The Heart Nebula

IC1805 The Heart Nebula - Cassiopeia - Centre RA -02^h 32^m 42.103^s DEC - +61° 27' 19.800"  Size 41.3 x 41.3 arcmin 
 Autonomous Robotic Telescope - Open University -PIRATE Telescope S, Ha and O111 filters
 3 minute exposure   .

"The poor weather continues to prevent the use of the optical telescopes at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Today, I recalibrated the Software Defined Radio at the heart of the LVST radio telescope and switched it on to record the Perseid Meteor shower 2017. Hopefully, we will be able to collect data showing the numbers of meteors detected rising to a maximum at around or about the 12th. of August and then a decline through to the beginning of September. In the mean time to punctuate the boredom of cloudy skies I have had Pip Stakkert work on the digital manipulation of the PIRATE image of IC1805. I think his 'heart' was in it"! - Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Perseids are coming

Comet the Observatory cat sitting on top of the Cabine next to the Yagi Aerial an integral part of the LVST (Lowestoft Very Small Telescope)

" This afternoon, I noticed the cat sitting on top of Cabine du Jardin Deux next to the Yagi aerial and this reminded me that it would soon be time to turn on the LVST to monitor the 2017 Perseid Meteor Shower. 

The LVST uses software defined radio and Spectrum Lab to record and analyse forward scattered radar reflections from meteors burning up in the atmosphere over southern France. 


The peak of the Perseid Shower will occur on the night of the12/13th. of August.  The Moon will be just 5 days past full and it will mean that visual observers will see only the brightest meteors. If the weather is good, meteor watching from a deckchair can be great fun.  From 11.00pm. - until the early hours of the morning - usually provides the best time to view Perseids.  This year because of the position  and brightness of the Moon, it may be best to look towards the constellation of Ursa Major - the Great Bear rather than towards the shower radiant which is located at the border between the constellations - Perseus - Cassiopeia -Camelopardalis." - Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
 

Screenshot from Spectrum Lab - 3D Waterfall - showing radar reflection from the plasma surrounding a Perseid Meteoroid as it burned up in the atmosphere somewhere over France in early August (Pre-peak) 2015

Info for capture "c:\Spectrum\screenshots\event150802041909"
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Date=2015-08-02 time=04:19:09
Contrast=99 Brightness=101
Noise(n)=-112.228dB, Peak_f=2160.955Hz, Peak_a=-75.989dB

"Nice Stars but Dangerous" - the late Joe Roberts - 1928-2001

The Omega, Horseshoe or Swan Nebula - Messier 17. The PIRATE telescope -narrow band filters - Hydrogen Alpha -pasted into the red channel, Oxygen pasted into the green channel and Sulphur pasted into the blue channel - 1x3 minute exposure. - Credit: the Autonomous Telescope- telescope.org - Open University.

Alternative colour rendering - Sulphur -pasted into the red channel, Hydrogen Alpha pasted into the green channel and Oxygen pasted into the blue channel

" The Omega Nebula - Messier 17 can be found in the constellation Sagittarius. Because of its low declination it barely rises above the Jodrell Plank Observatory's southern horizon. The above narrow band image was taken using the PIRATE robotic telescope on Mount Teide- Teneriffe.

Image taken with a Canon 400D DSLR in Provence des Montagnes - 2015 - Pip Stakkert.  M17 can be seen top left in the band of the Milky Way

 

The nebula is approximately 5,000 to 6,000 light-years from our Solar System and  spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of gas and dust, of which this nebula is a part, is about 40 light-years in diameter with a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is thought to be 800 solar masses.

The nebula, one of the brightest and massive star-forming regions in our galaxy, is similar to the Orion Nebula. Unlike the Orion Nebula we do not view it face on but instead see it edge on. Embedded hot young blue stars are ionising the gas in the nebula causing it to shine."
Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Ring Geometry

Saturn's Ring System at Opposition as imaged from the Jodrell Plank Observatory 2012 - 2017

"Saturn takes about 29½ years to orbit the Sun and over time we view the rings from different angles.  In 2017, the ring system is  wide open as seen from Earth and Saturn's Northern hemisphere is tipped in our direction. The angle of Saturn's rings as imaged from the Earth varies year on year depending upon the specific orbital geometry of the two planets.

