Harvest Moon

 The so-called Harvest Moon is by tradition the full moon that occurs nearest to the Autumnal Equinox, which was September 23.  The pictures shown here were taken on Thursday night, September 28.  This is only one day after the September 27 lunar perigee, which makes this very close to a perigean full moon(aka, "Super Moon").

Moonrise over the nearby ridgeline.

There is wildfire smoke in the air from the Quartz Ridge fire about 50 miles to the south.  This gives the moon a yellow tint at 15 deg above the horizon.

This was at 9:40 pm MDT,  32 deg above the horizon.

All photos taken with an Astro-Tech AT80EDT refractor.  As usual, click on an image to gain access to the full-size version.

Interesting sunspots

 An interesting cluster of small sunspots currently visible.  Here is a white-light image:

AT102ED refractor with a Lunt solar wedge + ND0.9 filter.

 

 And here is what it looks like in Hydrogen-alpha light:

Lunt LS50THa double stack: Pentax XW 10mm eyepiece + Leica 15mmf1.8 lens afocal.

And finally, to finish off the day:

Barnard's Star

Barnard's Star is a 9.53 magnitude red dwarf star in the constellation Ophiuchus. At a distance of 5.96 light years, it is the next nearest star after the Alpha Centauri system, and the nearest star visible from Creede, CO. Because the Alpha Centauri system comprises three stars, two sun-sized stars and a distant red dwarf (Proxima Centauri), Barnard's Star is the fourth nearest star to our solar system.

Barnard's Star is famous for its high proper motion (motion relative to the distant background stars).  Its proper motion of 10.4" per year was first measured by the astronomer E.E. Barnard in 1916.  Since then the star has moved about 0.6 deg across the sky, larger than the diameter of the full moon.

The location of Barnard's Star in Ophiuchus.  The bright whitish star beneath the cluster IC 4665 is Kappa Ophiuchi.  Image obtained with an Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens and Kenko Softon-A diffusion filter.

 

A 4-deg square.  The circle is 0.5-deg diameter.  Barnard's Star has moved more than the diameter of this circle since its motion was first measured in 1916.

A closer look, this taken with a Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens on 26 Oct 2021.  The image is approximately 2 deg wide.

 

Red dwarf stars are the most common type of star in our galaxy.  Fifty of the nearest sixty stars are red dwarfs, yet none of them are visible to the naked eye.  Because of their low mass (Barnard's Star is about 1/7 the mass of our sun) and slow rate of hydrogen burning these stars can have lifetimes measured in trillions of years. Anyone motivated to seek out one of these dim stars in a telescope will be rewarded with a view of a star that is not only one of our nearest neighbors, but one which will still be shining long after our own sun has become a dying ember.

I recently searched for Barnard's Star visually.  It was an easy sight with an 80mm f/6 refractor and a 20mm eyepiece (24x).  A good electronic star atlas is a big help in finding faint stars.  I am currently using Sky Safari 6 Plus on an iPad mini 4.  Beware, however,  that Sky Safari does not correct for proper motion by default.  You have to go into "Settings | Precession" and check the box for proper motion.

(Clicking on any image will open a gallery view that gives access to the full-size version by right-clicking and saving or opening in a new tab.)

Ross 154

Ross 154 is a 10.4 magnitude red dwarf star just outside the dense region of the Sagittarius Milky Way.  It is the seventh nearest star system at 9.68 light years.  

This image was obtained with an Olympus E-M1iii + 75mm f1.8 lens and a Kenko Softon-A filter.

Ross 154 is located just above the top of the "teapot" in Sagittarius.

4-deg square

 

Ross 248

Ross 248 (HH Andromedae) is a red dwarf star that is the eighth closest star system at about 10.3 light years.  At magnitude 12.3 it requires a dark sky and a good telescope to spot visually.  It is located about midway between the W-shaped asterism of Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus.  This image was obtained with an Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens and a Kenko Softon-A diffusion filter. The bright star just above the circled position of Ross 248 is Kappa Andromedae.

Olympus 75mm f1.8, 60 sec, ISO 1600. 5-deg square

In the image above the direction of the celestial pole (North) is approximately to the left.  A closer look is shown below without the diffusion filter and with N to the top. The bright star near the middle is Kappa Andromedae and the star near the bottom right corner is Iota Andromedae.

Rokinon 135mm f/2, 60 sec, ISO1600.  2-deg square.

 

Click on any image to gain access to the full-size version (download or open in new tab).

First Post

Just getting started.  Posts and pictures will probably change as I learn how things work.

This image was taken with an Olympus E-M1iii and 75mm f1.8 lens with a Kenko Softon-A diffusion filter.

Lyra