A further benefit of the Tele Vue Powermate

[John]

While using the big 2x Powermate with a big 100 degree eyepiece does create quite a long stack in the focuser, this does come in handy at times

 

[Pig]

I guess you could call it the great double sock in Orion

[Ruud]

Not everyone would have recognized the opportunity. Well done!

[andyboy1970]

You can smell the Moon with that setup!

[Pig]

3 minutes ago, andyboy1970 said:

You can smell the Moon with that setup!

I saw what you did there..... the Moon is supposed to be made of cheese and John's cheesy sock's

[Pondus]

[andyboy1970]

4 hours ago, Pig said:

I saw what you did there..... the Moon is supposed to be made of cheese and John's cheesy sock's

Wallace & Gromit can't be wrong!!

[triton1]

Green,black and grey very swish and expensive.

[scarp15]

Just visited this thread,

Gives credence to the saying; Pull the wool over your eyes.

[Dave In Vermont]

The Apollo astronauts reported that once they could take off their helmets and air-supplies, they smelled their Moon-rocks and dust. All said it stunk to high-heaven. Rather a mix of Skunk & rotting-flesh!

Limburger Cheese, perhaps? Or worse -

http://www.wisconsincheeseman.com/blog/cheese-nation/limburger-cheese-nose-no-equal/

Now about those socks.....

Dave

[John]

On the subject of odour ....... the recent comet probe, Philae, managed to transmit enough data for scientists to work out, amongst many other things, what comet 67P /  Churyumov–Gerasimenko might smell like, to our noses. This information resulted in a "scratch 'n' sniff" postcard of the comet which I have been priviledged to sample. The smell was just like my socks !!!

 

[Dave In Vermont]

A comet should have an odor of 'bitter-almond' - pungent almonds - and who knows what else? Dependent on traces of other molecules & atoms. The 'almond' would be the Cyanogen present in these. I also refer to Cyanogen as "Cosmic - Cyanide," a term I coined some years back and used in many papers I've put out hither & yon. So if you've heard it before.....That'll be 5¢ please!

I was teaching some folks about astronomy a few years ago - still do for that matter - and I just stumbled across one of my papers on comets. I'll post the relevant portion below. Then I'll run - away and hide:

__From Jan. '16_____________________________________________________________________

Now here's the comet C/2013 US10 Catalina. Catalina for short. Catalina is currently gracing our morning sky, but it's very small and hard to locate with just our eyes. You'd need binoculars to get it to begin to show it's tails - it has 2 tails - or the green, glowing nucleus that this image is giving off. The bright star near it is Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation of Bootes - The Herdsman from ancient Greek mythology. And this green colour is what makes comets so special to us. And now begins your Astronomy Lesson for today.....

The green colour that comets share in colour is caused by ionized Cyanogen - C2N2. C = Carbon and N = Nitrogen. A very simple molecule of 2 parts Carbon and 2 parts Nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up 79% of the air we breathe. If you've every seen an Aurora Borealis, the colours of ionized Nitrogen imparts the Red colour, while Oxygen is behind the Blue-Green. Ionization is what we refer to as the action of atomic-nuclei bombarding something and causing that 'something' to emit a photon. Photons are particles of light-energy. Back to Einstein and E = MC2 again.....

So when Cyanogen is ionized, it emits a photon in the colour of what we see as this spooky green. But what is Cyanogen? Cyanogen's other name is 'Cyanide' which we know as a deadly poison. If there was Cyanogen, which is a gas at room-temperature with a smell like almonds - in the air, it would kill you. But it also reacts with other things, such as Oxygen. And it is believed that when the Earth was very young - there were many more comets in our neighborhood - the inner solar-system where the Earth resides - and many of these comets hit the Earth. This put a lot of Cyanogen into the primordial atmosphere that we breathe today. But if we were transported back in time - we would be unable to breathe the air that was around then. It was full of 'Cosmic-Cyanide.'

