tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3954672506483774082024-03-19T03:07:47.033+11:00AstroSwanny's AARTScope Blog"Creating the sense of anticipation and discovery that keeps scientists asking questions".Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-11816866657241530352017-01-30T15:30:00.000+11:002017-01-30T22:38:43.626+11:00Asteroid 2017 BH30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnId_RP0uL9rwoo1N6G5YWl24qfM8d99r6l0BbzxtKrjSdQPUpY2W9w-3lGLSdnb9Oln6MAGiAADP6dL1OBYBZr2C_bD4wq95HY1WGvEDPKMFrGk3ec5NFc-pm2uiyBy4prRTj9nlph4/s1600/2017BH30_PL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnId_RP0uL9rwoo1N6G5YWl24qfM8d99r6l0BbzxtKrjSdQPUpY2W9w-3lGLSdnb9Oln6MAGiAADP6dL1OBYBZr2C_bD4wq95HY1WGvEDPKMFrGk3ec5NFc-pm2uiyBy4prRTj9nlph4/s400/2017BH30_PL.jpg" width="400" height="240" /></a></div>
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Discovered a couple of days ago by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), Asteroid 2017 BH30 is making a very close approach to Earth at the top of the next hour.
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Whizzing by at 844 ArcSecs per minute at 02:59:46 UT captured here in a 60Sec image from T5 at iTelescope.net.
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Here is the video I promised earlier today. Note there are a couple of other bright asteroids present in the images.
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<iframe width="400" height="220" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h2Zu7WkrBEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-55313883956141703632016-04-02T23:56:00.000+11:002016-04-03T12:13:07.251+10:00Global Star Party April 2nd<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0BVUAyuc-BI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Live Jupiter special!
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It was a beautiful night in Melbourne, then about 10:30 just half an hour before "go-live" the clouds came from nowhere. Fortunately they didn't hang around for long - it must have been a moment of climatological rebellion with the impending ending of daylight saving several hours later.
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It was a little bit sad that the Great Red Spot had already transited before we got to air - but I did get some great footage of it before the clouds swept in. By the time we were on air the clouds had cleared and we continued on with the "boring side of Jupiter".
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I have been in a number of virtual events usually with my DSLR plugged directly into the laptop and screen sharing the Cannon EOS utility and using live view. The best method of course is a astronomy camera in a web cam setup. On this occasion I tried something a little different. Using the iPhone 6 and an eyepiece adapter, a 25mm eyepiece and the 645 App I was able to take some of the light of Jupiter out (its usually too bright to see any detail on the disk) by taking the ISO to 32 and setting the exposure time to 1/100 of a sec and the through the lens view adjusts to a "what you see is what you get" view. Then sharing that back to my MacBook using reflection, I was able to then screen share the Reflection App into the Google Plus Hangout. Pretty cool!
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14inch Smart Dobbie>Barlow>25mm Plossl Eyepiece><a href="http://shop.australiangeographic.com.au/telescope-mobile-attachment.html">Smart Phone Telescope Adapter</a>><a href="http://jag.gr/645pro/">645 Pro</a> [Application]>ISO 32 & 1/100 Settings>Reflector to MacBookAir>Reflector Screen record.
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An excellent result, but more essentially here, what astronomy can we do with using equipment that we already have or that's relatively inexpensive, but easily accessible.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q9-8HFXNyD4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Thanks to the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GlobalStarPartyLive">Global Star Party</a> for hosting me on the show!Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-55585743067348113692016-03-14T00:42:00.001+11:002016-03-14T13:29:24.715+11:00Jupiter Mar 13th 2016
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPyKfTP2qWs/VuVuLU0MUYI/AAAAAAAAF6U/qqlzAOwmUfA3_Q2eZQMk6cMgGN0r1KH3g/s1600/Jupiter2016Mar13_PL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPyKfTP2qWs/VuVuLU0MUYI/AAAAAAAAF6U/qqlzAOwmUfA3_Q2eZQMk6cMgGN0r1KH3g/s400/Jupiter2016Mar13_PL.jpg" /></a></div>
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Finally got some time on Jupiter tonight. I'm still not much of a planetary photographer but managed a nice single frame on my smart Dobbie and Cannon 550D. Io, Ganymede and Europa (Left>Right)
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Also still playing with the Star Analyser on the iPhone. Interesting you can actually see the separate spectra of the moons. (note the different position angle due to a different camera and lens setup).
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxKVJsZduFg/VuYPjolgzVI/AAAAAAAAF6o/f4l71CGaoWEvDHmahCCaoRQWDleGfYziw/s1600/JupiterspectraMoonsIGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxKVJsZduFg/VuYPjolgzVI/AAAAAAAAF6o/f4l71CGaoWEvDHmahCCaoRQWDleGfYziw/s400/JupiterspectraMoonsIGE.jpg" /></a></div>
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As its a long weekend its fun to have a bit of a play around with cameras, lens and such.
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Here is the separated spectra, and bearing in mind here they were very faint and I am really just practicing technique here and having some fun - but you can tell some differences.
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Io
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xLYKMCsJJhE/VuYgZ0zewrI/AAAAAAAAF7Y/Yhb1ZrpUYS0n1rkKepZqd7vEFCsP3qyVA/s1600/Io_spec.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xLYKMCsJJhE/VuYgZ0zewrI/AAAAAAAAF7Y/Yhb1ZrpUYS0n1rkKepZqd7vEFCsP3qyVA/s320/Io_spec.JPG" /></a></div>
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Jupiter
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Ganymede
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bxdmBX4C2Bc/VuYeAwWjwDI/AAAAAAAAF68/SR3O-y2IlHo3an0Ve5JBAGXNJvAbs36HQ/s1600/Ganymede_spec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bxdmBX4C2Bc/VuYeAwWjwDI/AAAAAAAAF68/SR3O-y2IlHo3an0Ve5JBAGXNJvAbs36HQ/s320/Ganymede_spec.jpg" /></a></div>
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Europa
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Each was separated out in a thin slice and then had the vertical height changed to highlight the various light levels.Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-29901612274557452762016-03-04T00:13:00.000+11:002016-03-04T00:15:52.331+11:00Periodic Comet P/2016 BA14 (PANSTARRS)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5y8lj6isoxg/Vtg06-RyTUI/AAAAAAAAF5A/ibQV0GGJKVc/s1600/2016Mar3_LPB_P2016BA14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5y8lj6isoxg/Vtg06-RyTUI/AAAAAAAAF5A/ibQV0GGJKVc/s400/2016Mar3_LPB_P2016BA14.png" /></a></div>
Discovered recently by the PANSTARRS survey, P/2016 BA14 will set a record for the third closest approaching comet of all time on March 24th. It will brighten from its current magnitude of 18 to about Mag 13. Sadly, it will pass outside Earth's orbit so there shouldn't be any meteor shower activity as the tail (what there is of it - not much as you can see) will be pointing away from us from what I can tell from the orbit diagram.
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What I find most fascinating about this object, is that it crosses the plane of the solar system, very near earth, almost at its perihelion. Also of interest is the periodic comet 252P/Linear which has a very similar orbit. The super sleuth astronomer detectives will be onto that, I'm sure. Of course I'm not qualified to comment on such things, but I'm thinking .... Hhhmm ...If two asteroids departed the plane of the solar system from a point "near Earth", did something happen to them if they were both there at the same time. Yes I know, we are talking comets here and comets normally come from the Oort Cloud at any angle, but its really interesting to contemplate. Am I allowed to call "dibs" for a future PHD that I may get around to doing one day ;-)
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That's why science is so much fun, you get to ask questions like that and go and work it out.
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Tonight's data:<br>
COD Q62<br>
OBS P. B. Lake<br>
NET PPMXL<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.43620 05 51 24.42 -34 16 10.7 18.4 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.43801 05 51 24.54 -34 16 08.7 18.3 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.43976 05 51 24.62 -34 16 06.7 18.5 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.44150 05 51 24.72 -34 16 04.9 18.4 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.44324 05 51 24.83 -34 16 02.8 18.2 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.44498 05 51 24.95 -34 16 01.1 18.3 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.44672 05 51 25.05 -34 15 58.9 18.2 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.44860 05 51 25.15 -34 15 56.9 18.3 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.45035 05 51 25.26 -34 15 55.1 18.3 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.45209 05 51 25.35 -34 15 53.2 18.2 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.45383 05 51 25.47 -34 15 51.0 18.3 N Q62<br>
PK16B14A C2016 03 03.45557 05 51 25.57 -34 15 49.2 18.4 N Q62<br>
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Looking forward to a nice telescopic show late in the month whilst we are at <a href="http://www.nacaa.org.au/2016/about">NACAA</a>.
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-69309673387485835452016-02-14T15:16:00.000+11:002016-02-14T15:16:48.815+11:00Global Star Party - Feb 14th<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FE224vazXDE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-77078222815452063712016-02-11T22:15:00.000+11:002016-02-27T16:01:00.191+11:00The Spectre of the iPhone Spectroscope<b>UPDATE: Feb 27th 2016</b>
I have got them calibrated now. The iPhone6 version calibration is still a bit rough. Lining up on the Helium Lines seems to produce the best results. The camera response is markedly different for the iPhone over the Cannon 550D. Now that I know what we are looking at here, next time I image I can make sure I get the image in a bit better focus. I have also found a way to reduce camera shake by delaying the shutter open until 3 secs after you press the shutter button. Whilst you can see visually the same lines, when extracted using Visual Spec the camera response seems a bit different.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbx5szBaySOtn2fqMaToYCXzKRZVMI8dQ160eV0dAEiAjY6rek4RJV16zVRsfD5VQwfKzmsf061D1p8FdkRx9grH38vlwN9VVz0TmWwehfzb53NjF2dQ5-6NJ9anoWnl5dSMpldF3v6AE/s1600/Betelgeuse_comp_ip6_550D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbx5szBaySOtn2fqMaToYCXzKRZVMI8dQ160eV0dAEiAjY6rek4RJV16zVRsfD5VQwfKzmsf061D1p8FdkRx9grH38vlwN9VVz0TmWwehfzb53NjF2dQ5-6NJ9anoWnl5dSMpldF3v6AE/s400/Betelgeuse_comp_ip6_550D.png" /></a></div>
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<b>UPDATE:</b> Feb 22nd 2016
Well here is the comparison - again I am still very new at this and am still learning how to properly calibrate the specturm.
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<b>Colour, the final frontier.</b> Of course if you want to be a "real astronomer" the visible spectrum is only a small part of the story. Much of our knowledge of astronomy comes from spectra and radio astronomy.
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At the 2014 NACAA Conference I was drooling over Ken Harrison's amazing Spectroscopes after his talk and made the comment, it would seem so unfair to buy one off the shelf without going through the pain [Learning Experience] of trying to build one myself. So true to my word I had a go at the basic process of "getting colour".
