tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66466542653336574792024-03-13T22:24:53.068+05:30Association of Bangalore Amateur AstronomersTo learn Astronomy, make telescopes, Sky watching, Astrophotograhy discuss Astronomy Visit ABAA. We meet every Sunday at Planetarium Bangalore from 5:30 and activities include Talks on Astronomy, Discussions, Telescope making, Sky watching. If you are interested in astronomy then ABAA is a good place for meeting and learning Astronomy. Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-54379597171107962802023-08-31T16:50:00.000+05:302023-08-31T16:50:15.088+05:30URANUS RETROGRADE MOTION 2023<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Uranus is in retrograde motion now, starting from 30th Aug
2023. All planets move from west to east with reference to stars, this is the direct
motion. Months before reaching the opposition, we notice the daily angular motion
of the outer planet, in this case, Uranus keeps reducing and at a point it appears
stationary. The planet’s motion will be eastward until the stationary point.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMB7BhvcPmxzEXmdkmzjhn8EkCyqUPBkXuEfpl1CGkzZMSDYeloP3PSTWYdgG2DeP-cRU6sW6SBjWVvVg3PO7pwKZ3alSzXMTeGuLJahPMLiRabn7CJB1FQddiZ-l1MfsSmgvlpwktXWhYlL2GFrk15xX8peoQinZF_W9TnwqUwA7T-V-DBO5uJEN3enQ/s800/uranus_carousel_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMB7BhvcPmxzEXmdkmzjhn8EkCyqUPBkXuEfpl1CGkzZMSDYeloP3PSTWYdgG2DeP-cRU6sW6SBjWVvVg3PO7pwKZ3alSzXMTeGuLJahPMLiRabn7CJB1FQddiZ-l1MfsSmgvlpwktXWhYlL2GFrk15xX8peoQinZF_W9TnwqUwA7T-V-DBO5uJEN3enQ/w640-h480/uranus_carousel_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">After this we see the planet moving westward with respect to
stars and the angular motion also increase but in westward direction. This movement,
westward, we call it retrograde motion. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Months after Opposition, the opposition of Uranus will take
place on 13<sup>th</sup> November 2023, again we observe the angular motion reducing
and becoming stationary at one point, this will be Jan 28th 2024, and the planet
will start moving eastward again with slowly increasing in angular motion as
days passes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqt9nQdI6V44nC6zMWgAJQchPsVyItPF7_XzVPSKC-nCCFUQgyahKs3GWdPdbXIqufe6mNHfeC9LAa2Xsg3a6RQOT6IC2CslIQpIh_1-i51OCDpp-9JngOn8c3VhR6pUO3Ada-JvPMqTdze3keZW4hSz9LcSTSk36SzFUz_V3_c7Nm82jBknHhWvm_l--/s1756/uranus%20retrograde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1756" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqt9nQdI6V44nC6zMWgAJQchPsVyItPF7_XzVPSKC-nCCFUQgyahKs3GWdPdbXIqufe6mNHfeC9LAa2Xsg3a6RQOT6IC2CslIQpIh_1-i51OCDpp-9JngOn8c3VhR6pUO3Ada-JvPMqTdze3keZW4hSz9LcSTSk36SzFUz_V3_c7Nm82jBknHhWvm_l--/w640-h330/uranus%20retrograde.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Uranus will move 4 degrees west in the retrograde motion before
turning east again. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Using binocular or telescope you can track the movement and
measure the changes. Even with necked eye it is possible but interval of each
observation should be far enough (in days) to notice the changes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you pick delta and rho Arietis, you can notice the movement
of Uranus from delta to rho…</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Happy Observing </span></p><p></p>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0Bengaluru, Karnataka, India12.9715987 77.5945627-15.338635136178846 42.4383127 41.281832536178847 112.7508127tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-87873299991103666582022-07-13T13:02:00.001+05:302022-07-13T13:20:59.893+05:30Comet PANSTARRS closest to Earth on July 14th<p> </p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b344bd14-7fff-ce78-6f3e-28e2a4d7ddf9"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, will be closest to earth on 14th July 2022. The comet at its closest to earth will have a distance of 1.8AU or 269,276,167km in the constellation of Ophiuchus, this distance puts the comet beyond the planet Mars orbit.. The comet is bright enough to be seen in binoculars and small telescopes, the comet has a magnitude of 8. The comet PANSTARRS is well placed for observation, at the time of Sunset the comet will have an altitude of 45 degrees from the horizon, this gives plenty of time to observe, the comet will set at 3:45am.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPRGHmwnVoWVqW-ysZKsSzP00pI0LsqPYxcw0rpuDP5GHCvUYPSZ7gy5qmG-4-qIO8H6ibTXBa9idFfzwsS6R83euIN5R03LS9H8s1hpNrJ9RLjWEhhEV8lSyBLmoAVs2FHp_yj8NTPjbRHlnwnyjIV9MDpy6xbqDERWEUqs07SHFsT1kcJ5t00WZ0rQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="1336" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPRGHmwnVoWVqW-ysZKsSzP00pI0LsqPYxcw0rpuDP5GHCvUYPSZ7gy5qmG-4-qIO8H6ibTXBa9idFfzwsS6R83euIN5R03LS9H8s1hpNrJ9RLjWEhhEV8lSyBLmoAVs2FHp_yj8NTPjbRHlnwnyjIV9MDpy6xbqDERWEUqs07SHFsT1kcJ5t00WZ0rQ=w640-h306" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, is easy to spot in the sky thanks to its closeness to the M10 globular cluster. The comet will be well within the field of view of binoculars, 20X80, until 18th July. Globular cluster M10 is a bright object at 6.6 magnitude, once M10 is the field it won’t be difficult to spot the fuzzy comet . The size of the comet will be roughly the size of M10. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlzWlsjw-53LFpQfCsGTSWe-fUpdUW_f35W2D2vhAcRe5BWkDuwj923iLlMT08ao29Cmqu0XG8EIp4fLFryIlSYJ4ggLeshMuPZ-gc7XGwjT4Q1SJRvwU2rLBy9BVRQvQ_GXXGLL5BrFdTZirJ-GCAOW6_QX3N9UUNAImR5Gfo7KT9msZ7g2UFH2iLIg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="980" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlzWlsjw-53LFpQfCsGTSWe-fUpdUW_f35W2D2vhAcRe5BWkDuwj923iLlMT08ao29Cmqu0XG8EIp4fLFryIlSYJ4ggLeshMuPZ-gc7XGwjT4Q1SJRvwU2rLBy9BVRQvQ_GXXGLL5BrFdTZirJ-GCAOW6_QX3N9UUNAImR5Gfo7KT9msZ7g2UFH2iLIg=w640-h352" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On 15th July the Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, will be closest to M10 with a separation of 25 arc minutes. At this small separation the comet and the globular cluster will be in the same field in the telescope, making it a wonderful sight and also to compare the brightness and size of the comet. Hope you all get a chance to view and photograph the comet. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-24111384890476335092022-06-14T11:00:00.019+05:302022-06-14T11:00:00.201+05:30Best Times to See Milky Way Galaxy from India<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Milky Way is one of the brightest and famous arms of our galaxy. This is in the region of Scorpius and Sagittarius constellations, this region is also the center of our galaxy. It is a magnificent view when seen under dark skies away from the city light pollution. The Milky Way will appear as a hazy band in the sky, rich with stars, with the brightest region at Sagittarius and dimmer toward north. Many people mistake it for clouds, if you get the doubt, wait for some time and the Milky Way will move along with the stars.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAu_sn9hBU408RZXC2LqeO_ekgwPuHoiulkeR7d-2P5g7xBlHtC5Pg4lGvMuSxR0WHqXubLSyJqd1iYPHIlbEIimLcvvI89aOqPzC9qUAIvYa4AVNgLPKqkZzkQQPTIYkHcNsAEbgao7TftRbNDWR7mgWYkbvPN2g9jus25BHrnoI6wUmi8rH52pQNHw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="481" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAu_sn9hBU408RZXC2LqeO_ekgwPuHoiulkeR7d-2P5g7xBlHtC5Pg4lGvMuSxR0WHqXubLSyJqd1iYPHIlbEIimLcvvI89aOqPzC9qUAIvYa4AVNgLPKqkZzkQQPTIYkHcNsAEbgao7TftRbNDWR7mgWYkbvPN2g9jus25BHrnoI6wUmi8rH52pQNHw=w267-h400" width="267" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-901b9c90-7fff-7bda-a2f0-c34b28ef941b" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The band of the Milky Way extends from constellations Sagittarius, Sagitta, Cygnus, Cassiopeia to Perseus in the north. To enjoy the full Milky Way band, a place with an unobstructed view of the horizons is essential. </span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Milky Way will be in opposition in the middle of June, that means as the Sun is setting in the west, the Milky Way will be rising in the east. June and July are the best months to enjoy the Milky Way all through the night. I thought making this list of rise, meridian transit and set times of the Milky Way would be useful, so I made one.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><h2 style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are the Times for viewing the Milky Way. </span></span></h2><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">June 15: The Milky Way will rise at 7pm, it will reach meridian, highest altitude in the sky, at midnight and the Milky Way will set at 5:30am. The Milky Way will be visible all night. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">July 15: The Milky Way will rise at 5pm, reach meridian, highest altitude in the sky at 10:30pm and the Milky Way will set at 3:45pm.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">August 15: Milky way will be at meridian, highest altitude in the sky at 8:30pm and the Milky Way will set at 2am.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">September 15: By the time the Sun sets, the Milky Way will be at meridian, highest altitude in the sky and it will set at midnight.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">October 15: Milky Way will set at 9:30pm.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">November 15: Milky Way will set at 7:30pm.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Sun will be in Sagittarius in December so the Milky Way is not visible. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jan 15: The Milky Way will rise at 5am, in twilight.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Feb 15: The Milky Way will rise at 3am.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">March 15: The Milky Way will rise at 1am.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">April 15: The Milky Way will rise at 11pm and will reach meridian, highest altitude at 4:30am.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">May15: The Milky Way will rise at 9pm and it will reach meridian, highest altitude at 2:30am.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As the best months to view the Milky Way galaxy are in the months of June and July, this will make it difficult for south India due to the arrival of Monsoon. To see the band full night or to photograph the band, it is better to move to places where the monsoon has not yet reached. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can use the list when going on a trek in a remote place. Check the times during the month and enjoy the view of the Milky Way. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com02187, 13A Main Rd, Kumaraswamy Layout II Stage, Vikram Nagar, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560078, India12.9004907 77.562266610.752748910652517 75.365000975 15.048232489347484 79.759532225tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-9537484281258917522022-03-11T21:30:00.000+05:302022-03-11T21:30:16.317+05:30Sunday Activity at ABAA: Talk on James Webb Space Telescope <div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-538ed94f-7fff-3af2-8ddf-1e475a6b79cc"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After closing three times due to lockdowns and weekend curfews, ABAA is now back to meeting and conducting activities on Sunday evenings at Planetarium. Last Sunday at ABAA there was a talk on the James Webb Space Telescope given by Ravindra Aradhya, President of ABAA. This was the part one of the series and concentrated on the optics of James Webb Telescope. The idea behind the talk was on how Amateur Astronomers can relate their making of telescopes with JWST. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjocHHxnnG7CAwk92QPoKRT-FzZd0v7HpwAOK_Ejj3zdLSuIrAP-P_nSlvnwDX2VhY_qfiRimjRrMihqj8lsJNZa8revMHCoxie52zqzgVHkbo0av-LGg97bWZoYFuxeIDPXHGxXpq9Nb3qflDifBGUOl0ukJZl6nmltKSFv0q65FF8-9ZZwW_7e8Tz" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="1024" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjocHHxnnG7CAwk92QPoKRT-FzZd0v7HpwAOK_Ejj3zdLSuIrAP-P_nSlvnwDX2VhY_qfiRimjRrMihqj8lsJNZa8revMHCoxie52zqzgVHkbo0av-LGg97bWZoYFuxeIDPXHGxXpq9Nb3qflDifBGUOl0ukJZl6nmltKSFv0q65FF8-9ZZwW_7e8Tz=w640-h206" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As all telescope makers know, the first and most important part is selecting and buying glass blanks. The selection of glass blanks is done based on the need, thermal expansion is one most important of all the criteria. From Speculum metal, used by Newton and William Herschel, Plate glass, a familiar glass to all amateurs, Pyrex used by many amateurs and observatories to Zerodur used by observatories. The talk covered in detail on the advantages and disadvantages of each type of mirror. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 335px; overflow: hidden; width: 322px;"><img height="335" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_rWTEqCzeJbNMJNNw7wu52psWNA9gu-N168ag05_DxfZyDkNgcctjiQb8UIHJMdwTuxubF1j8fL99kz2kxNt3W6mRt-G3gStrmCr6x4e_cxA-w3ECKl4vysVdwKIf49vCBCEuq_N" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="322" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beryllium used in the making of the James Webb Space telescope was chosen again with the same criteria. The ability of Beryllium to keep the optical shape intact in different temperatures, this is something all Amateur Telescope Makers (ATM) can relate to and has first had experience in that. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next concern is the weight, Beryllium was chosen keeping this also as priority. At ABAA members are very familiar with J. Texerea’s mirror diameter to thickness ratio of 1:6. This is followed for smaller mirrors but the ratio of 1:10 is considered from larger mirrors. This is done to reduce the weight of the primary mirror. For observatory class mirrors, weight is reduced with hollow mirrors with honeycomb support. We can see this kind of mirror used in Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 396px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="396" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zqwCA3DcciGqe5kigqw013zFe9V7gpey-gpE4TNwDEXDnQ5GVT9SmpBomLttx7ZBQe3nQGiRZ7h47gDexOrAM-HwsXpT78dDoR2C-GDe6SO0LpWvzi-Su369w1khuJWwvffcC_y_" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After covering the topic of choice of glass and weight reducing methods in mirror making the talk covered in detail on the shape of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hexagon, The geometry and advantages of multi mirrors with Hexagon mirrors was discussed in detail. When it comes to aligning the mirrors, amateurs can understand the importance and difficulties in collimating a telescope. Many were fascinated to know that the hexagon mirrors are already being used in keck telescopes</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 416px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="416" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_jCRxu40WeoXrOrD2YJkpiOqGvTvdry8hcUq1sW9WaVwoHvPA7LIvMzoV4Gouv8S5X6sSp-_2Qgk2sPq-zod8dnLP8UyHqKgoyZmLWWmyK1V6kNZFpwizEDU2vx7sK63BR5i5-rV" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next was on the topic of type of telescopes and amateur astronomers know the two kinds of optics most used, the Newtonians and the Cassegrains. The optics and light path was discussed in detail and members could relate the light path in James Webb telescope. Little more time was spent on understanding theThree-mirror anastigmat optics of James Webb. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 444px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="444" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lV7zbzsJK_TTetEMj41IFaWZTwQSgTPGQYSRM3CEoDXqvpH_Mh25sUAc4MhmEAD4rwFW3CbHqjtfuQG7Z_W1Sn4pA1GZrBwiM_ZWXMIEmu0SVxN-cSqLcXwh_C-JdG81NWECkF5x" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It became easier for members to relate their telescope making experience of grinding, polishing and testing. The method of polishing, difficulties and the precision is something that amateur telescope makers are too familiar with. Members now could appreciate and admire the engineering that went into making of JWST.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 324px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="324" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/5lcAOJT9CH0pTpwpkha4Vdw8o8RpHSDbV5RgaOmr9Yg01z-SVD2A_esX4W0iW8yaaKJxAc6d0sqWwexeHI4X4_czlr57yxL_Sv268XGMWqHD-MF71Yn07QJqn5en1lP3zyfjHv9M" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The surface error that was allowed and achieved for JWST mirrors was 20 nanometers. This number does not make much sense, it's just a number. Until we convert the 1.3 meter segment into nanometers, this will be 1,300,000,000 nanometers, now there were a lot of raised eyebrows in the room. The deformity on the surface should not exceed 20 nanometers at temperature of 40 kelvin (-233 C). To visualize this, our DNA is just 2 nanometers in diameter. Members and audience were excited to realize how small an error astronomers and amateurs work on.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 247px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="247" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SI02LC8uTeHQtblNxePgNwng_P6nz7efvK95D8l10XK16D72J2r_MY5YMzPAkCAmCglkMMXKAn6jsRn_geDOxdQq4ZDv3C3Xv6JvbFwrbvSHoeRKYRA7jNg02M4Wlv9LarssN-a1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally the topic of coating was discussed. Amateur telescope makers, after polishing and testing their mirrors, send the mirror for aluminum coating. Different kinds of coating </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and their applications were discussed. The sliver, aluminum and gold coating is used for different wavelengths. Since JWST is going to study mainly in InfraRed, gold is the best choice. The talk later covered briefly the process of coating mirrors.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 271px; overflow: hidden; width: 405px;"><img height="271" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MeHVOvurAiXFjYOfZQckVk_z0y-D8qLmpLgyEHah_cZObafoIbUbz5P4qR5LR_XQSUC8lzzYTcEyOthYdjhdQHBLAYJRRMkuIyCj5u1EsXDppPOshPHCR45dG_OjcBs9IZFeupan" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="405" /></span></span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> . </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.com1ABAA, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India12.9715987 77.5945627-15.338635136178846 42.4383127 41.281832536178847 112.7508127tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-81648244874414867012021-03-20T00:27:00.004+05:302021-03-20T00:27:18.148+05:30How to find Largest Asteroid passing closest to earth?<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How
to find Largest Asteroid passing closest to earth? Is a good
question. The asteroid 2001 FO32 will pass very close to earth and
it will be visible in moderate sized backyard telescopes, 8inch aperture and
above with dark skies. The asteroid in the eyepiece or in the
photograph will appear as a tiny star indistinguishable from the
surrounding stars. This makes it a challenging object to spot and
confirm. Keeping this in mind I have prepared a star chart and also
provided the co ordinate systems of the object so that you can enter
this in your GOTO telescope and spot the asteroid.
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
apparent motion of the asteroid is fast enough for the motion to be
detected with respect to background stars. Only way to confirm that
you were successful in spotting the asteroid it so make observations
at regular intervals and check for the movement. Taking photos of the
region at regular intervals and blinking the photos will help to
confirm the asteroid.
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Here
are the details of the asteroid 2001 FO32 path from 20<sup>th</sup>
of March to 21<sup>st</sup> of March, this includes chart with hourly
movement of the asteroid. The Time and Chart is for Indian Subcontinent. </span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yTSRffv_Fk/YFTvo6bDqPI/AAAAAAAALqI/iy_98EHgKWEr1WVVwzXS5bYVgCU5xYFKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1270/asteroid%2B2001%2BFO%2B32%2BClsoe%2Bapporch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1270" height="287" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yTSRffv_Fk/YFTvo6bDqPI/AAAAAAAALqI/iy_98EHgKWEr1WVVwzXS5bYVgCU5xYFKwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h287/asteroid%2B2001%2BFO%2B32%2BClsoe%2Bapporch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Asteroid
2001 FO32 will rise in the constellation of Lupus at 10:50pm IST on 20th March,
Moon will be in the sky at the time of asteroid rising but moon will
set at midnight giving lot of time to track the Asteroid 2001 FO32.
