alphaAstronomical League of the Philippines’ HerAld

© 2010, Astronomical League of the Philippines

Visit our website at www.astroleaguephils.org

Vol. 8, Issue No. 3March 2010

Francisco Lao, Jr.,Editor-in-Chief

e-mail at:<appulse2000@yahoo.com >

FEATURE IMAGE THIS ISSUEWhile this year’s appearance of Mars wasn’t particularly good,planetary imager Chris Go was able to tease details out of the redplanet. More on these starting on page 42. © Chris Go

CLUB NEWSNational Astronomy Week (NAW) 2010February 14: NAW Public Stargazing Session

Lots of people got a chance to view the universe

Last February 14, members of the Astronomical League of thePhilippines (ALP) staged a free public stargazing session at Baywalkto start off their National Astronomy Week celebration.

Among the members who helped were ALP President James Kevin Tyand son Kendrick Cole (KC); VP Jett Aguilar; Treasurer Henry So;Dennis Buenviaje; Vincent Lao; Dante Noche and wife Rosie; LouBalayan; Ellaine Pena; Mark Ian Singson; Michael Cruspero; KevinDagunan; Crispin "Mopper" Riosa; Christopher Lee; Bel Pabunan;Maximo Zabanal; Cornelio Lagda; Lalaine Yorobe; Liza Quitlong; MaryAnn Ramirez; Desiree del Rosario; Procula Amarillo; RosemarieBalatbat; Jennifer Sy; Mark Joven Cortel; and, Reynen RosePausanos. Friends of our members who were also there to supportthe event included Lara Roldan, Bernie Esporlas, Kim Hye Sung orMike, Kristy Abello and Ellaine Pena's family.

Marc Ian SIngson and Michael Cruspero pose beside their WO ZenithStar 80ED refractor.

Dennis Buenviaje, Henry So and Vincent Lao manned the 8" SCT

They started setting up equipment at around 6:30 p.m. and set upthe free public viewing banner to inform the public that there wouldbe a free public stargazing session that evening. Among themembers who brought their equipment to share the night sky withthe public were James with his TV-101 refractor on GP-DX mount andALP's 8" Meade SCT on LX10 mount; Jett with his Celestron Nexstar5 SCT; the Manila Planetarium's 4" Skywatcher refractor on EQ-4 (p. 30).

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mount and Celestron C8 SCT; Armando Lee,although he was not around as he was incharge of the AstroCamp Observatory thatday, brought along his William OpticsZS80ED refractor on CG5 mount and OrionMak127 on CG5 mount; and, Dante broughthis homemade 8" f/6 Newtonian reflector onDobsonian mount.

More than 500 people were able to have achance to look at stars and planets throughdifferent type of telescopes that evening. Asexpected, you could hear "Wow!", "Oh MyGosh!", "Is that planet Mars?".

ALPers then helped each other toaccommodate the large crowd by askingthem to line up so that they can wait in linefor their turn at the scope. The sky that nightwas good amid expected light pollution atthe site. ALPers first trained their telescopesat planet Mars, which showed a nice orangedisk in which the polar ice cap was clearlyseen under fair seeing.

As the sky got darker, telescopes weretrained at brightest star Sirius, M42 - OrionNebula, and M45 - Pleiades star cluster. Thestargazing session lasted till around 9:15p.m. and ALPers called it a night and set upfor their traditional group picture (above)before they packed up and went home with ahappy heart that they were again able toshare the night sky with numerous people atthe Baywalk.

Astrocamp Observatory, SM MOA SMBYDr Armando Lee and wife Myra celebratedthe opening of NAW 2010 in San Miguel bythe Bay Park (SMBY) together with their sonJason by spending time watching the 1st

night/round of the 2010 PyromusicalCompetition held at the seafront of SMBYPark. After the fireworks from the Philippinesand USA, the Astrocamp Observatory openedits doors to the people inside the park incelebration of NAW 2010.

There were around 70 people who availed ofthe entrance to the Astrocamp Observatoryprovided for by the VIP tickets of thePyromusical event that night and lookedthrough the 11-inch SCT telescope pointedat planet Mars and Saturn.

A 10-inch Dobsonian telescope was alsoused to show views of the Pleiades starcluster and the great Orion Nebula.

February 17: 2nd SEAAN & AstronomyCongressLast February 17, ALP members were invitedby Rizal Technological University (RTU) &DOST-PAGASA to the 2nd South East AsianAstronomy Network (SEAAN) and AstronomyCongress. President James Kevin Ty,Treasurer Henry So, PRO Armando Lee,Christopher Go, Pejvak Parhizkari, BelPabunan and Liza Quitlong were there torepresent the ALP. Bel Pabunan as well asLiza Quitlong also represented the NationalMuseum – Manila Planetarium. Othermembers of ALP who were also present toman the ALP Info Booth, as well asAstroCamp Observatory Info Booth wereMarc Ian Singson, Michael Cruspero,Christopher Lee, Mark Anthony Honrade,Rosalyn Penol, and Roldan de Guia.

ALPers with SEAAN professionalastronomers Thijs Kouwenhoven and Dr.Osamu Hashimoto.

More than 250+ participants attended theevent. It started at 9:30 a.m. and ended ataround 6 p.m., followed by dinner hosted bythe SEAAN and Astronomy Congressmembers and guests at Legend Villa.

ALPers Christopher Go (above) and Roldande Guia were also there at the event topresent their talks on “Red Spot, Jr.’” and “ATheoretical Framework For CosmochemistryResearch in the Philippines” respectively.

ALPers posed with IAU President-Elect Dr.Norio Kaifu

The ALP would like to congratulate our astro-partner RTU, as well as DOST-PAGASA, for ajob well done in hosting a successful event!

2nd Philippine Astronomy ConventionLast February 20, members of the ALPhosted the 2nd Philippine AstronomyConvention at Manila Planetarium. Amongthe members who were there were PresidentJames Kevin Ty; PRO Armando Lee, with wifeMyra and son Jason; Treasurer Henry So;Secretary Rich Pijuan; Director and ALP NAW2010 Chairman Peter Benedict Tubalinal,with wife Joy and daughter; Tommy Tan;Vincent Lao; Andrew Ian Chan; BereniceViola Chan; Rosalyn Penol; Mark AnthonyHonrade; Roldan de Guia; Ellaine Pena; LouBalayan; Jeffrey Canton; PLMAstrosoc/ALPers Procula Amarillo, JenniferSy, Rosemarie Balatbat, Marc Joven Corteland Reynen Rose Pausanos; Planetariumstaff/ALPers Bel Pabunan, Nel Lagda,Desiree del Rosario, Liza Quitlong, Mary AnnRamirez, Lalaine Yorobe, and MaximoZabanal; new ALPers Henry Lapis andBernadette Marilou Pilares; and, members ofthe PLM Astrosoc. Guests speakersprofessional astronomer/ astrophysicistThijs Kouwenhoven, astrophysicist JellyGrace Nonesa ( p. 31)

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Laysa Salonga of UPLB; and Henry's friendMarilene Ng, also attended the event.Registration started at around 12 p.m. withthe program proper starting at 1:30 p.m. ALPSecretary Rich Pijuan, this year's emcee ofthe convention, led the prayer invocation aswell as the singing of the National Anthem, tousher the start of the event. About 100people were present for the event.

National Museum Director III MaharlikaCuevas leads the opening remarks to start offthe PAC 2010.

