Aurora = The Northern (or Southern) lights/ Aurora Borealis/ Australis
Usually seen near the poles of the Earth, but can be seen further South in the UK or USA.

http://www.auroraskystation.com/live-camera/9/

So how and where does it come from?

“Coronal Mass Ejection” = A load of solar material hurled out of the Sun. A big one can contain billions of tons of “plasma”.

Plasma hits Earth’s “magnetosphere” causing “geomagnetic storms” = Aurora, also known as the Northern or Southern lights.

Geomagnetic storms are measured using a scale called the “Planetary Kp index” ranging from 1 to 9. 1 being low and 9 being a very heavy storm.

The higher the Kp index the higher the likelihood of aurora and the further South it can be seen. 5 = Scotland 8+ Southern England.

Geomagnetic storms and aurora are very unpredictable and forecasts can be very vague, we don’t know the intensity or where the aurora can be seen from until it hits.

Here is a link to NOAA Space Weather Scales

To watch the aurora, you only need your eyes. Look North and low down on the horizon, it may be faint at first.

Solar Flare

This photo was taken on January 22, 2012 in Fairbanks North Star Borough County, Alaska, US, using a Nikon D5000. The 'explodey' look is due to perspective from looking right up the magnetic field lines. The aurora in the middle of the explosion is pointing straight down at the camera. Credit: Jason Ahrns -- and 'regular' view of Jason's image of the aurora is below.

On January 22nd 2012, skywatchers in the northern hemisphere were rewarded with amazing displays of aurora. The cause of these displays was a Kp level 5.67 geomagnetic storm originating from solar activity on the 19th of January, produced visible aurorae throughout the northern hemisphere and viewers as far south as northeast England had great auroral views.

Here is a selection of aurora images and videos taken during the event.

See more here:

Orion and Sirius Credit Adrian West

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and can easily be found in the faint constellation of Canis Major to the left and below Orion. Its name comes from ancient Greek meaning “glowing” or “scorcher.”

Sirius (α CMa) is the alpha star in this trusty hound and is roughly 8.5 light years away from Earth, making it one of the closest stars to us. It has a tiny companion star making it a binary system composed of “Sirius A” the main component (which is a white main sequence star) and “Sirius B,” a white dwarf star. As seen with the naked eye, Sirius can be seen to twinkle many different colours low in the winter evening sky.

Sirius. Image credit: Hubble

So why does Sirius twinkle?

It’s not just Sirius that twinkles; all stars twinkle. Light travels many light years from stars and right at the end of its journey, it hits Earth’s atmosphere, which consists of nitrogen, oxygen and other gasses.

Earth’s atmosphere is constantly swirling around, and wind and air currents etc distort light travelling through it. This causes the light to slightly bend or shimmer and the light from distant stars twinkle. An extreme, more down-to-Earth example of this would be heat rising off of a road or a desert causing objects behind it to distort, shimmer and change colour.

Sirius appears to twinkle or shimmer more than other stars for some very simple reasons. It is very bright, which can amplify atmospheric effects and it is also very low down in the atmosphere for those in the northern hemisphere. We are actually looking at it through a very dense part of the atmosphere which can be turbulent and contain many different particles and dust. The lower towards the horizon an observer is looking, the thicker the atmosphere. The higher an observer is looking, the thinner the atmosphere. This is also the cause of colourful sunrise and sunsets.

(Addition due to the questions in the comment section: planets don’t usually twinkle because they are closer and therefore bigger — they are disks of light instead of faraway points of light. The larger disks of light usually aren’t distorted; however if you are looking through especially turbulent areas of our atmosphere, and even sometimes when looking at planets that are low in the thicker parts of the atmosphere, they will twinkle. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer explains it very well on his website.)

This optical illusion is a big pain for astronomers and some very large telescopes such as those in Chile and Hawaii use special equipment and techniques to reduce the effects of the atmosphere.

One of most famous telescope of them all, the Hubble Space Telescope doesn’t get affected at all by our atmosphere as it is in space, making the light from stars crystal clear.

Twinkle, twinkle little star, now we know what you are (and why you are twinkling!)

Quadrantid meteor Credit Sarah Loughlin

I would like to share one of my Quadrantid meteor showers photographs with Meteorwatch.org. My name is Sarah Loughlin, I live in Oyster Bay, Ny and I have been stargazing ever since I can remember. I took this image on January, 4th at around 4:30 am with my Canon Rebel T2i & 10-22mm Canon lens in Oyster Bay, Ny. The settings were 15.0 s, f/3.5 at 10.0 mm, iso 1600. This first meteor shower of 2012 was spectacular to watch, despite the frigid temperatures. If you consider using my photograph I would be honored.

