Wessex Sky Notes - 2015 January 15 at 2100 UTC VOL 9 No 1 Aspect of the sky from 50º 48' N : 2º 00' W at 21:00 UTC Map from www.fourmilab.ch Earth at Perihelion on the 4th at 07:00, Earth closest to the Sun for the year. at 147 million km. Northern Winter. th th th st th Lunar Phases Full: Jan. 5 at 04:53; Last Qtr: Jan.13 at 09:46; New: Jan. 20 at 13:13 & 1 Qtr: Jan 27 at 04:48; st th Apsides: Perigee (closest), Jan. 21 at 20:06, 359644 km, (33' 13.5"): Apogee (furthest), Jan. 10 at 01:35, 405408 km, (29' 30.8") th st Mercury (☿): is at greatest Eastern Elongation on the 19 . (19º) and will be well seen in the evening sky. Moon near on 21 . Both Mercury and Venus set at 18:13 mid month. Venus (♀): is improving as an evening star in the twilit sky. It is closest to Mercury on the 10th. The Moon is near on the 21st. Mars: (♂): lies low in the SW twilight not far from Venus and Mercury, setting at 19:50 mid month. th Jupiter (♃): dominates the sky, at mag.-2.4, rising at 18:35 , between Leo and Cancer. Moon close on the 7 . See later for the GRS. th th Saturn (♄): rises in Libra, mag. 0.8, in the ESE, 4 hours before the Sun, but moves into Scorpius on the 17 . Moon near on the 16 . th th Uranus (♅): sets at around 23:40 mid month so still a reasonable opportunity for observation. Moon is near on the 6 / 7 . st Neptune (♆): sets just after 8 pm at month's start in Aquarius, so get a last look now. It will be lost in the sunset glare by 31 . th Meteors The Quadrantids peaks on the 4 , but the nearly full moon will wash out all but the brightest events, so hard luck! Normally about 40 meteors per hour may be spotted, weather permitting! This has been a good shower, at times in the past, with good outbursts, and some bright meteors, so it's worth a look. The radiant is near the star above the second 'e' in Benetnasch, in the above chart. Asteroid 3 Juno comes to opposition on the 29th when it will be mag. 8.1. It is near the head of Hydra, just behind the 'C' in Canis Minor on the above chart, and will be moving westward during the month, easily followed in 10 x 50s I'm assured! Sunrise - set times Jan. 01 Rise: 08:10:14 Jan. 06 Rise 08:09:15 Jan. 11 Rise 08:06:56 Transit 12:11:26 12:13:42 12:15:48 Times in UTC Set: 16:12:46 Jan. 16 Rise: 08:03:21 Set: 16:18:26 Jan. 21 Rise: 07:58:37 Set: 16:25:00 Jan. 26 Rise: 07:52:48 Transit 2015 12:17:39 Set: 16:32:21 Jan. 31 Rise: 07:45:00 12:19:13 Set: 16:40:418 Transit: 12:21:23 12:20:28 Set: 16:48:42 Set: 16:57:22 Moonrise - set times Transit Times in UTC Transit Note: Times given to nearest minute. Jan. 01 Rise: 13:47:28 21:27:15 Set: 04:10:02 Jan. 16 Rise: 03:35:43 08:21:28 Set: 13:02:48 Jan. 31 Rise: 14:05:51 Jan. 06 Rise: 18:08:23 00:50:03 Set: 08:24:30 Jan. 21 Rise: 08:06:04 13:11:05 Set: 18:24:47 Transit: 21:56:59 Jan. 11 Rise 23:17:38 04:30:42 Set: 10:36:14 Jan. 26 Rise: 10:42:41 17:41:28 Set: --:--:-Set: 04:58:57 (Transit time is the time when the object crosses the sky meridian, ie the N - S line; --:--:-- means event happens next day) th th th B Persei, (Algol) (mag 2.1 to 3.4) - the visible minima are 8 at 01:56; 10 at 22:46; 13 The duration of the event is 9.6 hours and the period between events is 2.866 days. rd st at 19:35; 31 th th at 00:31. th th RZ Cassiopeiae (mag 6.2 - 7.7) - minima visible from Britain are 2 at 02:20; 6 at 21:05; 8 at 01:46; 9 at 06:27; 12 at 20:31; th st th