Doing the opening remarks was MaharlikaCuevas, Director III of the National Museum.He welcomed the attendees as well as wishedsuccess on the yearly celebration of NationalAstronomy Week (NAW), as well as thePhilippine Astronomy Convention (PAC). Thepurpose of the yearly celebration of PACduring the NAW is to hone the skills ofastronomers, whether professional oramateur, and give them the platform topresent their research and works. The 1st

PAC was held last year at the plenary hall ofthe Rizal Technological University (RTU) inMandaluyong City.

The first lecturer was Dr. Thijs Kouwenhoven,a Bairen Professor and a Gruber FoundationFellow at the Kavli Institute for Astronomy andAstrophysics at the Peking University in Chinafrom 2009 to the present. He is also a visitingacademic at the Rizal TechnologicalUniversity, Department of Astronomy. Heearned the Bachelor and Master of Sciencedegree in Astronomy from the LeidenObservatory, University of Leiden in theNetherland. In 2006, he was awarded a PhDin Astronomy by the Astronomical Institute"Anton Pannekoek", University of Amsterdam,the Netherlands. Thijs is also a lecturer in thejust-concluded South East Asian AstronomyNetwork (SEAAN).

Aside from his topic on ComputationalAstrophysics, Dr. Thijs Kouwenhoven (above)also shared his previous week's experience atthe Sutherland Observatory in South Africa.

His topic for the convention was entitled "TheUniverse on a Desktop: ComputationalAstrophysics." He talked about Astronomy asthe oldest of all natural sciences, thatoriginated from religious, mythological, andastrological practices. Discoveries by mindssuch as Aristotle, Newton, Copernicus,Einstein, and Hubble, have transformedastronomy into a modern science. As fastcomputers are now available worldwide,numerical models have evolved fast, andhave become an indispensable tool for eachfield of astrophysics.

Next was ALP President James Kevin Ty, whosubstituted for Pejvac Parhizkari, as he had toreturn to Iran the evening before the eventbecause his father had a car accident andneeded to be operated on.

His lecture was supposed to be "How to ApplyHDR and Time Lapse Techniques intoAstrophotography." He will share histechniques with ALPers in an upcomingmonthly meeting instead.

With James substituting for Pejvac, his topicwas entitled "Digital Astrophotography."James’ primary interests are inastrophotography, solar observation, andimaging, as well as solar eclipse chasing.James touched on the various commerciallyavailable imaging equipment, such as pointand shoot digicams, digital single lens reflex(DSLR) cameras, webcams and cooled CCDcameras. He ended his lecture with a slidepresentation of some of his astrophotographyimages, which included wide field shots ofOrion, Moon, Mars, Saturn, Sun in both whitelight and hydrogen alpha, comets, and deepsky objects.

Next up was Dr. Jelly Grace Nonesa, whoreceived her Bachelor of Science in Physicsdegree from Mindanao State University(MSU), Marawi City, Philippines in 1991 as anMSU scholar, and completed her Master ofScience in Physics degree from MindanaoState University – Iligan Institute ofTechnology (MSU-IIT), Iligan City, in 1999through the Commission on Higher Education– Mindanao Advanced Education Project(CHED – MAEP). On March of 2006, she wasawarded the Ph.D. in Physics at HiroshimaUniversity in Japan. From November 2007 toOctober 2009, Dr. Nonesa was a visitingprofessor and researcher at the KoreaAdvanced Institute of Science andTechnology, South Korea. Currently, Dr.Nonesa is an assistant professor at theUniversity of Southern Mindanao. She is alsoa regional trainer for the Regional ScienceTeaching Center (RSTC) - Region XII,Philippines, and serves as an associate editorand editorial board member of the PhilippineJournal of Astronomy.

Her topic for the convention was entitled"Chandra View of the Hot Gas in the EllipticalGalaxy NGC 5044." She presented the X-rayobservation of the hot gas in and around thegiant elliptical galaxy NGC 5044. Thisanalysis also revealed the probable size of thegiant elliptical galaxy at the center of the NGC5044 group of galaxies ( p .32).

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A 30-minute coffee break followed after herlecture. It also gave the participants anopportunity to talk with the lecturers as wellas allowed for socialization among astronomyenthusiasts that attended the convention.

After the break, ALP PRO Dr. Armando Leegave a talk entitled "Operational ResearchPreview on Operating a CommercialAstronomical Observatory in the Philippines."Dr. Lee is a medical doctor by profession, andis also a passionate astronomer at heart, witha Master of Science in Astronomy degreefrom the Rizal Technological University, thefirst to graduate in the local astronomydegree program offered by the RTU.

Dr. Lee is an active member of theAstronomical League of the Philippines,serving as its Public Relations Officer (PRO)and Chair of the Education Committee. He isthe proprietor of the Astrocamp ObservatoryServices located at SM Mall of Asia’s SanMiguel by the Bay Park, Pasay City. Theobservatory is the first commercialastronomical observatory in the country,offering splendid sights of the cosmos to thegeneral public. Some of Dr. Lee’sachievements include: being named NationalOrganizer of Sidewalk Astronomers’ 100Hours of Astronomy and National Coordinatorof Astronomers Without Borders for thePhilippines. He is also an associate editor andeditorial board member of the PhilippineJournal of Astronomy.

He discussed in detail what was needed toapply for a business permit as well as thefeasibility of its market in terms of profitabilityand research value, based on his ownexperience running the first commercialastronomical observatory service in thePhilippines.

The last speaker for the day was ALP Directorand ALP NAW 2010 Chairman Peter BenedictTubalinal. He has expertise in the visualobservation and documentation of meteorshower events. In line with this, his topic wasentitled "Observing Shooting Stars." Hediscussed on the different types of shootingstars and its origins. He also touched on howto observe meteor showers and record themboth visually and photographically.

Afterwards, certificates of appreciation werehanded to each lecturer (above) by ALPPresident James Kevin Ty, ALP Secretary RichPijuan and ALP NAW 2010 Chairman PeterBenedict Tubalinal.

Lastly, ALP NAW 2010 Chairman PeterBenedict Tubalinal made the closing remarks(above) thanking all the lecturers, guests andALPers for joining the 2nd PhilippineAstronomical Convention. He also invitedthem to join the stargazing session at theRajah Sulayman Park in Baywalk after theconvention for them to observe the beauty ofthe heavens.

Before proceeding to Baywalk, ALPers,speakers and guests posed for posterity infront of the Manila Planetarium (below).

February 20: NAW Public Stargazing SessionOn February 20, ALP members, after theconclusion of the 2nd Philippine AstronomyConvention at Manila Planetarium, proceededto Rajah Sulayman Park at Baywalk, Luneta toconduct a free public stargazing session toconclude their National Astronomy Weekcelebration. Among the members who werethere to help out were James Kevin Ty, wifeCharito and son Kendrick Cole (KC); PROArmando Lee, wife Myra and son Jason; HenrySo; Rich Pijuan; Tommy Tan; Vincent Lao;Andrew Ian Chan; Berenice Viola Chan;Rosalyn Penol; Mark Anthony Honrade;Roldan de Guia; Rommel Palacpac; EllainePena; Lou Balayan; PLM Astrosoc/ALPersProcula Amarillo, Jennifer Sy, RosemarieBalatbat, Marc Joven Cortel, and ReynenRose Pausanos; Planetarium staff/ALPers NelLagda, Desiree del Rosario, Mary AnnRamirez, Lalaine Yorobe, and MaximoZabanal; ( p. 33)

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and members of the PLM Astrosoc. Guestsprofessional astronomer Thijs Kouwenhovenand friends Jon Jon Dimaano, Laysa Salongaof UPLB, and Marilene Ng also attended theevent. They started to set up theirtelescopes at around 6 p.m. James Kevinbrought along KC's Meade ETX90AT andALP's Meade 8" SCT, PRO Armando Leebrought his newly-bought telescope for hisson Jason, an Orion GoScope 80 dobsonianrefractor; Andrew brought his Skywatcher80ED refractor on EQ-1 mount andPlanetarium staff brought their 4" f/10refractor on EQ-4 mount.

