METEOR SHOWERS 2020

Let's take a brief look at some of the upcoming meteor showers for 2020.

So far we have seen the Quadrantids on January 4 2020.

Let’s take a look at some of the remaining meteor showers for 2020. Please note these are from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, please check your favourite App or planetarium software to see where and when these showers will be best visible to you in the more northern latitudes.
All the images below are taken from SkySafari 6Pro, a link to the webpage is in the right column on this page.

THE LYRIDS METEOR SHOWER, APRIL 22 2020.

The Lyrids appear in late April of each year and are associated with comet Thatcher from 1861.

The Lyrids can be seen anywhere between the 15^th and 25th of April, this year they will peak on the 22^nd of April.

The radiant for this shower is in the constellation Lyra and is best seen from the Northern Hemisphere. From the Southern hemisphere you might get lucky and see a few low on your Northern horizon, the constellation Lyra will be about 20 degrees above the horizon just after 4AM(From South Africa), so a early morning view.

Check your favourite planetarium app or software to determine when it will be best viewed from your location.

This shower can produce between 10 to 15 meteors per hour but could also have a surge of up 100 PH, although not very common but they do make the Lyrids more unpredictable and interesting.

THE ETA AQUARIIDS MAY 5 2020.

The Eta Aquariids are seen in early May each year and are best seen at 4AM on the morning of the 5^th May.

The quadrant for this meteor shower lies in the constellation Aquarius and is associated with the periodic comet 1P/Halley.

This meteor shower is best suited to those of us in the Southern Hemisphere with a hourly average of a meteor per minute. From the more northerly latitudes expect to see far less numbers.

On the morning of the 5^th look to your eastern horizon and the constellation Aquarius as they meteors appear to radiate from it.

Once again it is best suited to early morning viewing as Aquarius rises in the east at around 2AM with the sun rising at 6AM, so probably best from about 3 to 5 AM.

Also of interest here are the planets in the same area of sky, be sure to look for Jupiter, Saturn, Mars naked eye and in the scope you can also see Pluto and Neptune, so might be worth getting the scope out too.

THE DELTA AQUARIIDS, LATE JULY.

Once again the Delta Aquariids are best suited to us here in the Southern hemisphere. These do not have a peak but are probably best seen between the 27^th and 30^th of July and it is thought they may originate from comet 96P/Machholz

Expect to see a average of 15-20 per hour under darker skies as many of these are very feint meteors, so less under more polluted skies.

Again the meteors quadrant lies in the constellation Aquarius.

Look this time to your Western horizon a hour or two before dawn to catch sight of the show in the constellation Aquarius.

THE PERSEIDS, 9-14 AUGUST 2020.

I include this meteor shower since it is by far the most popular even though it is a bust here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Expect to see anything from 50-100 meteors per our that originate from periodic comet Swift-Tuttle.

This meteor shower has it’s quadrant in the constellation Perseus.

From the Southern Hemisphere you will need to look to your Northern horizon and the constellation Perseus, again this is best seen in the early hours before sunrise.

THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TAURIDS.

The Southern Taurids start from 25 September through 25^th November and the Northern Taurids run from October 12^th to December 5^th.

Although these last for quite some time they only produce a sprinkling of meteors with averages around 5 per hour, however they do produce nice fireballs!

To see the Northern Taurids look toward your NW horizon and the constellation Taurus from October 12^th to December 2^nd.

To see the Southern Taurids look toward your Western horizon and the constellation Taurus from 25^th September to 25^th November.

THE LEONIDS, NOVEMBER 17 2020.

This is one of the better meteor showers that produces everything from fireballs and Earthgrazers to meteor storms!

This shower is associated with comet Temple-Tuttle.

Every 33 years Earth passes through the densest dust and that is when the spectacular meteor storms are produced, the last such storm occurred in 2002. During the 1966 storm over 1000 meteors per hour fell into the Earths atmosphere in a 15 minute period!

Again this shower is best seen in the early morning hours before sunrise, look toward your N, NE horizon for the constellation Leo as this is where the quadrant for this shower lies.

These will probably be the best meteor showers for you to see, in my opinion, from our southerly latitudes for this year, there are others but they do not offer as much as the above.

So have fun and get out there and make a wish on a falling star!

Observing report 5 April 2020, Hunting red giants in Carina.

Observing report for 5^th April 2020

For the first time in months I was able to take advantage of clear skies, this was also day 9 of 21 for the lockdown here in South Africa. Almost halfway through and I get a lucky break with a near full Moon thrown in for good luck!

There was no real plan for this session until a chance look at Beta Cruxis and the beautiful red variable star DY Crucis that lies nearby. I then decided to swing over to the Carina Nebula and have a look at one of my favourite red stars there. From there I used sky Safari to pinpoint a few more and made a session of it.

I have observed and logged many of the open clusters both in and around the nebula but never the red super giant stars, of which there are many more than I logged in this session!

After that I surfed about and looked at many familiar favourites before closing up shop for the night as high thin clouds started to degrade the eyepiece views. There was a small amount of dew settling but not enough to ruin things.

