Sic Itur Ad Astra – Thus The Way To The Stars : 144 years of astronomy
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Solar activity is high. During a 24 hour period over May 13th and 14th, the sun unleashed three X-class solar flares. These are the strongest flares of the year so far, and they signal a significant increase in solar activity. The source of the flares, a large sunspot on the sun’s eastern limb, appears poised to erupt again as it turns toward Earth. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates and more information.
(Note by MG: The Sun produced another X-class (X1) flare at 01:52 UT on 15th May. These four X-class flares so far are all associated with AR1748)
Mark Payne has sent in some images of the recent solar activity:
Solar disk, taken by Mark Payne, showing a lifting prominence and at the 10 o’clock position on the limb is a bright spot showing the second of the three x-class flares (X2.8) which occurred in the previous 24 hours. This is located at the active region AR1748 which is moving around onto the earth facing side of the solar disc. This image was captured with a double stacked 50mm H-Alpha scope & DMK31 CCD on 13th May 2013 at 13:16:59
Remnants of the post-flare coronal loop from the third X-class flare which happened on the morning of 14th May 2013(X3.2), captured by Mark Payne using a 100mm PST modded H-Alpha telescope, 1.6x barlow and DMK31 CCD on 14th May 2013 at 14:10:03
The Sun may have finally realised it’s late for this cycle’s maxima, speculation that Hydrogen and dark matter are skulking together in the void between galaxies, and an emergency spacewalk to stop the ISS from losing its cool(ant).
We are happy to announce that we have begun to add some articles from old LAS Newsletters (aka News Circulars). You can view a list (which will be updated as the articles are posted) by clicking here.
Since the Newsletter is a paid-subscription service, in order to keep things fair for those who subscribe, there will not be any articles published from the previous 12 months except in the following circumstances, where “current” equals the last year:
The article was written for the website, but published later in a current Newsletter.
The article was always intended for both the LAS website and the Newsletter.
The article is in a current Newsletter, but for a specific reason has been chosen for the website, possibly in an abridged form if appropriate. These types of articles will be fully discussed to ensure that they are necessary.
You may notice articles with old dates appearing in the “Recently Posted/Updated Articles” section of the homepage – this is because these articles will be dated with their original dates, rather than the date they were actually republished on the website, since certain aspects of scientific fact or belief may no longer be true (e.g. estimated age of the universe has changed in the last few years). We felt it was important that such articles be viewed in the correct context.
We may have to perform some minor reformatting due to the differences between A4 printed sheets and the web, but the content will be transcribed as closely as possible.
It should be noted that old LAS Newsletters have been available to non-Newsletter-subscribers, generally as PDFs, however we hope that by incorporating the articles from them into the LAS website they will reach a wider audience.
This is the first in our series of Monthly Galleries. For more information about these galleries, and why we’ve chosen some of the images, please see this page.
Please note that there are a couple of videos which have a soundtrack in this month’s gallery, so you may want to lower your speakers.
We highly recommend that you view the slideshow below in full-screen mode (the four arrows pointing away from each other). To pause the slideshow, see information about the image, or to move back-and-forth between images, hover over the image and menus will appear.
If you would prefer to see a list of the images rather than a slideshow, please click here.
If you don’t use flickr, you can always send your images to us and we’ll upload them for you.
To do this, contact our website team (alternatively you can find us on Twitter @LiverpoolAS) and we’ll make arrangements for you to send us the images.
If you don’t have a digital version of your photo(s), that’s no problem! Just bring it/them along to a meeting, with a note which includes your name and a contact address/number (so we can arrange to return it), and any information about the image(s) such as what the title of the photo(s) should be, what the subject of the photo is (include Messier and NGC numbers if known and where appropriate), where and when it/they were taken, focal length, type of camera and film, filters used, etc. – there’s no such thing as too much information. Please make sure your writing is clear.
Please note that whether your images are digital or film, you always retain all credit and copyright for them, and these will be displayed in the photo information.
Each month we’ll be posting a gallery of astronomy/space related images.
Some of the images are those we’ve found on sites like flickr and others have been sent to us.
We’re aiming to include photos which have been taken in the local area, but there are exceptions if an image stands out for some reason (e.g. a nice aurora shot from the Southern Hemisphere).
These images are from many different people: amateurs and professionals, LAS Members and non-Members. There is also a large range in image quality, from grainy low-resolution shots to beautiful work done with high-end equipment. This range is not because we aren’t being discerning, but because we want to show that astronomy and astrophotography are something which can be done with a huge range of equipment – in our first Monthly Gallery (April 2013), there are even some lovely shots of the Moon taken by Robert Trainer using his iPhone held up to the eyepiece of his ‘scope.
The images won’t necessarily have been taken during the month the gallery is for, but sent/found in that month: e.g. there might be a picture from 1999 which has only just been scanned and added, or an image from last year which we became aware of this month.
If you don’t use flickr, you can always send your images to us and we’ll upload them for you.
To do this, contact our website team (alternatively you can find us on Twitter @LiverpoolAS) and we’ll make arrangements for you to send us the images.
If you don’t have a digital version of your photo(s), that’s no problem! Just bring it/them along to a meeting, with a note which includes your name and a contact address/number (so we can arrange to return it), and any information about the image(s) such as what the title of the photo(s) should be, what the subject of the photo is (include Messier and NGC numbers if known and where appropriate), where and when it/they were taken, focal length, type of camera and film, filters used, etc. – there’s no such thing as too much information. Please make sure your writing is clear.
Please note that whether your images are digital or film, you always retain all credit and copyright for them, and these will be displayed in the photo information.
