Feb 2014 Sky Notes

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EXTANT LIFE ON MARS?THE MARS SOCIETY

CY SCIENCE PUBLICATION: WWW.ICYSCIENCE.COM: WINTER 2013/14

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L O O K U P I N WO N D E R : W W W . I C Y S C I E N C E . C O M

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L O O K U P I N W O N D E R : W W W. I C Y S C I E N C E . C

LOOK UP

IN WONDER

IMAGE OPPOSITE: A supernova in M82 named 2014J photographed here by Brian B Ritchie

Welcome to the February 2014 astronomy mini magazine.

This month John Harper FRAS (President Scarborough and

Rydale Astronomical Society) gives us a guide to Febs night

sky.

We also have a monthly update on news on the ISS by Cian

ORegan

Finally.... M 82

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February 2014

As the month starts, the Sun lies within the constellaon of Capricornus, the Sea Goat, unl it crosses

the border with Aquarius on the 16th at around 10h, where it remains unl the months end.

The MoonThe moons perigee (nearest to the earth) occurs at 19h53 on the 27th, and apogee (furthest from th

earth) around 05h11 on the 12th.

First Quarter takes place on the 6th at 19h23 in Aries, 15 below and to the right of the Pleia-des star cluster (Seven Sisters).

Februarys Full Moon is on the 14th at 23h54 in the constellation of Leo, near the borderwith Sextans. The star twinkling in the bright moonlight 8 to the upper left of the moon is Regulus

the brightest star in Leo. Bright Jupiter is way over to the right, above Orion.

Last Quarter moon is on Feb 22nd at 17h16, on the Ophiuchus/Scorpius boundary. At 04hthe next day it may be seen low in the SE sky 7 above and to the left of Antares, brightest star in

Scorpius.

You will have noticed that February is missing a New Moon, as occurred in 1995, and this scenario

wont happen again until 2033. February is the only calendar month, which can be missing the same

moon phase twice. (New, First Q, Full, or Last Q)!

Look out for Earthshine illuminating the dark hemisphere of the waxing crescent moon from the

beginning to the 5th of the month in the early evening sky, and the waning crescent on the 23rd to

the end of the month in the early morning sky.

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The PlanetsMercury sets two hours aer the sun during the rst few days ofthe month, and this is the best me to look for the planet, low in the S

sky, between 17h30 and 18h00. On the 1st the very thin waxing crescewith earthshine on its dark hemisphere, will be immediately above Me

cury by some 7. So at 18h on the 1st, nd the moon in the fading SW

twilight, and using binoculars, scan downwards towards the horizon. Y

then should be able to nd this elusive lile world, sparkling in the tw

light, 4 above the horizon. Aer this period of visibility the planet mo

in towards its inferior conjuncon with the sun on the 15th. During the

second half of February, the planet moves into the morning sky and ris

an hour before the sun on the 28th. There is almost a repeat performa

between a thin crescent moon and Mercury on the 27th. This me the

waning crescent moon lies 8 slightly to the upper right of Mercury an

the twilight is much stronger. At 06h30, both objects are within 10 of SE horizon and binoculars will be necessary to view both of them sas

factorily. Much further to the right of the moon and slightly higher is t

brilliant Morning Star, the planet Venus.

Throughout February, Venusdominates the morning sky, rising befo06h at the start of the month, and just before 05h at the months end.

There is an exceponally beauful close conjuncon between the moo

and Venus on the 26th, when at 05h as they are rising in the SE sky, Ve

is only 18 minutes of arc above the northern cusp of the waning cresce

moon. The whole spectacle is enhanced by earthshine illuminang thelunar night hemisphere. During the next few hours as they connue to

gain altude in the SE sky, the rapid moon of the moon takes the la

away from Venus in an easterly direcon, but the pair look beauful c

to each other as morning twilight increases. A binocular view will be q

stunning, with both objects in the same eld of view.

Mars may be seen travelling slowly eastwards above Spica, the brigest star in Virgo throughout the month. It is interesng to compare the

colours of the two objects; the brighter Mars with its reddish nge and

the icy-blue of Spica (alpha Virginis). At around 06h at the beginning o

the month, given a clear sky, it is possible to see four bright planets in morning sky. The four are Venus, 5 above the SE horizon on the Scutu

Sagiarius border; Saturn, at an altude of 20 in the south; Mars abo

Spica in the SSW around 25 in altude; and nally, Jupiter low in the N

in Gemini, 4 above the horizon there. Overnight on the 18th/19th, th

gibbous waning moon, Mars and Spica, produce an interesng triangu

formaon in the night sky, with Spica at the lower apex of this celesa

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triangle. By 05h on the 19th, Mars is 5 from Spica, which in turn is 5 to the east of the bright moon.

following night 19th/20th, the eastwards moon of the waning gibbous moon has produced another

with Mars at its upper apex. Mars, Spica and the moon in this triangular formaon will produce a glo

spectacle at an altude of 10 in the SE at midnight.

