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Nene Valley Astronomical Society
Stargazer NewsletterAugust 2019
www.neneastro.org.uk
Forthcoming NVAS SocietyMeetings
Monday 5th August: Club NightMeeting. An evening of shortpresentations and the chance to discussand share your recent observations withyour fellow society members. 8pm startwith doors open from 7.30pm. Admission£2.
Monday 19th August: No meeting.
Monday 2nd September: Club NightMeeting. An evening of shortpresentations and the chance to discussand share your recent observations withyour fellow society members. 8pm startwith doors open from 7.30pm. Admission£2.
Friday 6th September: StarnightObserving Session at 8.30pm. To confirmthat conditions will permit observing andto avoid a wasted journey please check ourTwitter feed on our website from 6.30 onthe evening. Please do not arrive atChelveston before 8.15pm - this is toallow an earlier user time to vacate the carpark before we arrive.
Friday 13th September: StarnightObserving Session at 8.30pm. Details as6th September.
All meetings are held at Chelveston VillageHall, Caldecott Road, Chelveston NN9 5AT
Note: Occasionally, it may be necessary toalter the speakers and or subjects at short
notice. Where this is the case details will beposted on our website, Twitter and Facebook
accounts.
Follow The Nene Valley Astronomical Society on Twitter and like us on Facebook!
Northamptonshire’s Free To Join Astronomical Society
Society OfficersChair: Peta Jellis e-mail: [email protected]
Events Co-ordinator: Kevin Burton e-mail: [email protected]
Membership: Paul Blackman e-mail: [email protected]
Treasurer: David Jones
Web Site Editor: Tony Stock e-mail: [email protected]
Newsletter: Steve Williams e-mail: [email protected]
Committee Member & Refreshments: Alec Parker
Facebook & Twitter: Steve Williams
The First Image Of A Black Hole - At The Centre Of Galaxy M87
‘Deep Space Images By The Hubble Space Telescope’
Meeting Review - 15th July
For our July speaker meeting, we welcomed the return of Jerry WorkmanFRAS to speak on ‘Deep Space Images By The Hubble Space Telescope’.
Jerry began his talk with a resume on the Hubble Space Telescope, it’sdesign, launch and the subsequent discovery of it’s slightly defectivemirror.
The main part of the talk centred around the actual deep space images andJerry showed a varied selection from those taken prior to the first SpaceShuttle Service Mission through to more recent times complete with histhorough descriptions.
Since it’s launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken tens ofthousands of images and it was nice to be able to be reminded of just someof these during the evening.
As ever, our grateful thanks to Jerry for coming to speak to us.
Members Observations
Following my appeal in last month’s Stargazer, I’m delighted to say that a number of members have forwarded some oftheir recent images. If we are to make this section a regular feature of the Stargazer, further contributions are needed!These can be sent to [email protected] or alternatively via our accounts on Twitter of Facebook.
First up are these two images showing Noctilucent Clouds taken by Harry Hamill on 22nd June -
Paul Blackman has also been successful in observing and imaging Noctilucent Cloud over the summer. Paul’s imagebelow is taken from the 5th July display.
Paul Allen has sent in some spectacular lunar images taken using an Evo 8”, ZWO Camera and 2XBarlow.
Finally, Steve Williams captured some of the partial lunar eclipse which took place on the evening of16th July
Hubble Captures the Galaxy's Biggest Ongoing Stellar Fireworks Show
Imagine slow-motion fireworks that started exploding 170 years ago and are still continuing. This type of firework is notlaunched into Earth's atmosphere, but rather into space by a doomed super-massive star, called Eta Carinae, the largestmember of a double-star system. A new view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which includes ultraviolet light,shows the star's hot, expanding gases glowing in red, white and blue. Eta Carinae resides 7,500 light-years away.
This Hubble Space Telescope image of thegiant, petulant star Eta Carinae is yielding newsurprises. Telescopes such as Hubble havemonitored the super-massive star for more thantwo decades. The star, the largest member of adouble-star system, has been prone to violentoutbursts, including an episode in the 1840sduring which ejected material formed thebipolar bubbles seen here. Now, using Hubble'sWide Field Camera 3 to probe the nebula inultraviolet light, astronomers have uncoveredthe glow of magnesium embedded in warm gas(shown in blue) in places they had not seen itbefore. The luminous magnesium resides in thespace between the dusty bipolar bubbles andthe outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments(shown in red). The streaks visible in the blueregion outside the lower-left lobe are a strikingfeature in the image. These streaks are createdwhen the star's light rays poke through the dustclumps scattered along the bubble's surface.Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the densedust, it leaves a long, thin shadow that extendsbeyond the lobe into the surrounding gas.
Credits: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University ofArizona) and J. Morse (BoldlyGo Institute)
Join me for a day to learn all about the basics of imaging the night sky and webcam imaging.This will be held on Saturday the 14th of September at Higham Ferrers Methodist Church.
The workshop will cover the following:The theory of astrophotography and why we need to post-process our images to get the best out of them.Taking a static image of the night sky using a camera and tripod to produce wide angle constellation shots and star trails.Taking static images of the night sky and stacking them to produce deeper shots, such as showing the Milky Way.These are both demonstrated using the free software Startrails and Deep Sky Stacker.We will also look at how to image the Moon and planets using a webcam.The processing of the videos are then demonstrated using the free software AutoStakkert! and Registax.Some further processing will also be demonstrated in Photoshop.
