September 2005

[Ant]

SEPTEMBER 2005

September is still a great month for observing and imaging. The temperatures are falling with means that noise on CCD chips starts to become less of a problem. The summer object are still visible in the evening, in fact the Milky Way can look stunning late evening, and if you’re an early riser you can peak a glimpse of Orion / M42 at around 4 am through out the month.

We have the likes of Pegasus and Andromeda in the South east, Perseus and Cassiopeia in the East and Auriga rising in the North East. M31 is clearly visible to the naked eye on a good night. This month I’m going to take a closer look at Pegasus and Andromeda.

We’ll start with the planets and their visibility during August.

Mercury,

Is fairly bright early in the month at Mag -1. It will be visible in the East during twilight. After about the 10th September Mercury will be very difficult to see. Superior conjunction on the 18th and not visible for the rest of the month.

Venus,

Increasing in brightness to Mag -4.1, it will still be a difficult object to see without a very good Western horizon. Setting only an hour after the sun. The moon will be close by on the 6th and 7th.

Mars,

Mars is still in Aries. Rising by around 8pm (BST) at the end of the month, but the best time to see Mars is still going to be around 4am (BST). The air is a lot steadier at this time of night and Mars will be much higher in the sky.

Jupiter,

Not really worth looking at now! Setting very soon after the sun towards the end of the month. Not really observable now until November when it reappears into the morning Sky.

Saturn,

Saturn is in Cancer during September and is now rising by around 1am (BST). On the 17th September Saturn passes within 55 minutes of arc of M44 (the Beehive cluster). For those with a FOV of about 2 degrees will be a stunning view.

Uranus,

Still in Aquarius is visible throughout the night during September. It’s at opposition on the 1st September but due to it’s southerly position will be setting by around 4am (BST).

Even modest telescopes will struggle to give any detail visually as it’s only 4 arc seconds in size.

Neptune,

Past opposition now, Neptune will be setting by around 2am (BST) towards the end of the month.

Pluto,

At magnitude +14 is extremely hard to find. Currently in Serpens Cauda and setting around 1am. The only way to be sure that you have observed Pluto is to find where it is supposed to be and take two images several weeks apart and then find the “Star” that moved.

The Moon.

If you observe / image Deep Sky Objects (galaxies, nebula etc) then the moon is a major obstacle. You can guarantee that any really good clear nights that you get will be around full moon, when the moons glare washes out most of the fainter objects.

New Moon is on the 3rd September,

First Quarter on the 11th,

Full on the 18th and

Last Quarter on the 25th.

The Sun.

YOU MUST NEVER OBSERVE THE SUN WITHOUT A PROPER SOLAR FILTER – YOU WILL GO BLIND INSTANTLY.

The sun can be a fascinating object to watch, Sun Spots are the most commonly observed phenomenon. The sun has a cycle of activity and we are currently at the lower end of activity, having said that there have been several really big sun spot groups over the last few months – some of which have caused Aurora to quite southerly latitudes. So it’s always worth keeping you ear to the ground.

Other Events.

Not really much else going on during September. The conjunction between Saturn and M44 should be nice.

Constellations, This month we are looking at Pegasus and Andromeda. This is actually a fairly uninteresting bit of sky.

There are a few objects of interest, M31 looks really nice in pictures but it is an huge object. Over 2 degrees across, so it doesn’t fit into the FOV of most eyepieces and doesn’t fit onto the chip of most dedicated Astronomical CCD’s. It will, however, fit onto the chip of a 300D when used with a 8” F/5 scope(just).

The Blue Snowball is a nice, but hard object to get any detail out. It’s only slightly bigger than Jupiter :shock: .

Pegasus Legends

Pegasus was later brought to Mount Helicon by Bellerophon and with one kick of his hoof, he caused the spring of Hippocrene to flow. Hippocrene is said to be the source of inspiration to poets. Bellerophon, who slayed the hideous beast Chimaera, became so headstrong that he ordered Pegasus to fly him up to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. This impudence angered Zeus, who sent an insect to sting the winged horse, who bucked Bellerophon off its back. Needless to say, Bellerophon did not survive the fall to Earth. Pegasus went on to greatness, however, as the "Thundering Horse of Jove" who carried lightning bolts for Zeus.

More will be added to this post, hopefully before the start of September.

[AndyMac]

Another superb offering mate - and some great images, too. Well impressed.

[Rob]

Ditto on that... nice work there.

Rob

[OXO]

Thanks for Sharing your Monthly Guide Ant much app matey

[OXO]

When's the October Charts going to be available Matey?

James

[Ant]

Some time in October