Backyard Astronomy

My Home Page See my own Solar System This Page in Finnish! Today's weather from WTOC-TV by Pat Prokop Oglethorpe Astronomical Association - the local astronomy club in Savannah. Links to Hale-Bopp pages JPL - Ron Baalke Space Calendar JPL - Charles S. Morris Near-Live Comet Watching System (NASA) Gary W. Kronk The Puckett Observatory Sky & Telescope's Comet Page www. halebopp.com European Southern Observatory Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias Jyväskylän Sirius Dale Ireland Statesboro Astronomy Club Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia Image Gallery Click on the images below to see a larger version 50k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Jan 31, 1997, by Tim Puckett, Ellijay, GA 39k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 07, 1997, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. In the dark spot (Clyo, GA) the stars and the comet look like gems in the sky! 36k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 07, 1997, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. In the dark spot (Clyo, GA). 42k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 07, 1997, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. In the dark spot (Clyo, GA). 35k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 07, 1997, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. In the dark spot (Clyo, GA). 14k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 09, 1997, by Topi Tuomi, Savannah, GA. Canon EOS Rebel X 35mm 1:4, Kodak Royal Gold 1000ASA, 2 minutes. The breaking dawn already paints the sky blue in the east. 29k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp and Tybee Lighthouse on March 17, 1997, by Topi Tuomi, Savannah, GA. Canon EOS Rebel X 35mm 1:4, Kodak Royal Gold 400ASA, 30 seconds. 91k jpg Comet Hyakutake on Mar 25, 1996, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. Hyakutake was a great comet, but no match to Hale-Bopp!		Backyard Astronomy: Comets, planets, and other celestial objects as viewed from Savannah, GA (32ºN, 81ºW) or Irondale, ON (45ºN, 78.5ºW) by Topi K. Tuomi - 01/01/2006 Please note: I retired on April Fool's Day in 2004 and two months later moved from Savannah about 1430 km (890 miles) north to Irondale, Ontario (44º53'N, 78º30'W) where the night sky is totally dark: the Milky Way crosses the heavens magnificently on moonless nights! One night in November, 2004, even the Aurora Borealis filled the sky wall to wall all evening; something I hadn't experienced for thirty years - since I moved away from Finland. So, now I view the night sky from a different viewpoint, which might show up in my observations below - quite slowly though because I seem to be busier in my retirement than ever in my working days... Full Moon I took this picture in the evening of May 25th, 2002, in Savannah, GA, using a Nikon Coolpix 800 digital camera and a Celestron C8 telescope. The moon looked very romantic in the hazy early evening sky... Comet Highlights It's very quiet in the comet front as I'm writing this in January, 2006. Please check Gary W. Kronk's page Current Comets for information of what's visible these days.
		The New Comet Observation Page by Charles Morris contains headlines and recent observations of all visible comets. His page is somewhat difficult to read by a layman; it is meant for professionals and serious amateurs for reporting the details of their observation data. Double Evening Stars I took this picture in the evening of May 30th, 2002, in Savannah, GA. Jupiter (mag. -1.9), left, and Venus (mag. -4.0) are 4º apart and about 20º above the Western horizon at 9 p.m. Four days later they were only 1º 35' apart, but the weather in Savannah was cloudy and I missed that photo opportunity. Double Morning Stars I took this picture in the morning of August 5th, 2001, in Savannah, GA. Jupiter (mag. -2.0), left, and Venus (mag. -4.0) are 1º 17' apart and about 30º above the Eastern horizon at 6 a.m. The wispy clouds are caused by tropical storm Barry churning in the Gulf of Mexico. A Space Cloud The space shuttle launched just before sunset on Wednesday, 02/07/2001, left an odd looking, shining cloud in Savannah's southeastern sky. It must have been very high, because it was reflecting sunshine well after sunset. Finally it turned reddish and disappered from view. Iridium Flares An interesting phenomenon in the night sky is the bright but short appearances of the 'flares' caused by a fleet of 72 (originally) Iridium satellites, in trouble but saved at the last minute. I saw my first Iridium flare on February 19th, 1999, next to Sirius, and it was brighter than it for a couple of seconds. The satellite appeared exactly in the predicted position and at exactly the predicted time. It was moving north to south at the normal speed for satellites, and was visible for 10 to 20 seconds. The flares are reflections of the sun from the mirror-like antennas of the Iridium satellites, and can be seen even in daytime, because their maximum magnitude is about -8. To check when the flares are visible in your location, go directly to the Observer's Location page of the Heavens Above website and enter your latitude, longitude, and time zone, and click Submit. On the following page click the link for Iridium flares for the next 7 days, and you should get a list of a few sighting opportunities for the next week. The same page lists the sighting opportunities of MIR, ISS, and many other satellites as well. If you don't know your coordinates, find them in Tiger Mapping Service website. Please see a picture of one flare below on this page. Space Exploration - Hubble found a distant planet; Mars Global Surveyor is still mapping Mars and the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still working! Still fresh: Topi's Comet Hale-Bopp Slide Show and Andy's Comet Hale-Bopp Slide Show Hale-Bopp was last seen in the northern hemisphere about May 20, 1997, when its magnitude was still bright 1.4, but when it made a short visit to the northern hemisphere around October, 1997, it had already faded to about magnitude 6. Observations and pictures of comet Hale-Bopp can be found from my Hale-Bopp February 1997, March 1997, April 1997, and May 1997 archive pages.
