December 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on December 24^th. For December, your best viewing nights will be from December 17^th to the 28^th. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on December 15^th at 9 pm.

Star Party:

The November 19^th at Lynches River Park turned out to be a great night. On that day a persistent cloud cover continued until just before the 7 pm star party start time. The skies then cleared followed by a short cloud cover again about 9 pm and then clearing again. The absence of clouds does not always imply great viewing conditions because other factors can cause viewing problems. These factors may include atmospheric moisture and thermal layering distortion. However, the clear skies at the Lynches River Star Party resulted in excellent viewing conditions. The favorite target for the night was the planet Jupiter, with all four Galilean moons being visible. The planet was sharp and clear with plenty of color. We usually cannot “push” our Dobsonian telescope to 150 power, due to loss of clarity/resolution, but on that night, Jupiter was still a sharp/clear image even at high power. Below is an image that approximates how we saw Jupiter during the star party, however, our view was much sharper than the image below.

We also viewed the Pleiades (M45), the Dumbbell Nebula (M27), the famous Ring Nebula (M57), the Double Cluster, the blue and gold double star Albireo, and the Orion Nebula (M42).

Lunar Eclipse?

This month you may hear a passing comment about a total lunar eclipse visible over the United States on December 10^th, but it will most likely not be reported on your local news broadcasts. The Moon will be totally eclipsed at 6 am in California, therefore, 9 am in South Carolina. It is really a Pacific Ocean lunar eclipse, and as such, we won’t even see a partial eclipse.

Meteor Shower:

Readers of this column know that there are usually only three prominent meteor showers each year, the Perseids in August, the Leonids in November, and the Geminids in December. Interestingly enough, they all peak about the 12^th through the 14^th of their respective months. A good meteor shower should yield at least one meteor per minute, or 60 per hour. Over the last 10-15 years, the Leonids have had some good peaks, resulting in over 100-200 meteors per hour, however, this is not the norm. Usually, meteors are relatively dim and of course fleeting. Therefore, the main requirement for observing a meteor shower is a dark sky location. Now, you can control your viewing location, but you cannot control the Moon’s location or the weather. This was one of the worst years for viewing meteor showers because each of the three meteor showers mentioned above arrived on or near a full Moon. This month the Geminids peak around December 14^th with an almost full Moon nearby. If you wish, you might try to go out and check the sky about 10 pm, before the Moon rises at about 10:20 pm. However, the best viewing for any meteor shower is after midnight, as the Earth turns toward the approaching meteors. Therefore, it appears that this will not be a good year for the Geminids. There is good future news though; next year, all three major meteor showers will occur at or near a new Moon.

Mars News:

November 26^th marked the liftoff our NASA’s newest Mars Rover, called Curiosity. The Curiosity Rover should reach Mars next August. This rover, shown on the right in the image below is much larger than our previous two rovers.

The Curiosity is 10 feet long and weighs about 2000 pounds. Unlike previous rovers, Curiosity will require a precision landing in the Martian Gale crater. This will require a special landing vehicle to carry the rover to the exact area desired in the crater; see images below.

Curiosity will not search for life, but for chemical compounds that are known to exist in our Earth life forms. In addition, because of its extensive heavy duty equipment, it will greatly expand the knowledge of Martian geology and weather.

What to do this Month:

I mentioned above that the two possible astronomy events this month are really non-events for us. However, for the dedicated amateur astronomer, there is plenty to see this month. See below:

Naked Eye Sights: Venus will surpass Jupiter as the brightest “star like object” this month. However, throughout December, Venus will only be visible for a short time each night. On December 1^st, Venus will set at 7 pm, and by December 31^st, it will be visible only until 8 pm. Jupiter will therefore be the most obvious bright “star like object” throughout this month.

The beautiful constellation Orion returns for its winter visit this month, and its nearby companion, the star Sirius competes with Jupiter and Venus for the brightest star versus star-like object in the sky.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Check out the Orion Nebula, the apparent center star in Orion’s sword. At any power binocular, you should be able to the see the gaseous cloud surrounding the “star nursery” of the Orion Nebula. If viewing conditions are favorable, you may be able to see that the cloud resembles a diving eagle.

