Report for 2002-09-20
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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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Utah Skies Needs Your Help |
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| I just wanted to bring you up to date on some very recent... very local events. The Park Record printed a light pollution editorial that I submitted in the Wednesday
paper.
It was pretty critical of the county for consistently failing to enforce the lighting ordinances.
Nothing especially new so far, right :)
Well... In that same issue was the first of a series of anti light pollution reports by Patrick Parkinson of the Park Record.
So far, the general community response has been positive.
Regardless... now would be a great time for you to speak out in support of our light pollution efforts.
I've spoken with Pat Parkinson at length on several occasions. It seems that he's
quite interested in the many aspects of light pollution.
He said that there will be several more light pollution awareness raising reports.
Light pollution is becoming an issue in Summit County.
If each of you could get a few letters, e-mails and phone calls out in the coming days it would be quite helpful.
Specifically, we need letters to the editor of the Park Record supporting Pat's articles... and in support of making the county enforce and even strengthen its
ordinances. You might also want to contact the other media sources in town. Specifically, KPCW radio and PCTV television.
We get some light pollution information out through those sources periodically, but... if they hear from the wider community, they will make this one of the
issues they monitor more closely... all the better.
Additionally, contacting the commissioners about the county's poor track record of enforcement would let them know that the community is aware of their
shortcomings and expects better.
The ball seems to be rolling now. Any time and effort you can expend now would be quite helpful.
Below is the contact information for some key political and media types in
the area. Please contact these individuals. Let them know your concerns.
We can achieve our goals and protect and preserve one of the unique aspects of this
beautiful area we call home... our star filled skies.
Thanks for your continued support. Summit County Commissioners commission@co.summit.ut.us Park City Number: 645-9161 Coalville/Wanship Number: 336-4451 Kamas/Oakley Number: 783-4351 Executive Assistant, Anita Lewis Eric Schifferli, Chair (435-645-8145) eschifferli@pcfastnet.com Shauna Kerr (435-649-6718) slkrk@aros.net Patrick Cone (435-783-4462) patcone@allwest.net Park Record Editor Nan Chalat-Noaker editor@parkrecord.com Park Record Reporter Patrick Parkinson countynews@parkrecord.com KPCW Radio Blair Fuelner bfeulner@kpcw.org KPCW Radio Leslie Thatcher lthatcher@kpcw.org PCTV Randy Barton wdog@allwest.net PCTV Sacha Strebel sacha@mail.goparkcity.com If you don't know what to say... why
not start with one of our pre-written
e-mails. It gets the point across...
or at least its a good starting point. And now... we return you to our regularly scheduled program... already in progress :) |
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| Sunrise: 7:12 am | Sunset: 7:29 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Begins: 5:40 am | Astronomical Twilight Ends: 9:02 pm |
| Moonrise: 2:55 pm First Quarter: 7:36 pm |
Moonset: 6:09 am |
| Skies have been mostly
clear since about mid-week and the weekend is looking pretty much the same.
We'll have a big, bright full moon to contend with, but... this is often a
great excuse to get out and do some late night hiking. Then again, pop a
moon filter into your telescope and you'll be able to see every square
inch of the Earth facing side of the moon.
September 22nd marks what astronomers refer to as the Autumnal Equinox... That date where day and night are each 12 hours long. It is the first day of autumn north of the equator, and the first day of spring in the southern half of the world. |
 September
has been an impressive month for geomagnetic activity. No less than three
aurora have passed us by here in northern Utah ;)
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 Lyndon
Anderson captured this beautiful display near Bismarck, North Dakota, USA
on Sept. 12.
According to Lyndon, "The auroras were so bright over North Dakota on Sept.
12th that they could be seen against the light of the emerging dawn."
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 ROCKET
EXHAUST: Sky watchers in southern Californiasaw something extraordinary just before sunset on Thursday: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile blasted off from Vandenberg AFB (on a routine test flight) and left behind this colorful wind-twisted contrail. Jim Young of JPL's
Table Mountain Observatory snapped |
 The
International Space Station
will make several brief passes over the area this weekend... The ISS look like a bright, but slow moving
meteor. While it is traveling slower than a meteor which moves at speeds
approaching 100,000 miles per hour, the ISS is traveling a respectable
17,000 miles per hour. At this rate, it circles the Earth 16 times per
day.
To find out when the ISS will be overhead, visit NASA's Space Flight Website.
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 MYSTERY
OBJECT: On Sept. 3rd, amateur astronomer Bill Yeung discovered a curious object orbiting Earth. He named it J002E3. Yeung's object hasn't been in Earth orbit for long, yet it corresponds to no recently-launched spacecraft. What is it? JPL astronomers suspect J002E3 might be an old Apollo rocket on a fantastic journey. Amateur astronomers using 8"-to-10" telescopes and CCD cameras can see it for themselves, glowing like a 16th magnitude star in the constellation Taurus. Want to find it yourself? Checkout the NASA's ephemeris page. This 10-minute exposure was captured by Andrea Aletti at the Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory. |
 An Atlas V Rocket Prepares to Launch
The first launch of an Atlas V rocket occurred last month. The Atlas V, built by Lockheed Martin, is the first rocket in the U. S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. Rockets in this program can carry increasingly heavy payloads by just adding more boosters. In fact, the only US expendable rocket capable of lifting more was the Saturn V that carried people to the Moon. Atlas rockets have a reputation for being extremely reliable -- the current launch was the 61st consecutive successful launch for an Atlas. Highlighted in the inset is the small RocketCam camera that sent back pictures from the rocket during launch. |
 CAT'S EYEOne of the most remarkable planetary nebula, NGC 6543 is the remnant of a dying star. Also known as the Cat's Eye Nebula, its eerie halo and filaments are material that the central star cast off thousands of years ago, according to astronomers. This color-enhanced image, which depicts nitrogen in reds and oxygen as greens and blues, comes from data from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands. |
 The moon
will be full tomorrow morning at 7:59am. In the meantime, you can expect to
see a 99% illuminated moon in the sky tonight.
