Nothing too spectacular, so far, but with more use and practice we hope to be using it for both imaging and photometry projects in the coming year.

Images: Taken by David Warrington, Ken Salmon, Stuart Grainger.

Equipment: Meade 12" LX200, Atik 16ic

NGC 281, The Pacman Nebula in Cassiopeia

This picture is a composite of 12, 15 minute exposures made through a Hydrogen-alpha filter, so, the otherwise red image, has been desaturated to black and white. It was taken in my back garden in Chelmsford at the beginning of October this year.

The nebulous area is about 35 arc minutes across and 10,000 light years distant. It is an area of new (about a million years old) and forming stars, probably in the dark, dust lane, regions of the nebula. The very small open cluster (IC 1590) near the centre contains the smaller group of bright stars that is illuminating this nebula.

NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula and M52 in Cassiopeia

This picture is a composite of 9, 15 minute exposures taken under the beautiful dark skies of Kelling Heath at this years Autumn Equinox Star Camp.

They are an often photographed pair, ideal for wide field imaging with small, short focal length telescopes.

M52 is the small open cluster of more than 150 stars, of magnitude 8 or fainter, and 13 arc minutes across, in the right half of the picture. It was first recorded by Charles Messier in 1774. The distance is not well known, but is in the ball park of 5,000 light years.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Bubble Nebula NGC 7635"][/caption]

The spectacular Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635), on my astronomical A-list, is an apparent bubble floating in a sea of red gas. It is 3 arc minutes or 6 light years across and 7,000 light years away. The bubble is expanding at the unbelievable speed of 4 million miles per hour! It was formed by the stellar wind from the blue, 8^th magnitude, central star blasting into the surrounding denser material. This central star, at some 40 times the mass of our own Sun, is living a predictably short and very violent life.

Sh2-101, The Tulip Nebula in Cygnus

The second Sharpless catalogue (Sh2), published by Stewart Sharpless in 1959 is a catalogue of over 300 large nebulae, many of which are suitable for wide field, narrow band imaging. In other words great for small refractors under light polluted skies.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The Tulip Nebula Sh2-101"][/caption]

This tulip flower shaped nebula, taken in June this year, in Chelmsford, is a composite of 24, 10 minute exposures, taken over two nights, using an H alpha filter. The star that looks over exposed, but is in fact surrounded by nebulous gas, in the top right, is Eta Cygni.

The Tulip is an emission nebula about 20 arc minutes across and 8,000 light years distant.

Just over half way back to the Tulip from eta cygni on the picture, and making an angle of about 45 degrees is a close pair of bright stars. The brighter, 9^th magnitude star, has an optically invisible, but strongly x-ray emitting partner, the famous Cygnus X-1. This was the first object discovered that was considered likely to be a Black Hole.

Hardware and Software

• Modified Canon EOS350D DSLR. The internal infra red filter has been replaced with a sharper cut off filter to extend the red end of its spectral response, particularly to give improved sensitivity to the hydrogen alpha line.

• Starlight express SXV guide camera in a separate, piggy backed, guiding telescope (70mm f/10).

• Televue x0.8 focal reducer/field flattener to give a plate scale of 2.2 arc seconds per pixel (1.8 without the reducer).

• William Optics ZS 105, f/7 apochromatic refractor.

• Losmandy GM8 mount.

• MaxIm DL for camera control, guiding input and focusing, via a laptop, and for image calibration and registration.

• Photoshop CS3 for post processing.

Sources

• NASA website
• Celestial Objects for Modern Telescopes, Michael A Covington.
• CCD Images of the Sharpless Catalogue

Keith Elliott

October 2008

On the 2nd October 1608, the Dutch lens maker Hans Lippershey demonstrated the first practical telescope to the Dutch parliament. He is thought to have been the first to try and patent the invention, which could provide the user with roughly three times magnification. (However, legend has it that Lippershey got the idea after seeing some children playing around with his lenses in a telescopic fashion...)

50 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH

On the 11th October 1958, Pioneer 1 became the first spacecraft to be launched by NASA. The mission objective was to study the radiation, magnetic fields, and micrometeorites of the Earth/Moon environment, but due to a malfunction at launch it never acheived its intended lunar orbit. It did reach an altitude of nearly 114,000km above the Earth though and was the most successful of the early "Thor-Able" craft.

There are actually quite a few different reasons as to why you should buy Meade telescope. If you have any experience in the world of telescopes, you have surely heard of the Meade name before. It is one of the most well known and respected telescope manufacturers, and if you want to know why you should buy Meade telescope, you will find out here. Read further  Buy Meade Telescope

If you have not seen the ISS pass over before - you are looking for a fairly fast moving bright point object. The times and locations given in the above link will guide you.

