A Saturday *2fer

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   Saturday August 1^st there will be two opportunities for planet and Moon viewing. (a ‘2fer’)
   On Saturday morning before the Sun rises watch for the innermost planet Mercury to be about 6-7^o from Pollux, one of the two ‘twin stars’ of Gemini the Twins, as this graphic is showing. Venus, if you haven’t noticed, is shining very brightly higher above the southern horizon.
   Then Saturday evening after sunset look for the 12-day old waning gibbous Moon to be about 1-2^o from the outer ringed planet Jupiter and about 4-5^o from another outer ringed planet, Saturn.




   *2fer – suggesting that it is possible to get two instead of one (2 for 1) of whatever is being got.



Caution: Objects viewed with an optical aid are further than they appear.
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There’s a Comet in my Hair!

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Here’s perhaps a chance to catch an interesting picture of the comet. Over the southwestern horizon Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) may still be visible although its apparent magnitude (5.50) and its tail have been steadily decreasing.

The comet is currently passing by a small y-shaped group of stars (naked-eye view) that are part of the constellation Coma Berenices over the nights of Wednesday July 29^th and Thursday July 30^th. Both the comet and the stars will be within the field of view of binoculars as the comet passes by the stars.

   The stars of the small constellation Coma Berenices represent the hair cut from Berenice, an Egyptian Queen, whose hair was a religious offering as a bargain for her husband to return safely from war.








    And, unmistakable over the eastern horizon is the Moon, and just rising the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

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Scorpion Grabs for the Moon!

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Wednesday evening July 29^th the 9-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be 3-4^o from the reddish star Antares. This star is the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion and shines with a 1.0 apparent magnitude. Rising in the east are two of the giant outer ringed planets, Jupiter and Saturn. Over the southwest is Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE).

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Moon – Spica Conjunctions

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Over the next two evenings, July 25^th and 26^th, the Moon, as it waxes from crescent to first quarter, will be passing the bluish-white star Virgo. Virgo is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Harvest Maiden.

The Moon often, as in monthly, passes by Spica. Sometimes coming very close and sometimes a bit further away as these two graphics show. Spica lies along the ecliptic and since the Moon’s orbital path follows the ecliptic, crisscrossing the ecliptic regularly, a conjunction between Spica and our Moon is not that unusual.

Off to the east two of the outer planets, Jupiter and Saturn are rising. Both are easy to see even if you are standing across from a night Baseball game!

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Saturn at Opposition – 2020

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   Monday July 20^th the outer planet Saturn reaches its orbital position known as opposition. This is a position which has the faster moving Earth passing Saturn and at opposition is centered between the outer planet and the Sun. Picture the arrangement with the Moon at full phase; Sun – Earth – Moon, and that is similar to the arrangement for Saturn at opposition.
   When an outer planet, like Saturn, reaches opposition that planet rises around local time for sunset and is visible all night.
   Saturn shares the evening skies over the eastern horizon with Jupiter as both are rising around the local time for sunset. Both will be visible all night, setting around sunrise. The reddish star Antares in Scorpius the Scorpion is off to the west from the two giant ringed planets. The ‘Summer Milky Way’ arcs across the sky from the south overhead toward the northeast and if your skies are dark enough should make for awesome viewing. And off to the northwest is Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE).
    And rising over the eastern horizon are the three stars making up the ‘Summer Triangle’.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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An Evening Comet

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   Despite clouds along the northern horizon the comet was still easy to see with the naked eye. Well not really easy, easy, but it was certainly visible as an elongated fuzzy object. I was observing near a family using a telescope and they were the first to spot the comet. So, by using the pointer stars of the Big Dipper I looked down from the bowl toward the horizon and there was the comet. In one of the pictures below you can see the pointer stars near the top of the picture.
All pictures have been processed to adjust exposure, contrast, saturation, temperature, and all have been resized.
   While waiting for the sky to darken enough the ISS orbited overhead moving across the stars of the ‘Summer Triangle’ passing closely by the stars Vega in Lyra the Harp and Deneb in Cygnus the Swan (aka the ‘Northern Cross’).
   Adding to the viewing were the planets Jupiter and Saturn rising in the southeast along with the stars of Sagittarius and Scorpius, and the summer Milky Way.
   The morning after there were a few clouds blocking a view of the comet, however the waning crescent Moon and Venus were shining brightly and hard to miss.

