Conjunction Junction

If you noticed two bright stars near the moon on the evening of December 1st, what you saw was a conjunction of the the crescent-Moon and planets Venus (the brighter object) and Jupiter.

The alignment of the two planets (from Earth's perspective) will not occur again until 2015.

In case you missed it here is a picture I took of the event from northern-Virginia.




Starpilot

Finally! A Clear Night

If you live in Northern Virginia and are sick of the cloudiness, I apologize. It was all my fault. How dare I buy a new telescope and hope for clear skies to actually enjoy the darn thing.

A couple nights ago the clouds parted, so I high-tailed it outside to do some star-gazing. I squeezed in a couple hours of observing time before the clouds rolled in.

Here are some pictures from my outing.


M34 (Open Cluster )is located in the constellation Perseus. M34 is 1,400 light years from Earth and contains around 100 stars.

M39 (Open Cluster) is located in the constellation Cygnus. The object is an estimated 800 Light Years from Earth.

M42 (The Great Orion Nebula) is the brightest diffuse nebula visible from Earth. Located on the sword of the constellation Orion, M42 is a favorite target for amateur and professional astronomers alike.

-For the amateur, M42 can make even the cheapest telescope look good.

-For the professional, M42 is one of the most active star-forming regions in the night sky.

@@ Weather permitting I will photograph the entire Orion Nebula some evening and post a special blog featuring M42's many treasures.

M45 (The Pleiades) is a prominent Fall and Winter open cluster that is located in the constellation Taurus. M45 is also called the "Seven Sisters" named for the seven hot blue-stars that dominate the cluster.

M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) is a favorite target of mine. Visible from early Fall to late Winter, this galaxy is a popular target of astronomers, because it is easy to find and is visible in even cheap, department store telescopes. Within proximity of M31 are M110 (looks like a bright-fuzzy star just left of M31) and M32 (faint galaxy to the lower-right of M31). You will see me include many pictures of M31 in my postings.

Hope you enjoy the images as much as I did taking them.

StarPilot

Second Glance

First Light with my new telescope was great, but not ideal because of haze and humidity in the air, along with light from a Hunters Moon. I had a chance to go out again the night of October 19th. I took additional pictures of M31/M110, M32, M33, and the Double Cluster (NGC869 & NGC884). They turned out much better without all the light pollution. Here are the pictures.

This picture of M31 (galaxy at left), M110 (appears as a star in M31's star cloud) and M32 (smaller galaxy to the right of M31) is untouched and unmodified. I should get better shots as I learn to track better, because I will be able to take longer exposures.





M33, The Pinwheel Galaxy actually showed up in the frame, which even surprized me. There is a lot of light pollution in my neighborhood, so it is almost impossible to see faint objects when viewing from my front yard. I eneded up shooting this picture in the dark, and was surprised when M33 appeared in the frame.




This 1.5 minute exposure of NGC869 (half of the Double Cluster) reveals many more stars than my original picture taken 10/11/08. (See my previous posting)

This 1.5 minute exposure of NGC884 (other half of the Double Cluster) reveals many more stars than my original picture taken 10/11/08. (See my previous posting)

All in all it was a successful evening under the stars. I will post more as time permits. I hope to catch Jupiter and Venus later in the week.

Enjoying Clear Skies!

StarPilot

P.S. - I have to pick a new name, because my wife said StarPilot sounds corny. Actually, she said it sounded 'gay'. I am taking suggestions.

Jim a.k.a. (soon to be formerly) StarPilot

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First Light with the Orion (Celestron) 9.25" SCT

First Light with the Orion 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (made by Celestron) actually occured a week ago at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club - Star Gaze 2008.

That night, I did not take any astro pictures, but instead enjoyed looking at deep space and solar system objects with my new telescope tube.

The views were beyond my expectations, and better than anything I have owned before.

First Light was on Jupiter as twilight gave way to night. The atmospheric bands were clearly visible, but alaas the Great Red Spot was on the other side of the planet. Other objects that I viewed were M8&M20, M16, M17, M31, M32, NGC869&NGC884 (Double Cluster), M11 and of course, the Moon.

The most spectacular sight was M11 (The Wild Duck Cluster). I had a Baader Hyperion 17mm eyepiece attached at the time, and many attendees could not believe the clarity of the stars, and even saw deep into the clusters center. They felt like they were walking in space.

On Saturday, Octover 11th I finally had a chance to test the Orion 9.25" SCT's astrophotography abilities. I was dealing with a near-full Moon and haze in the sky, along with some dew on the corrector lens, so the pictures aren't the greatest. Also, I only took 30-second shots, which do not bring out faint deep-space objects.

Below, are a few shots that I took. (Click on the pictures for a larger image)

This has to be the most crisp Moon picture I have ever taken.