Having reached opposion last month, Jupiter connues to shine brightly and steadily all-night, h

the constellaon of Gemini, and so further opportunies to see the ever changing paerns of the foulean satellites connue throughout the month. On the 11th, the bright waxing gibbous moon may be

in conjuncon with the planet, when the two are separated by some 5. At 00h, if you draw a line thr

Jupiter and the moon, and connue that line downwards, you will come across the stars Betelgeuse a

separated by the three stars of Orions belt.

During February,Saturnrises at 02h at the beginning, and at 00h30 by the end of the month. It isfore only visible during the early hours of the morning ll dawn. The ringed planet spends the month

ling slowly eastwards in the constellaon of Libra, and is unmistakable as there are no other bright st

that immediate area. On the morning of the 22nd, the moon almost at last quarter, may be seen risin

neath Saturn at around 02h in the SE sky. At this me, Saturn is 3 to the upper right of the moon.

If the sky is clear, at around 21h on the 3rd, you will see the four day old waxing crescent moon with

shine about 10 above the western horizon, and if you carefully scan just 2 (four moon widths) to th

the moon and at the same altude, the greyish green coloured faint star you will see is the planetUranus.At this me, the moon aords a rare opportunity to help you locate this remote world,discovered by William Herschel in 1781. Both objects are in Pisces, just to the north of the Cetus bor

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Neptune is in conjuncon with the sun and lies far beyond it on the 23rd, and is not favourably placedfor observaon during February.

There are no major meteor showers during the month, and so we expect to see the normal background

rate of four noceable events during each hour of the night.

Constellaonsvisible in the south around midnight, mid-month, are as follows: Cancer, Leo, Hydra,with its brightest star Alphard (the solitary one), and the faint constellaon of Sextans the Sextant, to be

found just below Leos brightest star Regulus.

All mes are GMT 1 is one nger width at arms length.

JOHN HARPER FRAS

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ISS Monthly Recap

January 2014

It has been an extremely busy start to the newyear for the Expedition 38 crew aboard theInternational Space Station, as they picked upexactly where they left off in the first month of2014.

The month began with the space station crew

ringing in the new year by carrying out work onexperiments in the unique microgravity foundon the ISS. The crew also paid special attentionto a series of health checks, in particular eye ex-

aminations. Using the stations Ocular Healthexperiment, the six astronauts and cosmo-nauts collected detailed imagery of eachothers eyes and any changes that may havetaken place. Astronauts who have returnedto Earth after spending several months

living on the ISS have experienced visionchanges upon their return, due to changesin in pressure in the eye itself.

The space stations 57 foot-long robotic arm,Canadarm2, performed a detailed inspec-tion of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer onJanuary 2. AMS-02, which launched aboardSpace Shuttle Endeavour on STS-134, is themost advanced magnetic spectrometer in

space, and is being used to gather cosmicparticles in an effort to enhance our under-standing of the universe.

Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft was captured by Canadarm2

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The highlight of the acvies on the US Segment of the sta-

on was the arrival of the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo cra,

which delivered over a tonne of supplies and spare parts to the

staon.

Originally scheduled to launch back in December 2013, the

launch of Cygnus had to be delayed due to an unexpected

failure in one of the staons ammonia pump modules, lo-

cated on the staons truss, which is responsible for cooling

staon systems and science on board. This meant that astro-

nauts Mike Hopkins and Rich Mastracchio had to perform two

spacewalks(EVAs) in order to remove the faulty pump module

and replace it with another. All systems now appear nominal.

After a series of further weather delays, Cygnus finallylaunched from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Janu-

ary 9. After spending three days performing a series of orbital

burns and maneuvers, Cygnus, which is named after former

NASA astronaut Gordon Fullerton, and which made its first

test flight to the ISS back in October 2012, was captured by

Hopkins and Wakata using the stations Canadarm2 and later

berthed to the Earth facing port of the Harmony Node of the

International Space Station on January 12. The crew quickly

got to work on opening the hatches between the ISS and

Cygnus, and began unloading the wide variety of scientific

instruments, experiments and cargo shortly after.

One newly arrived investigation will study the decreased

effect of antibiotics during spaceflight. Another will examine

how different fuel samples burn in microgravity, which could

inform future design for spacecraft.

Cygnus will spend around a month docked to the ISS, before

a scheduled unberthing from Harmony and a destructive re-

entry into the Earths atmosphere in February.

Kotov & Ryazanskiy during EVA on

December 27

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On the Russian segment of the Internaonal Space Staon, the focus was on the upcoming spacewalk

January 27 by cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy. The duo will aempt to complete the ins

laon of two Earth observaonal cameras on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module, a task which h

to be postponed due to telemetry issues with the cameras themselves during a recent EVA on Decemb

27.

Well thats all for what happened on the Internaonal Space Staon this month. Be sure to check out

Space Blog for further updates and news regarding the Internaonal Space Staon.

Thank You for reading Irish Space Blog!

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Students and Staff at the University of College London have discovered an exploding star in Mess

82 (M82). It is one of the closest star explosions discovered in 27 years. Already amateur astronom

are photographing the supernova. The discovery happened on the early evening of Jan 21st by BeCooke, Tom Wright, Matthew Wilde and Guy Pollack assisted by astronomer Steve Fossey.

You can find M82 or the Cigar galaxy by looking toward the The Plough in Ursa Major.

Image above: Stellarium. Image below:

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