Astronomy from Galloway Forest Park

Just come back from a great week in Scotland, specifically Galloway Forest Park which is noted for status as Britain's First Dark Sky Park.

Another picture here represents the same area with statistical observing information all year round

The night sky observing from this part of the world was absolutely amazing, as it offers some of the darkest skies in the world  ie very near Bortle Scale 1

The above diagram shows the gradation of night sky observing as one moves outwards from inner city areas towards suburaban and eventually to rural landscapes.

In Galloway Forest Park one can actually see The Milky Way background with the naked eye, giving the observer the opportunity to see up to 7000 stars.  A Dark-Sky Park is one where the darkness level reaches it’s lowest point on land, recorded as Bortle 2 (darkness levels of Bortle 1 are only recorded on the ocean). The result is seen in this photograph: around 7000 stars are visible from Galloway Forest Park compared to the few hundred you can see from most cities.

I can vividly remember seeking the dark lane called the Great Rift that separated the milky way galactic disk starting from the Cygnus Rift and broadening out into the galactic center near Sagittarius and tailing off into 2 separate bands, into Serpens Cauda and Sagitta respectively.

I spent most nights viewing from a Cottage in Laurieston, just on the edge of the Forest Park, with either

Naked Eye Vision
Aid of my x80 Binoculars
and once with the aid of
Jim's TAL-2 6 inch Newtonian Reflector (observational data here)

Observing the Night Sky with Jim and Astro my German Shepherd Puppy.

The night sky viewing was assited with the aid of some Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Whisky, from the highest mainland distillery in Wick,Scotland, a much needed dram, the early morning before our hike up Scotland's 2nd Highest Hill The Merrick

The views were splendid, and we got a clear view of the Andromeda Galaxy similar to the image shown here

An amazing sight considering it is one of the furthest objects humankind have been viewing with the naked eye, a phenomenal 2.2 Million Light Years away!
What was also amazing was chance to view some of the remaining meteors from the Perseid Meteor shower, which had already peaked a few days before our arrival



and finally some of the many satellites available to see with the unaided eye, moving against the backdrop of the fixed stars.

A great piece of software for identifying which satellites will flyby your observation area is

SpaceWeather.com

Location: Wolverhampton, Wol

Latitude: 52.6

Longitude: -2.1

All times displayed are local.

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude SL-16 R/B 02:18:24 am NNW 02:22:44 28° 3.9 (dim) SL-16 R/B 04:02:13 am NNW 04:07:24 81° 2.0 (visible) SL-16 R/B 08:44:02 pm W 08:49:03 31° 3.6 (dim) ISS 09:18:27 pm SSW 09:20:32 26° -2.0 (very bright) Idefix and Ariane 42B 10:25:20 pm SSE 10:30:28 61° 2.3 (visible) H-2A R/B 11:11:28 pm E 11:15:41 45° 2.8 (visible)

Note the visibility of the ISS
The International Space Station is the biggest, brightest object orbiting Earth. The station's solar arrays span 240-feet from tip to tip, almost as wide as a football field. The ISS outshines Venus; only the sun and Moon are brighter

Tracking ISS Flybys using Web 2.0 Mashup Twisst

In order to use this service, you will need a Twitter account

Twisst
is a mashup, combining several data sources to send out the ISS alerts. Here's an explanation of how it all works.

1. First, Twisst asks Twitter.com which twitter users are following the @twisst account and what location these people have entered in their Twitter profile.
2. Next, these locations are ‘geocoded’. This means Twisst tries to find out what the geographic coordinates are for each location. Google Maps is used for this, or, when Google can't figure out the right coordinates, Yahoo.
3. When coordinates are found for the Twitter user, Twisst goes to the website www.heavens-above.com to see when ISS will fly over at those coordinates.
4. To find out what the local time is for the @twisst follower, Twisst asks the geographic database Geonames in which time zone the location is.
5. So, every time the International Space Station is coming, Twisst sends the follower an alert throught Twitter. It announces when ISS will pass, at the users local time. Also Twisst tells whether it is a remarkable nice one or not - so how bright and how high the space station will be on that pass.

Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

On 22nd Auguts 2007 I wrote a post
Google Astronomy about another software provider for Astronomy boarding the bandwagon GoogleSky.
Well after initial concerns, admittedly GooGleSky has now become my favourite virtual software online observatory, and taken over from my previous favourite for a few years namely Cartes Du Ciel

That is until today, when I read on BBCNews that Microsoft have launched their WorldWide Telescope and I must say it is brilliant!


So what do I like about this new Software.

[1] Real Time axial rotation of background night against Earth's rotational spin in real time.
[2] Imagery drop down box that allows you at click of a button to see background view using a multitude of telescopes/observatories/space satellites in near real time.
[3] A dashboard of deep sky images that gets updated in near real time on the bottom pane as you scroll through the universe.

as well as maps of fields of view and constellation placement against celestial spehere.

As an astronomy buff I'm chuffed!

Then to add joy to happiness there is another drop down box that allows you to switch from sky view to earth view, so that you can cruise around different villages in detail as if on holiday!

So to summarise

Silver Cord Temporary BiDirectional Wormhole to Parallel Universe

The Silver Cord connects the astral body(consciousness) to the physical body during an NDE, whilst the entity experiences an atemporal panoramic life review through holographic karmic projections from the Akashic Library during the encounter with Akasha aka The Divine Light, wherby the life review is during an instanton, wherby subjective responses towards emotional actions are portrayed from recipients back to the manifestor of the emotion for objective insight.

Does this connectivity facilitate through a temporary wormhole to a parallel universe?

What is the physics of this parallel universe and what are the quantum mechanical implications if this parallel universe can coexist with ours.

The severence of the silver cord represents the transition point from an NDE to death and the travel is irreversible back into the physical body, hence why I say that the silver chord acts as a temporary bidirectional wormhole to the parallel universe. However severence implies that travel is one way outwards towards the parallel universe.

The confusing part for me is where are the permanent wormholes that allow for conscious entities to connect from the parallel universe to ours. Are these within compactified dimensions?

What is the physics for permamnent wormhole connectivity between the two universes.
In this multiverse scenario what are the difference in physics.
Our physics is baryonic. Is the parallel universe necessarily non baryonic?

M33 X7 SuperMassive Black Hole

The main component of this graphic is an artist's representation of M33 X-7, a binary system in the nearby galaxy M33. In this system, a star about 70 times more massive than the Sun (large blue object) is revolving around a black hole.

This black hole is almost 16 times the Sun's mass, a record for black holes created from the collapse of a giant star. Other black holes at the centers of galaxies are much more massive, but this object is the record-setter for a so-called "stellar mass" black hole.

Ramanujan's Galaxy NGC 4104

In the course of the ROSAT all-sky survey the S0 galaxy NGC 4104 was
found to be a surprisingly strong X-ray source with a luminosity of 1.6
10^42erg/sec. S0 galaxies are generally found to be weak radio and X-ray
sources. The observed high X-ray luminosity hints at the presence of
either a low-luminosity Seyfert nucleus or large amounts of hot
ionized gas in NGC 4104, both of which would also be unexpected for an
S0 galaxy.

NGC 4104, is my second classification of galaxies within the category of Ramanujan Doubles.



Since then, integer solutions to:

I^3 + J^3 = K^3 + L^3

have been called “Ramanujan Numbers” more specifically Ramanujan Doubles.

