Report for 2001-10-12
Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
| Sunrise: 7:35 am | Sunset: 6:53 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Ends: 6:04 am | Astronomical Twilight Begins: 8:24 pm |
| Moonrise: 2:19 am | Moonset: 5:01 pm |
| Who cares about the snow :) We're doing it again. Utah Skies would like to invite you to attend our next star party. The event will take place under the dark skies of Park City's Trailside Park on Saturday night October the 20th. The party will run from 7:00pm until 1:00am. Checkout our Star Party Itinerary for details of the nights observing schedule or our Trailside Park map for those who need directions. Dress warm and plan on having a great time. |
| On Tuesday morning the Sun hurled a full-halo coronal mass ejection toward Earth. The expanding cloud, which sped away from the Sun traveling approximately 1000 km/s, could strike our planet's magnetosphere as soon as Thursday, Oct. 11th. Sky watchers, especially those living above geomagnetic latitude 50 degrees, should remain alert for Northern Lights during the nights ahead. The best time to spot auroras is usually around local midnight. |
| After a bit of unsettled weather, we're all set to do some serious observing again. Skies are predicted to be clear and steady towards the end of the weekend and into next week. So, get dress warm and get out there and observe. Make sure you setup your telescope outside at least 30-60 minutes prior to viewing. This will allow the telescope to come to thermal equilibrium. If your telescope is kept in a cool place, like your unheated garage, then you can probably get by with the shorter cool down period. If, on the other hand, you store your telescope inside your warm, cozy house, you'll need every one of the 60 minutes to adjust to the colder temperatures outside. |
| 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 worldwide. 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. | |
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Peering into the Core of a Globular Cluster
Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to peer into the center of a dense swarm of stars called Omega Centauri. Located some 17,000 light-years from Earth, Omega Centauri is a massive globular star cluster, containing several million stars swirling in locked orbits around a common center of gravity. The stars are packed so densely in the cluster's core that it is difficult for ground-based telescopes to make out individual stars. Hubble's high resolution is able to pick up where ground-based telescopes leave off, capturing distinct points of light from stars at the very center of the cluster. Omega Centauri is a very large star cluster with a diameter equal to that of a full moon. It is also the most luminous and massive globular star cluster in the Milky Way. It is one of the few globular clusters that can be seen with the unaided eye. Named by Johann Bayer in 1603 as the 24th brightest object in the constellation Centaurus, it resembles a small cloud in the southern sky and might easily be mistaken for a comet. |
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Aurora Alert: Magnetic fields above sunspot 9653 erupted yesterday (Oct. 9th at 1110 UT) and hurled a full-halo coronal mass ejection toward Earth. The expanding cloud, which sped away from the Sun traveling approximately 1000 km/s, could strike our planet's magnetosphere as soon as Thursday, Oct. 11th. Sky watchers, especially those living above geomagnetic latitude 50 degrees, should remain alert for Northern Lights during the nights ahead. The best time to spot auroras is usually around local midnight. |
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The moon is heading back to new again on Tuesday. As
such, it'll rise really early in the morning -- after 2:00am. So, we'll have
lots of time to find our deep sky favorites. The moon, however, is at its
best for observing. Sporting a small crescent phase, it'll offer up subtle
details which would be invisible during the full phase. Check it out! I took The accompanying image using a 10" f/4.5 reflector.
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| Mars is rising in the southeast around 3:05 pm. It will be high in the south-southwest by the time it gets dark. We're rapidly losing Mars. The Earth has pulled away from Mars in it's orbit causing Mars to shrink - it is currently down to a measly 10" from 21" in June. Mars has finally reached the size where we're basically be unable to make out any surface detail. It has dimmed significantly as well - currently shining at magnitude -0.2 down from -2.4 in June. |
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Saturn joins us now about 9:40
pm. Look for Saturn in the
east-northeast. Saturn has grown to an an impressive 20" and
currently shines at magnitude -0.13.
The accompanying image shows Saturn along with its most prominent moons. Note that this image does not in any way capture the true scale of things. Saturn is many, many times larger than any of its moons. Note the varied colors and surface details present in the moons.
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| Next, look for Jupiter rising around
11:40pm. Jupiter is the king of the Planets. It is more massive than
all the other planets combined. Jupiter is currently shining at mag -2.31 and it
covers a whopping 40". That's more than twice the apparent size of Saturn and
almost 5 times that
of Mars! Jupiter is also rising earlier each week. It'll soon take is
rightful place as the star of nighttime observing targets. I got some
really nice views of Jupiter on Monday morning. As dawn came upon me an my
telescope, Io was in the early phases of one of its regular transits. You
definitely need to add Jupiter to your list of regular viewing targets
again.
