Starry Night

Last Saturday night the local astronomical society organized its annual boat trip. The trip is an opportunity to see a truly dark sky, a sight which has become impossible to see on our overdeveloped and light polluted island.

The trip started at sunset in the fishing port of Marsaxlokk on board the trawler Padre Pio. The night was chosen because the moon was at a lunation of only 2.3 days and set early at 20:41. It showed a lovely crescent low over the horizon at sunset but Saturn and Mercury which lay close to it were invisible in the low haze.

The port of Marsaxlokk at sunset

As the boat travelled South East, the sky grew darker and the bright stars emerged, Arcturus, Vega, Antares were visible and Jupiter appeared to dominate the sky. Slowly the light pollution faded into the distance and the twilight ended revealing the night sky in all its glory.

The most amazing sight is our own galaxy, the Milky Way visible like a bright cloud arching across the sky from Sagittarius to Cassiopeia and reflected in the sea below. The countless stars blazed in the sky in a number so large that the normally easily recognisable constellations were drowned in the myriad stars making them hard to pick out. Meteors streaked in large numbers and early on a number of satellites were visible, most notably an Iridium flare which went approximately to magnitude +4.

The visibility of deep sky objects in such a dark sky is amazing. The Lagoon Nebula (M8) and Ptolemy's cluster (M7) were clearly visible to the naked eye. The Sagittarius star cloud (M24) stood out beautifully against the rest of the Milky Way.

I had my Celestron Skymaster15x70 with me and took my chance to use them to observe the dark sky. I went through a list of favourite deep sky objects. The most notable being the M4, M13, M27, M31 which filled much of the field of view, M6, M22 and M20. I also managed to see the North American Nebula (NGC 7000) for the first time. From my home location it isn't visible even with a 200mm Dobson. The "Gulf of Mexico" could be clearly seen.

I had prepared charts for the positions of Uranus and Neptune and I easily found them. Neptune was at mag +7.8 one third of the way between μ Cap and 42 Cap. Uranus lay below the circlet in Pisces on the extension of a line from ι Psc to λ Psc next to 20 Psc. At mag +5.7 Uranus was actually visible to the naked eye if one knew where to look.

The trip took us to a point 33.5 nautical miles to the South East of the island and drifted for two hours before heading back. At one point you could see the reflections of Jupiter and Venus in the sea on either side of the boat as dolphins darted between the waves and luminescent jellyfish glowed in the wake.

As the night wore on, more constellations rose in the East. Taurus appeared with the Pleiades, the Hyades and Mars. Auriga with its three magnificent open clusters M36, M37 and M38. Just before dawn Orion was visible with the belt stars hanging vertically over the horizon. Venus rose and then the sky lightened as the Sun put an end to the show.

Sunrise over the Mediterranean

This annual event shouldn't be missed by any local astronomy enthusiast for the unforgettable view it allows onto the universe.

Harrison Schmitt

I attended a talk this evening by Harrison Schmitt, a member of the Apollo 17 mission and the last man to set foot on the moon (and the one before the last to leave). This was my first chance to hear a live first-hand account by a man who had been there. It is quite an experience when you realize that you are faced my someone who had actually set foot on the moon and experienced the gravity of another heavenly body. Schmitt is also the only scientist to have visited the moon.

The lecture was very interesting and the presentation included several anecdotes as he went through the mission touching on several aspects in a way that only one who went thorough the adventure would.

I took the photo above with my phone.

Venus and Saturn

With Venus quickly moving towards inferior conjunction and each day setting closer to the Sun, I took the opportunity to observe its waning crescent. I could not use the telescope because it was too low for the scope from my observing location, but through my 15x70 binoculars the crescent was clearly visible in the twilight.

Later, at about 21:30 local time (20:30 UTC), I observed Saturn through my 200mm dobson telescope. I went for a magnification of x200 using my 6mm eyepiece. The rings are almost edge on but I could still see the very narrow gap between the rings and the planet. Of the moons, I could easily see Titan immediately to the East of the planet, and Rhea further out. Dione was faintly visible between them. I did manage to glimpse Tethys just outside the rings' Western tip but I couldn't see Enceladus which should have been just north of Titan.

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin (2nd Post)

I had the opportunity to observe the comet through 15x70 binoculars again this evening. At 22:50 CET it was close to the 6.95 magnitude star HD101730.

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin (updated)

Tonight I made my first observation of Comet Lulin as it moved Westwards through Virgo heading towards Leo and the planet Saturn which is presently near the lion's hind leg (σ Leo). I observed the comet through my 15x70 Celestron binoculars. Unfortunately there was some thin cloud but the comet was still visible. At 22:10 CET it was very close to the 7.79 magnitude star HD104484. Over a short period of time the motion of the comet relative to the star was noticeable. I was able to note hint of a tail to the West of the comet. Later on, at about 00:45 CET, I again observed the comet which had moved very close to the 6.17 magnitude star HD104055.

Not to be missed is the conjunction of the comet with Saturn on the night between the 23rd and 24th February.

Two Conjunctions

2008 left us with a great view of two simultaneous conjunctions. On the last evening of the year the 15% crescent Moon lay about 2 degrees away from Venus while lower down, just above the horizon the largest and smallest planets, Jupiter and Mercury, were just about one degree apart. This was a great opportunity to see three planets including the elusive Mercury in the same part of the sky all within about eight degrees. Although not visible to the naked eye, Neptune was only about 2.5 degrees away from the Moon making it a triple conjunction.

Later on, after the midnight champagne, at around one o'clock at night I could observe Saturn in Leo close to the border with Virgo, making it four out of a possible five visible planets in one night.

Mira

Mira (Omicron Ceti) is approaching it's maximum. It is a long-period pulsating variable with a period of 331.96 days. I observed it yesterday through binoculars but it was easily visible with the naked eye. The AAVSO website gives its present magnitude at around 3.5. I also caught my first glimpse of Saturn for this season just after midnight as it rose in the Easten sky in Leo, close to the border with Virgo.