RAHUL'S ASTRONOMY BLOG

COMET C/2009 P1 GARRADD 17 JANUARY

2012-01-19T19:46:00.003+05:30

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd, Canon EOS 550D at 250mm, Exposure 3x8 Seconds, ISO 3200

This pics shows comet C/2009 P1 Garradd taken on the early morning of January 17. The comet is shining with magnitude 6.7 in the constellation of Hercules. I took 6 images out of which I could stack only 3 images using the Deep Sky Stacker. I am still learning how to stack and process images.

RANN UTSAV 2011 PLUS TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE PICS!

2011-12-12T13:30:00.001+05:30

We took part in the Rann Utsav 2011 on December 10. The event took place at the Kala Dungar and Dhorado Village. This year we had great fun at the white salty desert of Kutch because the Total Lunar Eclipse took place on the same day. We showed the coppery moon to the tourist who came from all around the world! Here I am sharing few photos of the event. Hope you will like.

The group

Local lady watching flamingoes through the binos

enjoying Total Lunar Eclipse

that means, "you're passing through 23.5 North Latitude

The group of Painted Storks

Flying Painted Storks

The India Bridge

A passing International Flight

Kala Dungar (The Black Hill)

The Greater Rann (Mixed with sea water)

The group of Flamingoes (We counted 200 flamingoes through the binoculars)

CM of Gujarat Mr. Narendra Modi is watching flamingoes through my 25x100s

The white salty desert of Kutch shortly after sunset

Lunar Eclipse through 55-250mm lens

Lunar Eclipse in wider field

The totality in wider field

White salty desert and stars!

DECEMBER'S TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

2011-11-25T17:36:00.001+05:30

A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 10, 2011. It will be visible from all of Asia and Australia, seen as rising over Eastern Europe, and setting over northwest North America. In the Philippines, the lunar eclipse is seen visible just after sunset.

Visibility of the Lunar Eclipse

CONTACTS

P1: 11:33:36 UTC

U1: 3:32:15 UTC

U2: 14:06:16 UTC

Greatest: 14:31:49 UTC

U3: 14:57:24 UTC

U4: 16:17:58 UTC

P4: 14:29:57 UTC

LOCAL TIMING

Moonrise: 6:00pm (IST)

Moon enters Penumbra: 5:06pm

Moon enters Umbra: 6:18pm

Greatest: 8:05pm

Moon leaves Umbra: 9:45pm

Moon leaves Penumbra: 10:58pm

LEONIDS 2011 REPORT

2011-11-20T12:20:00.001+05:30

The members of Kutch Amateur Astronomers' Club went to Valakhavas Lake near Shiv Paras Temple to watch Leonids. The Last Quarter Moon was very bright that washed most of the joy of watching the Leonids but we chose to take some shots of the night sky during this event. We spent most of the time in campfire and making the time lapse movie of the rising moon. We noted just 4 meteors one of which was successfully captured in the camera!

A Leonid was captured during 25s shutter speed

LEONIDS METEOR SHOWER ON 17th AND 18th NOVEMBER

2011-11-17T12:07:00.001+05:30

The modest Leonid meteor shower should be most active in the hours before dawn Friday morning. Last-quarter moonlight will interfere somewhat. This shower's parent comet, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, tends to create narrow concentrated streams that produces brief but prodigious displays — most recently during the late 1990s. But no such luck this year: expect the more typical weak display, with fewer than a dozen meteors per hour radiating from Leo’s Sickle. Lght from a last-quarter Moon won't help.

Leo at 2:20am. The Waning Gibbous Moon is very bright and may ruin the most of joy of watching Leonids

Leonid meteor shower date and timings:

The peak usually occurs around 17 November This time its spread over 2 days. This year Moon will mar the observations but still its worth observing. Details are given below

01:28 IST 17th November and 09:04 IST on 18th November

JUPITER AT OPPOSITION

2011-10-24T15:37:00.003+05:30

bright Jupiter rising over Bhuj city, during October 23 evening. Snap shot taken by canon EOS 550D

Jupiter is the most eye-catching point of light in the eastern sky after dusk. Shining at magnitude -2.9 Jupiter is heading towards its opposition, the closest distance from Earth on 29 October.

Even small Binoculars will show its four bright moons. Jupiter can be best viewed through a mid-sized to large aperture telescopes. A telescope will show a 50” wide disc of the planet. When near opposition the gas giant offers the earth bound telescopes stunning views of its stormy, banded atmosphere and large Galilean Moons.

Visit this link by Sky & Telescope website for more info about observing Jupiter

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/130422068.html

CLOUDY FUTURE FOR GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMY?

2011-10-04T16:27:00.000+05:30

Today I recalled old news while checking e-mails of the year 2006. It was stating that the ground based astronomy will cease around 2050 due to the dramatic increase in cloud cover caused by Global Warming! I decided to share it again in this blog. The whole mail was as below:

“Ground-based astronomy may be almost impossible by 2050 as global warming causes a dramatic increase in cloud cover.

Clouds and aircraft condensation trails, or contrails, already hamper astronomy, says Gerry Gilmore, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge. Worries about cloud cover prompted a study, which Gilmore chaired, to look into how global warming and rising air traffic will affect the forthcoming 100-metre-wide Overwhelmingly Large Telescope in Chile. This is one of a planned series of extremely large telescopes designed to observe the skies in unprecedented detail.

Contrails and global warming feed off each other, Gilmore says. "Contrails increase global warming, and global warming helps larger contrails form."

Though they realized that increasing cloud was a potential threat, astronomers did not appreciate the scale of the problem before the study, Gilmore says. "The study shows that ground-based telescopes will be worthless by 2050."

Gilmore hopes to make the wider public aware of this overlooked consequence of global warming. "We can only go to the least affected places and try to make governments pass laws to protect these sites," he says. "But the future of cheap aero plane transport and climate change is out of our hands."

mail source: astronomyclubindia-normal@yahoogroups.com

MARS MEETS M44!

2011-10-01T13:25:00.000+05:30

Mars passes through the Beehive Cluster (M44) during October 1 and 2. Today early morning before dawn I observed this event using my 10x50 Olympus binoculars. I also took few shots of this event through my DSLR camera with a telephoto zoom lens.

PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION ON 28 SEPT 2011

2011-09-29T20:37:00.000+05:30

Recently I bought Canon 55-250mm IS telephoto zoom lens for my Canon EOS 550D camera. My purpose is to use it for nature and astrophotography. To test it for astrophotography at its full length I went to Kutch Mitra Park, a place which is 10 km south of the city of Bhuj with Mr. Narendra Gor. I wanted to capture comet C/2009 P1 Garradd and some of the Milky Way fields. The site is dark enough for observing and is close to Valakhavas Lake, our old observing site.

I could get some fine shots and have shared some of them below:

Cygnus Milky Way. Exp. 13 secs, ISO 1600, F/5.6, Focal length 55mm

Lambda Scorpii Region. Exp. 6 secs, ISO 3200, F/4, Focal length 55mm

Sagittarius Milky Way. Exp. 5 secs, ISO 3200, F/4, Focal length 55mm

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd (marked with arrow), Exp. 8 secs, ISO 6400, F/5.6, Focal length 163mm

SOME TEST SHOTS THROUGH 55-250mm IS LENS

2011-09-29T19:33:00.002+05:30

Here are some photos of few deep sky objects taken during 27 and 28 September. All the pics are taken from my new Canon 55-250mm IS lens. The stand used during photography was light weight hence shows some shakes.

Messier 42 (The Great Orion Nebula), Exp. 5 secs, ISO 3200, F/5.6, Focal length 250mm

Messier 45 (Pleiades), Exp. 5 secs, ISO 3200, F/5.6, Focal length 163mm

Messier 31 (Andromeda Galaxy), Exp 5 secs, ISO 3200, F/4, Focal length 55mm

IMAGING AND OBSERVATION OF COMET 45P HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA

2011-09-29T17:53:00.000+05:30

I spotted comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova on the early morning of 28th September using my 10-inch Dobsonian Telescope. The comet was very bright showing bright inner coma. The comet was shining with magnitude 7 and its diameter was 7’. I used a 38mm 2-inch Orion Q70 eyepiece for this observation. The comet was within 4 degrees East of Regulus and was just 13 degrees above horizon at 5:25am.

Next morning I decided to capture this comet using Canon 55-250mm IS lens with my Canon EOS 550D camera. I used this setup on a light weight tripod which I had used for my Panasonic DMC FS15 camera. However I got the comet’s fuzzy image after a couple of shots.

Exposure 5 seconds, ISO 6400, F/5.6, focal length 171mm

The comet is marked with an arrow.

SKY OBSERVATION THROUGH 10-inch DOBSONIAN

2011-09-26T20:46:00.000+05:30

I just bought a 10-inchSky-watcher Pyrex Dobsonian Telescope. I got the delivery on 20th September.After assembling the telescope’s Dobsonian mount with the help from my clubmembers Mr. Narendra Gor and Amit, I put it to the test.

The conditions were not ideal forobserving so we decided to observe Jupiter which was well up in the sky. This telescope, operating at 48x providedvery nice, detailed view of Jupiter. The two cloud belts were clearly visible and I saw a dark spot in the Northern Belt of Jupiter. Using 10mm eyepiece (giving120x) improved much detail. I could see the two belts with their own differentshapes as seen in the photos.

On the early morning of 23rdSeptember, I woke up at 4:00am to begin a new session of visual comet hunting.The sky up to 30 degrees was very hazy so I avoided comet hunting and decidedto test my new telescope on deep sky objects. Orion was high in the sky so whatcould be better than The Great Orion Nebula? I have also purchased an Orion38mm 2” Q70 eyepiece along with this telescope. I used this eyepiece to observeM42. This eyepiece using with a 10-inch,f/4.7 gives nearly 2 degrees field of view. The entire Orion’s sword appeared in a single field of view! The entireview was very nice and gave me the “lost in space” feeling! Observing at 48xbrought more detail. The view was far better than my old 8-inch Newtonian. TheFish’s Mouth feature nicely appeared. I could also see another dark feature SWof the Trapezium.

the sky on 22nd September

I then set the telescope on IotaOrionis star (Struve 752) and used a 10mm eyepiece giving 120x. The maincomponent appeared bright blue. Theother two members came into view easily. The four spikes around the main starmade the view very impressive! I then pointed the scope to the Waning CrescentMoon. Operating at 120x the telescope showed wealth of detail. The 5.5th magnitude star 3 Cancri had justcome out from its occultation. Thecraters Gassendi and Kepler were eye-catching. I saw many tiny craters withinGassendi. The ray system around Kepler was impressive! I then saw the halfburied crater Prinz and the cluster of lunar mountains Montes Harbinger. Theshadows of Montes Harbinger attracted me and I could not shift my vision fromthis region for a couple of minutes.

I am really impressed by thequality of this new telescope. The Dobsonian mount is very sturdy and movessmoothly on both altitude and azimuth movements. It takes very small time toadjust the viewfinder. The crayford focuser is lovely! The 25mm and 10mmeyepieces provided with the telescope are also of a good quality and gives niceviews.

COMET C/2010 X1 ELENIN OBSERVING GUIDE

2011-08-07T21:24:00.001+05:30

comet c/2010 X1 as appears in the starry night pro

Comet C/2010 X1 was discovered by Leonid Elenin (Lyubertsy, Russia) using the 45-cm astrograph and a CCD camera at the International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The comet has been well observed by observatories from the beginning of 2011 to the present, with visual observers finally picking up the comet on April 5. The comet began the year at a nuclear magnitude of about 19, and brightened to about 18 by February 1, 17 by March 1, and 16.5 by April 1. The January and February observations typical revealed a coma about 0.3' across and a tail extending 0.3-0.5'.

