Thursday, January 26, 2006

HD 34750


Star
HD 34750 SAO150333 SD-10 1153
Visual Magnitude: 7.43
Color Index: 0.98
Spectral Class: F0
Dbl: 10.70"/ 0.10m
Annual Proper Motion: -0.060 0.023

J2000 RA: 5h19m21.60s DE:-10°44'51.1"
Date RA: 5h19m38.75s DE:-10°44'29.7"

Birmingham 2006-1-26 17h38m ( TU + 0h00m )
Sideral Time : 1h54m
Hour Angle : 20h35m
Azimuth :+128°05'
Altitude :+13°08'

Rise : 16h00m Azimuth:+107°03'
Culmination : 21h07m
Set : 2h13m Azimuth:+252°57'
Distance to the last object : +00°00'00.0" PA:180

0h00m00.0s +00°00'00"

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

HR1799


Star
HR 1799 HD 35536
Flamsteed Number:
Bayer Letter:
Constellation:
Visual Magnitude: 5.61
Color Index: 1.56
Spectral Class: K5III
Annual Proper Motion: -0.017 -0.022

J2000 RA: 5h25m01.60s DE:-10°19'45.0"
Date RA: 5h25m18.80s DE:-10°19'26.6"

Birmingham 2006-1-26 0h29m ( TU + 0h00m )
Sideral Time : 8h42m
Hour Angle : 3h17m
Azimuth :+230°18'
Altitude :+14°29'

Rise : 16h03m Azimuth:+106°21'
Culmination : 21h12m
Set : 2h21m Azimuth:+253°39'

Sunday, January 22, 2006

29 Orionis


This is a yellow giant Mag 4.14 star which is 174 Light Years Away. To the upper right is the bright star Tau Orionis Mag 3.60. To the bottom right one can just about see the brilliant glow of Rigel. To the top left one can just about see HR1840 and Thabit.
Using my 20x80 binoculars in the field of 29 Orionis and going from center south and then anticlockwise towards south west are
HD35261 Mag 7.58
HD35353 Mag 7.69
HR1778 Mag 5.90
HD35155 Mag 6.86
Travelling north west from there
HD34892 Mag 7.54

Although stable hydrogen gas is invisible optically, its presence is especially concentrated along the disk of our galaxy in its vast spiral arms. One such region is associated with the Orion Complex. So take some time to scan the sky due south of 3.4 magnitude Eta Orionis and note how few stars are visible between it and 4.2 magnitude 29 Orionis - some 5 and a half degrees away. Such regions are known to have high concentrations of 21 cm radiation caused by hydrogen gas that has yet to begin coalescing into new Suns such as our own.

Further details can be found at
http://www.universetoday.com/whatsup/Whats-Up-2006-365days-Q1-Jan-Feb-Mar.pdf

Observation Details for 29 Orionis
HR 1784 HD 35369 SAO 132067, BD -7 1064
Flamsteed Number: 29
Bayer Letter:
Constellation: Orion
Visual Magnitude: 4.14
Color Index: 0.96
Spectral Class: G8IIIFe-0.5
Annual Proper Motion: -0.015 -0.043

J2000 RA: 5h23m56.80s DE:-07°48'29.0"
Date RA: 5h24m14.34s DE:-07°48'10.1"

Birmingham 2006-1-22 11h01m ( TU + 0h00m )
Sideral Time : 19h00m
Hour Angle : 13h36m
Azimuth :+32°22'
Altitude :-40°34'

Rise : 16h04m Azimuth:+102°08'
Culmination : 21h27m
Set : 2h50m Azimuth:+257°52'


Further details can be found at

http://www.heavens-above.com/hipentry.asp?hip=25247
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/6425/sumstars/summap1.html
http://www.dibonsmith.com/ori_b.htm
http://www.dudeman.net/spacedog/const/s-sum.shtml

We have another 85 years to go before we discover the Zen Rigeln in the 29 Orionis star system.
http://www.ssdc.com/games/GalacticTimetable.html

