2011

Its not been a too bad year for Skywatching and Astronomy although being clouded out for the June 15 Lunar Eclipse at the Sailors Rest Home gathering and me not being able to have the Christmas buffet and Skywatch at my house due to lack of finances has put me out a bit and has been disappointing for me-next year I will save up and put some money aside so I can have the meeting at my house again and hopefully I will make up for missing this one this year.

Looking forward to 2012 Comet Garradd should have a good showing around March time and will be on display during the Evenings within that Month and should reach a good Binocular brightness-I will keep sending the Astronomy Emails of anything that might been happening and worth looking at and I still hope to add my percentage of work towards being a Lyra member and running KAG and for everyone to continue to enjoy the art of Astronomy the way I do and just what pleasure I get from doing so-Good Clear Skies and Happy 2012.

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
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Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
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Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/
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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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Information

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More Info

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And More Info

Fireball sighting, December 21-22-Reply

Dear Colin,

 

Thanks very much for your detailed fireball report from December 21-22.

 

As with your August sighting, regrettably I've not had any other fireball observations from around 06:28 GMT that morning so far. As usual though, your observation will remain to-hand in the hopes more may arrive. I added the event to the December fireballs topic on the SPA's Observing Forum earlier today, at:

 

http://www.popastro.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16484  .

 

If you've learnt of anyone else who saw this event (or indeed, any other fireballs), please encourage them to send me full details. The separate topic on the Observing Forum still has advice about making and reporting fireballs that you can direct any additional witnesses to, at:

 

http://www.popastro.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15296  .

 

It's very unlikely your latest fireball was a Geminid, partly as the path you described would struggle to pass through the shower's radiant, but primarily because the Earth moves very quickly out of that meteoroid stream once the maximum is past. Video observations have confirmed no discernible Geminid activity beyond December 17 in the past decade, for example. In general other than very near the maxima of one of the major showers, most such casually-seen fireballs throughout the year tend to be sporadics.

 

Best wishes for New Year, Alastair.

 

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

--

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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

Twin GRAIL spacecraft will enter lunar orbit this weekend

   NEWSALERT: Friday, December 30, 2011 @ 1850 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
       The latest news from Spaceflight Now


+++
LAST DAYS OF OUR WINTER SPACE SALE!
40% off space patch collection sets
$5 book and DVD sale
http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/
+++


RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH SPACECRAFT REACHING THE MOON
---------------------------------------------------------
A spacecraft tandem that will deduce the Moon's interior from crust to
core is lined up to enter lunar orbit this weekend after a
2.6-million-mile, 3.5-month trek from Earth.

http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d356/LOIpreview.html

OUR LAUNCH COVERAGE:
http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d356/status.html

HIGH-DEFINITION GRAIL VIDEO:
http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/grail/


GLOBALSTAR CRAFT 'FLAWLESSLY' ORBITED BY SOYUZ ROCKET
-----------------------------------------------------
With a rumble and bright orange glow, a Soyuz rocket blasted off and
disappeared into frigid clouds over Kazakhstan on Wednesday to deliver six
second-generation Globalstar communications satellites to orbit.

http://spaceflightnow.com/soyuz/st24/111228launch/


THIS YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SATURN SYSTEM
---------------------------------------------
NASA's Cassini spacecraft circling Saturn returned scores of picturesque
scenes of the giant planet and its moons in 2011, opening new research
horizons and dazzling the public with colorful views of the final
frontier.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/27cassiniphotos/


EXPERIENCE A SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH LIKE NEVER BEFORE
---------------------------------------------------
These slow-motion films capture the awe-inspiring sight of a space shuttle
blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center on one of the program's final
missions, Discovery soaring skyward in February headed for the
International Space Station. The amazing videos are presented here for
Spaceflight Now+Plus users.

http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/sts133film/

LEARN MORE ABOUT SPACEFLIGHT NOW+PLUS:
http://spaceflightnow.com/store/sfnplus/index.html


+++
INTRODUCING LATEST ASTRONAUT PATCH!
The International Space Station's Expedition 35 crew patch is now
available from our store. Free shipping to U.S. addresses!
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+++


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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

--
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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

Charts-info Astrosite Groningen (Secember 26, 2011)

Dear comet observers,

 

We have prepared the following new charts for our homepage:

 *  C/2009 P1 (Garradd): 

• two 7.5x10 degrees charts for the period 28 December 2011 - 30 January 2012.

 

These new charts are now available in the charts section of our mainpage at:

http://www.shopplaza.nl/astro

Here you can also download charts from earlier updates.

