Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

excerpt from "Works and Days"

Hesiod, presumably lived around 700 BCE

Victoria Crater. Image credit: NASA/JPL/HiRISE (Thanks to Fraser at Universe Today)

Michael this one is for you! Does it remind you of the SARLACC PIT from Episode VI? But wait there is more...WHAT makes straight parallel lines on Mars?

Listener Feedback

Sun

Planets

Evening Planets
Be ready around Dec 7th-11th with Mercury, Jupiter and Mars on converge on one another LOW on the pre-dawn sky!

• Venus - Mag -3.8 but currently lost in the Sun's glare.
• Neptune - Mag +7.9 in Capricorn will also be better for dark evenings and is less than 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni
• Uranus - Mag +5.8 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just under 1 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then a smidgen Southwest.
• Saturn - Mag 0.4 on the western edge of Leo just west of Regulus.

Morning Planets

• Jupiter - Mag -1.6 currently lost in the Sun's glare.
• Mars - Mag 1.6 just barely above the Sun's glare between the Sun and Mercury
• Mercury - Mag -0.5 barely 5 degrees off the horizon. Use the bright orange/red Arcturus and "spike" almost horizontally South to Spica. Mercury sits 25 degrees ESE of Spica.
• Saturn - Mag 0.4 on the western edge of Leo just west of Regulus.

Constellations

Time for a quiz!

Fornax - the Furnace - Invented by Lacaille during his stay at the Cape of Good Hope in 1751 - 1752 (who else!)

Indus - the Indian (Native American?) Invented by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597 Epsilon Indi is one of the closest stars (17th)to Earth, approximately 11.82 light years away. Proxima Centauri is the closest at 4.2 light years away.

Viewing

Naked eye - the Pleiades


Mentioned by Homer about 750 B.C.At least 6 member stars are visible to the naked eye, while under moderate conditions this number increases to 9, and under clear dark skies jumps up to more than a dozen

The Pleiades nebulae are blue-colored, which indicates that they are reflection nebulae, reflecting the light of the bright stars situated near (or within) them. The brightest of these nebulae, that around Merope, was discovered on October 19, 1859 by Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht (Wilhelm) Tempel at Venice (Italy) with a 4-inch refractor; it is included in the NGC as NGC 1435.

The Pleiades also carry the name "Seven Sisters"; according to Greek mythology, seven daughters and their parents.

In the Maori language, Matariki is the name of the constellation Pleiades. In traditional times, Matariki was a season to celebrate and to prepare the ground for the coming year. Offerings of the produce of the land were made to the gods, including Rongo. This time of the year was also a good time to instruct young people in the lore of the land and the forest. as well, certain birds and fish were especially easy to harvest at this time.

Binocular -
Drift from the Pleiades through the sword of Orion (M42, NGC 1976, NGC 1977) the Great Orion Nebula
Continue ENE and head to the middle of Cancer and M44 the Beehive Cluster

Telescope -
Northern Hemisphere chart

• Auriga -for use with Telrads
• Taki's 8.5 Mag Chart
• Taki's 6.5 Mag Chart

Southern Hemisphere chart

• Cetus -for use with Telrads,
• Taki's 8.5 Mag Chart
• Taki's 6.5 Mag Chart
• Fornax dwarf Taki's 8.5 Mag oddly enough a globular cluster (NGC 1049 mag 12.6) in the galaxy was discovered before the galaxy itself.
• M77 Taki's 8.5 Mag

The Moon

Images created with Lunar Phase Pro

Our beautiful lunar photos are 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.

Spanning 56 miles and descending 13,800 feet below lunar surface, Tycho�s massive walls are 13 miles thick. As one of the youngest craters, Tycho might not look like much tonight, but it is surely one of the most impressive of all features when the Moon reaches Full. Look around Tycho for six small craters encircling it like an old analog telephone dial. To the southeast, another prominent feature calls attention to itself - Maginus. Power up and look closely at the more than 50 meteoritic impacts that have all but destroyed it. The very largest of the wall craters is on the southwest crest and is named Maginus C. On the outer north wall, look for less conspicuous Proctor. It, too, has been struck many times!

Gifts for the Astronomer!

• "Rite in the Rain" paper - perfect for creating your own lists without having to pull them in and out of sheet protectors.
• Hats, scarves, mitten (especially with flaps so you have finger access)
• Renovate an old hard sided Samsonite style suitcase for observing! Paint it and find some nice foam padding for the inside.
• Cold weather observing 'basket' - Be Creative!! a good thermos, hot cocoa, snacks, handwarmers, and maybe a favorite CD all 'wrapped' in a new accessory case
• Warm weather observing 'basket' - Have Fun!! snacks, a nice wide brim hat, some new shades, Miracool bandana, some oil free sunscreen and bug spray, all 'wrapped' in a Pelican case
• Online Star Atlases - print them out, put them in protective sleeves, laminate them or print them on waterproof paper and bind them into a book that will open flat!
  • Taki's Charts
  • Andrew Johnsons Mag 7 charts
• Fraser Cain at Universe Today emailed to let me know that there will be a "What's up 2007" so keep an eye on his site!
• My favorite give-away Messier Telrad Charts - by John Small courtesy of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston.
• Messier Telrad Charts - From Utah Skies
• Caldwell Telrad Charts - From Utah Skies

Binocular Mounts
Observing Chair - example or the Cats Perch Plans

On to the shopping...
Telescope accessories

• Telrad
• Accessory Cases
• Variable Polarizing filter
• Lazermate deluxe collimator
• On-off switch green laser pointer (I'm ordering one for myself!)
• lens cleaning gear
• 2X barlow
• protective scope covers
• eyepiece containers

Off the scope

• eZipSky - free 10 day trial - know your cellphone charges first!
• Observing chair
• Red flash lights
• Storage containers
• Planetarium software
• Folding tables
• Handwarmers (buy them a case or better yet the reusable ones)
• How about a good first aid kit!

• Pocket Sky Atlas - an AAGG favorite!
  
• Field map of the Moon - an AAGG favorite!
  
• Skyspot books - The Messier telrad books - fantastic for beginners searching for Messier objects!

• Chandler or Levy Plastic Planispheres for your latitude

• "NightWatch" by Terence Dickinson- the first book I remember purchasing for observing
• "The Stars" by H.A. Rey
• Celestial Sampler by Sue French
• "Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects" by Stephen O'Meara
• SkyWatch 07 (magazine single issue)- Sky and Telescope 12 months of starcharts and lots of great observing tips for the new astronomer
• Skygazer's Almanac'07 reprint (leaflet)- Sky and Telescope $2.25 and up
• RASC Observers guide (book)-Royal Astronomical Society of Canada $24.95+

Comets

Comets for the Month.

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

Email us at astronomyagogo   AT  gmail  DOT com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Escape at Bedtime

The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.

The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Listener Feedback

AAGG listener Dan has created a MySpace for AAGG listener AND he has started using TalkShoe and his own live chat show Astro-Tech (I hope I got that right) Check them both out at http://groups.myspace.com/aagglisteners

Constellations

Andromeda -Antlia -Apus -Aquarius -Aquila -Ara -Aries -Auriga -Bootes -Caelum -Camelopardalis -Cancer -Canes Venatici -Canis Major -Canis Minor -Capricornus -Carina -Cassiopeia -Centaurus -Cepheus -Cetus -Chamaeleon -Circinus -Columba -Coma Berenices -Corona Australis -Corona Borealis -Corvus -Crater -Crux -Cygnus -Delphinus -Dorado -Draco -Equuleus -Eridanus -Fornax -Gemini -Grus -Hercules -Horologium -Hydra -Hydrus -Indus -Lacerta -Leo -Leo Minor -Lepus -Libra -Lupus -Lynx -Lyra -Mensa -Microscopium -Monoceros -Musca -Norma -Octans -Ophiuchus -Orion -Pavo -Pegasus -Perseus -Phoenix -Pictor -Pisces -Piscis Austrinus -Puppis -Pyxis -Reticulum -Sagitta -Sagittarius -Scorpius -Sculptor -Scutum -Serpens -Sextans -Taurus -Telescopium -Triangulum -Triangulum Australe -Tucana - Ursa Major -Ursa Minor -Vela -Virgo -Volans -Vulpecula

A young cowherd named Niulang (the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinu ("the weaver girl", the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang sees her naked she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhinu's mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way, which separates Altair and Vega).

Zhinu must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children (his flanking stars Beta and Gamma Aquilae). But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

Planets

• Jupiter - currently lost in the Sun's glare.
• Venus - currently lost in the Sun's glare.
• Uranus - Mag +5.8 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just under 1 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumb widths southeast to find Lambda, and then a smidgen Southwest.
• Neptune - Mag +7.9 in Capricorn will also be better for dark evenings and is less than 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni

• Mercury - Mag -1.7 barely 5 degrees off the horizon. Use the bright orange/red Arcturus and "spike" almost horizontally South to Spica. Mercury sits 20 degrees ENE of Spica.
• Mars - currently lost in the Sun's glare
• Saturn - Mag +0.5 on the western edge of Leo just west of Regulus. So when you are out getting ready for the Leonids make sure you bring along your telescope for Saturn!

Famous Astronomers

He is noted for his catalogue of nearly 10,000 southern stars, including 42 nebulous objects. This catalogue, called "Coelum Australe Stelliferum", was published posthumously in 1763. It introduced 14 new constellations which have since become standard. He also calculated a table of eclipses for 1800 years.

In 1750, an astronomical expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, which was officially sanctioned. Among its results were determinations of the lunar and of the solar parallax (Mars serving as an intermediary), the first measurement of a South African arc of the meridian, and the observation of 10,000 southern stars.*

He lives on in the funny little constellations he re-mapped in the southern hemisphere as well as with a named lunar crater and a named asteroid.

