"Old" News -- Good News -- 2002 and Beyond
Thursday, December 26th, 2002
What other ringed planet?
This photo shows Uranus
surrounded by its rings and some of the moons, as they appear on a
near-infrared image that was obtained with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument
on the 8.2-m
VLT ANTU telescope
at the
ESO Paranal Observatory
(Chile). The exposure was made on November 19, 2002 (03:00 hrs UT) during
a planetary research programme. The observing conditions were excellent
(seeing 0.5 arcsec) and the exposure lasted 5 min.
Click here for more info on the planet
Uranus... or for the ESO
press release.
The First Images with a New Camera
Utah Skies recently acquired a Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG) STV video astro camera and, though the Park City skies refused to completely clear for "first light", captured these wonderful images. Stay tuned for more, better imagery of Utah's Starry Skies...
Thursday, January 2nd, 2003
China plans manned space mission this year
If realized, China would become the third nation to put people in space.
This follows the successful launch of an unmanned spacecraft earlier this week.
For more info, checkout CNN.com/SPACE.
Wednesday, January 1st, 2003
Quadrantid Meteor Shower Coming
This weekend marks the peak of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. It's expected to peak during the few hours around 23:00 UT (6 p.m. EST) on Jan. 3, 2003. The Quadrantids emanate from the constellation Bootes, but are named for the now defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis. For more information on the Quadrandids or meteors in general, checkout the Utah Skies Meteor Page.
Sunday, December 29th, 2002
Beautiful Solar Prominence
A beautiful solar prominence was captured by the orbiting SOHO spacecraft on Dec. 28th at 1319 UT . The event hurled a large coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. While this event was not Earth-directed, it is yet another indication that our star is quite dynamic.
Thursday, December 26th, 2002
The Christmas Comet of 2002
Introducing Comet C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa:
On December 13th, Japanese astronomer T. Kudo
discovered a new comet cruising through the constellation Bootes. The
comet was independently discovered on December 14th by Shigehisa Fujikawa,
also of Japan. Named
C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa, the comet is the 6th to carry the Fujikawa name.
Currently visible at about mag 8, the comet is
expected to brighten to approximately mag - 3 at perihelion on Jan 25th.
Unfortunately, the comet will reach it's brightest when it is too close to
the Sun to be visible from Earth.
Checkout the comets ephemeris
and NASA's
sky map, then visit the Gary
W. Kronk's Cometography Website for more details.
Wednesday, December 25th, 2002
Shhh.... Santa is sleeping!
Santa is now taking a much needed rest from his long journey around the world.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from everyone at Utah Skies!
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
NORAD Gears up to Track Santa
Despite President Bush's formal go-ahead on the first phase of missile defense deployment, the coast is clear for the time being on the entry of Santa Claus into American air space. For up-to-date info on where Santa is on his special mission, go to NORAD Tracks Santa 2002.
Reminder: NASA Will Track Santa
Santa Claus and his reindeer will have some expert help this Christmas Eve, as they streak around the world to deliver joy and gifts to children everywhere. NASA flight controllers in Houston's Mission Control Center will watch over Santa throughout the night, just as they watch over the International Space Station and its crew every day. NASA's Santa Tracker will be available beginning at 4 p.m. EST today, Dec. 24 at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
Sunday, December 22nd, 2002
STORMY MARS
As on the Earth, many severe storms brew in the Martian
polar regions. Here, temperature contrasts between the cold carbon dioxide
("dry ice") seasonal frost cap and the warm ground adjacent to
it--combined with a flow of cool polar air evaporating off the cap--sweeps
up dust and funnels it into swirling dust storms along the cap edge. The
dust storms shown here were observed during the recent northern spring by
the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in May 2002. The
picture is a mosaic of daily global images from the MOC wide angle
cameras. The north polar cap is the bright, frosty surface at the top.
Checkout the Mars
Global Surveyor Website for more details.
Saturday, December 21st, 2002
Aurora Alert
A huge coronal
mass ejection was detected leaving the sun on Dec 19th. Auroras are
expected as the expanding cloud
sweeps by our planet (12/21).
Chuck Johnson of Alaska captured this image on 12/19.
Friday, December 20th, 2002
Star of Bethlehem: Going Back in Time to Examine Its Origins
It seems almost traditional at this time of year for stargazers to ponder the age-old question of the possible origin of the Star of Bethlehem. Was the so-called Christmas Star an unusual, eye-catching gathering of naked-eye planets, or was that fabled "sign in the sky" a meteor, comet, nova, or indeed something supernatural? Space.com's Spacewatch has more details...
Deep Space 1:
The Archeology Mission
One year ago this week, NASA ground controllers deactivated Deep Space 1--an extraordinary spacecraft that tested a dozen advanced technologies and then, as a bonus, flew perilously close to the nucleus of a comet. The craft is asleep now, permanently, but perhaps it has one more contribution to make ... to the field of archeology in the next millennium. See Science@NASA for more info.
