15 most Recent Topics - Astronomy Forum

General Chatter - charity donation

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:29:31 +0000

The Children�s Investment Fund Basis is managed by Mr. Hohn�s wife Jamie Cooper-Hohn, the board of the new foundation also includes officials of a few United Nations international agencies for example UNICEF and UNAIDS. The building blocks would receive fifty percent from the Children�s Investment fund annual administration fee associated with 1%, which comes down to about US$3.5million annual. Such quantity would eventually be used to account different Children�s projects in The african continent and Indian.
It is also recognized that for every year during which the Children�s Expense fund returns above 11%, one more fifty percent of 1% of property would be also given to the building blocks. That means roughly US$3.Five million.
The actual incentive charges for the Children�s Expense Fund for the 5year and 3year secure periods tend to be 13.5% as well as 16.5% respectively. The Children�s Investment Fund has built a precedent by building its non-profit donations into the fund�s fees structure. However this is not to say that additional hedge funds do not give cash to charity. Undoubtedly there are many hedge funds which donate money to charitable organization every year, but none as far as we know have incorporated such gift into the fund�s charges structure. The fee structure of most hedge funds drops between 1-2% for management charges and about 20% for performance charges
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Space pictures.. - Supernova SN2011dh in M51

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:10:13 +0000

As usual, any sort of project requiring nightly observations seems to be some sort of cloud magnet. Oh well, got 2 nights worth of data

which seems somewhere in the ball park for other submitted data.

My data linked with the line.

I shall be interested to see how this light curve looks when more data has been added.

Colour image from data collected so far

Space pictures.. - Comet Gibbs C/2011 A3

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:12:11 +0000

Taken using the G1 telescope in New Mexico 13 Feb 2011 09:58 - 10:55 hrs UTC
RA 13:39:53.50 �Dec 19:01:44.0
10 x 300 sec Lum

Below the full FOV image. Comet is the small smudge moving near the centre.

And an enlarged cropped image, hopefully a bit clearer

Space pictures.. - Planetary Nebula LoTr5 (PN G339+88.1)

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:43:41 +0000

A revisit to this one with a different scope. G5 in New Mexico 13 Feb 2011
10:44 - 12:49 hrs UTC
5 x OIII 600 sec Bin 1 (Luminance)
3 x SII 600 sec Bin 2
3 x Red 600 cec Bin 2
3 x Green 600 sec Bin2
3 x Blue 600 sec Bin 2

This is the OIII image

and below the colour image
link

Space pictures.. - Comet Hartley 2 103/P

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:01:22 +0000

I've not used the BRT in a while. Managed to snag an image of Hartley 2 this morning.
RGB 120000 ms each 19 Nov 2010 05:57 UTC
Currently passing through the constellation Monoceros

Space pictures.. - NGC 735

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:23:17 +0000

100 mins of imaging (LRGB) using the new G7 based in Nerpio, Spain.
8 x 300 sec Lum Bin1
4 x 300 sec Red Bin 2
4 x 300 sec V Bin
4 x 300 sec Blue Bin
7 & 11 - 14 Nov 2010
Located in the constellation Andromeda. Some 250 MLy distant, z=0.01690

See how many other galaxies you can spot in the image...

Space pictures.. - Comet Wild 81/P

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:11:30 +0000

Been too long in my "to do" folder this one....

An animation of the images of Wild 81P I collected from 19 Mar 2010 to 10 June 2010

Image link

Space pictures.. - Messier Marathon. Virtual Telescope 5 April 2010

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:11:41 +0000

An interesting and fun time had by all.
Rough sequence to be used was the Marathon Search Sequence given by Don Machholz (there were some deviations from the

normal order)

Images courtesy of the Virtual Telescope and Gianluca Massi

# M77 �spiral galaxy in Cetus
# M74 spiral galaxy in Pisces
# M33 The Triangulum Galaxy (also Pinwheel) spiral galaxy in Triangulum
1^st3 too low and obscured by tree

# M31 The Andromeda Galaxy spiral galaxy in Andromeda
# M32 Satellite galaxy of M31 elliptical galaxy in Andromeda
# M110 Satellite galaxy of M31 elliptical galaxy in Andromeda
First quick trio ~18:31 - 18:40 UTC. Alt around 12 - 11 deg. That's an airmass of around 5! But, bagged & banked...