But...he is the one who broke up the ship of the argonauts.....
*main source Wikipedia

Song Break

A DIY Project - The Mag 7 Star Atlas Project

"This project is my attempt to produce a free, downloadable set of high-quality star charts -- the Mag-7 Star Atlas -- capable of being printed at reasonable resolutions on the average home printer."

" Yes. And not just free of charge -- you have other freedoms as well. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Basically you are free to download, use, and or distribute this work for non-commercial purposes with appropriate attribution. You can create and distribute derived works if they follow the same license. The Mag-7 Star Atlas

There are 20 primary charts and one supplemental chart (11a for the Virgo Coma Berenices region) comprising the complete Mag-7 Star Atlas. Based on early feedback, I've made two versions available: a black on white version for use in the field (where red light may interfere with different color schemes), and a version with DSO's, constellation lines and boundaries, and grid lines highlighted in different colors. Different colors help to visually break up the charts making for a more relaxed viewing experience (whether viewing on-screen or printing in color for a "desktop" version). Apart from color, the two versions are identical. Enjoy."

Viewing

Naked eye - Leonid Meteor shower Peak time estimates range from 0445 UT to 0630 UT on Nov. 19th (more info at Spaceweather.com)
The mid-November region of Earth's orbit is littered with debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every time the comet visits the inner solar system (once every 33 years), it leave behind its dirty footprints of pebbles and rock. The Earth navigates this dustpath every November.

The Sun exhibit differential rotation: at the equator the surface rotates once every 25.4 days; near the poles it's as much as 36 days. Similar effects are seen in the gas planets and other non-solid bodies...like stars. The differential rotation extends considerably down into the interior of the Sun but the core of the Sun rotates as a solid body. Sunspots sometimes form and fizzle in a matter of days. Other times they last weeks so we can keep an eye on this one.

Binocular - Comet Garradd C/2006 L1 +9.7 mag comet that will be very near Saturn about the time of the Leonid Meteor Shower. Moving from Leo to the tip of Cancer at month's end. If you want more there is also 4P/Faye Comet Faye that is currently in Cetus not far from alpha Pisces.

Open cluster M52 in Cassiopeia. Extend the last leg of the "W" from Schedar to Caph, one more like distance until you spot a narrow diamond pattern of stars. M52 is just to the south.

NGC 7789 is a misty patch in binoculars but you are looking at one of the most densely packed open clusters north of the celestial equator. There is an estimated 1000 stars crammed into an area 40 light year across

Telescope - Northern Hemisphere chart
NGC 1245 - a swarming open cluster in Perseus. Find Mirfax and it is 1/3rd the way to Algol.

Another fainter swarm is NGC 1528 this time on the other side of Mirfax almost due west. There is a faint trail of brighter stars that make a 'spoon' shape crossing through the cluster.

The last of the open cluster swarms in Perseus is NGC 1513
NGC 581 (M103) in Cassiopeia with its own little 'Orion's Belt'
NGC 663
NGC 659, and
NGC 654.

Tired of clusters, try planetary nebula NGC 7662, the 'Blue Snowball Nebula' you will see a consistently 'glowing' blue tinted perfectly circular disk. From Alpheratz (Sirrah on your chart) head NNE towards Lacerta (the Lizard)use the star chart to help you get to the right spot.

Another fine object in Cassiopeia is NGC 185 and elliptical galaxy at 9.3 mag.

Southern Hemisphere chart
NGC 1261 which sits in the hook of Horoligium (the pendulum clock). Find Caelum, from earlier this evening, and follow the line to the cluster.

Backing up to Caelum and find the small dove between Caelum and the feet of Lepus (the hare) the alpha star, Phact, and epsilon star point right to where you want to globular cluster NGC 1851.

Scanning back up and in between the feet of Lepus is spiral galaxy NGC 1964 and while you are there take a look for M79 a globular cluster not too far away. This GC is so densely packed the center looks solid. One of the more challenging M objects for mid to upper northern latitudes.

What's on your list!

I am putting together an astronomer's "Must have" list for all those folks out there who are worried about the perfect gift for the astronomer on their list! I will divided the list up by skill level (just starting, amateur, with or without scope, astrophotographer, etc) so we need all your ideas! Our sponsor, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is creating a webpage with the ideas we have been bouncing around so far so now is a great time to pitch in your wish list and who knows, maybe if you drop enough hints we can get the right people to view the list and check it twice!

Post your ideas here on the website or send me an email at astronomyagogo AT gmail DOT com!

Comets

Comets for the Month.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Hey!  Were you out and about today sharing the Mercury Transit with the public, your family or friends?  Need some blog-bling?  Well here you go, your own "Local Transit Authority" badge to wear proudly.  Let the world know just how weird we really are.  (yeah I should have come up with this last week!)

Event notes:
Tacoma started off clear in the morning and by noon it was starting to get cloudy so in typical Pacific Northwest style it was Gorilla Astronomy as usual!  I pulled the scope out at work during lunch and we had a blast watching Mercury creep between us and the sun and even more fun talking about sunspots! 

Let me know what you did in your area and we will give you a shout out in the next podcast!

Cheers!
Alice

HOW the old mountains drip with sunset,	
  And the brake of dun!	
How the hemlocks are tipped in tinsel	
  By the wizard sun!	
  
How the old steeples hand the scarlet,	        
  Till the ball is full,
Have I the lip of the flamingo	
  That I dare to tell?	
  
Then, how the fire ebbs like billows,	
  Touching all the grass	        
With a departing, sapphire feature,	
  As if a duchess pass!	
  
How a small dusk crawls on the village	
  Till the houses blot;	
And the odd flambeaux no men carry	        
  Glimmer on the spot!	
  
Now it is night in nest and kennel,	
  And where was the wood,	
Just a dome of abyss is nodding	
  Into solitude!	        
  
These are the visions baffled Guido;	
  Titian never told;	
Domenichino dropped the pencil,	
  Powerless to unfold.

- Emily Dickenson (1830-86), Complete Poems 1924, Part Two Nature: CX

Download this month's sky map!

Kym Thalassoudis does a wonderful job creating accurate and easy to use star maps every month! Visit his site at www.skymaps.com for skymaps and links to other useful astronomical sites. Also a great portal for astronomical gifts!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map

Those in the Southern Hemisphere should also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere October sky.

Transit of Mercury:

Key Dates for November

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

Observations are for 8pm for the mid-northern latitudes and for 10pm for the mid-southern latitudes.

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Astronomical

November
	Comet Swan (C/2006 M4) starts the month Hercules and end in Aquila
5	-Moon near Uranus possible occultation for SE Australia and New Zealand International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) to see if you can view the occultation in your area
	-Full Moon (12:58 UT)
	-Taurids Meteor Shower Peak full moon will interfere
	- Asteroid 5535 Annefrank Closest Approach To Earth (1.215 AU)
6	-Moon very close to the Pleiades, possible photo ops!
7	-Asteroid 2006 UQ216 Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)
8	-Transit of Mercury (Mercury at inferior conjunction). Refer to this chart for your viewing opportunity. WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN--IT WILL INSTANTLY DAMAGE YOUR EYES. Observers require a safe Sun filter attached securely to the front of their telescope to see Mercury's tiny disk pass in front of the Sun. The event will be visible from most of Asia, Australia, Pacific, and North and South America. Observers in the Americas will view the event in the afternoon before sunset. Transit begins at 19:12 UT; mid-transit at 21:41 UT; ends at 0:08 UT (Nov 9). Next transit of Mercury on May 9, 2016.
10	-Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter all within 9 degrees of the Sun
12	-Last Quarter Moon (17:45 UT)
	-N.Taurids Meteor Peak, better viewing with a late rising moon!
17	-Leonids Meteor Peak
	-Mercury stationary
20	-New Moon (22:18 UT)
	-Uranus stationary
21	-Jupiter in conjunction with the Sun
23	-Venus in descending node
24	-Mercury at greatest heliocentric lat. N
25	-Mercury at greatest elongation W 20 degrees
28	-First Quarter Moon 6:29 UT)
	-Moon occults Uranus (S.Africa, India, SE Asia)Go to the International Occultation Timing Association for more information

Historical

Earth's major motions for 2006

Perihelion		Jan 4
Equinox		Mar 20 18:26(UT)
Solstice		June 21 12:26(UT)
Aphelion		July 3
Equinox		Sept 23 04:03(UT)
Solstice		Dec 22 00:22(UT)

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Uranus

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Aqu

Neptune

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Cap

Comets for November

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Scottish Guitar Quartet -"Romance within you"
Monika Herzig - "Dancing in November"
Alyssa Hendrix - "Good Summer Rain"

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

The Starlight Night

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Happy Halloween Astronomy Style!

Here are some great creepy astronomy sites:
Chandra has some great autumn greeting and Halloween cards
NASA Spooky Sounds Video
Spitzer captured this creepy, skull like image in Cygnus.
Creepy, cool, spooky silhouette of the shuttle and space station against the sun.

Planets

• Mercury - Mag 0.0 in Libra. Mark your calendars for inferior conjunction and visible transit on Nov. 8th! Low on the western horizon near Jupiter.
• Jupiter - Mag -1.6 in Libra. Visible low in the sky just after sunset.
  
  
  
  images courtesy of: Stellarium software
• Pluto - Mag +14.0 in Ophiuchus
• Uranus - Mag +5.8 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just over 1 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look pinky nail east.
• Neptune - Mag +7.9 in Capricorn 1.25 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni

Too close to the sun..