		Photographs of the Moon, comet Hale-Bopp, and the planets Lunar Eclipse by Andy Blackburn in Savannah, GA, on September 26, 1996. Andy exposed Kodak Gold 400ASA print color film for 1 second with his Olympus OM-1 camera on a Celstar 8 f/10 telescope.
		The second photo was taken by Becky Lowder on April 2nd in Statesboro, GA. Is it really that much darker in Statesboro than in Savannah? Becky used a 50mm lens at f/2.8 and exposed Kodak Gold 400 film for 35 seconds. - Be sure to visit Statesboro Astronomy Club website, maintained by Becky, for more pictures.
		The third photo was taken by Philip Neidlinger with his new 8" f/4 Vixen R200SS telescope. The picture is cropped, and is of M42, the Great Orion Nebula. It was taken on October 27th, 1999, using ASA 800 Fuji, exposed (unguided) for 1 minute prime focus.
		Picture 4 was also taken by Philip Neidlinger. He used a 50mm objective in his Olympus OM-2 camera with aperture f/2, and exposed 800ASA film for 10-15 seconds. This picture was taken at the bridge to Fort Pulaski near Hwy 80 between Savannah and Tybee Island on February 20, 1999. An Iridium satellite flares in it near Sirius, moving down towards south. The magnitude of the flare was about -4 or -5, clearly topping the magnitude of Sirius (-1.44) for a couple of seconds. See the story about Iridium Flares near the top of this page. Please check Philip's Astrophotography Page as well.
		Photo 5 was taken by myself on April 2nd, 1997, on my home street in Wilmington Island, just east of Savannah. I used my camera, Canon EOS Rebel X S, with zoom settings 35mm/1:4 and film Kodak Gold 400ASA. Exposure time 30 seconds.
		Photo 6 was taken by Gil Stacy from Savannah on March 16, 1997, in Ft. Stewart, GA. He used his Nikon with a 50mm f1.4 Nikkor stopped at f2.0. Fuji 800ASA film was exposed for 40 seconds. The tall trees are called Bald Cypress.