Mark Anthony Honrade used his digitalcamera to image the Moon afocally whileALPers and RTU MS Astro students watch hiswork.

More than 300 people were able to have achance to look at stars and planets throughdifferent type of telescopes that evening.ALPers then helped each otheraccommodate the large crowd by askingthem to line up so that they can wait in linefor their turn at the scope.

Among the objects that were shown thatevening were the planet Mars, the quarterMoon, M42 - Orion Nebula and M45 -Pleiades star cluster. Seeing that eveningwas surprisingly clear, with Mars showing atremendous amount of features as well aspolar ice cap at 339x ! The Quarter Moonwas also a show stopper with viewers awedby the many craters that were visible tothem both at low and high power!

The stargazing session lasted till around9:15 p.m. and ALPers called it a night andset up for their traditional group picture shotbefore they packed up and went home witha happy heart that they were again able toshare the night sky with numerous people atthe Baywalk.

With the conclusion of the 2010 NationalAstronomy Week celebration, ALP would liketo thank its members who were able to helpout on the February 14th and 20th Baywalkstargazing sessions as well as the 2ndPhilippine Astronomy Convention! Withouttheir unselfish dedication, the 2010National Astronomy Week celebration wouldnot have been a success. - text and imagesby James Kevin Ty

ALPers Andrew Ian Chan, with sisterBerenice, pointed his refractor at the Moonwhile the people waited for their turn at thescope.

February Monthly MeetingLast February 7, the ALP held its monthlymeeting at the Manila Planetarium at 3:00p.m. Members who attended were PresidentJames Kevin Ty, wife Charito & son KC;Vincent Lao; Tommy Tan; Peter BenedictTubalinal; Ma. Belen Pabunan; Desiree delRosario; Dennis Buenviaje; Andrew IanChan; Jennifer Sy and son Tyler; RomelPalacpac; Dante Cruz; Mark Ian Singson;Christopher Lee; Kevin Dagunan; CrispinRiosa; Michael Cruspero; RosemarieBalatbat; Mark Joven Cortel; and, newestALPer Pejvak Parhizkari.

James set up 2 telescopes for solarobservation that afternoon with the MeadeETX-90AT set for white light observationwhile the Coronado PST-H was set forhydrogen alpha observation. There was alarge sunspot group named AR 11045,which was observed by the members, as wellas a large eruptive prominence. He alsoshowed members 2 images that he took ofthe Sun that morning so that they cancompare with what they saw in real time.

ALPers lined up to get a chance to view theSun in white light and hydrogen alpha.

The meeting started at around 3:45 p.m.with James Kevin and ALP NAW 2010Chairman Peter Benedict Tubalinaldiscussing the National Astronomy Weekpreparations and the 2nd PhilippineAstronomy Convention to be held at theManila Planetarium. 2 public stargazingsessions will also be held that week onFebruary 14 and 20 at Rajah Sulayman Parkin Baywalk (in front of Aristocrat Restaurantfacing the seawall side), wherein ALPers willset up telescopes for the public to get achance to view the planets, Moon, andbright deep sky objects, free of charge.Stargazing session will be from 6 p.m till9:30 p.m.

As for the Philippine Astronomy Convention,tentative schedule of lecturers and theirtopics are as follows:

The Universe On A Desktop by ThijsKouwenhoven , PhD

How To Apply HDR and Time LapseTechnique in Astrophotography by BabakParhizkari , ALP

Chandra View Of The Hot Gas In TheElliptical Galaxy NGC 5044 by Jelly GraceNonesa , PhD

Operational Research Preview OnOperating A Commercial AstronomicalObservatory In The Philippines byArmando Lee, ALP

Observing Shooting Stars by PeterBenedict Tubalinal, ALP

Another lecture topic waiting forconfirmation is the EQMOD Updates byRaymund Sarmeinto, ALP

For the above activities during the NAW,James Kevin encouraged ALPers tovolunteer and help out in the 2 stargazingsessions, as well as the PhilippineAstronomy Convention ( p. 34).

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Lastly, Dante Cruz give away free handyplanners to those who attended themeeting. - James Kevin Ty

Dr. Lee in SEEYACThe ALP’s Dr. Armando Lee was appointedPhilippine Representative of the South EastAsian Young Astronomers Collaboration orSEAYAC.

PJA Now Open AccessThe Philippine Journal of Astronomy (PJA) isnow an open access publication. This movewas made to foster the development ofastronomy in the Southeast Asian region, incollaboration with the Southeast AsianAstronomy Network (SEAAN) and the SouthEast Asian Young Astronomers Collaboration(SEAYAC). – Raymund Ang, PJA Editor

BREAKING NEWS5

thAnnual Globe at Night Campaign

What: The Globe at Night CampaignWhen: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time, March 3-

16, 2010Where: EverywhereWho: You! (Everyone!)How: See http://www.globeatnight.orgWhy:With half of the world’s population now livingin cities, many urban dwellers have neverexperienced the wonderment of pristinelydark skies and maybe never will. This loss,caused by light pollution, is a concern onmany fronts: safety, energy conservation,cost, health and effects on wildlife, as wellas our ability to view the stars. Even thoughlight pollution is a serious and growing globalconcern, it is one of the easiestenvironmental problems you can address onlocal levels.

Globe at Night is an annual 2-weekcampaign in March that helps to address thelight pollution issue locally as well asglobally. This year the campaign is March 3-16, 2010. You are invited along witheveryone all over the world to record thebrightness of your night sky by matching itsappearance toward the constellation Orionwith star maps of progressively fainter starsfound at http://www.globeatnight.org/observe_magnitude.html You then submityour measurements on-lineat http://www.globeatnight.org/report.htmlwith your date, time and location. A fewweeks later, organizers release a map oflight-pollution levels worldwide. Over the lastfour 2-week Globe at Night campaigns,volunteers from over 100 nations havecontributed 35,000 measurements.

To learn the five easy steps to participate inthe Globe at Night program, see the Globe atNight website athttp://www.globeatnight.org.

You can listen to our 10-minute audiopodcast on light pollution and Globe at Nightat http://365daysofastronomy.org/2010/02/03/february-3rd-the-globe-at-night-campaign-our-light-or-starlight/

For activities that have children explore whatlight pollution is, what its effects are onwildlife and how to prepare for participatingin the Globe at Night campaign, see the newactivities athttp://www.darkskiesawareness.org/DarkSkiesRangers

Monitoring our environment will allow us ascitizen-scientists to identify and preserve thedark sky oases in cities and locate areaswhere light pollution is increasing. All it takesis a few minutes during the March 2010campaign to measure sky brightness andcontribute those observations on-line. Helpus exceed the 15,000 observationscontributed last year. Your measurementswill make a world of difference.- Constance E. Walker, Ph.D.Director, GLOBE at Night campaignNational Optical Astronomy Observatorycwalker@noao.edu

Global Astronomy Month - April 2010Professional and amateur astronomers,educators and all astronomy enthusiastsworldwide are invited to celebrate theUniverse in April 2010, during GlobalAstronomy Month - an international projectthat builds on the achievements of TheInternational Year of Astronomy 2009, bycombining a wide array of activities with thepossibility of sharing experiences in real-time.