The comet will reach perihelion (0.48 AU) on September 10. The comet will pass 0.23 AU from Earth on October 16. On 7^th August, the comet has been reported to be shining at magnitude 9.0 with angular diameter 3’. The comet is very low in the West at the time of evening twilight in August 2011 but it will get bright rapidly and will be shining at mag 6 on August 31^st. It won’t be possible to observe this comet during September as it will pass the Sun.

The comet will emerge through the early morning eastern sky during the first week of October. This time the comet is predicted to be as bright as mag 4.8 or 5.0.

On October 14^th, the comet (~mag 5.1) will be just 1.5 degrees from the 9^th magnitude galaxy NGC 2903 in Leo.
On October 15^th the comet will be within 6 degrees North of Mars.
On October 18^th the comet will be nearly 6 degrees north of the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer.
On October 22^nd the comet (~ mag 5.8) will be just 1 degree from the star Pollux in Gemini.
On October 31^st the comet (~6.8) will be 2 degrees E-SE of the Open Cluster Messier 37 in Auriga after midnight.

The brightness will start to decrease rapidly as November begins. The comet will be at magnitude 9 during November 15^th. The comet will pass very close of the Pleiades (Messier 45) from November 20 to November 24. It will be just 42’ away from the stars of Pleiades on November 22. On November 23^rd the comet will be just 31’ from Maia (the 3.8^th mag star in Pleiades). During this time the comet will be shining at magnitudes 9.5.

Here, below the charts are given showing positions of this comet from 1st October to 25th November 2011.

comet c/2010 X1 Elenin during October 1 to 14

comet c/2010 X1 Elening during Oct 14 to Nov 5

comet c/2010 X1 Elenin during 5 Nov to 25 Nov

COMET C/2009 P1 GARRADD TRACKING GUIDE

2011-07-31T19:53:00.003+05:30

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is heading for magnitude 6 and is the brightest comet in the current sky. It will make a nice binocular comet from September this year to May 2012. Approximately 237 million km away, comet C2009/P1 (Garradd) is approaching earth and should reach perihelion just before Christmas whereas its closest approach to Earth will be in early March/2012.

Here I have posted some charts that gives positions of this comet from 31st July 2011 to 30 April 2012. These charts are generated using the Starry Night Pro. software. For more information like magnitude, RA and DEC of this comet download this document.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd Tracking Guide

CHART SHOWING COMET GARRADD’S POSITIONS FROM 18 DEC 2011 TO 2 MARCH 2012

COMET GARRADD’S POSITIONS FROM 1^ST MARCH TO 1^ST APRIL 2012

COMET GARRADD’S POSITIONS FROM 1^ST APRIL TO 30^TH APRIL 2012

OBSERVING REPORT OF COMET C/2009 P1 GARRADD

2011-07-28T20:48:00.003+05:30

computer generated drawing of comet Garradd

On July 28^th around midnight I planned to observe comet C/2009 P1 Garradd. This is the brightest comet in the current sky and I wanted to observe this comet since a month. Unfortunately during this time of a year we get no cloud-free session of observing. But I got lucky on the night of 27^th. The sky became clear after sunset. It rained in the noon time and was light shower before sunset but just after sunset the clouds began to move away leaving patches of the orange sky in the West. At 11:00pm of 27^th I saw stars in the zenith and also the Scorpius appeared in the south. The stars appeared crystal clear in many parts of the sky.

When I was sure that there will be no interruption of clouds I uncovered my 25x100 Binoculars. I settled the tripod in my home’s balcony, where I spend many sessions of visual comet hunting. The balcony faces toward East. I saw beautiful Cygnus, Lyra, Altair and Cassiopeia. The Great Square of Pegasus was well above the East. The comet is currently in Pegasus and it is close to the star Epsilon Pegasi (Enif). The star was very high near the upper floor’s balcony of the apartment. So I had less time to observe this comet.

I pointed the binocular to Enif (Epsilon Pegasi) and scanned the area around the star. I had no idea where exactly the comet was. In the early morning I checked its position in the Starry Night software and knew that it was a couple of degrees NW from the star. So I scanned there. Only after few seconds I spotted something fuzzy, very close to a 8^th magnitude star. In the wider field of the binocular it was rather difficult to make sure that it was a comet. I spent few minutes to observe it and then I was sure that it is a comet. I then decided to observe it through a bigger aperture. I put my binocs back and uncovered my 8-inch Newtonian Telescope. Observing that object using a 40mm Plossl eyepiece I could clearly see that it was a comet. At 76x using a 17mm Plossl I saw very bright nucleus.

My observation lasted for half an hour and I detected its motion too. It was moving toward west. Its distance from that 8^th magnitude star increased of about 1 arc minute. As per my observing experience I could decide that it was shining at 8^th magnitude. This comet will be the best binocular object during September as it is approaching magnitude 6.

check the finder chart of the comet

PHOTOS AND REPORT OF TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE JUNE 2011

2011-06-18T11:20:00.006+05:30

I was expecting for better sky to watch the Total Lunar Eclipse on June 15-16. The whole day of June 13^th was cloudy and the same condition lasted until June 14^th evening but after sunrise the sky became almost clear leaving a hope in me to watch the Lunar Eclipse successfully! As I expected the whole day of June 15^th passed with broken cloudy sky conditions so was sure that we are not going to miss the eclipse. I called Mr. Narendra Gor and we decided to arrange the event on his home’s terrace. We also informed the other club members. I reached at the venue with Amit Hedau and Gaurav Bhatt at around 10:30pm. As equipments, we had my 25x100 Binoculars, my Panasonic DMC FS15 Digital Camera, Mr. Narendra Gor’s 6-inch Sky Watchers Newtonian and his Nikon Coolpix Digital Camera. The moon entered the Penumbra at 10:57pm. We began to watch it through my Binocs. All realized that the eclipse has begun when the moon entered the Umbra (at 11:52pm local time). As time went on more and more people arrived.

At 12:30am we had more than 50 peoples in our place. The moon appeared copper colored and was showed through telescope and Binoculars. As the eclipse was approaching maximum, the number of visible stars was increasing. During that time we did following observations.

1. * Reappearance of 51 Ophiuchi star at 12:52am.

2. *Observation and explanation of constellations, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Scorpius.

3. *Explanation of method of finding Polaris.

4. *Explanation of constellations Cygnus, Aquila and Lyra as per Indian Mythology.

We had many phone calls questioning about facts and superstitions related with Eclipse! During that time more clouds appear in the sky and soon the whole sky filled with clouds. At 1:23am we saw a gap in the clouds and glimpsed the total eclipsed moon and photographed it!

Overall this was a fantastic event for us just before the beginning of monsoon! Now we can better rest for the four months of monsoon! Club members, Amit Hedau, Abhi Goswami, Gaurav Bhatt, Gunjan Doshi, Mayur Bagga and Kashyap Thakker were helping hands. Hardik Bhatiya and Bhumit Gadhvi were new members who also enjoyed the event!

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE JUNE 2011

2011-06-13T20:49:00.001+05:30

A Total Lunar Eclipse will take place on June 15, 2011. It will be visible completely over Africa, and Central Asia, visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia. In western Asia, Australia and the Philippines, the lunar eclipse will be visible just before sunrise.

Timing of Contacts (UTC)

P1: 17:23:05, U1: 18:22:37, U2: 19:22:11, Greatest: 20:12:37, U3: 21:03:22, U4: 22:02:35, P4: 23:02:15.

Local Timings

Penumbra1: 10:57pm, Umbra1: 11:55pm, Greatest: 1:43am, Umbra2: 3:31am, Penumbra2: 4:30am.

51 Ophiuchi Occultation

For local observers, the star 51 Ophiuchi will be occulted by the moon during Eclipse. The moon will hide the star at 11:19pm. The star will reappear at 12:48am.

The time of occultation in UTC from 17:49 UT to 19:18 UT (Reappearance of the star).

T-PYXIDIS OBSERVING REPORT

2011-05-07T16:48:00.001+05:30

The members of Kutch Amateur Astronomers’ Club planned to observe the recurrent nova T-Pyxids on the evening of 3^rd May. The Nova occurred on 14^th April and was detected by Mike Linnolt. I read the news from the Sky and Telescope website. I then informed Mr. Narendra Gor and told him to watch the Nova and inform the other club members about it. The charts were available from the AAVSO website.

Firstly we organized a star party on 1^st May south of the Bhuj city. On that day I tried to spot the Nova but couldn’t succeed due to some minor problem in my 25x100 Binos. Our club’s 6-inch Newtonian was pointed toward Saturn so I couldn’t use it for my purpose. I tried to spot the Nova through my 10x50s but wasn’t sure whether I had seen it or not! The location of T-Pyxids was very low at that time, so I gave up.

On 3^rd May we again decided to watch the Nova. I went to Mr. Narendra Gor’s home carrying my 10x50 Olympus Binoculars. From his terrace we tried to spot the Nova through our club’s 6-inch Newtonian. Other club members, Nishant Gor, Chandni Gor, Kartik Pomal and Amit Hedau were present and very much excited to view the Nova! It is located at RA 9h 04m 41.5 DEC -32.22’ 47.4”.

I started from Alpha Pyxidis and moved the scope to the E-NE direction. After using Starry Night Pro software I got its location. It was paired with a 7.8^th magnitude star. The Nova T-Pyxidis was shining at around magnitudes 7 or 7.5 compared to its nearby star. This was the second Nova observation in my life!

SUPERMOON OBSERVING REPORT!

2011-03-21T12:00:00.012+05:30

The event to observe the Super Moon organized by the Kutch Amateur Astronomer’s Club at Vijayraj Ji Library, near Harmirsar Lake, the heart of Bhuj city. We published news of this event in the local news papers to inform the people about the venue. The people were already aware by this event as it was highly spreading via news channels!

The time of the Moon rise was 6:48pm. We first put our telescope at the venue and then went back to our club office’s terrace to photograph the rising moon. Firstly we decided to find some special place around the city for photography because the hill at the east was coming between. We had no idea from where the moon will rise exactly. We thought that either it will rise behind the hill or from the edges of the hill. If it rises from the back of the hill then we will see it 10 minutes late than its normal rising time. The time was very less so we decided to stay on the terrace. Also the sky was very hazy so we glimpsed the moon at 7:10pm. It was rising just left of the hill! After waiting for few minutes it appeared very beautiful. It was appearing slightly larger than normal. I took dozens of snaps at this time.

(the moon, just rising behind the hills)

We went back to our venue at 7:30pm. I went back to my home to bring the moon filter. After coming back we settled up my 8-inch Newtonian equipped with a 25mm eyepiece and a moon filter. The starting time of an event was 8pm but even during this time many people had arrived. Now this was the time to show them the moon. Peoples had too many questions about the causes of the Super Moon. Mr. Narendra Gor fulfilled their questions. This event was only to enjoy the view rather than getting scared! Over 300 peoples accumulated at the venue and enjoyed the view of the Super Moon!We removed all the superstitions by explaining astronomical facts! We could feel the Moon brighter than normal full moons. Also I could observe that in my 25mm Kellner eyepiece, the moon appeared slightly bigger than normal. It was exactly fitting in the entire field of view of the eyepiece this time. During normal full moons, while observing with the same set up I can see some part of the sky in the edge.

