Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
The
Week in Review
Well, it's certainly been an interesting week.
First off, we took the telescopes up to the Uintas for an evening of deep sky
observing. It is just amazing what you can see when you get out of town. The
skies were at least a full magnitude darker than they are up in Pinebrook. I
know many of you enjoy camping in the summer. Well, if you're going to be
heading somewhere with dark skies, make sure you pack your telescope or
binoculars. They'll perform at their best if you get them out under truly dark
skies. Next up, we held an astronomy expo at the Ecker
Hills Middle School on Wednesday. It was a great success. Many of the kids came
by to check out the display. We set up a few of the telescopes, had a slide show
running which contained dozens of the finest astronomical images available, and
spoke with the kids about astronomy and star gazing. We've been invited back
next week to help in the creation of an astronomy club for the kids. All told,
some 40 kids signed up to find out more.
Weekend Viewing Conditions Outlook
| Sunrise: 6:02 am | Sunset: 8:46 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:04 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:44 pm |
| Moonrise: 8:18 am | Moonset: 11:49 pm |
Planetary Report
| In our planetary report today we'll start
saying our goodbyes to Mercury. Mercury was within a couple of degrees of
the crescent moon last night. It hit its highest point in the sky last
night and has begun its decent. Mercury will be gone in little more than a
week.
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Venus is rising in the east about 3:10am. If you're
an early riser, you may have noticed the intensely bright star to the
east. Well, that's no star. It's the second planet, Venus. Blazing at a
-4.4 magnitude, Venus is by far the brightest star-like object in the sky.
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| Mars is rising in the southeast about 9:40pm. Mars has grown to an amazing 18" on it's way to almost 21" in Mid June. This is providing us with some of the best views of Mars in over a decade. If you own a telescope, take it out and use it. Mars reaches its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 1:45am. Best views of the planet start around 11:00pm. | |
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 on the constellation
Canes Venatici.
| The constellation Canes Venatici is somewhat difficult to identify as it consists of only two stars. The brightest, Cor Caroli has a visual magnitude of only 2.8. Its two brightest stars are almost parallel with the last two stars in the handle of the Big Dipper and lie about 12 degrees to the southwest. |  |
Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the many deep sky objects in
Canes Venatici.
| Let me start by telling you that you're really going to like what we have for you this week. Two of my all-time favorite deep sky objects call this constellation home. |
| First off, lets visit M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy. At magnitudes 8.4,
this beautiful spiral galaxy is well within the reach of the smallest telescopes and
binoculars. At a mere 15 million light years, this is one of our nearby
neighbors.. If you view M51, you'll notice the spiral arms which surround
the galaxy. You'll also notice it's companion NGC5195 (mag9.6). NGC5195
and M51 are in the midst of a gravitational tug of war. They are slowly
pulling each other apart.
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Moving on, we come to the amazing
globular star cluster M3 (mag 6.3). This beautiful, dense ball of
stars is an amazing site to behold. The cluster itself seems appears
as a three dimensional ball of stars. It seems as if the stars are
almost on top of each other. M3 resides almost close to the midway
point between Arcturus in Bootes and Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici.
Locating the object can be a bit of a challenge because of the span.
I'd definitely recommend using a telrad to help you find this one.
Another option is to first find the object using binoculars.
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Continuing along we come to another beautiful spiral galaxy M63(mag8.6) also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. Located midway between M51 and Cor Caroli, M63 should be an easy target for binoculars and telescopes. |
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Moving about 5 degrees to the west-south-west, we come to yet another spiral galaxy, M94(mag8.2). Another easy find due to its close proximity to a couple of guide stars, M94 has a bright, compact center. M94 is estimated to be about 35 million light years away. |
| Next on our list is the spiral galaxy M106(mag8.4). Viewed nearly face on, this is odd looking spiral is located some 25 million light years away. It's arms do not show the more typically rounded spiral arms. If fact, the arms appear as if they have been compressed against the body of the galaxy. |  |
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Moving on we come to our Utah Skies Challenge of
the week. Located almost at the midpoint between Cor Caroli and Gamma
Coma Berenices is a sweet edge on Spiral Galaxy
NGC4631(mag9.3). This galaxy is a visual treat. You'll notice a
considerable amount of mottling throughout and a very pronounced
tapering from east to west. If you have a large telescope under dark
skies, you may even see its faint companion NGC 4627(mag 12.3)
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.
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Utah Skies is proud to have contributed to a recent Salt Lake Tribune article on light pollution. The article, written by Mark Eddington, clearly articulates many of the concerns about light pollution. We hope that this article will lead to a greater understanding of the proper use and potential misuse of lights in our society. The article, entitled "Utahns Can't See the Stars for the Light" can be found at http://www.sltrib.com/2001/May/05242001/utah/99879.htm. |
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos
and focus on the constellation Coma Berenices.
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. While you're there, sign up to receive the free,
fully illustrated Utah Skies Report. Many of our up coming star parties will only
be announced to people on our e-mailing list. Sign up today.