Reinder Bouma/Edwin van Dijk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

--
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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

NASA Telescopes Help Find Rare Galaxy at Dawn of Time

Feature: 2011-392                       Dec. 21, 2011

NASA Telescopes Help Find Rare Galaxy at Dawn of Time

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-392&cid=release_2011-392

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have discovered that one of the
most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy,
called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances.

The galaxy, which was discovered and confirmed using ground-based telescopes, is 12.9 billion
light-years away. Data from Spitzer and Hubble were used to measure the galaxy's high star
production rate, equivalent to about 100 suns per year. For reference, our Milky Way galaxy is about
five times larger and 100 times more massive than GN-108036, but makes roughly 30 times fewer
stars per year.

"The discovery is surprising because previous surveys had not found galaxies this bright so early in
the history of the universe," said Mark Dickinson of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in
Tucson, Ariz. "Perhaps those surveys were just too small to find galaxies like GN-108036.  It may
be a special, rare object that we just happened to catch during an extreme burst of star formation."

The international team of astronomers, led by Masami Ouchi of the University of Tokyo, Japan, first
identified the remote galaxy after scanning a large patch of sky with the Subaru Telescope atop
Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Its great distance was then carefully confirmed with the W.M. Keck
Observatory, also on Mauna Kea.

"We checked our results on three different occasions over two years, and each time confirmed the
previous measurement," said Yoshiaki Ono of the University of Tokyo, lead author of a new paper
reporting the findings in the Astrophysical Journal.

GN-108036 lies near the very beginning of time itself, a mere 750 million years after our universe
was created 13.7 billion years ago in an explosive "Big Bang." Its light has taken 12.9 billion years
to reach us, so we are seeing it as it existed in the very distant past.

Astronomers refer to the object's distance by a number called its "redshift," which relates to how
much its light has stretched to longer, redder wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe.
Objects with larger redshifts are farther away and are seen further back in time. GN-108036 has a
redshift of 7.2. Only a handful of galaxies have confirmed redshifts greater than 7, and only two of
these have been reported to be more distant than GN-108036.

Infrared observations from Spitzer and Hubble were crucial for measuring the galaxy's star-
formation activity. Astronomers were surprised to see such a large burst of star formation because
the galaxy is so small and from such an early cosmic era. Back when galaxies were first forming, in
the first few hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, they were much smaller than they are
today, having yet to bulk up in mass.

During this epoch, as the universe expanded and cooled after its explosive start, hydrogen atoms
permeating the cosmos formed a thick fog that was opaque to ultraviolet light. This period, before
the first stars and galaxies had formed and illuminated the universe, is referred to as the "dark
ages." The era came to an end when light from the earliest galaxies burned through, or "ionized," the
opaque gas, causing it to become transparent. Galaxies similar to GN-108036 may have played an
important role in this event.

"The high rate of star formation found for GN-108036 implies that it was rapidly building up its
mass some 750 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about five percent of
its present age," said Bahram Mobasher, a team member from the University of California,
Riverside. "This was therefore a likely ancestor of massive and evolved galaxies seen today."

Other authors include: Kyle Penner and Benjamin J. Weiner of the University of Arizona, Tucson;
Kazuhiro Shimasaku and Kimihiko Nakajima of the University of Tokyo; Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe of
the National Optical Astronomy Observatory; Hooshang Nayyeri of the University of California,
Riverside; Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Nobunari
Kashikawa of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; and Hyron Spinrad of University of
California, Berkeley.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about
Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer/ .

 -end-



--

Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

--
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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

Geminid Fireball Seen

Society for Popular Astronomy

Meteor Section Fireball Report Form

Thank you. You have submitted the following fireball report to the SPA Meteor Section. You will be redirected to the Meteor Section Home Page in 30 seconds.

Observer:
Name: Colin James Watling
Email: astrocomera@googlemail.com

Site Location:
Town: Kessingland, Lowestoft
County: Suffolk
Country: England
Latitude: 52 ° 25 ' 05 " N
Longitude: 1 ° 43 ' 11 " E

Date / Time:
Date (Year - Month - Date): 2011 - 12 - 22
Time: 06 h 28 m 00 s
TimeZone GMT
Start of fireball's track:
70 ° altitude, 70 ° azimuth
or
h m s RA ° Dec

End of fireball's track:
30 ° altitude, 30 ° azimuth
or
h m s RA ° Dec

Apparent speed: 3

Visible duration (in seconds): 6
If the object was visible for more than 10 seconds it may not have been a fireball.

Train Details: White train as long from end to end-thin.

