Report for 2001-08-10
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Meteor Shower
| The Perseid Meteor Shower is approaching
it's peak tomorrow night Saturday August 11. Meteor counts are expected to
rise to over 60 meteors per hour. Why is this happening you may be
wondering??? Well, let me tell you. Every
August like clockwork, the Earth passes through the debris trail of the
comet Swift-Tuttle. And every August like clockwork, sky watchers on Earth
are treated to a very special event. The Perseid Meteor Shower. . The Perseid's are the Old Faithful of meteor showers. They never fail to deliver. Meteor Watching - The BasicsNever been to a meteor watching party? Don’t worry. Meteor watching is one of the easiest forms of astronomy. There are only a couple of things to keep in mind:
Once all the preparations have been made, just go out in your yard, turn off all your lights and make yourself
comfortable. As I mentioned, at it's peak, over 60 meteors an hour are
not uncommon - and there are always a few spectacular displays. Also, since the
radian of the meteor shower is in the constellation Perseus, be sure to
face towards the northeast. Also, once the moon rises, you'll want to
prevent moonlight from shining in your eyes. A good way to do this is to
place your house or other obstruction between you and the moon. |
Utah Skies Star Party
| Our last event was such a hit that we're going to do it all over again. Please join us for a fun-filled adventure through the universe at Park City's Trailside Park on Friday night August the 24th from 8:30pm until 1:00am. Coming just one night before the first quarter moon, we'll start things off with some spectacular views of our nearest neighbor. Then as the sky darkens, we'll travel across our galaxy and beyond. We'll see star clusters, nebulas and much, much more. So, mark your calendar and plan on the journey of a lifetime. |
The Hubble Space Telescope
| The Hubble Space Telescope is an orbiting
observatory which was first dreamt of in the 1940s, designed and built in the 1970s and 80s, and
became operational only in the 1990s. Many of the finest astronomical
images currently available are products of the HST. Hubble is not the largest telescope. What then makes it capable of capturing such amazing images? Like they say in real estate... location, location, location. Located high above the Earth, Hubble is able to capture images unaffected by our planet's turbulent atmosphere. |
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Lunar
Phase
| The moon will be at last quarter tonight. As
such, it'll rise after midnight and set after noon. The moon will still dominate the nighttime
sky once it rises. The smaller crescent phases are my favorite time
to view the moon. It is not as overwhelmingly bright and as the terminator
moves across the moon, intricate details which were previously hidden
become visible. Have you ever viewed the moon through a telescope during the day? You should try it some time. Pull your telescope out after breakfast and shoot the moon. Of course you don't need to use a telescope to view the moon. Just step outside your house and look towards the sky. It's there waiting for you. |
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| The moon as imaged by this month's Astro-Photographer of the Month, Jeff Stys |
| Sunrise: 6:32 am | Sunset: 8:33 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:46 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:19 pm |
| Moonrise: 11:57 pm | Moonset: 12:33 pm |
Viewing Outlook
After a bit of cranky weather, things are looking up for the
weekend and beyond. Let's hope so...
Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around
5:00 pm. 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 16" from 21". Additionally,
it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude
-1.28
Mars reaches
its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 9:15pm. Best views of the
planet start as soon as you can find it, currently around 9:00pm. Mars is in the midst of a planet wide dust storm. Details on the planets surface have become quite elusive. Checkout the image at right. Taken by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor, it captures a growing dust storm as it rages across the surface of the planet. |
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A Martian dust storm imaged by the Global Surveyor |
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Saturn joins us now about 1:40am. If
you're a night owl, you might even see this happen. Look for Saturn in the
east-northeast. At magnitude 0.14,
Saturn is brighter than any of the stars in that area of the sky.
Saturn will remain a morning object for the next couple of months as it slowly works it's way into the nighttime sky this fall. 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. Take a look at the accompanying image taken by the
orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Did you know that Saturn's rings were not
solid? Well, they're not. They are made up of many particles of rock and
ice which orbit the giant planet. And as you can also see, they are also not
continuous. There are several breaks. The most noticeable is called the
Cassini Division, name after Giovanni Cassini who in 1675 first discovered
the gap. There are several other gaps which can be seen in the image as
well. |
| Next, look for Jupiter around 3:15am and
Venus around 3:40am in the northeast just
slightly north of where Saturn rose. After a beautiful conjunction on
Monday, the two planets will be going their separate ways. Jupiter
continues to rise earlier... and Venus is beginning to rise later. Venus,
like Mercury before it, will begin to sink into the glare of the sun and
again move into the western sky. The beautiful image at right shows Venus along with Jupiter on Sunday August 5th. You'll also notice 4 of Jupiter's moons (top to bottom Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa). Hope you were able to see this!
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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 Vulpecula. Vulpecula is located due south of Cygnus which we covered last week. Vulpecula is home to one of the sky's most famous Messier objects as well as 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
Vulpecula.
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begin, let's check out one of my favorite deep sky objects - The Dumbbell
Nebula M27(mag7.6). M27 is located about 3° due north of Gamma
Sagitta. This large planetary nebula spans about 1/4° - roughly half
the diameter of the full moon. Once you figure out it's location, M27
should be an easy target in anything larger that 10x50 binoculars. In
larger aperture instruments, the Dumbbell is awesome. When I'm sweeping
towards the Dumbbell, I am always startled as it explodes into view. M27
is believed to be about 815 light years away, making it one of the closer
planetary nebulas. Astronomers estimate that around 48,000 years ago, the
gaseous material which makes up the nebula was cast away from it's central
star in several colossal events. The nebula is actually made up of two
shells, each expanding at different rates.
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A beautiful image of M27 The Dumbbell Nebula by Al Kelly |
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Next up is open star cluster NGC6830(mag8.5). Located almost due west of M27. This small open cluster is made up of about 20 stars to mag 11. Given the number of stars in this area, you may have trouble spotting it. |
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Next up is open star cluster NGC6885(mag6). Located about 4° north of M27, this cluster is home to about 35 stars ranging from mag 6 to mag 11 including the bright star in the center of the image 20 Vulpecula. Estimates place this cluster about 1900 light years distant.
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We'll wrap up our journey through
Vulpecula with a visit to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object
NGC6940(mag 6.4). Located about 4.5°
northeast of NGC6885, this rich open cluster is made up of roughly 100
stars to mag 9. NGC6940 has a diameter about the size of the full moon
(31'), and is approximately 2600 light years away.
Good Luck! |
If you are able to find all of these objects, 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. |
Mankind is proceeding to envelope itself in a luminous fog.
Recent studies indicate that more than two thirds of the US population
has already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way. 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 Aquila.
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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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