</span>
</p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5VKkF4h8-iQ/YFTv0_E6YXI/AAAAAAAALqM/CEIHPXsSGQ0DqPhJdqLKvEiIkiUFVz7bgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="539" height="269" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5VKkF4h8-iQ/YFTv0_E6YXI/AAAAAAAALqM/CEIHPXsSGQ0DqPhJdqLKvEiIkiUFVz7bgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h269/image.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Above are the co-ordinates for GOTO telescopes to spot Asteroid 2001 FO32<span style="text-align: left;">. The Asteroid will rise at 4am on 22nd morning making it difficult to spot in low horizon.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">Happy hunting.</span></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-40311419700626007392021-03-16T13:32:00.000+05:302021-03-16T13:32:00.080+05:30Sunday Talk at ABAA: The Ways of Magnetic Fields <p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><h1 style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Ways of Magnetic Fields</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Talk Given By Raviraj Shinde, Member ABAA and doing his post graduation in geo magnetism and magnetohydrodynamics at Indian Institute of Science (IISc).</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div><br /></div><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
magnetic field of the earth has a dipolar structure, with its north
magnetic pole close to the south geographic pole, and south magnetic
pole close to the north geographic pole. Due to its dipolar
structure, it was considered earlier that there may be a giant bar
magnet inside the earth. But since the earth's magnetic field has
been there for billions of years and the temperature inside the earth
is very high that permanent magnetism cannot sustain there. Then in
the early 20th-century dynamo theory came into the picture. The
Dynamo theory explains how fluid flows of conducting fluid can
sustain and intensify given the initial magnetic field inside a
planet or a star like a sun.</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fYp9y8W2ahU/YFBkcQc5m4I/AAAAAAAACG0/-tlGlmMNUlUq6yDNC6uvAQVBOjVkXYB-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.26.20.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fYp9y8W2ahU/YFBkcQc5m4I/AAAAAAAACG0/-tlGlmMNUlUq6yDNC6uvAQVBOjVkXYB-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.26.20.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
Earlier it was thought that Earth's magnetic field only helps to
navigate, but it has to do a lot more than that. Earth's
magnetosphere has been protecting Earth's atmosphere and indirectly
all the life on earth from harmful radiation in the form of solar
winds. Also, the interaction of the magnetosphere with this solar
wind produces beautiful aurora near the Earth's poles. The very
interesting phenomenon; the reversal of Earth's magnetic field has
not been understood yet. Apart from The Earth Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune are known to have their own magnetic field. Some
other planets and natural satellites were having their own magnetic
field which is not there today.
</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_P5cl2vM14E/YFBkqstD90I/AAAAAAAACG4/au6r6GH97yANr__AVgHZyqa2RXVjNQNwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.24.46.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_P5cl2vM14E/YFBkqstD90I/AAAAAAAACG4/au6r6GH97yANr__AVgHZyqa2RXVjNQNwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.24.46.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />Finally,
our own star The Sun has its magnetic field which is very dynamic and
capricious. The sunspots were the earliest manifestations of the
magnetic field of the sun. This magnetic field is also maintained by
the dynamo action in the convection layer, but unlike the Earth's
case conducting fluids here is plasma not liquid metal. J.C.Maxwell
was the first to observe the relation between 11 solar cycles and
maximum disturbance of terrestrial magnetic fields. Sunspots are
formed near the equator where azimuthal fields are very intense and
these high-intensity magnetic fields suppress turbulent convective
motions towards the photosphere. Making the region cooler and hence
darker. Since the formation of sunspots is symmetric about the sun's
equator and the direction of magnetic flux changes over 11 years so
this 11-year solar cycle is related to the reversal of the azimuthal
magnetic field. Magnetic flux loops that produce sunspots rise above
the photosphere up to the corona layer of its atmosphere. The
magnetic field lines in this layer are under tremendous stretching
such that they frequently snap and rejoin, in between they release a
large amount of heat energy which raises the temperature of the
plasma in the corona level to 10^6K. This causes a reduction of
density so that solar wind is generated which travels through the
solar system spiraling around the sun with a velocity of a few
hundred kilometres per second.<br />
</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S05Wrm4LvNc/YFBk1FVD4TI/AAAAAAAACG8/pij6ISG0q4UIPaFY0n5yuns4M06BBqNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B18.52.24.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S05Wrm4LvNc/YFBk1FVD4TI/AAAAAAAACG8/pij6ISG0q4UIPaFY0n5yuns4M06BBqNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B18.52.24.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7TPlNaNFS0/YFBk1A-XcGI/AAAAAAAACHA/yuC64YsZdh4Y5E774JpJkeE53fEYRq6xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.33.42.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7TPlNaNFS0/YFBk1A-XcGI/AAAAAAAACHA/yuC64YsZdh4Y5E774JpJkeE53fEYRq6xQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2021-03-14%2Bat%2B19.33.42.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Field
of magnetohydrodynamics which studies all these and many more
phenomenon related to astrophysics. But it has its own limitations,
journey started nearly about a century ago has not yet come to an
end. And still today researchers are working on dynamo theory to get
ourselves closer to the reality.
</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqunK6kiD4U/YFBk_Ug5tMI/AAAAAAAACHE/2xrI1Jc04_czUGYsGk59hewfgVc8D4RJACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210314_192802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqunK6kiD4U/YFBk_Ug5tMI/AAAAAAAACHE/2xrI1Jc04_czUGYsGk59hewfgVc8D4RJACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_20210314_192802.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3drXHCpj2Sw/YFBk_qsoHBI/AAAAAAAACHI/cKVtjC3SMpcCXsvV1VgVniqLz4GLoVmngCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210314_192840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3drXHCpj2Sw/YFBk_qsoHBI/AAAAAAAACHI/cKVtjC3SMpcCXsvV1VgVniqLz4GLoVmngCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_20210314_192840.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">
</p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
discussion went on covering magnetic fields of planets and its
importance for atmosphere and ways of studying the magnetic fields of
rocky and gaseous planets. </span></p><p></p>Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-4078309863418395972021-03-04T22:22:00.000+05:302021-03-04T22:22:29.447+05:30Brightest asteroid Vesta in Opposition<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
brightest asteroid Vesta is in opposition today, March 4<sup>th</sup>
2021. It is easily visible through small binoculars even in the light
polluted city conditions. Vesta will rise in the east as sun sets in
the west. sun, earth and Vesta will be in the same line with earth at
the center, this is called opposition. </span></div><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0EBajhkxKrY/YEEKCNO1E6I/AAAAAAAALjw/o7S9dOLiu_gXpshCa9Yw7frXPR8qJIQwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/vesta.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0EBajhkxKrY/YEEKCNO1E6I/AAAAAAAALjw/o7S9dOLiu_gXpshCa9Yw7frXPR8qJIQwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/vesta.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vesta Opposition</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><p></p>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">Vesta
is now placed in the constellation of Leo very close to the bright
3</span><sup style="text-align: left;">rd</sup><span style="text-align: left;"> magnitude star Theta Leonis. You can spot the asteroid
Vesta just 1 degree 15 minutes north east of Theta Leonis. Around 8pm
the asteroid will be well placed for spotting but if you have
buildings or trees blocking the horizon then you may have to wait
until 10pm to spot the asteroid.</span></span></div><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OMu0Iw91bEs/YEEKe9LxScI/AAAAAAAALj4/UyXcNQkkFAgLxuICobMULfWvl01q-3X5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s736/vesta%2B2021%2Bopposition%2Bchart.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="736" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OMu0Iw91bEs/YEEKe9LxScI/AAAAAAAALj4/UyXcNQkkFAgLxuICobMULfWvl01q-3X5ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/vesta%2B2021%2Bopposition%2Bchart.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vesta in Leo</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Looking
through the binoculars or telescope the asteroid will appear as a
star, with no hint of shape. This is because of the distance between
the earth and Vesta which is now at 1.36 AU(203,453,379km) and the
size to the asteroid is 262km in radius.</span></span></div><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hfW7aycbOWM/YEEKrlpXm-I/AAAAAAAALj8/YfIiuI4y2tAZM-KMr-FVli78HuzC6vtaACLcBGAsYHQ/s852/vesta%2B2021%2Bopposition.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="852" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hfW7aycbOWM/YEEKrlpXm-I/AAAAAAAALj8/YfIiuI4y2tAZM-KMr-FVli78HuzC6vtaACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h394/vesta%2B2021%2Bopposition.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vesta Position in Leo</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Vesta
will be closest to the earth on March 9 2021.</span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<h2 style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Following
Vesta:</span></h2>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">With a
pair of binoculars or telescope you can notice the movement of Vesta.
Choose a couple of stars in the field of view and make a sketch of
the field or you can take a photo of the field. With regular
observations over the days can show the movement of Vesta with
non-moving stars in the field.
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Vesta
is moving fast at 1 minute of arc in March. If you continue to track
Vesta every night or every couple of days you will notice that the
distance moved by Vesta is slowing down and in middle of April 2021
Vesta will appear stationary for couple of days and slowly increase
the speed as days follow.
</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wQDMP1QdwTw/YEEMZnM0R5I/AAAAAAAALkI/EX5AYXfWstIMW8t0ffDtKIO9e5qKYmU-wCLcBGAsYHQ/s852/vesta%2B2021%2Bmovement.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="852" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wQDMP1QdwTw/YEEMZnM0R5I/AAAAAAAALkI/EX5AYXfWstIMW8t0ffDtKIO9e5qKYmU-wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h394/vesta%2B2021%2Bmovement.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vesta tacking </span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><p></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You
will also notice that from March to April the asteroid Vesta will be
moving towards western direction in the Sky, but from first week of
May the asteroid will appear moving towards eastern direction in the
sky. This is due to the fact that Vesta will be in retrograde motion
until April and appear to move towards west and later it will start
moving in east. </span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Along with angular velocity and direction you will
also notice that the asteroid Vesta magnitude also starts dropping.
Now in March 2021 Vesta magnitude is 5.9 and post retrograde, that is
after April the magnitude of Vesta will drop to 7.2 and it will keep
dropping. You can notice this drop in brightness comparing with the
stars you have chosen for reference.
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Finding
and tracking Vesta not only improves the skill of finding objects in
the sky using star hopping, it will also make the hobby interesting
helping in understanding the concepts like field of view, angular
motion, retrograde motion and Magnitude system.
</span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Good Luck Observing!</span></p>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-12165224642229177062021-02-17T13:34:00.000+05:302021-02-17T13:34:57.643+05:30The Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars in Indian Standard Time (IST)<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2jXNlCklStw/YCzBGr2wbPI/AAAAAAAALeU/gDfh-a3KkZgNv_IJZ6MFLyFaRV_b6c_xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/24804_1-PIA23764-RoverNamePlateonMars-web.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2jXNlCklStw/YCzBGr2wbPI/AAAAAAAALeU/gDfh-a3KkZgNv_IJZ6MFLyFaRV_b6c_xQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/24804_1-PIA23764-RoverNamePlateonMars-web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perseverance Rover Credit:NASA</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Mars Perseverance Rover is all set to
start the landing sequence and explore Mars from February 18</span><sup style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">th</sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">.
