Incoming!

... run to the bunkers!

February, 2013 and the buzz was about a smallish chunk-o-rock fashionably named "Asteroid 2012 DA14" that was about to skim past Earth at only about 27,700 km distant (below Geo-stationary satellite orbit 36,000km).  It is about 30 meters across and weighs an estimated 40,000 tonnes.

Since Australia was going to be in the right place at the right time as it passed by on the 16th, I decided to set the alarm to 'blerk'-in-the-morning and get out and try to spot it. 
So at 'blerk'-o-clock that Saturday morning, I rushed out into the pre-dawn gloom with Dobby and a printout of a skymap sourced from the web and started making fairly wild guesses at where it might be at that time.  Using the 25mm eyepiece I hoped that there would be enough field of view to catch a glimpse.

So, did I see it?  I don't know...

I did catch a fleeting (about 2 second) sighting of a small, not overly bright, point of light move across the field of view.  It was about what I expected, but I would have to allow for the possibility that I caught a satellite instead of the asteroid.

But, it was fun trying and I like to think that it probably was a success.

Here's a NASATelevision clip with some flyby footage.

Then I got inside and heard about Chelyabinsk in Russia... hol...lee... cow!

2013 - Year of the comets

2013 has seen the visitation of plenty of comets around our little planet, but unfortunately I haven't managed to get eyeball on to any of them yet.

One useful outcome of this sudden interest in comets is that I have been prompted to work out how to add extra objects to Stellarium, so now I can research them on the computer at home or work and get some idea of what time to set my alarm and where I should be looking in the sky.

Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) was visible low on the Western horizon at dusk in March - or so I believe.  A conspiracy of cloudy evenings, work times and family schedule prevented me from even attempting to lay the scope on it.

Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6) was also up about about in March.  I did attempt to spot this one evening in early March, but had no luck in spotting anything.  Perhaps it was too faint for the light conditions?  

Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) is now close to Mars in the morning sky, just before dawn.  I've been out into the front yard once now at 5.30am to try to spot it.  Still had to wait another 10 minutes for that part of the sky to rise above the houses around me and by then it had brightened to the point that Mars was hard to see - obliterating the comet.

I will try again in early November as the comet approaches the Sun.

This link to the Sydney Observatory blog has a useful diagram.


Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is another comet that is up just at dawn.  Currently it is just on the horizon a few minutes before dawn hiding behind the neighbour's houses and then getting lost in the sunlight.  

I've only just heard about this comet, further research and Stellarium surfing will be required.  
 
Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) I only just heard about today!  A quick look on Stellarium shows that it is up at a more reasonable time of the morning (about 1am onwards) so at least the Sun is not a problem.  However at Mag10, it probably is beyond the reach of Dobby and my Mk1 eyeball in city light conditions.


... and then there is Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Springs) which is going to skirt close enough to Mars in October next year that it may wipe out assorted probes in the cloud of debris. (yikes!)

First for 2013

After a 40 degree day the evening was still in the high 20s and the sky was fairly clear. A sliver of moon had nearly cleared the sky and it was about a dark as you could expect.
Started with Jupiter, looking great with two bands clearly visible. 3 moons to the left and one to the right of the disk. Tried to get a few snaps with my mobile on the eyepiece, just to see how it looked.
Checked out M42 in Orion, just because I love looking at it. Resolved the four stars at the centre clearly.
Also checked out open cluster M41, Sirius, and Betelgeuse (which stubbornly still refuses to go supernova)
Shifted the scope to cast about the Zenith and happened to have a satellite pass through the field just as I put my eye to it, which was a nice novelty.
Spent some time star hopping trying to line up Globular Cluster M79, but gave up (probably not dark enough to make it out, I'm pretty sure I was in the right spot)
Finished the session just casting around the sky a bit looking through the 25mm P enjoying seeing the lower mag stars.
Packed up still very warm but fortunately not humid. Still about 27 now at 2am.