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Bristol Astronomical Society Information Leaflet March 2016 The Beehive Cluster (M44) NGC 2775 2m Telescope at Haleakala 60 s Exposure, Jan 2013 King's School, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2m Telescope at Haleakala 360 s Exposure, Feb. 2012 UoG11 - Helen Usher Sirius (α Canis Majoris) NGC 2207 & IC 2163 2m Telescope at Siding Spring 15 s Exposure, Jan 2014 Kings Of Wessex Academy 2m Telescope at Haleakala 60 s Exposure, Dec. 2014 USW Images from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) Network 1 Observing Calendar March 2016 Observing Calendar March 2016 2 3 The Sun The Moon Sun’s Position at Midday 15th March 2016 March 16th and 29th: The Alpine Valley Solar Events for 2016 4 These are two good nights to observe the Alpine Valley on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image over the page, a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. 5 The Moon The Planets March 1st at 00:00 March 15th at 00:00 March 31st at 00:00 The Crater Plato and the Alpine Valley 6 ‘Sky This Month’ : www.jb.man.ac.uk 7 www.heavens-above.com The Planets The Planets Mercury Jupiter Mercury passes behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 23rd March, so this is not a good month to observe it.. March is a superb month to observe Jupiter. It now lies in Leo and so is still reasonably high in the ecliptic and hence, when due south, at an elevation of ~48 degrees. Sadly, this peak elevation is reducing at each apparition. The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely but has now returned to its normal wide state. Venus Venus rises in the east-southeast about an hour before sunrise as March begins but, only about 25 minutes before sunrise by month's end. Its magnitude stays steady at -3.8 as it slips into the sun' glare. A low horizon will be needed to spot it before it becomes hidden behind the Sun in April.. Mars Mars , moving eastwards relative to the stars, starts the month in Libra and moves into Scorpius on the 14th of the month when it will lie very close to the star Acrab which forms the uppermost star of the fan of stars up to the right of Antares. It is best seen due south before dawn but, sadly like Saturn, will then be only ~19 degrees above the horizon. It increases in magnitude from +0.3 to -0.1 during the month as the angular size of its disk increases from 8.7 up to 11.7 arc seconds. Given good 'seeing' some features on the disk should now be visible such as the North Polar Cap and Syrtis Major. At opposition at the end of May the disk will be over 15 arc seconds across.. March 5th, before dawn: Saturn, Mars and Antares Before dawn on March 5th, Saturn and Mars will be seen above the star Antares, in Scorpius. March 16th before dawn: Mars very close to Beta Scorpii Before dawn on the 16th March, Mars will be seen in very close proximity to the star Beta Scorpii - the topmost star in the scorpion's tail fan. 8 Jupiter reaches opposition on the 8th of March - it is visible through the whole of the night. It starts March shining at at magnitude -2.5, dropping slightly to -2.4 as the month progresses. Jupiter is still moving slowly westwards across the lower part of Leo towards Regulus. The size of Jupiter's disk falls slightly from 44.4 to 43.7 arc seconds as March progresses. With a small telescope one should be easily able to see the equatorial bands in the atmosphere, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of the Gallilean moons as they weave their way around it. Great Red Spot on Jupiter This list gives some of the best evening times during March to observe the Great Red Spot which should then lie on the central meridian of the planet.. 1st 23:10 4th 20:39 6th 22:17 11th 21:24 13th 23:02 16th 20:31 18th 22:09 20th 23:47 23rd 21:17 25th 22:55 28th 20:24 30th 22:02 Mar. 16th ~10 pm: Ganymede & Io transit Around 9 - 11 pm on the 16th, first Ganymede and then Io will be seen to transit Jupiter - with their shadows (which are more obvious) trailing behind - see image to the right. 9 The Planets ISS - Visible Passes from Bristol Visible passes of the International Space Station from Bristol during March. Saturn Saturn is lying in the southern part of Ophiuchus, 7o up and to the left of Antares in Scorpius and will begin its retrograde motion westwards across the heavens on March 25th. It rises around midnight and will be high enough in the SSE before dawn to make out the ring system which has now opened out to ~26 degrees - virtually as open as they ever become. Its diameter increases from 16.5 to 17.4 arc seconds during the month as its magnitude increases from +0.5 to +0.3. During the month Mars gradually moves closer to Saturn; initially some 17o down to its lower right, but ending the month just 9o distant. Saturn’s elevation never gets above ~19o and so the atmosphere will hinder our view of this most beautiful planet. Uranus Uranus will not be observable in March – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and will be low above the horizon at dusk. Neptune Neptune will not be readily observable since it will be very close to