Astro Payyanur

The longest solar eclipse was watched by hundreds of people including school students at ASTRO observatory Payyanur. Even though clouds cast shadows over crowd gathered here till 6.45 am. Then the sun came out of clouds to show the cosmic drama of eclipse. ASTRO coordinator K Gangadharan Master gave class and instructions for the people gathered

Novae explode without warning, and even recurrent novae are pretty unpredictable. (For instance, we've been waiting way too long for T Pyxidis to erupt again

But here's a prediction about a recurrent nova that should go off in a specific year: 2009. I've calculated that the recurrent nova U Scorpii, north of Antares and east of the head of Scorpius, should explode any month now. My "crystal ball" is based on old archival photographs and data from amateur astronomers. This brings a golden opportunity for amateurs and professionals to catch the early hours of a nova eruption and to prepare in advance for an intensive observing campaign.

"Recurrent novae" are those that have had more than one eruption observed within a century or so. Classical novae too are believed to repeat, but on timescales of perhaps 1,000 to 100,000 years; we just haven't been watching long enough to see them do it yet.

U Sco is one of the most famous recurrent novae. In quiescence it usually hovers around magnitude 17.6, but in outburst it briefly shoots up by about 8 or 9 magnitudes. In fact, U Sco is the all-time fastest nova known. Its brightening from minimum to maximum takes only about 5 hours, and its decline to two magnitudes below maximum takes about 38 hours. U Sco's last three eruptions, in 1979, 1987, and 1999, were all discovered by amateur astronomers.

A small 8th-magnitude comet is now making its way slowly across Cassiopeia toward Perseus. The surprise visitor, called Comet Yi-SWAN, should be within reach of small telescopes for most of April and May 2009. However, bright moonlight will make it a challenge to spot until the second half of April.

So far, observers describe the comet as a diffuse glow just a few arcminutes across. No one has yet reported a tail, but that could change in the coming days as the Moon's glare wanes.

Because of its high declination, Comet Yi-SWAN is theoretically visible all night from mid-northern latitudes. But early rising skywatchers have the best chance, because Cassiopeia is highest during the predawn hours.

On Saturday evening, April 11th, the comet passes just 0.4° south of Schedar (α Cassiopeiae), so they'll be in the same low-power telescopic field. On Thursday night, April 23-24, the comet will glide only 1.2° south of the Double Cluster in Perseus.

The Discovery

Korean amateur Dae-am Yi was the first person to notice the comet. On March 26th, he obtained two images of it with a Canon 5D camera and 90-mm lens. But word was slow to reach the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the world's clearinghouse for comet discoveries.

Independently, Rob Matson reported to CBAT on April 4th that he'd found a possible comet in SWAN images posted on the SOHO website.

Recognizing that the objects were one and the same, CBAT astronomers announced the find on IAU Circulars 9034 and 9035 and gave it the name Comet Yi-SWAN (C/2009 F6). Preliminary calculations by Brian G. Marsden indicate the comet is traveling in a highly inclined parabolic orbit, tipped 85.7° to the plane of the ecliptic. At perihelion on May 8th, the comet will be 1.27 astronomical units (190 million km) from the Sun and half again farther from Earth.

The ephemeris below, from Marsden's orbital elements, gives the comet's right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0 hours Universal Time on selected dates, along with its elongation angle from the Sun, predicted visual magnitude, and the constellation in which it lies.

If you have a telescope, mark April 2–5, 2009, on your calendar. The world is coming your way.

An unprecedented string of public skywatching events will be packed into this brief period, all designed to engage people and bring them out for a worldwide star party that will cap the program on Saturday evening, April 4th.

Collectively, the period is called “100 Hours of Astronomy.” It’s a Cornerstone Project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, tailor-made for amateurs who’d like to try some outreach. During the final 24 hours a global star party will sweep around the world, with local gatherings beginning as darkness descends. Even city street corners will come alive, with the third annual International Sidewalk Astronomy Night happening the first weekend in April. Thus many sidewalk astronomy regulars will already be at their stations.

Comet Lulin this week is at its brightest and closest to Earth — right when the sky is conveniently moonless. Use binoculars or a telescope to look for it once it's well up in late evening. The comet is glowing at about magnitude 5.6 as it moves rapidly westward across Virgo.

