Real cool article on possible ways the moon formed. In the image above (and in their video I shared) they show how the Moon may have formed when a Mars size object that formed relatively close to the Earth in the protoplanetary disc, so they had the similar composition, resulted in material being blasted around the Earth that later formed into the Moon. OR if the protoEarth and the Theia object were of the same temperture basically, the Moon could have formed within hours of the impact! Cool! More to learn and more for our astronomers and scientists to study and learn!
To see the simulation that SwRI put out on YouTube and get a quick snapshot of this video, head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. You can also go and see the article for yourself!
NGC 2392, the Clown Face or Lion Nebula in Gemini; My Sketch from winter of 2017.
My purpose here is to get more of you looking up and observing Planetary Nebula. They are some of the most beautiful objects in our night sky and they represent the end stages of a main sequence star like our Sun, one that is between 0.4 to 8 solar masses and is at the end stage of life. I guess I love them for a couple of reasons. They are the opposite of my other favorite objects, Supernova Remnant which is the leftover of a massive star that went supernova and basically destroyed itself, leaving in most of their cases, a neutron star.
So I'll show you what I have done here. I broke the Astronomical League's Program into seasons. It is NOT perfect. Some objects probably need to go in another season or could. If you find such, please let me know by making recommendations in comments or by contacting me. I'm not the type that is set on anything and will always make adjustments if the logic is good and sound.
I've also included my own observation, or as most show, Steve Gottlieb's
Anyway, they are in both a Google Sheet and Doc format. I"ll include them both in the links below. I'll also attach as either a PDF or a Excel Doc also if that helps.
To get the full copy of the Google Doc, Sheet or the PDF or Excel version, please head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. The links and attachements are at the bottom of the post.
Messier 57 The Ring Nebula Planetary Nebula in Lyra; August 30th, 2016: 2:15am MDT; Antoniadi II, mild; 17.5" Truss Dob f/4.4, Star Catcher; 22mm Nagler T4, 10mm & 7mm Pentax XW; FarPoint UHC 1 1/4 Filter.
It's been awhile but it is the Ring Nebula. The outer edge has varying levels of brightness and the inner region is even surface brightness with some hint of varyness at higher magnifications. Central Star visible with averted and direct vision.
So besides Supernova Remnants, one of my favorite Deep Sky Objects to observe are Planetary Nebula. I love them because of what the represent, a main squence star that is from 0.4 to 8 solar masses that has lived its life and is now in the end stage. I also find them challenging to see how much detail I can pull out whether I am imaging them or observing and sketching them, or both! Finally I am constantly amazed at how our Universe recycles materials and uses that material to create even more stars, planets, solar systems and continues on.
So I've done several things that I am going to share in this post and the next post. First, I made a Planetary Nebula Observing Prorgram by season and have included images, sketches and descriptions of most of the objects. That's in this video. I'll share the Google Doc and PDF's below and the program. The list is also in XLS formation for Excel.
In the next video, well, you have to watch that one to see what that is!
As always, I REALLY encourage you to head over to Eadsy Astronomy to see the program, get a copy of it and to admire the many wonderful observations, images and sketches done of this wonderful objects! Please hit subscribe and like here, and thank you if you do or have already done so. It really helps a niche site like mine.
Also, please join Eadsy Astronomy. You can join as free member, my content is always free or you can, if you find value in what I do, become a contributing member at the $3 or $5 a month value. It just goes to offset the cost of some of the apps and materials I use to bring the content to you. I'll keep doing it and I won't get rich, it just offsets some of my time and my costs and is deeply appreciated!
As always, I REALLY encourage you on this one to head over to Eadsy Astronomy. There you can get the program, see the sketches and images of the objects, and read observations done by many who have observed or imaged these! Here is the LINK!
I've spent a lot of time lately discussing super massive stars, their explosive ending as supernova and shared a program for seeing their remenants, ie supernovae remnants.
Now we'll take a look at the opposite side of the coin. Here we discuss main sequence stars that are from 0.4 to 8 solar masses (stars similar to our own Sun) and discuss their lifecyle and how they end up as planetary nebula with white dwarf stars.
The video is long, and I share my notes that I have created on this from my Astronomy Class way back in college many, many years ago. I've tried to update it. Anyway, this is to prepare to share a Planetary Nebula Observing/Imaging Program.
For the full article and additional items and movies, head over to Eadsy Astronomy LINK. Please hit subscribe and like on YouTube and join our Community at Eadsy Astronomy! I always post there first so you can have immediate access to the material from there!
This is a recap of the sites I use to make a weather forecast to determine if I want to drive out to a dark site for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and observe. I've shared parts of this before, and I've added a few items also now.
For the complete set of videos and the article with all the links to the sites I use, head over to Eadsy Astronomy at the this LINK. You can do the same as I do by using these sites or do a search for similar sites in your area. I do strongly believe that if you really want to ultiilze a dark site, it helps to become an amateur weather forecaster for your region and locations you observe.
Please hit the like and the subscribe button and thanks if you have or do! It helps a niche site like mine a lot! Also join our community over at Eadsy Astronomy!