Astrophysical data for NGC 4104 is as follows:

Observation and Astrometry data
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Right ascension: 12h06m38.80s
Declination: +28°10'25.0"
Aparent dimensions: 2.512′ × 1.148′

Catalogs and designations:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proper Names (Edit)
NGC 2000.0 NGC 4104
HYPERLEDA-I PGC 38407


Galaxy
NGC 4104 UGC 7099
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Dimension: 2.6'x 1.6'
Magnitude: 12.10
Surface Brightness: 13.40
Description: pB
pS;lE;bM H II 370

J2000 RA: 12h06m36.00s DE:+28°10'00.0"
Date RA: 12h06m59.83s DE:+28°07'23.7"

Birmingham 2007-10-21 10h12m ( TU + 1h00m )
Sideral Time : 11h02m
Hour Angle : 22h55m
Azimuth :+147°18'
Altitude :+62°49'

Rise : 2h16m Azimuth:+38°05'
Culmination : 11h18m
Set : 20h21m Azimuth:+321°55'
Distance to the last object : +00°00'00.0" PA:180

0h00m00.0s +00°00'00"

Ramanujan's Galaxy NGC 1729

The number 1729 is called the Hardy-Ramanujan number, and it is the smallest nontrivial Taxicab number, i.e., the smallest natural number representable in two ways as a sum of two cubes:
1729 = Ta(2) = 13 + 123 = 93 + 103.

The nth taxicab number Ta(n) is the smallest natural number representable in n ways as a sum of positive cubes.

The number derives its name from the following story G. H. Hardy told about Ramanujan.





"Once, in the taxi from London, Hardy noticed its number, 1729.

He must have thought about it a little because he entered the room where Ramanujan lay in bed and, with scarcely a hello, blurted out his disappointment with it.

It was, he declared, 'rather a dull number,' adding that he hoped that wasn't a bad omen. 'No, Hardy,' said Ramanujan, 'it is a very interesting number.

It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two [positive] cubes in two different ways.'"
Nowadays, the Taxicab numbers are given by:
Ta(1) = 2
Ta(2) = 1729
Ta(3) = 87539319
Ta(4) = 6963472309248
Ta(5) = 48988659276962496
The sixth taxicab number is strongly believed but not yet proven to be 24153319581254312065344.
Visit to keep you informed.

1729 is the third Carmichael number and the first absolute Euler pseudoprime.

1729 is a Zeisel number. It is a centered cube number, as well as a dodecagonal number, a 24-gonal and 84-gonal number.

Investigating pairs of distinct integer-valued quadratic forms that represent every integer the same number of times, Schiemann found that such quadratic forms must be in four or more variables, and the least possible discriminant of a four-variable pair is 1729 (Guy 2004).

Because in base 10 the number 1729 is divisible by the sum of its digits, it is a Harshad number. It also has this property in octal (1729 = 33018, 3 + 3 + 0 + 1 = 7) and hexadecimal (1729 = 6C116, 6 + C + 1 = 1910), but not in binary.

1729 has another interesting property: the 1729th decimal place is the beginning of the first occurrence of all ten digits consecutively in the decimal representation of the transcendental number e, although, of course, this fact would not have been known to either mathematician, since the computer algorithms used to discover this were not implemented until much later.[2]

Masahiko Fujiwara showed that 1729 is one of four natural numbers (the others are 81 and 1458 and the trivial case 1) which, when its digits are added together, produces a sum which, when multiplied by its reversed self, yields the original number:

1 + 7 + 2 + 9 = 19
19 · 91 = 1729
Fujiwara claimed that he proved there are only four numbers that have the property. Even though it seems to be true, he never has shown his proof.

Further 1729 Trivia

Even Further 1729 Trivia
concerning e transcendental number and Richard Feynmann's japanese abacus competition

Galaxy
PGC16529 NGC 1729
Class: .SAS5..
Dimension: 1.6/ 1.3'
Blue Magnitude:
Color Index:
Surface Brightness:
Radial Velocity: 3553

J2000 RA: 5h00m15.70s DE:-03°21'10.0"
Date RA: 5h00m39.10s DE:-03°20'29.8"

Birmingham 2007-10-21 10h12m ( TU + 1h00m )
Sideral Time : 11h02m
Hour Angle : 6h01m
Azimuth :+268°13'
Altitude :-02°12'

Rise : 22h26m Azimuth:+94°45'
Culmination : 4h12m
Set : 9h58m Azimuth:+265°15'
Distance to the last object : +00°00'00.0" PA:180

0h00m00.0s +00°00'00"

Indexing The Akashic Records

The Ultimate Search Engine Architecture of The Akashic Records has got to be the most monumental task for mankind.