Sounds: Slight Sonic boom

Fragmentation: No Fragmentation

Colours: White

Magnitude Estimate: 4

Additional comments: Seen and Observed coming over the sky from my Bedroom window and dissapearing into clouds in the East-slim Crescent Moon rising in the South East with Earthshine-I would say it came from the Constellation of Gemini which is high in the West around this time/year so this was more than likely a Geminid Fireball and the Meteors being active from this Constellation during late December.


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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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Lat' 52.41825356698225 North

- (Chimney Pot)

Long' 1.7198766767978668 East

-

Elev: 38ft/11.5824 Meters above sea level
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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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

SPA ENB No. 323

                 ***********************************
                 The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
                ***********************************
        ====================================================
         Electronic News Bulletin No. 323  2011 December 18
        ====================================================


Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.  The SPA is Britain's liveliest astronomical society, with
members all over the world.  We accept subscription payments online
at our secure site and can take credit and debit cards. You can join
or renew via a secure server or just see how much we have to offer by
visiting    http://www.popastro.com/

PLANETS
By Andrew Robertson, Planetary Section Director

Mercury reaches greatest western elongation of 22° on December 23, so
it will be a morning object visible in the SE before sunrise.  At the
start of civil twilight (07:19, about 41 minutes before sunrise) on
December 18 and 19 it will be at 9° altitude.  By the 23rd it will be
at 8° altitude and by the 27th it will be down to 7° altitude, and
thereafter it descends quickly.  So it is an opportunity for early
risers with a good horizon to the SE to view that elusive planet.
Twilight times are for my location at 1°.5 east of Greenwich; they
will be four minutes later for each degree further west you are.
Latitude may make a difference too.


IS VESTA THE 'SMALLEST TERRESTRIAL PLANET?'
NASA

The 'Dawn' spacecraft has spent the last four years on its way to the
asteroid Vesta, which was discovered over 200 years ago but until now
has been seen only as little more than an unresolved starlike point
and considered simply as a large rocky asteroid.  Now the spacecraft's
instruments are revealing its true complexity.  Astronomers are seeing
enormous mountains, cliffs, craters of all sizes, and plains.  It has
a rich chemical history and an iron core.  Its surface features
indicate that it is 'differentiated' like the 'terrestrial' planets
Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars.  Differentiation is what happens
when the interior of a planet gets hot enough to melt, separating its
materials into layers: the light material floats to the surface while
the heavy elements, such as iron and nickel, sink to the centre.

The history begins about 4.57 billion years ago, when the planets of
the Solar System started forming from the primordial solar nebula.
As Jupiter gathered itself together, its powerful gravity stirred up
the material in the asteroid belt so objects there could no longer
coalesce.  Vesta was in the process of growing into a planet when
Jupiter interrupted the process.  Although Vesta's growth was stunted,
it is still differentiated like a true planet.  Astronomers believe
that the Solar System received radioactive aluminium and iron from a
nearby supernova explosion at the time when Vesta was forming.  Those
materials decayed and gave off heat.  As the asteroid was gathering
material into a big ball of rock, it was also trapping the heat inside
itself.  As Vesta's core melted, lighter materials rose to the
surface.  Vesta may have had volcanoes and flowing lava at one time,
although none has yet been found.  Vesta has so much in common with
the terrestrial planets that there may be a case to have it re-
classified as a 'dwarf planet'.  Dawn will leave Vesta towards the
end of 2012 for Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.


PLANET IN 'HABITABLE ZONE' OF SUN-LIKE STAR
NASA

A newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is about 2.4 times the radius of
the Earth and is said to be in the 'habitable zone' of its star
(Kepler 22), about 600 light-years away.  Although it is much larger
than the Earth, its 290-day orbit is much like our own, and its star is
a G-type one like the Sun, but slightly smaller and cooler.  Scientists
do not know anything about Kepler-22b's composition, but its discovery
is claimed to be a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

Kepler stares continuously at a particular area of sky in Cygnus and
Lyra; it measures the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, looking
for dips that may be caused by planet candidates that transit in front
of the stars.  It requires at least three dips equally spaced in time
to verify a signal as a transit.  Since its first list was published
last February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler
has nearly doubled, to over 2000, but now there are only 48 candidates
deemed to be in their respective stars' 'habitable zones', an actual
decrease from the 54 reported in February, largely because the Kepler
team has adopted a more realistic definition of what constitutes the
zone.  Candidates require follow-up observations to see whether they
are actual planets.  The Kepler team uses ground-based telescopes and
the Spitzer space telescope to review planet candidates found by the
spacecraft.  The matter is seen a bit more in perspective when it is
recognised out that, out of the 54 'habitable-zone' planet candidates
reported in February, Kepler-22b is the *only one* that has been
confirmed as a planet.

