Report for 2002-10-04
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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: 7:26 am | Sunset: 7:06 pm |
| Astronomical Twilight Begins: 5:55 am | Astronomical Twilight Ends: 8:37 pm |
| Moonrise: 4:58 am | Moonset: 6:36 pm |
| Skies have been mostly
cloudy the last week. We've had a few breaks here and there, but... for
the most part this week has been a wash... literally. Anyway... when skies
do clear again, fall is an awesome time to observe. You can still catch all of your
favorite summer objects early in the night. They're sliding into the
western sky quickly though... so you'd better visit them at the start of
the evening. Then, the awesome fall objects begin to arrive... The
Andromeda Galaxy... The
Double Cluster... The
Cats Eye Nebula....Additionally, as you can see from the chart
above... it is getting dark earlier... much earlier. This allow us to get
some serious viewing time and still get some sleep. . |
 September
has been an impressive month for geomagnetic activity. No less than three
aurora have passed us by here in northern Utah ;)Nonetheless, autumn is typically aurora season. This past Sunday (9/22) marked the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere. More precisely, the autumnal equinox arrived on Sept. 23rd at 0455 UT or 55 minutes past midnight EDT. |
 Food
for thought:Here's a composite image which kind of puts the size of the planets in perspective. Relative to the Sun, ALL planets are tiny. As you can see, Jupiter the largest planet is dwarfed by the Sun... As is Saturn. The two blue planets beneath them are Uranus and Neptune. They appear miniscule. The box below these two contains all the other planets... including Earth. As you can see, even solar flares are much larger than the planets. |
 Howard Christiansen of Farmington, Utah, captured
this lovely sunset view of Venus over the Great Salt Lake on Sept. 21, 2002.
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 Checkout
this awesome aurora captured on Monday morning (9/30) by Lyndon
Anderson near Bismarck North Dakota.
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 John Russell
of Nome, Alaska photographed these auroras above the Bering Sea on Oct. 1st.
Photo details: Nikkor 28mm/f1.4, Fuji Superia 800,
6 to 12 seconds.
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 The
International Space Station
will make several brief passes over the area this weekend... including one
billed as a "Space
Station Supernova". The reason for this is that the ISS will come
from the dark side of the planet into the light of the soon to be rising
sun. See if you can find it. 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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 Checkout
this Artist's impression of the Darwin free-flyer model. Darwin is a new
technology being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). This technology may allow smaller, more easily
disposable satellites to replace often enormous relics in the future and may
improve spacecraft control. Darwin will use a flotilla of six 2-metre-diameter telescopes, flyingin tight formation, to simulate a single telescope up to 250 metres across. |
 Part
of the rational for the Darwin Project is the fact that over the years...
way to much space junk has accumulated. The accompanying image is a catalog
of what's up there. As you can see, the near Earth area is getting... dare I
say... crowded. Click HERE
to find out more.
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 The moon
will be new Sunday morning at 5:16am. In the meantime, you can expect to
see a mere 5% illuminated moon in the sky tonight... or more likely... this
morning. As noted above, moonrise is a 4:58am
I took the accompanying image this
past spring. This weekend, you can expect to see and even tinier sliver of a
moon rising in the east before sunrise. |
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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Checkout this beautiful image of Jupiter
taken by Marc Sylvestre. He's a new
"find" for me. Checkout his site... you'll be impressed. To
the left of Jupiter is it's moon Io.
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 Marc Sylvestre. It shows an incredible amount of detail on the surface of the Red Planet. Mars has now reached its greatest separation from Earth at this point .The distance between the two planets is slowly begining 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 1.81 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
reached it's greatest brilliancy on Thursday (9/26). At mag-4.6, it outshines
Sirius (the brightest star in the sky) by a factor of 18. Venus will achieve its
largest apparent diameter in the latter part of October. Venus continues its journey
through the constellations and is now in Libra. 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 3.5 hours after the sun. Many of
you have no doubt seen it blazing away low in the western sky after sunset.