Crawl->Index->Search

What is the process of crawling the Akashic Records?

If the Akashic Records are unstructured, then surely the best way to minimize entropy is to index the Akashic Records so that search can efficiently find information from a more ordered system.

Who/What is capable of the indexing process?

This is impossible from a temporal perspective and can only be achieved via a dimesnion that admits atemporal characteristics.

Equations of The Akashic Records

The set of thoughts

{i=i1 ....i=iN ....i=i∞} for all events,

where each event may be perceived up to N unique times where
1<=N<=∞,

is most likely the Universal Set of thoughts namely the Akashic Library of thoughts.

Which reminds me, I need to get up to speed with Ervwin Laszlo

The Karmic Projections are just a subset of this Akashic Library.

A more verbose set of equations can be found here

Higher Dimension Theory

I have ecently been reading around the "life review" that is presented holographically and panoramically and most importantly atemporal.

It is the atemporal characteristic of the life review which is a projection of the karmic records from the akashic library, through vivid panoramic holographs that are the most fascinating experiences that people witness during NDEs.

The independent and objective interpretation of the consequences of your thoughts expoerienced by others is testimony to information persistence outside the physical dimensions.

I have been told that ancestors through thought can coexist with us in parallel universes and yet we cannot see them.

I propose that information via consciousness is a dimension of its own, ie the information dimension, can be tapped via sub and super consciousness and even after death(physical)

Experiment
The same 4 dimensional event can be perceived differently through thought by different observers coexisting in the same reference frame, hence information could be a possible higher dimesnion.


Two representations of Event1, with corrdinates t,x,y,z,i
t=temporal dimension
x,y,z = spatial dimensions
i = information dimension

where t,x,y,z are the same for 2 events ie the same event at the same time and place.

t=t1, x=x1,y=y1,z=z1, i=i1
t=t1, x=x1,y=y1,z=z1, i=i2

ie the same event carries 2 different informations?

Maybe information can be represented by more than one dimension?

Does that cover some of the compactified non physical dimensions somehow?

Some dimesnions for thought here...

Physical Spatial
1 x=x1
2 y=x2
3 z=x3

Temporal Dimensions
1 t=t1=SingleExperience=MyEvent
2 t=tN=MultipleExperiences=MyEvents =atemporal ie Life Review

Information
1 i1=Thought= Event Based Present
2 i2=Wisdom=SomeoneElse's Event Past/Present
3 i3=Virtue=?

Maybe I should do a PhD if I win the lottery?

50 Years In Space

On October 4th 1957, Sputnik 1 was launched into Space and made history.

A journey that began in May 27th 1954 and the rest is history.




Amongst the greatest Pioneers in Rocketry was an American Robert Hutchings Goddard 1882-1945.

The development of liquid-propellant rockets began during the decade from 1920 to 1930. The first successful liquid-propellant rocket, built by Goddard, was launched in 1926 near Auburn.

Although most of the scientists who pioneered in the field of liquid-propellant rockets used gasoline as a propellant




Amongst the greatest Pioneers in Rocketry was a Russian Konstantin Eduuardovitch Tsiolkovsky 1857-1935

One of the propellant combinations that Tsiolkovsky favored, used commonly today in launch vehicles, was liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen because it produces a particularly high exhaust velocity. This factor, the rocket equation reveals, helps determine the maximum speed that a spacecraft of given mass can reach. There was the problem of converting hydrogen, especially, into liquid; yet, to begin with, Tsiolkovsky brushed this aside. He did note, however, that: “The hydrogen may be replaced by a liquid or condensed hydrocarbon; for example, acetylene or petroleum.”

