Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

"Cirrus at Sunset"
Graeme Stephens; CloudSat Principle Investigator
(what a talented guy!)
Photo courtesy of NASA : Chris Chrissotimos

The Cloud: Last stanza

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Listener Feedback

James from NZ passed on an interesting observation on environmental trickery.

I do my running very early in the morning (about 6 - 7am), well this morning there was a most unusual planet/star in the sky - it was green and large. I knew it was not a plane as it was not moving. What it turned out to be was the wind blowing a different direction than usual,and smog coming from a meat works causing the strange effect, it tinted the light and magnified a star. Once I passed the works the effect just not there.

David would like to share some information about the

1st Annual ASKC Star Party
ASKC's Dark Sky Site, in Butler, MO
June 22-25, 2006
Sponsored by The Astronomical Society of Kansas City (ASKC) www.askc.org
Link for Star Party Information: 

Our friend Jim (RapidEye to some of you) has some more variable star information to share and writes:

clipped "Anyway, I was getting caught up on podcasts this morning and just listened to the variable star show - another excellent podcast! One addition =-)

You said one of your favorite constellations was Lyra (it is a dandy) and half the show was discussing variable stars - you omitted a great tie in for what is probably one of the prettiest stars in the sky which happens to be a variable and happens to be in Lyra - T Lyra: it looks like a drop of red blood on a black background.

Last year I got hooked on Carbon stars with R Lep - they are amazing variables and exhibits absolutely stunning colors: everything from salmon pink (V Aql) to Blood Red (T Lyr/R Lep)."

Listener Question

"How do you convert decimal latitudes and longs to degrees and minutes?" This is handy to know since different online, free, and purchased planetarium software need your location to create your sky. They vary in how they ask for the information.
Here is an online conversion tool to help or to convert it manually think in 60s

To convert from dd mm ss to dd.fraction
dd = whole degrees, mm = minutes, ss = seconds
dd.ff = dd + mm/60 + ss/3600

Example: 30 degrees 15 minutes 22 seconds = 30 + 15/60 + 22/3600 = 30.2561

For the reverse conversion, we want to convert dd.fraction to dd mm ss.
mm = 60*ff
ss = 60*(fractional part of mm)
Use only the whole number part of mm in the final result.
30.2561 degrees = 30 degrees
.2561*60 = 15.366 minutes
.366 minutes = 22 seconds, so the final result is 30 degrees 15 minutes 22 seconds

Constellations

40 down 48 to go!

Argo Navis drawn by Johann Hevelius

Jason was accompanied by some of the principal heroes of ancient Greece. The number of Argonauts varies, but traditional versions of the story place their number at 50. Some names that might be familiar to you included Heracles(Hercules), Orpheus(who played Lyra the harp), Castor and Polydeuces(Pollux), and in some versions the only woman on the ship was Atalanta the huntress.

Some have hypothesized that the legend of the Golden Fleece was based on a practice of the Black Sea tribes of placing a lamb's fleece at the bottom of a stream to entrap particles of gold being washed down from upstream.

A quick version of the story can be found on the Wikipedia site.

Argo Navis was spilt into Carina (the keel), Puppis (the stern) and Vela (the sail), what makes these constellations particularly interesting, is that the stars which are usually named in accordance with relative brightness within the constellation were never renumbered, so there are no alpha stars in Vela and Puppis.

Viewing

Naked eye -
The Summer Triangle, Vega, Denab, and Altair
IC 2391 (mag 2.6) in Vela also called Omicron Vela Cluster
really stretch and see if you can pick out the coat hanger
Binocular -
The Coat hanger west of Sagita (near Alberio)
Epsilon Lyra - the Double double (mag 4.67 and 4.59) you will see the two primary stars (you will need a telescope for the companions)
NGC 2516 (mag 3.8) open cluster in Carina
NGC 2547 (mag 4.7) open cluster in Vela

Telescope -
Epsilon Lyra - the Double double (mag 4.67 and 4.59) you will see the two binary sets or all four stars
NGC 3132 Southern Ring Nebula (mag 8) bright slightly elongated with 9th mag central star (map)
NGC 3201 (mag 6.8) Globular Cluster in Vela(map)

The Moon

Here we go again with another bright lunar weekend! Full moon is on the 12th at 3:04 UT so that gives us just a hair of a terminator to work look along for the weekend.

Crater hopping on the moon. Like star hopping to find objects in the sky we can crater hop to find objects on the moon. Our crater hopping exercise tonight will be a challenge (to satisfy those of you clamoring for tougher objects) but the beginning couple of hops will be okay for binoculars and small telescopes if they are steady enough AND if you can get the moon at the right phase. If you miss it just wait 29.5 days and try again.

