2009 

Oct 14 An interesting gathering of Mercury, Venus and Saturn continues to take place low in Earth’s eastern, morning sky. Successful observations made mornings of Oct 11, 12 and 14.  Photos taken by Sherm: 
Oct 11: 06:19 ADT    (Earth horizon: Mercury, Saturn, Venus)   
Oct 12: 06:30 ADT  (Earth horizon: Mercury, Saturn, Venus)
Oct 14: 06:30 ADT  (Earth horizon: Mercury, Venus, Saturn)
Oct 15: 06:40 ADT (Earth Mercury Venus Saturn Moon).   Slideshow
Oct 7 An interesting gathering of planets (Mercury, Saturn and Venus) is taking place low in the eastern, morning sky. Best viewing is between 6 a.m and 6:45 a.m. See PLANETS.  
       I was able to view all three, Oct 7, between 6:05 and 6:20 a,m., ADT. Cloud and the dawn made it a challenge (especially to see Saturn. Venus and Mercury, due to their brightness, were easy to spot.).
Sept 13  Space Station-Shuttle: All week, each evening there were very good visible passes for both the ISS and Discovery, right up to and including Discovery's last orbit Friday evening, just before it made a successful landing in California at 9:53 ADT. ( http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html )  

The most exciting pass was Wednesday evening (Sept 9).  Just as the shuttle came into view from the westward, it became surrounded by a white cloud and sprouted a vapour trail. For a few moments it appeared comet-like.  Reports received tell that this was a scheduled water dump, preparation for the shuttle’s return to Earth.  Upon being jettisoned, the water immediately formed ice crystals forming the cloud and vapour trail near the shuttle. The “dump” occurred very close to 9:09 p.m.  Part of the event was captured by a photographer in PEI (posted to Spaceweather).  My camera was set up to take photos of the ISS and shuttle track about a minute later when they would be at the peak of the pass,  however, the cloud associated with the shuttle had dissipated.  Linked here [shuttle]  [ISS]

The Space Station continues with passes visible in the evening sky for most of Canada.
MAIN PASS DETAILS This link will get you pass details.
http://web.mac.com/sherm39/iWeb/Site/ISS_Page.html
 or the following is a simple pass schedule source based on postal code 
(  http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/?PHPSESSID=g8qk1bhbphu63jt88v9drvd3s5 )

Space Station shines by reflected sunlight from their 350 km height above Earth. Orbital speed: about 7.5 km per s; the ISS reflects much more light  than the Shuttle (ISS brighter than Jupiter, shuttle about like a bright star).  Their light shines continuously where as passing aircraft have flashing lights.


August 29, Shuttle Launch observed from Pugwash, N.S.  Early Aug 29, 2009, observed space shuttle, Discovery cross the sky as it was being inserted into the Space Station orbit, ten minutes after its Cape Canaveral, Florida launch. Click thumbnail for larger illustration.  Here for largest view.

August 28: Shuttle Launch resumes.   Follow the mission first hand
                 at NASA Current Mission Countdown and link to NASA-TV 


Where are the Planets located? (updated August 27)
View Mars as it passes within 1° of M35, the Jewel Box open star cluster in Gemini, Aug 27th to 31st.  
Mars rises about 1 a.m.

