Our star is again devoid of any signs of sunspots. This (finally) is in line with the approach of solar minimum... expected sometime in 2006. 

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!

This awesome shot of our star was taken by the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

Because of its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is never really viewed against a dark background. Rather, it always struggles to be seen over the light of the setting or rising Sun. Patience (and clear skies) will reward you with some beautiful evening views of this planet.

In the accompanying image, Mercury is seen following the sun toward the western horizon of southern Utah with a slender crescent moon close behind.

Still in the morning sky near sunrise, Venus marks a beginning of the "early-bird's" day. Having attained its greatest western elongation earlier in the year, Venus is continuing its inexorable journey appearing to fall into the sun towards its superior conjunction at the end of October.

If you have a telescope handy, take a peek at the love goddess' name sake; the crescent of Venus is lovely indeed. Venus was beautiful along side the Pleiades on the June 23rd , and look forward to the first of July when Venus rises with Aldebaran, the 14th of July when Venus and the Crab Nebula dance together, and the 26th and 27th of August when Venus and Saturn rise together less than a degree apart!

The ESA's Venus Express spacecraft is now in its mission phase. The ESA reports "On 3 June at 13:42 UT, after 207 days of flight, 43 orbits around Venus and many test activities, Venus Express has formally completed its commissioning phase and has entered the routine science phase...The nominal mission is scheduled to last till the end of October 2007." Venus Express will study the planet in great detail, in particular the Venusian atmosphere and clouds.

Need to know more about Venus? Checkout this article by The Planetary Society.

While we train our optics skyward nightly, there are visual treasures and marvels to behold earthward. Pictured here is a collection of richly colored rock in the Uinta Mountains, a massive range in Northern Utah carved by glaciers from an immense uplift of Precambrian rock. Some of this rock is exposed as colorful quartzite and shales. The main crest of the Uinta Mountains runs west to east for more than 60 miles, rising over 6,000 feet above the Wyoming and Uinta Basins to the north and south. The highest point in Utah is Kings Peak at 13,528 feet.

The Moon will be new on the 25th, and begin waxing crescent until first quarter on July 3rd, when it will wax gibbous approaching full on July 11th. Those observers that consider the moon "light pollution" look forward to this time of the synodic cycle as the moon travels with the sun, keeping the night sky dark,  favoring views of distant, elusive, and faint fuzzies - galaxies, nebulae, and clusters.

Remember, as the moon waxes and wanes, you can look forward to those phases where Moon observations are most fascinating. Features appear - mountains, craters, rilles - as the sunlight casts long, defining shadows. Look along the portion of the Moon separating light from dark, known as the terminator, for the greatest contrasts.

The Red Planet is found high in the western sky at sunset as it moves to it's superior conjunction opposite the Sun later in the year.  Look at this sweet shot taken by Utah Skies member Brian Jolley last year when Mars was at its closest. He took this through the historic Clark refractor at Lowell Observatory.

Even without a telescope the view of and around Mars is interesting. Having moved through the constellation Gemini, Mars is approaching a conjunction with Saturn around June 17th. On its way, it will pass through M44!

This image is an example of what Jupiter has to offer viewers: interesting detail in the equatorial bands and, if conditions are right, swirls and festoons. Much beautiful structure can be seen through a typical telescope, but results vary depending on telescope aperture and sky conditions. Too, the Great Red Spot has some company: another storm has grow in proportion near the GRS, and has come to be known as Spot Jr!

If you have binoculars, point these towards Jupiter. While you won't be able to see any details on the planets surface, binoculars will clearly show you several of Jupiter's brightest moons, and regular observations will show them jockey for position as they orbit the giant planet. The movement is quite apparent, sometimes even in the span of a few hours.

This sweet shot of Jupiter nicely shows its great red spot and some of the incredible details just waiting your observation. Additionally, you can see one of Jupiter's moons eclipsing the giant planet. The round "ink spot" on the planet's surface is the shadow cast by its moon. Watching Jupiter's moons as they orbit and occasionally transit the giant planet is a very interesting part of observing Jupiter.

Look for Saturn alongside Utah's namesake Deep Sky Object, M44 - The Beehive Star Cluster.

Uranus is currently rising in the early morning, about an hour after Neptune.. The Earth and Uranus have ostensibly achieved their greatest separation, and will soon begin to draw nearer again.

The planet Neptune, is currently rising several hours before the sun, leaving you precious little time to view the 8th rock. To speed up your acquisition of the planet, look just east of south before first light. Find Deneb Ageldi; Neptune is just about 4.5° west and north of "the water goat's tail". At just a touch brighter than mag 8, Neptune should be visible as a faint star-like object in binoculars or as a bluish object in a telescope. Once you've found it, higher powers will clearly reveal the disk of the planet .

