Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are each visible after sundown, with the former two exiting the night sky stage-west, leaving the night's planetary performance to the sun's largest planet. The moon waxes from new on the 27th, with its current phases offering the darkest skies for observing the heavens and pondering the depths of their meanings and stories.
This week's constellation is Ursa Minor, the little bear, is so named from an interesting Greek myth. Artemis, the moon goddess, was followed by a band of beautiful nymphs, all sworn to a vow of chastity. One of the most lovely of these was Callisto. She was eyed by Zeus, a god with a particular fondness for mortal women, on one of his many visits to earth. Disguising himself as Apollo, brother of Artemis, he overcame any scruples Callisto may have had and they became lovers. Callisto was delivered a son from the union, and he was named Arcas (from the Greek arktos or "bear"). Knowing that Artemis would be furious with Callisto for breaking her vow, and more especially to shield her from the wrath of his wife Hera, Zeus changed his unfortunate lover into a bear. Callisto was forced into a lonely exile, roaming the forests and hiding from human hunters. Many years later, her now fully-grown son Arcas was hunting in the woods when he saw a great bear which was, in fact, his own mother. As he lifted his bow and arrow to shoot her, Zeus quickly intervened, and changed Arcas into a little bear. The story has a semi-happy ending: lonely no more, Callisto and her son were transported to the heavens, thereafter to be known as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but Hera's anger at Zeus' infidelity had her take revenge by convincing Poseidon to forbid the two bears from bathing in the sea. It is for this reason that Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are both circumpolar constellations, never dipping beneath the horizon when viewed from northern latitudes.
Utah Skies thanks Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District for providing the Trailside Park venue for last weekend's star party and all those that attended. For more interesting astronomical facts and current news, browse to www.utahskies.org, and while you're there subscribe to our free weekly report, your ticket to the stars.
Astronomy News
From Around The World, and Beyond
Tiny Crescent Moon
Thursday, May 25th, 2006 - Early risers were treated to a sweet view of a tiny 4% illuminated waning crescent moon. This sweet shot was captured by John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine. Those of you with an unobstructed eastern horizon and sharp eyes (or binoculars) might be able to find tomorrow mornings 1% illuminated crescent... just about 15 hours before new.
The Moon and Venus Rise Together
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 - Conjunctions are simply beautiful, and when combined with the newness of the dawning day, they are wonderful. This morning saw a 9% moon and the planet Venus rising together, closely aligned. Of course the moon and Venus are not at all close physically (they're separated by more than 90 million miles), but this morning they appeared aligned and related, joined in their celestial progression across the sky. Next month the moon and Venus will meet again in the morning's eastern sky next to the Pleiades.
Wednesday Morning Conjunction
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 - Early risers are in for a treat on Wednesday morning (5/24). Those with a clear view to the east will see a beautiful sight as a waning crescent Moon poses alongside the planet Venus. The event, known as a conjunction, should be a wonderful scene that requires no optical aids to be enjoyed. Image: courtesy of Astronomy Magazine
Star Party Saturday Night
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 - The 2006 Summer Star Party Series kicks off this Saturday night (5/20) out at Trailside Park. Co-hosted by Utah Skies and Basin Recreation, the
event will run from dusk (8:30pm) until around 1:00am. Admission as always, is free. If you have a telescope, by all means, please bring it. If not, just
bring your imagination. Come checkout Jupiter and Saturn and a host of deep sky treasures through some of the finest telescopes available.
Similar Solar System
Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 - According to the New York Times, "A team of European astronomers said today that they had found one of the closest analogues yet to our solar system: three planets and an asteroid belt circling a pale Sunlike star..." The journal Nature will be publishing findings on Thursday, May 18th. Image credit: David Hardy
To Infinity... and Beyond!
Tuesday, May 16th, 2006 - Whether you grew up with you grew up with the Jetsons or Buzz Lightyear, space travel has always been a thing for the tv. That might not be true for much longer though. A number of states are have put forth proposals that are being reviewed by the Federal Avaiation Administration to allow them to construct Space Ports... gateways to the long anticipated space travel industry. Checkout CNN.com/SPACE for more details.
Aurora Watch
Monday, May 15th, 2006 - Earth is about to enter a high-speed solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole. This significantly raises the odds of aurora. Skywatchers (especially those at higher latitudes) are encouraged to keep an eye on the northern horizon the next couple of nights. Checkout Spaceweather.com for more details..
