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Astronomy Section members were outside recently taking some images of the night sky.

The Dumbbell Nebula, or Messier 27 is in the Constellation of Vulpecula. This exquisite nebula was discovered by the French astronomer, Charles Messier in 1764.

Its official description is a planetary nebula and was the first of its kind to be discovered. Although, the term “planetary nebula” is a bit of a misnomer based on the nebula’s round, planet-like appearance when viewed through the small telescopes available in the 1700’s.

The nebula is the result of an old star that has gracefully shed its outer layers in a splendid display of colour. The dying star then becomes a white dwarf. This is what will eventually happen to our Sun when it runs out of nuclear fuel in about 5 billion years.

The image is in the natural colours of the visible spectrum where the blues and reds indicate glowing gasses such as oxygen and hydrogen.

The nebula is about 1,440 light years across and 1,360 light years from Earth. In our galaxy there are about 3,500 known planetary nebula. They are short lived (astronomically speaking), lingering for a few thousand to tens of thousands of years before eventually dissipating into space.

The field of view is about the size of a Full Moon. The image is a combination of 23 x 20 minute long exposures, representing about 7 ½ hours in total.

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Solar activity continues to increase as we move into cycle 25. Images from 15 April show nine active regions. Region 3279, 3282, 3280 and 3281 contain 18, 17, 14 and 12 individual sunspots respectively.

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In Greek mythology, Orion, to whom the constellation owes its name, was a giant hunter born to Euryale the gorgon, the sister of Medusa, and Poseidon the god of the sea. In Greek texts, Orion was killed by a scorpion, represented by the constellation Scorpius, which never appears in the night sky at the same time as Orion.

Notable features of the Orion constellation include Orion’s Belt consisting of three relatively bright stars in a straight line. Betelguese, the 10th brightest star in the night sky and Orion’s shoulder, is a star with a noticeable reddish tint, Betelgeuse is approaching the end of its life and is expected to meet its end in a large explosion known as a supernova within the next 100,000 years. Betelguese is positioned straight upwards perpendicular to the belt of Orion. Another notable star in the constellation is Rigel, which is the 7th brightest star in the night sky and is located at Orion’s foot. A noticeable feature in the constellation Orion is the Great Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42, which is one of the most impressive nebulae in the northern hemisphere and can be viewed in relatively dark skies using binoculars. The nebula is positioned hanging down from Orion’s belt in what is known as Orion’s sword.

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42), image taken by Jean Dean

The lower section of the Orion Constellation which shows the location of the Orion’s Belt and the Orion Nebula, image taken by Jean Dean.

The Pleiades, commonly known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45 is a prominent star cluster visible in the night sky, in the constellation Taurus. In Greek mythology the Pleiades were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione; they were pursued by Orion, a reference to how the constellation Orion follows the star cluster across the night sky. The star cluster is visible to the naked eye, however through a pair of binoculars the view of the star cluster can be further enhanced, revealing many dimmer stars. The star cluster will be visible at the same times and dates as Orion.

The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45), image taken by Jean Dean

Some other visible objects in the night sky over the next few months that may be good to look out for include:

The planet Jupiter is visible just after sunset for January into early February to the southwest. While the planet Venus is visible in the morning sky at dawn from now until August, appearing next to the planet Mars until April. Mercury will be visible in the morning until mid-March, although it is a tougher target to spot. The planet Uranus will also be visible until April during the night, although due to its very high difficulty to spot with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope would be advised. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky will be visible over the next few months. The Hyades star cluster is another interesting cluster positioned close to the Pleiades. And the Andromeda Galaxy, although a telescope or binoculars are advised for this target. 

A planetarium app such as SkySafari or Stellarium, on a mobile phone or tablet, may help locate the objects that have been mentioned in this article.

More information on what is visible in the night sky month-by-month may be found here:

http://www.astronomy.org.gg/do-and-see

Written by Anthony Nel, Member of La Société Guernesiaise Astronomy Section

The morning planets 18^th February 2022 at 7 am. Chart generated by SkySafari.

Chart of the night sky on the 18^th of February 2022 at 7 pm.

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THOMAS HARVEY has been accepted as a Fellow of ,the Roy­al Astronomical Society:
Studying astrophysics at the University of Soiithampton, he plans to spend his final year at the Harvard-Smithsonian Cen­tre for Astrophysics in. Boston, USA. . .
Nominated in July by anoth­er fellow, his mentor the late David Le Conte, he said the an­nouncement was bittersweet.
At the. age of 16 Mr Harvey joined La Societe’s astronomy section, where Mr Le Conte was central, and has helped out as much as possible by hosting events, lectures, media inter­views and open days plus oper­ating telescopes.
‘I was excited to hear I had been accepted,’ Mr Harvey said.
‘However it was a bit bitter­sweet because David Le Con­te, who nomina􀁂ed me, passed away in August. He wrote some very kind things in his nomi­nation. It is sad I ean’t leLhim know that I was accepted.

Read the full Guernsey Press article

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