The Carina Nebula at first magnitude is a diffuse nebula with the largest regions of HII  in the Milky Way. It is also far larger than the Orion Nebula. It was first discovered by Nicholas Louis de Lacaille while in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope in 1751-2, it fell within part of the much larger and now defunct constellation of Argo Narvis and is now part of the modern Carina constellation.

de Lacaille was responsible for the dismantling of the huge Argo Narvis constellation, he noted over 160 stars visible to the naked eye in it.

He broke it down into the three new constellations that were adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1930.

These are Carina, the Keel.

Puppis, the poop deck or stern.

Vela, the sails.

The Nebula lies at an approximate distance of 6500 to 10 000 light years from Earth.
You can read more on this nebula HERE.

The kit used for this session was my Orion XT 8 and a 25mm eyepiece.

Also had SkySafari 6 Pro on a tablet with me at the scope. The link to SkySafari can be found in the right column of this page.

All images below are taken from SkySafari.

First two images show a wide field of the area and then a closer look.

RT Carinae, 8^th magnitude variable star.

This is another deep red star that easily stands out from the surrounding stars. This star lies within the Carina nebula and is also part of the Trumpler 15 Open Cluster.

RT Carinae is a red super giant of the spectral type M2la-0. It’s surface temperature is 3370 Kelvins, it’s total luminosity is 203 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 19 Solar masses.
RT Carinae lies at an approximate distance of  1431 light years from our sun.

 BO Carinae, 7^th magnitude variable double star.

This appears more orange in the eyepiece and once again stands out easily from the surrounding field of stars. It also thought to be a part of the Trumpler 15 Open Cluster.

BO Carinae is a red super giant of spectral typeM4(lb), it has a surface temperature of 3043 kelvins and it’s luminosity is 191132 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 23 Solar masses.
BO Carinae distance is uncertain along with it's grouping, if we assume it belongs to the Trumpler 15 Open Cluster then we estimate a distance of 8500 light years. 

Eta Carinae, 6^th magnitude variable double star.

This shows as a nice bright orange colour in the eyepiece and is also located within the Trumpler 16 Open Cluster.

This star has a unique and interesting history and every time I see it I am reminded of the power that lies within the cosmos. Eta Carinae was also formely known as Eta Argus.

Around 1840 this star ejected a large bi-lobed cloud of material, with another, although smaller, ejection in 1890.

This cloud of material is now almost a light year in diameter and known as the “Homunculus Nebula”.

The stars brightness has also varied significantly over the years, in the 1840’s it was brighter than Canopus and was the second brightest star in the night sky, almost rivaling Sirius.

Eta Carina Carinae is of the spectral class BO and has a surface temperature of 30,000 Kelvins. The luminosity is difficult to determine, could be as much as 5 million suns!

It has a estimated mass of between 100 and 150 Solar masses.
More on the star can be found HERE.

IX Carinae, 7^th magnitude variable star.

This is the first star that lies just outside the Carina Nebula. It is another deep red star that is easily picked out from the field.

IX Carinae is a red super giant of spectral type K5/M0lab with a surface temperature of 3999 kelvins and a luminosity 5360 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 13 Solar masses.
IX Carinae is approximately 5224 light years from our Sun.

w Carinae, 4^th magnitude variable star.

Back in the nebula this is a very bright and distinctive orange star, stands out very well from the surrounding star field!

wCarinae is a red giant of spectral type k4III. It’s surface temperature is 4136 kelvins and a luminosity 3316 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses.
w Carinae is approximately 1140 light years from the Sun.

We now leave the Nebula and find our last remaining targets surrounding it.

HR 4177, 4^th magnitude variable double star.

Another reasonably bright orange star that is easily picked up from the surrounding field.

HR 4177 is a red giant of spectral type K4-5III with a surface temperature of 4163 kelvins and a luminosity 11893 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses.
HR 4177 is approximately 2346 light years from our Sun.

HR 4179, 5^th magnitude double star.

Another bright orange star in a slightly less cluttered star field.

HR 4179 is a red giant of spectral type M1III and a surface temperature of 3615 kelvins and a luminosity 529 times that of the sun. It has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses.
HR 4179 is approximately 682 light years from our Sun.

r Carinae, 4^th magnitude variable star.

For this we move slightly further away from the nebula.

A very bright orange star presents in the eyepiece here.

r Carinae is a red bright giant of spectral type K3-4III with a surface temperature of 4390 kelvins and a luminosity 3041 times that of the sun, with a solar mass of 1.2 Solar masses.
r Carinae is approximately 1177 light years from our Sun.

q Carinae, 3^rd magnitude variable double star.

Another bright orange star in the eyepiece and substantially further away from the Carina Nebula.

q Carinae is a red bright giant with a surface temerature of 4390 kelvins and a luminosity 2565 times that of the sun.

It has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses.
q Carinae is approximately 658 light years from our Sun.

And that concludes this brief trip through the Carina Nebula in search of red giants.

As mentioned there were several other targets during the 4 hour session but these were worth a full report on their own.

Some of the other targets included NGC 5139, NGC 4755, IC 2391, IC 2602, NGC 2516, NGC 6231, NGC 6322, NGC 6388, NGC 6475 and NGC 3532 along with a few others I did not note down.

Thank you for reading.