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

COMETS:

Comet 17P/Holmes: has now faded to beyond magnitude 6 and has expanded into the dark background of the sky now in the Constellation Of Auriga-very diffuse and hard to pick out.

Comet 8P/Tuttle: has faded to Magnitude 10.5 and I think we have seen the best of this one.

Comet Chen Gao 2008 C1: is also fading at Magnitude 10.5 now making its way through the Constellation of Monoceros.

There are 13 or so other Comets worldwide with magnitude ranges of 12 through to 14 and several of them brightning-if any reach Binocular brightness I will inform you once I have the information.  

 

C/2007 Comet Boattini which attained Magnitude 9 by the beginning of May 2008 although this is mostly lost 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-I didn't get to see this in the early part of this Month though.

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.

 

MAY PHENOMENA:

 

14th May Mercury at its greatest Elongation from the Sun (22 Degres East)

20th May Antares 0.2 Degrees North of the Moon (Occultation from South Africa)

24th May Jupiter 2 Degrees North of the Moon.

26th May Mercury and Neptune are stationary.

27th May Neptune will be 0.6 Degrees Soth of the Moon (Occultation in North Africa and South East Europe)

29th May Uranus willbe 4 Degrees South of the Moon.

 

SKYLIGHT: it is a Good Month to look out for Globular clusters-many that can be seen with Binoculars.

 

PLANETS:

Mercury: has its best Evening Apparition of the Year during May reaching greatest Elongation on 14th setting about an Hour after Sunset.

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

Mars: Still reatains a reasonable Evening Observing window  amongst the stars of Cancer but as the Month proceed the viewing window will be reduced to about an Hour before being consumed by the Evening Twilight.

Jupiter: Is in the South Eastern sky in the Constellation of Sagittarius and is very bright now when I see it the other Morning looking out for the ISS, by the Months end Jupiter will rise before Midnight.

Saturn: Still close to the Main Star Regulus and well placed in in Leo.
Uranus and Neptune: Uranus: May be just glimpsed an Hour or so before Sunrise very low in the East South East Morning Twilight.

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

THE MOON: First quarter was on the 12th May, full Moon will occur on the 20th May, last quarter occurs on the 28th May and new Moon is on 3rd of June.

 

Daylight Occultation of Mars with the Moon:

Did not get to see the disappearance or Immersion of Mars on the dark Limb of the Moon as Mars was very difficult to pick out with such a bright daytime sky around 12.14 Hours (U.T) although I did see it re appear at exactly 13.02 Hours and 55 seconds (U.T) and was very faint and difficult to see so I was not surprised Mars could easily be overlooked-however here are the results for my location:

 

D.D n/a

 

R.B 13.02 and 55 seconds U.T

 

A pleasantly warm day to Observe and quite enjoyable.

 

Next Space Shuttle Mission: is currently scheduled for take off at 17.02 Hours on May 31st  to return to the ISS for 3 space walks to assemble various parts and to deliver Japans Science Laboratory Kibo.

 

LIGHTING UP TIMES: (all times BST)

1st May was 20.54 Hours

31s May will be 21.37 Hours

16th June will be 21.50 Hours

30th June will be 21.51 Hours

 

WBSITES:

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.