Mission Update

The International Space Station will make several passes over the northern Utah this weekend. Your best shot for viewing this, the brightest object in the sky will be on Saturday night at 8:55pm when the station takes 3 minutes to cross the sky. You can easily spot the ISS without any optical aid. Checkout NASA's Human Spaceflight website for times when the ISS will be visible in your area. Then, grab your binoculars or telescope and see what kind of detail you can pick out. Or... just go and eyeball humans in space. . 

The accompanying image shows the ISS cruising several hundred miles above the Earth.

Astrobiologists studying soil samples returned from the Pathfinder landing site found chlorophyll, a substance found in all photosynthetic organisms on our planet. This new discovery greatly strengthens the theory that life once existed on Mars. Perhaps the Red Planet was once green?

Visit CNN/Space to find out more.

Images are steadily coming back from the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. In this one, we see "layered deposits are located on the floor of a large canyon called  Ganges Chasma which is a part of the Valles Marineris. Dramatic layering can be seen throughout the deposit. Different styles of erosion are manifest in these different layers and at different locations within the layered material. For example, the southern portion of these deposits have a pronounced fluting, whereas in other areas the same layers are more intact. Relatively dark dunes and sand sheets can be observed surrounding the relatively brighter layered material in the upper right and lower portions of the image. Darker material also appears to mantle select areas of the layered deposits. The formation of the dunes is influenced by topography; this influence is best illustrated in the upper left of the image where a small hillock has interfered with the local wind flow. Impact craters of all sizes are noticeably absent in this image, indicating a relatively young age for this surface. This image is approximately 22 km wide and 60 km in length; north is toward the top."
Image and story courtesy of NASA/JPL/Arizona State University 

Click on the accompanying Mars Odyssey image for a larger, more detailed version.

Comet Watch: Comet Ikeya-Zhang

Comet Ikeya-Zhang has dimmed slightly from its absolute brightest a couple of weeks back. At an estimated mag4.2, it is still one of the brightest comets in the last five years or so. It is currently moving away from the Sun and heading back out to the depths of our solar system. It currently visible in both the morning sky and the evening sky. If you have a clear view to the north western horizon, evenings will be your best time to view the comet. If you have a clear view to the north eastern horizon, mornings will be your best time to checkout the comet. How can the comet be visible in the west after sunset... and in the east before sunset??? Good question. The reason is that the comet is now far enough north that it only sets for a little while. Objects which are far enough north are referred to as circumpolar, and never set. The comet is pretty close to that point. It sets for a few hours only to rise again a short while later. In about a week or so, the comet will never set. It will become circumpolar as viewed from mid-northern latitudes. This will make it easy for more people to view it. And, since it's still pretty bright, April will be a good month for viewing the comet. 

I got out and viewed the comet on Thursday morning and again on Thursday evening as it cruised by Andromeda. It was pretty sweet. Once I found it (a relatively easy task), I was able to see it with the naked eye. Of course the views in my 10x50 binoculars were far better. Better still was the view through my rich-field refractor. It's 120mm f/5 optics captured enough light to show off the comet, while still allowing a wide enough field of view to see the whole comet AND Andromeda. Next, we pulled out the big guns. For almost an hour on Sunday night, we pointed the 25" ObDob at the comet. While it's field of view was a bit too small to view the comet in it's entirety, it's enormous light grasp revealed incredible details in the head of the comet. It appeared as if the bright comet nucleus was surrounded by a fuzzy glow. Towards the front, it even appeared to have a forward shockwave preceding it. This leading wave wrapped around the nucleus and blended into the tail. It was very cool! 

I took this image using the 120mm refractor mentioned above. It is the result of a two minute exposure using 800 speed film.

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?

You can also see that the comet has recently passed between the Earth and the Sun and is now visible in the morning sky. I'm really looking forward to some clear skies so that I can take a peek and snap some pics.  Hopefully I'll be able to capture some good pictures and add them to the report soon.

Lunar Phase

The moon is new today (4/12). Rising and setting with the sun, the Moon absolutely need not be a factor in any of your deep sky planning. 

I took the image at right last spring down in SLC. This is about what the moon will look like by Sunday (4/14).

Planetary Report

Neptune, the 8th planet, is rising around 4:05am. Shining at mag7.94, Neptune is a relatively easy target when viewed at the right time. That time, however is not now. Neptune is rising just as astronomical twilight is beginning. In other words, Neptune is rising about the same time that the sky is starting to brighten. It'll be best viewed in late summer and the fall, when it will high in the sky for hours before dawn. 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.