In recent days the comet's dust-spike antitail has grown longer and stronger, completely outclassing its "true" tail, which points properly away from the Sun like a comet's tail should.

On Monday night, February 23rd, the comet passes 2° south-southwest of Saturn.

Lulin’s closest approach to Earth, 0.41 a.u. (61 million km), occurs on February 24th.

On the night of February 25th the comet goes through opposition, nearly 180° from the Sun in our sky. Will there be an "opposition effect" brightening of its dusty coma and dust tail?

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!
JOIN THE GLOBE AT NIGHT CAMPAIGN, 16-28 MARCH!

At least 2 out of 5 Americans, 1 out of 6 Europeans and 1 out of 10
people worldwide have never seen 90% of the stars in our night sky.
With half the world's population now living in cities, this problem is
only getting worse. Yet you can easily be part of a local solution to
a global problem.

Take back the night! Take a few minutes to monitor your local night
sky brightness, place your measurement on-line noting your location,
date and time and within a few weeks see a map of light pollution
levels worldwide.

Be part of the "GLOBE at Night" citizen-science campaign and make a
world of difference! The GLOBE at Night campaign runs March 16-28,
2009. Help preserve our natural heritage for generations to come. Find
out more information at www.globe.gov/globeatnight . GLOBE at Night is
an official International Year of Astronomy Dark Skies Awareness
cornerstone project.

On Friday Jan 30, 09 we are presented with a nice opportunity to catch Venus in broad day light.

On this day the Moon and Venus would be rising almost together. At about 10:00 a.m. if the sky is clear it should not be difficult to see the brightening lunar crescent well above the eastern horizon. Venus would be about two and quarter degrees south of the Moon. If one uses a small pair of binoculars one should be able to see these in the same field of view.

The best opportunity, however, comes when they will be crossing the meridian, an imaginary arc that passes through the north pole, the point right overhead and then the south pole. Close to the time is crosses the meridian (called transit time) time face due south and look strait up and then bend your neck down slightly southwards. You should be able to spot the Moon and then continue further down a bit and you can spot Venus.

Venus Rise, Transit and set times (in IST) for some cities in India are

rise transit set
Chennai 9h 01m 15h 12m 21h 26m
Bangalore 9h 25m 15h 27m 21h 28m
Jaipur 9h 32m 15h 34m 21h 36m
Kolkata 8h 42m 14h 44m 20h 46m
Mumbai 9h 44m 15h 46m 21h 47m
New Delhi 9h 26m 15h 28m 21h 30m
Pune 9h 39m 15h 41m 21h 43m


If you missed the event, never mind. Wait till it gets dark. It would be a magnificent view of the Moon and Venus next to each other above the western horizon.

Annular Solar Eclipse of January 26

The first solar eclipse of 2009 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in western Capricornus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a wide track that traverses the Indian Ocean and western Indonesia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much larger path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the southern third of Africa, Madagascar, Australia except Tasmania, southeast India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia. (Figure 1).

The annular path begins in the South Atlantic at 06:06 UT when the Moon's antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 363 kilometre wide corridor. Traveling eastward, the shadow quickly sweeps south of the African continent, missing it by approximately 900 kilometres. Slowly curving to the northeast the path crosses the southern Indian Ocean. Greatest eclipse[1] takes place at 07:58:39 UT when the eclipse magnitude[2] will reach 0.9282. At this instant, the annular duration is 7 minutes 54 seconds, the path width is 280 kilometres and the Sun is 73° above the flat horizon formed by the open ocean. The central track continues northeast where it finally encounters land in the form of the Cocos Islands and onward to southern Sumatra and western Java (Figure 2). At 09:40 UT, the central line duration is 6 minutes 18 seconds and the Sun's altitude at 25°. In its final minutes, the antumbral shadow cuts across central Borneo and clips the northwestern edge of Celebes before ending just short of Mindanao, Philippines at 09:52 UT. During a 3 hour 46 minute trajectory across our planet, the Moon's antumbra travels approximately 14,500 kilometres and covers 0.9% of Earth's surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.

Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from southern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Local circumstances for a number of cities are listed in Table 2. All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun's altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude and obscuration[3] are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.