Photo to follow.

Because 2008 has brought so many blank-disced Suns, some observers had wondered when the ongoing deep solar minimum was to end. Today's new sunspot is an encouraging sign that the 11-year solar cycle is indeed progressing...albeit quite slowly.

This activity might also give the Society something to look at through the new Lunt LS60 solar scope purchased recently.

Prof Barrie Jones - "The Seach for Extra-Terrestrial Life"

Nik Szymanek - "Photographing the Night Sky"

Dr Andy Fabian - "The Power of Black Holes"

Dr Somak Raychaudhury -  "Einstein's Outrageous Legacy"

The day also included a look round the various astronomy trade stands, as well as a trip down to the local American War Cemetary.

Astronomers Adi Zitrin and Noah Brosch of Tel Aviv University discover a string of 14 galaxies deep in a cosmic void of space.  The galaxies form a straight line about 1.5 million light years long.

The discovery is shocking because the galaxies are too far apart to suggest they are held in line by their own gravitational pull.  In fact, all the galaxies are small dwarfs with relatively low gravitational pull.  They also appear to have started forming stars at the exact same time.  So what is keeping them in line?  And how could 14 distant dwarf galaxies all fire up their star factories in sync with one another?  Researchers theorize they're held together by a bridge of mysterious dark matter and this could be influencing their interactions.  The Loki Times thinks something else could be at play.

The Loki Times astronomy experts believe an immense alien intelligence beyond our comprehension is at work.

Resident space biologist Allen Gringholm said the following: "I recently spoke about alien space dust that is raining down on earth.  This dust is concrete evidence of immense cosmic entities who's make up is beyond our imagination.  We must, as humans, rethink our narrow definition of life so we might comprehend the size of these alien gods.  I have no doubt in my mind there are space beings, massive creatures, some perhaps as large as planets, with intelligent will who are acting as shepherds in space.  The discovery of this organized formation of 14 disparate yet organized dwarf galaxies deep in the cosmic void suggests this very idea.  Is it so far fetched that these super intelligent beings might have found a way to control entire galaxies?  But for what purpose, we might never know."

The discovery happens to come at a time when Shadow People sightings are on the rise and the Large Hadron Collider is about to be turned on.  Smigel Von Hoffenpott, our resident quatum psychologist and co-chairman of scientific watchdog group Sars-FR, believes there could be a connection.  "Take what we've seen recently," said Hoffenpott.  "Our dimension is being infiltrated by Shadow People.  We are opening portals to other dimensions with the Large Hadron Collider.  Evidence of immense cosmic beings lies right in front of our eyes.  Increased paranormal activity around the world.  The list goes on.  I believe that whatever entities might be controlling these galaxies could be the pulling the stings behind it all.  We'll just have to wait and see if their intentions are hostile."

The wealthy UFOlogist group UFOR.a.YOU said only the following in response to our inquiries for their thoughts on the matter:

"“UFOR.a.YOU is not answering any questions regarding cosmic space gods or the galaxy string discovered deep in space at this time.” - Sincerely, UFOR.a.YOU Public Information Officer #98374"

Stay tuned to The Loki Times for continuing coverage of these events.

Read the article at New Scientist about the galaxy string.

It's asteroid 2867 Steins, as seen by the Rosetta spacecraft when it passed only 800 kilometers away on Friday. It’s a diamond in the rough - asteroids of this size range (~5km across) can theoretically be pretty much any shape, as the gravity of an object that size isn’t strong enough to form the rock into a sphere. However, collisions with other asteroids generally tend to make them roundish so most of the ones we see are either spherical due to random collisions, or potato-shaped (known as "spuds").

The diamond shape extends all the way around the visible half of Steins - as Rosetta passed the asteroid imaging as it went by, so more than half of Steins was mapped. The shape appears to hold up and It is shaped like a diamond.

Steins has a massive crater on it, spanning 1.5 km of its surface. That’s quite big, and the impact that made it must have been of an impressive scale. If Steins were a solid chunk of rock, an impact that large would have likely shattered it (or covered the body with cracks). It could be that Steins is instead a "rubble pile" - a body made of loose pieces of rock, held together by it's weak gravity.

Some asteroids have very low density, and astronomers think that these used to be solid bodies, but several collisions has made them a looser body of fragments and empty space - lowering its density.

