Space Distraction

[Patchouli]

Hubs got me a nice digital camera and I have not yet learned how to use it. Son used it for some graduation photos of his wife. (Go Aggies, hey they're playing against Riptide today)!
My phone does not take good photos.
Wish I could find a place free of lights to look at the night sky again.

 

[Woody]

I saw them this morning around 4 am. No, I did not stay up that late! That is the time most reasonable folks wake up.

 

[Cnsper]

Too cool! Mars was visible close to the moon also. By any chance did you get a shot of it?

Here is one from 30 minutes ago. They were closer and Mars was on the other side of the moon last night.

Mars is the dot above and to the right of the moon. Love the lack of lights.

 

[Patchouli]

Had to run out to get gas and saw the moon a little ways above the horizon but by the time I got home, there it was above some trees, and yes, I saw the planet too.
Good stuff. Still seeing Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky together.

From Sky & Telescope magazine:

"As evening twilight fades, make a left turn away from the sunset point, and you’ll have an easy time spotting Jupiter, perched above the southern horizon about a third of the way to overhead. Not far to Jupiter’s left is a dimmer but still obvious star. That’s actually Saturn. The nearly first-quarter Moon passes near Jupiter and Saturn on the 22nd, and they’ll make an attractive trio that night.October 2020: Mars is the Star! - Sky & Telescope

"But the real star of this month’s celestial show is Mars! The Red Planet will be well up in the east by about 9 p.m., and it’ll look almost alarmingly bright. That’s because on October 6th, Mars will be just 38.6 million miles from Earth — it won’t be this close again until 2035. One week later, on the 13th, Mars will be at what astronomers call opposition, directly opposite the Sun in the sky, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.

This planet was named for the Roman god of war because of its ruddy hue. And do you know why Mars looks red? Listen to this month's Sky Tour podcast to find out!

Another celestial happening is that there will be two full Moons during October, on the 1st and 31st (Halloween). In recent years it’s been popular to call this second full Moon in a single month a “Blue Moon.” This usage, it seems, came from a 1946 article in Sky & Telescope. But if you really dig deep, the term “Blue Moon” was first used before then — and for a very different reason that you'll learn about when you listen to the podcast.

Meanwhile, look toward northwest, and you’ll find the Big Dipper not far above the horizon. Actually, in this pose, it’s easy to see that its seven stars are part of a larger star pattern tracing out the Great Bear, Ursa Major. Many widely separated cultures have recognized this general pattern of stars as a bear, and some historians think its origin as such might date back more than 10,000 years.

There’s lots more to see after it gets dark on October evenings, and this month’s Sky Tour astronomy podcast is a fun and entertaining way to track them down. No stargazing experience or equipment is needed! So if you’ve got 11 minutes to spare, why not give it a try?"

 

[Patchouli]

I think I'll try the new walkway by the lake to take the telescope and binoculars stargazing. There are little LED lights low on short poles along the walkway, shouldn't interfere too much, not sure.
This would be a good time of the month, no moon.

 

[PopPopT]

Used to have a 4.5" reflector years ago, an old homemade "junker" that I bought for like $20 off of my old H.S. science teacher. It's been discarded for probably 25 years now. Have been thinking of getting another telescope but haven't decided on what. Had thought of getting something bigger but I end up paging through listings of bigger and bigger and bigger, and more and more and more expensive, and then clicking off the page at the sticker shock and never buying anything. I tend to have that problem... I usually start the looking at about 8" reflectors and it goes up from there. Honestly, some of them are not that expensive. And some of them are the price of a car. Ouch. And it doesn't seem like there is a "one telescope does it all" as one will be better for looking at things like planets and different ones will be better for astrophotography and still others will be better for distant galaxies and such. Decisions, decisions...

 

[Patchouli]

Locally, here and where I lived back east, there are astronomy groups that get together. They share their telescopes and have star parties. Some of them have the parties right in the city. No, I never went. Sounds like a good idea though. Usually active on a new moon night (which means, of course no moon).
We used to hit the Inner Harbor of Baltimore on any given day or afternoon of nice weather and there would be astronomers out along the walkways with their awesome telescopes (midday) and they were so powerful you could see planets.

