Sidewalk Astronomy at Yew Tee

Last Friday (7th February 2014), Scobbers Alfred, Everlyne and Kin Guan showed the wonders of the night sky to the public in Yew Tee for the first time this year. This was a collaboration between Science Centre Singapore and Yew Tee RC Zone 10.

We brought our C8 Celestron telescope out and set the venue up with the help of RC volunteers. The venue was Yew Tee MRT Open Space (In between Yew Tee Square and Yew Tee Mall). (Google Street View)

Cloudy weather around 7pm on Friday. What could we see?

Scobbers having a briefing with RC volunteers.

Setting up the banner. 

We started the telescope viewing at 8pm and the queue was already forming:

Thanks to the clear sky (the clouds kindly made way for us), we were able to observe first quarter Moon (it's a half-lit moon from Earth's perspective) and Jupiter. Alfred manned the telescope and introduced some fun facts about Jupiter and Moon:

Everlyne interacted with the public in the queue and handed them Star Map. It is a handy tool to identify the objects in the night sky!

What's up for April 2013

Stars and Constellations

For the past few months we've been focused on the bright stars and constellations of Orion, Taurus, Canis Major, Gemini, etc. During the early evenings of April, these stars are getting lower and lower  towards the West each day.

The bright reflected light of Jupiter is still visible in this part of the sky close to Taurus. By next month most of these stars will begin to disappear from view.

From April onwards, we start to shift our attention to the bright stars of the South, including the second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus, part of the constellation Carina. Canopus was also known in China as “Old Man of the South” for its southern location and sometimes red appearance in hazy or cloudy conditions.

The constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina form the ancient star pattern of the Argo Navis, representing the sailing ship from an Ancient Greek legend. 

The asterism (star pattern) the False Cross is sometimes confused for the Southern Cross (Crux), located nearby to the east.

Lying close to a dense part of our Galaxy, The Milky Way, several star clusters can be found when scanning the  area with binoculars.

1) & 2) M46, M47 – Two faint open clusters, east of bright star Sirius. M47 is the closer and brighter of the two. Small telescopes maybe required.

3) M93 – Faint wedge-shaped star cluster over 3000 light years away but visible in binoculars.

4) IC2391 – large open cluster of 50 stars surrounding the star Omicron Velorum. Best viewed using binoculars.

5), 6) ; 7) IC2581, NGC3293  NGC3114   Three fainter open star clusters located in front of the rich spiral arm of the Milky Way. Binoculars and small telescopes required.

8) Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372) – a gas cloud surrounding the explosive variable star Eta Carinae. Several more stars are visible through binoculars and telescopes.

9) NGC3532 -  A large bright open cluster containing more than 100 stars forming an elliptical shape, 1300 lightyears away.

10) IC2602 (The Southern Pleiades)  Large open cluster of around 60 stars surround star Theta Carinae. Easy to spot with binoculars .

Saturn

Every year planet Saturn makes it appearance in the sky when it approaches opposition, i.e. when the Earth moves into alignment with both Saturn and the Sun. This period results in the closest distance between Saturn and Earth and the brightest and biggest view of Saturn in the sky.

Opposition occurs on 28th April 2013. So can we can expect to be observing Saturn at SCOB during the later part of the month.

Moon

Here are the dates for the main moon phases this month. We will be observing the Moon at our Friday night stargazing sessions on Friday 19th April and Friday 26th April.

Full Moon on 25th/26th April 2013 will result in a Partial Lunar Eclipse over Singapore, when the Moon enters the outer edge of Earth's shadow (the penumbra). However, this is only a very small eclipse, therefore the Moon will only darken slightly during 2am-6am on Friday 26th April, (Singapore time).

We will not be holding any eclipse viewing event at SCOB.

It may be difficult to notice any change in the moon's brightness.

Lyrids Meteor Shower

Finally, 21st/22nd April is the annual Lyrids Meteor Shower, one of the brightest showers of the year. We will not be organising any meteor shower events because most meteors cannot be seen in a bright urban environment like Singapore.

You can increase you chance of seeing a few meteors by going to a wide open area such as a sports field, beach or reservoir, but the frequency of meteors may only be about one or two per hour.

Meteor showers are best observed from midnight til dawn. Lyrid meteors originate from the north-east direction but can appear in any part of the sky.

February 2013

ISS
February starts with a bright International Space Station (ISS) pass over Singapore on Sun 3rd Feb 7:38pm-7:45pm.

During this time the ISS will pass almost directly overhead, from south-west to north-east between the bright stars of Orion and the planet Jupiter.
The only things that will interfere with its visibility will be clouds or the bright evening sky at this time of year.

Star map showing the path and timings of ISS pass on 3rd Feb in Singapore.