• Mars - Mag +1.6 is at the western end of Virgo and lost in the sun in the northern latitudes. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon and it will help to be closer to the equator.
• Venus - Mag -3.8 in Virgo.

• Saturn - Mag +0.6 on the western edge of Leo!

• 1 Ceres +7.9 mag in Pisces Australis 18.5 degrees West of Fomalhaut
• Eris mag +19 in central Cetus

Constellations

Horologium -the pendulum clock - Horologium was named by Abbe' Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Originally named Horologium Oscillitorium to honor Christian Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum clock in 1656-57 but like most longer astronomical names it was shortened to Horologium . Huygens is also famous for discovering Saturn's rings.

Reticulum - the grid - A reticle consists of sets of parallel and perpendicular lines, either in the form of thread or wire or in the form of markings etched in glass. The result is a square grid which may be accurately used to locate and plot the relative positions of objects viewed through the grid. Zeta Reticuli is a double star visible to the naked eye and strangely enough the home of the aliens in the alleged Barney and Betty Hill abduction.

Aries - the ram - One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy and one of the 13 zodiacal constellations In Greek mythology Athamas, the king of Orchomenos, was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino, daughter of Cadmus. Phrixus and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino who hatched a plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamus reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed, though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the the strait between the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara (Hellespont which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis (kolkis), where King Aettees took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Medea in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aettees hung in a tree in his kingdom.

Viewing

Naked eye -
Saturn in the early morning 5 degrees West of Regulus
Ghostly smudge M46 and M47 in dark skies -in Puppis west of Canis Major
Algol (Al-goul) naked eye variable star in Perseus.

Binocular -
M45 - the Pleiades. Take time to appreciate the ghostly nebulosity around the sisters.

Telescope -
NGC 3242 - Ghost of Jupiter - planetary nebula near the tail of Hydra
NGC 1909 - IC 2118 - Witch head nebula - nebula just west of Rigel
M16 - ghostly nebula in Saggitarius 6.0 mag large but close to the horizon and the moon
M27 - Dumbbell nebula in Vulpecula - ghost of apple core
M97 - Planetary nebula in Ursa Major - Owl Nebula 9.9 mag
NGC 2070 - Tarantula Nebula - 8 mag in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Feature Attraction - Astronomy Trick or Treat!

""Be very, very careful what you put into that head,
because you will never, ever get it out.

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530)

1. Bad! The Big Dipper is a constellation (and the Pleiades is the same thing as the Little Dipper)
   Good! The Pleiades and the Big Dipper are asterisms.
2. Bad! You can (only) balance an egg on the equinox.
   Good! If you have steady hands you can balance an egg anytime!
3. Bad! The seasons are caused by our distance from the sun.
   Good! The seasons are the result of the tilt of the Earth!
4. Bad! The Coriolis effect causes drains and toilets to rotate in different directions in different hemispheres.
   Good! Check out this website: http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html
5. Bad! August Mars will be as big as the full moon. This was a horrible email full of erroneous facts.
   Good! Track the relationship with Earth and Mars on this website to see when we are close(er) to Mars.
6. Bad! The moon looks larger on the horizon because the air is thicker and acts like a magnifying glass.
   Good! Look at the illusions here: http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/3d/moonillu.htm
7. Bad! The "dark side of the moon" never receives any sun-light.
   Good! Try it! Since the moon rotates on its axis it will receive sunlight on all sides.
8. Bad! Polaris is the brightest star in the sky.
   Good! The sun is the brightest star followed my Sirius, Canopus, Rigel Kentaurus, etc
9. Bad!Bad! First man in space was John Glenn.
   Good! Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space.
10. Bad! You can buy a star or a piece of the moon.

Transit of Mercury Nov. 8 2006

Viewing the transit safely!
Build a solar filter Sources for Baader film (http://www.baader-planetarium.com/sofifolie/details_e.htm#distributor)

New Comets

Comets for the Month.

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night! Week of Oct. 16, 2006

ARCTURUS IN AUTUMN

Oh, then I knew at last that my own autumn was upon me,
I felt it in my blood,
Restless as dwindling streams that still remember
The music of their flood. There in the thickening dark a wind-bent tree above me
Loosed its last leaves in flight--
I saw you sink and vanish, pitiless Arcturus,
You will not stay to share our lengthening night.

Sara Teasdale, 1926 (TOAOAL-II, pg. 1245)

Listener Question

Dan wanted directions for finding the Andromeda galaxy! I like to start with Alpheratz (al-FEE-rahts) the corner star in the great square of Pegasus shared by both constellations. This is the corner closes to Perseus and Cassiopeia. There is a long slender "V" with the brighter of the two track further away from Cassiopeia. If you start at Alpheratz, jump two stars down the brighter track to Mirach. The jump towards Cassiopeia two stars and stop. M31, the Andromeda galaxy, is just a nudge to the east. You will have 3 galaxies right there, M31, M32 and M110.

If you are having problems with faint stars another way to find M31 is to follow Cassiopeia. Start by finding Cassiopeia, if you draw a "W" on paper from left to right you make 4 lines resulting in 2 "V"s (no vendetta here)the second "V" points straight to Mirach then just back up a quarter of the way and shift east. M31 from the city looks nothing like the pictures she huge smear in the telescope with a very bright center. Give yourself time and dark skies to improve her view.

photo courtesy of: NASA Mariner 10

Feature Attraction - Mercury

Historical/Myological Facts

• Mercury was the Roman god of trade and commerce, in the same vein as Hermes of the Greeks, the messenger
• In India Mercury was called Buddha
• Mayans charted the motion of the planet Mercury as well; records of their detailed observations are found in the Dresden Codex. These include the appearance of Mercury as a morning star in 733 B.C. and as an evening star in 727. The Mayans also calculated that Mercury would rise and set in the same place in the sky every 2,200 days
• Translations from surviving cuneiform tablets reveal that Mercury was designated by many names, including that transcribed by archaeologists as MulUDU.IDIM.GU.UD. Mercury was often associated with Nabu, or Ninurta, the god of water and writing. Later, in Akkadian, it became known as Shikhtu, meaning "jumpy"
• For the Egyptian Mercury was called Thoth, the great measurer - a divinity associated with knowledge, and the inventor of speech, writing, and arithmetic
• For the northern ancestors, Mercury was named Odin, the supreme god. Often referred to as the god of wisdom, magic, and war, and the inventor of runes, his name means "inspired one". Odin was worshiped throughout northern Europe (including Britain), wherever the Vikings and other Nordic peoples settled. Odin was also known as Woden, and it is from this form that the English word for Wednesday is derived

  450 B.C. the Greeks started studying the motions of the planets and using geometry to measure the size of the Earth, Sun and Moon. Mercury was known by two different names, associated with its evening and morning appearances. These were Apollo (god of truth, the arts, archery, plagues, and divination) and Hermes (god of writing and messenger to the other gods).

Fast Facts!

• Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun. It has the most extreme contrast in temperature between day (430°C) and night (-180°C) in the solar system. Daytime temperatures are high enough to melt zinc and tin.
• BUT! Mercury is not the hottest planet, Venus is due to its heat trapping atmosphere
• Mercury's axis of rotation is oriented nearly perpendicular to the planet's orbit (axial tilt=0), so that in the polar regions sunlight strikes the surface at a constant grazing angle. The interiors of large craters at the poles are permanently shadowed and remain perpetually cold, below -212ºC (-350° F). Amazingly, radar observations of Mercury's north pole by Arecebo(a region not mapped by Mariner 10) show evidence of water ice in the protected shadows of some craters.
• Mercury's orbit is highly eccentric; at perihelion it is only 46 million km from the Sun but at aphelion it is 70 million. 
• Pluto has the most elongated orbit, two-thirds further from the Sun at aphelion than at perihelion.
• Mercury has virtually no atmosphere, meaning life as we know it is impossible.
• Mercury rotates three times for every two orbits of the sun
• This fact and the high eccentricity of Mercury's orbit would produce very strange effects for an observer on Mercury's surface. At some longitudes the observer would see the Sun rise and then gradually increase in apparent size as it slowly moved toward the zenith. At that point the Sun would stop, briefly reverse course, and stop again before resuming its path toward the horizon and decreasing in apparent size. All the while the stars would be moving three times faster across the sky. Observers at other points on Mercury's surface would see different but equally bizarre motions.
• Mercury is the second densest major body in the solar system, after Earth. Actually Earth's density is due in part to gravitational compression; if not for this, Mercury would be denser than Earth. This indicates that Mercury's dense iron core is relatively larger than Earth's, probably comprising the majority of the planet. Mercury therefore has only a relatively thin silicate mantle and crust.
• Only one spacecraft has been to mercury, Mariner 10, passing three times in 1974-75.
• However NASA's Messenger is on the way, launched in August 2004, and will fly by three times and then enter mercury orbit in March 2011. Then in 2012, ESA/ISAS's BepiColombo will be launched, also into mercurian orbit.
• Because of mercury's proximity to the sun, it cannot safely be photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
• Mercurian atmosphere is thin enough to be described as an exosphere, meaning the constituent atoms never collide. The identified elements in the exosphere are sodium, potassium, hydrogen, oxygen and neon. Ions and high frequency electromagnetic radiation from the sun are responsible for dislodging the atoms in the exosphere.
• Mass (kg) 3.302x1023
• Diameter is 4,880 kilometers (3,032 miles) (32% that of Earth) 2nd smallest of the classical planets now the smallest
• Perihelion (km) 46.00x106
• Aphelion (km) 69.82x106
• Length of day (hours) 4222.6

Why care about Mercury?

It offers a chance to examine another outcome of the processes that also produced Earth, Venus and Mars.

Learning how Mercury ended up the densest planet (after correcting for internal pressures) will tell us much about planetary formation.

