Skywarden

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Skywarden,
Ursa Astronomical Association
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taivaanvahti(at)ursa.fi

Ursa Astronomical Association

Markarian chain in spring night

20.3. Tero Hiekkalinna made a star photography trip to the Vironlahti in mid-March. The target was a group of galaxies called the Markarian chain. It curves from the middle to the upper left in the picture. The galaxies are part of the larger Virgo cluster, which includes about 2,000 galaxies.

Markarian's chain in Vahti »

Northern lights on the Thursday night

17.3. Twenty photographers have dropped in Skywarden their shots of the aurora on Thursday night. Only from southern Finland was represented this time, it was cloudy in the north. The shown picture was taken by Pirjo Koske after 1 o'clock on Thursday in Laitila. During the same hours in Juva, Petri Martikainen took stereo images with cameras located five kilometers apart. "It worked out surprisingly well for the first time," he writes.

Northern lights 15/16.3. »

12-22.3. A possible rocket launch in the nort

A rocket lounch will happen between 12.3.-22.3. from the Esrange space center in Kiruna, Sweden. The launch takes place between 19:30 and 20:40 on an evening that is as clear and windless as possible. So the exact launch time is not yet known. The launch will be best visible in Northern Finland, but from a completely unobstructed and clear observation site, it can be seen low on the horizon even as far as the Tampere - Sundsvall line. Observations of the launch are collected using the Rare clouds -form, from which "Rocket launch" is selected as the main target. The picture in the news is Tytti Mørkvedi's shot of a previous rocket launch from Andøya in Norway.

Read more about the topic »

Elliptical halo and circumzenith arcs on Monday

7.3. This year's second elliptical halo was visible on Monday in Kuusamo's Käylä. Jani Päiväniemi's observation was the result of experience, he writes that the conditions were such that an ellipse could very well appear. On the same day, there were also better-than-usual circumzenith arcs in the sky across Finland. The shown photo of this halo was taken by Heidi Joupperi in Vantaa, at the heads-up from a kindergarten child.

6 March halos »

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Newest commented observations

Telescopic comet PANSTARRS

Telescopic comet PANSTARRS

21.3.2023 at 22.16 - 23.10 - Valtimo (II)
Veli-Pekka Häkkinen

New comet imaged 364P/2018 A2(PANSTARS). Brightness class 13.98m. Using TS 0.67X Reducer.

Images: 3 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

Auroras seen through breaks in the clouds

Auroras seen through breaks in the clouds

21.3.2023 at 22.16 - 22.25 - Keitele (II)
Tuija Liunala, Ursa (Itä-Suomi)

first I saw a green plant and then a "bundle of rays" green color pale and bright. #edge

Images: 3 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Quiet aurora band

Quiet aurora band

13.3.2023 at 02.54 - 03.17 - Honningsvåg, Norja (II)
Pasi Tuomainen, Ursa (Itä-Suomi)

Nordkapp's fading show At the end of a reasonably good shooting session, I drove from Nordkapp to a hotel in Honningsvåg. I stopped next to the seashore on the side of a small road to check if there was still anything interesting in the sky. The best activity had already faded, but there was an arc in the sky across the entire horizon, and it didn't seem to be moving anywhere. To the eye, it didn't seem to have any life at all. The camera screen showed a light purple shade in the arc. The board fence could be seen from time to time directly under the arch. I was there for half an h...

Images: 8 pcs • Comments: 3 pcs

Observation information »

A fireball at night, as bright as a crescent moon

16.3.2023 at 21.46 - Ulvila (III)
Vesa Puistovaara, Porin Karhunvartijat

The fireball recorded by the bear camera (Karhu6/southwest) to support the visual observation made earlier.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Markarian's Chain (M84, M86, M87)

Markarian's Chain (M84, M86, M87)

15.3.2023 at 23.23 - 04.30 - Virolahti (IV)
Tero Hiekkalinna

We went on a traditional star tour in Virolahti to photograph spring galaxies and on the first evening the target was the Markarian's Chain galaxies.

Images: 5 pcs • Comments: 4 pcs

Observation information »

Starlink G2-7

Starlink G2-7

19.3.2023 at 05.00 - Pello (I)

Like a Morse line across the sky, the spacing of the dots remained the same. It took about a minute. The phenomenon was seen by Eero Piippo. He does not have a computer with him on the trip. Asked me to find out about the phenomenon. In his opinion, it's not really suitable for an airplane.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

A fireball at night, as bright as a crescent moon

17.3.2023 at 21.29 - Oulu, Haukipudas (III)
Tero Moilanen

Based on what was described in Kajaani, the first part of the fireball flying between east and southeast was found. Flight direction to the west.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Other special clouds

Other special clouds

10.3.2023 at 09.16 - 09.19 - Saarijärvi (I)
Maritta Kinnunen

I've been wondering if I even dare to post this stupid thing here :D 10.3 was a windy day and the clouds were moving a lot and at high speed. There were only a few clouds at the time of these pictures. I had planned to take pictures of the color clouds. Then I noticed a weird looking cloud. I thought I'd wait until it got close to the sun so I could get a great shot. After all, it didn't stay together, but also experienced a change in shape. The sun was already too bright for the photo to have been successful. In the second picture you can see a "face" cloud at the top :D as in my ...

Images: 7 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Half-sky auroras

Half-sky auroras

15.3.2023 at 22.15 - 02.00 - Akaa (IV)
Markku Ruonala

According to my own observation of this brilliant reposeater. I followed the possible southern shapes carefully, in the last picture on the side of the red arch there is one spot with weak green repos.

Images: 8 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

A fireball at night, as bright as a crescent moon

17.3.2023 at 21.30 - Kajaani (III)
Kari Nissinen

My Wyze camera is pointed at the Swedish rocket launch site Esrange in the hope of barium clouds. The camera now detected the fireball shown in the attached video.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

Skywarden is an observation system maintained by Ursa Astronomical Association. Available observation categories consist of different astronomical and atmospheric phenomena. You are welcome to participate even though you are not member of any Finnish astronomical associations. Easiest way to start browsing observation is by selecting observations with images and stories on the left side of the screen. Answers to your questions about the system can be found from FAQ -page.