Welcome all to the August edition of Planet Watch. This article below is part of ORBITS - the AANSW monthly Newsletter Download ORBITS Sept 2008

Welcome to October edition of Planet Watch, this month sky watching starts early. Starting in the western evening twilight just as the Sun sets the sky will be illuminated with Mars very low to the horizon and soon to be under the Sun’s beams. Just above the glowing warlord are the brilliants of both the new crescent Moon and Venus shining as bright beacons of the twilight. Be early though as this will be at its best on the 1st of the month.
 
Following the sky upwards culminating high above is the unmistakable beauty of the majestic night lord Jupiter, on the 7th the 1st quarter moon comes very close to his excellence, a sight worthy of our attention.

On the other side of the Dome with darkness moving to daylight in the East we have the re-a-emerging time lord Saturn. The time lord rises around 04:15 AEST on the 25th and through to the 27th you can catch the waning crescent Moon just below the time lord.

The Eastern morning dawn also sees the very elusive and I mean hard see Mercury, Mercury is separating from an inferior conjunction with the Sun. The planet is not well placed but if the sunrise is stable with no cloud you may catch a glimpse on the 24th. This date is the best it gets for the morning viewing with the waning Moon also conjunct the Royal fix star Regulus, another worthy sight to behold.

One final note for NSW sky watchers note the time changes this month as I am sure daylight saving starts the first week of the month. Pleasant viewing

August Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to the August edition of Planet Watch, this month featuring Venus as the ‘Star’. The month starts off with a Total Solar Eclipse on the 1st @ 20:12hr AEST.

This eclipse is not visible here in Oz, although there is a great viewing moment just prior to this event. Mars is setting in the western evening twilight here in Sydney at the exact time of the eclipse. You can get a look at the warlord sinking into the abyss from sunset until 8:00pm AEST.

Mercury makes a return to the evening sky late in the month around the 17th the planet slowly emergences from the western sunset to shine in the evening twilight by month’s end.

The star for August is Venus making her return to night, (its rightful place), shining brilliantly in the evening sky. Both Mercury and Venus make their return around the 17th with a rewarding dance together from the 19th – 21st. You need to be early to catch this twilight show from 18:00hr - 18:20hr AEST this dance last 20 minutes, so if the sky is clear don’t miss this amazing sight.

A truly special event to be viewed is on the 13th of August, but you do need to be somewhere out of the city lights. This is the dance of Venus, the lady of the night as she encounters Mercury and Saturn for two afternoons. The 13th and 14th will need to cloud free at around 17:00hr AEST in the west just above the horizon for you to be able to watch this show until both sink into the dark abyss around 18:00hr AEST.

Mars will be setting not long after, so folks this is a great month for sky watchers to get out and take a break and watch the cosmos show off its main stars.

The month ends with a Partial Lunar Eclipse on the 17 August. You can catch a glimpse of this event when the Moon sinks into the west at sunrise 05:50hrs AEST on the western horizon.

July Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to July edition of planet watch. This month starts with Mercury in poor position for good viewing, the planet is moving towards superior conjunction at months end and is not visible until early August when it will reappear in the western sky.

Venus on the other hand will reappear from under the Sun’s glare around the 17th onwards and should make for great viewing in the western evening twilight where she is happiest.

Mars is the big mover this month, the fire warlord is moving to conjunct first with the royal fixed star Regulus on the evening of the 2nd July Mars in the western sky not too far up from the horizon. Then from the 9th to the 11th July Mars will make its long awaited conjunction with Saturn, again you can catch this action packed event in the early evening western sky just after sunset.

Jupiter is in opposition to the sun all month and makes a great viewing as he rises up out of the ocean around sunset on the eastern seaboard from the 5th July onwards and slowly rises higher in the sky each day.

Finally early in the morning sky to the southeast between the constellation of Aries and Taurus you can catch a glimpse of a rare time traveller Comet Boattini. The 67,000yr visitor will be around 6:00 magnitude from around 04:00hr AEST on July 1st and 2nd if the weather is good and you have the aid of a telescope or good binoculars.

June Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to June edition of planet watch your eye in the sky. Mercury this month is in inferior conjunction (between earth and the Sun) on the 8th, lost to our view. The planet is currently retrograding, which commenced on the 27th of May, with planet moving direct again on June 21st. (Solstice day; either of the times when the Sun is farthest from the equator, on or about 21 June or 21 December. The summer solstice falls in June in the northern hemisphere but in December in the southern hemisphere and vice versa for the winter solstice). We will have to wait until early July before we get a look at the elusive mover again.

Venus on the other hand is in superior conjunction with the Sun on the 9th (Venus and Earth on opposite sides of the Sun). Venus remains hidden in the Sun’s glare until July 21st when she will reappear in the evening twilight. Venus’ superior conjunction with the Sun will not happen again until 2016, as Venus has a synodic cycle of 8 years.

Mars is still visible in the early evening night sky and is currently on route to conjunct first with the fixed star Regulars and then with Saturn, an event not to miss.

Jupiter is moving backwards against the starry night at present and will remain so until early September, the planet is in great position with its opposition coming up to view in the early evening sky. Jupiter rises in the East not long after Sun set (Opposition) and remains high in the sky all night.

As mentioned Saturn is not too far from Mars at present so find Mars  just before he sets at around 20:00hr AEST and look up and you should spot Saturn.

Finally check the following info out as you may be able to get a view of this distant traveller if things go well and you have the right gear, i.e. telescope and are prepared to get up early on or around 05:00hrs from June 18th through to early July. Look to the northeast on the horizon and follow this story for more info...

May Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to May edition and your eye the sky. As I reported last month Mercury and the Sun had a solar meeting, Mercury is now reappearing in the North Western twilight sky in the constellation of Taurus. The best time to catch a glimpse of this elusive trickster is mid-month when the planet is at its greatest elongation east of the Sun (22 degrees on the 14th). This eastern elongation is not that good though as the planet quickly turns back towards the Sun at the month’s end. Mercury however does have an encounter this month with Ceres on the 22nd, so if you have a good telescope you might get to view this meeting.

Venus, as also reported last month is on its way to a superior conjunction with the Solar Luminary (Sol) in early June. As a result Venus is lost to the morning glare of the leading light as it rapidly approaches this meeting. The brightest planet of the sky will grace us with her rightful place in the evening sky in July.

Mars is on the move with the planet now gaining rapid pace and is moving through Cancer and will be visible during the early evening up until 21:00hr AEST. The warlord will be travelling through Beehive, one of the antiquity clusters this month. This can be seen more easily in unpopulated areas. The planet has lost its red glow as it approaches its aphelion (the point most distance in its orbit around the Sun) on the 13th May.

Jupiter rises this month around the same time as Mars sets and is visible most of the night. Watch this month as the thunder bolts appear! The prince starts its retrograde motion on the 10th, with its path reversal against the night sky. This motion happens to the outer planets when they move from their trine to opposition.

Saturn can be seen above Mars this month setting in the west around 23:00hr AEST. As reported last month, Saturn is very close to the Royal fixed star Regulus. This makes it easy to locate Saturn, as the planet is almost motionless in the night sky. Until next we meet, look upwards to find the glory!

April Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to your eye in the sky for April. This month we start with Mercury still visible in the early dawn sky below Venus. The elusive trickster is becoming hard to spot though as the planet moves toward a superior conjunction with the Sun (Mercury and Earth on opposite sides of the Sun) on the 16th. Mercury then returns to the evening sky, however, is not good for evening viewing. I hope you caught a look last month, as it will be quite some time before we see Mercury shine again.

Venus continues its early morning show this month, however, like Mercury, is poised to lose its shine as it heads towards a superior conjunction in early June.

Mars is on the move as I mentioned last month after its 72 day backward motion, with the red sky lord moving into top gear (which it loves) this month, heading on past the Gemini twins, fixed stars Castor and Pollux. You can catch the planet on the move in the early evening western sky from Sunset until midnight.

Saturn too is visible in the western evening sky, a little higher than Mars and setting around 02:00hr. The time lord is moving very slowly in a backward motion towards another encounter with the Royal star Regulus in early May. The next 6 weeks or so is a great time to view the old man of the sky as he meanders around Regulus.

