Skywatchers and skiers were both treated nicely... though I think the
skiers got the better end of the deal again. The week started with several
feet of white fluffy, Utah powder
falling on the area's higher elevation locations. After that, skies
cleared nicely... offering up some sweet views of some of the gems of the
winter's night sky. The only problem was that night time temperatures
plummeted into the single digits... and even went negative on a couple of
occasions. Brrhhh.
This week, we reach maximum Venus. The 2nd rock is at its brightest of the
year... somewhere beyond mag -4.6 This is blisteringly bright... perhaps
30x brighter than the brightest stars in the sky. Look for
the planet Venus high and towards the southwest as sunset is
approaching. Its so bright, you really don't even need to wait for it to
get dark. Of course, once it starts to get dark, Venus' brightness becomes
incredibly obvious. Those of you with telescopes will notice that Venus is
currently a sporting a waning crescent phase... with about 25% of the
visible surface illuminated. Over the coming weeks, its phase will
continue to shrink.. while its apparent size continues to grow. The reason
for this is that Venus is rapidly approaching Earth... hence its growth in
size. At the same time, the sunlit portion of the planet revealed to us
here on Earth is declining. Look for Venus' apparent size to grow by
roughly another 50% before it disappears from view later this winter.
While you're out... don't forget about
the
planet Mars. It can be found high and to the south shortly after dark.
Its dropped considerably from its biggest and brightest of the year, but
is still offering up some stunning views to those willing to get out and
take a peak. Look for Mars to team up with
the Moon on Sunday night. The two will reach
conjunction then... and cross the sky together. Look for the Moon to
continue moving through the sky each night... teaming up with M45,
The Pleiades Star Cluster the following couple of nights. For those of
you new to deep sky observing, The Pleiades is a great place to start.
Visible to the naked eye and resembling a miniaturized version of the big
dipper, The Pleiades is simply stunning in binoculars or a small
telescope. In these instruments, many observers are able to see the
gaseous remnants of the nebula from which its member stars were formed.
We finish with everybody's favorite...
the ringed planet Saturn. Saturn is now rising in the east around
9:00pm... putting it into a nice steady part of the sky well before
midnight. Saturn is the perennial favorite. It's beautiful ring system is
visible in even the most modest of telescopes. If you've got a telescope,
but haven't pulled it out in a while, Saturn is a great excuse to do so.
If don't have a scope... perhaps that might be a nice addition to your
holiday wish list. Telescopes make wonderful gifts... and can provide a
lifetime of enjoyment for a relatively modest investment.
Astronomy News From Around The World... and Beyond
Friday, December 9th, 2005
Ghost-Moon Rise
The moon rose ghostly yesterday afternoon, looking much like a wispy cloud or a haunting specter. Past first quarter and approaching full, the moon is waxing gibbous.
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
Sundog Sunrise
This beautiful December morning had all the ingredients for a wonderful display of sundogs: a clear sky, cold, crisp temperatures, and ice crystals gently floating in the air. A relatively infrequent solar phenomenon, sundogs result from the reflection of sunlight from preferentially-oriented ice crystals.
Seven Beautiful Sisters
One of the wonders of the winter night sky... M45... aka The Pleiades Star Cluster is currently sitting high in the southeastern sky shortly after dark. Visible to the naked eye as a "mini" big dipper within the constellation Taurus, the cluster is a real treat in binoculars or a wide angle telescope. This gorgeous shot was taken by Utah Skies subscriber Ed Lunt using special "narrow-band" filters.
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
Hope For Hubble
There may be hope still for the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. According to CBS news in an interview with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, servicing the Hubble with the Space Shuttle "represents the highest priority utilization". Of course, safety and technical issues need to be overcome first, but planning is underway for a late 2007/early 2008 service mission that could extend the on-orbit life of the Hubble to at least 2013. This is excellent news as the Hubble platform has provided unprecedented views of the heavens and set the standard for space- and ground-based observatories. Included in plans for the service mission include the replacement of the Advanced Camera for Surveys 2 (ACS2) with the ACS3, new batteries, and new rate sensing units and gyros (to regain full redundancy in the telescope pointing system), so with these enhancements and repairs, the Hubble will be poised to expand scientific horizons.
