Report for 2001-07-13
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Star Party
Utah Skies is proud to announce our first public star
party. Plan on joining us for an evening under the stars at Park City's
Trailside Park on Friday night
July 20th from 9:00pm until 1:00am. We'll take you on a deep sky adventure
you won't soon forget - guiding you to nebulas, star clusters and even distant
galaxies. As you might expect, we'll be
visiting several of the objects to be introduced in this weeks Utah Skies
Report. Got a telescope of your own? Feel free to bring it along.
Stay tuned for more details on this and other upcoming events by regularly
checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org
Lunar
Phase
| The moon is at last quarter. Essentially,
this means that it will be 1/2 illuminated tonight. Last quarter is the
exact opposite of first quarter in that opposite portions of the moon will
be illuminated. The last quarter moon rises after midnight and sets after
midday, while the first quarter rises after midday and sets after
midnight. Hmmm.... Anyway... the late rise is a welcome event for me. It
means that I'll have several hours of DARK viewing conditions to seek out
my favorite deep sky objects. The image at right shows the crater Clavius. This crater is best viewed a couple of days past last quarter. So... you'll need to check it out over the next few mornings. |
|
| Sunrise: 6:07 am | Sunset: 8:59 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:06 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 11:00 pm |
| Moonrise: 1:03 am | Moonset: 1:41 pm |
Viewing Outlook
Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around 6:40 pm
tonight. It will be high in the south by the time it gets dark. Have I
said this before? If you happen to be outside this evening, make sure to take a
moment and glance towards the south. Better yet, setup your telescope and
check it out! Mars will be the bright, reddish star-like object. You can't miss it! The Earth is pulling away from Mars in its orbit causing Mars to continue to shrink - it is currently down to 19" from 21". Additionally, it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude -1.9 Mars is still by far the brightest star-like object in the night sky. But... you'd better not waste any time. Mars will be half its current size and setting early by the end of the summer. Mars reaches its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 10:45pm. Best views of the planet start around 9:15pm. |
 |
|
An amazing image of Mars by Ed Grafton |
|
Several planets are now rising early in the pre-dawn
hours. Venus is rising in the east about 3:20am. While it continues to dim slightly, at magnitude -4.09, it is by far the brightest star-like object in the sky. Venus is currently 63% illuminated. See if you can notice it's changing phase over the next several months.
|
| Next, look for Saturn to rise about 3:25am in the northeast just a degree
or two north of where Venus rose. As the picture at right shows, the angle at which
Saturn's rings are exposed to us varies quite dramatically. They go from
virtually invisible when viewed exactly edge-on to tilted by as much as 27
degrees at maximum. The rings go through this full cycle twice in Saturn's
29.5 year journey around the sun. So this summer will be the best time to
observe Saturn's rings in quite some time. And, with Saturn rising as
early as it is, it'll be well positioned for some predawn observing. Get
out there and check it out! Look for Jupiter to rise 2 or 3 degrees further north by about 4:40am. Jupiter is an amazing object to observe. It's size and brightness reveal a wealth of details. The image at right is about the best that an amateur could ever hope for. The colorful cloud bands display lots of intricate detail. Moving on, we still have Mercury rising just to the south at about 4:45 am. We'll lose Mercury within the next week or two as it races around the sun towards the night sky later this summer. Previously, we promised you several conjunctions. Well, it's time to deliver the goods. Early risers will have some interesting views during the coming week. The first of these will occur on Sunday morning (7/15). In the pre-dawn hours, you'll get to see Venus and Saturn in a rare side by side meeting. Next, on Monday morning (7/16) also in the pre-dawn hours you'll be able to view a busy grouping of The Pleiades star cluster, a waning crescent moon, The Hyades star cluster, Saturn and Venus. I hope I get this on film. This will be followed on Tuesday 7/17, by an even tighter grouping consisting this time of the Moon, Saturn, Venus and The Hyades. Wednesday morning brings us a line-up consisting of a tiny crescent moon, Jupiter and Mercury. Finally, on Thursday 7/19, we'll find a tiny crescent moon rising next to Mercury. If you happen to be out for an early morning run or dog walking, make sure you checkout the sky to the east! It should be interesting to see how the moon drifts through the sky from morning to morning. |
|
| 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 Lyra. Lyra is due east of the constellation Hercules, which we covered a couple of weeks ago. To find Lyra, simply face towards the east after dark and look overhead. Lyra resembles a parallelogram of stars. To be certain that you've found Lyra, simply verify that you've found it's most prominent member star, Vega. With a magnitude of 0.0 Vega is the 5th brightest star in the entire sky and by far the brightest star in this region. You can't miss it. Estimates place Vega's distance at about 27 light years and it's actual luminosity about 58 times greater than that of our Sun. Vega is actually an optical double star as well. It's companion star is quite faint and can only be seen with a telescope. While we're checking out double stars, lets visit the famous "Double-Double". Located about 1.5 degrees to the northeast of Vega, this multiple star system looks like a single star when viewed with the naked eye. Binoculars will reveal this star to be a pair of stars and a telescope will further split each of the stars into another beautiful pair. |
 |
Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of
Lyra. The constellation Lyra is relatively small - made up of only 6 stars.
