Lunar X

The Moon at First Quarter -.A single exposure using thev 127mm. Apo refractor at f=950mm, Canon 600 D DSLR RAW format. Credit: Kurt Thrust

"Early in the evening of the 22nd of February the sky was as clear and as steady as I can remember having seen from the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Whilst I was setting up the scope for some deepsky work I took a couple images of the Moon at First Quarter.

For about four hours, around and about the First Quarter, sunlight falling at an oblique angle on the face of the Moon illuminates the crater walls of a number of closely located craters creating the visual illusion of a bright letter 'X'.

Can you spot the 'X' on the above image? If you cannot look below - such fun". Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
 

The Lunar X illumination affect slightly enhanced to make it easier to see: Credit: Kurt Thrust

Messier 3

Globular star cluster Messier 3 in the constellation Canes Venatici. Composite image made from a number of exposures at different exposure times. 127mm. Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR at ISO1600.- Credit: Pip Stakkert.

Crop from widefield image showing enlargement of the Globular cluster - Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" This time of the year M3 is straight overhead at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. All the team like to view these beautiful and ancient balls of stars. The cluster is quite bright at apparent magnitude 6.2 and can be seen from a dark site with binoculars as a small misty patch of luminosity. It can be found  halfway along an imaginary line between the two bright stars Arcturus and Cor Caroli. The cluster is about 33,900 light years from our Solar System and is made up of approximately 500,000 stars. It is one of the youngest of the globular clusters with an estimated age of 8 billion years. The cluster contains a large number of variable stars and has an above average abundance of heavier elements. - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" We are happy to congratulate our Facilities Manager-May Fleming and our Instrumentation Engineer and Associate Astronomer' - Jolene McSquint  on the announcement of their intended wedding in July this year.  Everyone enjoys a 'summer wedding' and the Observatory staff are no exception".  – Karl Seguine - Community outreach coordinator.

Open Star Clusters

Open star cluster -Messier 37 in the constellation Auriga  - 127 mm Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR - ISO 800.-  Credit: Pip Stakkert

Crop of M 37 - showing stars towatds its centre- 127 mm Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR - ISO 800.-  Credit: Pip Stakkert

Open star cluster - M44- The Beehive or Praesepe in the constellation Cancer- 127 mm Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR - ISO 800.-  Credit: Pip Stakkert

Crop of M44 -showing stars towards its centre- 127 mm Apo refractor - Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR - ISO 800.-  Credit: Pip Stakkert

"Over 100 open star clusters have been found in our Milky Way galaxy. They contain any number up to about 1000 stars that formed from the same giant molecular cloud of gas and dust. They are loosely held together by mutual gravitational attraction and over time become disrupted by close encounters with other clusters and clouds of gas as they orbit the galactic centre. Clusters usually survive for a few hundred million years before close encounters cause the dispersal of their constituent stars. Open clusters have been found only in spiral and irregular galaxies where there is active star formation". - Archie Mendes - visiting theoretical astronomer at the Jodrell Plank Observatory - Reydon University - 'School of Computer Modelling and Difficult Sums' 

The Leo Triplet or M66 Group

Leo Triplet of Galaxies - 127mm Meade Apo-Refractor- Altair Astro 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener -Canon 600D DSLR - QHY5-11 guide camera - 40 x 2 min picture subs at ISO1600 stacked. Credit Pip Stakkert

" The weather has not been kind so imaging has been difficult from our coastal location at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. The whole team was up an awake for the whole night of 23/24 February 2018 to capture 80 minutes of data from these remote galaxies. Normally, we would have taken 4minute subs at IS0800 but because of the intermittent cloud we had to limit sub exposures to 2 minutes.

Credit: Pip Stakkert

The Leo Triplet or M66 Group comprises at least 3 spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC3628. The central dust-lane, in the edge on viewed galaxy - NGC 3628, is clearly visible in our image. These red shifted galaxies (moving away from us at between 700-800 km/sec) are approximately 35 million light years distant from our Solar System. (332 million million kilometres).

