What’s in the sky now? Well, it’s not quite visible to us amateurs just yet but it should be in about a week!

Berkeley scientists this week discovered a new supernova, closer to Earth than any seen in the last 40 years, and believe they’ve spotted it within hours of its explosion.

Astronomers are now scrambling to observe it with as many telescopes as possible, including the Hubble, and it’s likely to remain a major target for research for the next decade or more.

Dubbed PTF 11kly, the supernova is about 21 million light-years away in the Pinwheel Galaxy, in the Ursa Major constellation. It was discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey, which uses a robotic telescope mounted on the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope to scan the sky nightly.

“We caught this supernova very soon after explosion. PTF 11kly is getting brighter by the minute. It’s already 20 times brighter than it was yesterday,” says Peter Nugent, the astronomer at Berkeley Lab who first spotted it.

“Observing PTF 11kly unfold should be a wild ride. It is an instant cosmic classic.”

Within 12 hours of its discovery,  PTF 11kly had been observed by other telescopes around the globe, and it was found to belong to the Type Ia category.

“Type Ia supernova are the kind we use to measure the expansion of the Universe. Seeing one explode so close by allows us to study these events in unprecedented detail,” says Mark Sullivan of Oxford University, one of the first to follow up on the discovery.

The Hubble Space Telescope will begin studying the supernova’s chemistry and physics this weekend.

“When you catch them this early, mixed in with the explosion you can actually see unburned bits from star that exploded! It is remarkable,” says Andrew Howell of UC Santa Barbara/Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network.

“We are finding new clues to solving the mystery of the origin of these supernovae that has perplexed us for 70 years. Despite looking at thousands of supernovae, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The supernova is still getting brighter, and may even be visible with good binoculars in ten days’ time.

“The best time to see this supernova will be just after evening twilight in the Northern hemisphere in a week or so,” says Sullivan. “You’ll need dark skies and a good pair of binoculars, although a small telescope would be even better.”

The Perseid meteor shower is an annual display of shooting stars in Northern Hemisphere and is nearing its peak time of 2011. The Perseid shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle and had been observed for 2000 years. The Perseids normally peak at 100 or more meteors per hour in the absence of moonlight.

This year, unfortunately, when the shower peaks this Friday generating 60 or more meteors per hour, the majestic view will be hampered by the full moon, which will wash out all but the brightest meteors. The meteor will be visible only at 20-30 per hour at most at the peak overnight on August 12 and 13.

Tonight, however, may be the time when the Perseids are most visible to the naked eye.

Of course, meteor showers are best viewed with friends while lying in a recliner. Telescopes and binoculars are not needed and in fact will only interfere with meteor viewing as meteors move t0o fast to track with a telescope or a pair of binoculars. Look to the northeast just after midnight. Getting away from city lights will help viewing. While waiting for a shooting star, notice and the galaxies and constellations. Catch the astronomy bug. Then come back here and learn how to buy your very own telescope and begin a lifetime hobby of star gazing!

With summer just about here, probably the only pleasant time to be outside if you’re not at the pool or lake is during the night when temperatures drop just enough to make it almost pleasant.

If you live in a rural area away from city lights or maybe if you can get away from the city to an area with an unobstructed view of the night sky, it would be a great time to look up at the Milky Way.

Randy Halverson, a photographer and farmer from South Dakota has made an awesome video of the Milky Way over a three week period

Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

Check out this article for more information. Time Lapse Video of Milky Way

Over the last 50 years, the increase in night time light pollution has steadily increased.  This may be causing an impact to the environment in addition to being unpleasant to urban astronomers.

A group of scientists are trying to get a better idea as to how it affects us in real terms by asking viewers to help with a study called Globe at Night.

From the Globe at Night website:

The GLOBE at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by encouraging everyone everywhere to measure local levels of night sky brightness and contribute observations online to a world map. All it takes is a few minutes to participate between 8-10 pm, March 22 through April 6. Your measurements will make a world of difference.

To find out more about how you can participate on this check out Globe at Night.

You don’t need to have a background in orbital mechanics to appreciate the fact that on Saturday March 19, 2011 the moon will move closer to the earth than it’s ever been in the last 18 years.  At 2pm CDT, fifty minutes after the moon officially enters the Full phase, it will be 356,575 kilometers away from the earth.  Therefore the moon’s perigee, the closest point to the earth in it’s orbital cycle to the earth occurs within an hour to when the full moon actually occurs.

