Interesting info! Strangely I don't recall any of the previous instances of the cycle that produced those transits; presumably shortly before inferior conjunction Venus would have been visible in the evening, which would have meant early 2004 and 2012 (also early 1996 and, though it was before I got interested, 1988).
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Natural phenomenon you have witnessed?
- Thread starter Howardh
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Interesting info! Strangely I don't recall any of the previous instances of the cycle that produced those transits; presumably shortly before inferior conjunction Venus would have been visible in the evening, which would have meant early 2004 and 2012 (also early 1996 and, though it was before I got interested, 1988).
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Watched a lot of lightning yesterday
LNW-GW Joint
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It's to do with elongation from the sun.
Mercury can reach 28 degrees from the sun, but only 18 degrees sometimes, because of the ellipticity of its orbit (Venus has a nearly circular orbit and regularly reaches 47 degrees).
It turns out that northern temperate latitudes get the 18 degrees and southern/equatorial latitudes get the 28 degrees.
On the other hand, Mercury is brighter (a full magintude) when closest to the sun, so we get brighter but closer to the sun in the sky, so one effect compensates the other.
You have a week-10 days either in spring (evening) or autumn (morning), and you need a really clear sky down to the horizon.
Peter, I'm a BAA member too and have just re-read your "trip report" from the Journal....and I was above the clouds with an unhindered view from on board Jacqueline Gold's Beech 200...
The full story can be found in the link below:
( Apologies, moderators - the article is a .pdf and doesn't let me quote from it )
Looks like we were both very lucky that day, I was near Reims in France and was very fortunate to get a clear view from first to fourth contact.
I also had a good view from deepest Idaho in 2017.
It's amazing what specialised equipment people bring along - compared to my humble 300m lens and camera on a tripod.
Even the traffic jam afterwards was enjoyable...
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Yes Mercury is brightest when showing almost a full disk, when at the far side of the sun, just prior to or just after superior conjunction. Venus being closer and larger is at greatest brilliance when showing as a thick crescent between greatest eastern elongation and inferior conjunction (evening object) or between inferior conjunction and greatest western elongation (morning object).
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
I've just this minute spotted Venus from Cumbernauld railway station...
... and a very slender decrescent moon on the opposite side of the sun.
... and a very slender decrescent moon on the opposite side of the sun.
Tomorrow evening the Moon will be above Venus with Mars in between them, but binoculars will be needed to pick out Mars (mag 1.7) in the twilight. Venus (mag -4.7) is five magnitudes greater (100 times brighter) than Mars at present.
The Moon, Mars and Venus are nicely lined up. Can just make out Mars in the twilight, after first finding it with binoculars.
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Matey
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Norway’s Saltstraumen, the strongest maelstrom in the world. Very eerie to watch a huge innocent looking peaceful stretch of calm of water with boats, suddenly clear and a frightening whirlpool slowly appear as per timetable.
funnily enough I was looking at my photos of that this morning, from when I visited 30 or so years ago.
Altrincham
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On an evening flight from Vancouver back to Heathrow in May 2003 I was sat in a window seat on the left-hand side of the aircraft. The flight left Vancouver around 1800 and the sky was clear and very sunny. A few hours into the flight, as we were heading in a north-easterly direction at quite a northerly latitude, I looked out of the window and saw the sun setting in the north west. As the sun was setting it appeared to sit on the horizon, and just stayed there half set. Then after half an hour of sitting on the horizon it started rising again.
The Plough is quite conspicuous high in the northwest this evening, with it’s handle curving towards Arcturus the second brightest star seen from northern latitudes. The third brightest seen from the UK, brilliant blue Vega, is almost directly overhead.
I saw that from Bletchley station tonight!
I've seen the Northern Lights a few times, mostly when camping up mountains in the Highlands. It's an eerie glow through your tent the first time it happens......I was on a solo trip and was more than a bit alarmed initially!
I think the most impressive and rather scary natural phenomenon I've seen was a pretty big rockfall on a mountain in the Torridon area of Wester Ross called An Ruadh Stac, that I was uncomfortably close to. To give an impression of the sensation, we initially thought the sound was a very nearby low flying military jet (not altogether unusual in that area) but it just got louder and louder and the ground was literally shaking under our feet, and then we spotted a big chunk of the mountain sliding away. We were probably 200m away from the nearest bit of moving debris, but I'd say a slab of Torridonan sandstone about 80m wide by 15m high detached and slid down about 100m before smashing on the boulders below .....which were obviously the remnants of previous rock falls. I can't do the arithmetic, but it had to be tens of thousands of tons of rock, easy. That wasn't the hill we were climbing that day thankfully (we were heading for nearby Maol Chin Dearg) but we certainly gave that hill a very wide berth on the way there and back! It was winter time, so I suspect it was freeze/thaw in the fissures of the jointed sandstone combined with good old gravity!