th st th th th 14 at 01:12; 1 at 05:53; 18 at 19:57; 20 at 00:38; 21 at 05:19; 24 at 19:23; 26 at 00:05 and 27 at 00:46. Duration of minima events is 4.8 hours and the period between them is 1.19525 days. RZ Cass. is an Algol type eclipsing binary, and is circumpolar at our latitude. Lambda Tauri (mag 3.4 - 3.9 ) - there are no minima this month. th For observations of the ISS during the month, log-in to http://www.heavens-above.com . from the 5 the passes are all morning ones - for early risers - like me now!! See later for these passes. th Our next main evening Durlston event will be on Saturday, January 24 at 7:00 pm when the Moon, Jupiter, Orion Nebula, Galaxies, Star clusters and Winter Constellations will be observed, hopefully. Either, Bob Mizon, or Alan Jefferis, will give the usual talk. th This year we are supporting the BBC STARGAZING LIVE event in March (Saturday 28 ). More in March's notes. Solar news: The sunspot cycle 24 has been described as the weakest seen in many years, and may even be on the decline now. But solar activity has been up just recently with the Magnetic Field index (Kp) reaching 5 on several occasions. However keep watching http://www.spaceweather.com Check the auroral oval for Europe. Aurora list members, again, please keep your list handy. The Sun's face is never fully free from spots, and your author (still) remains hopeful of some good activity to come! Keep your eyes peeled and your alert list handy, as ever. Timings for the Great Red Spot (GRS) - some are early morning, when the GRS will be on / near to the Jovian meridian the spot longitude is 223.5º in System II. st nd rd th th th th 1 at 06:22; 2 at 02:13 & 22;04; 3 at 08:00; 4 at 03:51 & 23:42; 5 at 19:33; 6 at 05:29 ; 7 at 01:20 & th th th th th th 21:11; 8 at 07:07; 9 at 02:58 & 22:50; 11 at 04:36; 12 at 00:28 & 20 19; 13 at 06:14; 14 at 02:06 & 21:57; th th th th th st 15 at 07:53; 16 at 03:44; 18 at 05:23; 19 at 01:13 & 21:04; 20 at 07:00; 21 at 02:51 & 22:42; rd th th th th 23 at 04:29; 24 at 00:20 & 20:12; 25 at 06:07; 26 at 01:58 & 21:50; 28 at 03:37 & 23:28; th th 29 at 19:19 & 21:21 and finally 30 at 05:15. Meteor activity: Keep your eye on the Norman Lockyer Observatory web page at http://www.merriott-astro.co.uk/scan3D.htm th for the meteor ping graphics on their monitoring site especially around the 4 , the peak of the Quadrantids. The radiant is circumpolar so it should be possible to detect meteors via the web site. Try http://www.topaz-streamguys.tv/~spaceweather/ (note the tilde character!) for live sound streaming from a Texas facility similar to the French one near Dijon. Note: Now the NLO is running live streaming from two dark sky cameras, at their site., now in addition there are 2 cameras at Ash Vale, near Farnborough and one other in that region. Take a look at these also. They are linked to, from the 'S.P.A.M' . page. th 2015 opens with a very respectable Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, discovered on August 17 by Australian astronomer Terry th Lovejoy, his fifth by all accounts. Your scribe saw it on the 30 ult at 22:30 despite the brightening gibbous moon, and it was about mag. 5.5 or so in Lepus, a fuzz ball, about the size of the full moon, or slightly bigger. (My estimates). Scan the sky in the areas nd th th th shown in the charts for Jan 2 , 7 , 12 and 17 on page 3. th th The comet is