[(Editorial aside:) The 'habitable zone' of a planetary system merely
refers to the band of orbits where the mean temperature of a body in
thermal equilibrium between the heat arriving from the star and that
conjectured to be lost by the planet's own radiation into space should
allow liquid water to exist on the surface.  The anthropomorphic
reference to 'habitability', when all that is meant is that the
surface temperature promises to allow water to be a liquid rather than
ice or steam, appears to be a ruse to persuade people in general, and
perhaps funding agencies in particular, to believe that the discovery
of such a body brings very near the discovery of 'little green men'.
More realistic souls have drawn attention to the fact that there is
much more to habitability than mere equilibrium temperature.  If the
Kepler team lived on Alpha Centauri it would probably consider Venus,
the Moon and Mars to be in the Sun's 'habitable zone', but living as
we do nearer at hand we can see that neither Venus nor the Moon would
be likely to represent pleasant abodes even for little green men.
Obviously there has to be, around *any* star, a range of radii that
satisfies the basic temperature demand of 'habitability': at the
surface of the star it is too hot and in the far distance (outer
space) it is too cold, so somewhere in between it must be 'just
right'.  There is no sense in which an Earth-like temperature is un-
usual or anomalous -- it can not avoid occurring over some appreciable
range of radii around every star, although in an individual case (that
of Venus is notable) the hypothetical temperature calculation is
falsified by conditions related to the characteristics of the planet
itself.]


FASTEST ROTATING STAR
ESO

An international team of astronomers has been using the Very Large
Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile to make a survey of the
most massive and luminous stars in the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large
Magellanic Cloud.  Among the many brilliant stars there, the team has
discovered one, called VFTS 102, that has an equatorial rotational
velocity of more than 600 km/s -- more than 300 times faster than the
Sun and very close to the point at which it would be torn apart by
centrifugal forces.  VFTS 102 is the fastest-rotating star known to
date.  The astronomers also found that the star, which is around 25
times the mass of the Sun and about 100,000 times brighter, is moving
through space at a significantly different speed from its neighbours.
That could imply that it has been ejected from a double-star system
after its companion exploded as a supernova, an idea that is supported
by the existence of a pulsar and an associated supernova remnant in
its vicinity.  Its high rotational velocity might have arisen from its
accretion of a stream of gas lost from the hypothetical companion star
before the latter exploded as a supernova.


DOUBLE STAR OBSERVED WITH VLT INTERFEROMETER
ESO

In a considerable technical achievement, four telescopes at ESO's
Paranal Observatory in Chile have been used together as an
interferometer with a 130-m baseline, giving the resolution equivalent
to that of a telescope of that aperture.  The system was used to
observe the double star SS Leporis, whose components orbit one another
in 260 days.  The stars are separated by only a little more than the
distance between the Sun and the Earth, while the larger and cooler of
the two stars is a red giant that extends about a quarter of the way
to its hot companion, a distance corresponding roughly to the orbit of
Mercury.  The hot component appears to have accreted about half of the
mass that was originally in the giant.  The new observations show that
the giant star is smaller than was previously thought, making it much
more difficult to explain how it has lost matter to its companion.
The astronomers now think that, instead of the matter pouring off the
giant through the gravitational effect of the hot star, a process
called 'Roche-lobe overflow', it must be being expelled from the giant
star as a stellar wind, like the 'solar wind' but a lot denser, and
captured by the hot companion.


CLUSTER HAS MANY MASSIVE STARS
University of Toronto.

Astronomers have found the most numerous batch of young, massive stars
yet observed in our Galaxy, in a cluster of hundreds of thousands of
stars that include several hundred massive blue stars dozens of times
the mass of our Sun.  The light of all the newborn massive stars is so
intense that it has expelled and heated the gas that remained in the
cluster after their birth, creating a glowing hollow shell about a
hundred light-years across.  Comparable clusters of massive stars have
been noticed in other galaxies, but they are so far away that all the
stars tend to appear blurred together.  The cluster now observed is
located nearly halfway across our galaxy, 10,000 parsecs (30,000
light-years) away, and the line of sight is badly obscured by dust.
The researchers used the New Technology Telescope at ESO; they could
measure only the brightest stars in the cluster, but from the
uppermost portion of the colour-magnitude diagram they deduced that at
least a dozen stars were of the most massive types, some possibly a
hundred times as massive as the Sun.  In fact, before observing the
cluster from the ground, the team had first noticed the glow from the
large shell of heated gas in images from the WMAP satellite, which is
sensitive to microwaves (between radio waves and visible light).  To
make an image of the gas shell being blown away and heated up, they
used the Spitzer satellite, which works with infrared light.  Most of
the light emitted by the heated gas is infrared which is less obscured
than visible light by gas or dust.  The giant stars in the cluster
emit mostly in the ultraviolet, which is very badly blocked by dust
and thus not visible in the image.  Such stars burn their nuclear fuel
very quickly in astronomical terms; they will last only a few million
years, even though they contain dozens of times more fuel than the
Sun.


