TRANSIT OF VENUS -- WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

English: Transit of Venus - Venus completely over the sun Italiano: Transito di Venere sul Sole Русский: Прохождение Венеры по диску Солнца (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why was the recent Transit of Venus across the Sun such a big event and why have I been so enthralled with it?

1.  It’s rare. Even though Venus revolves around the Sun once every 225 Earth days (approximately), the tilt of its orbit relative to that of the Earth’s allows for this “line of sight” view only two times (separated by eight years) every 243 years - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus. 

2.  Its duration (around 6 hours) was much longer than other viewable-from-earth astronomical phenomena such as lunar and solar eclipses which last only a couple of hours at most from start to finish.  Therefore, the window of opportunity for watching the event was much greater.

3.  It is unusual to be able to see Venus at all during the day, even though it is easily viewable in the evenings and mornings.

4.  Scientifically, transits of Venus have been very important in that the study of them helped to produce accurate estimates of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.  This distance, deemed one astronomical unit, is useful as a scale for describing the distances between other objects in the universe as well, in particular those of our own Solar System.

Furthermore, the June 2012 transit is anticipated to assist in the refinement of techniques that will be used in the search for exoplanets – planets that revolve around stars other than our Sun: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/venus-transit-june-5-new-alien-planet_n_1522342.html

5.  Finally, it provided a great excuse for professional and amateur astronomers alike to commune and enjoy an important celestial sight. NASA even provided live webcasts of the event from several high-profile venues for people wanting to watch the spectacle, but were without the ability to do so: http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/

Additionally, many other local, formal and informal viewing gatherings were held around the world.

ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE 2012 FROM ASPEN, COLORADO

Eclipse Anular (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ok, it was only an annular solar eclipse, and it was only partially visible from Aspen, but I did see it (well, at least its projected image, that is)!


I had been hearing and reading about this annular solar eclipse for several weeks, but May 20, 2012 snuck up on me, so I was not as prepared as I could have been for the viewing. This being said, I was able to use a binocular image projection technique I had come across in my brief pre-eclipse investigations to view a projected image of this relatively rare event.


(I was warned profusely and adamantly not to use the binoculars to view the Sun directly – so I did not!!!
- http://astronomy.wonderhowto.com/blog/use-binoculars-safely-project-and-view-upcoming-solar-eclipse-and-transit-venus-0135128/)


I did plan far enough ahead to test this technique earlier in the day on the 20th. I pulled out a sheet of white paper and my binoculars, uncapped only one side of the binoculars (recommended by several sources), and oriented them so that the image of the Sun would filter through the binocular lenses onto the surface of the paper.


This worked out even better than I expected - I could even see sunspots!

ASPEN SUPERMOON AND THE ETA AQUARID METEOR SHOWER – NOT!

I was on a mission to log my first April Aspen Astronomy viewing and I had the Eta Aquarid meteor shower in my sights – I thought.

I read that this might not be an easy phenomenon to view due to the timing of the April, 2012 Supermoon, but I decided to give it a try anyway and I performed the preliminary research.

First, I had to learn how to find Aquarius, so I decided to try out a computer application called Stellarium that I discovered via a tweet from @kimKomando (I love Google Reader). 

FINDING AQUARIUS IN ASPEN IN APRIL USING STELLARIUM:

Here’s what I found in the Stellarium view (I added the white triangles for this post):

Stellarium: Aquarius & Supermoon - Aspen, Colorado (Photo credit: richpalpine)

I looked like Vega, the Moon, and Aquarius made a more or less equilateral triangle in the south-southeastern sky so I thought this would help me find the water-bearing zodiacal constellation and therefore the Aquarid meteor shower.

First, I would have to find Vega. Upon looking at the Stellarium chart again, it appeared that on April 6^th, Vega, the Moon and Arcturus would make a sideways equilateral triangle in the west-southwestern sky. I already knew how to use the Big Dipper to find Arcturus (“Arc to Arcturus”), and of course the Supermoon would be obvious.

This was great! Thanks to Stellarium, I was all ready to find Aquarius. Unfortunately though, as predicted, I not only found it difficult to rouse myself at 4:00 AM, (I did make a short, feeble attempt), but the strong super-moonlight, made it difficult even to find Aquarius itself, let alone the meteor shower.  I did not see the Aquarids.

Despite this setback, I did use my binoculars to view our spectacular Moon.  It was huge -- and very bright!

Its features were more visible than usual in some respects, but were actually somewhat obscured by the intensity of the reflected light itself.  I also took some photos (once again with the old SiPix relic camera):

  

Supermoon - May 2012, Aspen, Colorado (Photos credit: richpalpine)































In the end, I was a little disappointed in both the observation conditions and in my effort, but I did benefit from the preliminary research, and I was able to log my first April, 2012, Aspen astronomy event. I had been rewarded by the fabulous sight of the Supermoon on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning!

The next major meteor shower is the Perseid meteor shower, due to be visible from July 23^rd-August 22^nd with the maximum occurring August 12^th/13^th from late night until dawn. 

I hope I get to see it.

Related articles

• Aspen Astronomer (not!) - What Happened to April? (aspen-astronomy.blogspot.com)
• Aquarid Meteor Shower Meets Supermoon 2012 in Stunning Celestial Ballet (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)

ASPEN ASTRONOMER (NOT!) – WHAT HAPPENED TO APRIL?

A meteor during the peak of the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower. The photograph shows the meteor, afterglow, and wake as distinct components. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I can’t believe I missed the meteor shower on Sunday morning, April 22, 2012. 

In March, the Aspen night skies were on fire with astronomical wonders and so was I when it came to observing them – so what happened to April? 

In April, the skies continued their spectacular Spring show, but I missed most of it. I didn’t make a point of viewing, or even planning to view, the night skies until near the very end of the month - Some Aspen Astronomer, huh! 

Although throughout the month I occasionally thought about checking out the heavens, I disregarded these thoughts until April 24, 2012, when I was jolted by the sight of a sliver moon consorting with Venus in the western Aspen skies – what a spectacular sight! No wonder this phenomenon is often the source of UFO reports. 

I hastily attempted to photograph this juxtaposition with an old SiPix 1.3 megapixel digital camera relic and ended up with only less-than-stellar (pun intended) photos of it, so I surfed around the internet for some higher quality images -- even mediocre would be better than mine. 

Here are the results: 

Bad photos (mine): 

Moon Near Venus Twilight 4/24/12 (Photo credit: richpalpine)

Moon Near Venus Nightime 4/24/12 (Photo credit: richpalpine)

Better photos, and videos of the Moon and Venus, (not mine) may be found here:

http://www.space.com/15422-venus-crescent-moon-photos-april-2012.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacemike/7111249677/

http://youtu.be/65w4xGBoJuw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuEKYbL9bFA

 

Ok, so I did manage to log one astronomy event for April, but shortly after witnessing this fabulous Moon-Venus treat, I found out that I had missed one of the major annual springtime shows, the Lyrid meteor shower. 

The Lyrids, which arrive each year around April 16, and continue until approximately April 26 , appear to radiate from the constellation, Lyra. They usually peak during the night of April 21/22, which fell this year on a Saturday/Sunday. 

Now mind you, even though it was on a weekend, I probably wouldn’t have managed to drag myself out of bed at something like 3:00 AM to witness the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower early Sunday morning anyway; but if I’d been on top of it, I might have been able to see some activity Saturday night. Unfortunately, I was oblivious to the event until I received an email from a friend asking if I had seen it – sadly, I had to reply that I hadn’t. 

I found out that although the Lyrids are considered a major annual meteor shower, they are not one of the most spectacular. This provided little consolation.

The next major annual meteor shower is the Eta Aquarid (ETA) which appears to radiate from the constellation Aquarius, and peaks on May 5/6th . This conveniently occurs, once again, on a weekend and I plan on attending. 

Aquarius rises only a short time before morning twilight begins, but I will drag myself out of bed early Sunday morning to view this next meteor shower, binoculars and better camera in hand, and I will begin my quest to make May a more productive Aspen astronomy month than April was. 

Related articles

• Observing the Lyrids (http://meteorshowersonline.com)
• Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks May 6 (http://astronomy.com)

Aspen Astronomy – Here’s My Sign!

Praesepe: the open cluster Messier 44 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Where’s my sign?  Yes, I mean “where”, not “what”.  I know I’m a Cancer – I know what my astrological sign is.  I just didn’t know where to find it.

Actually, I’ve never really put any stock in Astrology as being any kind of guiding force in my life, but, from time to time, I have been somewhat interested in it as entertainment. I also have been reminded recently that, although they probably don’t really have any true effect on my existence, the astrological constellations (like all constellations) do provide a convenient way of mapping the night sky in order to find many other interesting objects that are out there. 

I had never really tried to find the constellation, Cancer, in the heavens, but occasionally I have wondered what it really looks like and if it was associated with any other interesting cosmological phenomena. 

So, while entertaining my rekindled interest in lay astronomy by investigating what might be interesting and fun to look for in the late March Aspen skies, I stumbled upon the following earthsky.org article: "Cancer? Here's your constellation" . It promised that 2012 was my year to “find it easily”. I was excited! 

