[BAA-ebulletin 00685] Grazing occultation of Jupiter this weekend

============================================================
BAA electronic bulletin
============================================================

Grazing occultation of Jupiter this weekend

On Sunday morning, 2012 July 15, observers in southern Britain will have the chance to see a rare and splendid sight: Jupiter and its moons gliding behind the rugged horizon of the Moon's north pole.  This is one of a series of lunar occultations of Jupiter, and the only one which will be visible in a dark or twilight sky from the UK.  The northern limit crosses England, giving a grazing occultation along a broad band from East Anglia to SE Wales and Cornwall.  Times will vary considerably from place to place, but the full event spans approx. 01:51 to 02:22 UT (02:51 to 03:22 BST) (from disappearance of the first satellite to reappearance of the last satellite at Greenwich).

Full details of the grazing occultation were published by Jan Meeus in the Journal of the BAA, vol.122, p.31 (2012 Feb.).
The full occultation is visible for observers all over Europe except Scandinavia, and details are posted at:
        http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/0715jupiter.htm

Imaging the event will be a challenge, as the movement will be too fast for normal planetary imaging techniques, and it will be at low altitude in the dawn sky.  Short monochrome exposures with a red or infrared filter would optimise the sharpness and brightness of Jupiter. These could then be combined with colour channels from longer exposures just before or after the occultation, to produce L(IR)RGB images. If you produce images, please record how they were made. Drawings will also be welcome.

John Rogers
BAA Jupiter Section Director
2012 July 11

============================================================

BAA Mailing List Visit:
http://lists.britastro.org/mailman/listinfo/baa-ebulletin
(c) 2012 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
=========================================================

--

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)
--
Information -- And More Info

SPA ENB No. 334b

I hope to be up for this one if the Skies are clear....



                     ***********************************
                  The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
                 ***********************************
        =====================================================
         Electronic News Bulletin No. 334b      2012 July 12
        =====================================================



MOON HIDES JUPITER ON SUNDAY MORNING
By Robin Scagell


A rare lunar occultation of Jupiter takes place this coming Sunday
morning, 15 July, starting at about 2.50 am BST – so you'll have to
stay up on Saturday night! The Moon will be low down in the east north
east, so you will need a good low horizon in that direction, as well,
of course as good weather!  The event will only be seen south of a line
running roughly from South Wales to Lincolnshire. For many people
Jupiter will just graze the lunarlimb, giving a very interesting
appearance, while farther south of a line between Dorset and Suffolk.
Jupiter will be fully hidden for a time. The map on the SPA webpage
shows these two lines.  Jupiter's satellites will also take part in the
event, and each one has its own graze track across the UK, south of
which it will be completely hidden. As seen from Greenwich, the event
starts at 01.51 UT (2.52 am BST) with Europa, followed by Io and then
Jupiter itself at 01.56 UT. Other timings from Greenwich are shown on the
website below.

Timings for other locations will be just a minute or two different from
these. The event will be worth watching from the whole of the UK, though
north of the line Jupiter will not be hidden by the Moon at all. The
simulations shown on the website are from the free planetarium software
Stellarium, which will give you precise predictions for your own location
should you need them.  More information at:


http://www.popastro.com/news/newsdetail.php?id_nw=128




Bulletin compiled by Clive Down


(c) 2012 the Society for Popular Astronomy

The Society for Popular Astronomy our lively website:   www.popastro.com

============================================================


--

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)
--

Information -- And More Info

Almost-X Flare Illuminates Earth on July 2nd

Space Weather News for July 2, 2012
http://spaceweather.com

STRONG SOLAR FLARE: A big, active sunspot (AR1515) is growing on the Earthside of the sun. This morning it erupted, producing an M5.6-class solar flare that ionized Earth's upper atmosphere with a brief but intense pulse of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation.  More eruptions are in the offing as the sunspot turns to face Earth.  Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

X-FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when solar flares are underway? X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

 

--

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)
--
Information -- And More Info

[BAA-ebulletin 00682] Jupiter reappears with major outbreaks in northern hemisphere

============================================================
BAA electronic bulletin
============================================================

Jupiter reappears with major outbreaks in northern hemisphere

John Rogers (BAA), 2012 June 30


As Jupiter is now emerging in the morning sky, two very important disturbances are under way on the planet. They were nearly missed due to solar conjunction, and it is urgent to observe these rapidly changing phenomena now.

The disturbances are in the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) and North Temperate Belt (NTB).  Both belts had faded (lightened) during 2011, and were very quiet in early 2012.  The NEB was exceptionally narrow and its south edge devoid of major features, a state not seen since about a century ago.  The disturbances erupted just before Jupiter disappeared behind the Sun, and were only detected thanks to the perseverence of a few observers.

The NEB outbreak [ref.1] began on 2012 March 8 when a bright 'rift' appeared and started to generate very dark, slow-moving formations on the NEBs edge.  It seemed possible that this would be the start of a new NEB broadening event (last seen in 2009), and perhaps of a fully-fledged 'NEB Revival' such as used to happen a century ago.  The NTB outbreak [ref.2] was first detected on April 19 with a very bright and a very dark spot on the NTBs edge.  It seemed likely that this was the start of a new NTBs jet-stream outbreak (last seen in 2007).  Both events would be spectacular, and important for establishing the long-term patterns of activity in Jupiter's atmosphere, so it was frustrating that Jupiter then disappeared behind the Sun.  We eagerly awaited the new apparition to find out how the phenomena developed.

Manos Kardasis in Greece made the first image of the new apparition on June 4, which confirmed that both outbreaks had developed impressively. He has posted a map made from his near-infrared (IR) images on June 4-9 [ref.3].  Other observers have also made great efforts to get images, in daylight or at low altitude, and the patterns of the outbreaks are now emerging [ref.4].  There are striking dark spots in NTropZ and on NEBs, and reddish or ochre colour appears to cover much of the NEB, NTropZ, and NTB(S). These images provide strong evidence that a NTBs super-fast outbreak has indeed occurred, and that a NEB Revival is under way.

Our new report [ref.4] is a compilation and tentative interpretation of the images from June 13-14, posted.  More observers are now obtaining better images, so the interpretations may be revised, but the appearance of the outbreaks may change rapidly, so this preliminary report may still be useful as a guide to what is happening.

These reports have been posted as follows, both on the BAA Jupiter Section web site and, thanks to the ALPO-Japan, on their web site:

[1]  2011/12 Report no.5.  The NEBs outbreak in 2012 March. (2012 April)
        http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/2011report05.htm
        http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk12/j120409r.htm

[2]  2011/12 Report no.6.  Major outbreak on NTBs jetstream (2012 June)
         [Updated from an alert sent out on April 25:]
        http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/2011report06.htm
        http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk12/j120627r.htm

[3]  Alert:  Major outbreaks occurring on Jupiter. (2012 June 12)
        [e-mailed to Section members, & posted at:]
        http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk12/j120612r.htm
        http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk12/j120609r.htm

[4]  2012/13 report no.1: Jupiter reappears with major outbreaks on NEB and NTB (2012 June 27).
        http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/2012_13report01.htm
        http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk12/j120627r.htm


_______________________________

John H. Rogers, Ph.D.
Jupiter Section Director,
British Astronomical Association

<jhr11@cam.ac.uk>
http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/
_________________________________

============================================================
BAA-ebulletin mailing list

Visit:
http://lists.britastro.org/mailman/listinfo/baa-ebulletin
(c) 2012 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
============================================================

--

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)
--
Information -- And More Info