Well, it’s not news to most of you, but having missed my chance on Thursday, the only other clear night, I headed out yesterday, travelling up hwy 6 to clear the cloud bank. I stopped about 10th concession and parked down a sidestreet where an open field gave a view to the west. Despite a valiant effort, on Saturday evening I failed for lack of a decent finder chart. The chart i had showed only stars too dim to see in the skyglow. Also, the stars i could see were off the chart.
I sketched the stars i could see so I could compare it to a star chart after returning home. Turns out I was seeing beta andromeda and triangulum. Fortunately, those stars can be used to make a pointer to the area with the comet.

Tonight, armed with a more complete chart, I tried again, this time headed for Millgrove to get west of the city.

I used my 25×100 binoculars. If I had known how bright it was, and that the tail would be so prominent, I probably could have found it on Saturday just by scanning the sky. I was searching for it as if it was a 9th magnitude comet in the GWS. (Those are really hard to see)

The nucleus is bright and star-like with a bright tail heading straight up, and widening. The tail was about 1 degree long, from what I could see in the skies I had.

After I found it, I took some references from nearby trees (it was getting low) and tried really hard to see it without binoculars. Even thought i knew exactly where it was, i could not see it. I would say there was just a hint of light in the region; I couldn’t see any stars that low.

Anyways, i am happy to have it.

First photo of Comet Pan-STARRS.

Tonight is our first opportunity to see Comet PanSTARRS, low in the west this evening. Check just a few degrees above the horizon about a half hour after sunset. binoculars may help pick out the comet fromt he glow of dusk. Remember, you need a very clear view of the western horizon, and you only have a brief opportunity to see it before it sets. Of course, with each passing day it will get higher and higher, so if you miss it tonight you can try again any day this week. Good luck and hopefully we’ll have lots of good reports to share at the next meeting. More info is available in this month’s Event Horizon http://amateurastronomy.org/EH/March2013.pdf

***UPDATE***
I checked about a half hour after sunset tonight (Sunday March 10) and had low cloud in the west, obscuring the comet and ruining any chance of a view tonight. The forecast is poor for the next few days, but here’s hoping! Post your observations here on the blog or email them to me at observing@amateurastronomy.org

***UPDATE***MARCH 14 2013***
Success! After several cloudy nights I was able to see Comet Pan-STARRS low in the west this evening. Barely visible to the unaided eye from the Hamilton harbourfront, it was easily visible in binoculars. Not the best comet I’ve ever seen, but each one is a treat. Looking forward to hearing your observations. (pics to follow)

(Copied from our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonamateurastronomers)

By now with some of the posts here and elsewhere, you’ve probably heard about Comet PanSTARRS. It will be the first naked eye comet visible to us in the northern hemisphere in some time. There was hope that it would be extremely bright, but revised estimates place it maxing out at magnitude +2, perhaps +3 (which will make it brighter than Sirius – the brightest star in the sky, but not as bright as Venus or Jupiter can get). Correction: got the + and – signs mixed up. Sirius is at mag -1. So PanSTARRS won’t be the brightest object. At +2, it will be comparable to the star Saiph in Orion or the brighter stars in the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia. Still potentially impressive. Unfortunately comets are very unpredictable – it could end up becoming brighter or dimmer very quickly.

Perigee (the closest the comet gets to the Earth) was Tue Mar 5, but it was not yet visible from the northern hemisphere. But it’s climbing in the sky as it continues towards the Sun where it should get closer to it expected maximum brightness. Maximum brightness should occur around March 10 just as it does get above the horizon for us northerners.

Here’s a chart showing the position of the comet from the 7th to the 20th. On the earlier dates, the comet will be very low and hard to see in the distant horizon. Later it will get higher, but at the same time it will be getting further from us. The crescent Moon on the 12th and 13th won’t really interfere, but may enhance any photographic efforts.

The chart (from Sky&Tel) is good for 40 degrees latitude north – Hamilton is at 43, so it’s a pretty good guide for us.

Because it’s low in the western sky, we will only have a short window each evening just after sunset to view this object before it sets. It may be a bit of a challenge to pick out of the sunset glow around the earlier dates.

Fortunately for our area (Hamilton), the skies are expected to be mostly clear from the 8th to 10th, and perhaps again around the 13th to 15th. This may give us lots of opportunities to view and maybe even image the comet.
But be careful using optics or cameras. Don’t use them until the Sun has fully set – we don’t want to risk any one’s eyesight.

