The pictures of course, don't do any justice to the real thing as it happens quite often.
01 March 2011
Moon and Venus - the second and third brightest objects in the sky have always evoked interest among people. When they come close together it gets all the more interesting. Just like the eclipses which are rare events thanks to the orbital properties, Moon and Venus appearing together - at least at a convenient time for us to observe - are somewhat rare. Though not as wonderful or celebrated, they nevertheless attract attention. That's what happened today morning. The two celestial bodies were separated by less than a degree and it was indeed a great sight. Managed to take a few pictures of the event. The pictures were taken from Lalbagh.
The pictures of course, don't do any justice to the real thing as it happens quite often.
The pictures of course, don't do any justice to the real thing as it happens quite often.
National Science Day exhibition from JNP and ABAA
On the occasion of Nation Science Day, held every year on Feb 28, JNP and ABAA made an effort to popularize astronomy among people. JNP had put up exhibits of different types of telescopes and ABAA volunteers were there to explain the working of telescopes and their application in different branches of astronomy.
From morning ABAA volunteers helped students and public understand the working of telescopes in detail. They explained how the refractors and reflector telescopes work, their optics, light ray path and also covered advantages and disadvantages of refractors and reflectors.
It was great to see that even on a busy week day ABAA members took time out and came to help people understand telescope and create awareness on Astronomy. ABAA thanks all its volunteers for making time and helping the cause. ABAA thanks JNP for their support during the event and hopes of more such activities.
ABAA Volunteers:
Namratha S
Priya S Srivatsa
Bharath A J
T S Madhava
Here are few Photos of the event
Priya S Srivatsa explaining refractor telescope
Namratha S explaining telescope to students
Namratha S explaining telescope to students
Exhibits
Exhibits
Exhibits
19 February 2011
Sunspot pictures taken today
Sunspot activity is back! The recent intense activity made headlines. I took a few pictures today (19th Feb 2011). Here is a picture taken at 4.36 pm.
Exposure Details: Canon 400D, 300mm lens + 1.4TC @ f/4, 1/160 sec, ISO200.
Exposure Details: Canon 400D, 300mm lens + 1.4TC @ f/4, 1/160 sec, ISO200.
14 February 2011
Astro News: Giant Ring of Black Holes
Just in time for Valentine's Day comes a new image of a ring -- not of jewels -- but of black holes. This composite image of Arp 147, a pair of interacting galaxies located about 430 million light years from Earth, shows X-rays from the NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (pink) and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, blue) produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md.
Arp 147 contains the remnant of a spiral galaxy (right) that collided with the elliptical galaxy on the left. This collision has produced an expanding wave of star formation that shows up as a blue ring containing in abundance of massive young stars. These stars race through their evolution in a few million years or less and explode as supernovas, leaving behind neutron stars and black holes.
A fraction of the neutron stars and black holes will have companion stars, and may become bright X-ray sources as they pull in matter from their companions. The nine X-ray sources scattered around the ring in Arp 147 are so bright that they must be black holes, with masses that are likely ten to twenty times that of the Sun.
An X-ray source is also detected in the nucleus of the red galaxy on the left and may be powered by a poorly-fed supermassive black hole. This source is not obvious in the composite image but can easily be seen in the X-ray image. Other objects unrelated to Arp 147 are also visible: a foreground star in the lower left of the image and a background quasar as the pink source above and to the left of the red galaxy.
Infrared observations with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and ultraviolet observations with NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) have allowed estimates of the rate of star formation in the ring. These estimates, combined with the use of models for the evolution of binary stars have allowed the authors to conclude that the most intense star formation may have ended some 15 million years ago, in Earth's time frame.
06 January 2011
ABAA relocation
As you are all aware that due to lack of space in the basement, JNP has provided us with a new independent place. The work on the new place was going on for some time now and its finished.
The New location is at the entrance of JNP near Ticket counter.
ABAA will move to the new place on Sunday, 9th January.
