COMET SEARCH & MORE

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  September 30, 2024 0530-0700hrs

Weather:  Calm, no wind, clear except for some ground fog in places, no bugs, very dark at 0530, 12.2C and 89% humidity in Saint John at 0500hrs, 8C at 0630 in POW.  Very good viewing conditions.

Equipment:  Telescope 80 ed/apo with camera attached, 20x80 binoculars and a Canon Rebel T3 with 18-55mm lens.  Images processed through PhotoShop.

Objective:  To view and image Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas which is reported to be rising in the eastern, morning sky.  Also to image bright stars that are present.

Report:  After scanning the area where comet is reported to be, many times with binoculars, and taking many images of this region of sky, I could not find any sign of this comet, which is reportedly 2.2 magnitude.

The nearby, waning crescent Moon, which is below the hook of  Leo, was spectacular.

• At 0607 hrs a bright shooting star came unexpectedly straight down from up high in the northern sky.  Jupiter brightness, yellowish, fast and left a smoke trail that hung in the air for several seconds afterwards.
• Pegasus was low in the west at 0530hrs.  I could make out four stars within the great square, which means that one can see as faint as a 4th magnitude star, or a "limiting factor of 4".  Markab (Alpha Pegasi) was just over the horizon.

Facing west, the Great Square of Pegasus.

Markab

• Rigel in Orion, Sirius, Jupiter & Taurus are all nicely placed in the South Eastern pre-dawn sky.  Jupiter is very high, almost straight up.  I imaged Sirius and Rigel with same camera settings to show the brightness difference.  Interesting how these two stars appear the same brilliant, bluish-white color.  Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and Rigel is the 7th brightest.  I also imaged Sirius with a short exposure to try to spit it's other star, Sirius B.

Jupiter high over Orion & Sirius.

Rigel

Sirius

Sirius, short exposure & cropped to try to spit Sirius B.

COMET & NEARBY OBJECTS

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date time:  Aug 30, 2024 2050-2200hrs

Weather:  Clear, warm, lots of dew, some mosquitoes, blackflies and fireflies.  Temps stayed around 15C, 82% humidity and no wind.

Equipment:  Canadian telescopes 80 ed/apo with Canon rebel attached.  Also with 19mm eyepiece.  Images processed on PhotoShop.

Objective:  To view and image Comet 13P Olbers which was reported to be 7.9 magnitude, low in the western sky, to the north of Arcturus in Coma Berenices.

Report:

• Comet was nicely placed for observing and imaging.  Total darkness not until after 2130.
• Comet was very dim, about the same as nearby Globular Cluster M53 which is thought to be about Mag 8.33.  Visually, using 19mm eyepiece, comet showed up as a faint grayish blob with a pin prick starlike central region.
• Also imaged Arcturus and M3(bright Globular Cluster Mag 6.3), plus two objects closer to the comet, M53 & M64(Black Eye Galaxy magnitude 9.36).  Viewed these two nearby objects for magnitude comparison and found M53 to be near identical in brightness.  M64 was too faint to pick out in eyepiece. 
• All images are 30s, ISO 1600.
• Fireflies started about 2125 for about 10 mins.  I thought they were shooting stars initially.  Many satellites were seen.

Arcturus, Greek for "keeper or guardian of the bear", referring to nearby constellation Ursa Major.  One of the brightest stars seen from Earth,

Messier M3 is magnitude 6.2.  Image taken shortly after 2100hrs during twilight.

Comet 13P Olbers reported Mag 7.9

Messier M53 mag 8.33

Messier M64 mag 9.36

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