Fortunately the conspirators’ plot unraveled and Guy Fawkes, who helped conceal the gunpowder barrels in a cellar beneath the Houses of Parliament, was arrested a few hours before he planned to detonate them. Had he been successful in igniting the gunpowder, the explosion would have destroyed the Old Palace of Westminster completely and shattered the windows of the surrounding buildings within a 1 kilometer circumference. All of those involved in the conspiracy were quickly hunted down and dispatched one way or another.

The Gunpowder Plot passed from history into folk lore, but it’s defeat has resonated down through the centuries and has always been commemorated every year since by burning bonfires along with the setting off of fireworks. It was against this setting, with the scent of smoke from fading bonfires and spent fireworks, that I produced the rough graphite sketch of the Moon that you can see below.

Waning Gibbous Moon 05.11.09: Mouseover the image for more information.

If I’d been more organised I would have taken the time to make the disc of the moon far neater by using a template, but all in all the sketch still turned out okay. As this was a quick observation I decided to record the most obvious features across the surface of the Moon rather than get mired in the almost infinite details, but I’ll certainly be aiming for a far more in-depth study next time around. It’s just a pity that there won’t be any fireworks!

While my binocular observation of Epsilon Lyrae, almost two weeks ago, offered a beautiful view I wasn’t quite prepared for the stunning sight that presented itself to me last Friday night — 16.10.09 — as I began gazing through the 5 inch refractor. Although there was a tenuous haze high up in the atmosphere the seeing conditions were relatively steady and both sets of stars exhibited a single inner diffraction ring during the good moments of atmospheric stability.

Ε Lyrae 1 comprises of two stars that orbit one another every 1,200 years, shining at magnitudes 4.7 and 6.2, while Ε Lyrae 2 consists of a magnitude 5.1 and 5.5 pair with an orbital period of 585 years. Both doubles offer a dazzling spectacle even under the most light polluted of skies and are more than worthy of your time. If you’ve not taken in an observation of this outstanding quadruple star system yet then do so. You won’t be disappointed!

Sitting close to Omicron-1 can be found 30 Cygni and HIP 99676 also known as 31 Cygni b. The former is a white to blue white A5III giant while the latter is a blue white B9 star with no clear luminosity grading. Again, like Omicron-2, there is no association — except for a common optical axis within a populous field of the Milky Way — between these stars and Omicron-1.

The 25×100 binoculars easily revealed the orange hues of Omicron-1 and 2 while 30 Cygni appeared close to it’s spectral classification. HIP 99676 on the other hand posed a slight puzzle as it appeared a greenish white. Regardless this proved to be a beautiful grouping of stars which are well worth a look if you have the time to spare during an observing session.

This happens because the path of the Moon on the ecliptic forms a narrow angle with respect to the horizon. An occurrence which results in shorter rising times with no period of darkness between Sunsets and Moonrises. In times long past this helped farmers, as they could work for much longer, when it became time to gather in their crops. Hence the name of this full Moon.

Harvest Moon Rising 04.10.09: Mouseover the image for a close-up.

The offhand shot above, a 1/40 second exposure, was taken at a focal length of 70mm using an f/stop of 5.6 and an ISO of 100. The image was then processed using a combination of Apple’s Aperture and the open source image editor GIMP.

The beautiful multiple star — a quadruple system that lies 162 light years away — shared the same field of view as the dazzling main sequence star Vega. At higher magnifications the stars of Epsilon Lyrae— ε Lyrae 1 and ε Lyrae 2 — split into two further binaries that orbit one another no closer than 0.16 light years. This means that both systems would take many millennia to complete just one orbit.

I’ll definitely be returning here in due course to take in a view with the telescope, but I’m still intent on bagging that observation of Omicron-1 Cygni. Just watch this space!

Edit 07.10.09: Looking back on the original sketch of Epsilon Lyrae that I produced, I’ve had the feeling that I just didn’t give this celestial object the attention that it really deserved. So early on Wednesday morning — 07.10.09 — I revisited the scene of the crime and set to work making a fresh observation. Although there was a cold breeze blowing through the backyard the seeing higher up in the atmosphere was excellent — 1 on the Antoniadi Scale. I’m far happier with the detail that I’ve captured; I hope you enjoy what I have produced.

At the foot of Andromeda, lying 350 light years away, sits Almach; a double star that many would argue is one of the most beautiful in the night sky. First impressions initially reveal a dazzling golden primary and a smaller greenish-blue secondary, but the story doesn’t end there. The secondary component is in fact a grouping of three main sequence bodies, an A class and a pair of B type stars,  with the latter two forming a compact binary.