Hubble Vision: A Tiny Galaxy is Born
New detailed images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show a "late-blooming" galaxy, a small, distorted system of gas and stars that still appears to be in the process of development, even though most of its galactic cousins are believed to have started forming billions of years ago. See Hubblesite for more information.
Thursday, December 19th, 2002
NASA TRACKS SANTA AS SPACE STATION CREW SENDS HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Santa Claus and his reindeer will have some expert help this Christmas Eve, as they streak around the world to deliver joy and gifts to children everywhere. NASA flight controllers in Houston's Mission Control Center will watch over Santa throughout the night, just as they watch over the International Space Station and its crew every day. NASA's Santa Tracker will be available beginning at 4 p.m. EST Dec. 24 on the Internet at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
YOUNG STAR CLUSTER FOUND AGLOW WITH MYSTERIOUS CLOUD
Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered a mysterious cloud of high-energy electrons enveloping a young cluster of stars. The extremely high-energy particles could cause dramatic changes in the chemistry of the disks that will eventually form planets around stars in the cluster. See either NASA's or Harvard's Chandra site for more info.
Saturn Joins Full Moon in Tonight's Sky
A Full Moon and the mighty ringed planet Saturn will converge for a delightful skywatching opportunity Thursday night and into Friday morning. Check out Space.com for more details.
Wednesday, December 18th, 2002
Fastest Computer Spawns High-Tech Race
It's a machine so fast it performs more computations per second than there are stars in our galaxy. It's so large it's housed in a building the size of an aircraft hangar. See Space.com for details...
Tuesday, December 17th, 2002
NEW MODEL FOR JOVIAN SATELLITE FORMATION
A new model describing the origin of the four large moons of Jupiter -- the so-called Galilean satellites -- can reconcile the moons' major properties with the formation of the satellites from a disk of gas and small particles orbiting Jupiter during the very end stages of the planet's growth. This model may represent a breakthrough in understanding how the large satellites of Jupiter formed. See Spaceflight Now for details.
NEW THEORY ACCOUNTS FOR BINARIES IN KUIPER BELT
In the last few years, researchers have discovered more than 500 objects in the Kuiper belt, a gigantic outer ring in the outskirts of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Of these, seven so far have turned out to be binaries -- two objects that orbit each other. The surprise is that these binaries all seem to be pairs of widely separated objects of similar size. See Spaceflight Now for details.
MORE SUN-LIKE STARS MAY HAVE PLANETARY SYSTEMS
If David Weintraub and Jeff Bary are right, there may be a lot more planets circling stars like the Sun than current models of star and planet formation predict. See Spaceflight Now for details.
Sunday, December 15th, 2002
Comet C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa:
On December 13th, Japanese astronomer T. Kudo
discovered a new comet cruising through the constellation Bootes. The
comet was independently discovered on December 14th by Shigehisa Fujikawa,
also of Japan. Named
C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa, the comet is the 6th to carry the Fujikawa name.
Currently visible at about mag 8, the comet is
expected to brighten to approximately mag - 3 at perihelion on Jan 25th.
Unfortunately, the comet will reach it's brightest when it is too close to
the Sun to be visible from Earth.
Checkout NASA's
skymap, then visit the Gary
W. Kronk's Cometography Website for more details.
Hubble Watches Galatic Dance of Destruction
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is witnessing a grouping
of galaxies engaging in a slow dance of destruction that will last for
billions of years.
Visit the Space
Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
for more
details.
Breathtaking Saturn
Thirty years ago, Earth and Saturn had an
extraordinary close encounter. The ringed planet was only 1.2 billion km
from Earth--about as close as it can get--and its rings were tipped toward
us. The view through a telescope was simply breathtaking.
Next week it's going to happen again.
See Science@NASA
for details.
30th Anniversary of Last Moonwalk
An old moon walker has a new idea -- teenagers in space. Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 and the last person to walk on the moon in 1972, proposed the idea of sending youths into orbit. I know a few parents who have had the very same idea..
See CNN.com/Space for details.
The Geminid Meteor
Shower
The annual Geminid meteor shower,
so named since it appears to radiate from the constellation Gemini,
peaks this Saturday morning 12/14. Meteor activity has been on the rise
since last weekend. For more info be sure to checkout Utah Skies meteor
page as well as NASA's Meteors from the Twilight Zone
This awesome shot was taken on Dec 7, 2002 by George
Varros
Skygazers cheer solar eclipse
Tens of thousands of people celebrated in South Australia after witnessing a total eclipse of the sun, joining others in the Southern Hemisphere that witnessed the
remarkable event.
Checkout CNN.com/Space
for more info
New Binocular Telescope Pushes the Aperture Envelope
The nearly
completed Large
Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mt.