Jupiter and its moons continue to be a good target.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm): After checking out the Orion Nebula with your binoculars, try the same target with your telescope. It usually looks best through a reflecting scope due the better light gathering mirror. Don’t forget to look at Jupiter and its moons.

See you next month!

November 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on November 25^th. For November, your best viewing nights will be from November 1^st and 2^nd and November 17^th to the 30^th. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on November 15^th at 9 pm.

Star Party:

Note on your calendar that there will be a free ScienceSouth Public Star Party on November 19^th at Lynches River Park from 7-10 pm on the baseball field. Bring binoculars if you have them. So, what exactly is a star party?

September, October and November are often thought to be the best three months for amateur astronomy. Due to favorable viewing conditions, many star parties are run in various places around the country. The traditional star party is a gathering of amateur astronomers at a site removed from light pollution. They are usually run in parks or campgrounds and sometimes at private sites owned by colleges or astronomy clubs; plus a moderate fee is charged for use of the facility. The amateurs usually spend most of the time with their own equipment. In addition, they may also wander about to see various objects through other peoples’ scopes. Note: Star parties are a great way to check out new equipment before making a purchase. At star parties, many people are trying to seek out very dim objects, and some people are deeply involved in astrophotography. Because of this, it is very important that you do not use any white lights at all. If you need a light, only red lights are allowed and kept at a minimum. This is because red light is least likely to disturb your night vision. Also, at normal star parties, the use of green lasers is prohibited. One green laser can ruin hours of long exposure astrophotography.

In addition to the traditional star parties, there are also events called public star parties; this is the type star party we will have on the 19^th at Lynches River. If you are new to astronomy, these are always great events to attend. At a public star party, many if not most people come without a telescope, and these gatherings are usually free of charge. The amateurs will have their telescopes set up to allow people to view various objects, answer questions, and in general help people learn more about astronomy. Green lasers are usually allowed, and are used by the astronomers to help people find various celestial objects. As mentioned above, if you do attend a public star party, be sure to bring a pair of binoculars if possible. A knowledgeable amateur can point to an object with a green laser, and you can just follow the beam with your binoculars to the target; a great way to find your way around the night sky. The image below was taken at our first Lynches River Star Party in November 2007.

Please check the ScienceSouth Website for any changes or weather cancellation of the November Star Party.

Dance of the Planets – Perspective:

As you are well aware, the bright planet Jupiter featured in last month’s column is still visible, and continues to be a great telescope target throughout most of the winter. In addition, the best planetary target, Saturn, is now returning as a morning target towards the end of the month, rising about an hour before sunrise. Thousands of years ago, the ancient astronomers watched as the planets rose in the evening or in the morning, and realized that there was a consistent pattern in their movements. Most ancients were probably not aware about what these moving objects really were, but it appears that at least for the ancient Mayans, they were aware that these objects, like us, were moving in orbits around the Sun.

I feel sure that most of my readers are aware that the appearances of the various planets at different places and different times throughout the years are due to the movement of our Earth around the Sun, coupled with the movements of the various planets in their orbits around the Sun. To add to your knowledge, I want to give a visual perspective of why we see the planets at different times each year.

The images below are views of the Earth and the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The view is looking down at our North Pole and is set for the night of November 15^th and the morning of the 16^th. The white arrow will always point to the south. The yellow line represents your horizon, and when you look up into the sky, you can only see objects that are on the same side of the yellow line as the white arrow.

The first view is sunset on the 15^th. Note that Jupiter is visible low in the east, and Saturn is not visible because it is on the other side of the Earth.

The second is your view from the Earth at midnight. Now Jupiter has moved towards the southwest, and Saturn is still not visible.

The last view is near sunrise. Jupiter is behind the Earth, and is no longer visible. Saturn now comes into view, and is seen low in the eastern sky.

I hope these images gave you a better perspective of the “Dance of the Planets.”

Naked Eye Sights: Jupiter will still be the brightest “star like object” this month.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Jupiter and its moons. There are many Messier Objects visible this month, and they are great targets due to the clear skies of autumn.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm: Jupiter and its moons, and various Messier Objects.

See you next month!

October 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on October 26^th. For October, your best viewing nights will be from October 1^st and 2^nd and October 19^th to the 29^th. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on October 15^th at 9 pm.