The Rosetta mission was launched in 2004 and it's main science goal is to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta consists of two elements: the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander, which will be used to make contact with the comet's surface. The spacecraft will also flyby and examine the asteroid 21 Lutetia in 2010, before making it's approach to the comet in 2014.

If you think you'll be awake then, see the ISS viewing times for detailed listings.

Here are a few photographs showing how bad the light pollution from the new racecourse is. The skyglow is so massive that it can be seen from several miles away. If it were a clear night, a large part of the sky would be blotted out, meaning the local community would be missing out on the night sky.

This racecourse poses a threat to astronomy in this region. Clearly the racecourse plans need to be reassessed by the local councils - the lights should be illuminating the course NOT the rest of the surrounding area and sky.

UPDATE (22/08/08): Below is a photograph showing just how bad these lights are. Note that this photo was taken two miles away from the site. The plume of light pollution goes up to the zenith, illuminating the clouds.

This following has been brought to our attention. Light pollution is a major issue in our region and if we want there to be any dark sky in the area we need sites like the new racecourse to take a much, much more considered approach to large scale lighting. Please try to make a difference and let the council aware of the problem - it only takes a few minutes to send out an email.

What used to be the Essex Showground in the countryside is being turned into a forest of massive metal poles with the most intensive floodlighting imaginable. By day it is completely out of character and by night it is simply indescribable.

There are over 1000 lights proposed, consuming nearly 2 megawatts of power, supplied by a fossil fuel burning generator, adding to climate change. Whilst these lights are on they will be burning enough energy to completely power a small town. It flies in the face of energy saving efforts in Essex. The development is contrary to countryside policies and the Council's own policies on sustainability.

Local residents are being badly disturbed, as can be imagined, and have started complaining following the first race night last week and 3 successive nights of being blasted by light for "testing". The light pollution is extremely severe even from many miles away, ruining the night sky and with the potential to seriously disturb nocturnal wildlife. The 2004 press release from the course claiming that the lights would minimise light pollution was completely misleading.

The course is being built up - the current proposal is to use the lights 2 evenings a week, all evening - but more is planned to make it a "leisure destination" which means more traffic on the roads and more pressure for bigger roads linked to it such as the A120.

There is also a serious risk of causing road crashes as the Council has allowed the development to take place right next to the dual carriageway A131, and there is no screening at all from the lights.

The Council has made a dreadful planning decision. A racecourse for daytime use might have been OK, but this is specifically designed as substantially a night time course to generate TV coverage and betting and that has been allowed to override protection of the countryside and the environment.

A large number of objections to this latest application might make the Council reconsider its position.

Please write to Chelmsford Borough Council quoting application reference 08/00603/FUL and object to the latest application for Great Leighs Racecourse.

You can write to town.planning@chelmsford.gov.uk

This page will help you. It gives animated examples of the effect of seeing on a star image, based on the Pickering scale of rating atmospheric turbulence.

Here are the results. (full-size images are in the gallery)

The Moon:

Jupiter:

Uranus:

Neptune:

All images taken with the observatory telescope and camera (12" Meade LX200 and Philips SPC900). They were processed using Registax 4 and Adobe Photoshop Elements. The Neptune and Uranus videos are raw from the camera and have not been processed.

Credit: Mark Searle & David Warrington

Cassini discovered that Enceladus has plumes of water spurting up from deep inside the moon, indicating the presence of liquid water. This obviously makes Enceladus a very juicy target for Cassini, and the images should be spectacular.

Stay tuned to sites like the Cassini CICLOPS page, which will have the latest images in all their high-res glory.

There was a partial solar eclipse visible from the UK on Friday morning, and a couple of us were at the observatory to view it. Using both white-light solar filters, H-alpha filtered telescope and solar projection, we were able to observe the phenomenon with success:

A total solar eclipse was visible along a narrow corridor starting from Canada, through Russia, to China - passing through populated places like Novosibirsk, Russia to more remote regions like the Gobi desert.The greatest eclipse duration, of roughly two and half minutes, was observed near the town of Nadym, Northern Siberia.

A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including eastern North America, Asia and Europe. Here in the UK, obscuration of the Sun by the Moon ranged from 10% in the South to roughly 35% in Scotland.

From Adam Hobden, images of an ISS flyby and a Jupiter image:

From David Warrington, another ISS flyby shot and some deep sky images (testing out the new piggyback mount on the observatory telescope):

If you have not seen the ISS pass over before - you are looking for a fairly fast moving bright star-like object. The times and locations given in the above link will guide you.

