'Cloud dodging' in the early hours - Perseids 2019

The early hours of the 13th of August 2019 -
A Perseid meteor close to the radiant dodges between the clouds
- Dual Camera Meteor Rig - Credit: Pip Stakkert.

Wide sky image - Perseid meteor in the Constellation Pegasus
 - Note the Andromeda Galaxy - the elongated patch of nebulosity centre left in the image
 - Dual Camera Meteor Rig - stack of 20x30sec lights at ISO 1600 - Credit: Kurt Thrust.

Two Perseid meteors in this composite image - tracked back to determine the approximate position of the radiant - Dual Camera Meteor Rig - Credit: - Archie Mendes

A sporadic meteor shoots across the the 'W' asterism of the Constellation Cassiopeia - Dual Camera Meteor Rig - Credit Pip Stakkert.

 " The weather forecast for the night of the 12th and the early hours of the morning on the 13th August 2019 was poor to say the least. I put all the Observatory staff on standby but was not very hopeful about seeing, let alone imaging, meteors. In the event, things turned out better than any of us expected.

High winds, fast moving clouds, high levels of humidity and moonlight all conspired to present the team with a number of challenges. The moonlight illuminated the clouds and made photography quite difficult. We did see more meteors than we imaged  but that said, the number spotted this year was quite disappointing. The majority were seen after 2:30am. BST and one or two of these were quite bright. The Perseids are fast moving meteors and can be quite spectacular. One very bright meteor flew fast and directly over the Observatory, sadly we were unable to photograph this fireball! 

At midnight, we measured the relative air humidity in the Observatory grounds and it was +80% saturated. In the early hours we fought a losing battle in preventing condensate forming on the lenses of our two imaging cameras. I have asked our instrumentation engineer - Jolene McSquint- Fleming - to manufacture a pair of matching battery operated lens heaters -(known in astro-circles as 'Dew Zappers'). She is on the case and will hopefully have the issue 'sorted' before the 'Leonid Shower' in November.

" Comet the Observatory cat was out and about all night, sitting on the Observatory roof and mewing at the Moon. " - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Predicted time of the visual Perseid Maximum - early hours of the 13th August 2019

A 2019 Perseid having its moment of glory close to the 'w' asterism of the constellation Cassiopeia. Canon 400d DSLR EFS 18-55mm lens at f=18mm. all mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

"This Perseid meteor was imaged in the early hours of the 11th of August. The weather tonight over Lowestoft is not promising. Rainfall is predicted for 23:00 BST and intermittent cloud from midnight. 'The Jodrell Plank Observatory Meteor Rig' will be set up by Jolene after the rain stops and hopefully we may capture a Perseid or two in between the clouds. The Jodrell Plank Observatory Team and Comet the Observatory cat are on standby hoping for a break in the cloud cover. 

The LVST has been 'pinging away' all day and earlier this morning the rate of radar reflections received at the JPO, appeared to be as high as one per minute".-Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Little Dumbell, Butterfly or Corkscrew Planetary Nebula - Messier 76

Messier 76 the Little Dumbell Planetary Nebula COAST Robotic Telescope - Open University - telescope.org -SHO filters (Sulphur Hydrogen Oxygen) - 13th July 2019. - Pip Stakkert.

" A planetary nebula has nothing to do with planets. A planetary nebula is the name given to an expanding shell of gas around an ageing star. It is thought that one day, in the far future, this fate awaits our Sun when it begins to run out of hydrogen fuel and leaves the main sequence. 

Messier 76 is some 2500 light years distant from Earth in the constellation Perseus and just over one light year across. It is quite faint, having an apparent magnitude of 10.1 and quite small, so difficult to find and see through a small telescope. The above image was taken through SHO filters so the the colours are false. The colour red indicates ionized sulphur gas, green indicates ionized hydrogen and blue indicates ionized oxygen" -  Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

NGC 6960 - The Western Veil Nebula

NGC 6960 The Western Veil Nebula COAST Robotic Telescope - Open University - telescope.org -SHO filters (Sulphur Hydrogen Oxygen) - 3rd August 2019. - Pip Stakkert.

" The Veil Nebula, located in the constellation Cygnus, is an interesting telescopic target. The veil nebula or NGC 6960  is the shock wave from a supernova which occurred some 10,000 years ago. This shock wave is ploughing through the interstellar medium. Ionised hydrogen and oxygen can be seen glowing green and blue respectively in the above image. Red indicates the presence of ionised sulphur. The bright star is 52 Cygni and although it appears linked to the nebula it has nothing to do with the original supernova"  - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

The Messier 51 Group -  M51A or NGC 5194 - interacting grand design spiral galaxy - and dwarf galaxy M 51B or NGC 5195- in the Constellation Canes Venatici  - COAST Robotic Telescope -telescope.org -Open University - credit: Pip Stakkert. 

" Two galaxies Messier 51A and the smaller NGC 5195 are interacting gravitationally and as a result creating star formation in the core area of M51. Both galaxies are estimated to be 25 million light years distant from Earth. The accentuated spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy is thought to be the result of direct interaction between it and its companion galaxy NGC 5195, which may have passed through the main disk of Messier 51 about 500 - 600 million years ago. In this hypothesis, NGC 5195 came from behind Messier 51 through the disk towards the observer and made another  crossing as recently as 50 - 100 million years ago.  Currently, NGC 5195 is believed to be slightly behind Messier 51. A number of supernovae have been observed in M51." - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Credit : Wikipedia