|
|
Aurora
Date: 20/21
Nov 2003 Time: 18.30
UT
Description Shortly after sunset I was trying out the 10" Dark Star
reflector when I noticed that the sky was not darkening, but had a pale blue
cast like that normally seen at full moon. The appearance of a large round
red area to the west confirmed my suspicion that a powerful aurora was taking
place.
As the sky darkened the extent of the aurora become visible as pale
turquoise waves stretched from north to south. Ghostly white beams from the
east and west would project upwards to the zenith where a red glow appeared.
This continued through the night gradually fading back to the northern
horizon where occasionally short beams would rise 10 to 15 degrees. Observing
ended at 01.30 UT when only
slight activity had been seen for 20 minutes.
The Wigtownshire AS was notified, as were other Societies in the UK however, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire were clouded out. Fireball
Date: 09/10
May 2004 Time: 00.08
UT Meteor start point: 185 degrees (4 deg SW of epsilon Virgo passing
between Eta Leo and Alpha Leo) Meteor end point: 220 degrees (3 deg north of Alpha Cancer) Start height above horizon: 42
degrees (estimated) Duration : approx
4 seconds Speed: 5 Description
A bright
fireball was observed passing through Virgo into Cancer. The start of the
track was nearly due south and disappeared into cloud in the north west. The
meteor was estimated at magnitude -4 except for 3 flares, the brightest
reached -5 or -6. There is a possibility that one of the flares was caused by
thin cloud. Colour throughout was white. At Cancer
the meteor disappeared behind thick cloud. There was no sign of the meteor
fading at the point it was obscured by cloud. The cloud was thick enough to
obscure nearby Venus. No sound was
heard, the meteor did not appear to fragment nor leave an ionised trail. Having
observed may meteors over the years this is certainly one of the brightest
and fastest I have seen. The observation was reported, but it would seem that only myself and one other observer at the GAC saw it. Major Sunspot - 19th July 2004 On the 18th July a huge complex sunspot (No.
652) come over the limb of the Sun.
It is so large that it is visible to the unaided eye using suitable a solar
filter – NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. The sunspot
generated two large flares which produced large auroral activity in the USA The picture on
the right was taken on 19th July 2004 at 15.00 UT Click on image
for a close up of the sunspot. A previous
major sunspot (No.649) has currently survived 2 months and about to complete
its second rotation. Although large it has produced little auroral activity. Supernova - 8 August 2004 08 August 2004 00.15 First view of the new supernova
SN2004dj located in spiral galaxy NGC 2403, Camelopardalis. Japanese amateur
astronomer Koichi Itagaki discovered the supernova on July 31, 2004. It is
located at RA 7h 37m 17s, Dec +65° 35' 58" (2000.0). Estimated at
magnitude 11.2 the supernova is very easy to see in any moderately sized
telescope. Using the Centre's computer controlled Orion 8 inch reflector and
comparing the eyepiece view with a CCD image of the galaxy the supernova was
immediately obvious. The image of the supernova was taken using a Mintron
Astrovideo camera and then photographing the TV screen with a digital camera.
The galaxy is 14 million light-years away and face on which gives it a low
surface brightness. The galaxy was quite faint on the TV so it is not
surprising it is only partly visible in the digital image. The other stars
visible are all in our own galaxy. Conditions were not ideal as the galaxy was in the north
at almost its lowest point in its circumpolar travel plus a
last quarter phase Moon was affecting the
darkness of the sky. Regular checks on the supernova have been made – last observed
on 14 Sept 2004 it had faded to about mag +13. The supernova is no longer visible. Perseid Shower 2004 The maximum of the Perseid meteor
shower occurred on 11th
August 2004 during daylight hours in the UK, but the activity continue
into the night giving a good display of bright and faint meteors. The
highlight of the night was an exploding meteor at 02.47 UT 11/12th August. This started very close to
the radiant and passed just below Cassiopeia. The meteor lit up the whole
landscape like a lightning flash and left an ionised trail lasting about 4
seconds. Further viewing on the 13th
August also showed a fair level of activity. Amazingly, another exploding
meteor occurred at 02.30 UT 12/13th August . This one passed below the head of Pegusus and was
far brighter with an ionised trail which was visible to the naked eye for
about 60 seconds and longer in binoculars. As it faded it twisted into a "Z" shape. New
Comet –
C2004/Q2 Machholz
After a long wait the comet has now travelled far enough north and is visible in Lepus to the south east of Orion. The first observation of the comet from the Centre was made on 11 December 2004. It appears as a large fuzzy ball with a bright star-like centre slightly offset and no tail. Although listed as magnitude +5.5 my own estimate is nearer to +6, but this may be due to its low altitude.
