Theophilus

For the last couple of weeks, any attempt at a good night's observing were thwarted by excessve humidity, hight cloud or overcast skies and I have missed the opportunity offered by the April new moon period to observe the Virgo cluster of galaxies in the evening. Tonight wasn't too bad, at least I could photograph the crescent moon, view Venus now showing a very obvious gibbous phase and have a look at Saturn. I didn't push the magnification but I could still see Titan to the East and Rhea to the West. The photo above was taken tonight at 19:00 UTC. The crater Theophilus is in the centre exactly on the terminator. At the time I viewed it, the sun was just catching the top of the central peak; a magnificent sight.

Ancient Astronomy

With the weather not allowing any observation, I am writing about another aspect of astronomy. The archeology museum here in Malta has an enigmatic stone in its collection. I photographed it on a visit this morning. The stone was found in an ancient neolithic temple some 5000 years old known as Tal-Qadi. It is divided in five sectors. The central one contains what looks like a quarter moon. The other sectors contain a number of stars, if one goes for the sky-map theory, or suns if you prefer the calendar theory. There are also some other signs like lines and a capital letter I. However, this was made before the invention of writing.

It is evidence of man's ancient interest in the heavens. A larger version of the photo is on my flickr site

Lacrosse 5

While staring up at the sky trying to decide whether it was worth taking out the scope with the conditions quite misty at an RH of 83%, I saw a bright satellite pass through Ursa Major from North-West to South-East. It passed exemely close to Phad (Gamma UMa) so that with the naked eye it looked like an occultation. It then faded and disappeared near Beta Canum Venaticorum. It appeared fainter than the ISS and a look into heavens-above.com showed the satellite to be the Lacrosse 5, a US military reconnaissance craft launched in April 2005.

Showing Off The Sky

My son had three of his friends over and since they showed some interest, I showed them some of the night sky's wonders. It was their first time at a scope. Unfortunately cloud obscured a good part of the sky but Saturn was visible. For first time viewers I think this is the best place to start. They were quite impressed, although not to let the planet move out of the dob's field of view too quickly, I did not push the magnification too far. I used the 10mm eyepiece giving x120.

I then showed them some of the different types of objects. The clouds allowed a view of M65 and M66. They were faint due to the light pollution but they managed to see the elongated fuzzy shapes. Then a couple of doubles with Algieba and Castor offering two different coloured pairs. Afterwards I showed them M44 as an example of an open cluster. The clouds then obscured most of the sky and the session was halted.

I always find introducing people to astromomy a rewarding experience.

The Moon Nearing Full

With the Moon 96.8% illuminated I attempted to photograph features close to the Western limb. The two photos that turned out best were those of the crater Pythagoras (top) and Hevelius (bottom). Both craters had their central peaks just catching the rising sun. Pythagoras has a diameter of 133Km and Hevelius has a diameter of 109Km. Larger versions of the photos are posted on my flickr site

The bright sky spoilt any meaningful observation of galaxies. Their time will soon come as the Moon wanes. I took a look at Saturn. Titan was to its South West with Rhea between it and the planet. Tethys and Dione were very close togather to the East. The shadow of the planet on the rings is now very pronounced.