Checkout the accompanying image of Neptune and its moon Triton. This image had to be taken by a passing spacecraft. Do you know why? The answer is because Neptune is a superior planet. No, it's not better than Earth. A superior planet is one which has a larger orbit than Earth. (Inferior planets have smaller orbits). Anyway... because Neptune has a larger orbit than the Earth, we never see phases like this. 

Uranus, the 7th planet, is rising at 4:55am. Shining at mag5.89, 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 1.92 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.

Checkout this shot of Uranus. You can clearly see several of it's moons in this image. At almost 2 billion miles away, this is one tough shot to make from Earth!

Mercury is rising at about 7:15 am.    It currently spans 5" and is shining at -1.68. Mercury has gotten really bright over the last several weeks. Unfortunately, it is rising shortly after the Sun and is totally washed out by the bright dawn sky.

The accompanying Mariner 10 image of Mercury's southwest quadrant reveals the amount of destruction brought upon the planet by comets and meteors. Since Mercury has no atmosphere, every object coming its way is able to score a direct hit. This image was taken a the spacecraft made it's closest pass to the planet at a distance of about 120,000 miles. The largest craters are about 60 miles in diameter.

Venus is rising about 7:55 am. Still shining at a blistering mag -3.92, Venus currently spans 11".  Venus is now rising almost 60 minutes after the sun... it has slowly but surely moved to take up its role as the Evening Star. Many of you have no doubt seen it blazing away in the western sky after sunset. Watch as it climbs higher and higher over the next few months. By late spring and through the summer and Fall, 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. Venus is current a round 96% illuminated sphere. As it climbs higher in the sky (larger angular separation from the Sun) the illuminated portion shrinks. By the time Venus is only 1/2 illuminated, it will have brightened to mag -4.3. It will continue to brighten to about mag -4.7 late in the fall when it reaches its greatest elongation (angular separation from the Sun). At that point, Venus will be only about 1/4 illuminated, but will have grown to over 44".   

Checkout this cool shot of Venus from the Galileo Spacecraft taken as it swung past the planet a couple of years ago. Since Venus has such dense clouds, we can not see through to the surface. Nevertheless, we can learn quite a bit anyway. Astronomers have studied the winds and atmospheric composition of the planet.

Mars is rising in the southeast around  8:40 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 4".. a tiny fraction of it's peak of 21" in June. In fact, this is just about as small as Mars ever gets. It has also dimmed significantly as well - currently shining at a wimpy magnitude 1.54 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 Maple Ridge Observatory. If you haven't checked out their website, I'd highly recommend it. It's loaded with many awesome planetary and deep sky image that'll blow your mind.

Checkout this sweet image captured by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor.  Notice how much ice had accumulated at the south polar region.

Saturn joins us now about 9:30 am. Look for Saturn west of overhead as it gets dark. If you haven't been looking at Saturn recently, you'd better start. It's gonna be gone soon :(   At this point, Saturn sets about 1.5 hours after the Sun. Saturn has currently spanning about 17" -- this is well shy of it's peak size and is currently shining at magnitude 0.14 -- which is also down considerably 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.   

Checkout this absolutely amazing mage of Saturn as captured by Ed Grafton. This is a very cool shot. Notice the innermost ring. It's called the Crepe ring and it's almost transparent. 

Next, look for Jupiter rising around 11:15am. 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 -2.12 and spans 37". This is off quite a bit from it's peak of 47" earlier this winter... 

Checkout this beautiful image by Ed Grafton.  This is a very cool shot! In fact, his whole website is loaded with awesome images like this. Notice the inky dark spot in the upper left. That is actually the shadow created by Jupiter's moon Ganymede.

 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.

Pluto, the 9th planet, is rising midnight. At mag 13.85, Pluto has brightened another 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 2.8 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.)

Hubble Vision

Constellation Report

This weekend we move on to the constellation Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs. The dogs, named Asterion and Chara can be seen in the sky with their master, Icarius (Bootes) in the spring.

As you can see from the accompanying chart, Canes Venatici is just below the handle of the Big Dipper. So...when looking for it, remember that it is very high in the sky... probably overhead and slightly to the east just after dark.

Deep Sky Report

The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Canes Venatici.

We'll begin this report with a quick look at the constellations double stars. First and foremost is Cor Caroli, the alpha star. This easy double is composed of a mag2.9 and a mag5.6 star separated by about 20". There isn't a whole lot of color contrast, but... the pair are still nice to view.

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 start things off with one of the most impressive Globular Clusters in the sky, M3(mag6.3). With a diameter of over 16', this globular is about 1/2 the width of the full moon. It's also packed with hundreds of thousands of stars. Needless to say... this is one of my favorite deep sky targets. I've been on it several times already this spring... and am planning to view it right on through the summer.

