Cloudy skies and Observations dry.

The las time i deployed my telescope was on 19th March 2011, the Supermoon day. On this day moon was supposed to be nearer by 30,000 kms of its usual orbit. I was pretty skeptical about how will the observable moon appear bigger as the usual orbit of moon is 380000 odd kms and a decrease of 30000 meant about 7-8% nearer or larger, if that be directly proportional. 

Cloudy skies and Observations dry.

The las time i deployed my telescope was on 19th March 2011, the Supermoon day. On this day moon was supposed to be nearer by 30,000 kms of its usual orbit. I was pretty skeptical about how will the observable moon appear bigger as the usual orbit of moon is 380000 odd kms and a decrease of 30000 meant about 7-8% nearer or larger, if that be directly proportional. 

Celestron Astromaster 130 | Star Pointer, illuminated Red Dot Finder

Finding objects in the night sky is a challenge with every amateur astronomer. With Celestron Astromaster 130 it becomes even more difficult. The red dot finder is perhaps the most criticized part of a Celestron astromaster 130. I have read approximately 20 to 30 posts and blogs where this item is regarded as completely useless and replacements have been suggested. However, I disagree its that bad. It does the job for me. I am able to point at Moon, Jupiter, Polaris, Betelgeuse, M42 etc at one go. It takes a little getting used and practice. It becomes slightly difficult to find fainter stars with this but some star hopping eventually leads to the desired object. Here are some useful tips to use the red dot finder at its best.

CHECK FOR EXACT ALIGNMENT OF RED DOTS:

As mentioned in my earlier posts I have had lot of difficulty when I had received the telescope and wanted to point at some object in the sky using the red dot finder. Later I discovered the red dot finder was improperly aligned. So instead of helping me out finding a star it was misguiding me. Here’s how you can check if your red dot finder is well aligned.

Note: This activity can only be performed in well lighted area. So I suggest you do it before deploying your telescope for observation.

In your red dot finder or star pointer you will see two circles each of same diameter. You will also notice that there are two thumb screws on the top. Go to the front side of scope, in front of the aperture opening and observe the star finder. You will see the nearer circle enclosing the farther circle within it. Now the thing to observe here is whether these to circles are equally separated all through their circumference or not, as explained in the following diagram:

Alignment Star Pointer - Red dot Finder scope

Another condition to check is whether the front red dot completely covers the rear dot when these circles are equally separated or not. If these above conditions are not true on observance, you will have to adjust the two screws on top to achieve perfect alignment of the circles and the dots. This process requires patience as you might get lucky to get the right alignment at few twists or you might not get it for long, as motion of the transparent panel is quite weird when screws are turned. After this is done your Star Finder/Red dot finder is ready for use.

POSITIONING YOUR EYE:

Initially when I had begun I used to try a lot of positions to see through the finder. I tried going far, near, from the finder, behind the OTA etc. Finally I settled for a position which works best for me. Its about 10- 15 cms behind the finder over the OTA. Now the trick lies here, once you have positioned your eye like this and the two dots are overlapping perfectly, close one eye and do not move. Move your scope as you move along with it as if one. Now see the star through the finder, overlap it over the red dot and you will see it in the ocular too. However if you had moved your eye considerably if u moved the scope you need to realign for perfect alignment of the three, the two dots and the star. See how alignment impacts the view:

Celestron  star pointer mechanism

The above method works well for bright objects, however for faint objects there is another small trick involved, you will notice while pointing to a faint object you are not able to view the object itself through the star finder. Now this gets really irritating. You can eliminate this problem by doing the following.

LOCATING FAINTER OBJECTS:

Fainter objects cannot be seen when viewing through the starpointer. This is a solvable problem. All you need to do is bring the red dots of pointer near to the star and now open one eye to view the star alone. Now make an estimate about the star’s position and move the OTA accordingly after closing one eye and keeping watch that the two dots are aligned along with your eye as you move the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA). Now open the other eye again and repeat the process. See whether you have reached nearer to the star or not. This technique needs some practice especially because the star’s position appears to change in the sky when viewed with both eyes and when viewed with only one. But if you practice for sometime you will know what I am talking about and make this method work for you.

That’s all is required for viewing through the starpointer. If it doesn’t work for you still, you may substitute it with a telrad or something. Happy viewing and clear skies.

