Revenant of the Swan

 

P Cygni (34 Cygni) and also known as the ' Revenant of the Swan' - Hyper Giant Blue Variable Star in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan - 66mm Altair Starwave refractor with 0.6 x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600d DSLR at ISO 800. 3 minute RAW exposures. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

Plate solving. Credit:  Astrometry.net

"This interesting and highly luminous star is located between 5000 and 6000 light years distant and is moving away from us at nearly 9 km/sec. The star has a current magnitude of  4.8  (Absolute Mag -7.9) and may be seen from a dark site with the naked eye. This is incredible considering its vast distance from our Solar System.  P Cygni is extraordinary in many ways! It has a mass 37 times  and radius 76 times that of our Sun. It is 610,000 times more luminous than the Sun and this is the reason it can be seen from such a great distance. It is one of the most luminous stars known in the Milky Way.

The star is an irregular variable and has, over the past 500 years, shown major brightening. In recent times the variability has been less extreme and visual brightening is occurring at 0.15 of a magnitude per century. P Cygni is thought to be burning hydrogen in a shell around its core and if so is moving from hyper giant blue to red super giant stage all part of an evolutionary process as the star moves closer to its likely supernova. The life of a blue hyper giant star is short and violent and measured in millions rather than billions of years when compared with our Sun.

Because of its variability and extreme outbursts in the 17th century, the star was thought to be a recurring nova. Presumably it was named the the 'Revenant of the Swan' because it exhibited a repeated and unexpected return to life after multiple deaths or novae.

P Cygni gives it's name to a type of stellar spectrum that shows both absorption and emission in the profile. The emission line arises from a dense stellar wind near to the star, while the blue shifted absorption lobe is created where the radiation passes through circumstellar material rapidly expanding in the direction of the observer. As the star is quite bright we are hoping to use our transmission grating to obtain a spectrum later in the summer when Cygnus is on the meridian". - Kurt Thrust Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Scorpion

 

The Constellation Scorpius - Canon 600d DSLR and  18-55 efs lens at f=18mm f/5 on a fixed tripod. ISO 6400 - 10 light exposures of 18secs stacked using Sequator freeware. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

"The constellation Scorpius the Scorpion is a favourite but unfortunately never rises high above our southern horizon at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Pip Stakkert captured this image from an upper floor window of the Observatory Visitor Centre. Our sponsors George and Anita Roberts have spoken of the wonders of seeing this constellation at much higher declination from the dark suburbs of Christchurch New Zealand" -  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Partial Solar Eclipse over the Jodrell Plank Observatory 10 June 2021

 

The undulating surface of the Moon can be seen in this image. The uplifted rims of countless craters create this irregular lunar silhouette.

The Partial Solar Eclipse at about maximum as observed from Lowestoft. Taken with the 66mm Altair doublet refractor with a Baader white light filter and a QHY5-ll mono planetary camera all mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Image Credits: Kurt Thrust and Pip Stakkert.

" The weather was a bit mixed for this solar eclipse with the Sun disappearing behind heavy low level clouds for minutes at a time. Luckily, we were able to image the Moon passing in front of the Sun at about the time of maximum eclipse. On Wednesday the sky was a little clearer and we were able to capture a sunspot on the solar disk" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" The sun is emerging from a period of low magnetic activity. Solar activity varies on a periodic 11 year cycle. The sun has been devoid of spots for some time, so it is nice to see a few sun spots indicating magnetic activity and the associated increase in auroral displays". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Noctilucent Clouds

 

"The weather at the Jodrell Plank Observatory has taken a turn for the better and Kurt and  the Plank Team have been beavering away in the sunshine preparing the kit for capturing Thursday's partial solar eclipse. After sunset and during astronomical twilight we witnessed a minor display of noctilucent clouds. During summer months noctilucent or night shining clouds may be seen after the sun sets and the sky darkens. they form high in the mesosphere between 76 and 85 kilometers above the earth. They require water vapour, dust and very cold temperatures in order for them to form. Because the temperatures at altitude are so low, the water vapour aided and abetted by the dust particles becomes tiny ice crystals at such high altitudes that they are illuminated by the sun below the horizon. Seen against the darker sky the clouds appear to shine. Increases in both natural and man made atmospheric pollution aid the creation of noctilucent clouds" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"Lets hope the weather stays fine for the partial solar eclipse. Don't forget to take a look at the sun at a about 11.00am on the10th June but always take care to protect your eyesight from the very real danger of harm. Never look at the sun, even briefly, without the use of an appropriate ISO rated solar filter and in no circumstances use a telescope or binoculars to view the sun.  A safe indirect method of viewing the eclipse is to use two pieces of card. Make a pinhole in one piece and hold it in front of the other piece,  The card with the hole in it is positioned sun-side of the other piece and moved to project an image of the sun on to the piece of card in shadow. The eclipse will show clearly along with any sunspots that are on display. Best of all this method does not require any direct viewing of the Sun and is therefore completely safe". Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Ptolemy's Dragon

