Report for 2001-08-03
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Meteor Shower
The Perseid Meteor Shower is under way. Meteor counts have been steadily rising for the last week or so. They'll reach their peak next Saturday night August 11. The Perseid's are the Old Faithful of meteor shower. They never fail to deliver. Guess what. Viewing the Perseid's couldn't be simpler. Just go out in your yard, turn off all your lights and make yourself comfortable. I like to setup a hammock. Some people prefer blankets. The key is to be comfortable and remove any stress from your neck since you'll be gazing up at the heavens for an extended period. At it's peak, over 50 meteors an hour are not uncommon - and there are always a few spectacular displays. Invite your family and friends to enjoy a different kind of event. Sit and relax under a beautiful sky and watch the show.
Lunar
Phase
| The moon will be full tonight. As you can see from
the chart below, the moon will essentially rise at sunset and set around
sunrise. The full moon will dominate the nighttime sky. The intense
brightness of the full moon makes telescopic viewing without some sort of
filters difficult. I typically use a variable polarizing filter. This
filter allows me to select the amount of dimming to match my needs. I can
set it relatively low for the first quarter moon or crank it all the way
up to view the full moon. Of course you don't need to use a telescope to view the full moon. Just step outside your house and look towards the sky. Whatever direction the full moon is you'll automatically be drawn to it. The full moon will cast strong shadows at dark sites. |
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| Sunrise: 6:25 am | Sunset: 8:41 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:35 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:31 pm |
| Moonrise: 8:47 pm | Moonset: 5:41 am |
Viewing Outlook
After a nice week, the weekend weather forecast is
looking less than ideal. Let's hope for a quick batch of much needed rain and
then a return to clear skies.
Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around 5:20 pm
tonight. It will be high in the south as it's getting dark dark.
Mars will be the bright, reddish star-like object. You can't miss it! Don't
wait to check it out much longer.
The Earth is pulling away from Mars in it's orbit causing Mars to continue to shrink - it is currently
down to 17" from 21". Additionally,
it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude -1.4
Mars reaches
its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 9:30pm. Best views of the
planet start as soon as you can find it, currently around 9:00pm. |
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Mars as imaged by the incomparable Al Kelly |
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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
2:00 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 couple of months before it moves into the nighttime sky this
fall. Saturn is currently shining at mag 0.15, about as bright as the
brightest stars currently visible in the sky. Saturn will brighten
noticeably in the fall and early winter as the Earth's orbit bring the two planets closer.
This will provide us with some wonderful viewing opportunities. For
example, views like the one to the left can often be achieved in amateur telescopes.
In fact, the image was taken by an amateur astronomer. Ok... so he's one
of the best ...but it's still not his day job ;) |
| Next, look for Jupiter and Venus to rise around 3:30am in the northeast just
slightly north of where Saturn rose. Over the next couple of mornings
the two planets will drift closer and closer in the sky. These are the two
brightest planets, so it ought to be quite a beautiful sight. By Monday morning,
they'll be separated by only 1.2 degrees - well within the low power field
of view of most telescopes. If anyone photographs this beautiful sight,
please scan the picture and e-mail us a copy. We'd like to add it to the
site. Ok, back to the planets.
Jupiter will be the dimmer of the two - and
slightly further north. Jupiter at mag 2.0 is an amazing object to observe. It's size
and brightness reveal a wealth of details. Jupiter is the largest of all
the planets. In fact, it is larger than all the other planets combined!
Checkout the colorful cloud bands and the dance of it's orbiting moons.
The Hubble image at right shows both Jupiter and it's moon Io in
incredible detail. Notice the shadow which Io casts on Jupiter's surface.
This is one of my favorite aspects of Jupiter observing - watching it's
moons. Every night, the moons are arranged in a different pattern.