The best instrument to use to enjoy the comet is probably going to be a pair of binoculars. It provides a wide enough field-of-view to see the entire comet and any tail(s). Find yourself a good open location with a clear view to the West. The lower the horizon from your vantage point, the better. Once the Sun has dropped below the horizon, then begin scanning for it in the sunset’s glow. Don’t wait until twilight is over – it will be too late then.
Sunset is approx 6:15pm to 6:20pm EST. Don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday Mar 10 when clocks are moved forward 1 hour. So sunset will occur 1 hour later after that.

If you do manage to see or image the comet, please let us know here. Have fun and good hunting.

(A Sky&Tel article with more info about the comet)
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/187930541.html

This asteroid is going to make a close fly-by of the Earth on Friday 15 Feb. It’s going to pass so close, that it will fly within the radius of geosynchronous/geostationary satellites (35000km/22000mi). This approx 45m (150ft – about half the size of a football stadium – a 130,000 metric ton half-size football stadium!) asteroid will pass the Earth at a distance of 27000km (17000mi). But there is NO RISK of Impact – we are perfectly safe.
Also – even though it will pass within the range of some satellites, the chance of hitting one is quite low. It will pass through our orbital plane from south to north, inside the geosynchronous orbit – in an area where there are very few satellites.

                     (Artist rendering)

Closest approach will occur at around 19:25UTC (14:25EST). It will be magnitude 7 – too faint for naked eye viewing, but potentially viewable in binoculars and telescopes. Regrettably we won’t be able to see this fly-by ourselves since it will still be daylight for our area. The best viewing will be from Asia, Africa and Europe. It will be moving in a south to north direction, ending up passing through Ursa Major. By the time night falls for us, it will be very high in the sky and will have faded to about magnitude 12 which will be a challenge, even in larger scopes. It’s apparent motion across the sky will be quite quick – approx the diameter of the Full Moon every 45 seconds at closest approach (a little slower as it recedes).

(Track of asteroid across the sky)
Click to enlarge

Asteroids of this size pass this close to Earth on average, every 40 years and impact about every 1200 years. The Tunguska event of 1908 would be comparable if this asteroid did hit us (and I repeat, it will NOT hit the Earth). So we’re not due to be hit by another asteroid of this size for about 1100 more years. But it is a fairly rare occurrence and something you should try to see.

How can you observe this asteroid if it’s not going to be visible from North America?

If you wanted to catch it as it receded from the Earth (once it was dark here), you could try to load ephemeris for the asteroid’s track using programs like Stellarium or Carte Du Ciel. But it will pass so close that the Earth’s gravity is going to perturb it’s orbit and the ephemeris will not be correct for the entire track.
Another option is to use JPL’s web site which takes into account Earth’s gravity and provides the correct calculations, but this means having a computer to track your scope. Can be done, but tricky.
(It’s important to note that even in amateur telescopes, it’s going to be a faint small star-like point moving across the sky. You won’t see any details.)
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

Fortunately a much easier 3rd options exists. There will be a number of telescopes on the correct side of the Earth that will be tracking this asteroid and they will be streaming online. So you can watch the fly-by live.
Clay Center Observatory:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/clay-center-observatory
Virtual Telescope Project in Europe:
http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/
Slooh Space Camera:
http://events.slooh.com/
I haven’t seen any productions from Clay before, but Slooh and Virtual Telescope usually have some good commentators.

The following web sites have more information about this asteroid fly-by.
Universe Today – asteroid-2012-da14-observing-prospects-and-how-to-see-it
Planetary Society – Guide-to-2012-DA14
NASA Science News – 28jan_2012da/
Sky And Telescope – Asteroid-DA14-to-Zip-Past-Earth

Which ever method you use, be sure to catch this rare event.
And remember – keep looking up.

I am sure every sky-watcher can recognize CORONA BOREALIS, the beautiful constellation of the Northern Crown found in the spring sky, rising high in the East after dark.

After many years at minimum brightness (and I mean as faint as magnitude 15), the variable star R Coronae Borealis is slowly brightening again. If you have binoculars, you can watch it brighten slowly this spring until it reaches magnitude 6 again.

R CrB variables are normally bright, but can accumulate a cloud-like covering of carbon. Until that carbon shell is burned off, these stars can be dimmed up to 10 magnitudes. This star has a habit of dimming and then regaining its brightness within a few months.

Strangely, since 2007 R CrB has been only 1/10,000 its normal brightness. Moreover, whereas R CrB usually springs back to magnitude 6 quickly, this latest recovery is taking a long time. The AAVSO chart below graphs R CrB’s visual brightness for the last 10 years. You can see the star’s swift dip and recovery in 2003, contrasted with the several years at minimum and the most recent – very slow – recovery.

