Sun as Blind(Bright) Spot

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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SPOTTING THE LANDING SITE OF CHANDRAYAAN 2

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.

About the craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N

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.

Locating the Landing site of Chandrayaan 2

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.

Location of Chandrayaan 2 Landing Site

Best time to Spot the Landing site of Chandrayaan 2

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.

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July Total Lunar Eclipse

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.  

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.  

Here are the times of the eclipse. Moon will enter Penumbral shadow at 10:45pm on 27th July this is hard to notice as the change in brightness is very less. Moon will start entering the Umbral shadow at 11:55pm, partial eclipse phase, from here we easily see the change in brightness. Moon will be completely inside Umbral shadow from 1:00am, here we say Moon is in total eclipse phase.

 The totality will end at 2:44am 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. Moon will come out of Partial phase at 3:45am. The Moon will come out of Penumbral shadow at 4:48am.

We urge you watch this amazing celestial show which is viable from all our India

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Remembering names of Moon Phases

We are seeing moon getting brighter in the evening sky every day from the last new moon on 20^th. 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.

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.

Waxing crescent moon. Sunlit part towards west.

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.

First Quarter moon. Sunlit part towards west.

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.

Waxing gibbous moon. Sunlit part towards west. 

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.

Full moon

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.

Waning gibbous moon. Sunlit part towards east.

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.

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.

Now I think there is no problem in telling the phases below,

Last Quarter moon. Sunlit part towards east.

Waning crescent moon.Sunlit part towards east.

  

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Looking and Observing

When crowd gather around binoculars and see the Moon for the first time through binoculars, their reaction is that, the moon looks the same even without the aid of binoculars. Ask them to spend some time at the binoculars and slowly they will start enjoying the view, as they start to Observe the details on the moon surface. This is true even with low power telescopes.

This is the difference between looking and observing which I am sure most people would have experienced in their initial stages.

Even when it comes to other celestial wonders, the situation is the same spend very little time at eyepiece and there is little to be seen but spend more time at eyepiece and details we can see are amazing.

Let me give an example of difference between looking and observing. Take a look at the image and at first sight it appears the same, little closer look will show couple of differences but as on spending time and studying the details will show lots of differences in the images.

When at eyepiece spend as much time as possible studying the object, for example if it is the moon study the shape of the craters, the shadow patterns at different phases of moon and so on. If it is a galaxy, study the dust lane, the arms and structure.  Cluster offers their own challenges like resolving and types of stars in the cluster. We cannot pick up such fine details if we are in a hurry, more time at eyepiece more details we will pick up.  Change the magnification, use different filters, study the object in different telescopes, you will be amazed on how on objects appears in different magnification, filters and apertures.

I always advice people not to fill the pages with number of objects they saw in a single night, but to fill the pages with the details on what they observed. There is no rush, take time in observing and keep challenging yourselves on how much more details you can see and minimum aperture needed to see the details. 

Why just Look when you can Observe!

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Daytime Occultation of Moon and Saturn August 4th

Daytime occultation, second of this year will be of Moon Occulting Saturn. Earlier this year in February we saw Moon occulting Venus in the daytime, both Venus and Moon were easily visible because of their brightness.  

 

On August 4^th, we will see Moon occulting Saturn in the daytime, but we will need telescope to see Saturn as the surrounding sky will be very bright.

Stellarium generated image.

 

The occultation will begin 2pm IST as seen from Bangalore, its always a good practice to start observing as early as possible. Saturn will disappear from dark side of the moon and emerge from the sunlit side at 2:40pm.

Do not try to locate Saturn with the telescope if you are new to finding planets during daytime. As bright Sun will be very close, accidental viewing of Sun through the telescope will be disastrous to the eye.

Here are the times and positions of the Planet for those who have setting circles

August 4th Occultation.