Updates on the space missions: NASA’s Messenger probe, ėnroute to Mercury, made its second of two gravitational slingshots around Venus on June 4th, 2007. Messenger conducted joint observations of Venus with the Venus express during the flyby.

It is now on its way to Mercury and is expected to encounter the elusive planet again in October after its first flyby in January 2008. Messenger, will flyby again in September 2009 and remains in orbit until 2011.

Venus express has been doing the rounds of Venus for about 500 days now and is sending surprising new info back. For more information on these probes try www.space.com, until next month stay safe and enjoy the wonderful sights of this universe.

© Gregory Clare 2007

March Planet Watch 2008

Welcome to your eye in the sky for 2008, the year begins for Astrologers’ & Astronomers’ on the 20th of March. The Earth is at its spring equinox (Northern Hemisphere) an observer on the equator will see the Sun rise due East and set due West. This is the time when day and night are equal.

Planetary observations this month are rewarding for the early riser, from the months beginning you can catch some awesome sights.

Mercury the elusive trickster is at its greatest elongation west of the Sun on the 3rd. This makes for great viewing in the early morning sky. Starting from the 1st of the month Mercury and Venus are rising ahead of the Sun. The two will remain close together until the 12th, if you get the chance don’t miss this morning dance starting around 05:00 AEDT, it will be quite a show as the emerging Sun light cast brilliant rays onto these already glowing planets.

At the same time as Mercury and Venus are rising out of the depths of the Ocean (literally speaking because Neptune will be with them) the great time Lord Saturn will be sinking into the western abyss and Jupiter will be culminating on the Midheaven. On the 5th and 6th of March around 05:00hr you can catch the 27 day-old waning crescent of the Moon, which will weave a path through Mercury and Venus. From the 10th until the 22nd you can see the splendour of the waxing Moon in the Western sky, with the 11th and 12th making great viewing.

Mars is on the move once again after having spent 72 days moving backwards against the starry night, you can catch the fire god high in the western sky all month, although the warlord is losing his glow.

Finally on the 20th of March around 02:30hr AEDT in the western sky close to the horizon you can observe the 13 day old Gibbous Moon with Saturn and the Royal star Regulus.

November Planet Watch 2007

This month feature is Mars; the planet will be glowing in the early morning skies.

Mercury makes its return to the dawn skies this month after attaining its greatest elongation west of the Sun, although it is quite faint due to its separation (elongation) only being 19 degrees. With this small separation you will not get much of a look at the messenger, as the coming Sunlight will block most of its shine.

Venus will more than make up for Mercury’s poor showing. Venus will rise around 03:00hr and provide any early morning observer with a splendid show of celestial light.

Mars will be in all his glory this month rising around 23:15hr the warlord of the skies will be nearing Earth/Sun opposition, meaning it will be increasing in light (-1.0 magnitude). Mars will station on the 15th of November and on the 16th enters its retrograde cycle for 72 days.

Jupiter continues to light up the evening heavens with all its might, now moving through the 13th sign Ophichus. The princes of the night will soon be under the Sun’s beams and the Lord of Light the Sun, will finally in December consume the night lord, ending its evening cycle. Jupiter will reappear in the morning dawn during the later part of January 2008.

Saturn remains in the early morning sky not far from the royal star Regulus, the planet rises around 03:50 am just before Venus. So folks to observe the planets in coming months, you will need to be an early riser.

© Gregory Clare 2007

September Planet Watch

This month features include a continuation of the Astronomical Glossary, a Partial Eclipse of the Sun and the Earth at its vernal equinox on September the 23 (Day & Night are equal).

Mercury becomes visible during the middle of month and remains so until mid-October. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation east of the Sun (26°) on September 30 making this an ideal time for early evening observation. As the Sun sets in the west Mercury will shine from around 18:00hr (6:00pm) until falling into the abyss around 19:15hr (7:15pm) allowing plenty of time to take in this elusive trickster.

There is great chance to witness the Moon in action this month with its daytime occultation of the fixed star Regulus and the planet Saturn on September 10. The 28.23- day-old waning crescent Moon passes between both from about 11:00am EST through to 14:00hr EST. (Warning this should not be attempted with out the aid of proper eye protection) The Moon is at 12 degrees declination and slides neatly through the fixed star and planet.

