Report on observation session held on December 10th
At the last minute, a committee meeting on the 10 th. of Dec. turned
into an observing session on Banna Strand under a foggy sky. Nice visibility
overhead at 9 p.m. Later the sky cleared in larger patches and we found
comet Machholz low in the south east between bands of clouds. Quite
easy in binoculars. Could not really make out any tail though.
Saturn never quite steadied enough for a good view.
Report on observation session held on Thursday, October the 7th.
With clear skies forecast and following a nice clear day we headed
for a 9:30 rendezvous at the Short Mountain carpark.
There were about nine of us there and we had some of the clearest
skies that we have seen in a long time, specially towards the south.
To the north we have the light-glow from Tralee. There was a north-east
wind that generated some light cloud as it pushed the moist air up the
hill. This cloud quickly dissipated on the downward slope leaving a
clear, dark southern sky.
We had several pairs of binoculars in use and three telescopes. The
deep-sky objects like M27, the Dumbbell Nebula really stand out from
the dark background in conditions like these.
Unusually (for those of us living in Tralee with the mountains to
the South anyway), we easily spotted the star Formalhaut in the southern
constellation of Piscis Austrinus. This star only ever climbs to a max.
of about 8 degrees above the southern horizon.
Of note also was the high number of meteoroids, 'Falling stars', seen.
We (those of us that were not always looking the wrong way that is!)
saw about 15 in total over a period of two hours. Most of the session
was spent just identifying the various constellations on view. This
was ironically made more difficult by the sheer number of stars that
were visible. Not a bad complaint!
Report on observation session held on Wednesday, September the 8th.
Given a favourable short term forecast for Wednesday, September the
8th, we headed to the south "Lookout" carpark on the "Short Mountain".
There were no clouds but the high humidity left us with a haze that
reflected a lot of the light pollution from the towns, giving poor seeing
near the horizons. However higher up was quite good with a limiting
magnitude of about 5.6 near the zenith and given that it was one of
the few clear nights in the last month we made the most of it.
There were about ten of us gathered there and we set about locating
the main constellations of the summer sky, stopping off at the usual
gems. Of the Messier objects we logged M13, M31, M92, M45, M27 and the
double cluster in Perseus. Other items that proved difficult in the
binoculars were located with the aid of one of the three telescopes
we had set-up. These included M33, M27, M57, M51, M81 & M82. Later
in the night we located Uranus as a turquoise disc low in the South.
We also saw about ten sporadic meteors, some quite bright with short
lived trails and plenty of satellites.
By midnight the dew, and the requirement to get up in the morning,
sent us home to our beds.
Perseid Meteor Shower - 11th August.
This year conditions for seeing what should have been the best Meteor
shower of the summer months, were to be quite good with the Moon not
interfering with observation. However the clouds and the rain did interfere!
Some of us did turn up on the Short mountain hoping for a break in
the cloud cover, but at 11pm the rain and the clouds descended on us,
so we headed for home.
Reports from other parts of the country were of around 110 meteors
per hour from about 23:30 onwards.
The next Meteor Shower with similar rates will be the Geminids on the
14th of December, only two days after the new moon. There is also the
Orionids on the 22nd of October and possibly the Leonids on November
17th.
Transit of Venus on the 8th June.
This year on the morning of Tuesday the 8th of June, the planet Venus
passed directly between the Earth and the Sun. It began its transit
at approx. 6:20A.M. and was across the Sun by 12:30.
Because this was such a very rare event we arranged to head to Banna
beach for the start of the transit. Banna has a low and unobstructed
view of the NE horizon and is far enough North of the mountains to clear
any local cloud they generate. The forecast and satellite images did
not bode well with total overcast conditions predicted. At 4:45 with
a totally overcast sky it was very tempting to stay in bed but the arrangements
were made so no excuses!
At the beach the sky showed more promise with a little brightness in
the direction of the Sun.
The 'early birds' in Banna at 5:40 am.
The time of first and second contacts came and went with total cloud
cover but then at 6:40 the heavy cloud cleared allowing our first look.
Higher cloud remained but the inky, crisp outline of Venus was obvious
just inside the lower right edge. We had two telescopes set-up with
solar filters, a glass filter form Thousand Oaks and the other a Mylar
film filter, Baader, AstroSolar. We also set up some binoculars to project
the image.