M3 is located so far south in Canes Venatici that its almost easier to use the stars of Coma Berenices as guides. Regardless, its not that difficult a find. Using the stars of Coma Berenices, follow the line from gamma thru beta Coma Berenices for about 3/4 of that distance then move up about 1°. Using the stars of Canes Venatici, follow the line from beta straight through alpha Canes Venatici for about 2.5x that distance and you should be there.

Checkout this awesome shot of M3 as imaged by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. On nights of good seeing, you can resolve stars deep into the core.

Next we'll hit another of the finest deep sky objects... Irregular Galaxy M51(mag8.4). Also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, this is one of the most beautiful galaxies to be viewed in an amateur astronomer telescope. The accompanying image is another awesome effort by Robert Gendler.

To find M51, make a right triangle from the handle of the dipper. Star at Mizar and go to Alkaid... then hang a left for about 2/3 of the distance between the two stars. You can't miss it :)

Actually, M51 is a fairly bright object. It shows well in most telescopes from about 85mm and up. Obviously if you want to see the extra details, you're gonna need significantly more aperture. 

Continuing along we come to another fine Spiral Galaxy, M63(mag8.6). Also known as the Sunflower Galaxy... for obvious reasons :) this galaxy  is pretty easy to find, and looks great in small to medium sized telescopes. In larger apertures, it'll simply blow you away.

The accompanying is another awesome image from Robert Gendler.

 Moving along, we come to another beautiful Spiral Galaxy, M94(mag8.2).

Here is another incredible image from Robert Gendler.
I feel like a broken record :)
This guy is one of the best out there. If you haven't checked out his site, I'd highly recommend that you do. You'll be amazed at what can be accomplished from the comfort of your home. That's right... Robert does his imaging from his driveway!

Next up is yet another beautiful Spiral Galaxy, M106(mag8.3) Given all the show stoppers in the area, this galaxy is often overlooked. I know I'm guilty of that. Still, M106 is an interesting object in the eyepiece.

This is a beautiful shot of M106 by Jerry Lodriguss. 

Next up is Irregular Galaxy NGC4449(mag9.45) This is an odd shaped galaxy. It almost looks boxy next to all the spirals and ellipticals we usually se. Checkout all the clumping in this image. These is likely regions of intense star formation.

This beautiful image was captured by Al Kelly. Look at how many of those regions Al's captured.

Continuing on, we come to Spiral Galaxy NGC5005(mag9.9)  Looking very much like an elliptical galaxy in the eyepiece, this galaxy should be an easy find for you... given it's proximity to the Alpha star, Cor Caroli.

Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Spiral Galaxy NGC4631(mag9.4) This galaxy is tough to find... if you star from Canes Venatici. If, however, you star from Coma Berenices, it should be fairly easy. After viewing the previous edge-on, this galaxy ought to look plump. With a comparable length, it has almost 50% more width.

The accompanying is another awesome image from Robert Gendler.

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.

IDA-Utah Light Pollution Update

Checkout the recent CNN article on Light Pollution. 

Reclaiming our skies starts with YOU!

Many of you are aware that IDA-Utah is continually at work trying to get better lighting ordinances and stricter enforcement. But, did you realize that you have a part to play in all of this too? Yup... you sure do. If your home has exterior lights, your actions make you part of the bigger picture. You are either part of the problem... or part of the solution. If your lights are on only when necessary... if you've properly shielded your lights... they your are part of the solution... a model for your friends and neighbors. If, on the other hand, you wastefully leave your lights on all night (or worse... 7x24) then you are part of the problem. It is your lights which are adding to the glow over your neighborhood. Your lights are adding to the wasted power generation and pollution emissions by your local lighting company. Don't for one moment think that your actions don't count. They count in terms of wattage... they count in terms of wasted resources... they count in terms of wasted money. But, more importantly, they count because others see what you do. If you leave your lights on then it appears to them to be less of a problem. 

So...If you efficiently and effectively make use of exterior lights, that's great. But, you can do even more. You can talk to your neighbors about their lights. You can tell them how they can save money, natural resources, the environment by following some of the thoughts below. 

Light Pollution Reduction Techniques:

1. Don't turn your lights on if you're not outside. Those are not "magic" lights on your house. They will not protect you from harm. Don't turn them on for this purpose.

2. If you do need the lights on, lower the wattage. You'll be surprised at how well you can see with a fraction of your current wattage.

3. Install motion detectors. These allow your lights to come on whenever anyone is moving about. Motion detectors pay for themselves quickly in energy savings.

4. Install shielded lights... or shield your current lights. There is absolutely no benefit in shining light into the sky.

One by one, we have to begin turning the tide. Together we can do it. Every little bit helps. 

Checkout the IDA-Utah website at www.UtahSkies.org/ida 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