		Spring 1997 was very interesting in astronomical sense. Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), discovered over a year and half ago on the same night by two astronomers, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, made its closest approach to Earth on March 22nd, and was closest to the Sun (in perihelion) on April first. It used to be a very bright object first on the morning sky, and later on the evening sky. Since the beginning of January the comet was visible in the east before the morning twilight, but moved to the evening sky in late March and early April. In the evening sky it was visible in the northwest after the evening twilight, until about 11pm., and was best seen from 8:30 to 10:30pm. The comet was a beautiful naked eye sight, as my photograph on the right shows. This photo was taken in the evening twilight of April 7th. The lighthouse is located on Tybee Island 20 miles east of Savannah. If you click this picture, you'll see a larger (800x600 pix) version of another picture, which you can set as a wallpaper for Windows95 by clicking it by the right mouse button and selecting 'Set As Wallpaper'. The comet/lighthouse picture from March 17th with its hi-res wallpaper companion can still be found on the March 1997 archive page. The observation history and viewing intructions that used to be in this spot can still be found on my 1997 monthly Hale-Bopp archive pages, listed below. 1997 observations of comet Hale-Bopp in Savannah, GA February 1997 archive page March 1997 archive page April 1997 archive page May 1997 archive page The Sun and Planets in 2006 Also, check This Week's Sky at a Glance from Sky & Telescope, the Skywatching Center from Earth & Sky, and The Solar System from Heavens Above. The following facts are valid for Irondale, ON, but are useful for any location near Irondale's latitude (45 degrees N), or the northern tier of the states or Canadian provinces. In my current location, Irondale, ON, about 200 km NE from Toronto, the shortest days are 8 hours and 47 minutes long near December 21, and the longest days are 15 hours 36 minutes long around June 21. (Because of Savannah's southern latitude the length of the day varies much less than up north: the shortest days are only 10 hours and 4 minutes long on December 18-24. The longest days of the year occur on the 21st to 23rd of June, when the Sun stays up for 14 hours and 15 minutes.) Mercury (mag. up to -0.5). As you can see in the table below, Mercury appears three times as a morning star in 2006, and three times as an evening star. The evening apparitions in February and June and the morning apparitions in August and November will be quite good, but in April and October Mercury will be very difficult to observe. Venus was in superior conjunction on March 30th, 2005. After that Venus emerged as an evening star and shone brightly in the western sky. The greatest eastern elongation occurred on November 3rd, and Venus stayed as an evening star until its inferior conjunction on January 13, 2006. Thereafter Venus will emerge as a morning star having the greatest western elongation on March 25. It'll then stay in the morning sky for more than seven months, reaching the superior conjunction on October 27, 2006. You can see Venus all day long if it is far enough from the sun, and if you know where to find it. Binoculars will help locating it, but Venus is definitely a naked-eye object even in blue sky and bright sunlight. You should of course find a place where the Sun is hidden behind a tree or a building to make this midday planet-staring easier. Mars was in opposition on November 7th, 2005, and was almost as bright as in the famous opposition of 2004. In 2006 it'll be in the evening sky moving slowly lower toward the western horizon until it reaches conjunction with the Sun on October 23rd. Jupiter (mag -2.0) has been in the morning sky since its conjunction on October 22nd, 2005, and will be in opposition, moving back to the evening sky, on May 4th, 2006. The next opposition will be on November 21st, 2006. Saturn (mag. -0.5) is in opposition on January 27, 2006, moving to the evening sky. It will be in conjunction on August 7th and stay in the morning sky the rest of the year 2006. Mercury in 2006 Conjunction in longitude between Mercury and Sun Date (UT) Separation Dist (AU) Dec Description --------- ---------- --------- --- ----------- 2006 Jan 26 21:33 2° 04' 42" 1.4106 -20° 35' Superior 2006 Mar 12 02:43 3° 33' 18" 0.6211 -00° 08' Inferior 2006 May 18 20:02 0° 16' 06" 1.3221 +19° 55' Superior 2006 Jul 18 07:07 4° 55' 47" 0.5790 +16° 11' Inferior 2006 Sep 01 04:49 1° 43' 29" 1.3667 +09° 56' Superior 2006 Nov 08 21:31 0° 07' 07" 0.6753 -16° 50' Inferior Maximum angular distance between Mercury and Sun Date (UT) Separation Desc. Magn. Height above horizon --------- ---------- ----- ----- -------------------- 2006 Feb 24 05:03 18° 07' 32" East 0.1 16º at sunset 2006 Apr 08 18:38 27° 45' 49" West 0.4 8º at sunrise 2006 Jun 20 20:10 24° 56' 16" East 0.6 16º at sunset 2006 Aug 07 00:32 19° 11' 11" West 0.1 15º at sunrise 2006 Oct 17 04:07 24° 49' 14" East -0.0 6º at sunset 2006 Nov 25 12:56 19° 54' 16" West -0.5 17º at sunrise Observing the far planets I have not personally been able to observe Pluto, although I know exactly where it is located in the sky. My 8 inch Celestron with 68x magnification is not able to discern it at least in the less than perfect sky conditions on my backyard (high humidity, light polluted sky). If your sky conditions are better, or if you have a more powerful scope, check the Pluto finder map on the Sky & Telescope page below, and see if you can find Pluto among those