What this means for viewers is that the moon will appear about 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than most other full moons.  This is a great time to enjoy the moon!

If you are a photographer, tonight’s moon offers an excellent opportunity to try some astrophotography.  The website Beyond Megapixels has some really good tips for getting started:

• Use a tripod for more stability.
• The longer the lens, the better.
• Use a remote to reduce camera shake.
• Use a mirror lock if you have one.

What about effects on tides?
Good question.  According to Yahoo News, this event will result in a dramatic range of high and low tides:

The highest tides will not, however, coincide with the perigee moon but will actually lag by up to a few days depending on the specific coastal location. For example, in Wilmington, N.C., the highest tide (5.3 feet) will be attained at 11:21 p.m. EDT on March 20.
In New York City, high water (5.9 feet) at The Battery comes at 10:49 p.m. EDT on March 21, while at Boston Harbor, a peak tide height of 12.2 feet comes at 1:31 a.m. EDT on March 22, almost 2 1/2 after perigee.
According to the Observer’s Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, residents of regions along the shores of the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada, the 10- to 20-foot (3- to 6-meter) swell in the vertical tidal range makes it obvious when the moon lies near perigee, regardless of clear skies or cloudy.
Any coastal storm at sea around this time will almost certainly aggravate coastal flooding problems.
Such an extreme tide is known as a perigean spring tide, the word spring being derived from the German springen – to “spring up,” and is not, as is often mistaken, a reference to the spring season.

So even if you’re not planning to take any photographs, tonight’s full moon may be the perfect time to start your astronomy hobby or introduce someone to astronomy.

Photo credit: Cassie_Luvitch from morguefile.com

What can you see this month? A lot! So get out your best telescope or best binoculars and get to viewing!

May Sky on YouTube

Jupiter becomes more easily visible this month as its elevation in the pre-dawn sky is getting higher – about 23 degrees above the horizon by month’s end.   During May its separation from the Sun increases from 77 degrees to 101 degrees, and its magnitude slowly increases from -2.3 to -2.5.   It will lie just below the the last quarter Moon on the 17th in the pre-dawn sky.

Mars still remains low in the pre-dawn sky this month, but as it rises increasingly earlier than the Sun as the month progresses will become easier to spot.   It has a magnitude of +1.2.   By the end of the month, the angular separation from the Sun has increased to 40 degrees. We will have to wait a month or so until it will be seen easily in the pre-dawn sky.

Venus passed betwen the Earth and Sun in March so is now visible in the pre-dawn sky.   It will only lie 12 degrees above the horizon as the Sun rises on the first of May, so will be easier to spot later in the month.   It is at magnitude -4.4 at mid month, up and to the right of Mars.   In the middle of May, a small telescope will show a crescent phase equivalent to just before a first quarter Moon.   An interesting fact about its brightness is that it stays pretty constant at about -4.4 for most of the time that it is visible even though the apparent phase changes greatly.   When the phase is thin, Venus is nearer to us and the effective reflecting area of Venus as seen from Earth remains pretty constant.

Saturn is now high in the southern sky after nightfall in the constellation of Leo.  It lies well below the body of Leo.   It starts the month at magnitude +0.8 with an angular size of ~18.8 arc seconds and these fall to +0.9 and 18.1 as the month progresses.  Saturn is significantly less bright this year than it sometimes is: the rings are very close to edge on (as shown in the Hubble image of Saturn) and thus there is less apparent reflecting area.   During May they are at an angle of ~4 degrees from the line of sight.   The rings will be seen (or rather – not seen) edge-on later this year and it will not be until 2016 that they will be at their widest again.  A small telescope will easily show its largest moon, Titan, and show some bands around the surface.

We have yet another new comet coming into view! Jointly discovered by amateur astronomers in South Korea and the United States, this comet is named Yi-SWAN; for the South Korean amateur astronomer who found it March 26 and the SWAN instrument aboard NASA’s solar satellite SOHO. It is not yet known whether Yi-SWAN will be a recurring comet or if it’s one and done.

Cassiopeia

Where can you find Yi-SWAN? Right now it’s flying through Cassiopeia. It’s still small and dim but you should be able to spot it with a backyard telescope such as the Orion SkyQuest XT8.

Orion SkyQuest XT8

It should appear as a small fuzzy green ball. It has not been observed to have a tail but that should change as the wanderer nears the Sun. After April 20, look for Yi-SWAN to be in Perseus. Yi-SWAN should be visible until mid-May when it will be too close to the sun to be seen by most observers.

