Report for 2002-08-09
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Brought to you from beautiful Park City, "View-tah".
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| This Weeks Issue | The Utah Skies Website | |
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| Sunrise: 6:31 am | Sunset: 8:35 pm | ||
| Astronomical Twilight Begins: 4:44 am | Astronomical Twilight Ends: 10:21 pm | ||
| Moonrise: 7:20 am | Moonset: 9:41 pm | ||
| We've been on a roll again lately. Weekend weather forecasts are looking awesome. Additionally, with the moon reaching new on Thursday... this should be a great weekend for viewing. Get out there and observe. The summer offers warm temperatures and some of the most diverse observing of the year. Telescopes and binoculars are absolutely required for summer camping trips. If you've got one... you need to take it with you. The sky views to be found in Utah's mountains and deserts are among the best in the world. Why not take advantage of them? |
 Meteor activity should
go through the roof this weekend as we approach the peak of the Perseid
Meteor Shower. The Perseid's are one of the most reliable meteor
showers of the year. Meteor counts have been steadily rising all week, and
will reach their peak on Monday night August 12th. The best time to look for meteors is when Perseus is highest in the sky--between 2 a.m. and dawn.
This is when counts will be the highest. However, while the number of
meteors seen earlier in the night will be lower, they'll be hitting the
Earth's atmosphere at a lower angle. This can lead to some spectacularly
long meteors known as Earthgrazers.The Perseids, being an August event, are also undoubtedly the most accessible meteor shower. August nights are some of the warmest of the year. Viewing the Perseid's couldn't be simpler. Just go out in your yard, turn off all your lights and make yourself comfortable. I like to setup a hammock. Some people prefer blankets. The key is to be comfortable and remove any stress from your neck since you'll be gazing up at the heavens for an extended period. At it's peak, over 60+ meteors an hour are not uncommon - and there are always a few spectacular displays. Invite your family and friends to enjoy a different kind of event. Sit and relax under a beautiful sky and watch the show. Perseid meteors are part of the debris trail of comet Swift-Tuttle. They are roughly the size of a grain of sand and are traveling in excess of 130,000 mph when they hit the Earth's atmosphere. It is this incredible speed which leads us to see meteors. The friction created by the Earth's atmosphere heats these tiny particles up to over 3000° and creates the "shooting star effect". If however, the meteor is larger, we may see a huge flash or even a fireball. Dautel Nathalie took the accompanying image of a Perseid Meteor last year using a 50mm f/1.7 lens and ASA800 film for a 10 minute exposure. Look how rich the sky looks. |
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Asteroid Watch |
 On
July 14th, astronomers
discovered asteroid 2002 NY40. While this object poses no threat to
our planet, the 800 meter space rock will pass by our planet at a distance
only 1.3 times farther than the moon. This is really, really close...
astronomically speaking.Currently, the asteroid should be visible in larger amateur telescopes... and... when it makes it's closest pass on Sunday, August 18th, it will have brightened to about mag9.0 or so. This should make it visible in a pair of binoculars. The accompanying chart shows the path the asteroid
will travel on the evening of August 18. Notice how fast this thing is
moving.. It is covering about 8° per hour. |
 Solar
activity was starting to subside until another fresh batch of sunspots
appeared. These are looking fairly large... with a hint of more to come.
Stay tuned...
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 Checkout
this awesome shot of the northern lights taken by Warren
Justice. Warren
took this picture from Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada on Aug. 1-2.
Notice how the sky looks like its being blocked by a curtain.
Photo details: 28mm 15-25sec.@ f1.9, Fuji Superia X-tra 800.
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 The
International Space Station
will make several brief passes over the area this weekend. To find out when, visit
NASA's
Space Flight Website.
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An Anomalous SETI Signal |
 No one knows for sure what caused this signal. There is a slight
possibility that it just might originate from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
The bright colors on the blue background indicate that an anomalous signal was received here on Earth by a radio telescope involved in a
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). A search for these signals
is ongoing by several groups including volunteer members of the SETI League. Time labels the vertical axis of the above plot, and frequency
marks the horizontal axis. Although this strong signal was never positively
identified, astronomers have identified in it many attributes characteristic
of a more mundane terrestrial orgin. In this case, a leading possibility is
that the signal originates from an unusual modulation between a GPS satellite and an unidentified Earth-based
source. Many unusual signals from space remain unidentified. No signal has yet been strong enough or
run long enough to be unambiguously identified as originating from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
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'N Sync 'N Space |
 'N Sync singer
Lance Bass
is headed for space. He's currently training in Russia for a trip to the ISS
in October. After a bit of negotiating, he's managed to get sponsors to foot
the entire bill estimated to be in the neighborhood of $20 million. Pretty slick maneuvering for a kid, huh???
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 The moon
was new on Thursday. Look for the tiniest of crescent moons to appear in the
western sky in the coming days.
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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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Saturn is now rising about 3 hours before the Sun. Saturn
can now be found in the
eastern sky before dawn. If you're an early riser, you should have now
trouble finding the ringed planet as it is brighter than any of the
surrounding stars.
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. |
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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 is now rising about 70 minutes before the Sun. It should be easy to spot above the eastern horizon before sunrise. |
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| Checkout this sweet image captured by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor.
