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Report for 2002-06-28
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Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
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Astronomical Times
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| Sunrise: 5:58 am |
Sunset: 9:03 pm |
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| Astronomical Twilight Begins: 3:51 am |
Astronomical Twilight Ends: 11:09 pm |
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| Moonrise: none |
Moonset: 9:35am |
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Viewing Outlook
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| Clear skies and warm
temperatures. They've come to dominate the forecast. What a nice change
from just a few months ago.
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Mission Update
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 Is it an Escher, or Mars? Three different types of surfaces visible in the
North Polar Cap of Mars morph into each other in a way perhaps reminiscent of the works of M. C. Escher. On the far
left dark sand covers the ground, while the center shows a transition to a dune field. On the far
right a transition is made to a much lighter surface, likely containing a larger amount of ice. Shadows indicate that
lighter material holds the higher ground, with some steep cliffs on the divide. Dune shapes indicate
that wind typically blows toward the upper left. Mars Global Surveyor, one
of two robot spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, took the above image in early 2001. Recent images from the other orbiter, Mars Odyssey, have
bolstered the hypothesis that a significant amount of water-ice lies beneath the surface near the
Martian South Pole.
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) & Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
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 Checkout NASA's
Space Flight website to find out when the Space Station or the Shuttle
will be overhead.
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Planetary Report
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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.
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Mercury
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1st planet
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| Rising |
4:50 am |
| Visual Magnitude |
-0.05 |
| Visual Diameter |
7" |
| Distance |
0.97 AU |
| Constellation |
Taurus |
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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.
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Mercury is rising about 75 minutes before the Sun now,
so.. you ought to be able to catch it in the morning sky.
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Saturn
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6th
planet
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| Rising |
5:05 am |
| Visual Magnitude |
0.07 |
| Visual Diameter |
17" |
| Distance |
10.02 AU |
| Constellation |
Taurus |
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Saturn is now rising before the Sun. You know what that
means. Yup! The progression is starting again. Saturn will be found in the
eastern sky shortly. Right now, it is just too close to the Sun to be
pulled out by anything but a computerized telescope.
Checkout this absolutely stunning mage of Saturn as
captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. What an awesome shot. This is the
natural color of Saturn. Notice the amount of detail visible in the image.
You can easily see the Cassini Division as well as the Crepe ring (the
faint line nearest to the edge of the ring).
Saturn has sped past Venus in the last week or so. It
is sinking rapidly and is rising only about 15 minutes after the Sun.
We've pretty much lost Saturn for the Season. It'll move into the morning
sky later in the summer. Bye bye...
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Mars
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4th
planet
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| Rising |
7:10 am |
| Visual Magnitude |
1.75 |
| Visual Diameter |
4" |
| Distance |
2.60 AU |
| Constellation |
Gemini |
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Checkout this sweet image captured by Ed
Grafton. At this point.. all we have left of Mars is memories. Nice
ones... like this image, but... memories nonetheless. Oh,
well... we'll get even nicer views of Mars in 2003 makes it makes it's
closest pass in 5000+ years.
Mars too is sinking fast and should be gone
from the western sky shortly.
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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 235 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 1.57 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.
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Jupiter
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5th
planet
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| Rising |
7:20 am |
| Visual Magnitude |
-1.82 |
| Visual Diameter |
32" |
| Distance |
6.21 AU |
| Constellation |
Gemini |
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Here's a beautiful image of Jupiter. Checkout the
incredible detail.
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Jupiter has just recently passed Venus. It'll be gone from the western sky
only to reappear in the eastern sky later this summer or early in the fall.
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Venus
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2nd
planet
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| Rising |
9:15 am |
| Visual Magnitude |
-4.03 |
| Visual Diameter |
15" |
| Distance |
1.11 AU |
| Constellation |
Cancer |
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Venus has moved into the constellation Cancer. It
continues to brighten
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.
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Venus is
now rising over three hours after the sun... it has fully claimed 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. As we move into 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 currently around 73% illuminated. 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".
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Pluto
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9th
planet
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| Rising |
6:50 pm |
| Visual Magnitude |
13.80 |
| Visual Diameter |
<1" |
| Distance |
29.59 AU |
| Constellation |
Ophiuchus |
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Checkout this awesome shot of the solar systems most
remote planet. It was taken by... the Hubble Space Telescope... of course
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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.