His rocket equation led him to another important realization:
If a single-stage rocket is to attain cosmic velocity it must carry an immense store of fuel. Thus, to reach the first cosmic velocity [his term for the speed needed to enter Earth orbit], 8 km/s, the weight of fuel must exceed that of the whole rocket (payload included) by at least four times... The stage principle, on the other hand, enables us either to obtain high cosmic velocities, or to employ comparatively small amounts of propellant components.
The concept of the multistage rocket had been known to firework-makers for at least two centuries. But Tsiolkovsky was the first to analyze it in depth, and he concluded that it was the only feasible way of enabling a spacecraft to escape from the Earth’s gravity.

Amongst the greatest Pioneers in Rocketry was a German Wernher Von Braun 1912 - 1977



Von Braun selected nitric acid/hydrazine propellants, perhaps as a result of the same Peenemuende research that influenced the French team. Von Braun made significant advances in refining Rocket Design over the years.




All these great pioneers laid foundation of the History of Rocket Science.

Space without Space

Well we have discussed Dark Energy with regards to the underlying expansion of the Universe, but Dark Matter has recently come back on the radar with this new discovery of a Billion Light Year Void in the Universe in the region of Eridanus. This void is not only void of normal matter but also void of dark matter. The cold spots arise from the loss of energy as CMB photon counts as they pass through this reqion.

Mystery Tour Of the Universe Episode 1

I have been comparing the limits of my favourite freeware astronomy software Cartes Du Ciel,

with the new astronomy add on for Google Earth,



and also with another online resource namely Data Release 6 of SDSS



which is approximately 16Tb of data.
And I am impressed with the results of my investigation which take me to the limit of 21 magnitude observational astronomy using these software.
So I decided to pick a special point in the sky to compare.

Starting Point
Start at Pisces directly below Pegasus Square and zoom due south.




Zoom past below Seyfert Galaxy NGC7742


Zoom past towards the Polygon asterism within Pisces denoted by stars
Gamma,Theta,Iota,Lambda,Kappa Pisces
Zoom towards a Skewed Rhombus denoted by stars

CGCS 5928(NW)aka
19 Psc
HD223075
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 589-1671-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20488086
BSC 1991 HR 9004
HIP117245
at Visual Magnitude 5.30,

XZ8Q 32002(NE) aka
22 Psc
HD223719
SAO128427
HIPH117683
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 590-329-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20511366
BSC 1991 HR 9033
HIP117683
at Visual Magnitude 5.59 and distance 1087.2 light years,

XZ8Q 32064(SW)aka
XZ Psc aka HD224062
SAO146973
HIPH117887
at Visual Magnitude 5.78 and distance 652.3 light years,

XZ8Q 31958(SE) aka
21 Psc
WDS23495+0105
HD223438
SAO128401
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 586-1293-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20500547
BSC 1991 HR 9022
HIP117491
at Visual Magnitude 5.77 and distance 271.8 light years

These group of 4 stars forming a skewed Rhombus point NE towards Pisces Polygon Western Side containing stars Iota and Lambda Piscium.

Zoom into the Rhombus and Zoom past a belt similar to Orion’s Belt denoted by stars

XZ8Q 32025 aka
25 Psc
WDS23531+0205
HD223855
SAO128436
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 587-1273-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20516100
BSC 1991 HR 9042
HIP117774
at Visual Magnitude 6.29 and Distance 465.9 light years,

XZ8Q 31988
aka
HD223617
SAO128417
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 587-949-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20507649
HIPH117607
at Visual Magnitude 6.96 and Distance 652.3 light years,

XZ8Q 31950 aka
HD223346
WDS23488+0213
SAO128393
TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 586-272-1
USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 0900-20497891
BSC 1991 HR 9015
HIPH117445
at Visual Magnitude 6.47 and Distance 181.2 light years


Zoom downwards through the Rhombus toward a group of stars similar to Orion’s Sword denoted by stars
ASCC 1184742, ASCC 1184797 split by a galaxy NGC7783 aka Galaxy PGC72803 MCG 0-60- 58
pointing towards the lowest point of Rhombus denoted by star XZ8Q 32064

