Category: Observing

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for another great weekend of observing? If you’re thinking that it’s going to be boring because there’s Moon, then think again. If you were paying attention, you’d have noticed that Venus and Mars rose together this morning only about five degrees apart. Need more reasons to get out? Try 13 of them as you challenge yourself to see how many craterlets you can resolve in the mighty Clavius. Stars more to your liking? Then have a look at the Theta Virginis system or beautiful red Omega. Celebrate the Strawberry Moon, locate R Hydrae or just be on hand for an occultation event… It’s all part of the weekend scene! Grab your telescopes or binoculars and I’ll see you in the backyard.

Friday, June 5, 2009 – If you were up early this morning, did you see Venus and Mars no more than 30 minutes before dawn? The pair was very low – only about 20 degrees above the horizon -and about 5 degrees apart.

Now, let’s take a look at John Couch Adams, a discoverer of Neptune who was born on this date in 1819. Said he:

‘‘. . .the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus. . .in order to find out whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it.’’

But that’s not all Adams contributed! He was the first to associate the Leonid meteor shower with the orbital path of a comet, and he also observed the Moon.

As we begin observing Selene this evening, let’s have a look at awesome crater Clavius. As a huge mountain-walled plain, Clavius will appear near the terminator tonight in the lunar Southern Hemisphere, rivaled only in sheer size by similarly structured Deslandres and Baily. Rising 1,646 meters above the surface, the interior wall slopes gently downward for a distance of almost 24 kilometers and spans 225 kilometers. Its crater-strewn walls are over 56 kilometers thick! Clavius is punctuated by many pockmarks and craters; the largest on the southeast wall is named Rutherford. Its twin, Porter, lies to the northeast. Long noted as a test of optics, Clavius crater can offer up to 13 such small craters on a steady night at high power. How many can you see?

If you want to continue tests of resolution, why not visit nearby Theta Virginis (RA 13 09 56 Dec -05 32 20)? It might be close to the Moon, but it’s 415 light-years away from Earth! The primary star is a white A-type subgiant, but it’s also a spectroscopic binary comprising two companions that orbit each other about every 14 years. In turn, this pair is orbited by a 9th magnitude F-type star that is a close 7.1’’ away from the primary. Look for the fourth member of the Theta Virginis system, well away at 70’’ but shining at a feeble magnitude 10.4.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 – Today is all about lunar history! We begin with the 1932 birth on this date of David Scott, the seventh person to walk on the Moon and the first to ride the Lunar Rover on the surface during the Apollo 15 mission. Sharing his birth date, but almost 500 years earlier, was the astronomer Regiomontanus (1436). Regiomontanus made observations of a comet, which were accurate enough to associate it with Comet Halley 210 years later, and his interest in the motion of the Moon led him to make the important observation that lunar distances could be used to determine longitude at sea! Let’s head to the Moon. . .

Although at first glance tonight crater Copernicus will try to steal the scene, head further south to capture another Lunar Club Challenge – Bullialdus. Even binoculars can make out this crater with ease near the center of Mare Nubium. If you’re scoping, power up – this one is fun! Very similar to Copernicus, note Bullialdus’ thick, terraced walls and central peak. If you examine the area around it carefully, you can note it is a much newer crater than shallow Lubiniezsky to its north and almost non-existent Kies to the south. On Bullialdus’ southern flank, it’s easy to make out itsA and B craters, as well as the interesting little Koenig to the southwest. Although it will be a bit overlit, if you head to the southeast shore of Mare Humorum, you can spot crater Regiomontanus as well. It’s just south of Purbach.

Now let’s starhop four finger-widths northwest of Beta Virginis for another unusual star – Omega (RA 11 38 27 Dec +08 08 03). Classed as an M-type red giant, this 480 light-year-distant beauty is also an irregular variable that fluxes by about half a magnitude. Although you won’t notice much change in this 5th magnitude star, it has a very pretty red coloration and is worth the time to view.

Sunday, June 7, 2009 – Today we celebrate the birth of Bernard Burke, co-discoverer of radio waves emitted from Jupiter. Listening to Jupiter’s radio signals is a wonderful hobby that can be practiced by anyone with enough room to set up a dipole antenna. If you’d like more information—or want to hear a recording of Jupiter yourself—visit Radio JOVE on the web! Tonight is Full Strawberry Moon, a name used by every Algonquin tribe in North America because the short season for harvesting the tasty red fruit comes each year during the month of June!

Tonight let’s have a look at a tasty red star – R Hydrae (RA 13 29 42 Dec -23 16 52) located a fist-width south of Spica. R Hydrae was the third long-term variable star discovered and was credited to Maraldi in 1704. Although Hevelius observed it 42 years earlier, it wasn’t recognized as variable because its changes happen over more than a year. At maximum, R reaches near 4th magnitude, but drops well below naked-eye perception to magnitude 10. During Maraldi’s and Hevelius’s time, this incredible star took over 500 days to cycle, but it has speeded up to around 390 days in the present century.

Why such a wide range? Scientists aren’t really sure. R Hydrae is a pulsing M-type giant whose evolution may be progressing more rapidly than expected due to changes in structure. What we do know is that it’s around 325 light-years away and approaching us at 10 kilometers per second! To the telescope, R will have a pronounced red coloration, which deepens near minimum. Nearby is 12th magnitude visual companion star Ho 381, which was first measured for angle position and distance in 1891. Since then, no changes in separation have been noted, leading us to believe the pair may be a true binary.

Now watch as the Moon devours a red star! Brilliant Antares will be less than a half degree away from the limb for most observers and will be occulted for some lucky others! Be sure to check the IOTA website for exact times and locations and enjoy!

Until next week? Ask for the Moon, but keep on reach for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Clavius (credit—Wes Higgins), Theta Virginis (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Bullialdus (credit—Wes Higgins), Omega Virginis (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Nearside of the Moon as imaged by Apollo 11 (credit—NASA) and R Hydrae (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you so much!

