Not any more. Thanks, God.

Courtesy of our friend Bruce that emailed me ;

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...&rid=246900495

"You never know. On Sunday March 15th, nova hunter John Seach of Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia, found a new 6th-magnitude star shining in three search images taken by his DSLR patrol camera. The time of the photos was March 15.634 UT. One night earlier, the camera recorded nothing there to a limiting magnitude of 10.5.

A spectrum taken a day after the discovery confirmed that this is a bright classical nova — a white dwarf whose thin surface layer underwent a hydrogen-fusion explosion — of the type rich in ionized iron. The spectrum showed emission lines from debris expanding at about 2,800 km per second.

The nova has been named Nova Sagittarii 2015 No. 2, after receiving the preliminary designation PNV J18365700-2855420. Here's its up-to-date preliminary light curve from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=0...=&mean=&vmean= . Here is the AAVSO's list of recent observations http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro....QzIRpdjj.dpuf.

Although the nova is fairly far south (at declination –28° 55′ 40″, right ascension 18h 36m 56.8s), and although Sagittarius only recently emerged from the glow of sunrise, it's still a good 15° above the horizon just before the beginning of dawn for observers near 40° north latitude. If you're south of there it'll be higher; if you're north it'll be lower. Binoculars are all you'll need."

I tried but couldn't find the nova

Venus and Jupiter have sex in the sky at the end of June.

Venus-Jupiter Conjunction

Venus and Jupiter June 30 2015 6PM HST



Venus and Jupiter July 1 2015 8PM HST

Meteor shower guide

Perseids Meter Shower will peak August 11, 12, 13. Moon will not interfere much so should be good viewing. Set out a chair and a cooler of Zombie Dust IPA's and enjoy.

Perseid-Best-in-years

Almost a repeat tonight for those interested.

We've got both a temperature warning and a flash flooding warning here. The sky is low.

Supermoon total lunar eclipse September 27

From above link (there is also a video):

The first "supermoon" lunar eclipse in more than three decades will grace Earth's skies this month, as will a partial solar eclipse that most of the world will miss.

The supermoon total lunar eclipse, which occurs on Sept. 27, features a full moon that looks significantly larger and brighter than usual. It will be the first supermoon eclipse since 1982, and the last until 2033, NASA officials said in a newly released video.

The total lunar eclipse will be visible to observers throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, western Asia and the eastern Pacific Ocean region.

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Vast Ocean on Saturn Moon Enceladus


The discovery of a global ocean beneath its icy rind makes Enceladus an even better potential extraterrestrial incubator than previously thought.

Video and pictures thanks to Hubble Telescope:

The veil nebula in new NASA image/


Eight thousand years ago, our ancestors may have witnessed what seemed like a bright new star in the sky. It was actually the death of a star -- the explosion of an orb 20 times more massive than our sun.

The so-called Veil Nebula, which sits 2,100 light years away, is still expanding............

The nebula is currently 110 light years across, but it's going to keep getting bigger. The nebula is created by the fast-moving wave of gas sent out into space by the explosion of the former star. As that gas plows into cooler, more dense intersteller gas, it produces light.

The new image comes from six combined Hubble images, and it shows just two light years of the massive structure.

The gorgeous colors of nebulae come from ionized gases. In the Veil Nebula, we can see red -- from glowing hydrogen; green from sulfur; and blue from oxygen

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Also:

travel-1470-light-years-in-27-seconds-to-veil-nebula-in-new-nasa-video/

super blood moon
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...ching-viewing/

Northern Lights
http://globalnews.ca/news/1544640/ke...approaching-2/

Rare opportunity to see this;



this morning. (as in now lol in west coast and 1 h east states)

Basically you see the crescent moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter lined up in the east before sunrise if you have no clouds on October 10.

Similar with mercury also tomorrow.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser...&rid=246900495

Thanks to our friend Bruce who emailed me earlier that this is happening right now.

And here is the reason why by the way in a little solar system simulator that you can see the alignment

http://www.faustweb.net/solaris/


(zoom out one more time and see Jupiter too). Nice coincidence.

And dont forget Regulus of the thread's title is up there too lol!