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Destination Kuiper Belt





For the first time in the history of mankind, a mission to explore the outer reaches of the solar system beginning with the Kuiper Belt Objects Pluto and Charon is being launched now as I write.
The mission to explore the Astrophysical and Astrochemical properties of these icy bodies. Expected time of arrival 2015. Good Luck and Fingers Crossed for the fastest spacecraft ever launched in the history of Space Exploration.
New HorizonsTrajectory
LaunchJanuary/February 2006
NeptuneJupiterFlyby February–March 2007
Pluto SystemFlyby July 2015
Kuiper Belt Objects(Extended Mission)2016–2020

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Thabit 36 Upsilon Orionis



HR1855, HD36512, SAO132222, BD-7 1106, NSV16333
Can be found beneath Orion's Sword in between 49 Orionis and 29 Orionis

Upsilon Orionis (υ Ori / υ Orionis) is a star in the constellation Orion. It also has the traditional name Thabit (Arabic for "the imperturbable one").

What is quite distinctive about Thabit Mag 4.62 is how it is surrounded by its nearby stars to give the appearance of a sort of tetragonal pyramid in the night sky, as viewed through my binoculars at Mag8

The vertex of the pyramid would be HR1848 Mag 6.22 and the 4 base vertex points would be represented by HD36920 Mag 6.7, HD36814 Mag 6.45, HD36151 Mag 6.68, HD36285 Mag 6.33 Clockwise respectively from the lower left.

Thabit belongs to the spectral class B0V and has apparent magnitude +4.62 . Thabit is approximately 1545 light years from Earth.

Coordinates (equinox 2000)
Right ascension: 5h31m55.80s
Declination:−07°18'05.0"

Observational Details
Star
HR 1855 HD 36512
Flamsteed Number: 36
Bayer Letter: Upsilon
Constellation: Orion
Visual Magnitude: 4.62
Color Index: -0.26
Spectral Class: B0V
Annual Proper Motion: -0.001 -0.005
Thabit; Tabit

J2000 RA: 5h31m55.80s DE:-07°18'05.0"
Date RA: 5h32m13.40s DE:-07°17'50.2"

Birmingham 2006-1-22 13h43m ( TU + 0h00m )
Sideral Time : 21h43m
Hour Angle : 16h10m
Azimuth :+72°05'
Altitude :-21°36'

Rise : 16h09m Azimuth:+101°17'
Culmination : 21h35m
Set : 3h00m Azimuth:+258°43'
Distance to the last object : +00°00'00.0" PA:180

0h00m00.0s +00°00'00"

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

M82 X1 Black Hole Mass Confirmed





The mass of an Ultraluminous XRayObject namely Black Hole M82-X1 has been confirmed to be of type Middle Mass Black Holes.



Read more in the following articles



NASA Rossi XRay Timing Explorer

University Of Iowa


Wednesday, January 04, 2006

NGC 1981



I was doing some doing some observation around Orion's Sword when I challenged myself to how many stars I could pick out within the upper part of the Open Cluster OCL 525 namely NGC 1981 at 400pc(parsecs)

This can be found directly underneath Epsilon Orionis in Orion's Belt, and above Orionis 45 and Orionis 42 that fall within NGC 1975 and NGC 1973

If you look at the image

I could quite easily pick out from my 20x80 binoculars atleast half a dozen stars within this cluster including notably
HR1898 HD37040 at Magnitude 6.38 Spectral Type B2.51V
HR1891 HD37016 at Magnitude 6.24 Spectral Type B2.5V
HR1890 HD37017 at Magnitude 6.56 Spectral Type B1.5V

Still trying to find out the distance to these stars, which you can quite easily infer to be very hot Blue stars. Anyone got data on the stellar distances to NGC 1981?

Anyone Out There


From the depths of the West Midlands, out through the stratosphere into the solar orbital plane, beyond the heliopause into the interstellar medium way past the milky way, beyond the local group of galaxies out into the local virgo supercluster into the unknown void to infinitum. Is there anybody out there interested in astronomy and all things myterious and inspiring.

Happy new year or should I create an alien talk of 209 binary sequential digits that can be translated into a prime number grid 11by19
For example have a look at this great article

I hope to share some of my finds of the deep sky with all so welcome to my world!