the Sun, at a separation of only ~ 1o to 14o from it and will reach its highest point during daytime www.jb.man.ac.uk 10 www.in-the-sky.org 11 www.heavens-above.com The Early Evening March Sky This map shows the constellations seen in the South during the early evening, including the prominent constellation of Orion. Moving up and to the right - following the line of the 3 stars of Orion's belt - brings one to Taurus; the head of the bull being outlined by the V-shaped cluster called the Hyades, with its eye delineated by the orange red star Aldebaran. Further up to the right lies the Pleaides Cluster. Towards the zenith from Taurus lies the constellation Auriga, whose brightest star Capella will be nearly overhead. To the upper left of Orion lie the heavenly twins, or Gemini, their heads indicated by the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. Down to the lower left of Orion lies the brightest star in the northern sky, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major. Up and to the left of Sirius is Procyon in Canis Minor. Rising in the East is the constellation of Leo, the Lion, with the planet Saturn up and to the right of Regulus, its brightest star. Continuing in this direction towards Gemini is the faint constellation of Cancer with its open cluster Praesepe (also called the Beehive Cluster or M44). On a dark night it is a nice object to observe with binoculars. 12 The Late Evening March Sky This map shows the constellations seen in the south around midnight. The constellation Gemini is now setting towards the south-west and Leo holds pride of place in the south with its bright star Regulus. Between Gemini and Leo lies Cancer. It is well worth observing with binoculars to see the Beehive Cluster at its heart. Below Gemini is the tiny constellation Canis Minor whose only bright star is Procyon. Rising in the south-east is the constellation Virgo whose brightest star is Spica. Though Virgo has few bright stars it is in the direction of a great cluster of galaxies - the Virgo Cluster - which lies at the centre of the supercluster of which our local group of galaxies is an outlying member. 13 ‘Sky This Month’ : www.jb.man.ac.uk Observing Notes Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake at Opposition (22nd Mar at 01:43) Planetary Positions 15 March Makemake is a dwarf planet and perhaps the largest Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) with a diameter that is about 2/3 the size of Pluto. It has no known satellites, which makes it unique among the largest KBOs and means that its mass can only be estimated. Its extremely low average temperature, about 30 K (−243.2 °C), means its surface is covered with methane, ethane, and possibly nitrogen ices. Makemake was discovered on March 31, 2005 and its name derives from Makemake in the mythology of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. 136472 Makemake will be well placed for observation, in the constellation Coma Berenices. It will be visible for much of the night, reaching its highest point in the sky at around midnight local time. From Bristol, it will be visible all night. It will become visible at around 19:42 (GMT) as the dusk sky fades, 25° above your eastern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight at around 04:46, 41° above your western horizon. The position at the moment it passes opposition will be RA 12h55m20s, DEC +25°44', mag. 16.9. 1 March 23:00 15 March 22:00 31 March 21:00 14 15 www.heavens-above.com 16 17 The Sky Looking South at 22:00 mid-March 2016 The Sky Looking North at 22:00 mid-March 2016 18 19 The Sky Looking West at 22:00 mid-March 2016 The Sky Looking East at 22:00 mid-March 2016 th March TheEquinox Sky This-Month Sunday- 20 Perseus March The Sky Looking Overhead at 22:00 mid-March 2016 Sunday March 20th is the March equinox, a day when the Sun is above the horizon for exactly half the time everywhere on Earth. According to the astronomical definitions of the seasons, this day marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and of autumn in the southern hemisphere. On the day of the equinox, the Sun will appear to rise from the point on the horizon which lies due east, and set beneath the point which lies due west. This happens as the Sun's annual journey across the sky, through the constellations of the zodiac, carries it across the celestial equator. As a result the Sun appears directly overhead at noon on the Earth's equator. Equinoxes occur twice a year – in March and September – once when the Sun is travelling northwards, and once when it is travelling southwards. The position of the Sun at the moment of the March equinox is used to define the zero point of both right ascension and declination. In practice this is not exactly the case, however, because of a phenomenon called the precession of the equinoxes. This means that the location of the equinoxes creep across the sky at a rate of around 50 arc-seconds each year. Astronomers quote right ascensions and declinations based on the configuration of the Earth's path around the Sun on January 1, 2000. 20 21 www.in-the-sky.org The Sky This Month - Cancer The Sky This Month - Cancer Messier 77 (NGC 1068) The name ‘Cancer’ means ‘the crab’ in Latin. It is the faintest of the 12 zodiac constellations and contains some famous DSOs: the open cluster Praesepe, aka the Beehive Cluster (M44), and the open cluster M67. Cancer does not have any stars brighter than 4th mag. Stars α, δ, and γ Cancri lie close to the ecliptic and can be occulted by the Moon and, rarely, by planets. Acubens – α Cancri (Alpha Cancri) [SAO 98267]: The 4th brightest star in Cancer and its apparent mag. varies from 4.20-4.27. It is a multiple star system ~ 174 LY distant. The brightest component (A), is a white A-type main sequence dwarf. The star has an 11th mag. companion (B) and the brighter star in the system is suspected to be a very close binary itself, consisting of two stars separated by 0.1 arc-seconds. Acubens belongs to the spectral class A5m and has a luminosity of 23 times the Sun. Al Tarf – β Cancri (Beta Cancri) [SAO 116569]: The brightest star in the constellation, with an apparent mag. of 3.5. It is a binary star that consists of an orange K-type giant and a 14th magnitude companion 29 arc-seconds away. Beta Cancri is ~ 290 LY distant. Asellus Australis – δ Cancri (Delta Cancri) [SAO 98087]: An orange giant with an apparent mag. of 3.94, 180 LY distant, 2nd brightest star in Cancer and it marks the location of M44. The star is also notable for its less famous name, Arkushanangarushashutu, which is the longest of all the known star names, meaning “the southeast star in the Crab” in ancient Babylonian. Asellus Borealis – γ Cancri (Gamma Cancri) [SAO 80378]: A white A-type subgiant ~ 158 LY distant. It has an apparent visual mag. of 4.66. Iota Cancri (ι Cancri) [SAO 80416]: A double star - the brighter component is ~298 LY from Earth. - a yellow G-type bright giant with an apparent mag. of 4.02. The companion is a white A-type main sequence dwarf with an apparent mag. of 6.57. The 2 stars are separated by 30.6 arc-seconds and are resolvable through a small telescope. 22 [# - Meade LX200 Object Catalogue No.] M44 M67 NGC 2775 NGC2775 Beehive Cluster (Praesepe, Messier 44, NGC 2632) [M44]: An open star cluster about 577 LY distant - one of the nearest and most populated open clusters to the solar system. It has an apparent mag. of 3.7, is visible to the naked eye and its estimated age is 600 M years. M44 contains at least 1000 stars: 63% are red dwarfs and 30% are Sun-like, classified as F, G and K-class stars. The brightest stars in the cluster are blue-white in colour and with magnitudes ranging between 6 and 6.5. Messier 67 (M67, NGC 2682) [M67]: One of the oldest open clusters known, with an ~ age between 3.2 and 5 billion years. It has an apparent mag. of 6.1. M67 contains over 100 stars similar to the Sun and a number of red giants. Almost all the stars in the cluster are roughly at the same distance and of the same age which makes M67 one of the most studied objects in the field of stellar evolution. NGC 2775 (Caldwell 48) [NGC2775]: A spiral galaxy ~ 55.5 M LY distant, with apparent mag. 11.03. It has multiple spiral arms with few HII regions, which means there was recent star forming activity occurring in it. 23 www.constellation-guide.com The Sky This Month - Canis Major The Sky This Month - Canis Major The constellation is home to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, as well as several notable DSOs: the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, the open cluster M41, the emission nebula NGC 2359 (also known as Thor’s Helmet), and the colliding spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163. Sirius – α Canis Majoris (Alpha Canis Majoris) [67] [62] [# 067] Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the sky and the 5th nearest star system to the Sun. Sirius is a binary star with an apparent visual mag. of -1.42. It is only 8.6 LY distant. The brighter component, Sirius A, is a white main sequence star and the companion, Sirius B, is a white dwarf that orbits the primary every 50 years. The distance between the two stars varies between 8.1 and 31.5 AU. The companion is not visible to the naked eye. Sirius A belongs to the spectral class A1V and Sirius B to DA2. Sirius A has twice the mass of the Sun and is 25 times more luminous. Sirius B is almost equal to the Sun in mass (0.98 solar masses) and is one of the most massive white dwarfs known. The age of the star system is estimated to be between 200 and 300 M years. Adhara – ε Canis Majoris (Epsilon Canis Majoris) [# 070] Adhara is the 2nd brightest star in Canis Major and the 24th brightest star in the night sky. It is a binary star that lies about 430 LY distant. The primary component belongs to the spectral class B2 and has an apparent mag. of 1.5. It is one of the brightest known UV sources in the sky. The companion star has an apparent mag. of 7.5 and is located 7.5’’ away from the primary. Messier 41 (M41, NGC 2287) [M41] M41 is an open cluster located 4 degrees south of Sirius. It is 25-26 LY in diameter and between 190 and 240 M years old. The cluster contains about 100 stars, with the brightest being a K3-type giant located near the centre of the cluster. M41 also contains several red giants. The cluster is approximately 2,300 LY distant and has an apparent mag. of 4.5. 