KGO Broadcast - November 24, 2013

Today's show on KGO featured a lengthly discussion about Comet ISON, asteroids, space travel and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Click here to listen.

Planets and Comet ISON

Lately while trying to view Comet ISON, I have been up early looking at the sky and enjoying the view to the east as stars and planets emerge from their sojourn around the Sun and start their trek across the sky. Saturn had been an evening sky object in the summer, disappeared from view in early fall, and is now arriving in the morning sky, with fleet-footed Mercury keeping it company.

These two planets are just barely visible this week in the glare of the Sun's early light, and are helpful markers in the quest to find Comet ISON. However, as ISON races toward its close encounter with the Sun on Thanksgiving day, it is pretty much out of sight, lost in the sunlight that bathes the eastern horizon.

Leonid Meteor Shower 2013 + Comet ISON

Comet ISON in Virgo

The Leonids peak this weekend, a lovely annual shower that is the result of a periodic comet that has left a field of debris that is 'bumped into' by the Earth. Like all meteor showers, the Leonids are best viewed after midnight, and can appear almost anywhere in the sky. Like all meteor showers, the best view is under a dark sky away from city lights. Unfortunately we have a full Moon this year for the Leonids, and that means that even in dark conditions, the bright light of the Moon will wash out many of the meteors. So although this is not the best year for this particular shower, there is a bonus: if you get up early to see the meteor shower, you will also get a good look at Comet ISON, which is passing through the constellation Virgo on its way toward the November 28th rendezvous with the Sun.  A good bet is to get up early on Sunday November 17th and enjoy a view of Comet ISON as it passes near the bright star Spica, and watch for a few meteors in the process. Finder chart here, or just use the map on the right. I wish you clear skies and good viewing!

Image courtesy EarthSky.

Comets are all around us!

November 2013 is becoming Comet Month, with Comet ISON on its way toward the Sun, and now Comet Lovejoy making a nice appearance in the morning sky as well.

Comet Lovejoy

Comet Lovejoy is well positioned in the eastern sky in the early morning hours this week, with the famous Beehive Cluster as your guidepost. This article on EarthSky has a lot of helpful information for finding the Beehive and therefore Comet Lovejoy this week. I'll take a look in the morning and report what I can see.

Astro Bob's blog has some good information about Lovejoy as well. Get out your binoculars!

The Royal Sky

Every Fall, the royalty of the sky rises in the north-east and showcases a very fine part of the sky that includes the outer reaches of the band of the Milky Way, a galactic treasure, and a few easy-to-spot patterns that are easily visible in the night sky.

The Royal Sky

The trio includes Cepheus (the King), Cassiopeia (the Queen), and Andromeda (the Princess). In the early evenings this time of year, they are in a line from nearly due North toward due East, and the middle of these three constellations is quite bright and easy to locate in the sky. Over the course of the evening, they gradually shift position, spiraling out from the north circumpolar region of the sky toward the zenith, following closely the Great Square of Pegasus (of which Andromeda shares a corner star, Alpheratz).

I enjoy looking at this region through binoculars, with the outer reaches of the Milky Way visible in and around Cassiopeia, and of course the treasure of this part of the sky, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).  Take some time to enjoy this royal corner of the night sky, brimming with discoveries small and large. 

Image courtesy of Sky Safari.

Comet C/2012 S1 - Comet ISON Approaches

Comet C/2012 S1

Comets are beautiful and engaging to watch, gracefully floating across the night sky, arriving unexpected and sometimes surprising us with an extraordinary show. Some comets are regular visitors to Earth ("short period comets" such as Halley's Comet) and are very predictable, but others arrive from the vast reaches of the outer Solar System (the Oort Cloud) and make only one pass through our neighborhood, never to be seen again. Comet C/2012 S1, better known as Comet ISON, is of the latter category, packing enough ice and mass to become 'the comet of the century' when it has a rendezvous with the Sun in late November. Predictions of spectacular comets sometimes miss (anyone remember Comet Kohoutek?) so we always try to plan for comets with lowered expectations and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Finding Comet ISON

Comet ISON passed near Mars a few weeks ago and is on a near-collision course with the Sun. A comet with a close encounter like this is called a Sungrazing Comet -- Comet ISON will pass within a solar diameter of the Sun, so close that it might not survive the trip back out of the Solar System. If it does, however, it is expected to have a beautiful tail and could be quite a spectacle. We have to watch and see.

This coming week provides an opportunity to spot Comet ISON as it appears in the morning sky, when it will be in close alignment with Mars and the bright star Regulus. Look to the east before sunrise (around 5:00 or 6:00 am) and use some kind of optical aid such as binoculars, and you'll have a nice view of the comet. I'll be out each morning to take a look, and will update the blog with news.

Images courtesy of NASA/Hubble, and EarthSky.org.

Update October 15: have tried two mornings in a row to spot ISON with binoculars from San Francisco, but have not yet found it. Either it is quite tiny, too faint, the skies here are too light polluted, or all of the above. Will continue to try the remainder of this week.

Bright Stars and Planets in the Morning

Fantastic Morning Sky

I get up early, and I am quite aware of the fact that as autumn begins, the mornings are darker and darker. Here in the west side of San Francisco, autumn is when our clear skies return (following the summer fog) and the sky starts to come alive. My early start of the day means that I get to see the fabulous winter skies and the brilliant planet Jupiter when I step outside to get the newspaper. The southeasterly view just before dawn is riveting, with Jupiter dominating
the sky to the east, and the stunning constellation Orion, and the brightest star in the sky Sirius, to the south.

Later this week, the waning gibbous Moon glides high across the sky, passing near Jupiter on the 28th. As the sunrise moves a few minutes later each morning, the sky becomes more accessible and if you can spare a minute of your morning routine, you'll like what you see.

Image courtesy of Sky & Telescope.

Venus and the Crescent Moon Pair Up

Moon and Venus pair up

Sunday September 8th will be a good day to go to the beach (or anywhere with a good western horizon) to see a great alignment of brilliant Venus and a young thin crescent Moon hovering above the horizon minutes after sunset. The two will be a beautiful pair for the hour after sunset (7:30 pm here in San Francisco) and as the sky darkens in the minutes after sunset, Earthshine on the Moon should be outstanding. The skies in the San Franisco Bay Area are at their best of the year, clear and calm. Can't wait to look at this!

EarthSky recommends that you use the Moon to help you find Venus during the daytime. Yes, you can see the brightest celestial objects in the middle of a sunny day if you know where to look. I think it's quite cool to spot the shiny dot of Venus hanging in the bright blue sky. It's a real challenge to find, but worth the search. Best of luck with that, and if you don't find Venus in the day, you'll certainly find it after sunset.