Report for 2002-03-15 < | Index | > Welcome to the Utah Skies Report. Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah". Astronomical Times Sunrise: 6:40 am Sunset: 6:33 pm Astronomical Twilight Begins: 5:08 am  Astronomical Twilight Ends: 8:04 pm  Moonrise: 7:45 am  Moonset: 8:15 pm   Messier Marathon Yup... It's that time again. Messier Marathon time that is. The March new moon is the only time during the year where you can see all of the objects on the Messier list in one evening. Checkout our special Messier Marathon 2002 Report for more information. Of course we'll be headed for dark skies next weekend for our "mini-marathon". I say mini-marathon because our site does not have ideal terrain. We'll be setting up in a shallow canyon which has about a 15-20° loss of horizon in both the east AND the west. By my quesstimate, we should be able to bag about 90 objects. We'll tell you about our results in a future report. Viewing Outlook Well... The viewing has been... pretty poor lately. This is especially unfortunate given the small phase of the moon. Oh, well... At least we're getting snow.  Fortunately, I got some nice views Friday night and again on Monday. In fact, on Monday night I caught the star BSC2304 masquerading as one of Jupiter's moons. Pretty cool???? Space Weather Update Some huge new sunspots recently appeared on the edge of the sun. They've been rotating into view during the preceding week. I happened upon them last Saturday afternoon. Shortly after this, the largest group hurled a huge CME into space. The image at right captured the event. If you don't see activity, hit your browsers "reload" button. Anyway...While not squarely Earth-directed, it was enough to send us into an aurora watch. Mission Update 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 several hundred miles above the Earth.   The picture to the right shows the Space Shuttle Columbia landing.

The Shuttle was sent up the other day for a major Hubble upgrade. Essentially, Hubble's capabilities have been greatly expanded. It's CCD cameras are now larger and more sensitive with higher resolution than ever. We ought to see some even more amazing HST images in the coming weeks and months. NASA is planning to use the newly upgraded HST to search for extra-solar planets as well as to push deeper into space than ever before. For more information on this, checkout the CNN.com/SPACE website.

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.

A flood of information is coming back from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Indications are that Mars contains huge amounts of hydrogen filled ice in the south polar region. This is especially important given that water is deemed one of the critical elements required for life as we know it. NASA's Mars Odyssey traveled over 290 million miles to study the red planet. The goal of this mission is to map the surface of the planet in detail so that future missions can target interesting features.

Comet Watch: Comet Ikeya-Zhang

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 of comet Ikeya-Zhang as captured by Michael Jäger . If you want to get an early jump on viewing Comet Ikeya-Zhang, checkout this ephemeris page.  The comet, at mag4.4, is currently visible to the naked-eye. It is expected to reach its maximum brightness of about mag4.0 in the next couple of weeks. It'll stay at this level for a week or so and then begin to fade. So, with clear skies forecast for the weekend and no moon to hinder your viewing, now is the time to obtain some views.

The accompanying image shows the path Comet Ikeya-Zhang will take on it's trip around the Sun. Notice how the tail of the comet changes direction as it rounds the Sun. This is caused by the solar wind. In fact, it was this very behavior which first caused astronomers to speculate about the presence of a solar wind. If there were no wind, one would expect the tail of a comet to always trail behind, but... as this image shows, the tail of the comet always points away from the Sun. Cool, huh?

Lunar Phase

Planetary Report

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 12:55 am. At mag 13.90, 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. Checkout this awesome series captured by Gordon Waite. This series depicts how Pluto was originally discovered. After years of searching for a planet beyond Neptune, Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 came upon Pluto. His was not a simple discovery. He didn't just scan the sky with his telescope and see Pluto. Nope. He took countless images of the sky. Each image would be compared to an image taken days or weeks earlier. While the stars are essentially motionless over short periods of time, solar system objects would appear to move. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh compared images taken on January 23rd with images taken on January 29th. While blinking the images, a technique which alternates the images from one side to the other, he noticed that one of the stars moved. That star was actually the planet Pluto. And so on that fateful day, the population of our solar system increased by one. No other planets have been found in our solar system since! (Just in case you're having trouble, you should see Pluto dancing towards the lower left corner of the image. If you don't, hit your browsers "Reload" button.)

