New Horizons on its approach to Pluto

Image taken on th 8th May 2015 by the Lorrri telescopic camera on-board the New Horizon space probe which is nearing its closest approach in July2015 to the minor planet Pluto Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, the Southwest Research Institute and
the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)

The New Horizons space-craft is hurtling towards Pluto at a staggering speed, covering 750,000 miles per day.  It is a breathtaking 2.95 billion miles from home!  As time passes and the space probe nears Pluto, the resolution of the images will improve and by the 14th of July, images obtained should have a resolution 5000 times of that shown in these photographs.

I find it very exciting to have lived long enough to see such detailed images of this small and distant world at,  what for most of my life, was the edge of our known solar system.  Its a bit like when I crack open a rock and find a fossil that last saw the light of day 150 million years ago!

Image taken on th 12th May 2015 by the Lorrri telescopic camera on-board the New Horizon space probe which is nearing its closest approach in July2015 to the minor planet Pluto Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, the Southwest Research Institute and
the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)

The first of the above images was taken when New Horizons was 49,700,000 miles distant from Pluto
and the second when it was 46,600,000 miles.

Pluto revolves every 6.4 earth days and differences in surface detail due to rotation can be seen clearly in the two images taken 4 days apart.  Scientists having analysed these images, believe that Pluto may have a polar cap.

Please note that the original images from the spacecraft were subject to deconvolution - digital manipulation and that I further applied sharpening processes both of which can cause the introduction of false features at levels of finer detail.

Volcanoes on the Moon

Meton: the clover leaf shaped lava flooded plain located close to the northern rim of the moon. Image compiled from video clips taken with my Canon 600D DSLR through my 127mm refractor with a 3x Barlow lens.

More or less in the middle of this group of mare lava flooded craters are two shield volcanoes and extrusive  lava.  To my eye there is also a number of smaller volcanic domes which are a type of shield volcano found in a number of locations on the near-side of the moon's surface.

Enlargement of part of my image showing the position and peak of one of the shield volcanoes and the lighter coloured extensive extrusive lava flows

A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid magma flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from stratovolcanoes. This results in the steady accumulation of broad sheets of lava, building up the shield volcano's distinctive form.

Credit for this image: James Stuby based on NASA image - Reprocessed Lunar Orbiter 4 image rotated and cropped in Gimp. The original image is in the public domain because it is a work of the U.S. Government (NASA). Immediate source: Lunar and Planetary Institute, Lunar Orbiter Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter 4, image 165, h1

Credits: Wikipedia, NASA and James Stuby and Virtual Moon - Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley.

Saturn at Opposition 23rd May 2015

Composite of images taken with my Canon 600D DSLR and my QHY5v camera through my Meade 127mm refractor with a 2.5x Barlow lens. The small moon Mimas was just below Tethys when this image was taken but because of its proximity to Saturn was drowned by the planet's glare.

Each year I look forward to Saturn being at opposition, that is when Saturn is nearest to Earth and in the opposite direction to the Sun. Opposition for Saturn occurs every 378 days, some 13 days later each year. This year and from the UK, Saturn does not rise high above the horizon. I took these photographs from our backyard as the planet grazed the rooftops of my neighbours' houses.

Taking photographs of planets close to the horizon is much more difficult than when they are higher in the sky. The light has to travel through more of the earth's atmosphere, which can distort images, reduce light levels and separate colours acting much like a prism.

I noticed that the red giant star Antares could just be seen between two houses behind our home. I dont often get to see the constellation Scorpius from our backyard and I never get to see the Scorpion's sting!

This year Saturn's rings are tilted towards Earth so we see them in my images almost at maximum. The maximum will occur in 2017.  Saturn follows an elliptical orbit ,one orbit of the Sun taking a little under 29.5 earth years. During this time we see the rings from different angles. The rings were last edge on in 2009, sadly I had not started experimenting with astrophotography in those far off days although I did see this interesting phenomenen through the eyepiece!

The rings at opposition show a brightening known as the Seeliger Effect

 

Popcorn Cockles alive alive O!

Popcorn cockles with chilli-flakes, kingprawns in batter, salad and pecan nut bread twists.

I would like to thank the following people for last night's tea:

• Tooty for cooking it all
• Tooty for the bread twist recipe and baking the bread
• Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food Cookery Book for the Popcorn cockle recipe
• The World of Fish for providing the excellent cockles and Kingprawns

Tooty that meal was proper lush !

The craters Manzinus and Mutus

The cratered  Southern Highlands of the Moon taken with my QHY5v colour planetary video camera, my 127mm refractor and a 3x Televue Barlow lens

I am quite pleased with this image which shows quite a lot of detail particularly on the walls to the crater Manzinus. In my image, Manzinus appears elliptic but in reality the crater is almost circular. Its elongated shape is caused by its proximity to the lunar edge not far from the south pole. We can see the crater wall so well because of the oblique view and the angle of illumination.