(here are some people enjoying the view of the moon)

KAAC-MESSIER MARATHON 2011 REPORT IN BRIEF

2011-03-08T17:24:00.012+05:30

Kutch Amateur Astronomers’ Club organized their 6^th Messier Marathon on 5-6 March 2011. This year, firstly we decided to organize this event 22 km North of Bhuj city where the Tropic of Cancer passes. Then we planned to do this year’s Messier Marathon at Kala Dungar (The Black Hills of Kutch) which is 458 meters above the sea level, where we wanted to invite more people to join and learn about Messier objects and the night sky. But we couldn’t make it done and we had very less time to invite peoples. Finally the date arrived and we had to decide where to go for this year’s Marathon. In the morning of the 5^th March, I and our club member Kartik Pomal went to our Club office to meet Mr. Narendra Gor and decide. Eventually we selected our regular observing place, Makanpar-Dhosa and decided to do this year’s Messier Marathon from there. This place is about 15km away from the city of Bhuj and is best for stargazing and bird watching. This year the time of the New Moon was so early that we were prepared to miss some of the last session’s objects because they’ll be too low in the eastern sky at the morning twilight. Generally doing Messier Marathon in mid March is ideal where chances of missing the twilight objects are very low.

I left Bhuj with Mr. Narendra Gor and Kartik Pomal at 5:40pm. I brought my 8-inch Newtonian and 25x100 Binoculars. Mr. Narendra Gor brought his 6-inch SkyWatchers Newtonian and 8x40 Olympus Binoculars. I had no preparations this time so I brought charts and list of Messier objects which I used last year. I was in so hurry that I forgot my 10x50 Olympus binos! Such handy equipments are very useful to locate bright M-objects. It takes very less time to point them and thus saves great time and strength! We reached there at around 6:30pm. First of all we searched around to find place from where we can complete our first session. From the terrace of Dhosa-Mahadev temple we cannot see objects which lie in the West because the temple’s dome blocks a huge portion of the Western sky. So we needed to find a nearby hill or some place to complete the first session. The village is situated in the hilly area so the ground in that area is uneven. We found a place just next to the temple which was in the same height of a temple. We decided to carry only my 25x100 Binos for the first session. Before going there we did bird watching. Kartik is expert in bird watching so he guided us. There is a beautiful lake near the temple which was full of ducks.

We began the first session at 7:45pm. I easily pointed the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and two of its satellite galaxies (M32 and M110). All the three were visible in a single field of view of my binos. The next object was M52 and then M103. I then pointed the binos to M76, a 12^th magnitude planetary nebula in Perseus. I failed to locate this dim planetary nebula all the time in my previous marathons. I have also never observed this planetary nebula in my life. But this time I could easily see it! It was just a degree away from the 4^th magnitude Phi Persei star. It was very close to the 6.5^th magnitude reddish star. I then showed it to Mr. Narendra Gor and Kartik Pomal.

At that time other club members Nishant Gor, Chandni Gor, Amit Hedau, Mr. Jigar and Mrs. Rina arrived. I and Nishant found M33. I used 8x40 Binos and Nishant used 25x100s to find this galaxy. The other two galaxies M77 and M74 were very low so we didn’t attempt to find them! Mr. Narendra Gor, at this time explained the night sky using a green laser pointer; he also showed us the zodiacal light. I continued locating Messier objects. We missed two objects in the first session. I then continued to locate objects of the second session. Using 8x40s I easily captured M34, M45, M42, M43, M78 and M35. Nishant located M79 through 25x100s. We took a dinner break here. Just before taking the dinner we saw a brilliant fireball (~mag -5)! It was slow and left a smoky tail behind. We all were amazed by looking it and enjoyed its beauty with screams!

Now we uncovered our telescopes. I put my 25x100s back it its case and uncovered my 8-inch Newtonian. Mr. Narendra Gor and Nishant uncovered their 6-inch Newtonian. We settled them on the terrace near the temple. The bright light in the temple compound was highly disturbing so we switched it off before we continue. We took permission from the worshipper of the temple to switch off the lights and he said yes! In the complete darkness we felt the real joy of the night sky where the Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude reached 5.5.

I adjusted the view finder and then pointed the telescope to M1 (The Crab Nebula) and then swept M93 and all the three Auriga Clusters (M37, M36 and M38) through my scope’s viewfinder. I then bagged M41, M47, M46, M50, M48, M44 and M67 easily using both the scope and 8x40 binos. The second session here finished successfully with much time to observe few attractive clusters. Mr. Narendra Gor explained few objects to the participants.

Now it was the time for the five Leo galaxies. I saw M65 and M66 through 8x40s and M95, M96, M105 through the 8-inch Newtonian. I then moved the scope to two beautiful galaxies M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. Nishant Gor started to find some of the Virgo Galaxies using a chart. I then added M97, M108 to my counting. Then joining Nishant, through his 6-inch Newtonian, we located M87, M60, M59, M58, M89, M90 and M91. During this time we encountered many NGC galaxies in this region of the sky which made little bit confuse both of us but we could distinguish them by the help of the finding charts! Then I added M40, M109, M101, M51, M63, M94, M106 and M64 to my counting using my 8-inch. Now I went downstairs to get back my 25x100s to find more objects. I held the 25x100s in my hands and pointed to the bright globular M3 and then M53, a bit fainter than M3. Here we all took rest for half hour.

After waking back I continued finding rest of the Virgo-Coma galaxies and marked M100, M99, M98, M85 in the list and then finished The Southern Group containing M68, M83, M104 and the Northern-most M102 in Draco, then again moved the scope back to Virgo to finish the rest of galaxies, M88, M86, M84, M49 and M61. Here I took rest for an hour. My score at this time was 65 out of 67 objects. Rest of the objects is now easy except the early morning twilight objects so I was ready to find them. The Scorpius had emerged through the SE sky and the Hercules was also well up in the East. I decided to find two brilliant Globular Clusters in that region. I bagged M13 and M92 and then M57 and M56 in Lyra. I waited for Scorpius to come up. By now, it was 4:10am and I was prepared to sweep all the fine and rich M-objects in the Scorpius-Sagittarius region but before I start, the worshipper of the temple switched on all the lights! All the fait stars visible through the naked eye vanished! I could not tell him to switch the lights off because it was their time to worship the lord. I first thought I would miss most of the objects in this session. The bright lights were reflecting from the eyepieces and viewfinders so I was unable to locate the objects! A couple of minutes I thought what I should do, all my passions, and efforts were getting down! I was alone at this time, feeling helpless under the bright lights :(

After thinking about what to do I just lifted the heavy 25x100 Binos in my hands, sat on a chair and pointed to M5. After few seconds of balancing the heavy (5 kg) Binos I could manage to glimpse this bright globular in the constellation of Serpens Caput. Then without using a chart, through my memory I swept M12, M10, M14, M107 and M9. Then I bagged M4, M62, M19, M80, M6 and M7. This equipment was so heavy that I cannot hold it continuously. Every time I would glimpse an object and then would give rest to my hands for few seconds and again aim at the next object. I then aimed the binos to the brilliant Globular Cluster M22. My next choice was some easy objects in Cygnus and Scutum. I swept both M29 and M39 easily and then M11 and M26 through the 8-inch Telescope. Then I again lifted the Binos and continued finding objects in Sagittarius. The next was M28, the small brother of M22! Then stunning M8 (Lagoon Nebula), M20 (Trifid Nebula) and an Open Cluster M21 in the same Field of View (FOV). Then I swept up M23, M24, M25, M18, M17, M16, M69, M70 and M54. M70, the Globular was real nasty and took almost 10 minutes to come into the FOV! The problem was that the constellation of Sagittarius was very low in the SE where the lights of Bhuj city were disturbing. I finished my run by pointing two objects, M71 and M27. I deliberately left the last session containing the five Morning Twilight objects. I gave up because I was tired and disturbed by the lights. I also got pain on my knees by holding the 25x100 Binos so I wanted to rest! My total score was 101 objects out of 110. This is the highest score for our club since 2006.

Over All the experience was excellent! I could feel that my ability of finding the Messier objects has increased so I could find most objects without charts! This year was better than previous year’s Marathon as we had a good site this time. This time we also shared the knowledge of the night sky and explained the night sky and the deep sky objects to our new members.

-Rahul Zota

KAAC, Bhuj-India

MERCURY MEETS JUPITER IN DUSK DURING MID MARCH

2011-03-02T19:56:00.004+05:30

In the beginning of this month we saw the nice event of Venus and a Crescent Moon just a degree apart in the morning sky. Now another fine event will happen in the dusk during mid March. The inner most planet Mercury will meet giant Jupiter in the evening sky. They will remain within 6 degrees during March 12 to19. Mercury will come up in the bright dusky sky after March 12 and will be at Greatest Eastern Elongation on March 23rd. On March 12 they will be within 5.5 degrees at 7:30pm. They will be closest on March 15, just 2 degrees apart! On that day the pair will set at around 8:10pm.

SNAPS OF MOON-VENUS CLOSE ENCOUNTER

2011-03-01T11:03:00.007+05:30

The close encounter of Moon and Venus occurred in the morning of March 1. I decided to take some photos of the pair through my Panasonic DMC FS-15 Camera. The pair rose at 4:48am but it set well above horizon at 5:00am. Because of some buildings in that direction I had to wait for some more time. I took the first shot at 5:17am and continued till dawn. Here I have shared some.

QUADRANTIDS METEOR SHOWER OBSERVING REPORT

2011-01-07T12:15:00.002+05:30

I had my first Quadrantid observation on the early morning of 4^th January. I had been reading about the fertility of this meteor shower. That’s why I wanted to experience this shower. To go for this under the coldest days of the year I convinced Ashwin Vaghela, my observing partner. We left Bhuj for Makanpar-Dhosa village, our regular place for observation, especially meteor shower observation. There is an old Shiv Temple and we stayed on the terrace of the temple. The Kutch Amateur Astronomer’s Club (KAAC) members have been using this place since 1993 for sky observation.

We approached there at about 10:30pm. The temperature was nearly 7 degree Celsius. I carried my 25x100 I.F. Binoculars with mount and tripod stand for early morning comet hunting. The radiant rose at around 1 am. The radiant is located around 44 Bootis star. I rose at 5:52am and started to count meteors. Because of the cold weather and chilling wind I refused to make a note of meteors, their magnitudes etc but I decided to remember the number. I counted 59 meteors till 7 am. The brightest was -1 magnitude and the faintest was 5 magnitudes. I saw 12 meteors coming from other directions, few from the direction of the Big Dipper and few from Leo. Once while I was observing, I saw 4 meteors at once coming from the Quadrantid radiant! It was awesome indeed! It was same like what we see the depiction of a meteor shower in an astronomy websites and magazines.

Overall, it was a good shower for a new year’s celebration! The Quadrantids are a fertile Meteor Shower after The Geminids but I’m sure most of amateur astronomers might be missing it due to cold weather.

RANN UTSAV 2010- A BRIEF REPORT

2010-12-24T17:07:00.012+05:30

Rann Utsav 2010 was full of fun and interactions with people. This was our club’s 4th year in Rann Utsav. We went there with our equipments to show the tourists the sites in the White Desert of Kutch and some celestial objects through telescopes.

From Bhuj, we began our journey at 6:15am for Kala Dungar (Black Hill) on the morning of 20th December. It is situated 80 km North of Bhuj and there is Lord Dattatreya’s temple on its peak. In the Northern side of the hill is Great White Rann (Desert) of Kutch district. It is very beautiful, flat deserted region made of salt. The salty land is mixed with the water of the sea. We approached there at around 11:00am. I carried my 25x100 Giant Binoculars and 8-inch Newtonian Reflecting Telescope. I was with other 11 members of our Kutch Amateur Astronomer’s Club including Mr. Narendra Gor, Nishant Gor, Kartik Pomal, Navin Bapat, Ashwin Vaghela, Akhilesh Antani, Dinesh Panchal, Ibrahim Darvadiya, Nayakbhai and other members from Ahmedabad. Mr. Narendra Gor brought our club’s 6-inch Sky Watcher Newtonian Reflector. Dinesh Panchal brought his 4-inch Newtonian Telescope. There we met our other club member Mr. Pratap Sevak who brought his spotting scope for bird watching.

