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.

Finding Comet Ison

Comet ISON is becoming more and more visible to the amateur astronomer this month. From the UK though it means an early start as it doesn't rise until around 0230 (this weekend). On the plus side however, given clear skies it is easy to locate, if not actually spot, as we have a couple of celestial pointers. Around 0400 it should be high enough to be out of the 'murk'. Look for the constellation of Leo, The Lion, and find Regulus, the bright reddish star to the bottom right. Mars should be visible below and to the left, shining at around magnitude 1.7. Follow a line down to the left, about a third of the distance again between Regulus and Mars, and ISON should be there, Visible in a scope of around 6" diameter. If you do astrophotography the best way to image it would be through a shortish image at a high ISO. say 30 seconds at ISO 1600. Remember though, if you scope is tracking normally, the stars will come out sharp, but ISON may be blurred. That is because the comet is itself moving against the background of stars. The image above shows where ISON can be found in the early hours of Monday 21st October, from the North of the UK.

Capturing Andromeda

M31, The Andromeda Galaxy is a real challenge to image. It's bright and easy to see, even with the naked eye, but this brings it's own challenges. As a photographic target it's difficult because the centre is very bright but the outer edges show some very subtle detail which is on visible with long exposures. To image it is a real challenge.

I am not really a DSO photographer but have been wanting to get into this area of Astrophotography for a while. I usually prefer to shoot the Moon and Planets. The challenge is my scope (a SW200P) is a bit of an all rounder, my DSLR's are Nikon's (yes, I prefer Nikon's not Canon's - sacrilege amongst most Astrophotographer's I know) and I don't have a guided scope, I use a simple dual axis drive which means getting a decent Polar alignment, often harder than you would think. Anyway, I thought it was time to give it a go.

This week we had two clear nights in a row, unheard of for the West coast of Scotland, so I set up in my garden both nights. To counter my lack of guiding I decided to take 30 second exposures, the downside means lot's of separate images. Roughly translated that means lot's of time sitting in a chair next to the scope clicking the remote. After shooting darks and lights I must have had around 400 photos to process, with about an hour and a half of actual 'lights' or image data.

Next comes the processing. To be honest, imaging is the easy part in some respects as processing is more an art than a science. I used Deep Sky Stacker to align and stack my images and then I use Gimp to process. This image of M31 took me hours and hours, often going back and starting again... very frustrating! After a  long time I settled on a final image and this is the one shown below. Its not quite as sharp as I would like but it shows some nice dust lanes in the outer edges of the Galaxy. For a first proper go at a DSO I am quite pleased with it. Hopefully my technique will improve over time.