There's a Full Moon on the Rise
Saturday, May 13th, 2006 - The moon rose waxing near full on the 12th and what a sight it was! In this wonderful photo taken by Brian Jolley, the moon boldly begins its bright march across the night's sky, rising behind a tree-lined hill east of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Jupiter Closest Tonight
Friday, May 12th, 2006 - Those of you who got to see the Moon
and Jupiter
rise together last night (May 11, 2006) will notice that by the time
the Moon set this morning, the separation between them had greatly
increased over the night as can be seen in this photo by now-sleepy
Brian Jolley. Jupiter will continue to dim now, but the views are
still great! Get out there and take a look.
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 is rising after the sun and having attained its superior conjunction with the sun on May 18th. It is now moving out of the sun's glare and climbing into the western sky after sunset.
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 as the summer progresses.
In the accompanying image, Mercury is seen following the sun toward the western horizon of southern Utah with a slender crescent moon close behind.
Venus remains high in the morning sky near sunrise, making for a brilliant wake-up treat over sips of coffee. If you have a telescope handy, take a peek at the love goddess' name sake; the crescent of Venus is lovely indeed. Some dates to pay attention to are May 24th when a fine crescent moon will share the dawn sky with Venus, June 23rd when the moon will again join Venus but this time along side the Pleiades, 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 orbit around the second planet and preparing for its mission. Once it's ready, the 'craft will study the planet in great detail, in particular the Venusian atmosphere and clouds.
Southern Utah in the spring is a sensual delight.. Rivers swell and rage with snowmelt, desert cacti bloom delicate, and the ancient rock fills vistas with warm hues from light brown through red to purple. This view from the banks of the Colorado River north of Moab on State 128 shows the mighty Colorado (formerly the Grand River until 1921) in the foreground, Fisher Towers farther out, and the snow-capped La Sal Mountains in the distance.
In ancient Greek mythology, every four years the benevolence of the Goddess Hera was celebrated at the feast of the Heraia. At Olympia Hera watched the footraces run in Her name. The races were run by girls divided into three age groups to represent the three phases of the moon and the corresponding three stages of woman's life. As Hera crowned the youngest winner, the girl addressed the crowd: I am the new moon, swelling with magic, pure in my maidenhood, ever growing stronger. The second winner spoke: I am the full moon, complete in my powers, making people with my rhythms, bathing them in light. The third said: I am the waning moon, shrinking into peace, knowing all that went before, I am the old one.
Remember, as the moon waxes toward first quarter (swelling with magic), it becomes a rich source of viewing delights. 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 sits adjacent the twin's "heads" - the stars of Castor and Pollux - ostensibly representing the head of a warring third "triplet". May 30th has the moon joining the three bright objects, sitting between Mars and Pollux as a waxing 16% crescent.
Planet Jupiter | Solar System | The Utah Skies Report
Jupiter is currently rising well before sunset after 6pmpm, placing it more 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 in the late morning and reaching the highest point in its path across the sky around 7pm. This continues to provide skywatchers with some spectacular views of the ringed planet. 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 morning, sitting close to the sun. 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 about 2 hours before the sun, leaving you precious little time to view the 8th rock. To speed up your acquisition of the planet, just look towards the east around first light You should immediately see bright Venus. Neptune is just about 1.5° below Venus. 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
NASA Asks Kids to Talk With the Animals at "Odyssey of the Mind"
"If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it, chatting with a chimp in chimpanzee." That lyric from the Dr. Doolittle movie and Broadway show hints at the NASA challenge that kids will face at the 27th Annual Odyssey of the Mind World Finals competition. Odyssey will bring students from around the world to Iowa State University, in Ames, from May 24 - 27 to compete.
Image right: NASA's Steve Graham mans the NASA booth at the 2005 World Finals. Credit: Odyssey of the Mind
This international event brings teams of creative children together to compete in the Odyssey World Finals. Throughout the school year, millions of kids from grades 1 through 12 have been brainstorming, building, revising and perfecting their problem solution with hopes of advancing to the 2006 World Finals after competing in regional and association tournaments.
NASA provided funds to create one of the long-term challenges for this year's competition called "The Jungle Bloke." It requires teams to create and present a performance about a "Bloke," a person who has the ability to talk with and understand animals from a jungle. Part or all of the performance will take place in a jungle selected from a list. The animals will tell the Bloke about a problem that exists there and get the Bloke to help. The animals will also help the Bloke in some way. The Bloke will convince someone else that he has the ability to talk with the animals. The presentation will include an original song and dance.
NASA expects to inspire nearly two million students, parents, teachers, and coaches around the world through its sponsorship of Odyssey of the Mind problems by encouraging interest and learning about Earth science.