On September 23 at 19:51:14 AEST the Earth reaches it’s equatorial point, this is known as the Solar (Sun 00:00 degrees) Libra Ingress and both day and night are equal. September 11 the New Moon forms a Partial Eclipse. The Moon’s penumbral shadow passes over a portion of South America, this late-winter Eclipse (Southern Hemisphere) passes through Peru and Brazil with the greatest magnitude occurring hundreds of kilometers offshore from Cape Horn.Welcome to your eye in the sky for August, this month features include a Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse. The lunar eclipse will occur on August 28, at 20:37 AEST, and will be visible from all eastern states.

Glossary of Astronomical terms

Almanac: A set of tables giving positions of the Sun, Moon and planets at various times, plus other
Altitude: The angular elevation of an object above or below the horizon.
Angular diameter: The apparent diameter of an object measured in degrees.
Angular separation: The angular distance between two celestial bodies measured in degrees.
Aphelion: The point in an orbit of a body most distant from the sun.
Apogee: The point at which a body in orbit around the Earth reaches its farthest distance from the earth.
Asterism: A recognisable grouping of visible stars. The stars may belong to one or more constellations. The grouping will have a name, i.e.; ‘The teapot’ in Sagittarius.
Astronomical unit: The average distance from Earth to the Sun approximately 149.6 million km, which equals 1 AU.
Azimuth: The horizontal coordinate of an object’s position in the sky. Derived by drawing an imaginary vertical line from the object to the horizon below. The position is then expressed in degrees east from the north point.

Celestial equator: A projection of the Earth’s equator onto the Celestial Sphere.
Celestial Pole: Points on the celestial sphere directly above the Earth’s poles about which all the stars seem to rotate; known as the north and south celestial poles (NCP & SCP).
Celestial Sphere: Imaginary sphere of infinite size surrounding the earth, and to which celestial bodies seem to be attached.
Circumpolar: Objects in the sky, which never set. To determine which objects are circumpolar from a particular place, subtract the observer’s latitude from 90 degrees. This provides the minimum declination it must have to be considered circumpolar.
Colure index: The difference in the magnitudes of an object measured at two different wavelengths. It is a measure of colure (temperature) of a star.
Coma: The head of a Comet, usually the brightest part.
Comet: Small icy body that orbits the Sun and produces tails of gas and dust when approaching the Sun.

© Gregory Clare 2007

August Planet Watch.

Mercury is in superior conjunction (Mercury and Earth on opposite sides of Sun) on the 16th, and is lost from view until next month when it reappears in the evening sky.

Venus is visible low in the western twilight sky early in the month. The planet soon becomes lost in the Sun’s glare as it moves into inferior conjunction (between the Earth and Sun) on the 18th. The size and brightness (magnitude) of Venus has increased dramatically over the last month as it approaches the Earth. Venus is lost in the evening sky, reappears in the morning sky at months end and remains a morning star until July 2008.

Mars is visible in the early morning sky rising around 02:00 am, and will remain in the morning sky until early November; the planet is also increasing in magnitude in the coming months as the Sun slowly moves toward the red planet, making its conjunction with the planet in November. Jupiter can be seen high in the northern sky after dark and remains within 5 degrees of the fixed star Antares in the middle of the constellation Scorpio. The planet finally begins its slow forward (direct) motion around the 7th of the month.

Saturn is falling into the abyss with the evening sunset, and the planet will have its meeting with the Sun this month on the 22nd reappearing in the morning sky in September.

Finally, I would like to introduce some key words used in Astronomical world. I will be over the coming months writing a glossary on these terms, (words taken from Astronomy 2007, K. Wallace, G. Dawes, P. North field.) so I hope you enjoy this exercise and feel free to let me know if there are any terms you would like explained.

© Gregory Clare 2007.

June Planet Watch.