Monday, December 5th, 2005
Looking East in the Evening
While the Moon and Venus were by far the brightest objects in the early night sky last night, looking east yielded beautiful views of Mars in the constellation Aries, along with the Pleiades star cluster, and the constellations Taurus, Perseus, and Auriga. Next week, the 12th and 13th of December, has the Moon - nearly full - in this region of the sky, between Mars and near the Pleiades.
Sunday, December 4th, 2005
Earthshine
Stars shine bright because they burn nuclear fuel. Our solar system's planets are visible from earth due, in large part, to the sunlight they reflect. The moon, too, reflects the light of the sun, but also the "light of the earth", or earthshine - light from the sun, reflecting off the earth and illuminating the portion of the moon not directly lit by the sun.
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
Hubble Shoots The Crab
How's this for a little eye candy for you? This sweet mosaic of M1, The Crab Nebula was taken recently by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. WOW! Checkout the Hubble Site for more details on this amazing image. The Crab, as it is affectionately known, is a fairly easy target for amateur astronomers and is visible in a 4" telescope under reasonably dark skies. You can find it in the eastern part of the constellation Taurus. Look for it the next opportunity you get. It is well worth the effort!
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 week, however, the sun is quiet; there are no large sunspots visible.
Mercury remains visible in the western sky, low on the horizon after sunset. Having reached its greatest eastern elongation on the 20th of June, it is falling back into the sun's glare and it's inferior conjunction on July 18th.
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.
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!
Planet Jupiter | Solar System | The Utah Skies Report
Jupiter is currently rising late in the afternoon, placing it favorably for those wanting views of the Sun's largest planet before heading off to bed.
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.
Saturn is now rising mid-morning and reaching the highest point in its path across the sky in the late afternoon; the spectacular views of the ringed planet will soon come to an end as it moves behind the sun with the passing weeks. Some truely great views of the ringed planet and its satellites are available on the Cassini Huygens pages. This sweet shot was taken by Don Brown of Utah Skies.
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.
This fascinating image was taken from a ground-based telescope in the European Southern Observatory.
Planet Neptune | Solar System | The Utah Skies Report
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.
Planet Pluto | Solar System | The Utah Skies Report
Pluto is rising before midnight, giving you the time you'll need to seek this faintest of planets. To know you've seen Pluto is going to require observations over several nights, carefully noting star patterns until you see one point of light move relative to the others: that's Pluto!!! But don't try this at home kids, unless you have some serious aperture, because at mag 15+, you're gonna need it!
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.
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.
A Giant Star Factory in
Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822
Resembling curling flames from a campfire,
this magnificent nebula in a neighboring galaxy is giving
astronomers new insight into the fierce birth of stars as it may
have more commonly happened in the early universe. The glowing gas
cloud, called Hubble-V, has a diameter of about 200 light-years. A
faint tail of nebulosity trailing off the top of the image sits
opposite a dense cluster of bright stars at the bottom of the
irregularly shaped nebula. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's
resolution and ultraviolet sensitivity reveals a dense knot of
dozens of ultra-hot stars nestled in the nebula, each glowing
100,000 times brighter than our Sun. These youthful
4-million-year-old stars are too distant and crowded together to
be resolved from ground-based telescopes. The small, irregular
host galaxy, called NGC 6822, is one of the Milky Way's closest
neighbors and is considered prototypical of the earliest
fragmentary galaxies that inhabited the young universe. The galaxy
is 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
The Hubble-V image data was taken with
Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) by two science
teams: C. Robert O'Dell of Vanderbilt University and
collaborators, and Luciana Bianchi of Johns Hopkins University and
Osservatorio Astronomico, Torinese, Italy, and collaborators. This
color image was produced by The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI). A
Hubble image of Hubble-X, another intense star-forming region in
NGC 6822, was released by The Heritage Team in January 2001.
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 Cetus the Whale.
Spiral Galaxy, M77
Visual Magnitude:
8.81
Approx DImensions
6.9'x5.9
Distance:
9.2 Mpc
Ok, let's start things off with this weeks lone Messier Object, Spiral Galaxy M77(mag8.8). Located 1° southwest of delta Ceti, you might mistake M77 for a star at a low power. This is an object you'll definitely want to throw some magnification at. The first thing you'll notice is the bright core of the galaxy. As hinted at, this has an almost star-like appearance at low power. This bright core is the result of some peculiar activity going on within the galaxies core. In fact, this galaxy has been classified as a Seyfert galaxy (the only one in Messier's catalog). Seyfert galaxies are distinguished by their highly energetic emissions at radio wavelengths.
Next up is Planetary Nebula NGC246(mag8). This large, ghost-like planetary nebula is pretty nice visually. As you might have guessed by its size, this object has a relatively low surface brightness. As such, you'll want to throw some aperture and dark skies at it. I've found that an O-III nebula filter will help somewhat as well. It is quite easy to find about 5.5° SWW of h Ceti, or about 8° north of Beta Ceti,
Next up is Spiral Galaxy NGC247(mag8.8) This galaxy is located some 13 million light years away. In smaller telescopes, you probably won't see much detail. This object has too little light for too much area. In larger scopes 12+ inches, you'll begin to see a mottled structure towards the core. The spiral arms won't be clearly visible until you've got a decent sized telescope under dark skies.
This gorgeous shot was taken by Charlie Warren of AstroFX in November 2004 using a Meade 10" LX200 f/10 on Losmandy G-11 with Gemini L3 software. If you're a fan of high end astrophotography, you need to checkout Charlie's site!
Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC936
Visual Magnitude:
10.1
Visual Diameter:
20'x7.4'
Distance:
17.37 Mpc
Our final stop in Cetus leads us to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC936(mag10.1). This barred spiral galaxy is located slightly more than 3° SW of Delta Ceti. Looking somewhat like the old Star Wars fighters, this galaxy is over 50 million light years away.
Good Luck!
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.
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting
Big news: A groundbreaking book on the impact of artificial night
lighting. It's entitled, "Ecological
Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting"... and is due to be released
sometime in November. Published by
Island
Press, this book is sure to shed some light (pun intended) on the very
important, if somewhat mis-understood, topic of
light pollution.
While certain ecological problems associated with artificial night lighting are
widely known-for instance, the disorientation of
sea turtle hatchlings by beachfront lighting-the vast range of influences on
all types of animals and plants is only beginning to be recognized. From nest
choice and breeding success of birds to behavioral and physiological changes in
salamanders, many organisms are seriously affected by human alterations in
natural patterns of light and dark.
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting is the first book to
consider the environmental effects of the intentional illumination of the night.
It brings together leading scientists from around the world to review the state
of knowledge on the subject and to describe specific effects that have been
observed across a full range of taxonomic groups, including mammals, birds,
reptiles and amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, and plants.
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting provides a scientific basis
to begin addressing the challenge of conserving the nighttime environment. It
cogently demonstrates the vital importance of this until-now neglected topic and
is an essential new work for conservation planners, researchers, and anyone
concerned with human impacts on the natural world.
Starry Night Lights
This weeks Light Pollution Update is brought to you by the folks at Starry Night Lights... The First & Only Night Sky Friendly Outdoor Lighting Store. Checkout their wide selection of ordinance compliant, night sky friendlyoutdoor lighting products such as this
Dark Sky Friendly Outdoor Light called The GlareBuster.
Here's another beautiful fixture from
The Minka
Group. Pictured here is the
MIN-8286-61. This is the post mounted cousin of the
MIN-8282-61. Both of these share the same classic styling... as well
as a great night sky friendly design. With the bulb tucked nicely up
under the cap, this light will put its light on the ground... not across
the street in the neighbors windows... and definitely not in the night
sky in the form of
light pollution.
As you'd expect, you can find
this gorgeous, dark sky friendly outdoor light in the
post mounted
lights section of your favorite outdoor lighting retailer, Starry Night Lights!
Stay up to date on astronomical happenings by regularly checking the Utah Skies website at http://www.UtahSkies.org
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 week, however, the sun is quiet; there are no large sunspots visible.