It shows a couple of the many large volcanoes on Mars. Ceraunius Tholus (leftmost) and Uranius Tholus. Ceraunius Tholus
is roughly the size of the Big Island of Hawaii. The impact craters which overlay the volcanic terrain indicate that these
volcanoes are themselves ancient and inactive. Mars has now reached its greatest separation from Earth at this point .The distance between the two planets will slowly begin to shrink. Visually, Mars has shrunk down to a measly 4".. a tiny fraction of it's peak of 21" in June 2001. 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. But... don't you worry. Mars will return for an even better pass in the summer of 2003. At that time, Mars will make it makes it's closest pass in over 5000+ years. Get your telescopes ready! In the mean time, we can live vicariously through the works of some of the finest astrophotographers on the planet... and even beyond the planet. |
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| 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. | |||||||||||||
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| Venus has now moved into the constellation Leo. It
continues to brighten.
Venus is now rising about four 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". |
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Checkout this awesome image from the Hubble Space
Telescope.
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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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. |
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| 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. | |||||||||||||
| 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. |
 Hubble Astronomers Feast on an Interstellar HamburgerHold the pickles; hold the lettuce. Space is serving up giant hamburgers. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a photograph of a strange object that bears an uncanny resemblance to a hamburger. The object, nicknamed Gomez's Hamburger, is a sun-like star nearing the end of its life. It already has expelled large amounts of gas and dust and is on its way to becoming a colorful, glowing planetary nebula. The ingredients for the giant celestial hamburger are dust and light. The hamburger buns are light reflecting off dust and the patty is the dark band of dust in the middle. The Hubble Heritage image, taken Feb. 22, 2002, with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, shows the structure of Gomez's Hamburger with high resolution, particularly the striking dark band of dust that cuts across the middle. The dark band is actually the shadow of a thick disk around the central star, which is seen edge-on from Earth. The star itself, with a surface temperature of approximately 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius), is hidden within this disk. However, light from the star does emerge in the directions perpendicular to the disk and illuminates dust above and below it. The reason why the star is surrounded by a thick, dusty disk remains somewhat uncertain. It is possible that the central object is actually a pair of stars. If so, then the star that ejected the nebula may be rapidly rotating, expelling material mostly from its equatorial regions. Stars with masses similar to our Sun's end their lives as planetary nebulae. The star evolves to become a bloated red giant, with a girth about 100 times greater than its original diameter. Then it ejects its outer layers into space, exposing the star's hot core. Ultraviolet radiation from the central core streams out into the surrounding ejected gas, causing it to glow. The glowing gas is called a planetary nebula. The Hubble Space Telescope has provided numerous spectacular images of planetary nebulae over the past several years, including the Ring Nebula and several others that have been released in the Hubble Heritage series. Less well known are "proto-planetary nebulae," objects like Gomez's Hamburger that are in a state of evolution immediately before the true planetary-nebula stage. Just after the red giant expels its outer layers, the remnant star in the center is still relatively cool. Consequently, it emits ordinary visible light, but very little ultraviolet radiation. Therefore the surrounding gas does not glow. However, the ejected material also contains vast numbers of microscopic dust particles, which can reflect the starlight and make the material visible. This same effect of light scattering produces halos around streetlights on a foggy night. The lifetime of a proto-planetary nebula is very brief. In less than a thousand years, astronomers expect that the central star will become hot enough to make the dust particles evaporate, thus exposing the star to view. At that time the surrounding gas will glow. Gomez's Hamburger will have become a beautiful, glowing planetary nebula. Gomez's Hamburger was discovered on sky photographs obtained by Arturo Gomez, an astronomer at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The photos suggested that there was a dark band across the object, but its exact structure was difficult to determine because of the atmospheric turbulence that hampers all images taken from the ground. Gomez's Hamburger is located roughly 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: A. Gomez (Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory) |
| 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 Cygnus the Swan. |
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The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Cygnus.
To find Cygnus, face south after dark and look up. Cygnus is two constellations
to the east of Hercules which we covered a couple of weeks ago. We've hopped
over Lyra, which we'll visit next week. |
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 Let's
start things off with one of the most beautiful double stars in the
heavens, Albireo (mag3.0). This a such a neat star to look at. They color
contrast is beautiful. This is also a fairly easy pair to split. Located
in the "beak" of the Swan, it's also quite easy to find. Check
it out if you get a chance.
This very cool shot was taken by astro-photographer Jeff MacQuarrie. |
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 Next
up is Open Star Cluster, M29(mag6.75)
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 Next
up is another Open Star Cluster, M39(mag4.75)
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 Next up is Planetary Nebula, NGC6826(mag10). Also known as the Blinking Nebula |
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 Next
up is Diffuse Nebula, NGC6888. Also known as the Crescent Nebula due to
its visual appearance, this is a beautiful object. You'll definitely want
to try out some nebula filters on this one.
This awesome shot was taken by Robert Gendler. |
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 Next,
lets visit a three part object, NGC6960, NGC6992, NGC6995. Also known as
the Veil Nebula, this is one of my favorite deep sky objects. Virtually
invisible without a nebula filter, this object is simply spectacular when
viewed using an OIII filter.
Checkout this absolutely stunning shot by Jerry Lodriguss. The Veil spans several degrees of sky. Many telescopes will not be able to view the entire object... even at lowest power. |
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 Continuing,
we come to another beautiful object, NGC7000, The North American Nebula.
Checkout this awesome shot by Russ Dickman. |
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 Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah
Skies Challenge Object, a beautiful Cluster loaded with
Nebulosity, IC5146(mag7.25). Also known as the Cocoon Nebula.
Checkout this awesome shot by Mark de Regt. Click here to view more of Mark de Regt's Astronomical Images.
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. |
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Next Weeks Report |
| Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos and focus on the constellation Lyra. |
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Stay up to date on astronomical happenings by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org
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