Between Perseus and Taurus

 

Canon 600d DSLR with 18-55mm EFS lens at f=18mm. Just over an hour of 45 second exposures at ISO1600 stacked and processed by Pip Stakkert.

Our student Reggie Stax spent an hour or two on the 18th and 19th of November trying to capture any 'straggler' Leonid meteors. Sadly he was unsuccessful but inadvertently he managed to take this widefield view including both NGC1499 and M45.

The California Nebula NGC 1499 is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus close to the boundary with Taurus. The nebula is so named because it looks like the outline of the American State of California.  It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It lies at a distance of approximately 1,000 light years from Earth. It shines due to excitation of the Hydrogen β line in the nebula by the nearby  energetic O7 star, Xi Persei also known as Menkib. Menkib is the bright star to the centre and right of the nebula as seen in the above images.

The Geminids meteor shower is next up and weather permitting should put on a good show on the evening of the 13th and early hours of the 14th of December. The Moon will be out of the way so this year should be good as long as the clouds keep away.

How to observe the Geminids

Another unique astronomical event worth seeing is the conjunction of the Solar system's two largest  planets - Saturn and Jupiter. In reality a vast distance separates the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn but every now and again they line up as viewed from Earth. This year is rather special as to the unaided eye they will appear as one bright star. They will have an apparent separation of only 6 minutes of arc, the last time this happened was in the 1600's. Bearing in mind the 'festive season' its rather nice to have a bright star to observe during December. The planets will be at their closest on the 21st of December 2020 but good views will be had from the the 16th to the25th. The new Moon will also be nearby in the sky just after sunset on each of these days. The planets will only be visible for a short period just after sunset and you will require an unobstructed view to the western horizon. We will try to image this rare event using the Observatory's mobile rig set up in the nearby churchyard. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.