Is the Great Red Spot unravelling?

A crop from Juno Image 7228 - Credit NASA JUNO - taken on the 12th Of September 2019 at 03:39:56 UT when the space craft was at Altitude 42965.2  km, Longitude 314.8963 and Latitude -46.6062. Credit for image processing: Jodrell Plank Observatory Imaging Team Leader Pip Stakkert

"The Great Red Spot has been a constant feature of the turbulent weather system on Jupiter for many centuries. The GRS has been getting smaller for a number of years and this summer the 'shrinking' gained momentum. Close inspection of the above enlarged image reveals 'rivers' of dark material 'leaking' from the  edge of the GRS into the surrounding belts and zones. The affect mimics an 'unravelling' at the interface between the 'Spot' and it's surroundings. Will the GRS continue to shrink? Will the the GRS disappear altogether? If so will another similar storm grow to replace it in size, colour and longevity? We can only guess, watch and wonder but how sad will it be if this old friend departs from the Jovian atmosphere, it's like never to be seen again?" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Stars and a comet

Comet W2 AFRICANO in the constellation Andromeda - Altair Astro Lightwave 66mm. Doublet Refractor with 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener and Canon 600d DSLR all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Crop of a stack of 15x60sec lights at ISO1600. Credit: Kurt Thrust

The blue-white supergiant star alpha cygni otherwise known as Deneb.This star forms one of the vertices of the 'Summer Triangle' asterism. Altair Astro Lightwave 66mm. Doublet Refractor with 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener and Canon 600d DSLR all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Crop of a stack of 40x60sec lights at ISO1600. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" We have been trying to spot and image Comet W2 AFRICANO for some time without any success. With the Moon a late riser on Saturday night, we managed to capture it in the constellation Andromeda close to the bright stars delta and epsilon Andromeda. The comet is moving south quite quickly through Andromeda towards the constellation Pisces. This faint comet is showing a coma and a short tail".
- Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"Deneb is a spectacular star. It is very bright, very large and  very distant from our Solar System at 2,600 light years. Deneb has a mass approximately 19 times that of the Sun. It has such a large size that if it was to replace our Sun its outer surface would reach as far as the orbit of Earth". 
- Archie Mendes - visiting theoretical astronomer at the Jodrell Plank Observatory - Reydon University - 'School of Computer Modelling and Difficult Sums' 

" We are saddened to report that our friend and colleague Archie Mendes has been refused permanent UK residency. He will be missed at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. We will not see his like, wit and intelligence again, certainly not locally!". 
- Ivor Hump Chair of the Jodrell Plank Observatory Board of Trustees. 

Downloads from the Juno Satellite orbiting Jupiter

A crop from Juno Image 7425 taken on the 12th Of September 2019 at 03:39:56 UT when the space craft was at altitude 8097.9 km, Longitude 322.4213 and Latitude 25.9796. Credit for image processing: Jodrell Plank Observatory Imaging Team Leader Pip Stakkert

Io shown in front of Juno image of Io's shadow transit. Credit for Io image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. Credit for mage processing: Jodrell Plank Observatory Community outreach coordinator – Karl Seguine.

" Today the whole team spent a very happy afternoon in the 'Observatory Media Studio'. After a couple hours of jolly political banter we put together the above images from data downloads from the Juno Spacecraft.

The images show a shadow transit of the innermost moon Io across the cloud tops of the planet Jupiter. IA shadow transit of Io doesn't happen everyday but it is far from a rare event. What is special is that Juno was in the right location to photograph the event.

Our sponsors Anita and George witnessed and imaged a shadow transit of Io and Ganymede back in 2014. They witnessed and imaged it from a distance of 588 million km whereas Juno imaged it from 8,000 km".
- Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Link:https://george-artcabinedujardin.blogspot.com/2014/03/double-shadow-transit.html

Demonstration of the Rotation of the Earth

Comet the Cat, Mr Shrodinger's Roof and the Stars in and around the 'celestial north pole'. Polaris is the bright star to the right and above the TV aerial 

"Last night we tested Jolene's latest 'dew zapper' by undertaking an automated two hour long imaging run, The Canon 600d DSLR was tripod mounted and aimed North in the direction of our neighbour Mr. Shrodinger's house. The camera was programmed to take 15 second exposures at ISO 800 with an interval of one minute between each exposure. The relative humidity and temperature at the Observatory was recorded as 85% and 11 degrees Celsius respectively. When the camera lens was inspected after 2 hours of operation there was no sign of condensation. The dew zapper (and electrical battery) had exceeded their calculated design performance parameters.
Pip Stakkert spent some time today in the 'Observatory Media Studio' making a time-lapse film from the 'still images' obtained over night. The film demonstrates the rotation of the Earth and the principle of relativity. With our feet firmly anchored in the dirt our frame of reference is provided by the Earth, so when the Earth rotates we perceive the stars as rotating about the Earth's axis of rotation." - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Star Trails around Polaris - Credit: Kurt Thrust

Stars, planets and moons

A small square of sky at the border between the constellations Perseus and Camelopardalis seemingly devoid of stars when viewed with the naked eye, but when imaged with a DSLR it becomes festooned with starlight.