M31

M32

M110

# M52 open cluster in Cassiopeia

# M103 open cluster in Casseopeia

# M76 The Little Dumbell, Cork, or Butterfly planetary nebula in Perseus

# M34 open cluster in Perseus

# M45 Subaru, the Pleiades--the Seven Sisters open cluster in Taurus.
For some reason we missed this one out. I think the scope was too powerful to get all this one in the FOV

# M79 globular cluster in Lepus
Got too low in the sky and obscured by tree �

# M42 The Great Orion Nebula diffuse nebula in Orion

# M43 part of the Orion Nebula (de Mairan's Nebula) diffuse nebula in Orion

# M78 diffuse reflection nebula in Orion

# M1 The Crab Nebula supernova remnant in Taurus

# M35 open cluster in Gemini

# M41 open cluster in Canis Major

# M93 open cluster in Puppis

# M37 open cluster in Auriga

# M36 open cluster in Auriga

# M38 open cluster in Auriga

# M47 open cluster in Puppis

# M46 open cluster in Puppis

...added bonus...NGC2438. An example of superposition of a planetary nebula situated between us and the cluster M46

# M50 open cluster in Monoceros

# M48 open cluster in Hydra

# M44 Praesepe, the Beehive Cluster open cluster in Cancer

# M67 open cluster in Cancer

# M95 spiral galaxy in Leo

# M96 spiral galaxy in Leo

# M105 elliptical galaxy in Leo

# M65 spiral galaxy in Leo

# M66 spiral galaxy in Leo

# M81 Bode's Galaxy (nebula) spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

# M82 Cigar Galaxy irregular galaxy in Ursa Major

# M97 The Owl Nebula planetary nebula in Ursa Major

# M108 spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

# M109 spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

# M40 Double Star WNC4 in Ursa Major

this double star in somehow not in keeping with the rest of the Messier objects....perhaps we should classify it as a VERY

small cluster.

# M106 spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici

# M94 spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici

# M63 Sunflower galaxy spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici

# M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici

# M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

# M102 Spindle Galaxy (NGC 5866) lenticular (S0) Galaxy in Draco

# M53 globular cluster in Coma Berenices

# M64 Blackeye galaxy spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M3 globular cluster in Canes Venatici

# M98 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M99 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M100 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M85 lenticular (S0) Galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M84 lenticular (S0) galaxy in Virgo

# M86 lenticular (S0) galaxy in Virgo

# M87 Virgo A elliptical galaxy in Virgo

# M89 elliptical galaxy in Virgo

# M90 spiral galaxy in Virgo

# M88 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M91 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices

# M58 spiral galaxy in Virgo

# M59 elliptical galaxy in Virgo

# M60 elliptical galaxy in Virgo

# M49 elliptical galaxy in Virgo

# M61 spiral galaxy in Virgo

# M104 The Sombrero Galaxy spiral galaxy in Virgo

# M68 globular cluster in Hydra
13 deg elevation. Missed this one.

# M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy spiral galaxy in Hydra

# M5 globular cluster in Serpens Caput

# M13 Great Hercules Globular Cluster globular cluster in Hercules

# M92 globular cluster in Hercules

# M57 The Ring Nebula planetary nebula in Lyra

# M56 globular cluster in Lyra

# M29 open cluster in Cygnus

# M39 open cluster in Cygnus

# M27 The Dumbbell Nebula planetary nebula in Vulpecula

# M71 globular cluster in Sagitta

# M107 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M10 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M12 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M14 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M9 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M4 globular cluster in Scorpius