The comet was further observed on 20th, 24th, 26th Dec 2004 as it passed west of Orion and on 1st and 5th Jan 2005 passing through Taurus. It is growing in diameter and brightness. It appears to be about half the size of the Moon (i.e. 1/4 deg) and magnitude +4.5 on Jan 5th. The full Moon of 26th Dec made deatiled observing difficult. The darker sky of January allows the two tails to be seen even in binoculars. The ion tail is longer and at an angle of about 120 deg to the dust tail.
Look out for further updates.
The comet was discovered on 27th
August 2004 by Donald E. Machholz - its his 10th. The map
opposite shows the path of the comet over the following weeks. Aurora
#2
Date: 14/15
Sept 2004 Time: 22.00
UT
Description Between 22.00 and 00.45 UT on Sept
14/15 there was mild aurora activity. The major part of the activity was
short lived for the most part there was a constant background glow stretching
approx 30 deg either side of north reaching up to 15 deg above visible
horizon. For one hour from 23.45 activity increased with a series of vertical beams reaching up to 30 deg above visible horizon - as many as four beams were visible at the same time, but most of the time they were in ones and twos. Several picture were taken on 400ASA slide film. Click on image for a larger version. It is interesting to note the
difference between the image and what could actually be seen. The aurora
showed no colour at any time with the naked eye but as you can see from the
mage the colours appear very distinct. The aurora was observed by Helen, myself and 3 guests from
Bradford AS. Aurora Month - November
Date: 7th
– 9th Nov 2004 Description
I don't think the Sun knows it is
going into sunspot minimum. We have just experienced an aurora on each of the
last 3 nights. The culprit has been sunspot no. 696 creating several M and X
class CMEs. Just short of a year since the last major aurora viewed from the
GAC with the exception of the short one in September. On the night of 7th/8th
Nov the clouds cleared at approx 20.30 and was only lost as the sky became
too bright at dawn. The first view was of an intense pale green - blue broad
band with a fainter red band above. The green - blue band expanded higher
into the sky reach almost halfway to the southern horizon. At the same time
the red band faded. The aurora was so bright that when cloud occasionally
covered the sky it shone through as if there was a full moon. Very broad beams
would rise at an angle from the north towards the west and east and were
edged bright red. At about 03.00 one beam was particularly bright rising
through Ursa Major. On the 8th/9th
Nov the aurora was only viewed briefly. At approx 19.45 several short vertical
beams appeared low on the northern horizon. These were only seen for about 45
minutes before cloud and rain stopped viewing. No photographs were taken. The 9th/10th Nov
saw the third aurora start at approx 18.50. Again a broad green-blue broad band
appeared this time without any red band above. It expanded until nearly
overhead, while along the whole width it remained a uniform brightness. By
22.00 the band faded back to about 45 deg above the horizon. Then the clouds
rolled in for nearly two hours. When they cleared the band was just the same.
At this point I nearly called it a night, but was glad I didn't. The aurora
took on a whole new phase when it livened spectacularly by 01.00. What can
only be described as lumps of light streaking from the horizons to the east
and west to meet in the south in Orion. It is difficult to describe the
effect. Sometime they were 5 deg wide 20 deg long blocks of light shooting
across the sky in only a few seconds at other times the block stretched out
forming an arc all or part way to the horizon. At times the beams from the
west were stronger and more frequent then the eastern ones become greater.
But through all this the northern sky still had the same bland band with no
change. I have never heard of this type of activity before. At 02.10 the
pulses ended and the activity switched to the north. The band rose in the
centre to form a huge arch and from this numerous beams radiated out in a
fan. Some of them stretched to the zenith. Then inside the arch zig-zags of intense
activity appeared. This activity lasted until 03.30 when it quickly died away
leaving a faint featureless curved band with little activity visible other
than occasional broad vertical bands by the time dawn made the sky too light
to see any more. The very last remnant of the series of
flares caused brief auroral activity. On 12th/13th
Nov at approx 20.00 a faint glow was visible on the horizon at approx 20.45
this developed into a few vertical beams which faded after 20 minutes, then
the glow faded too by 21.30 Four aurora in six days makes it quite
a month. Transit of Venus
For a report on the event click HERE |
Click image
for larger image
Faint green aurora beam through Orion. Click image for large view Faint green aurora beam through Hydra towards Canis
Minor. Click image for large view Click image to access the Aurora Gallery Click image for larger image |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