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 a mere 19% illuminated. |
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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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Two hours before closest approach to Neptune in 1989, the Voyager 2 robot spacecraft snapped this picture. Clearly visible for the first time were long light-colored
cirrus-type clouds floating high in Neptune's atmosphere. Shadows of these clouds can even be seen on lower cloud decks. Most of Neptune's atmosphere is made
of hydrogen and helium, which is invisible. Neptune's blue color therefore comes from smaller amounts of atmospheric methane, which preferentially absorbs red
light. Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System, with gusts reaching 2000 kilometers per hour.
Speculation holds that diamonds may be created in the dense hot conditions that exist under the clouds-tops of Uranus and Neptune. 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, Neptune 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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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 Marc Sylvestre. |
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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. |
 Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected PlacesThese two globular star clusters, M15 and G1, harbor hundreds of thousands of stars. But deep within their dense cores is an unexpected guest: a class of intermediate-sized black holes. Black holes are invisible, but the probing eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found them by measuring the velocities of stars whirling around the crowded cores. Using spectral observations, astronomers discovered that the stars orbiting the cores of M15 and G1 moved at a much faster rate, which suggested the presence of unseen massive bodies. These previously undiscovered black holes provide an important link that sheds light on the way in which black holes grow. The new findings promise a better understanding of how galaxies and globular clusters first formed billions of years ago. Globular star clusters contain the oldest stars in the universe. If these clusters have black holes now, then they most likely had black holes when they formed billions of years ago. The black hole in M15 [left] is 4,000 times more massive than our Sun. G1 [right], a much larger globular cluster, harbors a heftier black hole, about 20,000 times more massive than our Sun. The globular star cluster M15 resides 32,000 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. M15 is one of nearly 150 known globular clusters that form a vast halo surrounding our Milky Way galaxy. G1, located 2.2 million light-years away in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy (also known as M31), has a total mass of 10 million suns, making it one of the most massive globular clusters known. The Hubble telescope photograph of M15 was taken December 1998 by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 also snapped the image of G1, in July 1994. The members of the G1 research team are Michael Rich (University of California, Los Angeles/UCLA), Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas at Austin), and Luis Ho (Carnegie Institute of Washington). The members of the M15 research team are Roeland Van Der Marel and Joris Gerssen (Space Telescope Science Institute), Karl Gebhardt, Puragra Guhathakurta and Ruth Peterson (UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California at Santa Cruz), and Carlton Pryor (Rutgers University). Image Credits for M15: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Image Credits for G1: NASA and Michael Rich (UCLA) Science Credits: NASA, Roeland Van Der Marel and Joris Gerssen (Space Telescope Science Institute), Puragra Guhathakurta and Ruth Peterson (University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory), Carlton Pryor (Rutgers University), Michael Rich (UCLA), Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas), and Luis Ho (Carnegie Institution of Washington) |
| 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 Cassiopeia the Queen. Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus the King and the mother of Andromeda. When Cassiopeia objected to the wedding of her daughter to Perseus, Perseus displayed the head of Medusa, which he had concealed in his travel bag. As a result, his enemies, including Cassiopeia, were turned into stone. Cassiopeia was placed in the sky by Neptune. As she sits on her W-shaped throne she circles round and round the pole. Cassiopeia is what is known as a circumpolar constellation. This is one which is visible no matter what the season or time of night. In the fall Cassiopeia is in the shape of a W and in the Spring she is in the shape of a M. |
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| The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is high overhead and to the north, northeast. I always describe Cassiopeia as the Big W. This, and the fact that it is made up of a bunch of fairly bright stars, should make it pretty easy to find. Cassiopeia is north of Andromeda and west of Perseus -- constellations which we've looked at in previous reports, | |
 Here's
an awesome wide angle shot of Cassiopeia as taken by Jerry
Lodriguss. Click on the image if you'd like to see the lines
drawn and have a few objects identified for you. |
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 What
an awesome RGB color composite of nebula near the variable star LW Cassiopeia, made by
Al Kelly from filtered images taken by Arne Henden of the
US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ with the USNO 1.0- meter telescope. Arne made 6 images using UBVRIH filters. Al composited U+B=blue, V=green, and
R+I+H=red.
RGB by the way stands for Red, Green, Blue. Named the additive colors of the human visual spectrum, since red + green + blue = white. |
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 Ok,
let's start things off with the first of two Messier objects in this
weeks report. Open star cluster M52(mag6.9). This is a beautiful object in
binoculars and is absolutely stunning in larger aperture telescopes.
