What’s Up in the Sky June, 2010

By Peter Burkey

Have you ever wanted to see an asteroid, but did not know where to look? Point your telescope above the spout of the Teapot in the constellation Sagittarius at M8, the Lagoon Nebula. Starting on May 31, observe each clear night for about a week. Make a sketch or take a photograph each night so you can identify the “star” that changes position. That is Ceres, the largest asteroid and first to be discovered. Unfortunately, Sagittarius is not located for good observing until about 2:00 a.m.

Space limits the amount of detail I can go into, so I highly recommend researching this online. But, if your schedule allows it and you are dedicated to observing something different, this one will be really cool!

For an easier observation, view planets either right after sunset or just before dawn. If you have morning chores or an early commute, say between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m., you may spot the planet Jupiter shining brightly in the southeast. Look for it just below the crescent Moon on the morning of June 6.

After sunset, three planets are easily visible. Looking a little north of west, bright Venus dominates the horizon. Up and to the left, Mars can be found near the star Regulus in the constellation Leo. Continuing up and left brings you to Saturn, below and left of the three stars that make up Leo’s eastern “haunches”.

Watch from night to night as the planets shift positions relative to one another. See Mars pass closest to Regulus on June 5 and 6. Venus, along with the stars Castor and Pollux, form a close grouping with the crescent Moon on the 14th. View Venus and the Beehive cluster together in binoculars on the 20th.

I hope you enjoy observing what’s up in the sky.

This month in history:
June 3: Hale Telescope dedicated – 1948
June 8: First unpowered glide test of X-15 – 1959
June 16: Valentina Tereshkova first (and only solo) woman in space – 1963
June 18: Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space – 1983
June 22: Royal Greenwich Observatory founded – 1675

Here are this month’s viewing highlights:
Planets this month: Venus continues to dazzle western sky at dusk. See it near the crescent moon on the 14th and M44 on the 20th. Look toward the south for Mars and Saturn. Jupiter is high in southeast at dawn.

June 4: Last-quarter Moon
June 3-10: Match Mars pass Regulus. Compare night to night.
June 11: Venus in line with Castor and Pollux.
June 12: New Moon.
June 14: Castor, Pollux, and Venus joined by crescent Moon – beautiful!
June 19: First quarter Moon.
June 20: Binoculars show Venus very close to Beehive cluster.
June 21: Summer Solstice 7:28 a.m.
June 26: Full Moon. Partial lunar eclipse visible from western North America.
June 27 – 30: Saturn, Mars, Regulus and Venus in west at sunset. Watch for close pairings in July.

What’s Up in the Sky May, 2010
By Peter Burkey

Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun once replied to a question regarding problems with U.S. space launches by saying that we needed more data. Collecting data is one of the most important tasks performed by scientists. Analyzing the data is what allows us to understand the world and make predictions about it.

The amazing thing is that we have more data than we are able to study. For example, all of the information sent back from the Voyager spacecraft has yet to be analyzed! Now consider this: in the basement of the Harvard College Observatory archives is the world’s largest collection of astronomical glass plates, numbering over half a million! (Before CCD cameras, most astronomical images were recorded on glass photographic plates). For over a century, from 1885 to 1989, these photographs were part of a survey of stellar luminosities and positions. Now a group of observatory staff and amateur astronomers is in the process of scanning the plates to digitize the images and make them available to modern computer analysis.

The scanner being used is a marvel of technology and was built by members of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston. Resting on a cement basement floor five feet thick, the base is a polished granite table weighing 2,200 pounds. The plates are loaded two at a time on a platform that glides on air bearings. A 16 megapixel CCD camera photographs the plates at the rate of about two plates every 80 seconds.

Software has been developed to determine the brightness and position of each star in each image. Volunteers from the American Museum of Natural History are transcribing the logbooks kept for the original plates which document important facts about each photograph such as the location in the sky and the exposure time.

Once the project is completed virtually every field of astronomy will be affected. New research on a century of data may reveal insights into the masses of black holes in distant quasars and the orbits of nearby asteroids. Not bad for old photos of what’s up in the sky.

This month in history:
May 5: Alan Shepard becomes first American in space – 1961
May 11: Launch of first geostationary weather satellite – 1974
May 15: Sputnik 3 is launched – 1958
May 25: President Kennedy gives speech challenging nation to land astronaut on Moon before the end of the decade – 1961
May 30: Mariner 9 launched – 1971

Here are this month’s viewing highlights:
Planets this month: Venus continues to dominate the western horizon 1 – 2 hrs. after sunset. Jupiter is low in the east before sunrise. Mars and Saturn are below and right and left, respectively, of Leo in south at nightfall.

May 6: Last quarter Moon.
May 13: New Moon.
May 15-16: Crescent Moon is lower right of Venus on the 15th and upper left of Venus on the 16th.
May 20: First quarter Moon.
May 19 – 22: Moon is below the constellation Leo. Use it as a guide to see (l to r) Saturn, Regulus, and Mars.
May 27: Full Moon.

What’s Up in the Sky April, 2010
By Peter Burkey

I love my digital camera, but it has its limits. I can’t set the exposure or shutter speed (unless I set it on “fireworks” or “snow”) and I can’t manually focus the image. These limitations prevented me from getting a good shot recently of the planet Venus with a nearby, very thin crescent Moon, only 25 hours past New. The following night I was able to get a much better shot of the Moon and Venus, as shown below.

This month these two celestial objects will again put on quite a show and will be joined by the planet Mercury, which makes its best appearance of the year. Mercury can be spotted near the western horizon about one half hour after sunset to the lower right of much brighter Venus. Use Venus as a guide to finding Mercury. Binoculars will help. Look early in the month as the planet’s brightness fades each night. On April 3, the two are closest together, separated by only 3 degrees (roughly the width of three fingers held at arm’s length).

Meanwhile, two other planets are visible this month. Face south and look about two-thirds of the way up from the horizon to overhead and you will find Mars, to the left and slightly below the twin stars Castor and Pollux. Again, look early in the month as the planet’s brightness also dims as the days progress.

Saturn was at opposition on the night of March 21-22, and is visible almost all night in April. Since it is low in the east-southeast at dusk, wait several hours to get a telescopic view of its disc and rings. It can be found below the constellation Leo, the Lion.

The only other naked eye planet, Jupiter, is only visible in the predawn sky. On April 11, it can be found near the eastern horizon just below the thin crescent Moon 30 minutes before dawn.

So, get out there and enjoy viewing the planets, some of the best objects up in the sky.

This month in history:
April 4: First commercial mission to MIR – 2000
April 7: Deployment of Compton Gamma Ray Observatory – 1991
April 12: Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space – 1961
April 12: Columbia is first space shuttle to be launched – 1981
April 14: Christian Huygens born – 1629
April 17: Apollo 13 returns to Earth – 1970
April 23: Max Planck is born – 1858
April 28: Eugene Shoemaker is born – 1928

Here are this month’s viewing highlights:
Planets this month: After sunset Saturn is in SE below the constellation Leo. Mars is high in the south, between Gemini and Leo. Mercury joins Venus near western horizon just after sunset. Look for Jupiter above eastern horizon 45 minutes before sunrise.
April 6: Last quarter Moon.
April 1-16: Look for Mercury an Venus above western horizon at dusk.
April 14: New Moon.
April 15: See Venus, Mercury, and crescent Moon above WNW horizon one hour after sunset.
April 21: First quarter Moon.
April 28: Full Moon.