Pongal Star Watch

"Astro Yoga"

From the desk of the Teacher.

Sky Scraping on Sankranti Night !

       "Astronomy a good hobby for all generations"

Sunrise 

Astronomy with Binoculars 

Sunrise - the blazing Sun !

Dt: Sat-Sun, 14-15th Jan, 2023.
Place: Vembakkam village farm.
12°58'5.11"N; 79°34'55.73"E.

IST: 7 pm - 12.30 am.
UT: 1.30 pm - 6 pm.
Binoculars used: Celestron 10x50.

Observers: Dr V Anand, Mr A Aravind, Er Arun Venkataswamy, 

Dr Sureshmohan, Wild life photographer Mr Vijayakumar, Mr Guru.

High thin clouds and a hazy evening, cold, and dew condensing, noticeable on cars and instruments and on the easy chair. The dew became noticeable by 12 midnight, heavily condensing on the cars wind shield. I reminded Aravind to use his head cap as he was attempting to image the Milky Way, after mid night.  

Constellation Orion was in the eastern sky and Canis Major culminated the meridian at the close of our observing session  after mid night. It became very cold, hazy, with dew condensing. 

Astronomy, is the basis of all our calendars of all civilizations, either occidental or oriental. It is the basis of many religious philosophies. Our seasons, weather, rainfall, and agricultural production, are dependant on the annual periodic shifting of the stars and constellations, as the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Stars seen: Acherner at the far end of the southern sky, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Saiph, Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka, Sigma orionis, Lambda orionis, Sirius, Canopus, Castor, Pollex, Procyon, Aldebaran, Merak, Dhubae, Polaris, Regulus, Denebola, alpha Andromadae,  variable star Algol, zeta Tauri, etc.,

Contellations seen: Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Orion, Auriga, Lepus, Canis Major, Vela, Canis Minor, Aries, Triangulum, Taurus, Gemini, Leo, first part of Ursa Major (1st three stars). 

Messier objects: 

Star Open Clusters: M45 Pleiades, Hyades, M37, M36, M38 in Auriga, M31 in Gemini, M41 in Canis Major.

Galaxies: M31 Andromeda galaxy, M33 Triangulam galaxy, and 

Nebulae: M42 & M43 the great Orion Nebula. 

Planets: Venus, Jupiter & Mars. 

A couple of satellites were seen passing slightly towards the north-east noticed starting from near the northern half of orion in the early evening. The satellites were tracked  for a much longer time through the Binoculars. A faint streak of a meteor was seen too. 

Polaris presented no difficulty from the beginning. 

Orion nebula was so conspicuous as usual. 

Andromeda galaxy was easy to find and on persistent observing with averted vision I could appreciate its extended hazy envelope surrounding its compact fuzzy nucleus. It looked like a stretched fuzzy oval in the east-west direction with a condensed fuzzy nucleus at the middle in the Binoculars. 

Triangulum galaxy, presented some observing difficulty. I became conscious of its faint presence with sustained observation after zeroing-in-on to the exact spot. Time was around mid night. I remembered, seeing it at its best, at 3 am,  high and  having culminated the meridian, many years ago, from Ramencheri dark site, with Mr Renganathan, my star hopping companion. It was a rare show then. 

Since, this event happened after a gap of two years, all our friends of different interests and activities, looked a bit worn down, and some felt body pain and not at ease to the demanding and strenuous work out in the field. A lack of agility, weight loss or gain, fatigue and body pain had set in. 

Astronomy in the field demands physical fitness, mental fitness, seriousness, intense interest, persistent purpose, attentive quality to the minutest of details, powers of concentration, agility, technical skill and expertise, interpersonal skills, a silent predisposition minding your own work, helping and educating others in need, non-disturbance, environmental awareness, etc., 

Indeed, it's a kind of Yoga - "Astro Yoga."

And, "star hopping" is a best meditative 

exercise ! The late Sir Partick Moore, CBE., FRAS., said, his friend George Alcock,  remembered some 30,000 stars by memory like many Indian yogis of 

bygone days ! 

It is said that Vararuchi an ancient Indian astronomer, spent forty years in star-gazing lying on a rough cot gazing at the stars. One night a disciple of his, introduced an extra bed sheet to make the bed more soft. Then Vararuchi immediately felt the change in the height of his bed and asked his disciple whether the sky had come down or the earth had gone up. Such was his adaptation. Now, we know where we stand ! 

(Ref. Popular Astronomy, by Professor V Thiruvenkatacharya, 1958).

Doing that  regularly atleast twice a month, one can ensure physical and mental fitness.  And it's a religion of cosmic dimensions.  It takes you straight to the beginning of everything, material, time and consciousness !

Let's meet God !!!

Astrophotographers:-
Dr Suresh & Er Arun (the equipment belongs to them). 

Mr Aravind, mobile phone imaging.

Visual Observers:-
Dr V Anand: 10x50 Binoculars on easy chair, Collins gem guide, red filter torch light. Star hopping method. 

Telescopes used:
Suresh: Takhashi FSQ-106EDx4 Quadruplet Refractor, on an astrophysics USA made mach 1 GTO.

Arun: Custom designed camera mount.

Vijayakumar: 20x100 bino with custom designed mount.

Participants: Mr Thanigai.

Dog: Brucelee.

Early Morning Tea

> The blog will be updated further, after some image processing.