August 20 Tidal Bore With a New Moon and perigee (Moon at its closest distance to Earth), tides will be high. It’s the best time to observe a tidal bore. This tidal bore was observed today as it came up the Herbert River at Mantua Bridge at 11:19 ADT.
 [Nova East bore Aug 22-A]  [bore Aug 22-B]
Mars was in Gemini, the Twins, passing very close  to the open star cluster, M35 (separated by about 1°, Aug 29 ).
Aug 1 to 5 Jupiter observations. Recently it was brought to my attention that the star 45 Capricorni was in the plane of Jupiter’s orbit and that Jupiter’s apparent retrograde motion would cause it to pass in front of (occult) the star Aug 3.  During three observations made the nights of Aug 1-2, Aug 3-4, Aug 4-5, Jupiter appeared as though it had a 5th Galilean satellite. Although slightly dimmer than Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io, 45 Cap, easily mimicked a 5th moon. Conditions prevented my observation of the Aug 3rd occultation, however, near midnight, Aug 3-4, Jupiter was visible and successfully observed. Europa was emerging from behind Jupiter’s disk. 45 Cap had already emerged and had moved less than one Jupiter-diameter west of the planet and looked very much like an extra moon. During the first hour of Aug 5, amid the challenge of haze and bright moonlight, I managed a third observation. Jupiter still looking very much like it had 5 moons.  Click on the following observation dates for a sketch and notes on each: 
[Aug 3-4]      [Aug 4-5]

SPACE STATION OBSERVATION 
The current cycle of space station (ISS) passes visable from Atlantic Canada are in the morning sky, before sunrise [ SpaceStn Passes ]. The cycle of visable evening passes will return after September 6th. Track on Google Map
Check Space Station status onboard
An alternate tracking site
NASA live tracking Shuttle Space Station (ISS) also note the SpaceStn and HeavensAbove links in the side bar.

A new Shuttle mission launch to the ISS is slated for August 25. 
Follow the mission at
NASA-TV and Current Mission Coverage and Clock

Space Station status onboard

July 22: Total eclipse of Sun across Asia (India, China, S.Japan, Pacific).  It belongs to the same eclipse saros  that I observed from Baja, California, July 11, 1991 (saros 136) It was eclipse #36 in that saros or eclipse family; it had a maximum duration of 6 min 53 sec. Today’s eclipse (July 22, 2009), is #37 of saros 136. It’s maximum duration is 6 min 39 sec. Compare the two eclipse paths (1991), (2009). The shadow path Moon  writes across Earth’s surface in each case, is very similar, except #37’s path is shifted westward 120°).  [saros number information and times provided by R.L. Bishop]     The duration of these two total eclipses of Sun will not be surpassed until June 13, 2132. [full story]   2132 eclipse path
Also see Spaceweather July 22 Eclipse Gallery

SHUTTLE and SPACE STATION OBSERVATION 
July 22: pass observed across the SW, max 45° altitude, 22:25 to 22:27, reached Mag minus 3. There are only about 3 evenings of visible passes remaining in this series, that can be viewed from eastern Canada  SpacStn Pass-ISS.
July 19: High pass (near overhead) observed in nice clear sky, from Sydney, N.S.
July 17:  STS 127 has docked to the ISS 
Track on Google Map
Space Station status onboard

NASA track and predictions for satellite passes STS 127 and ISS in particular.    

An alternate tracking site
NASA live tracking Shuttle(STS 127) and Space Station (ISS)

