C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) ephemeris for March, 2013

A nice chart for my home in central North Carolina for 6:30 local time

Home

Longitude=78°West

Latitude=+35°North

Time zone=EST/EDT

23h30m UT

RA

DE

Magn.

Elong.

Phase

Rise

Culmination

Set

Astronomical

Nautical

Nautical

Astronomical

2013-03-04

23h56m26.3s

-18°26'10"

1

+17°56'

+63°20'

8h14m

13h19m

18h28m

-35°

-29°

-10°

-15°

2013-03-05

0h02m52.3s

-15°58'06"

0.9

+17°10'

+63°00'

8h09m

13h22m

18h38m

-35°

-29°

-08°

-14°

2013-03-06

0h08m43.6s

-13°25'21"

0.7

+16°29'

+62°27'

8h04m

13h24m

18h48m

-34°

-28°

-06°

-12°

2013-03-07

0h13m58.0s

-10°49'00"

0.6

+15°56'

+61°43'

7h57m

13h25m

18h57m

-33°

-27°

-04°

-10°

2013-03-08

0h18m34.3s

-08°10'22"

0.5

+15°30'

+60°52'

7h50m

13h26m

18h53m

-32°

-26°

-03°

-09°

2013-03-09

0h22m32.0s

-05°30'54"

0.5

+15°15'

+59°58'

7h43m

13h26m

19h02m

-31°

-25°

-01°

-07°

2013-03-10

0h25m51.9s

-02°52'04"

0.5

+15°09'

+59°05'

8h35m

14h26m

20h10m

-30°

-24°

+00° Az264°

-06°

2013-03-11

0h28m36.0s

-00°15'19"

0.6

+15°13'

+58°15'

8h26m

14h25m

20h17m

-28°

-22°

+01° Az266°

-05°

2013-03-12

0h30m47.4s

+02°18'08"

0.7

+15°27'

+57°32'

8h18m

14h23m

20h23m

-26°

-20°

+02° Az269°

-04°

2013-03-13

0h32m29.7s

+04°47'18"

0.9

+15°51'

+56°55'

8h08m

14h21m

20h28m

-24°

-19°

+03° Az271°

-03°

2013-03-14

0h33m46.8s

+07°11'32"

1.1

+16°22'

+56°25'

7h59m

14h18m

20h33m

-23°

-17°

+04° Az273°

-02°

2013-03-15

0h34m42.8s

+09°30'26"

1.2

+17°00'

+56°00'

7h49m

14h15m

20h38m

-21°

-15°

+04° Az276°

-01°

2013-03-16

0h35m21.3s

+11°43'53"

1.5

+17°44'

+55°39'

7h39m

14h12m

20h42m

-19°

-13°

+05° Az278°

-01°

2013-03-17

0h35m45.4s

+13°51'54"

1.7

+18°32'

+55°21'

7h29m

14h09m

20h45m

-17°

-12°

+05° Az281°

-00°

2013-03-18

0h35m58.1s

+15°54'39"

1.9

+19°24'

+55°04'

7h19m

14h05m

20h48m

-15°

-10°

+06° Az283°

+00° Az288°

2013-03-19

0h36m01.6s

+17°52'23"

2.1

+20°19'

+54°48'

7h09m

14h01m

20h51m

-13°

-08°

+06° Az285°

+01° Az290°

2013-03-20

0h35m57.7s

+19°45'22"

2.3

+21°15'

+54°32'

6h59m

13h57m

20h53m

-11°

-06°

+05° Az288°

+00° Az293°

2013-03-21

0h35m48.2s

+21°33'56"

2.6

+22°14'

+54°16'

6h49m

13h53m

20h55m

-09°

-04°

+06° Az291°

+00° Az295°

2013-03-22

0h35m34.2s

+23°18'22"

2.8

+23°13'

+53°59'

6h38m

13h49m

20h58m

-07°

-02°

+06° Az293°

+01° Az297°

2013-03-23

0h35m16.6s

+24°58'58"

3

+24°13'

+53°42'

6h28m

13h45m

21h00m

-06°

-01°

+06° Az295°

+01° Az299°

2013-03-24

0h34m56.4s

+26°36'01"

3.2

+25°13'

+53°24'

6h18m

13h41m

21h02m

-04°

+01° Az58°

+06° Az297°

+01° Az301°

2013-03-25

0h34m34.1s

+28°09'47"

3.4

+26°13'

+53°05'

6h07m

13h36m

21h03m

-03°

+02° Az57°

+06° Az299°

+01° Az303°

2013-03-26

0h34m10.3s

+29°40'31"

3.5

+27°13'

+52°46'

5h57m

13h32m

21h05m

-01°

+03° Az56°

+06° Az301°

+01° Az305°

2013-03-27

0h33m45.3s

+31°08'27"

3.7

+28°13'

+52°27'

5h46m

13h28m

21h07m

+00° Az51°

+05° Az56°

+06° Az303°

+01° Az307°

2013-03-28

0h33m19.5s

+32°33'47"

3.9

+29°13'

+52°07'

5h35m

13h23m

21h09m

+01° Az51°

+06° Az55°

+06° Az305°

+01° Az309°

2013-03-29

0h32m53.1s

+33°56'42"

4.1

+30°13'

+51°47'

5h25m

13h19m

21h11m

+03° Az50°

+08° Az54°

+06° Az306°

+01° Az311°

2013-03-30

0h32m26.2s

+35°17'25"

4.2

+31°12'

+51°26'

5h14m

13h15m

21h14m

+04° Az49°

+09° Az53°

+06° Az308°

+02° Az312°

NGC 7810 & Crew with Asteroid ...

Back on 2012/11/10:

I was really just looking to test out the camera and off-axis guider.  The skies were clear, but I needed to dodge the trees and found this on the fly.  Turns out there was an asteroid that +Mike Rector helped me find as 771/Libera.

I put the image down for a while as I didn't get the time for fundamentals like calibration files and a good processing routine down.

Turns out there are more hidden gems in this image.

According to WikiSky and some of the UCAC3 catalogs in SkyCharts/CdC, some of the dimmer but still recognizable stars are mag 17.5 or dimmer or beyond.  I count at least 10 by quick count and according the CdC there are the following in this FOV:


Here's the full resoluion version to look at - http://www.astrobin.com/full/33398/B/?real=&mod=

This is the CdC chart with NGC and PGC catalogs

Click for larger version

or link to Interactive WikiSky chart:
http://goo.gl/99Bhs

Here's a full list of what may be visible in this photo:

Catalog	RA	DEC	Type	Name	Magn.
PGC	00h02m11.03s	+13°10'21.4"	Gx	97	m:	PGC:97
PGC	00h02m54.28s	+13°01'13.6"	Gx	215029	m:	PGC:215029
PGC	00h01m55.54s	+13°14'13.6"	Gx	78	m:	PGC:78
SAC	00h02m59.47s	+13°02'30.6"	Gx	NGC	7810	m:13.00
SAC	00h01m59.46s	+13°11'30.6"	Gx	NGC	7803	m:13.10
00h03m38.38s	+13°14'06.2"	As	(771)	Libera	m:	13.5
NGC	00h03m05.48s	+13°01'30.5"	Gx	NGC7810	m:14.00	sbr:13.74
NGC	00h02m05.46s	+13°10'30.6"	Gx	NGC7803	m:14.00	sbr:13.74
PGC	00h02m01.41s	+13°11'11.2"	Gx	NGC7803	m:14.08	PGC:101
PGC	00h03m00.65s	+13°02'48.2"	Gx	NGC7810	m:14.28	PGC:163
PGC	00h02m07.35s	+13°11'17.8"	Gx	108	m:15.30	PGC:108
PGC	00h01m54.86s	+13°13'09.2"	Gx	89	m:15.90	PGC:89
PGC	00h02m26.69s	+13°10'31.3"	Gx	134	m:16.08	PGC:134
PGC	00h01m56.48s	+13°11'17.1"	Gx	92	m:16.78	PGC:92
PGC	00h02m33.83s	+13°19'15.6"	Gx	1426263	m:16.86	PGC:1426263
PGC	00h02m45.45s	+12°57'59.2"	Gx	73211	m:17.30	PGC:73211
PGC	00h03m06.31s	+13°18'51.2"	Gx	1426100	m:17.66	PGC:1426100
PGC	00h02m59.39s	+13°09'29.7"	Gx	1422500	m:17.76	PGC:1422500
PGC	00h01m19.61s	+13°22'49.7"	Gx	1427699	m:17.77	PGC:1427699
PGC	00h03m33.75s	+13°10'16.1"	Gx	1422807	m:17.84	PGC:1422807
PGC	00h01m50.32s	+13°15'38.9"	Gx	1424891	m:17.90	PGC:1424891
PGC	00h02m57.77s	+12°59'35.1"	Gx	215030	m:17.90	PGC:215030
PGC	00h01m32.42s	+13°16'57.4"	Gx	1425381	m:18.04	PGC:1425381
PGC	00h03m08.86s	+13°13'17.6"	Gx	1423969	m:18.18	PGC:1423969
PGC	00h01m49.45s	+12°54'34.2"	Gx	1417100	m:18.40	PGC:1417100