Sincerely,

Sarah Loughlin

Orion Nebula 14/01/2012, originally uploaded by purpleface

Originally posted by Sarah Louise Lewis @_purpleface on Purpleface Photogtaphy

The weather over the past few days has been amazing. Lovely crisp blue skies, amazing sunsets & wonderfully clear night skies. And I’ve been using this to my advantage, taking as many photos of the stars as I can.
I had the idea to photograph the Orion Nebula (see above) for a few nights but I was waiting for the sky to become fully clear. I first photographed the nebula when the sky was hazy & the full moon was casting its glow across most of the sky. The photograph I got on that night was amazing (to me, it was amazing, obviously it’s not amazing to those with epic telescopes & satellites deep in space ;p) & it surprised me because I never expected to be able to capture a photograph like this. I thought it was reserved for people with powerful telescopes!

I made a pact with myself that I would go out there again when the moon wasn’t due to rise until 3am & when there was less haze around.

That night happened a few days later. It was -2 & there was frost on the ground so I wrapped up extra warm & took the camera out to cool (tell me if I’m wrong but letting the sensor cool on your camera helps reduce noise…I think). After a little while I started to photograph the nebula using various different settings. Now, you all know that the earth spins, this is what gives us night & day. Therefore, if you set your camera up to expose for 30 seconds, you’re going to get light trails instead of a still (for want of a better word) image. As my camera ISO goes up to 12000, I stepped it right up & I exposed for 3.2 seconds. For me, this is the best way to be able to capture a still shot without using a tracking device. I did, however, find that ISO 12000 was too noisy so I stepped it down to 5000. And that seemed to do the trick. I imported the shot into Lightroom, tweaked around with some settings & this is what I came out with.

I used a Canon 7D with a 90-300mm lens.

I’m pretty happy with it. Next step is to get a new mirror for the telescope (we accidentally knocked it over & the mirror smashed inside) & an adapter for my DSLR. Then we’ll be away! Hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for reading. If you have any questions you can either leave them in the comments box or you can join me on twitter (tweeting as @_purpleface) or facebook (facebook.com/purplefacephotography).

Stargazing LIVE (co-produced by The Open University) returns for a second three-night series on BBC Two set to encourage everyone – from the complete beginner to the enthusiastic amateur – to make the most of the night sky.

On the 16th 17th and 18th of January Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain will broadcast live from the control room of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, interacting live with the audience and calling on a starry collection of the country’s finest astronomical minds to explore the majestic wonders of the skies above Britain.

In their own unique style, the pair will tackle some of the most intriguing questions in astronomy, such as Why Does The Moon Cause The Tides?, How Do We Know Where Black Holes Are When They Are Impossible To See? and What Will We Actually Say If We Ever Make Contact With An Alien Race?

Closer to home, there will also be hints and tips for getting started in Stargazing and advice on navigating your way around the skies.

And there’s more, with scores of Stargazing LIVE activities across the UK – find out where at Things To Do, the BBC’s activity finder website:

Make sure you check the guides on the Stargazing LIVE website as some were carefully crafted by meteorwatch’s very own VirtualAstro

Quadrantid Meteor

On the night of 03/04 January 2012 the first meteor shower of the year will take place, the Quadrantids. This shower ranks as one of the best performers of the year, assuming your skies aren’t clouded, as they so often are in winter. If the peak of this shower occurs under ideal conditions – i.e. perfectly clear skies, free from light pollution – then you can expect to see in excess of 100 meteors every hour. The peak for this shower is very brief though, so you’ll have to catch just the right conditions at just the right time to see a display this good. This year’s peak is estimated to occur just before dawn on 04 January 2012.

Not only do you have the weather to contend with, but this year the waxing gibbous Moon will be up for much of the night. However the Moon sets at around 0415, giving you a couple of hours before the sky starts to brighten before sunrise. Given that the peak of this shower will probably occur within this short window, things are looking pretty good for this year’s display.

Last year’s graph of meteor activity shows how sharp the peak is, so you probably won’t see many Quadrantids on the nights either side of the peak, but it’s worth a look if you have clear dark skies. ZHR for this year may be anywhere between 60 and 200.

Quadrantids Activity from 2011, credit imo.net

How best to view the Quadrantids 2012

1. Get somewhere as far from street lights and city glow as possible, preferably somewhere really dark, like your nearest national park or one of the UK’s dark sky places: Galloway Forest Park, Sark or Exmoor.
2. Go out at the right time, which for this year’s shower is between around 0400 and 0700 GMT.
3. You don’t need binoculars or a telescope, your eyes are best for viewing meteors.
4. Wrap up warm, as if you have clear skies (which you’ll be hoping for) it will be very cold in these early morning hours.
5. Bring a reclining deck chair so you don’t have to stand all night, and a blanket to wrap yourself in!
6. Although the radiant of the meteor shower (the point where the meteors will appear to stream from) is high in the E around 0400 you don’t need to worry about facing in any particular direction, just position yourself so that you can see as much sky as possible, and enjoy the view!