Neptune, the 8th planet, is rising around 4:55am. Shining at mag7.96, 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.

Uranus, the 7th planet, is rising at 5:40am. 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. Here is another awesome image by, Ed Grafton. Have you checked out his site yet?????

Mercury is rising at about 6:10 am.   The accompanying image shows Mercury and the crescent moon in a close conjunction. Pretty cool, huh?

Venus is rising about 7:20 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  8:25 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 1.30 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 10:05 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 0.11 -- 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. Occultation's 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 Saturn as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Wow! What an incredible amount of detail.

Next, look for Jupiter rising around 12:45pm. 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 -2.29 and spans 40". This is off a bit from 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. If you missed last Monday's stellar masquerade, you'll have another chance tonight(Fri3/15). Look for a mag6.6 star in amongst Jupiter's moons. On that night, you'll see the prankster less than 1 Jupiter width from the giant planet. Checkout this beautiful series of images by Ed Grafton from Houston, Texas. Wow! This image clearly shows the interaction between Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the large white oval storm system it has been interacting for the last few weeks. Also visible in the image just to the left of the GRS is the shadow of Jupiter's moon Europa and just beyond the right edge of the planet is Europa itself. This is a very cool series of shots! 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. And why not? These images were taken from suburban Houston using a 14" Celestron. Depending on the size of the telescope and the quality of your skies, you might even do better! In fact, on a few amazingly steady nights I have. 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.

Hubble Vision

A BOW SHOCK NEAR A YOUNG STAR NASA's Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal various stunning and intricate treasures that reside within the nearby, intense star-forming region known as the Great Nebula in Orion. One such jewel is the bow shock around the very young star, LL Ori, featured in this Hubble Heritage image.  Named for the crescent-shaped wave made by a ship as it moves through water, a bow shock can be created in space when two streams of gas collide. LL Ori emits a vigorous solar wind, a stream of charged particles moving rapidly outward from the star. Our own Sun has a less energetic version of this wind that is responsible for auroral displays on the Earth.   The material in the fast wind from LL Ori collides with slow-moving gas evaporating away from the center of the Orion Nebula, which is located to the lower right in this Heritage image. The surface where the two winds collide is the crescent-shaped bow shock seen in the image.   Unlike a water wave made by a ship, this interstellar bow shock is a three-dimensional structure. The filamentary emission has a very distinct boundary on the side facing away from LL Ori, but is diffuse on the side closest to the star, a characteristic common to many bow shocks.   A second, fainter bow shock can be seen around a star near the upper right-hand corner of the Heritage image. Astronomers have identified numerous shock fronts in this complex star-forming region and are using this data to understand the many complex phenomena associated with the birth of stars.  This image was taken in February 1995 as part of the Hubble Orion Nebula mosaic. A nearby neighbor in our Milky Way galaxy, the nebula is only 1,500 light-years from Earth. The filters used in this color composite represent oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen emissions.  Image Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: C. R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University)

Constellation Report

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 Leo the lion. This is an easy constellation to find. The lion faces west. It's huge, backward question mark shaped head based on Alpha Leo or Regulus the 21st brightest star in the sky. This connects to a rectangular body which finally attaches to a triangular tail.   There are many beautiful sites in Leo including one with an associated event. The Leonid meteor shower appears to emanate from 2° NW of the star Gamma Leonis. This amazing event peaks every year on November 17th. Always a treat, the 2001 event was one of the most memorable in years. Meteor rates peaked in excess of 1000 per hour! It was a site I'll never forget.

Deep Sky Report

 

Ok,  our fist object is Spiral Galaxy M65(mag9.3) This is a beautiful spiral galaxy viewed at an intermediate angle. Located some 29,000,000 light years distant, this galaxy is believed to span roughly 60,000 light years across. The galaxy is believed to be an outer member of the massive Virgo cluster of galaxies which we'll visit again in a few weeks.  M65 can be found about 2.5° south of mag3.3 Theta Leonis. You can spy this galaxy with a pair of astronomical binoculars, but you'll need at least a 4-6" telescope to get a view you can appreciate. Larger apertures will reveal a bright, non-stellar core with an extended oval shaped outer section.