On each article you will now find that there are a couple of new features, and a change to an existing one:
Changed features
Commenting
Restrictions on commenting have been relaxed – you still need to be registered, but you no longer need to enter a Captcha (those awkward things with wavy lines and squiggles that only humans are supposed to be able to read) in order to post a comment.
You can also reply to other comments, rather than to the article itself, by clicking “Reply to this comment” – on doing this, the comment entry box switches automatically to reply to the comment in which you clicked the link.
Newly added features
Social media sharing buttons
These buttons can be found at the top of each article, and will allow you to easily share the post you are viewing on various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
Related posts
At the bottom of most articles you will now find a list of other articles on the LAS website which may be of interest to you.
British Summer Time came into effect on 31st March 2013 – times below have been adjusted and are in BST!
What’s visible in the sky above Liverpool in May 2013? Map is valid for: 1st May 2013 at 00:00 BST 15th May 2013 at 23:00 BST 30th May 2013 at 22:00 BST
The Sun
1st May 2013
6th May 2013
11th May 2013
16th May 2013
21st May 2013
26th May 2013
31st May 2013
Sunrise
05:37 BST
05:28 BST
05:19 BST
05:10 BST
05:03 BST
04:56 BST
04:51 BST
Sunset
20:42 BST
20:51 BST
20:59 BST
21:08 BST
21:15 BST
21:23 BST
21:29 BST
The Moon
Last Quarter
New Moon
First Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
Date
2nd May 2013
10th May 2013
18th May 2013
25th May 2013
31st May 2013
Time
12:15 BST
01:29 BST
05:35 BST
05:25 BST
19:59 BST
Planets
Mercury
Mercury reaches Superior Conjunction (that is, it is behind the Sun as seen from Earth) on the 12th of May and so will not be visible until later in the month, however when it does reappear it joins Venus and Jupiter making a nice sight low in the Western sky just after sunset. The three planets will all sit around the horns of Taurus (although due to the remaining sunlight these stars may not be visible).
Mercury
Venus
Jupiter
Date
Time (BST)
ALTITUDE °
AZIMUTH °
ALTITUDE °
AZIMUTH °
ALTITUDE °
AZIMUTH °
May 21st 2013
21:02 BST
2.3°
309°
2.8°
306°
6.5°
300°
May 26th 2013
21:10 BST
5.1°
307°
3.2°
306°
3.6°
305°
May 31st 2013
21:18 BST
6.6°
305°
3.5°
307°
0.9°
309°
The images below show the positions given in the table above (although the times are slightly different, they will be close).
Chart: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter low in the Western sky at 21:30 BST on May 21st, 2013
Chart: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter close together in the Western early evening sky at 21:30 BST on 26th May, 2013
Chart: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter close together in the Western early evening sky at 21:30 BST on 31st May, 2013
An interesting aspect of this to note is that by the end of the month, Mercury is higher in the sky than Venus.
Venus
Venus can be found very low in the Western evening sky after just sunset, becoming easier to locate as the month draws on. An interesting association with Mercury and Jupiter is detailed in Mercury’s entry above.
Mars
Mars only passed Solar Conjunction last month, and so is not particularly favourable at the moment.
Jupiter
Jupiter, visible low in the Western evening sky will become more difficult to see as the month progresses and it approaches next month’s Solar Conjunction. See Mercury’s entry for information about its brief association with the planet this month.
Saturn
Saturn passed Opposition last month, the point at which it is opposite the Sun in our sky, and so is well placed for observation this month. By midnight the planet is is visible towards the South at the edge of the constellation of Virgo (the virgin), passing 2.5° North of Khambalia (λ-Virginis) on May 5th.
Comets
Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS)
Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS) is growing much fainter, although it should still be observable in a small telescope as it passes from the area between Cassiopeia (the Ethiopian queen) and Cepheus (the Ethiopian king) early in the month to the tail of Ursa Minor (the little bear) towards the end of May.
On 14th May 2013, Comet Pan-STARRS passes within ¼° of Errai (γ-Cephei), and by the end of the month will be about 5° from Polaris.
Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)
Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon), while not expected to be visible to the naked eye (at least not from urban areas), is moving into the skies of the Northern Hemisphere. By May 15th, it will be rising in the North-East near Algenib (γ-Pegesi), the star to the lower left of the square of Pegasus (the winged horse) at about 02:00 BST. June may be more favourable for observing this comet, as it will be higher in the sky.
Meteors
Name of Shower
Date of Peak
Favourability
Notes
eta-Aquarids
5th May 2013
Fairly favourable
Expected rates of ~10 meteors/hour.This shower is associated with Halley’s Comet.
A news article from the BBC outlines work by a team who are developing an improvement to LED streetlamp designs, which they claim will be able to reduce the wasted light (i.e. that which goes in undesired directions such as ‘up’) to just 2%.
Assuming that the design (which is still theoretical, to be prototyped in October 2013) works, and that local authorities actually replace wasteful and light-polluting streetlamps with the new hardware, it will be still be some time before enough have been swapped out to make a positive difference to the night sky. Many areas have not switched to LEDs at all, with a large number still using low-pressure Sodium (old-style, very orange) and high-pressure Sodium (newer, yellow-white) bulbs, while others such as Knowsley have been implementing Philips Cosmopolis White (metal-halide) lighting.
Of course, one major issue regarding astronomy, light-pollution and LED lighting is filtering – it’s much easier to filter out truly monochromatic light (as in the case of Sodium vapour lamps) than it is with broad-spectrum LEDs. If, however, the light does not flood the sky in the first place, the problem may be less of an issue than is feared.
Let’s hope the future is, in terms of the night sky, dark rather than bright!
Where to look for aliens in the Solar System, what happens when you hit a gas giant with a big snowball, the Horsehead in infra-red, and more… Continue reading →
