Asterism Greg 3 in the Constellation Leo Major

 

The asterism Greg 3 found by Greg Parker
 - COAST Robotic Telescope Mount Teide, Open University telescope .org.

" Asterisms are prominent groups or patterns of stars smaller than constellations. The 'Plough' is a very prominent asterism in the Northern Hemisphere sky and it's stars sit within the larger constellation Ursa Major- The Great Bear".- Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"Still awaiting a clear cloud free night here on the East Coast of the United Kingdom!

With so much time on our hands, Kurt directed the COAST Robotic Telescope on Tenerife to image the excellent asterism Greg 3 discovered by Greg Parker and so named for very obvious reasons. 

What on Earth has happened to the weather? It has even been poor in Tenerife.

Greg 3 may be found at - Right Ascension: 09h 38m 00.0s and Declination: +15° 17' 00", which puts the asterism between the constellations Leo Major and Cancer . The asterism covers about 15 minutes of arc in the night sky so about half that of the Moon.

Star map showing the location of Greg3 
 Map Credit: Astrometry Net

To see Greg 3 you will require a small telescope and an eyepiece delivering a magnification of approximately x80. The stars in the asterism range in magnitude between 8 and 11, are therefore quite faint and well below what might be seen with the naked eye.

Greg Parker is an extraordinarily talented imager and excels in his portraiture of stars! We recommend spending time  viewing his astrophotography, which is showcased on his 'New Forest Observatory' Blog!  follow the link:

New Forest Observatory

 

Here at the Jodrell Plank Observatory we cannot remember such a poor spring time for observing the night sky. But we are not downhearted! 

Lets hope for better nights to come!" - Joel Cairo CEO at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Interstellar glider

 

''Interstellar Glider' fractal art and astro-image collage
by Jodrell Plank sponsor  - George Roberts.
Fractal software INCENDIA.

With the weather preventing any views of galaxies, nebulae, stars and moons, the staff at the Jodrell Plank had time to consider and discuss the potential for interstellar travel using low mass robotic craft powered by coherent light beams from high energy lasers based here on Earth. One of the Observatory's generous sponsors and senior citizen scientist, George Roberts, made this image of a diaphanous robotic interstellar craft set against the back drop of deep space. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Solar Photosphere in March 2024

 

A part of the Sun's Photosphere captured with the 127mm Meade apo refractor and the QHY5111492c planetary camera at F7.5

The active Sunspot Group 3599 captured with the same telescope and camera but at F22

A copped section (Top left) of Sunspot Group 3599.

A cropped section (Bottom right) of Sunspot Group 3599.

Kurt Thrust captured these images from the Jodrell Plank Observatory on 06-03-2024. The upper atmosphere at the time was a bit hazy and consequently the images are a little 'soft' . After all the dreadful weather we have experienced recently, here on the East Coast of England, actually being able to see the Sun was a real treat!

The Sun is our nearest star and the photons of sunlight we captured with our telescope and camera took approximately 9 minutes to travel the 150 million kilometres from the Sun to the Lowestoft - Karl Segin outreach coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The venerable 127mm Meade Apo telescope with white light filters in place for imaging the Sun safely in white light.

Last look at the Winter Constellations Orion, Gemini, Taurus and Monoceros.

 

No shortage of Hydrogen alpha light looking South from the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR with Sigma EX wide field lens all mounted on the Star Adventurer EQ mini-rig. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert 

"The southern sky provides a wonderful vista awash with Hydrogen Alpha light. The constellations; Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer and Monoceros can be seen in the above widefield image with their associated clouds of molecular gas and nebulae". Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Gemini, the Jelly Fish and Monkey Nebulae

The Jelly Fish Nebula IC443 and open star cluster Messier 35 - Canon 600d DSLR and Samyang 135mm fixed lens at F2. Stack of 30x2 minute sub lights at ISO800.

 

A widefield image showing the location of M35 at the foot of one of the twins.

The same image shown top - with added infra-red from the WISE space telescope. Credit: Kurt Thrust, Astrometry.net and NASA.

The constellation Gemini the twins is home to a number of interesting astronomical nebula and open star clusters which can be seen and imaged with a small telescope or camera lens. The open star cluster, Messier 35 can be seen through a pair of 10x50 binoculars. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

IC443 The Jelly Fish Nebula -COAST Robotic Telescope with SHO filters. Credit:: Open Observatories, Open University telescope.org

NGC2174 The Monkey Head Nebula -COAST Robotic Telescope with SHO filters. Credit:: Open Observatories, Open University telescope.org

Comet144P Kushida and Aldebaran

 

The bright alpha star in the Constellation  Taurus -Aldebaran and the periodic comet 144P Kushida February 2024. Composite image - using data from the COAST robotic telescope on Mount Teide, Tenerife and the Canon 600d DSLR at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Credit : Pip Stakkert and Open University, Open Observatories, telescope.org The bright star in the middle of the image is Aldebaran and the fuzzy green ball upper right edge is the comet.
 

"We had planned to image the comet's close visual encounter with Aldebaran from Lowestoft and had programmed the COAST Robotic telescope to take a similar image as a fall back if the weather at Lowestoft was poor. For the period of time the comet was close to Aldebaran the weather in Lowestoft was atrocious. Sadly Mount Teide was also crowned with cloud and our programmed image was delayed until the weather improved. By the time the COAST telescope captured an image, the comet had moved out of the robotic telescope's relatively small field of view, leaving just a picture of Aldebaran and the surrounding stars.

Not to be thwarted, we decided to make a composite image using cometary data that we had captured a week ago using our Canon 600d DSLR and a Samyang 135 lens and the COAST image of Aldebaran  using BVR filters. The difficult bit was determining the exact location of the comet against the unchanging star field. We did this by consulting on-line planetarium software and by studying images taken by other UK astro-imagers. We hope our composite imagery hits the spot.

Aldebaran is just over 65 light years distant from our Solar System whilst Comet 144P Kushida is much closer at approximately 112 million kilometres. This equates to being six light minutes away and virtually on our doorstep. As a periodic comet, Kushida never leaves our Solar System following an elliptical orbit. It visits the inner  most part of the Solar System approximately every 7 years. So all being well, we shall see it again in our 'neck of the woods'  in 2031".- Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 1, The Crab Nebula

 

Messier1 or Crab Nebula and expanding volume of ionized gas created when a star went supernova some 1000 years ago in the constellation Taurus. The image was taken through Sulphur11, Hydrogen alpha and Oygen111 filters (with Sulphur plotted to the red cannel, Hydrogen to the green channel and Oxygen to the blue channel - SHO) COAST Robotic Telescope Mt Teide, Tenerife Credit: Open University and telescope.org - Pip Stakkert data reduction.

We have previously posted an image like this before but unfortunately it has come to light that the team on Mount Teide had mis-labelled the H alpha and Oxygen111 filters. See even professional astronomers may make mistakes! Our previous image was therefore OSH and not HSO - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The above image with a luminosity layer added from a BVR filtered COAST image and then cropped and enlarged.

The central region of the BVR filtered image of M1 cropped and enlarged by Pip Stakkert.

 Somewhere within this maelstrom is a pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30x per second and left over from the collapse of a massive star in supernova 1000 years ago.

The Crab Nebula  previously published - HSO  OSH narrow band palette- Open University, telescope.org COAST robotic telescope. Credit Pip Stakkert Jodrell Plank Observatory