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMS_4iFaRrxNHC_0M56VK1eMu-jZWJfklpUNi0j8HJNuYKqUK8glQgYfGhhLFyX1dmibCH7aqqFM3iONn5RZ6_7sO8tm3g_zDtxFXiG_CxT1swyBV12SOR-i24D6ZavJ5gHsyeCVx5gs/s1600/Spectra_cd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMS_4iFaRrxNHC_0M56VK1eMu-jZWJfklpUNi0j8HJNuYKqUK8glQgYfGhhLFyX1dmibCH7aqqFM3iONn5RZ6_7sO8tm3g_zDtxFXiG_CxT1swyBV12SOR-i24D6ZavJ5gHsyeCVx5gs/s400/Spectra_cd.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQ8b8d6It6tORKU0DYyRLSKvXxcpD1E5GlATkYNmgwOmuyFWyudFFUl38peC0U15LBJQSBvM1DkEE5IJkOR7bk9FFhXEbXz_IeWrx6kHWfPtZhsHATi61MidzmSXPxOaknSUTsVJTS3o/s1600/spectrascope_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQ8b8d6It6tORKU0DYyRLSKvXxcpD1E5GlATkYNmgwOmuyFWyudFFUl38peC0U15LBJQSBvM1DkEE5IJkOR7bk9FFhXEbXz_IeWrx6kHWfPtZhsHATi61MidzmSXPxOaknSUTsVJTS3o/s320/spectrascope_2.jpg" /></a></div>
I wasn't too concerned at this stage about quality, just some rational experimentation with the process to gain a deeper understanding. So I went off to the local hardware and bought a few bits and pieces and broke up a cd (carefully) and peeled the film back. At this stage it was unclear to me whether Barry Manilow CDs or Justin Beiber CDs would provide the best high or low resolution diffraction grating. Carefully pulling apart a three blade razor and using two of them to create a slit, challenged my dexterity. After tinkering away for a couple of sessions over a few weeks, I managed to come up with this monstrosity. Splits the light, can see colour, but probably absolutely useless for real science, but fun to play with and demonstrates the principle of a spectroscope well.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zD2-FzToarE/Vrx5W-d_fJI/AAAAAAAAF1E/HL6jfZEuVFQ/s1600/Spectroscope_colour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zD2-FzToarE/Vrx5W-d_fJI/AAAAAAAAF1E/HL6jfZEuVFQ/s320/Spectroscope_colour.jpg" /></a></div>
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The first place to start this journey is with Ken Harrison's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Astronomical-Spectroscopy-Amateurs-Practical-Astronomy/dp/1441972382">Astronomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs</a>. It is well written but looks quite daunting when you first pick it up. However if you work through it bit by bit, its a great book with everything you need to know.
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Feeling a little more confident, I invested in the next logical step - <a href="http://www.patonhawksley.co.uk/staranalyser.html">a Star Analyser 100</a>. This is the entry level standard for beginners, and produces fine results as we'll see.
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After passing it around the family to have a look at the cool effects looking at the ceiling lights, I lost the plot and departed from Ken's careful, meticulously presented steps, with the outrageous thought - <b><i>I wonder how this baby would go on an iPhone!</i></b> I am constantly amazing at STEM events and star parties how the "younglings" immediately are so amazed by what they see through the eyepiece they want to whip out the smartphone and take an image home with them.
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Surely it couldn't possibly work. After all the iPhone 6 sensor is only 4.8mm by 3.6mm, it has a focal length of 29mm and is f2.2. <i>But its an 8M pixel camera (said my evil twin subconscious), your Fingerlakes PL11000M is only 11M pixels so its only 3000 less pixels, how bad could it be....hang-on whats the pixel size ...ah 1.5um versus 9um, interesting. So the sensor is 3264 x 2448, interesting ..... iPhones do take good photos......on a sunny day.....not in the night sky. This went on for a while!</i>
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So in the end there was nothing else to do but try it, and learn from your spectacular mistakes!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n3Thi36ksys/VrxheKpqhNI/AAAAAAAAF0U/totY0RmqrxY/s1600/645%2BPro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n3Thi36ksys/VrxheKpqhNI/AAAAAAAAF0U/totY0RmqrxY/s320/645%2BPro.jpg" /></a></div>The next problem was how do I keep the shutter of the iPhone open for long enough to take star photos on a guided telescope - this is not the moon, a great iPhone target normally, but with the standard phone settings thats all the iPhone seemed good for. So channeling my teenagers I thought, there must be an app for that. To my amazement I could not only find one, there was a choice of several apps and <a href="http://jag.gr/645pro/">645 Pro</a> could even do it with an Kodak Ektrachrome 64 film "feel to it". <b>NOTE:</b> to those born after the 90's, can you imagine only getting 36 images on one roll of film and not being able "to delete the bad ones" until after you had paid $25 and sent it off to the developers and had it returned to your letter box. In those days the lens ONLY pointed away from you - THE HORROR! Anyway I digress. 645 Pro basically turns your iPhone into a simulated DSLR and enters the workflow of the photography before any JPEG compression. You can set ISO and shutter speed, bracket exposures do all sorts of things that you can do on a DSLR.
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With my trusty new app, my camera adapter, my star analyser, a 25mm eyepiece, I was ready for action.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRGBePfLvqg/VrxjQzOHtQI/AAAAAAAAF0g/o7zG-d0Nwcs/s1600/iPh6_SA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRGBePfLvqg/VrxjQzOHtQI/AAAAAAAAF0g/o7zG-d0Nwcs/s400/iPh6_SA.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-09AgDNGgIVQ/VrxqapWjQII/AAAAAAAAF04/6YfLYJSjlsE/s1600/Betelguese_ip6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-09AgDNGgIVQ/VrxqapWjQII/AAAAAAAAF04/6YfLYJSjlsE/s320/Betelguese_ip6.JPG" /></a></div>I started on Canopus, after the bright star align was completed, but was more interested in Betelgeuse. After slewing and removing the eyepiece and inserting my newly built contraption, I was sure it was the world's first <i>ultra-low resolution</i> Spectroscope. A quick google search showed I was in fact two years behind the times. However to my amazement I had colour and with some detail, I got "lines" as well. I messed around trying different settings and moved over to Betelgeuse and took some more and put the 2 x barlow in front of the Cannon 550D and tried that for comparison purposes. (See image - top of page)
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As an experienced "normal" (although I know you are wondering by now how "normal" that is) astrophotographer I was keen not to overexpose the image - Hmmmm - I have no idea what the well depth of an iPhone sensor is, lets just take as many as we can and see how we go.
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I must say the results amazed me. Punching the air in victory, my evil sub-conscious dredged up an "I am invincible" [from the Bond film Golden Eye].
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By now it was approaching midnight, and quietly tiptoeing around my back yard I packed up the telescope and headed inside.
Damn ... I was so excited, I forgot to change the camera settings to save in dRAW/TIFF - back to the drawing board! Well at least I have some nice completely useless JPGs, but what an exercise that was, one I know I will be able to use again and again. Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-5979742963727086702016-02-05T12:10:00.002+11:002016-10-11T08:58:02.470+11:00Certain of uncertainty for near earth asteroidsIn my continuing efforts to de-mystify the art of Asteroid Astrometry, I thought I'd follow up last week's article on about <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/asteroid-2016-be-virtual-impactor-for.html">2016 BE</a> with a deeper examination of the Uncertainty parameter when its listed in orbital elements.
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This week there is some attention on 2013 TX68 which will possibly make a record close pass of 11,000 klms or possibly be 40 times further away than the moon on March the 5th. I can see that puzzled look on your face ;-) 2013 TX68 is also a <b><i>Virtual Impactor</i></b> in 2017, <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/asteroid-2016-be-virtual-impactor-for.html">a term we discussed last week</a>.
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So firstly lets get some perspective on this uncertainty thing.
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2011 CF66 was also listed as a virtual impactor for Feb 2nd 2016, it didn't hit us, no-one was worried if it would, and in fact no-one has any idea where it actually is. It is only a tiny asteroid about 3-9m in diameter and wouldn't have done any damage even if it did. In fact there are 20 other virtual impactors listed in the Risk Table this year, the next one might approach on Feb 18th, is 2009 VZ39, and is slightly smaller than 2013 TX68. 2009 VZ39 is also in the daytime sky and not observable for follow up and further confirmation. I only highlight this to emphasise the point here - all asteroids once they are discovered need to be tracked for sometime, to improve the precision of the orbit before any pronouncements about where they are going to be at a certain point in time. The difference between 2013 TX68 and 2009 VZ39 for example is that 2013 TX68 was observed for 31 data positions (astrometry) over 3 nights where as 2009 VZ39 was observed on only one night with 8 astrometric data positions. If you look at the orbital elements for 2013 TX68 the uncertainty parameter is listed as 7, where as for 2009 VZ39 there is not even enough data to start that calculation. For 2011 CF66, there is a 1.1e-8 chance of a collision between 2016 and 2114, so its mathematically possible, but highly unlikely.
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NASA/JPL produced this nice graph with it's press release this week which illustrates the point well.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20160202/asteroid20160202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" width="450" height="280" src="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20160202/asteroid20160202.jpg" /></a></div>
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Image Credit: P. Chodas (NASA/JPL)
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What you see is a graphical representation of the "error bars" or the zone of uncertainty, based on the orbit elements that we currently know. This asteroid will be picked up again in future surveys and the zone of uncertainty will reduce further.
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Uncertainty Parameter is quite a complex calculation, but it essentially always starts off being a "9" and reduces over ensuing months as more data is collected. Uncertainty is a table of the "Runoff" of arcsecs per decade and Level 7 just means essentially there will be less than 33,121 arcsecs of "runoff" over the next decade. You can think of this as being: in a decade the place to look will be 33,121 arcsecs bigger than the range of uncertainty we need to factor in when we look for it now.
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Many of the "click-bait" bloggers and conspiracy theory followers regularly confuse Uncertainty with the Torino Scale - they shouldn't, as even WIKIpedia has a great explanation of the Uncertainty factor, however they google "Asteroid rating 7" and get a hit on what the Torino Scale is and confuse the two, without doing any further investigation. The Torino scale is a risk weighted table and ALL current Virtual Impactors are listed as Torino Level 0. The virtual impactors that are listed have "potential" collisions over a range of years and are only there because we largely don't have enough data yet to remove them.
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Asteroid Apophis (99942) 2004 MN4 briefly shot up the Torino Scale to a record high Level 4, before subsequent radar imaging and 4452 observations over 10 oppositions reduced its Uncertainty Parameter to 0 and its Torino Level to 0, with an asterisk that it needs to be carefully watched. Asteroid Apophis will be a naked eye object on April 13th 2029 when it makes a very close but HIGHLY CERTAIN pass of the earth. This level of certainty is only refined by many hundreds of hours of dedicated work from professional and amateur astronomers.
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Lastly, <b><i>Uncertainty</i></b> should not be confused with don't know, don't care, have no idea what we are doing. Its just a case of not YET having enough data, more needs to be collected.
Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-85156968727546268622016-01-29T00:16:00.002+11:002016-03-04T14:06:27.676+11:00Asteroid 2016 BE Virtual Impactor for now in 2053<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM3QTbG8gi1A7y9DViafbRMBHHB0WJaD0kj4PexGwegwOkLwWFPQ_0x-RqnHzOugmFJPqo4am_wZDMqX8wbkp7GPIUryOJEErrHaFHiMwdi70tJaTdyyd-zjXWIrrlUYzlISYg6IpzwU/s1600/2016Jan28_LPB_2016BE.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM3QTbG8gi1A7y9DViafbRMBHHB0WJaD0kj4PexGwegwOkLwWFPQ_0x-RqnHzOugmFJPqo4am_wZDMqX8wbkp7GPIUryOJEErrHaFHiMwdi70tJaTdyyd-zjXWIrrlUYzlISYg6IpzwU/s400/2016Jan28_LPB_2016BE.png" /></a></div>
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UPDATE 31/1/2016: The 2053 pass has been eliminated as a risk. There are still 5 virtual impacts from 2076 - 2111. These will also likely be removed as the precision of the orbit is improved.
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Tonight, tracking potential virtual impactor Asteroid 2016 BE. Its a 79m wide Asteroid discovered on Jan 16th by the Catalina Sky Survey(703).