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

" Each one of the coloured dots in this image is a star, a large ball of gas similar to our Sun at the centre of which, nuclear fusion is taking place. These stars are of differing sizes and at different distances from our Solar System. All are light years  distant and light years are measurements of distance that are 'mind bogglingly large'. Some of these stars are close together and are bound by gravity whilst some only appear to be close, being in the same area of sky but at vastly different distances. I cannot imagine how many planets and moons these stars may support. Do any of them host life of some kind or another and will we ever get to find out? It is all rather mind boggling and simultaneously wonderful. 

Tonight we have been testing the 'dew zappers' made by Jolene and whilst doing so I could not get out of my mind the vastness of the Universe"

- Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory.

'Play misty for me'

200 Ohm resistors wired in parallel

A band of 12 resistors wired in parallel forming the heater for the Altair Astro Lightwave telescope's objective lens - battery connectors also wired in parallel for two 9 volt batteries.

Completed 'dew zapper' added to the EFS 18-55mm. zoom lens for a trial imaging run

 

Completed heater for the Altair Astro Lightwave telescope.

" Jolene McSquint-Fleming, the Jodrell Plank Observatory's 'Instrumentation Engineer' has been 'working her electrically insulating cotton socks off' constructing light weight battery operated 'dew zapping' lens heaters for a number of bits of glass in constant use at the Observatory.  With relative humidity readings in excess of 80% being regularly recorded here on the UK's East Coast, the existing thermal insulation around camera and telescope lenses has been unable to keep dew at bay for longer than an hour before condensation has prevented clear sharp images from being obtained. Jolene has now completed two heaters; one to fit a standard  Canon EFS 18-55mm. zoom camera lens and one to be used with the Observatory's Altair Astro 66mm. Lightwave telescope. She is currently working on another three. Many thanks to Alan Sheehan B.E and IceInSpace for the invaluable 'Dew Zapper' design Excel Spreadsheet"  -  Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

A stack of trial images taken with a Canon 600d DSLR and an EFS 18-55mm. zoom camera lens using the in-house fabricated 'dew zapper'

" I was pleased that the 'dew zapper' worked effectively for over 2 hours" - Jolene McSquint-Fleming

Open ClusterTombaugh 5

Open Cluster Tombaugh 5 and yellow giant star Gamma Persei - 66mm. Altair Astro Refractor - 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600d DSLR - 20x60sec lights at ISO1600 - on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount - Credit Kurt Thrust

"Searching for Comet W2 (AFRICANO) to no avail. It is obviously quite faint and with the Moon now waxing over the Jodrell Plank Observatory our success is far from guaranteed." - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Perseus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda - Canon 400d DSLR at f=18mm - 10x30secs at ISO1600 on a fixed tripod - Credit Pip Stakkert

" Much to our embarrassment we noticed that we had confused open cluster NGC 1502 with open cluster Tombaugh 5. Kemble's Cascade although in the same constellation is some way away. We have adjusted this post accordingly. We pride ourselves with running a blame free culture at the Jodrell Plank Observatory but I can assure you heads will roll . " - Ivor Hump - Chair of the Jodrell Plank Observatory Board of Trustees.  

NGC 7331 and the Deerlick Group revisted

NGC 7331 and the Deerlick Group - COAST Robotic Telescope - telescope.org- The  Open University- credit Pip Stakkert

" With the constellation Pegasus riding high in the Northern Hemisphere sky we thought it would be churlish not to revisit this interesting group of galaxies. The above image was taken last month with the COAST Robotic Telescope on Mount Teide, Tenerife. For a more in depth look at these galaxies follow the link to our previous post. If you live in a rural area with particularly dark sky conditions you may be able to see NGC 7331 with large binoculars or a small telescope". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory.

https://jodrellplankobservatory.blogspot.com/search?q=Deerlick+Group

Credit : Sky Map Pro 9