Notice the detail visible in the cloud tops of Jupiter as well as the details clearly visible on Ganymede itself.)
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Weekend Viewing Conditions Outlook
Viewing conditions have been spotty again this week.
I did get some clear skies last weekend and finally broke out the ObDob
for a couple of wonderful hours. Views were nothing less than amazing.
We visited The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51 in Canes Venatici), The Sombrero Galaxy
(M104 in Virgo) and The Hercules Cluster (M13 in Hercules) to name just
a few. I'm hoping things will clear up and provide a few good nights again
shortly.
| Sunrise: 6:14 am | Sunset: 6:49 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:41 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 8:23 pm |
Solar Report: I'd like to start our solar report with a firm warning. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CONDITIONS, LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROTECTION. DOING SO WILL CAUSE EYE DAMAGE AND POSSIBLY EVEN BLINDNESS. Ok, now that that's out of the way. Solar activity follows a 11 year cycle. We are currently at the peak of solar activity. Currently there are more and larger sunspots visible on the surface of the sun than at any other time in recent history. Viewed with appropriate solar filters, the sun provides a wealth of details on its surface. Sunspots and solar prominences are easily seen with a properly filtered telescope. The sun is, after all, the only star in the sky on which we can see an any surface detail. Every other star is simply too far away to see physical details.
Huge Sunspot: The largest sunspot in ten years is currently crossing the solar disk. The fast-growing spot, called AR9393, covers an area of the Sun equivalent to the total surface area of 13 Earths! Visit www.spaceweather.com to learn how this sunspot compares to others in history and how to safely observe it.
Aurora Alert: Related to this huge sunspot... An eruption near sunspot AR9393 hurled a huge coronal mass ejection toward Earth on Wednesday. Solar forecasters estimate a 15 to 25% chance of severe geomagnetic storms when the expanding cloud buffets our planet's magnetic field, most likely on Friday. A severe geomagnetic storm would provide us here in Utah with a great opportunity to see aurora or Northern Lights. All you need to do to witness one of these amazing displays is to go outside, turn out all exterior lights and face to the norht. We saw an amazing display of the Northern Lights this past November while observing over in the Red Hawk area. The sky started glowing an eerie reddish color. It was quite spectacular. We were fortunate enough to have a camera handy to record the event. Images are available on our website. Coronal mass ejections, or CME's for short, are billion-ton clouds of electrified, magnetic gas that solar eruptions hurl into space at speeds ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand miles per second. Earth-directed CMEs can trigger magnetic storms when they strike our planet's magnetic field, distorting its shape and accelerating electrically charged particles trapped within.
Lunar Phase
The moon will reach 1st quarter this weekend, meaning that it will be half illuminated and set around 1am.
A half moon offers a wealth of surface detail for those who take the
time and look for it. The best contrast is typically along the terminator
line. The terminator is the line where light meets dark on the lunar surface.
Watch the moon as it grows through the week. It also sets later and later.
Planetary Report
In our planetary report today we move back to Jupiter
and its moons.
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Notice the detail visible in the cloud tops of Jupiter as well as the details clearly visible on Ganymede itself.) |
Jupiter can be seen overhead shortly after sunset.
To find Jupiter, simply face towards the west and look up. The brightest
object you’ll see is Jupiter. This weekend we'll see several of Jupiters
moons in transit. Transits occur when a moon or its shadow drifts in front
of the giant planet. This weekend we'll be treated to both types. Shadow
transits are the easiest to view since you are looking for a black, inky
shadow against the bright backdrop of the planet. Transits will occur
at the following times:
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(The image to the left is one of the finest, most detailed images ever taken of Jupiter. Look at the amount of detail that has been captured. While this amount of detail is beyond the reach of amateur telescopes, it does certainly whet the appetite for what can be seen. On one particularly good night last fall, I was able to approach this level of detail. Many of the small white ovals and colored swirls came into view. Images were rock steady up to 450x. It was truely an awsome night. |
A view of Jupiter through a telescope is facinating. On nights of very good seeing Jupiter offers up a whole range of cloud bands, swirls and festoons. What will you see? Well, that depends on a number of things. The most important factor by far is the condition of the sky on the night your are observing. Planetary observing is greatly affected by the clarity and steadiness of the skies. If there is lots of moisture or particles in the atmosphere the amount of detail will be reduced. Also, if the atmosphere is turbulent you will be unable to push the magnification high enough to get the details you are craving. Additionally, to achieve the best possible views requires excellent optics. If your optics are not up to the task, you're virtually guaranteed to achieve mediocre views.
Apochromatic refractors are noted for providing some
of the sharpest, most color correct images possible and are often the scope
of choice among hard-core planetary observers. Apo's as they are affectionately
referred to cost quite a bit, but in the eyes of many, they are worth every
penny. Utah Skies is fortunate enough to have a Takahashi refractor. Takahashi
is recognized world-wide for producing some of the finest telescopes available.
