simon ghilks wrote:

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Jupiter and 5 moons visible high to SSE early evening and another planet very bright low to SSW, showing as a crescent, don't know which one though, maybe Venus?

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 Hi Simon,

Got to be Venus, as only two planets show phases, and Mercury is too small to observe this (unless you're talking mega telescopes). Speaking of Jupiter; during one of the earlier matches of the T20 Cricket World Cup, the cameraman trained his camera on it. It was a 'wow' moment as I had never considered how big and clear an image such a camera would show. The cloud strata and at least a couple of its moons were also visible. It was probably the lasting memory I will take from the competition's coverage!

-- Edited by Andy Bissitt on Sunday 14th of November 2021 09:15:33 PM

Correction - Jupiter was of course on the left; (thats with rushing ahead of dinner).

Cheers,

Mike P.

Mike, you may have missed the very closest view, but the alignment continues. Tomorrow's weather should be very clear

I took a really cr*p photo at ~17:00 - any earlier & the sky's still bright, any later & the spectacle is too near the horizon

Digiscoping is tricky unless you're an expert (which I'm not) - I found my phone constantly trying to re-focus because of the odd light balance, so I took loads of pics hoping one might be good. I've attached the "best" one - you can possibly see Saturn's rings, and also 3 (maybe 4) of Jupiter's moons. It was much clearer viewing through the scope

John Watson wrote:

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I'll try to explain, for those with little brains

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 Thanks John but my struggle was really just about the sheer enormity of the solar system kind of thing 😁

John Watson wrote:

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Now, a QI Xmas question: where's the centre of the Solar System ?
1) The Sun
2) The Earth
3) Somewhere Else ?

A prize of a free PPE contract to the closest answer

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Answer 3 - the centre of the solar system is wherever the next Greater Manchester rarity turns up

I'll try to explain, for those with little brains

You can see Jupiter & its 4 large moons with our optics any day of the year. Well, if it's not cloudy. The names (& orbital periods) are:
- Io (1.77 days)
- Europa (3.55 days)
- Ganymede (7.15 days)
- Callisto (16.7 days)
Of interest, note the first 3 of these are precise multiples - "orbital resonance" - when their orbits have settled into a natural gravitational stability

Likewise, Saturn & its rings might be visible at any time

First, the 2-D bit:

All planets orbit the Sun in a near-circle - ellipse (ie, oval) - all going the same way around (conventionally denoted as anti-clockwise), those nearer the Sun move faster. The Earth's orbit is elliptical, being nearest to the Sun in late December (surprisingly!)

There are frequent alignments of 3 (or more) planets, called "conjunctions". They're in a near-straight line. Astrologers love these things, though they have no scientific value whatsoever. They can still make pretty pictures, though

Now the 3-D bit:

These orbits are tilted slightly wrt each other. Consider each orbit to follow an elliptical path through a plane - the planes are tilted. Even the Earth's orbit is tilted by 7 degrees against the Sun's rotation axis

So, in a conjunction between, say, Jupiter and Saturn, the planets might appear to pass each other somewhat above or below the other every ~20 years, depending. But, every 397 years, the planes of these orbits also coincide precisely with the Earth's orbital plane - and the 3 planets align very closely, providing photo opportunities of the Solar System's 2 prettiest planets

Now, a QI Xmas question: where's the centre of the Solar System ?
1) The Sun
2) The Earth
3) Somewhere Else ?

A prize of a free PPE contract to the closest answer

It was absolutely brilliant tonight about 4.40pm,looking fairly low in the sky in a south westerly direction. With my telescope it was possible to clearly see the ring around Saturn,and 4 of Jupiter's moons were clearly visible as well. What an amazing sight,recommend anyone to have a look tomorrow if it's clear shortly after dusk. By 5.15 they were still visible but due to the change in angle I couldn't make out the ring around Saturn which was clearly visible half an hour earlier.

Not usually a contributor to this thread, but thought that it was worth alerting people (who might not know) to the forthcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on 21st December. According to my source, they will appear as a single entity; so close will they be - in fact, that it will be the closest such encounter for 800 years !!!! Further details may be found at https://www.buxtonweather.co.uk/ where you can also read about a possible glimpse of the Aurora Borealis on Saturday. Here's to some clear skies.

-- Edited by Andy Bissitt on Tuesday 15th of December 2020 09:53:03 PM

John Rayner wrote:

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Chris, This must be USA timing because as far as I know its an early morning object over here (03.30ish) Cheers John.

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 John,

It certainly ISN'T an early morning object over here! I saw it clearly (from next door's lawn) the night before last from about 11.00 p.m. Certainly worth a look if it clears up again.

