Monday, May 22, 2017

Comet Johnson Getting Brighter in Small Telescopes

https://assets.cdn.astronomynow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/02211027/Comet_C2015_V2_40x10s_2Apr2017_0044BST_v3.jpg
Image of Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) at Apparent Visual Magnitude +8, with an obvious tail, photographed in the Constellation Hercules the Hero on the night of April 1-2 by Ade Ashford.
(Image Source: AstronomyNow Magazine from the United Kingdom)

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) has now become the brightest comet visible in small telescopes and possibly binoculars. It will come closest to the Earth on June 5.

Currently, Comet Johnson is passing through the Constellation Bootes the Herdsman. An hour after sunset, it can be found about 40 degrees above the eastern horizon. It will pass Bootes' brightest star, Arcturus, on June 6. Comet Johnson is visible most of the night. It is highest in the southern sky around local Midnight.

Comet Johnson will appear as a diffuse white ball, looking nothing like the pinpoint-like stars or oval planets of our Solar System. Only in the larger, professional telescopes are the two tails visible. The larger one is the traditional dust tail, while a much thinner tail is composed of gas.

At closest approach to Earth, Comet Johnson will be at a distance of 0.812 Astronomical Units or 75,480,115.505697 miles / 121,473,471.0084 kilometers. Used by astronomers to measure the great distances within our Solar System, one Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun: 92,955,807.273026 miles / 149,597,870.70 kilometers.

Visible in small telescopes and binoculars evenings after dusk, the Comet currently shines at an Apparent Visual Magnitude +7.05. Comet Johnson will reach perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on Monday Morning, 2017 June 12 at 5:31:39 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDT) / 9:31:39 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

In late June, after Comet Johnson reaches perihelion, it could possibly reach a maximum brightness of +6—which would be barely (particularly considering the diffuse nature of a comet) bright enough to be seen with the naked-eye under ideal conditions. However, it should continue to make a good target for small telescopes and, possibly, binoculars.

For the first part of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, Comet Johnson will be particularly visible to northern viewers due to its favorable orbit, which has a high inclination of 50 degrees relative to the ecliptic. However, by the end of July this comet will become an almost exclusively Southern Hemisphere object, as it continues progressing southward in the sky.

On the evening of 2015 November 3, astronomer Jess Johnson discovered Comet Johnson as part of the Catalina Sky Survey. When first seen, the Comet had a very dim Apparent Visual Magnitude of +17, at a distance of 6.17 AU or 573,537,330.874568 miles / 923,018,862.219 kilometers.

This is the first and last time we will see Comet Johnson, at least in the Inner Solar System. Comet Johnson has a hyperbolic orbit. Once it goes around the Sun, it will move away and never come back, eventually leaving our Solar System for-good.

American astronomer Fred Whipple described a comet as a “dirty snowball.” Comets are a combination of rocks, dust, water ice, and other frozen gases, from the early days of our Solar System.

The solid core of a comet is known as the nucleus. Streams of dust and gas released from the comet, as it nears the Sun, form a thin atmosphere around the comet nucleus called the coma. The coma is composed mostly (90 per-cent) of water, with dust making-up the rest of the coma.

Most, but not all, comets have one or more visible tails. The tail(s), which is usually not visible in the Outer Solar System, is composed of dust and gases emanating from the comet, caused by solar radiation as the comet comes closer to the Sun; this radiation usually is too weak to create tails in the Outer Solar System. Normally, a comet's tail(s) points away from the Sun, no matter the direction of movement of the comet; hence, a comet leaving the Inner Solar System often has a tail pointing in the direction of the comet's motion.

Comets usually have a highly-eccentric, elliptical orbit around the Sun, which brings a comet into the Inner Solar System for a short time, while it spends most of its time in the Outer Solar System. Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper Belt, just beyond the orbit of the Planet Neptune, while long-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort Cloud, a spherical cloud of icy bodies beyond the Kuiper Belt.

Short-period comets may have an orbit of only a few years, while long-period comets, potentially, could have an orbit of several million years. Some comets have very short lives, and they disappear into the Sun before they can resume traveling to the Outer Solar System. Other comets, known as hyperbolic comets, go around the Sun once and never come back, continuing into Interstellar Space forever.

To more easily see comets, it is better to be away from city lights, as artificial lighting can drown-out the dimmer comets. Bright moonlight can also drown-out some of the dimmer comets, so monitor the Moon Phase on the monthly SpaceWatchtower Astronomical Calendar.

When looking for a comet, it is best to be in an area that gets a good view of the entire sky (with few obstructions such as buildings, trees, or hills). Of course, you definitely want an unobstructed view for the area of the sky where you expect to find the comet. And, if the comet is expected to be low on the horizon where you expect to view it, you want your observation site to be as high in elevation as possible.

Of course, viewing comets, like all celestial observations, are weather-permitting. If there are more than a very few clouds in the sky, a comet will be much more difficult to find.

And, you want to go out ahead of time, before you actually start looking for comets, to get your eyes accustomed to the dark sky. Dark-adapting your eyes for comet-watching could take up to a half-hour.

Internet Links to Additional Information ---

SpaceWatchtower Monthly Astronomical Calendar ---
Current Month (2017 May):
Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2017/05/astronomical-calendar-2017-may.html
Calendar Archives: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/Buhlnews.htm#astrocalarchiv

Comet: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet

Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) -
Link 1 >>> https://theskylive.com/c2015v2-info
Link 2 >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2015_V2

Related Blog Post ---

"4 Comets May Be Visible w/ Small Telescopes." 2017 April 12.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2017/04/4-comets-may-be-visible-w-small.html


     Safe Public Viewing of the Great American Solar Eclipse
                         Monday, August 21, 2017
     Mt. Lebanon Public Library, South Suburban Pittsburgh
More Info: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/archivenews/releases/poster-flyer/2017SolarEclipse-Flyer.htm

Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.
             2017 May 22.