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78 positions have so far been reported from 18 different observatories, including both H06 and I89, the iTelescope.net observatories. I managed to grab another 3 positions tonight. The asteroid is starting to speed up (in terms of relative velocity against the background stars) and tonight is moving quite quickly at 19 Arcsecs per minute. As a result of the fairly bright magnitude and the fast speed, you need to take as short an exposure time as possible. However the full moon is still pretty bright I had to use 30 sec images which means the asteroid is still slightly streaked. I have used a stacking technique to make sure my residuals are still reasonably good (given it is travelling at fairly high speed).
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<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oNj9aNzMBD8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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So what actually is a "Virtual Impactor". As asteroids are tracked the length of the recorded "arc" increases - now 10 days for 2016 BE. Of course the level of precision for future positions of the asteroid increases the longer the "known arc" and therefore the ability to determine future positions of the asteroid improves as the "zone of uncertainty" reduces. As long as the "zone of uncertainty" overlaps the earth's future orbit position, the object is listed as a virtual impactor for that pass. This happens from time to time without much concern, because as the precision of the orbit improves with more observations, the object usually drops out of the risk table quite quickly.
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Whilst the asteroid will make a moderately close pass in the first week of February at 5.7 Lunar distances, its important to understand that the "virtual impact" currently listed in the <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risks/">Sentry Risk Table</a> is for the <b>3rd February 2053</b> .... NOT ON THIS PASS!!!! As you would expect the "zone of uncertainty" for 2053 is much large than the "zone of uncertainty" for next week. So it will take many further observations before it is (most likely) removed from the risk table. Its current risk table score of Torino-0 just means that at this point the chance of a collision in 2053 has not been able to be eliminated at this stage.
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Measured position:
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K16B00E KC2016 01 28.46044 12 04 01.15 +65 50 49.0 16.9 R H06</P>
K16B00E KC2016 01 28.46319 12 04 09.44 +65 49 54.8 17.3 R H06</P>
K16B00E KC2016 01 28.46604 12 04 18.01 +65 48 58.7 17.4 R H06</P>
</P>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-25803325535958287502015-12-09T13:24:00.000+11:002015-12-09T13:43:29.609+11:00Variable Star workshop on KIC 8462852 at VSSEC</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAOZf9L4zJ4/VmeO6uHwKkI/AAAAAAAAFrk/naeeQB3xOy4/s1600/IMG_1911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAOZf9L4zJ4/VmeO6uHwKkI/AAAAAAAAFrk/naeeQB3xOy4/s400/IMG_1911.JPG" /></a></div>
A big shout out to the <a href="https://www.vssec.vic.edu.au/programs/mission-to-mars/">Victorian Space Science Education Centre</a> and <a href="https://telescopesinschools.wordpress.com/">Telescopes in Schools program</a> who hosted me yesterday running a variable star workshop with students and science teachers. The staff were magnificent and the centre is a real credit to all involved.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zW_Y79I_IWk/VmeUpr5FcDI/AAAAAAAAFsE/htIkcy8SYdY/s1600/VSSEC_VS_session.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zW_Y79I_IWk/VmeUpr5FcDI/AAAAAAAAFsE/htIkcy8SYdY/s400/VSSEC_VS_session.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tThYnc_xzOU/VmePH659r4I/AAAAAAAAFrs/-FhYPfm6p-E/s1600/IMG_1908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tThYnc_xzOU/VmePH659r4I/AAAAAAAAFrs/-FhYPfm6p-E/s320/IMG_1908.JPG" /></a></div>The Mars Science Mission experience is second to none and has to be seen to be believed. My workshop involved an introduction to variable star astronomy including a worksheet exercise of basic Visual Observation Photometry, culminating with the class comparing their "visual" observation with a highly precise VPhot measurement straight from one of <a href="http://www.itelescope.net/telescope-t11/">iTelescope.net's Telescopes</a>.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nzLi8Zbig5Q/VmePRLpp2AI/AAAAAAAAFr0/VvLYF3Bxa-A/s1600/IMG_1910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nzLi8Zbig5Q/VmePRLpp2AI/AAAAAAAAFr0/VvLYF3Bxa-A/s320/IMG_1910.JPG" /></a></div>
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Result: The class determined that KIC 08462852 was at its long term photometric brightness of 11.87 and provided another 32 data points to the AAVSO's long term study of the star. The target is subject of Dr Tabitha Boyajian et al's Paper KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux (WTF) a <a href="http://www.planethunters.org/">Planet Hunter</a> target from the Kepler Mission that exhibited some strange and difficult to explain behaviours.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f_hD6vs8sVM/VmeOimQnJdI/AAAAAAAAFrc/LtGvaSLPuL8/s1600/KIC8462852_VSSEC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f_hD6vs8sVM/VmeOimQnJdI/AAAAAAAAFrc/LtGvaSLPuL8/s400/KIC8462852_VSSEC.png" /></a></div>
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In a week where Australia's STEM Future was front and centre, it was great to be out and about doing something about it.
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-52750950235771748552015-10-15T22:27:00.003+11:002015-10-31T22:43:58.706+11:00Asteroid 2015 TB145 (PHA) close and bright flyby Oct 31UPDATE: Oct 31st, 2015. Live coverage of Asteroid 2015 TB145.
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LrbergdNAEY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_Aw74IaUDBLm7jXnrsl0IDbXpnpE9tVlQkKR9I2d1MXhPfeGyft1mJgBaHfXfkZcVqmlCxKPJtB0kCHeNzEtr9_uXZ6CfUjCBstzkV6j1b4T3rANnGCOosdJynbcZjft1LPg3z_65Wg/s1600/LPB_31Oct2015_2015TB145.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_Aw74IaUDBLm7jXnrsl0IDbXpnpE9tVlQkKR9I2d1MXhPfeGyft1mJgBaHfXfkZcVqmlCxKPJtB0kCHeNzEtr9_uXZ6CfUjCBstzkV6j1b4T3rANnGCOosdJynbcZjft1LPg3z_65Wg/s400/LPB_31Oct2015_2015TB145.png" /></a></div>
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Image Credit: P.Lake 10 Sec image from U69 T24 - travelling at 115 arc"/m at PA 35.4 07:00 UT (Available for media use with attribution to this blog)
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Compare the two images - Above a 10 sec image, Below a two minute image which was stacked for movement of the asteroid.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s6LjERzEXgM/VjACm_yvW6I/AAAAAAAAFn8/JQgG61cyxSQ/s1600/LakeP_27Oct2015_2015TB145.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s6LjERzEXgM/VjACm_yvW6I/AAAAAAAAFn8/JQgG61cyxSQ/s400/LakeP_27Oct2015_2015TB145.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20151030/asteroid20151030.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20151030/asteroid20151030.gif" /></a></div>
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UPDATE: Oct 31st, 2015 - From the NASA Press release this morning the amazing radar images have shown a dark dead comet,(and I am not making this up) looks not unlike a skull. The radar run went well getting down to a resolution of 7 meters per pixel. Its interesting those depressed areas are likely impact craters or collapsed areas from which the jets emerged when the comet was active. Recent studies of 67P by Rosetta have shown collapsed areas on Comet 67P where jets seem to originate from. This comet has been long dead, some studies have already been done to check for past meteor showers originating from its orbit - <a href="http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/news/possible-october-31-meteors-minor-planet-2015-tb145">see the post on the SETI Institute Blog</a>. Also from the press realease: <i>"NASA values the work of numerous highly skilled amateur astronomers, whose accurate observational data helps improve asteroid orbits...."</i>. I hope to have more images tonight (weather permitting) - stay tuned.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20151030/skull2015-TB145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" width="500" src="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20151030/skull2015-TB145.jpg" /></a></div>
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Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
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UPDATE: Oct 27th, 2015 - Great set of images last night in the pre-dawn sky from New Mexico. The asteroid has brightened to Mag 15.8 and its apparent speed across the sky is starting to increase as it gets closer. [Also I should probably point out the faint halo you may be able to see is due to the strong moonlight reflecting off some dust on the primary mirror - the full moon was only 36 degrees away]
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UPDATE: Oct 24th, 2015 - Finally got some images. The asteroid has brightened considerably to Mag 16.8/9 ish. No signs of cometary activity at this point. Its moving at 0.39arc"/m in a 120 sec image (so 0.78arc" in the image)and the pixel plate scale is 0.53 arc"/pixel so you can see a hint of softness on the trailing side. Definitly no cometary activity though - that's as close as I can go to getting it as sharp as you can get it.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ut9OTDhVqxo/ViuUNWRkZGI/AAAAAAAAFmQ/e7QIe6QuOlk/s1600/2015_TB145_24Oct2015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ut9OTDhVqxo/ViuUNWRkZGI/AAAAAAAAFmQ/e7QIe6QuOlk/s400/2015_TB145_24Oct2015.png" /></a></div>
Image Credit: P.Lake 2015 TB145 9x120 secs on the 0.7m Burnell, Cannon, Leavitt Telescope (BCL) T27 at Q62, SSO.
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UPDATE: Oct 22nd, 2015 - Getting frustrated, the observatory has been closed due to bad weather for 4 nights.
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<b>UPDATE: Oct 17th, 2015</b> - NASA have updated details of the planned radar runs and expect to be able to get images with a resolution of 2 meters per pixel, they expect it to be the best radar run of the year. Also one other interesting aspect is the Tisserand parameter has been calculated at 2.937 which is just lower than the theoretical "boundary" (of 3.0) between Asteroid and Jupiter Family Comets. The other target of a radar run on 29th is 2009 FD, a well studied Apollo Asteroid, has a Tisserand parameter of 5.295. The seeing was a bit poor on the 14th so the image wasn't strong enough. The relative speed (across the camera chip) will slow to only 0.17 arc"/min on the 19th so I'll be able to stack the images really deep and get a good look at it. If the seeing is better tonight we might even get some more detail. I did look a bit fuzzy the other night but as you can see in the video the satellite that trailed through was very fuzzy as well - so I'm not reading to much into that at the moment.
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<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6-Wie-inUtc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></br>
Image/Video Credit: 2015 TB145 from H06, 12 x 180 sec exp stacked 4x3, 0.5m Planewave October 14th - P.Lake
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.itelescope.net/storage/peter-lake-t11/T11_lake_small.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1326669107591" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.itelescope.net/storage/peter-lake-t11/T11_lake_small.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1326669107591" /></a></div><b>
A couple of times a year, the asteroid surveys throw up a surprise</b>, with a large asteroid approaching very close to the Earth, with little advance notice. <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/media-crying-wolf-about-asteroid-86666.html">After last week's blog post</a> about the Blogsphere overeacting to an Asteroid that astronomers knew about for 15 years passing at 65 Lunar Distances (LD), the "surprise" of course had to happen this week.
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This will be an interesting two weeks, as Asteroid 2015 TB145 will cruise by Earth just outside 1 Lunar distance (1.3 LD). The asteroid is a target of the Arecibo Observatory (that big antenna that rose out of the lake in the majestic James Bond scene), and to get some really great radar tracking and detailed images, the ephemeris and position of the asteroid needs very high precision.
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To give you an idea of the type of imaging to be obtained (see below), a similar situation occured last year for 2014 HQ124. These were some of the best radar images ever recorded, and some of my data was used to refine the orbit for targeting on that occasion.
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<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6r7ncRra1hI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Image Credit: Asteroid 2014 HQ124 Radar images from Goldstone - NASA/JPL
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This asteroid is twice as big (between 290 and 650 meters diameter - most astronomers are calling it about 480m) and twice as close as 2014 HQ124, so you can only imagine how good the images should be. Professional Observatories and amateur astronomers will be tracking it closely to improve the precision of the orbit as it approaches.