Through Global Astronomy Month 2010, theaim is to continue to reach out to the widercommunity and celebrate astronomy for anentire month. If you're part of an astronomyclub or society, now is the time to startplanning your events for April. Get in touchwith the GAM team to help with cross-promotion and advertising your events.

For more information on GAM2010 includingregional contact details and websites, starthere:http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=70,575,0,0,1,0- Mike Salway and Terry Mohan

IAU's Discovery Clearinghouse MovesAfter 45 years at the SmithsonianAstrophysical Observatory (SAO) (located onthe grounds of Harvard College Observatoryin Cambridge, Massachusetts), theorganization that serves as theclearinghouse for astronomical discoveriesis moving to a new home. As of February 1st,the Director of the InternationalAstronomical Union's Central Bureau for

Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) will beheadquartered at Harvard University'sDepartment of Earth and PlanetarySciences, located less than a mile away fromSAO.

The IAU's CBAT was headquartered at theHarvard College Observatory (HCO) for 45years. HCO is now part of the SmithsonianAstrophysical Observatory. Since 1882 theCBAT has played a vital function byconfirming and announcing discoveries tothe worldwide astronomical community.These discoveries include new planetarysatellites, meteor showers, comets, novae,and supernovae, and have in the pastincluded many other kinds of objects.Starting in 1883, the HCO issued suchannouncements for the WesternHemisphere, a function that only stoppedwhen the CBAT moved from Copenhagen toCambridge in 1965, and the HCO staff wasmoved over to operate the Bureau as anSAO function.

"Our relocation shouldn't be a big deal to theoutside world," says CBAT director DanGreen. He added that the transition shouldinvolve little or no disruption of activities.The internet has profoundly changed theway astronomy information is disseminated,and the CBAT stopped sending telegrams inthe early 1990s. Now its announcementsare even issued via RSS/XML feeds, so thatBlackberry owners can follow the latestdiscoveries. Green notes that there still is animportant role for the Bureau in the 21st

century.

Green will direct a new Cometary ScienceCenter that is being developed to workalongside the CBAT. "It will be aninternational center for archiving historicalinformation, images, light curves, and otherdata at all wavelengths with a big websitepresence," says Green.

Green has lined up a core team of severalprominent comet researchers and issoliciting funding to build up a support staff.The Minor Planet Center, which will continueto work closely with the CBAT for such topicsas comet and satellite discoveries, willremain at its current SAO location. - RobertNaeye, SkyandTelescope.com

Suspected Asteroid Smash-upA mysterious trail of debris spotted in spacesuggests two asteroids recently slammedinto each other. Though such space rockcollisions are thought to be common, directevidence of the cosmic smashups has neverbeen seen before. New images from NASA'sHubble Space Telescope, however, havecaught the suspected collision on camera( p. 35).

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A Hubble Space Telescope picture of acomet-like object called P/2010 A2 shows abizarre X-pattern of filamentary structuresnear the point-like nucleus of the object andtrailing streamers of dust. Scientists thinkthe object is the remnant of an asteroidcollision. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt(UCLA)

An X-shaped debris pattern was observed byHubble on Jan. 25 and 29. The picturesshow a comet-like object, dubbed P/2010A2, with the X-pattern of filamentarystructures near the nucleus.

"This is quite different from the smooth dustenvelopes of normal comets," said studyleader David Jewitt of the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles. "The filaments aremade of dust and gravel, presumablyrecently thrown out of the nucleus. Some areswept back by radiation pressure fromsunlight to create straight dust streaks.Embedded in the filaments are co-movingblobs of dust that likely originated from tinyunseen parent bodies."

The two asteroids likely smashed into eachother with an average impact speed of morethan 17,600 kms. per hour, or five timesfaster than a rifle bullet.

The Hubble photos show that the mainnucleus of P/2010 A2 lies outside its ownhalo of dust. This pattern has never beenseen before in a comet-like object. Thenucleus is estimated to be about 140meters in diameter.

Scientists think this nucleus is the survivingremnant of the collision, and the tail is therubble left over from the crash.

If this interpretation is correct, two small andpreviously unknown asteroids recentlycollided, creating a shower of debris that isbeing swept back into a tail from thecollision site by the pressure of sunlight.

P/2010 A2 orbits in the warm, inner regionsof the asteroid belt between Mars andJupiter. When the object was observed, itwas approximately 290 million km from thesun and 145 million km from Earth.

The Hubble images were captured by its newWide Field Camera 3, which was installedduring the May 2009 space shuttle servicingtrip. The camera can spot house-sizedfragments at the distance of the asteroidbelt. - Space.com

Saturnian AurorasA new Hubble movie shows a rare view ofSaturn with its many rings sitting edge-on,providing a dazzling glimpse of the planet'spoles and the auroras that dance abovethem. It takes Saturn almost thirty years toorbit the sun, with the opportunity to imageboth of its poles occurring only twice in thatperiod, when the planet reaches its equinox(the point in a planet's orbit when the sun'srays fall perpendicular to the planet'sequator).

Saturn hit this position last year, providingHubble with the unique chance to keep asustained view of the planet with both itspoles in view. The movie they created fromthe data, collected over several days duringJanuary and March 2009, has aidedastronomers studying both Saturn's northernand southern auroras.

Given the rarity of such an event, this newfootage will likely be the last and bestequinox movie that Hubble captures of ourplanetary neighbor. As Saturn wasapproaching its equinox, both poles were

equally illuminated by the sun's rays.This unique Hubble image from early 2009features Saturn with the rings edge-on andboth poles in view, offering a stunningdouble view of its fluttering auroras. Saturn'sauroras are analogous to the more familiarnorthern and southern lights on Earth. Atthe time when Hubble snapped this picture,Saturn was approaching its equinox so bothpoles were equally illuminated by the Sun'srays. The northern auroral oval is slightlysmaller and more intense than the southernone, implying that Saturn’s magnetic field isnot equally distributed across the planet.Credit: NASA, ESA and Jonathan Nichols(University of Leicester)

Charged particles blown out from the sunmake their way through the solar system.When they encounter a planet with amagnetic field, such as Saturn or the Earth,the field traps the particles, bouncing themback and forth between its two poles. Anatural consequence of the shape of theplanet's magnetic field, a series of invisible"traffic lanes" exist between the two polesalong which the electrically charged particlesare confined as they oscillate between thepoles. The magnetic field is stronger at thepoles and the particles tend to concentratethere, where they interact with atoms in theupper layers of the atmosphere, creatingauroras, the familiar glow that theinhabitants of the Earth's polar regions knowas the northern and southern lights.

At first glance the light show of Saturn'sauroras appears symmetric at the two poles.However, analyzing the new data in greaterdetail, astronomers have discovered somesubtle differences between the northern andsouthern auroras, which reveal importantinformation about Saturn's magnetic field( p.36).

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The northern auroral oval is slightly smallerand more intense than the southern one,implying that Saturn's magnetic field is notequally distributed across the planet; it isslightly uneven and stronger in the norththan the south. As a result, the electricallycharged particles in the north areaccelerated to higher energies as they arefired toward the atmosphere than those inthe south. This confirms a previous resultobtained by the space probe Cassini, in orbitaround the ringed planet since 2004. –Space.com

Pluto RevealedNASA has released the most detailed anddramatic images ever taken of the distantdwarf planet Pluto. The images from NASA'sHubble Space Telescope show an icy,mottled, dark molasses-colored worldundergoing seasonal surface color andbrightness changes.

