Skywarden

Newest observations

Contact information

Skywarden,
Ursa Astronomical Association
Kopernikuksentie 1
00130 Helsinki
taivaanvahti(at)ursa.fi

Ursa Astronomical Association

Deep sky from southern Europe

17.5. Two observations from southern lands. On the left, an image by Otto Vehviläinen from the area of Antares and Rho Ophiuchi "in completely dark sky" in Madeira. On the right, UGC 9749, or Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy, photographed by Tapio Lahtinen with Spanish remote telescope in the Fregenal de la Sierra. "I've photographed some of these Milky Way dwarf galaxies, and now in the spring I saw a picture of this rather challenging galaxy online," Lahtinen explains the background for his photo.

Deep Sky category in May »

Lightning in Nurmes started the season

16.5. The first lightning strikes in the spring were reported to Skywarden on Sunday, when Eero Karvinen got a few pictures in Nurmes. Coincidentally, 15 May was also the first lightning day last year in Warden. Of course, lightning has been seen much earlier in some years, even in January. These are caught on film much less often, but the lightning that took place on 13 January 2012 in Mikkeli was captured by Aki Taavitsainen's fireball camera.

Recent events in the lower atmosphere

14.5 . The birch pollen corona photographed by Petri Martikainen in Juva on the 13th is the summer's first from this tree. On the same day, Kati Pursiainen noticed a fine mammatus in Helsinki, where also a first-class rainbow was visible. This observation was left by Terhi Hirviniemi, who says the picture was taken by her child. And the day before, Antero Ahola reported the season's first roll cloud to Taivaanvahti at the bird tower in Jyväskylä.

A significant elliptical halo observation from Juva

10.5. A long-awaited high-quality time-lapse of an elliptical halo occurrence has finally been obtained, thanks to the pictures taken by Petri Martikainen in Juva yesterday. The pictures show how the display lives continuously: the size of the ellipse changes and sometimes two of them appear. Of course, we have seen indications of such behaviour before. But now the blocker series Martikainen took made it possible for the first time to accurately align the images with respect to the Sun and thus allow follow in much more detail the evolution of the display.

Martikainen's observation »

Share
Previous Next

Newest commented observations

Rare halos

Rare halos

18.5.2022 at 08.17 - 08.30 - Muurame (IV)

When I left for work, a bright "ordinary" halo was visible, but luckily I had to glance higher, there was more ... "rainbow colors" in the halo clearly visible. A strange unexplained light "dot" appears under the rainbow, in other places in other pictures. In the pictures I took, about one in three shows a comma, but not pixels at the same point, and the shape varies ...? And it doesn’t look like a reflection of optics in your own eye. Something or other? The other pictures I took are dotted. Taking pictures: 8:19, 8:19, 8:20, 8:22. The direction of shooting is completely east, well, it can be...

Images: 4 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Rare halos

Rare halos

18.5.2022 at 08.20 - Muurame, Verkkoniemi (IV)
Arto Oksanen, Jyväskylän Sirius

Nice and bright halos in the morning sky.

Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Other special clouds

Other special clouds

17.5.2022 at 09.33 - 09.35 - Helsinki (III)
Kirka Turtiainen

Apparently the Horseshoe Swirl was visible above the center of Helsinki for a while. The vortex lasted for an estimated maximum of 2 minutes. The pictures were taken from Jätkäsaari in the direction of Eira on a mobile phone in a hurry.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

Several halo forms

Several halo forms

17.5.2022 at 20.30 - 21.15 - Turku (II)
Paula Mattila

Finally in the evening in the sky some event, first side suns, then 22r.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

UGC 9749 Ursa Minor Dwarf

UGC 9749 Ursa Minor Dwarf

11.5.2022 at 02.00 - Fregenal de la Sierra, Espanja (I)
Tapio Lahtinen, Tampereen Ursa

I’ve photographed some of these Milky Way dwarf galaxies and now in the spring I saw a picture of this rather challenging galaxy online. The distance in this dwarf galaxy is about 225,000 light-years. The galaxy is mainly made up of old stars and there is hardly any new star formation there. That’s why it’s so challenging when gas is no longer visible.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

Rho Ophiuchi pilvikompleksi

Rho Ophiuchi pilvikompleksi

9.5.2022 at 02.47 - 03.51 - Estreito da Calheta (IV)
Otto Vehviläinen, Ursa (Etelä-Suomi)

During the holiday trip in Madeira, you had the opportunity to photograph the objects near the center of the Milky Way from the dark sky. Here’s a shot from the area of Antares and Rho Ophiuch combined with photos from a few nights. During the first night, the clouds rolled over, but on the second night, it was already possible to shoot as long as patience was enough to stand alone in the museum parking lot.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

A fireball at night, brighter than the venus

A fireball at night, brighter than the venus

15.5.2022 at 23.42 - Helsinki (III)
Rauno Kontro

15.5. 2022 around 23:42 1-2s lasting flash in the sky in a south-southeast direction. Height with a fist length of about 40 degrees. The brightness was estimated to be about 2-3 times brighter than Venus at its brightest, which I have seen. Checked flight Radar, when the suspicion that the aircraft landing lights had flashed, no aircraft was found. No movement was observed during that time. No sound, and no fading plane lights. Attached are pictures of the location and direction of observation, as well as a flightradar image of the aircraft.

Images: 2 pcs • Comments: 3 pcs

Observation information »

Primary rainbow

Primary rainbow

15.5.2022 at 22.04 - 22.07 - Kuopio (III)

A pink vertical pillar is visible for about three minutes at sunset. Straight up, not curved like a rainbow, but clearly due to the sun. I can't name, officially identify this?

Images: 5 pcs • Comments: 1 pcs

Observation information »

One halo form

One halo form

15.5.2022 at 12.10 - 12.15 - Turku (I)
Paula Mattila

22r was visible in the cloud where no thoughts were expected because about 10 min earlier it had a nice perimeter in the sun

Images: 3 pcs • Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »

Moon

15.5.2022 at 00.15 - 00.40 - Lohja (III)
Ilona Rasa, Ursa (Helsinki)

At night again, I got flying for the video. I combined them from two different videos into one piece, the first one could have a bird, in the other - I don't know ... anything :)

Comments: 2 pcs

Observation information »