You can follow the progress of the meteor shower at meteorwatch.org, or on twitter via @VirtualAstro and the #meteorwatch hashtag.

If you want to make more serious observations of this shower you can submit them to either the International Meteor Organisation, the British Astronomical Association, or the Society for Popular Astronomy.

Credit: David Dickinsen

2012 is here, and the world shows no sign of ending as the heavens spin on their appointed rounds high overhead. But the diligent observer may be rewarded with several unique an spurious sights, both natural and manmade…

1^st up is everyone’s favorite meteor shower named after an obsolete constellation; the Quadrantids peak the morning of January 4^th in what is the first large meteor shower of the year. The peak is very swift, only lasting about 12 hours or so and is centered this year on 2:00 AM EST/7:00 AM UTC. This favors the U.S. East Coast in 2012, as the 79% waxing gibbous Moon will set around 2AM local the morning of the 4^th for observers in mid-northern latitudes. The radiant of the shower lies at a declination of 52° degrees north at the junction of the modern constellations of Draco, Bootes and Hercules, and thus activity may be visible pre-midnite local, although the setting of the Moon and the rising of the radiant will raise sighting prospects considerably. Expect swift-moving meteors headed outward from the radiant above the handle of the Big Dipper to appear anywhere in the sky. The Quadrantids have been known since the early 1800’s, but there has been much conjecture as to the source parent body. Astronomer Fred Whipple noted in 1963 that the stream bears some resemblance to the Delta Aquarids, and that the orbital path has undergone alterations by the planet Jupiter in the last few thousand years. In 2003, SETI researcher Peter Jenniskens proposed that the source may be then recently discovered asteroid 2003 EH1, which has been tentatively linked to Comet C/1490 Y1, which approached Earth at a distance of 0.52 Astronomical Units on January 12^th 1491. Be sure to keep an eye out for Quadrantids on these chilly January mornings, as we commemorate Quadrans Muralis, a constellation that is no longer!

But not all that is flashing overhead is natural…this week also starts the re-entry window for Russia’s doomed Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. An article that circulated around the web last week caused a brief stir when a defense agency statement declared that the probe would “hit Afghanistan…” Let us note that the re-entry of Phobos-Grunt is uncontrolled, and thus could come in anywhere along its orbital path inclined at 52° degrees, a coverage of over 95% of the populated planet. Of course, there’s some concern because the spacecraft is carrying a large payload of toxic hydrazine, and we wouldn’t rule out the idea that plans to “take it out” of orbit ala USA 193 could be in the (unconfirmed) works. The re-entry window runs from about January 7^th-17^th, centered on January 12-13^th. Interestingly, Phobos-Grunt starts a good series of passes over the US southeast on January 6^th; we saw it on two mornings in late December, and it was really moving at about a degree a second when directly overhead!

Next up, the International Space Station reaches an interesting point  on Jan 7^th where it is illuminated through the entire length of its orbit for four days. This will make for multiple sighting ops worldwide an event that we’ve dubbed a FISSION (as in Four/Five ISS Sightings In One Night) thru numerous discussions on Twitter… check Heavens-Above for a passage near you!

Also this week, the Earth reaches perihelion or its closest approach to the Sun at a distance of 91.4 million miles on January 4^th at 7PM EST or just past midnite on the 5^th UTC. This is the first time the Earth reaches perigee on January 5^th as reckoned in Universal Time in the 21^st century and we won’t do so again until 2020. In addition to the slow precession of our ever-evolving orbit, two primary factors come into play to cause this shift; 1. 2012 is a leap year, as we offset those pesky .025 odd days that build up every year; and 2. The Earth-Moon system swings about a common barycenter, throwing us slightly “off-axis” year-to-year with respect to the annual perihelion-aphelion points.

So you may not “feel the burn” as you scrape snow off of your car in the depths of northern hemisphere winter… unless, of course, you head “Down Under!”

Also, in occultation news, the evening of January 9^th gives viewers a chance to catch a +8.3 magnitude star “flash” out for up to 5 seconds as the asteroid 75 Eurydike occults, or passes in front of it. The “shadow path” runs from Baja to Texas across the US Southeast to North Carolina before crossing the Atlantic to Africa. The event runs from 03:03 to 03:22 UT, and this is one of the better asteroid occultations of the year.