But the Cosmic-Cyanide was not to stay around very long. It's very reactive. And it reacts with Oxygen. It's how it kills people, it reacts with the Oxygen in our blood and converts the Hemoglobin - which gives us usable Oxygen - into Cyanoglobin, and we can't get any Oxygen from Cyanoglobin. So we would suffocate. But we weren't around then. No animals were around back then. Not even the Dinosaurs or plant-life either. But the Cosmic-Cyanide (Cyanogen) from the comets reacted with many things. And this made lots of other molecules of many things. Including amino acids and ever more complex molecules. And these molecules eventually reacted in such a way that life itself was created!

So our old pal Cyanogen, from comets, seeded the Earth with the needed molecules for all life-forms to begin and survive and grow into many more evolved forms of life. So what is a poison-gas that would kill us if we breathed it - actually was responsible for life itself in the first place!

I'll leave it there, for now. Wrap your mind around this as you look at a picture of a comet.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Almonds, anyone?

Dave

 

 

[John]

No mention of my socks in there Dave  - your students have missed out on the latest science !

 

 

[Dave In Vermont]

Somethings tells me they'd prefer to smell the cyanide-gas to that of your socks..... 

I'm noting that 41P has been brightening still - Mag. 6.5 last time I checked. Just ask the cloud-bank that's rolled-in here for the next week!

Better Luck,

Dave

[John]

I've just looked at 41P with my 130mm refractor. It does not look that bright to me !

Still looks around mag 9 ish and still rather diffused with slight brightening towards the lower central area. Not the best of skies here for this sort of object though. Better for lunar / planetary observing.

[Dave In Vermont]

Stellarium has it as Mag. 6.6 earlier today - as does CdC - both of which I update daily:

 

 

Bit hard to read - but 6.6 it is.

Dave

 

P.S. - From CdC:

Comet

41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

Magnitude: 6.6

Phase: 66 °

Distance: 0.1432au

Solar distance: 1.0503au

Velocity: 37.4km/s

Estimated tail length: 0.03au

Date: 2017-04-04 20h53m54s

ref: 5/2017-04-03

Hourly motion: 04'49.1" PA:96° dRA:44.75s dDec:-32.0"

Coordinates: Apparent Topocentric

Apparent RA: 14h41m52.30s DE:+64°39'19.6"

Mean of the date RA: 14h41m50.67s DE:+64°39'22.5"

Mean J2000 RA: 14h41m29.23s DE:+64°43'46.1"

Ecliptic  L: +162°12'19" B:+70°00'00"

Galactic  L: +105°36'26" B:+48°31'51"

Visibility for your observatory:

Burlington, VT 2017-04-04 20h53m54s ( EDT )

Universal Time: 2017-04-05T00:53:54 JD=2457848.53742

Local sidereal time: 08h55m06s

Hour angle: 18h13m14s

Azimuth: 33°19'51"

Altitude: +38°57'56.5"

Geometric altitude: +38°56'44.3"

Airmass: 1.6

Circumpolar

Culmination:02h42m59s +67°50'

[John]

I do the same updates Dave but I observed the comet again tonight and it certainly does not look like a mag 6.6 object to me

I suspect the magnitude figure given is an integrated one. The actual surface brightness is quite a bit lower I think.

 

[Dave In Vermont]

I'd take a look myself, but such is impossible for the next week. We are socked <koff!> - in under clouds and precipitation.

A 130mm refractor is pretty powerful instrument - I have a 127mm F/9.3 here - and should be giving you an excellent view regardless. How does the tail-structure look to you?

My SWAN-Filter grows impatient...

Dave

[John]

1 minute ago, Dave In Vermont said:

.... How does the tail-structure look to you?

My SWAN-Filter grows impatient...

Dave

I don't see much structure in 41P at all. It has become slightly brighter and condensed in the central region but is generally a shapeless faint patch of light. Similar view with my 12" dobsonian as well.

Try your SWAN filter on it when you get a chance