Discovered in 1774 by Charles Messier, M52 is a fine open cluster located
in a very rich section of the Milky Way. There are an estimated 200 actual
members in this cluster. The distance of this cluster is not very
well known; estimates range from 3000 to 7000 light years. Amateurs
can see M52 as a fuzzy patch in good binoculars or finder scopes. In
4-inch telescopes, it appears as a fine, rich compressed cluster of faint
stars, often described as of fan or "V" shape; the bright yellow
star is to the SW edge. M52 can be found quite easily by extending the
line from Alpha over Beta Cassiopeiae by 6 1/2 degrees to the NW to 5th
mag 4 Cassiopeiae; M52 is roughly 1 degree south and slightly west of this
star. Situated about 35' SW of M52 is the Bubble
Nebula NGC 7635, a diffuse nebula which appears as a large, faint and
diffuse oval, about 3.5x3' around the 7th-mag star HD 220057 of spectral
type B2 IV. It is difficult to see because of its low surface brightness.
Just immediately south of M52 is the little conspicuous open cluster
Czernik 43 (Cz 43), which is visible in larger telescopes only. |
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 Next
we'll hit the other Messier Object in Cassiopeia, Open Star Cluster
M103(mag7.4) Discovered by Messier's assistant
Pierre Méchain in 1781, M103 is one of objects which Messier
included from Méchain's report, but had not actually observed himself
prior to publication. This loose cluster of some 60-70 members is one
of the more remote open clusters in Messier's catalog, at about 8,000
light years Its appearance is dominated by a non-member foreground
star called Struve 131. This beautiful double is made up of a mag 7.3 and
a mag10.5 star separated by a mere 13.8". The age of the
cluster is estimated to be around 25 million years. M103 contains one red giant star, obvious in color photos of the cluster; this star is of about mag 10.8. M103 is visible in binoculars as a fuzzy patch of light. It is not so easy to identify in telescopes because it is quite loose and poor, and may be confused with star groups or clusters in the vicinity. Situated nearby are a number of other open clusters, including Trumpler 1, NGC 654, NGC 659 and NGC 663. The latter is sometimes mentioned as a candidate to be confused with M103.
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Next up is another of Cassiopeia's very beautiful Open Star Clusters,
NGC457(mag6.4). Otherwise known as the Owl Cluster, this
cluster is actually the brightest of Cassiopeia's open star
clusters. Displaying some 80+ member stars to viewers using larger
scopes(12+"), this cluster is a beauty in any instrument.
Astronomical binoculars will provide a very pleasing view and 8"
telescopes will reveal most of the 80 stars mentioned above. This cluster
is a bit brighter and has more members than M103. The distance to NGC457
is estimated to be about 8000 light years.
Checkout the two bright stars at the bottom of the cluster. These are thought to be foreground stars, not actual cluster members. To locate this object, use mag5 phi Cassiopeia as your guide. This star should be visible to the naked eye under relatively dark skies. It is located about 2° south/southwest of Delta Cassiopeia.
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Moving on, we come to yet another beautiful Open Star Cluster NGC559(mag9.5).
Located about 3° west of Epsilon Cassiopeia or 3° north of Delta
Cassiopeia, this little known cluster is a hidden gem. The key to
identifying this little cluster is to be able to separate it from the
incredible density of stars in the area. To see this object, you'll need
at least an 8" telescope. Otherwise, it's stars are too faint... and
it's background too dense. Even with this size telescope, you'll only see
a small portion of its stars. To truly appreciate NGC559, you'll want a
large telescope (16+") and dark skies. Part of the reason for this is
the fact that there is a considerable amount of intervening dust which
reduces the brightness of this object. In fact, it is dimmed by almost a
full magnitude because of this. Anyway...In the 25" under dark Utah
skies, this object is absolutely stunning. You can get lost in the endless
star patterns contained within it. |
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 Up
next is... yup.. you guessed it. A beautiful open star cluster.
Surprised :) This time it's NGC663(mag7.1) Looking beautiful
in a nice pair of binoculars, this beauty is absolutely beautiful in
telescopes starting around 6". It is at this size that you'll start
to resolve its individual member stars. Use low to medium power to really
enjoy this object as it's fairly large -- almost 1/2 the diameter of the
full moon.
