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2 December 07
Anyone Else In Caithness Interested In Astronomy?
'Following on from the success of the Dark Sky event at Dunnet in
September, should anyone with a similar interest in astronomy and in
observing the night sky wish to contact me regarding astronomy
topics or possibly to arrange informal observing sessions I can be
emailed at caithness.skiesAThotmail.co.uk
I'm also willing to bring my telescope and limited astronomical
knowledge along to any clubs interested in viewing objects in the
night sky.'
2 December 07
The Autumn Sky
 The latest
'newsletter' giving some details on what can be seen during the
coming month including how to view our own galaxy, the Milky Way in
the dark skies we have in the North of Scotland. This is hopefully a
useful follow on to those that enjoyed the Royal Observatory
organised Dark Skies events in September at Dunnet.
Enlarged Photo
Of Milky Way Seen From Caithness
27 October 07
Comet Holmes
As Viewed From Caithness
 A
comet has suddenly brightened making it visible to the naked eye in
the night sky.
17 July 07
Perseid Meteor Shower In August
(peaks on 12/13th Aug). This year is a good chance to see them as the sky
will be moon free, meaning it will be nice and dark and ideal for
observing if the weather plays along.
Some related web links are:
Great Perseids From NASA
Meteor Shower
Meteors
20 June 07
Venus Visible In Daytime In Caithness
 Very
observant people might have noticed a thin crescent Moon just visible in
the bright sun-drenched afternoon sky on Monday (18th June). Those that
looked even closer would probably have been surprised to see what would
have looked like a star beside it. This was the planet Venus, shining so
brightly that it was visible to the naked eye even in broad daylight.
If you looked at the wrong time though Venus
would not have been visible as it disappeared behind the Moon for an hour
or so. See below a sequence of photos showing (left to right) the before,
during and after views of this daytime "eclipse".
Looking closely at the photo you'll see that
Venus is currently crescent shaped. This crescent will become thinner and
longer over the coming month as the planet comes closer to the Earth and
more into alignment between the Earth and Sun. By mid July binoculars will
clearly show this crescent shape. Another sight to watch out for in the
near future is the close encounter of Venus with Saturn in the late
evening sky on 31st June and 1st July.
3 June 07
Planet Spotting
In June Pdf
 As the summer
nights shorten over the coming month we'll be treated to plenty of
opportunities for evening views of the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter,
with Mercury also joining the show for a short while. These planets are
all visible to the naked eye and should be easy to identify, but
unfortunately they will be quite low in the sky so a fairly clear horizon
will be needed. Venus, Saturn and Mercury (& occasionally the crescent
moon) can be seen lined up in the north western sky shortly after sunset
and the giant planet Jupiter can be seen rising to low above the southern
horizon around midnight.
April 2006 (Pdf
file)
This months newsletter is packed with information that will be useful to
anyone new to looking at the night sky. Lots of links to useful
web sites and photos from the Caithness night sky. In May there is a
visitor in night sky as Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
3 passes earth.
This May sees a favourable flypast of this interesting
comet which fragmented during its 1995 circuit around the Sun. The
brightest fragment (component C) will pass closest to the Earth (a
mere 6.5 million miles!) on the 12th May.
February - March 2006
Photographs Of The Night Sky From
Caithness
The Night Sky From Thurso
5 March 2007
Lunar Eclipse 3 March 2007
A range of photos and a video
20 February 07
Caithness Skies - Lunar Guide (Pdf)
 Over
the next couple of weeks the Moon will be involved in a few interesting
celestial events:
Total Lunar Eclipse (3rd March 2007)
On this evening the Moon will pass into the Earth's shadow and "disappear"
from view. This will be about as good an opportunity as you'll get for
observing this phenomenon. It begins around 2130hrs and lasts until approx
0115hrs with the Moon totally eclipsed for just over an hour in the middle
of this period. This event can be clearly seen with the naked eye.
Occultations (the Moon passes in front
of other celestial objects) - On the 23rd of February 2007 (approx
2200-0000hrs) the Moon will pass in front of the Pleiades star cluster
resulting in the stars disappearing from view and then reappearing on the
other side of the Moon about an hour later. Binoculars will afford a good
view of this.
