Vuurbal tref Jupiter! Kyk die video

Herman Bonnet van ASSABFN stuur hierdie nuuswenk op Spaceweather.com. Loer gerus die videos.

Photo credit: Anthony Wesley, Broken Hill Australia

JUPITER IMPACT! Amateur astronomers Anthony Wesley of Australia and Christopher Go of the Philippines have independently observed an impact event on Jupiter. The strike occurred at 20:31 UT on June 3rd and produced a bright flash of light in the giant planet's cloudtops:

"I still can't believe that I caught a live impact on Jupiter," says Go, who has made a must-see video of the event.

"There were no visible remains at the impact point for the next half hour or so, until sunrise put an end to the imaging," says Wesley.

The nature of the impactor is presently unknown. It might have been an asteroid or a comet. In either case, a dark and cindery debris field is expected to develop around the impact point; that's what has happened in the aftermath of previous Jupiter impacts. Astronomers are encouraged to monitor Jupiter, and stay tuned for updates.

Update #3: A full day has elapsed since the flash, and many observatories have imaged the impact site. So far, a prominent debris cloud has not emerged. Was this impactor too small to produce much debris? Observations will continue...

Update #2: Wesley has posted a 46 MB video of the impact on his web page.

Update #1: Anthony Wesley has pinpointed the impact site at Jovian latitude minus 16.1^o, and central meridian longitudes CM1: 300^o, CM2: 33.8^o and CM3: 210.4^o.

Komeet 81P/Wild

Hier is `n komeet in Virgo met `n magnitude van so 10 wat `n lekker uitdaqing bied vir die donker aande wat voorlê.

 Click on image to enlarge

On this night 81P/Wild is best visible between 18:30 and 01:06, with the optimum view at 21:27. Look for it in Virgo, high in the sky in complete darkness. It is easy visually in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dob. Use the Ultima 42mm for optimum visual detection. It is magnitude 10.5 with a diameter of 1.5'.

In the following 30 days this object is easy visually on June 6-17, with the best view coming on June 6. During this period it will fade by about 1.2 magnitudes and will reach minimum altitude of 11° on June 21.

81P/Wild will next reach perihelion in late July 2016. It is predicted to reach maximum brightness of magnitude 11.3 in mid July. The best visibility from Bloemfontein, South Africa near maximum brightness is predicted to be in mid July when it will be approximately magnitude 11.3. At that time it will be in Leo, low in the northwestern sky during evening twilight and will be detectable in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dob. The previous perihelion was late February 2010. Note that the magnitude and visibility of a comet can be very unpredictable.

Visit Comet Chasing in June

Source: Skytools 3

Opening special: "Star Gazer’s Deep Space Atlas, Outdoor Viewing"

Hier is `n aanbod wat jy nie kan laat verbygaan nie. Jou vroeë kersgeskenk is nou nog meer bekostigbaar.

Sean Mitchell het laat weet hulle het `n spesiale openingsaanbod op Wayne se nuwe verbeterde: "Star Gazer’s Deep Space Atlas, Outdoor Viewing"

Die openingsaanbod is R299 + R65 (geregistreerde posaflewering).
Totale koste is R364.

Blaai af op die blog en lees meer oor die atlas.  

Web: www.deepspaceatlas.com

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale

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The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale is a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's and stars' brightness (naked-eye and stellar limiting magnitude) of a particular location. It quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial objects and the interference caused by light pollution and skyglow. John E. Bortle created the scale and published it in the February 2001 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine to help amateur astronomers compare the darkness of observing sites. The scale ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available on Earth, through Class 9, inner-city skies.[1]