Jupiter:

Jupiter returns this month and is a great target for your telescopes. The two favorite planets for small telescope observation are Saturn and Jupiter. Saturn is usually the most impressive target because of its beautiful ring system, and Saturn will return next spring. Jupiter is known for its atmospheric cloud bands, red spot (not very red), its four major moons, and its large disk size.

This month Jupiter moves into opposition with the Earth on October 28^th. Opposition occurs when the planet is directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. (Lunar opposition is called a full Moon). At opposition, the planet is visible the entire night. Also at opposition, the planet is at its closest distance to Earth. However, due to variability in its orbit, it can be closer or farther away each year. Jupiter is 369 million miles from Earth this month, which is quite close. Jupiter can only be 3 million miles closer than it is now. However, Jupiter can be as much as 44 million miles farther from us at opposition; that is greater than the distance between the Earth and Mars! Although Jupiter opposition occurs at the end of the month, Jupiter will continue to be impressive from October into early March 2012. Therefore, Jupiter will be the brightest star like object throughout the winter. Another plus is that late fall and winter skies tend to give clearer viewing due to the lack of humidity/moisture in the atmosphere.

Telescope Viewing: The very bright Jupiter, strangely enough may result in viewing problems for amateurs. Most amateur astronomers cannot afford to purchase refracting telescopes with highest quality lenses. These high quality lenses are called apochromatic, and can easily add an additional $1000 or more to the price of a good refracting telescope. With standard quality telescopes, very bright objects do tend to cause some viewing problems. This can also occur with reflecting telescopes. Sometimes this can be resolved by “masking" the objective lens, centered masking with a refractor and off center masking of the mirror on a reflector, as shown below.

The “masks” allows only a small amount of the available light to enter your telescope. This may seem strange, because you chose your telescope to collect as much light as possible, but remember, masking is only used in special cases with very bright planets. Note that this planet brightness problem is in part due to the contrast between the bright planet and the dark sky. So another simple trick to enhance your planetary viewing is to look at the planet earlier in the night, during twilight, before total darkness arrives. This trick also works quite well when viewing Venus.

Although you can see Jupiter’s moons with binoculars, a simple telescope will allow you to also view the impressive cloud bands of Jupiter. With a simple telescope on a clear night, you may even see the bands in color!

Binocular Viewing: Jupiter is the only planet that can be enjoyed using simple seven or ten power binoculars. With low power binoculars, Jupiter will not be seen as a disk, but its four major moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io, known as the Galilean moons, will be readily visible. These moons move quickly around the planet, therefore each night they will be seen in different positions. In addition, some nights they will disappear as they move in front or in back of the planet. So on any given night, you usually see from one to four moons. The image below approximates what I can see through my large binoculars. Note that the cloud bands are just barely visible at 25 power.

If you have a good astronomy program on your computer, you can check the positions of the four Galilean moons for any given time or night, before you venture out. However, this is not the most convenient method. The best way to check out the positions of the moons is to use a website run by the magazine “Sky and Telescope”;

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/jupiter#. This is a great site, see below.

Some key points about this site. First and most important is the time. This site uses universal time (UT), which is based in Greenwich, England. The time offset is given on the site, and for South Carolina it is -4 hours. Therefore, the image above shows the position of Jupiter’s moons on 10/20/2011 at 1:54 am minus 4 hours or 9:54 pm on the night of October 19^th. Once you get used to this time setup, this site is easy to use. Note: -4 hours is for daylight savings time; in the winter, our time offset will be -5 hours.

Next, notice that the default view of the moon positions is called the direct view. This is the view you will see through binoculars. You can click on the other views based on what kind of telescope setup you have. Don’t forget to use the +- day, hour, minute recalculation boxes to adjust for your viewing times.

Naked Eye Sights: Jupiter will be the brightest “star like object” this month.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Jupiter and its moons. Check the Galilean moons positions using the Sky and Telescope website, then go out and see them for real.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm: Jupiter and its moons. Try some twilight viewing of this planet.

See you next month!

September 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on September 27^th. For September, your best viewing nights will be from September 15^th through September 31^st. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on September 15^th at 9 pm.

Astronomy at ScienceSouth:

In the next several months, ScienceSouth is planning various astronomy programs. These programs will include the following.