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I was quite chuffed when tracking <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/the-curious-case-of-asteroid-2014-hq124.html">2014 HQ124 that my light curve had a few bumps in it</a> and I made the call it was "not round" which was subsequently confirmed by the radar images.
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So who knows what the next two weeks will turn up? What we know at this stage is that is going to be quite bright and could be visible in binoculars. Also its speed is very fast, but its moving slowly across the images at the moment as you can see, because of the angle its approaching us at. As it makes its close approach its going to do a nice "flyby" of the Crab Nebula M1 for Northern Hemisphere viewers on Oct 29th/30th <a href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/">Ian Musgrave has details on his blog shortly</a>.
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So stay tuned, I'll be following it closely and providing some regular updates.Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-3106534272497310712015-10-14T14:21:00.000+11:002015-10-17T18:14:35.019+11:00Rustling up more services for the bush - Sky Muster NBN1A Launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4fuos_cX22E/Vh3Hst437pI/AAAAAAAAFl4/_os4y_3pHd4/s1600/SkyMuster%2BNBN1A.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4fuos_cX22E/Vh3Hst437pI/AAAAAAAAFl4/_os4y_3pHd4/s400/SkyMuster%2BNBN1A.png" /></a></div>
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Image Credit: P.Lake 60 Sec Luminance on Takahashi FSQ106 T12 at Q62
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I like the name ...... Sky Muster, it taps into the rich heritage of the Australian cattlemen and women, stockmen, jilleroos, even the Banjo Patterson text "Man from Snowy River". Its all about rustling up some more broadband and access for the people of rural Australia and lifting the capability of rural Australia. Some people would see living remotely as advantageous, peace and quiet, the great outdoors, but the tyranny of distance has always meant is much harder to provide services - and today services means data access.
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So I love the name, its certainly better that the Argentinian satellite on the same flight, Arsat-2 (just making sure I spelt that right .... yes I did) ;-)
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Sky Muster or otherwise known as Satellite NBN1A was launched on Sept 30th on an Ariane 5 flight VA226 and took up its spot as a Geo-Stationary communications satellite designed to bring high speed broadband to Rural Australia.
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There is a great animation here of the launch vehicles and satellites from the KNews team in Germany......
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<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/triuneOGBzs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Well this is as close as Australia has to a Space Program at the moment, (in fairness we do lots of cool stuff from the ground).
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I saw a note earlier that the satellite had successfully deployed it's solar panels and was healthy and well, so I thought I take a photo of it to celebrate. So, logging into the Internet of Everything (IoE), and using a remote telescope at Siding Spring Observatory I was able to grab a few shots of it and a few of its neighbors.
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In the early part of the evening after the sun has set and the satellite is still in the sunlight (as its 36,000 Klms up) it is possible to grab some photos with a powerful telescope, kind of like photographing a bus from 36,000 Klms - difficult, but it can be done!
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Those large solar panels are giving of a bit of reflected light and brighter than the Russian Express-AM5 which is 400Kgs heavier. You can also just faintly make out the Himawari 8 and the much smaller Beidou Chinese Sat-Nav satellite as well. You can also see another (non-geostationary) comms satellite cutting across the image as well.
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The images are 60sec exposures from a Takahashi FSQ Petzval 106mm refractor telescope with a large field of view. The background stars look still and the movement of the geostationary satellite of course reflects the speed of rotation of the earth. They are hooting along quite quickly.
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I trust the cattlemen, shepherds, wheat farmers and all rural folks get great use out of this investment in Sky Muster - I just had to take a photo of it. Congrats again Andy and all the NBN team.
</P>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-64721454287719217422015-10-09T23:11:00.000+11:002015-10-14T08:47:50.804+11:00Media "crying wolf" about Asteroid (86666) 2000 FL10 !</P>
<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nxDIKj1pOpA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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No, this is not a "surprise", has not been "just announced", is not a "near miss", is not a "shock". [<b>Update 14th Oct</b>: 2015 TB145 might have been worthy of that title but not 86666] However it is interesting due to its size ...... so lets have a sensible discussion.
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As someone who is corporately qualified in Management of Risk (MoR) Framework, I fully appreciate the risk assessment process and freely admit to being constantly fascinated by applying this to my asteroid work. NASA and the other Space Agencies do this very well also. Last year at the Planetary Defence conference in Frascati, Italy, the key stakeholders in Asteroid research gathered for a conference that role-played an impending impact event, which everyone hopes will never be required. So there is a good deal of risk management going on.
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So lets be controversial for a minute. Catastrophic climate change is a basket of risk that MUST include ALL the risks, not just the ones designed to shut down the coal industry. If a "continent cracking" asteroid were to hit earth, there would be alot of cranky people retrospectively assessing whether we spent too much on the wrong risk. In 2011, a 10m tsunami washed away a good portion of the coast of Japan triggered by one of the other big risks, catastrophic tectonic plate shift. An asteroid strike would create much more widespread damage and much larger tsunamis.
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So how do asteroids fit in this risk picture and how did this all start?
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In 1989, the asteroid now known as Ascelpius (4581) 1989 FC, occupied the same point in space that earth occupied 6 hours hours later, astronomers found this out 3 days AFTER it had passed. That was a close call! At 300m diameter it would have created enormous damage if it had hit. That was a surprise, that was a shock and immediate action followed. NASA/JPL began a 10 year mission to find 90% of all known asteroids by the end of the next decade. Whilst an awarness of the asteroid belt existed, after all (29075) 1950 DA was already a known risk and still occupies the number 1 position on the Sentry Risk table to this day. One of the major discoveries which was also unexpected was the amount of asteroids found in the range of 100m to 1Klm diameter. The <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risks/">Sentry Risk Table</a> is now maintained by the NASA/JPL and tracks potential collisions there are 575 entries in the table.
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Today there are 693000 known asteroids, 13000 of which are Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), 17 of which have been discovered this month. So the risk is there, and after a decade of research, the scale of the risk had been under estimated.
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Potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) are asteroids that come within 0.05 AU, or 5% of the earth-sun distance, and are greater than 100m diameter. The theoritcal "simple atmospheric physics" suggests that anything less than 80m diameter should "mostly" burn up in the atmosphere. However after the widespread damage caused by the Chelyabinsk Meteorite in Russia in 2013, which is thought to have been about 15-20m diameter, this threshold is now being re-assessed.
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Its a fine line between education about risk, and overstating the risk of a particular event. Whilst each close pass can be used to build understanding of the risk and rally resources towards the efforts required to quantify the risk - its difficult.
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<iframe width="450" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sxd5_uDH2As" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Enter the modern media - recently distrupted by internet technology which fundamentally changed their engagement models and revenue streams. Often the journalists put up a sensational headline to get the click through to an article, which once you get past the headline, isn't quite so bad. This week we have seen a combination of these issues around Asteroid (86666) 2000 FL10. Now we also have the "Doomsday Preppers" and end of the world and conspiracy bloggers weighing in, with their own exaggerations and at times outright mis-information. What drives their interest in all this?
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Escatological bible students have long been aware of a passage in Revelation of St John's vision of a "star falling from heaven and consuming a 1/3 of the land, sea and rivers", this star is given the name Wormwood. Learmonth Observatory has a Project Wormwood which is loosely derived from that text. However the leap to "number of his name (666)" later in Revelation and tying it to this asteroid, its beyond ridiculous, even for bible scholars. It is interesting however, that culturally, this is what drives the interest of "end-timers" and "doomsday preppers" in asteroids that come near the earth.
</P><blockquote>If only they could use their internet skills to actually help and track the asteroids through one of the many citizen science projects.</blockquote>
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So that brings us back to "crying wolf". Asoep's famous fable (at least in western culture) about the shepherd boy who "cried wolf" when he got bored and wanted to see some action. The town's people would come running out to come and investigate and found no risk to the flock. After a while people began to ignore him and the inevitable happened, a real wolf showed up.
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The questions the media should be asking: <br>
1) what is being done to further research the apparent "cluster" of large asteroids coming inside the earth-moon distance [1 Lunar distance (LD)] between 2026 and 2030<br>
2) What is being done to research the number of >300m near earth asteroids listed as "Lost"
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There are many good things happening in asteroid research. Professional scientists are investing in new surveys, Panstarrs Survey is now fully operational. Amateur Astronomers regularly collaborate with professionals and do amazing follow up work. The gap in the southern sky above 30 degrees south declination left by the closure of the E12 Survey at Siding Spring has been picked up by, Panstarrs reaching further south, a repurposing of the WISE Space telescope, the Sonear Observatory in Brazil, the new ISON-South telescope, and the amateur astronomers who use <a href="http://www.itelescope.net/">iTelescope.net</a>'s Siding Spring Observatory telescopes.
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So let's not cry wolf, let's educate and understand, let's progress our knowledge and support the effort to protect our home by getting positively involved. I am certain there will be more than one "end of the world" party on Friday April 13th 2029 when asteroid Apophis (2nd on the Sentry Risk Table) misses Earth by about 200 thousand kilometers and streaks across the sky as a naked eye object. You will be able to pull out the deck chair and pop the bubbly, safe in the knowledge that scientists that you funded have done the math, and you'll be able to relax and enjoy the spectacle.
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<a href="http://www.asteroidmission.org/get-involved/target-asteroids/">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4531</a>
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<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/asteroid-data-hunter-challenge-0">https://www.nasa.gov/content/asteroid-data-hunter-challenge-0</a>
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<a href="http://www.asteroidmission.org/get-involved/target-asteroids/">http://www.asteroidmission.org/get-involved/target-asteroids/</a>
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-50764301045990401362015-08-24T20:56:00.000+10:002015-08-24T22:55:47.701+10:00Australian Science Week - its a wrap!Science week this year went to a whole new level in Australia. Following the lead from Prof Ian Chubb's STEM Strategy white paper, people really rolled their sleeves up and exceeded all expectations - and claimed two world records!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxJ5po7pbDw/Vdrw6xyk4_I/AAAAAAAAFaM/feEzHU1jGt8/s1600/PL_AD.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxJ5po7pbDw/Vdrw6xyk4_I/AAAAAAAAFaM/feEzHU1jGt8/s200/PL_AD.jpeg" /></a></div>On <b>Aug 12th</b>, I was in Canberra for work and snuck out in the evening to catch the Science in the Pub sponsored by the ANU and the Australian - American co-operation through the US Embassy. The session was led by Prof Brian Schmidt (ANU), Dr Alan Duffy (Swinburne) and Glen Nagle (CSIRO/ANTF). An amazing session debriefing all the latest data from the NASA New Horizons, Pluto mission. If you had told planetary scientists only 6 weeks ago there was frozen nitrogen glaciers filling in old craters on Pluto, it would have been beyond their wildest dreams, yet that is exactly what they have found.
