Sky Watch Friday

 

Sunset on July 1 (Click to enlarge)

Sky Watch Friday has a great new look. Click the link to check out the beautiful photos of other sky watchers!

Look What I Found!!

Hooray!! Yesterday, I saw a patch of the ground, the bare-naked ground for the first time in months. Better than that, there was a patch of green. Moss never looked so good to me. I heard more birds during this past week. Crows cawing and the low whistle-like call of of evening grosbeaks fill the air. Mourning doves visit the feeder along with the regulars - chickadees, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hair woodpeckers, and titmice. I think I even heard a dark-eyed junco and caught a glimpse of a chipping sparrow. Dave heard a phoebe.

We still have quite a bit of snow, but the melting continues revealing more patches of beautiful earth. Tonight's forcast is for more snow, which will end as freezing rain and then plain rain. I'm not worried. I think we have turned the corner. A few nights ago, when I took my nightly peek at the sky before going to bed, the scent of spring greeted my nostrils. I breathed in deeply and slept very well with visions of spring flowers dancing in my head. :-)



Web Weaver Graphics

Beautiful Eclipse!

The full lunar eclipse last night was a beauty! Unfortunately, my pictures are not very good. I had hoped to set up my telescope to photograph it, but my yard is still covered in ice. Enough of my whining. I'm lucky that I had a clear sky and do have some photos to remind me of this spectacular eclipse.

Even at this point in the eclipse, the moon shown brightly on the snow. I didn't need a flashlight to see my yard, but most of the stars in the sky were already invisible in the bright glow.

As the earth's shadow almost covered the moon, the sky filled with stars! At this point, it looked as though the moon might remain gray to grayish brown.

Just as suddenly as the sky filled with stars, the moon transformed from her normal gray attire to her stunning copper finery.

Totality ends as a sliver of light creeps across her edge.

The stars hide again behind the moonlight. The copper has faded. Soon the shadow will be gone completely leaving the well named Snow Moon reigning over the night sky. I hope you were able to enjoy this eclipse, too.

Would you like to see some lovely photos of the moon? Visit
Renie's "Shooting the Moon! In her shots, a tree frames the moon making for the most beautiful effects!

Total Lunar Eclipse Feb 20-21

Total eclipse of October 2004, when the Red Sox won the World Series!

(I intended to publish this days ago, but my computer had problems. That will be the subject of my next post! LOL)

Get ready for a total lunar eclipse! The entire eclipse will be visible to most of the Western Hemisphere. It will begin during the evening of Wednesday the 20th for North and South America. Observers in Western Europe and West Africa will see it during the early morning hours of Thursday the 21st.

Below I have listed the North American times in which the different parts of the eclipse will occur. I left out the penumbra stages since that is not readily visible to the casual observer. I have included a link to the European Space Agency website where you will find their time tables listed at the end of this post.

Partial Eclipse begins 8:43 PM EST, 7:43 PM CST, 6:43 PM MST, and 5:43 PM PST
Total Eclipse begins . 10:00 PM EST, 9:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM MST, and 7:00 PM PST
Mid Eclipse begins ... 10:26 PM EST, 9:26 PM CST, 8:26 PM MST, and 7:26 PM PST
Total Eclipse ends ... 10:52 PM EST, 9:52 PM CST, 8:52 PM MST, and 7:52 PM PST
Partial Eclipse ends ..12:09 AM EST, 11:09 PM CST, 10:09 PM MST, and 9:09 PM PST

Unlike the last lunar eclipse on August 28, 2007 that began low on the horizon, this eclipse will find the moon high in the sky and perfect for observing the entire event. An added bonus this time will be the very bright "star" just northeast of the moon - the planet Saturn. Close by to the northwest will be the bright star Regulus. Saturn will shine at the largest and brightest it will appear all year. Whether you gaze at this pretty trio with your unaided eyes, binoculars or a telescope, it will be a spectacular sight.

The next total lunar eclipse visible to North and South America won't occur again until December 20 - 21 of 2010! I wish all the observers clear skies and decent temperatures!

Timetable from the European Space Agency

My report on the August 2007 lunar eclipse

See an animation of the eclipse here

A Naked Eye Comet!

"Comet Holmes brightens almost a million times" read the headlines on October 25th. Almost overnight a comet difficult to find in very good telescope made itself visible in the night sky. I strained to spot the naked eye comet in the constellation Perseus. According to an article I read, it would appear as a fuzz ball. I didn't see a fuzz ball, but I did see a star that didn't belong in Perseus. Sure enough, a look through my binoculars revealed a big fuzzy ball with a bright center - Comet Holmes. It wasn't until the following night, as the comet continued to brighten, that without the aid of binoculars, I spotted the fuzz ball where its star-like imposter had been the night before.

It is expected to remain visible with the naked eye for the next couple of weeks, possibly continuing to brighten. You can spot it, too, if you know where to look. In the early evening look to the northeast for Cassiopeia, which appears to be the letter W standing on its side. Perseus is located below Cassiopeia and slightly to the east. Part of the constellation forms a triangle. Look to the bottom left point of the triangle. It may look like a star or a fuzzy patch depending on your eyesight and the darkness of the sky. That is Comet Holmes. Binoculars reveal that it is not your typical comet. It has no tail; it is circular with a bright center. If you have problems finding it, use binoculars to slowly sweep the general area until it comes into view. It is so bright and round, that you will know immediately that it is not a star.

Spaceweather.com has an impressive photo gallery of Comet Holmes photos taken by amateur astronomers from all over the world. Most of these are from the northern hemisphere, but I noticed some Australia.
http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_holmes.html

By the way, if you have never seen the Andromeda Galaxy, this would be a good time to do so! Andromeda is marked in the sky chart. Again, use Cassiopeia as your guide. From the most northerly star (the top), look east (to the right) until you see a fuzzy patch. If your eyesight doesn't permit or your sky is not dark enough, use binoculars. You won't be able to miss it.

Clear skies!

I made this star chart using the free software, Cartes du Ciel.
Cartes du Ciel
Sky Charts
Free program to draw sky charts
For use with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html

The Short Lunar Eclipse

On Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 4:40 AMI grabbed my binoculars, camera, and telescope accessories case and headed out the door. The full moon illuminated the way to my chair, table and telescope that had been set up in the front yard the night before. Bad idea. The telescope had fallen prey to the night dew. Nice if one likes that foggy look to everything. No problem, my binoculars and camera were fine.

I live in the New Hampshire. I knew that the moon would set before reaching totality, but I thought I would see a bit more than half the moon eclipsed before it sank out of view. I forgot to figure in the geography of my western horizon - a tall pine-tree-studded hillside. My viewing can be summed up with this little list:

Totality occurred at 5:52 AM,
The moon set below a clear NH horizon at 6:09 AM
The moon set below my tree-lined hilltop horizon at 5:25 AM

The eclipse was beautiful, although brief.

Fortunately, there will be another total lunar eclipse on February 20, 2008. I have already checked. My western horizon will not be a problem. As long as the Nor'easters stay away, I just might see the entire eclipse and end up with a full set of eclipse photos.

Here's to clear skies and low horizons!