LYRA AND KAG COMET REPORT AND UPCOMING EVENTS FOR APRIL AND INTO THE SUMMER..........

COMETS:

Comet 17P/Holmes: is now fading and expanding into the dark background sky in the Constellation Of Perseus-it was fantastic to see it through my 20x100 mounted big Binoculars during late October and into November and December of 2007 as well as these past Months during the start of this year 2008 it has now expanded out so much that it can quite easily be overlooked, its trend is to fade now and is best seen in the evening sky still in the Constellation of Perseus not far from Algol.

Comet 8P/Tuttle: is currently around Magnitude 8 and its trend is also to fade, it did become Binocular visible passing 0.25 AU from the Earth and I managed to glimpse this on about one night before it moved rapidly Southwards and at this time it was around magnitude 6, it is now past Perihelion and closest to the Earth, this was one of its closest passes to the Earth since before its discovery although there will be a closer pass in 2048, it is now moving through the Constellation of Dorado and is a Southern hemisphere object.

Comet Chen Gao 2008 C1: is currently at Magnitude 10 in the constellation of Auriga and should have just scraped past Capella the main star in that Constellation on 3rd of April, it should stay around magnitude 10 for most of April and after then fade.

Comet 29P/Schwassmann Wachmann is fading from Magnitude 12.7 to Magnitude 13 through April and into May in the Constellation of Auriga and into Gemini skirting through Taurus the Bull.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen will fade from Magnitude 10.4 to Magnitude 14.8 during April and into May also in the Constellation of Auriga going through Gemini and into Cancer.

 

UPCOMING COMETS TO LOOK OUT FOR:

1 possible upcoming Comet that may reach Binocular brightness during this year and one in 2009 are:

C/2007 W1 Comet Boattini which will be Magnitude 8.8 by the beginning of May 2008 this year before shortly being lost 10 days later to the South Western Evening Twilight and in the next month around June 20th it should reach a brightness of 5.5 although will be in a daylight sky and won't be able to be Observed until it returns in the very early morning Twilight during mid July at Magnitude 6.9 to 7, it will have faded and be beyond magnitude 10 by the end of the Summer around late August so not a good viewing window for this one either side of the Summer Solistice but its one I will be looking out for during the Summer months to add to the 20 or so Comets I have already seen and Observed over the past 13 or so years.

Another Comet that may become Binocular Bright in 2009 of next year is C/2007 N3 Lulin which will become Observable after the new year 2009 in January in the early morning skies around magnitude 8 becoming Binocular bright in the Winter skies of Feburary whilst entering the Evening skies around the 12th of that month and becoming a good viewing Object around magnitude 5.9 on the 20th moving from Virgo into Leo and not starting to fade much before mid March when it will be Magnitude 8.5.

Once I do see and Observe these Comets I will send out text and Email alerts to notify Observers in where best to look for these Comets.

 

APRIL PHENOMENA:

9th April Asteroid (7) Iris at opposition.

12th April Mars 1.2 Degrees South of the Moon.

15th April Regulus in Leo is 0.9 Degrees North of the Moon and Saturn will be 3 Degrees North of the Moon.

16th April Mercury is in Superior Conjuction.

18th April Juno Becomes stationary.

22nd April Lyrid Meteor Shower with a usual maximun ZHR of +-10 is unfavourable due to a 2 day past full Moon (Gibbous) rising around 22.09 Hours U.T on that Evening.

23rd April Antares will be 0.3 Degrees North of the Moon.

27th April Jupiter will be 3 Degrees North of the Moon.

28th April Mars will have moved within five Degrees of Pollux in Gemini.

 

ISS sightings-there has been some good evening passes of the ISS as well as the ATV (automated transport vehicle) last week and into this week and is well worth going outside to look at-timings of these passes can be obtained off the Heavens above website which address is at the bottom of this page.

PLANETS:
Mercury: Will become an Evening Apparition in late April low on the Western Horizon and will become the best seen during May this year setting about an Hour after Sunset.

Venus: will be too close to the Sun for any kind of Observation.

Mars: Still reatains a very good Evening Observing window but is starting to shrink by the end of April.
Jupiter: Is in the South Eastern sky 3 Hours before Surise and by the end of April will rise around 02.00 Hours U.T.
Saturn: Close to the Main Star Regulus in Leo and by the End of April it will Culminate in strong Twilight.
Uranus and Neptune: Uranus is just past Conjuction and will not return to the Morning sky as yet and Neptune may just be glimpsed with giant Binoculars in the South Eastern Morning Twilight near the end of April.

Dwarf Planet Pluto: Is a Morning object now amongst the stars of Sagittarius

THE MOON: Last Quarter was on 29th March, New Moon was on the 6th April and first quarter is on the 12th April, full Moon will occur on the 20th April and last quarter occurs on the 28th April.

 

LUNAR ECLIPSE:

Feburary 21st I got to see a total Lunar clipse of the Moon from my living room window during the early hours of that morning-although a cloud and slight haze obscurred it from view quite a bit around the time of totality which occured around 03.00 Hours U.T  I still got to observe some of it through breaks and clearing patches of cloud-it was a brownish bland colour with with a slight hint of coppery red and a little brighter towards the lower limb-certainly not as bright as the Lunar Eclipse some of the Lyra Observers witnessed back on 3rd March 2007 (03-04) I was pretty certain I could see very small flashes of light on the surace of the Moon during Totality and I'm sure I have seen these occurences in past Lunar Eclipses also-my theory is that it could be rocks on the surface of the Moon cooling rapidly once in shadow and exploding causing a small flash-this sudden surface cooling could account for a number of rocks exploding and causing flashes I thought I see through my 20x100 mounted binoculars on that night-but I remain sceptical about it.

Lighting up times: (all times BST)

1st April was 20.04 Hours

30th April will be 20.52 Hours

1st May will be 20.54 Hours

31s May will be 21.37 Hours

Websites:

Lyra Blogsite: www.lyrandgyastronomers.blogspot.com plenty of Astronomical information and updates.
www.heavens-above.com ISS, Iridium flares and Satellite pass timings.
www.popastro.com The Society for popular Astronomy website.
www.britastro.org/baa/ The British Astronomical association website.
www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spaceguide/skyatnight/ The sky at night website.

www.nasa.gov/ a good nasa website with plenty of information.

http://hubblesite.org The Hubble space telescope website.
www.skyandtelescope.com  another good Astronomy information site.
www.spaceweather.com Good information site with up to the minute reports on space travel etc.

www.eclipse.org.uk an excellent site for planning future Eclipses.

 

Weather:

www.weatherforlowestoft.co.uk weather in Kessingland and surrounding areas.

www.metcheck.com another good weather information site.