The 1025kg rover which will weigh only 384kg on mars is equipped with
scientific instruments to take readings and samples of the Martian
surface to answer the question, "Did life exists on Mars at some point
in the past". The descent to Martian surface will start on February
18</span><sup style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">th</sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"> and here are the sequence of events that are planned.</span></div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars
in Indian Standard Time (IST)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NLfxRXPaYfc/YCzDAh1zbYI/AAAAAAAALe4/d2CIC4M4ti80k0ZSzkJakuaHe0PL0O2GACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Perseverance Rover Landing Indian Standard Time" data-original-height="203" data-original-width="518" height="250" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NLfxRXPaYfc/YCzDAh1zbYI/AAAAAAAALe4/d2CIC4M4ti80k0ZSzkJakuaHe0PL0O2GACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h250/image.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For USA it will be 18th but for India it will 19th Morning</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-288tHLFKgOc/YCzBWtMxA5I/AAAAAAAALec/uMGPkOE5pdYoSULFFfsjHS58jLWjrYEqACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/nasa%2BPerseverance%2Blanding.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="1200" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-288tHLFKgOc/YCzBWtMxA5I/AAAAAAAALec/uMGPkOE5pdYoSULFFfsjHS58jLWjrYEqACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h378/nasa%2BPerseverance%2Blanding.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-size: 15.8333px; text-align: left;"> Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The red planet's atmosphere is very thin
compared to earth, about 1% in volume, mainly made up of carbon
dioxide. Even at this thin atmosphere, the heat shield protecting the
rover will experience a temperature of 1300 centigrade during
descent. The atmosphere breaking will slow the spacecraft descent to
1000km/h and when at this speed the parachute is deployed, it will slow down
the spacecraft further.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qe_C2NgRA3I/YCzB04yB3FI/AAAAAAAALek/6BoeYGFijUUgO9JW8l-9XGT4EupRdUy8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/peak-heating.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qe_C2NgRA3I/YCzB04yB3FI/AAAAAAAALek/6BoeYGFijUUgO9JW8l-9XGT4EupRdUy8wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/peak-heating.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-size: 15.8333px; text-align: left;"> Atmosphere breaking. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">When the spacecraft is slowed down to
320km/h the parachute is detached, the instruments on the spacecraft
guides, using radar and camera to safely land the rover on the Martian surface.
</span></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You can watch the events Live from NASA's YouTube channel.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gm0b_ijaYMQ" width="560"></iframe>
<br />Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-55638756895472052932021-02-15T18:33:00.001+05:302021-02-15T20:53:59.129+05:30Sun as Blind(Bright) Spot<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXrJJ8UHy1g/YCpvc8Y_yoI/AAAAAAAALdc/jmLJAyYnq04cevkjgB50JyxZ8aK4TX2mACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/sun%2Bas%2Bblind%2Bsopt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="1920" height="67" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXrJJ8UHy1g/YCpvc8Y_yoI/AAAAAAAALdc/jmLJAyYnq04cevkjgB50JyxZ8aK4TX2mACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h67/sun%2Bas%2Bblind%2Bsopt.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;"><br /></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Blind
Spot, something we are all familiar with and have experienced it one
time or the other. With all the mirrors around in the car or truck
there will be one area where we cannot see and we have to adapt and
work around it. Sometimes its a matter of life and death. Something
which we cannot observe even with mirrors, this got me thinking of
astronomers and their mirrors, the telescope and blind spot ,that
area where observation is not possible. Earth rotates on its axis
every 24 hours and if a solar eclipse is happening in USA, we in
India will be at the opposite side with nightfall, but at-least
someone got to see the eclipse. But there are places in the sky where
if some events happen nowhere on earth can we see or observe the
event. This is the portion of the sky where the Sun is placed. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">On
a new moon day we cannot the see the moon, it's not that moon has
vanished from the sky but its hidden in the glare of the Sun. When a
celestial object is close to the Sun we call that object as, in
conjunction with Sun. During new moon phase the moon is in
conjunction with the Sun. This applies to planets too, planets
Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction with Sun in late January of
this year and as you know by now, conjunction means close to the Sun.
When planets are in conjunction with the Sun observations cannot
happen and we have to wait for the planets to come out of Sun's
glare. This can take from several days to months and during that time
there is nothing that the earth bound astronomers can do but wait. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
dreaded wait, how many of you reading this article remember the wait
for the emergence of COMET ISON in 2013. The COMET ISON was dubbed to
be the comet of the century and was to be the brightest comet in the
sky after its perihelion (close approach to Sun). The comet was
observed and followed until it fell into the glare of the Sun,
amateurs and professional astronomers waiting to see the reappearance
never got the chance as the comet got disintegrated during its close
approach to Sun. We had wonderful images before it went close to Sun,
but as it got close to Sun all we could do was to wait for emergence
as sun's glare hid the comet. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">If
we go back in time to 1994 and the event of great impact of comet
Shoemaker Levy 9 on to the planet Jupiter, which proved Eugene
Shoemaker's theory of the impacts by comets and asteroids on Planets
are common, well in astronomical timeline of-course. The event took
place in July and telescopes around the world were pointing at
Jupiter and astronomers studied the event in great detail. At that
time Jupiter was in the constellation of Virgo and the Sun was in the
constellation of Gemini. Imagine if the same event would have taken
place during conjunction of Jupiter with Sun, we would have missed
the great event.</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Its
not only planets but stars and other celestial objects too that come
close to the Sun in the sky during the year, reaching conjunction,
and those objects also cannot be observed until they emerge out of
the glare. For example ,in the month of February Sun is in the
constellation of Capricornus and we cannot see the stars or the
objects in the constellation due to the bright Sun. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">In
the month of January of 2020 the red star in Orion constellation,
Betelgeuse, dimmed in brightness unexpectedly and astronomers were
able to measure the brightness until it came back to its original
brightness in April of 2020. This was a good opportunity to study
the brightness variation of the star as Betelgeuse was well placed in
the sky away from the bright Sun. The same event if it had happened
in the month of June, you know where I am going with this, yes
Betelgeuse will be in conjunction with Sun in June.</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">There
are many such rare events that we could have missed if the event had
taken place during conjunction with Sun, even the closest supernova
in Large Magellanic Cloud which took place in 1987 if it had happened
during conjunction. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Sun
is a big blind spot for astronomers, even with their mirrors they
will miss anything close to Sun. Astronomers take advantage of even
the smallest window and try to learn everything they can, because
they know that these are rare events. For astronomers there is no
such thing as being at right time at right place, they have to make
best of what they get. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Knowing
this I am very sure that it will make us look at each event and night
as a gift and accept it with a sense of gratitude. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-13393059198223655032020-07-03T18:44:00.000+05:302020-07-03T18:44:07.774+05:30Sun Farthest from Earth <p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;">Sun
is far away and still its hot summer in the northern hemisphere. This
is the question many have, relating to the distance to the Sun and
seasons on earth. The seasons on earth is due to the tilt of the
earth at 23.5 degrees. Due to this tilt northern and southern
hemispheres are exposed to the Sun during certain months of the year.
While Northern hemisphere is exposed to more sun during March to
September, the Southern hemisphere will be going through winter and
situation reverses after September. From September to March Southern
hemisphere is exposed to more Sun and it will be Summer in southern
hemisphere while northern hemisphere will be experiencing winter.
This is how seasons change on earth.
</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vejmjZZFMyU/Xv8rzmMRoRI/AAAAAAAAKWU/bMA_47jU2s0vZAKq8pdfVdB864jTFKjuACK4BGAsYHg/s1024/1024px-North_season.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><font size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="1024" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vejmjZZFMyU/Xv8rzmMRoRI/AAAAAAAAKWU/bMA_47jU2s0vZAKq8pdfVdB864jTFKjuACK4BGAsYHg/w625-h336/1024px-North_season.jpg" width="625" /></font></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font size="2">Earth Tilt and Seasons Credit:CC</font></td></tr></tbody></table><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font size="5"><span style="font-family: arial;">Earth
makes one full revolution of the Sun in approx 365.256 days. In this
orbit around the Sun there are two points where the Sun and earth are
closest, called Perihelion, and the other point is the farthest
distance between Sun and earth and this point is called Aphelion. The
two points Perihelion and Aphelion exists because the orbit of earth
around the Sun is not a circular one, it orbits in an elliptical
orbit but the difference is very small at an eccentricity of </span><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">0.0167.
This small elliptical orbit makes the earth”s perihelion distance
close to 147 million kilometres and aphelion distance close to 152
million kilometres.</span></span></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000" style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7l26ivVhUTo/Xv8sD5g0CpI/AAAAAAAAKWo/9GLG4bNfd-gBQCwUs7h8uuZRpAzjuUQngCK4BGAsYHg/s800/Sun%2BOrbit%2BPerihelion%2Band%2BAphelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7l26ivVhUTo/Xv8sD5g0CpI/AAAAAAAAKWo/9GLG4bNfd-gBQCwUs7h8uuZRpAzjuUQngCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h500/Sun%2BOrbit%2BPerihelion%2Band%2BAphelion.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font size="2">Earth elliptical orbit Perihelion and Aphelion Credit: ABAA</font></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font size="5"><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Earth
reaches perihelion on January 5</span></span></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><sup style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">th</span></span></sup></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">
and aphelion on July 4</span></span></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><sup style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">th</span></span></sup></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">.
