CAA member Frank Shoemaker, despite challenging seeing conditions and the early hour, captured a fine image of the September 14 conjunction of Earth’s Moon and planet Venus. As luck would have it, the conjunction occurred in constellation Cancer home of the lovely open cluster M44, the “Beehive”. The technical info.: Canon EOS 6D Mark 2, 100mm, f/4.5, 19 seconds, 5:29 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Saturn is truly the lord of the rings in this latest portrait from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, captured on July 4, 2020, when the opulent giant world was 839 million miles from Earth. This new Saturn image was taken during summer in the planet’s northern hemisphere.
Hubble found a number of small atmospheric storms. These are transient features that appear to come and go with each yearly Hubble observation. The banding in the northern hemisphere remains pronounced as seen in Hubble’s 2019 observations, with several bands slightly changing color from year to year. The ringed planet’s atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with traces of ammonia, methane, water vapor, and hydrocarbons that give it a yellowish-brown color.
Hubble photographed a slight reddish haze over the northern hemisphere in this color composite. This may be due to heating from increased sunlight, which could either change the atmospheric circulation or perhaps remove ices from aerosols in the atmosphere. Another theory is that the increased sunlight in the summer months is changing the amounts of photochemical haze produced. “It’s amazing that even over a few years, we’re seeing seasonal changes on Saturn,” said lead investigator Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Conversely, the just-now-visible south pole has a blue hue, reflecting changes in Saturn’s winter hemisphere.
Hubble’s sharp view resolves the finely etched concentric ring structure. The rings are mostly made of pieces of ice, with sizes ranging from tiny grains to giant boulders. Just how and when the rings formed remains one of our solar system’s biggest mysteries. Conventional wisdom is that they are as old as the planet, over 4 billion years. But because the rings are so bright – like freshly fallen snow – a competing theory is that they may have formed during the age of the dinosaurs. Many astronomers agree that there is no satisfactory theory that explains how rings could have formed within just the past few hundred million years. “However, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft measurements of tiny grains raining into Saturn’s atmosphere suggest the rings can only last for 300 million more years, which is one of the arguments for a young age of the ring system,” said team member Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley.
Two of Saturn’s icy moons are clearly visible in this exposure: Mimas at right, and Enceladus at bottom.
This image is taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. OPAL is helping scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of our solar system’s gas giant planets. In Saturn’s case, astronomers continue tracking shifting weather patterns and storms.
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was the finest comet to grace the skies of the Northern Hemisphere in quite some years. Amateur astronomers and photographers the world over made fascinating observations and beautiful images of the comet and its surprisingly long tail. By July 5, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe had captured an image of the comet, from which astronomers also estimated the diameter of the comet nucleus at approximately 5 km. or about three miles; that’s a reasonably large size but around average for a comet. The large nucleus offered plenty of volatile materials for the Sun to stir into tail formation.
On July 23 the comet reached perigee with Earth and is now speeding toward the outer Solar System, not to revisit the inner planetary neighborhood for several thousands of years. So, though relatively near Earth the object is fading fast. Lately astronomers and astrophotographers have been grabbing the last views they will have of C/2020 F3 before it fades to obscurity.
Here are some photos made by members of the Cuyahoga Astronomical Association (CAA) as a cometary farewell of sorts:
Alan Studt’s lovely portrait of the comet shows its tails remain, if faded, long and expansive. He wrote, “Beautiful night by the lake last night. Took these at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Avon Lake just before 11 p.m. Pretty large group of people hanging out. The comet was definitely much dimmer than the previous Friday.”
James Guilford was at Letha House Park, July 24, attempting to record detailed images of the comet nucleus and close tail. The green coloration of the comet was a surprise to him, even after reading the observations of others. “All of my comet shots Friday night show a green nucleus,” Guilford said, “and it grew brighter as I processed the images later. I’d have liked to have picked up more of the tail but, given the circumstances, I’m pretty happy with what I got.” Both he and other Letha House Park observers could see a green tint by eye through telescopes. He and others also report the comet was barely within the range of eyesight but only at its highest above the horizon and only via averted vision.
Technical Information: Canon EOS 6D Mk. 2, at prime focus of 1800mm FL Cassegrain telescope, eight light exposures plus darks, ISO 1250, 15 seconds per exposure, stacked in Starry Sky Stacker, processed in Photoshop.
Jon Salontay also photographed the comet that Friday. Above we see how it is nearly lost, even to the camera, amongst the stars. Technical Info.: Time – 11:32 p.m., Canon T5i with 18-75mm zoom lens at 18 mm, exposure 30 seconds at F/5.6, ISO 800. Brightness & Contrast adjusted.
Salontay then turned his telescope on the “dirty snowball.” Technical Info.: Time – 12:13 a.m., July 25. Celestron 8-inch SCT on Advanced VX Mount, Canon T5i, 15 seconds, ISO 1600. No out-of-camera adjustment.
He wrote, “Although I’ll try to follow it telescopically over the next month, how about another comet before the year is out? It’s a lot of fun.”
Be sure and check back… this article is updated as new images arrive!
In mid-July Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was becoming an evening object, visible in sunset twilight, and brightening as it did so. The predawn apparitions were difficult for many to appreciate — visible after 4 a.m. and disappearing around 5 a.m. — but “prime time” visibility in the evening sky has members of the general public more excited.
