Report for 2002-07-19
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Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".

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Contents
	This Weeks Issue	The Utah Skies Website
	Astronomical Times Viewing Outlook Space Weather Update Mission Update Lunar Phase Planetary Report Hubble Vision Constellation Report Deep Sky Report IDA-Utah Light Pollution Update	Astro-photographer of the Month Deep Sky Observers Hubble Vision IDA-Utah Light Pollution Update Weekly Report Index

Astronomical Times
Sunrise: 6:11 am	Sunset: 8:55 pm
Astronomical Twilight Begins: 4:13 am	Astronomical Twilight Ends: 10:54 pm
Moonrise: 4:53 pm	Moonset: 2:08 am

Viewing Outlook

Weekend weather forecasts are not looking all that good at this point. Partly cloudy skies are called for until early this week when.... with a full moon overhead... the skies are expected to clear. Given the drought conditions across the area... and the brightness of the moon, this sounds like the perfect forecast. Let's hope for clear skies for the coming weekend as the moon begins to contract in phase.

Space Weather Update

Checkout this huge sunspot complex. Given the designation of 30, this monster stretches for about 20 Earth-diameters. A sunspot this large can easily be seen from Earth... without a telescope even. If you want to see it, make sure that you use Safe Solar Viewing Techniques! This series was captured on July 15, 16, 17. Notice how the Sun's rotation moves this group across the face, and... eventually brings another sunspot into view on the left side. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory took this image.

Check out this huge pair of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) recorded on Monday, July 15th and Tuesday, July 16th. The first CME made contact with the Earth on Wednesday, July 17th, while the other... being a "back-side" event simply headed out into space. From the series captured above, it looks like we're in for a period of increasing solar activity. Let's hope that this brings us an auroral treat in the coming days. Tuesday's CME was a back-side Full Halo event.

Ever wonder what aurora look like from space? Well, Astronauts onboard the International Space Station saw these vivid green auroras on Oct. 4, 2001.

Mission Update

Spallanzani Crater The craters on Mars display a variety of interior deposits one of which is shown here. Spallanzani Crater is located far enough south that it probably experiences the seasonal growth and retreat of the south polar cap. During the southern hemisphere winter, CO2 frost condenses out of the atmosphere onto the surface and probably brings with it small amounts of dust and even water ice. It is this sort of depositional process that is thought to have produced the polar layered deposits. The layered deposit in Spallanzani Crater shares some similarities with the polar deposits. Whatever the origin of the layered materials, they likely filled the crater at one time. Note how the interior slope of the northern rim displays layered material of similar if less distinct morphology as the main deposit on the floor. The process that filled the crater with sediment has been replaced by the opposite process. Erosion has taken over, leaving behind spectacular stair-stepped mesas and bizarre, contorted landforms. Unlike the interior crater deposits in the equatorial latitudes, the erosional process has not produced the yardang features that indicate wind erosion. It may be that ice was one of the cementing agents of the sediment and perhaps the sublimation of that ice has left the sediment susceptible to erosion. The details of the deposition and erosion of this interesting deposit remain to be discovered. [Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

Checkout this cool shot of The Hawaiian Islands as imaged by the shuttle Discovery. Pretty sweet, huh? The ISS will make numerous passes over the area in the coming week. Starting tonight... and continuing through next weekend. Several of these passes will even be quite extended. As always, checkout NASA's Space Flight website to find out when the Space Station or the Shuttle will be overhead.

Lunar Phase

The moon reached first quarter on Tuesday night and will be 77% illuminated tonight (Friday). I took the accompanying image earlier this spring using an Olympus OM-1 with Fuji ASA400 film. The photo was taken at prime focus through a 6" f/12 Maksutov-Cassegrain. I needed to use a TeleVue ParaCorr Coma Corrector to reach back focus.

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.