Graham in Arizona will have not one, but two of the largest one-piece
telescope mirrors
in the world....It will have the two largest single-piece mirrors when its
nearly 28-foot (8.4-meter) reflectors are completed and installed.
Check out Space.com
for more details.
Utah State Senator Ron Allen Discusses Light Pollution Control on 91.9fm KPCW
Blair Feulner of Park City's KPCW,
91.9FM interviewed Utah State Senator Ron Allen Tuesday morning regarding his sponsorship of
Utah Skies' Light Pollution Prevention
Resolution.
Space Shuttle Endeavor Heads Home
The space shuttle Endeavour landed safely Saturday after an unprecedented three consecutive days of delays due to bad weather.
Checkout CNN.com/Space
for more info
Galileo wakes from radiation-induced coma
The aging Jupiter probe
that shut down during its final and most daring scientific mission has resumed normal operations, according to NASA.
Checkout CNN.com/Space
for more info
Night Sky Protection for Utah
Two views of M42 - The Orion
Nebula. The image on the left was captured from a light polluted sky; the image on the right
was captured from a relatively dark sky.
Utah Skies is working with Utah
State Senator Ron Allen to introduce a Light
Pollution Prevention Resolution.
For more info, or to get involved contact us at DarkSkyBill@UtahSkies.org
The Supermassive Black Holes of NGC 6240
Astronomers have spotted two supermassive black holes in the crowded center of a distant galaxy. The optical image on the left is from the Hubble Space Telescope while the x-ray image on the right is by Chandra Observatory. For even more info, visit Science@NASA
Solar Detail
This stunning image shows remarkable and mysterious details near the dark central region of a planet-sized sunspot in one of the sharpest views ever of the surface of the Sun. Just released, the picture was made using the adaptive optics enabled Swedish Solar Telescope now in its first year of operation on the Canary Island of La Palma. For more info, visit the APOD
Cassini spacecraft's first Saturn pics released.
NASA on Friday released the first picture of Saturn created from images taken by the Cassini spacecraft en route to the ringed planet.
For more info, visit CNN.com/SPACE
People use 83 percent of
Earth
Humans take up 83 percent of the Earth's land surface to live on, farm, mine or fish, leaving just a few areas pristine for wildlife, according to a new report this week.
FULL STORY
on CNN.com/SPACE
Sun Pillars
On Monday(10/21), Dirk Obudzinski of Sedona, Arizona, spotted this beam of light shooting upward from the setting Sun. It is a Sun pillar caused by airborne ice crystals. These crystals form high in Earth's atmosphere where it is always cold, so you could see a Sun pillar anywhere--even in a hot and dry place like Arizona, or Park City, Utah.
Fomalhaut's Dust Disk Indicates Planets
Recent observations indicate a dust disk surrounding Fomalhaut that
quite possibly indicates the gravitational pull of a planet like Jupiter or Saturn
Find
out More
Scientists map our galaxy’s
black hole
Surprising observations of a star swiftly orbiting the cloudy heart of the Milky
Way Galaxy have verified with near certainty the existence of a central black
hole, a theoretical object that still eludes direct detection.
Find
out More
Spaceships
Overhead Wednesday (10/16)
The International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle Atlantis will soar over North America after sunset on Oct. 16th and again on the 17th. It's perfect timing for sky watchers. Light from the setting sun will glint off the two spacecraft and make them easy to spot.
Find
out More
Solar Eruption
A magnetic filament on the Sun collapsed
yesterday (10/15); the ensuing explosion hurled a plume of hot gas at least 50 Earth-diameters wide into space. This extraordinary eruption was apparently not Earth-directed.
Observers should nonetheless remain alert for auroras.
Find
out More
Surprise Planet
Discovered in Twin Star System
The first planet found in a close-knit double star system suggests that the galaxy possesses many more planets than previously estimated.
Find
out More
Help Preserve
Dark Skies in Summit County
Please take a moment out of your busy day to support
the efforts of IDA-Utah. We'd like
you to send an e-mail to the Summit County Commissioners telling them that
protecting the dark skies over Summit County requires their urgent
attention. There is an e-mail utility to help you out: E-mail
The County Commissioners!
Three Share Nobel
Prize for Physics
from the Nobel
e-Museum
"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos"
"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources"
Shuttle Atlantis
Blasts Off!
from SpaceflightNow.com
With a video camera mounted to its external fuel tank to
capture a stunning
view, Space Shuttle Atlantis
set sail on an 11-day
voyage at 3:46 p.m. EDT Monday to install
the next piece of the International
Space Station's truss backbone.
More
from Spaceflight Now.
Biggest solar system find since Pluto
A newly discovered body in the outer reaches of the solar system is larger than all the objects in the asteroid belt combined, astronomers announced Monday.
Find
out more!