Our beautiful lunar photo is courtesy of Frank Barrett at celestialwonders.com I recommend visiting his site and checking out his lunar phase photos. You can zoom in for more detail. I have numbered the craters in the order in hopping order.

Image courtesy of Frank Barrett

Object	Latitude	Longitude	Comments
1. Crater Copernicus	9.7	-20.1	I like this crater best at last quarter but the crater is so big that you can see it naked eye any time the sun is illuminating Mare Insularum. Good naked eye and binocular crater.
2. Crater Kepler	8.1	-38	Kepler forms the western base of the Copernicus, Kepler, Aristarchus crater triangle beginners start with. The bright craters on dark Oceanus Procellarum make them not too hard to find.
3. Crater Reiner	7	-54.9	Much harder to find and if there is too much Sun might be too washed out to see. Look for an illuminated crescent shape of only one wall of the crater illuminated
4. Reiner Gamma	7.5	-59	The bright concentric swirls are thought to be caused by a magnetic abnormality.
5. Crater Cavalerius	5.1	-66.8	Just a hair to the NE of Cavalerius is where Luna 9 made the first soft landing of a man made lunar probe (Feb 1966)returning images of the lunar surface. Cavalerius shares its southern edge with...
6. Crater Hevelius	2.2	-67.6	Shallow edge and lava filled crater which is criss-crossed with small rille, Rimea Hevelius.
7. Crater Olbers-B	6.8	-74.1	Crazy small but with the right light looks like a bright dot next to...
8. Crater Olbers	7.4	-75.9	Only slightly easier and resembles Cavalerius
9. Crater Glushko	8.4	-77.6	Silver crescent in the right light yikes! Take heart is is slightly larger than Kepler but shallower and closer to the limb

Now if you download this after the full moon step out and try to pick up these craters as the terminator passes Mare Crisium and heads towards Serenity and Nectar

Map images created with Lunar Phase Pro

Object	Latitude	Longitude	Comments
1. Crater Theophilius	-11.2	26.4	Greek astronomer, bishop of Alexandria. Theophilius, Cyrillus and Catherina together make a good example of crater degradation
2. Crater Cyrillus	-13.2	24.2	Egyptian theologian, chronologist, bishop of Alexandria after Theophilius.
3. Crater Catherina	-17.8	24.7	Named after St. Catherine of Alexandria; Greek theologian, philosopher.
4. Crater Mader	-10.8	30	Johann Heinrich Mader; German Astronomer

Remember latitudes that are negative (-) are South and longitudes that are negative (-) are West!

*Lunar Awards:
Astronomical League Lunar Club and Lunar Club 2
Lunar 100 - Charles A. Wood- 100 features laminated feature card available through Sky and Telescope
Free online support at Charles Wood's site and Mike Tyrrel site (lots of pictures slow to load)
Astronomy a Go Go! Lunar club (The loonies?) coming soon 4 levels; beginner, intermediate, advanced and master. No membership required no fees, beautiful "you print" certificate for each level and your name on the website.

Planets

Evening Planets
• Jupiter - Mag -2.5 in Libra. Just past opposition for those of you watching this gas giant over the past couple of months will have noticed it getting brighter. Clearly visible just after sunset, just 2.5 degrees east of Spica. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands and four Galilean satellites.
  Listener Kevin recommended a piece of free software that I now have on all my computers Jupiter 2 (Thanks Kevin!).
• Saturn - 0.1 mag In Cancer and tonight and moving East just 1.5 degree SW of M44 the Beehive cluster. It appears as a yellowish star that rivals Capella in brightness, A small telescope will always show Titan, Saturn's largest and most extraordinary moon.
• Mars - Mag +1.6 now in Cancer and this weekend just a little over 1 degree west of Saturn and closing. Don't forget that on the 16-17th they will have a close encounter.
• Mercury - Has joined the rank of the evening planets. This weekend it will be very near the horizon just after sunset 22 degrees east of the sun.

  Morning Planets

• Venus - Mag -3.9 The brightest morning planet visible. Low in the eastern morning sky. You will want to grab a pair of binoculars or even just a finder scope to check out her phase. Just over half full she is intensely bright in her gibbous phase.
• Uranus - Mag. 5.9 in Aquarius low in the south west before dawn. Draw a line between Fomalhaut and Markab (opposite corner of the square of Pegasus from Andromeda) and Uranus is in the middle.
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn low in the south west before dawn half way between Fomalhaut and Theta Aquilli the eastern wing-tip of Aquila the Eagle.
• Pluto Mag. 14 in Serpens Cauda is high in the south before dawn In Superior Conjunction - As alignment of an interior planet (Venus or Mercury) and the Sun which occurs when the Earth and the planet are on opposite sides of the Sun.
  