Howardh
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Been up on the moors taking photos, partly obscured by clouds. It's only at street level you get the full effect as I found out driving back!
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
This may help:
Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura
Satellite predictions and other astronomical data customised for your location.
( NB - you might want to go to the home page and re-set the location to yours as the link above is Epsom specific; although there won't be any real practical difference for this object there will be a lot of difference for things like satellites )
Thanks, but no luck this morning, with heavy cloud cover as forecast. I see the magnitude is given as 4.5 which is fainter than earlier predictions. Comet Nishimura is going to be hard to find in Leo over the next few days, even the much brighter Regulus (mag 1.3), low in the pre dawn sky is currently difficult to pick out with binoculars!This may help:
Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura
Satellite predictions and other astronomical data customised for your location.www.heavens-above.com
( NB - you might want to go to the home page and re-set the location to yours as the link above is Epsom specific; although there won't be any real practical difference for this object there will be a lot of difference for things like satellites )
Too early for me! Always prefer the evening apparitions as they can be observed during waking hours, and looking forward to it appearing in the evening again, which I'd guess would be next spring/summer.
Sirius I always think of a mid-to-late winter star, but that's because it's when it appears in the evening. Must be a strange experience looking at the night sky around an hour before sunrise - what can be seen being more typical of a few months' time in the evening.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Here's one from a couple of weeks ago which I wasn't expecting... I took a photo of some nice high contrast clouds against the night sky; when I extracted the picture from the camera, I noticed something in the lower left corner.
Mailed someone at the British Astronomical Association, including showing them the original photo and the close up snip with the circle drawn on it to highlight the area in question, as it's not very distinctive although once seen it's noticeable...
...and the replies confirmed that I had in fact managed to capture an aurora.
Not bad for a hand held picture that was aimed at something else entirely; if I had aimed a few degrees further to the right I'd have missed it entirely...
Mailed someone at the British Astronomical Association, including showing them the original photo and the close up snip with the circle drawn on it to highlight the area in question, as it's not very distinctive although once seen it's noticeable...
...and the replies confirmed that I had in fact managed to capture an aurora.
Not bad for a hand held picture that was aimed at something else entirely; if I had aimed a few degrees further to the right I'd have missed it entirely...
Attachments
1999 Solar Eclipse — ended up at some airfield in northern France, where it was cloudy (rather than nearby Reims where it was sunny!) BUT the cloudiness added to the spooky effect during totality, when it went dark and the birds went silent.
2023 (August) Etna eruption — managed to miss this or not aware of it , despite being nearby in Catania. Was aware that there was a lot of dust about in town, and the peak appeared to have clouds around it, but only discovered later in the day that there'd been an eruption the previous night!
2023 (August) Etna eruption — managed to miss this or not aware of it , despite being nearby in Catania. Was aware that there was a lot of dust about in town, and the peak appeared to have clouds around it, but only discovered later in the day that there'd been an eruption the previous night!
Howardh
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The recent Sahara dust in UK reminded me of a couple of years ago in March when Malaga had the dust coming down like rainy snow, completely covered everything with cm's of dust/sand brought down by the rain.
The sky during the day was a very dull orange, and when I got home took several washes to rid my clothes of that dust!
The sky during the day was a very dull orange, and when I got home took several washes to rid my clothes of that dust!
Lost property
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Would it be possible, please, to post this video ?
I have a long standing interest in Loch Ness having participated in the Loch Ness Project and then "Operation Deepscan " .
Howardh
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Could a large fish like a dolphin or bluefin actually get in to Loch Ness, thinking canals and locks, or could one swim there via the River Ness - even so there's a weir to cross? Secondly the Loch is fresh water so which large fish could survive in both? Sorry to be ignorant but I'm not a fisherman!!
Not mentioned so far (I don't think) has anyone seen a good river bore (and would there be one on the Ness allowing large fish a free ride)?
Many apologies fellow monster enthusiasts - after viewing the video again it appears to be at Loch Eil.
Howardh
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Don't worry, the Loch Ness Monster deserves an holiday just like everyone else! Of course Loch Eil isn't landlocked, is tidal and is likely to have all sorts in it, maybe even the odd whale, although in that case it could be severley lost, with two narrow entrances! Wonder what's turned up in there, maybe the occasional shark?
BTW round there is an absolute beautiful part of the world and thankfully these days we can bring it into our living room! Live webcam of Fort William looking across the Loch.
