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Sun & Moon Today

JD 2460599  DoY 289  WoY 42
🔼05:48
🔽17:10

TWILIGHT
04:24~18:34
Ecl Long 203.1°
in Virgo

Full
Age 12.97 d
Phase 158.2°
Ecl Long 1.2°
in Pisces

SSE

Observable comet count is 1169

Current exoplanet count is 5766

Current longitude II of the GRS is  59°

 

Today Monitor

Planet Oppositions

Mars: January 16, 2025
Jupiter: December 7, 2024
Saturn: September 8, 2024
Uranus: November 17, 2024
Neptune: September 31, 2024

 

Greatest Elongation of Venus

Evening: January 10, 2025 at 47.2°E
Morning: June 1, 2025 at 45.9°W

 

Greatest Elongation of Mercury

Evening: December 4, 2023 at 21.3°E
Morning: January 12, 2024 at 23.5°W
Evening: March 24, 2024 at 18.7°E
Morning: May 9, 2024 at 26.4°W
Evening: July 22, 2024 at 26.9°E
Morning: September 5, 2024 at 18.1°W
Evening: November 16, 2024 at 22.5°E
Morning: December 25, 2024 at 22.0°W




Super Moons (full) 2024

Wednesday, September 18
Thursday, October 17

 

given for 00:00 UT

In Longitude (negative is western)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
09 Oct 202430.41'6.22-6.872°
10 Oct 202430.80'7.22-7.260°
11 Oct 202431.24'8.22-7.306°
12 Oct 202431.73'9.22-6.971°
21 Oct 202432.22'18.226.835°
22 Oct 202431.69'19.227.618°
23 Oct 202431.17'20.227.933°
24 Oct 202430.69'21.227.796°
25 Oct 202430.28'22.227.257°
08 Nov 202431.20'6.47-6.417°
19 Nov 202431.78'17.476.845°
20 Nov 202431.27'18.477.271°
21 Nov 202430.79'19.477.223°
22 Nov 202430.36'20.476.738°

 

In Latitude (negative is southern)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
09 Oct 202430.41'6.226.695°
10 Oct 202430.80'7.226.831°
11 Oct 202431.24'8.226.620°
21 Oct 202432.22'18.22-6.408°
22 Oct 202431.69'19.22-6.763°
23 Oct 202431.17'20.22-6.728°
05 Nov 202430.24'3.476.535°
06 Nov 202430.52'4.476.723°
07 Nov 202430.84'5.476.580°
18 Nov 202432.26'16.47-6.549°
19 Nov 202431.78'17.47-6.638°
03 Dec 202430.57'1.746.584°
04 Dec 202430.83'2.746.475°
16 Dec 202432.04'14.74-6.545°
30 Dec 202430.69'28.746.543°
31 Dec 202431.00'0.076.472°

Source: NASA/GSFC

 

Lunar Calendar 2024

Lunar Libration Calendar 2024 (PDF 11.2 MB)

View table online

Lunar Libration Calendar 2023 (PDF 3.3 MB)

 

Latest Deepsky Image

2024-10-10, TS-71SDQ 450mm, Uranus-C (IMX585), UV/IR-cut filter

 

Latest Planetary Image

2023-11-23, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter

 

Latest Movie

2023-11-23, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter, exposure 1h42m

 

Latest Wide Field Image

2024-08-26, Nikon D5500, Samyang 135mm with LPR, at f/2, 100 x 60s, ISO800

 

Latest Constellation Image

D5500, 35mm lens at f2.8, LPF, 70 x 60s, ISO800.

 

Latest Lunar Image

C8, ASI290MM, IR642 filter (July 19, 2024).

 

Latest Astro Poster

Celestron 8 x 0.63, D5500, no filters.

 

Lunar Impressions March 2024

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Click to enlarge or show full screen

 


 

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Latest STScI News Release

NASA's Hubble, New Horizons Team Up for a Simultaneous Look at Uranus

A two panel image. The left panel is Hubble's actual view of Uranus – the planet is a light blue sphere, with a white circle covering the right half of the planet (the southern pole). The right panel is the actual view of Uranus from New Horizons. The planet appears as a tiny whiteish dot.

October 09, 2024

A two panel image. The left panel is Hubble's actual view of Uranus – the planet is a light blue sphere, with a white circle covering the right half of the planet (the southern pole). The right panel is the actual view of Uranus from New Horizons. The planet appears as a tiny whiteish dot.

Source: stsci.edu/news

Tonight's Sky

Tonight's Sky | HubbleSite NOTE: You need to log in for correct data.