Discovering how Mercury has sustained a magnetic field while larger bodies either have lost an earlier field (as Mars did) or have no present field and no record of a past field (Venus) will help us to understand magnetic field generation in our own planet.

Mercury also has the thinnest atmosphere among all the terrestrial planets and an incredibly wide temperature range. In fact, temperatures vary from nearly the highest in the solar system (at the equator) to among the coldest (in the permanently shadowed areas where ice deposits seem to lurk). Documenting the nature of Mercury's tenuous and changeable atmosphere and the composition of its mysterious polar deposits - thought by many to consist of water ice - will give us new insight into the volatile materials in the inner solar system.

Transit of Mercury Nov. 8 2006

Viewing the transit safely!
Build a solar filter Sources for Baader film (http://www.baader-planetarium.com/sofifolie/details_e.htm#distributor)

Fun Mercury Tools

Planets

• Mercury - Mag 0.0 in Libra. Mark your calendars for inferior conjunction and visible transit on Nov. 8th!
• Jupiter - Mag -1.6 in Libra. Clearly visible low in the sky just after sunset. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands and four Galilean satellites.
  
  
  
  images courtesy of: Stellarium software
• Pluto - Mag +14.0 in Ophiuchus
• Uranus - Mag +5.8 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just over 1 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look pinky nail east.
• Neptune - Mag +7.9 in Capricorn 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni

Too close to the sun..

• Mars - Mag +1.6 is at the western end of Virgo. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon and it will help to be closer to the equator.
• Venus - Mag -3.8 in Virgo.

• Saturn - Mag +0.6 on the western edge of Leo!

• 1 Ceres +7.9 mag in Piscis Austeralis 18.5 degrees West of Formalhaut
• Eris mag +19 in central Cetus

Constellations

Circinus -Circinus was invented by Lacaille during his stay at the Cape of Good Hope between 1751 and 1752. Latin for compass, is one of the small southern (declination -50 to -60 degrees) constellations. It represents a tool used in drawing maps and as such should not be confused with Pyxis, a constellation associated with a ship's compass.

Pyxis(-Latin for box as in Pyxis Navigatum [lit. Sailor's Box, a compass]) is a minor southern constellation introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille under the name Pyxis Nautica. It is perhaps supposed to represent the compass of Argo Navis but not formally a part of Argo Navis; that is, the stars in it have their own independent Bayer designations (unlike Carina, Puppis and Vela which retained and split among themselves the Bayer designations from Argo).

Vulpecula - (vul-pek-U-lu) the Fox, It was originally known as Vulpecula cum ansere = "the Fox with the Goose" created by Hevelius, but the goose no longer appears on star charts but the name remains in Alpha Vulpeculae is a red giant of spectral class M0 and has apparent magnitude +4.4 the least faint star in this very faint constellation.

However! :-) As faint as this constellation is it has too noteworthy features; "The Coathanger" more formally named Brocchi's Cluster (Collinder 399) and M27, the Dumbbell Nebula, is a large, bright planetary nebula which was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764 as the very first object of its kind. Find them!

Viewing

Naked eye -
NH: Time to get up early! Winter triangle, the Hyades (head of Taurus) and the Winter hexagon
SH: Large and Small Magellanic clouds, 47 Tucanae

Binocular -
NH: Star hop your way to the Andromeda Galaxy.
SH: NGC 362 globular cluster in Tucanae

Telescope -
Comet Swan currently in Canes Venatici. From the city it looks like a faint nebulous globular cluster! I did NOT see this! Aerith.net, Heavens-above.com
Comet C2006 T1 (Levy) currently in Leo. Wait until mid-week for the moon to get out of the way.
M27 - The Dumbell Nebula in Vulpecula
NH: M33 in Triangulum directly opposite Mirach from M31 - and with it NGC 604 and for a real challenge NGC 595, NGC 592 and NGC 588!
SH: Circinus Galaxy - NGC 346
in SMC -find it NGC 2070 - the Tarantula Nebula -find it Southern hemisphere challenge object very low surface brightness Mag 12.9
NGC 5715 9.8 Open Cluster

The Moon

Images created with Lunar Phase Pro

Our beautiful lunar photos are 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.

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

Comets

Comets for the Month.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

The harvest moon hangs round and high
It dodges clouds high in the sky,
The stars wink down their love and mirth
The Autumn season is giving birth.
Oh, it must be October
The leaves of red bright gold and brown,
To Mother Earth come tumbling down,
The breezy nights the ghostly sights,
The eerie spooky far off sounds
Are signs that it's October.
The pumpkins yellow, big and round
Are carried by costumed clumsy clowns
It's Halloween - let's celebrate.

- Pearl N. Sorrels, It Must be October

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Download this month's sky map!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map

Also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere October sky.

Key Dates for October

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

Astronomical

Historical

Events

Earth's major motions for 2006

Perihelion		Jan 4
Equinox		Mar 20 18:26(UT)
Solstice		June 21 12:26(UT)
Aphelion		July 3
Equinox		Sept 23 04:03(UT)
Solstice		Dec 22 00:22(UT)

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Comets for October

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Scottish Guitar Quartet -"Near the Circle"
Mark Heimonen - "Celebration"
I Awake - "New Time Nomads"

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Happy Equinox Everyone!

Well the Show #29 seems to have been corrupted. Some folks are getting the gerbil talk, some folks are getting puddles of static and a few are getting the file just fine.

I guess we are all in mourning over Slacker Astronomy. Sigh.

So! Since I am in transit to the N.W.R.A.L. Youth Starparty I am sending you all a quick note just to let you know that I will fix the podcast when I get home!

But this is a great dark weekend and I don't want you waiting for me!! So I have a gift for you. Here is the Scavenger Hunt I put together for the kids at the starparty!

Yes, most of them are Messier objects!
Yes, there is a lot of silliness!
Yes, we have to force pre-teens to get to know each other! (sigh)
Yes there is some staying up late involved! (because that is when the sugar kicks in!)
But since when do we all have to be so serious!!

If you haven't visited the Celestial Wonders site you should. That is where AAGG goes for our lunar images!. Here is a 4 day old moon.

Planets

• Mars - Mag +1.8 is at the western end of Virgo. Into the glare!
• Mercury - Mag -1.7 and only visible by the truly persistant near the equator and in the Southern Hemisphere. Mark your calendars for inferior conjunction and visible transit on Nov. 8th
• Jupiter - Mag -1.7 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky just after sunset. 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!).
• Uranus - Mag +5.7 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just over 1/2 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look pinky nail east.
• Neptune - Mag +7.8 in Capricorn 1.5 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni

• Venus - Mag -3.8 from the high northern latitudes she is lost in the glare of the sun. We will see her again in late Nov (SH) or Dec (NH).
• Saturn - Mag +0.5 on the western edge of Leo! Naked eye in the morning before sunrise and climbing higher all the time.

• Pluto Mag +13.9 in Serpens Cauda
• 1 Ceres +7.9 mag in Piscis Austeralis 18.5 degrees West of Formalhaut
• UB313 mag +19 in central Cetus

Comets

Comets for the Month.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Download this month's sky map!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map

Also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere September sky.

Key Dates for September

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

September
7	-Full Moon (largest of 2006)
	-Partial Lunar Eclipse(viewing area and times)
8	-Moon at 2nd closest perigee (the closest point in its orbit around Earth 357175 km) expect larger than normal tides
10	-Jupiter in conjunction with Zubenelgenubi (Libra) w/in 0 degrees 20' and someone's birthday!
13	-Before sunrise find the Moon between Pleiades and Aldebaran
15	-Moon at greatest northern declination +29 degrees
	-Last Quarter Moon 11:15 UT
18	-Saturn 2 degrees South of Moon, Beehive cluster
21	-Zodiacal Light visible in N latitudes in the E before sunrise, S latitudes in the W after sunset for the next month. Those living closer to the equator and the tropics get these year round (images)
22	-Moon at appogee (the furtherest point from Earth 406,500 km)
	-New Moon
	-Annular solar eclipse 11:45 UT (viewing area and time)
	-NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN!
23	-Equinox 4:03 UT
26	-Moon near Jupiter in the evening sky
29	-Moon at greatest southern declination -29 degrees
30	-First Quarter Moon 11:04 UT

...Did you know?
Sept 1 Pioneer 11 flew past the outer edge of Saturn's A ring at a range of 3,500 kilometers (1979)
Sept 8 Star Trek premiered (1966)
Setp 9 John Herschel makes first glass plate photograph (1839)
Sept 12 40th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 11 Launch (Charles Conrad and Richard Gordon)
Sept 14 Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to impact the surface of the moon (1959)
Sept 17 William Herschel discovered Saturn's moon Mimas (1789)
Sept 19 John Baur and Mark Summers declared this day International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Sept 20 A monkey named Yorick was the first monkey to live through a space flight...along with 11 mice (1951)
Sept 21 Herbert G. Wells' 140th Birthday (1866)
Sept 23 160th Anniversary (1846), Johann Galle's Discovery of Neptune
Sept 24 Luna 16 returns the 3 oz of Lunar soil. First unmanned automated return of material from another celestial body (1970)
Sept 28 55th Anniversary (1951), Seth Nicholson's Discovery of Jupiter Moon Ananke and 35th Anniversary (1971), Luna 19 Launch (USSR Moon Orbiter)

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Brunswick Duo -"Partita by J.S. Bach"
Fumitaka "Forest in the Morning"
AAGG Listener Heath Patrie - "A Wood Revisited" check out the rest of his wonderful music at his podcast.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Stars: Act I Les Miserables

You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!

By Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer

Listener Feedback

Listener Question

News

SMART-1 to hit the Moon Read more from NASA...or more from the ESA protal... One of its most important discoveries was a "Peak of Eternal Light," peaks around Crater Peary near the Moon's north pole in constant, year-round sunlight. Peaks of Eternal Light are prime real estate for solar-powered Moon bases.
Ironically I planned this week's lunar Lacus tour before I knew that SMART-1 was crashing into Lacus Excellentiae so the Lacus Tour is appropriate.

Uranian eclipse Read more from Space.com...
Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781, noting that it was moving slowly through the constellation Gemini. Initially, however, Herschel thought he had discovered a new comet.

Constellations

Sculptor - introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille as a sculptor's studio, but the name was later shortened to just Sculptor. It sits North of the Phoenix and Grus (the Crane) and to the east of Fomalhaut. Scuptor's 4-5th mag stars outline what could be a large block of unshaped stone.
Visible from 50 deg N Scuptor contains the South Galactic Pole and is home to the Scuptor Dwarf

Pisces Australis - Visible from 53 deg N the Southern Fish is one of the original 48 constellations that appeared in Ptolemy works. If you can find Aquarius and follow the water being poured from the jug you will find the Southern Fish drinking at the base of that cascade. The Arabs call the brightest star Fum al Hut (Fish Mouth)now Fomalhaut.

Around 3000BC Persian astrologers used Fomalhaut (Haftorang) as one of their 4 Guardian Stars (Royal or Watcher Stars).

They are:
Aldebaran (Tascheter) - vernal equinox (Watcher of the East)
Regulus (Venant) - summer solstice (Watcher of the North)
Antares (Satevis) - autumnal equinox (Watcher of the West)
Fomalhaut (Haftorang) - winter solstice (Watcher of the South)

Microscopium - another one of de Lacaille's mechanical wonders. Visible from 45 deg N but the stars are very faint. If you draw a line from Fomalhaut to Kaus Australis (the bottom corner star of the spout in the Saggitarius teapot) the half way point will be right in the middle of Microscopium.

Constellation image on its way!

Viewing

Something for the Northern Hemisphere is Algol. The Arabs called it Al ghul 'the ghoul' and the Greeks refered to it as the evil eye of the Gorgon Medusa. In the sky it is the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus and is indeed in Medusa's head in Perseus' outstreatched arms.

"...the Gorgon's head, a ghastly sight, deformed and dreadful, and a sight of woe". - Homer, writing of Algol in the Iliad.

Algol was actually an eclipsing binary 93 light-years away with a freakishly regular period of 2 days 20 hours 48 minutes 56 seconds to go from magnitude +2.1 to +3.4 and back. Use the charts from the AAVSO to find Algol and compare her in brightness to stars in the same area. Algol will be come easier to see (earlier!) and the season wears on. For more information visit the Sky and Telescope website.

Other objects around Algol.

Binocular - Turn those binoculars towards Algol for a treat. Telescope won't really give you the same nice wide field of view and the binoculars make it easier to compare magnitudes with stars around Algol. Binocular observers with really dark skies can view NGC 288 in Sculptor together with the bright galaxy NGC 253 in one field; NGC 288 appears as a round nebulous object.

Telescope - Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 55 in Sculptor
Swinging up high and dark try NGC 6207 mag +11.6 in Hercules just .25 deg NE of M13 the Hercules cluster.

Viewing image on its way!

The Moon

Images created with Lunar Phase Pro

Our beautiful lunar photos are 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.

Show #26 took us to the Ptolemaeus group of craters and we are going to start at the end of that group for a little hop to hell! ;-)

I loved this excerpt from "What's up 2006: 365 Days of Skywatching" by Tammy Plotner

"Just west of Thebit and its prominent A crater to the northwest, you see the Straight Wall - Rupes Recta - appearing as a thin, white line. Continue south until you see large, eroded crater Deslandres. On its western shore, is a bright ring that marks the boundary of Hell. While this might seem like an unusual name for a crater, it was named for an astronomer - and clergyman!"

Object	Latitude	Longitude	Comments
Crater Manilius	14.5	9.1	Marcus; Roman poet and astrologer (unkn-c. 50 B.C.).
Crater Menelaus	16.3	16	Of Alexandria; Greek geometer, astronomer (c. A.D. 98) also of the Iliad Menelaus was brother to Agamemnon and husband to Helen soon to be Helen of Troy

The 'Lake District'. The same way the Lake District in Northern England has a pletheora of 'tarn' the lunar surface also has its share of lacus (lakes), 17 in all, there is one region that has a nice concentraion. Between Mare Vaporum and Mare Serenitatis.

1. Lacus Felicitatis
2. Lacus Odii
3. Lacus Doloris
4. Lacus Gaudii
5. Lacus Hiemalis
6. Lacus Lenitatis

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

Planets

• Mars - Mag +1.8 is at the western end of Virgo. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon and it will help to be closer to the equator.
• Jupiter - Mag -1.7 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky just after sunset. 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!).
• Uranus - Mag +5.7 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility just over 1 degree east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look pinky nail east.
• Neptune - Mag +7.8 in Capricorn 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni

• Mercury - Mag -1.7 at Superior conjunction Aug 31. Mark your calendars for inferior conjunction and visible transit on Nov. 8th

• Venus - Mag -3.8 The brightest morning planet visible. To the ESE the bright star Sirius is rising with Venus in the morning.
• Saturn - Mag +0.5 on the western edge of Leo! You still need binoculars in the early morning glare. Starting the first weekend in September look for Saturn ~7 degrees West of Venus but by the second weekend they will be 15 degrees apart as Venus creeps closer to the Sun and Saturn and the Sun move apart..optically that is!

• Pluto Mag +13.9 in Serpens Cauda
• 1 Ceres +7.9 mag in Piscis Austeralis 18.5 degrees West of Formalhaut
• UB313 mag +19 in central Cetus

Comets

Comets for the Month.

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

Email us at astronomyagogo at gmail dot com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Direct from the IAU webpage...

"The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a "planet" is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

This means that the Solar System consists of eight "planets" Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called "dwarf planets" was also decided. It was agreed that "planets" and "dwarf planets" are two distinct classes of objects. The first members of the "dwarf planet" category are Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313 (temporary name). More "dwarf planets" are expected to be announced by the IAU in the coming months and years. Currently a dozen candidate "dwarf planets" are listed on IAU's "dwarf planet" watchlist, which keeps changing as new objects are found and the physics of the existing candidates becomes better known.

The "dwarf planet" Pluto is recognised as an important proto-type of a new class of trans-Neptunian objects. The IAU will set up a process to name these objects.

Below are the planet definition Resolutions that were passed:

RESOLUTIONS
Resolution 5A is the principal definition for the IAU usage of "planet" and related terms.

Resolution 6A creates for IAU usage a new class of objects, for which Pluto is the prototype. The IAU will set up a process to name these objects.

IAU Resolution: Definition of a Planet in the Solar System
Contemporary observations are changing our understanding of planetary systems, and it is important that our nomenclature for objects reflect our current understanding. This applies, in particular, to the designation 'planets'. The word 'planet' originally described 'wanderers' that were known only as moving lights in the sky. Recent discoveries lead us to create a new definition, which we can make using currently available scientific information.

RESOLUTION 5A
The IAU therefore resolves that "planets" and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A "planet"¹ is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape² , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects³ except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar-System Bodies".

¹The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
²An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.
³These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

IAU Resolution: Pluto

RESOLUTION 6A
The IAU further resolves:

Pluto is a "dwarf planet" by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects.1

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Image credit: Stellarium Software

The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.

The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head. 

AAGG Recall and general confusion

News from the IAU General Meeting in Prague

"The part of "IAU Resolution 5 for GA-XXVI" that describes the planet definition, states "A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."

"According to the new draft definition, two conditions must be satisfied for an object to be called a "planet." First, the object must be in orbit around a star, while not being itself a star. Second, the object must be large enough (or more technically correct, massive enough) for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape."

"A secondary object satisfying these conditions is also designated a planet if the system barycentre resides outside the primary. Secondary objects not satisfying these criteria are "satellites"."

"The IAU draft Resolution also defines a new category of planet for official use: "pluton". Plutons are distinguished from classical planets in that they reside in orbits around the Sun that take longer than 200 years to complete (i.e. they orbit beyond Neptune). Plutons typically have orbits that are highly tilted with respect to the classical planets (technically referred to as a large orbital inclination). Plutons also typically have orbits that are far from being perfectly circular (technically referred to as having a large orbital eccentricity). All of these distinguishing characteristics for plutons are scientifically interesting in that they suggest a different origin from the classical planets."

For a little Pluton entertainment check out Slacker Astronomy at slackerastronomy.org

Planets

Photo credit: Stellarium Software

Evening Planets
• Mars - Mag +1.8 is between the back legs of Leo the Lion. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon and it will help to be closer to the equator.
• Jupiter - Mag -1.8 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky just after sunset. 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!).
  
• Uranus - Mag +5.9 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility a thumbwidth east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look one thumbwidth east using binoculars..
• Neptune - Mag +7.9 in Capricorn 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni
  
• Pluto Mag +13.9 in Serpens Cauda

  Morning Planets

• Venus - Mag -3.62 The brightest morning planet visible. To the ESE the bright star Sirius is rising with Venus in the morning.
• Mercury - Mag -1.1 between the Sun and Venus (3.5 degrees East of Venus)
• Saturn - Mag +0.4 In Cancer and on the eastern horizon just after sunset and favored for those of you close to the equator.

More "Scale of the Solar System"

Viewing

Found a great site for NGC images go to the Digitized Sky Survey Site (DSS) and check out the images. I like the fact that you can see a page worth of thumbprints and then open the one you are looking for.

