Solar Eclipse

So T is over in WA to see the total solar eclipse in or near to Exmouth.  Locally we get the partial (21%) eclipse version.

Time to bring out the solar projector box again.

...or, it would have been, but this is Melbourne and at about 1230 a high cloud cover rolled in.  

So all the ideas of getting a pic of the full solar disc, the start of the partial eclipse, and then another at the full 21% went right out the window.

So yeah.

Anyway, here's a photo from T of the total eclipse.

Beautiful.

Next Australian Total Eclipse is July 22nd, 2028 and it rolls right across Central NSW and Sydney.  Time to star planning for that.

The Green Comet - C2022/E3 (ZTF)

 Well, barely.

So it was above the horizon only after February 7th (Tues).  I had busy evenings until Saturday the 11th, and it was a beautiful clear day... right up until 2130 just as it got dark enough to get outside and have a look!  Curse you Melbourne skies!!!

Sunday was also cloudy. 

Finally Monday night (the 13th) was clear enough to see that part of the sky, and I just made the time to go out and have a look.

After a study of Stellarium, I confirmed it should be about 2/3rds between Antares and Mars, just a fraction higher than a line between the two.

It took a while... and another look at Stellarium to check... I finally saw a smear, a faint blur, the barest wisp of light only just brighter than the sky behind it.  Almost lost in the light pollution of the sky above Lalor.

I first found it in the 25mm, and then worked up through the 17mm and the 13mm.

This wasn't a moment of "Yay! A majestic comet!", this was "Hey, I found it! That was ridiculous!"

There was no hope of trying to image it with my simple mobile phone setup, so I'll just have to remember the thrill of finding that smudgy, faint, blur.   

Happy New Year! Lets get the scope out a bit more often!

 2023 - a brand new year.  

Not much for NY resolutions, but will try to get Dobby the house scope out more often this year.

Started with NYE/NYD - enjoying a good look at the Pleiades, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon.

Used the new mobile-camera eyepiece mount and took a few photos and tried some videos to see if a frame capture got a good shot.  

Took some stunning videos of the moon.  Waxing gibeous, the terminator looked amazing.  Mountains and craters throwing fantastic shadows.

Jupiter was bright and three Galilean were clear.  As always, Jupiter's bands washed out in the photos when including the moons, but with the Moon Filter I was able to image the rings in some of the best shots I think I've ever taken of Jupiter.

Mars was very bright and a large disk in the eyepiece.  Very hard to make out any surface markings though.  I got an impression of the darker areas, but not clearly.

The bright moon washed out a lot of the nebulocity (name drop!) of the Pleiades, but as a jewel-box of stars it always satisfies.  I tried a few photos, but its not possible to have a long enough exposure to be more than a few points of the brighter stars.

I was still looking through the scope as the fireworks went off around the suburb.  Happy New Year!  A great way to see in 2023.

     

Tango Delta - Perseverance sticks the landing!!!

Another Skycrane 11 minutes of terror!

Working from home that day, so I got to watch the landing live stream from NASA that morning before picking up the kids for the school drop.

Watching the mission operators sweat out the landing, and the poor bloke they had providing the commentary was fun and moving. These people had a lot invested, so seeing their joy when the lander sent back each successive completed phase was great. I punched the air with them when the call of "Tango Delta" was announced.

Very quickly the first image from the Nav Cam came through, which was greyscale, blurry, dusty and completely awesome.

A few days later and there is HD video of the landing from parachute to touchdown. This is amazing. My mind is blown. The initial mastcam panorama is incredible as well. High def and crisp.

They even recorded a gust of wind blowing over the rover while it buzzed and whirred. It's not much...but that's what it is like there.

The only thing missing now is the smell... What does Mars smell like? Probably like Broken Hill...

Hope successful

February and the Mars missions are arriving. First is Hope from the UAE.

They've successfully decelerated into orbit and are starting their science. That's cool.

I'll also mention the Chinese mission, which I haven't heard much about at all. I think it's OK. Need to check.

2020 A retrospective.

Dayamn! That was a whole thing...
No. Just...no. Moving on


Anyway, didn't do much. Looked at the moon a few times.
T and I mentioned trying a dark sky night once, but didn't follow through... coz covid.

Betelgeuse didn't blow. It was probably a spurt of dust. I think a cooling cloud of blown off atmosphere is the current best hypothesis.

SpaceX was exciting during the year. Unmanned and manned Dragon missions to the ISS.

At the end of the year a barrage of missions took off for Mars. UAE sent an orbiter, China has a orbiter/lander mission, and NASA is the big one with Mars2020 landing Perseverance and Intrepid.

Betelgeuse

Finally a nice clear night. Orion is high in the sky and there is no moon up yet.

Betelgeuse is dim. Really dim. It's strange.

By eye, Betelgeuse is about the same magnitude as Bellatrix beside it, or Saiph above it. Very odd.

Now I've just read of LIGO detecting gravity waves from the area of Betelgeuse. Further reading seems to indicate that it may be just coincidence. The readings may be just from a similar region and not Betelgeuse itself.

Some very interesting stuff going on.