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[...] and shared the Sun safely with the world via social media online… and folks headed our admonishment to stay cool and hydrate, and no reports of heat stroke from solar observers were noted. A lonely world… Image [...]
The Sky is Waiting.
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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
Waiting for Mercury: Tales of Transits
Our humble station.
There’s another insidious danger that awaits unwary solar astronomers.
This coming Monday on May 9th, the planet Mercury transits the fair face of our host star as seen from our Earthly vantage point. Unlike, Venus, Mercury is tiny, meaning amateurs everywhere will be scrambling to make solar filters for their telescopes this weekend.
It also means that you can expect to hear lots of warnings on the perils of solar observing to come. Yes, you can fry your eyes instantly without proper protection, namely a projection system or a solar filter designed to observe the Sun securely affixed to the front of your scope.
But what we’d like to mention, as we enter this coming pre-transit preparation weekend, is another danger we courted during the last transit of Mercury on November 8th, 2006.
This was less than a month from our retirement from the U.S. Air Force and departure from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Tucson, Arizona. I found myself scopeless, as we prepared to strike out on our backpacking trip ’round the world.
Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to do one last public event at the Flandrau Observatory on the University of Arizona campus. Heck, I even made a Baader solar filer mask for a loner refractor from the observatory on weekend prior, just for the event.
The day dawned hot and clear. For Arizona, the transit occurred late in the heat of the afternoon. I checked out of work early, lest any last minute emergencies strand me prior to the start of the transit. Jumping into civilian clothes out of uniform with gear stashed in the back of my Jeep Wrangler, I dashed across town to the university.
Now, the 2006 transit of Mercury was almost five hours long. By definition, this means standing out in the Sun for a similar duration. All the while, we went through the familiar public observing drill: tweak the scope, center Mercury, direct folks to the eyepiece, answer questions, repeat. Crowds were bigger than expected. The angry Arizona sun beat down on us hapless scope operators, its blaze scarcely dimmed by diminutive Mercury.
Don’t worry, I made it. Like the good solider we are, we never abandoned our post or our duty to the curious public. ‘Do it for the kids,’ we thought. ‘The kids love Mercury, they gotta see Mercury!’ We secretly thanked Mike Terenzoni for the very few brief minutes afforded to duck inside the Flandrau and in to the cool shade within, under the pretense of seeing Mercury on the big screen from the live feed from the scope located in the dome of the Flandrau observatory above.
We drank as much water as we dared. Solar observing is something like a third world bus ride; guzzle down too much fluid on top of morning coffee and a diet Coke, and you’ll be hunting for a toilet every two minutes. As with a long dusty bus to Bangkok, said bathroom might be hours down the road when you’ve got a line around the block at your scope. The solution: drink H2O when thirsty, but only just enough to slake your thirst.
Even in November, Tucson in the late afternoon can indeed feel like the surface of Mercury. In the current epoch, transits of Mercury can occur in the months of November and May, and I truly feel for those brave souls crewing scopes in southern Arizona next week in the heat of May.
It was only hours later back at billeting when I realized I probably came close to borderline heat stroke that day. Denial is part of the package, and it seemed to take hours (and pouring an icy cold bath) to really cool down. I’d run miles in the deserts of Kuwait, but can attest that standing in the afternoon sun for hours can heat a body up just as easily.
The solution? Make sure you pack your own shade Monday, be it a small portable canopy or tripod mounted umbrella to step under. The ‘kids want Mercury, and we give it to ‘em,’ but don’t fry for the cause!