Komeet 88P/Howell in Sagittarius
Leonid Meteor shower
Vir die ouens wat snags wakker lê. Laat weet gerus of julle iets gesien het!
This month is the time to look out for the Leonid Meteor shower. Maximum number of meteors per hour is expected on the 17th to 18th. Conditions are expected to be favourable and particularly dark, since this will be only a few days after new moon. As the name indicates, the radiant of the meteor shower will be located in the constellation of Leo. The radiant is the point in the sky from which all the meteors appear to originate from. Meteors, or more commonly called “shooting stars”, are small particles of space dust and debris that enter our atmosphere at high speeds, and burn up due to heat generated by air friction. For keen and enthusiastic observers, the radiant of the shower will be up above the horizon from about 03:00 to 04:00 in the mornings. (Source: The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO)
Stay up late or get up early this morning to catch the Leonids. Each year we pass through the
filaments—both old and new—of Comet Tempel–Tuttle’s debris, and the chances of encountering a
particular stream from any particular year becomes a matter of mathematical estimates. We know
when it passed. . . We know where it passed. . . But will we encounter it and to what extent?
(Source: The Night Sky Companion)
Loer gerus op die Blog (regs bo) vir al die waarnemingshulp ens
Komeet 88P/Howell
Ek het die komeet Saterdagaand so 20:30 deur die stad se ligbesoedeling in die Weste vanaf Boyden opgespoor. Baie dof, maar sigbaar. As jy `n kaart wil hê om dit op te spoor kan jy vir my e-pos stuur. Sal vir jou `n pdf-kaart stuur.
Hier is inligting oor die komeet.
On this night 88P/Howell is best visible between 19:55 and 20:17, with the optimum view at 20:15. Look for it in Sagittarius, fairly high in the sky during evening twilight. It is detectable visually in the Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dob. Use the Ultima 42mm for optimum visual detection. It is magnitude 9.3 with a diameter of 5.1'.
In the following 30 days this object is detectable visually from November 17-26, and again from December 3 on, with the best view coming on November 17. During this period it will fade by about 0.8 magnitudes and will remain constant in altitude.
88P/Howell will next reach perihelion in mid April 2015. It also is predicted to reach maximum brightness of magnitude 9 in mid April. The best visibility from Bloemfontein, South Africa near maximum brightness is predicted to be in mid April when it will be approximately magnitude 9. At that time it will be in Aquarius, fairly high in the sky during morning twilight and will be detectable in the Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dob. The previous perihelion was mid October 2009. Note that the magnitude and visibility of a comet can be very unpredictable.
Groete
Hannes Pieterse
