

Date	Event
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New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt continues to get exciting as the latest image of 2014 MU 69 (Ultima Thule) was beamed back to Earth for all to see.

2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule) (Image Credit: NASA)

An article on this news from Astronomy is provided below.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/01/new-horizons-latest-images-from-ultima-thule-reveal-new-details

The Moon will be moving from its Full phase to Last Quarter this week.  The Lunar Eclipse last Sunday was incredible as the haze started dissipating shortly after totality.

Total Lunar Eclipse, January 20, 2019

Let's talk about what we can see in the sky around 10pm in the evening under clear skies!

Week 5 Sky (10pm)

The constellation Orion is in a perfect location directly south.  You will recognize the three bright stars of his belt crossing from east to west.  The star representing the upper eastern shoulder is a red supergiant called Betelgeuse.  The lower western knee is a blue supergiant called Rigel.  These two stars offer a great contrast in colour that can be seen with the naked eye.

If you trace the belt towards the southeast you should spy the brightest star in the night sky -- Sirius.  Telescope or binocular users may be able to see the open cluster, Messier 41, sitting just below this bright star of Canis Major.

Tracing a line from Rigel through the easternmost belt star, Alnitak, will take you straight to the twin stars of Castor and Pollux.  These are the brightest stars in Gemini.  Moving a telescope just above Castor will allow you to see the open cluster Messier 35.

Another trace of the belt towards the northwest will bring you to Taurus' bright red star Aldebaran.  Progressing a short distance further will take you to the Pleiades, Messier 45.

M45, Pleaides

On a cloud free night see if you can find all the stars in the Winter Hexagon.  The map below should help you in your quest.

Winter Hexagon

Take some time this week to observe the night sky.  Trace the stars from Orion to find some of these familiar constellations and stars.  Don't forget to see the Orion Nebula which sits just below the belt stars.  It appears as a faint blurry patch to the naked eye and can be resolved with a simple pair of binoculars.

2019 Week 4: (January 20-January 26)

This is the week of the Total Lunar Eclipse which will easily be visible from all residents of North and South America.  This, of course, assumes clear skies!  The chart below highlights what else is happening during Eclipse Week!

Date	Event
January 20	Full Moon
January 20/21	Total Lunar Eclipse
January 21	Moon 0.6°S of Beehive
January 21	Moon at Perigee
January 21	Venus 2°N of Jupiter

The Full Moon and the Lunar Eclipse of course coincide as the Moon needs to be on the opposite side of the Earth to be in its shadow.  See Moon Phases below.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/05/explore-universe-lunar-phases.html

The Calgary times for the eclipse is provided below.

7:36pm - Penumbral Eclipse Starts
8:33pm - Partial Eclipse Starts
9:41pm - Total Eclipse Starts
10:43pm - Total Eclipse Ends
11:50pm - Partial Eclipse Ends
12:48am - Penumbral Eclipse Ends

Further details can be found below.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2018/01/total-lunar-eclipse.html

Total Lunar Eclipse (Image Credit: NASA)

The free astronomy software Cartes du Ciel actually shows the shading of the Moon as the Earth's shadow transits its face.  If you would like to download this software a link has been provided.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/05/free-astronomy-software-cartes-du-ciel.html

The Beehive Cluster will be under 7° away from the eclipse and binoculars should be able to expose this wonderful grouping of stars.  Look approximately 1 or 2 binocular fields to the east of the Moon during the eclipse.  The map below highlights this close encounter.

Sky Map During Eclipse

As you can notice in the table below the Moon reaches perigee relatively close to the Full Moon.  This is typically what some people refer to as a 'Super Moon'.  Although not scientifically defined or used it has become a colloquial expression to generate interest in astronomy.  The Moon is imperceptibly brighter and larger and may cause higher than normal tides.  The Farmer's Almanac which may have appropriated Full Moon names from specific Great Lakes tribes centuries ago refers to this as a 'Wolf Moon'.  Again, not officially recognized, many Native tribes and cultures throughout North America and the World have different names for Full Moons.  This has lead to the expression 'Super Blood Wolf Moon' as the eclipse makes the Moon appear red.