Naked eye and Binoculars The real show is for naked eyes in the morning (okay maybe a little bino help). Check out the Moon, Venus, Mercury and Saturn.
Something for evening viewing? Check out variable star Chi Cygni. It is a long period variabel star along the long neck of Cygnus the Swan and is right now at mag 4.0 (range 5.0-13.4)

Photo in the infrared by Maurice Gavin

Telescope NGC 6864 or M75 globular cluster at 8.6 mag
NGC 7099 or M30 globular cluster at 6.9 mag a very bright
NGC 7089 or M2 globular cluster at 6.6 mag
NGC 6994 or M73 open cluster at 8.3 mag small 4 star cluster
NGC 6981 or M72 globular cluster at 9.2 mag

Challenge Object NGC 7293 the Helix Nebula a planetary nebula at 7.3 mag
NGC 7009 or the Saturn Nebula planetary nebula at 8.0

The Moon

Maps created with Lunar Phase Pro

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.

This weekend waning gibbous
New Moon - Aug 23rd 1st Quarter - Sept 1st

Comets for August

News

Grand Rapids Amateaur Astronomical Association (GRAAA) host public nights at the James C. Veen Observatory on the second and last Saturdays of the month (April through October), if the skies are clear. Please call the Starwatch number -- 897-7065 -- for updates and the status of a particular night if the weather conditions are questionable.
Admission for visitors' nights are $3 for Adults, $2 for 17 years and younger, and free for children under 5 years of age.

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Yale

Spectrographic image of a quasar for Sabrina

"The Music of the Night"

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your face away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night

Close you eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to go
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the harmony which dreams alone can write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe
from "The Phantom of the Opera"

Listener Feedback

Once you find them you may, at first, just think "Huh, is that all." but think about it, they are the furthest two gas giants and are, at their closest, 2.57 billion km and 4.3 billion km from Earth respectively. Now just how big and reflective does something have to be to be seen 4.3 billion miles away?

Planets

Evening Planets
• Mars - Mag 1.6 is between the back legs of Leo the Lion and is 12 degrees SW of Denebola. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon and be closer to the equator.
• Jupiter - Mag -2.5 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky 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!).
  
• Uranus - Mag. 5.9 in Aquarius Uranus is best seen in a dark moonless sky away from artificial lighting. It may be seen looking like a very faint star to the dark-adapted naked eye that shimmers in and out of visibility a thumbwidth east of Lambda Aquarii. Find the tipped over letter Y of Aquarius, go 4 thumbwidths southeast to find Lambda, and then look one thumbwidth east using binoculars..
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn 1 degree north of the +4.3 magnitude star Iota Capricorni
  
• Pluto Mag. 14 in Serpens Cauda

  Morning Planets

• Venus - Mag -3.9 The brightest morning planet visible. To the ESE the bright star Sirius is rising with Venus in the morning.
• Mercury - Mag -1.0 between the Sun and Venus (3.5 degrees East of Venus)
• Saturn - 0.1 mag In Cancer and on the eastern horizon just after sunset and favored for those of you close to the equator.

  I know we have some AAGG listeners out there that are wee hours of the morning observers so it would be great if you folks would put your observations in the show note comments!

"The Distance to the Planets by Halves" activity coming soon....

Constellations

Viewing

Naked eye The Perseids between now and the beginning of next week. Wake yourself up early and catch Mercury and Venus and in the next week or two Saturn in the morning sky.

Binocular M22(NGC 6656) the third brightest globular cluster after Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae and is the closest globular to us. It is 100 ly in diameter and has 100,000 suns.

Telescope Globular cluster in Sanitarium just NW of M22, NGC 6642. Another pair NGC 6522 and NGC 6528

Challenge Object Planetary nebula NGC 6790 in Aquila. Start at delta Aquilae, go 2 degrees South and then a little west (see image)

The Moon

Maps created with Lunar Phase Pro

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.

This weekend waning gibbous
Last Quarter - Aug 15th
New Moon - Aug 23rd

Comets for August

Astronomer Activist

The IDA European meeting will take place on 15-16 September in Portsmouth, England, UK

Asia-Pacific Conference, to be held 26-28 October 2006 in Sydney, Australia. The Conference will occur together with the Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia and New Zealand (IESANZ) Annual Convention, with the theme "Our Lighting Future."

You might also be interested in a recent report from California Connected entitled "In Search of Darkness." There is a great little video about the US National Park System and their dark sky data collection. Watch it!

News

Jupiter spots recap and pictures

Mars Attacks! Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog says it best....

Speaking of Mars, the Science Cafe (Orange County Chapter) is hosting a "Wine, Dinner, and Mars" event in September so if you are planning to be anywhere near Anaheim CA September 19th go to their website and check out their event. On Friday, August 18, 8-10 PM, the UC-Irvine Observatory is hosting an open "Visitor Night" to see the planet Jupiter, the Perseids, and feature a slide show called, "The History of the Solar System."

Music

I'd give you the moon - Jake Coco

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Download this month's sky map!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map

Also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere June sky.

Key Dates for August

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

August
1	-Cross Quarter Day! (Aug 7th if you measure by degrees instead of time) Traditional first day of Autumn/Spring and half-way between solstice and equinox
2	-First Quarter Moon 8:46 UT
4	-Moon close to Antares, possible occultation
7	-Mercury at greatest elongation 19 deg West of the Sun (morning planet)
	-Full Moon 10:54 UT
9	-Saturn in conjunction with the Sun, moving to a morning planet
10	-Moon at perigee (the closest point in its orbit around Earth)
	-Mercury 2 deg away from Venus in the morning sky
11	-Moon very near Uranus in the morning sky. Viewers in South America have possible occultation.
	-Max libration 8.2 degrees (favors NW quadrant and craters Volta and Omar Khayyam, at full Moon)
12	-Peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower 23 UT. The meteors are dust particles spread out around the 130-year orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle
16	-Last Quarter Moon 1:51 UT
	-Moon near the Pleiades occultations visable from Japan, Siberia and Alaska
20	-Proposed launch day for STEREO which will provide stereoscopic views of the sun!
	-Just before dawn, look to the east and see how many of these objects you can see: Saturn, Mercury, Venus, and the thin waning Crescent Moon
23	-New Moon 19:10 UT
26	- Moon at apogee (the farthest point in its orbit around Earth)
26	-Venus .08 deg from Saturn in the morning sky
29	-Jupiter above a waxing crescent moon
31	-First Quarter Moon 22:57 UT

...Did you know?
Aug 1,1818 Birthdate of Maria Mitchell first woman to be elected as an astronomer to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Aug 5 Neil Armstrong is 76 today.
Aug 7,1959 Explorer 6 returned the first ever images of Earth from space
Aug 11,1877 Mars's outer moon Deimos discovered. Asaph Hall, U.S. Naval Observatory, 1877. Aug 17 Phobos discovered.
Aug 14-26 IAU meeting in Prague will finally produce a definition of 'planet'!
Aug 19,1646 birthday of the first observer at the Royal Observatory, John Flamsteed
Aug 28,1789 William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Enceladus

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Alexye Nov -"Nightly Murmur of Crickets"
Josh Woodward "Mon Amie"
Corrinne May "Same side of the Moon"

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Planets

Evening Planets
• Saturn - 0.1 mag In Cancer and on the western horizon just after sunset and favored for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere. Up north I haven't been able to see Saturn in the glare of sunset (and clouds) for a while. If you feel like you are missing Saturn because of these long Northern Hemisphere days head on over to the Cassini Imagine website and get yourself a little Saturn fix! For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere there it gets dark super early so you have a few more hours with Saturn that we do.
• Mars - Mag +1.6 and has moved in to Leo the Lion and this weekend is sitting close enough to Regulus to make it look like a very unique double star system. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon.
• Jupiter - Mag -2.5 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky just after sunset, 15 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!).
  
• Uranus - Mag. 5.9 in Aquarius draw a line between Fomalhaut and Markab (opposite corner of the square of Pegasus from Andromeda) and Uranus is close to the middle.
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn half way between Fomalhaut and Theta Aquilli the eastern wing-tip of Aquila the Eagle.
  
• Pluto Mag. 14 in Serpens Cauda

  Morning Planets

• Venus - Mag -3.9 The brightest morning planet visible. Low in the eastern morning sky. This weekend she moves near Zeta Tauri and makes a nice triangle with M1 the Crab Nebula and Zeta. She will continue to move towards Cancer and closer to the sun during the week.

Viewing

The Moon

Maps created with Lunar Phase Pro

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.

This weekend waning cresant

New Moon - July 24th
1st Quarter - Aug 2nd

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Murphy's Law (addendum)
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

Special thanks to Ron for sticking up for me in the posts, Tom of Tom's Astronomy Blog for keeping an eye on me, Jim (RapidEye) for some great moral support and Tom and Woodland Hills for his support and patience.

Thanks to all of you for waiting so patiently and for your understanding with all of the mess-ups this month.

Listener Feedback

Ron sent an email sharing some information on a new, free, design for a trackball style dobsonian/equatorial hybrid that will be in the August Sky and Telescope magazine.

He also passed along a little trick for using a go-to scope as a teaching aid. He attached a green laser pointer to a go-to scope and had it slew to different objects so that new dobsonian drivers could follow and see where he was pointed to find the objects them selves.

I find this also works well with binoculars! Strap the green laser to your binos and then when you find an object just turn on the laser so those looking in the sky with binos next to you can follow your beam. Much easier then holding the laser pointer with one hand and the binos with the other.

