Cassini: End of an era

End of an era: the Cassini craft is due to plunge into Saturn on 15 September 2017.

Artists’s impression of the Cassini craft around Saturn. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Flying closer to Saturn than ever before, the Cassini spacecraft has spent the last few months diving between the planet and its rings, collecting new and unique data ahead of its suicidal plunge into the planet on 15 September.  Full story at:  Physics World

Check out the NYTimes link at: NYTimes Cassini   for a fantastic animation of the history of Cassini.  Well worth the effort to check out.

Asteroid Florence Makes a Close Approach to Earth

3122 Florence is a stony trinary asteroid of the Amor group. It is classified as a near-Earth object (NEO) and potentially hazardous object (PHO). It measures approximately 3 miles in diameter. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 93 – 232 million miles once every 2 years and 4 months (859 days). 

On the 1st of September, 2017, Florence passed at a distance of 4,391,000 miles from Earth (approximately eighteen times the average distance of the Moon). This is the asteroid's closest approach since 1890 and the closest until after 2500.

On September 3rd I was able to image Florence through my 4" William Optics Apo Refractor.  Here are two images: one is a time lapse movie showing the movement of Florence against the star field. This sequence is sped up to show the asteroid's relative motion (Florence's actual movement rate across the sky was about 0.336 degrees per hour - a pretty hefty clip).

Florence's relative motion in the sky
Rate is 120x actual

 The second image shows the asteroid's position every 60 seconds of time.

Annotated Chart showing Florence's march from south (bottom) to north (top)
Chart spans 1.0 x 1.2 degrees

Solar Eclipse Sequence

Here is a sequence image showing the partial phases before and after totality.  Photos from my Canon 70D operating with a Phottix Aion Wireless Timer and Shutter Release taking a photo every 10 minutes. The total phase image was inserted into the sequence after all photos were taken.  The third from last image is missing due to cloud cover at that time.

High Detail HDR of Corona

Here is a re-process of the eclipse image set with an emphasis on getting the fine detailed structure of the corona more visible.  The brightness is decreased in this process as well as the extent of the corona.

HDR Enhanced Photo of the Sun's Corona

Here is my first HDR (High Dynamic Range) image of the eclipse.  This image  was a 9 exposure bracketed run of images ranging from 1/4 sec to 1/1000 sec at ISO200 designed to bring out the subtlety of the sun's corona (shows approximately what the human eye was able to see).

All images were taken with a Canon 50D attached to a William Optics 102mm APO refractor mounted on an iOptron iEQ30 mount.  The processing was accomplished with PixInsight and Paint Shop Pro.

Eclipse (HDR Image)
August 21, 2017
Canon 50D on WO GT102 at f/5.5

Complete details, for those interested, will be in a future blog.

Total Eclipse 2017 - Initial Photo from Salem, SC

Well, I finally got to see my first total eclipse of the sun, and WOW ... fantastic.  Words can't describe the images of the sun blacked out, the diamond ring was awesome - photos don't do it justice.

I'll post more info on the effect later, but here is the first single exposure, unprocessed image of the eclipse about 20 sec or so past mid-eclipse.  Later I'll explain why I don't have images when it started!!

Efficient Hydrogen Fuel Cells May Be Possible Afterall

Science Photo/Adobe Stock

The promise of cheap energy via the Hydrogen Fuel Cell has just become more of a reality thanks to a serendipitous discovery!  Researchers at the US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground Research Laboratory were developing a high-strength aluminum alloy when they made a startling discovery - water poured over its surface started bubbling and producing hydrogen gas. And it kept producing gas contrary to the typical reaction where aluminum exposed to water oxidizes, creating a protective barrier to prevent further reactions from occurring.

See the complete story at:  Science Alert

Are you ready for the Solar Eclipse?

Unless you've been completely out of touch with news of any kind you should be aware that there is going to be an eclipse of the sun on Monday, August 21, 2017.  Much of the US will experience a Total Eclipse as the map below shows.

Sky and Telescope

For those fortunate enough to be in the eclipse's path, you are in for a real treat.  There is nothing that matches a total solar eclipse. I have yet to see one - but this year I'm expecting to, weather permitting.

There are lots of internet sites that will explain the whole story about eclipses, so I'm not going to spend time here explaining it. Just Google "Eclipse 2017" and I'm sure you'll get a boatload.  I've added a link to Sky And Telescope which has a lot of good info.

If you are staying in the Maryland area, around Baltimore/Washington you will see a partial eclipse, reaching about 80% at the peak.  Times are:

Start:            1:18 PM
Maximum:   2:42 PM
End:             4:01 PM

Remember to use eye protection during the eclipse.

Sky and Telescope Magazine has a lot of good information on the eclipse.

I'll post images after the event.

New Comet!

A new comet crept up on us this past weekend, one that should be visible for northern hemisphere observers soon.  I'm excited, as my favorite pastime in astronomy (besides just general astrophotography) is imaging comets.

New Comet ASASSN1 (C/2017 O1) already glows aqua from carbon-laced gases.
The comet is currently visible in the pre-dawn sky through modest-sized telescopes.
Rolando Ligustri

C/2017 O1, or Comet ASASSN1, is currently fairly dim and requires a medium sized telescope to see, but may brighten to within binocular capability as the year progresses. In fact, since its discovery on July 19th it has brightened almost 100,000 fold. It was discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN).

Details can be found at SkyAndTelescope  and Universe Today.  

New Horizon's Next Target

The Kuiper Belt object (known as 2014 MU69, 4.1 billion miles from Earth)
passes in front of a star and winks it out

Check out this article about the next target for the New Horizons spacecraft.  One of the team members that went to Argentina to capture the occultation (when one object passes in front of another - in this case, the Kuiper Belt object in front of a star) was Steve Conard, the lead engineer that built and tested the LORRI camera on New Horizons at APL in Laurel, Maryland. Steve is a member of the Westminster Astronomical Society, whom I met when I joined WASI back last year.

Complete article at NASA.

Uh-oh, bad news for life on Mars

The Martian surface may be even less hospitable to life than scientists had thought.
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation streaming from the sun "activates" chlorine compounds in the Red Planet's soil, turning them into potent microbe-killers, a new study suggests.

Complete story on Space.com