Aspen Astronomy: May 2012

Monday, May 21, 2012

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.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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):

Aspen astronomy: Moon Near Venus Twilight 4/24/12

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

Aspen astronomy: Moon Near Venus Nightime 4/24/12

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.