Close encounters with the third kind, Tempel 1

NASA’s Stardust probe came very close to comet Tempel 1 for the second time on February 14^th 2011. This allows scientists to discover changes in the comet since the last visit. The time of closest approach was estimated around 04:40 UTC on February 15. Stardust went past the comet at a distance of 112 miles (181 km) and travelling at a relative speed of 24,300 mph (10.9 km per second).

NASA’s briefs video:

Animation video showing a series of images taken as stardust flew by:

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About Tempel 1 from wikipedia:

Tempel 1 (official designation: 9P/Tempel), is a periodic comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in 1867. It currently completes an orbit of the Sun every 5.5 years. Tempel 1 was the target of the Deep Impact space mission, which photographed a deliberate high-speed impact upon the comet in 2005. It was re-visited by the Stardust spacecraft on February 15, 2011.

More about Tempel 1 at wikipedia.

Tempel 1 as viewed by Stardust in 2011

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About NASA Stardust:

Stardust is a 300-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on February 7, 1999 to study the asteroid 5535 Annefrank and collect samples from the coma of comet Wild 2. The primary mission was completed January 15, 2006, when the sample return capsule returned to Earth.^[1] Operating for 12 years and 21 days, Stardust intercepted comet Tempel 1 on February 15, 2011, a small Solar System body previously visited by Deep Impact on July 4, 2005. It is the first sample return mission to collect cosmic dust and return the sample to Earth and the first to acquire images of a previously visited comet.

More about stardust at Wikipedia.

More details about

1. Key Spacecraft Characteristics
2. Propulsion
3. Altitude control
4. Command and data handling
5. Telecommunications
6. Power
7. Thermal control
8. Structure
9. Redundancy and
10. Whipple Shield at this Spacecraft details page.

About stardust launch: Stardust launch PDF.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Images from stardust:

Tempel 1 impact site

This pair of images shows the before-and-after comparison of the part of comet Tempel 1 that was hit by the impactor from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft.

Comet Tempel 1 six years later

More images at NASA Mission pages.

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Stardust did not only get images of the comet but also managed another breakthrough, it recorded the sound of a comet. Following video for the same:

An interesting video, “Its done with Math”, “B2 Bomber flying through flak”.

This was a bonus mission for stardust, which previously flew past comet Wild 2 and returned samples from its coma to Earth. During this bonus encounter, the plan called for the spacecraft to take images of the comet's surface to observe what changes occurred since a NASA spacecraft last visited. (NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft executed an encounter with Tempel 1 in July 2005).

Courtesy NASA.

The Sagan Series

The Sagan Series, Part 1, The Frontier is everywhere.

"We were hunters and foragers. The frontier was everywhere. We were bounded only by the earth, and the ocean, and the sky. The open roads still, soft and cause. Our little  terraqueous globe is the madhouse of those hundred, thousand, millions of worlds. We who can not even put our planetary home in order, riven with rivalries and hatred, ARE WE TO VENTURE OUT INTO SPACE ? By the time we are ready to settle even the nearest planetary systems, we will have changed. The simple passage of so many generations will have changed us. The necessity will have changed us. We're.. an adaptable species. It'll not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other new by stars, it'll be a species very like us, but with more of our strengths and fewer of our weaknesses. More confident, farseeing, capable and prudent. For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness. What new wonders undreamed of in our time will we have rot in another generation and another. How far will have our nomadic species have wondered, by the end of the next century and the next millennium. Our remote descendants safely arrayed on many worlds in through the solar system and beyond, will be unified. By their common  heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that whatever other life may be, the only humans in all this universe, come from earth. They will gaze up and stream to find the blue dot in thier skies. They will marvel that how vulnerable the repository of war potential once was. How pairless our infancy. How humble our beginnings. How many rivers we had to cross before we found our way." - Carl Sagan

The Sagan Series, Part 2, Life looks for life.

"As children we fear the dark. The unknown troubles us. Anything might be out there. Ironically it’s our fate to live in the dark. Head out from the earth in any direction you choose, and after an initial flash of blue, you are surrounded by blackness; punctuated only here and there by the faint distant stars. Even after we're grown the darkness retains its power to frighten us, and so there are those who say we should not enquire too closely, into who else might be living in that darkness. Better not to know, they say.
There are four hundred billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Of this immense multitude, could it be that our humdrum sun is the only one with an inhabited planet? Maybe, maybe the origin of life or intelligence is exceedingly improbable. Or maybe civilizations arise all the time but wipe themselves out as soon as they are able. Or, here and there peppered across space. Maybe there are worlds something like our own. On which other beings gaze up and wonder as we do, about who else lives in the dark.
Life is a comparative rarity. You can survey dozens of worlds and find that in only one of them does life arise, and evolve, and persist. If we humans ever go to those worlds, then it will be because a nation or a consortium of them, believes it to be of its advantage, or to the advantage of the human species. In our time we have crossed the solar system and sent four ships to the stars. But we continue to search for inhabitants. LIFE LOOKS FOR LIFE -Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan (English pronunciation: /ˈseɪɡən/) (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,cosmologist, author and science popularizer and science communicator in the space and natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. A book to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name.


