#c/2014 q1 (panstarrs)

[silvereyedowl]

(source)

Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus

Credits: Amit Kamble, Auckland Astronomical Society, Judy Schmidt

[just--space]

Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus : It is the object to the left of the big tree thats generating much recent excitement. If you look closely, there you can see Comet PanSTARRS, complete with two tails. During July, this comet has increased markedly in brightness and has just passed its closest approach to Earth. The statuesque tree in the center is a Norfolk Island Pine, and to either side of this tree are New Zealand Pohutukaw trees. Over the trees, far in the distance, are bright Venus and an even brighter crescent Moon. If you look even more closely, you can find Jupiter hidden in the branches of the pine. The featured image was taken a few days ago in Fergusson Park, New Zealand, looking over Tauranga Harbour Inlet. In the coming days and weeks, Comet C/2014 Q1 will slowly move away from the Sun and the Earth, drift deep into southern skies, and fade. via NASA

js

[the-telescope-times]

Click, drag, zoom the above simulator at the linked page.

[astrogeoguy]

The Moon Moves into Late Night, Mars Remains, and we Welcome Comet Wirtanen!

(Above: This spectacular image of Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS, taken by Yuri Beletsky at Las Campanas Observatory in 2015, is probably more than we will get from Comet 46P/Wirtanen. The vertical blue tail are ions of gas pushed outwards by the sun’s solar wind. The dimmer horizontal tail is the sunlit debris dropped by the comet as it moves through space. NASA APOD for July 20, 2015)

Hello Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for this week (from November 25th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanetarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here. 

At 7 pm on Tuesday evening, November 27 at York University’s Nat Taylor Cinema, everyone is invited to attend a free screening of the new astronomy-focused film Clara, followed by a Q&A with the writer/director and York astronomy professors Paul Delaney and John Moores, who consulted on the film. Details are here. 

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, November 28 at the Ontario Science Centre, the OSC and RASC-Toronto Centre will present another event in their Great Conversations series. This year’s speaker is Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Rainer Weiss, speaking about the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the way gravitational waves will probe the universe in a new way. Tickets and details are here. 

On Thursday, November 29 at 7 pm at The Spice Factory, McMaster University will host Science on Tap Hamilton, featuring fun, science, and beer! Details about this free 19+ event are here. 

On Friday, November 30, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled The Life and Death of Stars. Details are here. 

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, December 1 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification. 

On Saturday, December 1, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here. 

Bright Comet Alert

For some time now, astronomers have been eagerly awaiting the return of a periodic comet named 46P/Wirtanen. This comet traverses the solar system like a commuter train - shuttling between the orbits of Jupiter and Earth on a 5.4 year-long cycle. But this December’s return is a special one for star-gazers throughout the world.

(Above: The orbit of comet 40P/Wirtanen crosses the solar system between Jupiter’s and Earth’s orbital distances on a 5.4 year loop. This year, when that comet is near perihelion and at maximum brightness, Earth will be nearby, setting up the potential for a naked-eye comet in our skies.) 

When any comet reaches perihelion, its closest approach to the sun, it becomes the most active – growing a halo (or coma) around its “dirty snowball” core and sporting one (or two) tails composed of released gases and dropped particles. Comet Wirtanen’s perihelion is only 6% farther from the sun than Earth’s orbit. Most of the time, Earth is somewhere else when the comet passes perihelion. But this year, Earth will be sitting nearby when that event occurs on December 12. And we’ll be even closer to the comet, only 11.5 million km from it, a few days later on December 16! 

What all this means is that we are hopeful that Comet 46P/Wirtanen will appear larger and brighter this year. It might even become bright enough to see without binoculars at locations away from artificial lights, especially when the moon is out of the night sky. We can start enjoying the comet now, even while it is still brightening. By the end of this week, the moon will be waning to a crescent and rising after midnight, leaving the sky darker for comet hunting.

(Above: The path of Comet 46P/Wirtanen (in yellow at right) will take it through the eastern corner of Cetus the Whale (well west of Orion) from Nov 25 to Dec 2, 2018. It will be highest in the sky at about 10 pm local time.)  

Comets move faster across the sky when they are near perihelion. This week, the comet will be gradually shifting higher, passing through the southeastern section of the dim constellation of Cetus (the Whale). By 10 pm local time, the comet will be directly over the southern horizon. At the latitude of Toronto, it will be about two fist diameters high. Unfortunately, there aren’t any bright objects nearby to help you find it right now, but that will change in the coming weeks when the comet will be MUCH higher in the sky and passing through Taurus and then Auriga.

The Moon and Planets

This week finds the moon waning and rising later in the night after the recent Full Frost moon. Tonight (Sunday), the moon will be among the legs of Gemini (the Twins). When the waning gibbous moon rises at about 9:15 pm local time on Tuesday, it will be located less than a palm’s width below the large open star cluster known as the Beehive and Messier 44 in Cancer (the Crab). The moon and the cluster will both fit within the field of view of binoculars, or a telescope at low magnification - but the bright moon will overwhelm most of the stars. 

On Thursday, the moon will reach its Last Quarter phase, when it will be half-illuminated on its western side – toward the pre-dawn sun. At its last quarter phase, the moon rises around midnight and remains visible in the southern sky half of the sky all morning.  After this phase, the waning moon will traverse the last quarter of its orbit around the earth, on the way to next week’s new moon. 