What's truly amazing is HOW many fine details are hidden in a 'quick' 30 minute exposure of a simple, boring area of the sky.

Trying to dig deeper on some galactic stats I found this site:
http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ngc78.htm#7803

Here the larger and brighter (closer?) galaxy, NGC7803 is estimated at 250 MILLION light-years distant.  Some of the other's I cannot find stats for.  Does this mean they are not measured???

Thanks for reading to the bottom, bonus candy for you!

Mike

Saturn 2013 is underway!

1st of the season in poor conditions

#2 from Friday am was mostly average at best..

Finally a respectable M81/M82

I had to try my budding DSLR skills again.  I had to, the moon was new, the weather is cold with low humidity and the seeing poor (aka no planets).

I fought the typical equipment issues and unforeseen weather, the weather didn't kill me too bad, just a bit.  Clouds came out of no where for 30min then went away.

I learned some things, such as how to tie a knot in your power connectors:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Plug-Extension-Cords-Together/

The UPS didn't protect the USB connectors from loosing sync, so I had to realign and then later I unplugged the focuser as the focus was soft, and ooops, that was the mount again not the focuser, so I gave up.

Sigh.  I'm learning that ISO1600 is less noisy but good signal over the 6400 I was using before.  Mixing ISO's isn't very good, I won't do that again.

Guiding could be better, but I was good for subs up to 5min.

I know I can do even better now that I have some good experience under my belt.  I also have the AC-adapter for the camera now too, so I can go hog-wild!!

Full res is here:
http://www.astrobin.com/32575/

Previous work with the 6" and NO experience here:
http://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-1st-light-with-new-setup-m81m82.html
I think I may have to sell the 6"!!!

Thanks for looking and reading!

Strange S-shape feature on Jupiter 20130119

Around the L2=70 area in the SSTeb (Lower Right). Also there is GRS Jr near the 3 white ovals. I caught a rare winter steady skies. To me the key has been low surface winds and minimal temperature drops. Despite a mild jet stream these 3x(20s@RGB) sequence came out well!

Jupiter 2013-01-04, 04:18.0 UT - first of 2013

High Resolution Asteroids Ceres and Vesta

My collimation is quite out due to some slag in the optical train that I think I have since fixed.  I was hoping to replicate and beat the previous work I've done on Ceres (http://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/2009/04/moon-m45-mercury-then-saturn-and-ceres.html)

Believe it or not, Ceres is not much smaller in angular size than the Jovian Moons and is shown in my recent 2012 feeble attempts to not have a stellar airy disk.  Vesta shows a bit more oblong / elongation and I'm not 100% convinced it is real as my collimation was out by too much for my taste.  I hope to try again in 2013 with better conditions!