PERSEIDS & AURORAS (Updated)

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  Aug 11, 2024 2200-0045hrs

Weather:  Partly cloudy to mostly clear, no wind, haziness giving way to areas of clear, warm giving turning cool, 17c, 82% humidity.  Dew was a factor and there were some mosquitoes for the first 2 hours.

Objective:  To observe the Perseid Meteor Shower which was due to peak at midnight.  The constellation of Perseus was low in the north eastern sky and rising during observing time.

Report:  

• First hour from 2200-2300hrs we seen 9 meteors, including 1 sporadic.  We both watched in the same direction, to the south east to zenith.  The summer triangle was great as a reference location.  Many meteors going towards the triangle or underneath it.
• For the second hour I got my camera out and started taking images of the northern sky, mostly, trying to capture a meteor.  Took many images of Ursa Major, in northern sky, Arcturus in western, Sagittarius in southern and Cassiopeia in North Eastern sky.  We observed 11 meteors over the second hour, all being Perseids.  I seen many go above, through and below Ursa Major with a few going below Arcturus.
• Shortly after midnight, the meteor showers peak, Ed noticed a patch of color across the northern horizon.  I checked spaceweather.com aurora oval, and sure enough! a major geometric storm was under way!  Norther Lights!  As I was attempting to capture the impressively large, sustained aurora display, we seen an increase in meteor activity to the north west and below Cassiopeia.  These meteors were shorter, but just as bright, as if they were coming straight at us. These meteors were also coming straight from the constellation Perseus.
• Altogether, we seen 30 meteors over 2.75 hours with most being Perseids, long bright steaks with smoke trails.  Included in this was 1 bolide, which streaked across Northern sky, coming straight from the Perseus constellation itself, at approximated 0020hrs.  The northern lights display was spectacular and sustained for well over 30 minutes.  It went from the north west western sky all the way across to the north east eastern sky!  There were also bands that seemed to go all the way overhead into the southern sky!  A truly wonderful experience!

Aurora near Arcturus.

Perseid streaks over Arcturus & Auroras.

Northern Lights 2024 (updated)

Location: Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  May 11, 2024 0425-0500hrs

Weather:  Mostly clear, no wind, warmish 2C.  

Report:

The large sunspot group 3664 released six consecutive coronal mass ejections (CMEs) beginning on May 10th, 2024. The aurora oval from spaceweather.com indicated that the CMEs began impacting Earth around 14:30 local time. Aurora sightings were reported from regions worldwide where night had fallen. In Saint John, dense cloud cover continued well past midnight, obscuring any potential views.

At around 0430 hours, I observed significant aurora activity; it was faint but visible in the west near Arcturus, and also in the northeast.  Processing these images revealed colors that were previously invisible.

Spaceweather.com reported significant ground current activity during aurora time.

Solar Eclipse 2024 (Updated)

Location:  Hartland, NB, Canada

Date Time:  April 8, 2024  1400-1650 hrs

Weather:  Mostly Sunny, highs of 18C, breezy, hazy.  Planes going back and forth leaving contrails.

Attendance: Edward and David

Report:

• The Moon started to eclipse the Sun around 2 PM. When I interlaced my fingers and observed the shadows they cast on my lawn chair and the ground, they created patterns resembling the eclipsed Sun!
• Just before the eclipse, the sky gradually darkened, and various species of birds began to assemble in groups before heading off in a single direction for each specie. This behavior was new to me; I believe it occurs more subtly in the evenings.
• Total eclipse started at 1634hrs and ended at 1636hrs, even though I thought it was supposed to start at 1628hrs.  Ed and I both noticed a bright prominence on the lower left limb of the sun, sticking out from behind the moon!  It was very bright!
• As the eclipse occurred, the wind calmed to a still and the temperature dropped a bit. Jupiter and Venus became distinctly visible, with Venus positioned below the Sun and Jupiter high above, towards the East. Both were captured in the second video.
• As the eclipse occurred, the sun momentarily dimmed with a flicker. The sun's corona emerged, visible in the video, but witnessing it firsthand was extraordinary! Truly stunning!

                                         

Comet 12P Pons-Brooks (Updated)

Location:  Wolastoq Park, Saint John, NB, Canada

Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  March 31, 2024 2015-2150hrs

April 2, 2024 2040-2210hrs

Weather for March 31- Mostly clear, cool wind-chill, breezy from the west, 3C to 0C.

Weather for April 2- Mostly clear, hazy, wind-chill breezy at times from the east, 5C to 3C and humidity 58%.

Equipment:  For March 31, Canon Rebel with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses.  For April 2, Canon Rebel attached to 80mm ED/APO.  Images Processed with Photoshop Elements.

Report for March 31:  Found comet where we thought it would be, below and to the right of Jupiter in the western sky, near 2.0 mag Alpha Aries star Hamal.  It formed an equilateral triangle with another Aries star.  Comet showed up nicely as a greenish grayish blob in binoculars.  Approximately 5th mag, brighter central region.  Couldn't see the tail in binoculars, and not able to see comet naked eye.  Comet was too faint to see in camera viewscreen, maybe because of city light pollution.

Imaged through camera and 300mm lens.  Single shot 8 second, ISO 1600,

April 2 Report:  Under darker skies, comet tail appeared faint and somewhat fan-like in binoculars but comet is still not visible with unaided eye.  Comet has a remarkably bright central region that makes it look more star-like through 15x70 binos. Comet 12P is moving towards Jupiter, away from Hamal(Arabic for Mutton) in Aries, and is reported to possibly get brighter over the next week or so. 

Note:  While processing images, noticed many satellites passing through field of view, so I strung the images together and produced a video(seen below). This is an approximately 10 minutes of comet approaching horizon.

Imaged nearby objects Jupiter, Pleiades, and in Perseus M34 and the Little Dumbell Nebula M76,

Imaged through 80mm telescope.  Single shot, 30 second ISO 6400.

NORTHERN LIGHTS 2023

Location:  Lower west-side Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  April 23, 2023 2305 -2325 hrs

Weather:  Cool, slight breeze, hazy, 5C with reported windchill and humidity of 79%.

Equipment:  Canon Rebel with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses

Objective:  To view and image a potential northern lights display that Ed informed me about on Twitter.

Report:  

• After receiving word from Ed about a potential northern lights display, I checked out the aurora oval on spaceweather.com and, sure enough, there was a "Severe Geomagnetic Storm" underway at approximately 2300hrs.
  
• Went out with camera about 5 minutes later and was disappointed in how hazy it was.  Moon and Venus were spectacular, just over the Pulp and Paper Mill in the western sky, but most of the northern sky was hazy.  I could, however, make out a faint green glow, that seemed to change in intensity.  Recognizing this as the northern lights, I took images.  Another local observer thought the display lasted for about an hour.  It appeared to fade away after 2320hrs, so it looks like I captured the tail end of it.
  

Venus, the moon, with some northern lights.  Settings ISO 1600, 10 seconds.

Four, single shot images of the northern sky taken from 2311-2314 hrs.  Settings ISO 1600, 10 second.

•  Took a close-up of the Crescent Moon which was only 16% illuminated.

Single shot, ISO 1600, 1/250 second.

 

•  No shooting stars or satellites were seen
  

 

 

 

 

 

COMET C/2022 E3 ZTF Jan 22&27 Feb 11&18

Location:  Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  January 22, 2023 0520-0600hrs  

January 27, 2023 2310-2340hrs 

February 11, 2023 1940-2015hrs 

February 18, 2023 2130-2245hrs

Weather: Jan 22-Slight breeze, very cold, partly cloudy, mostly hazy skies, -8.4C with humidity of 84%.  Reported windchill of -15C

Jan27-Slight breeze, very cold, partly cloudy, haze across north eastern horizon, -9C with reported windchill of -15C

Feb11-Slight Breeze, very cold, increasing haze, partly cloudy, -5.8C with 94% humidity.

Feb18-Breezy, very cold, hazy, partly cloudy, -6.2C with 90% humidity.

Equipment:  15x70 binos, Canon Rebel t3 with 18-55mm lens.

Feb18-Canadian Telescopes 80ed/apo with a Canon Rebel attached.

Objective:  Jan22-To view and image a reportedly mag 5.5 Comet, said to be in Draco, very high in the South Eastern sky during observing time.

Jan27-Comet was supposed to be in North Eastern sky and reported at mag 5.1. 

