For First Time Ever, Asteroid Collision Photographed

Astronomers now have the first confirmed snapshots of what appears to be the aftermath of an asteroid collision in space.

When scientists first discovered the object dubbed P/2010 A2 in the asteroid belt in January using the Rosetta spacecraft, the fact that it trailed a tail made them think it was a comet. A closer look, however, suggested it was something more peculiar -- images from the Hubble Space Telescope revealed it had a bizarre X-shape nucleus, for instance. [Photo of the odd X-shape in space.]

More info

Astronomer captures asteroid's close pass

 Click here for movie. Credit: Patrick Wiggins, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador to Utah.

Amateur astronomer Patrick Wiggins from Utah captured impressive images of asteroid 2010 TD54 that passed the Earth with just 46,000 kilometres to spare on Tuesday. 

The asteroid, estimated to be around seven metres in diameter, was discovered on 9 October by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona as part of routine monitoring of the skies. 

• Read more...

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas

Astronomy:  Observation help

A must for every amateur astronomer.

Sky & Telescope developed this atlas for the amateur astronomer. 

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger W. Sinnott (c) 2006 Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Mass, USA. ISBN 1-931559-31-7

• Full review in Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews

Summary

Pros:

• Small and light, easy to hold with one hand while observing. (16 X 23 cm)
• Printed on thick heavy stock with smooth, glare-free finish.
• Generous amounts of overlap between adjacent charts.
• Easy to lay flat or fold back on itself.
• Charts are well thought out and well laid out.
• Green stick figures of constellations provide additional context for individual charts.
• Chart key is easy to find on inside of back cover.
• Commonly used information (chart key and legend) is repeated at regular intervals.
• Close up charts show further detail in areas of particular interest to amateurs.
• Excellent for starhopping in light polluted skies
• Vir die Noordelike halfrond ontwerp - Alles omgekeer in die Suide, maar steeds `n winskoop. (Hannes)

Cons:

• Not sure of durability after repeated exposure to dew
• May not have enough detail for effective starhopping under dark rural skies

Available from local online suppliers

Loot  (R142 + R22 delivery)  (Goedkoopste!)

Take Two (R142 + delivery cost)

Kalahari.net (R176.76 + delivery cost)

Also from Sky & Telescope  $19 +  $9.99 delivery cost)

or Amazon  $13.57  +  delivery cost)

Small Asteroid to Pass Within Earth-Moon System Tuesday

A newly-discovered car-sized asteroid will fly past Earth early Tuesday. The asteroid, 2010 TD54, will make its closest approach to Earth at 6:51 EDT a.m. (3:51 a.m. PDT). Image credit: NASA/JPL 

October 11, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. -- A small asteroid will fly past Earth early Tuesday within the Earth-moon system. The asteroid, 2010 TD54, will have its closest approach to Earth's surface at an altitude of about 45,000 kilometers (27,960 miles) at 6:50 EDT a.m. (3:50 a.m. PDT). At that time, the asteroid will be over southeastern Asia in the vicinity of Singapore. During its flyby, Asteroid 2010 TD54 has zero probability of impacting Earth. A telescope of the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey north of Tucson, Arizona discovered 2010 TD54 on Oct. 9 at (12:55 a.m. PDT) during routine monitoring of the skies.

2010 TD54 is estimated to be about 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) wide. Due to its small size, the asteroid would require a telescope of moderate size to be viewed. A five-meter-sized near-Earth asteroid from the undiscovered population of about 30 million would be expected to pass daily within a lunar distance, and one might strike Earth's atmosphere about every 2 years on average. If an asteroid of the size of 2010 TD54 were to enter Earth's atmosphere, it would be expected to burn up high in the atmosphere and cause no damage to Earth's surface.
More info on car-sized asteroid

Russian manned spacecraft docks with ISS

A newly-modernized Russian Soyuz spacecraft (pictured before launch) carrying three astronauts on Sunday docked with the International Space Station (ISS) to double its crew to six, mission control said. The Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft is a modernised version of the ship used by Russia to put humans into the space and the first of a new series to have fully digital systems.

• More information

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 on its way

Comet Hartley 2 near the double cluster in Perseus at oct. 8, UT 22.00, taken with Newton 5,6"/f-2.9 

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 continues to put on a good show as it approaches Earth for an 11-million-mile close encounter on Oct. 20th. Last night (8 October) it passed by the Double Cluster in Perseus. The contrast between the blue stars of the two clusters and the green atmosphere of the comet was remarkable.

• Get ready for naked-eye comet
  
  
• Comet Chasing in October
  
  
• Hier in die Vrystaat is dit teen 02:00 die oggend so 6 grade bo die horison sigbaar. Feitlik reg Noord. Dit is nou volgens my Skytools sagteware.
  
  Het iemand hom al gesien? Laat weet gerus.