Follow the mission
NASA-TV   and Current Mission Coverage and Clock

July 6th to 15th: Jupiter, Neptune and a Galileo Moment, now entering the evening sky, observable 20°   above the southeast by midnight (during an August evening Jupiter’s brightness will become quite noticable in the southeast).   Jupiter (mag -2.4) and Neptune (mag 7.8) in Capricornus,  Jupiter and Neptune are at their highest (about 30° above south) just at the first hint of dawn (about 2:30 a.m.).   Jupiter began retrograde motion in mid June, moving westward, it passed Neptune (also retrograding) between July 6th and 15th  (July 9th was closest, but so was the bright Moon) giving a 2nd unique Galileo moment. The stars delta and mu Capricornus, remain good reference stars for detailed tracking of the two planetary motions.  The two planets are now about 1.5° degrees apart (they were about 0.5° apart  morning of May 27).  Jupiter’s westward retrograde motion is noticable one night to the next. This is still an opportunity for a truly unique Galileo Moment.  (probably between midnight and 4 a.m. would be a good time to look as they approach the south and the sky is still dark). Jupiter similarly lapped Neptune in late 1612 and early 1613 while Galileo was making obserations of Jupiter and its 4 bright moons. In his diagrams he recorded Neptune as a “fixed star” and even noted that on a previous night  he thought it appeared to be further from another fixed star he had recorded in the diagram, but he did not realize that it was Neptune that he had recorded, 234 years before its official discovery (1846).  Check these 3 links for more on the topic:
http://www.dioi.org/Kowal-Galileo.pdf
http://www.dioi.org/bk/df0.pdf
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1997BaltA...6...97S/0000098.000.html
Neptune can be seen in 10X50 binoculars, however, the low altitude and the nearby contrasting brightness of Jupiter could make it a greater challenge. Because Jupiter will pass Neptune separated by about one  Moon diameter (30 min of arc, see diagram), both should be quite visible in the same field of view throuugh a modest sized backyard telescope at low power. Its location relative to Jupiter should make Neptune easy to locate.  Try these HELPFUL FINDER DIAGRAMS that track the planet positions produced for  July 6 to 12 at 03:30 ADT
General eastern sky diagram above S horizon at 3:30 a.m. 
Approx 10X50 binocular view showing Jupiter-Neptune in a binocular starfield of the area.
 Find their current location on this interactive star chart.

July 15, 2009: Launch of STS 127 space shuttle went off close to schedule (close to 19:03 ADT) I made a last minute attempt to see if I could observe any sign of the daytime launch flyby, but I did not notice anything in a near perfect  transparent blue sky. If I was to see anything it probably should have been between 19:14 and 19:15 ADT making a high track across the southeast. Following is a link to an account of a 2001 daytime launch I observed from Horton Bluff:     An STS 2001 Launch Observation

SHUTTLE and SPACE STATION OBSERVATION July 15, 2009
A serious attempt was made to catch sight of STS127-Endeavour between 22:05 and 22:25(ADT). Time and altitude based on  the low pass across the north predicted  by my NASA site given below ( a 10° max altitude pass around 22:17). I had a good view of that part of sky, even though twilight was still quite bright. All that was observed during the period were a couple of steadily flashing aircraft and one curious bright point of light that burst momentarily, right about 22:17.  This was close enough in location and time that I quickened in anticipation that this was the beginning of the pass of STS 127. But the light quickly expiredand I saw nothing more. I gave it up as a no show “wild- goose-chase”. And assumed the prediction could be off, so early into an orbit focused on a rendezvous with the ISS.   Now, while writing this a few hours later, I believe the flash may well have been from the shuttle (read on).

About a half hour later (22:44) I successfully observed the ISS as it made a bright pass across the north. Noted was the rich copper colour as it approached, and its transition into brilliant white light as it headed eastward, reaching about Mag -3.  I followed its pass from 22:41 to 22:46. Thinking as it passed about Robert Thirsk and other crew 20 members onboard, who who would be getting ready for their expected visitors.

About 23:47 I began watching for the next anticipated pass of STS 127 (using  the same source for predictions as before. 
NASA track and predictions for satellite passes STS 127 and ISS in particular.     About 23:50 STS was predicted to reach 21° altitude in the north, at which time it would pass into Earth shadow.   

Watching in the vacinity of the Big Dipper stars, nothing was happening, then about 23:49, under the bowl, a bright FLASH was observed, both by my wife and myself.  It spawned an exclamation “Wow, did you see that !! That Had to be the shuttle?”  But why only a flash of bright light ?? (about Mag -3 or -4) and nothing more observed. It was much like an Iridium satellite flare (certainly was not an aircraft), perhaps produced as the result of similar circumstances involving Sun-shuttle surface-observer geometry. The event now takes me back to the observation I experienced at the time of the STS’s previous pass expressed above.

As predicted, after 00:16, ISS was observed making a normal pass.  At 00:18 it went into Earth shadow after moving thriugh the Dipper bowl.