Sunrise-Sunset
You may have noticed that mornings remain darker for longer and early evening (ard 7pm) is brighter than usual.
Every year in February, Earth is halfway between its Solstice(21st Dec) and Equinox(21st Mar) position, resulting in the latest sunrise and sunset of the year in equatorial regions like Singapore.
Around 10th Feb the Sun rises at 7:17am and sets at 7:21pm.
Therefore the late sunset may impede ISS visibility.

Chinese New Year!
Its no coincidence that CNY also occurs on 10th Feb this year.
The date of Chinese Lunar New Year is also related to the position of the Sun at this time of year.
In China, the Sun's position around 3rd-4th Feb traditionally signifies the start of spring or Lichun 立春.
The New Moon closest to Lichun, is the start of the lunar new year.

Moon dates for Feb 2013

Obviously, during new moon, the moon is facing towards the Sun and is obscured from view. You can expect to see the Moon in the evening from 14th Feb to 26th Feb.

Position of the Moon in the early evening sky during Feb 2013

Jupiter's Moon
Jupiter remains the brightest planet in the night sky. During Friday's at SCOB we'll be able to see the following arrangement of its four biggest moons:

Mercury
The closest planet to the Sun, reaches its maximum elongation (18deg) east  of the Sun, meaning Mercury is at is highest position, towards the West direction shortly after sunset on 14th Feb (around 7:30pm). Ideal weather conditions (clear sky) are required to see it, but it is just visible to the naked eye.

Constellations
Finally, at least 8 of the brightest stars in the sky are visible in February. This includes Sirius, Canopus, Procyon.
One of our most common targets is of course Orion, reaching his highest point in the sky in the early evening this month, which should give us some pretty good views of the Orion Nebula.

Diagram of the brightest stars in the constellation Orion

January 2013 - Happy New Perihelion!

Our first stargazing session of the new year turned out to be very cloudy indeed, not a single thing to see. The same was also true during our attempts to see ISS fly over Singapore on 2nd & 3rd Jan.
However, as the weather is much clearer and hotter this week, I put a solar filter on our 6-inch refractor attached to the main telescope and took a look at our parent star, the Sun.

Photo of Sun ans sunspot 7th Jan 2013 4:15pm - taken through 6 inch refractor with Samsung SII phone camera. Image is rotated 90deg counter-clockwise, north is on the left, south on the right.

Image of the Sun from NASA satellite SDO (Solar Dynamic Observatory) showing the numbers/names of the sunspots on 6th Jan. The highlight area produce a M-class Solar flare on 5th Jan. This image is in the correct orientation with north at the top.

January is the month when the Earth reaches its closest position to the Sun, (perihelion), which was actually on 2nd Jan.  The difference between Earth's perihelion (closest) and aphelion (furthest) distance is only 3% so it doesn't look any different than usual. There were several sunspots visible on the Sun's surface, areas of magnetic instability and high activity, usually associated with solar flares. 2013 is expected to be the year in which the Sun reaches its solar maximum, the peak of its  11 year natural activity cycle.

For the remainder of January here's what we can expect to see:

Constellations
Most of the brightest stars in the sky are visible during the first part of the year. This includes Orion, Taurus and Canis Major, with the brightest star in the night sky Sirius, lower towards the south-east.

Planets
We've been observing Jupiter for over a month now and its still shining brighter than all the stars. This month its alot higher in the sky, so we should get some nice clear views of its bands of clouds and its 4 Galilean Moons.  64 moons have been discovered around Jupiter, but only its four biggest moons, Io, Europa Ganymede and Callisto are visible through most telescopes.

Position of Jupiter's four biggest moons during Friday night stargazing at SCOB (8pm-10pm).

As a planet orbiting around the Sun, Jupiter appears to move in front of the constellations. Currently, its making its way through Taurus. Since October 2012, Jupiter has been in apparent retrograde motion, meaning its moving backwards in the opposite direction of its original path (prograde)
This apparent retrograde is due to the position of the Earth.

As Earth is closer to the Sun, it travels faster than Jupiter. Both planets are travelling in the same direction but as Earth comes closer to Jupiter and eventually overtakes it, the giant planet appears to move backwards. This current retrograde will last from Oct 2012 until 30th January 2013.

Moon
The Moon moves close to Jupiter on 21st Jan and 22nd Jan. Look out for the bright planet next to the Gibbous moon on these two evenings.
On Friday nights at SCOB, we'll be observing the Moon on 18th Jan (crescent/half moon) and 25th Jan (gibbous moon).
The other significant Moon dates are as follows:

 Happy skywatching!

December update

Its's 12-12-12, and I haven't done any update yet for December.
As expected the weather is still very cloudy and rainy. There were a few clear nights last week so once again I was out with my camera to take a few shots of this month's bright celestial highlights.
In particular Jupiter, Taurus and Orion. The Bull and Hunter always appear in the East during the early evening in December. This year, they are accompanied by the largest  (and second brightest) planet, Jupiter.