The last time the rings were wide open was in 2002-3, when Saturn's Southern hemisphere was tipped in our direction. The rings then began to close, showing an increasingly narrow aspect, with Saturn becoming rather dimmer at each successive opposition (ie when Saturn is at its closest point to the Earth). The rings last appeared edge-on in September 2009, when the Earth passed through the plane of Saturn's Rings. I can well remember the rather odd image visible in 2009, as I saw the rings edge on for the first time through an eyepiece and the 127mm Meade Refractor. The Northern face of the rings came into view during the latter part of 2009, as they slowly began to provide a less oblique view as seen from Earth. 

In the year 2025, the rings will again appear edge-on as seen from Earth.  After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, which will increase to a maximum inclination of 27 degrees by May, 2032.  I hoped to be alive and well enough to see this once again!

The above image is a composite  of six images taken at opposition each year from 2012. The quality- clarity of each image varies from year to year depending upon - 

•  Sky transparency and air quality
•  Light pollution
•  The height of Saturn above the horizon - 'Declination'
•  Improvements in technology (telescope- camera - imaging software)
•  Improvements in digital imagery manipulation.

To paraphase the late and great Fred Zwicky - Saturn is a 360 degree Beauty - A beauty which ever way you look at it! "
  Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

The inauguration of the OpenScience Observatories Open University - Coast and Pirate Telescopes - Mount Teide, Teneriffe - Canary Islands

Image grab from the Inauguration video presentation - Inauguration Presentation from the clamshell dome of the COAST Telescope - Credit Open University

 More information on the Inauguration Event

George and Anita Roberts, friends and financial sponsors of the Jodrell Plank Observatory, have, at this time, internet access to the Robotic Telescopes on the extinct volcano Mount Teide -Teneriffe - Canary Isles.

" George has agreed to allow the Jodrell Plank Observatory to use data obtained from these fantastic remote observatories at high altitude under pristine skies. Wherever such information is used by our Imaging Team Leader' -  Pipp Stakkert, the Observatory will credit the data aquisition from telescope.org- Open University." Kurt Thrust -current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

'Clamshells' containing the PIRATE and COAST Robotic Telescopes - Credit: telescope.org- Open University

 

PIRATE Telescope - Credit: telescope.org- Open University

 "Image data collected by the PIRATE Telescope this week. Sulphur, Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen filters were used and pasted into the Red, Green and Blue channels of this image respectively.  Pipp Stakkert, the Jodrell Plank Observatory Visualisation Team Leader, has made a good attempt at this target made famous by the iconic Hubble Space Telescope image 'The Pillars of Creation'." Kurt Thrust- current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comparison between an enlargement from the PIRATE Telescope image of M16 on the left and The Hubble Space Telescope on the right

The Saturnian System

Saturn with 5 of its larger moons on the 25th May 2017 - Composite of two images taken with a DSLR and a high speed planetary video camera whch were later merged together using specialist software.

"The Cassini Spacecraft is somewhere in this image but far too small and dim to see through any telescope. The Cassini Spacecraft was launched in 1997 and has been exploring  the Saturnian System since 2004. It has been an immensely successful scientific project gaining unknown insights into its moons, rings and atmosphere.

 Cassini Top Ten Scientific Highlights

 Science Overview

Cassini in orbit around Saturn - Graphic credit : NASA-JPL

Cassini is travelling currently at a speed of 19,000 mph relative to Saturn and as it runs out of fuel for adjusting its orbit after 19 years in space, it has commenced a series of planned orbits that take it inside the rings and close over the cloud tops of Saturn itself.  Its orbit will decay and in September of this year, Cassini will disappear within the clouds to be crushed out of existence by Saturn's atmospheric pressure.  Every inch of the way, the Cassini Spacecraft's instruments will be recording new information and beaming it back to Earth.

For me Cassini's greatest discovery was the subterranean sea on the moon Enceladus." Credit Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory 

Enceladus Subsurface Ocean 

 'Enceladus is ripe for life. In one final pass through the icy moon’s liquid plumes, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft found molecular hydrogen, which indicates favourable conditions for life in Enceladus’s subsurface sea.' Credit: New Scientist

Saturn with its retinue of moons tiny amongst the starfield in the Constellation Sagittarius - Image taken with the 127mm. Meade Apo- Refractor from the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

 " The Cassini project is a NASA ESA joint scientific exploration of the Saturnian System. It is a wonderful example of cooperation between scientists and intellectuals in the United States of America and Europe. We do it not because its easy but because we choose to.  Curiosity, brains, cooperation, compassion and the pioneering can do spirit define our species. So lets keep doing great stuff together and turn our backs on ignorance, xenophobia, pseudo-science, bullshit and hatred." Credit: Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.