No videos today. I'll be doing them as individual videos for each of the items in the newsletter. I wanted to get the newsletter out so IF you want to see it or get a copy, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Again, if you are a member there whether free or contributing, you get the article and videos as I post them there. Thanks for looking and clear skies!
Lunar Progression
Look up at the autumn sky, and you will find Pegasus, one of the largest and most captivating constellations in the night sky. I've actually compiled two observing lists. One for a 100mm to 102mm refractor and then the other for 14" to 18" dobs, though I'm sure a 12" dob could give these a go also. Here they are. Both lists can be used for either imaging or visual observing.
Please head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK for the full program, list of targets and a PDF or Google Doc version.
I've shared this before back in 2012 but I feel it is time for me to revisit this challenge (if the weather and conditions allow) so I've updated my post on it.
As always the full program is available over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK with findercharts and sketches. Head on over and join the community there to get first access to the content!
Astronomers have captured an unprecedented view of a stellar explosion that bridges the gap between typical core-collapse supernovae and the universe’s most extreme gamma-ray bursts. A massive Wolf-Rayet Star explosed as a Type Ic Supernova and it the shockwave was captured bursting thorugh the star which is only the second time this has been observed and captured! Come learn more!
As always my article with the link to the press release, images and video of the shock breakout and more into are available over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please subscribe on YouTube and join the community at Eadsy Astornomy for first access to the info I share!
Sh2-91 is part of a supernova remnant that is in the southern portion of Cygnus, just above the double star Albireo. I've observed this object several times but it has been several years. It is on my lsit for this month or next month IF I can get out due to smoke and monsoon. It is my personal challenge object for August/September.
Anyway, this a both a challenge visually and imaging so it isn't for the faint of heart. I hope that you enjoy the images and sketches I've included here, and know that it takes patience and skill to observe or image this object, but I think it is worth it. The supernova remnant is G65.3+5.7 and the giant star that went supernova blew about 27500 years ago or so!
My updated article is available over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please head over and take a look and join our community there. I post there first before YouTube or the Blog here now so if you want first dibs on what I am posting on, head over and join the community. Membership is free and gives you first access to my content and when I do a live session, you can join me for that. If you find value in my blog or my information, feel free to become a contributing members. It just helps to offset the cost of apps and materials I use to bring this content to you and is really appreciated. Thanks Andrew Witt for being a contributing member!
I went out to the Lakeside Mountains to look at some possible observing sites off the valley floor. The North Alkaline Rd Site is a wonderful site but in the fall and spring, dew can easily form on the valley floor. The valley floor is an ancient lake bed which explains why dew in these seasons can easily form in the right conditions.
As I drove down Puddle Valley Rd. I found a dirt road that went off to the northeast. I passed it and then I turned around on Puddle Valley Rd, drove south and turned left onto the dirt road.
I followed it out and ended up at guess what, a corral. The corral was newer, set up with newer wire and boards. I REALLY like observing at corral sites. This had flat areas and was up off the valley floor. The corral would be used to gather cattle that graze out on the BLM land in April and May, then are gathered up in early June.
These videos show the site and it will be where I observe this week.
Around the year 1900, as astronomers on Earth were refining photographic plates and cataloging stars through visual refractors, a star died near the heart of the Milky Way.
It was not a subtle death. A white dwarf star in a binary system exceeded its structural limits and detonated in a thermonuclear Type Ia explosion. The blast unleashed an incomprehensible quantity of energy, hurling heavy elements outward at thousands of kilometers per second.
Yet, if you look through historical astronomical journals from 1900, you will find no mention of it. No visual observer pointed a refractor at Sagittarius and saw a brilliant new star flare into naked-eye visibility. The event passed in complete silence.
How could the youngest supernova in our entire galaxy go completely unnoticed?
As always the full article is available over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please head over to take a look and join our community there!
So I have shared my summer, fall and winter wide field program. Spring is a little different here. There are some definite wide field targets here, but on several of these I move down to the 16.5mm Pentax XW or even the 7mm and 4mm Delite. So with not a lot of fan fare since spring is SO far off from now, here is my wide field list for next spring.
Again, I'll be adding to this and updating it as I do some more research but this is a decent start I feel.
The full program is available over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please hit subscribe on YouTube and join our community at Eadsy Astronomy if you want to get the items I share as they go there first! Thanks!
On February 23, 1987, the night sky gifted modern astrophysics its most significant event in over 380 years. Located just 168,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)—a dwarf satellite galaxy of our Milky Way—SN 1987A exploded into view. Come watch and learn more about the nearest observable supernova in recent history.
For the article and to see more images and info, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK and join our community there to get first notice of new posts.
Simulation of SN 1885A or S Andromedae
On the night of August 19/20, 1885, Irish amateur astronomer Isaac Ward noticed something unusual while gazing through his telescope at the heart of the Great Andromeda Nebula. A tiny, reddish star was flickering just 16 arcseconds from the brilliant nucleus. It's brightest was estimated an close to -6 magnitude (quite bright and almost naked eye visible) and it outshown the nebula's core. See, in 1885 Astronomers didn't know that Messier 31 was its own Island Universe or separate galaxy. They thought it was a star forming region creating another solar system. Then in 1923 Hubble proved them wrong! Come learn more about the only supernova we've yet to visually see in Messier 31!
For the full article and to get full access when I post, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK and join our community there!