C.M. of Gujarat watching flamingos through the binoculars

visitors are watching flamingos through the binoculars

Enjoying the full moon thorugh a 6-inch Telescope

the flatness of the white desert of Kutch!

moon-light's reflection on the salty ground!

After approaching there we settled our equipments and lots of tourists from India and outside India were already there. They were eager to watch distant sites through the binoculars so they stood in a queue! There were lots of Flamingoes some 20 km away from our watching point on a peak of the hill. The tourists enjoyed the view through my 25x100 Binos and Pratapbhai’s spotting scope. Mr. Pratap Sevak’s spotting scope was pointed toward ‘The India Bridge”. We stayed there for almost an hour and then the C.M. of Gujarat Mr. Narendra Modi arrived. He watched the flamingos and other sites far in the desert through the Binos and spotting scope.

After having lunch we left Kala Dungar at around 2:45pm for Dhordo village. The main event of Kutch Rann Utsav was held at Dhordo village. The beautiful white desert is some 6 km away from Dhordo village. Gujarat Tourism organizes the main event in Dhordo village which is some 90km from Bhuj city by road. We reached there at about 5:00pm. The white salty ground mixed with water was squashy that our boots pierced in the ground. There, a large stage was constructed for the performances by the local artists. We found a suitable place near the stage to setup our equipments. We refused to settle my 25x100 binos. We settled three telescopes, my 8-inch scope, our club’s 6-inch scope and Mr. Dinesh Panchal’s 4-inch scope. Because of the salty ground we had to arrange some kind of paper-sheet pieces to put them below the telescope stands to protect the metal stand’s contact with the salty ground.

The sunset time was 6:10pm. We took some shots of the beautiful sunset. The moon, nearly full (99%) was already in the east sky adding more beauty to the scene! Our 6-inch and 4-inch scopes were already pointed toward the moon. I pointed my 8-inch scope to Jupiter. The Jovian moon IO was just touching the planet’s eastern limb and few of the visitors could detect it. Calisto was within 5’ from the 7th magnitude star. Some of the visitors identified that star to be Jupiter’s 5th moon by mistake! Most of the people were dazzled by the view of a full moon through a 6-inch Newtonian. We used the moon-filter with that scope to decrease the intensity of the moon. Later on as the atmosphere became cold, the ground became more and more squashy.

the salty land of the great white desert of Kutch!

The Moon looks beautiful at the time of sunset!

We finished at around 9:30pm. At last we had some conversations with police officers and few tourists. Mr. Narendra Gor explained them the vastness of the Universe. He said, “To point some particular city on the earth in a world map we have to use an arrow mark, same way to show the solar system in the Milky Way galaxy we need to use an arrow. This shows how tiny our solar system is, the Milky Ways galaxy is also nothing but a dot in this vast ocean of billions of galaxies!”

Thoroughly, it was awesome experience for all of us! The beauty of the great white desert of Kutch district cannot be descibed in words! One has to enjoy. Everyone should visit this place once in their lifetime!

-Rahul Zota

KAAC, Bhuj-Gujarat, India

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER 2010

2010-12-07T13:17:00.005+05:30

The Geminids will peak on the night of December 13^th till the morning of 14^th and will produce a fertile show of shooting stars. The Geminids are a meteor shower caused by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This would make the Geminids the only meteor shower not originating from a passing comet. Recent showers have seen 120–160 meteors per hour under optimal conditions, generally around 2am to 3am GMT.

The meteors appear to come from a radiant in the constellation Gemini. However, they can appear almost anywhere in the night sky, and often appear yellowish in hue. The meteors travel at medium speed in relation to other showers, at about 22 miles per second, making them fairly easy to spot. This year, the First Quarter Moon will set at 12:56am IST so it will not interfere the later night. The radiant of the Geminids will rise around 8pm.

Last year, the KAAC members observed 301 meteors throughout the night and this year KAAC has planned to observe the Geminids from the same venue of Makanpar-Dhosa village.

COMET HARTLEY, M47 & M46 OBSERVATION REPORT 30-11-2010

2010-11-30T11:33:00.012+05:30

The sky was thankfully clear and the best it can ever get from my city’s site. I could see 3.5th magnitude stars near horizon 5.5 magnitude stars high in the sky. The comet 103P Hartley was close to a rich open cluster M47 and its companion, rather faint open cluster M46. I saw this from my Planetarium Software Starry Night Pro. This was a nice opportunity for astro-photographers. I was ready to observe it visually but had no idea how bright the comet was! The software shows that it shines at 7 magnitude, so I decided to observe it through my 8-inch Newtonian.

I woke up at 2:10am and uncovered my telescope. The sky was really very clear. A Waning Crescent (23 days old) moon had just rose and was behind the hill. Dazzling Sirius was high in the sky (transit time 3:02am). I set the telescope on the pear stand but found that its plastic made poor rack-n-pinion focuser was broken!!! I have fixed this problem many times by sealing it using a tape!! But this was not the time for this operation. From my balcony, the region of the sky was just about to hide behind the building. So I quickly uncovered my 10x50 Olympus Binocular. I pointed it to Sirius and moved eastward unless I reach to some bright open cluster. M47 is some 12.5 degrees East of Sirius. After centering on the cluster I saw both M47 and M46 together in the Filed of View. In the next moment I saw a fuzzy object between the two clusters. The cluster M46 appeared as fuzzy object and the comet Hartley was fainter than M46. It was very close to the 5th magnitude star and was easy to observe using averted vision. Another open cluster NGC 2423 was also visible in the same FOV.

The above image is the drawing generated in computer using paintbrush and photoshop

18 NOVEMBER OBSERVATION REPORT

2010-11-27T10:49:00.012+05:30

On 17th night the members of the Kutch Amateur Astronomer’s Club decided to go for the Leonids Meteor Shower observation. Our venue was Makanpar-Dhosa, our regular place for observing Meteor Showers. Me, Mr. Narendra Gor and Kartik Pomal travelled through Kartik’s car. Two members joined us later. This year’s meteor shower was less fertile and we saw only 12 meteors from the Leonids and two meteors from Delta Monocerotids. We spent the night on the terrace of a Shiv Temple in the village. We all woke-up at 3:30am and started to count meteors till dawn. I carried my 25x100 binos without stand. As the meteor shower wasn’t showing a good number of Shooting Stars I decided to observe few known galaxies and other deep-sky objects through the binoculars holding by hands. Here is the list of objects I observed,

*NGC 2841
*NGC 2903•
*M97
*M108
*M44
*M67
* M35
*M81
*M82
*NGC 3077
*M51
*NGC 5195
*Saturn & Venus

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I first pointed the binos to NGC 2841. This is a bright and easy object even from my city. The galaxy is located 1 degree 50’ S-SW from Theta Ursa Majoris star. This is a 10th magnitude galaxy with Angular Size of 7.7 Arc Min and Axis Size of 3.6 Arc Min. It appeared as a faint, rather elongated smudge in the Binoculars.

The next galaxy was NGC 2903, a very easy and bright galaxy in Leo. This galaxy lies within 4 degrees SW of Epsilon Leonis. This is a 9.6th magnitude galaxy with an Axis Size of 5.6’. The galaxy appeared beautiful with two 7.6th and 7th magnitude stars in a 3 degree FOV. Also a 4.3rd magnitude orange star Lambda Leonis appeared in the N-NW edge of the FOV. I missed my stand this time!

The third object was a Planetary Nebula M97 in the Big Dipper. I saw both the nebula and a galaxy, M108 in the same FOV. The nebula was very easy to identify even at first glance. This object is hard to observe from my suburban skies even through my 8-inch Newtonian Telescope. M108, the galaxy was also an easy object through my binos. M108 appeared as elongated fuzz next to two 8.5th and 9th magnitude stars. M108 is just 1.5 degrees NE of Merak or Beta Ursa Majoris.

Now at this time at around 4:10am The Beehive Cluster or M44 was high in the sky appearing through naked-eye as small fuzz. Through the 25x100 Binos it was a breath taking object, Indeed beehive! It filled the entire Field of View. The brightest star in the cluster is Epsilon Cancri shining at magnitudes 6.28. It wasn’t comfortable observing this beautiful cluster through my bulky 4-inch binos weighting 5kg holding on hands! Thus I couldn’t make the view study for longer time and counted 14 stars. There is a miniature of The Constellation Corvus in this cluster if you look carefully. The star Epsilon Cancri is the brightest star in this miniature version of Corvus making a 9’X7’ sized square of stars.In Cancer, there is another beautiful Open Cluster M67. The cluster is located within 2 degrees West of Alpha Cancri. M67 is also known as “King Cobra” and is one of the most ancient open clusters known making it to be 5 billion year old! It is a bright open cluster containing more than 500 stars, many of which were resolvable through my binos. In the FOV it shared view with 60 Cancri and 50 Cancri stars.

Now, even higher in the sky was constellation Gemini. I pointed toward even more rich Open Cluster M35. This cluster gathering of several hundred stars was a glorious sight in my 25x100s. The star, 5 Geminorum shining at magnitude 5.8 was 30’ from the cluster. After this observation, at around 4:25am I pointed the binos toward a beautiful pair of galaxies, M81 & M82 in Ursa Major. The pair is located roughly 10.5 degrees North-West of Dubhe, Alpha Ursa Majoris. M81 is a bright galaxy shining at magnitude 6.94. Its nearby, M82 is another bright galaxy with a apparent magnitude 8.41. Messier 81 and Messier 82 both can be viewed easily using binoculars. Through my binoculars in a 3 degree FOV, I observed another faint fuzzy galaxy, NGC 3077. This galaxy is a smaller member of the M81 group. The galaxy shines at magnitudes 10.6 and was rather tough to make it out through hand-held binoculars. However, after spending little time I could make it out as a very diffuse glow.

In the North-Eastern sky at around 5:15am, the galaxy M51 was well up and I aimed the binos toward its direction. Located nearly 5.5 degrees N-NW of Alkaid (Eta Ursa Majoris), M51 is a bright galaxy and can be easily observed in Binoculars. The galaxy is approximately 23 million light-years away. In my binos I think I had a glimpse of its companion galaxy NGC 5195.

At 5:30am, Saturn and Venus were well up in the eastern sky. I saw Saturn and it appeared as an oval disc. These days Saturn displays the disc of just 16 arc seconds. Venus was nearly 6 degrees above horizon and was within 4 degrees East of Spica. Mr. Narendra Gor somehow fixed the binos steady on the corner of the terrace and pointed toward Venus. It clearly showed the phase of Venus. All members could easily see the phase of Venus. I found from the planetary software that its disc illumination was 12%. I wanted to see the newly discovered comet C/2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami but due to haziness in the horizon I couldn’t find it.

FINDING CHARTS OF COMET C/2010 V1 IKEYA-MURAKAMI

2010-11-08T20:31:00.002+05:30

Here I have posted the finding charts of latest visually discovered comet C/2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami. The comet will remain in the constellation Virgo till Mid-December. The comet is moving to the East-Southeast direction and its magnitudes are around 8-9. The comet rises with Saturn at 4:32am and is just within a degree SE of Saturn just before dawn on 9th November. The comet will be nearly 1 degree South of the 4.4th magnitude star Theta Virginis on the morning of 17th November (see chart 2). On November 26th the comet will be 2 degrees 20’ NE of Spica.

