Snoeshow Under The Stars
Mars Rover on the Move
The
Mars Spirit Rover has moved off it's landing pad. A series of tests indicate
that the rover appears to be in good shape... ready to begin its historic
journey. After a quick (10 foot) move off it's landing pad, Spirit stopped to
assess the situation. The accompanying image is from it's rear hazard
identification camera.
Read the full story on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission Website.
Renewed Spirit of Discovery
Today, President Bush announced new vision for the Nation's space
exploration program. The President committed the United States to a
long-term human and robotic program to explore the solar system,
starting with a return to the Moon that will ultimately enable
future exploration of Mars and other destinations. See SpaceFlightNow
for the complete story.
Comet C/2002 T7 Linear
How's this for a beautiful shot? G. Rhemann and M. Jäger captured this gorgeous image of Comet C/2002 T7 Linear on 12/20/03. At that point, the comet was about mag8.5 or so. It continues to brighten... and is now about mag8.0. This should put it within easy reach of most binoculars and small telescopes. and is expected to reach perihelion on April 23rd, 2004 and brighten to between mag0 & mag1... making this an easy naked eye comet. Views through a telescope or binoculars ought to be absolutely incredible!
The comet is currently cruising through the constellation Pisces, which is high in the sky shortly after dark. Now would be a great time to get out and observe the brightening comet. Click here for ephemeris to help you find the comet... or here for analysis of the comets journey.
Aurora Watch
Earth has entered a high speed solar wind flowing from a coronal
hole. Skywatchers should be alert for the northern lights this
weekend.
Checkout this awesome shot of The Northern Lights as imaged by Greg A Syverson of Talkeetna, Alaska. Taken on January 10th, a cloudy night... the skies cleared briefly and Greg managed to snag this awesome shot! You can find more beautiful images on Greg's Alaska-Photo.com Website .
Solar System
Space Weather Update
Massive
sunspot #537 is moving out of the line of fire. Any CME's from it will in
all likelihood miss the Earth. Sunspot #540 however, is moving into the
zone. Any activity from it over the next week of so will increasingly be
Earth-directed. Let's keep our fingers crossed. With the Moon approaching
new, skies will be extra dark for any northern lights that might show
themselves.
The sun is a fascinating subject. It's appearance changes from day to day. In fact, it is the only star in the sky that we can see any details on at all! If you'd like to observe our star, make sure you do so safely. Checkout these Safe Viewing Techniques.
Planetary Report
Mercury, the 1st Planet
| Rising: | 6:15 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.10 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 7" | |
| Distance: | 1.00 AU | |
| Constellation: | Sagittarius |
Now is a great time to look for Mercury as the first rock can be found rising in the southeast about an hour and a half before the sun. It's also fairly bright at mag -0.10... though this should be tempered by it's location in the rapidly brightening pre-dawn sky. If you have trouble spotting Mercury... use the tiny crescent moon as your guide. On Monday morning, January 19th, look for tiny Mercury about 5° north of the 6% illuminated waning crescent Moon.
This beautiful shot shows how quickly Mercury moves through the sky. In a matter of only a few weeks, Mercury appears above the horizon... climbs to it's highest point... and then sinks below the horizon. Mercury is currently visible in the eastern sky before sunrise. But, don't waste any time... or you'll miss out. Mercury reaches greatest elongation on the morning of 1/17/04. So.. you've got 2 weeks (centered on 1/17) at best to view the first rock.
This beautiful series was created by Juan Carlos Casado of Spain
Venus, the 2nd Planet
| Rising: | 9:50 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -4.03 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 14" | |
| Distance: | 1.22 AU | |
| Constellation: | Aquarius |
Venus
is now rising little more than two hours after the sun. You should now be able
to find it easily in the evening sky shortly after sundown. In fact, now would be a
good time to start watching Venus. Why? Well, because Venus is getting ready
for some major changes. It is currently 79% illuminated. As it climbs higher
in the sky over the coming months, it will grow considerably in size and
brightness... while shrinking just as considerably in phase. By late
winter / early spring Venus will only be 1/2 illuminated, but will be almost
half again as bright.
I've been catching Venus above the western horizon about 30-45 minutes after sunset for the last couple of months. It is now high enough that you can actually view it at a leisurely pace. It'll only get easier at this point. Slowly but surely, Venus will come to dominate the night sky. If you have a nice wide sky horizon to horizon, compare Venus with Saturn. They're both about the same height above the horizon shortly after dark... Venus in the west... and Saturn in the east.
