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Monday 27 April 2009

Comet Yi-Swan new images

Colin.

As a follow up to imaging Yi-Swan for the second time, the results turned out to be only slightly better than the previous images I sent you last week. The image contains a stack of 36 x 15 seconds sub exposures that gives a combined exposure of 15 mins in total. You would have thought a 15 minute exposure might have yealded a far better image, but it wasn't so. The comet still looks small and almost lost in the starry background.

However, I have sent you three images; one showing the comet in a wide field view and the second as a closely cropped image. The third image has been heavily processed with a touch of blurring to enlarge the comet slightly, together with a brightening of the object plus some heavy colour saturation to bring out its green. It's a forced image that doesn't really show its true character, but the process does serve as a means of showing it up better. The problem with over-processing is, the background noise is enhanced too, making it a bit specky and grainy, but then we can't have it both ways.

Regards.

Ron.



Saturday 25 April 2009

Thursday 16 April 2009

Final Space Shuttle Mission to The HST...

MEDIA ADVISORY : M09-060

 
 Pilot of Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Set for Satellite Interviews
 
 HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, a native of Seattle, will be available for live interviews via satellite from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 21. Johnson will make his first trip into space as the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

To schedule interviews, reporters should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111 by noon Monday, April 20.

The 11-day flight will include five spacewalks on consecutive days to make repairs and upgrades to the telescope. Johnson will help guide the spacewalkers from inside the shuttle. Atlantis' astronauts will be the last humans to see the Hubble telescope in person.

Johnson was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1998. He has served in various agency roles, including manager of launch integration for the Space Shuttle Program at Kennedy.

Along with Johnson, the crew members of Atlantis are Commander Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur.

 For Johnson's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/johnson-gc.html

For information about the STS-125 mission and its crew, visit:
 
 
- end -

Wednesday 8 April 2009

[LYRA and KAG] Comet Report and Upcoming Astronomical Events for April and May

2009: The International Year of Astronomy (IYA)
 
Comets: Comet Lulin put on a moderately good showing during mid February and into March and I got to see this on several nights when the clouds were not present so overall it was a pleasing Comet to Observe with its vaguely seen 2 tails and slightly greenish in colour through my 20X100 Mounted Big Binoculars, it is now fading around Magnitude +9 in the Constellation of Gemini as it moves away from the Earth as well as the Sun so I think we have seen the best of this one.
 
Other Comets: There are 2 other brighter comets around at the moment-Comet Itagaki (2009 E1) which has a poor Elongation at the moment and around Magnitude +8 and Comet Yi SWAN  which is around Magnitude +8.5 and steady-this one is visible all night in the Constellation of Cassiopeia for people with reasonable Telescopes.
 
Astronomical Events for April:
13th April: Antares is 0.4 Degrees South of the Moon
15th April: Mars is 0.5 Degrees South of Uranus, Venus is Stationary
17th April: Ceres is Stationary
18th April: Venus is 6 Degrees North of the Moon
19th April: Jupiter is 2 Degrees South of the Moon
20th April: Neptune is 2 Degrees South of the Moon
22nd April: Lyrid Meteor shower reaches its best
26th April: Mercury is 1.9 Degrees South of the Moon 
 
The Planets for April and May:
Mercury: Has its best Evening Apparition of the Year for British Observers and is at its best Elongation on 26th April at 20 Degrees East of the Sun
Venus: Will be a brilliant Object in the Morning Sky but will be very low on the Eastern Horizon to Observe
Dwarf Planet Ceres: Culminates at 22.00 Hours in mid Month and is visible Close to the Sickle in the Constellation of Leo
Jupiter: Still low on the Eastern Horizon in the Early Morning Twilight at the moment.
Saturn: Now past Opposition and still visible all night underneath the Constellation of Leo
Uranus: Too close to the Sun to be Observed during April
Neptune:Too low as well in the glow of the early morning Twilight. 
Dwarf Planet Pluto: Low in Sagittarius
 
Upcoming Astronomical Space Events for April and May:
The Space Shuttle Atlantis or STS 125 should return to the Hubble Space Telescope for an upgrade of the Space Orbiting eye on the Universe-lift off is targeted for May 12th and the 11 day mission is the final Shuttle Mission to the HST with several spacewalks or EVA's (Extra Vehicular Activity) to install 2 new instruments and repair others with Hubble components, this Mission should extend its working life until at least 2014, its the 5th Hubble service Mission, 30th flight for Atlantis and the 126th STS Shuttle flight.
 
4 Launches worldwide are still scheduled for the rest of April and in May 6-8 Launches are scheduled including the STS 125 to the HST Servicing Mission.
 
Later on during this Summer between 20th and 26th July will be the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landings when man first set foot upon the Moon.
 
The Moon:
 
All times are G.M.T or Universal Time U.T (add 1 Hour B.S.T)
 
Rest of April:
First Quarter Moon was on 2nd April at 14.34 Hours U.T
Full Moon is 9th April at 14.56 Hours U.T
Last Quarter Moon is on 17th April at 13.36 Hours U.T
New Moon is on 25th April at 03.23 Hours U.T
 
Into May:
First Quarter Moon is on 1st May at 20.44 Hours U.T
Full Moon is on 9th May at 04.01 Hours U.T
Last Quarter Moon is on 17th May at 07.26 Hours U.T
New Moon is on 24th May at 12.11 Hours U.T
First Quarter Moon is on 31st May at 03.22 Hours U.T
 
There are 2 First quarter Moons in the Month of May and 2 Full Moons (or a Blue Moon) in the Month of December of this year 2009, there is also a Partial Eclipse of the Moon on New Years Eve 2009 during the evening but only 8% of the Lunar Surface will be Obscured.
 
