Astronomy – Page 14 – A Darker View

A Foggy Night at Kaʻohe

Foggy? Well? Mostly the skies were the beautiful dark Mauna Kea skies we enjoy. Mostly. The fog did flirt with us much of the night, rolling over hard for about half an hour, blotting out the stars for a while.

The Phelps family enjoys the skies at Kaʻohe

Despite a dire forecast for moisture on the mauna, the weather at Kaʻohe was quite nice aside from a bit of fog. The big telescopes atop the mauna were closed for much of the night in fog and even a little light snow, while we were enjoying the stars in the eyepiece.

There were ten folks who drove up the mauna to enjoy the night… Maureen, Cathy, Andrew, John, Cliff, and myself. Plus all four members of the Phelps family with their own telescope.

The view after sunset was stunning, Jupiter and Venus in a close pair over the summit of Hualālai deep in the bright zodiacal light. The Milky Way arched over the northern sky from Sagittarius to Cassiopeia.

Venus and Jupiter

Observant sky watchers will have noticed that the two brightest planets in our skies have been drawing close together. Jupiter and Venus are currently about 2° apart. Sunday evening will see them at their closest for viewers in the islands at just under 1.5° apart. Monday will see the pair very slightly further apart at just over 1.5° separation.

Conjunction — Venus and Jupiter over the Keck 1 dome

After Monday the two will gradually separate further with Jupiter disappearing into the sunset in mid-December while Venus continues to climb further from the Sun until maximum elongation on March 24, 2020.

On Wednesday the 27th a thin crescent Moon will join these bright planets, just 5° below Jupiter. On Thursday the 28th the Moon will be 4° above Venus. The three should make for quite a spectacular sight in the glow of sunset.

A degree and a half separation will allow both to fit in the field of view of very low power telescopes and binoculars, a bit much to fit both in the field of view of most telescopes.

Postcard from the Summit – Mamane and Fogbow

As you descend from Hale Pohaku in the afternoon you often drive into the top of the clouds at about 6,000-8,000ft elevation. The transition from clear blue skies to fog is often stunningly breautiful, a zone where light does interesting things. This zone is haunted by ghostly phenomena… As long as the Sun angle is low you will see fogbows here…

Mamane & Fogbow — A favorite mamane tree framed by a fogbow along the Mauna Kea access road

Clear Skies

Full Moon

Full Moon will occur today at 03:34HST.

This evening look for the Moon rising in the east just as the Sun sets in the west. Across the Big Island this can often lead to moonbows as the low elevation moonlight interacts with fog and clouds.

Transit Viewing

A good crowd watching the transit of Mercury through the telescopes at Keck Observatory on Nov 11, 2019

Mercury Transit 2019

It was a clear predawn sky that greeted Waimea this morning, perfect to watch the transit of Mercury across the Sun.

The transit of Mercury on the morning of Nov 11, 2019

An alarm set for o-dark-thirty and a drive to Waimea with the first glow of dawn behind the mauna. I did not have to pack a ‘scope as I would be using an observatory outreach telescope, just make sure I have camera gear ready.

Realistically I was expecting only a few folks in addition to the club members I knew were coming. A light crowd maybe? Thus I was rather surprised to find the parking lot filling quickly and our big conference room buzzing at 6am.

It was quite the crowd considering the Sun had not yet appeared over the shoulder of the mauna!

Mercury at Inferior Conjunction

Today Mercury is passing through inferior conjunction, passing between the Sun and the Earth. This fast moving planet will reappear above the dawn in about a week, rising towards maximum elongation on November 28th.

On this particular conjunction the planet will transit the Sun.

This will be a modest apparition, with the planet reaching only 20° away from the Sun.

Mercury Events for 2019
Apparition	Date	Elongation	Magnitude
Evening	Feb 27	18.1°E	-0.2
Morning	Apr 11	27.7°W	+0.6
Evening	Jun 23	25.2°E	+0.7
Morning	Aug 9	19.0°W	+0.3
Evening	Oct 20	24.6°E	+0.1
Morning	Nov 28	20.1°W	-0.3
Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker

Observing a Transit

Transit Telescope — The C8 set up along the old Saddle Road for Mercury Transit in 2016

Transit of Mercury Reminder

Mercury Transit 9May2016 — Mercury transiting the Sun on May 9, 2016

Tomorrow morning, November 11th, there is a transit of Mercury. For observers here in the islands the event will be in progress when the sun rises, only the last hour and a half of the even visible.

You can read a full post with all of the event details here.

This is the last transit of Mercury until 2032, you might want to get out to see this one.