During Perihelion the Sun is in the constellation of Sagittarius and
earth will be moving around the Sun at a velocity of 1,08,900km/h and
has an angular diameter of 32m32s of arc. During Aphelion on July 4</span></span></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><sup style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">th</span></span></sup></font><font color="#000000" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">
Sun will be in the constellation of Gemini and earth will be moving
around the Sun at a velocity of 1,07,208km/h and will have angular
diameter of 31m28s of arc.</span></span></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></span></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000" style="line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NIwnO5mDosI/Xv8sNotWakI/AAAAAAAAKW0/ufrrXGMaZm0rUPtH4T1p_5TpZIhaI1nYgCK4BGAsYHg/s800/sun%2Bperihelion%2Band%2Baphelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="800" height="401" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NIwnO5mDosI/Xv8sNotWakI/AAAAAAAAKW0/ufrrXGMaZm0rUPtH4T1p_5TpZIhaI1nYgCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h401/sun%2Bperihelion%2Band%2Baphelion.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font size="2">Sun Angular size at Aphelion and Perihelion Credit: ABAA</font></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;">Happy Observing and Clear Skies.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" size="5" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br />
</font></p><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-6270897977686105762020-06-23T17:04:00.000+05:302020-06-23T17:04:04.163+05:30Partial Solar Eclipse Volunteering of ABAA members at Planetarium on June 21,2020 <div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">The Partial Solar Eclipse on June 21st was a sober affair at Planetarium. This was due to social distancing in the middle of Corona virus situation. Planetarium had arranged live streaming of the eclipse from different types of telescopes. Few ABAA members were invited to volunteer for the event and handle the telescopes. Members following rules of social distancing managed the event very well, taking pictures of the eclipse, guiding the telescopes, helping the press to get good images of eclipse and also giving information on eclipse. Members had mixed feeling about the eclipse, on one side they were happy to see the eclipse without cloud cover at the same time they were feeling sad that they could not share the experience with public. Here are few picture of members at Planetarium during the event.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">Projecting the Sun on to a wall or on a white cardboard paper is one of safe methods for observing Sun during eclipse and also while observing Sunspots. Here a projection box is attached to the Planetarium's Telescope, the box has a semi transparent paper in the middle of box where the image of the Sun forms and it can be viewed safely. ABAA member Naveen is headlining the telescope.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9nLCStm6d60/XvHZZH64glI/AAAAAAAAKQc/FBTWH75TiisqjqLVPnW3xzi6mAhxuyZBACK4BGAsYHg/s800/abaaASE2020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9nLCStm6d60/XvHZZH64glI/AAAAAAAAKQc/FBTWH75TiisqjqLVPnW3xzi6mAhxuyZBACK4BGAsYHg/w500-h426/abaaASE2020.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">One of the live streaming of the Partial Solar eclipse was done from the 6 inch refractor telescope which has a massive focal length of 90 inches. It is coude focus telescope. The image is very stable and does not move as telescope tracks the Sun or any celestial object. This is the main advantage of coude focus.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EUEyKqNiBE4/XvHZZvHVgOI/AAAAAAAAKQg/OlC3N0FV5-4MBXh1Fd9Sc1IX_KcMjS6VwCK4BGAsYHg/s800/ABAAASE2020_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="375" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EUEyKqNiBE4/XvHZZvHVgOI/AAAAAAAAKQg/OlC3N0FV5-4MBXh1Fd9Sc1IX_KcMjS6VwCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h375/ABAAASE2020_1.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">ABAA helps members to make their own telescope and assemble the telescopes. This is something ABAA is regularly doing from four decades. Members had got their own telescope for the event, here you can see a member using the telescope, the front end of the tube is covered with solar filter making safe to observe the Sun. </font></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2_YyD1qfWE/XvHZZzlJlgI/AAAAAAAAKQk/eIPb2XIOYuEgJRBfhNsYezXeUAhKe5vzQCK4BGAsYHg/s800/ABAAASE2020_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="800" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2_YyD1qfWE/XvHZZzlJlgI/AAAAAAAAKQk/eIPb2XIOYuEgJRBfhNsYezXeUAhKe5vzQCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h398/ABAAASE2020_2.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">ABAA member is guiding the telescope at Planetarium. This is a favorite type of telescope mount used by amateur astronomers for observing the celestial objects. ABAA is making this kind of mount and using it from couple of decades now. It is easy to make and easy to use, even in deep sky observations.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T7abCrhfdUo/XvHZaGTgicI/AAAAAAAAKQo/drkRGphSZfk60K6HaKqze7BazdJA0cqhgCK4BGAsYHg/s800/ABAAASE2020_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="800" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T7abCrhfdUo/XvHZaGTgicI/AAAAAAAAKQo/drkRGphSZfk60K6HaKqze7BazdJA0cqhgCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h311/ABAAASE2020_3.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">Binoculars are one more favorite optics of amateur astronomers and in fact ABAA recommends binoculars for starting out in astronomy. Because of its large field of view it makes a good choice. Here the binoculars lens are covered with Solar filters for safe viewing. There are hundred of celestial objects that can be viewed through binocular at night, even small ones like 10X50. </font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehcPO4VP0Fg/XvHZaXLfGtI/AAAAAAAAKQs/cIpnaqmgvWspbF_5vI1UvoECFXehpXbmACK4BGAsYHg/s800/ABAAASE2020_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="375" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehcPO4VP0Fg/XvHZaXLfGtI/AAAAAAAAKQs/cIpnaqmgvWspbF_5vI1UvoECFXehpXbmACK4BGAsYHg/w500-h375/ABAAASE2020_4.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">Another interesting setup at the event was heliostat, a system of mirrors arranged in a particular way which makes the image of the Sun fall on the wall and keeps the image study. The mirrors tracks the Sun but image of the Sun is kept in one place. </font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-__qU1FfGUiY/XvHZajW9g_I/AAAAAAAAKQw/VIecPRKpaikVJUB5npLukIgyVf5CT__8ACK4BGAsYHg/s800/ABAAASE2020_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="375" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-__qU1FfGUiY/XvHZajW9g_I/AAAAAAAAKQw/VIecPRKpaikVJUB5npLukIgyVf5CT__8ACK4BGAsYHg/w500-h375/ABAAASE2020_5.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">ABAA members do lot of Astrophotography too, and members do discuss lot of techniques involved in Astrophotography at ABAA regularly. Here members are capturing eclipse event through long focal length lens with filters. The filter casing was home made by members, telescope making and astrophotography involves lot of DIY which makes the hobby more exciting...</font></div></div><div style="line-height: 1.5;"><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4LgZzDbwHMk/XvHZbK0I7TI/AAAAAAAAKQ0/bMK_BBY2nNw8HVXUm5wO-kYfvXFN9eS1ACK4BGAsYHg/s1203/Hari.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1200" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4LgZzDbwHMk/XvHZbK0I7TI/AAAAAAAAKQ0/bMK_BBY2nNw8HVXUm5wO-kYfvXFN9eS1ACK4BGAsYHg/w499-h500/Hari.JPG" width="499" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">It was a good session at Planetarium, clouds did not ruin the event and members could enjoy the event for the most part.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">Members have taken lot of good pictures of the eclipse, next blog post will feature the efforts of ABAA members in capturing the Partial Solar Eclipse.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial" style="line-height: 1.5;">Be safe and Clear Skies.</font></div><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-40917303796681010132020-06-18T18:04:00.000+05:302020-06-18T18:04:08.042+05:30Partial Solar Eclipse from Bangalore 21 June 2020<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial">After the partial solar
eclipse on December 26, 2019 which was visible from Bangalore, now
after six months we have one more partial solar eclipse visible from
Bangalore. </font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial">On June 21<sup style="line-height: 1.5;">st</sup> Sunday we are going to witness the
partial solar eclipse in the morning sky. The eclipse will start at
10:12:56 and at this time Sun will be 58 degrees above the eastern
horizon. With proper solar filter or using different safe observing
methods its a good idea to start observing couple of minutes before
the given time. The start of eclipse is when you see moon disc starts
coming inside Sun's disc, this is called first contact, when Sun and
Moon discs touch each other. As we observe the dark disc of moon will
start covering more and more of the Sun's disc and after reaching a
certain point the disc of moon starts to move away. This is called
Maximum eclipse, the point or time when Moon covers the maximum
surface of Sun's disc. This will occur at 11:47:38 and at this time
Sun would have moved higher in the sky at close to 77 degrees from
eastern horizon. As we continue observing or photographing we will
see that the dark disc of moon getting smaller and it will come out
of Sun's surface completely at 13:31:44 marking the end of eclipse,
the time of moon disc coming of Sun is called last contact. At this
time Sun will be in the western part of the sky at close to
70degrees from the western horizon. </font></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HPkZCuFIHQ/XutZ3HQCPgI/AAAAAAAAKNI/UBhYHvr_yPI-hUKbqDkmmn61wuUrlttFwCK4BGAsYHg/s1200/21june%2Beclipse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><font face="arial"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HPkZCuFIHQ/XutZ3HQCPgI/AAAAAAAAKNI/UBhYHvr_yPI-hUKbqDkmmn61wuUrlttFwCK4BGAsYHg/w500-h500/21june%2Beclipse.jpg" width="500" /></font></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font face="arial">Solar Eclipse Bangalore 21 June 2020</font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial"><br />As we all know June 21st is Solstice, on this day Sun's reaches the northern most point from
equator at 23.5degrees. From June until December Sun will move in
southern direction. Sun on June 21st will be on the border of Taurus and Gemini constellations. The borders of
constellations are set by International Astronomical Union (IAU). The
shapes and borders differ in different regions and cultures,
Astronomers use the shapes and borders set by IAU.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial">This eclipse is an
annular eclipse and parts of north India will witness the ring of
fire, that is Sun will appears like a ring with moon obstructing the
disc of Sun leaving only edges around the Sun glowing. The reason for
this ring is because of different apparent sizes of Sun and moon.
These two objects subtends an angle of half of degree in the sky, if
one of them is smaller or bigger we get annular eclipse. If moon has
an angular diameter smaller then the Sun we have annular eclipse as
moon cannot cover the entire disc of Sun. Here are the angular sizes
of Sun and Moon on June 21<sup style="line-height: 1.5;">st</sup> Sun will have a of Diameter:
31'28.4" and Moon will have a Diameter: 31'16.0". As we
can see Moon is smaller and this is the reason for annular eclipse. The difference in sizes happens due to elliptic orbit of earth around the Sun and elliptic orbit of moon around the earth. </font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial">Eclipses are rare and we
have to travel long distances to be in the center path, we have to go
to north India around Kurukshetra to see the ring of fire, annular eclipse on June 21st. Last year on December 26<sup style="line-height: 1.5;">th</sup>
we had to go to Kerala and Tamil Nadu to witness the annular eclipse.