I am waiting for my first observation and will share in this blog whenever I will observe this comet.

Clear skies and happy comet hunting,
Rahul Zota
Bhuj, INDIA

MY FIRST METEOR SHOT!!

2010-11-04T20:21:00.003+05:30

On 31st October I went to Devraj Farm House for comet hunting and sky observing. I carried my Panasonic DMC FS-15 Digital Camera. The camera has a particular mode called "Starry Sky" that allows us to give exposures from 15 secs to 60 secs to take starry sky image. During comet hunting I set exposure of 60 seconds and pointed the camera toward Aquila. After reaching home I processed the image in Picasa Image Viewer and brightened the image thorugh the software. It revealed a trail of meteor in the constellation Ophiuchus. This was my first shot of a meteor.

COMET HUNTING AND SKY OBSERVING AT DEVRAJ FARM HOUSE

2010-11-03T15:21:00.011+05:30

I decided to go to Devraj Farm House, one of the observing dark sites around Bhuj city for comet hunting. The sky in the morning of 31st October was blue and clear. I called up my friend and our club member Ashwin Vaghela to come with me. Unfortunately after sunset the sky started to get hazy may be due to change of season. Because of dew in the atmosphere the lights of the city was spreading in the region of the sky at N-NW making the sky non-observable!!

We reached there at around 7:00pm. I carried my 25x100 binos and 10x50 binos. I also carried my Panasonic DMC FS-15 Digital Camera. The camera has a mode called “Starry Sky” which allows us to set exposure from 15 seconds to 60 seconds. Through 60 sec exposure the camera reveals stars down to magnitude 6.5 under excellent dark sky.

I wanted to scan in Hercules and Scutum so I began sweeping the sky horizontally from Hercules. Just when I started I stumbled upon a bright Globular Cluster M92. It was indeed very bright and easy object. The sky at West-Southwest was rather clear and dark so it forced me to pursue my work at Southwest.

western evening sky

After spending 15 minutes I decided to observe some bright deep-sky objects I memorized in the region of Aquila and Scutum. I pointed the Binocular to Scutum Milky Way and the next moment a very bright and rich Open Cluster entered the field of view. It is M11, one of the most famous clusters in the sky. This cluster is also known as “Wild Duck Cluster”. This is a very dense cluster of stars that it is hard to count individual stars at 25x magnification. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. This cluster contains about 2900 stars. Through my equipment in a 3 degree field of view, M11 appeared beautiful in a bright background of Milky Way stars.

scutum star field

In the same field of view I could also see a 9th magnitude Asterism Basel 1. Basel 1 is a faint asterism located 51’12” West of M11. Now I again centered on M11 and moved the binocular to the S-SW direction and stopped on a fuzzy object. I quickly identified that it was a Globular Cluster NGC 6712. This is an 8.5th magnitude globular located nearly 2.5 degrees S-SW of M11. This cluster was probably discovered by Le Gentil in the year 1749 and he described it as a “true nebula”. This was an easy object in my 4-inch Binos. In this starry field there is another beautiful Messier Object, M26, an Open Cluster located nearly 3 degrees 25’ SW of M11. This cluster is rather loose and fainter than M11.

Now I turned to Aquila and began sweeping the sky from Zeta Aquila star. I was doing stargazing and comet hunting simultaneously because this part of the sky is within the “Comet Haystack Region”. Just about 2.5 degrees SW of Zeta Aquila I noted small group of stars which was an open cluster NGC 6738 and 2 degrees 44’ West was another open cluster NGC 6709. NGC 6738 shines with a total magnitude of 8.3 with Angular Size of 15 Arc Minutes. NGC 6709 is a loose Open Cluster containing about 60 stars. The visual magnitude of this cluster is 6.7 with Angular Size of 15 Arc Minutes. After that I centered on a rich open cluster IC 4756 in Serpens Cauda. This is a 5th magnitude Open Cluster spreading about 39 arc minutes in the sky.

IC 4665

From here, about 3 degrees W-NW lies a beautiful cluster NGC 6633. This open cluster is about as large as the size of the moon and is located in Ophiuchus. The brightest stars in this cluster shines at 8 magnitudes. There is a blue, bright star (mag. 5.6) south of this cluster. The whole field was studded with many stars forcing me not to move away!!

There is another rich open cluster in Ophiuchus, IC 4665 located just 1 degree 20’ and 50” NE of Beta Ophiuchus star. The prominent part of this cluster is seven stars of mag. 7th and 8th making a nice view along with 2.7th magnitude star Beta. The angular diameter of this cluster is 41’. This cluster lies some 1400 light years away from Earth. This is an easy target in almost any sized binoculars and a naked eye object from a dark place.

After paying attention at IC 4665 I moved to Lyra and centered M57-The Ring Nebula in the field of view. M57 is a 9th mag Planetary Nebula located between Beta and Gamma Lyra stars. The nebula spans 1.7 Arc Minutes and is 2300 light years away from Earth. This is one of the famous and easy Messier Objects.

I have seen this planetary as a “thin dot” through my Olympus 10x50 Binoculars under dark skies. In the 25x100 Binos the nebula appeared rather bright, round and fuzzy, along with Gamma and Beta stars in the same FOV. Beta was an easy double with its 6.6th magnitude companion. About 1 degree NE of M57 is a wide pair of 6th and 7.6th magnitude stars. The 6th magnitude star is orange and its companion is whitish blue. The color correction from both eyes was excellent! I have never felt like this through a telescope.

There is another nice object in Lyra. This is an Open Cluster surrounded by the star Delta 2 Lyra. The name of this cluster is Stephenson 1, also known as “The Delta Lyra Cluster”. Through my binocular I saw few stars between the stars Delta 1 and Delta 2 Lyra. Delta 1 is a blue star. The orange star Delta 2 makes the view impressive. The cluster looks to be physically bounded with Delta 2, but actually it’s not. From internet I could learn that there are 19 members in the cluster and are located 1000 light years from us. The cluster can also be seen through small binoculars.

-Rahul Zota

Bhuj-India

OBSERVATION REPORT OF COMET 103P HARTLEY

2010-10-01T11:10:00.005+05:30

I found comet 103P Hartley to be too difficult for the city-bound observers. Yesterday night (30 September) I first tried to see the comet through my 25x100 binos and then tried through 10x50 binos and 8-inch Reflecting telescope. I made this observation from my home’s balcony. I was expecting to see something bright, hazy patch of light shining at magnitude 7 or 8. But nothing appeared according to my expectation. Some astronomy websites show the comet’s magnitude to be 5.9 but there was nothing in the exact location given in the finding charts. My updated version of Starry Night software shows the comet shining at mag 5.86. After few attempts through my telescope operating at 34x, I saw something very faint, some 1 deg 39’ SE of Alpha-Cassiopeia. It was nearly 1 degree North of Zeta Cassiopeia. It was exactly in the same location where the comet Hartley has to be.

My city’s observing site allows me to see 11th magnitude comets. I couldn’t understand why so bright comet was so difficult for me. I then had conversations with international comet observers. They told that the comet is nearly 7.5th magnitude and is very diffuse so the light is spread out over a wide area.

That is why it is more difficult than its magnitude would suggest. I saw in the http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/CometMags.html#0103P website that according to last observation made in 20th September by J. Cerny, Senohraby from Czech Republic states that the comet was shining at mag 7.9 and had a big diameter of 16’. It is observable through dark sites. It can be detected through 50mm binoculars with averted vision from dark sites.

-Rahul Zota

CHASE FOR COMET 103P HARTLEY

2010-09-15T15:15:00.003+05:30

An icy visitor is positioning itself for easier viewing in the coming weeks. it will be high in the evening sky when at its best, glowing at perhaps 5th magnitude. It should be dimly visible to the unaided eye from very dark locations, and visible in binoculars and telescopes. On October 20th, the comet will be just 0.12 A.U. from Earth. The comet has reached 9th magnitude and is brightening by 0.1 magnitude per day. So right now, before the Moon washes the sky with light, is an especially good time to look for this faint visitor.

As shown in the chart, on the night of Sept 15, the comet is in Andromeda, some 4.5 degrees N-NE of Omicron Andromeda star. On Sept 20th the comet will be just about a half degree from an open cluster NGC 7686. On October 1st the comet will be just 1 deg. 37’ from Alpha Cassiopeia. Perhaps 6th magnitude by then, it should remain at least this bright for the next nine weeks. But it's important to note that, with the comet now just 0.18 a.u. from Earth and closing, its light is no longer concentrated into a small dot but instead is more spread out. So even if you can sight a 6th-magnitude star with the unaided eye, Hartley 2 will be tougher. It's closest to Earth on October 20th at a distance of just 0.121 A.U.

On the night of October 7th the comet will be just 1.5 degrees away from beautiful “double clusters”. This will create great opportunity for astro-photographers and sky observers. On October 18th the comet will pass within 3 degrees south of brilliant Capella. On October 27th after midnight the comet will pass within 4 degrees E-NE of a rich open cluster M35 in Gemini.

-Rahul Zota (Bhuj-INDIA)

VENUS-MOON CLOSE PAIRING-SOME PHOTOS

2010-09-13T11:34:00.010+05:30

We enjoyed the phenomena of venus-moon close pairing on the eve of 11th sept from my home's terrace. I used my 25x100 binocs to see the event. A very thin crescent moon was just a degree away from venus. the whole day was rainy and was mini cyclone in my city bhuj that destroyed about 300 trees!!! I couldn't expect to see the event but at the time of sunset the sky became almost clear and we could see moon and venus playing hide and seek with clouds! I captured few snaps through my digicam. I watched this nice event with Gunjan Doshi, Ashwing Vaghela, Karan Zota and Kashyap Thakker.

SOME PHOTOS OF VENUS-SATURN-MARS TRIO

2010-08-12T14:42:00.004+05:30

The members of Kutch Amateur Astronomers Club got together on the evening of 10th August to watch and photograph the beautiful trio of planets Saturn-Venus and Mars. The sky was very clear and the Sagittarius-scorpius milky-way was easily visible through naked eye. I had taken my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15 DigiCam to take photos of the trio. Me, Mr. Narendra Gor, Nishant Gor, Ashwin Vaghela, Gunjan Doshi and Archan Soni enjoyed the event from the terrace of our KAAC Office. We're also planning to organize the event on 13th August if weather permits.

VIEW FINDER SOLUTION FOR MY 25X100 BINOCULARS

2010-07-26T16:23:00.004+05:30

I purchased 4-inch (25x100) binoculars in July 2009 only for visual comet hunting. My purpose was carry them with me whenever I go out side the city to sweep the evening western skies after dusk. But I couldn’t use the binoculars at their full extent. The problem was that I was using them without a viewfinder. The binos magnifies 25x and has a FOV (Field of View) of 3 degrees. It was very difficult for me to find the object’s exact location whenever I stumbled upon them. It wasted most of time of my comet hunting sessions. Also the binocular was useless during 2010 Messier Marathon as I couldn’t find most of deep-sky objects. I believe in fast observation and spending much time in observation rather than wasting time in finding objects. Those who are using 25x100 binos must have faced problems of locating deep-sky objects and faint comets. They must have to star-hop to get on some particular deep-sky object.