Finally, Comet P/2006 T1 Levy was slated for a fine binocular performance in January, but current reports from late December place it below 15^th magnitude, definitely not the “flashiest”. Thoughts are that perhaps it was in outburst when veteran comet hunter David Levy spied it from Jarnac Observatory in 2006; January 3^rd provides a good chance to “check in” on it as the comet passes near the star Algenib in the “box” asterism that makes up part of the constellation Pegasus, although of course, that meddling waning Moon will interfere.

Good luck in hunting “all that flashes” it the night skies… let us know what you see!

Quadrantid Meteor Credit: nasa.org

2012 has begun and we are in for a welcome treat with the start of this years annual meteor showers and the Quadrantid meteorwatch, on the evening of the 3rd/ morning of the 4th of January.

The Quadrantids can be quite an impressive shower with rates (ZHR) of up to 120 meteors per hour at the showers peak (under perfect conditions) and can sometimes produce rates of up to 200 meteors per hour. The peak is quite narrow lasting only a few hours, however there will be plenty of meteors to look out for either side of the peak.

Meteor Shower

Due to a waxing gibbous moon, the best time to look is after midnight and through the early hours when the moon sets in time for us to see the peak which is 07:20 UT.

The radiant of the Quadrantids (where the meteors radiate from) is in the constellation of Boötes, however many people are mislead in thinking they need to look at the radiant to see the meteors – this is not true. Meteors will come from the radiant, but will appear anywhere in the whole sky at random. You can trace the shooting stars path back to the radiant to confirm if it is a meteor from the meteor shower.

For more information on how to observe and enjoy the Quadrantid meteor shower,see the guide to observing meteors

Join in with the Quadrantid meteorwatch on twitter and follow the hashtag #meteorwatch to see all the tweets, images and info posted, If the sky is clear we will be in for quite a show. Tell your friends, tell your familly and tell everyone to lookup for the Quadrantid meteorwatch.

If you want more info on meteor showers, browse this site or ask VirtualAstro on twitter. You can also check the January Night sky guide for 2012 if you plan to do some more stargazing.

Credit: Shooting Star Wallpapers

The first meteor shower of 2012 is the Quadrantids, the peak of which falls on the night of the 03/04 January 2012. The Quadrantids shower has one of the highest predicted hourly rates of all meteor showers, comparable to the two great annual showers, the Perseids and the Geminids, occurring in August and December respectively. However unlike the Perseids and Geminids, the Quadrantids peak is very narrow, occurring over just a few short hours.

The predicted Zenith Hourly Rate (see my previous post about ZHR and what it actually means here) for the Quadrantids is around 120. The narrow peak is predicted to occur some time between 2100 UT on 3 January and 0700 UT on 4 January 2011, however the radiant of the shower – the now-defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis – is very low in the evening hours, rising higher towards dawn, and so the best viewing times are later in this run, just before dawn.

The radiant will rise due N and get to its highest before dawn due E, so look roughly in a NE direction to maximise your chance of seeing some Quadrantids. As always with meteor showers, don’t use binoculars or a telescope – your naked eyes are best. One very useful bit of equipment is a reclining deck chair, which makes observing so much more comfortable!

Let’s use the equation relating ZHR to actual observations of meteors to work out how many Quadrantids you might see:

Actual Hourly Rate = (ZHR x sin(h))/((1/(1-k)) x 2^(6.5-m)) where

h = the height of the radiant above the horizon

k = fraction of the sky covered in cloud

m = limiting magnitude

In the case of the 2011 Quadrantids, if observed from the UK, h = 15 degrees at 2100, rising to 25 degrees at midnight, 40 degrees at 0300, and 65 degrees at 0600. Let’s assume you have clear skies (haha) with k = 0.

The number of Quadrantids you can expect to see from a variety of observing sites, at various times throughout the night, is as follows:

For very light polluted sites, such as city centres, m = 3, and therefore you can expect to see between 3 and 10 meteors per hour at the peak, depending on when it occurs.

In suburban skies near a city or town centre m = 4, and you’ll see between 5 and 20 meteors per hour at the peak, depending on when it occurs.

In rural skies where m = 5, you’ll see between 11 and 38 meteors per hour at the peak, depending on when it occurs.

Under very dark skies, where m = 6.5 (i.e. where there is no or negligible effect of light pollution, like in Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park) you’ll see anywhere between 31 and 109 meteors per hour at the peak, depending on when it occurs.

Remember, all of these numbers assume perfectly clear skies. If half your sky is cloudy, cut these numbers in half!

Also remember that it depends when the peak occurs. Due to the rather narrow peak, if you observe at 2100 on 3 January you may see very few if the peak doesn’t occur until 06700. Still, it’s very much worth a look, just in case!

How many Quadrantid meteors will I see?