The appearance of a Moon during an eclipse can be qualitatively defined by the Danjon Scale.  Many factors affect the appearance of the Moon.  The most interesting, in my opinion, is recent volcanic eruptions severely darkening its appearance (1992).  More information can be found below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danjon_scale

If you didn't stay up too late watching the eclipse make sure you get up early to see a beautiful conjunction of Jupiter and Venus.  These two friends will be about 2° apart; close enough to capture in a wide field telescope view.  Watch the southeastern sky shortly after 6:30am in the morning to see this sight.  They have been close friends the previous week and will continue to be throughout this next week.  Catch them closely dancing before Venus tracks too far to the east!

2019 Week 3: (January 13-January 19)

This week in the sky we have the Moon reaching its first quarter phase.  When the Moon is full this month there will be a total lunar eclipse.  Watch out for more details as the night approaches.  The table below provides a summary of this week.

Date	Event
January 13	First Quarter
January 17	Aldebaran 1.6°S of Moon

If you are a Calgarian working on your Messier catalogue this is the perfect time of year to locate some of the most southern objects.  Lepus, Canis Major, and Puppis are all in prime viewing position by 11:30pm-12:00am.  You do not want to miss out on these -20°S declination objects especially since they are fairly bright clusters.

Messier 47

Leo is starting to reach a comfortable region of the sky by midnight with all of its spectacular wonders.  Following Leo is Virgo and the Virgo Cluster which I have yet to wrap my head around in the 3 years I have been doing astronomy.  I will make it a goal to figure out this region of the sky in 2019.

There is only one rocket launch scheduled for this week.  A Japanese Epsilon rocket is a sending a (Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite) into space to test new technology.  A lightweight solar cell mechanism will be tested to see how well it can obtain power.  Along with this satellite several secondary Japanese and Vietnamese payloads will be heading up into space. You can catch this launch live at https://spaceflightnow.com with the time details below.

Date	Event
January 16	Epsilon - RAPIS 1 (19:50)

There will be one public event occurring this week.  Our monthly General Meeting will be held at the Kerby Centre and we will be having two lectures.  The first will be on the legacy of the RASC Sesquicentennial and the many highlights of such a great year.  The second talk will focus on the relationship between outdoor lighting and crime.  A case study on New York's strategy will be discussed.  I hope you can make it out to the event; all members of the public are invited!

2019 Week 2: (January 6-January 12)

We are in the first full week of 2019 and the weather is quite mild.  With clear skies there are a lot of amazing things to see!

Date	Event
January 6	Uranus Stationary
January 10	Neptune 3°N of Moon
January 12	Mars 5°N of Moon

Uranus will complete its retrograde motion and begin moving toward the east against the background stars.  It will soon be within the borders of Aries, moving to its second constellation since I started astronomy back in 2016.

Neptune and Mars will be in tight with the Moon on the 10th and 12th respectively.

Familiar constellations dot the Winter sky.  Orion is high in the sky around 11pm and makes for a beautiful sight.  Place your binoculars on his belt and move them south and you will see the Great Orion Nebula.  At 1334 light years away, this is one of the most active star creating regions in our galaxy.

The Orion Nebula

The Twins known as Gemini follow closely behind Orion.  You can find them by drawing a line from Orion's bright blue knee through his bright red shoulder to a pair of bright stars. 

On a clear night see if you can trace out the Winter Hexagon.  Each vertex is a bright Winter star consisting of (with their brightness rank): 7 - Rigel, 14 - Aldebaran, 6 - Capella, 17 - Pollux, 8 - Procyon, 1 - Sirius.

There is only one rocket launch scheduled for this week.  A Falcon 9 is sending 10 satellites into space to replace the original Iridium constellation that observers love watching.  You can catch this launch live at https://spaceflightnow.com.

Date	Event
January 8	Falcon 9 - Iridium Next 66-75 (08:48)

Spend some time outside in the mild Winter weather and see some fantastic sights!  We sometimes don't get the chance to see some of these because it is so cold and snowy outside!