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<P><b>Friday 21st Aug</b> The ANU/RSAA Stargazing night smashed two world record's for single-site and multiple-site observers with telescopes observing the night sky for 10 consecutive minutes. We were all a bit nervous about the weather, but the clouds cleared out just in time to ensure the night was a great success and everyone had a great time observing some fantastic sights through the larger telescopes. 76 people from the school community and nearby residents came out for one of the many local Melbourne sites at Norwood Secondary College in Ringwood. My trusty 14inch dobbie (dobsonian) was a hit, with people stunned and amazed looking at individual craters on the moons and counting the moons of Saturn which could be seen beyond the glare of the magnificent rings.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y-pggpQ3LRA/VdrzGnI9MUI/AAAAAAAAFag/F2n3qc6J2tw/s1600/Norwood2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y-pggpQ3LRA/VdrzGnI9MUI/AAAAAAAAFag/F2n3qc6J2tw/s400/Norwood2.jpg" /></a></div>
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Mt Stromlo observatory in Canberra smashed the single-site Guinness Book of Record with a massive turnout of 1800 observers. The tally for the multi-site is still being finalized but was believed to have been over 10,000 people around the country. Once official it should easily eclipse the previous record of 3006 set in April 2013 in Mexico. Go Aussie!
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<b>Saturday 22nd Aug</b> was a great night as well. The <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/">Scienceworks</a>' Festival of Astronomy and Light opened up Scienceworks into the evening and I took the dobbie along again as one of the astronomers providing telescopes for viewing by the general public. Its amazing to watch kids who have never seen a telescope before walk up to one and try and work out which end/lens/mirror to look through. All are completely amazed at whats going on with all the lens and mirrors and when they see a crater on the moon as big as Tasmania it just blows them away. I have often described Astronomy as the "cupid's arrow of science", because of the emotional impact on people the first time they see the rings of Saturn or the craters of the moon. [That's original you have to quote me ;-) ]
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBn-p9r-7od-8ahTpPKJfQKt8fjeWbFCG9izVyd3DLW-81fQmS5LrwWY6U8-rVEBFCfG5LOon7xya8uAGPkUmwV9FKHGHpDnCN2vfcSDG69uHrX_jnf1JDwc2W7Z2yx1b-rehPVwyZHM/s1600/SCWFAL2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBn-p9r-7od-8ahTpPKJfQKt8fjeWbFCG9izVyd3DLW-81fQmS5LrwWY6U8-rVEBFCfG5LOon7xya8uAGPkUmwV9FKHGHpDnCN2vfcSDG69uHrX_jnf1JDwc2W7Z2yx1b-rehPVwyZHM/s400/SCWFAL2.jpg" /></a></div>
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As a veteran of many starparties it takes a bit to impress me, however I was not to be disappointed ........ a WORKING Tile from the Murchison Array had me fan-boying with selfies. It was sitting there on the grass collecting signals from the universe quite happily. Some 128 of these tiles currently form the Murchison Array, and will be a key part of the Square Kilometer Array that will put Australia at the forefront Astronomy research. If your dream is to win the nobel prize for Astrophysicis - Get into astronomy, go to the ANU or Curtain Uni in WA, and get onto the SKA (once built) and start data mining!!!!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FOl-A2G6i4I/Vdr0GMsuwpI/AAAAAAAAFas/bZktp_3h1mU/s1600/SCWFAL4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FOl-A2G6i4I/Vdr0GMsuwpI/AAAAAAAAFas/bZktp_3h1mU/s400/SCWFAL4.jpg" /></a></div>
Image: Selfie with "Popup Radio Telescope" - one tile of the Murchison Array actually working at Scienceworks.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TRVYb50Xq5w/Vdr0y-mmMlI/AAAAAAAAFa0/MA4Bs0LZpDM/s1600/Magellan_Targetasteroids.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TRVYb50Xq5w/Vdr0y-mmMlI/AAAAAAAAFa0/MA4Bs0LZpDM/s320/Magellan_Targetasteroids.png" /></a></div>What better way to wind up the week on <b>23rd Aug</b> with some actual science supporting <a href="http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/">NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission</a> working with University of Arizona's Citizen Science Project - <a href="http://www.asteroidmission.org/get-involved/target-asteroids/">Target Asteroids</a>. <a href="http://melbourne.lanewaylearning.com/">Laneway Learning</a>, a novel idea that started as a way to increase traffic to a little coffee shop called the Little Mule Cafe (in a dead end laneway), has now gone global due to its outstanding success. Laneway Learning run eccentric little classes on just about anything to promote community engagement and sharing of ideas. I have run three "Asteroid Hunting" classes and become a regular at their Sunday Science Spectacular during Science Week.
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Over a couple of hours about 10-20 people helped classify and record the photometry of asteroid Magellan, an analog of asteroid Bennu, the target of the 2018 OSIRIS-REx NASA New Horizons Mission. Asteroid Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid and 3rd on the Sentry Risk Table that requires careful watching by amateur and professional astronomers alike. Bennu is a 492m asteroid that (at this stage) will pass at about 1/3 the distance to the moon in 2182. Saving the lives of your great grandchildren on a Sunday afternoon during science week - what could be better than that!
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This is a photo of my little booth at Captain Melville's for the Sunday Science Spectacular.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-jV-YYmxrj857j_cpMr10csJg9l224AuXYLRgnpmIEBoE2nc3CXZVSl74U82gWnd6jOjr7L6Gd_zLOwhTLTZY66RM37e9hxFOMGJxUAO-VoG9Qohe5BGye_S6o1L18suhL7ZsXxJ7D0/s1600/LL_sciencespec_PL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-jV-YYmxrj857j_cpMr10csJg9l224AuXYLRgnpmIEBoE2nc3CXZVSl74U82gWnd6jOjr7L6Gd_zLOwhTLTZY66RM37e9hxFOMGJxUAO-VoG9Qohe5BGye_S6o1L18suhL7ZsXxJ7D0/s400/LL_sciencespec_PL.jpg" /></a></div>
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All in all a great effort, thanks to Norwwod Secondary College, Mount Burnett Observatory, Scienceworks, Captain Melville's and Laneway Learning for putting up with me enthusiastically waving my arms about and carting large telescopes, screens and computers around.
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-17010222603985668102015-01-26T22:11:00.002+11:002015-01-26T22:37:07.388+11:00Asteroid (357439) 2004 BL86 close approach on Australia Day<iframe width="460" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/L9Ga5FXh-ms" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></P>
UPDATE: 09:30pm Local Time. The weather is not good, the sky has cleared but the Humidity is up to 88% from 87% in the past 10 mins. So the observatory can't open yet!!! Need a nice gust of drier air from the south ;-)
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<b>Its been a big month for comets</b> but today all eyes turn to the monster asteroid (357439) 2004 BL86 which makes its closest approach to earth this decade.
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Its not every day you get a binocular visible asteroid streak across the night sky. 2004 BL86 has been approaching from the south and has been tracked this week at -71 degrees declination where it was Magnitude 17 and will brighten tonight and in the early morning to magnitude 9 as it passes near Jupiter and Sirius.
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I captured the approaching asteroid for the <a href="http://www.asteroidmission.org/">OSIRIS-REx Target Asteroids Mission</a> and collected some astrometry and photometry on Jan 19th.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpBf_6VH-gM/VMXaZTAeD8I/AAAAAAAAFGw/BQi2sp2fkfQ/s1600/2004BL86_Jan19th.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpBf_6VH-gM/VMXaZTAeD8I/AAAAAAAAFGw/BQi2sp2fkfQ/s400/2004BL86_Jan19th.png" /></a></div>
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<blockquote>120 Sec image on T27 at 0.53 arsec/pixel Jan 19th 2015 (c) P.Lake</blockquote>
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Again on the 25th of January, one day out, you can see that it is speeding up and travelling very fast with reference to the background stars.
You can see the asteroid streaked in this 30 sec image.
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<blockquote>30 Sec image on T12 at 3.5 arcsecs/pixel Jan 25th 2015 (c) P.Lake</blockquote>
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I will be obtaining further data tonight (weather permitting) just before its closest approach at 3 lunar distances. It will be travelling at 160 arcsecs per minute at closest approach around 2am. I won't be up that late. I will upload an animation of the footage compiled into a nice video of its approach.
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-57999941818824841712014-12-20T11:17:00.001+11:002014-12-20T11:17:57.949+11:00What Robberfly is that?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W4rKWqb3rgk/VJS_C5qzxsI/AAAAAAAAFEk/Rk8kQJh4jWw/s1600/robberfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W4rKWqb3rgk/VJS_C5qzxsI/AAAAAAAAFEk/Rk8kQJh4jWw/s400/robberfly.jpg" /></a></div>
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Its holidays, and its great to wander slowly through the forest and just let nature come to you at its own pace. I know some of you are say it should be Which Robberfly is this - give me a break I'm on holidays! ;-)
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Shall we play a game?
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Starting with the Asilidae family we have a very close match to the Giant Yellow Robberfly. However in all the photos I have seen the Yellow Segment on the abdomen under the wings is a clear and distinct single continuous yellow stip. However you can see here there is a yellow segmented cross stripped highlight.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-lUWwjFq2GAIzeH7ajMqJMW2xOEPvQTrVqj8Vj5L25tkdCa7D81lf-JdVbJblfjLhMinGrr184HaGJ8R2B5EMbmBNTKqeMV4hvDS37v4yoOM3M7996G8R2phOGIVSmmhSZrb9AqMk994/s1600/robberfly_Abdomen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-lUWwjFq2GAIzeH7ajMqJMW2xOEPvQTrVqj8Vj5L25tkdCa7D81lf-JdVbJblfjLhMinGrr184HaGJ8R2B5EMbmBNTKqeMV4hvDS37v4yoOM3M7996G8R2phOGIVSmmhSZrb9AqMk994/s400/robberfly_Abdomen.png" /></a></div>
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The second point of difference is the "whiskers" around the proboscus are distinctly yellow as well. The other photos I have seen have grey "whiskers".
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HdzxIWlXX0g/VJS-W8gSqNI/AAAAAAAAFEY/AfAXM2AthnE/s1600/robberfly_thorax.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HdzxIWlXX0g/VJS-W8gSqNI/AAAAAAAAFEY/AfAXM2AthnE/s400/robberfly_thorax.png" /></a></div>
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Any ideas or comments appreciated. I have sent of a question to CSIRO, awaiting a response. Other hints: Coastal Rainforest habitiat central NSW coast, Port Macquarie.
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Readers of the Blog will recall my previous "what the hell" experience with a photo - was capturing the <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/surfs-up-for-burrunan-dolphins.html">only known footage of Burrunan Dolphins playing in the surf</a> at Lakes Entrance.
Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-68616692573631739282014-11-28T12:29:00.001+11:002014-11-28T12:29:37.076+11:00Put Out Your Bats!Sometimes a photo can say more than the most "thought out words".
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Not sure who thought of this but its a lovely tribute to Phil Hughes and his family and friends and team-mates.
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<b>#putoutyourbats</b>
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</P><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NGuVkIqyF04/VHfPeI1S8QI/AAAAAAAAFB8/jutNDM3_Bgo/s1600/putoutyourbat_PL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NGuVkIqyF04/VHfPeI1S8QI/AAAAAAAAFB8/jutNDM3_Bgo/s400/putoutyourbat_PL.JPG" /></a></div>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-12408481250579393632014-10-20T09:15:00.000+11:002014-10-26T13:40:52.188+11:00Comet C2013 A1 (Siding Spring) approaches Mars - LIVE COVERAGE<iframe width="480" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GNDMAfxLRrs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Well finally the day we have all waited for has arrived. Here is our live coverage of the Comet approaching Mars just 6-7 hours before closest approach. Enjoy! [Also see here an earlier post: <a href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/comet-siding-spring-so-where-hell-is.html">Where the hell is Siding Spring Anyway</a>?]
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Can you spot it?