To find this object, simply move about 1° east of the line between Epsilon and Delta Cassiopeia. You'll quickly stumble over the star clusters in this area. To identify this cluster, remember that NGC663 is the largest in the area. NGC654 located slightly closer to the line is brighter, but considerably smaller. Anyway.. while you're in the area, cruise around and take in the beauty. This is an incredibly rich area, so... take your time and enjoy!
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Ok. So you're looking for a change of pace... getting tired of all those
beautiful open star clusters. How's this for a change...Elliptical
Galaxy NGC147(mag9.3) This galaxy will be quite a bit harder to find
than it's mag9.3 might suggest. This is a large object with a very low
amount of surface brightness. In fact, were we not saving a real challenge
for you.. this could easily be a candidate for the Utah Skies Challenge.
Anyway... since this and NGC185 which follows are so close together, I
figured that you'd be able to find them fairly easily. This object appears
pretty featureless in the eyepiece -- pretty much an elongated smudge. The
stars that you see are actually foreground stars. There is a slight
brightening towards the core.
To find this, travel about 6° south of alpha Cassiopeia.
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Continuing about 1° to the east, we come to another Elliptical Galaxy
NGC185(mag9.2) . These galaxies are so close to each
other...and so close in brightness... that finding one would
essentially lead you right to the other. I'm hoping that you've
identified both of these. In case you're having difficulty, NGC185 will
appear the brighter and more concentrated of the two. In any case,
you'll need at least 8-10" and dark skies to simply view these. If
you want to see these objects and be impressed, you'll need to try to gain
access to the Hubble Space Telescope :) Both appear relatively
featureless, even in large instruments. I've seen both in the 25"
under dark skies.... and was not overly impressed. However...if you find
these in a small telescope... that would be quite impressive indeed :) |
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Moving back to Open Star Clusters we come to NGC7789(mag6.7). This
beautiful image was taken by this month's Utah
Skies Astrophotographer of the Month, Al
Kelly. |
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 Let's
wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, a sweet
planetary nebula IC289(mag12). This object is pretty small at only
36". But.. this will probably help you due to a relatively high
surface brightness. As you sweep the sky at low powers searching for this
object, it will appear almost stellar when you come across it. With
averted vision, you'll pickup the nebulosity. Once you've found it, switch
to high power. This object will take all you can throw at it. Also, if you
have some nebula filters, now's the time to try them out. I've had best
luck with my OIII filter.
IC189 is located about 10° east/southeast of Epsilon Cassiopeia, the northeastern most star of the "W", this object is in a pretty sparsely populated area of the constellation. 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. |
| We need your help!
Utah Skies is beginning to get some serious traction on the issue of light pollution right here in Summit County. Recently, we met with officials from the Summit County Planning Department to discuss the issue of light pollution. We spoke for quite some time about the current issues and how these might be addressed. There was a general agreement that the county had dropped the ball in the past and that better procedures were required at all phases of the development cycle. We left feeling pretty positive about future prospects. Of course, without continued public support this issue could be left to wither. To that end, we are requesting that you take a minute out of your day to send an e-mail to some of the people listed below. Don't feel that you have to create a major literary or political statement. (You can if you want to of course). All that is required is that Summit County officials realize that this is an issue that they must deal with. This can be achieved by simply sending an e-mail requesting that they address the growing problem of light pollution in the county. Period. That's it. If enough people take one minute out of their day and send an e-mail the problem will be solved. Simple as that. So... what are you waiting for :) We also need letters to the editor of the Park Record demanding that the county enforce and even strengthen its outdoor lighting ordinances. You might want to contact the other media sources in town. Specifically, KPCW radio and PCTV television. We get some light pollution information out through all of these sources periodically, but... if they hear from the wider community, they will make this one of the issues they monitor more closely. Any time and effort you can expend now would be quite helpful.
Below is the contact information for some key political and media figures 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. If you don't know what to say... why
not start with our pre-written
e-mail. It gets the point across...
or at least its a good starting point. |
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Next Weeks Report |
| Next week, we'll continue our journey through the cosmos and focus on the constellation Pegasus. |
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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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