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: It’s stuck to my foot!

: ISS Crosses the Summer Triangle

: Waning Crescent Moon and Venus

Caution: Objects viewed with an optical aid are further than they appear.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Jupiter at Opposition

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   Tuesday July 14^th the outer giant ringed planet Jupiter reaches the point in its orbit around the Sun that places the Earth in between Jupiter and the Sun. This is known as opposition, and opposition is an orbital position that applies to solar system objects (outer planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, etc.) orbiting the Sun beyond the Earth’s orbit. An object at opposition will have approximately the same heliocentric longitude as the Earth’s heliocentric longitude. So on Tuesday both planets will have a heliocentric longitude of around 228^o.
   An opposition of Jupiter occurs approximately every 13 months because both Earth and Jupiter are moving. After one Earth Revolution, an Earth year, the planet Earth will be where it was the previous year at opposition with Jupiter. However Jupiter will not be there because it has moved during the past year as well. It will take the Earth about an extra month or so to catch up with Jupiter. Earth moves 360^o each year while Jupiter moves approximately 12^o each Earth year.
Sunset Local Time.
   When an object is at opposition it rises at approximately the same time as local sunset and that same object at opposition sets at approximately the time of local sunrise. In other words an object at opposition will be up all night from sunrise to sunset.
   Picture our Moon at full phase and how it is directly opposite the Sun, with the Earth in between. The full Moon in effect is at opposition but we call it the full Moon instead. And so both the full Moon and Jupiter at opposition, rise at sunset, set at sunrise, and both will be visible all night.

Jupiter is currently a few degrees to the west from Saturn and both rise and set together, although Saturn will not reach its opposition for a few more days, on the 20^th of this month.

Take a brief tour of the Jovian (Jupiter) system. Music by Dark Matter.
Live recording of music written by Richard Johnson. Video by me!

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Comet in the Clouds

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   This morning, July 13^th, the sky was generally overcast with thin status type clouds in most directions, including the northeast where the comet was just starting to appear over the trees marking my local horizon. Fortunately the clouds were still transparent enough for the comet to be just barely visible to the naked-eye, but very visible with time exposure pictures.
   I was hoping to position my camera so that the Baseball player would look as if he were swinging at the comet but the clouds started to thicken in that direction as I moved off the road and into some tall grasses.
   The other planets that were very visible yesterday morning were hidden or blurred by the clouds. Jupiter shined through the clouds but not Saturn or Mars. The Moon light was reflecting off clouds brightening the sky in that direction. And Venus and Aldebaran were somewhat visible but it took a time exposure picture to catch the light from the rest of the stars making the v-shaped part of the Hyades.

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Venus and the Hyades

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Comet NEOWISE or NEOWOW!!

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Could it get much better than this? Five visible planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Earth); Moon-Mars conjunction; Venus-Aldebaran conjunction; 2 outer planets and a Dwarf Planet not naked-eye visible, and Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE). Icing on the ‘cake’ would have been to have the ISS orbit through the sky this morning.

: Play Ball!

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Venus and Aldebaran

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Venus, the Bull, and a Comet (yes!)

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   The next several days offer some exciting opportunities for viewing: a few of the visible planets; the waning phases of our Moon and a few conjunctions with stars and planets; Venus crossing the stars of the Hyades open star cluster; and Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE).
   Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is one of the many comets discovered by the NASA NEOWISE mission.
   NEOWISE is a space-based telescope used to find and track ‘Near Earth Objects’, comets and asteroids, that may pose a threat to our planet.
   Click on this link to go to the SkyLive web site for viewing information about Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE).