Night Sky Astronomy

Archive for the ‘Comets’ Category

We were so close to spotting the C/2011 L4 Pan-Starrs Comet tonight at Jenny Cliff!  Unfortunately, just as it started to get dark enough, and the very faint, thin crescent moon appeared, it clouded over!!!  The weather said it was meant to be a clear night! Arrrggghh!!

It turned out that we weren’t the only people parked up in Jenny Cliff car park, as several other people of all ages were there as well with their binoculars and cameras, hoping to get a good view!  From overhearing their conversations, it seemed that they had all been their the night before and got a good view of the Comet.  Lucky people!!

Have just had a look at the weather for tomorrow and it is meant to be clear again, so we will be up there at Jenny Cliff again tomorrow, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ‘once in a lifetime’ Comet! 😉

The second Comet this year will be lighting up our skies over the next few nights. This one, named C/2011 L4 Pan-Starrs, was visible using binoculars or a telescope from the 8th March and will become brightest on the 10th March with the best days to view it being on the 12th and 13th as it is in a great place in the Sky to be able to pick it out.  At this point, provided it is a clear sky, you should be able to see it with the naked eye.

It should be pretty straightforward to spot as it is close to the crescent Moon in a western direction. To find the Comet, find the Moon just after sunset, and look down and slightly to the left of it. With binoculars you should see the head of the comet very clearly and even the two types of tails coming from it. As the month rolls on, the Comet will appear higher and higher in the sky and later in the evening until it disappears when we reach the month of April.

Comet C/2011 L4 Pan-Starrs was first discovered in June 2011 and is believed to originate from the Oort Cloud. It was picked up in Hawaii by the Pan-Starrs telescope, which is why they have given the Comet its name. Scientists believe that this could be the first time it has appeared in our system as they believe it is a non-periodic Comet, and it may not return for another 100,000 years. So it is definitely a once in a lifetime Comet!!

The Comet itself is thought to have a nucleus of about 20-30KM  in diameter but due to the dust and material surrounding it, it could well span more than a million kilometres which is insane to think about in my opinion!

Professor Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, has said this about the new Comet, “We have great hopes for this comet. Of course we are always very cautious – even now we don’t know how bright it is going to get – but we are keeping out fingers crossed.”

He also said, “After sunset, scan the horizon roughly in the western direction. On the 12 and 13 March, there is a nice association with the thin crescent Moon.  You can use the Moon as a guide, and search just down or to the left of the Moon. Through binoculars you should be able to see the head of the comet and certainly the two types of the tail.  I would always advise people to hunt for comets with binoculars, but if you have found it with binoculars, have a good hunt around and see if you can see it with the naked eye. That’s quite a challenge – but it is a wonderful thing to have seen.”

Below is an image of the path of the Comet in our night sky in March, so enjoy Comet hunting over the next couple of days and weeks.

Let me know if you see it by either leaving a comment here or tweeting me at @strethewey #nightskyastronomy.

C2011-L4-Pan-Starrs-Comet

I was out on November 3rd at  a Fireworks show in Trispen in Cornwall and whilst I was waiting for the Fireworks to start I was having a good look at the Sky.  It was clear as a bell and a very cold evening, so the Stars were shining brilliantly. To my amazement, I saw a really bright and big shooting star followed by another, and another, and another and another. I think I saw a total of 6 or 7 in the end and they were all really clear to view, and were flying across the Sky right above us! It was an amazing sight as I wasn’t expecting to see a Meteor show as well!

A few days later I looked up whether there were any Meteor showers taking place around this time and found that the Meteors must have been from the Leonids which is a Meteor shower that happens throughout November every year. The best days to view them this year were on the 17th and 20th of November, so I was very lucky to see as many as I did in only about 45 minutes of viewing, a good couple of weeks before the height of the shower.

The Leonids are said to be a lot better quality than the Perseids in August as they are much brighter and about 10mm in diameter, and this was certainly true from my observations. The Perseids paled in comparison to the Leonids. These Meteors originate from a Comet named Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865 by Ernst Tempel, and radiate from the constellation Leo (hence their name).

Remember to keep an eye out for them next year as they are a great sight to behold!

This year the annual Lyrid Meteor Shower should be a great spectacle as the Moon will not be lighting up the sky at all. As long as you are out in the country and have the luck of a clear sky, there should be a perfect view of the meteors. Even in a lighter sky, it should be a good sight.

The height of the shower falls on the night of the 21st April with the average number of meteors spotted per hour being at about 10-20, but it has been known to reach up to 100 meteors per hour! On the nights around the peak night, you should still be able to see the occasional meteor. I had a look last night but unfortunately didn’t see any, mainly because the area of the sky where they seem to originate from (The constellation Lyra near the bright star called ‘Vega’.) was too low on the horizon and was hidden by trees.

The Lyrids are thought to be sand grain sized debris from a passing comet. When they hit the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, causing the light streaks in the Sky.  In the past, fireballs have been seen hurtling across the sky during this meteor shower. They are thought to originate from comet Thatcher that has an orbit of 416 years with its path staying practically the same each time is passes through.  This means the debris is always in the path of the Earth which is why it is an annual event.

So fingers crossed everyone gets to see a good few meteors! 😉

The Perseid Meteor Shower (the ‘Perseids’) will reach its peak activity on Saturday 13th August this year. Unfortunately, this coincides with a full moon this year which will make the sky so bright that only the closest and largest meteors will be seen.  But don’t ignore it for this year, as it will still be possible to view them!

The Perseids originate from the constellation Perseus, but actually have nothing to do with any of the stars in the constellation. They are actually rock fragments left over from the comet Swift-Tuttle when it last flew near the Sun. So if you can find the constellation of Perseus in the night sky, you will know where to look for the meteors streaking across the sky.  However, don’t just look at the constellation, look at the area around it as you will still be able to see them as they only originate from Perseus.

Let’s hope for a clear sky and good viewing to everyone!