GALACTIC TAILS
RAS

An international group of astronomers has discovered in two groups of
galaxies extraordinarily long one-sided gaseous tails that are amongst
the longest structures ever observed in such environments.  They
emanate from CGCG 097-026 and FGC1287, two spiral galaxies in small
groups in the outskirts of the cluster known as Abell 1367 in the
constellation of Leo, at a distance of 100 Mpc (Megaparsecs).  The
astronomers used the Expanded Very Large Array radio telescope in the
USA to study Abell 1367.  The projected lengths of the gaseous tails
are about 9 and 10 times the sizes of the respective parent galaxies,
i.e. about 160 and 250 kiloparsecs.  In both cases the amount of cold
hydrogen gas in the tails is approximately the same as that remaining
in the galaxies themselves.  In other words, the galaxies have lost
half their fuel for star formation.  There is an idea that galaxies in
large clusters lose their gas through its being swept out by the
movement of the galaxies through the intergalactic gas already present
there, but the galaxies concerned here are only on the outskirts of
the cluster and ought not to have lost their gas in that way.  The
origin of the extraordinary tails remains a puzzle for the scientists.


MASSIVE BLACK HOLES DISCOVERED
University of California - Berkeley.

The most massive black holes are found in elliptical galaxies, which
are thought to result from mergers of two or more galaxies.  To date,
approximately 63 super-massive black holes have been found in the
cores of nearby galaxies.  The most massive one known until now was
one reputedly of 6.3 billion solar masses in the centre of the
'nearby' galaxy M87.  Astronomers at the Gemini, Keck and McDonald
observatories have been obtaining spectra of the diffuse starlight at
the centres of several massive elliptical galaxies, each the brightest
galaxy in its cluster.  In that way they can estimate a velocity
dispersion for the unresolved stars, and try to interpret it to
indicate the mass of the central object.  Finding huge masses
contained within a volume only a few hundred light-years across, the
astronomers conclude that the masses must be massive black holes.
They have found two that appear to have masses of about 10 billion
Suns, though the uncertainties in the actual values are substantial.
The holes are at the centres of two elliptical galaxies, both about
100 Mpc away.  One is in the elliptical galaxy NGC 3842, the brightest
galaxy in the Leo cluster; the other is in NGC 4889, the brightest in
the Coma Berenices cluster.  Physical laws show that holes of such
masses must have event horizons (distances from within which nothing,
even light, can escape) at radii of about 200 astronomical units (five
times the size of the orbit of Pluto).  The black hole at the centre
of the Milky Way is less massive by a factor of about 2500, and its
event horizon is at a distance about one-fifth the radius of the orbit
of Mercury.


TWO SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS GAMMA-RAY BURST
NASA

Two competing theories have been put forward, in separate papers
published in 'Nature', to explain a gamma-ray burst (GRB 101225A) that
was detected in Andromeda by the orbiting 'Swift' observatory on
Christmas Day 2010.  Follow-up observations by the Hubble telescope
and ground-based ones failed to determine its distance.  The gamma-ray
emission lasted at least 28 minutes, which is unusually long.
Astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain
suggest that the burst occurred in a binary system where a neutron
star orbited a normal star that had just entered its red-giant phase,
enormously expanding its outer atmosphere.  The expansion engulfed the
neutron star, they say, causing the giant's atmosphere to be ejected
and the neutron star's orbit to be made smaller.  The neutron star may
then have merged with the giant's core, creating a black hole and
oppositely-directed jets of particles, producing gamma rays, followed
by a weak supernova.  The team says that the event would have to have
taken place about 2000 Mpc away.  Astronomers at Brera Observatory in
Italy, however, suggest an entirely different model.  It involves the
tidal disruption of a large comet-like object and the ensuing crash of
debris onto a neutron star located 'only' about 3000 parsecs away.
Gamma-ray emission would have occurred when debris fell onto the
neutron star; X-ray variations lasting several hours, detected by
Swift's X-Ray telescope, might have been caused by late-arriving
clumps of matter striking the neutron star.


