At the beginning of the summer, whilst still observing with the Durham University Astronomical Society we spent time on a couple of occasions looking for Asteroid Vesta as it passed near Jupiter. It is currently making a second pass, bringing it (seemingly!) even closer to the giant planet which is now setting quickly in the south-western sky shortly after sundown.

With this in mind I went outside earlier on to have a look at this encounter through my binoculars whilst I’ve still got the chance. Two of the Gallilean moons were visible (Callisto and Europa) and just above the bright planet I could spy the dim dot of Vesta just visible through the gloom. Encouraged by this I set-up my camera on its tripod and took a few shots. None are amazing, being somewhat trailed due to the high zoom and no tracking, but nevertheless on checking them out I have picked up Jupiter, Vesta and at least two moons.

Jupiter and retinue (8s, f/3.3, ISO 400, 72mm focal length)

As above with labels

I was lucky to catch anything as shortly after putting my camera away the clouds had rolled in and the stars were lost.

If you do get the chance be sure to check this out (Vesta is around magnitude 7 and therefore requires binoculars to see) as the two will remain close together for the next few days.

The variable star Mira recently hit the news when Astronomers spotted a comet-like tail trailing the star in images taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

A fast-moving red giant star which is approaching the end of its life, Mira has fascinated observers for centuries as it varies from naked-eye visibility through to near invisibility over an erratic period of time which can range from 80 up to 1000 days. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Mira is the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible during part of its cycle.

In terms of observing, Mira which rises now in the east in the constellation Cetus, is currently almost lost at magnitude 9 but should rise to naked-eye visibility by March and so is something that, if possible, I would like to keep an eye on.

The sky looking east at 2am (Image: Stellarium)

Someone very familiar with variable star observing is New Zealand amateur astronomer Albert Jones, who lives outside of Nelson, a town which I stayed in last month. He is a prolific variable star observer who had made 500,000 observations by 2004 and is world-renowned for the accuracy of his brightness estimates. Besides variable stars he has also discovered two comets (C/1946 P1 (Jones) and C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones)) and a bright supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. His services to astronomy have been rewarded with various honours, most notably the OBE in 1987.

Another target on my current observing list is the planet Uranus which is at its closest to Earth this year and is currently at magnitude 5.7 making it a naked eye/binocular catch on a nice clear night.

Observing Session: 23/24 August 2007

I had an absolutely incredible observing session last night – definitely the best skies I’ve ever had from my driveway, with the Milky Way bright overhead and targets like M31 and the Double Cluster easily seen with the naked eye.

I was out for about 2 hours using the ‘scope and taking some pictures. Whilst out I observed 3 meteors all of which were bright but fleeting and came from the direction of Cygnus and therefore I assume they are Kappa Cygnids. I caught the third one by chance as I was taking an exposure at the time and so have an image of it.

With the telescope I observed M57 (The Ring), M71 (Globular Cluster in Sagitta), M11 (Wild Duck Cluster in Scutum), M26 (Open Cluster in Scutum), NGC 6712 (Globular Cluster in Scutum), IC 4665 (Open Cluster in Ophiuchus), M31, M32 and M110, M33 and the Double Cluster.

Several of these were new targets for me which is always good, but what was most suprising were the view I was getting of M31 and its companions – it was seriously bright and for the first time I could easily, easily see how incredibly huge it is! It just went on and on as I panned around the area. I think they were the most transparent skies I’ve ever had. M33 was similarly bright but sadly it was about this time that the clouds rolled in so after a quick look at the Double Cluster I called it a night.

Just before packing up I spied Mars rising quietly over in the east and so got a snap of it and M45.

Full report coming soon.

Amateur astronomers are becomingly increasingly excited by the prospect of photographing or even viewing the latest Supernova, designated SN 2007gr which was discovered on 16th August at the Lick Observatory in the USA. It was discovered at a brightness of mag 16 but over the last few nights confirmed sightings have shown that it has increased in brightness to approximately magnitude 12 putting it within reach of many amateur observers.

For more information see this special notice published by the AAVSO

The supernova is located in the bright spiral galaxy NGC 1058, in the constellation of Perseus (circumpolar from the UK) and is approximately 30 arcseconds northwest of the nucleus.

The Rochester Academy of Sciences has a very useful page with information about all current bright supernovae which you might like to check out.