|
Report for 2002-03-01
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Welcome to the Utah Skies Report.
Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
Astronomical Times
| Sunrise: 7:02 am |
Sunset: 6:17 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Begins: 5:31 am |
Astronomical Twilight Ends: 7:48 pm |
| Moonrise: 9:29 pm |
Moonset: 8:43 am |
| Viewing has been a bit spotty lately,
but.. I've still managed to get some pretty nice views. Deep sky observing
has been all but out of the question given that the moon is so close to full,
but... planetary, lunar and solar viewing has been great. I caught the
moon next to Jupiter on Wednesday night. It was a pretty cool site. In
fact, we got a bunch of e-mail from people wondering what that bright star
next to the moon was. Of course we told them it was Jupiter. I've also
been monitoring the Sun lately. Just as one batch of sunspots is exiting,
another more numerous batch appears. I think we're do for a really good
aurora generating CME soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Additionally,
that big, bright moon is always a tempting target. |
We've got a bunch of sunspots covering the Sun at this
point. 
While there are no large ones at this point, several have twisted magnetic
fields surrounding them which could (hopefully) lead to future Earth-directed CME's. We'll be keeping an eye on these. In
fact, there was a huge CME recorded on Thursday 2/28. Unfortunately it was
not Earth-directed.
|
The International Space Station and The
Space Shuttle Columbia will each make several passes over the northern Utah this weekend.  These
are two of the brightest objects in the sky...with the ISS being the
brighter of the two. Either can easily be spotted
without any optical aids.  The
picture to the left shows the ISS cruising many miles above the Earth. The
picture to the right shows liftoff of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
|
|
Checkout NASA's
Human Spaceflight website for times when these spacecraft will be visible in your area.
They each will make numerous passes over the next week or so. Grab your
binoculars or telescope and see what kind of detail you can pick out. Or...
just go and eyeball humans is space. |
On February 1st, a new visitor to our
solar system was spotted low on the western horizon. 
Discovered independently by Kaoru Ikeya of Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, Daqing Zhang in Henan province,
China, Comet
Ikeya-Zhang is currently cruising north through the constellation Cetus.
Astronomers believe that the comet (currently around mag8.5) will brighten
significantly in coming months... possibly even to naked eye levels. You
can be sure that we'll be following this one closely as it's peak of
brightness is expected to be towards April... Just in time for the start
of the 2002 Utah Skies Star Party Season. Checkout this image captured
recently by Giovanni Sostero of Italy.
If you want to get an early jump on viewing Comet
Ikeya-Zhang, checkout this ephemeris
page. The comet is currently
approaching naked-eye visibility on it's way to a "guesstimated"
maximum of about mag4.0 towards the end of March. So, during the upcoming
Messier Marathon, we ought to be able to take a quick break and enjoy the
comet. |
The moon was full on Wednesday. 
The illuminated portion is again starting to shrink. We're headed back into
darker skies again. Did you ever wonder what this cycle looks like at
high speed? Checkout this cool time lapsed sequence of the lunar cycle by António Cidadão
which appeared on the Astronomy
Picture of the Day on November
8, 1999. If you don't see the image moving, hit your browsers
reload/refresh button.
The Moon has been in the spotlight all week. It
occulted Saturn in parts of Europe. It posed with Jupiter. And finally the
recent full moon was the biggest and brightest of the year. That's right.
The Earth and the Moon are at the closest point in their orbits.
Additionally, the Earth is near the closest point in its orbit around the
Sun. This all adds up to a Moon which is 9% brighter and 20% larger than
normal.
I took my own advice for a change last weekend and did
some lunar observing. It was pretty cool. The amount of detail on the lunar
surface is incredible. You can see boulder fields and craters. You can see
craters and boulder fields inside of larger craters. You can see the Mare,
or lava flows. These too have craters in them. Don't fight it. Add the moon
to your list of observing targets. It is, after all, the closest celestial object to
be viewed... offering up far more detail than any other celestial object. In
fact, it looks impressive in virtually any telescope. I had views which
significantly exceeded those in the accompanying image! So... You might as well get to know our closest neighbor.
The accompanying image of the Ray Craters Tycho and
Copernicus was taken by Steve Mandel and the Hidden Valley
Observatory. Take
note of the incredible amount of detail captured in the image. You can see
stuff just like this with a modest telescope. So... what are you waiting
for????
|
In this section, we visit the planets in the order in
which they are currently rising. We do our best to track down the finest images
available.
for 2002. As
an added feature, you may also click on any of the planetary images to view a
planetary reference page filled with important facts about the planet.
Pluto, the 9th planet, is rising at
about 1:50 am. At mag 13.91, Pluto has brightened a
whopping .01! But don't get too excited, it's still a tiny, faint little spec in a
telescope... any telescope. 