Over the next few weeks,  Jupiter will slower move away from Taurus's bright star Aldebaran (the follower). Later in the evening and toward the end of the month, Sirius, the brightest star in the sky will also appear, shining brightly south-east of Orion.

December is usually a good month for watching meteors/shooting star, with the Geminids meteor shower peaking around 13th-14th December (this week in fact!).
With an expected high rate of meteors and no Moon in the night sky, its bound to be the best shower of 2012.
However, in a bright city like Singapore, in the middle of the rainy season, the chances of seeing any shooting stars are significantly reduced, oh well. If we get a clear night sky of the next few days and you stare at the sky for a few hours after midnight it will increase your chances.

Other things happening this month include, Venus and Saturn still there in the early morning around 6am-7am towards the East. Mercury is there too but low altitude makes it very difficult to spot in the usual morning hazy.

21st December is southern solstice, which makes the southern most position of the Sun in the sky. Southern hemisphere countries will also experience their longest daylight hours, while the north has the shortest daylight hours. More on this in a future post.

Moon Dates for December:
We'll be observing the Moon at SCOB on Friday 21st Dec & Friday 28th Dec.

Finally, our school holiday activities are still available and going strong at SCOB every Friday evening this month.

During the past few weeks the planetarium has been the most popular activity, with light painting a close second. We also have a few items, such as astronomical 3D postcards, for sale. Surprisingly, the astronaut ice cream as been an unexpected hit.

Occasionally, we have a few visitors pop by, who appeared to have lost their way. For instance, this guy, who kept asking about some rebel base?????????

October sky highlights (sounds like a movie review but its not)

I'm a bit late this month's stargazing guide as I've just come back off holiday.
Weather's been quite bad lately as we're entering the rainy season. If the sky clears up the Moon makes an appearance in the early evening during the last two weeks of the month.

Friday 19th October sees the Crescent Moon close to Mars and the constellation Scorpius. At the same time the red planet Mars will be close to its twin, the bright red star Antares.
Red in colour, it would be nice to see these two bright objects below the moon like a pair of eyes, however there'll be quite low to the ground so good clear skies are needed. 8pm is probably the best time to spot them, I'll try to have a camera ready.

Finally, as the bright planets Mars and Saturn disappear from view, faint planets Uranus and Neptune slowly rise in the east. Almost impossible to spot with the naked eye in our light polluted sky. We'll be aiming our telescopes in their direction every Friday over the next few months hoping to catch a glimpse.

As mentioned previously, Uranus and Neptune are incredibly tiny but quite nice and blue. I always feel a great sense of achievement every time I find them, especially without the aid of computerised GO-TO telescopes. A nice challenge, can't wait!

September Sky 2012

September is here and change is abound.

Stars and Constellations of September
For months we've been concentrating on the bright southern constellations like Crux, Centaurus, Scorpius and Sagittarius.

Stars of Sagittarius as seen from Singapore

Scorpius and Sagittarius are still around but now its time for these constellations to gradually move aside for some of the brightest stars in the northern part of the sky like those of Aqulia Cygnus and Lyra, which include the Summer Triangle.

1) Delphinus – a small constellation representing a Dolphin. Visible to the naked eye and binoculars.

2) Coathanger Asterism (Brocchi’s Cluster) – A small group of 10 stars in the shape of a coathanger. Requires binoculars or small telescopes. Located in the faint constellation of Vulpecula.

3) Dumbbell Nebula (M27) – a Planetary Nebula, gas cloud formed from the other layers of a dying star.

Appears as a faint misty ellipse using low magnification.

4) Albireo (Beta Cygni) – a colourful double star, yellow and blue in colour. Requires telescope.

5) Ring Nebula (M57) – A faint planetary nebula in the shape of a ring or halo. Appears misty in small telescopes.

6) Double-Double (Epsilon Lyrae) – Four stars arranged in pairs, very close together. Larger telescopes and high magnifications are need to separate each pair to see all four stars. 600 light-years away.

Some my favourite targets within these constellations are double stars like the colourful Albireo (beta cygni) and the Double Double (epsilon lyrae), as well as a faint collection of stars known as the coathanger asterism (among other names). Visible in binoculars or a finderscope its located near the centre of the Summer Triangle (constellation Vulpecula) and looks like a coathanger.

Double Star "Albireo" - Beta Cygni as seen through the observatory's 16 inch cassegrain reflector telescope

In the unlikely event of extremely clear skies and no moon we may feel ambitious and aim for the faint glows of the Ring Nebula(M57) and Dumbbell Nebula (M27).


