Astronomy thread/Kìng a teri tanhìyä tìftia

[Toliman]

Looks that night sky will be cloudy here tonight after longer time...

Yay you'll finally sleep

Forecast partly failed XD
It's incredible but clouds slowly come away again However I feel strong tiredness...



Found this:
Juno Solves 39-Year Old Mystery of Jupiter Lightning
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/juno-solves-39-year-old-mystery-of-jupiter-lightning

[Toliman]

Icy Dunes on Pluto Reveal a Diverse and Dynamic Dwarf Planet

Newly discovered dunes on Pluto tell us the dwarf planet's geology and atmosphere is far more dynamic than previously expected, with the winds of its thin and multi-layer atmosphere helping shape the landscape. Found near the mountains that encircle Pluto's Sputnik Planitia plain, these formations appear to be quite young in geological terms, on the scale of decades or centuries old.
NASA New Horizons scientists found these evenly spaced ridges on Pluto's surface using imagery from the 2015 flyby. The ridges appear to have formed out of particles of methane ice as small as grains of sand, arranged into dunes by wind from the nearby mountains.
Wind can create dunes through a process known as eolian transport, where winds move sediment by skipping, bouncing, rolling and sliding particles across the ground. However, the winds on Pluto aren't strong enough on their own to loft these grains off the ground. But the process of sublimation – where ice turns straight into gas, without going through the liquid phase – also lifts particles and could dislodge the sediment carried by winds to form these methane rich dunes.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/icy-dunes-on-pluto-reveal-a-diverse-and-dynamic-dwarf-planet

[Vawmataw]

So on the menu tonight:
M3, M4, M5, M6, M7, M10, M12, M22, M24, M57, M81, M82, M94
I observed successfully NGC 6530. I could recognise a bit of nebulosity.
Finally, I saw a meteor that came from Scorpio (could it be an Ophiuchid?)

[Toliman]

I observed successfully NGC 6530. I could recognise a bit of nebulosity.

So you can see cluster NGC6530 in Lagoon Nebula and you also can reckognise the brightest part of this nebula, isn't it?

If yes, you could see also M17 Swan Nebula - brightness of this nebula is a bit less bright than M8 however it's still spectaculary bright and central part of M17 could be visible for you without bigger problems + M17 has a bit better declination for us

Finally, I saw a meteor that came from Scorpio (could it be an Ophiuchid?)

Hmm ... ophiuchids. Theoretically yes.
How bright was it?

[Toliman]

I just observed the Sun right now (telescope + white light filter) and it was great - there are many sunspots after very long time
There are three interesting group of sunspots on the Sun right now - one from this sunspotr is quite big and has nice umbra/penumbra structure.
Also solar granulation was better visible than usually.

[Vawmataw]

Finally, I saw a meteor that came from Scorpio (could it be an Ophiuchid?)

Hmm ... ophiuchids. Theoretically yes.
How bright was it?

I would give a magnitude of 1 or 2.

I observed successfully NGC 6530. I could recognise a bit of nebulosity.

So you can see cluster NGC6530 in Lagoon Nebula and you also can reckognise the brightest part of this nebula, isn't it?

It's particularly faint and it corresponds to the central part. But yes.

If yes, you could see also M17 Swan Nebula - brightness of this nebula is a bit less bright than M8 however it's still spectaculary bright and central part of M17 could be visible for you without bigger problems + M17 has a bit better declination for us

Interesting!
I would also visit M18 nearby to reach it. What does it look like?

[Toliman]

If yes, you could see also M17 Swan Nebula - brightness of this nebula is a bit less bright than M8 however it's still spectaculary bright and central part of M17 could be visible for you without bigger problems + M17 has a bit better declination for us

Interesting!
I would also visit M18 nearby to reach it. What does it look like?