Lighting Up Times for April into May:
 
All times are G.M.T or Universal Time U.T (add 1 Hour BST)
 
15th April: 19.28 Hours U.T
1st May: 19.59 Hours U.T
15th May: 20.26 Hours U.T
31st May: 20.52 Hours U.T
 
Good Clear Skies.

Friday 3 April 2009

Atlas 5 rocket to launch from Cape Canaveral tonight

     NEWSALERT: Friday, April 3, 2009 @ 1859 GMT
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ATLAS 5 ROCKET TO LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL TONIGHT
----------------------------------------------------
The Atlas 5 rocket's countdown is underway for tonight's launch of the
Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft, a massive satellite that will provide
expansive new communications capacity for U.S. military forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:31 p.m. EDT.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av016/status.html

THURSDAY'S ROLLOUT PHOTO GALLERY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av016/rollout2/


ROCKET ROARS AWAY FROM BAIKONUR FOR 9-HOUR ASCENT
-------------------------------------------------
A Proton rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday, beginning a more than
nine-hour mission to deposit a versatile European communications satellite
into a high-altitude geosynchronous transfer orbit.

http://spaceflightnow.com/proton/w2a/


INTEGRAL DISSECTS BRIGHT GAMMA-RAY BURST
----------------------------------------
Integral has captured one the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen,
allowing astronomers to probe the mechanics of the initial stages of such
powerful stellar explosions.

http://astronomynow.com/090403Integraldissectsbrightgamma-rayburst.html

Atlas 5 rocket rolls out for Friday launch / Japanese rocket test-fired

     NEWSALERT: Thursday, April 2, 2009 @ 2059 GMT
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ATLAS 5 ROCKET BACK ON CAPE CANAVERAL LAUNCH PAD
------------------------------------------------
Two weeks after a leaky liquid oxygen valve postponed the Atlas 5 rocket's
flight carrying a U.S. military communications satellite, the booster has
rolled back to the launch pad for Friday evening's liftoff.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av016/status.html


ENGINEERING DOUBLE CHECKS PUT OFF NEXT ARIANE LAUNCH
----------------------------------------------------
The launch of two European astronomical observatories will slip until May
because engineers need extra time to make sure the $1.3 billion Herschel
telescope can survive the extreme mechanical pressures of blastoff,
officials said Thursday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v188/090402delay.html


NEW JAPANESE ROCKET FIRES ITS ENGINES ON LAUNCH PAD
---------------------------------------------------
Japan's new H-2B rocket rolled to its oceanfront launch pad this week and
briefly fired its two main engines Thursday, concluding the heavy-lift
booster's first practice countdown after a six-day delay due to faulty
ground equipment.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/02h2btest/


HUBBLE FINDS HIDDEN EXOPLANET IN ARCHIVAL DATA
----------------------------------------------
A powerful, newly refined image-processing technique may allow astronomers
to discover extrasolar planets that are possibly lurking in over a
decade's worth of Hubble Space Telescope archival data.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/01hubbleplanet/

NASA's lunar launch slips / Atlantis on pad for Hubble mission

     NEWSALERT: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 @ 2036 GMT
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NASA'S ROBOTIC RETURN TO THE MOON DELAYED TO JUNE
-------------------------------------------------
Given the delays of a military mission before NASA's use of the Atlas 5
rocket to dispatch a moon mapper and experimental impact probe, the space
agency has delayed its lunar launch from May to June.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av020/090401june.html


ATLANTIS RETURNS TO LAUNCH PAD FOR HUBBLE MISSION
-------------------------------------------------
The space shuttle Atlantis, bolted to a mobile launch platform atop an
Apollo-era crawler-transporter, was hauled to launch pad 39A at the
Kennedy Space Center Tuesday for work to ready the ship for blastoff May
12 on a fifth and final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts125/status.html

ROLLOUT PHOTO GALLERY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts125/090331rollgallery/


WITH LEAKY VALVE REPLACED, ATLAS READY TO TRY AGAIN
---------------------------------------------------
An Atlas 5 rocket that will deploy a vital new communications satellite to
support U.S military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is aiming for a Friday
evening launch from Cape Canaveral, now that a leaky liquid oxygen valve
has been replaced.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av016/update.html


HUBBLE UNCOVERS UNUSUAL SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR STAR
-------------------------------------------------
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has identified a star that was one million
times brighter than the Sun before it exploded as a supernova in 2005.
According to current theories of stellar evolution, the star should not
have self-destructed so early in its life.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0903/31hubble/


AN ERRATIC BLACK HOLE THAT REGULATES ITSELF
-------------------------------------------
New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a major
advance in explaining how a special class of black holes may shut off the
high-speed jets they produce. These results suggest that these black holes
have a mechanism for regulating the rate at which they grow.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0903/31blackhole/