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Have you been watching the lovely crescent Moon as it climbs higher each night? What a beauty! With warmer nights in the northern hemisphere and cooler evenings bringing clear, deep views to the south – why not spend some time stargazing? We’ve got some great lunar features lined up for you to help you along with your lunar club challenges – as well as a bright galaxy and an interesting variable star. Time to dust off your optics and head out into the night…

Friday, May 29, 2009 – Today we begin with the 1794 birth on this date of Johann Heinrich von Madler who, along with Wilhelm Beer, published the most complete map up to that time of the Moon, Mappa Selenographia. How fitting, then, that we should visit the Moon tonight! We’re going in search of another Lunar Club Challenge that will prove difficult because you’ll be working without a map.

Relax! This will be much easier than you think. Starting at Mare Crisium, move along the terminator to the north following the chain of craters until you identify a featureless oval that looks similar to Plato seen on a curve. This is Endymion, and if you can’t spot it tonight don’t worry. We’ll look in the days ahead at some features that will point you to it!

Since tonight will be our last chance to galaxy hunt for a while, let’s take a look at one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster – M49 (RA 12 29 46 Dec +07 59 59). Located about 8 degrees northwest of Delta Virginis, and almost directly between a pair of 6th magnitude stars, the giant elliptical M49 holds the distinction of being the first galaxy in the Virgo Cluster to be discovered – and just the second beyond our local group.

At magnitude 8.5, this type E4 galaxy will appear as an evenly illuminated egg shape in almost all scopes, and as a faint patch in binoculars. Although a possible supernova event occurred in 1969, don’t confuse the foreground star noted by Herschel with something new! Most telescopes won’t be able to pick this region apart – especially with the Moon so near – but there are also many fainter companions near M49, including NGC 4470. A sharp-eyed observer named Halton Arp noticed them and listed them as ‘‘Peculiar Galaxy 134 ’’ – one with ‘‘fragments’’!

Saturday, May 30, 2009 – Today we begin with the 1423 birth of Georg von Peuerbachon this date, a follower of Ptolemy’s astronomy. Georg calculated eclipses; observed Halley’s Comet before it was so named; and created astronomical instruments. Following Georg nearly half a millennium later was Hannes Alfven, born in 1908. Alfven’s life work was plasma and its electric and magnetic forces. Lastly, we have Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov, who was born in 1934. Leonov was the first man to climb out of a spacecraft (the Voskhod II ) and into space. He was the first true ‘‘astrophotographer’’ as he filmed for 10 minutes while orbiting!

Tonight let’s take our own journey to the Moon and look at a beautiful series of craters – Fabricius, Metius, and Rheita.

Bordered on the south by shallow Jannsen, Lunar Club Challenge Fabricius is a 78-kilometer diameter crater highlighted by two small interior mountain ranges. To its northeast is Metius, which is slightly larger, with a diameter of 88 kilometers. Look carefully at the two. Metius has much steeper walls, while Fabricius shows differing levels and heights. Metius’s smooth floor also contains a very prominent B crater on the inside of its southeast crater wall. Further northeast is the lovely Rheita Valley, which stretches almost 500 kilometers and appears more like a series of confluent craters than a fault line. The 70-kilometer diameter crater Rheita is far younger than this formation
because it intrudes upon it. Look for a bright point inside the crater, its central peak.

While the Moon is still west, let’s have a look at telescopic star W Virginis located about 3.5 degrees southwest of Zeta (RA 13 26 02 Dec -03 22 43). This 11,000 light-year-distant Cepheid-type variable is, oddly enough, a Population II lying outside the galactic plane. This expanding and contracting star goes through its changes in a little over 17 days and will vary between 8th and 9th magnitude. Although it is undeniably a Cepheid, it breaks the rules by being both out of place in the cosmic scheme and displaying abnormal spectral qualities!

Sunday, May 31, 2009 – Today we begin with noting the 1872 birth on this date of Charles Greeley Abbot, who may very well have been the first astronomer to suspect that the radiation from the Sun might vary over time, and thus it was technically a variable star. When Abbot became the director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), the SAO established a network of solar radiation observatories around the world. After many decades of study, a connection was made between solar variations and weather on Earth.

Tonight the Moon will be our companion. Now well risen above atmospheric disturbance, this would be a great time to have a look for several Lunar Club Challenges you might have missed. Most prominent of all will be two craters to the north named Atlas and Hercules. The easternmost Atlas was named for the mythical figure who bore the weight of the world on his shoulders. The crater spans 87 kilometers and contains a vivid Y-shaped rima in the interior basin. Western Hercules is considerably smaller at 69 kilometers in diameter and shows a deep interior crater, called G. Power up, and look for the tiny E crater, which marks the southern crater rim. North of both is another unusual feature that many observers miss. It is a much more eroded and far older crater showing only a basic outline; this crater is known as Atlas E.

Since we’re here, let’s take a crater walk and see how many features we can identify. . . Good luck and clear skies!

Atlas region: (1) Mare Humboldtianum, (2) Endymion, (3) Atlas, (4) Hercules, (5) Chevalier, (6) Shuckburgh, (7) Hooke, (8) Cepheus, (9) Franklin, (10) Berzelius, (11) Maury, (12) Lacus Somniorum, (13) Daniel, (14) Grove, (15) Williams, (16) Mason, (17) Plana, (18) Burg, (19) Lacus Mortis, (20) Baily, (21) Atlas E, (22) Keldysh, (23) Mare Frigoris, (24) Democritus, (25) Gartner, (26) Schwabe, (27) Thales, (28) Strabo, (29) de la Rue, and (30) Hayn.

Until next week? Ask for the Moon, but keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are Johann Heinrich von Madler (historical image), M49 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov (archival image), Fabricius, Metius, and Rheita (credit—Alan Chu), Charles Greeley Abbot (historical image) and Atlas region (credit—Greg Konkel, annotations by Tammy Plotner). We thank you!