The afternoon will be dedicated to cover everything you need to know about how to process your images, with lots ofhands-on image processing methods to learn how to process your images using the software mentioned.If you can bring in your own images to work on that would be best, but I will bring in enough of my own for you to use onthe day.Bring your laptops in for the hands-on part of the afternoon.
The software only works in a Windows environment, I’m afraid. So book your space, bring in your laptops and let’s getimaging.
Booking via my website at stargazing.co.uk. The cost for this day is £30 per person.
Astrophotography Workshop With Dave Eagle FRAS
Nene Valley Night Sky - August 2019
Generated using Stellarium (Stellarium.org),the above starchart shows how the evening night sky willlook on August 1st at 11pm and August 15th at 10pm.
The two planetary giants of Jupiter and Saturn shine brightly lowabove the southern horizon this month. Despite their low southerlyappearances both remain very worthy of telescopic observation thismonth as their apparitions in the 2019 evening sky will rapidly drawto a close.
The Milky Way stretches upwards from the southern horizon,offering a wealth of open star clusters and dark rifts to be exploredwith binoculars on a clear moonless night from a dark site. One ofthe best star clusters to view is M11, the Wild Duck Cluster in theconstellation of Scutum. Lieing 6,120 light years distant it istechnically on the fringe of naked eye visibility and is one of therichest and most compact of all open star clusters. M11 wasdiscovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681, with Charles Messierincluding it within his subsequent catalogue.
Continuing northwards, the Milky Way passes through Aquila and oninto Sagitta and Vulpecula. Vulpecula itself is a small constellationand is supposed to resemble a celestial fox, the constellation is
famed for being the home of the first pulsar, discovered by AntonyHewish and Jocelyn Bell-Burnell in 1967. Vulpecula also containsM27, the Dumbell Nebula, a famed planetary nebula. M27 is aplanetary nebula and was the first object of it’s type discovered byCharles Messier. At magnitude 7.5 you can catch M27 through apair of binoculars, although a telescope will be needed to make outthe two lobes that make up this nebula. Whilst nearby, see if youcan locate Collinder 399, better known as the ‘Coathanger’ - acluster of stars which actually does resemble a coathanger!
The Milky Way continues overhead through Cygnus and then downto the north-east passing through Lacerta, Cassiopeia and Perseus.
By the time of our Starchart, the Eastern sky is dominated byPegasus and Andromeda - the darker nights of Autumn will soon bewith us!
Nene Valley Sky Guide - August 2019
New Moon: 1st August
Full Moon: 15th August
The Moon is at Perigee on 2nd August and atApogee on 17th August.
Mercury begins the month as a pre-dawnobject, low down above the north-easternhorizon before the twilight becomes too strong.At the start of the month, it’s struggling to punchthrough the twilight, being only a fraction brighterthan second magnitude, however be patient. Aswe approach Greatest Western Elongation onAugust 10th, Mercury becomes a much bettertarget, brightening to zero magnitude when it liesbelow the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini.Mercury’s morning apparition is however veryshort lived and the inner planet disappears fromview by around August 20th.
Venus is now lost from view in the morning sky.It reaches Superior Conjunction on August 14th.It will be later in the year before you are able tospot our nearest planet in the evening sky.
Mars is also now lost from view ahead of it’sSuperior Conjunction which is reached onSeptember 2nd.
Jupiter remains on view low down in thesouthern evening sky and lies more or less duesouth as the sky darkens. This is actually thebest time to observe Jupiter whilst it is at it’shighest (although this is only around 15 degreesabove the horizon!). By mid-August Jupiter setsshortly after mid-night, so the observing ‘window’is rapidly diminishing. Jupiter’s Great Red Spothas now calmed down considerably comparedto a few months ago, although the surroundingarea remains more disturbed than usual. Useone of the Great Red Spot transit predictionapps to see when it’s due on Jupiter’s CentralMeridian. The waning gibbous Moon lies to thetop right of Jupiter on the evening of August 9th.
Below: Jupiter On July 3rd - Steve Williams
Saturn is also visible in the evening sky and is slightlybetter placed than it’s larger brother as it’s visible forlonger. Visible in the south-east as the evening twilightfades, Saturn remains amongst the stars of Sagittarius,shining at magnitude +0.2. The Moon passes to theright of Saturn on August 11th. By mid-August, Saturntransits due south at 10.30pm and sets in the south-west at shortly after 2am. The ring system is of coursea spectacular telescopic sight, being titled at 23degrees.
Uranus lies in Aries and rises before mid-night at thebeginning of August. At magnitude +5.8, the planet isan easy target for binocular observers.
Neptune can be found amongst the stars of Aquarius.Rising around 10pm at the start of August, the icy gianttransits the meridian at 3.30am. At magnitude +7.8, itis also a binocular object, albeit a bit more challengingthan Uranus.
The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches it’sannual maximum on the night of August 13th. Activefrom July 23rd through to August 20th, the Perseidsrank as one of the year’s must see events. This year isnot ideal however,with the Moon only a couple of daysoff full at the time of maximum. If you want dark skiesfor viewing the Perseids, then the nights leading up tomaximum with an early morning watch are likely to beattractive. For example, on the morning of 9th August,the Moon sets shortly after mid-night, giving severalhours of moon free observing before morning twilightcalls. Just bear in mind that the meteor rate will bemuch lower than when at maximum.
Perseid meteors are however often bright,so even onthe night of maximum with a near full Moon low in thesouth you will be very unlucky not to see at leastsomething.
Contributions for future editions of theStargazer Newsletter are welcomed.
Observations, reports and articles on anastronomical theme can be forwarded to Steve
Williams at [email protected]