Our friend James from NZ writes:
"Hi Alice,
I hope the house panting has been progressing well !!!
Well it stopped snowing !!!!!!!! here, today we have a tropical 2 degrees with sleet and heavy rain.
I was asked a question over the weekend that I had to Google the answer for - it was, what is a "blue moon". Good question I thought. You might like to mention / expand on it in a podcast - this I got from wikipedia.

All the best
James "

Blue Moons from Wikipedia

"What is a Blue Moon?" from Sky and Telescope

Listener Question

Michael want to know where he could find images of the "face" on Mars. There are some good comparison pictures of the Viking and MGS images on the Mars Global Surveyor website. There are also some amazing Mars images on the PanCam site
and if you want to see something special look at the animated gif file of Earth rising as imaged by rover Opportunity. Is that creepy enough for you Michael?

Planets

Evening Planets
• Saturn - 0.1 mag In Cancer and on the western horizon just after sunset and favored for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere. Up north I haven't been able to see Saturn in the glare of sunset (and clouds) for a while. If you feel like you are missing Saturn because of these long Northern Hemisphere days head on over to the Cassini Imagine website and get yourself a little Saturn fix! For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere there it gets dark super early so you have a few more hours with Saturn that we do.
• Mars - Mag +1.6 and has moved in to Leo the Lion and is 2 degrees west of Regulus. You will have to look hard in the haze of the horizon.
• Jupiter - Mag -2.5 in Libra. Clearly visible high in the sky 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!).
  
• Uranus - Mag. 5.9 in Aquarius draw a line between Fomalhaut and Markab (opposite corner of the square of Pegasus from Andromeda) and Uranus is close to the middle.
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn half way between Fomalhaut and Theta Aquilli the eastern wing-tip of Aquila the Eagle.
  

• Pluto Mag. 14 in Serpens Cauda

Morning Planets

• Venus - Mag -3.9 The brightest morning planet visible. Low in the eastern morning sky. This weekend she moves near Zeta Tauri and makes a nice triangle with M1 the Crab Nebula and Zeta. She will continue to move towards Cancer and closer to the sun during the week.

Constellations

Antlia (ANT-lee-uh) - the air pump. The French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille created 13 constellations for the southern sky to fill some star poor regions, among them Antlia

Delphinus (del-FY-ness)- the Dolphin. According to the first one, Greek god Poseidon wanted to marry Amphitrite, a nereid. She, however, wanting to protect her virginity, fled to the Atlas mountains. Her suitor then sent out several searchers, among them a certain Delphinus. Delphinus accidentally stumbled upon her and was able to persuade Amphitrite to accept Poseidon's wooing. Out of gratitude the god placed the image of a dolphin among the stars.

Equuleus (eh-KWOO-lee-us)- the Colt or Foal is the smallest northern hemisphere constellation and the 2nd smallest constellation after Crux in the S.H. Equuleus is associated with the foal Celaris, who was the brother of the winged horse Pegasus. Celaris was given to Castor by Mercury.

Viewing

Step outside just after sun set and find Jupiter. Now as the stars start to appear see if you can identify the brightest stars without the rest of their constellation. If you were navigating on the ocean without technology it would be important.

Binocular -
In the high northern latitudes it is 11pm or later before it gets dark enough for deep sky binocular work so you can warm up with planets and Re-visit Coma Berenices before it starts getting any lower and then head over to Lyra and catch the first part of the Double-Double

Also swing over to Delta Cygnus and look for a large ring of stars circling that 4th brightest star. Head over to Ophiucus and star gobbling up globulars!

Telescope -
We talked about the Coat hanger asterism on our last show but for telescopes the entire asterism is too large. BUT there is a lovely double star to check out that is just right for scopes. the bright star in the bend of the Coat hanger 'hook' is Struve 2521 a quad star system.

Review - With a dark weekend go back and take a look at Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices before they disappear!

Also, go and visit the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) near our little Sagitta, to me it looks very much like an apple core. Sliding due south of the Dumbbell is a very nice globular cluster M71. It sits right between the two bright stars that make up the shaft of Sagitta.

The Moon

Maps created with Lunar Phase Pro

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 we will visit them.

This weekend waning gibbous
Last Quarter - July 17
New Moon - July 24th

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

News

In mythology, Pluto ruled the underworld. Nyx was the goddess of night and the mother of Charon, the boatsman who takes souls across the River Styx and into Pluto's grasp. Pluto's large satellite, discovered in 1978, is called Charon. Because an asteroid with the name Nyx already exists, the IAU decided to use a slightly different spelling for the inner one of the two small Plutonian moons, to avoid confusion. Hydra was the mythological nine-headed serpent that guarded the underworld. A large but inconspicuous constellation in the spring sky also bears this name.

The first letters, N and H, also refer to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which was launched in January and is now on its way to an encounter with the Pluto system in the summer of 2015

Hubble's ACS camera fails - (from AAAS, read on...) but not before giving us the best photo yet of Pluto, Charon, Nix-msp and Hydra.

Chandra shows magnetic fields around black hole - (from Chandra site, read on...)

Comets for July.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Same side of the Moon - Corrinne May

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

I am trying!  I really am!  ;-)

Just when I thought that I was finally past the technical problems it looks like Libsyn has gone wacko...

So after I loaded the podcast instead of getting Astronomy a Go! Go! I was getting someone else's podcast or dancing bunnies.  Humm. 

So with that I will let you all know when it is safe to listen again!!  Since some of my listeners have younger kids with them I would rather not have a random podcast pop up!

Here is what Libsyn has to say....

All of the observations are for 10-11pm for the mid latitudes as you move south it gets darker sooner so if you go out before 10 rotate my observations to the east 15 degrees for each hour. For the S. Hemisphere observations observations will be ~8pm

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Download this month's sky map!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map
- also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere July sky.

Key Dates for July

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

June	Saturn's rings begin their progression back to edge on so enjoy the rings of Saturn!
21	Solstice the standing still Sun!
25	New Moon
	Max libration 8.2 degrees (favors SE quadrant but new moon, wait a couple of days)
30	Astronomy a Go Go! travels to Gold Hill Colorado (39.5450° N, 106.0480° W) then to Chaco Canyon (~36.0220° N, 106.9580° W)!
July
1	Scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle
2	Before sunrise look ENE for bright Venus with the Pleiades 11 degrees to her west and Aldeberon (both in Taurus) about 4 degrees to her SE(closer to the horizon)
3	1st Quarter Moon, Earth furthest from the Sun (aphelion). Earth-crossing asteroid 2004 XP14 will make a close flyby of Earth during the early morning hours. Learn more..<./td>
6	Jupiter stationary and begins its return to direct (eastward) motion
10-15	Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr close encounter. See the images
11	Full Moon
17	Last Quarter
18	Mercury at inferior conjunction -passes into the morning sky
20	Moon near Pleiades (M45) check your are for occultations possibilities
22	Mars .64 degrees from Regulus
25	New Moon
27	Waxing crescent moon near Mars
28-29	Southern Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. The Delta Aquarids usually produce about 20 meteors per hour at their peak. The radiant point for this shower will be in the constellation of Aquarius. Best viewing is usually to the east after midnight

Beginning of the month

Planets

For N or S nothing beats Jupiter this month. Jupiter seems to hover between Libra and Virgo for the beginning of the month as Jupiter reverses its retrograd path and returns to proper eastward motion. No matter if you are in the North riding along the equator or in the S.Hemisphere just look for the brightest object along the ecliptic after sunset. Even before dark an 8" telescope can pick up the 4 Galilean moons around Jupiter and binoculars can pick them up once it gets good and dark.
Venus starts out the month between the horns of Taurus the bull who we just said good by to as a winter constellation just a couple of months ago. Venus is slowly making her way back towards the sun so watch for her in the early mornings before sunrise

Constellations

• Leo
• Virgo
• Hydra
• Ophiuchus
• Scorpius

End of the month

Have you noticed how the amount of sunlight has changed as we go into August? August 1st is the cross quarter day between our last solstice and our next equinox!

Planets

Jupiter is between Libra and Virgo for
Venus by the end of the month sits between the Gemini twins

Constellations

• Summer Triangle
  • Lyra
  • Cygnus
  • Aquila
• Satittarius

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Alexye Nov -"Nightly Murmur of Crickets"

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

The Cloud: Last stanza

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Listener Feedback

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.

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: 

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

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

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.

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

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)

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."

(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.

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.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

I have divided the show into two parts, early June and late June with a song in the middle to help you navigate.

Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Download this month's sky map!

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map
- also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere June sky.

Key Dates for June

Days and Times in UT (help with time)

May
27	-New Moon
30	-Moon and Mars line up with Castor and Pollux
31	-Waxing Crescent Moon, Saturn and the Beehive cluster all framed together
June	-Saturn's rings begin their progression back to edge on so enjoy the rings of Saturn!
2	-Look for a lovely pairing of Jupiter's Moons two on each side in mirror image 2:05 UT
3	-First Quarter Moon
4	-Moon at apogee (the futhest point in its orbit around Earth)
	-Min libration 1.3 degree libration (favors SW quadrantMare Oriental on dark limb)
11	-Full Moon
	-Max libration 8.2 degrees (favors NW quadrant and craters Volta and Omar Khayyam, at full Moon)
16	-Moon at perigee (the closest point in its orbit around the Earth)
17	-Mars .6 degrees N or Saturn in Cancer and .5 degrees from the Beehive cluster
18	-Last Quarter Moon
	-Min libration 1.4 degrees (favors NE quadrant and Mare Crisium on a darkened limb)
19	-Uranus stationary and begins westward motion
20	-Mercury at greatest eastern elongation 25 degrees from the sun
21	-Solstice the standing still Sun!
25	-New Moon
	-Max libration 8.2 degrees (favors SE quadrant but new moon, wait a couple of days)
30	-Astronomy a Go Go! travels to Gold Hill Colorado then to Chaco Canyon!