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for a dark sky observing weekend? Then let’s take a ride with Wild’s Triplets, join Markarian’s Chain gang and hang out with the night Owls. Are you ready? Then grab your telescopes and binoculars and I’ll see you in the backyard….

Friday, May 22, 2009 – Let’s begin the day by honoring the 1920 birth on this date of Thomas Gold, an astronomer known for proposing the ‘‘steady-state’’ theory of the universe; for explaining pulsars; and for giving the magnetosphere its name. Gold was also an auditory research genius. In his interview with D.T. Kemp he stated:

‘‘I’m a compulsive thinker, I never turn my brain off, I’ve never in my life complained of being bored because I’m constantly thinking about some problem, mostly physics I suppose. A problem is always on my mind – evidently even in my sleep because I often wake up with a solution clearly spread out.’’

For the large telescope and seasoned observer, the challenge for this evening will be 5.5 degrees south of Beta Virginis, and one half degree west (RA 11 46 45 Dec -03 50 53). Classified as Arp 248, and more commonly known as ’’Wild’s Triplet,’’ these three very small interacting galaxies are a real treat! Best with around a 9-mm eyepiece, use wide aversion, and try to keep the star just north of the trio at the edge of the field to cut glare. Be sure to mark your Arp Galaxy challenge list!

Saturday, May 23, 2009 – Tonight let’s hop to far northern skies for a look at two gems. Start with Beta Ursae Majoris – the southwestern star of the Big Dipper – and begin scanning about a finger-width southeast for M108 (RA 11 11 31 Dec +55 40 31). At magnitude 10, you’ll appreciate this splendid edge-on galaxy! Discovered by Pierre Mechain on February 19, 1781, and later verified by Charles Messier, it didn’t formally enter the Messier’s catalog until 1953 at the hand Owen Gingerich. Despite its low surface brightness, M108 can be spotted by mid-aperture telescopes, and larger scopes will make out irregular patches of detail.

Now, hop on less than a finger-width further southeast (RA 11 14 47 Dec +55 01 08) where you’ll spot M97, the ‘‘Owl Nebula.’’ Discovered by Pierre Mechain 3 days earlier than M108, the Owl is often thought of as one of the most difficult of the Messier studies to detect from urban locations… and it may require a light pollution filter to help bring it to life. About the apparent size of Jupiter, the Owl gets its name from the vague gray-greenness of its light, and the two curious eye-like voids visible through larger scopes. Scientists believe the voids are the result of a line-of-sight phenomenon, where the lowest-density poles lie at an oblique angle from our vantage point. The structure of M97 and its fluorescence are associated with a high surface temperature central star in the last stages of life. Can you spot the faint 16th magnitude dying star at its heart?

Sunday, May 24, 2009 – Tonight is the New Moon and time to tour the galaxy fields of Virgo. For large telescopes, this is the ‘‘field of dreams’’… Start four finger-widths east-southeast of Beta Leonis for part of ‘‘ Markarian’s Chain ’’ and discover M84 and M86 (RA 12 25 03 Dec +12 53 13)! Good binoculars and small telescopes reveal the matched ellipticals of M84/86, while mid-sized telescopes will note that western M84 is slightly brighter and smaller. Larger scopes see these two galaxies literally ‘‘leap’’ out of the eyepiece at even modest magnifications!

In large telescopes, the bright galactic forms of M84/86 can be held with direct vision, while aversion welcomes many other mysterious strangers into view. Forming an easy triangle with the two Messiers, and located about 200 south, is 11th magnitude NGC4388, a classic edge-on spiral. Dim NGC4387 (magnitude 12) appears in the center of a triangle as a small face-on spiral with a noticeable dust lane. In large scopes, the central structure forms a curved ‘‘bar’’ of light, and the dust lane cleanly separates the central bulge of the core. East of M86 are two brighter NGC galaxies – 4435 and 4438.

In an average telescope, NGC 4435 has a simple star-like core and wispy round body structure, while NGC 4438 is a dim elliptical. The beauty of the pair is their proximity to each other! At times, a conspicuous wisp of galactic material can be seen stretching back toward the nearby (brighter) galaxy pair M84/86. Happy hunting!

Until next week? “Keep on rockin’ in the free world…”

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Thomas Gold (historical image), Arp 248: Wild’s Triplet (credit—Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF), M108 and M97 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech) and Wide-field image of the Virgo galaxy cluster with M84/86 region to the upper right (credit—NOAO/AURA/NSF). We thank you so much!

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! With the Moon just a bit more out of the early evening picture, let’s enjoy the galaxy season as we begin our studies with one of the most massive and luminous spiral galaxies known. If it doesn’t hit you in the eye, then surely our globular cluster studies will! Be sure to set your clock early for Sunday morning to catch the pretty pairing of Jupiter and the Moon and end the weekend with one of the largest and brightest of the spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Are you ready? Then get your binoculars and telescopes out and I’ll see you in the back yard…

Friday, May 15, 2009 – Today we celebrate the 1857 birth on this date of Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming, who pioneered in the classification of stellar spectra and discovered the stars we now call white dwarfs. Now get this: she began by working as a maid for Harvard Observatory’s Edward Pickering, who then took her to the observatory to do clerical work. Fleming ended up cataloging over 10,000 stars for Harvard in a period 9 years. You go, girl!

Tonight let’s head out into space where we might get a “blackeye.” You’ll find it located just 1 degree east-northeast of 35 Comae Berenices, and it is most often called M64 (RA 12 56 43 Dec +21 41 00). Discovered by Bode about a year before Messier cataloged it, M64 is about 25 million light years away and holds the distinction of being one of the more massive and luminous spiral galaxies. It has a very unusual structure and is classified as an ‘‘Sa’’ spiral in some catalogs and as an ‘‘Sb’’ in others.