REDDEST GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE
Astropublishing

A group from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has
discovered four extremely distant galaxies that are amongst the
reddest ever detected.  Located at a distance of around 4000 Mpc, they
must have formed during the first billion years of existence of the
Universe.  The four galaxies appear to be physically related to each
other; one also shows evidence of an active nucleus, presumably owing
to the presence of a super-massive black hole.  They were observed
with the Spitzer space telescope at infrared wavelengths, where the
galaxies are much brighter than they are in visible light.  Redness in
distant galaxies can arise in three ways -- a large population of very
red stars, dust in their interstellar medium, or a great distance
resulting in a large red-shift caused by the Doppler effect.
According to the researchers involved in this study, it is likely that
all three effects are important in the galaxies that they observed.


CLOSEST SPACECRAFT TO APPROACH PLUTO
Johns Hopkins University

The 'New Horizons' mission has reached a milestone on its way to
Pluto, now being closer to Pluto than any previous spacecraft has
been.  It has taken New Horizons 2,143 days of high-speed flight --
covering more than a million kilometres a day for nearly six years --
to break the closest-approach mark of 1.58 billion kilometres set by
Voyager 1 in 1986.  New Horizons is healthy and on course for its
closest approach of 12,500 kilometres to Pluto on 2015 July 14.  At
its current distance from Pluto (about as far as from here to Saturn)
Pluto remains just a faint point of light.  But when it rushes through
the Pluto system in 2015, its cameras will be able briefly to observe
fine details on the former planet and it moons.  New Horizons is
currently in hibernation, with all but its most essential systems
turned off; operators will waken the spacecraft in January for a
month of testing and maintenance activities.


SPA SOLAR SECTION
By Richard Bailey, SPA Solar Section Director

2011 NOVEMBER
Rotation Nos. 2116, 2117    White Light

Autumn's effects, low Sun and often cloudy skies, plus tall trees,
buildings, wind turbines, what-have-you, curtailed observation
opportunities.  From the scattered observation reports received,
though, enough information arrived to put together an outline of solar
activity.  Again, the NH was more energised than the SH by a factor of
at least 1.6.  Faculae were regularly seen by the limb.

Week 1: the band of ARs across the NH at the end of October was on
show gradually heading westwards.  NH AR 1339,the largest of Cycle 24
so far, was in the E on the 2nd, and SH AR 1338, also a strong one,
appeared there the same day, followed on the 5th by SH AR 1344.
Week 2: well-balanced activity in both hemispheres.  NH AR 1339
decayed as it neared the W limb.  9 ARs seen on the 12/13th, almost
equally divided between the hemispheres.  The most individual sunspots
of the month were counted on the 10th, 28 in the NH, 17 in the SH.
Week 3: much the same.  SH AR 1334 was an open gathering of smallish
sunspots, showing well from the 18th in the E, with smaller SH AR
1352, a line of small sunspots, just ahead.  9 ARs (6 NH and 3 SH) on
the 15th.
Week 4 to end of month: almost a repeat viewing of Week 1 with a
spread of some 6 NH ARs across the disc on the 27th, the SH almost
blank with AR 1352 just visible by the SW limb.  9 ARs on the 24-26th,
7NH and 2 SH.

MDF  6.75   R  84.84

H-ALPHA

An overview of the month's prominence activity is difficult to compile
owing to the conditions mentioned earlier.  Mixed, often low-level
prominences showed each day, but the 12th had a majestic arch
standing on the S rim, and a lower hedgerow in the NE.  Another long,
dense one was on show in the SE on the 16th.  The 14th had a tall,
wide 'forest' formation in the S.  Minor flaring was seen on the 2nd,
6th,13th, 15th. and 17th.  Filaments were seen daily, a long NH one on
the 13th. stretching about half the width of the disc.  It showed well
for more than a week as it went to the W limb.  Another strong but
shorter one spread southwards between AR 1353 and AR 1354 around the
19th.

MDF  5.39

A reminder again that a selection of pictures is viewable on the Solar
link from the SPA Homepage, under Monthly Reports.  To view any to a
larger scale, click to save them to your computer then open them with
a graphics programme.