It is currently
over 2.86 billion miles from
Earth. Located in the southeastern sky before sunrise, Pluto is also
not very well placed at this point for viewing. You'll have a much better
chance of viewing Pluto late in the spring or in the summer.
|
Neptune, the 8th planet, is rising around 5:45. Shining at mag7.97, Neptune
is a relatively easy target. In fact, it too has brightened .01
magnitude.  However, at only 2", it displays absolutely no surface detail. Almost
star-like in binoculars, it shows it's beautiful blue color in telescopes. Neptune gets this beautiful
blue coloring from a layer of Methane in its upper atmosphere.
Located over 2.8 billion miles from Earth, Neptune
has a huge circular orbit -- taking just over 164 years to orbit the Sun.
In fact, Neptune's orbit varies by less than 1% from circular. Neptune has
a couple of other claims to fame... It has the fastest wind speeds in the
solar system with gust at almost 1500 mph.
Similar to Jupiter, it is
categorized as a gas giant. Neptune is
roughly 17 times more massive than the Earth. In another similarity
to Jupiter, Neptune has a Great Dark Spot.
William Herschel is credited with the discovery of
Neptune in 1781. However, it had been recorded in several catalogs as a
star as far back as 1690.
|
Mercury is rising at
about 6:10 am. 
This is about 25 minutes later than last weekend and only 55 minutes before the sun rises. Yup.
Mercury is diving back towards the Sun. It'll join Venus in the evening
sky later this month. Mercury is currently shining at mag0.05.
What
makes Mercury so difficult to view? Well, because it is the innermost
planet, Mercury never gets more than 28° away from the Sun. Because
of this, Mercury is usually too close to the Sun to be seen at all. On
those times when it is further away from the Sun, it is always low on the
horizon... the worst part of the sky to view through.
The accompanying image of the Degas Ray Crater shows the incredible amount of meteor bombardment
which Mercury has gone through in its history. Since Mercury has no
atmosphere, the marks of each and every strike are still visible on the
planets surface.
|
Uranus, the 7th planet, is rising at 6:35. 
Shining at
mag5.92, Uranus is a relatively easy target. However, this is another tiny planet at only 3".
It is also rising at almost the same time as the sun. So... you'll have to
wait a few months to seek it out. Additionally, given it's tiny size, It displays absolutely no surface detail.
It does however show it's beautiful aquamarine color. Uranus also gets its
beautiful coloring from a layer of Methane in its upper atmosphere. Located
over 1.95 billion miles from Earth, Uranus
has a huge orbit -- taking just over 84 years to orbit the Sun. It is
categorized as a gas giant as is Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. Uranus is
roughly 14 times more massive than the Earth. Discovered by William Herschel in March of 1781,
Uranus was the first planet to be "discovered". All the others
are plainly visible, and hence have been known since antiquity. The name
Uranus was suggested for mythological reasons. Since Jupiter was the
father of Saturn, it made sense to name the next planet out Uranus -- the
father of Saturn.
|
Venus  is rising about
7:40 am; almost 40 minutes after the sun... Still
shining at a blistering mag -3.91 Venus is being completely
overwhelmed by the Sun. But, Venus is slowly moving to take up its role as the Evening Star.
Watch as it climbs higher and higher in the western sky over the next few
months. By late spring, Venus will dominate the night sky.
Did you know that Venus goes through phases? No...
not those kind of phases... Phases of illumination, like the moon. It's
true.
Checkout this Ultra Cool...
Ultra-Violet image of Venus taken the Hubble Space Telescope.
|
Mars is rising in the southeast around 9:05
am. 
The Earth continues to pull away from Mars in it's orbit.
In fact, the distance between the two planets has grown from about 40
million miles this summer to over 175 million miles. This has caused Mars'
apparent diameter to shrink. It is currently down to a measly 5"..
a fraction of it's peak of 21" in June. It has also dimmed significantly as well - currently shining at
a wimpy magnitude 1.28 down from -2.4 in June.
Mars will return for an even better pass in 2003. In
the mean time, we can live vicariously through the works of the Hubble
Space Telescope which takes the most amazing astro-images ever seen. If you haven't checked out
the Hubble Heritage site, I'd
highly recommend it. It's loaded with many awesome planetary and deep sky image
that'll blow your mind.
Checkout how much dust is in the air in this image.
This is a "planet wide" dust storm. Whole continents all but
disappeared. Let's hope for clearer Martian skies on the next pass.
|
Saturn joins us now about 11:10
pm. Look for Saturn almost overhead as it gets dark. Saturn has
currently spanning an an impressive 18" -- this is just shy of it's
peak size and is currently shining at magnitude 0.06 -- which is also down
a bit from its brightest. Don't waste any time... NOW is a great time to view
Saturn. It will stick around through the remainder of the winter and into the spring, but..
your views will be best RIGHT NOW. 