Overall, its arms are very smooth and show no real resolution to any scope, yet its bright nucleus has an incredible dark dust lane that consumes the northern and eastern regions around its core, giving rise to its nickname—the Blackeye Galaxy.

In binoculars, you can perceive this 8.5-magnitude galaxy as a small oval with a slightly brighter center. Small telescope users will pick out the nucleus more easily, but it will require both magnification and careful attention to dark adaptation to catch the dust lane. In larger telescopes, the structure is easily apparent, and you may catch the outer wisps of arms on nights of exceptional seeing. No matter what you use to view it, this is one compact and bright little galaxy!

Saturday, May 16, 2009 – Today we’d like to wish Roy Kerr a happy birthday! Born on this date in 1934, Kerr solved Einstein’s field equations of general relativity to describe rotating black holes, or the space/time around them. The solution, called now a Kerr black hole, shows a vortex-like region outside the event horizon known as the ergoregion. In this region, space and time are dragged around with the rotating parent black hole.

Tonight let’s use our binoculars and telescopes to hunt down one of the best globular clusters for the Northern Hemisphere— M3 (RA 13 42 11 Dec +28 22 31). You will discover this ancient beauty about halfway between the pair of Arcturus and Cor Caroli, just east of Beta Comae. The more aperture you use, the more stars you will resolve. Discovered by Charles Messier on May 3, 1764, this ball of approximately a half-million stars is one of the oldest formations in our galaxy. At around 40,000 light years away, the awesome M3 globular cluster spans about 220 light-years and is believed to be as much as 10 billion years old. To get a grasp on this concept, our own Sun is less than half that age! M3 is 40,000 years away, traveling at the speed of light; yet we can still see this great globular cluster.

Now let’s locate M53 (RA 13 12 55 Dec +18 10 09), near Alpha Comae. Aim your binoculars or telescopes there and you will find M53 about a degree northeast. This very rich, magnitude 8.7 globular cluster is almost identical to M3, but look at what a difference an additional 25,000 light-years can make to how we see it! Binoculars can pick up a small, round, fuzzy patch, while larger telescopes will enjoy the compact bright core as well as resolution at the cluster’s outer edges. As a bonus for scopes, look 1 degree to the southeast for the peculiar round cluster NGC 5053. Classed as a very loose globular, this magnitude 10.5 grouping is one of the least luminous objects of its type, due to its small stellar population and the wide separation between members, yet its distance is almost the same as that of M3.

Sunday, May 17, 2009 – If you’re up before dawn this morning, take a look at the close pairing of Jupiter and the Moon! Only about a finger-width apart, the magnificent duet will make starting the day a little more pleasant…

Now, as the Sun rises, salute the 1837 birth of Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, who discovered and named the element helium that he found in the Sun’s atmosphere, even before it had been detected on Earth. Lockyer was the first to coin the term chromosphere for the Sun’s outer layer and was the co-discoverer of solar prominences!

Tonight we’ll return to 6 Coma Berenices, and head no more than a half degree southwest for another awesome galaxy— M99 (RA 12 18 49 Dec +14 25 00). Discovered by Pierre Mechain on the same night as he found M98, this is one of the largest and brightest of the spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Recognized second after M51 for its structure, Lord Rosse proclaimed it to be “a bright spiral with a star above.” It is an “Sc” class, and unlike its similarly structured neighbors, it rotates clockwise.

Receding from us at 2,324 kilometers per second, its speedy retreat through the galaxy fields and close pass to approachingM98may be the reason that it is asymmetrical, with a wide arm extending to the southwest. Three documented supernovae have been recorded in M99—in 1967, 1972, and 1986.

Possible in large binoculars with excellent conditions, this roughly 9th magnitude object is of low surface brightness and requires clean skies to see details. For a small telescope, you will see this one as fairly large, round, wispy, and with a bright nucleus. But, unleash aperture if you have it! For large scopes, the spiral pattern is very prominent, and the western arm shows well. Areas within the structure are patchworked with bright knots of stars and thin dust lanes, which surround the concentrated core region. During steady seeing, a bright, pinpoint stellar nucleus will come out of
hiding. A worthy study!

Until next week? Dreams really do come true when you keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (historical image), M64: the Blackeye Galaxy, M3 and M53 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Sir Norman Lockyer (historical image) and M99 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you so much!

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for the weekend? Then step outside and see if you’re able to spot Mercury as it begins retrograde. Celebrate the “Full Flower Moon” and Mother’s Day with some very special insights into a very special mother. Maybe you can give your mother the “String of Pearls” or perhaps just some glittering jewels of some very fine double stars? No matter what you choose to do, there’s always something new to find and explore. Follow me…

Friday, May 8, 2009 – As the skies darken this evening, scan the western horizon for Mercury. Just beginning its 2009 Mercury retrograde motion, it won’t be long before it slips back into the glare of the Sun!

Tonight the Moon will command the sky. Why not take this opportunity to have a look at a very curious feature? Scan the lunar surface just a little southeast of the gray oval of Grimaldi. The area we are looking for is called the Sirsalis Rille , and on an orb devoid of magnetic fields—it’s magnetic! Like a dry riverbed, this ancient ‘‘crack’’ on the surface runs 480 kilometers along the surface and branches off in many areas. The Sirsalis Rille is a favored area for lunar geophysics. Although no complete explanation yet exists for its magnetic properties, it’s believed the Rille could be the surface remains of a channel that once fed magma to Oceanus Procellarum. If you look carefully, you will notice that Sirsalis crosses the ejecta of the Mare Orientale impact, leading the scientists to believe it formed after the Imbrium Basin.

There is also a theory that the Sirsalis Rille could be a graben—an impression left when two parallel faults shift. This is in line with the theory that rising magma may have disturbed the crust. Although there’s no firm evidence of volcanic activity, solidified magma under the surface may account for Sirsalis’ magnetic properties.