Next we'll hit another fine Spiral Galaxy M66(mag9.0) This galaxy (visible in the same low power field of view) is slightly larger and slightly brighter than M65. You'd never notice it visually, but that's what all the charts say. M66 is viewed from a more face-on position. It shows considerably more mottling than M65 which has a smoother appearance. The distance to M66 is also listed at 29 million light years.  Similar in optical requirement to M65, M66 will show a more mottled appearance visually. At higher powers and in larger apertures, you'll begin to see the spiral arms.

Next we'll hit another fine Spiral Galaxy NGC3628(mag9.5) Also in the same field of view as M65 and M66, this galaxy is viewed almost edge-on. I love to view edge-on galaxies. This one offers a very interesting view. Compared to NGC891 in Andromeda which has a pronounced cigar shape with a dust lane running through the middle. This object has the a less pronounced shape. It's dust lane is quite conspicuous, but the edges don't seem to terminate, they just fade into the background. I keep thinking that if I had just a bit more aperture that I could follow the galaxy out further. When you look at this galaxy, you'll notice the bright core, partially hidden by intervening dust. I keep trying to follow the core below the dust lane, but can never quite convince myself that I've actually seen it. I suppose this is a hint that the galaxy is not being viewed exactly edge-on, but is ever-so-slightly tilted??? Oh, well... It is surely a fine sight to see. As you'd probably expect, at mag9.5, aperture is becoming more and more important. Since this object is quite a bit larger, and a little bit fainter, the surface brightness is considerably lower. You'll still see this object in a 4-6" telescope, but you'll probably want 10-12" and dark skies to get the views you're looking for.

These three Spiral Galaxies occupy the same low power field of view. Collectively they are known as the Trio in Leo. This is an awesome site. This is (with the possible exception of M81 & M82) the most sought after galaxy grouping in the sky. To see these distant island universes in the same wide field of view is simply amazing. Each of these galaxies contains hundreds of billions of Suns. It's simply mind boggling to see this site and attempt to pull the meaning of it together.  Since each of these galaxies are visible simultaneously, and all three of these galaxies are within a 1/2 magnitude range, this is a great view to study the contrasting appearance of galaxies. You could compare other galaxies, but none are viewed so closely as to allow you to move so quickly between them. In this picture, you have an edge-on, a face-on and an intermediately positioned spiral galaxy. Note their differing views offered be each aspect.

Next we'll hit a Barred Spiral Galaxy M95(mag9.7) This is a cool looking galaxy. I'm always reminded of those star wars fighters when I see one of these. Anyway, you should enjoy this object. Every increase in power and/or aperture seems to provide additional detail. If you can increase both under dark skies, you're in for a treat. I've had some views of this galaxy under dark mountain skies through the ObDob that simply blew me away. Hopefully you'll get a chance to do the same.

Next we'll hit a Spiral Galaxy M96(mag9.2) This has a somewhat elliptical appearance at first. This is especially true if you're just finding it with one of your low power eyepieces. Anyway, once you find it, and manage to decide which you're gonna view up close first, this galaxy handles magnification well. I like to fill a good portion of the eyepiece with this galaxy (actually most galaxies:).

This time, we have a double for you, M95, M96. These look much more similar than the previous triplet. I often have trouble telling which is which at first glance. Remember, M96 is brighter, while M95 has a pronounced bar (at least it does in larger telescopes ;) Hmmm... Well, even if you can't see the bar clearly, M96 has a more condensed  looking core. Also, M95 is to the west (which way is west :)

Next we'll hit an Elliptical Galaxy M105(mag9.3) Once you're done enjoying M105, move slightly to the northeast. There are several other galaxies in the area. In fact, in a wide field centered on M105, you'd most likely already have them in your sights. The brightest of these are NGC3384 and NGC3389. There are others which I didn't have time to identify. (Let me know if you do :)

Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Spiral Galaxy NGC2903(mag8.9) Is this an awesome image, or what? It was taken by "The Man" .... Robert Gendler. What a sweet shot. Robert always seems to be pushing the astro-photography envelope. In fact, he out does many observatories while imaging from his driveway in Connecticut! NGC2903 is located about 1.5° south of lambda Leonis(mag4.3). Given it's brightness and proximity to a bright star, this object ought to be a cinch.  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.