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDCEmCz-aX1EZNmnqgzm3zYnrcIgFLBrOHCmdT7nKsK7p-GOJF8TGahTofNB5gMICeMprJHdUGTtW8J5Ho4sko37ZvprojG7M50swjinRO9SGk21s8718bC5oD-JA9fpbEsVsdZg0AT0/s1600/2014Oct19_LakePeter_C2013A1closeMars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDCEmCz-aX1EZNmnqgzm3zYnrcIgFLBrOHCmdT7nKsK7p-GOJF8TGahTofNB5gMICeMprJHdUGTtW8J5Ho4sko37ZvprojG7M50swjinRO9SGk21s8718bC5oD-JA9fpbEsVsdZg0AT0/s400/2014Oct19_LakePeter_C2013A1closeMars.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here is the high resolution inverse image in the V filter where its a little easier to see!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eb3SMm3ZD0Y/VEQ3dhfbOYI/AAAAAAAAE8o/AZRNHbuElkI/s1600/2014Oct19_LakePeter_c2013A1_V.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eb3SMm3ZD0Y/VEQ3dhfbOYI/AAAAAAAAE8o/AZRNHbuElkI/s400/2014Oct19_LakePeter_c2013A1_V.png" /></a></div>
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Perhaps my personal favourite!
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This is a great image as it shows Comet Siding Spring dead center of the image (and dead center of the telescope mirror) with the overexposed Mars just off center and the "shadow" of the telescope truss and secondary vanes reflected in the extra light of Mars. The "Red Planet" Mars is brighter here in the R Filter.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-dlzfn7phJs_wx7RCxI-6NgY6wkDholTKbVbLu6zeSJejc_NfrHTEHdrauCkbEA15nPL3BApNrnByxEGUke4W-n6OSRUUNQzJYVOXU7VS0Nhek2xfBT_UWAjihr1myX0Dz6egF43e3U/s1600/2014Oct19_LakePeter_c2013A1_R.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-dlzfn7phJs_wx7RCxI-6NgY6wkDholTKbVbLu6zeSJejc_NfrHTEHdrauCkbEA15nPL3BApNrnByxEGUke4W-n6OSRUUNQzJYVOXU7VS0Nhek2xfBT_UWAjihr1myX0Dz6egF43e3U/s400/2014Oct19_LakePeter_c2013A1_R.png" /></a></div>
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Here is a short blinking video of the movement of both Mars and the Comet against the background stars. It consists of 5 images from the R filter and 3 from the V. Interestingly you can also see a cosmic ray hitting the CCD between the COmet and Mars in the first image of the 3 V filter images.
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Enjoy!
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ehufS2GcWO0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></P>
Image credits: P.Lake Q62 T31 120 secs</P>
And as Comet Siding Spring moves through perihelion it continues to fade. My view is that it didn't get close enough to the sun for some serious action, I guess when all the data is in we'll know more. Certainly though, it has been variously described as once in a million year event. The MAVEN Team at NASA will be rejoiceing in all that "free data" that showed up as the team were getting ready to lauch their mission.
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Thanks for joining us on this brilliant journey!
Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-29749043641823700852014-10-03T12:02:00.001+10:002014-10-03T13:42:56.377+10:00iTelescope.net Live Hangout from SSO<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/k5KmI24D_1c?list=UUZKrh6yc6X_tb2iRiaMUp3g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</P>
In a live G+ Hangout, Pamela Gay joins us at iTelescope.net for a live broadcast from Siding Spring Observatory on the day of the official opening of iTelescope.net. Amanda Bauer drops in for a chat. Peter Lake and Neil Shaw share their passion for astronomy.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GwrrWjwKV2s/VC4aqfEYqFI/AAAAAAAAEvk/cywSlPK3tgM/s1600/itelescopeHangout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GwrrWjwKV2s/VC4aqfEYqFI/AAAAAAAAEvk/cywSlPK3tgM/s320/itelescopeHangout.jpg" /></a></div>
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The expert panel, Amanda Bauer, Pamela Gay and Neil Shaw.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LAs0bbujsQU/VC4bIijBVgI/AAAAAAAAEvs/IM9IRn5Q6G0/s1600/T27_opening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LAs0bbujsQU/VC4bIijBVgI/AAAAAAAAEvs/IM9IRn5Q6G0/s320/T27_opening.jpg" /></a></div>
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-32260879699464094972014-09-07T21:15:00.000+10:002014-09-08T12:59:42.691+10:00Asteroid 2014 RC Live coverage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT327wF_9xKi0cI8VFrRqzz6sgdZzTNg4olsIl_tDtP8n0yQgCZs9c7M6UmF1vAio84KN5yzacDy_UBbZTcAb7to5cEUSHEms3I8XoCOYrX9DASWE7DNffWnYMHEaU3Fw7822D6_woX14/s1600/2014RC_Pane.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT327wF_9xKi0cI8VFrRqzz6sgdZzTNg4olsIl_tDtP8n0yQgCZs9c7M6UmF1vAio84KN5yzacDy_UBbZTcAb7to5cEUSHEms3I8XoCOYrX9DASWE7DNffWnYMHEaU3Fw7822D6_woX14/s400/2014RC_Pane.png" /></a></div>
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Update: Three pane comparision of "relative" speed across the CCD.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20CTaH3D1RA/VAx22Mfdn2I/AAAAAAAAEng/qF6Pu1YIYPg/s1600/2014RC_1334_normal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20CTaH3D1RA/VAx22Mfdn2I/AAAAAAAAEng/qF6Pu1YIYPg/s400/2014RC_1334_normal.png" /></a></div>
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Update 1430 UT (12:40 am Local time) I am off to bed now as the weather is closing in. The scope will grab a few more images around the closest approach at which time it will be a long streak right across the image. I'll have some more images and some mosaics and video uploaded tomorrow. Thanks for following the action.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3y5ZyQ6r-zRKQjPBE37SfQPzftw26LUfwgv8LTvgg5bVp4Bo-SXHNnHWwplVRFWdomZCXUOmgY-Yl6E5e3H-aFMvDp_-B8YsPH5XWz14dZPdVw51nGIKnbxgJFy_dJrYaFSnK_-GjEhs/s1600/20140907_LakePeter_2014RC1345ut.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3y5ZyQ6r-zRKQjPBE37SfQPzftw26LUfwgv8LTvgg5bVp4Bo-SXHNnHWwplVRFWdomZCXUOmgY-Yl6E5e3H-aFMvDp_-B8YsPH5XWz14dZPdVw51nGIKnbxgJFy_dJrYaFSnK_-GjEhs/s400/20140907_LakePeter_2014RC1345ut.png" /></a></div>
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Update 13:35 - Starting to motor now ..... 191 arcsecs per minute. Starting to brighten up now as well. Next shot at 14:00 UT or Midnight local time, where it will be absolutely flying at 214 arsecs per minute.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNvHnqBtx7I/VAxglfQWF5I/AAAAAAAAEmE/8_74edEErLA/s1600/20140907_LakePeter_2014RC1240UT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNvHnqBtx7I/VAxglfQWF5I/AAAAAAAAEmE/8_74edEErLA/s400/20140907_LakePeter_2014RC1240UT.png" /></a></div>
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Update 12:45 UT Travelling at 177 Arcsecs per minute now. Including Animation!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8lQPEnGat30/VAxr3ERhuXI/AAAAAAAAEmc/Jak2SeEysZM/s1600/2014%2BRC2-MOTION.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8lQPEnGat30/VAxr3ERhuXI/AAAAAAAAEmc/Jak2SeEysZM/s400/2014%2BRC2-MOTION.gif" /></a></div></P>
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Update 11:30UT (09:30pm Local) Really starting to pick up speed now travelling at 97 arcsecs per minute. I'll have an animation of this one shortly and a video eventually. Check back regularly as I am updating the images quickly now each 30-40 mins.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DTaqytbC3R0/VAxQxc3ciwI/AAAAAAAAEj4/wYWoGZd18H4/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-09-07%2Bat%2B10.25.33%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DTaqytbC3R0/VAxQxc3ciwI/AAAAAAAAEj4/wYWoGZd18H4/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-09-07%2Bat%2B10.25.33%2BPM.png" /></a></div>
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Update 10:35UT - Another 30 Sec image you can see the "streak" of the 30 seconds of movement getting longer as it covers more sky in each 30 sec frame. Travelling here at 87 Arcsecs per minute.
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Update 10PM local time: Here is the first image, this is about 2 hours back now. I'll punch them out a little quicker now. This was at 10:00 UT or 8:pm Local time. You can see the moon is seriously messing with this image but we still managed to get it. There was some thin cloud drifting through as well. More soon.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhON1pHd_KyKcfiCA45wE6o4HSWSKjZiRj8qs1dTCNkHY3np48ynNwihUhdtmnvSfCABevnhV1JDqeJcVgKL03PxMORuzqakB55Fys1l7lXbVpVCp5-7vbWSFHhGR2cSblfbR6XcTjpYQk/s1600/ssofisheye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhON1pHd_KyKcfiCA45wE6o4HSWSKjZiRj8qs1dTCNkHY3np48ynNwihUhdtmnvSfCABevnhV1JDqeJcVgKL03PxMORuzqakB55Fys1l7lXbVpVCp5-7vbWSFHhGR2cSblfbR6XcTjpYQk/s400/ssofisheye.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Update: 09:30pm Local time 11:29 UT.</b> It Looks like daylight under that nearly full moon at Siding Spring. The telescope I am using is front right in this image. Its going to be a tough get only 20 degrees away from the full moon.
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Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered on the 31st of August by the Catalina Sky Survey and the Panstarrs Survey on consequtive nights. The Minor Planet center took a day or so to collate the observations and confirm they were the same object, publishing the <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K14/K14R26.html">MPEC 2014 R26</a> on September 3rd.
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It was clear from the outset that this 15-26m object was going to make a very close pass, and tonight as Daniel Ricciardo lines up on the grid in the Italian Grand Prix, the asteroid will make a very close pass at 40,000 klms over Australia and New Zealand. It is thought to be about the same size as the Chelyabinsk meteorite.
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Its Father's Day here and I have had a great day, and all the teenagers have retreated to work on their STEM elements of their education. So whilst Daniel Ricciardo battles it out with the William's boys I'll be drive another advanced piece of technology, targeting something travelling MUCH, MUCH, FASTER!!!!
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The first set of images are in an will be posted shortly.
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The aim is to show the rapid "apparent acceleration" as it whizzes past earth. Of course the speed of the asteroid doesn't change, just its apparent relative velocity appears to increase as it passes (like watching a car travelling at 100 klms per hour approach from a distance)
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Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-60655647027195294532014-08-05T10:51:00.002+10:002014-08-05T10:55:07.956+10:00Carnival of Space 365<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prSFyfAwLsE/U-Anhkhot4I/AAAAAAAAEcY/jpHfC0AsQI0/s1600/Geo_carnival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prSFyfAwLsE/U-Anhkhot4I/AAAAAAAAEcY/jpHfC0AsQI0/s400/Geo_carnival.jpg" /></a></div>
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WELCOME to Carnival of Space 365. A weekly round-up of Space and Astronomy Blogs that is in its 365 Week. Thats a whole year of weeks! What a week its been, with the Rosetta Probe getting ready for its "Philae Mignon" with Comet 67P. (See what I did there ... huh ...huh) Watching too many cooking shows? Should be doing more science!
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OK ... I know its not going to wrap it in bacon.... lets move on.