Lastly, there should be some fascinating effects at sunrise over Darwin, including an unexplained ‘‘string of pearls’’ effect, a possible result of light passing through a series of sharp, steep ridges. Keep a close watch on crater Darwin if you are watching as the Sun rises over the rim. Note what you see, including exact time the effect was spotted, the date, and your location. If you are interested in contributing, send your observing reports to the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO).

Saturday, May 9, 2009 – On this date in 1962, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists bounced a laser beam off the Moon, which illuminated an area with a diameter of 4 miles! The ‘‘Luna See’’ project was a ruby optical laser radiating pulses of approximately 50 joules energy for half a millisecond. It was transmitted through a 1200 Cassegrain telescope and detected with a 4800 Cassegrain. It proved laser light could travel through space!

Tonight is the ‘‘Full Flower Moon.’’ Earth is awakening again! Agricultural literature refers to it as the ‘‘Full Corn Planting Moon,’’ or the ‘‘Milk Moon.’’ No matter what it’s named, Moonrise is majestic to watch. Participate in a Lunar Club Challenge and do some outreach work by demonstrating “Moon Illusion” to someone. We know it’s purely psychological and not physical, but the fact remains that the Moon seems larger on the horizon. Using a small coin held at arm’s length, compare it to Luna as it rises, and then again as it seems to “shrink” as it moves up! You’ve now qualified for extra credit…

Try using colored or Moon filters to look at the many surface features that throw amazing patterns across its surface. If you have none, a pair of sunglasses will suffice. Look for things you might not ordinarily notice, such as the huge streak emanating from crater Menelaus, the pattern projected from Proclus, or the bright tiny dot of little-known Pytheas north of Copernicus. It’s hard to miss the blinding beacon of Aristarchus! Check the southeastern limb, where the edge of Furnerius lights up the landscape… or how a nothing crater like Censorinus shines on the southeast shore of Tranquillitatis, while Dionysus echoes it on the southwest. Could you believe Manlius just north of central could be such a perfect ring, or that Anaxagoras would look like a northern polar cap? Although it might be tempting to curse the Moon for hiding the stars when it’s full, there is no other world out there that we can view in such detail… even if you just look with your eyes!

Sunday, May 10, 2009 – Today we celebrate the birth of Cecilia Payne in 1900 (and another female astronomer you just might know a little more than fifty years later). Payne was the first to apply the laws of atomic physics to study the temperature and density of stars. It was a difficult time for female astronomers, and she had quite a time getting her peers to take her work seriously. (And it’s still a difficult time for female amateurs – so hang tough.) Payne proved that hydrogen and helium are the two most common elements in the universe and, with the later help of Fred Hoyle, proved that our Sun is 99% hydrogen and helium.

Before the Moon rises, take a look at the constellation of Leo and its brightest stars. Our first destination is 85 light-year-distant Regulus. As the 21st brightest star in the night sky, 1.35-magnitude Alpha Leonis is a helium star about 5 times larger and 160 times brighter than our own Sun. Speeding away from us at 3.7 kilometers per second, Regulus is also a multiple system whose 8th magnitude B companion is easily seen in small telescopes. Regulus B is also a double, with a magnitude 12 dwarf companion of uncertain type. There’s an additional 13th magnitude star in this grouping, but it’s probably not associated with Regulus, since the ‘‘Little King’’ is moving toward it and will be very close to it in 800 years.

About a fist-width northeast of Regulus is 2.61-magnitude Gamma Leonis. Algieba is a very fine double star, but difficult to see at low power, since the 90 light-year-distant pair is bright and close. Separated by about twice the diameter of our own Solar System, the gap between Algieba and its companion is slowly widening! Another two finger-widths north is 3.44-magnitude Zeta. Aldhafera is about 130 light-years away and also has an optical companion—35 Leonis. Remember this binocular pair, because they’ll lead you to galaxies later! Before we leave, look east for 3.34-magnitude Theta. Mark this one in your memory, because Chort and 3.94-magnitude Iota to the south serve as markers for a galaxy hop! Last is easternmost 2.14-magnitude Beta. Denebola is the ‘‘Lion’s Tail’’ and has several faint optical companions.

Now watch the Moon… because for some areas Antares is about to be occulted!

As we’re watching, let’s take just a moment a give thanks for our mothers and the roles they can play in our lives. Did you know Johannes Kepler’s mother, Katharina, was the one who inspired him? To rather paraphrase his story, Johannes’ father was a mercenary soldier and left him and his mother when he was a young child. His mother supported them both by working as a waitress at the family inn and put the very religious and mathematically talented young Johannes through seminary school on her own. It was his mother who took him to to watch the great comet of 1577 and an eclipse of the Moon – inspiring his love of astronomy. After he graduated, he became an assistant to Tycho Brahe, supported Copernican theory and worked with Galileo. While Kepler was working on his “Harmony of the World” his 70 year old mother was charged with witchcraft because she collected herbs, made potions and understood astrology. Isn’t that about the way it went for anyone back then who was interested in the stars? Anyhow, Kepler got a lawyer and managed to save her from the fate of the aunt who raised Katharina. She was also burned at the stake for being a witch!

Until next week? Don’t collect any herbs unless they’re legal… And keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Sirsalis Rille and region (credit—Alan Chu), Project Luna See (credit—courtesy of MIT Museum), Full Moon (credit—NASA), Cecilia Payne (historical image), Stellar magnitudes in Leo (credit—NASA) and Katharina Kepler (historical image).