Anyway, this month here's what we have to find in the skies for the month of November:

Meteor Shower Calendar 2020-2021
So far we have the Orionids from Oct. 2 - Nov. 7. Sorry I forgot to keep up with this! Peak was Oct. 20/21.
(Copied and pasted from the AMS website):
Northern Taurids
Next period of activity: October 20th, 2020 to December 10th, 2020
This shower is much like the Southern Taurids, just active a bit later in the year. When the two showers are active simultaneously in late October and early November, there is sometimes an notable increase in the fireball activity. There seems to be a seven year periodicity with these fireballs. 2008 and 2015 both produced remarkable fireball activity.
Shower details - Radiant: 03:52 +22.7° - ZHR: 5 - Velocity: 18 miles/sec (medium - 30km/sec) - Parent Object: 2P/Encke
Next Peak - The Northern Taurids will next peak on the Nov 11-12, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 15% full.
After midnight

Next up:
Leonids
Next period of activity: November 6th, 2020 to November 30th, 2020
The Leonids are best known for producing meteor storms in the years of 1833, 1866, 1966, 1999, and 2001. These outbursts of meteor activity are best seen when the parent object, comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is near perihelion (closest approach to the sun). Yet it is not the fresh material we see from the comet, but rather debris from earlier returns that also happen to be most dense at the same time. Unfortunately it appears that the earth will not encounter any dense clouds of debris until 2099. Therefore when the comet returns in 2031 and 2064, there will be no meteor storms, but perhaps several good displays of Leonid activity when rates are in excess of 100 per hour. The best we can hope for now until the year 2030 is peaks of around 15 shower members per hour and perhaps an occasional weak outburst when the earth passes near a debris trail. The Leonids are often bright meteors with a high percentage of persistent trains.
Shower details - Radiant: 10:08 +21.6° - ZHR: 15 - Velocity: 44 miles/sec (swift - 71km/sec) - Parent Object: 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Next Peak - The Leonids will next peak on the Nov 16-17, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 5% full.

 

[Bacpacker]

Here is a pic I took tonight about 6:17. Far left is obviously the moon. To the right is , Saturn. Center screen and lower is Jupiter. Then to the right of that is the ISS space station. It had just came over the horizon and went all the way across the sky to the far horizon in just over 4 minutes. This isn't a good pic, but I thought it was interesting.

 

[Patchouli]

That's way cool. We got to see the space station twice in the past 12 years.
Yes, the moon was very pretty here tonight too.

 

[Bacpacker]

Tonight was our second sighting as well. It's been a long time since our first sighting. It is amazing how fast it goes across the sky.
I just happened to see our local weather guy mention it and had about 5 minutes outside before I caught it moving up thru the trees. It actually went dark (out of the sunlight) before it hit the far horizon.

 

[PopPopT]

Funny thing is, I went out and looked but didn't see it. Got frustrated with a crappy pair of binoculars and decided it wasn't worth it. Just jumpy little dots of light. Even looking at the moon was pretty unsatisfying. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

 

[Patchouli]

Some people are too tall to use, but some you can use their shoulders to rest your elbows on while stargazing. Even sitting down isn't guarantee of steady focus when using binoculars. Around here, even if you wanted to lie on a blanket and stargaze you have to watch out for ants.

 

[Bacpacker]

When it flew by last night I didn't need Binos to see it. It was brighter than anything but the moon. But it only lasted 5 minutes at most. It wouldbt have been hard to miss. 6:16 -6:21pm

 

[PopPopT]

When it flew by last night I didn't need Binos to see it. It was brighter than anything but the moon. But it only lasted 5 minutes at most. It wouldbt have been hard to miss. 6:16 -6:21pm

I think I was probably too early. I tried to pull up the NASA website to tell me exactly what time it would be going by and it wouldn't load. So I was guessing. Probably went inside about the time it was coming over the horizon... Not a huge deal, have seen it before. But the kitty cats got an extra pet while I was out there.

 

[Peanut]

Days before Christmas

https://www.theblaze.com/news/saturn-jupiter-alignment-christ-bible
Days before Christmas, Jupiter and Saturn will look like one bright star — some believe the alignment is the same described in the Bible

The alignment of Jupiter and Saturn will appear in the skies on December 21, the winter solstice. The last time the rare alignment of the planets was this close was in 1623, nearly 400 years ago

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From notes I found else where... they will first be seen together on December 16th but will finally align and appear as one star on December 21th... The winter solstice.

Believe it or not there is also a connection to Q posts. I'm still going through what an anon compiled. If it makes sense I'll put it in the Q thread. It's complicated and the different posts are from different years, it is about the EO's. There a 5 Q messages involved. The most interesting EO is the one concerning Foreign Interference in a US election and what happens 45 days after the election, which is december 18th. Here is a teaser...

 

[Peanut]

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2020-november-30
November 29–30, 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

This is the last penumbral lunar eclipse of 2020. Residents of North and South America, Australia, and parts of Asia can see about 82% of the Full Moon turn a shade darker during the maximum phase of this eclipse.

