Comet ISON is here ... sort of!

Well it's been over a year since comet ISON (C/2012 S1) was first discovered by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok of Russia on 21 September 2012. Now, just about to pass Mars’ orbit on the way to the Sun, C/2012 S1 will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 28 November 2013 at a distance of 0.012 AU (1,800,000 km; 1,100,000 mi) from the center point of the Sun. That’s pretty darn close! If it survives its close encounter we may be in for a real treat come early December when ISON may become one of the greatest comets of all time.

Predicting comet brightness is difficult at best. There have been many flops in the last few decades (some will remember – or not – comet Kohoutek in 1973-74 which was then called the “Comet of the Century”). However, even though recent data suggests ISON will not be as bright as originally predicted it should still be visible to the naked eye and sport an easily identifiable tail.

Although not visible to the naked eye in October, those with binoculars or small telescopes should be able to pick up ISON as it heads closer and closer to the Sun. A good time to look is early in the morning on October 15 when ISON passes just 1° north of Mars in the constellation of Leo the Lion. It makes the leftmost point of a line created by Mars and Regulus, about 1° between each. The comet will be dim, about magnitude 9, but patient observers should be able pick her out. It's unlikely that you will be able to see any tail, but a fuzzy spot should be apparent.

ISON in the east, October 15, 2013 5:00 AM
About 22° above the horizon

As seen in a typical pair of 10x50 binoculars

As ISON approaches I will be planning to view it and will report any news here. Will ISON be the Comet of 'this' Century? We can only hope.

Last Centreville Launch of the Season

MDRA will host the last launch at the Central Sod Farm (Centreville, MD) on the weekend of Oct 12 and 13th, 2013. I will probably not be there - still working on other things.  Saturday's launch activities start around noon; Sunday goes from 9:00 to about 4:00 or so.

Starting in November we move to Higg's Dairy Farm in Price. Red Glare 15 dates have not been announced yet. Stay tuned!

Details on October's launch and other rocket info can be found on the MDRA site.

More Flares

Later on Saturday, Iridium 45 flared nicely. The moon was very near but the flare was still extremely easy to see. Here is a photo and video of the event.

 

Flare

Got up early this morning to capture a bright Iridium Flare. Had some issues with the camera but got this shot.

Iridium 80

September 14, 2013  5:18 AM   

Rocket Launch this weekend

MDRA will hold ESL 184, at The Central Sod Farm, (Centerville, Maryland). The launch will be 9-14-13 and 9-15-13. I will not be there as I haven't completed my latest projects and still have a lot of work to do about the estate. 

Go to MDRA for information on the launch.

More Iridium Flares

Two of the brightest Iridium flares are going to appear in dark skies this Saturday, September 14, 2013.  Iridium 80 will flare at about 5:18 AM. Then at 8:20 PM, Iridium 80 will put on a short show. The morning flare will be in the SW sky; the evening one in the SE. Both about 2/3 the way from the horizon to the zenith - roughly 60 degrees above the horizon. Details can be viewed on the Heaven's Above web site.

Update:  Be advised, these events are local events. The brightness of the flare diminishes on either side of the path on the earth. So although these two are very bright in Reisterstown, they may not be nearly as bright just 10-20 miles east or west (turns out that my house is almost directly in the path of many of the Iridium flares).  So check with the Heaven's Above site for your location.

Iridium Flares

Satellite flare is caused when the sun reflects off the shiny material of a satellite and reflects it back to earth. If you are in the path of the reflection you will see a flare, much like the flash you would see if someone held a mirror and directed sunlight to you.

Iridium flares are flares created from the set of Iridium satellites. Because of their large solar panels they tend to really product some impressive flares. Some get bright enough to be visible in the daytime. The video below is a flare I captured on September 6, 2013 at around 7:15 PM.

For more information on Iridium flares see the Wiki article on Satellite Flares.

If you are interested in viewing upcoming flares visit the Heaven's Above site where after an initial setup for your location you can get future sightings (where to look, etc.).

LADEE Launch from Westminster

The LADEE launch was fantastic!  Joan and I (and Lucy the dog) were treated to a really cool event from the hilltop parking lot of CrossLife Bible Church. Well, I'm not sure Lucy enjoyed it as much as we did :)

Here are some photos:

 Bright red-orange from the 1st stage booster ... although not visible in
this photo you could see a short tail of flame rippling from the glowing spot. 

 Later, LADEE is seen climbing and then ignition of next stage. I think
this is stage three but not sure.

Last minute or so.

LADEE Launch tomorrow evening

NASA’s launch of the LADEE lunar orbiter from Wallops Island will be visable for much of the East Coast on Friday evening.  Here’s NASA’s guide for viewing:

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/MinotaurV/index.shtml

Cosmic Caterpillar

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope locates protostar in very early evolutionary stage 4,500 light-years away.

Full story at GrindTV

Check out this photo - for those of you who remember Star Trek (the original series) doesn't this remind you of the planet killer in "The Doomsday Machine", 1967?