Ummm. Sun rises in the East. It rises in the east earlier than it rises I. The west.

Yes at the time i posted i figured there was only 1h-1.5h people left (ie east) that at the time i posted didnt have day yet. Too bad it had clouds here, so i imagined it via the simulator lol. Maybe Sunday morning again and the best access to horizon one has the better it is. I dont have perfect horizon access due to trees etc unless i go out in the hills outside Stanford campus but i am not crazy like that at 5 am.

The fact is i know a few fantastic trees in the hills that would make a great 1 min exposure if the moon was out of the picture slightly but i haven't yet figured out how to do long exposure with stupid digital cameras. I need my old velvia 50 still for these games.

Holloween Asteriod

"Don't look now, but an asteroid is heading our way on Halloween.

On the other hand, go ahead and look. As it misses Earth by about 300,000 miles (slightly farther away than the moon), the asteroid, named 2015 TB145, will be visible to those with good telescopes -- and NASA, which announced the discovery."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/so...-eve-1.3384756

Also more heads up from BruceZ through emails about coming attractions like;

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...m_medium=email

"It doesn't happen often, but soon you'll be able to "spot the spot" — Mercury's silhouette — as the innermost planet crosses the Sun's disk. The next transit of Mercury won't occur until 2019.

As we ride this merry-go-round called Earth, we're often oblivious to the sky at night. The full Moon makes its monthly appearance, but light pollution in large cities has overwhelmed the stars, so little else can be seen.

But we earthlings can be even more unaware of the daytime ballet of the Moon and planets. If you've ever heard someone say, "Really, the Moon can be up in the daytime?" you know what I mean. The Sun rules the day, and even that bright orb is usually remarked upon only when it produces a colorful sunset.

While some planets, like Jupiter, can be seen in daytime with the aid of a telescope, they're difficult objects to find in such a bright sky. However, the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, sometimes trace a path across the Sun, an event called a transit, making them easier to pick out.


Don't miss the chance to watch Mercury slip off the solar disk at the conclusion of its 5½-hour-long transit on May 9th. Start looking by about 18:35 Universal Time (2:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). Be alert for any hint of the "black drop effect" as the planet's tiny silhouette nears contact with the edge.
Fred Espenak

Although Venus won't give another performance until 2117, a bit long to wait, Mercury will oblige us much sooner. On May 9, 2016, Mercury will pass in front of the Sun. The last time Mercury marched across that fiery field was in 2006, so this is far from a frequent event. Since a telescope and solar filter are required to view it, the 2016 transit of Mercury will happen, as have so many, unseen by most of Earth's inhabitants. But at least light pollution is not a factor. "

Reminder that Mercury makes its transit across the sun today..........


mercury-transit-2016-has-begun-spacecraft-view-video

For those that didnt have it easy at sunset or were attacked by relentless clouds lol.

perseid-meteor-shower-set-for-its-best-show-in-nearly-20-years

From above link:

In a typical year, observers under a clear dark sky can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour. Astronomers think we may be in for an even better show this year, however. The Perseids begin as tiny specks of dust that hit Earth’s atmosphere at 37 miles per second, vaporizing from friction with the air and leaving behind the streaks of light we call meteors. These dust particles were born in a periodic comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which last returned to the inner solar system in 1992. But the giant planet Jupiter recently nudged Swift-Tuttle’s debris stream closer to Earth’s orbit. If predictions hold true, we could see up to 150 meteors per hour the night of August 11/12.

The best views will come in the predawn hours of Friday morning the 12th, after the waxing gibbous Moon sets around 1 a.m. local daylight time. The spectacle will continue to improve as dawn approaches because the shower’s radiant — the spot on the border between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia where the meteors appear to emanate from — climbs higher.

As always, you’ll see more meteors at a viewing site far from any artificial lights. Look about two-thirds of the way from the horizon to the zenith, but don’t get tunnel vision gazing at one location. Let your eyes wander so your peripheral vision can pick up meteors you otherwise might not see.

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We did some sky gazing last night and saw 10 in the hour about between 1 and 2

Just the warm up!

Tonight's the best night for viewing from ~ 11 pm on into the early morning:

perseid-meteor-shower-best viewing out west

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/...-pair-of-stars