I decided to solve this problem. Firstly I tried my telescope’s finders and tried to build some kind of support system to fix the finder. I wanted to fix the viewfinder on the central aluminum rod which joints two monocular but could not make it done. Finally I got solution while I was surfing the website of Indian Telescope Manufacturer, Tejraj & Co. I found that a bracket is available that can be fit over a telescopic tube. The bracket actually holds a view finder. I also found that a ringed bracket is available that can be fit over a 110mm diameter telescopic tube to support a view finder piggybacked. My Binoculars’ O.D. (Outside Diameter) is 115mm. The ringed bracket comes with two pieces (half-ringed shape) that joints each other with plastic screws. I ordered one bracket and one 7x25 straight-finder scope.

I received the parcel on 26-7-2010. After opening the packet, I tried to fix the bracket in the left sided monocular of my binos. It was rather shorter! However I could fix it with the help of a black wire that comes with cell phone’s charger. I carefully fixed the finder and set the binos on tripod stand.

-Rahul Zota

KAAC-Bhuj

A FINE PLANETARY SHOW IN JULY-AUGUST

2010-07-20T12:49:00.003+05:30

The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn meet together in the western evening sky just after sunset. On the evening of July 20^th, around 8:30pm, Mercury is very low in the west; Venus is in Leo, looking brilliant. Mars and Saturn are in Virgo, very close to each other (5 deg. 47’).

On July 25^th, after sunset, Mars (mag.1.45) will be only 9’58” from the 3.5^th magnitude star Beta Virgo. Both can fit within my 8-inch telescope operating at 165x! On the 27^th at evening, Mercury (mag.0.06) will be just 31’20” away from Alpha Leonis, or Regulus, again a beautiful scene for high magnification telescopes.

After this on 31^st of July at dusk, Mars and Saturn will be paired at only 1 deg. 46’ distance! This will be a nice view for the binocular observers! The planets will remain together further in August. There will a mind-blowing scene on the evening of August 13^th at around 8:30pm. The three planets Mars, Venus & Saturn will form an elongated triangle. Also a 4 days old, Waxing Crescent Moon will add more beauty to them.

-Rahul Zota

LYRIDS METEOR SHOWER AND SKY OBSERVATION

2010-04-23T07:51:00.003+05:30

We planned to watch the Lyrids Meteor Shower on 22nd April. We choose our regular observing place, Dhosa-Makanpar near the city Bhuj. During that day the sky was not very clear and transparent. We reach there at 11pm. I carried my 25x100 and 10x50 binocs. I saw the first meteor at 12 am. It was around magnitude 0 and crossed through the constellation Bootes. It was bluish and passed very close to Arcturus. I then took rest and wake up at 4am. From that time until the beginning of morning twilight I saw total 25 meteors.

I also observed few deep sky objects during meteor shower. I observed some bright open and globular clusters through my 25x100 binocs holding by hand. Early in the morning before dawn the summer Milky Way was looking stunning! I couldn’t stop my self to observe dozens of fantastic objects in that part of the sky. I first pointed the binocular to Sagitta. The next moment, a fuzzy object entered the field. I identified this less observed object in my life, it was M71.It was very easy and was appearing well along with three faint stars in a row. Next I saw Dumbell Nebula (M27). Wow! The nebula stood out as a very bright, round and big glow.

The binocular weights 5 kg hence I was observing objects in a sleeping position. My next target was M11, looking similar in size and shape to M71.However many stars in this cluster were well resolved by the big 4-inch glasses! Now I scanned the Cygnus Milky Way. I began from Alberio to Gamma Cygni. On the way I stumbled upon many fine and rich open clusters. The star studded view was superb! I don’t have words to describe it! I then scanned the field of Pegasus and Cassiopeia. I noted a big glow in the vicinity of Beta Cassiopeia star. It was nearly 3 degrees from Beta. After reaching home I found it from my planetary software. It was NGC 7789, and open cluster shining at magnitude 6.7. It is home of about 300 stars.

OBSERVING REPORT OF COMET C/2009 K5 Mc Naught

2010-03-22T07:12:00.004+05:30

On early morning of March 22nd, the sky was thankfully clear. I decided to observe the comet C/2009 K5 McNaught which shines at magnitude 9.3 in the constellation Aquila. I used my 8-inch reflecting telescope for this observation. I used two eyepieces, 40mm Plossl and 25mm Kellener. The comet was within 1 degree from a 5.5th magnitude star 28 Aquila. I set my telescope to the star and from there, around 42’ NE; I saw a bright and big glow. It was very easy to notice at first sight. I then used 25mm eyepiece giving 52x magnification but I think the comet was easy in 40mm Plossl.

-Rahul Zota

KAAC-MESSIER MARATHON 2010 RESULTS

2010-03-15T18:07:00.005+05:30

Kutch Amateur Astronomer’s Club (KAAC) organized its 5th Messier Marathon on 13/14 March 2010. We choose Mirzapar Forest Nursery as our observing site. The site is very close to my city Bhuj. It is only around 5 km away from Bhuj that’s why I had a fear in my mind about the site’s situation and the sky’s darkness especially at east. This was my first experience at this site. We got there at 7:45pm. We were six guys, me, Mr. Narendra Gor, Nishant Gor, Ashwin Vaghela, Fenil Patadiya and a new member Rajesh Doshi. Fenil Patadiya had traveled from Surat to join us in this event. The ground at the venue was uneven and it took 15 minutes to choose the right place to set our equipments. There was a bright lamp in the place and it was disturbing to see the stars high in the eastern sky. After removing the lamp we settled our equipments. We carried my 8-inch reflector, my 25x100 and 10x50 binocs, and Mr. Narendra Gor’s 8x40 binocs. Fenil Patadiya brought his 7x35 Celestron binocs. So we started around 8:15pm.

As we started late we missed 5 objects in the first session. We missed M77, M74, M110, M76 and M52. Nishant located M33 through his 8x40 binocs and I located rest of objects. The first session was as usual less fertile. But then we located every object in the second session and also every object of the first half of the third session. During this session we had few visitors at the site and they liked the view of Saturn, M81-M82 and The Beehive Cluster. I intentionally left the Virgo-Coma galaxies unobserved because it was on transit and very high overhead. My scope has an alt-azimuth mount and I cannot see exactly overhead through this scope. I decided to wait until pre-dawn when this part of the sky gets towards west so I can get all galaxies later. During this time I set M104, M102, M83 and M68. I observed M102 for the first time in my life.

Around 3:30am we decided to have a walk around our observing site of forest nursery. After getting back I finished M13, M92, M57 and M56 and then I decided to hunt the Virgo-Coma galaxies. I took the finder chart and located Rho Virginis star and made a star hop toward M60, M59, M58, M89, M90, M91 and M88. Then M87 was easily located. But I missed M85, M98, M99, M100, M84 and M86. This is for the first time I missed 6 galaxies in this region. Too sad :( .

Now I was ready to find all objects located in Ophiuchus, Scorpius and Sagittarius region. I used my 10x50 for bright objects and 8-inch scope for faint globulars. Folks presented at this time were really very happy by watching M8-The Lagoon Nebula. They also liked the view of the great globular cluster Omega Centauri through my 25x100 binocs. In the meantime I set my scope to M13 in Hercules and slightly moved it to a very faint galaxy NGC 6207 (mag ~12) which I had seen through a 16-inch Dobsonian at Nainital in 2008.

At last the final M-objects rising through the light-polluted eastern skies were difficult to locate. We gave up hope to glimpse them as dawn began. However, I last saw M15 through 10x50 and then I showed it to folks through 25x100 binocs and at the end our last score was 93 objects out of 110. This number was very low than we expected. I am sure our score would be at least 100 if the site was darker. We saw most of objects through my 8-inch and 10x50 binoculars. My 25x100 IF giant bino was useless without a viewfinder. It was just a showpiece for visitors. At the time of windup, a crescent moon attracted everyone and Mr. Narendra Gor took a beautiful video. Nishant Gor, Fenil Patadiya and Ashwin Vaghela were helping hands.

-Rahul Zota (KAAC-Bhuj)

A STAR HOP IN ORION

2010-02-16T13:27:00.005+05:30

1. Betelgeuse
2. NGC 2169
3. Zeta Orionis
4. Sigma Orionis
5. NGC 1981
6. NGC 2377
7. M43
8. M42
9. Iota Orionis

Orion stands well in the sky after evening twilight. There are many favorite objects for the amateur astronomers including The Great Orion Nebula (M42).
I decided to star hop in this constellation on the night of 13th February 2010. I used my 8-inch f/6.5 Newtonian Reflecting Telescope operating at 32.5x, 76x and 162.5x magnifications.

1. Betelgeuse: Our starting point is Betelgeuse or Alpha-Orionis and is located 640 light-years away from us. Betelgeuse is a semi regular star and second brightest in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is a Red Supergiant and one of the largest and most luminous stars known. For comparison if the star were at the center of our Solar System then its surface might extend out to between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In my 8-inch reflector at 76x, the star looks brilliant orange.
2. NGC 2169: This is the 6th magnitude Open Cluster lies some 7 degrees N-NE of Betelgeuse between the stars Xi and Nu Orionis. This cluster is also known as the “37 Cluster” because its shape. Through my 8-inch at 32.5x, I can see 11 stars in the cluster which makes the shape like the number 37. At 76x, I can count 12 stars.
3. Zeta Orionis: Like other Belt Stars, Zeta is a 2nd magnitude blue-white star located about 1500 light-years away. In the 8-inch, Zeta is a blaze of cold white light. This star is also known as Alnitak.
4. Sigma Orionis:

Sigma is a dazzling quintuple star with a fainter triple in the same view. The brightest component is Sigma AB, itself a pair separated by only 0.2” and very hard to resolve in amateur telescopes. My telescope working at 76x shows me the component C. The component D was very hard to resolve at this time however I

have observed it a couple of times away from the city lights.
Struve 761 is a triple star system viewed in the same field of view along with Sigma Orionis. My telescope shows all the three components A, B and C at 32.5x.

5. NGC 1981: A very fine, big and loose Open Cluster at the top of Orion’s Sword. The cluster fits well in my scope’s field at 76x. The most eye-catching feature is the three 6.5 magnitude stars. The top most star of these three is a double but I couldn’t see it at this time. The companion is an 8.3rd magnitude star.
6. NGC 1977: NGC 1977 is an open cluster surrounded by two diffuse nebulas NGC 1973 and NGC 1975. You will need an O III filter and a dark sky to have a glimpse of these nebulae.
7. M43: A small patch surrounded of Nu Orionis star. This nebula is also known as the Comma Nebula.
8. M42, The Great Orion Nebula: This is the most famous emission nebula in the sky and the most favorite site for almost any telescope user. In my 8-inch scope at 32.5x, the nebula looks great much like photographs, showing two bright, outstretched arms, tulip-like enclosure. In the middle of the nebula is the quadruple star Theta 1 Orionis. A landmark feature here is the intrusion of a dark nebula that extends from the east almost to the Trapezium. This feature is also known as the Fish Mouth.
The Trapezium is the group of bright multiple stars seem to have blown a hollow for itself deep inside the nebula, and we are looking down into this hole as if into the much of a bright green cave. The brightest star in the Trapezium is Theta C. To its northwest and northeast are A and D. This time through my 8-inch reflector at 162.5x, I could see only four main stars of the Trapezium, A, B, C and D. No E and F were visible because of moderate sky conditions.

9. Iota Orionis: Iota Orionis is a dazzling star at the bottom of M42. The star is also known as Nair Al Saif. Through my telescope at 76x, I can see its companion which shines at magnitude 7.7. The companion is at 11” from Iota.