Here comes the Sun! - Picture by Kevin Lawlor.
Given the short spells of visibility the projection method was easier
for relocating the Sun whenever the clouds cleared (we had no driven
'scopes) It also allowed some viewing when the cloud made it too faint
to see anything through the filters.
Our first view of the transit through the clouds at 6:47.
Click on the image for full size image, (Venus is at the '8 O'clock'
position).
At about 7:40 most of the cloud cleared for about twenty minutes. This
allowed us some of our best views and gave me time to set up the webcam
and capture some videos. The processed results can be seen in the Sun
Gallery page. Then the cloud rolled back in again so we packed up
to head for the Town Park (after a welcome cup of tea in Paddy's).
In the Town Park things did not look hopeful and it was 10:30 before
we got another glimpse of the event. As luck would have it a couple
of people came by at that time and got their look at this rare event
for themselves. By 11:20 the sky had turned very overcast with a persistent,
tempting, blue sky to the Northwest, so the decision was made at 11:30
to move to attempt to catch the egress events.
That blue sky proved very elusive and we adopted a distributed approach
with Kevin staying in the Town park, Paddy in Banna and I was in Mounthawk.
The third contact was clouded out but it cleared for myself and Kevin
at 12:13 just as Venus was crossing the edge of the Sun's disk.
Venus leaves the Sun's disk at 12:13.
Click on the image for full size image and see the Gallery
for more.
True to form the cloud returned just in time to hide the fourth contact
so no event timings were possible but we were glad that we made the
effort.
This will occur again on June 6th 2012 but will not really be visible
from Ireland. It is finished when the Sun will have risen by just 3
degrees above the morning horizon. You will then have to wait until
2117 for the next one, and it will be the year 2247 before the whole
event will be visible again from Ireland!
Safety Warning!
Observing the Sun must only be done with great
care, as the heat and brightness of the Sun through any optical aid
will instantly and permanently damage your eyes. Never
look directly at the Sun. Never ever use binoculars or
a telescope unless it is properly equipped with a purpose made solar
filter(s) in front of the objective lens/mirror or you are projecting
the image as described.
A full aperture solar filter fitted to a refractor telescope
The safest way to view the sun is by projecting an image of the Sun
onto a white card using a telescope or binoculars. However never leave
a telescope that is aimed at the Sun unattended as someone will "have
a look". We showed samples of suitable set-ups at our May meeting.
The same telescope without the filter, set-up to project an image of
the Sun.
With the Comet NEAT Q4 rising into darker skies we were hopeful of
getting our first view of it on Sunday night, the first night that the
clouds cleared in weeks.
We gathered at just after 22:00 (local time) in the South carpark on
the Short Mountain. The skies were clearing but the humidity was high
and smoke from a gorse fire meant that the sky was slow to darken.
With no stars visible at that time between Leo and Gemini it was difficult
to locate in the twilight. Scanning with binoculars it was the Chairman,
Paddy that found it first in his 20x80's at about 22:35. Having located
it by first finding the Beehive Cluster M44. It was nearly 10 minutes
later before the rest of us were able to pick it up in our 10x50's.
As the sky darkened it became easier to locate and through the telescopes
(222mm f5.7 and 250mm f4.5 Dobsonians) we could just begin to notice
its broad tail. Later in the night when the sky had become fully dark
the tail could easily be traces for more than one degree. At this time
we could just see the beehive and the comet with the unaided eye. Both
were about similar brightness but the beehive (M 4.5) was "bigger"
in the sky, putting its magnitude at about 4.8 to 5.0
We were also treated to a nice pass of the ISS at about 23:32, it being
nearly from horizon to horizon and nearly over head at its highest.
Jupiter also had Io's shadow on Jupiter's disk until 23:12 UT at which
time Europa just entered occultation behind the planet and then at 23:14
UT, Callisto began a transit of Jupiter. Three events within 2 minutes!
The next comet.
As the first few weeks of June progress Comet C/2002 T7 LINEAR will
climb higher over the SW Horizon but as it has passed its closest point
to the sun it will be decreasing in brightness each night. The Moon
will be out of the evening sky now but the twilight persists until midnight.
