Astro images by Mark Payne

A few of my Astro images, more can be found at my Flickr account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markpayne1/
Nature Photographer and budding Astrophotographer.

10 Amazing Facts About the Transit of Venus

The introduction from Listverse:

A transit in astronomical terms is when one heavenly body passes in front of another such that, as viewed from Earth, we can see one move across the other in the background.

The moon transiting in front of the sun during a solar eclipse, for example. Much more rare than a solar eclipse is the planet Venus transiting the Sun. The last time this took place was in 2004. But you are in luck! The next transit of Venus will occur this year! On June 5 to June 6, 2012 those positioned in the right spot on Earth, and with clear skies, will get to see this very rare event.
The best spot to see the transit will be in the Pacific Ocean. The island of Tahiti is ideal for those who wish to travel to see it happen and the island is making preparations for many “astronomy tourists” to go there to view the transit. Portions of the transit will be viewable from Europe and North America. Most of South America and western Africa will not be able to see the transit. What an observer will see is a small black dot (Venus) passing in front of the sun. Depending on where you are on Earth to view the transit, you may see the dot move slowly across the Sun for several hours.

http://listverse.com/2012/02/12/10-amazing-facts-about-the-transit-of-venus/

Event Report: BBC Stargazing Live 2012

Court Hey Park

The Liverpool Astronomical Society hosted two events this year and helped with another, the first was at Court Hey Park (National Wildflower Centre) in partnership with the Knowsley Rangers, this event was on Monday 16th January 2012 and started at 7pm and it very quickly became clear it was going to be well attended. Continue reading →

Liverpool Planetarium gets new equipment

From the Liverpool Echo:

“THE planetarium at Liverpool’s World Museum was given £110,000 worth of equipment after visiting projectionists discovered its kit was more than 40 years old. The attraction finally rocketed into the digital age when representatives from German optical manufacturer Zeiss realised it was still using one of the firm’s projectors – which was installed when the venue opened in 1970.”
…

“The planetarium closed on Wednesday for the revamp and will not reopen until January 30, when entry will remain free.”

Full story here:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2012/01/07/liverpool-s-planetarium-enters-digital-era-with-110-000-donation-100252-30074753/

Comet Garradd

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is well placed in the sky for medium to large telescopes at the moment, it is a slow moving comet so it will be in the skies for some time yet, it is also expected to brighten from its current 8th mag to possible 6th mag.
To find its location you can follow it on this website http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=C%2F2009%20P1&lat=53.416&lng=-2.940&loc=Liverpool&alt=10&tz=GMT so lets hope for plenty of clear skies in the months ahead. Continue reading →

Geomagnetic Storm in progress – Possible Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)

6th August 2011 02:40 BST (01:40 GMT)

A Geomagnetic Storm is currently in progress, following several Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from the Sun over the last few days.

The KP index at the time of this post is between 7 and 8, which means there is a very high chance of seeing the aurora from the UK.
Spaceweather.com has reports of aurora visibility coming from across Europe, including Scotland.

At the moment it’s mostly cloudy in Liverpool, but keep your eyes peeled!
More details are available at http://www.spaceweather.com/

Total Lunar Eclipse, Wednesday June 15th 2011

Lunar Eclipse, June 15th 2011

This coming Wednesday evening, on 15 June 2011, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. From southern parts of the UK, the Moon will rise totally eclipsed, and the majority of the second half of the total phase will be visible, provided observers have a clear, unobstructed south-eastern horizon. Sadly, from locations further north, with moonrise occurring later in the evening, most of the total phase will be over before the Moon rises; those in northern Scotland will miss totality entirely. Indeed, observers throughout Europe will miss the early stages of the eclipse because they occur before moonrise.

British Summer Time (BST)
Universal Time (UT)

Moonrise for Liverpool will be at 20:36 UT (21:36 BST)

The Moon first enters the outer, penumbral part of the Earth’s shadow at 17:25 UT, (18:25 BST) and the partial eclipse begins at 18:23 UT (19:23 BST)
The eclipse first becomes total at 19:23 UT, (20:23 BST) reaches maximum at 20:13 UT, (21:13 BST) and ends at 21:03UT. (22:03 BST)
The partial eclipse ends at 22:02 UT (23:03 BST) and the penumbral phase at 23:01UT (00:01 BST June 16th).

This is the first lunar eclipse of 2011, and it occurs at the Moon’s ascending node in southern Ophiuchus. As the Moon passes rather deeply through the Earth’s umbral shadow on this occasion, the total phase will last 100 minutes. The last lunar eclipse to exceed this duration was in June 2000.