Report for 2001-08-17
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Utah Skies Star Party
| Please plan on joining us for another fun-filled journey 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 the lunar surface. 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. |
Lunar
Phase
| The moon will be new tomorrow night. As
such, it'll rise just before sunrise and set just before sunset. The moon will
display a tiny crescent phase to those who are able to find it. The accompanying image shows that the far side of the moon appears even more heavily cratered than the side facing us. |
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The moon as imaged by Apollo 16 |
| Sunrise: 6:39 am | Sunset: 8:24 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 4:56 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 10:06 pm |
| Moonrise: 4:37 am | Moonset: 7:50 pm |
Viewing Outlook
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The Perseid Meteor Shower peaked last weekend. We saw quite a
few bright meteors streak across the sky. Lots of ooh's and aah's were heard
throughout the evening. We're just getting over the cranky weather which started the week off. Good thing... We certainly wouldn't want to waste the dark skies afforded us by a new moon. Get out there and do some viewing:) |
Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around
4:40 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 15" from 21" in June. Additionally,
it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude
-1.13
Mars reaches
its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 8:50pm. Best views of the
planet start as soon as you can find it, currently around 8:45pm. |
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Saturn joins us now about
1:10am. If
you're a night owl, you might even see this happen. Look for Saturn in the
east-northeast. At magnitude 0.13,
Saturn is brighter than any of the stars in that area of the sky.
Saturn continues to work itself towards the nighttime. By the first week in September, Saturn will be rising before midnight. Given that many people would rather stay up late than get up early, it is starting to get easier to view Saturn. 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. The accompanying Hubble Space Telescope image of Saturn shows the rings in a more closed phase. Currently, Saturn is tilted up much higher, opening the rings to just about their maximum point. |
| Next, look for Jupiter around 2:45am.
Jupiter is, without a doubt, my favorite planetary target. The amount of
detail which can be seen in an amateur telescope is incredible. While
you're not going to match the accompanying image, it at least gives you an
idea of what's there to be seen. I have come close to this on nights of
excellent seeing.
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| Venus is the last to arrive on the scene, rising at 3:45am. Venus has finally fallen below mag -4...It's now at mag -3.99. Venus continues to rise later and later. We'll soon lose Venus as it leaves the morning sky to move to the evening sky early next year. For the next couple of months, we'll still see Venus shining brightly in the east in the pre-dawn hours. |
| 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 Aquila The Eagle. Aquila was a messenger for Zeus, who rewarded his faithful friend with a place among the stars after years of service. Aquila is located south of Vulpecula which we covered last week and northeast of Scutum which we visited a few weeks back.
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Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of
Aquila.
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To
begin with, I'd like to tell you that this region is going to challenge
your observing skills. Except for a couple of bright double and triple
stars, the deep sky objects in this constellation are either very faint,
very small, or both. Let's begin by observing Aquila's alpha star, Altair(mag0.77). Altair is the 12th brightest star in the sky. Altair is located 16 light years, making it one of our nearer neighbors. Altair is 1.5 times the size of our sun and 9 times brighter. Altair rotates quite rapidly. It completes one rotation in only 6.5 hours. By contrast, our Sun takes 25.4 days to complete the same rotation. |
Next
up is Aquila's Beta star, Alschain(mag3.71). This visual double is quite
difficult to separate. Alschain's companion is 12.8" away. This distance
would typically be easy to split, however the red dwarf companion is rather
faint -- about mag 12, making it about 1/1600 as bright as as Alschain. You'll
definitely need top notch optics and clear steady skies for this one. Go ahead!
Give it a shot! Another interesting thing to look for as you scan the area are several Dark Nebula B133 & B143. Located about 1.5° west of Gamma Aquilae, these clouds of dark matter seem to split the otherwise dense Milky Way region in two. Observers will get the feeling that they are being prevented from seeing what lies behind these clouds as opposed to merely looking at a starless region. You'll definitely want a wide field of view for viewing these objects - large wide field binoculars or a short, fast telescope. |
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This image taken by Astro-photographer Jerry Lodriguss of the Pipe Dark Nebula in neighboring Ophiuchus is a prime example of this type of object. |
| Let's check out open star
cluster NGC6709(mag6.7). Undoubtedly the easiest object in this weeks
list, this rich loose cluster has a diameter of about 13'. It is made up
of about 40 stars.
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A beautiful image of |
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Next up is planetary nebula NGC6781 (mag11.8). This faint round nebula resembles the waning crescent moon in most telescopic views. With a diameter of 1.8', this tiny object will take some searching for. Once you track it down, it should handle magnification fairly well. |
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Next up is the triple star system NGC6859.
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We'll wrap up our journey through Aquila with a visit to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object Spiral Galaxy NGC6814(mag11.2). With a size of about 3.2' x 3.0', this is another object which will test your skills. |
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? |
Old news to astronomers: satellite data show that light pollution has become serious throughout the world — and especially in the United States. Colors indicate night-sky brightness directly overhead due to artificial light: only the black areas are totally free of large-scale light pollution.
While the east is undoubtedly the worst offender, I can easily make
out the Wasatch Front in this image. At a time when politicians are struggling to control soaring energy costs, a new study by Italian and American researchers underscores just how much electricity we waste as light beamed uselessly into space. The study reveals that about two-third's of the world's population — and 99 percent of those living in the U.S. — endure at least some degree of light pollution in their nighttime sky. Worse, more than two-thirds of Americans and half of all Europeans can no longer discern the Milky Way with the unaided eye even on clear, "dark" nights. 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 constellations Sagitta, Delphinius and Equuleus.
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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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