Sidewalk Astronomy: ScienceSouth will bring out our telescopes to various places in the area to allow everyone to view the craters and mountains of the Moon, and any visible planets. Example, Jupiter will be visible from November through next February, Mars next spring, and Saturn next summer. The Sidewalk astronomy program has been run several times in the past few years at local businesses, libraries, churches and at Lynches River Park. Below are some photos from last year at our event next to Rita’s on Irby Street.

In addition the nighttime Sidewalk Astronomy programs, we also hold some daytime viewings of the Sun. We have two solar telescopes, and one solar image projector. This equipment allows us to view both sunspots, and the eruptions off the Sun’s surface called prominences.

Astronomy Nights at ScienceSouth: In addition to reaching out to the public with our Sidewalk Astronomy program, this year we plan to initiate astronomy nights at the ScienceSouth Center at Freedom Florence.

This program will also allow you to view various objects in the night sky. We will have two or more telescopes available. In addition, we encourage everyone to bring a pair of binoculars with them. As I have mentioned in previous columns, binoculars are a great introduction to astronomy. They are easy to use, and can also have many other daytime viewing uses. We have special lasers at ScienceSouth that we use to help you to find many astronomy targets with your own binoculars.

The Astronomy Night programs at ScienceSouth will have one major difference from our Sidewalk Astronomy program; we will be running the program even if it is a cloudy or rainy night! ScienceSouth has a new Star Lab planetarium through a NASA funded grant.

The Star Lab is an inflatable dome planetarium, which can easily hold twenty adults at a time. Unlike the other dome planetarium we have, this new Star Lab is digital, and is driven by a powerful computerized astronomy program. This Star Lab will allow us to show you astronomy events occurring from 100,000 BC to 100,000 AD! We can visit our solar system’s planets, and venture out to the stars our Milky Way, and even out beyond our galaxy. Note: I will feature our new Star Lab and discuss its many capabilities in a future column. In addition, at the astronomy night we will have some short presentations and some astronomy based activities to do. We will also have many different telescopes on display inside the pavilion for a telescope “show and tell.” So if it is a cloudy night, there will be plenty of fun things to do inside our ScienceSouth pavilion. If we do have a clear night, you can enjoy both outside viewing, and if you wish, you can spend some time checking out our Star Lab inside.

Astronomy Workshops: In addition to our planned events discussed above, we have tentative plans to run astronomy workshops at ScienceSouth. The astronomy workshops will be directed at people who enjoy amateur astronomy, or have considered a hobby in astronomy, but really don’t know how to proceed. Therefore, if you own a telescope, feel free to bring it to the workshop. If you only own binoculars, bring them along. If you have neither, you can bring yourself and family, and use ScienceSouth’s equipment. We will be available to teach you how to best use your equipment, and answer any basic astronomy viewing questions. If you are just starting out, we will discuss the purchasing of your first telescope.

We will also teach viewing techniques, and discuss useful astronomy software, books, etc. One key presentation will be on the Messier Objects. Locating all 110 Messier Objects in the night sky is not only challenging and fun, but is a surefire method to find your way around the night sky.

So, we hope to see everyone at some or all of our planned ScienceSouth astronomy events over the next several months. Keep checking out this column, but most importantly, check out our website at sciencesouth.org for the dates of upcoming events.

Our first astronomy program is planned for our first Science After Dark series on September 15^th, 7-9 pm. Note: Our Science After Dark programs will run throughout the year, and each program will feature a different science theme. Again, check our website regularly to confirm the dates and times of our programs.

Naked Eye Sights: Note our star chart above shows that the famous

Summer Triangle is directly overhead at mid-month. This triangle is formed by the three stars: Deneb, Vega, and Altair. At the end of the month you will see a bright star-like object rising in the east in the late evening; this is the return of the planet Jupiter. Jupiter will be the visible throughout late fall and through the winter months.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): If you are looking in the region of the Summer Triangle, take time to use your binoculars to find the interesting binocular asterism, the Coathanger, between Altair and Albireo. The image below will help your search.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm): Staying in the Summer Triangle, revisit the Ring Nebula (M57) near Vega and the Dumbbell Nebula (M27); both were featured in July’s column.

See you next month!

August 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on August 28^th. For August, your best viewing nights will be from August 1^st through August 5^th and August 20^th through August 31^st. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on August 15^th at 10 pm.