Cheers,

Andy B

Chris, This must be USA timing because as far as I know its an early morning object over here (03.30ish) Cheers John.

Yesterday was not only Fathers Day here in UK, but also marked the Summer solstice, as well as across parts of Asia and Africa a Ring of Fire total eclipse of the sun. This occurs when a solar eclipse coincides with the moon being at apogee in its orbit around Earth and therefore appearing too small to totally block out the sun even in direct alignment.

Paul (in NE Thailand) called us up via FaceTime and added that they were seeing only a partial eclipse at Kutchum, - for the total ring effect they were too far south by approx. 1000 Kms.

Regards,

Mike P.

Of interest, Comet Swan might possibly be visible in the next few weeks. The bad news is that it's quite close to the Sun, so to stand any chance of viewing it you need to be up before dawn (eg 04:15) and look very low in the sky (a hand span up) looking ENE. Currently very faint, even with bins, but expected to brighten. These things are infamously unpredictable, so don't expect a biblical scene. But, if you don't try, you don't get

Here's a photo of the disintegrating comet Atlas, illustrating 2 batches of Starlink:

https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=161494

They're all moving slowly to their designated orbits. When there are 12,000 (or maybe 42,000) in place, there will always be many in view at all times, all moving across the sky - that's why they're there.

To understand what the impact on professional & amateur astronomy will be like, imagine Elon Musk running drones every few miles along the entire coastline of the UK - would professional & amateur birders be happy with that ?

I counted 24 but think I missed some. Anyone know how many there are supposed to be in that particular train? The light pollution round my way is terrible, couldn't see many of the satellites with the naked eye but OK through binocs.
They were more spaced out than I was expecting. Thought they would be a tight 'string of pearls'.

Cheers John

Apparently Starlink satellites are viewable again tonight at approx 21.58.

Travelling SW to E with a decent maximum elevation of 62 deg. The website I got this info from states that timing may vary by 10 mins.

I have never seen them myself but will give it a go tonight.

Cheers John.

Comet Atlas is definitely falling apart & getting much fainter

Those Starlink satellites might look impressive, but when there are 10,000s of them, Astronomy will be destroyed. But on the plus side, Elon Musk will have even more money

Anyone watching the Starlink satellites? Quite impressive to watch them trail across the sky.

(  First set start at 18:41 but only rise to 10° altitude.)  IGNORE

( Ones at 19:14 get up to 66° altitude. 38 satellites following each other in a 16 minute period. ) IGNORE

The website I took these from had logged me out and set observing location to a default setting sorry.

Tonight's Starlink start at 2:32am

-- Edited by Ken Dunning on Saturday 11th of April 2020 06:55:43 PM

Last evenings supermoon and also Venus as was very bright, so the opportunity wasn't wasted. like Doc both digiscoped as always. 

sid ashton wrote:

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With a very clear sky at the moment (23.07 hrs) the "super moon" is looking good 

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 And digiscopable through birding gear

David Kaye wrote:

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International space station is visible over the next few days. Timings are:
Thursday, March 26, 8:28pm, 3 mins (appears W, disappears SE)



Thanks David,
I watched it pass over tonight and it crossed my mind that it must the safest place to be for avoiding Coronavirus.

Cheers John.

International space station is visible over the next few days. Timings are

• Wednesday, March 25, 9:15pm, 2 mins (appears W, disappears W)
• Thursday, March 26, 8:28pm, 3 mins (appears W, disappears SE) 
• Friday, March 27, 7:41pm, 4 mins (appears WSW, disappears E)
• Friday, March 27, 9:17pm, 2 mins (appears W, disappears WSW)
• Saturday, March 28, 8:30pm, 3 mins (appears W, disappears SSE)
• Sunday, March 29, 8:44pm, 4 min (appears W, disappears ESE)
• Sunday, March 29, 10:19pm,1 min (appears W, disappears WSW)
• Monday, March 30, 9:32pm, 3 min (appears W, disappears S)
• Tuesday,  March 31, 8:46pm, 4 min (appears WSW, disappears SE)
• Tuesday,  March 31, 10:22pm,1 min (appears WSW, disappears SW)
• Wednesday, April 1, 9:34pm, 3 min (appears W, disappears S) 
• Thursday, April 2, 8:47pm, 4 min (appears WSW, disappears SSE)
• Saturday, April 4, 8:50pm, 3 min (appears WSW, disappears S)

 

I have to say it was the least impressive (penumbral lunar) eclipse ever - the bottom right of the Moon went slightly grey for a short while. Still, worth seeing

https://spaceweathergallery.com/eclipse_gallery.html

Caught the rehearsal for tonight's event this morning with a nice full-looking moon over Winter Hill just before 8 a.m. Even managed a pre-sunrise amber glow to it No wolves though.