The article stated that although Cancer is the faintest of all 13 of the zodiacal constellations (yes, there really are 13, not just 12), this March would be a good time to find it due to its proximity to Mars. Since I am now a pro at finding the naked eye planets in the Aspen skies , including Mars, I thought I would give it a try.

While waiting for the weather to clear up enough to have a good view of the night sky, I had time to learn a bit more about “my” constellation. I discovered that, although it does not have the notoriety of some of the more conspicuous zodiacal constellations, like Leo, Virgo, or Gemini, it does contain an interesting cosmological structure – an open cluster called the Beehive Cluster. 

According to Wikipedia, an open cluster is “a group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age.”   Open clusters are useful to cosmologists due to their similar ages and compositions. This aids scientists in their study of stellar evolution.  

The Beehive Cluster is one of the closest open clusters to our solar system. It also contains more stars than most other nearby clusters, and was one of the first objects to catch the attention of Galileo as he studied the night skies ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_Cluster#cite_note-Messier44-1). 

Cancer also contains another cluster, Messier 67. This is thought to be the area of the galaxy from which our sun originated - http://earthsky.org/constellations/cancer-heres-your-constellation. 

Cancer as a constellation has mythological/astrological significance as well. In ancient times the Beehive Cluster was thought to have marked the “Gate of Men”, which was believed to be the “portal that souls descend from the heavens above and into the bodies of the newly born” http://earthsky.org/constellations/cancer-heres-your-constellation .
Ok, my sign is more interesting than I thought, but I wanted to SEE it! 

I got my chance the following night, after attending a very informative presentation about "Climate Change and Our Future in the Rocky Mountains" at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. I took advantage of being out of the higher light pollution areas to see if I could find my elusive constellation. 

I found Orion hovering over Aspen Mountain and followed the “line” through the rightmost belt star and Betelgeuse to find Castor and Pollux of Gemini. I found Mars and then found Cancer in between. 

It was still difficult to see and I actually could not quite make out the Beehive cluster, but I did see the constellation itself. I can finally answer the question, “Where’s my sign?"

Related articles

• Constellations: Origins and Now (heavenswithlamps.wordpress.com)
• Using Orion as a Guide
  to the Constellations (http://207.73.100.22/lms/planetarium/guide/ori-guide.html#Castor)

Hello Saturn! Awesome Planet Viewing in Aspen, CO

Image via Wikipedia Wow, we sure have been treated to some great planet viewing here in Aspen this month.  All five visible-to-the-naked-eye planets are observable.   I have seen Venus, Jupiter, and Mars before, but I have never knowingly been able to add Saturn or Mercury to complete the set. 

I am really only an occasional astronomer, but Jupiter and Venus shining brightly in tandem in the west, southwest skies and growing ever closer to each other each night, really caught my eye.

In the first part of the month, Jupiter occupied the higher position in the sky of the two.  One will be able to view their best conjunction in years at mid-month and they will reverse their relative elevation positions in the latter part of March.  It has been fascinating to watch their little sky dance over the west end of Aspen.

I have been trying to find Mercury, but it’s a little difficult as it apparently can only be seen shortly after sundown, just above the horizon.  One was supposed to be able to find it by drawing a line connecting the insides of Jupiter and Venus and continuing on to the sunset spot on the horizon, but I am not sure if that hold true as the month progresses.  In locations like Aspen, it is difficult to view much in that area due to the topography, the sunset light scattering and some murkiness close to the horizon, but I believe I did get lucky enough to catch it early one evening, just before it set.  

On the opposite side of the sky we have been treated to a great show from not only a fabulous full moon, but from guest appearances from the red planet, Mars, and the distant Saturn as well.

Although the moon is no longer full and has migrated further and further away from these planets, Mars continues to make its presence known, and Saturn, the most elusive naked-eye planet, continues to be seen near the star, Spica, the brightest star in the constellation, Virgo.  As forecasted by Earthsky.org, I was able to “ …see the beautiful pairing of the waning gibbous moon with Saturn and Spica on the night of March 10 .”

Of course I had to find Spica before I could find Saturn.  Aided by a great animation on www.nakedeyeplanets.com and using the Big Dipper as a guide, I found Arcturus, then Spica, and I finally did see Saturn, near the almost full moon, hovering over the eastern part of Smuggler Mountain.

March certainly has been a fantastic month for planet viewing – I hope April provides interesting Aspen astronomy opportunities as well.

Related articles

• Weekend Skywatching: Saturn Forms Triangle with Moon and Bright Star
• Planets visible in night sky late winter 2011

• Stunning Planet Week (acrosstheuniverseinnotime.com)