Vesta:

This month I would like to challenge everyone to try to locate the asteroid Vesta. Vesta is now in an empty region of the sky, making it difficult to locate. However, the reason that I am featuring Vesta this month is that NASA’s Dawn space probe just went into orbit around this asteroid on July 17^th. This is the first probe that has been placed in orbit around a main belt asteroid. Dawn will orbit Vesta for about one year, at which time it will leave Vesta and visit the largest asteroid, Ceres.

When we hear the term asteroids, we immediately think of a wide band of rocky objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Indeed the vast majority of the asteroids are located in this “Main Asteroid Belt.” However there are two other groups of asteroids that rotate around the Sun. The second group lies in the same orbit as Jupiter. These asteroids are called “Trojans” and “Greeks,” and are located 60 degrees behind and in front of Jupiter. The third group of asteroids is called “Near Earth Asteroids” (NEA’s).

The NEA’s are especially important to us because they are in orbits that may result in a collision with Earth. Even a small asteroid only a few miles across would cause devastating effect if it hit our planet. Several small NEA’s have been found that will make very close passes by our Earth in the next fifteen to thirty years.

Before I help you locate Vesta, I would like to discuss the origins of the main asteroid belt. Over the years there have been various theories about the formation of the asteroid belt. First, consider the layout of our solar system. The four planets closest to the Sun are rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). Then there is a large “gap,” filled with rocky asteroids, followed by the gaseous planets, (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). Some theories state that a rocky planet had formed between Mars and Jupiter, and the gravitational forces of Jupiter tore the new planet apart. Another theory is that the asteroids are merely rocky solar system debris that never formed a planet. I personally like the second theory, but it is seldom explained further. So let me try to elaborate. The theory concerning the formation of the inner planets is that after our Sun formed, the rocky/metallic debris that circled near the Sun was extremely hot and was therefore in a molten state. Gravitational forces caused some of these molten pieces to collide, and form larger pieces. As these larger molten pieces grew in size, they then attracted more pieces until they became a planet like our Earth. The key here is when molten or semi-molten objects collide, they can be easily combined to make larger molten “globs.” Also, because the new planets were molten, and spinning, they easily formed into spheres instead of irregular shapes. This process of planet building can take millions of years, and during this time the molten debris could cool down and become solid. The farther away the molten rocks were from the Sun, the faster they could cool down. The farthest rocky/metallic molten rocks were in the region of the asteroid belt, and being so far from the sun, they could cool down much faster than the regions that would form the Earth or Venus, etc. So the debris in the region of the asteroid belt most likely cooled down to solid rocks before they could form into larger molten pieces. Once they cooled to solid debris, when they hit other debris they would more likely bounce off then be adsorbed as did the molten pieces nearer to the Sun. Only the largest asteroid Ceres (about 500 miles across) formed into a sphere, implying that it formed in a molten state. We hope the Dawn Probe will give us better understanding into the true origin of the asteroid belt.

Now the challenge to locate Vesta. This month Vesta is in the constellation Capricorn. Capricorn is not an easy constellation to see, but it is just to the left of the constellation Sagittarius. Sagittarius is in the south, and is an easy to spot summer constellation, known as the “Teapot Asterism.”

To locate Vesta, we will use a stepwise method called star hopping. Vesta can be seen with binoculars, so we will do the star hopping with seven power binoculars. To star hop, you start with an easy to find target that fits in you binocular’s field of view (FOV), and then move step wise to other targets that can fit into your binocular’s FOV.

We will begin Step 1with the “handle” part of the Sagittarius “teapot” asterism. This handle will fit into your FOV, see below. Now slowly scan to the left until you see the Step 2 group of stars in your FOV.

Next scan more to the left and find the Step 3 right triangle. This month, Vesta will move into and though this right triangle.

Good luck in your search.

Naked Eye Sights: The well-known Perseids meteor shower peaks on the 13^th, however, the full Moon will wash out all but very large meteors.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Vesta.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm): Once you find Vesta using binoculars, try to locate it with a telescope.

July 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on July 1^st and July 30^th. For July, your best viewing nights will be from July 1^st through July 7^th and July 23^rd through July 31^st. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on July 15^th at 10 pm.

