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Constellation Report |
| Our Constellation report is an easy way for people to become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated with the various constellations as well as describing the numerous deep sky objects residing in the area. No equipment is required to view the constellations, though a star chart can be quite helpful. This ease of observing makes constellations a natural place to begin your journey to the stars.
 This weekend we move on to the constellation Taurus the Bull. Taurus is easily spotted almost overhead. Its head is the Hyades, a beautiful V-shaped star cluster. His horns point outward from the V. Aldebaran is the red eye of the Bull as he charges down upon us.
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Deep Sky Report |
 Ok, let's start things off with the first object in the Messier list, Supernova Remnant M1(mag8.0). Also known as the Crab Nebula, this is the object which started Messier's list.
Supernova Remnant??? That's a new one.... You're right. We haven't visited one of these in a while. A supernova is the final stage in the life of a large star. Essentially, the star blows up when it runs out of fuel to keep the nuclear furnace burning. This particular supernova was seen by Chinese astronomers in 1054. It was so bright that it was visible during the day!
Located about 1° to the northwest of mag3 Zeta Tauri, this object is pretty easy to find. Keep the star within the outer ring of your Telrad and you're there. You do have a Telrad... don't you :)
Don't expect to match the detail captured in this beautiful image by Mark de Regt. Mark was recently showcased as a Utah Skies Astrophotographer of the Month. But... if you can wait for that, go checkout his site. It's loaded with incredible images like this one.
In the eyepiece, The Crab appears as a soft, nebulous structure. As you increase aperture, you'll start to pull out more of these details... but... not the color. The eye simply isn't very sensitive to colors at low light levels. The Crab was recently imaged by both The Hubble and Chandra Space Telescopes. Check it out!!! |
 Next we'll hit the most spectacular Open Star Cluster in sky, M45(mag1.2). Also known as The Pleiades or The Seven Sisters, this is one of the most spectacular deep sky objects of any type. Easily visible to the naked eye from even the most light polluted of areas, this beauty is breathtaking from darker skies with some form of optical aid.
The Pleiades look like a tiny version of the big dipper. See the accompanying image... I'm not kidding. Located in the vicinity of mag1 Aldebaran and mag0 Saturn, these are a few easy targets for you.
Notice all the nebulosity in and around the cluster? Does it look this way in your telescope or binoculars?
From my viewing site (ok... from my driveway :) the stars were clear and bright. There was definitely some nebulosity that was directly visible. Using averted vision, I was able to detect considerably more. No.. not as much as in the accompanying Robert Gendler image. (That was created by combining several longer exposures.) But...certainly enough that you'd be sure without a doubt that you saw it. By the way.. I was viewing through my Orion AstroView 120 -- a 4.7" Refractor -- so this should be the case in most small to midsized telescopes. These telescopes provide nice rich field images. The only real drawback is that they display a bit of false color on brighter images
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 Moving on, we come to another beautiful open star cluster, The Hyades(mag0.5). Spanning over 5°, this is another easy naked-eye target. Checkout this shot of both The Pleiades (upper left) AND The Hyades (lower right) by Utah Skies own Anthony Arrigo.
The Hyades is a rather loose star cluster made up of around 100 member stars. The brightest star in the cluster, Aldebaran, is not actually a cluster member... merely a bright foreground star.
The Hyades is a GREAT target for binoculars. As I mentioned above, it spans over 5°. This is much wider than a telescope can view. So... the only way to view the whole thing is to use a pair of wide angle binoculars. This of course presents you with an amazing view.
Actually, this pair of clusters is a great way to get started on deep sky observing. Both objects are easily spotted with the naked eye... so... there's no difficult searching involved. Both objects look great with minimal investment in optics. ANY telescope or binoculars will do. Check it out!
This was another of my targets on Wednesday night. I preferred the view of the Hyades through my binoculars, a pair of 10x50's with a 7? field of view. Unless you have an extremely wide angle telescope, you'll probably feel the same way.
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 Here's a view of the Pleiades, the Hyades, and Mars as seen on October 30, 2005; this image scale is just about about what you're eyes would've seen. Taken with a Canon 20D, 31mm (50mm effective), and f/4.5. |
 Continuing, we come to a beautiful Planetary Nebula, IC1514. This could easily be a Utah Skies Challenge as the central star is listed at mag10... making the nebulosity that much fainter.
This beauty was created recently by former Featured Astrophotographer, Al Kelly using images from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). These were processed in AIP4WIN and Photoshop.
In case you haven't been to Al's website lately, you're missing out. Al has been as busy as ever creating some of the finest astronomical images available.
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 Let's wrap things up with this constellations Utah Skies Challenge Object, Irregular Galaxy NGC1552(mag14). This faint little galaxy will put your deep sky searching skills to the test. Fortunately, it's pretty small -- 1.9'x1.4'. This raises it's surface brightness to a whopping mag 13 per arcmin2. Not exactly blazing, but it should be within the reach of an 8?-10? telescope.
While you're there (you did find it... didn't you :) Anyway... While you're there, see how many of NGC1552's neighbors you can find. As the accompanying image shows, there are a handful of faint neighboring galaxies to be seen as well. Aperture requirements will climb rather quickly for these. I'd throw in clear dark skies as well.
Good Luck! |
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