Takahashi refractors regularly outperform telescopes of larger aperture.
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Jupiter has dozens of moons. 4 of these moons can
be seen orbiting Jupiter nightly in even the smallest telescopes and binoculars
Notice the diversity of Jupiter's moons. Each is worlds apart from the other. They range from hot, volcanic Io orbiting Jupiter every 1.8 days to cold, inactive Callisto which takes fully XX days to complete an orbit. Callisto is almost 50% larger than earth's moon. |
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’ll
focus in on the constellation Orion.
Orion
To find Orion, turn to the southwest and look up. You should be staring
at Orion.
Orion is located in the southwest shortly after sunset. Orion has 4
stars in the shape of a rectangle which make up the body of the hunter.
Many people are familiar with the belt of Orion. The belt is made up
of 3 bright stars equally spaced running thru the midsection of the constellation.
Orion is full of many beautiful and interesting deep sky objects, which
we’ll visit shortly.
Mythical Orion was the great hunter.
Deep Sky Report
Our Deep Sky report examines Orion in more detail.
First stop, of course, is one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky. The
Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula shines at magnitude 4.0. To explain briefly,
visual magnitude represents the brightness of an object. For historical reasons,
brighter objects have lower numbers. As a point of reference, the brightest star
(Sirius) has a visual magnitude of -1. The dimmest stars that you can see with
the unaided eye from a dark site, such as the Uintas or southern Utah is about
magnitude 6). Binoculars will take you to about mag 10... and a large amateur
telescope will reveal objects down to magnitude 17 or so. Ok... Back to Orion.
The Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch in the
middle of Orion's sword. Orion's sword is located just below the middle
star in the belt of Orion. Most people can quickly locate the nebula under the reasonably dark
skies we have here in Summit County. In a telescope, the Orion Nebula is truly
impressive. I have spent countless hours with a variety of telescopes exploring
the abundant details visible within it. The nebula displays numerous swirls
of 3 dimensional gas clouds encompassing a number of stars. 4 stars in
particular, referred to as the Trapezium, are at the heart of the nebula.
It is these stars which illuminate the nebula and cause it to glow.
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The Orion Nebula is often referred to as a stellar nursery. The gas
which makes up the nebula is condensing under its own gravity eventually leading
to nuclear fusion and stellar formation. Many of the stars within the nebula have formed within
the last million years or so. A million years may sound like a long time,
but estimates place the age of our sun closer to 4.5 billion years old and the
age of the galaxy at roughly 12 billion years old.
Recent Hubble Space Telescope images have revealed what astronomers have long suspected: M42 has all the ingredients for solar and planetary creation. |
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The next stop on our tour of Orion is M78 (mag8.0). M78 is a diffuse reflection
nebula illuminated by a pair of 10th magnitude stars near its center. At mag
8.0, M78 is visible in a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
While you're in the neighborhood, see if you can find a few of M78's
neighbors. To the northeast is NGC 2071, to the north is NGC 2067 and to
the southwest is NGC 2064. Each of these nebulas should be visible within
a low power, wide angle eyepiece.
M78 is an easy object for a small telescope or binoculars.
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Our final stop in Orion is our double Deep Sky Challenge of the week,
NGC 2023 better know as The Horsehead Nebula and NGC 2024 better known
as The Flame Nebula. The Horsehead nebula while very photogenic, is visually
illusive. Essentially, it is formed from a dark nebula projected onto a
bright emission nebula. At the other end of the image you can see NGC 2024
The Flame Nebula. To find these, place the lower left star of Orion's
Belt into the upper right portion of your field of view. The Horsehead
Nebula will be just to the south of the star and The Flame Nebula will
be just to the east. A nebula filter and dark, clear skies are required.
If you are able to find these object, you may be one of the few, the proud,
the Deep Sky Obsessed. E-mail your findings to DeepSkyObservations@UtahSkies.org.
Light Pollution Update
Has anybody noticed the lights on the new Summit County Library? I
have. They've been turned on for the last several nights.
It seems the contractor forgot to check the county lighting ordinances.
Oops! Well, I didn't forget. I contacted the county recently and they said
they were aware of the situation and were working with the contractor to
bring the library's outdoor lights into full compliance with county codes.
I'll be watching this one closely and will keep you informed.
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll focus on the Constellation Gemini
and beautiful objects which call it home.
Closing
This "Star Cast" has been presented by Utah Skies. View-tah’s Astronomy Home. Utah Skies can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.UtahSkies.org. Visit our site and discover the cosmos. We have numerous images of deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulas and star clusters. We also have lots of astronomy-related information as well as links to other astronomy sites. Utah Skies is also your best source of information on light pollution.
