Comet Lovejoy photo

4/7/2007

I photographed the latest comet Comet Lovejoy.

(near middle of picture hazy star)

Students will
(E.O.A.S.1) Compare and contrast this comet ( tail shape, size, distinct nature etc) to the pictures of magnificent Comet McNaught , which we could see in the Northern skies only for a few days in January 2007 before it displayed its huge tail in the Southern Hemisphere.

(E.O.A.S.2) This comet will only reach magnitude 7 (but comets can change, as they are like cats - they are unpredictable, someone said). Compare to the other parts of the magnitude scale and compare it to McNaught, aided eye, Venus and others.

This comet is famous for the fact that it is the FIRST comet to be captured with a digital camera -a canon XT, just like the one I have . I was not in the right place at the right time because the discoverer is in the Southern Hemisphere.

I thought we could not see the comet in the Northern Hemisphere until around 4/15 but I captured it (Black and white here) last night (60 seconds). It has a greenish tint and I am working on a color image and will try to show it soon. It seems to have a slight fan tail shape and the coma (head is distinct ) as you can see. It is about 8th magnitude which as many people know unobservable to the naked eye. We won't be able to see it without a small telescope or binoculars with its closest approach in about a week.

Picture

time taken 4:57 MT 4/07/2007

exposure:60 seconds

Celestial:
Right Ascension: 20h 4.8m
Declination: -30 degrees 55 minutes

More soon

Tvashtar volcano on Jupiter's moon Io

4/7/2007 (if not this date for spaceweather use the archives to search for more information related to this photo
Students will
(E.O.A.S.1) Will compare Tvarish to other volcanoes on earth like Vesuvius in Italy.
(E.O.A.S.2) Will discover which 3 other planets, besides Earth, have active volcanoes on them.
(E.O.A.S.3) Compare and contrast Earth volcanoes , the Tvarish volcano and other solar system volcanoes as to their production of material and additional information.

The New Horizon spacecraft, heading out towards Pluto, snapped a photo of the Tvashtar volcano giving us a show that we normally can't see even with the Hubble or Earth telescopes.
The bluish plume that looks like a dome, is the ejected materials that spews out into space and then drifts back to the landscape of Io which many say looks like a " field of pizza."