Report for 2001-08-31
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
| Sunrise: 6:53 am | Sunset: 8:02 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 5:15 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 9:40 pm |
| Moonrise: 7:24 pm | Moonset: 4:32 am |
Star Party Review
| Last weekends Utah Skies Star Party was a wonderful success. The weather was great for the event and we got to see a whole host of shallow and deep sky wonders. Thanks to all who attended. Utah Skies would like to send a special thanks to Chris and the folks over at the Snyderville Recreation District for helping to make this event a success. |
Viewing Outlook
| After a bit of unsettled weather, it looks like we're in for a couple of nice, clear nights in the middle of the upcoming Labor Day weekend. So, if your plans will be taking you to darker skies, make sure to pack your telescope or binoculars. Many of the objects covered in this report are easy targets for even the smallest telescopes and binoculars. |
| The Hubble Space Telescope has distinguished itself as the premier source of astronomical images. Amazing HST images have graced the covers of major magazines and newspapers world wide. In recognition of the amazing advances in astronomy and physics which have come from Hubble discoveries, we'd like to devote a section of this report to share some of them with you. We'll start things off this week with a double whammy. | |
| NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured
this image of an unusual edge-on galaxy, revealing remarkable details of its warped dusty disk and showing how colliding galaxies spawn the formation of new generations of stars. The dust and spiral arms of normal spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, appear flat when viewed edge-on. This Hubble Heritage image of ESO 510-G13 shows a galaxy that, by contrast, has an unusual twisted disk structure. ESO 510-G13 lies in the southern constellation Hydra, roughly 150 million light-years from Earth. |
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Rising from a sea of dust and gas like a giant seahorse, the Horsehead nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the sky. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took a close-up look at this heavenly icon, revealing the cloud's intricate structure. This detailed view of the horse's head
was released to celebrate the orbiting observatory's eleventh anniversary. Produced by the Hubble Heritage Project, this picture is a testament to the Horsehead's popularity. Internet voters selected this object for the orbiting telescope to view. The Horsehead, also known as Barnard 33, is a cold, dark cloud of gas and dust, silhouetted against the bright nebula, IC 434. The bright area at the top left edge is a young star still embedded in its nursery of gas and dust. But radiation from this hot star is eroding the stellar nursery. The top of the nebula also is being sculpted by radiation from a massive star located out of Hubble's field of view. |
Solar Activity
| According to spaceweather.com, The Sun is
peppered with spots that could unleash powerful solar flares. The greatest threat for such an eruption comes from sunspot 9591, which has a complex delta-class magnetic field. Sunspots 9600 and 9601 have twisted beta-gamma fields that could likewise harbor energy for M- or even X-class flares. Finally, fast-growing active region 9599 is an x-ray hot spot that bears watching. Each of these sunspots is larger than our entire planet! In fact, some are many times larger. The sun is the only star on which we can see any surface details. You can safely view the sun by equipping your telescope with a solar filter. Solar astronomy is a growing area amongst amateur astronomers. Several of the solar images on the Utah Skies website were taken by amateurs. Check them out! |
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Lunar
Phase
| The moon will be full on Sunday. This means that we'll basically have a big bright moon all night. So, why fight it? The moon is a wonderful viewing subject. Point your telescope or binoculars towards the moon or just go out and take a look! |
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Planetary Report
| Mars is rising in the southeast around
4:15 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. We'll be losing Mars early in the fall. The Earth is rapidly pulling away from Mars in it's orbit causing Mars to continue to shrink - it is currently
down to 13" from 21" in June. Additionally,
it continues to dim slightly as well - currently shining at magnitude
-0.86 Mars reaches
its Zenith, or highest point in the sky, around 8:30pm. Best views of the
planet start as soon as you can find it. The accompanying view of Mars by the Hubble Space Telescope centers on 160° longitude. Notice how prominently the polar ice cap decorates the top of the planet. |
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Saturn joins us now about
12:20am. If
you're a night owl, you might even see this happen. Look for Saturn in the
east-northeast. At magnitude 0.08,
Saturn is brighter than any of the stars in that area of the sky. Also,
as the Earth nears Saturn in it's orbit, it continues to grow -- currently
at to 18". Saturn is larger and will soon be brighter than Mars.
Get out there and checkout Saturn. If you've never done so through a telescope, you're in for a big surprise. The accompanying Hubble Space Telescope image of Saturn, captured in infrared and digitally enhanced, reveals many subtle variations in the planet's cloud top. In a telescope, these are visible as shades of white. Also, notice how closed the rings are in this image. Compare this to what you observe in your telescope. The rings are currently approaching their greatest tilt. |
| Next, look for Jupiter rising around
2:00am. Jupiter is the king of the Planets. It is more massive than
all the other planets combined. Jupiter is currently shining at mag -2.07
and it has grown to a whopping 35".
The accompanying family portrait shows lots of detail on the giant planet as well as close-up images of it's 4 largest moons. The moons orbit Jupiter over the course of a couple of days to a few weeks. Don't expect much detail out of the moons though. You'll typically have to settle for watching their ever changing orbits. This is one of my favorite aspects of Jupiter observing. Check out the tools section of the Utah Skies website for a cool java applet which depicts the relative position of the four major moons.
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| Venus is the last to arrive on the scene, rising at about 4:10. While not impressive telescopically, Venus is stunning to the naked eye. If you're outside prior to the sun rising, make sure to look to the east. You'll see an impressive lineup of planets. |
| 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 Delphinius the dolphin. According to legend, Delphinius carried Arion the Greek poet to shore after he was thrown into the sea by pirates. Located between Pegasus and Aquila, Delphinius is made up of four stars in a diamond shape.
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Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Delphinius.
| We begin our journey through Delphinius with a visit to the double star Gamma Delphinius. This yellowish pair, located in the northeast corner of the constellation are magnitudes 4.3 and 5.1. They are separated by 9.2" -- making them an easy target for any decent telescope. Estimates place this duo at a distance of about 100 light years. |
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next stop brings us to globular cluster NGC7006 (mag10.6). This star
cluster is one of our galaxy's most remote, with an estimated distance of
over 110,000 light years! |
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Also
in Delphinius is another globular cluster NGC6934(mag8.9). This large bright
globular appears considerably brighter than NGC7006 because it is significantly
closer. Estimates place NGC6934 about 50,000 light years from us. |
| We'll wrap up our journey through Delphinius with a visit to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC6928(mag12.6). This small galaxy is about 2.2' x 0.8'. What should help you in locating this object is it's place in the center of a small galaxy cluster. NGC6928 will be the brightest galaxy in the bunch. |  |
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. |
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 -- estimates for the US alone exceed $2,000,000,000 (2 Billion Dollars). The study also 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. Light pollution is easily cleaned up, however. Use only as much light as you
need Help us 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 constellations Capricornus.
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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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