Hurricane
Threat to Mission Control Forces Launch Delay
The potential threat of Hurricane Lili to
the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, forced
Space Shuttle Program managers to delay the launch of STS-112 by at least
24 hours. Space Shuttle Atlantis and its
six-member
crew are now slated to
lift off no earlier than 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT (1800 to 2200 GMT) Thursday
on their mission to the International
Space Station.
An Extraordinary Movie
On October 2nd, NASA
TV plans to broadcast the first live video from a space
shuttle's fuel tank as it soars into Earth orbit on the belly of Atlantis
and falls back again.
Read this
Science@NASA article for all the details!
Science Fact or
Fiction
Lately, Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)
have gained notice having passed close
to our planet, some
closer than the moon. NASA, in their NEO
Program, sees NEOs as resources for the
future.
NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS AS FUTURE RESOURCES
The comets and asteroids that are potentially the most hazardous because they can closely approach the Earth are also the objects that could be most easily exploited for their raw materials. It is not presently cost effective to mine these minerals and then bring them back to Earth. However, these raw materials could be used in developing the space structures and in generating the rocket fuel that will be required to explore and colonize our solar system in the twenty-first century. It has been estimated that the mineral wealth resident in the belt of asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter would be equivalent to about 100 billion dollars for every person on Earth today. Whereas asteroids are rich in the mineral raw materials required to build structures in space, the comets are rich resources for the water and carbon-based molecules necessary to sustain life. In addition, an abundant supply of cometary water ice could provide copious quantities of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, the two primary ingredients in rocket fuel. It seems likely that in the next century when we begin to colonize the inner solar system, the metals and minerals found on asteroids will provide the raw materials for space structures and comets will become the watering holes and gas stations for interplanetary spacecraft.
Reference: Lewis, John S. Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroid, Comets, and Planets. Addison-Wesley, 1996.
The Crab In Motion
Astronomers have captured
extraordinary footage of The Crab Nebula,
a Manhattan-sized star rotating and spewing antimatter jets into
space.
Click HERE
for more information... then...
Checkout
"The Crab" in motion.
The
Crab Nebula really is awesome!
Western Lights?
Sky watchers in southern
California and parts of southern Utah saw something extraordinary just
before sunset on Thursday: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental
ballistic missile blasted off from
Vandenberg AFB (on a routine
test flight) and left behind this colorful wind-twisted contrail.
Jim Young of JPL's Table Mountain
Observatory snapped this picture of the contrail using a Minolta D-7
digital camera. Photo details: 250 mm telephoto lens; 4 sec exposure; ISO
100; f/4.5.
Aurora Season Continues
Northern skies have been lit up by
the northern lights three times this month!
And... it looks like Thursday night (9/19) might be number four.
We are under an Aurora Watch from a CME
detected on 9/18.
This is a great start to the typically active fall aurora season.
Find out
more.
BIG SUNSPOT
(courtesy NASA's Spaceweather)
Sunspot 114 recently hurled a CME our way. What else should we expect? You can see it yourself, but never look directly at the Sun. Use safe solar projection techniques instead.
NASA Announces Contract for Next-Generation Space Telescope Named After Space Pioneer
NASA today selected TRW, Redondo Beach, Calif., to build a next-generation successor to the Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the man who led NASA in the early days of the fledgling aerospace agency. The space-based observatory will be known as the James Webb Space Telescope, named after James E. Webb, NASA's second administrator.
The full press-release text can be found here.
Moon opens for business
The first private Moon landing has finally been given the green light by the US Government. TransOrbital of California has become the first private company in the history of spaceflight to gain approval from the US authorities to explore, photograph and land on the moon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2249064.stm
Star Party August 31st
Utah Skies would like to invite you
to attend our next public star party. The event will take place on
Saturday night August 31st, from 9:00pm until 1:00am at Park City's
Trailside Park.
Click
here for more details.
Show
your support for
Park City's KPCW radio
Tune in on Saturday morning, August
24th
at 9:00am to KPCW 91.9fm for your chance to bid on a special weekend
getaway under dark southern Utah Skies.
Park City's KPCW radio will be auctioning off a private weekend star
party hosted by Utah Skies at the Eagles
Nest Bed & Breakfast in Glendale Utah... just minutes from Bryce
Canyon & Zion National Parks.
All proceeds to benefit KPCW radio.
This is your chance to Hike Red Rock Canyons by Day and cruise the
Universe by Night
Click
here for more details.
The European Southern
Observatory goes DEEP, and shoots the Moon!
The European Southern Observatory
(ESO), in a recent
press release, demonstrates that ground-based telescopes will continue
to have a significant place in the science of astronomy. PR Photo 18h/02
is an astronomers' joy ride to infinity. Such a rarely seen view of our
universe imparts a feeling of the vast distances in space. In the upper
half of the image, the outer region of NGC 300
is resolved into innumerable stars, while in the lower half,
myriads of galaxies
- a thousand times more distant - catch the eye. In reality, many of them
are very similar to NGC 300, they are just much more remote.