Greetings, fellow StarGazers! Let’s start the weekend off right by taking on a lunar club challenge and then kicking back to enjoy yet another spring meteor shower! (After all, if April showers bring May flowers, you do know what May flowers bring, don’t you? That’s right… Pilgrims!) Now that I’ve got you at least smiling, take out your binoculars, too… Because there’s two asteroids that are ripe for plucking – Hebe and Ceres. If you feel like being a little more serious about your lunar studies, why not do a little photographic map work? Just match the picture to what you see in the eyepiece and log your studies! Are you ready? Then I’ll see you in the back yard…

Friday, May 1, 2009 – This date is a rather special one in history. In 1543 on this date, Copernicus published and distributed the ‘‘ The Little Commentary ,’’ which described his heliocentric beliefs. In 1949, Gerard Kuiper discovered Nereid, a 150-kilometer-wide satellite of Neptune. It’s so distant from the planet that it requires almost one Earth year (360 days) to complete an orbit! At magnitude 18.7, Nereid is beyond the detection point of most average telescopes but can be ‘‘seen’’ using long exposure charge coupled AQ1 device (CCD) image stacking devices. Other sights that can’t be seen are the Van Allen Radiation Belts of our Earth, the discovery of which was announced in 1958 in this day’s copy of the Washington Evening Star. Thanks to James A. Van Allen’s use of the data from the Explorer I and Pioneer III space probes, we know that Earth’s magnetosphere contains concentrations of electrically charged particles. Say Happy Birthday to American astronaut M. Scott Carpenter, who was born on this date in 1925 and was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts to reach space in 1962.

Tonight’s outstanding lunar feature will be crater Maurolycus , just southwest of the three rings of Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina. This Lunar Club Challenge spans 114 kilometers and goes below the lunar surface by 4,730 meters. Be sure to look for Gemma Frisius just to its north!

Now, relax and enjoy the peak of the Phi Bootid meteor shower, whose radiant is near the constellation Hercules. The best time to view most meteor showers is around 2:00 a.m. local time, but you may have good success watching for these meteors as soon as the Moon westers. The average fall rate is only about 6 per hour, but it’s a great way to spend a spring evening out under the stars!

Saturday, May 2, 2009 – Today, let’s start with the 1868 birth on this date of Robert Williams Wood. Although Wood’s primary research was on sound waves, he devised a ‘‘zone plate’’ that could replace the objective lens of a telescope! He also improved the diffraction grating, did research in spectroscopy, and made photographs showing both infrared and ultraviolet radiations. Also, take a moment to note the 1925 passing of the star cataloger, Johann Palisa. Palisa remains the most successful visual discoverer in the history of minor planet research, discovering 122 asteroids with a 600 telescope and no photographic plates!

Why not salute his achievements by looking for the asteroid Hebe, which reaches opposition tonight? Hebe is the 13th largest asteroid by mass and the 5th brightest to observe. If you collect meteorites and have an H chondrite, chances are good you have a physical piece of Hebe, since it is thought to have contributed up to 40% of all recovered chrondites! Hebe is now coming in at 6th magnitude and given its prime location shouldn’t make it fairly easy for even those with just binoculars to find this cool asteroid.

Now, let’s have a look at the Moon! Tonight’s challenges are craters Cassini and Cassini A, which come into view just south of the black slash of the Alpine Valley. The major crater spans 57 kilometers and reaches a floor depth of 1,240 meters. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to spot the central crater A. It only spans 17 kilometers, yet drops down another 2,830 meters below the primary crater’s floor!

Sunday, May 3, 2009 – How about starting the day with the bizarre and unusual? In 1375 BC, the oldest recorded total solar eclipse occurred—if we can believe eighth century Babylonian records! If you have a green laser pointer, or a telrad, you might want to wish Alfred Kastler a happy birthday. Born on this date in 1902, the physicist was very interested in what happened to atoms when excited by light or radio waves. Kastler developed a method called ‘‘optical pumping,’’ where atoms enter a higher energy state. Optical pumping is what makes your laser work!

Tonight notice just how close bright Regulus is to the Moon! If you’d like to try your hand at asteroid Ceres, you’ll find it approximately another 15 degrees north of the ‘‘Little King.’’

Tonight let’s take a long Moonwalk together and do some major crater exploration. Try using mid-range magnification in your telescope and see how many of the craters in this photograph you can identify!.

Ptolemaeus area: (1) Sinus Asperitatis, (2) Theophilus, (3) Cyrillus, (4) Catharina, (5) Rupes Altai, (6) Piccolomini, (7) Sacrobosco, (8) Abulfeda, (9) Almanon, (10) Taylor, (11) Abenezra, (12) Apianus (13) Playfair, (14) Aliacensis, (15) Werner, (16) Blanchinus, (17) Lacaille, (18) Walter, (19) Regiomontanus, (20) Purbach, (21) Thebit, (22) Arzachel, (23) Alphonsus, (24) Ptolemaeus, and (25) Albategnius.

Until next week? Ask for the Moon… But keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): M. Scott Carpenter (credit—NASA), Maurolycus (credit—Alan Chu), Johann Palisa (historical image), Hebe Chart (Your Sky), Cassini (credit—Wes Higgins), Alfred Kastler (historical image) and the Ptolemaeus area (credit—Greg Konkel). We thank you so much!

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for one grrrrrrreat weekend? Then let’s do a little lion taming while the Moon is out of the picture and hunt down the “Leo Trio”. For you pirates in the crowd, hoist the Jolly Roger, because it’s time we took a look at the “Skull and Crossbones”, too! Prefer to relax? No problem. The Mu Virginid meteor shower will be in town on Saturday night for your kicked back pleasure and Sunday is time for a Herschel challenge. Time to dust off the binoculars and telescopes and I’ll see you in the back yard…

Friday, April 24, 2009 – On this date in 1970, China launched its first satellite. Named Shi Jian 1, it was a successful technological and research craft. This achievement made China the fifth country to have sent a vessel into space. Observe a moment of silence for Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, the first man known to have died during a space mission. He was Command Pilot of Voskhod 1 and Soyuz 1. Komarov died during the landing of the Soyuz, when the spacecraft became entangled in its main parachute and fell several miles to Earth.