This social media series aimed to spread the message of the need to enhance human efforts in space exploration and astronomy, created by Reid Gower for NASA. Includes original narration by Carl Sagan.

The narration conveys the true feelings of an astronomer to the common man. An astronomer who walks out to stare at the night sky appreciates the vastness and expanse of his vision. The magnitude of countless objects visible to him. The separation between him and object in his line of sight. And then wonder about the scale of his existence. Him on a planet which is like a grain of sand resting on the earth and him living on that grain of sand with other fellow beings. These fellow beings, enriched with such vision, courage and wisdom that they endeavor to explore the humongous objects presented to them by the universe, in tiny small steps. Carl Sagan says that we evolve, and evolve we do. Into better lifeforms, each generation better than the other, greater than the previous one. Progress with generations which lead to species which are humans but very different from us, they are the ones who realize the futility of war for small tiny tangible objects, they realize the greatness which needs to be achieved. The frontiers which need to be conquered, the things which need to be explored, the lives which need to be made better. They explore the vast expanse, they explore the other species, they appreciate what they have done and have already learnt from their mistakes. They do not fight for becoming wealthier, for possessing the rare and precious, they fight for knowledge, which comes from explorations and discoveries. We, such tiny creatures have explored tremendous vistas, this works as the ultimate motivation for them. Those will be the humans who go out to Alpha Centauri, inhabit other planets and become a matter of pride amongst all the species.   

12th February 2011, 23:45 to 02:00 hrs

Was not getting sleep today. Although had not planned any observing session for today, it happened. The telescope was pulled out and planted, polar aligned and i was ready to go. The moon setting at western horizon looked beautiful. Saw Moon, M42 and Saturn today.

Luckily, today camera was able to focus at the eyepieces. So i took a few pictures and few videos. Here they are. The best video was of Saturn. I could clearly make out the rings. See yourself.

In the video it appears slightly blurry. Actually viewing through the eyepiece gives a sharper image. But still its nice that only with the 20mm eyepiece Saturn is visible with its rings. 20mm = 33x magnification in my scope. Planning to get low mm eyepieces. The view will become better.


The moon Video:

Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ with moon setting on western horizon.

This image is taken by mounting camera on the piggyback mount of the telescope. Let me see if you can find out moon in the picture. Huge amount of light pollution.

Moon from Canon SX 120 IS, 10x zoom, ISO 200, Exp:10s, f=5.6, No Post Processing.

M42 Nebula in the Orion. Canon SX 120 IS mounted on Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ no post processing

M42 Orion Nebula. Some post processing on the same picture.

Notice the star in the center sorrounded by a cloudy patch. Thats the M42 Nebula. Which actually looks like the inset image through the telescope. One of the easiest to find nebulae in the sky. Quite bright too.


Moon through 20mm eyepiece. Notice the orange tint of the setting moon.






Few other images of the moon taken today.

Moon through 20mm Eyepiece

Moon through 20mm Eyepiece, Camera zoomed in.

Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Review

Around a month has passed since I got my scope and I have used to for about 10-12 short and long sessions. I’m now in a position to write a review of Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope. I will try to make it as detailed as possible.


Many of the reviews i have found on the internet of this telescope are the one's written by experts having 10" and higher scopes, 
Here are some of them:


Review at Astronomy Forum
Cloudy Nights Review and comments.


Some other reviews:
At telescope reviews
Costco review


Very obviously they will not like this scope much. They forget the fact that no one who is an expert is going to buy this telescope, its not meant for the one very experienced with telescopes, then why review it as an expert. The person who is looking for this scope is the amateur first buyer, just like me.