Bulletin compiled by Clive Down


(c) 2011 the Society for Popular Astronomy


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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
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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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Shuttle Discovery powered down for last time / South American Soyuz launch

NEWSALERT: Sunday, December 18, 2011 @ 2237 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  The latest news from Spaceflight Now


+++
NEW IN OUR STORE: SPACE MODELS
Spaceships scaled to fit on your desk
http://spaceflightnowstore.com/us/catalog/
+++


SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S HISTORIC PAYLOAD BAY GOES DARK
--------------------------------------------------
After deploying 21 satellites from expansive confines, including the
Hubble Space Telescope, commercial spacecraft and military eavesdroppers,
hosting scientific platforms and hauling key pieces of the International
Space Station, the payload bay of space shuttle Discovery was closed and
locked as the spacecraft was powered off for the final time Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/111216doors/

STS-133: DISCOVERY'S FINAL FLIGHT:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/

FINAL MISSION HIGH-DEFINITION TV ARCHIVE:
http://www.spaceflightnowplus.com/hd/sts133/


SIX DEFENSE SATELLITES LAUNCHED BY SOYUZ ROCKET
-----------------------------------------------
A Russian Soyuz rocket fired six satellites into space Friday, launching
missions to serve defense agencies in Europe and Chile with
high-resolution imagery and electronic intelligence.

http://spaceflightnow.com/soyuz/vs02/111217launch/

MISSION STATUS CENTER:
http://spaceflightnow.com/soyuz/vs02/status.html


RUSSIANS NOW PREPARING FOR RE-ENTRY OF MARS PROBE
-------------------------------------------------
Russia's $163 million Phobos-Grunt Mars probe, stranded in low-Earth orbit
after a malfunction following launch Nov. 8, is expected to fall back into
Earth's atmosphere next month, Russian officials confirmed Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/17reentry/


NASA RETHINKS MECHANICS FOR COMMERCIAL CREW CONTRACTS
-----------------------------------------------------
Faced with uncertain budgets, NASA is giving up fixed-price contracts and
moving back to more flexible, but less comprehensive, Space Act Agreements
to continue design work on a new commercial manned spacecraft to ferry
U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station, officials
said Thursday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/15commcrew/


DECISION INCREASES RISK IN COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM
--------------------------------------------------
NASA's decision to give up insight and influence in the design of
privately-developed space vehicles could cause delays in the resumption of
U.S. human spaceflight, officials said Thursday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/16commercialcrew/


+++
INTRODUCING LATEST ASTRONAUT PATCH!
The International Space Station's Expedition 35 crew patch is now
available from our store. Free shipping to U.S. addresses!
http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/
+++

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
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Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
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Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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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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Spectacular Sundiving Comet

Space Weather News for Dec. 15, 2011
http://spaceweather.com

SUNDIVING COMET: Comet Lovejoy is plunging toward the sun, and its ~200-meter wide core is vaporizing furiously as it approaches the hot star. So far the comet's brightness seems to be exceeding expectations. Indeed, there is a slim chance that the sundiver will brighten enough to be seen with the naked eye in broad daylight on Dec. 15th. Check http://spaceweather.com for further discussion and the latest movies from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
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Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

Comet Lovejoy Survives Death-Plunge into the Sun

Space Weather News for Dec. 16, 2011
http://spaceweather.com

SUNGRAZING COMET SURVIVES: Sungrazing Comet Lovejoy has confounded the experts and survived its close encounter with the sun.  Last night, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded amazing movies of the comet entering and exiting the sun's atmosphere. Comet Lovejoy's scorched remnant is now receding from the sun in full view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for the latest movies and discussion.


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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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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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Information -- More Info -- And More Info

Significant Sungrazing Comet + Geminid Meteor Shower

Space Weather News for Dec. 13, 2011
http://spaceweather.com

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER:  Earth is passing through a stream of debris from near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower.  Forecasters expect meteor rates to reach 20-to-40 per hour when the shower peaks in bright moonlight on the night of Dec.13/14.  The best time to look, no matter where you live, is between 10 pm local time on Tuesday, Dec. 13, and sunrise on Wednesday, Dec. 14th. Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and live audio from a meteor radar.

BIG SUNDIVING COMET: A comet nearly as wide as two football fields (200m) is plunging toward the sun where it will most likely be destroyed in a spectacular light show on Dec. 15/16. Solar glare will hide the event from human eyes, but NASA and ESA spacecraft should have a grand view.  Check http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.

METALLIC PHOTOS OF THE SUN: Would you like to have an explosion a billion times more powerful than an atomic bomb hanging on your wall?  Unique metallic photos of solar flares and prominences are now available in the Space Weather Store:  http://www.shopspaceweather.com/metallicpicturesofthesun.aspx

 

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
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Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
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Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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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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[BAA-ebulletin 00635] GEMINID METEOR SHOWER NEARING PEAK

=============================================================
BAA electronic bulletin
=============================================================
GEMINID METEOR SHOWER NEARING PEAK

The Geminid meteor shower is now underway, with peak activity expected during Wednesday, 14th December.  Unfortunately, weather forecasts indicate very variable observing conditions across the British Isles and Northern Europe, so it is important to have a good geographical spread of observers to ensure adequate coverage. The waning gibbous Moon will also be rather obtrusive, so observers are advised to direct their gaze away from the Moon, or to hide the Moon behind an obstruction such as the wall of a house.