Since we are unable to travel in these lock down situations, we will
have to wait until May 21<sup style="line-height: 1.5;">st</sup> 2031 to enjoy the solar
eclipse in India. The path of annular in 2031 will be in south India.</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial"><span style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">If some one decides not
to leave Bangalore for eclipse but wants central path of eclipse to
come to Bangalore, they will have to wait for the year 2085. Yes, on
June 22</span><sup style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">nd</sup><span style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> 2085 people in Bangalore can see the ring of
fire, the annular eclipse. Mark your calendars, it just 65 years
away.</span></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">For now we have to be
content with partial eclipse on Sunday and hope for clear skies.
Happy observing every one, observe safely with proper filters or pin
hole camera projection on the wall. <b>NEVER LOOK AT SUN DIRECTLY.</b></font></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><font face="arial"><br />
</font></p>
<p style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-24040171151772962962020-04-23T19:16:00.000+05:302020-04-23T19:16:16.070+05:30Zero Shadow Day in Bangalore <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Tomorrow
24<sup>th</sup> of April as every year Bangalore will witness Zero
Shadow Day. Sun as we all know appears to move in north and south
directions which we call uttarayana and dhakshinayana. At present Sun
is in northern motion and will reach the northern most point of 23.5
degrees on June 21<sup>st</sup> . </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">During this motion, tomorrow Sun
will be exactly overhead at local noon in Bangalore. To find out when
Sun will be exactly overhead on your location just check the
declination of Sun, if Declination of Sun and latitude of your
location is same then on that day Sun will be exactly overhead at
local noon. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVm15DSGe2s/XqGb3WHFq2I/AAAAAAAAJ-Q/zKOxLYZagQ8tChQgyt0nW5CLBA4f1COXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/shadow%2Bday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVm15DSGe2s/XqGb3WHFq2I/AAAAAAAAJ-Q/zKOxLYZagQ8tChQgyt0nW5CLBA4f1COXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/shadow%2Bday.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">To observe the Zero Shadow Day you need a vertical
reference like a pole which is straight and perpendicular to the
ground, this can be pencil, a small nail, a water bottle etc,. Since
we are all in lock down, we can spend few minutes observing this
phenomenon. Setup your experiment well before 12 noon and start
observing from 12 noon to 12:30 and you will see the shadow move from
one side of the reference to other side and with no shadow at
12:17pm. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Hope skies will be clear and you all will enjoy this
activity with full family. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-32455583786190433512019-09-15T13:27:00.001+05:302019-09-15T13:27:27.873+05:30C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) Visitor from Beyond <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="firstHeading"></a><span style="font-size: small;">Amateurs
discovery continues. Many amateurs patrol the skies in a systematic
way and keep discovering comets, Asteroids, Variable stars, Nova and
Supernova and even galaxies. This August 30th, amateur astronomer
Gennady Borisov scanning the skies from Nauchnij near black sea in
Ukraine reported discovery of a comet using his 25 inch telescope.
After the initial observations were made it became clear that this
comet could be a visitor from beyond solar system. This comet is
designated as <span lang="en">C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) may be
changed to I/2019 Q4 (Borisov) as I/ (I indicating Interstellar) was
adapted in 2017. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en">C/2019 Q4
(Borisov) in Cassiopeia constellation is slowly progressing towards perihelion on 9 December 2019 at 1.96 au (</span>Piotr Guzik, et al)
and is in hyperbolic orbit. Astronomers have photographed the comet
<span lang="en">C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) using 8.1 meter (319 inch)
telescope. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x1hMDBoxUF0/XX3tcD-0FPI/AAAAAAAAB9w/RLwp-dYCKL0JcHD-PuxOXE9RbC8Dh5zLACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Comet%2BC2019%2BQ4%2B%2528Borisov%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x1hMDBoxUF0/XX3tcD-0FPI/AAAAAAAAB9w/RLwp-dYCKL0JcHD-PuxOXE9RbC8Dh5zLACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Comet%2BC2019%2BQ4%2B%2528Borisov%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Gemini Observatory two-color composite image of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) which is the first interstellar comet ever identified. This image was obtained using the Gemini North Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) from Hawaii’s Maunakea. The image was obtained with four 60-second exposures in bands (filters) r and g. Blue and red dashes are images of background stars which appear to streak due to the motion of the comet. Composite image by Travis Rector.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;">Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en">The C/2019
Q4 (Borisov) will not come within the orbit of Mars even in at
Perihelion (closest to Sun) . Here is the orbit of C/2019 Q4
(Borisov) at the closest to Sun and also we can visualize the path of
the comet with high eccentricity. Many planetarium programs may have
to add a new feature to accept this high eccentricity. This image is
of the top view of the solar system </span><span lang="en-US">or as seen
from north ecliptic pole. To give a good location on where we have to
be to have this top view of our solar system is close to Cat's eye
nebula in Draco. This image clearly shows the path of comet </span><span lang="en">C/2019
Q4 (Borisov) will be beyond Mars. </span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span>
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PcdF0kqJlYU/XX3t6_umKoI/AAAAAAAAB94/OG-kYdokw7s3uIwzlZPEBWi01pIkUtWbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/borisov%2Bperihelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="884" height="408" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PcdF0kqJlYU/XX3t6_umKoI/AAAAAAAAB94/OG-kYdokw7s3uIwzlZPEBWi01pIkUtWbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/borisov%2Bperihelion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">The
next image shows the orientation of the path of </span><span lang="en">C/2019
Q4 (Borisov) with respect to our orbital plane. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-eJWq7txmk/XX3uHB_7n0I/AAAAAAAAB98/4BnI4397hz8mvfOWyOGtmB7tnyZT0Q_SACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/comet%2BBorisov%2Borbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="872" height="430" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-eJWq7txmk/XX3uHB_7n0I/AAAAAAAAB98/4BnI4397hz8mvfOWyOGtmB7tnyZT0Q_SACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/comet%2BBorisov%2Borbit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en">The comet
is currently at a visual magnitude of 17.7 and at its closest approach to Sun ,the magnitude will be 15.5, these values may change if
there are any changes in the comet. The C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) will be
closest to earth on 28</span><sup><span lang="en">th</span></sup><span lang="en">
December 2019. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-8588179526898255782019-08-21T13:49:00.000+05:302019-08-21T23:23:37.817+05:30SPOTTING THE LANDING SITE OF CHANDRAYAAN 2<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">As the landing date for the Chandrayaan
2 approaches which is on 7th September it is curious on where it is going to land. Amateur
Astronomers who keep observing the celestial objects are more curious
and would love to know the position of landing so that they can spot
the landing area on the moon with their telescopes. Most of the craters are visible with
small telescopes and there are lot of maps that are available online
to spot the craters.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">About the craters Manzinus C and
Simpelius N</span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ISRO sources say that the landing site
will be between craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N on the high lands
between them. As amateurs will know the letters next to the crater
names says that these are smaller craters around the big crater. Here
Manzinus is a big crater with a diameter close to 100 km diameter and smaller craters near its vicinity are given capital letters for example
Manzinus crater has Manzinus C, Manzinus D, Manzinus G, Manzinus E
etc,. This is same with all craters, so Simpelius N is a small crater
close to Simpelius crater which is close to 70km in diameter.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hYdlPG3o1eM/XVzzbFJUQoI/AAAAAAAAB9E/vATdzO06-IMWRl7dUv3M1KKOa4kpT91NgCEwYBhgL/s1600/moon%2Blaning%2BChandrayaan%2B2%2Bab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="922" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hYdlPG3o1eM/XVzzbFJUQoI/AAAAAAAAB9E/vATdzO06-IMWRl7dUv3M1KKOa4kpT91NgCEwYBhgL/s640/moon%2Blaning%2BChandrayaan%2B2%2Bab.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Locating the Landing site of
Chandrayaan 2</span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To find the crater its good to start
with the best known bright crater on the south side of the moon, the
Tycho crater. After finding Tycho, the next hop is to near by crater
Magnius, this is also easy to find because of the size of the crater,
the Magnius crater is close to 160km in diameter. Next hop is to
Crater Zach which is also easy to find due its appearance. Continuing
in the same line to almost limb of the moon the landing sites of
Chandarayaan 2 can be found, the craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N.
Crater Manzinus C is easy to find because of the diameter it has,
close to 20km, but the Simpelius N is little challenging at 8km
diameter.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztY6a49YumA/XVzy1ODjG_I/AAAAAAAAB80/BozFwtu29NE1aeGRaAc0WOt14yo6YJczQCLcBGAs/s1600/moon%2Btycho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="983" height="380" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztY6a49YumA/XVzy1ODjG_I/AAAAAAAAB80/BozFwtu29NE1aeGRaAc0WOt14yo6YJczQCLcBGAs/s640/moon%2Btycho.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXf5bKPncBM/XVzzBR2VINI/AAAAAAAAB84/IFMdB2PZumI8UuFwXkRNFK7xec-8RHS2ACLcBGAs/s1600/moon%2Blanding%2Bchandrayaan%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1010" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXf5bKPncBM/XVzzBR2VINI/AAAAAAAAB84/IFMdB2PZumI8UuFwXkRNFK7xec-8RHS2ACLcBGAs/s640/moon%2Blanding%2Bchandrayaan%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of Chandrayaan 2 Landing Site</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Best time to Spot the Landing site of
Chandrayaan 2</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To attempt to spot the craters Sun has
to light it up, as I am writing this article on 21st of August the craters are
in the dark, the next chance will come on 6th September, when moon is
half lit and the craters will be easy to spot until 17th of
September. For future reference the craters are best seen from half
moon after new moon to 3 days after full moon. Happy Spotting.</span></div>
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Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-52718876924873774882018-11-05T12:01:00.000+05:302018-11-05T12:01:37.531+05:30Mercury in the evening Sky<br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
the evening sky, low in the horizon, if we carefully look we can find
the smallest planet in our solar system. After sunset, in a place
where there are no obstruction like buildings or trees, in this
unobstructed view of the western horizon we can spot planet mercury.
