Alpha

It's good to finally sit down and write here again :)

Well, this post is about a telescope I call Alpha. I'm surprised I wasn't able to write anything about it yet. I purchased the scope from Allen Yu using my prize money from the IYA 2009 National Olympiad.

My scope is a Skywatcher Explorer 150PL telescope (Black Diamond). Although I don't have the equatorial mount, I still have the mount built by Allen.


I have used this scope in the physics department's stargazing, and am very pleased with the results. I'm beginning to favor this scope over the departments C8 that I usually operate.

Over the past two months, I wasn't able to use it. I was only able to use it on Tuesday, and was I lucky.. I was able to use it on Jupiter (for the first time) and also on the elusive comet 103P/Hartley.

A lunar image taken via the Explorer 150PL via afocal method

First Look - astronomy enthusiast Princess Rabino gets her first look at Alpha

Brightest Comet of 2010 Coming Our Way

Comet 103P or most commonly known as Comet Hartley will make its nearest approach  this October. It will be the brightest comet of the year 2010. Comet 103P/Hartley was discovered by Australian astronomer Malcolm Hartley in 1986. The comet has a period of 6.5 years, traveling just outside the orbit of Jupiter to nearly Earth's distance (1 AU) from the Sun. The year 2010 marks its 4th return since it was discovered, and this year is said to be its best so far.

The comet will be visible to the naked eye under a dark sky (around mag 5) as it treks a path along the constellation Cassiopea moving southeast to the constellation Gemini. Use of a binoculars will give a good view of the comet, and telescopes would be able to reveal details. Here is an image of Comet Hartley's trajectory from astronomy.com:

The comet can actually be spotted now (Sept) in Cassiopea. On October 9 it will appear in the foreground of the double cluster in Perseus. On October 20 it will be in its closest distance to the Earth and will appear in its maximum brightness, unfortunately the full moon is on Oct 23 meaning the almost full moon will make the comet less conspicuous.

In November, NASA's EPOXI [Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization and the Deep Impact Extended Investigation] mission will fly past the comet and return stunning images of the comet nucleus. NASA approved the retargeting of the EPOXI for a flyby on Oct. 11., after the initial target (Comet Boethin) could not be found.

For more information on the Comet, you can visit:
astronomy.com
sky and telescope
national geographic

Observer Rolando Ligustri remotely photographed 103P/Comet Hartley 2 on September 6th (Universal Time) using a 10-inch f/3.4 Takahashi Epsilon 250 astrographic telescope.

InOMN

Tomorrow, Saturday will be the International Observe the Moon Night. It is a global event dedicated to honor our efforts in studying and observing the moon. It is inspired by people like us, ordinary people who takes a keen interest in the observance of the night sky.

Building a career path in astronomy

Working with the telescopes of the physics department, I have been able to build up the interest of students to astronomy. Some students even say, “Let’s shift to physics” after seeing what we do with the scopes. Although it is very much interesting, a lot of students are still intimidated by the science and math side of such a course. Most of the time people just don’t really know how to go about in astronomy.

For the Philippines, astronomy is not well known – unfortunately. Also, being in an archipelago affects the flow of information so people outside Manila have lesser chances of knowing about astronomy.

I’ve been interested in astronomy since elementary school that I’ve decided to take astronomy when I get to college. Since there was no BS Astronomy course offered anywhere that I knew I took the next big thing – Physics. In astronomy (professional) you have to have a good background in physics, also you should be good in math or in database programming, so taking physics was a logical step.

Fortunately my professors at Silliman University were enthusiastic about my interest in astronomy (I was even called ‘astroboy’). It took some time though before I decided to have a serious path in astronomy. I began making contacts with people in Manila: Dr. Cynthia Celebre of PAGASA, James Kevin TY of Astronomical League of the Philippines; Erika Valdueza of UP Astrosoc. I also contributed to the Philippine Journal of Astronomy. I took my OJT at PAGASA Dumaguete. It was not till my 3rd year in college that I heard of RTU and its BS Astronomy technology and MS Astronomy programs. Having heard that, I was glad since I wouldn’t have to worry about which school abroad should I look for in going into astronomy.