 

Random Objects

 

Gatria (Gam TrA) in TrA [HIP 74946]

Distance: 183 light-years, Magnitude: 2.87

Gamma Trianguli Australis represents the State of Parana on the flag of Brazil.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

GJ 411 (Lalande 21185) in Ursa Major

Distance: 8 light-years, Magnitude: 7.4

Lalande 21185 is a type-M red dwarf main sequence star with about 46% solar masses and 3383°K cool, emitting most of its energy as infrared radiation. The proportion of elements other than hydrogen and helium is estimated based on the ratio of iron to hydrogen in the star when compared to the Sun, indicating that the proportion of iron is about 63% of the Sun. Lalande 21185 is also listed as a BY Draconis type variable star in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, designated NSV 18593.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

M25 (Open Cluster) in Sagittarius

Magnitude: 14.5

Cruising along about 2,060 light-years away, M25 spans about 19 light-years across. Caught inside of its influence are four giant stars - two of spectral type M and two of type G. It contains the variable star U Sagittarii, a Delta Cephei-type, which lets us know this group of 86 or so stars may have began life together 90 million years ago.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Corona Borealis (northern), area rank: 73

A small constellation east of Bootes. Its most significant mark is the 2nd-magnitude star Alphecca which lines up with six other stars to form a semicircle. The merged shape renders the constellation relatively hard to find.

Star Chart

 

2P/Encke

Discovered in 1786, comet 2P/Encke is a short-period comet with the shortest known period of 3.3 years and nucleus 4.8 km wide. Encke's orbit is moderately inclined to the ecliptic (12°) in that the comet is often perturbed by the inner planets, rendering its orbit unstable. Encke can get as close as 26 million km to Earth. Such approaches occur about every 33 years. The last perihelion occurred on November 21st 2013. On Nov. 18th 2013, comet Encke passed within 0.025 AU of Mercury, followed a day later by Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) at 0.24 AU.

 

 

2000 CR105 (TNO/SDO)

Semi-major: 232.39674 AU, Size: 375 km

Discovered on February 6, 2000, up to 375 km wide 2000 CR105 is the forth most distant known TNO from the Sun. The object is a member of the inner Oort Cloud and moves at a maximum distance of 403.3 AU on a moderately inclined (22.8 deg) but strongly elliptical (ecc=0.8) orbit. This orbit takes the object to a perihelion at 44.03 AU from the Sun. Its orbital period is 3,345.87 years. Possibly a dwarf planet, outside the gravitational influence of Neptune, in that its orbit cannot yet be explained.

 

 

Nereid (moon of Neptune)

Discovered in 1949, Nereid is unique because it has one of the most eccentric orbits of any moon in our solar system. Nereid is so far from Neptune that it requires 360 Earth days to make one orbit. This odd orbit suggests that Nereid may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt object or that it was greatly disturbed during the capture of Neptune's largest moon Triton. Nereid's spectrum suggests water ice on its surface.

 

 

HD 1690 b (in Cetus)

Mass: 8.79 xJup
SMA: 1.36 AU
Period: 533 days
Distance: 752.615 parsec
Category: Hot Jovian
ESI: 0.114615

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗


 

Android Astronomy Apps

Android Application

Lunar Imaging App (free, no ads)

 

App Web Site (Manual and Download)

 

 

3D Visualizations

 

 

Dark Site in Morocco

Some say that the seeing is better only in space.

Click on the banner to visit the new website of SaharaSky, the first and currently only private observatory with Casbah-style *** hotel in North Africa.

 

The owner, Fritz, is a German with a life-long passion for astronomy. Then, as he felt in deep love with Morocco and its wonderful people, he built a self-contained hotel at the feet of the Sahara about 30 kilometers to the southeast of the town of Zagora entirely in the traditional southern Moroccan Casbah-style and equipped it, besides comfortable rooms, a restaurant, spa and sauna, with a rich portfolio of optical instruments and accessories for amateur astronomers.

Fritz chose the location extremely well, a truly dark site in absence of city and street lights, blessed with an average of 300 clear dry nights annually. The observatory atop the hotel building offers a 360 degrees panoramic view on 500 square meters.

Most guests are professional and amateur astronomers, but also people of all ages with affection for the fascination of the stars and the desert. From the hotel's wide roof terrace, everybody can enjoy the starry sky dominated by the arch of the Milky Way with bare eyes or with rental telescopes and cameras.

The heart and soul of SaharaSky's observatory is Patrick from Belgium, not only a senior professional astronomer, but also a talented animator and entertainer under the Saharan stars.

A stay at SaharaSky is not limited to the night sky. SaharaSky provides equipment for solar observation, but Fritz also organises desert excursions for several days, overnight or day-return treks in a 4x4 or on dromedar backs, plus guided tours to historically invaluable local sites, such as the Petroglyphs of Ait Ouazzik.

Owner and staff as a team speak Arabic, local Berber, English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.

Scotty, lock on to the coordinates of SaharaSky and beam us over!


SaharaSky owns telescopes with apertures from 40 to 400mm, such as Takahashi APOs, each of which can be saddled on high precision GM2000 mounts featuring GPS, GoTo and accurate guiding for both, visual observation and photography.

 

 

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