Report for 2001-07-27
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Utah
Skies First Public Star Party A Big Hit
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Over 150 people showed up to view
the heavens under the dark skies of Park City’s Trailside Park.
Conditions were great the entire evening. Clear skies and a gentle breeze
only added to the enjoyment. Over a dozen telescopes and numerous
binoculars were setup for people to view the deep sky wonders overhead. The
ObDob, an 11’ tall Newtonian reflector with a 25” mirror was never
without a handful of viewers. If the ObDob provided plenty of brawn, the
brains were also on hand. Not one, but 2 computer driven telescopes took
viewers to places only dreamed of. Among the objects viewed were the
planets Mars and Neptune, The Andromeda and Whirlpool galaxies, The Ring
and Dumbbell Nebulas, and The Hercules Star Cluster. |
Lunar
Phase
| The moon is at first quarter tonight. Essentially,
this means that there will be a half moon visible tonight. Watch the
moon as it grows night after night. The beautiful image at right captured
the moon from day 7 to day 10 of the monthly lunar cycle. Besides growing
slightly each night, the moon also rises and sets about 45 minutes later
each night. |
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| Sunrise: 6:19 am | Sunset: 8:49 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:25 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:42 pm |
| Moonrise: 2:20 pm | Moonset: 12:47 am |
Viewing Outlook
The weekend weather forecast is calling for warm
temperatures and clear skies. Let's hope so. Also, lets hope that the Jet Stream
stays above us. This would substantially raise the odds of us getting some really nice planetary views.
Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around 5:45 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 18" from 21". Additionally, it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude -1.6 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 maximum size and setting early by the end of the summer. Mars reaches its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 9:50pm. Best views of the planet start as soon as you can find it, typically around 9:15pm. |
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Mars and the Messier Objects of Sagittarius |
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Several planets are now rising early in the pre-dawn
hours. Saturn is the first planet to make an appearance in the morning sky, rising in the east about
2:30 am. Saturn is everybody's favorite. It's rings are clearly
visible in even the most modest telescope. It'll remain a morning object
for the next several months before it moves into the nighttime sky this
fall. Saturn is currently shining at mag 0.16 - about as bright as the
brightest stars currently visible in the sky. Saturn will brighten
noticeably in the fall as the Earth's orbit bring the two planets closer. Views like the one to the left are routinely achieved in amateur telescopes. |
| Next, look for Venus to rise about 3:25am in the northeast just
slightly north of where Saturn rose. It's continual dimming is hardly
noticeable as it outshines everything in the night sky by a long shot. Look for Jupiter to rise still further north by about 3:55am. Jupiter is an amazing object to observe. It's size and brightness reveal a wealth of details. The colorful cloud bands display lots of intricate detail as is visible in the HST image at right. Jupiter will grow substantially in both size and brightness throughout the remainder of the summer and and reach it's peak in late November. I can't wait for Jupiter to take center stage. The image at right shows the wealth of detail which can be viewed in amateur telescopes. Moving on, we come to Mercury - rising at about 5:30 am. Mercury will be hard to find in the brightening morning sky. |
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| 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 Scutum. Scutum is located due north of the constellation Sagittarius, which we covered last week. To find Scutum, simply face towards the southeast after dark and look about 40 degrees above the horizon. Scutum is one of the smaller constellations. It is also relatively inconspicuous - it's brightest star shining at a meager mag 3.85. Scutum is home to 2 Messier objects plus a handful of NGC objects.
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Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of
Scutum.
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first stop in Scutum is one of my favorite open clusters The Wild Duck
Cluster M11(mag5.8). Look for M11 about 2 degrees to the southeast of Beta
Scutii. At mag 4.2, this star won't exactly jump out at you unless you've
got relatively dark skies overhead. Suffice it to say that Beta Scutii is
the northern most star in the constellation. See this weeks star chart for
further details. Burnham noted that M11 was "One of the richest and most compact of the galactic clusters." As you can see from the image at right, M11 looks a lot like a globular cluster. Made up of almost 500 stars brighter than mag 14, this cluster looks beautiful in telescopes of moderate aperture. It's estimated to be about 6200 light years distant. M11 is located along the northern edge of the Scutum Star Cloud - itself one of the densest stellar regions in the galaxy. After you've found M11, take some time and sweep through this star cloud. It is a beautiful region, filled with a wide assortment of star patterns and nebulosity. There are even several dark nebula in the area. Dark nebula are regions of light obscuring gas and dust. |
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The Wild Duck Cluster amidst the Scutum Star Cloud |
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Next up is open cluster M26(mag8.0).
This small cluster pales in comparison to it's dominant neighbor to the
north - it's position in such a rich area of the sky only adds to it's
seeming obscurity. Nevertheless, there are approximately 50 stars down to
mag 15 which a small to medium aperture telescope will reveal.
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| Moving on, we're going to take a slight detour and jump ever so slightly out of Scutum and into Serpens Cauda to our next object, a beautiful cluster with intense nebulosity, The Eagle Nebula - M16(6.0). Don't expect to see the eagle shape in anything but a large telescope fitted with a nebula filter. You will, of course, be able to see some nebulosity. The Hubble Space Telescope image of The Eagle Nebula has been published in many sources. It has been termed the "Pillars of Creation". This refers to the fact that large-scale star formation is occurring deep within the nebula. The stars formed within this nebula will ultimately lead to it's demise. As they begin to shine brightly, they'll burn all the gas which surrounds them. Additionally, a strong stellar wind will disperse the remaining gas. Aren't we lucky to view this object in it's current state :) |  |
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Moving back into Scutum we come to our final stop, this weeks Utah Skies Challenge
- Globular Cluster NGC6712 mag(8.25). Located some 21,000 light years
away, NGC6712 is thought to be very near the galactic center. To find this
illusive cluster, return to M11 which we found earlier and move slightly
more than 2 degrees to the south. NGC6712 stands out well against the
dense stellar background of the Scutum Star Cloud.
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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.
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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 Cygnus.
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Utah Skies first public star party was a big
success. Stay tuned for more details on our next event by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org |