Two New Moons:

As you may have noticed above, there are two new Moons this month. When there are two full Moons in a calendar month, the second full Moon is called a “Blue Moon.” There is no generally accepted name for a second new Moon. The reason is simple; we can’t see new Moons. Probably the only people that are following the dates of the new Moons are amateur astronomers. The dark of the new Moon is helpful when searching for distant galaxies, or for observing meteor showers. So enjoy the two new Moons, but don’t expect to hear about them on the nightly news reports.

Planetary Nebulas:

Planetary nebulas have the traditional ionized gas nebulosity, but they have nothing to do with planets! These fuzzy nebulas are often round, but they can also have other interesting shapes. They are called planetary because in the mid 1800’s when they were first observed through lesser quality telescopes, they looked like gaseous planets. Later observations found them to be gaseous nebulas. However, unlike other gaseous nebulas, they tend to have elements of symmetry. Even when they are not ball-shaped, they usually have a symmetrical shape.

As telescopes became more advanced, astronomers noticed that many planetary nebulas had a small star at their center; a white dwarf. As astronomy advanced, the life cycles of many stars were observed and better understood. The mysterious planetary nebulas were determined to be the result of the death of certain stars. When one discusses star death, we tend to think of the spectacular exploding nova and supernova. However, there is a more common type of star death, which is also predicted to be the fate of our Sun. Stars like our Sun will eventually run out of hydrogen to fuse into helium, and when this happens (~5 billion years from now for the Sun) these stars will then collapse upon themselves until the helium begins to fuse, and then the star will blaze again. This second life will cause the star to greatly expand; and in the case of our star, the Sun will swallow our Earth. After the helium fusion shuts down, this type star will undergo a rapid collapse, and the rebound from this collapse will blow off a large cloud of gases resulting in the objects we call planetary nebulas, leaving behind a remnant white dwarf star, which will slowly fade away.

For the amateur astronomer, planetary nebulas were just more interesting fuzzy objects to see, the most famous being the Ring Nebula in Lyra. However, the Hubble Telescope began sending back images of many planetary nebulas, and for the first time we saw how spectacular they were. Among those planetary nebulas were:

The Cat’s Eye Nebula:

The Eskimo Nebula:

The Hourglass Nebula:

Note the clearly visible central star in each nebula. In most planetary nebula visible to amateurs, the central star is too dim to be viewed.

This month try to locate two well-known planetary nebulas that are within the reach of amateur scopes. First you must forget about the beautiful Hubble images with all their color; the best you can hope for is gray-white fuzzy images on a black sky. Your two targets are the Dumbbell Nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula, Messier 27, and the Ring Nebula in Lyra, Messier 57.

Start with the easier target the Dumbbell. Away from the city lights, you can see M27 with 10 X 50 binoculars. It is also an excellent target for big binoculars (25 X 100mm). It is also easily accessible with a Dobsonian reflector, but start at your lowest power. To locate M27, start by finding the Constellation Cygnus (The Northern Cross) in the southeast. In your mind, imagine a perfect trapezoid made with three stars in Cygnus, and an imaginary point, see below. Point your binoculars or scope at this imaginary point, and then move slightly to the right.

Look carefully because it is only a faint smudge; it looks like a small cloud. Below is what you should see at about 30-40 power. It will look the same through your binoculars, but of course it will be smaller.

The next target is the famous Ring Nebula in Lyra, M57. This planetary nebula is easier to pinpoint, but harder to see. Start with the very bright star Vega and note the parallelogram shape in Lyra.

M57 is almost on the direct line between the stars Sheliak and Sulafat.

With my 15 power binoculars, I can just see M57 as a slightly fuzzy star. With my 25 power binoculars, I can see that M27 is not a star, but a fuzzy object. For most observers, the ring shape of this planetary nebula requires 40-60 power to resolve.

Remember, sometime in the distant future, some distant observer may look back this way and observe a planetary nebula resulting from the death of our Sun.

Naked Eye Sights: The Summer Milky Way centered in the southern skies.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Try to locate M27, the Dumbbell Nebula near Cygnus the Swan. Wander through the summer Milky Way.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm): Try to locate M27 and the Ring Nebula M57. Check out Saturn in the southwest late in the month; it will be at its best tilt angle for this year.