This month’s features include a Blue Moon and the Winter Solstice (Southern Hemisphere). Remember the old saying ‘Once in a blue moon’, well not since August 2004 have we witnessed this phenomena. A ‘Blue Moon’ is described as an astronomical event that occurs when a Full Moon falls twice within one calendar month. On June 1 2007 at 11:04 am EST, the Moon reaches full phase and again on June 30 at 11:49am EST we have a Full Moon. The old folklore has many myths or legends surrounding this event, one being that ‘the Werewolves will howl’!

On June 21 2007, Greenwich UK, at 19:06:26pm BST –1:00, the Sun will reach a declination of +23.5°, marking the longest day in the northern hemisphere or the shortest day in the southern hemisphere this is know in the ancient world as the Summer Solstice. Here in Australia on June 22, Sydney at 04:06:26am EST, we will experience the longest day and Winter Solstice and in America on June 21, Washington DC, at 14:06:26 EDT+4:00 the Sun marks the longest day. Traditionally, the quarter periods (spring, summer, autumn and winter) of the Earth’s journey around the Sun are of great significance with these times used to make announcements of the coming fortune of Nations.

On a planetary note June 2, Mercury will reach its greatest elongation east of the Sun (23°). While not the best elongation it will still provide a chance to witness the hard to see Mercury. Venus also reaches its greatest elongation east of the Sun (45°) on the 9th June. From then on Venus moves gradually closer to the Sun, reaching inferior conjunction in August.  June 30 marks the best viewing for the month with the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. This is best viewed at sunset in the west as shortly after the Full Moon (blue moon) will rise out of the east and lighten the skies.

Cheers Gregory Clare

May Planet Watch

This month Mercury is in superior conjunction on the 3rd (Mercury & Earth on opposite sides the Sun). Mercury moves east of the Sun into the evening sky, setting just after dark later in the month. Unobservable but of interest is the fact that Mercury is gobbled up on 3rd of May, by the Sun’s disk, (Occultation) the first time since Nov 2002.

Venus is putting on a great show just after sunset in the western sky, you need to be early though as Venus is still low in altitude and will sink into the abyss by 19:00hr AEST.

Mars can be viewed in the early morning eastern sky from around 04:00hr AEST. Jupiter is nearing its opposition to the Sun (retrograde station) and is visible most of the night. Saturn is situated in the western sky sinking into the dark of the night, Saturn disappears from around 22:00hr AEST.

Overall, there is plenty of action in the Dome above you this month so try to find a moment and reflect on this great universe.

April Planet Watch

Welcome to the April edition of planet watch your eye in the sky. Features this month include the conjunction of Mercury/Uranus, the occultation of the fixed star Antares by the Moon and at the end of the month Mars conjunct Uranus.

On April 2 in Sydney at 05:50hrs AEST, Mercury and Uranus make an early morning conjunction with the planets rising up out of the depth of the ocean in the constellation of Aquarius, to enjoy this encounter a pair of 10x optical binoculars would be of great value.

April 7 brings an evening encounter with the waning gibbous moon occulting the royal fixed star Antares in the constellation of Scorpius. This show takes place at around 21:00hrs AEST, again in the east rising up out of the ocean, the tail of the Scorpion making it easy to locate. Some 20mins later Jupiter makes an appearance and at the same time in the western sky, the time Lord Saturn is sinking into the abyss. Venus has made its return to the western sky making a lovely sunset picture as the evening darkness grows.

Finally, at the end of the month, April 29/30 Mars and Uranus have an early morning meeting, with the pair making their appearance at 04:00hrs, and again rising up from the eastern horizon, capping off a great month sky viewing. April is a great month for anyone wanting to observe the sometimes hard to locate Uranus, with several chances to pinpoint the planet aided by the conjunctions of Uranus, Mercury and Mars.

Cheers Gregory Clare

Feb Planet Watch

All the talk at present is about how good Comet McNaught was. Ok a little on Comet McNaught. It was discovered last August by astronomer Robert McNaught at Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory and was one of the greatest comets in recent times. It evolved into a brilliant object as it swept past the Sun on Jan. 12, at a distance of just 15.9 million miles. During January, observers found the comet so brilliant that it could be seen with the naked eye in broad daylight, if the Sun was hidden behind the side of a house or even an outstretched hand.