The Geminids are currently the most active of the regular annual showers, with rates outstripping those of the Perseids for a 24-hour interval centred on their 14-15 December maximum - a real treat for observers prepared to brave the cold, damp and windy weather.

This year, Geminid activity is expected to peak at about 14h on Wednesday, December 14th, when the peak Geminid Zenithal Hourly Rate may reach 140 m/h - sadly during daylight hours for observers across Europe. The maximum is broad, however, and it is important to have a spread of observers making observations throughout the nights of 13th/14th December and on 14th/15th December to ensure adequate coverage of the shower maximum.  In addition, observations by BAA members in North America and the Far East will be welcomed by the Meteor Section to improve coverage of the period of peak shower activity.

The Geminid radiant (at RA 07h 32m  Dec +33o, just north of Castor) rises early on and reaches a respectable altitude well before midnight, so observers who are unable to stay up late can still contribute very useful watches. On the evening of Wednesday 14th December there is the added bonus of an increased proportional abundance of bright events after maximum; past observations show that bright Geminids become more numerous some hours after the rates have peaked, a consequence of particle-sorting in the meteor stream.

Geminid meteors enter the atmosphere at a relatively slow 35 km/sec, and thanks to their robust (presumably rocky/asteroidal as opposed to dusty/cometary) nature tend to last longer than most in luminous flight. Unlike swift Perseid or Orionid meteors, which last only a couple of tenths of a second, Geminids may be visible for a second or longer, sometimes appearing to fragment into a train of 'blobs'. Their relatively low speed and the abundance of bright events makes the Geminids a prime target for imaging.

For further information, or copies of report forms, observing notes, and details of how to carry out group meteor watches, please visit the BAA Meteor Section website at http://britastro.org/meteor


This e-bulletin issued by:
John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section
2011 December 12
=============================================================
BAA-ebulletin mailing list or visit:
http://lists.britastro.org/mailman/listinfo/baa-ebulletin
(c) 2011 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
=============================================================

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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
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Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
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Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

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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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Join NASA/JPL for the Last Total Lunar Eclipse Until 2014

Join NASA/JPL for the Last Total Lunar Eclipse Until 2014

The last total lunar eclipse until 2014 will grace the sky the morning of Saturday, Dec. 10, reaching totality at about 6 a.m. PST, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wants you to be there. Not only will the moon be showing off a red-orange glow, but also many viewers in the U.S. and Canada will have the rare chance to see a seemingly impossible sight: the sun and eclipsed moon together!

You can text, tweet, post or snap to join the conversation with NASA/JPL and participate in the "I'm There: Lunar Eclipse 2011" event. It all starts today! Here's how to join the fun:

1. TEXT MESSAGE: Text IMTHERE to 67463 to share your eclipse viewing spot and comments with NASA/JPL, or enter your 10-digit cell phone number in the "Join the Conversation" box at http://1.usa.gov/sqf5op. (Available to users in the U.S., message and data rates may apply). To join the campaign, just text in with the zip code of your viewing location, and see it plotted on the map at http://1.usa.gov/sqf5op. Then, on Saturday morning, you'll receive a reminder to go out and watch plus instructions on how to share your comments via text.

2. TWITTER: Eclipse watchers around the world can participate by including @NASA/JPL and #Eclipse in their tweets, then see their comments displayed in the Twitter stream at http://1.usa.gov/sqf5op. Don't forget to tell us where you're watching the eclipse!

3. FACEBOOK: Join JPL's Total Lunar Eclipse event page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/events/150487628392791/) to share your experiences and upload lunar eclipse photos. After the eclipse, NASA/JPL will pick one lucky winner to have his or her photo featured on JPL's Space Images website and available for download as an official NASA/JPL wallpaper.

4. ONLINE: Visit NASA/JPL's Lunar Eclipse homepage at  http://1.usa.gov/sqf5op throughout the weekend to find others who are watching in your area, view comments and updates, check the weather, and explore more resources, including eclipse timetables and related events.

Learn more about where and when to view the lunar eclipse from JPL astronomer Steve Edberg at http://blogs.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Can't see the eclipse from your area? Slooh, the online Space Camera, will broadcast a live feed of the total lunar eclipse from several locations, starting at 6:06 a.m. PST (9:06 a.m. EST). Watch here: http://events.slooh.com/.

- end -


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Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--

Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/

--
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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