Zoom to the center of the triangulation of NGC7783, IC1515-17, IC5385
Zoom into this center until NGC7783, IC1515-17, IC5385 go out of view
Near this center find two Pleidaes type shining stars aligned on a diagonal denoted by stars
ASCC 1185089, ASCC 1263991
Zoom past these two Pleidaes type shining stars and let them travel south of you as you travel north of them towards a another group of two shining stars on a parallel denoted by stars
ASCC 1185088 aka V_USNOB 0899-0000043 aka E_USNOA U0825 00000615
ASCC 1263996 aka V_USNOB 0899-0627221
that sit between PGC 10 north and PGC 7 south
Zoom past these two shining stars on a parallel and let them travel south of you as you travel north of them and north of PGC 10
Zoom past PGC 10 and let it travel south of you as you travel north towards a another group of stars forming an Equilateral Triangle
This Equilateral Group of stars contains
E_USNOA U0825_00000501 Bottom Right
E_USNOA U0900_00000603 Vertex
E_USNOA U0825_00000738 Bottom Left=V_USNOB 0899-0000051
Zoom past these group of stars forming an Equilateral Triangle and let them travel west of you
ie let star E_USNOA U0825_00000738=V_USNOB 0899-0000051 travel to the west of you as you zoom in
ie and then let star E_USNOA U0825_00000501 travel to the west of you as you zoom in
Zoom past star V_USNOB 0900-0000004 and travel to the north west of you as you zoom in
Zoom until all stars are out of view both North, West, South, and East and stop just before you see the next stars namely
V_USNOB 0900-0618271 North East
V_USNOB 0900-0618263 North East
V_USNOB 0899-0627211 South East
Finishing Point
You are now in a stellar void at magnitude 21
Where are you?

99942 Apophis 2029

Well in December 2004 there were false rumours about an asteroid impact on the scale of the KT extinction 65 million years ago.



Data has now been refined, to ascertain the vicinity of the flyby and we are safe, so we say.




This is a great introductory link to Apophis for background reading on impact probabilities in 2036, and the



Torino Scale World Record


The purpose of this short post is to provide a portal of links to Near Earth Asteroid Projects and Web Resources.

NEO JPL
NEOIBO
NEAR JHUAPL
NEA IMPACT
SOLAR SYSTEM MAP
NEA GUIDE
NASM
JPL LINEAR
LINEAR
LPL
PROJECTWATCH
FAULKES
NEOPROJECT
PLANETARY NEO LIST
PLANETARY NEO PROJECTS
EARN
NEAT

Google Enters Astronomy ERA

Well I have been using CDC Cartes Du Ciel for the past few years. GoogleSky is interesting in that it superimposes

[1] Wikipedia Articles on Astronomical Entities
[2] Colour Mosaics are superimposed

My only initial concern is lack of detailed database data, which CDC covers ok, ie you can interface into a billion plus stars.
Will look into taking external data just out of interest.

Cosmo Chanian Bids Farewell

12 years ago this time, we went to Rugeley to buy a KCGB registered pedigree German Shepherd dog. We observed a litter of dogs in a living room, and the biggest and woolliest and cutest puppy went running towards us with paws the size of a junor tiger. We knew straight away that this dog was the right one to build a bond of love with our family so we bought the dog as a wedding present to ourselves for the princely sum of £400 in those days. Money well worth spent.

When we took the dog home to our parents, we did not have to spend too much time in deciding upon a name. The dog kept gazing towards the stars, so we named him COSMO. Cosmo grew to full size in next to 10 months eating chappattis, chicken and lamb curry cooked by mum and dad, and bones the size of dinosaurs!

He had the growl of a lion, and the look of admiration and curiosity and happinness that will always remain in our memories forever.

Cosmo, grew up into a well respected adult dog, and was respected by all who approached him from near and far, and loved the children and family who grew up with him over the years. His fondest objects was for sure the football(s) that he managed to chew through.

He loved his country walks at the back of lower penn, sedgely and towards baggeridge fields near gospel end. The sights of Cosmo hopping in and out of sight in the corn fields in the summer days when he fetched objects will be cherished forever.

