Marvin Jenkins

3 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

Funny how you can go right off people

You can’t blame people for great skies, but ‘I know just what you mean’ AHHHH.

Barry-W-Fenner you are the astronomer! I think the term is you are the man but who knows who any one is on here and I don’t want to appear gender bias.

If the B-W-F has cracked the trapezium wide open then ‘they’ get my applause.

Marv

just as a foot note the B to the W to the F said E star easy then F star! What’s going on!

Just wanted to ask an open question to all of the above. As yet I have not got past A to D. Halfway through this thread I notice that #chiltonstar said that a good night exposes the F star an excellent night the E star.

This seems to be echoed by further posts. Don’t want to sound obvious but why is the alphabetical E star harder to see than F? Surely someone looked through a telescope back in the day and said “look a fifth star in the trapezium” the E star!!!

Why are they out of order to the views recorded on this forum? Surely if it is A B C D star then the next easiest is E followed by F not the other way round.

Marvin

6 hours ago, Islander said:

From Wikipedia...

Two spectroscopic companions have been proposed to the red supergiant star. Analysis of polarization data from 1968 through 1983 indicated a close companion with a periodic orbit of about 2.1 years. Using speckle interferometry, the team concluded that the closer of the two companions was located at 0.06″±0.01″ (≈9 AU) from the main star with a position angle of 273 degrees, an orbit that would potentially place it within the star's chromosphere. The more distant companion was estimated at 0.51″±0.01″ (≈77 AU) with a position angle of 278 degrees.^[69][70] Further studies have found no evidence for these companions or have actively refuted their existence,^[71] but the possibility of a close companion contributing to the overall flux has never been fully ruled out.^[72] High-resolution interferometry of Betelgeuse and its vicinity, far beyond the technology of the 1980s and '90s, have not detected any companions.^[16][73]

Now I am going to throw this out there... it seems there was a companion. Now one cannot be be found. Betelgeuse has indigestion and is bloated like a python!

Not scientific I know, but what a gutsy pig. Rennes anyone?

Marvin

My first night out in a little while and got carried away with a cloudless vista. Halfway through trying to find T2 Panstarrs I suddenly thought ‘Betelgeuse’. 
Now it is probably my imagination but it seems to be the same magnitude as my last observation or may now be a touch brighter.

The touch brighter may well be just observing conditions, but has it stabilised in the last week?

Marvin

Why not put the mount on the wedding present list? Congrats by the way.

Marv

On 11/02/2020 at 17:19, barkis said:

Try and acquire  copy of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series. I know it isn't reading material, but you will find enthralling, inspiring, and thoroughly enjoyable.  

Ron.

Good call. I have recently finished reading Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. What an amazing read and hugely thought provoking. Not often I get all branches of Science and a tour of history all intertwined in one place.

I am pretty sure I saw Prof Cox say that it was that book that really got him inspired to pursue science.

Marvin

I am using a SW NEQ5 pro and the halfway house of your question the 150pds. I think it great, I have no complaints at all. Just started out doing a bit of DSO astrophotography (the basics M31 M42) and my only regret is that I didn’t shell out that bit more and get the HEQ5.

Marv

On 31/12/2019 at 13:27, Clear Skies! said:

I want to know how are comparised mounts in weight capacity and quality:

• Skywatcher Mount EQ5 Pro SynScan GoTo

• Skywatcher Mount HEQ-5 Pro SynScan GoTo

• Celestron Mount Advanced VX AVX GoTo

• Bresser Mount Messier EXOS-2/EQ-5 (And where can I buy a mount with supplied GoTo? This one is without GoTo.)

 

And what do you think about these three mounts? Which is the best in high quality and cheap prise?

 

Clear skies!

Now. If I am not mistaken, the start of this thread said the following....

without further ado, can we just all say we are better off without nutters.

What is the general position of all concerned ???

Marvin

Wow, first post! Sometimes I am amused, other times frustrated but your post warrants serious interrogation. 
Please... we’ll educated SGLrs provide some answers, as I am following this like a hawk.

Marv

It’s either justification of a purchase or a salesman. Either way he did not do a good job.

We are all entitled to our opinions, but just the amount of Astro images from happy HEQ5 owners says it all.

Marv

Looks like someone over paid for an AVX and wished they had a belt modded HEQ5. 😂

2 minutes ago, Paul M said:

No, it won't be tomorrow, it'll happen once Betelgeuse is lost in spring twilight. Then next Autumn all we'll see is an expanding and dimming remnant. 

Dang! Missed it!

What's the next supernova candidate on the list?

Loved it, made me laugh out loud. The reason, When I first looked through a scope I thought M1 has got to be the first, surely.

A year later I found it and used M Messier’s name in vain. How can that be the first M object? Then it dawned on me, it must have been amazing back in his day. After a couple of years can you believe what it will look like after the initial sn dies down?

Going to make M42 look like an amateur water colour next to a Hockney.

Marvin

8 hours ago, paulastro said:

Well John, I am sort of lucky, so it may still be me who 'discovers' it when it finally blows its stack.

