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Thanks Sherman for the reply.
I realy need to pick up some sort of guid to the night sky.=20
Do you have any sugestions for a simple but informative guid/map to the =
night sky. Alexander my 8 year old is already asking questions that are =
beyond my knolage and now I feel I need to get better aquainted with the =
night sky to answer his questions properly and not give him the all too =
easy "just because" answers. I'm hoping there's something out ther that =
even he could find fairly easy to use/navagate by himself.
Tom K
Canso
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Sherman Williams=20
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Comet Holmes
Happy to read about your night sky observing. You ARE seeing Mars, by =
10:30 the planet is nicely up in the east. It is shining with bright, =
reddish light in the constellation Gemini, and getting brighter as we =
get closer to Mars. Tonight Mars is 0.72 AU (about 6 light minutes) =
from us.
We will catch up on Christmas Eve, placing Mars at "opposition" (we =
are lined up in our orbits with Sun on one side of us and Mars on the =
side opposite. We will be in between the two, putting Mars high in our =
midnight sky and the Sun low in our noonday sky, which also brings the =
distance between Earth's orbit and that of Mars near a minimum, about =
0.59 AU (4.8 light minutes). So watch Mars get steadily brighter and =
higher, earlier, over the next seven weeks.
My wife also finds it easier to use Cassiopea to find Holmes.
Sherman
Sherman Williams
shermw@xcountry.tv
On 7-Nov-07, at 7:15 PM, Terri Crane wrote:
Hi Sherman
As always your postings are a very informative and interesting read.
I've actualy been using the center two stars of Cassiopea as a =
pointer to Comet Holmes.
While out Nov 4th taking advantage of the rare dark sky (provided by =
a moonless, cloudless, flat calm, evening with the added bonus of no =
light polution because of the power outage) doing some sky watching and =
atempting to do some photography. I noticed what I thought was Mars =
riseing in the east at around 10:30 pm. is this Mars returning to the =
early evening "Winter Night Sky"?
Thanks for your help
Tom K
Canso
----- Original Message -----
From: Sherman Williams
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 6:00 PM
Subject: [NatureNS] Comet Holmes
If you haven't had a look at Comet Holmes recently, this may be a =
good night to have another look, especially in your binoculars. It has =
not shifted much; it still forms a nice triangle with the same two =
Perseus stars (Alpha and Delta Persei), nicely up in the NE between 7 =
and 8 p.m, by midnight the triangle is nearly overhead. The apparent =
diameter of the comet has expanded to nearly 2/3 of the Full Moon =
diameter. In a dark sky and with the observer having dark adapted eyes, =
a faint tail is now beginning to be visible in a pair of 10 X 50 =
binoculars.
Holmes is 1.6 AU away from us (13 minutes at light speed =3D 13 =
light-minutes away). Its actual diameter as we see it in binoculars is a =
bit over 1 million km.
Also, if looking at the comet with binoculars, I suggest a look at =
the star field that includes Apha Persei (the bright star just above =
Holmes). The bright group of stars form a nice "S" pattern (tipped over =
to the right). This is a beautiful cluster of associated stars, =
including Alpha Persei, known as Melotte 20. The group is in the order =
of 550 light years away.
If you are in a dark location you will also notice that the Milky =
Way (the equatorial view of our galaxy) extends up from Perseus and =
angles to the northwest. Located in the Milky Way, just a bit above =
Perseus and to the left is a group of 5 bright stars that form, sort of =
a "W" tipped side ways to the left. This is Cassiopea. If you scan =
between Perseus and Cassiopea, along the line of the Milky Way, you may =
see a fuzzy patch of light. Certainly it is very noticable in =
binoculars. This is the Double Cluster of Perseus. These are two open =
star clusters, each containing between 150 to 200 suns. The clusters =
are about 7000 light years away.
This is just a bit of the interesting piece of sky Comet Holmes =
finds itself in.
Sherman
Sherman Williams
shermw@xcountry.tv
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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Thanks Sherman for the =
reply.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I realy need to pick up some =
sort of guid=20
to the night sky. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Do you have any sugestions for a simple =
but=20
informative guid/map to the night sky. Alexander my 8 year old is =
already asking=20
questions that are beyond my knolage and now I feel I need to get better =
aquainted with the night sky to answer his questions properly and not =
give him=20
the all too easy "just because" answers. I'm hoping there's something =
out ther=20
that even he could find fairly easy to use/navagate by=20
himself.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Tom K</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Canso</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- &