 

The constellation Draco - a stack of 6x1minute exposures at f= 18mm and ISO 1600 - Canon 600 DSLR on the Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

Credit: Astrometry.net plate solver

" Very few people asked to point out the stars that make up the constellation Draco the Dragon would be able to do so. The dragon's stars are not particularly bright and the shape is difficult to recognise amongst the many stars in this part of the sky. If you would like to see Draco for yourself, first find the pole star Polaris. The constellation is circum-polar from the Northern Hemisphere and sits between  Ursa Minor- the Pole star and the constellation Hercules".

- Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

" The maximum peak for the Lyrid Meteor shower was expected last night. It was a poor night for meteor imaging with a waxing gibbous Moon washing out all but the brightest. We did manage to see one fireball but we were unable to image it". - Pip Stakkert - Imaging Team Leader/

10 and 15 Virginis

 

Mono Star field in the constellation Virgo. Widefield Astrograph - Pip Stakkert

"  As the sky was clear over the Observatory, Pip decided to put the new widefield astrograph through its paces. The above black and white image was created with a stack of 16 x 2minute light exposures, 10 darks and 10 flats. We have decided that in future we will keep the light exposures to less than 2 minutes but increase the gain on the camera. The QHY5l-ii mono camera is a versatile video camera but we noticed that 2 minute exposures were noisy and showed some vertical banding" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" Congratulations to NASA and JPL on the first flight of the Ingenuity Helicopter in the Jezero Crater on Mars - What a magnificent scientific and engineering achievement!" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

From Russia with Love

 

The new widefield camera constructed by our instrumentation engineer Jolene

The new widefield camera on the Star Adventurer Equatorial Mount with dew zapper muff protecting the f = 35mm Hoya objective lens

During the Covid Pandemic, The Jodrell Plank Observatory has been running with reduced staff and has of course been 'off limits' to the general public. With time on her hands Jolene McSquint-Fleming has used the lock-down as an opportunity to build new equipment and maintain existing telescopes, cameras and mounts. Having discovered a number of old camera lenses languishing unused in a cupboard in the Observatory Visitor Centre, she decided to set about building a widefield camera using them in combination with the Observatory's QHY5L-ii colour and mono cameras. 

The four main issues to address were:

1. Finding an adapter to enable the male M42 with 1mm pitch thread on the old lenses to mate with the modern M42 with 0.75mm pitch thread.
2. Finding a way to connect the QHY5-ii cameras to the old lenses.
3. Ensuring the distance between lens and the imaging chip in the QHY cameras was sufficient to enable an object at infinity to be brought to focus.
4. Mounting the new widefield camera on the Observatory's Star Adventurer equatorial mount.

Finding a suitable adapter was the most difficult issue to resolve. Even China didn't appear to make one. In the end, the RAF Camera website based in Belarus provided the appropriate  M42 1mm to T2 connector. In due course we received the connector in the mail from Sergei Chibisov in Moscow. A top quality piece of engineering - thank you Sergei!

Connecting the QHY camera and getting the correct distance between lens and imaging sensor was achieved with a C/CS connector and a 42mm spacing tube both sourced from China. The competed widefield camera is fixed to the Star Adventurer using tube rings and dovetail plate similarly sourced.

The advantages provided by the widefield camera are:

• a wider field than delivered by our DSLR at similar magnifications.
• An unfiltered imaging sensor sensitive to light at Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths.
• Re- purposing and recycling old but high quality lenses.

Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Black and white test image of an area of the sky between the constellations Leo Major, Virgo and Coma Berenices - Using the Hoya lens at f=35mm and a 960x960 pixels format delivered an image of the sky 5.79x 5.79 degrees. - 2 minute exposure on a night of cloud and mixed visibility- Image Pip Stakkert 

Plate solving plates- credit Astrometry. net

"Hopefully longer exposure times and using lenses with differing focal length will provide a 'wider' range of interesting images of the night sky over Lowestoft" - Pip Stakkert