May 25 to 30, Jupiter lapped Neptune (in Capricornus , visible in the ESE, early morning sky, probably best 4 to 4:30 a.m.), passing less than a half degree (one Moon diameter) south of Neptune (within a telescope field of view, click on thumbnail for track diagram).  This is an opportunity for a unique Galileo Moment. Jupiter similarly lapped Neptune in late 1612 and early 1613 while Galileo was making obserations of Jupiter and its 4 bright moons. In his diagrams he recorded Neptune as a “fixed star” and even noted that on a previous night  he thought it appeared to be further from another fixed star he had recorded in the diagram, but he did not realize that he had recorded Neptune, 234 years before its official discovery (1846).  Check these 3 links for more on the topic:
http://www.dioi.org/Kowal-Galileo.pdf
http://www.dioi.org/bk/df0.pdf
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1997BaltA...6...97S/0000098.000.html
May 18:  Saturn in Leo
Saturn is still well placed for viewing as the evining sky darkens.  Under the hind quarters of LEO, Saturn is just past the meridian (south), where it was at its highest altitude. After midnight and in the weeks ahead Saturn will gradually slip lower toward the western horizon.  
  (1) Leo with Saturn  -no names
  (2) Leo with Saturn -names
(3) Link to Neave Planetarium Sky where you can see the current position of Saturn in Leo.
Late April: During the latter part of the month Mars is part of a 6° planetary huddle with Uranus, Venus and the Crescent Moon, having passed less than 0.5° of Uranus on April 15.        
April 26: Moon, Pleiades, Mercury, Moon with Earthshine, Pleiades and Mercury below (Moon about 4 degrees above Mercury)   A very nice view in binoculars!
Best time to look: 21:15 to 22:00 ADT.for the next weeks is visible at its best in the evening, low in the west shortly after sunset. 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. is a good time period to observe. The photo left was taken by Sherm in Avonport, April 14, 2009 at 20:46 ADT.  It links to a larger copy.

  April 26:  Mercury located in Taurus, the Bull(near the Pleiades), 16° above west at sunset, sets about 1 hour 45 minutes later.  This is an excellent period to observe Mercury. Within a half hour of sunset one should be able to spot it with the unaided eye. An easy target in binoculars. I located it easily April 14 and 15 in beautifully clear evening skies [photo taken April 14th], the only bright, star-like object in the western twilight.  Heads-up: Reaches greatest eastern position from Sun on April 26, (altitude of 22° at sunset), the same evening the 2-day-old waxing crescent Moon is positioned 3.5° above Mercury.
April 22: Venus and the thin, waning crescent Moon formed a nice morning pair, the moon only 2° west of Venus. Mars will be about 4° below the pair, and Uranus is only 5 degrees west of   The current position of Venus on the ecliptic keeps its near the horizon. Even though the bright light of Venus will catch the eye of any observant early morning riser, its morning brilliance will not appear to match its recent evening sky performances
April 16: Orion Sinking in the West | Saturn in Leo
Last chance to enjoy one of the best bright star sections of the sky before sunlight floods this part of our space window.
  (1) Winter Oval in Spring -just stars
  (2) Winter Oval  -stars named
  (3) Winter Oval  -constellations
  (4) Leo with Saturn  -no names
  (5) Leo with Saturn -names