Light Pollution Update

It’s not just an astronomers problem

Many people think that light pollution is just a problem for astronomers. They think that since they don’t own a telescope, they are unaffected by the problem. This is simply not true. Light pollution is a problem that affects us all. Typically, people are not even aware of the effects. But, that doesn’t reduce its impact one bit.

Light pollution wastes incredible sums of money nation wide. While the cost to the typical homeowner might be in the $150-250 range per year the cost to the nation is approaching $10 billion annually.  This is an absurdly large amount of money to waste. Diseases could be studied, the hungry could be fed, our nations children could be better educated.

Light pollution wastes incredible amounts of energy, energy that our nation simply does not have. It is largely to secure this energy that young men and women in our military risk their lives in the Middle East. They protect our access to energy. The very least we can do is use it wisely.

Light pollution pollutes our environment. By wasting electricity, we force our utility companies to consume more energy and therefore emit more toxins into the environment. How many of you have, or know someone who has a lung ailment. Many respiratory problems are caused by or intensified by these airborne toxins. According to The Mayo Clinic, there are a number of factors which may increase the chances of developing asthma. High on their list was exposure to environmental pollutants. As if this wasn't bad enough, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that death rates rose with increasing levels of particulate matter. This is probably not a surprise to anyone, but... to hear this from some of the world's premier medical researchers just drives the point home. And, a recent study published by the American Cancer Society entitled "Air Pollution Linked to Deaths From Lung Cancer" concluded that "every reduction in air pollution will likely lower death rates". 

Light pollution itself is a threat to human health. Recent studies by the nations medical researchers indicate that light at night interferes with our body’s immune system. A study published by The Journal of Neuroscience discusses how light shining into your bedroom can disrupt the circadian rhythm, your bodies internal clock. There are even links between light pollution and certain forms of cancer, including breast cancer. In an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute entitled "Night Shift Work, Light at Night, and Risk of Breast Cancer" researchers found that "Exposure to light at night may increase the risk of breast cancer by suppressing the normal nocturnal production of melatonin...." They went on to state that "There was an indication of increased risk among subjects with the brightest bedrooms." 

Light pollution is a threat to wildlife. It’s true. Many types of wildlife are simply unable to cope with such disruption of their nighttime environments. For example, did you know that millions of migratory birds die each year because of light pollution? It's true. They rely on the stars to navigate. When they fly over light polluted areas, they lose their sense of direction. Many fly until exhaustion and die. How about sea turtles? Did you know that sea turtle hatchlings look for the moon to guide them to the safety of the ocean? Many sea turtle hatchlings are attracted to the bright lights of nearby developments and end up being run over by cars. 

So if you think light pollution only hurts astronomers, you are dead wrong. Sure, light pollution robs us of beautiful star filled skies, but… it also hurts every man, woman, child and creature on this planet. If there were benefits to light pollution, it might be a judgment call as to whether the benefits outweighed the costs. But… since light pollution produces absolutely no benefit to society and only costs, it should be an absolute no-brainer. 

Would you like to do something to address these problems? It’s simple. 

• Turn your lights off when they’re not needed. For most people, this means most of the time. 

• Do you receive guests each and every night? If not, don’t automatically turn your lights on each night. 

• Do you receive guests in the wee hours? If not, don’t leave your lights on all night. 

• If you’re going out, you don’t need to turn every single exterior light on. 

• Also, consider using lower wattage bulbs. You might be surprised that you can see quite well with 40 or 60-watt bulbs instead of 100 watt bulbs. 

• If your building or renovating, install only full cut-off fixtures. They ensure that all the light produced by the fixture ends up on the ground where it's needed. This has the added benefit of allowing you to use lower wattage bulbs. 

• Install motion detectors. These allow you to have an increased sense of security while at the same time consuming substantially less energy. 

Every little bit helps.

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 Leo Minor.  

 

Stay up to date on astronomical happenings by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org       < | Index | >