This beautiful image of Neptune and its moon, Triton, was taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft from a perspective that will never be had from Earth. Interesting to note is the gray hue of the planet in this image. The atmosphere of the planet preferentially scatters the light forward from this vantage and so removes the bluish tinge, and reddens the color.

This image of Pluto and its moon Charon was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, showing the improved performance of a space-based observational platform over ground-based telescopes.

Andromeda

Our Constellation report is an easy way for people to become familiar with the nighttime sky. We'll discuss myths associated with the various constellations as well as describing the numerous deep sky objects residing in the area. 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 Andromeda. 

Andromeda was  the daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia. When Cassiopeia boasted that Andromeda's beauty exceeded that of the sea nymphs, the nymphs prevailed upon Neptune, the god of the sea, to punish Cassiopeia. Neptune sent the sea monster Cetus (sometimes known more favorably as simply a whale) to ravage the kingdom of Cepheus. When Cepheus consulted an oracle for advice, he was informed that only the sacrifice of Andromeda to Cetus the Sea Monster would appease the gods. Thus chained to a rocky cliff, she was rescued by Perseus, who turned Cetus into stone by flashing the face of Medusa before the monster's eyes. Perseus was carried there just in time by the winged horse Pegasus.  

Andromeda's Wonders

Ok, let's start things off the biggest and baddest galaxy visible in northern skies, M31 The Andromeda Galaxy(mag3.47). There are so many superlatives which are fitting for Andromeda: Andromeda lies some 2.3 million light years distant, making it the nearest major galaxy to our own. It is also the most distant object visible to the naked eye. The two small fuzzy objects also visible in this image are actually galaxies. They are M32 and M110. We'll get to these galaxies shortly. Astronomers estimate the mass of Andromeda at over 300 billion suns. This is almost twice as massive as our own Milky Way galaxy. Additionally, it spans over 130,000 light years or roughly 3° -- nearly 6 times the diameter of the full moon! Andromeda is visible in virtually any telescope or binoculars. In larger telescopes, it displays one or more prominent dust lanes. It is a site to behold in the ObDob. The bright patch on the left side of the image is actually NGC206 -- a bright star cloud in Andromeda itself. We always spend time on Andromeda at Utah Skies Star Parties. 

This shot of Andromeda was taken by Don Brown from Park City.

Next up is a neighbor of Andromeda M32(mag8.2). M32 is what is known as a dwarf elliptical galaxy. M32 requires a substantial amount of magnification to reveal any detail. At low powers it is simply a soft fuzzy circular patch that almost appears to be an appendage to M31.

Still in the same low power field of view, we have Elliptical Galaxy M110(mag8.0). Throw some magnification at this object and you'll be rewarded with some fine details. It has a mottled core which is caused by an irregular clumping of stars. Were this object anywhere else in the sky it would get much more attention. Located, as it is, in the same field of view as the giant Andromeda galaxy causes it to be virtually overlooked.

Curiously, this galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier on August 10, 1773, and depicted on his fine drawing of the "Great Andromeda Nebula" and its companions  published in 1807, but Messier did never himself include this object in his catalog, due to unknown reasons, perhaps a certain sloppiness in recording. It was the last additional object, added finally by Kenneth Glyn Jones in 1966. Independent of Messier's discovery, Caroline Herschel discovered M110 on August 27, 1783, little more than 10 years after Messier, and William Herschel numbered it H V.18 when he cataloged it on October 5, 1784. 

M110 is about the same distance as the Andromeda galaxy M31, roughly 2.9 million light years. It's mass is estimated to be between 3.6 and 15 billion solar masses.

Don Brown captured this image in November of 2004.

Next up is NGC7662(mag8.6), The Blue Snowball Nebula. This interesting little planetary nebula is reported to be visible in a good pair of binoculars. In an 8" telescope, it appears as a circular blue patch. In larger apertures, it begins to turn an aquamarine shade. This is an object that definitely handles increased magnification well. The more power you throw at it, the more detail it reveals.
Who says (observational) astronomy is black and white?

Next, check out Open Star Cluster NGC752(mag5.7). This beautiful open cluster spans almost a full degree in diameter. It appears as a loose grouping of over 60 stars in telescopes in the 6-8" range. Located only 1200 light years away, this very old cluster is almost 2 billion years old.

Our final stop in Andromeda leads us to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Edge-on Galaxy NGC891(mag10). This is one of the finest examples of an edge-on galaxy. It is a small cigar-shaped galaxy with a beautiful dust lane running through its center.
Located about 3.5* east of Gamma Andromeda, this beauty is clearly visible in an 8" telescope. With increased magnification and averted vision, you can begin to make out the dust lane. In larger instruments under dark skies, the views are amazing. Current estimates place its distance at around 31 million light years.

This amazing shot was taken by The WIYN Observatory. The WIYN Observatory is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO).

Good Luck!