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Celestial Events

Happenings in the night sky and information about astronomical events.

Galaxies and Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS)

May 28, 2020 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS Passes by Galaxies M81 and M82. Imaged at Grand Mesa Observatory by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson (Credit and Copyright: Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson).

While a couple of promising comets have fizzled out this spring, the slow and steady Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS) is keeping astrophotographers happy as it moves through the northern constellation Ursa Major. On May 24, the comet passed the lovely pair spiral galaxies M81 and M82 near the bowl of the Big Dipper. The event was framed spectacularly in the above image by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson using the Takahashi E-180 Astrograph at Grand Mesa Observatory in Colorado. This image is a testament to a high level of expertise and it shows how astrophotography at the hands of skilled and talented practitioners can approach high art [Read more…] about Galaxies and Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS)

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Filed Under: Celestial Events comet, galaxy

Supernova in Messier 61

May 20, 2020 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

The Type II supernova SN2020jfo in the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 in the constellation Virgo. Captured on May 19, 2020 with a TV85 refractor, TRF-2008 0.8x focal reducer, and ASI290MM camera. Stack of 20x10s images.

The galaxy M61 has done it again: it’s produced another supernova, the eighth such event since 1926. That makes this lovely face-on spiral galaxy in the Virgo cluster one of the most prolific supernova producers of the past century.

The supernova, cataloged as SN2020jfo, was discovered on May 6, 2020 at the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory near San Diego. Upon discovery, the exploding star was magnitude 14.7. It’s since brightened to about 14.3. To see it visually requires at least a 10″ telescope, but it is relatively easy to take a snapshot with an astronomy camera and a much smaller scope. I took the 20x10s stack of images at the top with an 85mm Tele Vue refractor, an 0.8x focal reducer, and an inexpensive ZWO ASI290MM camera.

One of the more prominent members of the Virgo cluster, Messier 61 is a lovely barred spiral with winding arms knotted with star-forming nebula and clouds of blue-white stars. It’s a starburst galaxy, one wracked with prodigious star formation which explains why so many supernovae have been seen here. With lots of massive, fast-burning young stars forming, it’s inevitable that they reach their spectacular end as a Type II supernova during which the star, as it runs out of fuel, collapses and snaps back in a spectacular explosion. It releases as much energy in a few weeks as our Sun releases in its entire 10 billion year life span.

The face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 in the constellation Virgo. Image courtesy of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

M61 is about the same size as our Milky Way and lies about 52 million light years away, so the progenitor star detonated when Earth was in the Eocene period back when Australia and Antarctica were still connected and most of the planet was covered in lush forest.

And since astronomy is not just a matter of contemplating space but also time, keep in mind that the light from thousands more supernovae from M61 are on the way to us now, events to be detected by generations of Earth-bound astronomers yet to be born.

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Filed Under: Celestial Events spiral galaxy, supernova, virgo cluster

A ‘Christmas Star’

December 22, 2019 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Brilliant Sirius over a snow-covered spruce tree in the wee hours of an icy morning looks a lot like the Christmas Star. Let’s all enjoy a fine holiday and a happy new year!

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Filed Under: Celestial Events

The Great ‘South American Eclipse’ of 2019

July 2, 2019 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events


Observers in a narrow band across the southern Pacific Ocean and north-central Chile and Argentina enjoyed a rare spectacle today: a total solar eclipse. The lovely seaside towns of La Serena and Coquimbo, Chile, enjoyed two minutes and thirteen seconds of totality, and observers at some of the world’s great astronomical observatories got in on the fun. This is the first total solar eclipse visible anywhere since the ‘Great American Eclipse‘ of August 21, 2017. The next total solar eclipse occurs on December 14, 2020, once again across the South Pacific, Chile, and Argentina.

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Filed Under: Celestial Events

The Christmas Comet of 2018

December 14, 2018 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Comet 45/P Wirtanen on December 9, 2018 through a telescope. Image courtesy of Transient Astronomer and Grand Mesa Observatory.

The year 2018 winds down with the apparition of the modest but easily observable Comet 46/P (Wirtanen). This periodic comet will not rival some of the better “Comets of Christmas Past” such asĀ Comet McNaught in 2006, Comet Hale-Bopp as it brightened towards the end of 1996, or even the relatively disappointing Comet Kohoutek in 1973. But Comet Wirtanen will grow bright enough to see with binoculars and, in dark sky, with the naked eye as it passes through some of the most prominent constellations of the season. It’s a great excuse to dust off your optics and get outside to enjoy the solar system in action and share the view with those around you [Read more…] about The Christmas Comet of 2018

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Filed Under: Celestial Events

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