The Liverpool Astronomical Society Forum

After being overwhelmed by the clear night sky in Galloway, South West Scotland last week, I realised I knew next to nothing about our planet's place in the universe but decided I would like to learn.

Would it be possible for me to attend some of your Wednesday meetings to get an idea what astronomy is all about?

My initial research into astronomy has managed to give me information overload!

Regards

John

Well there is no way we can compete with the sky at Galloway, John.  :'( but you are most welcome to come along and visit us at the observatory. I am heading up there in the next hour so if you can make it tonight then I will see you there. It looks like it may be clear too. :o
Click here for a map;
http://www.liverpoolas.org/content/view/18/37/

Hopefully, I can make next Wednesday night.

In the meantime I've downloaded a copy of a program called Stellarium and picked up a second hand copy of a book called Universe which LJMU seems to use to teach basic astronomy.

Regards

John

I have just looked at the screen shots from Stellarium.They look good but I do not see how much! I can't see if it is freeware, shareware or at cost? I have downloaded it in the mean time and will have a look at it later.
I am just checking to see what time the International Space Station goes over tonight as the shuttle should be launched in the early hours of Saturday morning and  it docks on Sunday. If the sky is clear then we should see them both pass over as the draw closer for the docking.
On Wednesday we managed to track the ISS with the 16 inch Dobsonian telescope (a job in itself) and we could actually see a shape to the ISS. It looked like a letter 'H' on its side.  ;D
I was totally amazed by it.
If you fancy watching it go over tonight you can find the times for Liverpool at 'Heavens Above' website or click here;
http://www.heavens-above.com/main.aspx?Lat=53.4167&lng=-2.8666&loc=Liverpool&TZ=GMT (http://www.heavens-above.com/main.aspx?Lat=53.4167&lng=-2.8666&loc=Liverpool&TZ=GMT)
and just click on ' Satellites  10 day predictions for: ISS'
It is already set for Liverpool and should be accurate enough. What area do you live in?
Also if you click on a date then it will show you a star chart of its path. Let me know how you get on.

After reading David's message for John, I tried looking for the ISS last night, didnt see it, but I think I was a bit late looking. Stumbled across jupiter though! Didnt think it was that easily visible as it was meant to be low on the southern horizon. It wasnt that low! I think it was at opposition a couple of days ago, so its still pretty close and very bright!

Seeing wasn't very good as it was reasonably low down so atmospheric turbulence made it look very "wavy!" It was also right behind a new high pressure sodium streetlight and I think this washed it out a fair bit. Could see the red belts and the yellow globe and four of the moons. So sure I saw the great red spot in a very brief instant of good seeing. The time was around 00:00 to 00:10. Does anybody know if it transited jupiter at this time or was it just "wishful seeing"!!!!!! Gonna have a look for M13 over this weekend, weather permitting!

Should be making my first visit to the observatory on Wed, I haven't been able to make it for the last couple of weeks.

Congratulations David on your wedding anniversary!

The ISS passes over, mag -0.8, at 22:42:36  BST (WSW) and reaches Max. Altitude , 55 degs, at 22:45:29, SSE. It sets at
22:48:15 BST in the east. And the...................................

The Space shuttle rises tonight, mag -2.2,  (WSW) at 22:57:30 BST and reaches an altitude of 44 degs when due south at  22:59:17 BST. It sets at 23:01:08 BST East. Watch for it as it passes under Bootes and Hercules.

You need to get out 5 or 10 mins before in order for you to be ready as can be slightly early or late but only by a minute or so.
If you wait for half an hour you will notice that 3 come at once.  ;D

Full details and star charts available at:
http://www.heavens-above.com/main.aspx?Lat=53.4167&lng=-2.8666&loc=Liverpool&TZ=GMT
Let me know if you see them.
I will try and sort out a list of Jupiter (jovian) events for the website as soon as I get a chance.

I managed to see the ISS and the shuttle go over and they were bright, I hope that you manage to see them too.
With regards to your observation of Jupiter yesterday, it appears that the Red Spot was visible at the time you suggested.
There is a nice programme, JupSat95, on the net at;
http://indigo.ie/~gnugent/JupSat95/ (http://indigo.ie/~gnugent/JupSat95/)
It will show the position of the moons and tell you when the Spot should be visible.

I watched the ISS go over, once at 10:45 and just now at 00:16.

I was impressed how bright it was. The first time, the sky was still quite light and the ISS was so bright, at first I thought it was an aeroplane until I saw how fast it was moving.

I only have a pair of 8x24 binos so I couldn't make out anything other than a speck of light but still, very exciting!

I also noticed two stars that were very visible even at the time of the ISS first pass but I couldn't make out enough  other stars to form their constellations. They were quite close to the path of the ISS. Any ideas?

I live in Bromborough on the Wirral, by the way.

Regards

John

Just saw the ISS pass over, bang on time! Wow that thing moves fast! Considering its altitude, I wasnt  expecting it to move that fast. Very bright aswell. Managed to get it in binoculars, but couldnt discern any shape. Just an orangey yellow colour. How on earth did you manage to track it with a Dobsonian??!!!

We took turns at the eyepiece with someone guiding through the finder and keeping the ISS on the crosshair.  :)
It was difficult but I suppose with practice.....
Rob Johnson made his first attempt at capturing it with a web cam on the focuser. I will try and put some images on tomorrow evening if I have the time.