This is the most detailed view to date of theentire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, asconstructed from multiple NASA HubbleSpace Telescope photographs taken from2002 to 2003. The center disk (180°) has amysterious bright spot that is unusually richin carbon monoxide frost. Pluto is so smalland distant that the task of resolving thesurface is as challenging as trying to see themarkings on a soccer ball 64 kms. away.NASA/ESA/M. Bule (SwRI)

Pluto has become significantly redder, whileits illuminated northern hemisphere isgetting brighter. These changes are mostlikely consequences of surface ice meltingon the sunlit pole and then refreezing on theother pole, as the dwarf planet heads intothe next phase of its 248-year-long seasonalcycle. Analysis shows the dramatic change incolor took place from 2000 to 2002.

The Hubble pictures confirm Pluto is adynamic world that undergoes dramaticatmospheric changes, not simply a ball ofice and rock. These dynamic seasonalchanges are as much propelled by theplanet's 248-year elliptical orbit as by itsaxial tilt.

Pluto is unlike Earth, where the planet's tiltalone drives seasons. Pluto's seasons areasymmetric because of its elliptical orbit.Spring transitions to polar summer quickly inthe northern hemisphere because Pluto ismoving faster along its orbit when it is closerto the Sun.

Ground-based observations taken in 1988and 2002 show the mass of the atmospheredoubled during that time. This may bebecause of warming and melting nitrogenice. The new Hubble images are givingastronomers essential clues about theseasons on Pluto and the fate of itsatmosphere.

When the Hubble pictures taken in 1994 arecompared to those of 2002 and 2003,astronomers see evidence that the northernpolar region has gotten brighter, while thesouthern hemisphere darkened.

These changes hint at complex processesaffecting the visible surface.

The images will help planetary astronomersinterpret more than three decades of Plutoobservations from other telescopes.

"The Hubble observations are the key totying together these other diverseconstraints on Pluto and showing how it allmakes sense by providing a context basedon weather and seasonal changes, whichopens other new lines of investigation," saidMarc Buie of the Southwest ResearchInstitute in Boulder, Colorado.

These Hubble images, taken by theAdvanced Camera for Surveys, will remainthe sharpest view of Pluto until NASA's NewHorizons probe is within 6 months of its flybyduring 2015. The Hubble images areinvaluable for picking the planet's mostinteresting hemisphere for imaging by theNew Horizons probe.

New Horizons will pass by Pluto so quicklythat only one hemisphere will bephotographed in detail.

Particularly noticeable in the Hubble imagesis a bright spot that has been independentlynoted to be unusually rich in carbonmonoxide frost. It is a prime target for NewHorizons. "Everybody is puzzled by thisfeature," Buie said. New Horizons will get anexcellent look at the boundary between thisbright feature and a nearby region coveredin pitch-black surface material.

"The Hubble images also will help NewHorizons scientists better calculate theexposure time for each Pluto snapshot,which is important for taking the mostdetailed pictures possible," Buie said. Withno chance for re-exposures, accuratemodels for the surface of Pluto are essentialfor properly exposed images.

The Hubble images surface variations a fewhundred miles across that are too coarse forunderstanding surface geology. But in termsof surface color and brightness, Hubblereveals a complex-looking world with white,dark-orange, and charcoal-black terrain. Theoverall color is believed to be a result ofultraviolet radiation from the distant Sunbreaking up methane present on Pluto'ssurface, leaving behind a dark and redcarbon-rich residue.

The Hubble images are a few pixels wide.Through a technique called dithering,multiple, slightly offset pictures arecombined through computer-imageprocessing to synthesize a higher-resolutionview than can be seen in a single exposure.

"This has taken four years and 20computers operating continuously andsimultaneously to accomplish," Buie said.Buie developed the special algorithms tosharpen the Hubble data. He plans to useHubble's new Wide Field Camera 3 to makeadditional observations prior to the arrival ofNew Horizons. – Astronomy.com

ReportsSunFeb. 2. The sky this morning was a bit hazybut I was able to image the Sun as well asnew sunspot group, AR 11043. The groupwas not that impressive like AR 11041 infaculae structure.

In white light, AR 11043 shows a goodpossibility of getting bigger in the days come.Some granulation can be seen in the solarsurface.

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Feb. 3. I woke up a bit late this morning anda bit groggy but managed to set myself foranother solar imaging session. Seeing wasfair this morning though. As I pointed thePST toward the Sun, I was surprised to see avery bright and large eruptive prominence(above) greeting me good morning!

Since I was running out of time already, Iquickly imaged the bright eruptiveprominence. Afterwards, I scanned the solarlimb for more prominences, and I was ableto see a fainter, huge, looped prominenceand managed to image it. The boringAR11043 sunspot group was still notbeautiful in H light but had a better photoappeal through white light (above).Unfortunately, the small components of thegroup are all gone and only the maincomponent of the group was still visible.

Feb. 6. The sky this morning was a bit hazyand seeing was bad. I still proceededimaging the Sun both in H and white light.With the PST-H, there was a huge eruptiveprominence visible on the southeast limb.AR11043 continued to deteriorate and itsappearance was unsatisfactory with theadded burden of poor seeing.

As I was imaging AR11043, I think I was ableto see a small spot on the group’s lower left,and I presume this will be designated11044. Another interesting observation wasa possible active region emerging from thenortheast limb (2nd image down center).

Feb. 7. I was able to wake up early thismorning and saw the sky was clear. Seeingwas fair and when I looked through the PST-H, I was able to see new large sunspotgroup AR 11045 near the middle of the solardisk. Adding to the great view was abeautiful dark filament near the group aswell as a beautiful large eruptiveprominence. The trio fit beautifully in the Himage that I took below:

After the H imaging, I switched to whitelight to observe and image AR11045. Seeingwas still bad, but I was able to image thegroup in a close up shot (above).

Feb. 8. I wasn’t feeling well this morning dueto yesterday's activities, so I didn't report forwork. I still could not restrain myself to takea short peek at the Sun to see how AR11045 was doing. From my observation,AR11045 has grown a little larger and couldbe considered a large sunspot groupalready.

I quickly snapped a few shots of the Sun,which had many prominences in almost allof its limb area (above). Anotherdevelopment was the re-emergence of AR11042 (renamed AR11046) in the northeastlimb. I didn't image it at high resolution inwhite light yet as I spent my time trying topull my remaining energy to get a good shotof AR11045 at high resolution (third image,above). Seeing was not that good though. InH light, AR 11045 was a sight to beholdwith its complex twisting bright plagesencircling the group. The long dark filamentthat was visible yesterday remained visible.

Feb. 9. The sky this morning was hazy andseeing was a bit poor. Nevertheless, I stillproceeded to image the Sun. In H-Alphalight, AR 11045 still showed some goodactivity as well as AR 11046. Unfortunately, Ioverlooked my yesterday's solar image thatAR 11047 was in the southeast limb, thus Iforgot to image it. Two nice eruptiveprominences could also be seen near thenortheast limb near AR 11046:

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In white light whole disk, I could see the 3sunspot groups, while in the close-up shot ofAR 11045 (below), I noticed that the grouphad grown in length a bit but the centralportion of the group was starting to decay,so I'm expecting the middle part of the groupwill have lesser spots at the middle portion.

AR 11046 showed a nice faculae region butthe group had only a few small spots (below)

Feb. 11. I was able to image this morningafter getting clouded out yesterday. Sky isgood and the seeing was ok. Through thePST-H, AR 11045 and 11046 were a joy tolook at and with 2 dark filaments besideAR11045, it was magnificent (above).