How's this for a cool shot??? It was taken by Jason Ware. What are the odds of catching this shot??? I've seen stuff like this, but.. there's no way in the world that I'd have a camera handy. Not in a million years. |
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 six hours before the Sun and can be found
high almost overhead just 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. Did you know that the rings are visible in binoculars?
It's true. You'll have to hold it extremely steady... or maybe even mount
it on a tripod, but.. they are visible.
Checkout this awesome shot of Saturn by last month's Utah Skies Astro-Photographer of the month, Robert Gendler. Notice how quickly the Cassini Division jumps into view... plus the varying colors in the planetary disk. Very cool! |
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Checkout this beautiful image of Jupiter
taken by Robert
Gendler. Would you be happy with views like this? You might be
surprised at what a half-way decent telescope could do for you. Jupiter is
fairly well positioned for viewing in the mornings now. Perhaps you should
dust off your telescope and see what it's capable of doing? |
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| Checkout this sweet image captured by
Ed Grafton.
It clearly shows why most of the detail on the surface of the Red Planet
was invisible to amateur telescope last year. A huge, planet-wide dust
storm was engulfing the planet... just as it was moving into it's best
viewing position in years. 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 1.79 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. In case you didn't notice, Mars has now moved into the morning sky. We should begin picking it up in the east in the coming weeks. |
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| The accompanying image series was taken by Juan Carlos Cansado in Spain. It depicts the path that Mercury's orbit takes it through the sky. Notice that even at its highest... Mercury is never far above the horizon. The reason for this... Mercury is the innermost planet. It has the tightest orbit and never gets too far away from the Sun. | |||||||||||||
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| Venus continues its journey
through the constellation Leo. It also continues to brighten. Checkout
this cool shot by B. Colville of the Maple
Ridge Observatory. These were taken using a special Bessel U Filter which allows the transmission of ultra-violet light. Note the detail captured in the clouds of Venus' upper atmosphere.
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. Mercury will achieve its greatest brightness and largest apparent diameter in the coming weeks. 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 36% illuminated. As it climbs higher in the sky (larger angular separation from the Sun) the illuminated portion shrinks. By the time Venus is only 1/4 illuminated towards the end of September, it will have brightened to mag -4.6. 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 have grown to over 44"... almost 1/3 larger than it's current size. |
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Occasionally, a planet in our Solar System will pass in front of a bright star. Since stars and planets take up so little space on the sky, such events are quite rare. Two months ago, however, Pluto and its large moon Charon passed in front of a comparatively bright triple star system known as P126. By noting how P126 A dimmed, the event was useful for studying Pluto's relatively unknown atmosphere. A Very Large Telescope in Chile using a deformable mirror to counter the blurring effect of Earth's atmosphere captured the above image.
Pluto is currently over 2.8 billion miles from Earth. Located in the southwestern sky before sunset, Pluto is also not very well placed at this point for viewing. If you haven't viewed it recently, you'll have to catch it on the next go round. |
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Checkout the cool Voyager 2 shot of
Neptune. Clearly visible is Neptune's "Great Dark Spot", a
large hurricane-like storm similar to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Neptune
is a relatively easy target when viewed at the right time... and that time
is now! It is best viewed now and through the
fall, when it will high in the sky for hours late at night and into the
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 reached opposition on Monday 8/19. This means
that the planet is opposite the sun in the sky. Opposition brings Uranus closest to us for this year at 2.6 light-hours away.
That's right... Light hours... the distance light travels in 2.6 hours.
Uranus is just about visible to the naked eye... depending on how dark
your skies are of course. This means its an easy target for binoculars or
a telescope. I saw Uranus recently. While sweeping for it using low powers
Uranus looked like a strange star. The reason for this is that Uranus
resolves to a disk... not just a point source of light like a star. As I
increased the power I was able to determine without a doubt that I was
observing the 7th planet. It appeared as a very pale blue disk. As it was
less than an ideal night for observing, none of its faint moons were
visible. I suspect that on a better night... from darker skies that I
would have been able to spy at least the brightest moon Miranda... though
at mag 16.5 it would certainly be a stretch. Checkout this shot of Uranus taken by Astrophotographer Ed Grafton. 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 to find though. However, this is another tiny planet at only 4". 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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| 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. |
 Behind a Dusty Veil Lies a Cradle of Star BirthNGC 253 is a large, almost edge-on spiral galaxy, and is one of the nearest galaxies beyond our local neighborhood of galaxies. This dramatic galaxy shows complex structures such as clumpy gas clouds, darkened dust lanes, and young, luminous central star clusters. These elements are typical of spiral galaxies. Caroline Herschel discovered NGC 253 in 1783 while looking for comets. The galaxy's closeness to Earth makes it an ideal target for amateur astronomers who can see the southern sky and for astronomers interested in learning more about the makeup of these stunning cities of stars. Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA) |
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Let's
continue by observing Globular Cluster NGC7006 (mag10.6). This star
cluster is one of our galaxy's most remote, with an estimated
distance of over 110,000 light years!
Also
in Delphinius is another globular cluster NGC6934(mag8.9). This
large bright globular appears considerably brighter than NGC7006
because it is significantly closer. Estimates place NGC6934 about
50,000 light years from us. 
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Next Weeks Report |
| Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos and focus on the constellation Cepheus. |
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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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