Sometimes moons drift behind the giant planet. This is referred to as an
occultation. Other times, the moons drift in front. This is referred to as
a transit. These can be quite interesting to watch. On nights of excellent
seeing conditions, you can watch the moons drift slowly across the face of
Jupiter - these are relatively rare evenings. Under more typical skies,
you might not be able to see the moon against the backdrop of Jupiter, but
you can usually see that inky black shadow of one or more moons drifting
across the surface. You can be sure that we'll announce these major
transits before and after they occur in future Utah Skies Reports. |
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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 Cygnus. Cygnus is located due east of the constellation Lyra, which we covered a couple of weeks ago. To find Cygnus, simply face towards the southeast after dark and look overhead. Cygnus is a fairly prominent constellation having several bright stars marking it's shape. Cygnus looks like a cross, where the crossbeam is the swan's wings. Cygnus, its long neck stretched out, flies south for the winter along one of the brightest regions of the Milky Way. Around Christmas Eve at sunset the Cross stands upright on the northwest horizon. Cygnus is home to several Messier objects plus a handful of NGC objects. Additionally, astronomers have been studying intense x-ray emissions from the center of Cygnus. It is believed that this area is home to a large black hole.
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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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begin, let's check out the stars of Cygnus.
Deneb is a bluish-white super-giant, one of the most luminous stars known. Estimates suggest that it is roughly 60,000 times more luminous than the sun and 25 times more massive. To put things in perspective, because it is so far away(3200 light years), Deneb appears to us as only the 20th brightest star in our sky. But if Deneb were as near as Sirius, which is our brightest star, then it would shine as brightly as the Moon. If Deneb were as close as Alpha-Centauri (four light-years away), we could read by its light. Deneb represents the tail of the swan. Next, we come to one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky - Albireo. These stars, which represent the beak of the swan, are so close together that they appear as one star when viewed with the naked eye or even binoculars. However, Albireo is actually a beautiful pair of stars when viewed through a telescope, one is yellow(mag3.1) and the other is blue(mag5.1). Albireo is believed to be a physical double - meaning that the stars are gravitationally bound . |
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A beautiful image of the double star Albireo as imaged by Jeff MacQuarrie |
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Next up is our first deep sky object, open cluster M29(mag6.6).
This small cluster contains only a few dozen stars. It appears most like a
cluster when viewed through a small aperture instrument at lower powers.
At higher powers, you might even overlook it given the number of stars in
this area of the Milky Way. I viewed this object using a pair of 10x50
binoculars while camping this past weekend - it looked really sweet. If
you're going to be under dark skies this weekend make sure you pack your
binoculars. They're great for viewing wildlife during the daylight hours,
but they're even better for viewing the heavens under clear dark skies! To find M29, look about 2° south-southeast of mag2.2 Gamma Cygni.
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| Moving on, we come to another beautiful open cluster M39(4.6). This is a large, loose open cluster. It is located about 9 °east and slightly north of Deneb (Alpha Cygni). At a distance of only about 800 light years it is one of the closest star clusters. Several of the member stars can be seen with the naked eye and over a dozen are visible in 10x50 binoculars. This cluster stands out nicely against the dense backdrop of stars in this area. |  |
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Next up is one of my all-time favorites NGC6960,
NGC6992 & NGC6995- The
Veil Nebula. This colossal multi-segmented nebula complex spans several
degree of sky. Viewing it requires several things: 1) Clear dark skies and
2) An OIII nebula filter. Without the filter, this object is quite illusive. I have compared the two views on several occasions - trust me on this one. I viewed the Veil last weekend from my campsite at 9400' overlooking the Strawberry Reservoir in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah. The views were absolutely amazing. Will you be camping this weekend? If so... make sure you pack your telescope. You will improve the performance of ANY telescope by viewing from darker skies. To find the various components of the Veil, look about a degree or two southwest of the midpoint between the eastern outer wing segment. Between each component you'll find clumps of nebulosity scattered about.