This beautiful Hubble Space Telescope image shows us some fine detail in Venus' dense cloudtop.
Need to no more about Venus? Checkout this article by The Planetary Society.
Earth, the 3rd Planet
Earth from Mars
This beautiful picture was captured by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft. It is the first-ever image of Earth taken from another planet. At this point, Mars is some 70 million miles away. Wow! What a beautiful shot. In case you're wondering, that little guy in the upper right is our Moon.
Lunar Phase
The
moon reached last quarter on Wednesday. In the meantime, we'll be
under waning crescent phase with 32% of the moon's visible surface
illuminated when it rose around 2:15am. At this point, the moon is high
overhead as the sun is coming up... making the morning the best time to view
our nearest celestial neighbor.
The accompanying image was taken by Anthony Arrigo
of Utah Skies with a Canon Rebel 2000 Fuji ASA200 operating at prime focus through a 600mm f/5 refractor.
Visit our Lunar
Information Page for even more great images and information
Mars, the 4th Planet
| Rising: | 11:30 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 0.50 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 7" | |
| Distance: | 1.25 AU | |
| Constellation: | Pisces |
Mars is in the news lately... a fleet of spacecraft are arriving to study the red planet. This image (billed as the most detailed image of the planet ever) was taken by one of them... The Mars Spirit Rover.
Jupiter, the 5th Planet
| Rising: | 9:45 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -2.31 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 41" | |
| Distance: | 4.75 AU | |
| Constellation: | Leo |
Jupiter
can now be seen rising late at night... or high in the morning sky... just before first light is approaches.
Jupiter and it's moons are involved in a continuous dance. Views will
only be improving for the next several months, so... get out and take a peak
at the giant planet.
The accompanying image was taken last spring by Utah Skies own Don Brown through a Takahashi FS102 refractor.
Look for the Moon and Jupiter to pose together Sunday night and into Monday morning. The two will be just over 2° apart.
Saturn, the 6th Planet
| Rising: | 4:00 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.37 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 21" | |
| Distance: | 8.09 AU | |
| Constellation: | Gemini |
Saturn
reached opposition on New Years Eve. Opposition occurs when the Sun and Saturn appear in opposite directions
as viewed from Earth. So, on December 31st, as the Sun is setting, Saturn
will be rising. This opposition should provide us with some of the best
views of Saturn in quite some time. Saturn always looks great, right? What
makes this year so special? Well... first off, Saturn recently reached
perihelion... it's nearest distance to the Sun. This makes it seem just a
little brighter than usual. Second, Saturn's rings are tipped about as much
as they can be... roughly
26° from edge-on. This gives us a great view of
the solar systems most incredible ring system. Third, Saturn is cruising
much further north than usual. This puts Saturn in a favorable position for
northerners. Saturn spend much of the night in the clearest, steadiest
portion of the sky.
Check this shot out!!! Taken on Monday night (01/12/04) by by Utah Skies own Don Brown using his trusty Takahashi FS-102 from his home in Park City. Amateur telescopes can expect to see details like this. Sweet! So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and checkout the ringed planet. This winter will be the best absolute time to study Saturn's beautiful ring structure for some time, so... get out there and do it. If you find yourself under incredibly good skies... with incredibly good optics... see what kind of detail you can tease from the eyepiece.
Ok... here's an interesting note... Saturn's shadow... visible in these images on the rings... to the upper left of the planet... will switch to the opposite side in the coming months. Make a mental note next time you're out viewing. In the coming weeks, the shadow will get smaller and smaller... until it disappears and then slowly reappears on the opposite side of the planet.
Uranus, the 7th Planet
| Rising: | 9:40 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 5.92 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 3" | |
| Distance: | 20.84 AU | |
| Constellation: | Aquarius |
Interested
in viewing the 7th planet? You'd better get on it quick. Uranus
is rising in the early afternoon... putting it high in the sky by the time
it gets dark If you wait too far after dark, you'll have trouble viewing the
planet in the turbulent skies above the western horizon. Uranus has recently dropped back to
3" in apparent
diameter. 1" smaller than it's peak this fall. Ok.. it's only a 1"
decline, right... Well... there wasn't a whole lot to work with originally.