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Neptune
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8th planet
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| Rising |
11:00 pm |
| Visual Magnitude |
7.85 |
| Visual Diameter |
2" |
| Distance |
29.23 AU |
| Constellation |
Capricornus |
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Checkout the accompanying Hubble Space Telescope image of Neptune.
It nicely shows the planets rotation.
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Neptune
is a relatively easy target when viewed at the right time. That time,
however is not now. Neptune is rising just before astronomical twilight
begins. In other words, Neptune never really gets high enough in the sky
for optimal viewing before the sky starts 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.
Located over 2.84 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.
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Uranus
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7th planet
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| Rising |
11:50
pm |
| Visual Magnitude |
5.75 |
| Visual Diameter |
4" |
| Distance |
19.35
AU |
| Constellation |
Aquarius |
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The accompanying image shows the aquamarine color of Uranus along with a
couple of surprises First off is it's ring system. Yup... Uranus has rings similar to
Saturn's'. They're nowhere near as bright, but... they're there. Secondly, and in my opinion more interestingly, Uranus orbits on its side.
While all the other planets rotate on the same plane as their orbit around the sun, Uranus rotates on
it's side while orbiting. How did Uranus get knocked over? Astronomers speculate that at some
point, Uranus was struck near one of its poles by a large planet-sized object. Also visible in this
image are a handful of Uranus' many moons.
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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.
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Hubble Vision
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| 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.
We've got a special treat for you in this weeks
Hubble Vision section. These are the first shots made public from the new
camera installed in the Hubble Space Telescope. I'm sure you'll agree that
these shots are even more impressive than previous Hubble products.
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Hubble Captures an Extraordinary and Powerful Active Galaxy
Resembling a swirling witch's cauldron of glowing vapors, the black
hole-powered core of a nearby active galaxy appears in this colorful
NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy lies 13 million light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus.
This galaxy is designated a type 2 Seyfert, a class of mostly spiral
galaxies that have compact centers and are believed to contain massive black holes. Seyfert galaxies are themselves part of a larger class of
objects called Active Galactic Nuclei or AGN. AGN have the ability to remove gas from the centers of their galaxies by blowing it out into space
at phenomenal speeds. Astronomers studying the Circinus galaxy are seeing evidence of a powerful AGN at the center of this galaxy as well.
Much of the gas in the disk of the Circinus spiral is concentrated in two
specific rings -- a larger one of diameter 1,300 light-years, which has already been observed by ground-based telescopes, and a previously
unseen ring of diameter 260 light-years.
In the Hubble image, the smaller inner ring is located on the inside of the
green disk. The larger outer ring extends off the image and is in the plane
of the galaxy's disk. Both rings are home to large amounts of gas and
dust as well as areas of major "starburst" activity, where new stars are rapidly forming on timescales of 40 - 150 million years, much shorter than
the age of the entire galaxy.
At the center of the starburst rings is the Seyfert nucleus, the believed
signature of a super-massive black hole that is accreting surrounding gas and dust. The black hole and its accretion disk are expelling gas out of
the galaxy's disk and into its halo (the region above and below the disk).
The detailed structure of this gas is seen as magenta-colored streamers
extending towards the top of the image.
In the center of the galaxy and within the inner starburst ring is a V-shaped
structure of gas. The structure appears whitish-pink in this composite image, made up of four filters. Two filters capture the narrow lines from
atomic transitions in oxygen and hydrogen; two wider filters detect green and near-infrared light. In the narrow-band filters, the V-shaped structure
is very pronounced. This region, which is the projection of a three-dimensional cone extending from the nucleus to the galaxy's halo,
contains gas that has been heated by radiation emitted by the accreting black hole. A "counter-cone," believed to be present, is
obscured from view by dust in the galaxy's disk. Ultraviolet radiation emerging from the central source excites nearby gas causing it to glow.
The excited gas is beamed into the oppositely directed cones like two giant searchlights.
Located near the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy, the Circinus galaxy is partially hidden by intervening dust along our line of sight. As a result, the galaxy went unnoticed until about 25 years ago. This Hubble image was taken on April 10,
1999 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.