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An amazing image of the Veil Nebula by Robert Gendler |
| Moving on, we come to another interesting object, the planetary nebula NGC6826(mag9.8), also known as the Blinking Nebula. This is probably due to the fact that the central star is bright enough to be seen with averted vision, but disappears when viewed directly. This object is located approximately 3200 light years distant and has an apparent diameter of 2.3'. The Blinking Nebula can be found about 1.5° southeast of Iota Cygni. |  |
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Next up is The Crescent Nebula NGC6888. Located at the southwest edge of a huge nebula complex, this object was made famous by a very impressive Hubble Space Telescope image. While you won't see the vibrant colors in your telescope, you will see lots of three dimensional structure. The Crescent Nebula can be found about 2.5° to the southwest of Gamma Cygni. |
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An amazing image of the The Crescent Nebula by - who else - Robert Gendler. Is this guy good or what? |
| Next up is a nebula which mimics life on earth - The North
American Nebula NGC7000. Located a couple of degrees northeast of Deneb,
this colossal nebula spans an area 2 ° by
1.7 °. The nebula located off the "east coast" in this image is IC5067-70. Although viewed separately, this nebula is actually physically a part of NGC7000. A band of dark nebula is all that actually separates the two. NGC7000 can be found about 2° east and slight south of Deneb. |
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| The North American Nebula as imaged by Russ Dickman |
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We'll wrap up our journey through Cygnus
with a visit to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object IC5146(mag 7.25).
You may be wondering what IC is. We've visited plenty of M and NGC
objects. M as you know stands for Messier - The great French comet hunter. The NGC and its supplements IC I and IC II were originally compiled by J.L.E. Dreyer and published 1887 (NGC), 1895 (IC I) and 1907 (ICII). This all encompassing list contains star clusters, nebulae, supernova remnants as well as all types of galaxies. Back to IC5146. This small cluster with nebulosity should give you quite a challenge. You'll definitely want to view from a dark sky location as the number of member stars is relatively small and the nebulosity relatively faint. To find this illusive object, you'll need to move to the eastern most region of Cygnus. IC5146 is located about 3.5° east-southeast of M39 which you found earlier. Good Luck! |
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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Has there ever been more waste than
this? Hardly. |
Are you tired of poorly planned and
implemented lighting in your
community? Speak up. It's time to be heard. Just as there are
ordinances to control noise pollution, we need to work control light
pollution. Light Pollution is a waste of money and natural resources.
Light Pollution damages the environment and destroys the aesthetic beauty of our
neighborhoods. Light Pollution is generally obnoxious to those around
it. There are many obnoxious lights in my neighborhood. I have spoken
with several of my neighbors about their outdoor lights. They were,
for the most part, completely unaware that there was an issue. Most
have been quite accommodating in dealing with this issue. Essentially,
it boils down to education. Since many people never give the issue a
second thought, we need to give it to them. Let them know that they
are keeping people awake at night. Let them know that they are wasting
money and valuable resources. Let them know that there are more
effective ways to maintain home security. Let them know that there are
alternatives to this senseless waste. Additionally, we need to educate
the broader community. We need to let builders and realtors know that
wastefully deploying lights does not add to the value of our homes. In
fact, neighborhoods full of glaring and overbearing lights actually
look less appealing to potential homebuyers. People want to get away
from the lights of the big cities. They want to move to an area with a
rural feel. More lights do NOT create this type of environment.
And finally, we need to educate our government representatives. We
need to make them understand that the newest business in the area does
not need to use the brightest lights on the planet. We are not moths,
drawn to the fire. We want business lighting to provide only enough
lighting to allow us to move about safely. They should not be used to
send signals to the orbiting space station. The human eye only needs a
certain amount of light to see. Beyond that level of lighting, our
eyes adapt by shrinking the pupil size. You do not see any better on a
bright sunny day than on a slightly overcast day. In fact, sometimes
you see worse because you are blinded by the sun. The same holds true
with outdoor lighting. Beyond a certain point, our vision is not
improved. We merely compensate, by adjusting our pupil size. This nighttime
adjustment has a negative side as well. As soon as we leave this
overly bright area and move out into a less illuminated area, we are
temporarily blinded. So, by installing too much lighting, business are
essentially making things less safe. Write your councilman,
write your
representatives, write your congressmen. Speak up and be heard. To
find out more, check out the light pollution section of the Utah
Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org. Use our automated
legislative e-mail system to notify your representatives of your
dissatisfaction with the current situation. Tell them you want to see
only intelligent lighting solutions deployed.
We will 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 Vulpecula.
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Stay up to date on astronomical happenings by regularly
checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org
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