Stretching Its Legs
The
Mars Opportunity Rover recently began making preparations to leave its landing
site. The rover extended its rear wheels and should roll off the landing pedestal
shortly.
The accompanying image shows some of the footprints left by Opportunity's airbags during its recent landing
Read the full story on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission Website.
Back To Work
The
Mars Spirit Rover recently returned this, its first image since technical
difficulties were encountered last week. In the image you can see Spirit's arm
extended towards the rock it was getting ready to analyze. Mission specialists
are slowly easing Spirit back into its mission. It will take additional
pictures of the Martian surface while continuing to transmit system data
related to its health.
Read the full story on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Website.
Interesting Horizons
This
is the view from Opportunity's landing site. Mission scientists must be
chomping at the bit as they see this first ever outcropping of Martian
bedrock. What information will it contain? What secrets will it reveal?
Comet C/2002 T7 Linear
How's this for a beautiful shot? Yea, I know... we've had beautiful images of this comet before. What makes this image so amazing? Well... it was taken by High School Students in Denmark, that's what! On December 28th, 2003, they managed to snag this beautiful shot.
The comet is now about mag7.7. 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 for springtime observers. Views through a telescope or binoculars ought to be absolutely incredible by then!
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... or here for a sky map.
Aurora Watch
We are under an aurora watch again this weekend. Skywatchers should pay particularly close attention tonight... when Earth is expected to enter a high speed solar wind flowing from a coronal hole.
Andre Clay of Fairbanks, Alaska snagged this incredible shot last Sunday night (1/25/04). Want to see more of Andre's work, checkout his Aurora Borealis Website.
Solar System
Sunspot
activity on our star has all but ceased. What a big difference from last
week.. when the sun was peppered with sunspots across it's midsection.
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: | 6:40 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.15 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 6" | |
| Distance: | 1.21 AU | |
| Constellation: | Sagittarius |
The last couple of weeks were great for viewing the innermost planet. Mercury has now begun to rapidly dive towards the sun. It will soon reappear in the western horizon after sunset in the coming weeks.
This beautiful image of Mercury's South Pole was taken by the Mariner 10 Spacecraft in 1974.
Venus, the 2nd Planet
| Rising: | 9:30 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -4.08 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 15" | |
| Distance: | 1.13 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 76% 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 shows several of the largest craters on Venus.
Need to no more about Venus? Checkout this article by The Planetary Society.
Earth, the 3rd Planet
Meteor Crater
This image shows Meteor Crater in Arizona. If this isn't proof that we are part of a very active solar system, I don't know what is. This crater is over 1 kilometer across and over 200 feet deep.
Lunar Phase
The
moon reached first quarter Wednesday evening. In the meantime, we'll be
under waxing
gibbous phase with 64% of the moon's visible surface
illuminated when it rises around 9:20am. At this point, the moon is sitting
low in the western sky as the sun is setting.
Interested in how and why we see the lunar phases we do? Checkout this animation.
The accompanying image was taken by Anthony Arrigo
of Utah Skies with a Sony DSC-F717 digital camera through a 120mm f/5
refractor.
Visit our Lunar
Information Page for even more great images and information
Mars, the 4th Planet
| Rising: | 10:55 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 0.71 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 7" | |
| Distance: | 1.38 AU | |
| Constellation: | Pisces |
Mars is in the news lately... a fleet of spacecraft are arriving to study the red planet. This beautiful image was taken by one of them... the orbiting Mars Express Spacecraft.
Jupiter, the 5th Planet
| Rising: | 8:45 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -2.39 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 43" | |
| Distance: | 4.59 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 by former Utah Skies Astrophotographer of the Month, Ed Grafton. Ed took this shot from his home in suburban Houston. Sweet, huh? Ed is continually adding to his website, so.. .go check it out!
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: | 3:00 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.28 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 20" | |
| Distance: | 8.19 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.
This gorgeous shot of the ringed planet was taken by former Utah Skies Astrophotographer of the Month, Ed Grafton. Have you checked out his website lately, if not... what are you waiting for ;-)
Ok... here's an interesting note... Saturn's shadow... visible recent images on the rings... are now hidden... they were on the left side of the planet... and will soon switch and reappear on the opposite side in the coming months. Make a mental note next time you're out viewing.
Uranus, the 7th Planet
| Rising: | 8:50 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 5.93 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 3" | |
| Distance: | 20.95 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: | 7:55 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 7.98 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 2" | |
| Distance: | 31.06 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: | 4:10 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 13.97 | |
| Visual Diameter: | <1" | |
| Distance: | 31.39 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
Hubble Reveals Structure of Supernova 1987a Explosion DebrisThis Hubble Space Telescope picture shows Supernova 1987A and its neighborhood. The series of four panels shows the evolution of the SN 1987A debris from February 1994 to February 1996. Material from the stellar interior was ejected into space during the supernova explosion in February 1987. The explosion debris is expanding at nearly 6 million miles per hour.
Ten years now after the explosion, this cosmic fireball is large enough —- about one-sixth of a light-year in diameter —- to be resolved from the Earth's orbit with the Hubble Space Telescope. The debris is resolved into two opposing blobs and is dim in the center. The apparent direction of ejection is the same as the short axis of the bright inner ring that surrounds the supernova. This suggests that the explosion is directed out of the plane of the ring. The ring is probably composed of materials lost by the pre-supernova star in the last stages of its evolution.
Supernova 1987A is located 167,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The telescope captured the images with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The central image of the supernova and the ring system was taken in light emitted by nitrogen gas (658 nanometers) on Sept. 24, 1994. The series of debris images were taken using a visible light filter of wavelength around 550 nanometers taken (from left to right) on Feb. 4, 1994, Sept. 24, 1994, March 5, 1995, and Feb. 6, 1996.
Credit: Chun Shing Jason Pun (NASA/GSFC), Robert P. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), and NASA
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