This is the 50th eclipse of Saros 131. The family began with an unusually long series of 22 partial eclipses starting on 1125 Aug 01. The first central eclipse was total in the Northern Hemisphere on 1522 Mar 27. It was followed by 5 more total eclipses before the series produce 5 hybrid eclipses from 1630 to 1702. The first annular eclipse of Saros 131 occurred on 1720 Aug 04. The series will produce 29 more annular eclipses the last of which is 2243 Jun 18. Saros 131 terminates on 2369 Sep 02 after a string of 7 partial eclipses. Complete details for 70 eclipses in the series may be found at:

Launch Conference of the International Year of Astronomy
UNESCO, Paris, France, January 15-16 2009

2009 has been declared International Year of Astronomy by the General Assembly of the UN (United Nations Organization).

The Opening ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy will take place in Paris, January 15-16, 2009, under the aegis of the UN, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), the IAU (International Astronomical Union). It is also supported by a number of sponsors including French and international organizations and institutions .

About 600 participants are expected, among them eminent scientists (including Nobel Prize winners), and also about 200 young students from over 100 countries, participating to the International Year IYA2009. Attendance is on invitation only.

Comets for both morning and evening



January lets us do an end run around the Moon's bright glare. When it washes out the sky near one interplanetary fuzzball, a second one comes into view on the sky's other side. Newcomer C/2007 N3 (Lulin) glides in the Moon-free morning skies during January's first 2 weeks, then the returning Comet 85P/Boethin becomes a prime evening ­target after midmonth.

Lulin tips the scales of Libra, between ruddy Antares and blue-white Spica. Glowing at 8th magnitude, this primordial snowball hails from the distant Oort Cloud. The comet makes its closest approach to the Sun January 10, but it will continue to brighten as it approaches Earth. It's destined never to return to the inner solar system. You'll need an 8-inch telescope to spy this comet from the suburbs, but a 4-inch will reveal it under a dark sky

IYA2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first astronomical observation through a telescope. It is nothing short of a worldwide celebration, promoting astronomy and its contribution to society and culture, with events at regional, national, and global levels.

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together almost 10 000 distinguished astronomers from all nations of the world. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

One of the year's most prolific meteor showers makes its appearance in mid-December. The Geminid shower peaks the night of December 13/14. Although frequently considered a poor cousin to August's Perseid shower, the Geminids often put on a better show. In a good year, observers can expect to see more than 60 "shooting stars" per hour -- an average of better than one per minute -- at the Geminids' peak.

Unfortunately, 2008 isn't the best year for the Geminids. The Moon reaches its full phase December 12 and won't appear much different the following night. With bright moonlight in the sky essentially from dusk to dawn, fainter meteors will be washed out, and only the bright ones will shine through. Under clear skies, attentive observers should see 10 to 15 meteors per hour -- not great, but better than all but a handful of nights during 2008.

One way to compensate for the Moon's presence is to find a spot where a building or tree blocks the Moon from view. This will make the sky appear darker. Also, try to observe from a rural location, where city lights won't add to the Moon's glow. Because December nights tend to be cold, bundle up in layers if you plan to view the Geminids. Reclining in a lawn chair is a great way to take in a lot of the sky at once, but be sure to get up and walk around occasionally. It also helps to drink some hot coffee or tea.

In 2009 we celebrate 400 years of Galileo's observations, the background theme for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

One of Galileo's study objects was our star - the Sun, where he observed one of the first know types of solar activity - Sunspots. 400 years have past since Galileo's observations, but there are still a large number of people around the world that think the Sun is just a bright perfect yellow ball.

And this is where you come in!

"Dawn of the IYA2009" is a global, Sun observation campaign, proposed by Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) and the IYA2009's Solar Physics Group (SPG), which seeks not only to be the global teaser for the IYA2009 (a first calling card), but also to show to a larger, global public, what our star is all about.

For this activity we propose that, starting at local noon, 1st of January 2009, everyone with means to (safely) observe the Sun, gather outside science centers, town halls, shopping centers or simply your own street, and present the Sun and the IYA2009 to the world.

We call all professional and hobby astronomers to participate in what will be the largest Sun observation event in the world. Whether you have a telescope with a solar filter, an H-alpha telescope, a sunspotter or a simple pinhole projection system, you are the one we need.

All registered participants will download a set of instructions on how to safely observe the Sun, a IYA2009 logo to place on their equipment and/or a small poster presenting the IYA2009, which should be present during the activity.