The research team, led by Andrew S. Wilson of the University of Maryland, is using these visible light images along with near-infrared data to further understand the
dynamics of this powerful galaxy.
Credits: NASA, Andrew S. Wilson (University of Maryland); Patrick L. Shopbell (Caltech); Chris Simpson (Subaru Telescope); Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann and F. K. B. Barbosa (UFRGS, Brazil); and Martin J. Ward (University of Leicester, U.K.)
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| 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 Ophiuchus
the Serpent Bearer.
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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 Ophichus.
To find Ophiuchus, head southeast from Hercules. Let's start things off by
telling you that the number and quality of deep sky objects in Ophiuchus will
more than make up for last weeks dearth of objects in Corona Borealis. To start
with, Ophiuchus has 6 Messier objects, plus a wide range of nebula, star
clusters and other exotic objects.
New,
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.
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Ok, let's start things off with Globular Cluster
M9(mag8)
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Next we'll hit another Globular Cluster, M10(mag6.75)
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Continuing along we come to another Globular Cluster,
M12(mag6.75)
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Next up is... yup... you guessed it... another beautiful Globular
Cluster M14(mag7.75)
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Next up is another beautiful Globular Cluster M19(mag7.25)
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Next up is Globular Cluster M62(mag6.75)
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Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah
Skies Challenge Object, NGC6384(mag10.5). Located 5.5 degrees south of Rasalhague, the alpha star, this spiral galaxy is viewed face on.
Good Luck!
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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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IDA-Utah Light Pollution Update |
Light
Pollution: The nighttime equivalent of Ridge-line Violations?
Recently, in Summit County, lots of attention has been
paid to to development practices. Of these, probably none have received more
attention than ridge-line violations. Approved projects have been stopped in mid-stream
to preserve our ridge-line views. All involved have suffered serious financial
hardship. Why is the county working so hard to enforce an unwritten ordinance?
In a word... aesthetics. The county is working very hard to protect the natural
beauty of Summit County. It is the combination of champagne powder and
spectacular views that draws many tourists... and residents to this area.
Development which interferes with these amazing views damages that which makes
Summit County special. It is the same with light pollution. It is also an
aesthetic issue. But, it is much more. Misdirected or excessive exterior
lighting
destroys the beauty of the night sky. Just as our mountains provide a
spectacular backdrop by day, it is the stars above that form the backdrop at
night. Summit County is one of the few inhabited areas left in the country where
star-filled skies can still be found! It would be a shame to squander such a
treasure. Ok, so... There are many similarities between these
two elements. But, there are also many differences as well.
Ridge-line violations are simply aesthetics. The
destruction of our star-filled skies through light pollution is far worse. To
produce all the errant light and destroy the views overhead requires the wasting
of vast sums of money. Additionally, it requires the wasting of vast quantities
of our limited natural resources. This waste is compounded by the fact that Utah
Power generates a large portion of its energy by burning coal. So not only
does light pollution spoil our nighttime views, but it also fouls the air we
breathe.
Another difference. And possibly a more significant one is
that Summit County has enacted ordinances specifically designed to control the
spread of Light Pollution. It is only due to lack of enforcement by the county
itself that the problem even exists. Over five years ago the county enacted
ordinances which clearly spelled out the requirements for exterior lighting
fixtures. Yet, to this day, contractors continue to get away with installing
non-compliant lights and merchants continue to sell non-compliant exterior
lights.
The solution to controlling light pollution is simple. We
need the county to step up and meet its obligations. Ordinances must be
enforced... without exception. Forcing a contractor to replace a light is far
less drastic than bringing a development project to a halt. It is also far
cheaper... and it brings much the same benefits. Preventing ridge-line violations
keeps our mountain views in a more pristine state. Preventing the installation
of non-compliant exterior lighting fixtures keeps our celestial views in a more
pristine state.
Checkout the IDA-Utah website at www.IDAUtah.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.
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Next Weeks Report
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| Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos
and focus on the constellation Scorpius.
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Solar
activity remains low these days. Only sunspot #8 is at all noteworthy.
The moon was full on Monday.