Planets
This year, September also sees the disappearance of Saturn, but it can still be seen for a few weeks in the early evening around 8pm.
Mars hangs around for a another month or two, although it now appears very tiny in telescopes. Gradually making its way across the constellation Libra, Mars will eventually end up in front of Scorpius, next to the bright red star Antares.
Antares gets its name from Mars, as "Ares" is Greek for Mars, therefore Antares literally means "Anti-Mars" as they both appear similar in colour (red/orange).

Neptune and Uranus are at their closest position to Earth right now. Neptune was at opposition (in direct alignment with Earth) on 24th Aug and Uranus will reach opposition on 29th Sept.

This means that they'll be visible during the later part of the evening but even at their closest they are still billions of kilometres away so in a telescope they kinda look like this:

The Moon

The best time to view the Moon during our Friday Night Stargazing session will be 21st Sept (Crescent Moon) and 28th Sept (Gibbous Moon).
A good time for moon watching, at home will be on the evenings 19th & 20th Sept, when the crescent Moon moves past the red planet Mars and then between Mars and the red star Antares:

Finally 30th September is Mid Autumn Festival  中 秋 節 - Full Moon/15th day of 8th lunar month (Chinese Lunar Calendar), a time for family celebrations, lanterns and mooncakes.

What's special about this Full Moon is that it's the closest Full Moon to the Autumnal Equinox (22nd Sept, where night and day are equal length).
A common assumption about mid-autumn is that the Full Moon is at its biggest or brightest, which is not the case. Lunar festivals usually have some seasonal significance. For mid-autumn, its harvest time in the northern hemisphere.
The orientation of the Earth during Equinox causes the Moon to rise at a smaller angle and stay in the sky slightly longer (roughly12-13hours) than in previous months. Therefore, warm autumnal temperatures and long moonlight hours make this full moon the ideal time for night harvesting, before the cold winter weather arrives. In Europe, the autumnal Full Moons are called Harvest Moon and Hunter Moon for similar reasons.

Of course, here in Singapore, near the equator, its warm all year round and there is little or no change in the Full Moon's timing in the sky but we still in get to enjoy the festivities.

7 useful astronomy resources

Finding out what's happening up in the sky often involves using a variety of resources, such as books, star charts, astronomy software, apps, etc. Some may present you with a bunch of number or unfamiliar terminology. Here's some of my favourite online resources, which are relatively easy to use and interpret as well as some new ones which I just recently discovered.

1. Sky and Telescope: Interactive Sky Chart (JAVA applet)

This popular astronomy magazine has many useful features on its website. The Sky Chart provides a relatively simple view of which stars and planets you can expect to see at any time of day or year.

After registering your details on the site and opening the sky chart, you first have to set your location/hometown and timezone (i.e. Singapore, GMT+8). Once that's done, you can alter the time and date on the side panel and watch which objects appear during that particular time.

2. Skymaps.com

This website provides a static but more detailed starmap for each month, in an easily printable pdf format. The important part is to pick the right map for your part of the world, i.e in Singapore, you'll need the Equatorial Edition.

3. Moon Phase Images

Enter your desired date and time, and receive a simple image of the moon phase on that particular date.

4. NASA Solar System Simulator

View any object in the solar system as they would appear from any other object. For example, look at the rings of Saturn as seen from its largest moon Titan or how the Sun and other planets look like from Pluto.

I often use it to get an overall view of the whole solar system, to see the arrangement of planets during significant alignments or the position of current space probes, like New Horizon, which is on its way to Pluto.

On the menu page, you need to select the object you wish to view and  where you want to view it from, as well as the size of the field of view.

NASA Solar System  Simulator -  field of view 45 degrees - wide enough to see Pluto, but too far to see inner planets

NASA Solar System - field of view 5 degrees - only wide enough to see up to Jupiter. but can show position of inner planets.

5. Dynamic Diagrams Solar System (SWF/FLASH)

I recently remembered this rather nice-looking solar system model. Although the size and distances of the planets is not to scale, their positions are accurate.

Just drag the arrow indicating the date around the outer edge or select the running speed on the control bar in the top left corner and watch the planets dance around each other.

The two options at the bottom right corner (Copernican and Tychonian) give two slightly different views: Copernican shows the more realistic view with the Sun at the centre, whereas Tychonian puts Earth at the centre, allowing you to see the position of planets as seen from Earth.

6. The Planets Today

Very similar to dynamic diagrams, except with more options that allow you to adjust the size and scale of the planets. 

Both Planets Today and Dynamic Diagrams appear to be used for astrology, as they provide information regarding the position of the planet's with respect to zodiac star signs (Leo, Gemini, etc). Whilst the zodiac does represents actual constellations, the position of the astrological star signs given in these two sites is scientifically inaccurate and out of date. However, you have to option to remove the zodiac star signs from each diagram.

Finally, for a bit of solar system exploring fun try Ace of Space and pilot your space ship around the solar in the fastest possible time.