Venus and Jupiter reach conjunction on March 2. A conjunction is an apparent phenomenon caused by the observer’s perspective: the two objects involved are not actually close to one another in space. Conjunctions between two bright objects close to the ecliptic, such as two bright planets, can be seen with the naked eye. The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun’s movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic against the background of stars. (courtesy Wikipedia)
The above image was taken just after sunset on Feb 27 from SkyPi Remote Observatory in Pie Town NM. The pair will appear closest for U.S. observers in the evening sky on March 1, leading up to the true moment of conjunction early on the 2nd, after the planets have set.
Second rig is installed up at SkyPi Remote Observatory. The platform above is in “Gamma” observatory. This one is shared with another observer. The telescope has two park positions. The one shown is the standard park position for roof closure. The roof opens if only one of the two scopes moves off of the park position but can only close if both scopes are parked! Several emergency routines are in place. The roof closes 10 minutes before sunrise regardless of who is or isn’t parked. Also weather, wind etc will trigger closure.
Park position number two is with the telescope pointing the opposite direction toward the flat panel on the left. That is the square structure with the white circle in the center. This is what I will use to take flat frames.
Two projects are currently underway on the 400mm scope in Delta observatory. (For details on current equipment in Delta observatory go here)
NGC 3521 is a flocculent intermediate spiral galaxy located around 26 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Leo. It has a morphological classification of SAB(rs)bc, which indicates that it is a spiral galaxy with a trace of a bar structure (SAB), a weak inner ring (rs), and moderate to loosely wound arm structure (bc). Extensive debris shells from the accretion of one or more long gone satellite galaxies encompass spiral galaxy NGC 3521 like a vast cosmic bubble, hence the moniker “Bubble Galaxy”. Interestingly I thought the outer shell structure would enhance with H alpa filtered exposures but it does not. Apparently there is an HII region but principally in the galaxy core.
Messier 78 or M78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.
M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that includes NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude. These two B-type stars, HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light. (Courtesy Wikipedia)
Stay tuned for the completion of these and other projects on the way!
Thanks for reading!
DrDave