More
recently, while performing ongoing Adaptive
Optics testing, the ESO VLT 8.2-m YEPUN telescope captured the
following image of Earth's natural satellite, the Moon.
With angular resolution of about 0.07 arcsec - corresponding to 130 metres
at the distance of the Moon - it is undoubtedly one of the sharpest images of the lunar
surface ever obtained with a ground-based telescope! Wow!
Perseid Meteor Shower
On Sunday night, August 11th
and Monday night, August 12th the annual Perseid Meteor
Shower will peak. Skywatchers under dark skies can expect to see upwards
of 80 meteors per hour.
Click
here for more details.
Huge Solar Flare
A 12 hour long solar flare erupted on Friday 3/15. As luck would have it,
there is a full blown CME headed our way.
Checkout Spaceweather.com for more info
HUBBLE SENDS SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM THE COSMOS
Looking like a colorful holiday card, this image
from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a vibrant green and red nebula
far from Earth, where nature seems to have put on the traditional colors
of the season. These colors, produced by the light emitted by oxygen and
hydrogen, help astronomers investigate the star-forming processes in
nebulas such as NGC
2080.
GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING
An explosion on the Sun Wednesday, Dec. 27 triggered a solar proton storm around our
planet and hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) into space.
Although the fast-moving (~1100 km/s) CME was not squarely Earth-directed,
it could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetosphere as early as Dec.
28th Universal Time -- that is, Thursday night for North Americans, Friday
morning for Europeans. NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% chance of severe
geomagnetic storms at middle latitudes when the expanding cloud sweeps
past Earth. Sky watchers along the northern tier of US states (and similar
latitudes) should be alert for auroras during the nights ahead.
Visit SpaceWeather.com for details.
THE MOON AND SATURN
If you find yourself outdoors aurora watching before dawn on Friday
morning, look also for a close encounter between the nearly-full Moon and
Saturn. The Moon will completely hide the ringed planet from observers in
North America.
Visit SpaceWeather.com for details.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas, NASA-Style
Here is a modern retake on a holiday favorite; enjoy!
NASA'S MISSION CONTROL TO HELP SANTA
NASA flight controllers in Houston and North
American Aerospace Defense Command will transform
themselves into Santa's helpers this Christmas Eve, guiding
the jolly soul on his appointed rounds. Here's
the full story...
The Fading Milky Way
Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that
threatens to erase the night sky before its time.
A boon to Dark Sky advocates, this NASA
article offers clear evidence, and solutions, from a recognized
authoritative resource -- the organization
that sent Man to the Moon!!
Amazing GRACE
A pair of satellites named "GRACE"
will soon begin mapping tiny variations in
Earth's gravity, allowing scientists to track the motions of mass around
and beneath the globe for the first time.
Odyssey's
First Mars Picture
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey gave mission managers a real
treat this Halloween with its first look at the
Red Planet.
It's a thermal infrared image of the Martian southern
hemisphere that captures the polar carbon dioxide ice cap at
a temperature of about minus 120 C (minus 184 F)....
Scientists Track "Perfect Storm" on Mars
A pair of eagle-eyed NASA spacecraft — the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and
Hubble Space Telescope — are
giving amazed astronomers a ringside seat to the biggest global dust storm seen on Mars in several decades. The
Martian
dust storm, larger by far than any seen on Earth, has raised a cloud of dust that has engulfed the entire planet for several
months.
An
Instrument's First Light
Here is
a must see "first
light" image of NGC628, also known as M74, as captured by the Gemini
North Telescope
on Hawaii's Mauna Kea. This now-operational, 8.1 meter scope has a twin
(hence the name) in Cerro Pachón in central Chile -- Gemini South.
The Hubble Space Telescope does it again...
...this time capturing an image
that gave scientists evidence
of planetary nebula creation theory.
07/03/01
Aphelion Away! Earth is far from the Sun on the 4th of July
On the 4th of July, Earth will lie at its greatest distance from the Sun
-- an annual event astronomers call 'aphelion.' But don't expect any
sudden relief from the heat. Indeed, say researchers, our planet is
actually warmer when we're farther from the Sun than at any other time of
year -- an earth science curiosity that this story explains.
07/02/01
Another Record Month
for Utah Skies
Thanks to your continued support, the Utah Skies website has had another record month. With 28,059 hits in the month of June, the site has seen 119,029 hits since November of 2000!
Utah Skies is here for you, the Astronomy Public, and it's your use and access of this resource that perpetuates it's growth.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!
06/28/01
NAKED-EYE COMET
Comet C/2001 A2 (better known as "Comet LINEAR") makes its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, June 30th. Glowing at visual magnitude 4, Comet LINEAR is not spectacular like, e.g., Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997, but it will be easy to spot with the unaided eye. ?!?
