End of Astrophysics Seminar

The last 10 weeks my Tuesday evening (together with 30 other ones) was scheduled to attend the lessons of Astrophysics. The small seminar was presented by Dr. Yves Gigase and took place @ Urania in Hove. He was able to show us more insight into astrophysics. Mathematics, physics, optica, mechanics and thermodynamic priciples were discussed in view of astronomy. The last two sessions he explained in detail stellar structure using all aspects of astrophysics. 

For those who want to know more about astrophysics and are not afraid about formulas and getting into the detail, I can only say that I greatly enjoyed it and would recommend everybody to attend this seminar training. Well done Yves. 

Saturnus and Messier objects at horizon

As from 4AM this morning the clouds dissapeared resulting in a clear and cold sky.
Saturnus showed up and could be observed above the south-east about 20° above the horizon. I also took some time to observe following Messier Objects :

* M4 and M9 both very faint globular clusters
* M16 or M17 : faint "fog" aound some open cluster stars. Not sure if this is M16 or M17. Needs to be confirmed with more observations
* M23 : beautifull and clear open cluster.

End of my observations around 6h15 AM but not after I had a look at Jupiter which is very bright in the south.

All observations made with 12" Dobson and 28mm UWA from WO and drawing made.

Messier Objects

All in all a good evening for observing Messier Objects. I prepared myself using the handbook of Messier Marathon. Observation started local time at 19h50 and I quit around midnight as light pollution continued to make observations impossible. In total I was able to observe 23 Messier Objects and extra 3 NGC objects.

Observation list with remarks

M77, M74, M33 : too faint and too light to see objects
M31, M32, M110 : low at horizon but visible
M52, M103, M34 : good visibility
M76 : picture taken of Little Dumbell Nebula
M45 : observation with naked eye
M42, M43 : good visibility
M78 : found but no details
M79, M93, M41 : behing garden trees :(
M46, M47 : nice open clusters (picture taken from M47)
M44 : observation with naked eye
M65, M66 and NGC 3628 : made a drawing of Leo Triplet. Very good visibility
M95, M96 : Faint objects
M105 with NGC 3384 and NGC 3389 : observation with 28mm UWA 82° all in one field
M81, M82 : even good visible in search scope 9x50
M97 : Faint object
M51 : Details good visible and picture taken.

Some learnings :
- Working with two telescopes makes it possible to take pictures and to keep track on making observing according the plan.
- Since a couple of weeks I'm having a spare battery for the camera. After 3h I needed to change the battery. Charging takes two hours, meaning I can keep taking pictures all the time.
- It was a long time I observed M65, M66; M81, M82 and M51 - all great objects and must see.
- After two hours misallignment on both scopes. After re-allignment much better. So make sure to plan for star allignment each every time (2h)
- Was I prepared? For sure, not enough!!

M51 : Whirlpool Galaxy - 15Mly away

Mercurius - 67% Illuminated

My first time ever observation of Mercurius, low above the western horizon 1h after sunset. Picture was taken using TAL200K and observation with 12" Dobson showed Mercurius not fully covered.

More spectra using DIY spectroscope.

More spectra made using my DIY spectroscope and pictures taken using iPhone 6.

Spectrum of candle light

Spectrum of halogen light

Spectrum of fluorescent light

Spectrum of both candle light (bottum) and red laser light (top)

DIY Spectroscope

Today I made a selfmade spectroscope using a Pringles can (inside is painted black and layered with black paper) and a CD for diffraction of the light. Pictures are taken using a iPhone6.

Some nice results with fluorescent and halogen light. More to come..

Venus 6,5% Illuminated

Venus is still very bright during sunset and is about 6,5% illuminated. Two months ago it was still 46%.

Weather Summary February

When we compare with Feb last year, average temperatures and air frost days are comparable. But this year's Feb was a rather dry month with 50% less rain then last year.

In Memoriam Jan Cuypers