Thanks to the excellent seeing conditions — 2 out of 5 on the Antoniadi scale — the view through the 12mm plössl really made this a delightful observation. At a power of 83x both stars were easily split and displayed the rich deep colours that they are so renowned for. If Albireo in Cygnus is seen as the definitive double star then Almach certainly comes extremely close to stealing the show.

During the run up to the annual maximum I spent a couple of mornings making visual observations as well as imaging with the DSLR. Due to the local light pollution, Moonlight and changing weather conditions the results were sketchy to say the least. Nevertheless I managed to catch a bright, but brief Perseid — about -1 magnitude — barreling south eastward from just under Perseus towards Pisces and Cetus. The camera also caught two faint Perseids which you can see below.

Perseid in Cassiopeia: Mouseover the image for more information.

Perseid in Perseus: Mouseover the image for more information.

When cloud cover made visual and photographic observation impossible, I utilised an ordinary FM radio receiver to listen to the ionized trails that the meteors were leaving in the atmosphere high above. This proved reasonably successful with six radio echoes identified over the course of an hour — buzzes, oscillations and distant radio chatter — above the hiss of the white noise.

Thankfully Stenhousemuir was furnished with cloudless skies from August 12th through to the early morning hours of  August 13th — the best time to see the meteor shower from the United Kingdom. Between 01:09 - 02:19 a.m. BST I spotted eight Perseids, all with magnitudes ranging from -2 to -1. No doubt I could have perhaps seen more meteors had I the benefit of a much darker setting.

Regrettably the DSLR, which had being firing off 30 second exposures, did not capture anything more exciting than some fetching star trails. A photograph of a bold Perseid would have certainly made a striking prize, but when all is said and done I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to witness this thrilling meteoric display firsthand.

I have endeavored to observe M51 at least four times since I returned to amateur astronomy. Each attempt has left me empty handed, but despite my lack of success I have never abandoned my hope of one day catching a glimpse of this distant galaxy.

Whether it was kismet, experience, or blind luck; the tenuous outline of Messier 51 finally gave itself up to my 25×100 binoculars on the morning of July the 30th. Unfortunately it was to be a fleeting encounter as a colourless brume crept over the sky and obscured the view.

While I waited for the clouds to dissipate I spent my time watching, and photographing Mars as it rose above the eastern horizon along with Venus. Sadly the deteriorating conditions finally overwhelmed the sky; forcing me to pack up and call it quits for another time.

Mars and Venus Rising: Mouseover the image for more information.

Two for the Price of One

As luck would have it the following morning offered some clear skies with another opportunity to tackle M51. This time the elements proved far more agreeable, and allowed me the chance to build on my previous observation. As my eyes adapted to the dark, the subtle contour of M51 began to materialise as an opaque asymmetrical ellipse; which over time began to take on the shape of two uneven lobes.

This completely blew me away because I knew that the smaller of the two lobes was in fact the interacting dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. It was this small companion — after a close encounter between the two galaxies — that helped enhance the pronounced spiral structure of Messier 51.

Adding to this already impressive scene, averted vision revealed the minute cores of both galaxies flickering in and out of view like far flung sky lanterns. A display that was made all the more interesting with the knowledge that at the centre of M51 lies a monstrous black hole which is devouring and tearing matter apart at an incredible rate.

All good things must come to an end, as is so often the case, and 42 minutes after beginning my session a veil of cloud rolled in from the west bringing my observation of this long sought, and rewarding deep sky object, to a close.

The latest episode of Our Night Sky focuses on citizen science and how members of the public can volunteer their time to make an invaluable contribution to real scientific research. Two projects in particular are highlighted: Stardust@Home and Citizen Sky; the leading project of the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

Stardust@Home are eagerly searching for microscopic grains of comet and interstellar dust obtained during a recent space mission, while Citizen Sky are hoping to unravel the enigma of a mysterious variable star that has puzzled astronomers for 175 years.

To visualise the concepts at the centre of these two projects I employed Photoshop CS2 as well as the combined power of Blender 2.46 and Terragen 2. The first of these renditions (above) is an impression of an interacting binary system on the verge of an eclipse, while the second one (below) depicts the fiery reentry of a spacecraft capsule on it’s return to Earth after visiting a distant comet.

The opportunity to support Tavi’s admirable work over at Astrocast.TV has been a welcome one, and I’ve enjoyed working on these illustrations which have opened my eyes to the vital role that citizen science plays within the scientific community. To quote the American anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.”