hundreds of stars that look just like it. The bigger planets are much easier to find than Pluto. Uranus is quite easy to see with binoculars, if you know exactly where to look, but Neptune almost requires a telescope to be seen, or very good binoculars and really good seeing conditions. Sky & Telescope has good finder maps on their page Uranus and Neptune in 2005. Traditionally Sky and Telescope updates this page around June for the new observing year. Space Exploration Iridium Flares Iridium by Chris Dorreman Catch a Flaring/Glinting Iridium Astronomy Picture of the Day 1998-04-02 Iridium Flares for Savannah, GA, for the next 7 days Iridium Flares for Irondale, ON, for the next 7 days Hubble photographed a remote planet NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first direct look at what is possibly a planet outside our solar system -- one apparently that has been ejected into deep space by its parent stars. The planet, much larger than Jupiter, appears in the lower left hand corner of the picture on the right as a bright spot, leaving a trail of dust and gases behind it. NASA's page tells more about this remarkable find. The Lunar Prospector Nasa's first mission to the Moon after a 25 year pause ended in 1999 with a bang. The controlled crash into a lunar crater concluded the successful 18-month mission on July 31st, 1999. Nasa's page Lunar Prospector tells more about the mission. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Moon contains a lot of data about the Moon, and plenty of links. Mars Exploration Rover Mission Two rovers were launched to Mars in 2003: Spirit on June 10, 2003, and Opportunity on July 7, 2003. Both landed on the red planet safely in early 2004 and have had a very successful Martian year (two Earth years) exploring Mars. To read the latest news from Spirit and Opportunity, see Nasa's Mars Exploration Rover Mission page. Web site MarsDaily keeps you updated about these missions and everything else concerning Mars. Earlier Mars Probes In 1996 three probes were sent toward planet Mars. One of them, the Russian MARS 96-probe, which contained a lot of equipment from other countries, too, like Finland and USA, experienced a sad ending when it fell to the Pacific Ocean soon after its launch. The Russian web pages about the project can still be accessed, but they haven't been updated since the failure of the project. Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 2nd, 1996, and landed on Mars on July 4th, 1997. It was a great success for Nasa, and sent plenty of pictures and scientific data back to Earth for several months, until it stopped functioning in October. Mission well completed! Mars Global Surveyor was sent on the way almost a month earlier than Mars Pathfinder, but reached its target two months later, September 11th, 1997. It's now in a circular orbit around Mars after finally completing its trouble prone aerobraking process, and has been very successful in mapping the red planet. Mars Surveyor 98 -project consisted of two modules, the Mars Climate Orbiter, launched December 11, 1998, and Mars Polar Lander, launched January 3rd, 1999. The Orbiter arrived at Mars on September 23, 1999, but it flew too close to the red planet because of a stupid mixup between metric and American units in the navigation, and was destroyed. The Lander reached Mars on December 3, 1999. It either landed or crashed on Mars; nobody knows what happened to it, because no signal has been received from it or its two probes. You can find much more information about these projects from Nasa's Center for Mars Exploration page. Nozomi - the Japanese Mission to Mars Nozomi (Japanese for Hope and known before launch as Planet-B) launched July 3rd, 1998, is a Mars orbiting aeronomy mission designed to study the martian upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind and to develop technologies for use in future planetary missions. Unfortunately, the spacecraft used up too much fuel during a trajectory correction maneuver and was never able to reach Mars orbit. After years of attempts to do so, the mission was finally declared lost in late 2003. Galileo Project is History One of the most important of Nasa's projects was the Galileo Project, studying Jupiter and its moons. The project ended when Galileo was sent to the clouds of Jupiter where it was destroyed on September 21, 2003. Galileo Home Page (JPL) gives a good picture of the stages of the project. The Space Shuttle Program is back in business after the loss of Columbia The status of the Space Shuttle program can be found on Nasa's The Shuttle -page. The Return to Flight mission, designated STS-114, was launched in July, 2005. The seven-member Discovery crew flew to the International Space Station primarily to test and evaluate new procedures for flight safety, including Space Shuttle inspection and repair techniques. Other Space and Astronomy Links Astronomy Magazine International Space Station Viewing ISS Heavens Above Space News from Nasa Skyview Virtual Telescope Down-to-Earth Astronomy JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astronomy Picture of the Day Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive The NSSDC Photo Gallery: Mars Digital Images of the Sky Yahoo space links Yahoo astronomy links Links to Astronomy by Bill Drennon Mike Boschat's Astronomy Page - a huge list of astronomy and weather links The Sky at Night - BBC/Sir Patrick Moore Listen to Earth & Sky radio series - and see their Skywatching Center Andy's astronomy links Clear skies! If you have any comments, please email me (to: tktuomi 'at' yahoo.com -- I don't list the email address explicitly here to avoid the spambots).