April 16th: Solar Noon and Mean Solar Noon were about equal. Correction to the sundial went from time subtracted to get Mean Solar Noon to time added. April 16th Sun crossed the meridian(transit) at 13:16:50, 4 sec.before Mean Solar Noon (13:16:54). The sundial correction is plus 4 sec. Solar Noon (13:16:50) + correction to sundial (+ 4 s)  =  HB Mean Solar Noon (13:16:54). For more information on Correction to the sundial see Wikipedia’s: Equation of Time 
April 10th Moonrise time check over Horton Bluff!  
The Blomidon Naturalists Natural History Calendar predicted moonrise to be 9:39 p.m., ADT.  At 9:39 the top half of the moon had emerged above the distant eastern horizon. At 9:46 I took this photo. Click on it for an enlargement.
April 15, Mars, Uranus: Mars and Uranus in the presunrise sky, less than 0.5° apart.
March 27, 2009, Venus: The orbit of Venus  reached inferior conjunction 
March 24 (evening), March 25 (morning),Venus: Around the time of its inferior conjunction (March 27th), Venus passed about 8° north of the Sun. Experienced observers did attempt to find Venus in the evening sky at sunset and then again the following morning, just before sunrise.  The optimum position of Venus for accomplishing this, exists when the R.A. of Venus is closest to the R.A. of the Sun, which was the evening of March 24 and morning of March 25.   
         In this segment of its orbit Venus is closest to us, thus appearing at its largest in our telescopes, however, most of its dark(night) half is toward us, leaving only a small sliver of its lighted half in our view. But there is a great trade-off: the thin crescent of Venus, when this close to  us, presents its most beautiful view in a telescope. My first view of Venus as a crescent was in 1964. For me, this first telescopic view of its delicate crescent was an indelable Galileo moment for sure.  A steady binocular view, well focused, reveals the small crescent well. It is best seen by catching a view of Venus in the daytime sky, with the Sun eclipsed by the roof of  a building, or just at sunset, before the contrast of its light becomes too dazzling to the eye.  

March 21, 2009  Regulus  and Comet Lulin Comet Lulin fades: Comet Lulin, the rare visitor from the outer fringes of the Solar System, is fading, moving through Gemini, high in the south at dark. I last observed Lulin March 21, magnitude estimate: about 8.3, but still an interesting object in my telescope and showing a faint tail. (<0.3° long).  more on Comet Lulin here.  The diagram on the right is based on a sketch I made Feb 27th, a telescopic view including Regulus in Leo.

March 17, 2009, Rainbow Venus: The inferior conjunction of Venus, between us and Sun, brought to a close, a period of spectacular performances (November ‘08 to March ‘09) by Venus with its  , Crescent Moon and Jupiter.  There will be similar shows ahead in the morning sky but show times will not be as convenient.    Photos: digital point-and-shoot through telescope, holding to eyepiece, by Sherm, taken march 17, 2009 ( 1 ),  ( 2 ), ( 3 ) , ( 4 ),     Spaceweather shared photos of crescent Venus (scroll down to Rainbow Planet) Some of these are quite nice to see.

March 16, 2009: Photo: STS 119, Discovery, entering Earth’s shadow, March 16, 2009, 20:42 ADT, Avonport, N.S.

Feb 27, Venus formed a striking pair with the 3-day-old crescent Moon (three photos by Sherm: [1]. [2], [3]) (A beautiful sight; both Moon and Venus were viewed as thin crescents).    Two months ago Venus paired with Jupiter,  

Feb 26: astrophotographer (Mike Salway) caught these planets above the eastern horizon.

Feb 25, 2009, Young Moon: from about 6:25 p.m. to about 6:50 p.m. AST, careful observers caught a brief look at the 20hr-old Moon; Roy Bishop was one of the few, here is a link to a photo Roy captured (59kb jpg copy of photo).