News

Finally! A definition for "Planet"!
A decision is expected in September, but history suggests rewriting the textbooks could be more challenging than finding tiny new worlds at the edge of the solar system.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is expected to propose wording to delineate planets from other small, round objects at its 12-day General Assembly meeting in Prague this August. The proposal will be based on recommendations from a newly formed committee that includes experts outside the realm of astronomy tasked to break a deadlock in earlier committee discussions.

Great Red Spot and Red Junior 4th of July close encounter!

The two are converging. Closest approach: the 4th of July, according to Amy Simon-Miller of the Goddard Space Flight Center who has been monitoring the storms using the Hubble Space Telescope. "There won't be a head-on collision," she says. "The Great Red Spot is not going to 'eat' Oval BA or anything like that." But the storms' outer bands will pass quite close to one another - and no one knows exactly what will happen. (More from NASA)

Links:
Jupiter Viewing Guide
The Nine Planets - Jupiter
Views of the Solar System - Jupiter
Wikipedia

Software:
Jupiter 2
Sky and Telescope's Transit Calculator

Low-mass planet pairs - June 5, 2006 | Evidence continues to mount that planets can form around very-low-mass objects. In fact, planets might even form around objects that are so low in mass that they themselves could be considered "planets."

CloudSat returning some amazing photos!

(more from NASA) Principle investigator Graeme Stephens, from Colorado State via Australia

Clouds exert an enormous influence on our weather and climate. They are the key element of Earth's hydrological cycle, heat distribution, heat regulation, and climate to mention a few of their jobs.

NASA's Fuse Finds Infant Solar System Awash in Carbon

Scientists using NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, or FUSE, have discovered abundant amounts of carbon gas in a dusty disk surrounding a young star named Beta Pictoris. (more from NASA)

Comets for June.

This month we have comets for everyone except those above 55 degrees north.
There is a great image on the Bad Astronomy Blog of two of the Schwassman-Wachmann comet fragments.

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin"
-- Shakespeare

Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
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The tale of Jason and the Argonauts to explain why there is no Alpha Vela, some music, a view of the planets for the week and some crater hopping!

www.astronomy.libsyn.com

Thanks to James Barclay of the Maidenwell Observatory! You can find more information about the Maidenwell Observatory at http://www.sbstars.com/ Cheers!

Starting a year long look at constellations, news, music and all things astronomical!

Welcome

Thanks to Peter (from Cullercoats England), Damon and Mike for dropping us a note!
To Rev. Chris Wallace a chaplain in the US army stationed in Iraq I hope "Astronomy a Go Go!" meets your astronomy needs.

As always you can email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com. We would love to hear from you!

Constellations for the new year

Chris Dolan's site for the bare facts
For mythologies I use several this is a good starter one but there isn't a clear name to credit so if you find this is your site, thanks!
This Month

• Orion the hunter
• Canis Major
• Canis Minor
• Gemini (Castor and Pollux or in Mesopotamia the Twins are the brothers Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea)
• Auriga and
• Taurus

Planets

Mars is still easy to pick out as the rusty red point west of the Pleiades and above the tale of Cetus the whale.
Venus is almost gone for us and sits right on the horizon at twilight.
Saturn sits in Cancer and outshines all the stars in that constellation. Start at Gemini the twins and move east to the yellow large point of light.
Jupiter is east of Virgo in the constellation Libra in the early morning hours.

News

Spirit is starting its 3rd year and Opportunity is not far behind.
We have reached perihelion - we are closest to the sun yesterday, can you feel that down in the Southern hemisphere because we can't up here!
First quarter moon this weekend
There was a great podcast from Universe today () about a method for creating something like a tractor beam for near earth asteroids.

Trivia

Answers to the quiz from Show #3

1. The first woman in space was Lieutenant Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russia) Michael Williams got that one right
2. The only animal not sent to space was a jelly fish (cats were sent by the French) no one got this one, everyone seemed to want to banish the cats from space probably more of those Anubis lovers!
3. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have rings (Damon was only off by one!) Katie got this one.

This week's trivia

1. Since meteor showers take the name of the constellation they radiate from why is the meteor shower that radiates from the constellation Bootes called Quadranids?
2. Can you see the International Space Station without a telescope?
3. What is the brightest star in our sky?

Music

Intro music: Friction Baily's "Auld Lang Syne" Lovely voices!
Send off music: Charlie Crowe's "Joy" Rock on, great guitar work!