                             Like This Post? - Please Share!

            More Astronomy & Science News - SpaceWatchtower Twitter Feed:
            Link >>> https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower

        Astronomy & Science Links: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks

                Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your in-box ?
                Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
& SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Astronomy Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#astrolinks >
Science Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks >
SpaceWatchtower Twitter News Feed: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
LibraryWatchtower Blog: < http://librarywatchtower.blogspot.com >
TransportWatchtower Blog: < http://transportwatchtower.blogspot.com  >
South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
Barnestormin Blog: Writing, Essays, Pgh. News, etc.: < http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Citizen Science: Another Way to Help Scientists Search Our Universe


(Image Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

Over the last few months, NASA and the Carnegie Institution for Science have started projects asking the general public to help scientists find other planets. Another Citizen Science project has also recently been unveiled, asking for help from the public to restore decades-old astronomy photographs. An Internet link to this project can be found at the end of this blog-post.

                                                   Astronomy Rewind

Astronomy Rewind is another initiative of the Citizen Science project known as Zooniverse, which asks the public to view and classify astronomy photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries. People can help to classify these old photographs into the proper categories of the Astronomy Image Explorer.

A service of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Astronomy Image Explorer contributes to a digital sky atlas originally developed by Microsoft Research, but now managed by AAS. These restored photographs will also join new photographs, such as those from the Hubble Space Telescope, in data-bases managed by NASA and other academic organizations.

Many of the images and maps, which appear on the Astronomy Rewind Internet web-site, come from past journals of the American Astronomical Society. These journals include the Astronomical Journal, Astrophysical Journal, ApJ Letters, and the ApJ Supplement Series, from an archive funded by NASA and housed at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Public assistance is sought for this project because computers are not very good in recognizing stars and other celestial objects in digitized images. Human eyes still have a much better knack for pattern recognition in such computer files.

“There's no telling what discoveries await,” says Alyssa Goodman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, one of the project's founders. She went on to say, “Turning historical scientific literature into searchable, retrievable data is like turning the key to a treasure chest.”

Astronomy Rewind Citizen Science Project:
Link >>> https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/astronomy-rewind

Internet Links to Additional Information ---

News Release from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics - "With Astronomy Rewind, Citizen Scientists Will Bring Zombie Astrophotos Back to Life."
Link >>> https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2017-11

More Citizen Science Projects:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/FAQ/citizenscience.html

Related Blog Posts ---

"Public Invited to Search for Planets in Other Star Systems." 2017 March 27.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2017/03/public-invited-to-search-for-planets-in.html

"Citizen Science: Help NASA Find 'Planet Nine'." 2017 March 10.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2017/03/citizen-science-help-nasa-find-planet.html


     Safe Public Viewing of the Great American Solar Eclipse
                         Monday, August 21, 2017
     Mt. Lebanon Public Library, South Suburban Pittsburgh
More Info: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/archivenews/releases/poster-flyer/2017SolarEclipse-Flyer.htm

Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.
             2017 May 10.

                             Like This Post? - Please Share!

            More Astronomy & Science News - SpaceWatchtower Twitter Feed:
            Link >>> https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower

        Astronomy & Science Links: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks

                Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your in-box ?
                Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
& SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Astronomy Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#astrolinks >
Science Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks >
SpaceWatchtower Twitter News Feed: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
LibraryWatchtower Blog: < http://librarywatchtower.blogspot.com >
TransportWatchtower Blog: < http://transportwatchtower.blogspot.com  >
South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
Barnestormin Blog: Writing, Essays, Pgh. News, etc.: < http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

Monday, May 1, 2017

Astronomical Calendar: 2017 May

Downtown Mars, PA.JPG
The Martian New Year (the time of the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, beginning Mars Year 34) begins on May 4. NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are co-sponsoring a STEAM celebration in the Mars business district--that is, Mars, Pennsylvania (about 25 miles / 40 kilometers north of Pittsburgh). The New Year on Mars occurs every 686.98 Earth days; the next Martian New Years will occur on 2019 March 23 and 2021 February 7. Pictured is the Mars "Flying Saucer," located in a parklet in the middle of the Mars business district.
More information ---
Link 1 >>> http://www.marsnewyear.com/
Link 2 >>> https://stardate.org/radio/program/martian-spring-0
By coincidence, May 4 is also the annual "Star Wars Day" ("May the Fourth Be With You").
(Image Sources: Wikipedia.org , By Mvincec - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3951658 )

Astronomical Calendar for 2017 May: 
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/astrocalendar/2017.html#may

 Related Blog Post ---


"Astronomical Calendar: 2017 April." 2017 April 1.

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/astrocalendar/2017.html#apr


     Safe Public Viewing of the Great American Solar Eclipse
                         Monday, August 21, 2017
     Mt. Lebanon Public Library, South Suburban Pittsburgh
More Info: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/archivenews/releases/poster-flyer/2017SolarEclipse-Flyer.htm

Source: Friends of the Zeiss.
              2017 May 1.

                             Like This Post? - Please Share!

            More Astronomy & Science News - SpaceWatchtower Twitter Feed:
            Link >>> https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower

        Astronomy & Science Links: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks

                Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your in-box ?
                Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
& SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Astronomy Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#astrolinks >
Science Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks >
SpaceWatchtower Twitter News Feed: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
LibraryWatchtower Blog: < http://librarywatchtower.blogspot.com >
TransportWatchtower Blog: < http://transportwatchtower.blogspot.com  >
South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
Barnestormin Blog: Writing, Essays, Pgh. News, etc.: < http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >