the Moon is waning gibbous until last quater on the 22nd, when it will then wane crescent on its way to new on the 29th. Those graced with clear skies when the full moon rose on the 14th may have seen the moon in a penumbral eclipse, where the moon passed through the "soft", outer shadow of the earth (as opposed to the umbral shadow where the sun's light is totally blocked.) Mercury, now rising before the sun in morning's eastern sky, is exiting Pisces and will move into Aquarius early on the 18th. Venus is still rising well before the sun, now in Capricornus, and the "Morning Star" will slide into Aquarius later in the week. Mars is still in Taurus, and relatively high in the western sky in the early evening. Get your visual fill of the "Red Planet" over the course of the spring and early summer, though, as it is dipping toward the sun and its opposition in late September/early October. The ringed gas giant, Saturn, continues to shine high in the eastern sky at sunset and at its highest in Cancer around 9pm. Jupiter rises just before midnight in Libra, giving night owls and early birds a sight to behold.
Please, continue to help preserve and protect our nighttime rural mountain environment by using light at night wisely and responsibly - point lights downward, prevent glare, use motion detectors, and turn lights off when they're not needed. Just as our lands need protection, so does the heritage of our night skies.
Finally, plan for the Swaner Nature Preserve's third snowshoe event of the season co-hosted with Utah Skies, the weekend of March 24th. For more information on this event, how to prevent light pollution, or find out what's in the sky on any night, check out www.utahskies.org, your ticket to the stars.
Astronomy News
From Around The World, and Beyond
Super-sized Earth Discovered
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 - Project OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) astronomers have detected a giant Earth-like planet orbiting a star some 9000 light years away. Using a technique known as gravitational microlensing, the team was able to detect the planet which is a much smaller size than more standard observing techniques. The planet is Earth-like only in as much as it is thought to be a rocky, terrestrial planet as Earth is. It's -330° temperature makes its climate (thankfully) very different than Earth. Checkout CNN.com/SPACE for more details..
Stardust Samples Show Evidence of Fire, Ice
Monday, March 13th, 2006 - Stardust samples of comet particles might seem like a strange place to find a big component of the green sand found on some Hawaiian beaches, but there it was. The spacecraft, which flew within 150 miles of the comet Wild 2 in January 2004, brought back samples that may provide new insights into the composition of comets and how they vary from one another, scientists said Monday. "Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice," said Donald Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator and professor of astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle. The returned samples show high-temperature materials from the coldest part of our solar system. This suggests that the early sun ejected material into the distant regions of the solar system, collecting in comets along with the ice, dust, and gases expected. Read the NASA's press release and see the Stardust website for more great info about this surprising discovery.
Mars Orbiter Successfully Inserted Into Orbit
Friday, March 10th, 2006 - (JPL/NASA) With a crucially timed firing of its main engines today, NASA's new mission to Mars successfully put itself into orbit around the red planet. The spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, will provide more science data than all previous Mars missions combined. Signals received from the spacecraft at 2:16 p.m. Pacific Time after it emerged from its first pass behind Mars set off cheers and applause in control rooms at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. "This is a great milestone to have accomplished, but it's just one of many milestones before we can open the champagne," said Colleen Hartman, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Once we are in the prime science orbit, the spacecraft will perform observations of the atmosphere, surface, and subsurface of Mars in unprecedented detail." The spacecraft traveled about 500 million kilometers (310 million miles) to reach Mars after its launch from Florida on Aug. 12, 2005. It needed to use its main thrusters as it neared the planet in order to slow itself enough for Mars' gravity to capture it. The thruster firing began while the spacecraft was still in radio contact with Earth, but needed to end during a tense half hour of radio silence while the spacecraft flew behind Mars. Check out the JPL press release and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter home page for more great info on this exciting mission.
NASA's Cassini Discovers Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus
Thursday, March 9th, 2006 - (NASA) NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon. "We realize that this is a radical conclusion - that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms." "As Cassini approached Saturn, we discovered the Saturnian system is filled with oxygen atoms. At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," said Candy Hansen, Cassini scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. "Now we know Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen." Check out NASA's press release for more great information on this startling discovery.
Morning Comet
Thursday, March 9th, 2006 - Comet C2006 A1 Pojmanski can now be found high in the eastern sky before sunrise. Pictured here is a gorgeous
image taken this past Friday morning by John Chumack of Galactic Images. The comet is fading slowly, but... still an easy target for
folks equiped with binoculars or a telescope. Fortunately for us, as the comet is fading... its also climbing higher in the sky... placing it into a darker portion of the sky. Best views will be
had sooner than later... so set your alarm clock and checkout this beauty as soon and as often as you can!
Titan Shines Through
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 - Titan's smoggy atmosphere glows brilliantly in scattered sunlight, creating a thin, gleaming crescent beyond Saturn's rings. At this slight angle above the ringplane, the thin F ring shines brightly. Light from Titan's eastern and western limbs (edges) penetrates the Cassini Division, which looks like a thin gap from this angle. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 18, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles) from Saturn. Planet-sized Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) was 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Cassini at that time. The image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel on Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
NASA Aids In Resolving Long Standing Solar Cycle Mystery
Monday, March 6th, 2006 - (NASA) Scientists predict the next solar activity cycle will be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the previous one and up to a year late. Accurately predicting the sun's cycles will help plan for the effects of solar storms. The storms can disrupt satellite orbits and electronics, interfere with radio communication, damage power systems, and can be hazardous to unprotected astronauts. The breakthrough "solar climate" forecast by Mausumi Dikpati and colleagues at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. was made with a combination of computer simulation and groundbreaking "helioseismographic" observations of the solar interior from space using NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). NASA's Living With a Star program and the National Science Foundation funded the research. The sun goes through a roughly 11-year cycle of activity, from stormy to quiet and back again. Solar storms begin with tangled magnetic fields generated by the sun's churning electrically charged gas (plasma). Like a rubber band twisted too far, solar magnetic fields can suddenly snap to a new shape, releasing tremendous energy as a flare or a coronal mass ejection (CME). This violent solar activity often occurs near sunspots, dark regions on the sun caused by concentrated magnetic fields. The team predicts the next cycle will begin with an increase in solar activity in late 2007 or early 2008, and there will be 30 to 50 percent more sunspots, flares, and CMEs in the next "solar maximum". Check out the complete story from NASA for more great information on this revolution in solar forecasting.
Magnetic Fields Sculpt Narrow Jets From Dying Star
Monday, March 6th, 2006 - (NRAO/NSF) Molecules spewed outward from a dying star are confined into narrow jets by a tightly-wound magnetic field, according to astronomers who used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope to study an old star about 8,500 light-years from Earth. The star, called W43A, in the constellation Aquila, is in the process of forming a planetary nebula, a shell of brightly-glowing gas lit by the hot ember into which the star will collapse. In 2002, astronomers discovered that the aging star was ejecting twin jets of water molecules. That discovery was a breakthrough in understanding how many planetary nebulae are formed into elongated shapes. "The next question was, what is keeping this outpouring of material confined into narrow jets? Theoreticians suspected magnetic fields, and we now have found the first direct evidence that a magnetic field is confining such a jet," said Wouter Vlemmings, a Marie Curie Fellow working at the Jodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester in England. "Magnetic fields previously have been detected in jets emitted by quasars and protostars, but the evidence was not conclusive that the magnetic fields were actually confining the jets. These new VLBA observations now make that direct connection for the very first time," Vlemmings added. Browse to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's press release for more information.
New Red Spot For Jupiter
Saturday, March 4th, 2006 - Astronomers have recently noticed a new red spot on the planet Jupiter. Unofficially named Red Jr., the storm is about 1/2 the size of the famous Great Red Spot first seen by Galileo Galilei almost 400 years ago. Checkout Science@NASA for more details. Jupiter is now rising in the east just before midnight. Jupiter offers up some sweet views to amateurs armed with even modest telescopes. Its great red spot and bright Galilean Moons are a treat any time they can be seen. This incredible shot was taken by astrophotographer Christopher Go of the Philippines
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.
Deep Sky
NASA News
Astronaut and Wife Work Together to Educate Children About Living in Space
There may never have been more pressure on one astronaut to complete a science activity in space than right now for Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur on the International Space Station.
McArthur's wife is in charge of the activity.
"It's not easy relying on your husband to do chores when he's 240 miles up in space," says Cindy McArthur, principal investigator for Educational Payload Operations. "I told him if he didn't complete the activities, he'd be in trouble when he got home," she adds with a laugh.
Image at right: Cindy McArthur watches her husband Bill, far right, on the large television screen in Marshall.s Payload Operations Center. The astronaut and his cosmonaut crewmate, Valery Tokarev, center, were conducting an interview from the International Space Station during a public affairs event for the Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA/MSFC/E. Given
A former kindergarten teacher, Cindy McArthur is an education specialist in the Teaching from Space Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. From her position as a contractor with Oklahoma State University, she sees first-hand how the unique environment of the space station opens a wealth of educational opportunities for students on Earth.
.We want to bring the science on board the station to the classroom,. she says.
McArthur works with Payload Operations Center planners at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to help schedule her husband's education payload activities. He works with the flight controllers in the Payload Operations Center when conducting the activities. It's a team, she says, both she and her husband have come to love and rely on.
The Marshall Center is helping the arrangement run smoothly for the Houston-based couple. Planners in the Payload Operations Center set up the timelines for science activities on the station to ensure the astronaut starts and finishes on time. "He's not on my schedule. I'm on his," she adds.
Cindy McArthur recently visited Marshall to participate in meetings to plan space station science and her educational activities for upcoming crews. During the Educational Payload Operations activity, station crewmembers perform curriculum-based activities in space to demonstrate basic principles of science, math, physics, engineering and geography. The demonstrations are videotaped and used in classrooms and NASA educational products. The activities help students discover how familiar objects may perform differently in the microgravity environment on board the space station, and help them see how their classroom lessons apply to space exploration.
Bill McArthur certainly sees the importance of educating students about space flight. An astronaut since 1991 and a veteran of three space shuttle missions -- STS-58 in 1993, STS-74 in 1995 and STS-92 in 2000, he received a bachelor's degree in applied science and engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., in 1973, and a master's degree in aerospace engineering in 1983 from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
He performed his first Educational Payload Operations early in his six-month stay on board the station, which began in October 2005. McArthur recorded a lecture about the solar panels of the station, showing how the power systems work on board. He also has demonstrated the importance of safety while working in the Destiny laboratory, shown how supplies are delivered to the station by the Russian Progress vehicle and detailed how U.S. and Russian spacesuits compare to each other.
McArthur often calls his wife for feedback when performing the education activities. "I think he felt some pressure for obvious reasons," she says. "I sweat a little bit too, but I knew he.d handle it well. I just think he's adorable, especially when he asks me what to wear."
Comments like that make it easy to recognize the love the McArthurs share. "He was my first date," she says grinning. That was 38 years ago. They've now been married 30 years, with two daughters.
So what would the former teacher give her astronaut husband on his report card for these educational activities?
"All A's," she says with a smile. "He's definitely passing. He can come home anytime."
Contact:
Steve Roy, Marshall Space Flight Center
256.544.0034
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.
Hubble Helps Astronomers Measure Precise Mass of Binary Brown Dwarf
For the first time, astronomers have succeeded in weighing a binary pair of brown dwarfs and precisely measuring their diameters. These kinds of exact measurements are not possible when observing a single brown dwarf.
Because their orbits are inclined edge-on to Earth, the dwarfs pass in front of each other, creating eclipses. This is the first brown dwarf-eclipsing binary ever discovered. The pair offers an unusual opportunity for accurately determining the masses and diameters of the dwarfs, providing crucial tests of theoretical models.
A brown dwarf is a little understood intermediate class of celestial object that is too small to sustain hydrogen fusion reactions, like those that power our Sun. However, brown dwarfs are dozens of times more massive than the Solar System's largest planet, Jupiter, and so are too large to be a planet.
The discovery of the paired brown dwarfs and the critical measurements are reported today in the scientific journal Nature by a team of astronomers: Jeff Valenti of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Robert Mathieu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University.
One dwarf is 55 times Jupiter's mass; the other is 35 times heftier than Jupiter (with a 10 percent margin of error). To qualify as a star and burn hydrogen through nuclear fusion, the dwarfs would have to be 80 times more massive than Jupiter. For comparison, the Sun is 1,000 times more massive than Jupiter.
The astronomers are surprised to discover that the more massive brown dwarf is the cooler of the pair, contrary to all predictions about brown dwarfs of the same age. Either the two are not the same age and may be captured bodies, or the theoretical models are wrong, say researchers.
The brown dwarf pair orbits each other so closely that they look like a single object when viewed from Earth. Because their racetrack orbit is edge-on, the two objects periodically pass in front of, or eclipse, each other. These eclipses cause regular dips in the brightness of the combined light coming from both objects. By precisely timing these occultations the astronomers were able to determine the orbits of the two objects. With this information, the astronomers used Newton's laws of motion to calculate the mass of the two dwarfs.
In addition, the astronomers calculated the size of the two dwarfs by measuring the duration of the dips in their light curve. Because they are so young, the dwarfs are remarkably large for their mass: about the same diameter as the Sun. Because the pair is located in the Orion Nebula, which is a nearby stellar nursery with stars less than 10 million years old.
An analysis of the light coming from the dwarf pair indicates that the dwarfs have a reddish cast. Current models also predict that brown dwarfs should have "weather" . cloud-like bands and spots similar to those visible on Jupiter and Saturn.
By measuring variations in the light spectrum coming from the pair, the astronomers also determined the dwarfs' surface temperatures. Theory predicts that the more massive member of a pair of brown dwarfs should have a higher surface temperature. But they found just the opposite. The heavier of the two has a temperature of 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit (2,650 degrees Kelvin) and the smaller, 4,562 degrees F (2,790 degrees K). These compare to the Sun's surface temperature of 9,980 degrees F (5,800 degrees K).
"One possible explanation is that the two objects have different origins and ages," Stassun says. If that is the case, then it supports one of the outcomes of the latest efforts to simulate the star-formation process. These simulations predict that brown dwarfs are created so close together that they are likely to disrupt each other's formation.
The new observations confirm the theoretical prediction that brown dwarfs start out as star-sized objects, but shrink and cool and become increasingly planet-sized as they age. Before now, the only brown dwarf whose mass had been directly measured was much older and dimmer.
Many astronomers think that brown dwarfs may actually be the most common product of the stellar-formation process. So, information about brown dwarfs can provide valuable new insights into the dynamic processes that produce stars out of collapsing whirlpools of interstellar dust and gas.
Because old brown dwarfs are smaller and dimmer than true stars, it is only in recent years that improvements in telescope technology have allowed astronomers to catalog hundreds of faint objects that they think may be brown dwarfs. But to pick out the brown dwarfs from other types of faint objects, they need a way to estimate their masses, because mass is destiny for stars and star-like objects.
The existence of brown dwarfs was first proposed in the 1980s, but it wasn't until 2000 that a brown dwarf was detected unambiguously. While brown dwarfs were hypothetical objects, astronomers differentiated them from planets by the manner in which they formed. Brown dwarfs and stars are formed in the same way, from a collapsing cloud of interstellar dust and gas. Planets are built from the disks of dust and gas that surround forming stars. Once astronomers discovered the first candidate brown dwarf, they realized that dwarfs are very difficult to differentiate from planets, particularly when they have stellar companions. So a growing group of astronomers favor defining brown dwarfs as objects between 13 to 80 times more massive than Jupiter.
The researchers made the observations with two sets of telescopes located in the Chilean Andes, about 100 miles north of Santiago: the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS), operated by a consortium including the Space Telescope Science Institute and Vanderbilt University, and the International Gemini Observatory, operated by the National Science Foundation.
Release Date: 1:00PM (EST) March 15, 2006 Release Number: STScI-2006-11
Contact:
Jeff Valenti
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410/338-2622; E-mail: valenti@stsci.edu)
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410/338-4514; E-mail: villard@stsci.edu)
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
Canis
Minor the Little Dog. Canis Minor is one of Orion's faithful hunting dogs. Along with the other,
Canis
Major, they trail Orion to the east.
The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Canis Minor. Tiny little Canis Minor can be found high and towards the south sandwiched between Gemini to the north and Monoceros to the south. It' brightest star,
Procyon, being the eighth brightest star in the sky. The name Procyon can be traced at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. It means before the dog... because Procyon rises just before the constellation Canis Major and the "Dog Star" Sirius. Procyon is also an extremely challenging double star. It's companion shines at approximately mag11. This large difference in apparent brightness will make splitting this pair quite difficult. An interesting point about the companion star is that it is a white dwarf, estimated to have a density of over two tons per cubic inch!
Additionally, Procyon is part of the Winter Triangle along with Betelgeuse to the west and Sirius to the south. While these stars control the sky, nights are long and cold.
Ok, let me start things off by telling you that this constellation has no easy deep sky objects. Any one of these could be the challenge object for the week. In fact....all of these are fainter and smaller than most challenge objects. If you have anything less that about a 12" telescope, I'd recommend looking in some other constellation for your deep sky fix. Owners of larger aperture telescopes will want to move to a nice dark sky location... roll up your sleeves... and get ready for some serious deep sky work.
Ok, let's get started. Our fist object is an
Irregular Galaxy NGC2494(mag14). Yeah... mag14. And this is the brightest object
:-)
Next we'll hit another tiny little
Irregular Galaxy, NGC2508(mag14). We told you these would be tough.
Moving on we come to
Irregular Galaxy IC2231(mag15). Yikes! We've moved to IC's
already? This is undoubtedly one of the faintest objects we've ever unleashed on our readers. But... it ought to be easier than this weeks challenge object :)
Let's wrap things up with this weeks
Utah Skies Challenge Object, a photon-emitting machine called, Irregular Galaxy
IC498(mag15). Ouch! That's gonna be tough. You might be thinking.. why is this the challenge object if it's the same brightness (or faintness) as the preceding object. Well, this little smudge is a bit larger, so it has a lower surface brightness.
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.
All light emitting from a fixture should be directed downward.
Floodlighting and spotlighting should be accurately aimed away from roadways and adjacent property.
Lighting should be shielded so that glare is not visible from adjacent property or from the street or highway.
MODERATION OF INTENSITY
Lower lighting levels provide better vision and require less re-adaptation of the eyes.
Excessively bright light spills onto other property and can cause glare even when shielded.
Maximum brightness levels should be established and not exceeded.
ENCOURAGE ALTERNATIVES TO GLARING, EXCESSIVE LIGHTING
Motion detector-activated lighting uses less energy and provides better security than constant light.
Encourage low level lighting which works better with closed circuit television.
Encourage alarms and other security measurers -- more successful than constant lighting.
LIGHT TRESPASS
Light should not spill onto other's property unless they want it too.
Fixture design, placement, moderation of intensity, and aim can help provide needed control from light trespass.
SIGNS INCLUDING BILLBOARDS
Signs should only be lighted internally or from lights mounted on top pointed downward.
Billboards should not remained lighted overnight.
n-premise signs should not stay lighted late or overnight after a business closes.
Dark colored signs with light letters reflect less light than dark letters on light signs.
Lights that flash, pulse, rotate, move, or simulate motion can annoy and distract.
ALL-NIGHT LIGHTING
Only lighting intended for security should be on all night if the business is closed.
ROADWAY GLARE
No light should be installed such that it produces excessive glare or excessive brightness that interferes with the vision of drivers and pedestrians.
A FEW EXCEPTIONS
Sports lighting should be allowed more brightness for the playing field, but directed downward and not allowed to spill into other property.
Christmas lighting, porch lighting, and landscape lighting are usually low intensity lighting not a problem unless it creates dangerous glare or nuisance.
courtesy ICOLE - Indiana Council on Outdoor Lighting Education
Ok... I know what you're thinking... this isn't a night sky friendly
fixture... I can see the bulbs. Well... we need to start by telling you
that this light is so new that we couldn't even get an up to date picture
of it from the factory. Starry Night Lights
has worked out an arrangement with the manufacturer of the fixture,
SPJ Lighting
to have them move the bulbs from the bottom of the fixture (pictured
right) to a location up inside the brass cap. Viola, a beautiful
handcrafted lantern instantly transformed into a night sky friendly
outdoor lantern. Its amazing what a little thought can do to almost any
problem.
This beauty is made from solid brass to provide a lifetime of service. Its
available in a number of gorgeous
finish options and the
glass panels are also available in a number of finishes as well. These
guys really make a nice product...
As you'd expect, you can find
this attractive, dark sky friendly outdoor light in the
Wall
Lanterns section of your favorite
outdoor lighting retailer,
www.StarryNightLights.com
"The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life." - Ernest Renan (1823-92), French philosopher and theologian
Newsfeed
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
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.
Ok, let's get started. Our fist object is an
Irregular Galaxy NGC2494(mag14). Yeah... mag14. And this is the brightest object
:-)
Next we'll hit another tiny little
Irregular Galaxy, NGC2508(mag14). We told you these would be tough.
Moving on we come to
Irregular Galaxy IC2231(mag15). Yikes! We've moved to IC's
already? This is undoubtedly one of the faintest objects we've ever unleashed on our readers. But... it ought to be easier than this weeks challenge object :)
Let's wrap things up with this weeks
Utah Skies Challenge Object, a photon-emitting machine called, Irregular Galaxy
IC498(mag15). Ouch! That's gonna be tough. You might be thinking.. why is this the challenge object if it's the same brightness (or faintness) as the preceding object. Well, this little smudge is a bit larger, so it has a lower surface brightness.