Saturn and the moon have been playing a
continual game of hide and seek. That's right, Saturn was involved in yet
another lunar occultation. This makes the 10th time in less than a year!
Saturn will hide behind the moon four more times before May. These events
are interesting for more than the chance nature of the event. As Saturn
drifts out from behind the dark side of the moon, astronomers are
given the opportunity to see some of Saturn's hidden rings. That's
right... hidden rings. There are some very extremely faint rings which
extend beyond the main rings. NASA spacecraft have photographed them. Occultations
offer special opportunities for earthbound residents to observe them.
Unfortunately, this event will be missed my residents of northern Utah,
with Provo being just inside the grazing limit.
Checkout this absolutely amazing mage of the conjunction by
Tom J. Martinez, of Louisburg, Kansas What a beautiful
series!
|
Next, look for Jupiter rising around 12:50pm. It'll be rising
along side a beautiful gibbous moon. That ought to make an interesting
pairing in the sky. Jupiter is the king of the Planets. It is more massive than
all the other planets combined. In fact, Jupiter is over 300 times more
massive than the Earth. Not surprisingly, Jupiter also has the largest
moon in the solar system, Ganymede. Jupiter is currently shining at mag
-2.41
and spans a whopping 42". This is off a bitfrom it's peak of 47"
earlier this winter... 
Jupiter is after all the second most reflective (a
quality know as albedo) planet in the
solar system. Only Venus reflects more of the sun's light. Add this fact
with Jupiter's immense size, and it's no wonder that Jupiter shines so
brightly.
On Friday night(2/22) we had a special treat for
you. Jupiter will and the Moon were separated by less than 1/2° (one moon width). To view this,
you simply had to look high and towards the southeast, shortly after sunset. These two
objects are the brightest in the night sky, so.. you should have had no
problem finding them. Checkout the image gallery on Spaceweather.com.
Checkout this beautiful image by Astrophotographer Peter J. Garbett from
Sharnbrook, England. Wow! This image clearly shows the interaction between
Jupiter's Great Red Spot and another huge store, a large white oval. The
two storm systems have been interacting for the last few weeks and will
continue to do so for several more. Also visible in the image just below
the GRS is the shadow of Jupiter's moon Callisto and along the right edge
of the image is one of Jupiter's other moons, Ganymede. This is a very
cool shot! If you're planning on viewing Jupiter's Great Red Spot, you'll
want to checkout this Sky and
Telescope article which contains a list of Great
Red Spot Transit Times.
Many of the features visible in this image are
within the reach of modest amateur telescopes. Depending on the size of
the telescope and the quality of your skies, you might even do better! In
fact, on an amazingly steady night last fall, I did.
I'll remind you again. 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 Jovian moons and their shadows. It's called JavaJup. I
regularly refer
to JavaJup to help plan my viewing sessions.
|
| The Hubble Space Telescope
has distinguished itself as a 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 some of these incredible images, and share some of them with you. Our
latest comes directly from the Hubble
Heritage Team. |
LIGHT AND SHADOW IN THE CARINA NEBULA
Previously unseen details of a mysterious, complex structure within the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)
are revealed by this image of the "Keyhole Nebula," obtained with NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope. The picture is a montage assembled from four different April 1999 telescope pointings with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera
2, which used six different color filters.
The picture is dominated by a large, approximately circular feature, which is part of the Keyhole Nebula, named in the 19th century by Sir John Herschel. This region,
about 8000 light-years from Earth, is located adjacent to the famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae, which lies just outside the field of view toward the upper right.
The Carina Nebula also contains several other stars that are among the hottest and most massive known, each about 10 times as hot, and 100 times as massive, as
our Sun.
The circular Keyhole structure contains both bright filaments of hot, fluorescing gas, and dark silhouetted clouds of cold molecules and dust, all of which are in rapid,
chaotic motion. The high resolution of the Hubble images reveals the relative three-dimensional locations of many of these features, as well as showing numerous small
dark globules that may be in the process of collapsing to form new stars.
Two striking large, sharp-edged dust clouds are located near the bottom center and upper left edges of the image. The former is immersed within the ring and the latter
is just outside the ring. The pronounced pillars and knobs of the upper left cloud appear to point toward a luminous, massive star located just outside the field further
toward the upper left, which may be responsible for illuminating and sculpting them by means of its high-energy radiation and stellar wind of high-velocity ejected
material. These large dark clouds may eventually evaporate, or if there are
sufficiently dense condensations within them, give birth to small star clusters.
The Carina Nebula, with an overall diameter of more than 200 light-years, is one of the outstanding features of the Southern-Hemisphere portion of the Milky Way. The
diameter of the Keyhole ring structure shown here is about 7 light-years.
