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On the way home from soccer practice tonight, there was a message on my cell phone. I checked the message and it was from my daughter’s astronomy course teacher, Blair. His message was for her to check out the naked eye comet 17P/Holmes in the Northeastern sky, as they were going to be discussing it in class this weekend.

The comet which is periodic (comes around every 6 to 7 years) usually is not very bright. It is normally considered to be a magnitude 17 comet, meaning that you need a very powerful telescope (and dark skies) to see it. Suddenly on the 24th of October, 2007 the comet brightened about a million times to approximately a magnitude 3 object. For an example of magnitudes, Vega the star that is virtually overhead in the summer is a magnitude 0 star and Sirius (the star to the lower right of the constellation Orion) is a magnitude -1.42 and is one of the brightest stars in our skies. The larger the magnitude number the fainter the object.

No one knows what caused the brightness this time, but theories are that there may be ice under the surface, or that a piece broke off or it cracked and is now a pinpoint star surrounded by a glowing halo. The comet also displayed some of these characteristics when it was discovered in 1892.

Currently the comet is located in the constellation of Perseus. If you are looking North find the constellation that looks like like a large W (Cassiopeia), then start looking further North and East of Cassiopeia. While it could be considered a Naked Eye object, from our part of the city it is difficult to see as there is a major shopping center just northeast of us, including a large Wal-Mart. Unfortunately the sky glow from the shopping centre really washes out the sky.

Anyway while the kids were getting ready for bed, I went out with my 10×70 binoculars and tried to find it. It took me about 20 or 30 minutes but finally I caught of glimpse of a large fuzzy object. Once I found the comet it was very easy to find it again. I brought out one of my telescopes (SkyWatcher 102mm ED) and a portable mount, found the comet and got the kids. Everyone came out and had a look at something that you don’t get to see very often in most peoples lifetime. The comet appears to be a bright object surrounded by a large round halo. There is no real hint of a tail as the comet is moving away from the earth so if there is a tail we cannot see it.

If you want to see some images of it visit this site as it shows recent brightening Nasa Astronomy Picture of the Day You can see the comet’s orbit here; Comet 17P/Holmes Orbit

The comet should stay in the constellation Perseus for a couple of months now. Unfortunately we don’t know how long it will remain visible. If you get a chance to check out this comet in the next few days I encourage you to do so. Check out the Friday Night Deck program at the Telus World of Science where, every Friday night where volunteers from the Calgary Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society if Canada man telescopes for free public viewing. I am sure there will be more than one scope trained on this fantastic object.

If Halloween night is clear, I plan on setting up a couple of scopes in the driveway as well as a tripod mounted pair of binoculars and offer the little trick or treaters and their parents a special little treat from the sky!

Man has the time flown. It was one year ago that the Mrs. and I took our first real trip on our own and went on a Caribbean Cruise. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago! With my back the way it was this summer, I am looking at finally taking some time off! Who knows maybe we’ll even take the kids this time!

After I wrote my last post yesterday, I decided to check out the site, http://www.heavens-above.com . I was looking at a few things and decided to look at ISS (International Space Station) and sts-118 (Current space shuttle mission) passes for my area. Sure enough I had just missed a pass but there was another in about 50 minutes and it would be a bright pass but a short one as (about half way across the sky before entering the earth’s shadow). BTW the shuttle is currently docked with the ISS. I also wanted to grab a long exposure picture, but my battery died just before the pass, but I got in and changed the battery on time but when time came to snap the picture, I couldn’t find my remote release. Turns out it was sitting where I changed my battery! I did manage to see the object and it was difficult to miss as they are some of the brightest objects in the sky.

If you want see the ISS and STS-118 in the next few days there are some good opportunities. Go to www.heavens-above.com, put in your location and click on the link for the 10 day ISS passes. It will show you all of the passes for your area, the times, magnitude, sky charts and a ground track. Look for the passes with the largest – magnitudes. For example look for mag of -2.4 which is much brighter than -.4 or 1.5. Magnitudes are based on the brightest stars. Vega is a 0 magnitude star and Arcturus is -.04. In comparison the sun is -26 magnitude, a full moon is -12 and a ¼ moon is -10 magnitude.

Over the next week there are several good passes over Western Canada, including a good one tonight at about 10:08 PM. The ISS should pass in the northern sky (just by the big dipper) across the entire sky. I am planning on getting the camera out and trying to get a picture.

Check out Heavens above for all the details for your area. They also list all satellite passes for your area every night.

 

There are two celestial events to see this August, the first being this weekend. The annual Perseids Meteor shower is this coming weekend and the end of the month features a real treat, a Full Lunar Eclipse.

The Perseid Meteor shower happens this weekend August 11, 12, 13 with the peak occurring the evening of Sunday August 12^th. While there is no expectation of an exceptional show, this years shower coincides with the new moon, meaning there will be no moonlight washing out the sky (that won’t help the light pollution in towns and cities though). While from a dark sight on Sunday evening you could easily see 80 to 100 meteors an hour, you may only see one of the brightest every 5 to 10 minutes in the city. The shower is expected to peak high in the sky Sunday between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM Eastern time. The meteors can appear any where over head so lie back and enjoy the show. If you can’t make it out Sunday you should be able to head out Saturday or Monday evening and catch the early or late part of the celestial fireworks show. Search the net as there is loads of information on the Perseids.

The early morning of August 28^th brings a less frequent event, especially to watchers in Western Canada, a full Lunar eclipse! The Peneumbral phase of the eclipse starts at 1:53 AM Mountain Time, when the moon first starts to enter the penumbra or outer shadow of the earth. The moon starts to enter the Umbral phase at 2:51 AM and totality begins at 3:52 AM. Mideclipse, when the moon is deepest and darkest occurs at 4:37AM and totality ends at 5:22 AM, and the Penumbral phase and the eclipse ends at 7:21 AM.

During the umbral phase, the moon should appear as deep red/rust colour, although since it will be passing a little south of the centre of the umbra, the southern end should appear brighter and yellower than the northern half.

The entire event will happen in the South West part of the sky and while it can be seen with naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope is all that is needed to really appreciate this event.

If you want to see what your night sky will be like on the above evenings, check out this great online tool from Canadian Software Writer Attilla Danko using Environment Canada’s data called the Clear Sky Clock here http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/ . Astronomers all over North America use this data to plan their observing sessions, and it is some of the most accurate information I have seen.

Hopefully your skies will be clear to see these great events!

I am just trying something new here. Currently comments are being moderated, only to protect from Spam posts. I have just installed a Recaptcha plugin that will have commenters verify two words, prior to being able to post. By entering these two words not  only are you proving that you are human, but you are also helping to digitize books for the web.

Recaptcha is a project from Carnegie Mellon University, the two words you decipher come from scanned book texts that computer ocr programs are having difficulty making out. By entering the words you are helping out in getting the words recognized. You can read more about it here:
http://recaptcha.net/learnmore.html