Report for 2001-04-27
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Weekend Viewing Conditions Outlook
For a change, the skies have been clear. I was
treated to some amazing views several nights this week. We found galaxies M81
and M82, The Whirlpool Galaxy and The Sombrero Galaxy. Additionally, we located
the Owl Nebula, an interesting object which actually looks like 2 eyes looking
back at you. Finally, we marveled at Globular Clusters M3 and M13. These are
some of the most spectacular objects in the sky. In them, you can literally see
thousands upon thousands of stars. Globular Clusters rule! As if all this wasn't
enough, it's starting to stay warm at night. Additionally, the
forecast calls for more of the same right on through the weekend. You've got to
love it!
| Sunrise: 6:31 am | Sunset: 8:18 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:48 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:02 pm |
Lunar Phase
The moon will be approaching first quarter this weekend.
At this point, the moon is said to be waxing, or growing from new back to full.
As the moon grows in size, it also brightens noticeably. Whenever the moon is less
than half illuminated, viewing conditions are at their best. Many craters and
Mare are easily seen. Mare is Latin for sea. It was originally thought that
these features were great oceans on the moon. It is now known, of course, that
these "seas" are really huge lava flows created many hundreds of
millions of years ago, when the moon was much more geologically active.
Additionally, the moon will set later and later each night, giving us more time
to study it. I viewed a tiny 2 day old crescent moon Wednesday night hanging low
in the west between Jupiter and Saturn. It was a beautiful site. So, you might as well get out there and
check it out!
Planetary Report
In our planetary report today we'll briefly continue to focus
on the red planet, Mars.
Mars continues to grow almost daily. It's currently at 14" and will continue to grow to
over 21'' this summer. The growth is quite noticeable, even to the naked eye.
Telescopically, on nights of good seeing, details which were previously hidden
are now evident. If you're an early riser, you can see Mars high in the south
shortly before sunrise. Get out there and meet your neighbor.
Telescope Talk
| Ok. So you've already purchased a telescope. Now what. One of the best ways to improve the performance of your telescope is with the addition of some quality eyepieces. TeleVue, based out of Suffern, New York produces some of the finest eyepieces currently available. And at the top of the list from TeleVue is the Nagler line. What's a Nagler you ask. A Nagler, named after Al Nagler, the owner of TeleVue, provides one of the widest fields of view of any eyepiece currently available. Additionally, images are razor sharp from edge to edge. A typical eyepiece will provide a 40 or 50 degree field of view. A Nagler on the other hand provides a whopping 82 degree field of view. Instead of feeling like you're looking through a peep hole, you'll actually have to search for the edges -- some call it a "space walk". So, what's the big deal you ask? Well, its simple. For any given level of magnification, a Nagler will show you more of the sky. In some cases, much more. So, large objects like nebulas and star clusters can usually be viewed in their entirety. The wide field of view is also very helpful when searching for objects. These eyepieces command a premium price, but in the opinion of many seasoned observers and this author... they're worth it. |  |
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 Leo.
Leo
The arrival of Leo signals the beginning of spring. Leo now sits high in the
south shortly after sunset. To find Leo, simply turn to the south and look
up. You should be looking up at Leo. Leo has several bright stars which outline its figure. Leo sits between Cancer, which we discussed last week, and
Virgo, which we'll be discussing
shortly.
Leo, the lion, is one of the easier constellations to identify. It has a
triangle on it's eastern edge which represents the hindquarters of the lion, a
rectangle in the middle which represents the body, and a backwards question mark
which represents the head and mane of the lion. If you have access to a star
chart, or the illustrated version of this report, you should have no trouble
identifying Leo.
Deep Sky Report
Our Deep Sky report examines Leo in more detail. In fact, due to the
large number of deep sky objects which call Leo home, we're going to spend a
couple of reports studying it. This week we'll focus on the western half, next
week the eastern.
| First stop, the barred spiral galaxy M95 (mag9.7). This object is visible in a pair of 10x50 binoculars. Telescopically it presents a distinct bar running thru its center. The whole of the galaxy is surrounded by a round, circular structure, essentially these are the galaxies spiral arms. Located some 26 million lights years away, M95 is part of the a cluster of galaxies known as the Leo Galaxy Group. I viewed M95 last week with the 6" and again this week with the 25". M95 is relatively easy to find given its location between a couple of prominent stars. |  |
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Moving on, we come to another spiral galaxy M96 (mag 9.2). In fact, M96 is so close to M95, that if you find one, you're guaranteed to see the other as well. M95 is the larger of the two |
| Next stop, an elliptical galaxy, M105 (mag9.3). Guess what? It's also located there in the same low power field of view as M95 & M96. |  |
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Continuing on our journey, we come to spiral galaxy NGC3389 (mag 11.8) and elliptical galaxy NGC 3384 (mag9.9). Guess what? Yup! They're also in the same field of view. |
| Getting the feeling that this area is a bit crowded? Well... You ain't seen nothing yet. There are many more galaxies in western Leo... And the Virgo Cluster... and the Coma Cluster... How many can you find? |  |
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Here's a quick overview map of the sky containing the objects we've just covered. |
| Our final stop in Leo is our Utah Skies Challenge of the week, spiral galaxy NGC 2903 (mag8.9). This galaxy is barely within the reach of binoculars, but should be readily visible in a telescope. Located just south of Lamda Leo. |  |
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
 |
Rolling blackouts plague California. Hopefully we in Utah are seeing these happenings and learning from them. Do your part to help. Turn out lights which are not needed. |
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll continue our exploration of Leo, moving
our focus to the eastern half of the constellation.
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.