1" marks a 25% decline... So... don't waste any time..This beautiful HST image shows a newly discovered moon as well as Uranus' delicate ring system.
Interested in seeing Uranus... but don't know where to look? The bright planet Venus will be less than 1° from Uranus on Wednesday evening (1/14/04)
Neptune, the 8th Planet
| Rising: | 8:50 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 7.98 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 2" | |
| Distance: | 31.02 AU | |
| Constellation: | Capricornus |
Astronomers
pointed the sharp eyed Hubble Telescope at Neptune and discovered that
Neptune's Great Dark Spot (discovered by Voyager 2) had disappeared... and
then reappeared... this time in the northern hemisphere! Current thinking is
that the spot might be a hole in Neptune's methane cloud tops... potentially
allowing us to get a view lower in Neptune's atmosphere.
Pluto, the 9th Planet
| Rising: | 5:05 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 13.97 | |
| Visual Diameter: | <1" | |
| Distance: | 31.54 AU | |
| Constellation: | Serpens |
Astronomers made a surprising discovery about Pluto recently. As Pluto begins to move away from the Sun... towards the beginning of it's winter... things are actually heating up on the distant planet instead of cooling down. Checkout CNN.com/SPACE for more detailsTake this bit of planetary information either as an interesting side note, or an observing challenge. Pluto is in the constellation Ophiuchus, less than °1 southwest of NGC6309 aka The Bug Nebula. I viewed The Bug this past weekend, so... photons from Pluto must have hit my retina :-) At magnitude 13.9, Pluto is basically out of reach of smaller telescopes... Even in the big scope... it's difficult to be sure that you've seen Pluto. One way to verify that you have found Pluto is to sketch the star patterns over several nights. If you have actually found Pluto, one of the the faint star-like objects will have moved over the course of a few nights. This is Pluto.
This image was taken by The
Hubble Space Telescope.
Need more information? Checkout the Pluto
Home Page.
Deep Sky
Hubble Vision
Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy's Fatal PlungeThese images offer a dramatic look at a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way being ripped apart as it races at 4.5 million miles per hour through the heart of a distant cluster of galaxies. The images, taken over several wavelengths, provide evidence of the "galactic assault and battery," namely, gas being stripped from the doomed galaxy, called C153.
The composite photograph at left was made by combining the four images at right, taken in X-ray, radio, and visible wavelengths as well as the green light of oxygen gas. Astronomers studied the galaxy across several wavelengths to trace how stars, gas, and dust are being tossed around and torn from the fragile galaxy.
The composite image at left shows long streamers of gas flowing from the galaxy as it travels through the cluster, called Abell 2125. Hot gas from the cluster is stretching the galaxy's cooler gas into long streamers. Velocity measurements of several hundred galaxies in the cluster indicate that C153 is moving away from Earth within the cluster. The image, therefore, shows the streaking tail of "stripped gas." The image spans about 1 million light-years across. Abell 2125 is about 3 billion light-years away, on the boundary between the constellations Ursa Minor and Draco.
The visible-light image [above, right], taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveals intricate detail in the structure of stars and dust within C153. The galaxy exhibits evidence of a large-scale disturbance that has left its star-forming regions concentrated to one side of its disk and beyond. Dust features are twisted into chaotic patterns, obscuring any spiral pattern the galaxy once had.
X-ray emission [above, right], imaged by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, shows a gas tail extending from C153, which roughly matches the glowing gas tail observed in visible light. The temperature of the gas tail is cooler than the surrounding gas. This temperature difference is further evidence that gas is being "stripped" from the galaxy. The hotter gas is so diffuse that it cannot be seen in the image.
Radio observations [below, right] depict high-energy particles as they spiral through the galaxy's magnetic field, with some escaping in a perpendicular direction to the galaxy's disk. The particles probably came from an energetic black hole that was fueled by a collision between two galaxy clusters. This emission first marked C153 as unusual, leading scientists to conduct further observations.
The image [below, right], taken by the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, isolated the light from glowing oxygen gas. This view shows a tail forming as gas is pulled from the galaxy and stretched into long streamers that extends for about 200,000 light-years.
Credit: NASA, W. Keel (U Alabama), F. Owen (NRAO), M. Ledlow (Gemini Obs.), and D. Wang (U Mass.)
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
Stay up to date on astronomical happenings by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org