-Rahul Zota (Bhuj-India)

ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE REPORT

2010-01-16T12:35:00.007+05:30

To watch the Annular Solar Eclipse we organized a program at Indirabai Girl’s Highschool. I stayed in the school with Gunjan Doshi, Archan Soni, Harish and Ashwin Vaghela. About 800 students saw the eclipse by projection and sun viewing goggles. Also our club members including Mr. Narendra Gor went to Rameshwaram in South India to watch the eclipse. Few of our members stayed in nearby cities of Bhuj to show the eclipse to peoples and students. Throughout Kutch District we showed the eclipse to about 4500 students. Through my telescope using a filter I saw two sunspots. We also tried to measure earth's radius in this program.

-Rahul Zota

NEW YEAR'S LUNAR ECLIPSE

2010-01-01T11:29:00.008+05:30

I celebrated the New Year with observing the Partial Lunar Eclipse. The eclipse began at 10:55pm on the night of 31st. The earth's shadow falling on the Lunar Limb was visible only through a telescope but at 12:00am when the New Year began the slightly dark shadow was easily visible through naked eye. I tried to capture it through a digital camera. This was my first attempt of a-focal astrophotography. I used a dense grey filter to decrease intensity.

OBSERVING REPORT OF COMET C/2007 Q3 SIDING SPRING

2009-12-24T14:23:00.004+05:30

The morning of 24th December was good and the naked-eye limit of stars was 4.5 near zenith. The last week was hazy and no comet hunting or observing was possible. This morning I was on my terrace at 4:30am. I wanted to observe the comet C/2007 Q3 Siding Spring which was within my telescope’s range and also a test to check whether my scope is able to show me the comet under my city skies!

I had a printed chart downloaded from http://www.skyhound.com/. I set the telescope on Alpha Coma Berenices star and tried to star hop to the comet’s location. But the comet was some 7.5 degrees away. I chose another way. I set the 5.6th magnitude star 2 Bootis and from there I set a pair two 8th magnitude stars located some 3 degrees NW of 2 Bootis. Now the comet was just 1 degree far from this pair. While scanning around this field I noted 10th magnitude fuzz only about 4’ from the 9th magnitude star. I was using 40mm Plossl eyepiece with my 8-inch reflector giving 32.5x magnification. The comet was hard to distinguish from the star at this magnification. I replaced it with 25mm Kellener eyepiece which gave 52x magnification. Now I easily identified the comet. I estimated its magnitude to be 10. It was easily visible at 52x and then at 32.5x. I didn’t spent much time to observe it because I had only an hour left for the comet hunting session. I just wanted to identify it and so I was happy because I had it.

GEMINIDS 2009 OBSERVING REPORT

2009-12-14T13:21:00.007+05:30

On the night of 13th December I went to a village named Dhosa the regular place for stargazing. We went there to observe the Geminids meteor shower. I went with Ashwin Vaghela and another member Yogesh. Like the Leonids, this year's Geminids was also predicted to be best and stronger than usual. We left for the observing site at 10:00pm and got there at 10:40pm. The village is only 15 kms from Bhuj but due to bad roads it takes more time to reach! We were on bikes and on the way we saw 4 meteors. Here is the brief detail of our observation....
ON THE WAY: 4 meteors. The first was as bright as Capella. Thus it was at magnitude 0.
11pm-12am: Throughout the first session we counted 14 meteors. A couple of them was 0 magnitude.
12am-1am: We counted 50 meteors. The brightest was a fireball of magnitude -2. Once I was looking at the Double Cluster in Perseus through my 25x100 Binocular and then one bright meteor passed through the starry studded field! It was amazing!
1am-2am: We counted 74 meteors. The brightest was a fireball of mag. -2.5 passed through the zenith at 1:12am. It was slow with short trail.
2am-3am: Again we counted 74 meteors. At 2:40am we saw a bright fireball of mag. -4.
3am-4am: In the last session we counted 83 meteors. After the end of this session I gave up observing and counting meteors and did visual comet hunting through the 25x100 binoculars. I guess the number of meteors increased after 4am until the beginning of morning twilight. During comet hunting I saw 5 meteors passed through the eyepieces. Whenever I shifted my glance at the sky I saw 1 or 2 meteors every time. I added 6 more meteors in my count. So our total number was 310.
Overall the Geminids 2009 was the best meteor shower in my life. I observed this meteor shower in the year 2004 and counted 241 meteors but this time my total number was 310.

-Rahul Zota
(Kutch Amateur Astronomer's Club-Bhuj)

STARGAZING AND SITE SEEING AT RANN UTSAV 2009

2009-12-07T20:39:00.008+05:30

This was our 3rd year of participating at Rann Utsav. The word “Rann” means desert. Rann utsav is an annual function organized by Gujarat Tourism where thousands of people from all over the world come to visit the Great White Desert of Kutch district. The function particularly organizes at the time of Full Moon where the white desert looks awesome in the moon shine. Our astronomy club also takes part in this function by showing interesting sites to the tourists around the desert through binoculars and also showing celestial objects like The Moon, planets through telescopes.

This year we carried our club’s 6-inch reflecting telescope and my 25x100 binocular. I along with 9 club members started journey at 6:45am. The function organizes at two different places in the northern part of Kutch. The first place is “Kala Dungar” or the Black Hill which is situated some 80 Km North of Bhuj. The hill is the tallest in Kutch district and is famous for Lord Dattatrey’s Temple. The other place is Dhordo Village.
We first approached at the top of Kala Dungar. The views of the great white desert of Kutch were really mind blowing! I then set my 25x100 binocular and located “The India Bridge” for tourists. The India Bridge was 19 Km away from our place but after seeing the view through my binocular the people reacted that it seemed as it was just 1 km away!!

Then at 3:12, the C.M. of Gujarat Mr. Narendra Modi arrived at Kala Dungar. He saw few interesting sites through the binoculars as well as through spotting scopes. At 4:00pm we left the place for Dhordo Village. After 10pm we set our instruments in the vicinity of the tourist tents. About hundreds of tourists looked through my 25x100 binoculars and also through our club’s 6-inch reflecting telescope. They saw the moon through the binoculars and somebody said the moon looks like the white desert of Kutch! They also glimpsed two moons of Jupiter through a telescope. Actually all the 4 moons were visible but Europa was very close to Jupiter. Ganymede and Callisto were just 4.2” apart, hence they saw one satellite instead of two..!

Overall this year’s Rann Utsav was great especially for site seeing. This year we had more interactions with people. They were very much excited to know about celestial objects and interesting sites in the desert of Kutch.

-Rahul Zota

LEONIDS METEOR SHOWER: OBSERVING REPORT

2009-11-18T19:28:00.010+05:30

To observe this year’s Leonids Meteor Shower on 18th November we made a plan to go to our regular observing place Makanpar-Dhonsa. Our other club members including Mr. Narendra Gor stayed in Bhuj and observed the meteor shower on the terrace of a school along with hundreds of students. To observe from a dark place I went to Makanpar-Dhonsa with club members Chirag Dusnaam, Kartik Pomal, Ashwin Vaghela and my brother Prashant Shah. We reached there at 11:35pm. I quickly set my 25x100 binocular and did some basic binocular observing. During this time my friends saw 8 meteors coming from east. The sky condition was good and our naked-eye limiting magnitude was 5.5.

2:00am-3:00am
During this time I counted 21 meteors. The first few meteors were bright at magnitude -1 and left a bright trail behind. The faintest was magnitude 3.5.

3:00-4:00am
I counted 29 meteors in this time. The brightest was a fireball of magnitude -2. The last one was very dim at magnitude 4.2.

4:00am-5:00am: The Great Fireball!
I counted 24 meteors in this session. At 4:08am I was looking around The Sickle (The head of Leo) and Cancer. Then suddenly there was a flash in the entire sky as usually happens at the time of lightening. I looked at Orion and saw that a very bright fireball of magnitude -8 had just broke apart into two, then into 4 meteors and then converted into many sparkles. In the second moment another stream of sparkles appeared just above. It was great indeed! I had never seen like this before. After that I had a phone call of Mr. Narendra Gor form Bhuj and he said he also saw the same!

5:00am-6:00am
In this hour we observed 18 meteors. Again the last one was a bright fire ball (magnitude -4) between the stars Mizar and Alkaid of The Big Dipper. It appeared at 6:00am and left a smoke-like trail which remained in the same place for about one minute and then gradually vanished.
So our total number of observed meteors was 99. I also observed dozens of meteors coming from the direction of Canis Minor and Orion. Later I found that was Alpha Monocerotids Meteor Shower that activates between Nov 15-Nov 25. The Leonids was my second great meteor shower observation after The Geminids in the year 2004.

-Rahul Zota (Bhuj-India)

UPCOMING ORIONIDS METEOR SHOWER

2009-10-17T20:31:00.005+05:30

The Orionid meteor shower is expected to reach peak activity this year on October 21st, 2009. This meteor shower comes from Halley's Comet, since like most comets, it leaves a dusty trail as it orbits the sun. The particles in this trail eventually become meteors as they burn up in our atmosphere.

The Orionids have been producing rather bright meteors in the recent past, so it should be a good show. The shower reached a maximum of only 20-30 meteors per hour last year, but is still a worthwhile observing event! This is because the Orionids typically are very colorful meteors, sometimes being yellow or green, and sometimes even producing fireballs called bolides. Also, this year's shower will be perfectly timed with a very thin crescent Moon, so the views of the meteors won't be impeded by moonlight!

As usual, the best time to observe a meteor shower is during the early morning hours, around 2-5 AM. This is because as the Earth rotates into the sunlight, we are moving into the meteor field. This increases the number of meteors entering our atmosphere over any given location. Of course, not everone wants to stay up that late, so if you don't plan on doing so, start watching for the meteors at local dusk, and they'll really start to pick up towards 11 PM or midnight. The Orionids have a very broad peak, so any night during the week of October 18th to October 24th will work for obesrving.

- Rahul Zota (Bhuj-India)

OBSERVING REPORT OF COMET 217P LINEAR

2009-09-15T16:32:00.003+05:30

On the morning of 14th September I spent 40 minutes for comet hunting. The sky was very clear and the Waning Crescent Moon (30%) was present. At 4:50am I decided to observe comet 217P Linear which was shining at magnitude 11 in Eridanus. The comet was close to Beta Eridani star. I had not chart at that moment but I roughly

remembered the location. I was using 8-inch reflector operating at 40X. I set the star-field some 2 degrees 40’ NW from Beta Eridani. I centered a 7th magnitude star forming an elongated triangle with two 9.5 magnitude stars. When I moved the scope to Beta’s direction, a small, round, fuzzy patch of light appeared in the view. It was close to one of 9.5 magnitude stars of the triangle. I thought this should be a comet.

At first I used averted vision and tapped the telescope tube to have glimpses of the comet but then spending few minutes I could see it through direct vision. I kept observing to note its motion until strong light of dawn washed out the view. There was no motion or very less which is hard to note. Later that day I found in the software that the comet moves about 1 degree in 24 hours.

Comet 217P Linear is the faintest comet I have ever observed. After observing this comet I could say my city’s sight for comet hunting is suitable and I can pick up 11th magnitude comets. But one thing I added to my method that from now I have to spent at least 5-8 seconds with using averted vision in each Field of View while sweeping the sky in quest of the cosmic interlopers.

Perseids Meteor Shower observing report

2009-08-13T19:36:00.005+05:30

We observed the Perseid Meteor Shower with some disturbance of clouds and moonlight. We were again at Dhosa Village 12km from Bhuj. Our another member Ashwin Vaghela stayed in Madhapar the suburb of Bhuj.