I purchased a used Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope from eBay; it's is not very common to find someone selling a used scope on eBay but may be luck was on my side. The telescope arrived home in a heavy package, heavier than I had expected, around 15 Kilograms. I unboxed it and you can see the unboxing video here. These were the included parts as I remember:

1. Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) (dark green metallic)

2. OTA Lid (Plastic, light black)

3. Eyepiece cover (plastic, black)

4. Dovetail bar (metallic orange color).

5. OTA holders (rings) (light black)

6. German Equatorial CG3 Mount. (heavy, same color as rings, with RA setting circles and slow motion gear of metallic orange color which looks great)

7. Tripod (Steel)

8. Mount to tripod locking knob

9. Latitude adjustment screw.

10. Counterweight bar (steel).

11. Counterweight safety screw (metallic orange color).

12. Two wedge shaped counterweights with locking screws.(approx 1.2 kg in weight, not sure)

13. Accessory tray.

14. Two slow motion cables/knobs.

15. One 20 mm erecting eyepiece (plastic casing).

16. One 10 mm eyepiece (Metal casing).

Recieved parts of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

I guess I am not missing out anything but will check once more and update if that’s the case.

So I received these parts and started assembling the equipment. First I expanded the tripod and extended the legs to full length and tightened the knobs in all three. Tripod is lighter than it looks in the images or videos, but sufficiently strong. I placed the mount on the tripod next, attached the latitude adjustment screw, then the dovetail bar, and attached the counterweight bar next, then the weights and the safety screw. Next I placed the OTA and tightened the screws. Balanced the assembly on declination and right ascension and it was ready. This whole process took me around 15-20 minutes, and it was easy. For the first time I got stuck once when I forgot to attach the latitude adjustment screw but the official celestron video of how to assemble helped me out and I was back on track. I would advise all first timers to have a look at the video and then go ahead assembling the scope; it makes the process easier and flawless.

In the first observing session I did not know how to polar align the equatorial mount, and I did not bother about it either, was just too excited to have view from the scope first. I removed the eyepiece cover and inserted the 20mm Eyepiece, then aimed at the moon and with some difficulty was able to point it in right direction. It took some time and I cursed the red dot finder as it was’nt so helpful. This red dot finder is perhaps the most criticized part of this particular make telescope, but it’s not that bad once you get used to it and use it correctly. Please read how to configure and point a red dot finder correctly in the next post.

The moon appeared majestic and in extraordinary detail, even with my camera at 40x zoom I had not been able to view such immense detailed view of moon at just 33x with the 20 mm eyepiece. At first view itself the telescope boasts its power well. I was impressed and ready to insert the next 10mm eyepiece with 65x magnification. The view became even better. It was impressive. I tried viewing terrestrial objects too after that and actually I could not locate what I saw through the scope from the naked eye. This was amazing too.

The first day itself I aimed it at Jupiter; it was difficult as the star pointer was mis-aligned but I had no idea, scope that it could be mis-aligned and can be aligned to point correctly. More about using the red dot finder here. 


So finding Jupiter was tough but I did not give up and finally viewed it in the ocular. With the 20 mm eyepiece I could see the four Galilean moons and Jupiter clearly. On the first day I forgot to change the eyepiece to 10mm, as a result of over excitement. But later I have observed Jupiter, and you can make out the upper band of Jupiter (after the lower band and the great red spot vanished last year) and the four satellites clearly Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. I should also mention that the focusing knob moves very smoothly and it’s very easy to focus.

In the next few sessions I learnt how to polar align the telescope, which, opposed to the common conception is quite an easy process. The Celestron Manual which accompanied the telescope describes 3 methods of aligning the telescope to Polaris, after polar alignment it is easier to view and track objects, without the knobs and mount coming in the way, or leading to some direction of motion which is not possible. That used to happen with me when I used it without polar aligning it first. I really thank the equatorial mount for the ability to view objects and I am glad I did not choose a alt az mount telescope, for I can now figure out how difficult it will be to follow an object with such a mount. At high zoom the object moves out of scopes view in 8-10 seconds. You have to keep rotating the RA knob to follow it. An alt az mount must be very difficult to use.

The CG3 German Equatorial Mount of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Counterweights Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

The counterweights are so beautifully shaped it adds to the looks of the telescope. None of the telescopes have so good looking counterweights. Along with the metallic orange gears, screws and dovetail the telescope is a beauty.

The piggyback camera mount is also helpful and I have taken few nice pictures of constellations using it. The front lid has a small aperture covered with a cap which can be opened and helps in reducing brightness of very bright objects such as the moon.