06/21/01
What a Day!
What a day for astronomy buffs!! There was total solar eclipse, the planet Mars is closer to the Earth than its been in years, it's a New Moon, and it's the Summer Solstice...how can it get any better?!?
06/18/01
Total Solar Eclipse 2001 Special Report
Space.com has produced and INCREDIBLE set of pages on this year's solar eclipse...check it out!
Study of Galaxy's Bulge Reveals It May Not Exist
A strange bulge in a nearby galaxy may not be so strange after all. In fact, it might not even exist. New images show that the long-suspected bulge in a galaxy called M33 is, in the best case, smaller than thought, according to astronomers at Ohio State University.
06/17/01
XMM-NEWTON OBSERVATORY PEERS INTO A STELLAR COFFIN
Astronomy is a painstaking discipline, requiring time and patience. Yet once in while, a string of discoveries using different telescopes occur in the same domain, each following hot on the heels of one another. Now, XMM-Newton adds the latest chapter to the story of IC443, one of the most studied supernova remnants.
SPACE TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES VIEW OF GIANT TELESCOPE
If you think keeping your reflecting 'scope collimated is difficult, check out how NASA engineers in Alabama have been helping astronomers reach deeper into space with the world's third-largest telescope at the McDonald Observatory on Mount Fowlkes.
06/16/01
Bursting Comet LINEAR
The crumbling comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR), better known as "Comet LINEAR," brightened suddenly this week to magnitude 3.3. Its fuzzy head is easily visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites in the southern hemisphere, and the comet's tail is a beautiful sight through binoculars, say observers. Later this month the brightening comet will also make an appearance in northern skies.
Solar Activity Alert
The sunspot number is up and solar activity is on the rise as well. A pair of coronal mass ejections that billowed away from the Sun on Friday could deliver glancing blows to Earth's magnetic field this weekend. Forecasters estimate a 15% chance of severe geomagnetic storms at mid-latitudes by Sunday. Sky watchers should remain alert for auroras near local midnight.
06/15/01
Cloud Spotted Ready to Burst With Star Formation
Using a ground-based radio telescope to peer deep into our own Milky Way Galaxy, scientists at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) say they have captured what may be the first image of a cloud in transition between atomic and molecular states.
New Signs of Recent Water at Mars
Piles of crater-topped debris snapped by NASA's Mars orbiter and caused by the teakettle explosion of water through volcanic lava flows at the planet's equator are the best evidence yet for recent liquid water at the Red Planet, a team of scientists say.
06/13/01
Red Planet Viewer's Guide: Earth and Mars Converge
By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) closer to the Red Planet. Earth and Mars are converging at 22,000 miles per hour (10 kilometers per second) as the pair head for a close encounter this month. On June 21st Mars will lie just 42.3 million miles (68 million kilometers) from Earth -- the nearest it's been in a dozen years.
Mysterious X-Ray Objects Revealed in Andromeda Galaxy
The European Space Agency's X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite, or XMM-Newton is starting to yield its share of mysterious and surprising results. In its first look at the Andromeda Galaxy, known as M31, XMM revealed an unusually bright X-ray nova outburst and a luminous white dwarf in a binary system with the shortest X-ray pulsation period seen to date.
06/12/01
Powers of Ten
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida brings us this REAL COOL view of the scale of the universe. Start millions of light years from Earth and end up face-to-face with a proton!!
NASA TO "MAP" BIG BANG REMNANT TO SOLVE UNIVERSAL MYSTERIES
The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), scheduled for launch June 30, will journey into deep space on a voyage to explore some of the deepest mysteries of the cosmos.
06/11/01
News from SpaceflightNow and Astromony.com:
EUROPE'S MARS EXPRESS WILL INVESTIGATE PHOBOS
Phobos, the tiny innermost moon of Mars, is to come under unprecedented scrutiny after Europe's mission to Mars goes into orbit around the Red Planet late in 2003.
GOLDIN TELLS GRADUATES HUMANS ON MARS IN 20 YEARS
NASA administrator Dan Goldin told graduates of one of the nation's leading universities Friday that humans would walk on Mars within the next 20 years. Goldin described the unofficial but widely-accepted long-term goal of the agency's human spaceflight program.
X-RAY NOVA, PULSATING WHITE DWARF FOUND IN ANDROMEDA
In its first look at the Andromeda Galaxy, Europe's XMM satellite has revealed several unusual X-ray sources, including a bright spot created by an enormous X-ray nova outburst and one of the "coolest" sources of the central region that appears to be a luminous white dwarf.
WIND BUBBLE FOUND AROUND YOUNG SUPER STAR CLUSTER
An international team of astronomers has detected a wind bubble associated with a super star cluster in a nearby galaxy -- a key indicator that helps explain how this extremely young cluster is evolving.