Tonight let’s do a galaxy hop that’s relatively easy for larger binoculars and small telescopes. You’ll find a pair of galaxies almost perfectly mid-way between Theta and Iota, and their names are M65 (RA 11 18 55 Dec +13 05 32) and M66 (RA 11 20 15 Dec +12 59 21). Discovered by Mechain in March 1780, apparently Messier didn’t notice the bright pair when a comet passed between them in 1773. At around 35 million light-years away, you will find M66 to be slightly brighter than its 200,000 light-year-distant western neighbor, M65. Although both are Sb-class spirals, the two couldn’t appear more different. M65 has a bright nucleus and a smooth spiral structure, with a dark dust lane at its eastern edge. M66 has a more stellar-like core region with thick, bright arms that show knots to larger scopes, as well as a wonderful extension from the southern edge.

If you are viewing with a larger scope, you may notice to the north of this famous pair yet another galaxy. NGC 3628 (RA 11 20 16 Dec +13 35 13) is a similar magnitude edge-on beauty with a great dissecting dark dust lane. This pencil-slim, low surface brightness galaxy is a bit of a challenge for smaller scopes, but larger ones will find its warped central disk well worth high-power study. You may also be able to spot the ‘‘Leo Trio’’ and members of Arp’s Peculiar Galaxy Catalog!

Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Today marks the 19th anniversary of the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) . Although everyone in the astronomical community is well aware of what this magnificent telescope ‘‘sees,’’ did you know you could see it with just your eyes? The HST is a satellite that can be tracked and observed. Visit www.heavens-above.com and enter your location. This page will provide you with a list of visible passes for your area. Although you can’t see details of the scope itself, it’s great fun to track it with binoculars or see the Sun glinting off its surface in your scope.

Tonight is the New Moon. You’ve got dark skies ahead and hopefully an itch to see something out of the ordinary with your telescope. If so, let’s go south and locate a fine reflecting nebula – NGC 2467 – in northern Puppis (RA 07 52 19 Dec –26 26 30). Sometimes referred to as the ‘‘Skull and Crossbones Nebula,’’ this billowing cloud of gas and dust is easily found less than a finger-width south-southeast of 3.5 magnitude Xi Puppis.

Even small telescopes will find this expansive, starstudded emission nebula, a real beauty! Large aperture telescopes should look for neighboring splotches of nebulosity illuminated by small groupings of stars, some of which are part of a newly forming open cluster. Keep in mind while observing NGC 2467 that we are seeing it from a great distance. At 17,000 light-years away, this region of star formation is some 10 times farther away than the Great Nebula in Orion. If it were the same distance away, NGC 2467 would dwarf M42!

While you’re out, keep an eye turned toward the sky as the Mu Virginid meteor shower reaches its peak at 7–10 per hour. With dark skies early tonight, you might catch one of these medium-speed meteors radiating from a point near the constellation of Libra.

Sunday, April 26, 2009 – On this date in 1920, the Shapely–Curtis debate raged in Washington on the nature of (and distance to) spiral nebulae. Shapely claimed they were part of one huge galaxy to which we all belonged, while Curtis maintained they were distant galaxies of their own. Thirteen years later on the same date, Arno Penzias was born. He went on to become a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation while he was searching for the source of the ‘‘noise’’ coming from a simple horn antenna. His discovery helped further our understanding of cosmology in ways Shapely and Curtis could never have dreamed of.

Tonight we’re off to study another Herschel object (H II.506) in Hydra that’s a 7 degree drop south of Alpha – NGC 2907 (RA 09 31 42.1 Dec –16 44 04). Although it will require at least a mid-aperture telescope to reveal, this edge-on galaxy is quite worth the trouble. NGC2907 is highly prized because of research done on its dust extinction properties, which greatly resemble those of our own Milky Way Galaxy. For larger telescopes, averted vision will call up a hint of a dark dust lane across a bright core. Although it is neither particularly huge nor particularly bright, this object will present an interesting challenge for those with larger scopes looking for something a bit out of the ordinary.

Until next week, remember… Dreams really do come true when you keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (historical image), M65, M66 and NGC 3628: the Leo Trio (credit—REU Program/NOAO/AURA/NSF), Hubble SpaceTelescope (credit—NASA), NGC 2467 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Arno Penzias (widely used public image) and NGC 2907 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you so much!

In 2007, something strange happened to a distant star near the centre of our galaxy; it underwent what is known as a ‘microlensing’ event. This transient brightening didn’t have anything to do with the star itself, it had something to do with what passed in front of it. 1,700 light years away between us and the distant star, a brown dwarf crossed our line of sight with the starlight. Although one would think that the star would have been blocked by the brown dwarf, its light was actually amplified, generating a flash. This flash was created via a space-time phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

Although lensing isn’t rare in itself (although this particular event is considered the “most extreme” ever observed), the fact that astronomers had the opportunity to witness a brown dwarf causing it means that either they were very lucky, or we have to think about re-writing the stellar physics textbooks…

“By several measures OGLE-2007-BLG-224 was the most extreme microlensing event (EME) ever observed,” says Andrew Gould of Ohio State University in Columbus in a publication released earlier this month, “having a substantially higher magnification, shorter-duration peak, and faster angular speed across the sky than any previous well-observed event.”

OGLE-2007-BLG-224 revealed the passage of a brown dwarf passing in front of a distant star. The gravity of this small “failed star” deflected the starlight path slightly, creating a gravitational lens very briefly. Fortunately there were a number of astronomers prepared for the event and captured the transient flash of starlight as the brown dwarf focused the light for observers here on Earth.

From these observations, Gould and his team of 65 international collaborators managed to calculate some characteristics of the brown dwarf “lens” itself. The brown dwarf has a mass of 0.056 (+/- 0.004) solar masses, with a distance of 525 (+/- 40) parsecs (~1,700 light years) and a transverse velocity of 113 (+/- 21) km/s.