- During the early hours of the 2nd of March
(approx 0220-0250) the planet Saturn will be occulted by the Moon. A small
telescope will give the best view of this ringed planet temporarily
disappearing behind the Moon.
Whilst viewing the above events there is time
to look for the detail described in the attached Lunar guide. The Moon
truly is an interesting and easy object to observe and is well worth a
close look.
10 February 07
Venus and Mercury
Over Thurso
 Gordon
Mackie said,"I took tonight (9th) & it shows the unmistakably brilliant
planet Venus shining alongside the fainter planet Mercury. For the next
4-5 days the pairing can be seen side by side, low in the western sky
shortly after sunset. By next weekend Mercury will become too close to the
Sun to be visible, leaving the prominent Venus on its own in the sky at
sunset for the next few months. After spotting these two planets turn and
look east to find the bright planet Saturn rising above the eastern
horizon."
10 January 07
Comet McNaught Heads for The Sun
 This comet is clearly visible to the naked eye very low in the sky near
the Sun just before sunrise (SE) or at sunset (SW). Attached are photos of
it taken as the sky was brightening on the morning of 8th January.
Unfortunately it will soon (by the end of this week) be too close to the
Sun to see it. You'll need clear skies similar to those on recent mornings
to see it - good luck!
8 January 07
Night Sky Over
Thurso 3 December
 Stewart
Watt send in this photo of Orion over Thurso taken on 3 December 2006.
3 January 07
Below are a couple of photos I took
during recent clear nights
- anyone with binoculars or a small
telescope will be able to view these objects in similar detail.
3 January 07
Beginners Guide
To the Winter Night Sky
Click the link for a guide giving some of the
highlights to be found in the winter night sky. This will be useful to
anyone that received a telescope/ spotting scope or binoculars for
Christmas and wants to know what in the night sky would be interesting to
look at.
3 January 07
Aurorae
For those that enjoy aurorae, the active sunspot that caused the bright
aurorae in mid December is now re-appearing form the other side of the Sun
(rotational period of the Sun is about 4 weeks and the sunspot has spent
the last 2 weeks transiting the other side of the Sun). There is therefore
the possibility of similar auroral displays over the next week or two.
Updates on the likelihood of a display (cloud cover permitting of course)
can be obtained at
http://spaceweather3.com/ and
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html
1 May 06
Comet Update - Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
3
 The month of May 2006 will provide an opportunity for
some interesting objects to be observed in the night sky with no more than
a pair of binoculars, with some even being visible to the naked eye.
Unfortunately true darkness does not fall until around midnight, but if
you're up late at night or very early in the morning why not take a look
at what's up there.
As mentioned in the recent newsletter this comet, or at least the many
parts of it (there are currently 38 individual fragments being tracked by
astronomers!) will pass close to the Earth (a mere 6.5 million miles!)
during the month of May. It is being watched with great interest by
astronomers and they have recently observed one of the brighter fragments
break into two:
13 March 06
Perseus and Cassiopeia 21 February 2006
Gordon Mackie has sent in a photo of
the constellations of Perseus and Cassiopeia. The Milky Way runs through
these constellations, so a sweep with binoculars will not disappoint. One
particular area to check out with binoculars or a small telescope is
marked on one version of the photo - this is where The Double Cluster (NGC
869 and NGC 884) can be found. In clear skies it can be spotted with the
naked eye, but its true glory is only revealed with optical aid. Have a
look.
19 February 06
Caithness Night Sky Section Begins
Welcome to the Caithness Night Sky.
Gordon Mackie has long been interested in astronomy and has kindly offered
to contribute to this new section.
This section will consist of a bi-monthly newsletter with photos and
information about what might be seen in the night sky over Caithness. A
photo gallery will shortly be added where anyone can send in their photos
of the Caithness Night Sky.
Gordon has offered to answer questions
which can initially be emailed to
bill@caithness.org for forwarding.
To start the section going Gordon has
prepared a February March 2006 newsletter with details of what he has seen
recently. He starts by including items that can easily be seen with
the naked eye or binoculars. If there is enough interest Gordon will
move into more technical descriptions at a later date.
At the end of the newsletter are details
of events or items to look out for in coming weeks.
Anyone can contribute to this new section
and Gordon is keen to stimulate interest. Let us have your
suggestions and ideas and we will consider them. |