AR 11047 had decayed almost totally, butsome trace of activity could still be seen inits region. I was able to detect a possiblenew active region that was coming out of theeastern limb almost at the same latitude asAR 11046.

In white light, AR 11045 was still very largebut has almost lost all its central corecomponents except for a few spots. AR11046, on the other hand, was starting togrow in size and structure. Unfortunately, AR11047 had decayed totally and only fainttrace of faculae could be seen:

Feb. 12. The sky this morning was fair withfair seeing. The AR 11045 sunspot groupwas nearing the northwest limb with itscentral structure almost decayed except forthe 2 main components. AR 11046, on theother hand exhibited nice structure both inH-alpha and white light.

The 2 dark filaments that were visible theother day could still be seen near AR 11045.Newly emerging AR 11048 was seen moreclearly near the eastern solar limb (seeimages at right). AR 11047 was not visibleany more in white light but still showed somefaint activity inside its core.

As for prominences, some nice eruptiveprominences could be seen near thelocation of AR 11045 as well as somesmaller prominences scattered around thelimb.

Feb. 14. I woke up late this morning and sawthe sky a bit cloudy. Although there weresome breaks in the clouds, I managed toimage the Sun. AR 11045 was near theedge of the limb and AR 11046 had decayeda bit, but still showed some small activityinside its core. Traces of AR 11047’s mildactivity could still be seen near 2 largelooped prominences ( p. 39).

alpha March 2010 Page 39

Possible AR 11048 didn't materialize into asunspot group but there was anotherpossible active region coming out of thenortheast limb again, so maybe this time, itwill finally be designated as AR11048.

As I set up my white light scope, cloudsstarted to cover the sky and I had difficultyimaging the active regions at high resolution,although I got to image the whole disk aswell as AR 11046 through a small opening inthe clouds:

Feb. 18. The sky this morning was okay, butsince I woke up a bit late, I was only able todo H solar work only as I encounteredsome problem with my declination motor notfunctioning properly, thus wasting moretime. Nevertheless, I was able to fix theproblem of loose connection.

AR11046 was now starting to exit thenorthwest limb while AR 11049 was nearthe center but showed only small activity inits core. What caught my eye on thisobservation session was a huge eruptiveprominence in the southeast limb. Verybeautiful and bright as well.

Feb. 19. The sky this morning was a bit hazyand seeing was not that good, but since Iwas monitoring yesterday's large eruptiveprominence's condition, I proceeded with mysolar observation but only with the PST-Hsetup:

AR 11049 was still visible, although itseemed to be losing its activeness andtoday's center of attraction was focused onthe 2 huge eruptive prominences visible inthe southeast and northwest limb.

The southeast prominence was the sameprominence as that of what I took yesterdayand it’s starting to recede back to the solarlimb again. The northwest limb's largeprominence was new and beautiful.

Feb. 27. The sky this morning was ok andseeing was fair. I was able to view severalhuge eruptive prominences in the northwestand southwest limb of the Sun. AR 11050could still be seen nearing the western limbwhile AR 11051 continued to show niceactivity inside its core:

The Sun was starting to be active again asfor the month of February, there weresunspots on the surface of the Sun, and withonly one day left in February with both AR11050 and AR 11051 still visible, this willbe a nice return, as the last time there was acomplete "sunspot month", meaning there isat least one sunspot group visible everydayfor the whole month, was way back inJanuary 2007.

Feb. 28. I was able to image the Sun againas the sky was partially ok. Seeing was fair.The large eruptive prominence in thenorthwest could still be seen beautifullyalthough it was starting to deteriorate a bit.The large prominence in the southwest hasdeteriorated greatly but small traces of theprominence could still be seen:

AR11050 was exiting the western limb whileAR 11051's activity also seemed to settledown a bit compared to yesterday's activity.

As anticipated, we got a complete "sunspotmonth" as we ended February with acomplete month of at least one or moresunspots visible on the Sun's disk. - JamesKevin Ty

Moon and MercuryFeb. 10. Yesterday, I managed to captureMercury and the Moon. Believe it or not, thiswhite blob is Mercury:

( p.40).

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Moon with Earthshine- Vincent Lao

VestaFeb. 12. Asteroid Vesta will reach oppositionon Feb 16-17. So last night, I decided to lookfor it. This time it was already bright enoughto be easily seen (around mag 5.87 basedon Starry Night 5 info). It could be foundnear Algieba (Gamma Leonis). I took severalshots of it (around 5 mins interval per shot),but it does not move much so I just took thefirst and last shot I got and created ananimation.

Each frame is a single shot ISO800 5secexposure taken with a Canon PowershotA540 on an Orion Starblast 4.5". Forcomparison, I took a Starry night simulationof the same field a year ago (without Vesta).

Feb. 13. I expected Vesta to movesignificantly with reference to backgroundstars from the night before. So I decided tocapture it again. I captured Vesta again as itapproached Algieba. However I did notimage it on the 14th. The sequence on upperright is composed of images from Feb 12,13, 15, and 16..

Here’s a montage of images showing themovement of Vesta across the sky. - VincentLao

MarsJan. 30. Syrtis Major and Sinus Sabaeuswere resolved in this image (below, left).Taken using afocal method with a CanonPowershot A540 on an Orion Starblast 4.5".

Jan. 31. I got up at around 3 in the morningto capture a few planetary images. I waslucky that the sky was clear and the seeingwas good but not perfect (above, right).

Feb. 2. I captured Mars last night. This time,it's the other side of the planet: MareCimmerium and Amazonis Planitia. Seeingwas average to good. However, a slight windwas shaking my mount (right above, left).

Feb. 3. I managed to capture Mars again(below, right) while it was still large enoughto be seen.

Feb. 13. Mars was still there, so I imaged it.There are some clouds on one side (left) ofMars seen on the image, below, left.

Feb. 18. Yesterday (above, right) I had alousy observing session. First I tried to lookat the Leo triplet but failed to see it nomatter how I nudged or blinked or rotatedmy eyeball at the spot where it wassupposed to be... Well I guess I really need adark sky or more aperture to see it. So Imoved on to the Trapezium and tried to findas many stars as I could (Ernie style)... only 4or 5 (If I'm not just imagining the 5th) ( p.41).

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I guess I'm aperture-starved. Not wanting torest without any achievement, I simplyphotographed Mars... Booooo!

Feb. 26. The sky was a bit hazy, but theplanets were visible through the haze. Imanaged to capture several shots of Marsand Saturn (above). - Vincent Lao

Feb. 1. I finally received my long-awaitedPentax 5mm XO eyepiece with muchanticipation and excitement! The strongseasonal trade winds that disturbed steadyseeing were forecasted to be absent andportended fair to good seeing for theevening. I started to cool my 16" Newtonianjust as the sun went down before leaving fora dinner engagement with some friends. Igot back home and to the observatory by 11p.m. with Mars high and near the meridian.The sky was perfectly transparent and thestars were twinkling lazily instead ofexcitedly as they usually do. It looked like aperfect night to welcome and test the XO.

I centered the N16 on the red planet with aTelrad, then viewed through a mediumpower 20mm TeleVue Plossl. The seeing wasindeed quite steady so I plopped in myhigher power Celestron 10mm Plossl. Theviews of Mars with this eyepiece are quitegood. The north polar cap and Sytris Majorcould be easily discerned. Encouraged bythe seeing, I then deployed my high powerCelestron 5mm Orthoscopic.