Hey there. There is a whole alternative live and disagreeable thread about The Big B going pop, and I have already called dibs on calling it ‘going bang’ although that was a couple of weeks ago.......

Seriously though, whatever your point of view, a very interesting subject and lots of information coming to the fore, which can only be a good thing.

6 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

I'm surprised by all this Betelgeuse hype, certainly on here.

Ok mainstream media whips up all this sort of thing, you expect that. I've read all sorts of nonsense about it.

Betelgeuse is a variable star : its normal for it to fluctuate in brightness periodically ??

It is not about to go Supernova.

I tell you what : lets come back to this thread in another million years or so, then we can all start getting excited 😆

 

I understand your comments, especially about mainstream media hype. But your comment “It’s not about to go Supernova” odd.

I find that as odd, as you may have found my slightly tongue in cheek post about it going bang any minute.

Do you know something the rest of the scientific world does not? Perhaps you have been given the heads up, in which case can you tell us how you know the future?

I understand that it is variable and due to this thread I know so much more about it’s behaviour, but you cannot say for certain that we are are not going to wake up tomorrow with a small second sun.

I will be happy to come back here in a million years and say to you ‘there you go, a DSO even harder to see than M1.✌️👍

5 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

Reverting to  OT...

I spent some time this afternoon/evening playing with my Intes 6” Mak and its new addition, the Revelation Crayford on the back.

I managed to get Mercury through it, finding it at 42x then moving up to 250x, definitely a half disc but I was having to look through a tree at the bottom of my garden so its quality came and went, mostly went.

Still, the first time I’ve ever managed to get a scope on that planet so very well pleased!

M

Excellent work. I may have seen it finally, but a very big well done for viewing a phase, especially being challenged by a tree. You have every reason to be pleased with your accomplishment.

Marv

Wow, like a hall of fame.

Marv

7 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Here you go Marvin, the light pollution map of Melbourne, you can see Richmond just east of the city in Bortle 8-9 and our house about 50km east in Bortle 4 area. 

Once you get east of us the skies get progressively darker but over an hours drive from Richmond to get dark skies.

Might be better to head north out past the airport on the motorway to get to good dark skies quicker.

Just do some reading up on DSO's visible in the southern hemisphere, it's a rich treasure trove!  

Thank you very much Geoff. Probably just be binoculars and wide field photography as I don’t have a travel set up.

Are there any clubs or groups that get out to darker areas around Melbourne that you know of. Perhaps I could blag a peek through a scope when I am there.

Cheers, Marvin.

11 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Almost impossible to see Mercury from home here with no view to my west because of the trees, may be possible later in the year when it transits across to the northwest with the sun in winter (sun, moon and planets are in the northern sky in Oz).

Interesting thing about Sirius is that it doesn't twinkle from here, certainly no colours shown other than pure white, mainly because it gets to 68 degrees altitude and is really steady to view on most nights.

Vega from here is very low on my north horizon and it does twinkle with colours.

Got to start doing a little bit of Southern Hemisphere homework. My brother lives in Richmond Melbourne, and it can only be a year or two before I visit. By then I will have a travel scope setup, any tips other than get out of the city.

Marvin

8 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

Cycling home from work this evening, admiring Venus over the Thames sunset vista, I suddenly remembered Mercury should be around too (1752). And so it was, quite distinct to the naked eye, and even visible in this iPhone picture, just above and to the right of the twin cranes.

My annual February fix of Mercury-with-naked-eye <tick> .

 

I know we all hate pollution, but what a great picture. The reflection of the eye on the turbulent water is great.

M

Just about got a pic. The sky is so clear I can see the mountains. Just in case anyone needs an explanation Venus is top left. Mercury is very low down on the horizon a little right.

Marv

13 minutes ago, andrew63 said:

One of them I remember is M69 in Sagittarius. 

andrew

Yeh I need that one too. Happy hunting.

M

My understanding of the original question and the framing of the answer is that I am not very smart. I was asked this very same question by a phd in Chemistry a month ago and tried to explain but realised I didn’t have the scientific tools to answer correctly.

In landscape gardeners terms which can be shortened to layman’s terms, take all the material of the object (red super giant) crush it down under its own gravity to a point where it becomes so dense (super nova) that the fabric of space time can no longer support it, so it warps the fabric of space so massively it ‘is’ a black hole.

Before the supernova of the RSG it’s mass is the same but not condensed into a tiny space so warps space time much less. Thank you Professor Brian Cox.

Now to get shot down by loads of people who are not Landscape gardeners😂

Marv

Good to see you here, you are in safe hands. SGL, the giant safety net under the tightrope of astronomy.

Marvin

1 minute ago, andrew63 said:

No I've seen it often, but always a thrill to catch a glimpse. Hope you enjoy those summer messier's.

andrew

Thank you I am really looking forward to it. I note with interest on your foot note that you are at M106, what 4 are you looking for to go whole nine yards?

M

Oh. That’s not looking good. So you don’t think I will get it with the 150pds then?😂