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Astronomy is going off this week, lots of stuff happening!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxmO2pefYpTTmP5bi2pISRS1NNZ1CC0cKeMfFT_wiCtYabTN2o0mYniyLFFgFnrePLXtGvRLlM6jSdaNf9whDBMyFaNnSBlzgNUwREh8vqPL7PN1m2kfZydJjfeQQ9-1VoERjYTdGlrHY/s320/Spudislunar.png" /></a></div>
Dr. <a href="http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/">Paul Spudis comments on Buzz Aldrin's case</a> for the immediate adoption of a new national
goal in space – a human mission to Mars.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-300x198.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-300x198.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3-JnnQuOiBcM07bpDaHdFV96yo5gW6qfQXeajb7nhisq4Tbw9_0vzbvaIH3eP1eTXUEUC4LINB2o7L-U9qjigOqtVyF2-Eja-dFHBTEH0GRLy8yRKHmiaRdxBJbfDOqxWTv7alPJl6s/s320/LPI.png" /></a></div>
The Lunar PLanetary Institute covers a new study in Nature <a href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/features/bombardment/">that describes the effects of asteroid bombardment</a> on the early Earth
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cosmoquest.org" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vwIzIhOoJis/U-AYmjaKv-I/AAAAAAAAEa4/y2Gj7mPDMcA/s320/cosmoquest.png" /></a></div>
We take a <a href="http://cosmoquest.org/x/blog/2014/07/mercury-up-close/">close look at the surface of Mercury</a> with PlanetMappers as the MESSENGER Spacecraft makes its closest approach to the planet so far.
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Also from the team at Cosmoquest - What's the <a href="http://cosmoquest.org/x/blog/2014/07/here-come-the-perseids/">forecast for this year's Perseid Meteor shower</a>, and how can you contribute to citizen science and observations of meteors and fireballs?
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<blockquote>Perhaps at this point I can put in a little plug for the <a href="http://www.fireballsinthesky.com.au/">brilliant the new App</a> <b><i>"Fireballs in the Sky"</i></b> developed by the team at Curtin University. You can measure and report meteors and bolides with your phone as they happen.</blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://thespacewriter.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_IFmbpR6CJZ3Ow-4TU3Pd6y9xERx-f9npyiin7mjIhx6jLhdH796FqxER-Ee0g6RadKXoaMdTLsY-MTyAfVmD9NtMrSAQmu5g-g8x6WUeBP9Xv5aayaKbwPzJE-az4n-cx4AeUqG1cg/s320/Spacewriter.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://thespacewriter.com/wp/2014/07/29/astronomers-without-borders/">Spacewriter talks about</a> "Telescopes to Tanzania", a project of Astronomers Without Borders. There is alot of great work going on in Africa with astronomy right now!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://space.about.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sdBt7Jmr3EM/U-AcAybIpgI/AAAAAAAAEbM/3fVT-m9YP1k/s320/aboutspace.png" /></a></div>
Carolyn Collins Petersen, space/astronomy expert at About.com, <a href="http://space.about.com/od/educationastronomyspace/fl/A-Personal-Tour-of-Astro-Education-Resources.htm">takes a look at a few of the many excellent space and astronomy education resources</a> available to educators and outreach professionals.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="www.universetoday.com" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0sasoSWGqOQlpmZS6KtGFfjBHDE9csBKPIaPNSM78CLPPrla6SXv-AoF4yMwlPxS2J9tTLwxA2RWIGRvLYtkCR4S3DcL3fMMHlXn4bFwWcorfTbPVONufPIPuqi8h37zkDLaqsOtqP0/s320/UniverseT.jpg" /></a></div>
NASA <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/113591/nasa-announces-science-instruments-for-mars-2020-rover-expedition-to-the-red-planet/">announced the winners of the high stakes science instrument competition</a> to fly aboard the Mars 2020 rover at a briefing held today, Thursday, July 31, at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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Scientists analyzing the reams of data from NASA’s Cassini orbiter at Saturn <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/113559/scientists-discover-101-geysers-erupting-at-saturns-intriguing-icy-moon-enceladus/">have discovered 101 geysers erupting</a> from the intriguing icy moon Enceladus and that the spewing material of liquid water likely originates from an underground sea located beneath the tiny moons ice shell, according to newly published research.</P>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mXHm3ZTNGIY/U-AfdJadvvI/AAAAAAAAEbg/CvCu4kS1lxU/s320/NBF.jpg" /></a></div>
Success and validation that aligns with what is believed about EmDrive means powerful mainly static thrust. It would be an alternative way to achieve effects that would mimic antigravity. It would enable super efficient planes, better flying cars, and cloud city like applications in a full expression of a mature EmDrive. In the nearer term it would be better satellite propulsion. A US scientist, Guido Fetta, has built his own propellant-less microwave thruster, and managed to persuade Nasa to test it out. The test results were presented on July 30 at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Astonishingly enough, they are positive. <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/07/renewed-hope-for-emdrive-with-nasa.html">Read all about it here including similar experiments in China </a>......
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Next Big Future also reports <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/07/blacklight-power-published-other.html">on producing black light power using Hydrinos.</a>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://EverydaySpacer.com" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSvxHZVB0cHXW17kg6rd4XJNZdVN4eWat0ruNfVjAxahkiNzuWhtDrnqSMzDmWWCOpsdspdGPARAaNWcXCezbqqn-b9g5f7O5h6CrrWJlHk4RI7frpfAf9VGLyT-diUPPtYJCJp-BgC4/s320/Everydayspacer.jpg" /></a></div>
See what happens <a href="http://spacer.pamhoffman.com/nebular-nails-an-exploration/">when two passions collide</a>. A crafty spacer explores an idea and lives to tell the tale!
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<blockquote><i>I think she nailed it!! - Editor</i></blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kosmophilus.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MsTmpCyS44c/U-AiGEFCZ6I/AAAAAAAAEb4/4QjW3hN64vM/s320/kosmophilus.png" /></a></div>
A look at the <a href="http://kosmophilus.com/2014/07/28/what-did-the-big-bang-look-like/">density perturbations in the early universe</a> from which galaxies and others structures formed, with a visual explanation of the effect of gravity on these perturbations.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://kosmophilus.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/philandscape.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://kosmophilus.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/philandscape.png" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gEmx2JkCWlY/U-AkQ87AeJI/AAAAAAAAEcE/zlfYC41dIzE/s1600/aartscope.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gEmx2JkCWlY/U-AkQ87AeJI/AAAAAAAAEcE/zlfYC41dIzE/s320/aartscope.png" /></a></div>
Thanks for joining us this week at the AARTScope Blog where we keep <i>creating the sense of anticipation and discovery that keeps people asking questions</i>. I'll leave you with my image of the Saturn Occultation last night!
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cLh32CcAHGQ/U-AkbnJ51oI/AAAAAAAAEcM/QFmHHxwRldc/s1600/Saturnoccultation_Aug4_2014_PL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cLh32CcAHGQ/U-AkbnJ51oI/AAAAAAAAEcM/QFmHHxwRldc/s400/Saturnoccultation_Aug4_2014_PL.jpg" /></a></div>
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So that about wraps it up for this weeks Carnival of Space. For image Credits see the original blogs.
The Carnival of Space is a community of interest blog carnival bringing together the best and brightest Astronomy & Space Blogs at a single point in space and time (commonly referred to as a web address) each week. Previous episodes can be <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/12019/carnival-of-space/">found here</a>. If you run an astronomy or space science blog you can contact carnivalofspace @ gmail.com to be added to the editorial circulation list.Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-7984874132459909102014-08-04T23:30:00.000+10:002014-08-04T23:30:00.594+10:00Saturn Occultation from Southern Australia Aug 4th 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DfPo_rZz3dU/U9-KqbupURI/AAAAAAAAEaY/neCUC3BzwbE/s1600/Saturnoccultation_Aug4_2014_PL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DfPo_rZz3dU/U9-KqbupURI/AAAAAAAAEaY/neCUC3BzwbE/s400/Saturnoccultation_Aug4_2014_PL.jpg" /></a></div>
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A very quick post with an image of tonight's occultation from southern Australia.
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Enjoy!
</P>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-72373626416882129082014-06-12T23:39:00.000+10:002014-06-20T21:19:14.635+10:00Don't under-estimate Australia in the World Cup!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSaJoTcUEIPfed6E-YQFOAFmYF-DV2tAkaSmUJs8I1A4IUL6IF18pdQtUXcGVCHCyHNpI1pvPGGbwBM_-LokrGOKJgDKvWm6K7_Pm_ymMITQ21h1AvcpFopcxQBe6snQEMYk8ia_O1YFo/s1600/socceroos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSaJoTcUEIPfed6E-YQFOAFmYF-DV2tAkaSmUJs8I1A4IUL6IF18pdQtUXcGVCHCyHNpI1pvPGGbwBM_-LokrGOKJgDKvWm6K7_Pm_ymMITQ21h1AvcpFopcxQBe6snQEMYk8ia_O1YFo/s400/socceroos.jpg" /></a></div>
UPDATED: Jun 16
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Well who would have thunk it? Netherlands, which was thought to be Australia's best chance of winning a world cup match has come out with a dream start thrashing Spain 5-1. Tip #3 below has been turnned on its head - but we now know exactly what to do. Australia's sterling effort to reverse it's shell shocked start in the Chile game has attracted acclaim. Now for the next move! Lets hope they can mirror the Men's Hocket success overnight.
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In Australia there is a term called "block burster burnout" whereby in a "blockbuster" between two top teams, the victor climbs a massive hill to exact revenge only to crash to a lesser team the following week. This is most notably observed in the AFL where Geelong is often vulnerable the week after they play Hawthorne. One commentator has already observed that Netherlands could not possibly play any better than their dream "grudge match" against the winners of the last world cup. Can they back it up? If they give away a penalty to Australia with their muscular defence like they did against Spain, Australia won't need a second invitation to apply maximum pressure. There have already been some massive upsets - don't rule out one more!
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<b>Breaking with tradition and leaving the astronomy to one side today</b>, I'll take a risk and give some HOT TIPS for the world cup.
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<b>DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE Australia in the world cup</b>! We might be 59th in the world and bumped to 62 just as the cup starts, but Australia is a sports mad nation that will play above its weight, as we do in Astronomy, Medical research, and many other persuits.
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TIP #1: Ange Postecoglou is a master coach. Any coach who is 2-0 down with ten minutes to go and still leads the Brisbane Roar to win a flag is a potent force. He has the respect of the players, he is now on the world stage, his moment has come!
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TIP #2: The hungry will always beat the comfortable and entitled! (who are often carried off on a stretcher after someone breathed on them). Australia were the first team to arrive in Brazil, they have been training hard and are a very fit side. The older players playing on past glories and valuable experience have been moved aside to media commentary assigments and been replaced by the young and hungry. Everyone on the park knows if they don't perform it will be their last match.
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TIP #3: Australia will know exactly what the need to do before they even take the field. Spain plays Netherlands 2 hours before Australia's first match. So within three hours we will likely know the battle lines of the so called "group of death". Spain will beat Netherlands 2-0 and go straight to the top of the group, unlikely to be headed. If Netherlands can't beat Australia they are gone. Which makes the Australia - Chile match the defining match. Australia will double down and go for broke!
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TIP #4: Matt Ryan will frustrate some very good strikers, and may be one of the best keepers of the tournament. Mark Schwarzer kept Australia in the hunt in 2006, and if he has been replaced after his sensational form in the English Premier League - then this kid is good!
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TIP #5: Australia's answer to the<i> barmy army</i>, the Socceroos fan base have already been spotted around Rio De Janeiro, school students and soccer clubs have been flown in for training sessions with their new heros, the aussies have been training in front of big crowds.