When the Eclipse Happens Worldwide — Timeline
Lunar eclipses can be visible from everywhere on the night side of the Earth, if the sky is clear. From some places the entire eclipse will be visible, while in other areas the Moon will rise or set during the eclipse.

Event UTC Time Time in Gainesville* Visible in Gainesville
Penumbral Eclipse begins Nov 30 at 07:32:22 Nov 30 at 2:32:22 am Yes
Maximum Eclipse Nov 30 at 09:42:53 Nov 30 at 4:42:53 am Yes
Penumbral Eclipse ends Nov 30 at 11:53:22 Nov 30 at 6:53:22 am Yes
* The Moon is above the horizon during this eclipse, so with good weather conditions in Gainesville, the entire eclipse is visible.

Eclipse calculations usually accurate to a few seconds.

The magnitude of the eclipse is -0.262.

The penumbral magnitude of the eclipse is 0.829.

The total duration of the eclipse is 4 hours, 21 minutes.

 

[Weedygarden]

I know some have seen the post about The Christmas Star appearing this year on December 21st. I couldn't help but really take a deeper look at how amazing that this occurrence would be happening in the year 2020.
In the year when Jesus was born, there was violence, chaos, political and social unrest. It was dark. The Magi found him by way of the star, which was the "meeting" of 3 stars: Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. They followed the star until it rested on where he was and they began to worship him. In a time where it was dark, Light was brought into our world. Jesus stepped into the chaos and brought peace.
Fast forward to this year, 2020. It's a time of violence, chaos, political and social unrest. It is dark. Winter Solstice, December 21st, being a time where the day is the shortest and night is the longest...it's literally the "darkest day" and is the beginning of what most would say the cold, dark winter season. But on the darkest day this year, Jupiter and Saturn meet, giving us the Christmas Star! How fitting...that in the moment of time during the Christmas season that we get to see this beautiful reminder...that even in the darkest of times...Light will, and has, stepped in. In our chaos He is there. In our darkest time, He is there. He brings Light, and makes all things new.
So as you look out on December 21st for the Christmas Star, may we be reminded of His power, and His Light that He brings for all mankind. He is perfect at stepping into chaos and bringing it into peace. Praise the Lord!

(Copied from a friend... you may do the same)

 

[PopPopT]

Thanks, Weedygarden! The Blessed Hope remains in our hearts!

Merry Christmas!

 

[Weedygarden]

Thanks, Weedygarden! The Blessed Hope remains in our hearts!

Merry Christmas!

Thank you! Yes, faith, or hope springs eternal.

Merry Christmas to you!

 

[Bacpacker]

I've been watching the planets close in on each other for a few months now. Didn't realize until a few weeks back about the 21st. Very cool happening to witness.
I got out for a bit around midnight last night and saw a few meteors from the Geminids. Monday night is supposed to be the peak. As many as 200 per hour.

 

[angie_nrs]

Don't forget......tonight's the night.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...once-in-a-lifetime-sky-event/?sh=35996c374b72
I'm not sure if our weather here is going to cooperate, but I hope we have clear skies to be able to view it.

 

[Weedygarden]

Don't forget......tonight's the night.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...once-in-a-lifetime-sky-event/?sh=35996c374b72
I'm not sure if our weather here is going to cooperate, but I hope we have clear skies to be able to view it.

It has been overcast here today. I hope it clears before dusk.

 

[Supervisor42]

It has been overcast here today. I hope it clears before dusk.

The weather was kind to us and we got to watch it.
The Mrs said it was like having double-vision.
I concur.
Me: "Did I drink too much?......now it's one star.....aaaand now I'm drunk again."

 

[Bacpacker]

We got to see it, but it was so low in the sky it was down in the trees for not quite an hour. It was 2 distinct points, but very close together. Really cool to see.

 

[kd4ulw]

 

[angie_nrs]

Too cloudy here.

 

[Peanut]

Too cloudy here as well...

 

[PopPopT]

We saw it. I have a cheap pair of binoculars that made the two pinpoints of light just a little bigger two pinpoints of light. I wish I had a telescope capable of bringing those to planets in close enough to really see them well and the equipment to photograph it, too.

Definitely glad I saw it, though. I could definitely make out the two points of light, even without the binoculars.

 

[bkt]

I'm really liking the lower image, @kd4ulw. You can clearly see Jupiter's three (of four) larger moons and Saturn is oblong due to its rings. What setup did you use to take that?

 

[Peanut]

I watched it for a few minutes this evening, the sky was clear. I even helped mom and dad out onto their porch so they could see it. Both planets should be visible for a few more days, just not so close together.