Saturn 6th planet Rising 3:50 am Visual Magnitude 0.11 Visual Diameter 17" Distance 9:88 AU Constellation Taurus 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 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.  Mercury 1st planet Rising 6:05 am Visual Magnitude 1.98 Visual Diameter 5" Distance 1.33 AU Constellation Gemini The accompanying Mariner 10 image of Mercury was taken as the spacecraft passed the planet. This, essentially, was it's "over the shoulder" view. It reveals the incredible amount of destruction brought upon the planet by comets and meteors through the years. Since Mercury has no atmosphere, every object coming its way is able to score a direct hit.  Mars 4th planet Rising 6:50 am Visual Magnitude 1.75 Visual Diameter 4" Distance 2.65 AU Constellation Cancer Checkout this sweet image captured by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor. Notice how much ice had accumulated at the south polar region.  In the summer of 2003 Mars makes it makes it's closest pass in 5000+ years. Get your telescopes ready!

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.

Jupiter 5th planet Rising 6:20 am Visual Magnitude -1.82 Visual Diameter 31" Distance 6:26 AU Constellation Gemini Checkout this beautiful image of Jupiter and it's Great Red Spot taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Great Red Spot is currently in the news. It turns out that a large "white oval" nearly the size of Earth is colliding with the famous Great Red Spot. These two huge "hurricane-like" storms have been around for quite some time. The white oval has been viewed for almost 70 years, and the Great Red Spot was viewed by Galileo! To find out more about the Great Red Spot or the White Oval, follow the links! 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.

Venus 2nd planet Rising 10:00 am Visual Magnitude -4.12 Visual Diameter 18" Distance 0.95 AU Constellation Leo Venus has now moved into the constellation Leo. It continues to brighten. Checkout this cool radar image of Venus. Venus is now rising about two hours 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 currently around 85% 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".

Pluto 9th planet Rising 5:25 pm Visual Magnitude 13.84 Visual Diameter <1" Distance 29.78 AU Constellation Ophiuchus Checkout this awesome series captured by Gordon Waite.  (If you don't see anything moving, hit the refresh button) 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.

Neptune 8th planet Rising 9:35 pm Visual Magnitude 7.84 Visual Diameter 2" Distance 29.10 AU Constellation Capricornus Checkout the sweet "passing" shot of Neptune and it's moon Triton. 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.

Uranus 7th planet Rising 10:30 pm Visual Magnitude 5.73 Visual Diameter 4" Distance 19.12 AU Constellation Aquarius 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! 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.

Hubble Vision

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.

Colorful Fireworks Finale Caps a Star's Life Glowing gaseous streamers of red, white, and blue — as well as green and pink — illuminate the heavens like Fourth of July fireworks. The colorful streamers that float across the sky in this photo taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were created by one of the biggest firecrackers seen to go off in our galaxy in recorded history, the titanic supernova explosion of a massive star. The light from the exploding star reached Earth 320 years ago, nearly a century before our United States celebrated its birth with a bang.  The dead star's shredded remains are called Cassiopeia A, or "Cas A" for short. Cas A is the youngest known supernova remnant in our Milky Way Galaxy and resides 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, so the star actually blew up 10,000 years before the light reached Earth in the late 1600s.  This stunning Hubble image of Cas A is allowing astronomers to study the supernova's remains with great clarity, showing for the first time that the debris is arranged into thousands of small, cooling knots of gas. This material eventually will be recycled into building new generations of stars and planets. Our own Sun and planets are constructed from the debris of supernovae that exploded billions of years ago.   This photo shows the upper rim of the supernova remnant's expanding shell. Near the top of the image are dozens of tiny clumps of matter. Each small clump, originally just a small fragment of the star, is tens of times larger than the diameter of our solar system.  The colors highlight parts of the debris where chemical elements are glowing. The dark blue fragments, for example, are richest in oxygen; the red material is rich in sulfur.  The star that created this colorful show was a big one, about 15 to 25 times more massive than our Sun. Massive stars like the one that created Cas A have short lives. They use up their supply of nuclear fuel in tens of millions of years, 1,000 times faster than our Sun. With their fuel exhausted, heavy stars begin a complex chain of events that lead to the final dramatic explosion. Their cores rapidly collapse, releasing an enormous amount of gravitational energy. This sudden burst of energy reverses the collapse and tosses most of the star's mass into space. The ejected material can travel as fast as 45 million miles per hour (72 million kilometers per hour).  The images were taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in January 2000 and January 2002. Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: R. Fesen (Dartmouth) and J. Morse (Univ. of Colorado)