Although getting the chance to see this happen is a noteworthy in itself, the fact that it was a brown dwarf that acted as the lens is extremely rare; so rare in fact, that Gould believes something is awry.

“In this light, we note that two other sets of investigators have concluded that they must have been ‘lucky’ unless old-population brown-dwarfs are more common than generally assumed,” Gould said.

Either serendipity had a huge role to play, or there are far more brown dwarfs out there than we thought. If there are more brown dwarfs, something isn’t right with our understanding of stellar evolution. Brown dwarfs may be a more common feature in our galaxy than we previously calculated…

Sources: “The Extreme Microlensing Event OGLE-2007-BLG-224: Terrestrial Parallax Observation of a Thick-Disk Brown Dwarf,” Gould et al., 2009. arXiv:0904.0249v1 [astro-ph.GA], New Scientist, Astroengine.com

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for a much darker weekend? I’m off to NEAF, but while I’m gone, I hope you’ll take advantage of the weekend to enjoy a little galaxy hunting and a minor meteor shower? If not, how about a great variable star – or the “Eight Burst Planetary”! Finding Comet Yi-SWAN will be easy Sunday night, but be sure to set your alarm early for Sunday morning, because there’s something very worth getting up to see…

Friday, April 17, 2009 – On this date in 1976, the joint German and NASA probe Helios 2 came closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft so far. One of its most important contributions helped us to understand the nature of gamma ray bursts.

Let’s begin our evening with a burst of galaxies in Hydra about 5 degrees due west of the Xi pairing (RA 10 36 35 Dec –27 31 03). Centermost are two fairly easy to spot ellipticals, NGC 3309 and NGC 3311, accompanied by spiral NGC 3322. Far fainter are other group members, such as NGC 3316 and NGC 3314 to the east of the 7th magnitude star; and NGC 3305 north of the 5th magnitude star. Although such galaxy clusters as the NGC 3308 region are not for everyone, studying those very faint fuzzies is a rewarding experience for those with large aperture telescopes.

Now let’s kick back and watch the peak of the Sigma Leonid meteor shower. The radiant is traditionally located on the Leo–Virgo border but has migrated to Virgo in recent years. Thanks to Jupiter’s gravity, this shower may eventually become part of the Virginid Complex as well. The fall rate is very low at around 1–2 per hour.

While we’re watching, let’s talk about Giovanni Riccioli, who was born on this date in 1598. Italian astronomer Riccioli was the first to observe a double star in the year 1650. . .and it was one you’ve probably observed, too – Mizar! He also watched shadow transits on Jupiter and did many lunar studies, including mapping. If you’ve ever wondered who gave such fanciful names to the lunar maria, or tagged the major craters with names of famous scientists and philosophers, now you know that it was Riccioli!

Saturday, April 18, 2009 – Today let’s take a look at the 1838 birth of Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran on this date, who improved the field of spectroscopic identification and spent many years scanning minerals for undiscovered spectral lines. His persistence finally netted him the discovery of three new elements!

Tonight let’s start out ‘‘elemental’’ as we use binoculars to identify R Corvi , located almost dead center in the Corvus ‘‘rectangle’’ and to the southwest of its companion field stars. Although variable stars are not every one’s cup of tea, R (RA 12 19 37 Dec –19 15 21) has changed greatly in a little less than a year—from magnitude 8 to as faint as magnitude 14! This Mira-type star should be nearing its maximum, so be sure to try it before it fades away…

Now let’s head out in search of an object that is one royal navigation pain for the Northern Hemisphere but makes up for it in beauty. Start with the southernmost star in Crater, Beta. If you have difficulty identifying it, it’s the brightest star east of the Corvus rectangle. Now hop a little more than a fist-width southeast to reddish Alpha Antilae. Less than a fist-width below, you will see a dim 6th magnitude star, which may require binoculars in the high north. Another binocular field further southwest and about 4 degrees northwest of Q Velorum is our object,NGC 3132 (RA 10 07 01 Dec –40 26 11). If you still have no luck, try waiting until Regulus has reached your meridian and head fully 52 degrees south. More commonly known as the ‘‘Southern Ring’’ or the ‘‘Eight Burst Planetary,’’ this gem is brighter than the northern ‘‘Ring’’ (M57) and definitely shows more details. Able to be captured in even small instruments, larger ones will reveal a series of overlapping shells, giving this unusual nebula its name.

Sunday, April 19, 2009 – Don’t sleep in this morning! It’s worth getting up early to see Jupiter and the Moon only about a fingerwidth apart in the morning sky. If you check out the pair in binoculars, you’ll notice faint little Neptune is also a part of this early morning trio!

On this date in 1971, the world’s first space station was launched, the Soviet research vessel Salyut 1. Six weeks later, Soyuz 11 and its crew of three docked with the station, but a mechanism failed, denying them entry. The crew conducted their experiments, but were sadly lost when their re-entry module separated from the return spacecraft and depressurized. Although the initial phase of Salyut 1 seemed doomed, the mission continued to enjoy success through the early 1980s and paved the way for Mir.

Now, tonight let’s try picking up a globular cluster in Hydra that is located about three finger-widths southeast of Beta Corvi and just a breath northeast of the double star A8612—namely, M68. This class X globular cluster was discovered in 1780 by Charles Messier, and first resolved into individual stars by William Herschel in 1786. At a distance of approximately 33,000 light-years, it contains at least 2,000 stars, including 250 giants and 42 variables. It will show as a faint, round glow in binoculars, and small telescopes will perceive individual members. Large telescopes will fully resolve this small globular to the core!

If you managed M68, and can find the famous Perseus “Double Cluster”, then surely you can tackle Comet C/2009 Yi-SWAN! Need a chart? Then here it is…

Until next week? Dreams really do come true when you keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images (in order of appearance) are: NGC 3308 region (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Map showing Riccioli features (historical image), R Corvi and NGC 3132 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Salyut 1 (credit—NASA) and M68 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech. We thank you so much!