At 11:30pm I saw the first Perseid Meteor. It was bright at mag -1.5 toward south west and left a trail of about 15 degrees. Then I counted more 3 before 12:30 but then clouds covered the whole sky. I again rose at 3:30am and saw more 2 meteors. The last one was once agin very bright at mag -1 toward north west.

Ashwin Vaghela at Madhapar saw 14 meteors before dawn.

Observing Report of Comet C/2006 W3 Christensen through 25x100 Binocular

2009-08-12T15:27:00.005+05:30

On 11th August, I went with Narendrabhai and Kartik Pomal to a village named Dhosa some 12 kms from Bhuj. There we stayed on the terrace of Shiv Temple for the whole night to watch Perseid Meteor Shower. This is our regular place for stargazing. Afternoon that day the sky became almost clear so we expected to see the meteor shower without obstruction of clouds. I got my 10x50 and 25x100 binoculars with me. The 10x50 Olympus is my regular choice for the meteor shower but I carried also 25x100 because I wanted to observe a comet C/2006 W3 Christensen which is in Vulpecula shining at magnitude 8.2 with angular diameter 2’. We got there at 10:45pm. After some 30 minutes I was all set to locate the comet through 25x100. Cygnus was on transit, high on zenith. I remembered the comet’s position from the website http://www.skyhound.com/ . I first located Delphinus and traversed to a wide pair of 5th and 6th magnitude stars roughly 10 degrees NE from Delphinus. The comet was about 3 degrees NW from this pair. When I got to the right location, I saw a round fuzzy blob. It was easy through 25x100 even when I was holding it through my hands without any support. Then I saw the comet also through 10x50, It was rather difficult in the smaller instrument but I glimpsed it. Afterward I tried to see the comet through Narendrabhai’s 8x40 Olympus binocular. In this instrument I could see a very small fuzzy spot only using averted vision.

Meanwhile I also observed few deep-sky objects like, M56, M57, M29, M39, NGC 6910, M11 and M15. The sky of this place was not as clearer as usual. Generally the naked eye star limit varies from 6 to 5.5. But this night it was 4.5. After midnight some clouds started to cover the entire sky and we missed the meteor shower.

After all I was happy because I had seen the first comet through my new 25x100 binocular..!

image credit: www.arksky.org

A NOT SO SUCCESSFUL SOLAR ECLIPSE!

2009-07-24T19:55:00.005+05:30

To watch the Total Solar Eclipse 2009, I travelled to Surat with our KAAC-club members. Surat was the best place for the eclipse.We got there one day before total eclipse and attended the whole day workshop. The whole day was rainy and we didn't expect to see the eclipse successfully.

On the next morning when I rose before dawn, I stepped out of my room to check the weather. It was complete cloudy and still raining.I thought we wouldn't be able to see the eclipse! At 5:30am at dawn on 22nd, some thousands of people accumulated on the terrace of"Atmiya Vidhya Mandir" in Kamrej village where the main event was organized. The sky was completely covered by dense clouds and there was light rain.Then the Sun was about to rise and the first contact was already in progress. At 6:19 everyone felt that the darknesswas gradually increasing. Then after a minute there was complete darkness at 6:20am. Although we did not see the eclipse as the Sun was hidden behind clouds but weenjoyed the thorough event what nature offered!

Just before the totality, I saw a bird called "black painted strock" emerged from the farm and wandered around. But as the time of totality approached and the darkness spreaded, the bird quickly went back and hidden behind the farms. That behaviour of bird I observed and enjoyed the moment instead of seeing the Sun!!

Rahul Zota (Bhuj-India)

OBSERVING SESSION THROUGH MY 25X100 BINOCULAR

2009-07-24T19:04:00.004+05:30

On the evening of 19th July just after sunset the sky became crystal clear! Although the whole day remained cloudy and was light rain. I had just got my new 25x100 giant binocular on 17th and I had not checked it yet. I was very buoyant to see celestial objects through it and I did not expect to see stars until mid August. But on 19th evening the sky was very clear down to horizon. The Scorpius was mind blowing in south! The summer triangle was coming up at 10:00pm. I quickly uncovered my binocular and went on terrace. Still I haven’t purchased its mount and I was using it without any brawny support. The binocular weights 5 kilograms and it is very difficult to hold it for a long time. So I decided to observe the sky and few known deep sky objects in sleeping position.

The first light was Vega high in the sky. Through my binocular the star appeared very bright but was out of focus. The binocular has individual support system. It has not central focus system like small size binoculars. It was tough to focus any thing when you are holding a bulky thing without mount. Eventually somehow I managed to focus Vega. The view of this bright star was outstanding! I can say it was better than the view of my old 5-inch reflector. Then I slightly moved to M57. I could see a bright, round fuzzy patch. Then I observed many objects described below:

M3: Very bright and big with outer halo resolved.

MIZAR AND ALCOR: Mizar A and B was slightly resolved.

M11: with many pinpoints resolved.

M4: big and bright, more like M11.

M7: Stunning! I have never viewed like this before!

M6: I counted about 20 stars.

NGC 6231: Very nice, I could count 6-7 stars.

M22: Very bright and big with outer halo resolved.

M13: Was near transit and I could see faint stars of outer halo.

GAMMA CYGNI REGION: This part of the sky was embedded with many celestial sparkles! I saw M29 and NGC 6910.

NU DRACONIS: This star in the constellation of Draco is a wide pair and appeared nicely separated.

ALBERIO: Excellent with color difference.

Jupiter was just rising. I saw two cloud belts and four satellites.

Rahul Zota

MY LIST OF COMET MASQUERADERS

2009-07-19T15:27:00.017+05:30

1. M42
2. M13
3. NGC 6231
4. NGC 6910
5. STEPH.1
6. NGC 2169
7. NGC 2392
8. NGC 6633
9. IC 4665
10. NGC 6885
11. BASEL 1
12. NGC 2301
13. NGC 2477
14. NGC 6293
15. M17
16. NGC 6624
17. M68
18. M92
19. M4
20. M19
21. M57
22. M80
23. NGC 4755
24. NGC 5128
25. NGC 5986
26. NGC 6356
27. M9
28. NGC 6281
29. NGC 6242
30. M31
31. M32
32. M110
33. NGC 457
34. NGC 663
35. NGC 1851
36. NGC 5286
37. M62
38. M10
39. M11
40. M69
41. NGC 6441
42. NGC 6541
43. NGC 6871
44. NGC 6284
45. M7
46. M6
47. Cr. 399
48. M16
49. M22
50. M18
51. M24
52. M25
53. M23
54. Stock 23
55. M15
56. NGC 6723
57. M54
58. M34
59. M2
60. M45
61. M36
62. M37
63. M33
64. M3
65. M44
66. NGC 2571
67. M87
68. NGC 4214
69. M52
70. M101
71. M104
72. NGC 6823
73. NGC 1746
74. NGC 1647
75. NGC 1582

76. NGC 2299

77. NGC 2482

78. NGC 2467

79. NGC 2520

80. NGC 2841

My New 25x100 Giant Binocular!

2009-07-18T10:24:00.008+05:30

I have just received the new 25x100 Giant astronomy binoculars. I have always been a binocular fan ever since I became interested in astronomy. Although my first instrument was 20x50 Super Zenith binocular.

The 25x100 is very bulky and looks very attractive with giant 4-inch multi coated glasses! I hope it will help me to find the new comet. I will purchase its stand by August end. The views of M42-The Great Orion Nebula, M45 and M44 will be undoubtedly outstanding! This new binos will get name MIZAR. My 8-inch reflector has been named VEGA.

- Rahul Zota

Observing Hickson 44

2009-04-01T19:43:00.004+05:30

Hickson 44 is a cluster of four gravitationally bound galaxies situated about 1.5 deg S-SE of Zeta Leonis.

The group contains 4 galaxies known as NGC 3193 (11.8), NGC 3190 (12.00), NGC 3187 (13.6) and

NGC 3185 (12.9). NGC 3193 is brightest and can be seen through an 8-inch telescope. To see

other members requires at least 12-inch telescope.

The group lies about 65-70 Million light years from the Sun in GA Leo Cloud. Suppose you are standing in some

planet of NGC 3193 then NGC 3190 would appear as bright as Andromeda galaxy appears from Earth!

NGC 3185 would be 7th magnitude..!

The group can be well observed using 12-inch or larger telescope under excellent dark skies far

from city. Use high magnification to reveal more details.

- Rahul Zota (BHUJ)

NAVIGATING MARE NUBIUM

2009-02-12T18:45:00.002+05:30

Mare Nubium is lengthened North South formation. It is separated in two similar parts by Promontorium Taenarium. Contains few wrinkle ridges and rilles. It can be best observed 1 day after first quarter moon. Minimum instrument required to observe Mare Imbrium is 10x50 binocular. But to observe other features within Mare Imbrium requires 3-inch refractor. Mare Imbrium extent about 772x772Km. Its location in the moon is, Longitude: 15.0° West, Latitude: 10.0° South, Quadrant: South-West. I have held my observation through my 8-inch Newtonian reflector and observed few interesting features within Mare Imbrium.

BULLIALDUS: Bullialdus is a crater of Eratosthenian period. Its dimension is 63x63Km. Its an Isolated circular formation situated on the West bank of Mare Nubium. It is Very steep and tormented slopes supporting the craterlets Bullialdus L to the West Bullialdus E to the South-West and crater Bullialdus A and B to the South.

BULLIALDUS A: This is a small crater located some 18 Km from Bullialdus. Its dimension is 26x26 Km.

BULLIALDUS B: This 21x21 Km crater is in pair with Bullialdus A.

KIES: Kies is a crater of dimension 46x46 Km. It is Isolated circular formation almost ghost. Its flat floor is filled with the lava of Mare Nubium.

BIRT: This is a STRAIGHT WALL: Also known as RUPES RECTA. This is a 110 Km wide straight wall, one of the best known lunar faults. It is situated on the East bank of Mare Nubium.

PITATUS: This crater is believed to be Nectarian (From -3.92 billions years to -3.85 Billions years). Its dimension is 100x100 Km. It’s a circular formation situated on the South bank of Mare Nubium. Few high walls of riddled with anonymous craterlets. The map shows the position of Bullialdus and Pitatus. Through my 8-inch Newtonian at 160x using dense grey moon filter, I was able to observe all these features described above. I viewed on 18th January at 4:30am.

- Rahul Zota (Bhuj-India)

CELESTIAL SMILE !

2008-12-03T19:35:00.002+05:30

It was cloudy since last two days. I was little bit upset because I thought I would miss the wonderful conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and Moon. But fortunately clouds showed mercy and the blue sky started to appear at west just before sunset. When I come out from my home after and looked at west just after sunset, I saw awesome scene ! It was really wonderful. It reminded me of a smily face. Venus and Jupiter were eyes and a crescent moon was like smiling lips ! At that time I had my mobile phone which featured 3.2-megapixel camera. I quickly took dozens of shots.

My observing report of comet C/2008 A1 (McNaught)

2008-10-25T19:49:00.003+05:30

Hi friends ! Yesterday at gradually darkening evening (24 Oct) at 7:30pm I made a plan to observe comet C/2008 A1 (McNaught) which is near Zeta Ophiuchi. Its about 8th mag. I tracked its location using my software starrynight pro. 6. Although it was low in the south-west and just below the sky was hazy horizonand increased light pollution of Jubilee Circle which is very busy street of mycity. When I set my telescope to its location I faced some difficulty to see it with direct vision, hence I saw 8th magnitude fuzzy blob with averted vision. I spent few minutes and the view became better at 52x. After that I also wanted to see comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) but by that time it was lost in the light pollution ! I will manage to catch it in few days !