All eyes on Jupiter!

I might be an amateur astronomer, but I love my sleep. It would take an asteroid or comet impact to get me up at 3 am on a weekday morning. Oh, wait, we just had one! Fortunately, not exactly us, but Jupiter. Sound familiar? That's because Jupiter was hit by Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 exactly 15 years ago.

In July, 1994, I was a space-obsessed 12-year old kid wishing he had a telescope to see the awesome spectacle that was the SL-9 impacts. It would seem history has repeated itself - but now I'm properly equipped and ready for action. I took my Orion XT8 out this morning for a look at the impact scar. The sky was clear, and I rated seeing at 3/5. From my log:

"0730 UTC. Jupiter currently culminating about 70 degrees above the horizon. VERY bright. I tried both an OIII filter and variable polarizing filter to dim the glare as the disc seemed washed out. I settled on the variable polarizing filter with my 7mm Speers-WALER eyepiece at 170x. The impact zone is fairly obvious if you know right where to look. Clearly visible during moments of good seeing. Appearance of the impact scar varied according to seeing. In moments of excellent seeing it appeared as a very small, crisp oval. Other times it was more an elongated blob, or not visible at all. Using a chart in The Giant Planet Jupiter by  John H. Rogers, I believe the scar is located in the South South Temperate Belt (SSTB). Predictions I used said transit across the center of the disc occurred 0747 UTC. It is much darker than the Great Red Spot (which transits about 2 hours ahead of the impact scar and was also visible at the time of observation), but much smaller. Very elongated in about a 3x1 ratio along lines of latitude. Again, very small, and something I would likely miss during a casual observation session. Fascinating!" 

I wasn't the only one observing the impact zone this morning: it was also seen by astronomers Jeremy Perez and John K, and I'm sure by many professionals and amateurs around our planet. Stay tuned, it will be very interesting to see how this develops!

Clear skies and great seeing!

The next chapter

Despite the success of my cloud photo blog (and thank you to all for the hits, RT's, and comments on that!), I have not given up on amateur astronomy. Far from it! While 2009 hasn't been a particularly prolific year for me observing-wise, due to weather and schedule, I have just passed an important milestone.

No, not completing the Herschel 400, although that would be nice. I have finally filled up all the pages in my first observing notebook! My first entry in this notebook is dated 22 March, 2006. The target was NGC 2264, an open cluster in Monoceros often known as the "Christmas Tree Cluster." I started keeping a notebook as soon as I decided I wanted to be a bit more organized and methodical in my observing, particularly after I started the Astronomical League's "Urban Club" list. I work under the modus operandi that if you haven't logged it, you haven't seen it. Interestingly enough, while I've never been able to successfully keep a diary, I haven't had a problem sticking with my astronomical note-recording. Although my attempts to create a digital version of my observing notes have not been as successful as I like (takes so much time!), I take comfort in the fact that everything I have observed is recorded in this book. But now it is full. The last observed object was sunspot group 1024 on 5 July, 2009. In between there is a whole lot of stuff! In those pages lie my notes on the Messier, Caldwell, SAC 110 Best of the NGC, and quite a few double stars with the occasional planetary and lunar observation thrown in. If each observing session is an episode of Star Trek, and my scopes the Starship Enterprise, my notebook is the Captain's Log! (I guess that makes me Captain Kirk...) It has stood up quite well considering how many times it's been soaked with dew and dried out. I'm sure there are a few smooshed mosquito corpses and coffee stains in there, too.

Now what? Well, I picked up a new notebook at Office Max (the same time I finally laminated my Greek Letter Chart), another Meade. It will probably last me another three years, and hopefully record the further adventures of the starship called Amateur Astronomy.

Until later,

Clear Skies!

What's in *your* iPod?

While typically called "new media," podcasts are so much a staple of the internet today, I'm not sure how long we can call them that. I love podcasts because I can be doing something else like laundry, driving, doing dishes, and still be learning at the same time. And unlike traditional TV and radio shows, they're on whenever I want them to be. They're the next best thing to downloading information directly into your brain a la The Matrix. Of course, they could be just a fad like email and downloadable music...

I bought my first mp3 player (an iPod Touch 2nd Generation) early this year, mainly because of the podcasts I listen to. I currently listen (via iTunes) to:

Astronomy Cast

The Jodcast

365 Days of Astronomy

Slacker Astronomy

Astronomy Magazine Podcast

Sky and Telescope Skytour Podcast

NASA Goddard Shorts

I couldn't get these feeds to work in iTunes, but I also like:

Astrocast.tv

Spacevidcast

So, what do you listen to?

The spots are back!

Finally had an excuse today to drag out my Orion Short Tube 80mm scope and Baader solar filter, because the spots are back! I haven't been involved with amateur astronomy for too many years, so I haven't had the chance to observe a solar maximum. And the recently-finished minimum has been one of the quietest on record. Nevertheless, sunspot group 1024 has emerged (as seen at right in this MDI image from SOHO), and it's quite beautiful. Very convenient that this new group decided to emerge on a 3-day weekend, as well! Dodging cumulus, I managed to make this observation:

"At least 7 distinct spots visible in group 1024 at 30x, with the western-most spot being by far the largest. About 14 spots visible at 60x, tracing out an arc about 3' long. A lot of beautiful detail seen at 120x. I see a bright patch visible in the umbra of the large spot. Overall impression is that of the Hawaiian archipelago seen on a map."

If you have access to a safely solar-filtered telescope, get out there and take a look! Makes me want a PST...

Clear skies and great seeing!

If you can't beat 'em...

I have recently found that I enjoy photographing clouds. That's kind of funny, since usually clouds are the bane of astronomers everywhere. Still, I am continually amazed (frequently to the puzzlement of those around me) with the amazing variety and beauty of clouds here in Florida. It's currently the rainy season, so we have no shortage of cumulus companions. And with my BlackBerry, I now have a way to photograph and share these wonderful phenomena.

Still, this is an astronomy blog, and any alliance between astronomer and clouds is something of an unholy one. Thus, I have created a new, separate photo blog devoted to my cloud and weather photography using Posterous. I came across Posterous via Dave Pearson, and to be honest I've been looking for an excuse to start one of my own. It's called "accumulations," and I'm having fun with it. Check it out, if you like, and let me know what you think. And if anyone at my astronomy club asks, no, I hate clouds, and can't stand the sight of 'em :D

We now return to your regularly-scheduled astronomy programming.