Capturing a Supernova

They don't come along very often. Supernova SN 2014J was discovered by astronomer Steve Fossey, of University College London and four undergraduate students on 21st January. It is a  Type Ia supernova, the closest Type Ia supernova in the last 40 years. Type 1a supernova's are very useful as they produce a consistent peak of luminosity due to the uniform mass of white dwarfs that explode via the accretion mechanism. The value is very stable and allows these explosions to be used as standard candles to measure the distance to their host galaxies. This is because the visual magnitude of the supernova depends primarily on the distance.

Unfortunately, the supernova may put on a great show, but the Scottish weather doesn't always play ball. I set up my scope (an 8" reflector) and camera last night in my garden and took some images. Between the clouds and the threatening rain I only got about 10 minutes of useful imaging before I had to give up. However, the supernova is really obvious once you find the target. I saw it straight away. The image above shows M81 and M82. M82 is the lower cigar shaped Galaxy and in the mid-upper left you can see Supernova 2014 J.

If we zoom in on M82, the supernova is quite clear as an orange spot to the upper left of the Galaxy.

Checks by astronomers have found that the supernova was visible on images taken as early as January 15th. Indications were that the supernova was discovered approximately 14 days before maximum light, so it is expected to get brighter over the following fortnight, probably bright enough to be visible with binoculars throughout the Northern Hemisphere within a couple of days. It should reach maximum brightness of around magnitude 8.5 or so with the next two weeks.

Jupiter and the Moon

If you are lucky enough to have clear skies tonight, and don't count on it in Scotland, you may be able to see Jupiter pass within six degrees, and a little to the left, of the Moon. Now, to be clear, this is not technically NOT a conjunction, but they will look close. Technically conjunctions are defined as occuring when two astronomical objects have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptical longitude, normally when observed from the Earth. This can happen between planets, planets and the Moon, sometimes (very rarely) more than two objects may be involved. Often they just appear close, sometimes much closer, and sometimes very close. Last year was better for the Moon and Jupiter. The image below shows a Stellarium screenshot of how it will appear tonight from Scotland.

Last year I was lucky enough to get a decent photo of Jupiter and the Moon when they appeared slightly closer in the sky . The photo below is a composite shot, but shows their actual positions.

I took three separate images, as it is impossible to capture all the detail in one exposure. I took one photo of the Moon, one of Jupiter and one of Jupiter's moons, all using a Fuji high zoom bridge camera. I then built the image in Gimp. If you have clear skies, head out for a look. Better still, take a photo!

Capella

I like to take photographs of individual stars. Capella is a favourite of mine, it is the brightest object in the constellation of Auriga, it's the sixth brightest star in the night sky and the third brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. In Winter its high in the sky and an easy target to observe.

This photo is a single 30 second exposure through my 8 inch scope and using a Nikon DSLR. After I posted this photo on Flickr, in the Sky at Night group, I got an email from a researcher at the BBC. He told me he liked my photo a lot and it had been shortlisted for this year's BBC Stargazing Live Calendar. To say I was pleased was an understatement. Unfortunately, in the end it just didn't make the final selection, which was a shame, but I was still very pleased it had been shortlisted. Maybe next time!

An interesting fact about Capella is that it is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs. The first pair consists of two bright, large type-G giant stars, both with a radius around 10 times that of the Sun's, in close orbit around each other. The second pair, around 10,000 astronomical units from the first, consists of two faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs. The Capella system is relatively close, at only 42 light years from Earth.

New Year Discovery

On the first day of a new century, 1 January 1801, the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, working at Palermo observatory in Sicily discovered what he first thought was a tail-less comet. After a series of observations, interrupted by illness; and once its orbit was calculated, he realised he had found a 'new planet'. It was named Ceres after the Roman goddess of agriculture and the patron goddess of Sicily. It fitted nicely within Bodes law. between Mars and Jupiter, that strange algebraic “formula” law which seemed to predict the orbital distances of the planets and had just roughly predicted the semi-major axis of Uranus's orbit. Later observations however showed it to be rather small for a Planet and then more and more 'objects' of a similar nature were found reducing Ceres to what was thought to be the largest asteroid. Now though Ceres has had it's nature changed again, and it is now the second largest of what are called 'Dwarf Planets', Pluto being the largest.

Ceres can be tricky to find. It is often just on the verge of human eyesight, even from a dark site, but binoculars and small telescopes show it as a faint star like object. At the moment it can be found using binoculars in the constellation of Virgo, in the early hours of the morning. Ceres is due to be visited by the NASA spacecraft Dawn in 2015, the same year as New Horizons will fly-by Pluto. We should therefore get two good looks at two dwarf planets. Both make interesting targets for a number of reasons but should provide clues as to the origin of the solar system. At the moment, if you get a chance, see if you can find Ceres. It is an interesting spot and many astronomers spend a lifetime without ever giving it notice. The other dwarf planets are a much harder proposition to see.