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The only tip I have ever made previously was that: Australia has never lost a world cup match that Archie Thompson played in. A tip which will sadly stand the test of time. Despite getting us to 3 world cups, he never got game time, despite holding the world record for 13 goals in an International Match. If Thompson was on the park with Postecoglou at the helm, I would be even more confident. However, he will be there in spirit encouraging the younger players.
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As we can't be robbed by an Italian play actor taking a dive in the penalty box with three minutes to go, I expect this time a little luck may go our way, Matt Ryan will keep with a clean sheet until we meet Spain.
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Go Aussies - don't under estimate them.
(.....and you already know not to understaimate us in the Hockey!)
Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-47251447529905308122014-05-29T17:15:00.000+10:002014-07-31T12:50:27.871+10:00Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko - First amateur images 2014<iframe width="560" height="317" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/W61F7gRAan0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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As the European Space Agency's <a href="http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/">Rosetta Mission</a> ramps up in a busy week of astronomy, Observatory W96 and Observers A. Maury, J.-G Bosch, J.-F. Soulier were the first amateurs to report positions of 69P (this apparition) to the MPC. Amateur images of Comet 67P have also been acquired by the Professional-Amateur Collaboration in Astronomy (PACA) for comet 67P led by Dr Padma Yanamandra-Fisher in partnership with Amateur Astronmers. The PACA group uses social media to connect amateur and professional astronomers to provide observation follow-up, monitoring and collaboration on science missions.
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Comet 67P is about to be visited by the Rosetta Probe and ESA released their first photos, 2 weeks ago, of the comet starting to come to life as it heads on in towards the sun. The Rosetta mission is to follow the comet round the sun during the part of its orbit where the ices and dusts begin to discharge and form the tail. In november 2014, Rosetta will deliver a landed named <i>Philae</i> that will touch down on the nucleus of the comet to sample the particles as they become active.
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Pictured here at a very faint magnitude 21.2 you can see Comet 67P, and the position of the Rosetta spacecraft is also marked (even though it is way too faint to see). ESA this week began a number of engine burns to slow the spacecraft as it approaches the comet.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq8Ro0Z7vg7a_FGbmtSbkBajg7gwbvOPNZyoxhRZG6GBKAag0hkSnrhtsnKH2yLhc6kIvPEYVCwSt4FfokChtWhefmhTNdU6-9nbunzS4oRQ1JYHJ3S3lm2sIJAZRA2Xqp07dDqZGW5g/s1600/2014May23_LakePeter_67P_publish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq8Ro0Z7vg7a_FGbmtSbkBajg7gwbvOPNZyoxhRZG6GBKAag0hkSnrhtsnKH2yLhc6kIvPEYVCwSt4FfokChtWhefmhTNdU6-9nbunzS4oRQ1JYHJ3S3lm2sIJAZRA2Xqp07dDqZGW5g/s400/2014May23_LakePeter_67P_publish.jpg" /></a></div>
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The star field is quite crowded, and one of the most interesting parts of the video is the amount of "traffic" in this part of the sky. There were about 6 clearly identifiable asteroids in the full field of view, I have labelled a couple of the closer ones for reference. One asteroid in the field of view caught my eye as it seemed to dip in brightness, so it has been noted for further follow up as it approaches opposition in July.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ObqnEyGtg1E/U4akZuOkpDI/AAAAAAAAEFg/3gm_B2_f1zc/s1600/2014May23_LakePeter_67P.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ObqnEyGtg1E/U4akZuOkpDI/AAAAAAAAEFg/3gm_B2_f1zc/s400/2014May23_LakePeter_67P.jpg" /></a></div>
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Capturing the comet at such a faint magnitude required a deep "stacking" of images to account for the movement of the comet. "Stacking" is a process used to add a number of images together to improve the signal to noise ratio of the target. The comet was travelling so slowly relative to our point of view that I was able to resolve it with 12x300 second images. These images were then stacked in three groups of 4 at the movement of the comet - 0.16arc"/min at a position angle of 226 degrees. My images were quickly followed up by Rolando Ligustri, Bacci Paolo Backman. The astrometry (positional information) was included in <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K14/K14K54.html">MPEC 2014-K54</a>
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Previously in 2012, amateurs using the the Faulkes Telescopes had <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2012/05/first-images-of-comet-67p-close-to-its.html">photographed 67P at aphelion (its furtherest point from the sun), also a remarkable effort!</a>. In January 2014 the large telescopes in Chile, European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) recovered 67P and have been following it regularly, this was the first occasion that amateurs had obtained images on this apparition.
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For more information about the program check out the <a href="http://www.itelescope.net/aartscope-t11/2014/3/3/2014-year-of-southern-comets-and-paca.html">Year of Southern Comets article</a> at iTelescop.net. <a href="http://www.pro-amastronomy.org">PACA</a> has a Facebook and Flikr group for members and a website under construction, it is open to any amateur astronomers who have their own telescope, are familiar with photometry and astrometry, are members of iTelescope.net, or have access to other telescope facilities and are prepared to work as a team on the science effort.
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The Rosetta Spacecraft was named after the Rosetta Stone which assisted historians and archeologists decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs, scientists hope that in the same way the data gathered will assist in our understanding of the early solar system.
</P>Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-17309447296076238462014-05-28T23:03:00.001+10:002014-06-02T12:51:26.884+10:00#GRBm31 a teaching moment in the internet of things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBDxNGQuhR1EA_i6Fu6bufT6ZEqSuZmiHuM2aW_G9VdCnl2_x2uGttmefmPM_QnoNYLIrtmJ5qXhgxQeqCpPR402woWLaHv1aTbMsotQ78Y3uf0q_XWaDfFtRJSLg1MduVE6Gad3IlXc/s1600/M31_nonGRB2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBDxNGQuhR1EA_i6Fu6bufT6ZEqSuZmiHuM2aW_G9VdCnl2_x2uGttmefmPM_QnoNYLIrtmJ5qXhgxQeqCpPR402woWLaHv1aTbMsotQ78Y3uf0q_XWaDfFtRJSLg1MduVE6Gad3IlXc/s400/M31_nonGRB2.jpg" /></a></div>
Any doubts that the Internet of Things had arrived these were dispelled in an instant today. The <a href="http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/">Swift space telescope</a>, the senitnel for detecting Gamma Ray Bursts raised an alert on the Gamma Ray Co-Ordinates Network, and slewed to the target to begin imaging. Astronomers around the world scrambled for their personal devices, re-tweeting their excitement, rallying the observational firepower available to image a tiny area in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://swift.sonoma.edu/images/multimedia/images/epo/Ssatellite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" width="300" height="180" src="http://swift.sonoma.edu/images/multimedia/images/epo/Ssatellite.jpg" /></a></div>
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Image Credit: Swift Spacecraft, computer generated drawing. NASA E/PO, Sonoma State University, Aurore Simonet.
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#GRBm31 surged to the very top of Twitter's trending list and the "lightcurve" of social media activity almost matched the supposed outburst of Gamma rays or Ultra Luminous X-rays (ULX) heading our way. [See <a href="https://twitter.com/DJSnM/status/471438735784304640/photo/1">Scott Manley's amusing tweet</a>.] The whole event of course prompted the usual round of "milli-second humor" and hilarious tweets. Like: "What, something in a galaxy far, far away just blew up" and the usual round of deathstar references and starwars humor.
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What happened will be discussed energetically over the next weeks, but it appears it was what the IT Industry would call a false positive, but not necessarily a bad thing.
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Social media and the Internet of Things (IP devices intelligently wired to elevate raw data to the status of information, knowledge and wisdom that can be acted on) has the benefit of the instantaneous alert. However these alerts require context and verification. In this case scientists around the world rallied to verify the result using their standard methods and found a perfectly logical and rational reason as to why the alert was triggered, but there was no GRB or ULX event. The science team for the LIGO Gravity Wave detector, which was was offline for an upgrade, were relieved they hadn't missed anything.
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What we actually had was a great teaching moment.<a href="http://space.io9.com/was-that-just-a-gamma-ray-burst-1582373688">SpaceI09 Blog</a> was quick out of the blocks with a brilliant article on GRBs and what was happening. Science as always requires confirmation of results and over the next few hours alot of effort and comparison of results identified that a known Xray source had popped up above a detection threshold, possibly due to a nearby "hot pixel" in the image.
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<a href="https://twitter.com/NickAstronomer">Nick Howes</a> from the Faulkes Telescope Project suggested on Twitter <i>"the neat thing about it was now lots more people know about GRBs an ULXs"</i>, and I certainly concur.
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The lesson here is that instantaneous alerts come with their own set of risks, but if the communication flow is well managed and carefully explained to everyone, a situation like this can be a great opportunity to build a broader awareness of what has transpired.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9dz7IT3aQQ/U4cqEhQWcmI/AAAAAAAAEFw/YOwIUIWdZPk/s1600/M31_NonGRB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9dz7IT3aQQ/U4cqEhQWcmI/AAAAAAAAEFw/YOwIUIWdZPk/s400/M31_NonGRB.png" /></a></div>
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Image Credit: P.Lake 300 Sec Luminance of the area in M31 concerning the alert.
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Essentially an alert was triggered in the area between the two marked stars.
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Of course there are the naysayers who have instant opinions as well and criticise organisations like NASA in situations like this. If a very bright GRB had gone off in Andromeda, astronomers would have years of data laid down for research over the coming years that would have had very broad implications particularly in gravity waves, neutron stars and black hole research. If it had gone off in our galaxy it would have been very, very serious situation indeed.
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There will be a round of investigations and review and the process of teasing out the knowledge and wisdom derived from the raw data and the alert process will be better for it.
</P> Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395467250648377408.post-68409335374157189862014-05-14T21:05:00.000+10:002014-05-14T22:56:35.753+10:00Saturn Occultation by the moon - May 14 2014Thanks for joining us tonight for the live hangout on air. Enjoy!
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LUk9T1Ep3FE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Not really ideal. The full moon was shining through thin cloud washing out a bit of the detail. The telescope is still ste up hopefully the cloud will clear and I can get some better stills on the egress.
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Live hangouts and driving a telescope live is a tricky business. I lost focus playing around trying to improve the image due to the thin cloud. Managed to get it back into focus just as it was disappearing. The relative motion is pretty quick once you see them that close together.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3F1YV5ZF5jU/U3NmvGIlBnI/AAAAAAAAEBk/uSIRfBZhRzw/s1600/saturn2+Lunar+Occultation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3F1YV5ZF5jU/U3NmvGIlBnI/AAAAAAAAEBk/uSIRfBZhRzw/s400/saturn2+Lunar+Occultation.png" /></a></div>
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One hour and ten minutes later it re-emerges with the moon a little clearer now, but surrounded by a bright halo. This time I am directly imaging it with the DLSR as well, so a really nice couple of shots on egress.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G27b1TAxzNA/U3NnUMzSMoI/AAAAAAAAEBw/CMQggj7hh88/s1600/Saturn3+Lunar+Occultation+may14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G27b1TAxzNA/U3NnUMzSMoI/AAAAAAAAEBw/CMQggj7hh88/s400/Saturn3+Lunar+Occultation+may14.jpg" /></a></div>
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And so..... The moon drifts on towards full lunation later tonight, as Saturn slips behind it.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DcAVX2N2Zs0/U3Nn9SvxLCI/AAAAAAAAEB8/btJSX5m_15s/s1600/Saturn+Lunar+Occultation+may14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DcAVX2N2Zs0/U3Nn9SvxLCI/AAAAAAAAEB8/btJSX5m_15s/s400/Saturn+Lunar+Occultation+may14.jpg" /></a></div> Astroswannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03935485524427754485noreply@blogger.com0