Feb 27, many skywatchers caught a striking evening view of the crescent Moon with Venus.
Feb 23, 2009: Comet Lulin finder diagram
Jan 22, 2009, Uranus,Venus: Only 1° apart making it a view of interest in a pair of binoculars or a telescope.   Jan 1, 2009, Mercury, Jupiter:  digital photo, Mercury on left, Jupiter nearest tree branch, separation = 1.9°,  original by Sherm 1/4 s f2.7  50mm, this view taken Jan 1, 2009, 17:01 PST (-8h UT) ]
Credits: The sky chart and constellation links above are provided by Heavens-Above, a very useful site developed and maintained by Chris Peat.  Links for a number of astronomical terms are to The Astronomical Dictionary provided on a web space courtesy of the Astronomical Institute / Utrecht University. The analemma and sky background is generated using Starry Night 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2008
Dec 29th and Dec 31st (New Year’s Eve), Planerary groupings: Two interesting groupings occurred involving the crescent Moon with Venus, Jupiter and Mercury in the evenings between Dec 29th and New Year’s Eve Mercury and Jupiter were in conjunction, forming a challenging but exciting binocular view.
December 25, 2008: Saturn’s rings, as seen in a telescope, were almost edge-on, resembling a ball with a fat pin stuck through the middle, (see Dec 25th Spaceweather.com). Since then they have opened slightly, still viewing the rings from their southern exposure. This is a good time to see the ring shadow stand out in contrast across the equitorial zone. After June the rings begin to close significently, to become edge-on in early September, 2009. Unfortunately by then Saturn is only 5° above the western horizon at sunset,. making an observation of this interesting event extremely difficult, or near impossible to observe.
Dec 10: Earliest Sunset [diagram], 4:34 p.m. After today the sun will begin setting later. By the end of December Sun is setting about 11 minutes later, 4:45 p.m. The latest sunrise is not until Jan 2nd. This does not change Dec 21st being the shortest day. This diagram shows Sun’s position relative to the horizon at 4:35 p.m.for the days shown.

December 1, 2008, Moon, Venus, Jupiter: The waxing crescent Moon formed a spectacular grouping with Jupiter and Venus    The western half of Nova Scotia cleared just in time for several observers to see the grouping!
Dec 1: Photo showing MAGNIFICENT View of Planets and Moon observed in the evening sky near Wallace, N.S. (104 kb jpg copy) Original photographed by S.Williams,15:06 AST, 1sec exposure, f8, 24 mm, ISO 100, SONY DSC-H7 digital 8.1 mpix (a point-and-shoot) tripod mounted, mamuel setting mode.
Nov 29 Photo of planet pair this evening (60kb)or(200kb) f3.2, 8sec exposure, ISO 80, Sony 12 mm digital, 5:33 p.m.,. Next 3 evenings check the southwestern sky, about 5:30 p.m.(this link for SpaceWeather’s sky map. Scroll down to Sunset Planets).
Nov 27 Current Space Station - Shuttle Status
     
Nov 25 17:25 photo  
Nov 24 17:44 photo (60kb jpg) (higher rez)
Nov 21 Photo (17:24 AST) with added artistic touches.
Nov 2 Photo: Jupiter, Cresccent Moon and Venus, observed 5:52 p.m. AST. The photo does not come close to the actual view. , Venus nearest southwest horizon, Jupiter above and east of Moon.
Sept 30: Every few days I check the Sun's surface for sunspots (with safe solar observing equipment in place); this year, however, sunspots are rarely seen. Received this science article today featuring the SPOTLESS SUN
July 5, 2008: Crescent Moon, Regulus, Mars, Saturn aligned along the ecliptic,Photo by Sherm, upward to the left from the moon: Regulus, Mars, Saturn                                       **
June 20th (solstice): Latest Sunsets 2008 Diagram the star background is that of June 20th.                              **
June 6, 2008: Rare Circumhorizontal Arc Observed 
Photo   Note




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May 25: Phoenix Mars Landing
 Mars in Evening Sky NASA Phoenix Link
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Saturn and Regulus
This spring (2008) Leo the Lion has an extra “star”: Saturn
View of Planet Saturn  with Star, Regulus
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April 6, 2008: Young Crescent Moon 
Moon was observed less than 20 h after New Moon
Young Moon-Sherm       Young Moon-Roy B.
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March 9, 2008:  Unusual Avian Visitor  Great Egret

Feb 20, 2008: Total Lunar Eclipse  Sherman’s Eclipse Photos #1
Eclipse Photos #2      Roy B’s Eclipse Photos          NASA Eclipse Page




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Feb 3, 2008: Dinner Guest Perches in tree outside the dining room window  
  A Barred Owl       


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