Observing Report for 21 May 2023 – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

[kt4hx]

Great report!
Nice descriptions, very readable!
Truly a VROD winner! Congratulations!!

Thank you John, appreciate your comments my friend.

Great supernova session, Alan! Glad that you have persevered despite smoky conditions. Mag 11 SN in M101! I am getting super excited just reading about it. Unfortunately, it has been raining for last few nights here, and week a head forecast is solid shut.

Thank you Andrey. What I am reading is that the SN has peaked, but should be visible for a while yet. So hopefully you will get a chance before it fades into obscurity. This one seemed to catch a lot of folks by surprise, which given their nature, is not too surprising. We are long overdue a nice one in our own galaxy, and hopefully that will happen in my lifetime.

I don't know about one in our galaxy Alan. If that would happen close enough to Earth we would be in troubles.

Of course the situation you describe would be the worse case scenario. However, we need to remember that our galaxy is huge, and we occupy a very minuscule place within it. Therefore, there is plenty of room for one to happen that would not impact us in the least, yet provide a nice visual show. Of course one of the most talked about candidates is Betelgeuse, at 650 MLY. However, most of the information I see says it is highly unlikely anyone alive today would be around to witness the event, as it is still in the early period of fusing helium into carbon, which in turn has to be fused into oxygen., then silicon and finally iron - boom!

Sweet, Alan! Congrats on the SN capture...and the VROD!

Dave

Thank you Dave, and hope things are well down yonder!

I read somewhere that we would be safe so long as said SN is 50 or more light years away. That's not exactly very far in the cosmic scale of things. Who knows, but it could have happened 50 years ago and we would not know it. I suppose we would evaluate stars within this range to determine candidates, but AFAIK there would not be very many with the right (or wrong) characteristics.

Thanks Michael. Yeah, the chances appear to be quite slim at this juncture. We might be more in danger of a GRB (Gamma Ray Burst) aimed at us that we are unaware of at this time, or perhaps an errant NEO (Near Earth Object) that we've missed.

From what I've read about supernovae, anything around 30 MLY or less (of course) would be devastating to life on our planet. Of course there is that gray area of that happening a little more than 30 MLY, and as the distance increases, the impact lessens. Also from what I've read, the closest known candidate is the white dwarf IK Pegasi B, which is at about 150 MLY. This star orbits closer to the A component of IK Pegasi than Mercury does to our sun. As I understand it, when A begins to expand as it turns into a red giant, it will eventually reach a diameter where the B component will start acrreting material from A which will in turn cause it to increase in size and possibly collape in upon itself - boom!

So at this point, with what we do know, a nearby supernova doesn't seem like much of a worry. But as we do know, there are plenty of other possibilities.

[kt4hx]

Checking on SN 2023ixf today, the site I referenced still has it at mag 10.8, but Sky Tools 4 now lists it at mag 11.0, which tracks with what I've seen a few observers estimate. So it seems it is starting to slowly fade. Hopefully it will be with us for a while yet.

[Thefatkitty]

Once again an impressive outing Alan! Congrats on seeing the new supernovae and the Hockey Stick! As well as everything else; I always enjoy your observing reports

I know I've said it before, but you need to write a book; maybe even a collaboration with Andrey? Between the two of you, what haven't you seen? That would be a detailed and enjoyable read for sure.

Too bad about the forest fire smoke; we were supposed to get it earlier this week and it never came to pass. I guess it just blew south to you. Alberta owes you an apology!!

All the best my friend,

[kt4hx]

Once again an impressive outing Alan! Congrats on seeing the new supernovae and the Hockey Stick! As well as everything else; I always enjoy your observing reports

I know I've said it before, but you need to write a book; maybe even a collaboration with Andrey? Between the two of you, what haven't you seen? That would be a detailed and enjoyable read for sure.

Too bad about the forest fire smoke; we were supposed to get it earlier this week and it never came to pass. I guess it just blew south to you. Alberta owes you an apology!!

All the best my friend,

Thank you very much for your kind comments Mark. Well I am sure Andrey would agree with me that even together there is plenty of things we haven't seen - yet!

I honestly don't know if I could concentrate enough to write a book with or without Andrey. It takes a lot of discipline and focus, and at 69 yrs old, I'm not sure I've got enough of either left within me! That said, I do appreciate the thought however my friend.

No apologies required from Alberta, as it was just one of those things that happens sometimes, and fortunately, not something that lasts for very long.

[10538]

Thanks Alan for your very fine report. It seems that you had a great night out under the stars even having to deal with the unexpected smoke. Your reports are always very informative and interesting. It’s been pretty rainy and/or windy here and lately the only clear nights have been too moony. I’m looking forward to the next lunar dark cycle and crossing my fingers for a clear night or two. I have been very busy taking care of some sickness in the family so I haven’t had the chance to read the forum reports very often but hopefully I can spend more time here. Your reports always remind me of all the enjoyable times I spent on the forum in the past. Keep up the good work Alan and thanks for all you do!

[kt4hx]

Thanks Alan for your very fine report. It seems that you had a great night out under the stars even having to deal with the unexpected smoke. Your reports are always very informative and interesting. It’s been pretty rainy and/or windy here and lately the only clear nights have been too moony. I’m looking forward to the next lunar dark cycle and crossing my fingers for a clear night or two. I have been very busy taking care of some sickness in the family so I haven’t had the chance to read the forum reports very often but hopefully I can spend more time here. Your reports always remind me of all the enjoyable times I spent on the forum in the past. Keep up the good work Alan and thanks for all you do!

Thank you Ed, I truly appreciate your kind comments. Sorry to hear of the health issues within your family, just another example where the priorities of life take precedence. I hope that all works out favorably in short order.

Good luck with your observing, and hopefully your conditions will settle down. I hope you do get more opportunities to be active here, your contributions are always welcomed my friend.