Image left: This is the team from Japan during the 2005 World Finals challenge called "Crazy Columns." Credit: Odyssey of the Mind
"For the fifth time, NASA's Earth Science Division and Earth Observing System Project Science Office pleased to sponsor an Odyssey of the Mind Long Term Problem - The Jungle Bloke," said Dr. Michael King, Earth Observing System Senior Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
NASA supported Odyssey's preliminary competitions by posting Earth science information on a special Web site. Web links were provided to assist students in developing solutions to problems facing the Earth. The NASA Earth Observatory web site's Odyssey webpage was created specifically for Odyssey of the Mind students and coaches and provides a list of helpful links highlighting NASA education.
The Odyssey of the Mind program was founded in 1978. It is an international educational program promoting team effort and creative problem solving for students from kindergarten through college. Thousands of teams from the U.S. and other countries participate in the program. Teams participating in the finals advanced from local, state, regional and country competitions.
The Ring Nebula. Check. M13. Check. Next up: The
Whirlpool galaxy.
You punch in the coordinates and your telescope takes off,
slewing across the sky. You tap your feet and stare at the stars. These
Messier marathons would go much faster if the telescope didn’t take so long to
slew. What a waste of time!
Don’t tell that to the x-ray astronomers.
“We’re putting our slew time to good use,” explains
Norbert Schartel, project scientist for the European
Space Agency’s XMM-Newton x-ray telescope. The telescope, named for Sir Isaac
Newton, was launched into Earth orbit in 1999. It’s now midway through an
11-year mission to study black holes, neutron stars, active galaxies and other
violent denizens of the Universe that show up particularly well at x-ray
wavelengths.
For the past four years, whenever
XMM-Newton slewed from one object to another, astronomers kept the telescope’s
cameras running, recording whatever might drift through the field of view. The
result is a stunning survey of the heavens covering 15% of the entire sky.
Sifting through the data, ESA astronomers have found entire
clusters of galaxies unknown before anyone started paying attention to “slew
time.” Some already-known galaxies have been caught in the act of flaring—a
sign, researchers believe, of a central black hole gobbling matter from nearby
stars and interstellar clouds. Here in our own galaxy, the 20,000 year old Vela
supernova remnant has been expanding. XMM-Newton has slewed across it many
times, tracing its changing contours in exquisite detail.
The slew technique works because of
XMM-Newton’s great sensitivity. It has more collecting area than any other
x-ray telescope in the history of astronomy. Sources flit through the field of
view in only 10 seconds, but that’s plenty of time in most cases to gather
valuable data.
The work is just beginning. Astronomers plan to continue
the slew survey, eventually mapping as much as 80% of the entire sky. No one
knows how many new clusters will be found or how many black holes might be
caught gobbling their neighbors. One thing’s for sure: “There will be
new discoveries,” says Schartel.
Tap, tap, tap. The next time you’re in the backyard with
your telescope, and it takes off for the Whirlpool galaxy, don’t just stand
there. Try to keep up with the moving eyepiece. Look, you never know what might
drift by.
See some of the other XMM-Newton images at http://sci.esa.int
. For more about XMM-Newton’s Education and Public Outreach program, including
downloadable classroom materials, go to http://xmm.sonoma.edu. Kids can learn
about black holes and play “Black Hole Rescue” at The Space Place, http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/,
under “Games.”
This article was
provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Caption:
The image on the left is the Vela Supernova Remnant as
imaged in X-rays by ROSAT. On the right are some of the slew images obtained by
XMM-Newton in its “spare” time.
The Hubble Space Telescope has distinguished itself as a premier source of astronomical images and science. 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 this incredible information.Hubble Heritage Team.
Hubble Captures a "Five-Star" Rated Gravitational Lens
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the first-ever picture of a group of five star-like images of a single distant quasar.
The multiple-image effect seen in the Hubble picture is produced by a process called gravitational lensing, in which the gravitational field of a massive object . in this case, a cluster of galaxies . bends and amplifies light from an object . in this case, a quasar . farther behind it.
Although many examples of gravitational lensing have been observed, this "quintuple quasar" is the only case so far in which multiple quasar images are produced by an entire galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.
The background quasar is the brilliant core of a galaxy. It is powered by a black hole, which is devouring gas and dust and creating a gusher of light in the process. When the quasar's light passes through the gravity field of the galaxy cluster that lies between us and the quasar, the light is bent by the space-warping gravity field in such a way that five separate images of the object are produced surrounding the cluster's center. The fifth quasar image is embedded to the right of the core of the central galaxy in the cluster. The cluster also creates a cobweb of images of other distant galaxies gravitationally lensed into arcs.
The galaxy cluster creating the lens is known as SDSS J1004+4112 and was discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It is one of the more distant clusters known (seven billion light-years away), and is seen as it appeared when the universe was half its present age.