“Brighter than Venus"

According to reports received from a worldwide audience at the International Comet Quarterly (ICQ) it appears that the comet reached peak brightness on Sunday, Jan. 14 at around 12 hours UT (7:00 a.m. EST). At that time, the comet was shining at magnitude -5.1. On this scale, larger numbers represent dimmer objects; the brightest stars are generally zero to first magnitude, while superb right objects such as Venus and Comet McNaught achieve negative magnitudes. I determined the comet’s peak magnitude by averaging out more than a dozen observations that were reported to the ICQ on Jan. 14. Some observers, such as Steve O’Meara, located at Volcano, Hawaii, observed McNaught in daylight and estimated a magnitude as high as -6, noting. “The comet appeared much brighter than Venus!” From Jan. 12-16, Comet McNaught ranked as the third brightest object in the sky behind only the Sun and the Moon! Was Comet McNaught the best or brightest comet ever seen? While it’s true that comets that are visible with the naked eye during the daytime are rare, the case of McNaught is not unique. In the last 263 years, it has happened seven other times:” (Space .com)

What’s next for Comet McNaught?

Viewers in the Southern Hemisphere will have had Comet McNaught pretty much to themselves in January, continuing to be a striking object in the westsouthwest sky as darkness fell. If a parallel can be drawn between Comet McNaught and any of the belowmentioned comets, it’s that it should gradually fade as it moves away from both the Earth and Sun. As we have previously noted, new comets can be notoriously unpredictable to forecast, but it appears now that McNaught should be shining Newsletter February 2007 10 somewhere between magnitude 0 and 2 on Jan. 21, then fade to perhaps magnitude 5 by the end of January or early February. Although the comet is fading as it moves higher into the sky and sets progressively later, its tail should appear to impressively lengthen. It should have appeared at its longest 15th 17th January before the increasing brightness of the waxing Moon begins to compromise the view. Without doubt, Comet McNaught’s performance will stand as one of the most spectacular in recent years. For those fortunate enough to have seen it, it will always be a comet to remember So readers as a feature this month lets take a look at some of the great lights of the past…The info is courtesy of Space.com which is sent to daily.

GREAT COMET OF 1744: First sighted on Nov. 29, 1743 as a dim fourth magnitude object, this comet brightened rapidly as it approached the Sun. Many textbooks often cite Philippe Loys de Cheseaux, of Lausanne, Switzerland as the discoverer, although his first sighting did not come until two weeks later. By mid-January 1744, the comet was described as 1st-magnitude with a 7-degree tail. By Feb. 1 it rivalled Sirius and displayed a curved tail, 15-degrees in length. By Feb. 18 the comet was equal to Venus and now displayed two tails. On Feb. 27, it peaked at magnitude -7 and was reported visible in the daytime, 12- degrees from the Sun. Perihelion came on March 1st, at a distance of 20.5 million miles from the Sun. On March 6, the comet appeared in the morning sky, accompanied by six brilliant tails which resembled a Japanese hand fan.

GREAT COMET OF 1843: This comet was a member of the Kruetz Sun grazing Comet Group, which has produced some of the most brilliant comets in recorded history. It passed only 126,000 miles from the Sun’s photosphere on Feb. 27, 1843. Although a few observations suggest that it was seen for a few weeks prior to this date, on the day when it made it closest approach to the Sun it was a tail about 1-degree in length. Passengers on board the ship Owen Glendower, off the Cape of Good Hope described it as a “short, dagger-like object” that closely followed the Sun toward the western horizon. In the days that followed, as the comet moved away from the Sun, it diminished in brightness but the tail grew enormously, eventually attaining a length of 200 million miles. If you were able to place the head of this comet at the Sun’s position, the tail would have extended beyond the orbit of the planet Mars!

GREAT SEPTEMBER COMET OF 1882: This comet is perhaps the brightest comet that has ever been seen; a gigantic member of the Kruetz Sun grazing Group. First spotted as a bright zero-magnitude object by a group of Italian sailors in the Southern Hemisphere on Sept. 1, this comet brightened dramatically as it approached its rendezvous with the Sun. By the 14th, it became visible in broad daylight and when it arrived at perihelion on the 17th it passed at a distance of only 264,000-miles from the Sun’s surface. On that day, some observers described the comet’s silvery radiance as scarcely fainter than the limb of the Sun, suggesting a magnitude somewhere between - 15 and -20! The following day, observers in Cordoba described the comet as a“blazing star” near the Sun. The nucleus also broke into at least four separate parts. In the days and weeks that followed, the comet became visible in the morning sky as an immense object sporting a brilliant tail. Today, some comet historians consider it as a “Super Comet,” far above the run of even Great Comets.