Feb11-Comet was above Taurus approx 2 degrees from Mars.

Feb18-Comet(7.4 mag) was almost halfway between Aldebaran and Orion.

Report:

Jan 22

• Very hazy skies made it difficult to find my pointer constellation Corona Borealis, so I used Bootes and Ursa Major instead.  Bootes was just barely visible in the southern sky.  Tried taking a long exposure image of that area of sky and nothing showed up except for a very dark blotch.  No confirmed sighting could be made.

Single shot, 20 seconds, ISO 3200, processed on PhotoShop.

• Ducks could clearly be heard quacking in basin below during observing, which seemed out of place for January.  I also observed ducks in an unfrozen stream, through the day.  Strange weather has made observing this comet, and the sky in general, difficult for almost two months now.
• One satellite was seen, but no shooting stars.

Jan 27

• Easily located comet with binoculars just above two bright stars in Ursa Major!  Fairly large, diffuse comet, approx 5th mag, a grayish, greenish fuzzball that had no central bright region.  Showed up nicely even in very light polluted city observing location.

 

Single shot, processed on Photoshop, 15 sec, f/11, ISO 1600, focal length 51mm.

•  No shooting stars or satellites were seen.  One deer was eating grass nearby, as I observed.

Feb 11

• Mars was high in the west, almost overhead.  Spotted the comet easily, just below Mars in binoculars.  The faint, diffuse comet had no bright central region and was approx 1/4 the size of the full moon.  Once again, this comet appears as a faint gray fuzzball in the binoculars.
• Imaged with both lenses for about 20 mins then tried to find comet again in binoculars and couldn't because of increasing haze.

Single shot, 8 sec, ISO 3200, f/5.6, focal length 55mm.

Single shot, 5 sec, ISO 6400, f/5.6, focal length 300mm

Same settings as above and inverted.

•  No satellites or shooting stars were seen.  Increasing haze washed out the comet shortly after 2010hrs.

Feb 18

• Images were taken with Canon Rebel attached to an 80ed/apo at prime focus.
   
• Before imaging faint objects, brighter ones are helpful to fine tune camera focus.  This time I used Sirius "The Dog Star", alpha Canis Major.  This is the brightest star that can be seen from New Brunswick, Canada with a magnitude of -1.46.  From Richard Hinckley Allen's Star Names Their Lore and Meaning, Sirius is Greek for sparkling or scorching.
   

 

Single shot, 8 seconds, ISO 3200.

 

• Comet is moving away from Earth and dimming significantly.  Windchill makes observing and imaging very difficult.  Imaging comets from within the city is also challenging due to light pollution, which easily washes out fainter comets.  Many images were ruined by the wind shaking the scope as well.
  

 

Single shot, 10 seconds, ISO 1600

Single shot, inverted, 13 seconds, ISO 1600.

•  No satellites or shooting stars were seen. 

 

Note:  It seems worth noting that even after all of the added satellites by StarLink and other entities, my astro imaging has not been greatly affected like I thought it would be.  I have been picking up more in my long exposure images than I used to, but not enough to ruin the pastime completely...or even affect it much.  But, there are possibly many thousands of satellites planned to go up in the future.  Exact numbers are not easy to find and with conflicting reports.  A subject worth paying attention to, imo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARS OPPOSITION 2022

Location:  Lower west-side Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  Nov 26, 2022 2040-2130

Weather:  Cool, windy, mostly clear, 0.8C, 68% humidity.

Attendance:  Benson, Jarrod and David.

Equipment:  Meade LX 200 with 32mm eyepiece, cellphone camera attached to eyepiece.

Objective:  To view and image Mars as it approaches its Dec 8 opposition.

Report:  

• Mars is very big and bright in the south eastern sky.  Through telescope disc is much bigger than normal and dark features can be seen across its bright reddish face.  A bright white cap can be seen on top edge.

 

• Jupiter was much bigger and brighter, high in the south western sky, which tells how big this planet is compared to Mars.  Even though Mars is much, much closer, it still is half as big as Jupiter is in the sky.  Four of its moons were nicely spaced on either side of the massive gas giant.  Through telescope two bright bands could be seen across Jupiter's face, in line with the moons.

 

•  The big dipper was impressive, low in the north eastern sky.  No shooting stars or satellites were seen.