This is a star worth watching again!

The first meteor shower of the new year is coming up fast. The Quadrantids is an annual meteor shower which occurs on or about Jan 3 of each year. This can be a very productive shower, producing upwards of 50 to 100 meteors (often bright) per hour. But it can also be a very narrow shower, lasting only a few hours at peak (unlike the better known showers Perseids and Geminids which can last several days).

Like all meteor showers, the Quadrantids are named after a constellation from which the meteor “appear” to radiate from. Meteors don’t actually come from the constellation – the stars composing the constellation are far beyond our solar system. All meteors are remnants of comets or asteroids that reside within the solar system. But if you traced the path the meteors followed, they would appear to come from the same point in the sky in the area where the constellation is located. This particular shower is believed to be particles from the asteroid 2003 EH1 (2003 was when it was re-discovered and officially given a name). It may be the core of an extinct comet, possibly C/1490 Y1, discovered by Asian astronomers more than 500 years ago.

But where is the constellation Quadrantids you may ask? Actually, this is Quadrans Muralis (Mural Quadrant) which was defined in the late 1700’s, but was removed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in the early 1900’s when they defined the 88 constellations we use today. But this shower continues to use the constellation name that was given when they were discovered in the mid-1800’s. Quadrans Muralis was located between Bootes (the Shepard or Herdsman) and Draco (the Dragon).

The best “guess”timate of when the shower will peak is before dawn on Thur Jan 3. Look below the Big Dipper and to the left of the bright star Arcturus (in Bootes). This is where the meteors will appear to come from. The meteors may not appear directly in this area, but in a wider circumference around this point and radiating away. As with all meteor showers, special equipment is not required to enjoy this show. The best is to lay out on the ground facing up to view as much of the sky as possible. Of course being winter in Ontario, you’ll want to dress warmly, place a groundsheet/plastic sheet on the ground and perhaps bring a sleeping bag to keep warm. You can also use a lounge-chair to raise yourself off the ground. If you want to image this shower, then a wide-angle lens is best to cover as much of the sky as possible. And of course, the darker the sky, the more meteors you will see, so try to get away from city lights if you can.

The current forecast for Thur morning in our area is calling for a mix of clouds and clearing. The waning gibbous moon will also be still present which can wash out some of the fainter meteors. But it looks like there is a pretty good chance to see some of these. This will be the last good meteor shower until April’s Lyrids so get out there and have fun.

Did you know that NASA has a series of FREE e-books available for you to download?

Some of the subject matter is rather technical (after all, it IS rocket science). But there are also some more suited for us mere mortals. They are available in various formats so you can put to good use that new Kobo, Kindle or iPad you got as a present.

Topics cover a range including History and Aeronautics.
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/index.html

There’s also a couple over at HubbleSite.org from NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.
HubbleSite iBooks

You might find some (or all) of them worth while to check out.

This Saturday night there is a free public lecture (much like the ones that we hold) hosted by the hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art. The topic is “Searching for Signatures of Life in Astrobiology”. Could be interesting! Here is a link to their web page with more info. http://www.haalsa.org/lectures.htm

Of course, this Saturday is also the HAA’s Cosmology Discussion Group, and everyone in the club is welcome. It’s a very casual atmosphere and always lots of fun. If you want to come to that, contact me observing@amateurastronomy.org or Jim chair@amateurastronomy.org

Either way, Saturday night is looking awfully good!

This evening Jim, Mario and I had the opportunity to test out the new loaner scope that has been donated to the club. It’s a 90mm achromat refractor from Skywatcher on an alt-azimuth mount with slow motion controls and a couple of eyepieces.

There was a light cloud but Jupiter proved bright enough to shine through. Often this can enhance planetary views, as the clouds cut down on glare. The seeing was quite steady and the scope proved worthy.

Using eyepieces of 25mm, 12.4mm, 9.7mm and 6.4mm we were able to obtain a variety of magnifications. The scope held up well even with the highest magnification of about 150x. Jupiter showed all four moons on one side of the planet, with one quite close to the planet’s limb. Jupiter itself showed both equatorial belts, the temperate belts, darkening at the poles and the red spot. Detail was visible in the main belts, and the views were very pleasing. One aspect that could use improvement is the diagonal. The scope came with a correct image Amici prism, which is great for terrestrial viewing, but doesn’t give as good a view as a good quality right-angle diagonal. Maybe somebody out there has a spare that can be used with this scope.

All three of us were very satisfied with the new scope. This is a truly fine beginners scope. The clouds prevented us from any other observations, but I’m sure that those who are lucky enough to use this scope under the loaner program will have many enjoyable views.