M18 is small but bright open cluster. There really should be no problems even on light polluted sky
(despite that this cluster not contains extra big number of stars)

[Vawmataw]

Time to list all the objects I saw tonight:

Messier: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 39, 53, 57, 64, 81, 82, 94, 104.
NGC: 457, 869, 884, 6633, 7160.
IC: 4665, 4756.
Stock 2, ASCC 101, Cr 350 (maybe Cr 399 too).
Venus, Jupiter (and its four moons), Saturn (and Titan), Mars, Vesta.
Mag. -5 iridium flare and 2 meteors

I tend to think that I didn't see M21 but rather NGC 6530.

[Toliman]

Time to list all the objects I saw tonight:

Messier: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 39, 53, 57, 64, 81, 82, 94, 104.
NGC: 457, 869, 884, 6633, 7160.
IC: 4665, 4756.
Stock 2, ASCC 101, Cr 350 (maybe Cr 399 too).
Venus, Jupiter (and its four moons), Saturn (and Titan), Mars, Vesta.
Mag. -5 iridium flare and 2 meteors

I tend to think that I didn't see M21 but rather NGC 6530.

However M21 should be visible for you without problems too M21 is a bit smaller but more concentrated than NGC6530.

[Vawmataw]

Yeah, I will probably have fun tomorrow.

[Toliman]

Yeah, I will probably have fun tomorrow.

Txantsan!
I hope for Mars observation tonight.

Btw, when you will observe in area around Lagoon nebula, you can try also Cr367 (big and easy) and M20 Trifid nebula (maybe you could see it faintly too, if sky condition will be excellent).

[archaic]

Icy Dunes on Pluto Reveal a Diverse and Dynamic Dwarf Planet

Newly discovered dunes on Pluto tell us the dwarf planet's geology and atmosphere is far more dynamic than previously expected, with the winds of its thin and multi-layer atmosphere helping shape the landscape. Found near the mountains that encircle Pluto's Sputnik Planitia plain, these formations appear to be quite young in geological terms, on the scale of decades or centuries old.
NASA New Horizons scientists found these evenly spaced ridges on Pluto's surface using imagery from the 2015 flyby. The ridges appear to have formed out of particles of methane ice as small as grains of sand, arranged into dunes by wind from the nearby mountains.
Wind can create dunes through a process known as eolian transport, where winds move sediment by skipping, bouncing, rolling and sliding particles across the ground. However, the winds on Pluto aren't strong enough on their own to loft these grains off the ground. But the process of sublimation – where ice turns straight into gas, without going through the liquid phase – also lifts particles and could dislodge the sediment carried by winds to form these methane rich dunes.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/icy-dunes-on-pluto-reveal-a-diverse-and-dynamic-dwarf-planet

Fascinating, thank you for sharing this.

[Toliman]

Yeah, it's fascinating Before New Horizons mission, I was not able imagine that Pluto can be such fascinating world.

[Toliman]

I hope for Mars observation tonight.

...and sky was really clear!
Seeing was just average but I was able see few details on Mars surface. I observed also Saturn with his moons.

Today I observed Sun again. That sunspots from yesterday are still big and interesting.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

I pulled out the club's solar 'scope last evening, just before sunset. A combination of a quick setup (still debugging a new mount) and a low sun made detail hard to see. I did not see the sunspot. It must have rotated out of view. If there were any prominences visible, they were very faint.

We were given a bunch of tripods from defunct telescopes, most with simple equatorial mounts. This tripod has a nicer equatorial mount, with a clock drive. But the 1/4-20 mounting stud is messed up and doesn't hold the 'scope to the mount well. Something to work on this weekend.....

[Toliman]

I pulled out the club's solar 'scope last evening, just before sunset. A combination of a quick setup (still debugging a new mount) and a low sun made detail hard to see. I did not see the sunspot. It must have rotated out of view. If there were any prominences visible, they were very faint.

Yeah, that big sunspot surely rotated out of view (I observed sun already before noon).

[Vawmataw]

That sunspots from yesterday are still big and interesting.

I will post here what I could see earlier this afternoon.



Obviously the view was much better in real life.

[Toliman]

Here is actual image by NASA (for comparsion):

[Vawmataw]

close enough 

[Toliman]

close enough 

Yeah
Did you saw (visualy) also that two smaller sunspots near right edge of the Sun? Or you just take this photo?