June 2011

Tony Martinez

Each month I will describe sights of interest in the night skies of South Carolina. These sights will be broken down into three sections; what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and with a small telescope. The best time to view the night sky is at and around the times when the Moon is not visible, what is known as a New Moon; which will occur this month on June 1^st. For June, your best viewing nights will be from June 1^st through June 7^th and June 21^st through June 30^th. The Star chart below is set for Florence, SC on June 15^th at 10 pm.

Back to Nine Planets?

Last month I discussed why Pluto was removed from the list of solar system planets, and I also discussed dwarf planets in general. Just recently, two astronomers have presented a new theory which claims that there is yet another planet out beyond Pluto. However, this new theory states that this new planet is not small like the dwarf planets, but is four times more massive than Jupiter! This claim has been proposed by professors Whitmire and Matese, two astrophysicists from the University of Louisiana. They have even given this planet a proposed name, Tyche. Last month I mentioned the Ort Cloud, which extends over a thousand times the distance beyond Pluto. The Ort Cloud is proposed to be the primary source of comets. The basis of this new theory is that the trajectories of the many comets leaving the Ort Cloud to head towards the Sun are not random as would be expected. These astrophysicists believe that the trajectories of many comets fit the presence of a large planet in the Ort Cloud. Presently, this new theory is considered to be a “weak” theory, and therefore has not been accepted by most astronomers due to lack of any hard evidence. To quote from the late Carl Sagan, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” However, Whitmire and Matese believe that evidence of their ninth planet, Tyche, has already been gathered by the NASA space telescope WISE.

The NASA space telescope WISE(Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) was launched in December 2009, and had only enough liquid hydrogen coolant to last about ten months. During its short life, WISE captured over 1.5 million infrared images of the entire sky. An infrared telescope sees the heat of celestial objects. So if the planet Tyche exists, because of its size, it would be slow to cool, and therefore would still have enough heat to be detected by the WISE telescope. The search for a large planet beyond Pluto was not one of the goals for the WISE telescope, so it will be awhile before all the data will be available to check out this new planet theory.

Solar viewing:

Sometimes the hot and hazy night time skies of summer may limit you viewing to the Moon. However, the bright sunny days of summer are great for solar viewing. Any mention of viewing the Sun must begin with a serious warning: Never look at the Sun through any regular binocular or telescope; it will permanently blind you! Never try to build or make a filter to put over your binoculars or telescope. If you own or buy an old simple refracting telescope, and it has a small solar filter that screws onto your eyepiece, go throw it into the garbage immediately. Any filter located near your eyepiece will get very hot when in use and will likely shatter! The best way to view the Sun is indirectly by way of a projected image. There are three ways to set up projected images of the Sun. The simple method is to use two pieces of cardboard. Put a pinhole in one piece of cardboard, and project the Sun onto the other piece. The method is shown below:

The second is to set up your telescope so the image is projected out of your eyepiece and onto a piece of cardboard. See images below:

The third way is more costly and requires the purchase of a “Sun Spotter” apparatus. See images below:

The reason to discuss solar viewing at this time is because of the Solar cycle, also called the Solar Sunspot Cycle. Over a period of about 11 years, the Sun moves from low activity to high activity and back to low again. During times of high solar activity, there are many sunspots, solar prominences and possible solar flares; note size of Earth below.

The latest cycle began in December 2008, should peak about 2013/2014, and end in 2019. So for the first time in several years, on any given day it is likely that some solar activity will be visible. If you would like to track the activity of the Sun, go to the NASA Soho Satellite website to see daily images of the Sun; http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html.

Also, keep track of the ScienceSouth website. At various times this year we will have public solar viewing events. ScienceSouth has special equipment that can project the solar images, directly view sunspots close up, and see the solar eruptions on the Sun’s surface.

Naked Eye Sights: View the arrival of Scorpius, Sagittarius, and the summer Milky Way in the south. Try some solar projection viewing, or visit some ScienceSouth solar viewing events.

Binocular Sights (7 to 10 power): Wander through the summer Milky Way, beginning at the southern horizon and slow scanning upwards.

Telescope Sights (60-100mm): In April I featured the return of the planet Saturn. This month is the last good month to view Saturn.

So if have yet to check out Saturn, do so this month. In the first half of June, between 10 pm and midnight, Saturn will move from due south to the southwest. In the last half of the month, in the same time-frame, Saturn will move from the southwest to the west. Saturn will still be visible throughout July, but it will remain low in the western sky.