Sky this week
January - February 2013
Fifth Week
30 jan - 5 Feb, 2013
January 31 -2.8 mag ISS pass over Delhi
January 31 GISC and GAN starts phase II
February 02 Europa shadow transit
February 02 -2.6 mag ISS pass over Delhi
February 02 -2.0 mag iridium flare from delhi
February 03 -2.4 mag ISS pass over Delhi
February 03 Last quarter Moon
February 04 Mars and Neptune within 0.5 degrees
February 04 Io shadow transit
February 04 -5.0 mag iridium flare from delhi
ISS PASS details
Date Mag Max height Alt Az
31 Jan -2.8 06:21:19 57° NE
02 Feb -2.6 06:16:52 36° SW
03 Feb -2.4 05:27:19 46° SE
ISS passes make this week a special week as now bright (more than -2 mag) passes of ISS start to appear in the delhi skies. It becomes more special as the ISS EarthKam mission has just ended on February 1 and so many SPACE associated schools and units have gathered images taken by camera onboard the ISS. Now its time to look up and see the ISS with the naked eyes. basic info has been given in this writeup, for more details go to http://space-india.org/space_calendar.html
Jovian events - one can see the transit of shadow of the jovian satellites on the disk of jupiter with a moderate sized telescope.
Iridium flares - we have given the details for the bright iridium flares which can be seen with naked eyes from delhi. The brightness may vary as it depends upon where the observer is located with respect to the satellite. So it can be more or less for an observer.
Sunrise/Sunset and Moonrise/Moonset for the week
Sun
30 Jan 2013 07:10 17:59
31 Jan 2013 07:10 18:00
01 Feb 2013 07:09 18:00
02 Feb 2013 07:09 18:01
03 Feb 2013 07:08 18:02
04 Feb 2013 07:08 18:03
05 Feb 2013 07:07 18:04
Moon
30 Jan 2013 21:06 08:44
31 Jan 2013 22:04 09:20
1 Feb 2013 23:04 09:57
2 Feb 2013 10:37
3 Feb 2013 00:05 11:20
4 Feb 2013 01:08 12:09
5 Feb 2013 02:11 13:03
Constellation of the week
This week again we will be seeing Taurus (the Bull or the Vrishabha in hindi) crossing the meridian at 8:00 pm. Its a V shaped constellation to the folks living in big cities but it stands out in the dark skies with lot more stars.
Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac, which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic. Its name is a Latin word meaning "bull",. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Taurus came to symbolize the bull in the mythologies of India, Ancient Babylon, Egypt and Greece.
There are a number of features of interest to astronomers. Taurus hosts two of the nearest open clusters to Earth, the Pleiades and the Hyades, both of which are visible to the naked eye. At first magnitude, the red giant Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation. In the northwest part of Taurus is the supernova remnant Messier 1, more commonly known as the Crab Nebula. One of the closest regions of active star location, the Taurus-Auriga complex, crosses into the northern part of the constellation. The variable star T Tauri is the prototype of a class of pre-main-sequence stars.
Deep Sky Object of the week
Pleiades cluster (M45)
At 8:00 pm look just above your head, if the skies are clear and no haze is there, you should see a group of stars clustered together. You may be able to see 4-6 stars in a clump depending on how good your eyesight is!! Well this is not a constellation but what we call an open cluster of stars, or a nakshatra called Krittika in hindu astronomy.
In Hindu mythology, the god Murugan(Skanda/Subrahmanya/Kartikeya) was raised by the six sisters known as the Krittikā and thus came to be known as Kārtikeya. According to the Mahābhārata, Murugan was born to Agni and Svāhā, after the latter impersonated six of the seven wives of the Saptarishi and made love to him. The Saptarshi, hearing of this incident and doubting their wives' chastity, divorced them. These wives then became the Krittikā.(Taken from Wikipedia)
For astronomers, pleiades or krittika offers so much to study. In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The name Pleiades comes from Greek mythology.
Its a treat to watch pleiades through any of the optical instruments. Binoculars do justice to the size of the cluster showing all the stars packed tightly, with a telescope you will have to move it a bit to see the whole extent of the cluster.
To get access to info about telescopes and other astronomy equipment just login to www.spacearcade.in
Sky at 8:00 pm on 30th January, 2013
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