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
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.