GREAT JANUARY COMET OF 1910: The first people to see this comet then already of first magnitude were workmen at the Transvaal Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa on Jan. 13. Two days later, three men at a railway station in nearby Kopjes casually watched the object for 20-minutes before sunrise, assuming that it was Halley’s Comet. Later that morning, the editor of the local (Johannesburg) newspaper telephoned the Transvaal Observatory for a comment. The observatory’s Director, Robert Innes, must have initially thought this sighting was a mistake, since Halley’s Comet was not in that part of the sky and nowhere near as conspicuous. Innes looked for the comet the following morning, but clouds thwarted his view. But on the morning of the 17th, he and an assistant saw the comet, shining sedately on the horizon just above where the Sun was about to rise. Later, at midday, Innes viewed it as a snowy-white object, brighter than Venus, several degrees from the Sun. He sent out a telegram alerting the world to expect “Drake’s Comet” or “Great Comet” as it sounded to the telegraph operator. It was visible during the daytime for a couple of more days, then moved northward and away from the Sun, becoming a stupendous object in the evening sky for the rest of January for the Northern Hemisphere. Ironically, many people in 1910 who thought they had seen Halley’s Comet, instead likely saw the Great January Comet that appeared about three months before Halley.

COMET SKJELLERUP-MARISTANY, 1927: Another brilliant comet, first seen as a third magnitude object in early December, had the unfortunate distinction of being situated under the poorest observing circumstances possible. The orbital geometry was such, that the approaching comet could not be seen in a dark sky at any time from either the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere. But it reached tremendous magnitude at perihelion on Dec. 18. Located at a distance of 16.7 million miles from the Sun, it was visible in daylight about 5-degrees from the Sun at a magnitude of -6. As the comet moved out of the twilight and headed south into darker skies, it faded rapidly, but still threw off an impressively long tail that reached up to 40-degrees in length by the end of the month.

COMET IKEYA-SEKI, 1965: This was the brightest comet of the 20th century, and was found just over a month before perihelion passage in the morning sky moving rapidly toward the Sun. Like the Great Comets of 1843 and 1882, Ikeya- Seki was a Kreutz Sun grazer and on Oct. 21 swept to within 744,000 miles of the centre of the Sun. The comet was then visible as a brilliant object within a degree or two of the Sun, and wherever the sky was clear, the comet could be seen by observers merely by blocking out the Sun with their hands. From Japan, the homeland of the observers who discovered it, Ikeya-Seki was described as appearing “ten times brighter than the Full Moon” corresponding to a magnitude of -15. Also at that time, the nucleus was observed to break into two or three pieces. Thereafter, the comet moved away in full retreat from the Sun, the head fading very rapidly but its slender, twisted tail, reaching out into space for up to 75 million miles, and dominating the eastern morning sky right on through the month of November.

COMET WEST, 1976: This comet developed into a beautiful object in the morning sky of early March 1976 for Northern Hemisphere observers. It was discovered in November 1975 by Danish astronomer, Richard West on photographs taken at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Seventeen hours after passing within 18.3 million miles of the Sun on Feb. 25, it was glimpsed with the naked eye 10 minutes before sunset by John Bortle—the last daylight comet sighting until McNaught in 2007. In the days that followed, Comet West displayed a brilliant head and a long, strongly structured tail that resembled “a fantastic fountain of light.” Sadly, having been “burned” by the poor performance of Comet Kohoutek two years earlier, the mainstream media all but ignored Comet West, so most people unfortunately failed to see its dazzling performance! Well folks, that’s all this month! I will endeavour in the coming months to fill you in on the up coming events in our local SKY, till then stay safe.

Cheers till next time,
Gregory

 

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Updated: July 2008