Spectral data taken with the Keck I 10-meter telescope show that these are images of the same galaxy. The spectral results match those inferred by a lens model based only on the image positions and measurements of the light emitted from the quasar.
A gravitational lens will always produce an odd number of lensed images, but one image is usually very weak and embedded deep within the light of the lensing object itself. Though previous observations of SDSS J1004+4112 have revealed four of the images of this system, Hubble's sharp vision and the high magnification of this gravitational lens combine to place a fifth image far enough from the core of the central imaging galaxy to make it visible as well.
The galaxy hosting the background quasar is at a distance of 10 billion light-years. The quasar host galaxy can be seen in the image as multiple faint red arcs. This is the most highly magnified quasar host galaxy ever seen.
The Hubble picture also shows a large number of stretched arcs that are more distant galaxies lying behind the cluster, each of which is split into multiple distorted images. The most distant galaxy identified and confirmed so far is 12 billion light-years away (corresponding to only 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang).
By comparing this image to a picture of the cluster obtained with Hubble a year earlier, the researchers discovered a rare event . a supernova exploding in one of the cluster galaxies. The supernova exploded seven billion years ago, and the data, together with other supernova observations, are being used to try to reconstruct how the universe was enriched by heavy elements through these explosions.
For more information, contact:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: villard@stsci.edu)
This weekend we move on to the constellation Ursa Minor the Little Bear. This has an interesting mythical tale associated with it. Arcas (Ursa Minor) was Jupiter's son with Callisto (Ursa Major). Jupiter's wife Juno found out about the affair and turned Callisto into a Bear. Strange as it would seem her very son some years later was out hunting and was all set to shoot the bear Callisto when Jupiter rushed to her aid. He turned Arcas into a little bear and placed the two of them together in the heavens where they remain to this day.
The focus of our efforts here will be the deep sky objects of Ursa Minor
Ok... First things first. Ursa Minor is the northern most constellation. It has to be, for within it's boundaries lies the North Star, Polaris.
The accompanying image of Polaris by aiming the camera at the star for 10 minutes during the Leonid Meteor Shower of 2001 (you can see a Leonid Meteor streaking across the top right of the picture). Note that while all the stars appear to be moving, Polaris is not. It sits so close to the celestial north pole that it appears virtually stationary, with all the other stars revolving around it.
Sparse in the way of deep sky objects, we offer only the Utah Skies Challenge Object, Spiral Galaxy NGC6217(mag11.2).
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.
A RATIONALE FOR THE MANDATORY LIMITATION OF OUTDOOR LIGHTING
Barry A. J. Clark, PhD
Director, Outdoor Lighting Improvement Section Astronomical Society of Victoria
Inc.
Summary:
The great value of artificial outdoor lighting has largely obscured the social,
ecological and environmental problems resulting from present lighting practice.
The exponential growth of outdoor lighting observed in Australia and elsewhere
is unsustainable and greatly at odds with the need to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Artificial skyglow resulting largely from wasteful lighting design
and overuse of lighting is increasingly hampering astronomical research and
education. Stray light entering bedrooms at night disturbs sleep and contributes
to sleepiness and fatigue, known factors in traffic and industrial accidents.
Exposure to artificial light at night is also a known risk factor for breast
cancer and other cancers, and it may be an underlying cause of widespread
obesity. Outdoor lighting does not inhibit crime but increases it. Drastic
reductions in outdoor ambient light levels are justified and will require
legislation to be achieved.
We'd certainly recommend that you
read this paper
when you have a moment. It turns out there a lot more to outdoor lighting than
meets the eye!.
Stellar Sponsor Space
This week's Utah Skies Report 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 friendly
outdoor lighting
products.
This week, we checkout one of the beautiful, neighbor friendly
ceramic wall sconces
from the folks at
Justice Design Group. Pictured here is the
JDG-1000W. This
beautiful fixture is available in over
40 finish options including
unfinished and paintable bisque,
kiln-fired glazes,
hand-painted and hand-hammered faux metals, or
hand-carved and hand-painted textured faux stone finishes. Its full cutoff
design will ensure that you put the light where you need it, and not where you
don't, guaranteeing that you won't be disturbing the entire
neighborhood. Good neighbor lighting
is a requirement that is being adopted in community after community around the
nation.
As you'd expect, you can find
this attractive, night sky friendly friendly outdoor light in the
Ceramic Wall Sconces
section of your favorite
Outdoor Lighting retailer,
Starry Night Lights.
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... First things first. Ursa Minor is the northern most constellation. It has to be, for within it's boundaries lies the 
Sparse in the way of deep sky objects, we offer only the Utah Skies Challenge Object, Spiral Galaxy NGC6217(mag11.2).
