I'm interested in rare astronomical events and two presented themselves this weekend. Yesterday (11 February), comet 45P (Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova) made its closest pass of Earth at a mere distance of 12 million km away and it's popularly termed the green comet. Since I've always wanted to see a green comet I duly woke an hour before sunrise - about 5.20 am and, armed with Dot's binoculars, rushed outside into the cool morning air and eagerly scanned the sky between Arcturus and Saturn looking NE from our back garden. Well, after doing this for some 15 minutes I came up with nothing. There seemed to be a little haze in the sky and the binoculars were a little ancient... so perhaps the task was a little beyond me. There was an upside of sorts. Our hot weather makes sleeping at night sticky and uncomfortable and standing in the cool night air bare-foot and wearing only shorts was kind of refreshing. In case you think this might be crazy, the temperature was still 21 C at 5 am.
Not to be put off, I prepared for the next event 17 hours later ... at c. 00.40 am on the 12th ... this morning. Armed with a camera, I awaited the disappearance of the bright start Regulus as the full moon passed in front of it. Again, wearing only shorts due to the heat ... would you believe 33 C degrees at 1000 m asl just after midnight ... I observed the moon for about 30 minutes, but Regulus failed to show. Maybe I was too early or late, so I despondently went to bed, but here's a picture of what I was waiting for, with Regulus shown on the right:
So, the next task is to try observe object 2016 WF9 on February 25th. Perhaps I should ask if UNE's observatory is open that evening!
We're surviving the heat OK here, but today sees a forecast record 37 C or almost 100 F. Armed with this forecast I jumped on my bike early this morning at about 6.30 am for a 17 km ride, bringing my total for the week to c. 108 km !! And, when I started the temperature was already 24 C, so I threw away my singlet and rode bare-chested! I wasn't the only guy attired thus. There were several joggers, one other cyclist, and one dog-walker. Still, the sensation was pleasant ... nice and refreshing.
AS
Not to be put off, I prepared for the next event 17 hours later ... at c. 00.40 am on the 12th ... this morning. Armed with a camera, I awaited the disappearance of the bright start Regulus as the full moon passed in front of it. Again, wearing only shorts due to the heat ... would you believe 33 C degrees at 1000 m asl just after midnight ... I observed the moon for about 30 minutes, but Regulus failed to show. Maybe I was too early or late, so I despondently went to bed, but here's a picture of what I was waiting for, with Regulus shown on the right:
So, the next task is to try observe object 2016 WF9 on February 25th. Perhaps I should ask if UNE's observatory is open that evening!
We're surviving the heat OK here, but today sees a forecast record 37 C or almost 100 F. Armed with this forecast I jumped on my bike early this morning at about 6.30 am for a 17 km ride, bringing my total for the week to c. 108 km !! And, when I started the temperature was already 24 C, so I threw away my singlet and rode bare-chested! I wasn't the only guy attired thus. There were several joggers, one other cyclist, and one dog-walker. Still, the sensation was pleasant ... nice and refreshing.
AS
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