ENGINEER BRINGS COST OF EXPERIMENTS DOWN TO EARTH
A Purdue University engineer is saving NASA millions of dollars by devising a method to test a new type of solar-power system on Earth instead of in the ultra-expensive environment of space.
GAMMA-RAY BURST REVEALS SECRETS OF HOST GALAXY
Five years ago, astronomers knew almost nothing about gamma ray bursts. Now, a team of observers has used a gamma-ray burst as a powerful tool to unveil the nature of the galaxy in which it occurred, more than 7 billion light-years away.
BRIGHTEST QUASARS INHABIT GALAXIES WITH STAR-FORMING GAS CLOUDS
A team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the State University of New York at Stony Brook has found strong evidence that high-luminosity quasar activity in galaxy nuclei is linked to the presence of abundant interstellar gas and high rates of star formation.
06/08/01
SPACE.com's Star Party Survival Guide and Stargazing 2001 pages
Wil Milan wrote up a short article on star party etiquette for Space.com; check it out along with their stargazing pages!
NASA GIVES OFFICIAL NOD TO FIRST MERCURY ORBITER MISSION
NASA has given the first Mercury orbiter mission the go-ahead to move into full-scale spacecraft development -- setting up the first trip to the Sun's closest neighbor in more than a generation.
06/07/01
Where No Telescope Has Gone Before
Whenever astronomers see the sky for the first time in a new part of the electromagnetic spectrum, they inevitably spot something they didn't expect -- from black holes to pulsars to planet-forming disks, there's always a surprise. Now NASA astronomers have captured the first focused images of any astronomical object at hard x-ray wavelengths. The eye-opening advance will finally reveal what the hard x-ray sky looks like in crisp detail -- and perhaps uncover a new batch of astronomical wonders.
Possible Source Found For Milky Way's Mysterious Hot Gas
Blustery filaments of hot gas fill a vast region of interstellar space near the
center of our galaxy, and researchers have for a decade or so wondered what
creates the gas. One explanation is that exploding stars called supernovae are
the source.
Rings of Saturn Seen in New Light
In the course of Saturn’s trip around the Sun, it lifts its
skirt of rings once
every 29 years.
06/06/01
WEALTH OF BLACK HOLES FOUND IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found new populations of suspected mid-mass black holes in several starburst galaxies, where stars form and explode at an unusually high rate. Although a few of these objects had been found previously, this is the first time they have been detected in such large numbers.
06/06/01
RESEARCHERS SEEK OCEAN ON EUROPA THROUGH ITS SOUNDS
Acoustic techniques used by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers to explore the Arctic Ocean may help determine whether there is a vast liquid ocean under the ice blanketing Jupiter's moon, Europa.
06/06/01
Bracing for an Interplanetary Traffic Jam
NASA's is improving its already-extraordinary traffic control system for interplanetary spacecraft, the Deep Space Network, in preparation for a flurry of activity in deep space.
06/05/01
METHOD UNCOVERED IN MADNESS OF BLACK HOLE AND NEUTRON STAR ERUPTIONS
In the fiery machinery of the night sky, where neutron stars and black holes wrapped in binary systems can flare and burst randomly, astronomers have uncovered a predictable mathematical pattern in the X- ray light emitted over time.
06/05/01
Space Weather News
The annual Arietid meteor shower peaks this week on Thursday, June 7th. The Arietids are unusual because they are daytime meteors -- most of them streak through the sky unnoticed while the bright Sun is overhead. Nevertheless, early risers on Thursday could spot some beautiful "Earthgrazing" Arietids during the dark hours before dawn. Later in the day, after the Sun rises, you can listen to the shower by tuning in to NASA's online meteor radar.
06/01/01
Ecker Hill Middle School Astronomy Club has First Observing Party
Student members of the newly-formed Ecker Hill Middle School Astronomy Club met for the first time to view the heavens with Utah Skies advisors.
05/30/01
Utah Skies sponsors Astronomy Club at Ecker Hill Middle School
With nearly 40 students expressing interest in forming an Astronomy Club, Utah Skies is beginning the sponsorship effort for a club at the local middle school...
05/24/01
Utah Skies' Anthony Arrigo Quoted in SLTrib LP Article
Utah Skies co-founder, Anthony Arrigo, discusses light pollution in this very informative article.
05/23/01
Ecker Hill Middle School Astro Expo
The students of EHMS showed great interest in astronomy and invited Utah Skies back for another visit...
05/09/01
Park City Star Party
Come one, come all! Friday, May 11th, we're gonna have a star party. Check out the heavens under Park City's wonderful nighttime skies. RSVP to starparty@utahskies.org...
05/08/01
Lights out in California
More rolling blackouts in California force the residents into energy conservation and more are possible tomorrow; let's turn our lights out at night and win two battles -- we'll save energy AND fight light pollution!
05/01/01
Space is for Kids, too...