The view through this old eyepiece wasfamiliar and trusty. Syrtis Major becamelarger and more defined. The north polar capshowed hints of definition. I then decided tofinally try out the new 5mm XO. I noticed thatit slid with nearly a perfect pneumatic fit intomy focuser. Nice. The next thing Iimmediately noticed was that it snapped into focus. There was nothing vague or mushyabout focusing. Excellent! Then what Ibeheld for the first time through thateyepiece literally made me hold my breathand make me weep with joy. Mars appearedas I never in my long life had seen it. Therewere so many fine details that I gotdisoriented at first. What immediatelygrabbed my attention were the well-definedserrations on the edge of Utopia. Never had Isee these before. The polar cap was not justeasily visible, but also exhibited a clear areawhere the ice was receding. Syrtis Major wasmagnificent! The fangs of Mare Cimmeriumstood out in easy contrast to the lighter-huedplains of Elysium. Nodus Alcyonius was alsoeasy and clear to see.

I then realized that for the first time ever, myvisual view of Mars was better and moredetailed than any high resolution CCD imageI had ever had the pleasure of viewingbefore. This, to me, is the Holy Grail of visualobservation.

Feb. 1 and 2. A fast moving dust storm wasseen over Utopia and was blowing acrossthe north polar cap. Judging from its color, itprobably originated from the plains ofElysium further to the south. It was evidentin the Feb. 1 image (below, top) and trailedoff as a thinner dust stream onward to theother side of the pole. The dust stormsubsided considerably the next day as seenin the following Feb 2 image (below, bottom).

Imaged February 1 and 2, 2010 with an N16Newtonian at f/29, using DBK21 andDragonfly 2 cameras, with 1.5 minutesexposure using RGM filter

I wanted to test the difference in imagequality between a DBK21 color camera andDragonfly 2 black and white camera. Theimages of Mars were taken under fair 5/10seeing, and excellent 5/5 transparency. Thetop image was taken with the DBK21 colorcamera and the bottom image was with theblack and white Dragonfly 2. I am still a littleunfamiliar with color balancing RGB onplanets.

I am quite disappointed with both camerasand am about to order a LumeneraSkyNyx2.0. I am still undecided as towhether I will get the color or b&w version.

The DBK21 has artifacts at 60 fps so I haveto fire away with it at only 30 fps. TheDragonfly 2, on the other hand, has reallyclumsy acquisition software and alsooperates at only 30 fps. I need a planetarycamera to be able to fire away at higherspeeds and at full resolution to help mebetter overcome poor seeing. The SkyNyxcan fire away full resolution at over 100 fpsand an ROI 320x240. – John Nassr, Baguio

Feb. 2. The dust storm must be the reasonwhy in my observation of the polar capduring that period, the white cap was soprominent and glowing as compared to otherperiods. I may not know what was going onat that time but I surely noticed theunusually intense glow in the northern icecap area.

Mars continued to regale us with a goodshow, last night (after Mars crossedmeridian) was another good Mars night,Syrtis Major was so distinct and well-definedas it made its way across the Martianlandscape, it's such an awesome time totrain the scopes on the red beauty as itparaded brilliantly through the night sky.

Feb. 21. It was cloudy last night but byaround 2 a.m., part of the skies had clearedup, allowing another shot at Mars - this timeI brought out the WO Megrez 102ED to testa Hyperion 8-24mm zoom adaptation, i.e.getting the barlow piece from a fixedHyperion 21-mm eyepiece, and screwing itonto the 2" sleeve of the zoom, therebyconverting the zoom into a 4-12mm zoom,making it more compact on the 102refractor's diagonal. Zoomed in on Marsusing the 8-mm setting, effectively yielding a4-mm or 178x on the 102-mm refractor, andMars looked sharp with the white northernpolar cap still prominent, and some darkalbedo features on one side of the cap, andalso at the opposite southern limb. Next,removed the 21-mm piece and revertedback to the zoom's default setup andbarlowed it using the TV 2x barlow forcomparison - the views were about the samein terms of contrast and details, reaffirminginitial findings that the nosepiece barlow isjust as good as the TV 2x barlow on thezoom, but a lot better ergonomically,because of the compact setup.

Noticed also during observation that therewas a slight whitish glow on the lower edgelimb (eastern side of the Mars disc), couldthis be the effect of a white cloud? - ErnieBautista

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Jan. 29. The sky was partially cloudy today. Ihad to fight the clouds this evening. Seeingwas very variable.

Syrtis Major can be seen on the right. MareCimmerum was setting. Note the faintclouds at the Chaos region.

Jan. 31. Seeing was variable this evening.

The north polar region (NPR) was very wellresolved. The bright polar cap wascontrasted with the polar hood above it.Note the equatorial cloud. Mare Cimmeriumcan be seen close to the central meridian(CM). Note the two vertical streaks resolvedin Mare Cimmerium. Syrtis Major was risingon the left.

Feb. 3. The evening started clear but turnedcloudy around 10 p.m. Seeing was variable.I finally found out what was causing the darkstreaks on my Mars image. It seems that mycamera had these artifacts when running at60 fps. I will slow down my frame rateduring my next imaging run.

Mare Cimmerium and Sirenum can be seenin the southern hemisphere. Setting on theright were the white clouds above OlympusMons. There were some clouds at Ausorniaand Electris at the south. There were alsosome clouds at Syrtis Major. The dark bar onthe north polar cap (NPC) was probablyartifact from my camera.

Feb. 5. Seeing was terrible this evening. Ionly got this image before clouds rolled in.

The clouds above Olympus Mons could beseen in this image. There were other cloudspots in the Tharsis region.

Feb. 6. I had a 3-hour run this evening.Seeing was not good at the start of myimaging session because Mars was still verylow, but things improved as Mars got higher.My images started with the Tharsis Volcanicregion with the distinctive clouds above thevolcanoes, especially Olympus Mons on the

left. The image ended around the MareCimmerium region. Note the bright area atthe NPR. I made an animation usingMicrosoft Movie Maker. It was interesting tomake this as the results were far better thanthose made using gif animation! You can getthe video at:http://astro.christone.net/mars/mars20100206.avi orhttp://astro.christone.net/mars/mars20100206.wmv ( p. 43).

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Last image in the Feb. 6 image run.

Feb. 12. Seeing was poor this evening. Notethe clouds above the Tharsis volcanoesincluding Olympus Mons. Solis Lacus canbe seen on the lower right (right, top).

Feb. 21. Seeing was excellent this evening.Note Sinus Meridiani on the right (right).Chryse and Mare Erythraeum were at theCM. Mare Acidalium is also well resolved atthe north. Note the light clouds at Tharsis.

Feb. 23. Seeing was not great this evening.The Chryse region and Sinus Meridiani canbe seen in this image below:

Feb. 26. Seeing was good this evening.Sinus Sabaeus was prominent in this image.Note that the left part of the NPC is dark!! Isthere a dust storm there? Syrtis Major canbe seen rising on the ring. Note the cloud atZen Lacus (next page).

There seems to be some possible dust hazeat Mare Acidalium.

Feb. 27. Seeing was again good thisevening. Sinus Sabaues and Syrtis Majorwere prominent in these images ( p. 44).

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There seemed to be some thin clouds atMare Acidalium. The left side of the NPCwas still dark (bottom left). - Chris Go, Cebu

SaturnJan. 30. I got up at around 3 a.m. thismorning to image some planetary targets.Unfortunately I wasn't able to resolve theCassini division. Will try again when the ringbecomes wider. Below left, taken usingafocal method with a Canon PowershotA540 on an Orion Starblast 4.5".

Jan. 31. I got up at around 3 in the morningto capture a few planetary images. I waslucky that the sky was clear and the seeingwas good but not perfect (above, right).