These data were collected by the Hubble Heritage Team and Nolan R. Walborn (STScI), Rodolfo H. Barbá (La Plata Observatory, Argentina), and Adeline Caulet
(France). Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team
(AURA/STScI) Acknowledgment: N. Walborn (STScI) and R. Barbá (La Plata Observatory, Argentina) |
| Our Constellation
Report is an easy way for people to
become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated
with a particular constellation as well as describing the numerous deep
sky objects residing within its boundaries. 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 Canis
Minor. Canis Minor is one of Orion's faithful hunting dogs. Along
with the other, Canis Major, they trail Orion to the east.
|
 |
|
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of
Canis Minor. Tiny little Canis Minor can be found high and towards the
south sandwiched between Gemini to the north and Monoceros to the south.
It' brightest star, Procyon, being the eighth brightest star in the sky. The
name Procyon can be traced at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. It means
before the dog... because Procyon rises just before the constellation
Canis Major and the "Dog Star" Sirius. Procyon is also an extremely
challenging double star. It's companion shines at approximately mag11. This large difference in apparent brightness will make splitting this pair quite
difficult. An interesting point about the companion star is that it is a white
dwarf, estimated to have a density of over two tons per cubic inch!
Additionally, Procyon is part of the Winter Triangle along with Betelgeuse to
the west and Sirius to the south. While these stars control the sky, nights are
long and cold. Ok, let me start things off by telling
you that this constellation has no easy deep sky objects. Any one of these could be the challenge object for the week. In
fact....all of these are fainter and smaller than most challenge objects.
If you have anything less that about a 12" telescope, I'd recommend
looking in some other constellation for your deep sky fix. Owners of
larger aperture telescopes will want to move to a nice dark sky
location... roll up your sleeves... and get ready for some serious deep
sky work. There was a definite reason for slotting this constellation up against the
full moon :)
for
2002. We've
added high resolution star charts for all of our deep sky objects. Along with
the map of the constellation which we've always had, clicking on any of the deep
sky objects will bring up a high resolution star chart centered on that object.
Hope this helps. |
|
Ok, let's get started. Our fist
object is an Irregular Galaxy
NGC2494(mag14).  Yeah... mag14. And this is the brightest object :) |
Next we'll hit another tiny little Irregular Galaxy, NGC2508(mag14). 
I told you these would be tough.
|
Moving on we come to Irregular Galaxy IC2231(mag15). 
This is undoubtedly one of the faintest objects we've ever unleashed on
our readers. But... it ought to be easier than this weeks challenge object
:)
|
Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah
Skies Challenge Object,  a
photon-emitting machine called, Irregular Galaxy IC498(mag15). Ouch!
That's gonna be tough. You might be thinking.. why is this the challenge
object if it's the same brightness (or faintness) as the preceding object.
Well, this little smudge is a bit larger, so it has a lower surface
brightness.
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.
Summit County Development Plan
What follows are a few excepts from the draft of the
Summit County Development Plan. As you'll see, considerable attention is being
paid to dealing with this issue.
Establish lighting regulations for the amount, intensity, type, and location of all outdoor artificial illuminating devices to ensure that
all such lighting is minimum, protective of the night sky, and in harmony with the resort and mountain values, while appropriately addressing safety
concerns.
Architecture and other design elements shall:
Promote an aesthetic character that is fitting to the mountain environment by using a palette of building and landscape materials and forms, lighting,
signing, and other streetscape features that are generally compatible with the surrounding mountain environment.
Exterior lighting shall be minimal and must be directed down and shielded in accordance with County standards.
Because of the potential amount of commercial development in this area, the cumulative impact of lighting is a community concern. Development
shall use all reasonable measures to minimize lighting impacts, including full cut-off devices, timers, and other security devices that minimize the
need for exterior lighting.
Exterior lighting shall be minimal on hillsides.
These are all great. If we follow these simple guidelines, we'll make huge
strides towards protecting the beautiful skies overhead.
Checkout the Light Pollution Section of the Utah Skies
website at www.UtahSkies.org for more
information on the harmful effects of improper lighting or for ideas on how to
improve your lighting. Please contact us
with any questions you may have or to Volunteer
to help us in the fight to curb light pollution.
Next Weeks Report
Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos
and focus on the constellation Cancer.
< | Index
| >
|
|
While there are no large ones at this point, several have twisted magnetic
fields surrounding them which could (hopefully) lead to future Earth-directed CME's. We'll be keeping an eye on these. In
fact, there was a huge CME recorded on Thursday 2/28. Unfortunately it was
not Earth-directed.
These
are two of the brightest objects in the sky...with the ISS being the
brighter of the two. Either can easily be spotted
without any optical aids. 