Since mercury orbits close to the sun we can only find the planets
close to the horizon in evening or morning skies. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During
its orbit around the sun there are two favorable points where we can
observe the planet. This is the maximum separation of angle between
Sun and planet. This point of maximum separation is called Greatest
elongation. For planet mercury this greatest elongation angle is
between 18 degrees to 28 degrees. This is the reason why most people
miss the planet, since it is so close to horizon. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On
November 6<sup>th</sup> the planet will reach greatest elongation
giving us a good opportunity to catch a glimpse of this planet with
naked eye, binoculars and telescopes. The angle for this elongation
is 23 degrees, this means just after sunset the planet will be
23degrees above western horizon. </span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9DmOJA-XWGU/W9_ijmY9o8I/AAAAAAAAHT0/B9NxDtqblZ89e24XDTg6E-EIl7wwre99wCLcBGAs/s1600/mercurye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="1032" height="342" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9DmOJA-XWGU/W9_ijmY9o8I/AAAAAAAAHT0/B9NxDtqblZ89e24XDTg6E-EIl7wwre99wCLcBGAs/s640/mercurye.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spot planet after sunset in western sky.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
planet will be at a magnitude of -0.2, although it is bright the
drawback is that it is immersed in twilight making it difficult to
spot but as twilight fades its easy to spot. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With
a telescope we can see the gibbous phase of mercury with an angular
size of 6min of arc. The planet will be in half phase on 11<sup>th</sup>
of November and from there on the illuminated side of mercury will
start decreasing. This is a nice time to see and enjoy and also
understand the phases and orbit of mercury. Since the planet is
coming closer to earth the angular size will keep increasing and it
will be 9mins of arc before the planet sinks into the glare of the
sun and then reach inferior conjunction on 27<sup>th</sup> of
November. </span>
</div>
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</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Clear
Skies.</span></div>
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</div>
<br />Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-40954732781447392072018-07-26T12:38:00.000+05:302018-07-26T12:38:03.136+05:30July Total Lunar Eclipse<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are very few astronomical events for which we need not leave our house, or have telescopes, filters or worry about light pollution. One such event is Lunar eclipse, an astronomical event that can be seen from where we live and without any optical aid or equipment. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This time on 27th July the eclipse happens when moon is high in the sky so no worries of buildings and trees blocking the view. </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cOQ8AgVDroM/W1lvm4m0Y7I/AAAAAAAAGtk/9Pzho8iJSw4PMdJZ0h6KQEMbhBAOJWfswCLcBGAs/s1600/prakash%2Blunar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cOQ8AgVDroM/W1lvm4m0Y7I/AAAAAAAAGtk/9Pzho8iJSw4PMdJZ0h6KQEMbhBAOJWfswCLcBGAs/s640/prakash%2Blunar.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are the times of the eclipse. Moon will enter<b> Penumbral shadow at 10:45pm</b> on <b>27th July</b> this is hard to notice as the change in brightness is very less. Moon will start entering the <b>Umbral shadow at 11:55pm</b>, <i>partial eclipse phase</i>, from here we easily see the change in brightness. Moon will be <b>completely inside Umbral shadow from 1:00am,</b> here we say <b>Moon is in total eclipse phase.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> <b>T</b><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><b>he totality will end at 2:44am </b>when Moon will start becoming brighter. As moon comes out of totality we can see partial eclipse phase as some portion of Moon will be in dark and other will be in brightness. <b>Moon will come out of Partial phase at 3:45am</b>. The Moon will come out of Penumbral shadow at 4:48am.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We urge you watch this amazing celestial show which is viable from all our India</span></div>
Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-58174058965027702642018-01-30T17:33:00.000+05:302018-01-30T17:33:08.260+05:30Watch Lunar Eclipse at Planetarium, Bangalore<br />
<br />
Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium is organizing Lunar Eclipse viewing at planetarium campus, Bangalore. Interested public can visit planetarium and enjoy the eclipse and get questions answered about eclipse and astronomy.<br />
<br />
<b>The event is from 6:15pm to 8:45pm on January 31st. 2018. </b>Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers (A.B.A.A) members will also be there to help public understand and enjoy the eclipse.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yd4ZvQ6wc94/WnBegOXJZPI/AAAAAAAAFSU/DIiBnZUkGwU59Le_fZErb5mXvVwMLhi9wCLcBGAs/s1600/lunar%2Beclipse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yd4ZvQ6wc94/WnBegOXJZPI/AAAAAAAAFSU/DIiBnZUkGwU59Le_fZErb5mXvVwMLhi9wCLcBGAs/s640/lunar%2Beclipse.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-42418339375823672702018-01-03T12:16:00.000+05:302018-01-03T12:17:38.999+05:30Earth and Sun Closest <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sun so close yet so cold...Yes Today Sun and earth will be closest to each other at a distance of 14,70,99,586 km. This point of any object closest to Sun is called Perihelion. The reason for the cold in northern hemisphere is due to the orientation of earth's axis and as you can see in the illustration, the Sun is moved to southern hemisphere where they are experiencing Summer now. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jQbM7yvJPS8/Wkx7UFt9opI/AAAAAAAAFIo/KvjJpTMRPTwq4gzN9Qns9LU1l5mTIMWmQCLcBGAs/s1600/Seasons_illustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jQbM7yvJPS8/Wkx7UFt9opI/AAAAAAAAFIo/KvjJpTMRPTwq4gzN9Qns9LU1l5mTIMWmQCLcBGAs/s640/Seasons_illustration.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since earth's orbit is almost circular, at farthest point from Sun which occurs on July 6th the distance will be 15,20,96,155 km. This farthest point from Sun is called Aphelion.
The angular size of the Sun which we measure in degrees at perihelion is 0.542018074degrees. And as we know the orbit is almost circular the difference in angular diameter of Sun from Perihelion to Aphelion is very small. At Aphelion the angular diameter is 0.5243709741degrees. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If we compare this to Mercury, the perihelion distance is 46,000,000 and this gives the angular diameter of Sun Seen from Mercury at 1.73434325degrees. The Aphelion distance of Mercury is 69,820,000 and this gives the angular diameter of Sun as seen from Mercury at 1.14247784degrees, almost half a degree difference. You can compare this to earth and Sun.</div>
Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-10523815123842381852017-09-26T16:15:00.000+05:302017-09-26T18:00:11.016+05:30Remembering names of Moon Phases <div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We are seeing moon
getting brighter in the evening sky every day from the last new moon
on 20<sup>th</sup>. With each passing day more area of the moon is
illuminating and we can see lot of features on the moon. Many people have
confusion when it comes to naming the phases of the moon, so here is
a something useful to remember the names.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">First, we start with couple of days
after the new moon, the phase we are seeing is crescent phase a thin
sunlit part of the moon and since the sunlit part is getting bigger
with passing days we call it waxing crescent. This is from old
English meaning something that grows, here the brighter side is
growing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxfPy67UiJQ/Wconbs6Oi3I/AAAAAAAADg4/42AFHKgneFwueVfBiXdeRAU75hi0wUMdwCLcBGAs/s1600/crescent-moon-in-blue-sky-1407602457wap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxfPy67UiJQ/Wconbs6Oi3I/AAAAAAAADg4/42AFHKgneFwueVfBiXdeRAU75hi0wUMdwCLcBGAs/s320/crescent-moon-in-blue-sky-1407602457wap.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waxing crescent moon. Sunlit part towards west.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next is First quarter, this phase
happens when the Sun, earth and the moon align in such a way that Sun and
moon are at right angles as seen from earth. We can seen this in the
evening sky, on the evening of the first quarter at sunset, we can measure the
angle between Sun at the horizon and the moon and the angle will be
90 degrees or close to 90 degrees depending on actual time of
alignment.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0ID54cT4Kpg/WconuZoG1cI/AAAAAAAADg8/9ImxX6AJtGEESIsQfZhIgKA049p8iDcygCLcBGAs/s1600/moon-591187_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0ID54cT4Kpg/WconuZoG1cI/AAAAAAAADg8/9ImxX6AJtGEESIsQfZhIgKA049p8iDcygCLcBGAs/s320/moon-591187_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Quarter moon. Sunlit part towards west.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Between First quarter and Full Moon,
when more then half of the moon is lit up by sunlight we call it
gibbous phase and since the brightness is increasing its waxing
gibbous phase.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3HB1MqMg3Vo/Wcon-XJC41I/AAAAAAAADhA/s8rtsHjisTYY34itqswEosqCNPCFtxuywCLcBGAs/s1600/Lune-Nikon-600-F4_Luc_Viatour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3HB1MqMg3Vo/Wcon-XJC41I/AAAAAAAADhA/s8rtsHjisTYY34itqswEosqCNPCFtxuywCLcBGAs/s320/Lune-Nikon-600-F4_Luc_Viatour.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waxing gibbous moon. Sunlit part towards west. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After the first quarter comes the Full
moon phase, which we are all familiar with, in astronomy we call moon is in opposition. The moon and the sun are on the opposite sides of
the earth, if they are exactly aligned then we have a lunar eclipse.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UrV4A9G8f5U/WcooWTbZuiI/AAAAAAAADhE/TbvO6_Zjw1QPkoRHpYQ4uukQQwrO_2_DACLcBGAs/s1600/super-full-moon-2016-1826417_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UrV4A9G8f5U/WcooWTbZuiI/AAAAAAAADhE/TbvO6_Zjw1QPkoRHpYQ4uukQQwrO_2_DACLcBGAs/s320/super-full-moon-2016-1826417_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full moon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From new moon phase the moon was in the
sky before the sunset and would set late as the days passed until
Full moon when it rises at sunset. After this the moon rises late
after sunset and the brightness starts decreasing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dSFiHiSYA1c/WcooufdG3QI/AAAAAAAADhI/9zqqhS17C6AFHXkYNuVZEaFzE3wQUeWbQCLcBGAs/s1600/wanng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dSFiHiSYA1c/WcooufdG3QI/AAAAAAAADhI/9zqqhS17C6AFHXkYNuVZEaFzE3wQUeWbQCLcBGAs/s320/wanng.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waning gibbous moon. Sunlit part towards east.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Since its decreasing and more then half
is lit, but not fully lit, we call it waning gibbous phase. After
that moon reaches last quarter again attaining right angle with the
sun. This means the moon will by high in the sky at sunrise. The next
phase in waning crescent where we see thin lit surface of the moon
and finally reaching new moon phase.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From new moon to full moon, we see the
lit part is towards west and from full moon to new moon, we see the
lit part towards east, the lit part will be towards the sun.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now I think there is no problem in
telling the phases below,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bpmnZLY99eY/Wcoo8P-N2jI/AAAAAAAADhM/CbvkbRZySNAS44765YYQDig0wnPvYU7NgCLcBGAs/s1600/last.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bpmnZLY99eY/Wcoo8P-N2jI/AAAAAAAADhM/CbvkbRZySNAS44765YYQDig0wnPvYU7NgCLcBGAs/s320/last.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Quarter moon. Sunlit part towards east.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQWLCR5Nlgc/WcopER--uSI/AAAAAAAADhQ/ppis8nzDKwE-dn8RqvIBp69OpiRnW-VSwCLcBGAs/s1600/crescent-moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQWLCR5Nlgc/WcopER--uSI/AAAAAAAADhQ/ppis8nzDKwE-dn8RqvIBp69OpiRnW-VSwCLcBGAs/s320/crescent-moon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waning crescent moon.Sunlit part towards east.</td></tr>
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Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-55597629395562345752017-03-01T11:00:00.000+05:302017-03-01T11:00:09.214+05:30Venus Watch at ABAA <div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After
I announced about <a href="http://abaaonline.blogspot.in/2017/02/watch-brightest-venus-on-friday.html">Venus being in its brightest phase</a> many people
showed interest in looking at Venus through telescope following
Sunday. On Sunday we were happy to see public and members coming in
large numbers to watch Venus in crescent phase. After sunset we put
the telescope out and focused on to Venus, members of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abaaonline/">ABAA </a>were
present there in showing and explaining all about Venus. Using the 6
inch telescope of ABAA people saw amazing sight of the crescent
phase, and immediate reaction of most people was “is it Moon?”,
that lead to discussions and members helped them in getting idea of
orbits and phases of inner planets.