You will need binoculars to find it and a dark location away from the
light pollution of our towns and villages.
Total Lunar Eclipse on the 4th May.
The 4th of May dawned with rain and gales. The prospects for seeing
the eclipse were poor to say the least. However we headed for our observing
site on the "Short Mountain" at about 20:30. There was the
occasional patch of blue sky in between the hail showers. After a confirming
with a compass the direction to where the Moon would rise, we waited.
By 21:30 the sky had darkened but with the Moon at an altitude of just
5 degrees, and the amount of cloud at that elevation it was 21:50 before
we caught the first hazy sight of a brown moon through the clouds. At
this time the Moon was still totally eclipsed but it was slightly brighter
on its lower edge.
Through the telescope and despite the gale blowing the colour was a
dark copper, darker than other eclipses I had seen. The residual brightness
of the sky probably added to this effect, but it did seem to be quite
dark, certainly not pink anyway.
On schedule at 22:08 the total phase of the eclipse gave way to the
partial phase. The brightening of its lower edge was immediately noticeable.
For the next hour or so the brightness progressed up across the face
of the Moon. During this hour it looked like a 'bite' was taken out
of the top right of the Moon.
By 22:30 another shower rolled in so we packed up and headed for home.
At about 22:50 I got a chance to take a few more pictures of the partial
phase of the eclipse.
See the Moon section of the Gallery page
for more images.
Observing session #3 report.
Our third observing session was a rushed affair as the weather forecast
on Tuesday was for showers and rain for St.Patrick's night, but at 4
p.m. the sky was blue and clear, clear enough to do some solar observing.
There was rain forecast for much later that night but was to be clear
up to midnight so the calls were made. Again we gathered in Banna carpark
at 8 p.m. There were about seven of us there and a couple of telescopes
and sets of binoculars.
There was also a wind from the south so we positioned the 'scopes in
the shelter of some dunes and it was not too much of a problem. Again
we looked at each planet in turn. Venus, nearly at half phase now was
clearer than before due to its higher altitude. Mars showed little more
than a tiny disk. Saturn, was beautiful with its rings and Cassini division
on show. Jupiter showed nice detail occasionally but it was to our east
over the land and hence there was frequent air turbulence.
We also looked at the star clusters in Canis Major and Puppis, M41,
46 and 47. In M46 we also saw the planetary nebula, NGC 2438.
At about 10:30 the seeing and Limiting Magnitude deteriorated over
the space of five minutes and there were clouds appearing in the West,
so we packed up after an excellent couple of hours. By 11:30 it was
starting to rain.
Our second observing session was on Friday 21st of February under a
7 day (48% illuminated) moon. We again tracked down comet LINEAR T7
although the moon and low cloud in the west did not help. It was difficult
to see and estimated the magnitude to be about 6.5 to 7 with a stubby
broad tail and a barely noticeable core when viewed in a 222mm f5,8
Newtonian. The moon was a treasure of detail and the three bright planets,
Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, all got their turns for examination.
We wrapped up after about four hours when high cloud
began to roll in and the cold had made its presence well known.
Observing session #1 report.
We held our first official observing session on Wednesday 18th of February
The forecast was good on Tuesday but by Wednesday evening there was
about a 90% cloud cover but with an optimistic clearing in the west.
By 7:30 the sky had completely cleared. We all met as scheduled in the
main carpark at Banna beach, just 8 miles Northwest of Tralee. About
15 people attended and we toured the sky, with the planetary highlights
being Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars.
We also saw a good few of the Messier objects, M1, M45, M31, M51, M81
& M82, M105, M95, M96, M44, M42 & M43, M31, M32 and M110. Earlier
in the evening we saw Comet LINEAR T7 in the west and caught a few of
the more notable double and multiple stars on show.
The skies were dark, (about LM 6.2) with the Milkyway dominating the
sky overhead. Seeing was fairly steady most of the time except for where
Jupiter was, low in the east. Venus made a beautiful sight with its
reflection in the calm sea of Tralee Bay turning a deep red-orange before
finally setting.
When we packed up at about 11:30pm there was frost on the cars.