NGC869 is one of two star clusters visible in what is called the Double Cluster. This was a 30-second shot. An exposure of 1 - 2 minutes would reveal several more faint stars.



NGC884 is the other star cluster visible in the Double Cluster.




The last picture is of one of my favorite space objects: The Andromeda Galaxy. This galaxy is our closest neighbor and is made up of three galaxies. The bright main galaxy, M31 is at-left, M110, a small galaxy is a faint object 1inch to the left of M31. M32 is a small galaxy on the right-side of the picture. A longer exposure on a moonless night will reveal much more detail on all three galaxies. The hazy granular texture on M31 is caused by dew forming on the corrector lens.




As time permits, I will take additional pictures with my old and new telescope and add them to this Blog.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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Milky Way Galaxy

Northern Virginia is not the best place to view the Milky Way Galaxy, but if you get 20-30 miles west of the city lights, you will be amazed at how much of the Milky Way you can see with the naked eye.

The following three pictures were taken at Crockett Park in Fauquier County, VA on a clear, moonless night on August 31st, 2008.




Picture: Milky Way 1 (Taken looking at the Southern horizon to about 25 degrees skyward)



Picture: Milky Way 2 (Taken looking midway between the Southern horizon and straight overhead)



Picture: Milky Way 3 (Picture taken looking straight overhead)


My primary goal that night was astrophotography, but I'll admit the exposure time on some astro photos ran much longer than I intended, because I was lost in daydreams, or in this case, nightdreams looking at the Milky Way.


For the record, the Milky Way Galaxy contains between 200-400 billion stars and is home to our solar system.

Our star 'Sol' (The Sun) is classified a G2 star, meaning it has a surface temperature of 5740 Kelvin (that's hot). Sol is one of 10 Million G2 stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Our solar system is not located in the center of the Milky Way, but rather on the edge of a small spiral band called the Orion Arm. You can equate that to the galactic center of the galaxy being downtown, and our solar system being in the distant suburbs.


The following picture is an artists conception of what the scientific community believes the Milky Way Galaxy looks like. Of course we cannot know for sure, because we live inside and cannot see an external view.




Recent estimates put the Milky Way at 100,000 light years (ly) in diameter and 1,000 ly thick, which means it would take a human 100,000 years traveling at the speed of light to traverse the galaxy from end to end. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

With current technology, we can travel at a scant 20,000 Miles per Hour. To travel at the speed of light we would have to travel at 186,000 Miles per Second. Even at that speed it would take 1,333 human lifetimes to travel the galaxy end to end. Guess we're stuck with artists pictures of the Milky Way.

The spiral band seen in my pictures is the Orion Arm. The brightest star cloud in picture "Milky Way 1" points toward the galactic center of the galaxy. The Orion Arm blocks us from seeing glactic center with optical telescopes, however scientists have a better idea what the Milky Way looks like by measuring radio waves. Google 'Milky Way' to find a lot of great on our home galaxy.


We are very blessed to be located where we are in the Milky Way, because:

- If we were closer to the galactic center of the Milky Way we likely wouldn't exist because of massive doses of radiation preventing life (as we know it) from thriving. Too, the glare from the glactic center would keep us from seeing anything else in the universe.

- Since we are on the outer edge of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way we have an unobstructed view of many parts of the universe. Had we been located farther inside the Orion Arm, space dust and millions of bright stars would have impeded our view of the universe.


Hope you enjoyed my quick drive-by tour of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Clear Skies

Star Pilot

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Summertime ...

Ok... Sing this 1950's song along with me ...

Summertime, Summertime, Summertime, Summertime
Summertime ... Summertime ... Bah Boom Boom Boom

I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but the last place you are going to catch me during the summer is in front of the computer. After work I am usually enjoying the outdoors, whether doing yard work, sitting on the deck or peering though my telescope.


I will update my blog after Labor Day weekend. Until then, I will be playing ball with my Granddaughter, chillin' in the pool with my Grandson and hangin' with my peeps ... uh Geese in this case.











Enjoy your summer.

StarPilot

P.S. - If I get a chance I will try and add some pictures and content to my Messier Catalog Blog.

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Just Because ...

I haven't had the opportunity to do any viewing in quite some time because of cloud cover and good ole' Northern Virginia summer haze and humidity (smog).

Soooooo ... here is a photo I took of a half-moon on the night of June 24th (actually taken at 2AM on June 25th) at the end of a 4-hour astrophotography session.

News Flash ...Check out my newest Blog, titled the Messier Catalog Blog. It features pictures I have taken of all 110 Messier Deep Space Objects. My oldest daughter Jacki created a very cool looking graphics header for the Blog.

The link to the new Blog is: http://messiercatalog.blogspot.com

Hoping for clear, non-hazy skies.

StarPilot


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