Lyra, however, contains 2 Messier objects as well as a few NGC objects.
| We'll
start things off with one of the night skies showpiece objects, The Ring
Nebula M57(mag8.8). The Ring, as it is affectionately known, is
undoubtedly the best known example of a planetary nebula. Have you forgotten what a planetary nebula is? Check out the Utah Skies Report for the week of 6/22 for a refresher! Located just south of the midpoint between Beta and Gamma Lyrae, The Ring can be found with large binoculars or small telescopes. In telescopes of < 8", it looks like a cheerio suspended in the sky. Large telescopes reveal structural details and a hint of color. Photos of The Ring reveal it's faint central star - estimated to be between mag15 -16. I have only seen the central star once, and this was with the 25" under nearly perfect conditions at 9500' in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah. Thoughts are that this star may be a variable star - meaning that its brightness varies periodically. Maybe it'll be at it's brightest when you look for it.
|
|
|
Next
up is a fine globular cluster M56(mag8.4) |
| Moving on, we come to a beautiful open cluster NGC6791(mag9.5). Smaller telescopes will show a handful of sparkling stars amidst the splendor of the summer Milky Way. Larger scopes will dive in and reveal a treasure trove of gems. Note the wide range of colors in this cluster. |  |
 |
Our final stop takes us to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object NGC6703(mag11.5). This small, round Spiral Galaxy has a fairly bright core. No sign of the spiral arms can be found even in photos. Why is this called a spiral galaxy then? Actually, Burnham's which is based on older data, lists NGC6703 as an E0/S0 galaxy. Essentially a cross between an elliptical and a spiral. Recent data suggests that this is simply an S0 - a spiral without arms. |
If you are able to find this object, you may be one of the few, the proud, the Deep Sky Obsessed. E-mail your findings to DeepSkyObservations@UtahSkies.org.
 |
Utah Skies has been busy combating light
pollution. Recently, we helped residents of Draper City
deal with some obnoxious lights in their neighborhood. The meeting, which included residents
and representatives of both Draper City and Utah Power and
Light, focused on the area's excessive, wasteful use of light and how
to more efficiently and effectively handle the area's lighting
requirements. In the end, light shields were tested to see how
effectively they channeled the fixture's light. Additionally, it was
discovered by all that the bulbs which had been installed were far too
powerful for this area. So, the Utah Power and Light representative
promised to replace all of the offending bulbs with lower powered
bulbs. In the process, it was discovered that this remedy would also
save the city a considerable amount of money. All in all, it was a winning
situation for all involved. Do you have annoying lights in your neighborhood? If so, realize that you can do something about it. Call your local government and tell them that you expect them to use lighting intelligently. Let Utah Skies know what your issue is; perhaps we can help. We're going to reclaim our skies... one star at a time. |
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos
and focus on the constellation Sagittarius.
|
Utah Skies is proud to announce our first public star
party. Plan on joining us for an evening under the stars at Park City's
Trailside Park on Friday night
July 20th from 9:00pm until 1:00am. We'll take you on a deep sky adventure
you won't soon forget - guiding you to nebulas, star clusters and even distant
galaxies. As you might expect, we'll be
visiting several of the objects we introduced in this weeks Utah Skies
Report. Got a telescope of your own? Feel free to bring it along. Stay tuned for more details on this and other upcoming events by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org |