My last article reviewed my second five most amazing sights in the night sky. This article will conclude with the Top 5!

5. The Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is a sister galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. The light you see coming from it took 2.5 MILLION years to get here! It’s one of the most distant object most folks can see with the naked eye. Another reason it makes such a good target for binoculars is that it is orbited by 14 dwarf galaxies so there’s a lot to look at in the Andromeda Galaxy.

4. The Pleiades

The Pleiades

The Pleiades is a small star cluster that is also known as the Seven Sisters, probably because it looks like seven stars to the unaided eye. Train your binoculars on them though, and you can easily see many, many more than seven stars! It is indeed a sight worth seeing.

3. The Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula

Nebulas are  star nurseries, places where gas is condensing under the force of gravity to form stars. The Lagoon Nebula is one of the most amazing nebulas visible from Earth. Look for it during summer in the constellation Sagittarius.

2. The Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is located in the Hunter’s Sword of the Orion constellation. It is only 1270 light-years from Earth making it our nearest nebula.

1. The Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way Galaxy

Yes, our own home is so big that we can actually see part of the spiral arm where our own Earth is located! May be tough to spot behind city lights but get out away from them and the Milky Way is a visual treat not to be missed nor soon forgotten.

Bonus Sight

There is one other reason many amateur astronomers get into the field and use binoculars as their observation tool of choice – COMETS! Yes, astronomy is one of the view sciences where amateurs can make significant contributions and where amateur astronomers really excel is finding new comets. Many new comets are discovered by amateur astronomers and many of those discoveries are made using binoculars. So get your observation binoculars and get out away from city lights and start studying the night sky. Who knows? The next comet you see may be named for you!

So now you have a brand spanking new pair of Bushnell or Zhumell binoculars. Now what? Just what can you expect to see with them? You’d be surprised! What follows is sights 10-6 of my Top 10 list of things to see.

10. Meteors and Satellites

Find someplace where you have an unobstructed view of the sky. Try to pick a night with a new or crescent moon. Lay on a chaise lounge or even the ground. Be comfortable! Scan the sky with your binoculars. Before too long you should be rewarded by the flash of a shooting star! Most months have at least a minor meteor shower. April has the Lyrids which, as I pointed out in me last article, could put on a good show this year since the moon will be crescent during the peak of the shower.

Satellites are perhaps even more fun to view with your binocular than meteors since they don’t flash across the sky in an instant as meteors do. I will never forget the first time I saw the International Space Station fly over, Space Shuttle attached! Sure I could see it with my unaided eye but when I trained my Bushnell on them, I swear I could count the rivets! Simply breathtaking. Satellite hunting doesn’t have to be a hit or miss proposition either. Sebastian Stoff has a wonderful cardware program called Orbitron that will tell you when you’ll have a satellite viewable from your location.

9. The Beehive Cluster

The Beehive Cluster

The Beehive Cluster is an open star cluster found in the constellation Cancer. It should be on your list of must sees because it was one of the first things Galileo viewed with his telescope.

8. The Double Cluster

The Double Cluster is two clusters located close together. Located in the constellation Perseus, the Double Cluster makes an attractive target because it’s fairly large and telescopes have a hard time imaging both clusters at once. With your binoculars, you won’t have any trouble seeing both clusters!

7. Jupiter

Jupiter and the Galilean moons as you might see them with your binoculars

Sure, your friend with the telescope might be momentarily miffed at your ability to simultaneously image both clusters of the Double Cluster but he will soon turn his ‘scope to Jupiter and challenge you to beat him. Of course, you probably won’t be able to but you will be able to reproduce Galileo’s efforts and watch the four largest moons of Jupiter, the so-called Galilean moon’s, in their nightly waltz around that gas giant!

6. The Moon

The Moon

Sure you can see the Moon, and plenty of it, without any aids at all. You haven’t really seen it though, until you’ve seen it through binoculars! Don’t try to view when the Moon is full, or nearly full, as the brightness will wash out the fine details and may be too bright to be comfortable for your eyes. Instead, view when the Moon is half or smaller. The shadows will reveal mountains and valleys like you’ve never dreamed! Look at the Sea of Tranquillity and imagine Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking across that dusty surface. Has it really been 40 years since that amazing feat?

Check back soon for my Top 5 list of things to see with your Bushnell or Zhumell binoculars!