# M80 globular cluster in Scorpius

# M19 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M62 globular cluster in Ophiuchus

# M11 The Wild Duck Cluster open cluster in Scutum

# M26 open cluster in Scutum

# M16 open cluster associated with the Eagle Nebula or Star Queen Nebula IC 4703 in Serpens Cauda

# M6 The Butterfly Cluster open cluster in Scorpius

# M7 Ptolemy's Cluster open cluster in Scorpius

# M17 The Omega or Swan or Horseshoe or Lobster Nebula diffuse nebula in Sagittarius

# M18 open cluster in Sagittarius

# M24 Milky Way Patch star cloud with open cluster NGC 6603 in Sagittarius

# M25 open cluster in Sagittarius
Obscured by cloud

# M15 globular cluster in Pegasus

# M2 globular cluster in Aquarius

# M72 globular cluster in Aquarius

# M73 open cluster in Aquarius

# M23 open cluster in Sagittarius

# M21 open cluster in Sagittarius

# M20 The Trifid Nebula diffuse nebula in Sagittarius

# M8 The Lagoon Nebula diffuse nebula in Sagittarius

# M28 globular cluster in Sagittarius

# M22 globular cluster in Sagittarius

# M69 globular cluster in Sagittarius

# M70 globular cluster in Sagittarius

# M54 globular cluster in Sagittarius

Unfortunately time ran out for the last 3
# M55 globular cluster in Sagittarius
# M75 globular cluster in Sagittarius
# M30 globular cluster in Capricornus

Space pictures.. - Asteroid 114 Kassandra

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:30:53 +0000

While making yesterdays observation of 81P Wild 2 I spoted at the bottom of the plate 114 Kassandra, a large and dark Main belt asteroid. It belongs to the rare class T*. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on July 23, 1871, and is named after Cassandra, the prophetess in the tales of the Trojan War. The asteroid is featured in the 2009 film Meteor: Path to Destruction, in which it is split in two by a comet, and set on a collision course with Earth.

G14 in Mayhill, NM. 03:00 - 03:30 UTC. 3 x 300 sec luminance subs
_{Links to animated gif}

*_{T-type asteroids are rare inner-belt asteroids �of unknown composition with dark, featureless and moderately red spectra, and a moderate absorption feature shortwards of 0.85 �m.}

Space pictures.. - Constellation of Taurus

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:01:24 +0000

Following on from Orion and Gemini, we move on to Taurus

Image

Orion is just off to the bottom left, slightly obscured by the dome. It is a shame the image is slightly degraded in converting to an animated GIF.

And of course from Taurus you simply cannot miss The Pleiades [M45], or Seven Sisters. Someone once told me that the ancient Greeks used them as an eye sight test when recruiting their soldiers.... Should have gone to specsavers!...

Space pictures.. - Constellation of Gemini

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:18:40 +0000

As I was tidying out some images that were cluttering my desktop, I came across this image of the Constellation of Gemini. The date on the FITS header suggests I may have been hoping to catch some Geminids.
It's a small example of using Orion to navigate the skies nearby, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Bottom right is the belt of Orion.

Space pictures.. - Orion

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:23:56 +0000

Just a quickie. Using the Bradford robotic telescope in Tenerife.
Orion "The Hunter". I always enjoy this in the Winter sky, and so easy to identify.
A bit fuzzy due to low cloud.

Always a great guide to nearby stuff in the night sky...

Space pictures.. - NGC 2371 (Gemini Nebula)

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:30:32 +0000

BRT 15 Jan 2010 02:16 - 02:33 UTC.
A combination of RGB colour & Oiii images, 180000 ms exposures.

Image link

Space pictures.. - IC 443 & SH2-249

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:11:23 +0000

Here's the follow up observation for that mystery area of nebula from the above post. Using G4, 3 x Ha & Clear filters 300 sec each bin 1, 3 x Green & Blue filters 300 sec bin 2. Dec 14 2009, 11:41:01 - 12:43:29 UTC.
RA 06:21:11.40 Dec +22:48:23.0

Nothing there with this scope, I guess it was some sort of lens flare type artifact. Case closed.

Image in Ha

Space pictures.. - Asteroid: 128 Nemesis

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:16:44 +0000

128 Nemesis: a very large and very dark main belt asteroid, of carbonaceous composition. It rotates rather slowly, taking about one and half Earth days to complete one revolution. Nemesis is the largest member of the Nemesian asteroid family bearing its name. Discovered by J. C. Watson on November 25, 1872 and named after Nemesis, the goddess of retribution in Greek mythology.

14 Nov 2009, 07:56:27 - 09:25:58 UTC
Using G1, Clear filter, 18 x 180 sec exposure

The asteroid (just below the central bright star TYC1877-1257-1) can be just seen moving as it occults the fainter USNO J0613383+234224.

Image link