Time	Right Ascension	Declination	Altitude	Azimuth
13:45	15:00:00	-14:44:27	14:36	109:18
14:00 Start	15:00:00	-14:44:27	18:00	110:27
14:40 End	15:00:00	-14:44:27	27:15	114:20
	Deg:Mins:Secs	Deg:Mins:Secs	Deg:Mins:Secs	Deg:Mins:Secs

Its a matter of luck to have clear skies in this monsoon season, but its always better to be prepared and hope for the best. 

Clear Skies 

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Moon at Apogee

We end the month of June with Moon being farthest to earth today, 30/06/2014 at a distance of 4,05,932km. The 3-day-old crescent moon will be an amazing site in the evening twilight. After sunset crescent moon will be high in the western sky at an altitude of 30degrees and will set at 9pm.

Graphic: Stellarium 

Moon orbits the earth with an eccentricity of 0.0549, not a circle, and that makes moon to have farthest and closest points from earth.  Apogee is when Moon is farthest from earth and Perigee is when moon is closest to earth.

Moon on 30^th June will be at Apogee at a distance of 4,05,930km from earth with an angular diameter of 0.49degrees.  As moon continues in its orbit, it will reach closest point to earth, Perigee, on July 13^th at a distance of 3,58,260km and this will make the angular diameter of moon 0.55degrees.

As we can see, the difference is too small to be observed without any reference, best way to measure this difference is to take photographs of moon at Apogee and Perigee and compare the prints. Today if the skies are clear in the evening sky, go out and enjoy the crescent moon.

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Daytime Venus Occultation

Daytime skies are little boring to people with only one star to observe. Occasionally we get treats like solar eclipse and transits, amazing celestial daytime events that make the long wait worthwhile.  On 15^th February 2013, a meteor entered earth atmosphere and as it burnt up, it lit up the skies of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Apart from these rare events, the actions in the skies hide behind the glare of the sun during the day.

Lunar occultation of stars and planets are events normally associated with night sky. Moon occults stars and planets during daytime too but we cannot see these events because, the bright Sun outshines everything in the sky. However, every rule has an exception; we see Moon during daytime without any difficulty, and with practice, we can also spot Venus with naked eye and it is an easy target for telescope in the daytime.

This February 26^th there is an event involving Moon and Venus during daytime(Readers of AKASHA will already know this from JAN-FEB issue). Moon will occult Venus on this day. Occultation of planets by Moon is rare event, for example from Bangalore the next Occultation of Venus by Moon will be in 2023 March 24^th.

We have to take Extreme precaution when planning to observe the event, equipment  always has be pointed away from the Sun. Even very small duration exposure to Sun’s rays through telescope or binocular can damage the eyes permanently.

The brightness of both Moon and Venus makes it good challenge for daytime occultation observation with Moon at crescent phase and Venus close to half phase at -4.5 magnitude, will be a great sight through the eyepiece.

Venus will disappear from the lit part of the crescent Moon and reappear from the dark part of Moon. Venus will be close to 15 minutes of arc from the brighter edge of the moon at 10:30am IST, both should fit in to the same field of view in a 6-inch telescope.

 

Here are the times and altitude of Moon for February 26^th Occultation:

Venus will disappear at 11:05am IST and at this time the altitude of Moon will be 53 degrees.  Venus will reappear from the darker side of the Moon at 12:29pm IST. The altitude of Moon at the reappearance of Venus will be 38 degrees.

Hope for clear skies.

 

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Planets for the Month of September

Morning Planets:

Mercury:

Mercury will reach superior conjunction on September 10^th and it will towards the end of the month that Mercury will be placed well for observing.

Jupiter:

Jupiter is well placed for observations in the constellation of Taurus. The giant planet rises early at 11:45pm and has a magnitude of -2.4.  

Venus:

Morning star Venus is well placed of observations through out the month. Venus rises at 3am in the constellation of Cancer shining at a magnitude of -4.2. The planet will just 2 degrees from M44 or beehive cluster as popularly known, on September 14^th making it a fantastic view in binoculars. Seen through the telescope Venus will appear just more than half phase, moving towards gibbous phase as days go by.

Evening Planets:

Mars:

Mars is in the evening twilight in the constellation of Libra. The red planet is at a magnitude of 1.2 and will set at 9:20pm.

Saturn:

Saturn is also placed low in the Western horizon, in the constellation of Virgo. The planet sets early at 8pm.

Uranus:

Uranus is well placed for observetion through out the month. Uranus rises early at 7pm giving full night for observations. This planet is visible through a pair of binoculars is at a magnitude of 5.7. Uranus will reach opposition on September 29^th.

Neptune:

Neptune is also well placed for observations through out the month in the constellation of Aquarius. Neptune has a magnitude of 7.8.

Moon Phases:

Last quarter: 08-Sep-2012

New moon: 16-Sep-2012

First quarter: 22-Sep-2012

Full moon: 30-Sep-2012

Sun:

On September 22^nd Sun will reach autumnal equinox, when Sun's declination becomes zero and Right Aessionsion(RA) becomes 12 h. The Sun will reach this co ordinates at 9pm IST on September 22. Although this point is called First point of Libra, the Sun will be in Virgo constellation.

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Total Lunar Eclipse December 10th 2011

The last full Moon of the year will put up an amazing show this Saturday. We will witness Total Lunar eclipse on 10^th December 2011. 

The umbral eclipse starts at 6:15pm, at this time Moon will be low in the eastern horizon at an altitude of about 6 degrees. Better to get to a place where we have clear view of the horizon with no obstructions from buildings or trees. The shadow will start from NE of the Moon. 

The shadow slowly covers the Moon's surface and the Moon will enter the totality phase at 7:35pm, with the Moon's altitude at 23degrees. 

The totality ends at 8:27pm with the moon's altitude at 36 degrees, the Moon will emerge from totality shadow slowly brightening from the SE. The umbral eclipse of the Moon ends at 9:48pm with the Moon fully coming out of earth's shadow.  

Here are a few sky maps of the eclipse at different stages.

Beginning of eclipse  6:15pm

Start of Totality 7:35pm

End of Totality 8:27pm

End of Lunar Eclipse of December 10th 2011

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Planets for the Month

Mercury: Mercury will be close to the Sun in the western horizon and its only after 15^th of November that Mercury will be little easy to detect in the evening sky after sunset.

On 20^th Mercury will be 1degree and 40 minutes of red planet Mars. The planet Mars will be north east of Mercury.

Date	Set
01/11/10	06:25:00 PM
11/11/10	06:43:00 PM
21/11/10	07:03:00 PM

Venus: Venus will be in a good altitude to observe from second week of November. In the constellation of Virgo Venus will be in thin crescent phase and towards the end of the month, about 20 percent of the planet will be illuminated.

Date	Rise
01/11/10	05:51:00 AM
11/11/10	04:53:00 AM
21/11/10	04:10:00 AM

Mars: Mars will be visible in the western just after sunset. As the planet is close to the Sun, it will be difficult to make any detailed observation of the planet.

Date	Set
01/11/10	07:22:00 PM
11/11/10	07:12:00 PM
21/11/10	07:02:00 PM

Jupiter and Uranus: These two planets are well placed for observations as they will be close to Zenith at the time of sunset. Both planets will remain in this favorable position for observations all month.

Saturn: Saturn in now a morning planet. It will be well placed for observation in the later part of the month as it will rise to a comfortable altitude before twilight.

Date	Rise
01/11/10	04:24:00 AM
11/11/10	03:49:00 AM
21/11/10	03:14:00 AM

Neptune: Neptune in the constellation of Capricornus is also well placed for observations.

Date	Set
01/11/10	01:22:00 AM
11/11/10	12:43:00 AM
21/11/10	12:04:00 AM

Phases of Moon:

New moon: 06/11/10

First quarter: 13/11/10

Full moon: 21/11/10

Last quarter: 28/11/10

Sun: The Sun will be in the constellation of Libra most part of the month and will move to Scorpio at the end of the month.

Leonids Meteor Shower:

This year there is some good news and little bad news regarding the Leonids shower. First the good news, the Maximum of the Leonids this year will happen at 2:45am IST on 18^th November, making it a high probability of observing large number of meteors. Little bad news is that Moon will be at the western horizon, Moon will be close to Full phase and on 18^th it will be bright with 85 percent illuminated, it will set at 3:15am. For best results its best to observe on 17^th to 19^th . Leo will rise at 12am.

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Omicron Leonis occultation

On 20th, Thursday 2010, Constellation Leo will be good area to observe.

Planet Mars is in the constellation of Leo and on 20th, the planet is 6 degrees to the north of the Moon.

Moon will occult the 3.5 magnitude star omicron leonis, Subra, on 20th May 2010. The Moon will be at half phase and Subra is occulted from dark side of the Moon.

Here is a list of timings of occultation for few places in India.

Location	Disappears	Reappears
IST = UT + 5:30	UT	UT
Agra	14h 36m 16s	15h 29m 49s
Amritsar	14h 26m 56s	15h 15m 40s
Bangaluru	14h 49m 56s	16h 3m 0s
Hyderabad	14h 45m 13s	15h 55m 9s
Jaipur	14h 30m 43s	15h 30m 12s
Kolkata	15h 3m 1s	15h 43m 30s
Lucknow	14h 44m 8s	15h 30m 47s
New Delhi	14h 33m 45s	15h 25m 13s
Srinagar	14h 27m 27s	15h 6m 41s
Location	Disappears	Reappears

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Jayanth Basavarajaiah in live program on TV9 to discuss brightest Moon

This event was covered on TV9 during the close approach of the Moon on 30/01/2010 . Jayanth Basavarajaiah, President of ABAA was invited as part of a two member panel to participate and discuss on the event. The other panelist was Prof. RC.Kapoor from Indian Institute of Astrophysics. This was a live program and the discussion was for half an hour had some interesting points were discussed. Jayanth explained the various things that can done during the close approach and how amateur astronomers take astrophotos and make measurements. It was made clear that there is no truth in claims of some that bad things will happen if Eclipse are seen and also it was made clear there no effect on humans or any other being during eclipse or close approach of the Moon. Jayanth urged people to come out and enjoy the wonders of the sky and not to miss out on grand celestial events such as eclipses and close approach. He also mentioned that ABAA members have been observing eclipses and celestial events for many years and no harm has come about to members from past 30 years.

In the discussion Jayanth also explained about ABAA and its activities and also mentioned that ABAA meetings at JNP every Sunday evening. Jayanth also told the panel that amateur astronomy belongs to people from all walks of life, at ABAA all are welcome. ABAA helps people in building their own telescopes, help them understand the working of celestial bodies, help them in observations and ABAA goes to school and conducts outreach programs for kids, he told.

ABAA members congratulate Jayanth on successfully conveying amateur astronomers activities and ABAA to the public through TV9 live program.

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Partial Lunar Eclipse

We begin this new year with Partial Lunar Eclipse, good 'omen' for us amateur astronomers. On January 1st, 2010 the Moon will be partly covered by Earth's shadow, but, the coverage will be very less. The Eclipse will start at 00:26am and ends at 1:18am. The maximum shadow coverage will be about 1'47”. Hope the skies will be clear by then. The Lunar Eclipse will be visible from Bangalore and also from all parts of India.

Moon will enter the Penumbral shadow at 10:46 pm, 31st December 2009.

Moon will enter the Umbral shadow at 00:26 , 1st January 2010.

Moon will leave the Umbral shadow at 1:18am, 1st January 2010.

Moon will leave the Penumbral shadow at 2:56am 1st January 2010.

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