Comets:
A morning comet
There's a comet about! But you're going to have to stay up late to see this one at its best, as it is low down in the northern sky. The comet, C/2009 R1, was discovered by former SPA section director Rob McNaught. It's best seen around 1 am when the sky is darkest, and really needs binoculars or a telescope to show it.
There's a comet about! But you're going to have to stay up late to see this one at its best, as it is low down in the northern sky. The comet, C/2009 R1, was discovered by former SPA section director Rob McNaught. It's best seen around 1 am when the sky is darkest, and really needs binoculars or a telescope to show it.
The observable region is an approximate indication of the latitude at which the comet may be seen. Under good conditions comets may be visible outside this range. The period when visible is for the UK if the comet is visible from the UK, otherwise for 40 S or the Equator as appropriate. Beginners will often find comets fainter than about 7th magnitude difficult to locate - see below for information on positions and finder charts.
2009 R1 (McNaught) is visible low in the north. The most recent observations suggest that it may peak at around 3.5 at the end of June, though by then it will be nearing conjunction. From the southern parts of the UK it is visible all night.
For viewing you will need a clear northern horizon and transparent skies. The comet is likely to appear fainter than indicated as the Azure Blue bright sky and low altitude will drown out much of the coma.
Highlights and News:
- 2009 K5 (McNaught) is circumpolar and visible as soon as it gets dark (roughly 11:45pm BST). It is in Cam in a rather barren part of the sky. It is still visible in large binoculars, particularly if you are in a dark sky location.
- 2009 R1 (McNaught) is visible low in the north. The most recent observations suggest that it may peak at around 3.5 at the end of June, though by then it will be nearing conjunction. From the southern parts of the UK it is visible all night. For viewing you will need a clear northern horizon and transparent skies. The comet is likely to appear fainter than indicated as the bright sky and low altitude will drown out much of the coma.
- Images of the month: Some more spectacular images from Rolando Ligustri, of 2009 R1 taken on June 6 and June 10.
- The Jupiter impact of June 3 was imaged live by Anthony Wesley and Christopher Go
- Following a hack at the MPC, MPECs etc are now available at this site
- Distribution of the printed edition of the 2009 Comet's Tale will begin at the BAA Exhibition Meeting, however it is also available for download.
- I have produced or updated predictions for the comets of 2011, 2012 and 2013. 2013 currently only has two visual comets and 2014 one!
- A new initiative springing out of the ICQ is the Cometary Science Center, which in the long term will become a repository for information about every observed comet.
- MACE 2010 was held at Visnjan/Tican, Croatia from May 21 to 23.
- The BAA Exhibition Meeting takes place in London on June 26 and will feature comet section posters.
- There will be an observers workshop featuring comets and meteors at Burlington House on Saturday, September 25, 2010.
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Upcoming Astronomical Events:
What's up for July:
Dark nebulae near the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Hello and welcome! I'm Jane Houston Jones at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The Milky Way looks like a river of tiny diamond clusters surrounding mysterious dark islands.
Notice how the Milky Way divides into two streams overhead. Between these two streams lies a dark band of starlight-obscuring dust.
Summer is the best time of year to observe these dusty areas.
The Milky Way thickens and brightens as it flows southward towards the horizon, near the constellation Sagittarius. Sagittarius is easy to see in the southern sky this month. The brightest stars look just like a teapot. And the center of our galaxy looks like hot steam spewing from the teapot's spout.
Dr. E. E. Barnard made the first wide-angle photographs of our Milky Way at Lick Observatory in 1889. He saw dark regions visible among the mass of stars.
Earlier astronomers thought these dark regions were simply areas where there weren't any stars.
Barnard thought just the opposite. He thought that these empty areas were actually concentrations of matter blocking our view. He was correct.
A dark nebula called "Barnard 86" is one of his discoveries.
A dark nebula is a kind of interstellar cloud so dense that the light from background stars, or from emission and reflection nebulae is blocked.
Like fog around a streetlamp, a reflection nebula shines only because the light from an embedded source illuminates its dust. The nebula does not emit any visible light of its own.
Emission nebulae are glowing clouds of interstellar gas which have been excited by some nearby energy source, usually a very hot star, causing them to emit light.
It takes radio or infrared astronomy to pierce these dark clouds and see beyond them.The three dark lanes of dust in the Triffid nebula can be seen in visible wavelength images.
Infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal bright regions of star-forming activity.
There are many dark nebulae visible to the unaided eye. Look for the Pipe nebula, the Lagoon nebula and the Great Dark Rift above the teapot of Sagittarius.
Then, when you look at the dust lanes within spiral galaxies, you'll be able to compare them to the Great Rift overhead in our summer Milky Way.
Towards the end of the month, don't miss the parade of planets low in the western sky. Mars and Saturn march towards one another, readying for their August 1 conjunction.
You can learn more about NASA missions at www.nasa.gov
Hello and welcome! I'm Jane Houston Jones at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The Milky Way looks like a river of tiny diamond clusters surrounding mysterious dark islands.
Notice how the Milky Way divides into two streams overhead. Between these two streams lies a dark band of starlight-obscuring dust.
Summer is the best time of year to observe these dusty areas.
The Milky Way thickens and brightens as it flows southward towards the horizon, near the constellation Sagittarius. Sagittarius is easy to see in the southern sky this month. The brightest stars look just like a teapot. And the center of our galaxy looks like hot steam spewing from the teapot's spout.
Dr. E. E. Barnard made the first wide-angle photographs of our Milky Way at Lick Observatory in 1889. He saw dark regions visible among the mass of stars.
Earlier astronomers thought these dark regions were simply areas where there weren't any stars.
Barnard thought just the opposite. He thought that these empty areas were actually concentrations of matter blocking our view. He was correct.
A dark nebula called "Barnard 86" is one of his discoveries.
A dark nebula is a kind of interstellar cloud so dense that the light from background stars, or from emission and reflection nebulae is blocked.
Like fog around a streetlamp, a reflection nebula shines only because the light from an embedded source illuminates its dust. The nebula does not emit any visible light of its own.
Emission nebulae are glowing clouds of interstellar gas which have been excited by some nearby energy source, usually a very hot star, causing them to emit light.
It takes radio or infrared astronomy to pierce these dark clouds and see beyond them.The three dark lanes of dust in the Triffid nebula can be seen in visible wavelength images.
Infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal bright regions of star-forming activity.
There are many dark nebulae visible to the unaided eye. Look for the Pipe nebula, the Lagoon nebula and the Great Dark Rift above the teapot of Sagittarius.
Then, when you look at the dust lanes within spiral galaxies, you'll be able to compare them to the Great Rift overhead in our summer Milky Way.
Towards the end of the month, don't miss the parade of planets low in the western sky. Mars and Saturn march towards one another, readying for their August 1 conjunction.
You can learn more about NASA missions at www.nasa.gov
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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
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Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
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