His last family walk was last Sunday with the kids, hopping through the fields and ending up at the Barley Mow pub and back home again, via the tadpole pond. The last few days his back legs and hips gave in through hereditary factors, and we said goodbye to our beloved pet yesterday evening.

I held his head as his spirit left and went to those who came to collect him from the spiritual world. I hope Cosmo is free and happy wherever and whoever he is with, because I know he will be happy and free from the pain of recent days.

We will always love you Cosmo, and pay tribute to your loyalty to our family. This loyalty is priceless and far exceeds any humane human trait that we will ever experience in our lifetime.

A dog is a man's best friend. So true, so virtuous and so proverbial. We are humbled by your departure and this void will be irreplacable. God Bless you Cosmo xxx

HD81361 Near Saturn

Was observing the ecliptic and taking advantage of the Solar System availablke in the evening sky tonight. The Moon was out in Leo near full moon. Soon it will be Blue Moon, ie 2 Full Moons in 1 calendar year. To the right was Alpha Leonis, and to the right of that was Saturn, halfway between Leo and Gemini, next to Cancer which holds the Beehive Cluster.

Whilst observing Saturn my focus shifted towards
HD 81361 aka HR 3736 located about 270 Light Years away.

Astrophysics available here


Observation Details
Star
ASCC 861944
Visual Magnitude: 6.29
Blue Magnitude: 7.29
Spectral Class: G9III:
Proper Motion in Right ascension: -0.082
Proper Motion in Declination: -0.024
Parallax: 0.0121
Distance: 269.6 light years
TYC:1403016501
HIP: 46232
HD: 81361
DM: 1702078

J2000 RA: 9h25m32.55s DE:+16°35'08.3"
Date RA: 9h25m57.12s DE:+16°33'12.5"

Birmingham 2007-5-24 23h03m ( TU + 1h00m )
Sideral Time : 14h04m
Hour Angle : 4h38m
Azimuth :+264°03'
Altitude :+25°34'

Rise : 10h53m Azimuth:+61°16'
Culmination : 18h29m
Set : 2h04m Azimuth:+298°44'
Distance to the last object : +00°00'00.0" PA:180

Biography of GRB 060218

At 03:34:30 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 060218A(trigger=191157). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA,Dec 50.404, +16.866 deg {RA 03h 21m 37s, DEC +16d 51' 58"} (J2000) with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The TDRSS lightcurve shows nothing, which is consistent and common for an image trigger.

The XRT began taking data at 03:37:04 UT, 153 seconds after the BAT trigger. The XRT on-board centroid algorithm did not find a source in the image and no prompt position is available. We are waiting for down-linked data to detect and determine a position for the source.

The UVOT began taking data 152 seconds after the BAT trigger. There is an indication of an afterglow candidate at RA,Dec RA 03h 21m 39.8s,DEC +16d 52' 06" +/- 1 arcsec with an estimated B magnitude of 19.4.

The orbiting NASA telescope Swift picked up the gamma-ray burst (GRB) in a star-forming galaxy about 440 million light years away, towards the constellation of Aries. As it swivelled in the direction of the blast, Swift also relayed its discovery to major ground-based and space-based observatories. The combined data from their sensors has been pieced together to give a picture about what happened over the next 17 days.
GRBs have long been associated with the aftermath of supernovae. They are typically huge releases of energy. In a few seconds, they can spew out more energy than the sun will do in its entire expected lifetime of 10 billion years. This GRB was highly unusual. It lasted almost 40 minutes, whereas a typical GRB only lasts a few milliseconds or tens of seconds at the most, and it was remarkably weak, too - a mild type of GRB known as an X-ray flash.

The astronomers believe that this burst was a high-energy jet that pierced through the doomed star from its collapsing core. In essence, it was sending out a warning that a supernova was imminent. Suddenly, as the GRB faded away, the massive star blew itself into smithereens, sending out a "slightly aspherical" shock wave that rocketed across the galaxy. The star's glowing remains were confirmed optically two days later and classified as supernova SN 2006aj. Britain's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) operates an ultra-violet/optical telescope aboard Swift.
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