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 Scorpius.

Deep Sky Report
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Scorpius. To find Scorpius, face due south shortly after dark. You'll see Scorpius climbing up from just above the horizon. Actually, if you have a restricted horizon, you might not even see the southern portion of the constellation. The constellation Scorpius is loaded with astronomical wonders. Whether you have a telescope or binoculars, you'll find something awesome to look at in Scorpius.
Ok, let's start things off with a nice Globular Cluster, M4(mag6). This awesome shot was taken by Al Kelly on July 4th of this year.
Next we'll hit a nice Open Star Cluster, M6(mag4.25). Also known as the Butterfly Cluster. This object is just barely visible with the naked eye. It looks very nice in a telescope or binoculars. I've never noticed the nebulosity so beautifully captured in the accompanying image.
Continuing along we come to another sweet Open Star Cluster, M7(mag3.5). This is easily visible to the naked eye to the southeast of M6. It looks absolutely stunning in a small telescope.
Checkout this awesome shot of lower Scorpius by  Jerry Lodriguss.There is so much happening in this area you could spend days examining it and still miss a bunch of stuff. FYI... The cluster to the upper right is M6, while the cluster towards the bottom is M7.
Next up is Globular Cluster, M80(mag7.25). This is another easy target given it's (relatively) high northern declination. Binoculars are about all it takes to find and view the soft glow of the cluster. In telescopes of around 6-8", you'll begin to resolve the individual stars, while 10-12" ought to resolve this right into the core.
Next up is Open Star Cluster, NGC6124(mag6)
Next up is Open Star Cluster, NGC6231(mag2.75)
Continuing along we come to another sweet Globular Cluster, NGC6388(mag7).
Changing speed... just a bit, we come to a nice Diffuse Nebula, NGC6334. This is yet another awesome shot taken by Jerry Lodriguss.
Continuing in this direction, we come to another nice Diffuse Nebula, NGC6357(mag13.6). Yup! You guessed it... Another incredible image from Jerry Lodriguss.
Continuing in this direction, we come to another nice Diffuse Nebula, IC4628. You know... I have to say this.... Jerry Lodriguss owns the southern skies. He has the most incredible collection of southern sky targets I've ever seen. You should definitely checkout his site.
Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge  Object, Planetary Nebula NGC6302(mag13). Also known as the Bug Nebula. This very cool pic was taken by Al Kelly and Ed Grafton on 7/20/01 through a 32" f/4 reflecting telescope. The image you see is the revolt of several long exposures digitally "stacked". So, remember that this is a faint object. Don't expect to see the level of detail or the color captured in this image. On the other hand, at mag 13... and located as it is near some bright stars, you should be able this object with telescopes in the 6-8" range. It ought to begin to look interesting as you move beyond the 10-12" range. Perhaps we'll view this object at our next star party? Good Luck!
Ok... There is sooo much amazing stuff in the area that I had to include one more shot. This is a wide angle shot of the area taken by Jerry Lodriguss. Click on the image for an annotated version of the shot. Just look at the amount of nebulosity... our galaxy's dust lane... star clusters... wow!
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

Light Pollution: The nighttime equivalent of Ridge-line Violations? Recently, in Summit County, lots of attention has been paid to 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 to 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 the same benefit. 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.

Next Weeks Report

Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos and focus on the constellation Sagittarius.

 

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