There are many excellent websites providing kids with great space-related info; here are a few:
NASA Kids
Thursday's Classroom
Star Child
BPAA Kid's PageMeasure the Quality of Your Night Skies
John E. Bortle has compiled a 9-point scale for measuring the astronomical quality of the nighttime sky. Check out his story.
04/30/01
Headlines from today@nasa.gov
29 Year-Old Pioneer 10 Phones Home
NASA scientists are delighted to have received a signal from Pioneer 10, a spacecraft that was launched before some NASA scientists were born and is now 7 billion miles from Earth--outside of the the solar system.
.
04/26/01
Headlines from Spaceflight Now
Serious computer problem
strikes space stationTito follows tradition as he
prepares for blastoffHubble makes popular
observation for its birthdayNASA Press Release:
HUBBLE CAPTURES GALATIC EPISODE OF SURVIVOR.
04/23/01
From SpaceWeather.com
FLARE WATCH: Active region 9393 (aka 9433)
has developed a twisted beta-gamma-delta magnetic field that might harbor energy for X-class solar flares. Three weeks ago this sunspot unleashed the most powerful solar flare ever recorded -- a feat it's unlikely to repeat, but the active region nevertheless bears watching.GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY: Earth's magnetic field remains unsettled after a day of minor storming on Sunday, April 22nd.
Yesterday's G1-category disturbances began when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near our planet turned south -- a condition that renders Earth's magnetosphere vulnerable to solar wind gusts. Sky watchers above ~55 degrees geomagnetic latitude should remain alert for intermittent auroras near local midnight.
04/17/01
It's raining stars!:
With an approaching new Moon bringing dark nighttime skies, this weekend's Lyrid meteor shower show be a beautiful sight (let's hope the weather holds out...)
04/16/01
A Cluster of...Galaxies?:
Here on Earth, when we think of clusters, we think of things like grapes, or the "Oak-leaf Cluster". In the heavens, though, galaxies get together. Check out today's Astronomy Picture of the Day for an amazing view of a galactic cluster.
04/13/01
The Sun Still Spews:
When the Kp index climbs high, spacecraft in orbit are affected and aurora occur...more CME from the Sun are showering the Earth with charged particles. Check out SpaceWeather for the latest news.This week's report focuses on Mars and Makukov-Cassegrainian scopes; check it out!
04/11/01
Geomagnetic Storm in Progress:
SpaceWeather.com reports that a severe geomagnetic storm is in progress. It began at ~1400 UT (8 a.m. MDT) when a powerful solar wind disturbance hit Earth's magnetosphere. The gust was probably the first of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs, see image above) en route to Earth, or perhaps a cannibalistic combination of the two. As a result, Northern Utah, at a mid-geomagnetic latitude, has a 45% probability of encountering effects of this storm, including aurora.
04/10/01
Evidence of the Continuing Solar Maximum:
According to SpaceWeather.com, A powerful flare erupted from the Sun Tuesday morning, triggering radio blackouts and a minor radiation storm. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME), in combination with an earlier CME from Sunspot 9415, gives rise to an estimated 25% chance of severe geomagnetic activity at middle latitudes when the CME arrive late Wednesday or Thursday. Keep an eye out for auroras after sunset on Wednesday.
03/31/01
More Aurora News: The large coronal mass ejection that sprayed the earth with protons yesterday is still interacting with the earth's magnetosphere. There is a greater than 50% chance that we'll see more aurora tonight, like those seen last night as far south as Mexico! Look north when it gets dark, be patient, and you may see incredible beauty.
03/30/01
Aurora Update: In an incredible burst of activity around 23:15MST, the aurora in Park City, Utah extended a full 50 degrees to either side of north and 10 degrees SOUTH of the zenith! Dynamic curtains of light green were obvious, with crimson reds prominent on the periphery...shafts of light rose from the northern horizon into the constellation Leo.
The Northern Lights are visible in Park City, Utah!!! A coronal mass ejection from explosions near sunspot 9393 is buffeting the Earth's magnetosphere and the resulting visual display is absolutely breathtaking! As of 21:30MST, aurora is green and red and visible 40 degrees to either side of north and 40 degrees above the horizon!
03/23/01
Check out the weekly Utah Skies Report. Plenty of cool astronomy and light pollution info. Let us know if you want a copy!
Utah Skies participated
in White Pine Touring's Moonlight Tour, Wednesday February 7,
2001. Light Pollution awareness education and solar system
astronomy were our offerings....and lotsa hot cocoa and fun!
The 1/20/01
star party was a complete success!
The weather cooperated, the attendance was great, and the
neighborhood skies were dark!. Thanks, everyone, for
supporting YOUR UtahSkies.
Check our schedule for
upcoming viewings, star parties, and events.
We're working to become officially affiliated with a new Utah Chapter of the IDA. More details coming soon...
