Comet ISON

[Nirmal]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25052236

"If we're lucky, then in just a few days' time we could witness one of the most spectacular sights in the night sky for a generation or more. "

Hmm.. Does anyone know about the telescope atop CEDT/DESE.

Can we get access ?

Nirmal

[Nirmal]

See this video for further info :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k3881

Nirmal

[Abhay Deshpande]

Lets arrange a Star party to celebrate comet ISON ?

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[Nirmal]

Looks like the comet like the group here has disintegrated. :(

Not much to celebrate or party about, eh ?

nirmal

[Sreepathi Pai]

Geminids, maybe?

Sreepathi Pai

[Abhay Deshpande]

This year the Geminids come close to the full moon day. Last year they were exactly at the new moon day. 

Also this November and December has been very cloudy in Bangalore, giving hardly any chance to party!

So I guess we should wait for the stars to align for a party ?

 

[Nirmal]

The stars maintain more or less the same position as they were in the sky, changing only marginally in our lifetimes, due to either a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_parallax or b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_motion .

So chances of a dramatic stellar re-alignment are remote. But the chances of planets aligning are more likely.

Should start praying to Mangal or Guru then.

nirmal

[Abhay Deshpande]

It is more important for the stars to align or more accurately to NOT align with the cloud cover in Bangalore.

If it is not very cloudy on 13th and 14th Dec. Geminids might still put up a good show. 

We might not be able to view 100s of them per hour thanks to the moon (full moon is on 17th) but there might still be a good chance given that moonset is at ~3am, the time after which meteor showers generally peak. Also the Geminids are very bright and can overcome the moonlight. (http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide)

If it is not cloudy, it can be a good time to get together on IISc campus. (cyclone Madi can spoil madi the whole plan! )

[Hari Krishna]

Can we ride up to Hessarghatta on 13th night? We should be able to get a good view.

[Sreepathi Pai]

@Abhay, last time it was 12--1AM, if I remember right when they peaked.

[Nirmal]

Ah.. the clouds. It has long been a conjecture of ours that the biggest fans of any celestial event of interest to the amateurs are the clouds. Their eagerness to see it for themselves often casts a shadow(quite literally so) on the others' view. 

Ya, Geminid is a good enough reason to party. So Friday night, old physics terrace ?

[Abhay Deshpande]

Count me in to be on old physics terrace 

@Sreepathi: i thought we went up on the terrace at 1 am after which the rates started to pick up.

[Hari Krishna Malladi]

Old physics terrace? Why not NBH terrace? Its 7 storeys high.

Sent from my iPad

[Sreepathi Pai]

Abhay, you're right. The archives say 1.15Am to 2.45Am.

Hari, there is possibly too much light pollution from Yeshwantpur on
NBH terrace.

[Abhay Deshpande]

Does anyone have a DSLR with him?  a good chance to capture a few meteors with long exposure photos.

it would be good to have a tripod also with it.

I found that without the tripod stand the camera shakes a little even if kept lying on the floor just by the mirror's motion and the stars look dizzy even with an exposure of a few seconds.

[Hari Krishna Malladi]

I have a tripod. We can use a point and shoot in the worst case with it. 

[Hari Krishna Malladi]

Oh yes. I totally forgot about that.

[Sindhu Padakandla]

Was anybody able to view the meteor showers yesterday ?

[Nirmal]

I suspect a member of our community has close contacts with the clouds, and leaks all information about impending attempts by us at observing such events to them. We must immediately boot out such members, so if any of you come to know of any such nefarious activities conducted by our group members, do let me know.

@sree how was it at your place ?

nirmal

[Sreepathi Pai]

cloudy :(

But I did get to see one bright meteor on the night of 12th at 8:17PM.
I doubt it was the geminids -- I was just crossing the road -- but it
felt nice.

P.S.: Cloud computing to blame, eh? I suppose you know of this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApQlMm39xr0