Piggy back mount on Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Lid

Till now I have had about 10-12 observing sessions. Some of them lasting all night, and I am very satisfied with the telescope. I have seen the Orion Nebula M42, Saturn and its rings, Venus in its phase and various star clusters such as the Pleiades. All this with only the supplied eyepieces. Celestron specifies maximum usable power of this scope as 307x. Which is a lot compared to the maximum I have seen with it at 65x (with the supplied eyepiece). I have ordered a solar filter and Celestron accessory kit with various eyepieces, filters and Barlow to extract the maximum out of this scope. Definitely expecting a lot more to explore with the upgraded eyepieces.

The supplied eyepieces of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Nothing can be made perfect, so it is with the Astromaster 130. The tripod could have been stronger and sturdier, every time you rotate the knobs it shakes for about 3-4 seconds before stabilizing which gives eye strain. The extension of the legs slightly bends out away from their axial line, which was not what I had expected, but it might be the case with all such tripods. The focuser is not very firm and moves sideways slightly. Yes, I will also mention that the red dot finder is not as good as a finderscope could have been, but not as bad as the degree of criticism it has received. The setting circles could have had vernier scales, as in some skywatcher telescopes for more accurate pointing and lastly the telescope supplied accessories are highly insufficient, one has to buy better eyepieces and a Barlow lens compulsorily to enjoy the scope fully.

 Red dot finder Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

Overall, for a beginner I think it is one of the best scopes available and huge value for money considering that certain nexstar series scopes and certain meade telescope of the same aperture have very high price for very few added features. I would rate this scope 7 out of 10.

More images at : This page

28th January 2011, Friday

Contact | An Astronomer's dream movie.

If I did not discuss about this movie I just watched, something would always be missing in this journal. I am stunned and goosebumped by this amazing movie. Calling it “Any astronomer’s dream movie” is most appropriate. Definite must watch for any aspiring astronomer. The best of Science Fiction and beauty of human imagination. I am astounded.






The movie begins with space view of the earth, It zooms out slowly and with a nice view of sunrise from space. Further zooming out continues and moon passes by, then mars, then comes the asteroid belt, then Jupiter and its satellites, then comes beautiful Saturn and its rings, zooming out continues to show M16 pillars of creation, milky way galaxy and further. The start itself was so perfect. The little girl sending signals and receiving response from initially unknown locations creates the feeling of true exploration and pleasure of discovery, the feeling that every astronomer cherishes within himself. Elly is heard telling “i’m gonna need a bigger antenna”. That was something. Everyone wants bigger aperture bigger antennae, again a feature of a true astronomer.

Contact, Astronomer's dream come true.

Later in the movie they also show the beautiful sound of a pulsar, awesome. So truly amazing that was. Wish I could hear the true sound of a pulsar. Or if they’ve shown the real pulsar sound in the movie, hats off to you movie guys. But whatever was heard in the movie was extraordinary. The sound, sounds so surreal.

Later, Elly sits on her car with tens of huge antennae in her background moving together in identical motion like a bunch of sardines in water, that’s a view. The alien signal is received and whole process of decoding it was well laid out in the movie. Elly’s travel through wormholes in space, passage of 18 hours which appeared like a fraction of a second on earth. Elly’s expression on seeing that beautiful view of the galaxy, meteors blazing through the skies on the imaginary planet, such view you don’t see very often, and all very well designed, flawless and majestic views. Later, the most discussed stuff in science may be, wormholes and the Einstein Rosen bridge were mentioned. Everything in the movie seems so happening. That’s what you would want to see. One of the best Science Fiction movies ever. Wait! I have double thoughts in calling it a science fiction, today’s science fiction might be tomorrow’s reality. Still you say we can’t see the future. Yes we can. Human imagination is one of the best things which we possess.  

After watching the movie I am stunned. It made me feel, when will we leave our stupid and wasteful worldly affairs and start appreciating the universe which has been thrown to us. Mere presence of it is like the utmost pleasure you can get. Go out in the open in night and try this, If you really understand what i am trying to say. I doubt everyone will. Go out on the terrace, close your eyes for few seconds, Look up and open your eyes. Feel like you were just born now, imagine this sky you had never seen before, wind passing by, stars shining into your eye, why does it happen, it’s a gift, something exclusive for us to enjoy and cherish, only if you realize its presence.

I would like to end by this random line. A very strong line, very well said in the movie contact “The Universe, is a pretty big place. Its bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamt of. . .  So if it’s just us, .. .. .. Seems like an awful waste of space”.

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet.