ISS - Visible Passes over Bloemfontein

Source: Heavens-Above

Search period start:	00:00 Sunday, 10 October, 2010
Search period end:	00:00 Wednesday, 20 October, 2010
Observer's location:	Bloemfontein, 29.1022°S, 26.2110°E
Local time zone:	South African Standard Time (UTC + 2:00)
Orbit:	348 x 359 km, 51.6° (Epoch Oct 10)

Click on the date to get a star chart and other pass details.

Date	Mag	Starts			Max. altitude			Ends
		Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
12 Oct	-2.1	19:43:56	10	SSW	19:46:08	26	SSE	19:46:08	26	SSE
13 Oct	-0.9	18:37:34	10	SSE	18:37:44	10	SE	18:37:54	10	SE
13 Oct	-1.6	20:10:23	10	SW	20:12:12	31	WSW	20:12:12	31	WSW
14 Oct	-2.6	19:01:54	10	SSW	19:04:41	33	SE	19:06:42	15	ENE
15 Oct	-2.5	19:28:25	10	WSW	19:31:17	42	NW	19:32:54	21	NNE
17 Oct	-2.0	18:46:20	10	WSW	18:49:07	34	NW	18:51:51	10	NNE

Star charts for the Southern Hemisphere

Astronomy observation help

Hier is `n ideale begin vir amateur sterrekundiges wat nog nie sterkaarte aangeskaf het nie.
Jy kry die 18 gelamineerde sterkaarte in kleur. (A4-grootte en in JPG- en Pdf-formaat). Ook `n CD met al die kaarte en `n klomp NASA-foto's).   (Hannes Pieterse)

• Bestel dit by die Johannesburg Planetarium. Inligting onder.

STAR CHARTS - 18 printed charts plus CD.



A series of 18 maps (nine double-sided A4 pages) +CD covering the entire sky and showing the positions of star clusters, nebulae, galaxies and double and variable stars. The constellation lis are the same as those on the Star Disc (see below) to make identification easier. The charts have a southern hemisphere orientation (with south at the top) and have a water resistant laminate coat to make them more durable when used outside. An additional reference guide provides an overall view of all 18 charts, plus instructions about their use and an index to the constellations and major stars. Charts by Wil Tirion.

• Astrovisuals Australia  developde the charts for the Southern Hemisphere.

CD contains JPEG and PDF files of all charts with both southern and northern hemisphere orientation, additional Star Maps, reference guides, indexes, and 300 bonus NASA images.
 
Send email to Johannesburg Planetarium: planet@planetarium.co.za and the Banking details will be send to you.
 
The cost is R174 + R25 postage (Registered with trace number)
 

• I ordered on a Thursday and it was delivered on Tuesday. How is that for service. Claire Flanegan from the Planetarium will see that you get your charts and the CD asap.

MNASSA Download Page

Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa

(ISSN 0024-8266)

Published by the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa

MNASSA is published every second month. The nominal publication dates are the first days of the even months of the year. For more information, please see the inside front cover page of a recent issue as listed below.

Downloadable issues from June 2010 on have colour illustrations.

• Go to Download Page

The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project

Astronomy observation help

What is it?

This project is my attempt to produce a free, downloadable set of high-quality star charts -- the Mag-7 Star Atlas -- capable of being printed at reasonable resolutions on the average home printer.

The Mag-7 Star Atlas plots stars down to Magnitude 7.25, with double / multiple stars indicated by a thin horizontal bar. Plotted DSO's (Deep Sky Objects) include all objects on the Messier list, the RASC's finest NGC list, and the Herschell 400 list --- more than 550 DSO's in total.

Now that this project is also being hosted by the kind folks at CloudyNights, availability shouldn't be an issue and it will be more convenient and reliable to make reference to the charts in forum posts (no need to worry about an external site being down when linking to or referring to a chart). It will also relieve some of the bandwith load on my website, for which I am certainly grateful.

I hope beginner's and experienced observers alike might find some use in these charts -- as a first atlas, as a bridge atlas between planishere and a deeper atlas, as a binocular atlas, as printable charts for outlining observing plans and/or recording small field notes, or to make wallpaper for your outhouse. At the very least, when you take family or friends on an observing outing it is easy (and affordable) to ensure everyone has an atlas of their own to refer to. The free licencing (see below) makes these charts an open resource for teachers and astronomy outreach programs. But, you don't have to be an association -- go ahead and print one off for your neighbor, and the kid down the street, and ...

But Free? Really?

Yes. And not just free of charge -- you have other freedoms as well. This work is licenced under a Creative Commons License. Basically you are free to download, use, and or distribute this work for non-commercial purposes with appropriate attribution. You can create and distribute derived works if they follow the same licence. 

• The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project    
  
• Deluxe milky way version 
     
• Online Map