With around 8-hours worth of 5- and 10-minute subs taken with his Sky 90 array, Greg Parker managed to pick up a trace of the Integrated Flux Nebula around Polaris, the Pole Star, in Ursa Minor.
Polaris, the Pole Star by Greg Parker
Observing
Don’t miss the Quadrantid meteor shower peak on 4 January 2019
Hot on the heels of terrestrial fireworks ushering in the New Year, it’s time for some celestial pyrotechnics from the Quadrantid meteor shower – the year’s first major display of shooting stars – on 4 January. With an old waning crescent Moon not rising until nautical dawn in the UK, dark skies could see up to 80 meteors per hour around 2am GMT.
Observing
See Comet Catalina pass overhead from UK when closest to Earth
Having brushed by bright star Arcturus on 1 January, Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) continues its trek through the constellations of the far north. Now a circumpolar object for the British Isles, in the early hours of 17 January it lies between famous double star Mizar (ζ Ursae Majoris) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), virtually overhead in the UK.
Observing
Halloween near-Earth asteroid 2003 YT1 has Polaris encounter on 2 November
At 9:24am GMT on 31 October 2016, near-Earth asteroid 164121 (2003 YT1) will safely fly by at a distance of 3.2 million miles (5.2 million kilometres), or 13.5 times the distance of the Moon. Furthermore, this 1.1-mile-(1.7-kilometre)-wide Apollo asteroid also passes very close to Polaris early on 2 November, creating a rare astrophotographic and observing opportunity.