Porrima pulls apart

Last I checked this was tough. See the last blog on the star Porrima (or Gamma Virginis)

An article in Sky and Telescope is reporting that our friend Porrima is finally pulling apart in it's 169 year orbit and should be visible as a split double at 1.24 arc seconds in May and 1.30 arc seconds in July. This suggests that my original posting on Porrima contains factual errors which I got from that Wickythingypedia (not known for its accuracy I suppose). Well S&T has politely corrected that.

What is required is really steady skies. Unfortunately Porrima is quite a bit south so those required steady skies are going to be tough. But it's worth a shot. It always is....

M:)

Urban Observing, Rural Setting: Lynde Shores

A classic case of being able to actually "see something" in an urban area. Lynde Shores is that sort of place. Easy access, less than an hour of travel for most of us, and it is reasonably dark and out of harms way of intruding, local light pollution. It is far from perfect. There is no perfection within two hours drive of Toronto. Three hours will get you black skies, but two hours you will contend with some moronic dome of light from our wonderful world of progress. But to put it mildly, I have to say the experience last night was not only pleasant, but also fun with the gang from the NYAA -- shameless plug-in warning. Visit the NYAA here.

Visible on this night were M81 and M82, two galaxies in Ursa Major, M13 (as if), M5 and others, easily viewable from this location. We had the odd car drive past which is not unusual but far better than the public parks in the urban jungle where "push carts" and their "n'er do well" drivers gather to do whatever it is they do. On Durham Police cruiser came by. I've always said that is better to have than not, a routine patrol in the area. The OPP do that at Forks and it is better that way. But the best thing is there were no direct issues with light, the sight was *dark* for what it's worth. The putrid dome of the light from Toronto and area was an obvious eye soar but much more manageable as we seemed to be more removed from that goo of so-called progress.

All in all a great time with friends and a great time observing.

Hotech Laser Collimator

Excellent resource for collimation of a telescope. The Hotech SCA Laser Collimator featured on YouTube

M:)

Rasalgethi -- Head of the Kneeler

Rasalgethi or Alpha Herculis (64 Herculis) located near the border of the constellation Hercules and Ophiucus could be one of the most beautiful double star systems to view in the spring and early summer sky. Alpha 1 is a gorgeous red giant that appears that way in your quality telescope. This star is 400 times the size of our Sun, 300 million km radius or 14 solar masses. At about 70X, you begin to see the star as a pair. Alpha 2 is a yellow giant star. Alpha 2 is also a double star itself, not visible in a backyard telescope.

When seeing permits, you can easily split them at about 140X and see the colour differential. With and easy 4.7 arc second separation, most quality backyard telescopes will find this easy. With a little sky knowledge it's easy to find in the city skyglow.

Quite a sight!

M:)

Mars Hoax 2003

It's that old? I still cannot believe this is being emailed out to people since it's inception. It's all bollocks, but hey, sometimes you do need a good laugh...well it was laughable in 2003. It's 2009! Now it's annoying. Andrew W has set up a Facebook group to End the Hoax

Here is what the original email looked like:

"The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles (55,763,108 km) of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN"

Please remember this statement:
At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye

No, Mars will not be the size of the full moon. It will look AT 75 Power in a quality telescope as if it were the size of the full moon. This would be called "apparent size". But that was in 2003. At oppostion in late 2009, it won't be anywhere near that big.

For an explanation of this from Sky and Telescope, go here.

Please try to understand that if Mars appeared like the full moon in the sky, we would probably be dead.