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ABAA
is open on all Sundays from 5:30pm and always ready to show the
celestial wonders to people and members showing interest. People can
come and see moon and planets, learn about them and also learn about
telescopes and how to use them. Observing through a telescope has
steep learning curve, its best to learn about them before buying or
going out for observing and ABAA can really help in that section.
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/abaaonline/">ABAA</a> can help in choosing the best telescope for you or help you in
building your own telescope, you can come to ABAA on any Sunday
evening and discuss your needs.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here
are photos of Sunday sessions of Venus watch</span></div>
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Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0Sri T. Choudaiah Road, High Grounds, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001, India12.984865 77.58957179999993112.982930999999999 77.58705029999993 12.986799 77.592093299999931tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-53812967966976973702017-02-15T19:10:00.000+05:302017-02-15T19:21:17.939+05:30Watch Brightest Venus on Friday <br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After
Sunset in the western twilight sky we see a bright star outshining
all the starts in the evening sky, this is the planet Venus. The
visual apparent magnitude of the planet Venus is now -4.6 and the
apparent magnitude of brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, in the
constellation of Cains Major is -1.46 this makes Venus 18 times
brighter than Sirius. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jPjrZP9mZ7g/WKRYJ_6NAZI/AAAAAAAADJE/DKpuUPHqYroAPU3rxdyBLAio66wZYR89gCLcB/s1600/Venus-pacific-levelled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jPjrZP9mZ7g/WKRYJ_6NAZI/AAAAAAAADJE/DKpuUPHqYroAPU3rxdyBLAio66wZYR89gCLcB/s640/Venus-pacific-levelled.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Brocken Inaglory, Venus-pacific-levelled, CC BY-SA 3.0</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>On February 17th</b> Venus will reach its brightest
crescent phase and this is called Greatest Illuminated Extent, the
amount of illuminated crescent and the angular diameter of the planet
Venus. Venus will have an angular diameter of 39 arc seconds and
fraction of illumination is .273 of the angular diameter. After this
day the illuminated side will start decreasing and we will see the
crescent getting thinner. By second week of March the illuminated
fraction will be only .085 of the diameter of the planet and
magnitude would have come down to -4.4 still brightest in the evening
sky. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VYeBvH8Tpns/WKRY8hv1ddI/AAAAAAAADJM/aKP4JvYr6tca5HaOcdBD1VX3hV9Py0zDgCLcB/s1600/2017-02-15-0658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VYeBvH8Tpns/WKRY8hv1ddI/AAAAAAAADJM/aKP4JvYr6tca5HaOcdBD1VX3hV9Py0zDgCLcB/s1600/2017-02-15-0658.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View Through the Telescope on 17th of Feb</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BB26a0jCUQk/WKRZCHr9G9I/AAAAAAAADJQ/2KeJMUdc410eC8g89WgfD8xvcwe96yIxACLcB/s1600/2017-03-10-0658.3-Venus-NR.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BB26a0jCUQk/WKRZCHr9G9I/AAAAAAAADJQ/2KeJMUdc410eC8g89WgfD8xvcwe96yIxACLcB/s1600/2017-03-10-0658.3-Venus-NR.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View Through the Telescope on 10th March</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The planet Venus will slowly fade into glare of the Sun and will
reach inferior conjunction on March 25</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. In April we
will see Venus in early morning sky before sunrise and again the
Greatest Illuminated Extent will happen on April 30</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.
Time to take out the telescopes and observe Venus in coming days, if
you don't have one you are always welcome at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abaaonline/">ABAA </a>on Sundays evening
and see the Venus through our telescope. Venus sets at 9pm now and
in middle of March the planet will set at 7:30pm.</span></div>
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Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-64662968738608646052017-02-03T16:01:00.000+05:302017-02-03T16:03:13.568+05:30Sunday Talk "Lesson Learned:The 2003 Space Shuttle Colombia Accident"<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hi All</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/abaaonline/">ABAA </a></b>in collaboration with <b>JNP </b>presents this Sunday talk titled "Lesson Learned:The 2003 Space Shuttle Colombia Accident" and will be delivered by Christopher Kirchhoff who investigated the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster which happened in February 1, 2003. He will speak about the circumstances that led to the Space Shuttle disaster in which Indo-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla was killed along with crew of the Shuttle. All are Welcome.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Date: 5/2/2017</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Time:4:30 Pm</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore.</span></div>
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All are welcome.</div>
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Ravindra Aradhya, ABAAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08370987691727132275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-18270499637602891932016-11-15T16:28:00.000+05:302016-11-15T16:28:36.698+05:30Aldebaran occultation by Moon tonight<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 138%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Most of you would have enjoyed the supermoon yesterday evening and most of you have taken wonderful photos. Today evening we have one more exciting astronomical event and that is </span><a href="http://abaaonline.blogspot.in/2014/07/occultation-demonstration-setup-at-abaa.html" style="font-size: x-large;">occultation </a><span style="font-size: large;">of star Aldebaran by Moon. Tonight moon will occult giant Aldebaran. since both objects are bright enough it will be easy to observe even with naked eye, a pair of binoculars and of course with telescopes. I would suggest you get all the setup ready before the given time and wait for the event rather than waiting until last minute. The chart below will be helpful to show the entry point and exit point of the star during occultation. </span></div>
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Astronomers have used <a href="http://abaaonline.blogspot.in/2014/07/occultation-demonstration-setup-at-abaa.html">occultation </a>to know about the size, shape and distance of the objects. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus, it is at a distance of 65 light years from Sun. By measuring the time taken for that star from disappearing and reappearing and getting reports from different parts of the world we get a pretty good idea of the shape of the object. Today evening moon will occult Aldebaran from the south near the crater Tycho. Use the chart below to follow the star from disappearance to its re emergence. Try and measure the time taken between the star disappearance and re emergence using stop watch. All the best and hoping for clear skies. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time of disappearance 15:26:46 UT</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time of re emergence 15:57:45 UT</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Moon in the constellation of Taurus and close to star Aldebaran.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Moon about to Occult the star.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aldebaran re emerging after Occultation.</span></div>
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Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6646654265333657479.post-15934510015427775612016-11-14T12:11:00.000+05:302016-11-14T12:11:37.184+05:30<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Hype
called Super Moon:</span></div>
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I am
sure you have come across this Super Moon through print media, TV
Channels, blogs, Face Book, Twitter or through friends. Today's Full
moon will be the closest in 70 year and if you miss it now, you will
have to wait until 2034 for next Super Moon. Moon in its orbit around
earth come close to earth and this is called Perigee and moves
farthest from earth called Apogee every month. Perigee can happen at
any phase of the moon, it may be in Crescent, Half or gibbous phase.
When Perigee and Full moon phase coincides, the name given is Super
Moon.</div>
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What
to Expect?</div>
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Looking
at this picture of Moon can you tell if the Moon is bigger or
smaller? </div>
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You will agree just by looking at the picture its not
possible, you will need reference, something to compare with or
measure the size. This is the same thing that will happen when you go
out tomorrow and look at the Moon. Lets for a moment see the numbers
involved. This month perigee distance is close to 3,56,509 km and
when we compare this with last perigee month's perigee in the month
of October, distance which was close to 3,57,861 km the difference is
just 1352 km. This when we convert it to angle subtended by moon in
the sky and the difference from two perigee is 0.127 arc minutes.
This as you can imagine is not possible to notice just by looking.
You may need to photograph this full Moon and take photographs of
upcoming full moons with the same settings and compare the
difference.</div>
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This
is also the implies to the brightness of the moon today. If we have
not really observed the moon form some time it will not be evident to
casual observer the difference in brightness in this light polluted
conditions.</div>
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I
would suggest that people should observe the moon not during full
moon, but to observe in crescent to half moon and take guidance from
local astronomy group. If you come to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abaaonline">ABAA</a> on any Sunday evening, you
can learn about night sky and also when there is moon in the sky you
can use our telescope and learn to observe moon and other celestial
objects.</div>
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Ravindra Aradhyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10213280226023436605noreply@blogger.com0