Last time I had an observing session I felt the need of a good observing sheet, complete will all the fields and tables, with appropriate space for sketches and notes. Forms which look clean and contain data capture areas exhaustively. I searched the internet and found many sheets but none of them were “simple, exact, exhaustive and clean”. So I decided to make one myself, combining the good points of all the sheets I had seen. The one from Jay’s Astronomy Blog was by far the best; I tried to improvise on it.

I made sure all data fields are considered. I tried to subdivide various divisible fields such as Location (latitude, Longitude, Altitude), Subject (Name, ID, Magnitude, Distance, RA, Dec, Alt, Az, Constellation), Eyepiece (mm, Type, Magnification) etc, in an effort to ease out data gathering process. The following documents are a result:

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet Template (color)

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet Template

Please feel free to download and use these documents, it’s not only for myself but for you too, if you wish to use it. If you feel some changes are required go ahead and make one of your own and share, or suggest me those changes by leaving a comment. It’s my promise I will make the changes and make the newer document available within two days. Lets pray fort clear skies and awesome sessions ahead. Cheers!

DOWNLOAD LINK:

Color: Astronomical Observation Record (Color)

Blank: Astronomical Observation Record (Plain)

Go to the link and choose 'Download Original' from 'File' in upper left side of the screen.

1. 21-01-2011, Friday, 21:30 to 01:30hrs

Aim:
1. To observe the moon.
2. Observe Jupiter and its moons.
3. See some star clusters.


This was my first proper observing session,the day being a Friday, i had ample time to observe and stay awake late nights. This session turned out to be very good, i saw the Orion Nebula for the first time, and it was unintentional, it came in my FOV when i was trying to find another star cluster in the Orion. It felt thrilling, I guess thats what astronomers used to do long back, discover new things in the night sky when trying to search something else. This thought gave me a surreal feeling. So thats what astronomical pleasure is about.


The nebula had three stars almost in the center arranged like a 'therefore' symbol with apex pointing in somewhat eastward direction at about 23:45 hrs. These three stars if surrounded by a circle, had a sector of about 40 degree angle in the lower part which appeared dark, the other parts of the surroundings were dimly lighted and appeared to emit diffused light. There were 3-4 bright stars in the scope view.


I tried some astro sketching for the first time, forgive the bad handwriting :( and ugly sketch but that was the best i could do, considering it was very dark, and my first time, i plan to learn Astronomical sketching and hope to improve. I will write a section on how to astro sketch, when i have learnt it myself.


Here's the Orion Nebula sketch,

1. Orion Nebula M42  amateur sketch
Eyepiece: 10mm
Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ
21-01-2011, 23:45, Bangalore, India

Other sketches made:

2. Some star cluster near M42.

Eyepiece: 10mm

Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

21-01-2011, 23:20, Bangalore, India

3. Another star cluster in Orion.

Eyepiece: 10mm

Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

21-01-2011, 23:14, Bangalore, India

Conclusion:
1. First time view of Orion Nebula.
2. Need to learn Astro sketching.
3. Have to make a Astronomical Log sheet(form). <>
4. Saw jupiter and its moons.
5. Saw Moon with Crater copernicus, one day short of full moon.

Betelgeuse to explode.

I was watching BBC Stargazing live recently and happened to hear some amazing stuff. Professor Brian Cox says "The most interesting star, the star that could be shocking in our sky" referring to Betelgeuse. "Its an enormous star and about to explode", "May be one of the most amazing astronomical events of our lifetime", "It would shine like a second sun in the sky". Now thats truly amazing. For those of you who do not know Professor Brian Cox,

Dr. Brian Edward “B. E.” Cox OBE, M.Phil., PhD. (born 3 March 1968) is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. He is also working on the R&D project of the FP420 experiment in an international collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres (1,380 ft) from the interaction points of the main experiments.

He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC. He also had some fame in the 1980s as the keyboard player in the rock band Dare and in the early 1990s with the Irish pop band D:Ream.


See him speak on BBC stargazing live, here:

If this explosion happens and the star shines like a second sun in the sky, How long will it shine? Will there be any side effects of this explosion on earth? Any harmful radiation which we might encounter? How will we know? We have started seeing its rapid shrinking only recently, considering that its 640 light years away, HAS IT EXPLODED ALREADY? After Betelgeuse is gone, Orion wont resemble the hunter anymore, what name do we give to this constellation then?


More related links here:
Will the earth have 2 suns by 2012 ?
Famous star is shrinking, National Geographic.