24 [# - Meade LX200 Object Catalogue No.] Sirius A & B NGC2207 & IC2163 [71] [72] [75] [70] [60] M41 Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy: The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (CMa Dwarf) is an irregular galaxy, roughly elliptical in shape, that is believed to be the nearest neighbouring galaxy to the solar system (~ 25,000 LY distant). The galaxy, first discovered in 2003, is a difficult object to observe because it lies behind the plane of the Milky Way, obscured by stars, dust and gas. It is believed to be severely affected by the Milky Way’s gravitational field. NGC 2207 and IC 2163: NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are colliding spiral galaxies in Canis Major. They are approximately 80 M LY distant and have apparent mags. of 12.2 and 11.6, respectively. Three supernovae have been observed in NGC 2207 in 1975, 1999 and 2003. The galaxies are in the process of tidal stripping, with the larger galaxy pulling stars and other material from the smaller one. 25 www.constellation-guide.com The Sky This Month - Canis Minor The Sky This Month - Canis Minor Gomeisa – β Canis Minoris (Beta Canis Minoris): [# 076] Gomeisa, the 2nd brightest star in Canis Minor, is a hot, B8-type main sequence star classified as a Gamma Cassiopeiae variable. It rotates rapidly and exhibits irregular variations in luminosity because of the outflow of matter. These stars are also known as shell stars because they are surrounded by a disk of ejected material, which is heated up by the stars’ emissions. [76] Gomeisa is approximately 170 LY distant. It has a mean apparent mag. of 2.89, with its brightness varying between mags. 2.84 and 2.92. γ Canis Minoris (Gamma Canis Minoris) [80] The brightest star in the constellation is Procyon, Alpha Canis Minoris, which is also the seventh brightest star in the sky. Canis Minor does not contain any Messier objects. Procyon – α Canis Minoris (Alpha Canis Minoris): [# 080] Procyon has an apparent mag. of 0.34 and is 11.41 LY distant, being the 13th nearest star system to our own. It is a binary star system, composed of a white main sequence star, Procyon A, which belongs to the spectral class F5 IV-V, and Procyon B, a DA-type faint white dwarf as the companion. Procyon A has 1.4 solar masses and is 7.5 times more luminous than the Sun, while Procyon B has 0.6 solar masses and an apparent mag. of 10.7. Winter Triangle and Hexagon Asterisms Procyon is part of the Winter Triangle asterism, along with Sirius in Canis Major and Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion. It is also one of the vertices of the Winter Hexagon, along with the stars Capella in Auriga, Aldebaran in Taurus, Pollux in Gemini, Rigel in Orion and Sirius in Canis Major (see above). 26 [# - Meade LX200 Object Catalogue No.] [SAO 115478] Gamma CMi is a double star, a spectroscopic binary, ~ 398 LY from Earth. It has an apparent visual mag. of 4.33. The main star in the system is an orange K-type giant and the unresolved companion has an orbital period of 389 days. Luyten’s Star (GJ 273) (RA 07h 27m 25s Dec +05° 13′ 33’’) Luyten’s Star is a red dwarf, approximately 12.36 LY from Earth. It has an apparent mag. of 9.87 and is a challenging object to observe. Luyten’s Star is the 22nd nearest star system to our own. The closest approach was about 13,000 years ago, when the star was within 3.67 parsecs. It is now in the process of moving away from the solar system. Luyten’s Star was named after Willem Luyten, the Dutch-American astronomer who first determined the star’s proper motion. The star is currently located only 1.2 LY from Procyon. Deep Sky Objects in Canis Minor Canis Minor contains a number of deep sky objects, but all are very faint and difficult to observe. The brightest is the spiral galaxy NGC 2485, with an apparent mag. of 12.4. The galaxy is located 3.5 degrees northeast of Procyon. Its coordinates are 07:56:48.7 (right ascension), +07:28:39 (declination). 27 Society News Programme of Events 2015-16 (At Bristol Photographic Society, Station Road, Montpelier, Bristol. BS6 5EE ) 4 Mar 11 Mar 18 Mar 25 Mar Gravitational Wave Astronomy (Prof. Mark Hannam) Telescope Surgery Observing Planetary Nebulae (Owen Brazell) Good Friday - no meeting BAS Committee The AGM was held on 19th February and the new Committee was elected, with the following Committee members and roles for the next 12 months: NAME ROLE INFO. Richard Mansfield Pete Quin Simon Perks Roger Steer Chair Vice Chair Treasurer Secretary OFFICERS Jane Clark Stephen Price Fiona Lambert Allan McCarthy Sari Vanska John Bishop John Huntley Nigel Kirkland Rod Davis Observations Director Observatory Director Speaker Secretary Tyntesfield Coordinator Member Member Member Member Member Richard Mansfield Stephen Price Sari Vanska John Bishop Membership Secretary BASIL Social Media News & Website COMMITTEE NON-ELECTED ROLES Bristol Astronomical Society (Registered Charity No. 299649) www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk 28