Next Sunday morning in the southeastern sky, the elderly waning crescent moon will sit above the very bright planet Venus, after that planet rises at about 4 am local time. Independent of the moon’s monthly visits near her, Venus will be situated in that part of the sky for quite a while. It’s located only about four finger widths to the lower left of the bright white star Spica in Virgo (the Maiden) and drawing farther away from that star every morning. Viewed through a telescope, Venus will exhibit a slim crescent phase similar to the moon’s.

(Above: On the morning of Sunday, December 2, the old crescent moon will sit above very bright Venus, as shown here at 5 am local time. Venus will remain there after the moon moves on.)  

We are quickly running out of evening planets to look at. Mercury and Jupiter are crossing close to the sun now and will soon become pre-dawn objects. Yellowish Saturn is getting closer to the sunset, too. This week, the ringed planet will already be less than a fist’s diameter above the southwestern horizon by the time the sky gets dark at 6 pm local time. The increased amount of Earth’s atmosphere we have to look through when objects are that low will make Saturn “swim” in your telescope. (The Earth’s blanket of air is thinnest directly overhead.) 

Thank goodness for Mars! Mars will remain visible, even while it shrinks in size and brightness, until next May. This week, the reddish planet will shine as the brightest object in the lower part of the southern evening sky among the stars of Aquarius. It will set in the west at about midnight local time.

(Above: Bright Mars will be the most visible planet in the evening sky this week, as shown here at 6 pm local time. Saturn will be visible low in the SW after sunset, and the major asteroid Vesta will be between them.)  

Mars’ orbital motion has been carrying it eastward, directly towards distant Neptune. The two planets will get very cosy next week. Tonight, Mars will be located a generous palm’s width to the lower right (west) of Neptune. Next Sunday night, Mars will be only half that distance away from the blue, ice giant planet. All week long, Neptune will be visible after dusk. It will reach its highest point over the southern sky (and at the best viewing conditions) at about 6:30 pm local time, and then set in the west at about midnight. 

Blue-green Uranus (“YOU-ran-us”) is in the southeastern evening sky. It’s still close to its peak brightness (magnitude 5.7) and size for this year. You can see Uranus without optical aid under very dark skies, but binoculars and telescopes will make seeing it easier. Look for Uranus about 1.5 finger widths to the upper left (east) of the modestly bright star Torcular (Omega Piscium). That star sits a generous palm’s width above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet. By late evening, Uranus will be high enough in the southeastern sky to see it clearly. 

Don’t forget to look for the major main belt asteroid Juno. It recently reached opposition, causing it to appear at its brightest and largest for this year. This week, the magnitude 7.45 object will be visible in binoculars and small telescopes all night long after it rises in the east at 6 pm local time. Juno will be positioned about two fist diameters from the bright stars Aldebaran in Taurus (the Bull) and Rigel in Orion (the Hunter). It will reach its highest position, about halfway up the southern sky, just before midnight local time.

(Above: Off to the east (or left) of Mars are the two ice giant planets Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius, as shown here at 6 pm local time. Mars will closely pass Neptune next week.)  

The Brightest Stars of November

If you missed last week’s information about the brightest stars in the evening sky, it’s here. Next week, I’ll highlight some treats best seen when the moon is “missing”.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

[arango54321]

@Regranned from @natgeotravel - Photo by @babaktafreshi The World at Night photography A moonlit night begins on the shores of Southern Ocean in Australia. The 12 Apostles rocks on the Great Ocean Road of Victoria reveal their mysterious faces at dark. The dazzling Venus is at top with Jupiter below it. These are the two brightest planets in the Earth sky. Those with detective eyes see a strange “<“ shape object at top-center! That is Comet PanSTARRS (C/2014 Q1) back in July 2015. We have one of these naked-eye comets every year or so while they visit the inner Solar System. The “Great Comets” are rare, once a decade in average. Follow me @babaktafreshi to see more of our planet’s wonders under stars. @natgeocreative @natgeo #comet #nightsky #astrophotography #nightphotography #longexposure #astronomy #venus #jupiter #twanight #australia #victoria #greatoceanroad #12apostlesLeearango123 - #regrann #rp @leearango123 (at Largo, Florida)

[quantumd3]

Night sky treasure trove: A treasure trove of jewels are revealed in the night sky. Biggest and brightest, the full Moon is flanked by the planets Venus and Jupiter, the second brightest objects in the photo. While, in the upper right, the star Regulus completes a cosmic cross. Near the horizon, comet C/2014 Q1 (PANSTARRS) displays its two tails as it traverses the Solar System. . . . Image Credit: ESO/A. Ghizzi Panizza (http://ift.tt/HlNR2U) http://ift.tt/2oh4O7T

[universetoday]

Three-tailed Comet Q1 PanSTARRS Lights Up Southern Skies

Three-tailed Comet Q1 PanSTARRS Lights Up Southern Skies

Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS looks pretty against pink at dusk as seen from Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia on July 15. Q1 is quickly moving up from the western horizon and shows three separate tails. Credit: Michael Mattiazzo

Call it the comet that squeaked by most northern skywatchers. Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS barely made an appearance at dawn in mid-June when it crept a few degrees above the…