Immediately above and to the west of Manzinus is the crater Mutus. Mutus is roughly circular and slightly smaller in size than Manzinus. The smaller crater Mutus B can be seen sitting within the crater and craters Mutus Q and V are located within the crater but close to the western rim. Outside and just above Mutus are the smaller craters Mutus C and N.
 

Key locations for Manzinus and Mutus in my image

Manzinus is a lunar crater, roughly circular with a diameter of 98 km and a depth of 3.8 km, which is located in the southern region of the Moon's near side. It lies less than one crater diameter to the south-southwest of the crater Mutus, and to the northwest of Boguslawsky. The latter is a crater with nearly the same dimension and a comparable appearance to Manzinus.
The outer rim of Manzinus is worn, eroded, and somewhat irregular. The outer rim to the north-northeast is joined to the smaller Manzinus R, and the crest along that side is lower and forms a saddle. There is a cluster of small craters along the southern side that partly overlap each other, consisting of the craters D, E, G, and N. The heavily eroded satellite crater Manzinus A lies along the southeastern inner wall. Similarly the small crater Manzinus S lies along the northern inner wall, and the cup-shaped Manzinus J overlies the northwest rim.
The interior surface has been resurfaced in the past, and now forms a level, featureless plain that is marked only by a few tiny craterlets. The floor has the same albedo as the surrounding terrain. The crater is named after the Italian Renaissance: mathematician, astronomer, scientist and lens maker, Carlo Manzinus (1599–1677/1678).

Mutus is a lunar crater that is located in the rugged southern part of the Moon. It lies to the north-northeast of the larger crater Manzinus, and some distance to the south of Hommel. It is 78 kilometers in diameter and 3.7 kilometers deep. It is from the Pre-Nectarian period, 4.55 to 3.92 billion years ago.
The outer rim of Mutus is worn and eroded, with a pair of small but notable craters, Mutus A and Mutus V, lying across the eastern rim. A number of other tiny craters lay along the rim and the interior wall. Another crater, Mutus B, is located on the crater floor, just to the south of the midpoint. The remainder of the interior is relatively flat, and punctuated by several tiny craterlets to the north of Mutus B. Mutus is named for Vincente Mut (Muth), a 17th-century Spanish astronomer and sailor.

 

Manzinus and Mutus up close and personal.

 
 Credits: Wikipedia

The Waxing Moon

A composite image of the waxing moon compiled from a number of video clips taken with my Canon 600 DSLR and my 127mm refracting telescope.

The moon is by far our nearest neighbour. Through binoculars or a small telescope even the casual observer can see lots of geological detail: mountain ranges, craters, valleys, basalt plains, faults and volcanic domes. Amateur astronomers and astro imagers tend to overlook the moon, (sorry for the pun), in search of more exotic and distant celestial wonders.  Every month we can watch the moon as it first waxes and then wanes. What better way to spend an evening than watching sunrise over the mountains of the moon?

The 'terminator' is the term used to delineate the moving line of sunrise on the moon's surface.  In the above image the terminator is sitting over the basalt 'seas' Mare Imbrium and Mare Vaporum.  The sun has already risen over Mare Crisium, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Fecunditatis, Mare Nectaris and Mare Serenitatis.

The Waxing Moon just five days old from new - a quick and noisy image taken with my 127mm refractor and Canon 600 D DSLR

Vallis Alpes

The Alpine Valley- Waxing Moon 26th April 2015 - 127mm Apo Refractor, 3x Televue Barlow and QHY5v planetary camera as taken from our backyard

See also my previous post http://george-artcabinedujardin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-alpine-valley-vallis-alpes.html

Lovely full Moon last night. Very windy here in Oulton Broad, so the Moon appeared to sail between the clouds (relativity and frames of reference are really cool!).  I really like the area of the Moon around the Alpine Valley and with a low sun angle the mountains create enormous shadows that stretch out across the desolate lava plains. Sadly, I was not able to capture the rille that snakes along the floor of the Alpine Valley.  Apparently, imaging this feature is a 'rite of passage' for the best lunar imagers!  I was quite pleased with this effort as it is much better than my previous attempts and who knows, if I keep on trying, one night I may capture the rille!

For more information follow the link :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallis_Alpes

Venus 26th April 2015

Venus taken with my Canon 600D DSLR camera attached to my Meade 127mmm Apo Refractor with a Televue 3x Barlow lens.

 
In April of this year Venus has been sufficiently high in the sky to clear the roof of the rear extension to our house, as a consequence, I managed to image Venus using my largest telescope for the first time.  My previous images of Venus were all captured using my 90mm. Maksutov telescope.

Sadly, the dense Venusian cloud tops show very little detail other than subtle variations in shading.