Due to this ABAA will not have ATM and Discussion sessions on 9th and 16th of January. The activities will resume from 23rd of January.
Looking forward for your continued support and participation.
Thank you.
ABAA
04 January 2011
Star Party at ShivanahaLLi
Hi,
Wish you all a very happy new year.
As planned last week, ABAA conducted a star party for its members on Jan 1st night. There were about 20 participants. The crowd was a mix of first timers to very experienced amateur astronomers.
The venue was ShivanahaLLi, a village near Bhannerghatta national park. ShivanahaLLi has been one of the primary observing sites for ABAA members since 25 years and it promises excellent southern skies.
The highlight of the night were Akarsh's 17.5" reflector telescope and Anil's 4" refractor telescope. The participants enjoyed beautiful sights of planets, nebulae, galaxies and star clusters through the telescopes.
There were two astrophotography setups. One prime focus and another piggy back setup. Participants were given a demo as to how to photograph the celestial wonders.
Unfortunately the clouds moved in by midnight and dint clear up till early morning.
The objects observed:
Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Venus
Nebulae: M42, M43, M78
Open Clusters: M41, M35, M45, M36, M37, M38
Glalaxies: Andromeda Galaxy, M32
and so on.
We like to thank Akarsh Simha for his telescope, Ramakrishna Mission for letting us use their premises and Leela madam for food.
We request the participants to give their feedback on this observation session.
13 December 2010
Planets for the Month
Mercury: After reaching greatest elongation on December 1, Mercury will be visible in the western sky after sunset. Planet Mercury will be around 15degrees above western horizon just after sunset. If seen through a telescope, Mercury's crescent phase can be seen. Towards the middle of the month Mercury will be close to Sun and will be very difficult to observe. On 20th of December, Mercury will be in inferiour conjunction with Sun. Mercury will be visible in the morning sky towards the end of the month.
| Date | Set/Rise |
| 07/12/10 | 07:15:00 PM |
| 14/12/10 | 06:46:00 PM |
| 27/12/10 | 05:34AM (Rise) |
Venus: Venus is well placed for observations in the morning sky. Venus will be dominating morning sky with brightness of -4.5magnitude. Venus will be in the constellation of Virgo till middle of December and move to Libra and stay there till the end of the month.
| Date | Rise |
| 07/12/10 | 03:32:39 AM |
| 14/12/10 | 03:24:35 AM |
| 27/12/10 | 03:18:39 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 |
| 07/12/10 | 06:52:05 PM |
| 14/12/10 | 06:47:51 PM |
| 27/12/10 | 06:40:49 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.
| Date | Set |
| 07/12/10 | 12:57:07 AM |
| 14/12/10 | 12:31:36 AM |
| 27/12/10 | 11:42:21 PM |
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 |
| 07/12/10 | 02:17:47 AM |
| 14/12/10 | 01:52:27 AM |
| 27/12/10 | 01:04:39 AM |
Neptune: Neptune in the constellation of Capricornus is also well placed for observations.
| Date | Set |
| 07/12/10 | 10:58:28 PM |
| 14/12/10 | 10:31:30 PM |
| 27/12/10 | 09:41:40 PM |
Phases of Moon:
New moon: 05-Dec-2010
First quarter: 13-Dec-2010
Full moon: 21-Dec-2010
Last quarter: 28-Dec-2010
Sun: The Sun will reach its maximum southern declination of 23.5 degrees on 21st December at 23:46UT that will be 5:16am IST on 22nd. This is called winter solstice.
Geminids Meteor Shower:
Geminids Meteor shower will be good this year as Moon will set early around midnight, giving lots of dark skies to observe and photograph the showers. The radiant (the point where the meteor shower originate) lies close to start Castor, alpha Geminorum. The constellation Gemini will rise around 7:30pm and will reach zenith around 1:30am. Maximum will happen on 14th of December, but observation a day before and after is advised for better results.
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