Sunday 20th July 2008
Regulus, Saturn and Mars span 12° in the western evening sky. Look for the three objects in a diagonal line across the sky. Regulus is to the lower right. Mars is to the upper left. Saturn is in the middle. Look about 1 hour after sunset. Saturn is the brightest of the three, shining at 0.8 magnitude. Much brighter at -2.6 is the planet Jupiter in the southeast sky at the same time.

Monday 21st July 2008
The waning gibbous Moon rises in the east near the end of astronomical twilight. The end of astronomical twilight is defined as the time when the Sun is 18° below the horizon. After the end of astronomical twilight, the sky is as dark as it's going to get. Not counting light pollution from cities, towns and the Moon. Civil and nautical twilights end when the Sun is 6° and 12° below the horizon. During nautical twilight the sky is dark enough to see most of the brighter stars and planets but not the dimmest stars visible in the night time sky.

Tuesday 22nd July 2008
The globular star cluster M-13 is high overhead this evening. M-13 is located in the constellation of Hercules. With binoculars, M-13 looks like a fuzzy star. Through a telescope, the star cluster appears as a swarm of faint stars in the shape of a ball. M-13 is about 25,000 light-years from the Earth. This cluster was discovered by Edmond Halley of Halley's comet fame in 1714.
The 22nd of July is also Pi Approximation Day!

[ link ]

You do not need to be a member of the Observatory Association to come.  The Potluck feed starts at 5:00 PM.  Please bring a side dish, dessert, salad or your favorite dish to share.  Parking is limited, so get there early.

After the food and fun there is the famous "Astronomical Gastronomical" contest, where astronomy-themed dishes are judged on presentation, originality, and (of course) flavor.  My oldest daughter was asked to be a judge last year, which she really enjoyed.

There will be a raffle with various items (including the CD I made last year, newly revised and updated for 2008!)  If you don't get one for a raffle item, I'd be happy to burn you one for only $10.

As any of you who are passingly familiar with the night sky have no doubt already surmised, the unusually  bright object in the southern sky is not a star, but is instead the planet Jupiter.

If you get out early enough in the evening, just as the stars are coming out, look to the west, and you'll also see Mars and Saturn just before they set.

These are the top stories from the Digg Space category for the week ending Saturday 12th of July 2008:

3 Mystery of the Great Attractor Pulling the Milky Way

To find out what other stories are popular right now, click here.

It entered the atmosphere travelling approximately towards the west, at a speed of thousands of miles per hour. Beaten by massive forces, the object reached a few miles from the surface before exploding like a megaton bomb. The air blast - the shock wave produced by a large explosion - flattened trees for roughly 800 square miles around ground zero.

Witnesses reported that the ground immediately shook, followed by a wind of heat - felt miles away. The shock wave propagated around the world. The "impact" happened in the remote Siberian Krasnoyarsk Krai region - an area of swampland and the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. Had it happened over a populated area such as Moscow or St Petersburg, around a million people could have been killed.

It is now known as the Tunguska Event and is a relatively comtemporary example of how much of a cosmic shooting range the Earth sits in.

The event has been studied comprehensively since then. After the immediate impact, little interest was taken due to the remote nature of the region. (it is thought a expedition may have taken place soon after but any record of it was lost in the subsequent turbulant times of post World War One Russia).

In the 1920s the first recorded expeditions took place. Leonid Kulik, a mineralogist and geologist of the Soviet Academy, travelled to Tunguska to the region. He took accounts from locals and deduced the explosion had been caused by a meteorite impact.

However his studies revealed no crater, only a 30 miles region of scorched and flattened trees, stripped of bark. These were the first clues that it was an air blast. He continued to receive funding for his expeditions as he had persuaded the Soviet government based on the prospects of finding a valuable iron source from the impacted object.

No debris, or crater, has ever been conclusively identified at Tunguska, leading to debates over the nature of the object - was it a rocky asteroid or an icy comet? Recent spacecraft surveys of asteroids have shown that some resemble fragile piles of rubble, which may more easily explode in such an event.

Later expeditions found microscopic glass spheres soil samples. Chemical analysis showed that the spheres contained high proportions of nickel and iridium. These elements are found in high concentrations in meteorites, hinting that they could likely be of extraterrestrial origin - part of the

The Earth has come a long, long way in the hundred years since that morning in Northern Russia. But if another similar object was incoming, we likely wouldn’t know about until we, like the Siberian locals, saw a flash of light in our sky, felt the waves of hot air, and were knocked down by the ground shaking.

The odds of it happening again soon are quite low. But this anniversary should remind us that it can and will happen again.

http://xkcd.com/