The Leo Triplet is located physically close to the Leo Group or M96 Group. These two groups may be part of a larger Group. The M96 Group lies within the Virgo Supercluster which contains our Local Group." - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Crescent Moon

20th February 2018 - Crescent Moon- Canon 600d DSLR at f=240mm - credit Observatory Sponsor George Roberts 

"Every so often I'm reminded by the Trustees that the Jodrell Plank Observatory relies upon its financial supporters and sponsors for its continued existence. To that purpose and by way of a contrast, I have posted this 'amateur' image of the crescent moon taken by one of our longstanding sponsors. Needless to say, Pip Stakkert, had very little involvement in its production." Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 81 and Messier 82

Messiers 81 and 82 taken with the Meade 127mm. Refractor - Altair Astro 0.8x focal reducer and field flattener and Canon 600D DSLR. ISO800 - 6x5 mins lights with  flats, darks and bias. Taken from the  Jodrell Plank Observatory at 21:30 on 17-02-2018. - Image credit: Pip Stakkert.

"Messier 81 is also known as Bode's Galaxy (to the right in the above image), named after its discoverer Johann Elert Bode -1747-1826. It is the largest galaxy in the M81 Group of galaxies which is located in the constellation Ursa Major (close to the bear's nose). It is approximately 12 million light years from Earth but can be seen through good quality binoculars - as Andy Boon- a recent visitor to the Jodrell Plank Observatory - will attest. The  M81 Group is is a group of 34 galaxies and is a close neighbour of the Local Group which contains our galaxy the Milky-Way. Gravitational interactions between M81, M82 and NGC3077 have removed hydrogen gas from all three galaxies creating filamentary structures within the group. Gravitational affects and interstellar gas falling into M82 and NGC3077 have led to increased levels of star formation". Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Enlarged detail of the spiral galaxy Messier 81 - Image credit: Pip Stakkert

Enlarged detail of the spiral galaxy Messier 82 (aka The Cigar Galaxy) - seen edge on, structural disruption caused by M81 and other members of the galactic group is clearly evident. -  Image credit: Pip Stakkert

"Back in 2014 a Supernova was discovered in Messier 82 and although this was prior to the inauguration of the Jodrell Plank Observatory our sponsor and 'lucky-plucky' amateur astro-imager George Roberts did take a blurry photograph of the event - as was said at the time this was one hell of a bang" Archie Mendes - visiting astrophysicist.

" Nice to welcome 'Comet the Observatory Cat' back on the premises and all plans for 'the wall' between the Observatory and our good neighbour Mr. Shrodinger have now been abandoned - sadly Waffles Construction Ltd. have been voluntarily wound up" - Doris Jansen Chair of the Board of Trustees

Libration in Longitude

Images of the full Moon taken 4 months apart showing the Libration in Longitude - Libration in longitude results from the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit around Earth; the Moon's rotation sometimes leads and sometimes lags its orbital position. Images by Pipp Stakkert taken with the Observatory Altair Astro 66 mm Doublet Refractor.

" The recent full Moon at Perigee - ie. when it is closest to Earth and brightest, provided an opportunity for Pipp Stakkert to try out the new 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener with the little Altair Astro scope and the Canon 600D DSLR camera. The image on the right above and enlarged below, was taken with this set up. It was quite amazing to watch Pipp take a series of images with the camera and telescope both hand held - using the scope as a camera telescopic lens. The Moon at perigee was so bright that the images were taken at ISO 100  - exposure 1/2500 and f =240mm.

If you look carefully at the above two images, you can see that in October 2017, Grimaldi is further from the eastern limb and Mare Crisium is closer to the western limb than in the image taken at the end of January 2018. This is clear evidence of  'Libration in Longitude'. You can also see some 'Libration in Latitude', with the Moon in January 2018 showing more of the South Pole and less of the North Pole than in October 2017."  - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

From a stack of 20 exposures 31st January 2018.