Lake Erie offers wide-open spaces and distant horizons, with other features sometimes adding to the scene. Frank Shoemaker visited the lakefront in Lorain, Ohio on July 13, 2020 to view and photograph the comet. “I shot this {image above} at 11:15 p.m. The floodlights on the lighthouse shut off at 11 p.m. Before that its glare made the images pretty useless.” Shoemaker wrote. Technical details: Canon 5D MK 4, 135mm prime lens, f/2, 4 secs, IOS 1600. Processed in Photoshop and Lightroom.
CAA member Christopher Christie wrote the comet “was naked eye visible out over the Lake after sunset.” Until recently, C/2020 F3 was rarely reported as viewable without binoculars.
There are more challenges than simple atmospheric issues. Lonnie Dittrick writes, “Nice location but a bit challenging dodging folks walking around, car lights, and airplanes. It was fun. Image cleaned up with Photoshop.”
The beautiful picture below is by CAA member Paul Leopold taken Monday night at 10:15 p.m. He said sky conditions were excellent in terms transparency with the comet was visible from 9:45 p.m. – 11:15 p.m. DST. Technical: Olympus OMD EM5 Mark 2, 75-300mm at 75mm, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 21 seconds. He used an IOptron Star tracker Mount to prevent “star streaks.” It was post-processed in Photoshop from Olympus Raw Format image.
This next photo is by CAA member Alan Studt and shows a wide view of the comet as seen from Fairport Harbor (Ohio) Lakefront Park on Lake Erie. It was shot at 10:15 p.m. with the following specs.: Nikon D850, 4 sec., ISO 4000, 52mm, f/4.5.
Sky conditions were somewhat questionable the night of July 15 but turned out to be clear enough for comet spotting from several locations across the area.
James Guilford made a last-minute trip to Mapleside Farms in Brunswick where he encountered a nearly-full parking lot; people gathering to take advantage of the place’s expansive view of the western sky. Also in the crowd were Jon Salontay, Joe and Pat Zentner. Many of the attendees likely went away disappointed — the comet was not readily naked-eye visible, diminished in light-polluted low clouds. C/2020 F3 was enjoyable via binoculars and could be imaged so long as the photographer knew where to point the camera!
Guilford’s photo illustrates the modern battle between the beauty of the night sky vs. human activity — light pollution, in this case. He titled his picture “Purity and Pollution” with the technicals: Canon EOS 6D Mk. 2, 24 – 105mm lens @ 73mm, f/4, ISO 1600, 8 seconds, processed in Photoshop.
Jon Salontay, who was at Mapleside, wrote, “The comet showed up well in 10×50 binoculars, but could only be hinted at viewing naked eye, and only after first spotting it in binoculars. Quite a lot of the crowd left before the comet could be seen, but those that were there for the comet in the first place stayed for the show.” He made the following close-up image.
Alan Studt stayed home but recorded this beautiful suburban night scene. He wrote, “We were able to see the comet with binoculars from our back yard in Parma (Ohio, not Italy). Here’s a wide shot with Mount Alverna Village in the foreground.”
Here’s another image that looks like a painting, perhaps a water color appearance this time! Carl Kudrna recorded this image at the Dover Center park in Bay Village, overlooking Lake Erie. Camera: Galaxy s9+ smartphone.
Matt Franduto sends this next image recorded under fairly clear skies, framed by trees.
The gorgeous picture, by Lonnie Dittrick, was shot at Letha House Park West location of the CAA’s observatory. Dittrick wrote, “Took this image Tuesday night overlooking the pond by the observatory. The comet held its own for a good 45 minutes until succumbing to the gunk off to the West. It’s been awhile since I’ve been out there that late… I forgot how nice it is out there.”
Friday, July 17 brought a beautiful clear night to Northeastern Ohio and CAA members took full advantage of it.
Below, Frank Shoemaker captured a beautiful scene at Huntington Beach Park, on the shores of Lake Erie. “I shot this about 10:20 p.m.,” he wrote. “The comet was clearly visible to the naked eye. In you zoom in on the comet you can barely see the very faint second tail.” Technical details: Canon 5D Mk. 4, Sigma 50mm prime, f/1.4, 10 sec, ISO 800.
Alan Studt was able to record the faint ion tail of the comet, in addition to its broader dust tail. His technical data: Taken around 10:30 p.m. at the CAA’s observation site in Letha House Park. Made of 60, two-second exposures, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, Nikon D850, stacked in Sequator. Equivalent to a two-minute exposure.
The position of the comet also lent itself to nightscape photography and Studt took advantage of that. Below, the comet is seen in the starry sky above and still lake waters below. Taken around 10:30 p.m. and made of 20, six-second exposures, 15mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, Nikon D810, stacked in Sequator. Equivalent to a two-minute exposure.
James Guilford, also at the park site, had the same idea but was at a slightly different location near the lake. His technical info. for the picture below: Canon EOS 6D Mk. 2, single 15-second exposure at 60mm, f/4.0, ISO 1600.
More additions to our C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) article…..
Below we see an effort by Paul Leopold using an elegant rig consisting of his Olympus OMD EM5 Mark 2 with IOptron Star Tracker mount, with 75 – 300mm zoom lens. He shot at 171mm, f/5.9, ISO 1600, for 61 seconds. It was a beautifully clear “night at Letha House Park in Medina County with several CAA members viewing and imaging.”
CAA: Cuyahoga Astronomical Association 