Later, I joined the IYA 2009 Astronomy Olympiad just to test myself on how far I’ve gotten with astronomy. With no teacher to advice me, I turned to books. Luckily, Silliman has the biggest library so I had a good number of books to assist me. I joined the competition and was surprised that I actually won (books rule! ).

Currently I am working on finishing my undergraduate studies then I plan to go to Mandaluyong and take up MS Astronomy. I continue to keep myself connected with people who are linked to Philippine Astronomy.

I plan to take a career path in research astronomy (hopefully in the Keck observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii).

JPPS Explores the Night Sky

Annual Meteor Showers

Here's a little something for the meteor watchers:

There are meteor showers that regularly occur in every year. How we know when and where this meteor showers occur is simple. There are streams of debris from comets that pass along the Earth's orbit. This debris are called meteoroids. Now, the Earth ends up almost at the exact position after one revolution. And because the Earth ends up in exactly the same place it reaches the meteoroid stream in almost exactly the same time and the same place in its orbit. When this stream of debris come in contact with the Earth's atmosphere, a meteor shower is produced.

To help you locate meteor showers, they are usually named after their radiant (i.e., Leonids meteor shower can be found in Leo; Delta Aquarids radiate from the delta star of Aquarius).
 Here is a list of the prominent meteor showers (visible to the Philippines). There are other showers aside from this but they have very low ZHRs.

January:

Quadrantids Meteor Shower 

Quadrantids, as you may have noticed, does not resemble any of the 88 constellations. This is because the Quadrans Muralis, in which it is named from, is an obsolete constellation. This is located somewhere along Hercules, Bootes and Draco.
Peak: January 3/4
Active Period: January 1 - 6
ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate, the amount of meteors per hour during the peak): 90

April:

Lyrids Meteor Shower

Originating from the debris of comet Thatcher. This meteor shower originates from the constellation Lyra which rises up in the east at around 11:30.
Peak: April 22
Active Period: April 19 - 24
ZHR: 12


May:

Eta-Aquarids Meteor Shower

This meteor shower radiates from the Eta star of the constellation Aquarius. It's parent comet is the famous Halley's comet.
Peak: May 5/6
Active Period: May 1 - 8
ZHR: 45

June:
Lyrids Meteor Shower (June Lyrids)
Another meteor shower originating from Lyra.
Peak: June 15/16
Active Period: June 10 -21
ZHR: 9 - 10

July:

Delta Aquarids

Radiating from Aquarius' Delta star. It's parent comet is unknown. This shower produces bright yellow meteors.
Peak: July 28/29
Active Period: July 15 - Aug 15
ZHR: 19

Capricornids

This meteor shower produces bright yellowish fire balls. They strike the atmosphere slowly at an average of 15 miles per second.
Active Period: July 29 - 30
ZHR: 15


August:

Perseids Meteor Shower

Originating from the comet Swift-Tuttle
Peak: Aug 12/13
Active Period: Jul 25 - Aug 18
ZHR: 80



October:

Orionids Meteor Shower

Coming from the same meteoroid stream as Eta Aquarids, the Orionids belong to the debris of Halley's comet. Radiating from Orion, the hunter.
Peak: October 21
Active Period: Oct 16 - 26
ZHR: 25

November:

Taurids Meteor Shower (and Leonids)

A fascinating meteor shower that appears as two showers in one. It is a combination of Taurids and Leonids. Comet Encke is the source of this shower and Comet Temple-Tuttle.
Peak: Nov 5 and 17/18
Active Period: Nov 4 - 7 and Nov 15 - 19
ZHR: 8 and 10



December:

Geminids Meteor Shower

The most prominent and the most reliable of the annual meteor showers. This meteor shower comes from debris of the asteroid 3200 Phaeton. This shower creates a multi-colored display of meteors, most bright white, and then yellow, and then blue, red and green.
Peak: Dec 13/14
Active Period: Dec 17 - 15
ZHR: 80

I would be posting the rest of the minor meteor showers later. Good luck and clear skies!

Lunatic

Last Thursday, April 22, me and some of my friends in the church gathered to witness the Lyrids meteor shower. While waiting for the peak time, we set our eyes on the moon. Luckily we had a decent camera with us. I tinkered about with the settings until I was able to get a clear image of the moon and its craters. :)

here is a picture of my first successful astrophotography shot. I used a Canon Powershot S3 IS.