Feb. 6. I got up at around 3 in the morning toimage Saturn, but imaged several targets,including Saturn, Mars, Omega Centauri andthe moon. I caught Saturn already high upthe zenith (below, left):

Feb. 19. I waited for Saturn to rise higher. Itwas already past 1 a.m. when I startedimaging it (above, right).

Feb. 22. Last night, I tried photographingSaturn using minimal setup: 60mmachromat (90mm stopped down to about60mm, because this is the most commontelescope in the world - can be found even indepartment stores); Tripod (no tracking, noEQ mount); 2x Barlow; 17mm Kellnereyepiece; Canon Powershot A540 withhomemade afocal mounting

Here's the result after stacking about 15seconds of video clip from the setup (left):

Feb. 22. I got up at around 5 in the morningand noticed that the sky was a bit hazy butOK for planetary imaging (I guess – seeabove, right). Taken using my usual setup:Orion Starblast 4.5" EQ-1 with astrotrackdrive, Canon Powershot A540. – Vincent Lao

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Feb. 27. Above's my first image of Saturnthis season. The South Equatorial Band wasvery dark. The color of both hemisphereswas almost the same but the north wasslightly darker. Lots of belt details on bothhemispheres. The North Polar Region (NPR)was dark. Dione can be seen on the right. –Chris Go, Cebu

Orion Nebula

Orion nebula taken using afocal method withCanon Powershot A540 on an OrionStarblast 4.5" 1.5 minutes total exposure atISO800. There's a hint of the Running ManNebula visible, but I guess I need more sub-exposures to display it significantly. –Vincent Lao

Rosette NebulaI was not aware of the Rosette Nebula untilrelatively "late" in my adulthood, when I wentfrom "armchair" to "field" astronomy. Apicture of the Rosette Nebula in the firstedition of "The Backyard Astronomer'sGuide", taken with Kodak Tech Pan filmthrough a hydrogen-alpha filter, grabbedhold of me and was one of the objects that Iresolved to shoot if I ever got intoastrophotography. The Rosette Nebulablooms in the fall constellation Monoceros.

Where is Monoceros? Why, it's just east ofOrion. So if you see Orion high in the sky, theregion of sky to its east (rising "behind" it) isMonoceros.

Emission nebulae (so-called because theyglow, or "emit light", from radiation of starsembedded within them) are usually star-forming regions. Open cluster NGC 2244 isassociated with and resides within thisnebula. In fact, the stars of this cluster werecreated within its cloudy confines!

Now, the stars born of this gas and dust arequite literally biting the hand that feedsthem, as their stellar radiation and "winds"have blown away the gas and dustsurrounding them. This stellar erosion hascarved out the central cavern so obvious inthe heart of this nebula, which gives it itscharacteristic rose-like shape. Over time, asmore stars are formed within this nebulaand continue to erode it away, the nebulawill eventually be blown apart and eventuallydisappear, leaving behind only the starclusters created.

Visually, I have never seen the nebulosity ofthis object. The open cluster NGC 2244 isreasonably visible from my backyard with an8" telescope.

Constellation: MonocerosWhen Visible: January - AprilDistance: 5,000 light-yearsDate: November 2006 (H-alpha and RGB

data); January 2008 (SII and OIII Data)Location: West Chester, OhioExposure Details:H-alpha: 8 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1 (used

for monochromatic image)S-II: 5 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1 (used for

Hubble Palette image)O-III: 7 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1 (used for

Hubble Palette image)

12 x 5 minutes R binned 2 x 212 x 5 minutes G binned 2 x 212 x 5 minutes B binned 2 x 2

Equipment Used: Takahashi FSQ-106N on aTakahashi EM200 Temma-II mount. SBIGSTL-6303 camera with 5-position filterwheel and Astrodon narrowband filters.Externally guided with an SBIG

Remote Guide Head on a Borg 76EDrefractor.

Acquisition Software: MaximDL, TheSky6,CCDAutopilot

Processing Software: MaximDL, PhotoshopCS, IrFanView, Noel Carboni Actions

I collected and processed HRGB data forthe Rosette Nebula back in November 2006(above) ( p. 46).

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In 2008, I gathered SII and OIII data for thisnebula. I never got around to processing thisdata until recently, thanks to the current runof bad weather. Granted, I have lots of dataawaiting processing on top of this. Anyways,above is the end result of a few days' worthof processing the Hubble Palette version ofthe data:

There were some comments on thebackground being a bit too dark in otherforums, soI thought I'd double-check myprocess flow. I may have found where Imight have messed up a bit. In stretching Ifound some hidden gems in the background.Above’s the stretched version. This time I didnot dim the background, as in looking at thisI do see some dim details coming out.Please let me know how it looks, especially ifI've gone too far. – Eric Africa

TrapeziumLast night was relatively clear and the greatHunter Orion was high up in the sky, so Ithought of doing some hunting too - theelusive E & F stars at the famous Trapeziumusing my trusty C8 SCT scope. Having beentold that the eyepiece used is the key tosuccess, I tried a variety on hand: aCelestron 25mm Omni Plossl and Brandon16mm Orthoscopic, but still could not get toit. Finally I brought out da bomb: myHyperion 8-24mm zoom; tried it at 8mmsetting, no dice, too much power maybe;then zoomed out to 12-mm and what do youknow, initial success! The E component wasthere although it was faint, coming in andout of view, but the F was nowhere to befound; waited for some time for theatmosphere to stabilize, and used a map toknow where to expect it.

After some time at the eyepiece and usingaverted vision, the slippery F star suddenlyblinked into view, yehey! Stayed with it forseveral more sightings to make sure that itwas not just my eyes willing it out to be seenand indeed it was there as it consistentlyappeared several more times at the samespot. It made my night! – Ernie Bautista

VariousI did a lot of astro-related activities. Imanaged to fix my broken 80-mm reflectorand use it to shot the sun and moon. In theevening, I also photographed M44 and theOrion region using just a camera and alsodid an afocal shot at M35. – Vincent Lao

M35 (above) and M44 (below) by VincentLao

The SkyRejoice! The normally clear skies of Marchand April are upon us, bringing opportunitiesto observe the night sky. While March bringsJupiter out of the picture from the eveningsky, it brings with it the rise of Venus – thebrightest planet starts its evening apparitionand continues to rise earlier and higher inthe west each night. Mars continues to dimas we leave it behind in our orbit around theSun, while Saturn continues to be visibleearlier and earlier.

During the first 2 weeks of April, look forVenus and Mercury close together in the skyafter sunset.

Sky Calendar

DAY HR EVENT

March 2010

07 11:31 Moon 1o N of Antares

07 23:41 LAST QUARTER

08 02:59 Mercury 1.2o S of Jupiter

14 21:16 Mercury at SuperiorConjunction

16 05:01 NEW MOON

21 01:31 EQUINOX

21 07:06 Moon 0.9o S of Pleiades

22 08:38 Saturn at opposition

23 18:59 FIRST QUARTER

30 10:25 FULL MOON

April 2010

01 05:18 Moon 1.2o N of Antares

03 17:40 Moon 1.7o N of Antares

06 17:36 LAST QUARTER

09 07:20 Mercury GreatestElongation 18o E

14 20:28 NEW MOON

16 05:11 Mercury 0.9o S of Moon

16 19:09 Mars 0.9o N of Beehivecluster

17 13:55 Moon 0.4o S of Pleiades

22 02:19 FIRST QUARTER

22 12:04 Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak

28 20:17 FULL MOON

29 00:42 Mercury at InferiorConjunction