closest to Earth on 7 January 43.6 million miles, and closest to the Sun on the 30 inst. at 1.29 A.U. It crosses th the Celestial Equator on the 9 and may reach mag. 4 or so in a dark sky. As the comet entered the Solar System it had a period of about 11,500 years but as it leaves it is calculated that the peturbing forces within the system will have reduced the period to 8000 years. Just thought I'd include those statistics for good measure. Fat lot of good to us but in the mean time lets enjoy one of the brightest and best placed comets in years. Good Observing. Robert Hatch 04 January 2015 Page 3 Position of Comet/2014 Lovejoy Q2 January 2nd at 22:30 January 12th at 22:30 January 7th at 22:30 January 17th at 22:30 Page 4 Passes for ISS during January 2015 - all morning passes. (Evening passes start early February.) Date Brightness (mag) Start Time Alt. Az. Highest point Time Alt. Az. End Time Alt. Az. Pass type 05 Jan 0.3 07:10:38 10° SSE 07:11:39 11° SE 07:12:40 10° ESE visible 07 Jan -0.5 07:02:48 10° SSW 07:05:23 21° SE 07:07:59 10° E 08 Jan -0.2 06:12:33 10° S 06:14:21 14° SE 06:16:08 10° ESE visible Date Brightness (mag) Start Time Alt. Az. Highest point Time Alt. Az. End Time Alt. Az. visible Pass type 09 Jan -1.8 06:56:02 10° SW 06:59:09 38° SSE 07:02:15 10° E visible 10 Jan -1.2 06:05:20 11° SSW 06:07:58 26° SE 06:10:46 10° E visible 11 Jan -0.7 05:16:41 17° SE 05:16:48 17° SE 05:19:03 10° E visible 11 Jan -2.9 06:49:37 10° WSW 06:52:54 64° SSE 06:56:12 10° ENE visible 12 Jan -2.4 06:00:33 32° SSW 06:01:35 45° SSE 06:04:47 10° E visible 13 Jan -0.9 05:11:29 24° ESE 05:11:29 24° ESE 05:13:17 10° E visible 13 Jan -3.3 06:44:13 17° WSW 06:46:38 89° NNW 06:49:58 10° ENE visible 14 Jan -3.3 05:55:01 70° SSW 05:55:13 73° SSE 05:58:32 10° ENE visible 15 Jan -0.7 05:05:42 22° E 05:05:42 22° E 05:07:03 10° E visible 15 Jan -3.3 06:38:25 23° W 06:40:19 75° N 06:43:38 10° E visible 16 Jan -3.3 05:49:01 75° NE 05:49:01 75° NE 05:52:08 10° E visible 16 Jan -3.3 07:22:07 10° WNW 07:25:27 84° N 07:28:46 10° E visible 17 Jan -0.5 04:59:34 19° ENE 05:00:37 10° ENE visible 17 Jan -3.3 06:32:16 27° WNW 06:33:55 75° N 06:37:14 10° E visible 18 Jan -2.9 05:42:46 61° NE 05:45:39 10° E visible 18 Jan -3.1 07:15:37 10° WNW 07:18:56 71° SSW 07:22:13 10° ESE visible Date Brightness (mag) Start Time Alt. Az. 04:59:34 19° ENE 05:42:46 61° NE Highest point Time Alt. Az. 04:53:14 17° E End Time Alt. Az. 19 Jan -0.3 04:53:14 17° E 19 Jan -3.4 06:25:56 31° WNW 06:27:23 90° SSW 06:30:41 10° ESE visible 20 Jan -2.7 05:36:22 56° ENE 05:36:22 56° ENE 20 Jan -2.6 07:09:03 10° W 07:12:13 43° SSW 07:15:22 10° SE visible 21 Jan -0.1 04:46:47 15° E 04:46:47 15° E visible 21 Jan -3.2 06:19:29 35° W 06:20:40 62° SSW 06:23:56 10° ESE visible 22 Jan -2.3 05:29:54 47° ESE 05:29:54 47° ESE 05:32:22 10° ESE visible 22 Jan -1.8 07:02:36 11° W 07:05:17 25° SW 07:08:03 10° SSE visible 23 Jan 0.1 04:40:20 13° E 04:40:20 13° E 04:40:42 10° E 23 Jan -2.5 06:13:02 32° WSW 06:13:46 37° SSW 06:16:50 10° SE visible 24 Jan -1.6 05:23:30 30° SE 05:25:24 10° SE visible 24 Jan -1.0 06:56:25 10° WSW 06:58:08 14° SW 06:59:51 10° S visible 25 Jan -1.6 06:06:41 21° SW 06:06:41 21° SW 06:09:12 10° SSE visible 26 Jan -0.7 05:17:14 15° SSE 05:17:14 15° SSE 05:18:02 10° SSE visible 05:23:30 30° SE 04:54:04 10° E Pass type 05:39:05 10° E 04:47:26 10° E visible visible visible
© Copyright 2024