A great composition – Clouds over Bishop, Calif. taken earlier this week by Andrew Kirk.
We were talking patterns in nature Tuesday and it wasn’t a day later that Andrew Kirk of Bishop, California, sent me these two photos. The first, a halo around the sun, with a large cumulus cloud moving into the field, is a study in dramatic contrasts, while the second, which we might describe as a rooster cloud formation, elicited laughter from all around.
A large cumulus cloud at lower altitude crosses in front of a layer of cirrostratus clouds, partially covering a solar halo created by pencil-shaped ice crystals. Spectacular! Credit: Andrew Kirk
Both photos show what you can do if you always keep your camera handy. Thanks Andrew for sharing them with us.
Yesterday’s planned crash landing of the Japanese lunar orbiter Kaguya on the moon was successfully recorded through at least one telescope. The impact happened right on schedule at 1:25 p.m. Central time and was photographed by Jeremy Bailey and Steve Lee at the Anglo-Australian Observatory located in Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. Here’s the link to a cool sequence of images showing the flash of impact.
Face due south and direct your gaze up high to find Arcturus, Bootes’ brightest star and one of the brightest in the sky. Arcturus will take you to Bootes and the Northern Crown. The map shows the sky around 11 o’clock. Created with Stellarium.
Last night I enjoyed looking at Arcturus, which is now culminating, or reaching its highest point in the sky, right around 11 o’clock. For us in northern Minnesota, the sky is only really getting dark at that hour. Those who live in more southerly locations will spot the star much earlier. Arcturus is high in the southern sky, and since it has no bright competitors anywhere nearby, it’s easy to find even from urban locations. Starting with Arcturus, you can connect some 10 other dimmer stars to form the ice-cream cone shaped constellation of Bootes the Herdsman.
A little more than one outstretched fist to the upper left of Arcturus, you’ll find a modestly bright star called Gemma (GEM-uh), the "alpha" star in Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. Maybe it’s just because June is such a popular month for weddings, but the crown reminds me more of a diamond ring than anything else. Gemma occupies the center of the band, and if you have really good eyes and the air is turbulent, you might just see it twinkle.
Although we’ve looked at Corona before, I wanted you to spend a bit of time getting re-acquainted because we’ll use it and Libra the Scales to find the peculiar constellation of Serpens the Snake. It’s the only one of the 88 that’s split into two separate pieces. More on this oddity tomorrow.
(Ring photo from photos.com)
Great little night of viewing. I was able to show Saturn to my niece and aunt/uncle. 4 moons visible. Titan to the right and 3 in the shape of a triangle to the left. My dad and I ended up staying outside for awhile longer. After Will’s advice on finding Alberio I found it. The blue/orange contrast was striking. The colors pop with the telescope being slightly out of focus and at around 100x. I then tried my luck at M57. I had an idea where it was, but did not have my charts with. I guessed right. The faint puffy ring of the Ring Nebula. We observed for a while, but decided to come in.
I also had a real nice night last night with the new to me LX90. Once the goto was setup it was almost overwhelming with all the stuff I saw. I started with Saturn since it was getting pretty low, then moved on to some of the Messier objects. Among the highlights for me were the Ring Nebula, and M13 which was up almost straight up, I have never seen so many individual stars in there. I also saw the Whirlpool Galaxy and spent quite a bit of time gazing at the Wild Duck Nebula. My back was getting sore bending over for so long, I’m gonna have to get to work on one of those Denver observing chairs. The dew forming on my telescope eventually drove me in around 11:30. I gotta figure out how that dew strap works…
Last night was perfect. I also saw the tight bunch of three moons on the one side of Saturn, Rhino. Albireo’s one of the best doubles in the sky. Dew’s a real problem on cool, still nights. Like you Larry, I discovered right away that I needed to heat the front element of my SCT. Once you get that dew strap set up, you’ll be in business. I use a small step ladder to sit down whenever possible at the scope side.