Activity

Jim, I asked ChatGPT at https://chat.openai.com/chat  “Explain why is ecliptic so high now in Winter” and here is answer:

The ecliptic is the plane in which the Earth and other planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes the seasons, including winter, and determines the angle at which the ecliptic…[Read more]

i thought the ecliptic was a path further south. does latitude have any effect? thanks josef!

Well, it is very simple. Mars is in Taurus, an zodiacal constellation, not so far from bright Aldebaran. Ecliptic in this area has high positive declination. Actually, Mars is not too far from ecliptic. Mars has today ecliptical latitude  2°20′, not much.

And a quick video of Mars occultation at 9:03 pm.

Here’s a image about 8 minutes before Mars disappeared. 10 in SCT and 6.3 Mpixel camera.

yes, it was nice. i’ve never noticed Mars (or any planet) so far off the ecliptic and wondered if there was a particular reason why? has it something to do with higher latitudes?

And Mars is gone behind Moon. It was  awesome!

Lets observe Mars occultation by the moon tonight. Times are approximately 9:03 pm for disappearance and 10:09 for reappearance. Weather is forecast to be clear skies.

Astronaut Scott Kelly wrote on November 24, 2022 https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1595925959081070592

Ukraine from space yesterday. The dark area above the Black Sea. Among many other things today I’m thankful I have electricity and heat.

Venus, Mercury and delta Scorpii (Dschubba) line up east of the Sun and are joined by a CME from the sun’s west side.

Here is an interesting website that contains cool animations and graphics and data concerning the Moon’s occultation of Mars in December and the total solar eclipse of 2024 https://www.shadowandsubstance.com/

Lunar eclipse photos from early this morning. Fortunately, the sky was still clear and the moon well placed in the Western sky. Had a nice view thru my 7 power finder scope with multiple stars and possibly Uranus in the same field of view. Photos taken during early (Starblast) and late (guide) totality. Stills from Orion 6.3 M pixel camera…[Read more]

Venus, Mercury and a pair of mini sun-grazing comets in todays (11/6/2022) SOHO C3 video! https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/

Both mini comets come in from the 5 o’clock position. Venus is brilliant on the left and Mercury, almost in superior conjunction, on the right.

very nice Bob! thanks for sharing 😉

Bob, well done images of the 40 Eridani! Thanks for bringing attention to the White Dwarfs – https://rochesterskies.org/40-eridani-b/

Well Jim the wind didn’t die down and so I stayed home where I can partially block the wind with my observatory dome. Seeing conditions otherwise weren’t too bad. A bit obsessed with 40 Eridani I did go out and obtained another picture, this time with the ASI 186MC camera (shown below).

yea, my situation has changed anyway so i won’t make it. i hope the wind dies down…

So what’s everyone think?  Not as clear as I thought it was going to be.

If we don’t hear anything about Eagle Bluff, I’ll probably head to Keller.  Unless some can turn the light off at Root River?