And, speaking of transits, you have to 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. It's called JavaJup. I regularly refer to JavaJup to help plan my viewing sessions. The accompanying image shows Jupiter along with its 4 most prominent moons. Note that this image IS rendered in true scale. Notice how Jupiter totally dominates its orbiting moons. |
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| Venus is the last to arrive on the scene,
rising at about 5:45 am. While still the brightest planet in the sky
at mag -3.94, Venus is now rising close to sunrise and definitely losing some
of its brilliance to the soon to be rising sun. Notice that I emphasized
the word some. I saw Venus the other morning and it still looked pretty
impressive. If you're out before the sunrise, take a glance to the east.
You'll see Venus blazing away. Anyway....We'll get another amazing performance from Venus late in the winter and into the spring as it takes charge of the nighttime sky. |
| 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 Cepheus. This circumpolar constellation represents the Ethiopian king, Cepheus (SEE-fee-us). He sits atop the Milky Way on a throne near his queen Cassiopeia who we'll visit in the not too distant future. |
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Deep Sky Report
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The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Cepheus. To find Cepheus, look high and towards the north after sunset. Cepheus is home to, among other things, the Garnet Star. The Garnet Star is one of the reddest stars known. A huge red giant, much like Betelgeuse in Orion, its size is uncertain, but if its center were where our sun is, we would be inside it. |
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Let's start things off with Open Cluster NGC188(mag8.1) Visible in an 8" as a soft glow, this cluster requires at least a 12" to resolve its mag 12 member stars. Located just 4° south of the pole star Polaris, this cluster might be hard to find on an equatorially mounted telescope. You'll probably have much better luck with an alt-az type of scope such as a Dobsonian. This cluster is one of the oldest known with estimates placing its age at approximately 6 billion years. |
| Next up is a fine Planetary Nebula, NGC40(mag10.7). This object appears almost star-like at lower powers, but will reveal a great amount of detail in an 8" or larger telescope at higher powers. Located about 5* southeast of gamma Cephei, this nebula reveals significant detail with increasing aperture and magnification. I have heard that you may benefit from the use of various nebula filters, esp. UHC. |  |
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Next up is a beautiful Reflection Nebula, NGC7023(mag7.1). The nebulosity in this object is much easier to see than the better known nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades. This object is fairly small, but pretty easy to see. As you'll notice in the accompanying image, the nebula is surrounded by what appears to be some dark, obscuring material. Astronomers speculate that this is just an un-illuminated portion of the nebula itself. Anyway, this dark matter makes the illuminated portion stand out in much higher contrast. Located about 3.5° southwest of Beta Cephei, you'll come across a beautiful red star about 1/2 ° before you reach your target. This red star, by the way, is what astronomers refer to as a variable star. It's brightness varies from mag 6 to mag 10. |
| Next up is Sh2-155 better known as The
Cave Nebula. The Cave Nebula is a dim emission nebula in Cepheus. It is the concave border on the upper right of the image that gives this nebula its descriptive nickname. To locate this elusive object, go about 3.75° SSE of Iota Cephei, slip in your lowest power eyepiece and your nebula filter. Without a filter, this picture might be your only hope of seeing it. The accompanying image by Michael Stecker |
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Next, check out IC1396(mag 7.1). Located about 6° north of Alpha Cephei, this beautiful cluster and nebula span approximately 18' and is some 3000 light years from Earth. IC1396 is a large red emission nebula with several dark components of obscuring dust and gas (dark nebulae). In the north is B161 and in the south the larger B160. Multiple bright rimmed dark globules can also be seen. Bright nebula vdB142 can be seen just to the right of center. The bright star Mu Cephei is seen along the upper left border of the nebula. It is a huge very luminous star called the "Garnet Star" because of it ruddy color. |
| We don't usually have two images for a given object, but... I just found this beautiful image of vdB142. Captured by Arne Henden of the US Naval Observatory and Al Kelly, this is an extreme close-up of a portion of the preceding image. |  |
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Our final stop in Cepheus leads us to
this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, NGC6946(mag8.8) Checkout this awesome image by Robert Gendler. Viewed almost perfectly face-on, this is one of our nearest galactic neighbors at about 18 million light years. Unfortunately for us, this beauty is partially obscured by inter-stellar matter. Located about 2° southwest of Eta Cephei, this beauty of a galaxy is quite easy to find. However, to see those beautiful spiral arms will require a large aperture and dark skies. Maybe we'll show you this beauty at the star party? |
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.
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos
and focus on the constellation Andromeda.
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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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