Help Save The Hubble Space Telescope
The
amazing Hubble Space Telescope... perhaps the greatest astronomical
observatory of all times needs your help. Budgetary constraints and new NASA
objectives are threatening to leave the HST high and dry. In order to meet new
directives, NASA has decided to cancel the planned 4th HST Servicing Mission.
Without this servicing visit, Hubble will soon be rendered incapable of
acquiring and tracking the deep sky objects it is supposed to study. If you'd
like to prevent this from happening... please sign this on-line petition to Save
The Hubble Space Telescope.
Proving it's worth to the very end... astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope recently discovered oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. These key ingredients are some of the essential building blocks for life as we know it. While the astronomers don't believe there is life on the planet in question... their discovery on another planet helps paint a picture of the composition of our universe.
Read the full story at CNN.com/SPACE.
Martian Mineral Map
The
Mars Opportunity Rover recently returned this first ever mineral map of
another planet. Checkout
Opportunity's Latest Status Report.
Read the full story on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Website.
Spirit Regains Its Memory
Microscopic Mars
This
is a microscopic view of the soil from Opportunity's landing site. The images
is about 1" across. Of greatest interest in this photo is the circular
grain at the lower left. There are two known processes here on Earth that
could explain its shape. One involved volcanic activity... the other... water.
The adventure continues.
For more details, checkout the Opportunity Press Release from JPL.
Comet C/2002 T7 Linear
Checkout this recent shot of the comet. Taken on January 13th, by Dennis Persyk of Hampshire, Illinois it shows of the growing tail of the comet which now stretches roughly 22 minutes... about 3/4 the diameter of the full moon. Wondering why the stars are elongated? Well, comets and stars move at different rates and in different directions across the sky. Dennis made this shot by stacking fourteen 5 minute exposures made with a Televue NP101... 4" refractor and a MX716 CCD camera. In the at least 70 minutes it took to acquire the individual components of this shot... the comet and the stars were already showing their differing motions.
The comet is now about mag7.4... making it a fairly easy target for most binoculars and small telescopes. As we've mentioned previously, the comet 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 southeastern most portion of the constellation Pegasus, which is high in the southwestern 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.
Northern Lights
Skywatchers living in the far north were treated to some spectacular displays of the northern lights recently. Take this shot for example. Taken on February 1st, 2004 by Adam Zier-Vogel from Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada... this display shows some incredible colors and activity.
Adam said that the coyotes howled throughout the event... adding considerably to the experience. Wow!
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.
Solar System
Sunspot
activity on our star has resumed. What a big difference from last
week... when the sun was devoid of sunspots. While none of these are
very large, they are at least large enough.. and numerous enough to make the
view interesting..
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: | 6:50 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.23 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 5" | |
| Distance: | 1.29 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: | 9:25 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -4.10 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 15" | |
| Distance: | 1.09 AU | |
| Constellation: | Pisces |
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 will be full this evening. At this point, the moon is completely
dominating the night sky... all of it. So.. why fight it? Grab a
telescope... and your moon filter and checkout Earth's nearest celestial
neighbor. The Moon is an incredible beauty... offering viewers unprecedented
details of its surface.
Interested in how and why we see the lunar phases we do? Checkout this animation.
The accompanying moonrise image was taken on March
28th, 2002 by Anthony Arrigo
of Utah Skies with an Olympus OM-1 shooting at prime focus through a 120mm f/5
refractor.
Visit our Lunar
Information Page for even more great images and information
The Moon and Saturn posed together Monday evening. This event, known as a conjunction happens fairly often. Checkout our Conjunction Page to see some previous alignments.
Mars, the 4th Planet
| Rising: | 10:40 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 0.81 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 6" | |
| Distance: | 1.45 AU | |
| Constellation: | Aries |
This beautiful sequence takes us back to Mars' close up visit in the summer of 2003. Taken by Utah Skies own Don Brown it catalogs the red planet's incredible growth.
Jupiter, the 5th Planet
| Rising: | 8:15 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -2.43 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 43" | |
| Distance: | 4.53 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: | 2:30 pm | |
| Visual Magnitude: | -0.24 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 20" | |
| Distance: | 8.26 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 The Hubble Space Telescope.
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: | 8:20 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 5.93 | |
| Visual Diameter: | 3" | |
| Distance: | 20.99 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 2MASS image shows a few of Uranus' moons.
Neptune, the 8th Planet
| Rising: | 7:30 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: | 3:45 am | |
| Visual Magnitude: | 13.97 | |
| Visual Diameter: | <1" | |
| Distance: | 31.30 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
Supernova Blast Bonanza in Nearby GalaxyThe nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 1569 is a hotbed of vigorous star birth activity which blows huge bubbles that riddle the main body of the galaxy. The galaxy's "star factories" are also manufacturing brilliant blue star clusters. This galaxy had a sudden onset of star birth about 25 million years ago, which subsided about the time the very earliest human ancestors appeared on Earth.
In this new image, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the bubble structure is sculpted by the galactic super-winds and outflows caused by a colossal input of energy from collective supernova explosions that are linked with a massive episode of star birth.
One of the still unresolved mysteries in astronomy is how and when galaxies formed and how they evolved. Most of today's galaxies seem to have been already fully formed very early on in the history of the universe (now corresponding to a large distance away from us), their formation involving one or more galaxy collisions and/or episodes of strongly enhanced star formation activity (so-called starbursts).
While any galaxies that are actually forming are too far away for detailed studies of their stellar populations even with Hubble, their local counterparts, nearby starburst and colliding galaxies, are far easier targets.
NGC 1569 is a particularly suitable example, being one of the closest starburst galaxies. It harbors two very prominent young, massive clusters plus a large number of smaller star clusters. The two young massive clusters match the globular star clusters we find in our own Milky Way galaxy, while the smaller ones are comparable with the less massive open clusters around us.
NGC 1569 was recently investigated in great detail by a group of European astronomers who published their results in the January 1, 2004 issue of the British journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The group used several of Hubble's high-resolution instruments, with deep observations spanning a wide wavelength range, to determine the parameters of the clusters more precisely than is currently possible from the ground.
The team found that the majority of clusters in NGC 1569 seem to have been produced in an energetic starburst that started around 25 million years ago and lasted for about 20 million years. First author Peter Anders from the Gottingen University Galaxy Evolution Group, Germany says "We are looking straight into the very creation processes of the stars and star clusters in this galaxy. The clusters themselves present us with a fossil record of NGC 1569's intense star formation history."
The bubble-like structures seen in this image are made of hydrogen gas that glows when hit by the fierce winds and radiation from hot young stars and is racked by supernovae shocks. The first supernovae blew up when the most massive stars reached the end of their lifetimes roughly 20-25 million years ago. The environment in NGC 1569 is still turbulent and the supernovae may not only deliver the gaseous raw material needed for the formation of further stars and star clusters, but also actually trigger their birth in the tortured swirls of gas.
The color image is composed of 4 different exposures with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 through the following filters: a wide ultraviolet filter (shown in blue), a green filter (shown in green), a wide red filter (shown in red), and a Hydrogen alpha filter (also shown in red).
Credit: ESA, NASA and P. Anders (Göttingen University Galaxy Evolution Group, Germany
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