...Did you know?
June 16, 1963 Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in Space
June 18, 1983 Sally Ride was the first woman in the 'new age' of space (Challenger Mission)

Planet Positions for 2006

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Venus

Sgr

Sgr

Cap

Aqr

Psc

Ari

Tau

Cnc

Leo

Vir

Lib

Sgr

Mars

Ari

Tau

Tau

Gem

Gem

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Vir

Vir

Lib

Sco

Jupiter

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Lib

Sco

Saturn

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Cnc

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Leo

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music Alexye Nov -"Nightly Murmur of Crickets"
Fugli Greensleeves
Jupiter and Teardrop Moonshine

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Can You Count the Stars Tonight?

My darling daughter, can you count the stars tonight?
Can you imagine a night, not so long ago, filled with starlight,
An infinity of shimmering diamonds on a meadow of velvet?
Can you close your eyes and picture a river of a million distant fireflies,
A cascade of sparkling heavenly beacons that once filled our skies?
Now that those who are without wonder or awe have taken our night,
My darling daughter, can you count the stars tonight?

Yes, daddy, I can see two!
---Doug Snyder, 5 August 1998

Listener Question

Also Anthony from Manchester is getting ready to go on holiday and sent in the following request:

"Hi Alice,

I will soon be going away on holiday with the family for a couple of
weeks and I wondered if you could throw out a question to your
listeners for any suggestions or recommendations for holiday reading?

Something reasonably light, in terms of weight and content, and
astro-related would be great. I won't have access to my scope and I'll
be most likely reading when its light (and hopefully sunny) so nothing
that requires any specific observing as I read. 

Cheers!  Anthony"

So leave your suggestions for Anthony in the show notes!

Viewing

Naked eye - May 27 - use binoculars (after sunset)to see a very young moon next to Mercury
May 30 - Moon and Mars line up with Castor and Pollux
May 31 - Waxing Crescent Moon, Saturn and the Beehive cluster all framed together

Binocular - M3 (6.3 mag) globular cluster half way between Cor Caroli and Arcturus about 12 degrees on the line starting from Arcturus
Jewel box in Crux (4.2 mag), Omega Centauri (3.9 mag), M7 Ptolomey's Cluster (3.3 mag) in Scorpio and M4 (5.4 mag) west of Antares.

Telescope - M63 The Sunflower Galaxy (8.5 mag), M94 in Canes Venatici(8.1 mag), and M51 the Whirlpool in Ursa Major all of which have very bright centers.
Compare these to M109 (9.8 mag) in Ursa Major Ringtail Galaxy (10.3 mag)NGC 4038 in Corvus and compare that to M104 (8.3 mag) Sombrero Galaxy on the border between Virgo and Corvus. For me this is still pretty far south in the light pollution and muck.

The Moon

What to look for!
Waning and waxing crescent 2 days apart

Southeast favoring libration will help those with eagle eyes find some lunar edge items!

New! To help those working on Lunar awards* I will give latitudes and longitudes when possible. Remember latitudes that are negative (-) are South and longitudes that are negative (-) are West!

Object	Latitude	Longitude	Comments
Mare Australe	-38.9	93!
Mare Spumans	1.1	65.1
Mare Undarum	7	69
Crater Petavius and rimea	-25.1	60.4	Rimea Petavius a straight line from the central peak SW
Crater Langrenus(lan-grin'as)	-8.9	61.1	During the Apollo 8 mission, Astronaut James Lovell described Langrenus as, "quite a huge crater; it's got a central cone to it. The walls of the crater are terraced, about six or seven terraces on the way down." The Flemish Astronomer Michel Florent van Langren was the first person to draw a lunar map while giving names to many of the features. He even named this crater after himself. Ironically, this is the only one of his named features that has retained his original designation *Wikipedia entry Langrenas is also a site with a history of transient lunar phenomenon (tlp)
Crater Cleomedes	27.7	56	Just above Mare Crisium it is named after the 1st century Greek astronomer known for his book On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies. Crater Cleomedes is a very prominent crater approximately 126 kilometers in diameter with rilles on the central peak and sides.
Crater Hercules	46.7	39.1	With twin crater Atlas...
Crater Atlas	46.7	44.4	With twin crater Hercules...look for the dark halo craters

*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, if you know where to look! The bright star to the SE is Zuben Elgenubi in Libra the bright star west along the ecliptic is Spica in the constellation Virgo. 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.
• 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 in Gemini creeping west towards Cancer and Saturn. It is the bright point of light SW of Castor and Pollux just SW of Kappa Gemini so that it looks like Pollux is trying to reach out and catch him.
• Mercury - has now finished his time behind the sun and has joined the rank of the evening planets. This weekend it will be very near the horizon just after sunset between the sun and the waxing crescent moon.
  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.
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn low in the south west before dawn
• 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.
  

Viewing

• Location
• Age
• Ability/Experience
• Fatigue
• Instruments

• Sky Brightness - The higher in the sky you look, the darker the sky will be. Plan your deep-sky observing projects accordingly. Also, light pollution tends to improve a bit after 11 or midnight as some outdoor lights get turned off.
• Dark Adaptation - After spending 15 minutes in darkness you might think your night vision is fully developed. But in fact your eyes gain as much as another two magnitudes of sensitivity during the next 15 minutes. Thereafter, dark adaptation improves very slightly for 90 minutes more. So don't expect to see faint objects at their best until a half hour or more into an observing session.
• Averted Vision -When you look directly at something, its image falls on your retina's fovea centralis. This spot is packed with bright-light-optimized cone cells and provides sharp resolution under strong illumination. To see something faint, you have to look slightly away from it. Doing so moves the image of your target off the fovea and onto parts of the retina that have more rod cells, which see only in black and white but are more light-sensitive than the cones.
• High Power - Can help bring out the detail of galaxies, clusters and nebula but can be thwarted by high sky brightness. Feel free to experiment!
• Capturing Color - In order to show us color, a deep-sky object must have a high enough surface brightness to stimulate the retina's cone cells Averted vision is not the way to look for color. The cones are thickest in the fovea, so stare right at your object. In this case, the lowest useful power should work best. A large telescope aperture is especially advantageous for those who seek to see color in deep-sky objects.

Weather charts and forecasts

Cloud cover This forecast may miss low cloud and afternoon thunderstorms. When the forecast is clear, the sky may still be hazy, if the transparency forecast is poor.

Transparency-Astronomically 'transparency' means just what astronomers mean by the word: the total transparency of the atmosphere from ground to space. It's calculated from the total amount of water vapor in the air. It is somewhat independent of the cloud cover forecast in that there can be isolated clouds in a transparent air mass, and poor transparency can occur when there is very little cloud.

Above average transparency is necessary for good observation of low contrast objects like galaxies and nebulae. However, open clusters and planetary nebulae are quite observable in below average transparency. Large globulars and planets can be observed in poor transparency.

Seeing
Refers to the blurring and twinkling of astronomical objects such as stars caused by turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. The turbulence can also come from the telescope itself, the observer, or the immediate surroundings.

Excellent seeing means at high magnification you will see fine detail on planets. In bad seeing, planets might look like they are under a layer of rippling water and show little detail at any magnification, but the view of galaxies is probably undiminished. Bad seeing is caused by turbulence combined with temperature differences in the atmosphere. This forecast attempts to predict turbulence and temperature differences that affect seeing for all altitudes.

Bad seeing can occur during perfectly clear weather. Often good seeing occurs during poor transparency. It's because seeing is not very related to the water vapor content of the air.

* The PRACTICAL LOWEST power magnification for any telescope is approximately 7 times for each inch of aperture. Example: 28X for a 4-inch (100mm) diameter telescope
* The PRACTICAL HIGHEST power magnification for any telescope is approximately 50 times for each inch of aperture. Example: 200X for a 4-inch (100mm)diameter telescope.
Humidity

This forecasts ground-level relative humidity. Humidity variations won't determine whether or not you can observe, but it might affect observer comfort and can indicate the likelihood of dewing.

But dewing is not simply correlated to relative humidity. Dewing tends to happen when the sky is clear, the temperature is dropping and there isn't much wind. Being on a hilltop or in a small valley can make the difference between no dew and dripping telescopes.

Limiting Magnitude

Apparent magnitudes How bright things look from Earth. We don't know how intrinsically bright an object is until we also take its distance into account. Thus astronomers created the absolute magnitude scale.

Absolute magnitude An object's absolute magnitude is simply how bright it would appear if placed at a standard distance of 10 parsecs (32.6 light-years) The parsec (symbol pc) is a unit of length used in astronomy. It stands for "parallax of one arc second". BBC's Sky at Night programme: Patrick Moore demonstrates Parallax using Cricket.

Seen from this distance, the Sun would shine at an unimpressive visual magnitude 4.85. Rigel would blaze at a dazzling -8, nearly as bright as the quarter Moon. The red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system, would appear to be magnitude 15.6, the tiniest little glimmer visible in a 16-inch telescope! Knowing absolute magnitudes makes plain how vastly diverse are the objects that we casually lump together under the single word "star."

Some online calculators of Limiting Magnitude and surface brightness.

News

ESA lava tubes on Mars. Mars Express, shows Pavonis Mons, the central volcano of the three 'shield' volcanos that comprise Tharsis Montes

ProAM extrasolar planet find!. In June and July 2005, four amateur astronomers (Ron Bissinger in California, Bruce Gary in Arizona, Paul Howell in Maine, and Tonny Vanmunster in Belgium) carefully monitored one of the most promising candidates identified by XO: a magnitude-11.3 solar-type star in Corona Borealis. The amateur observations revealed the telltale periodic dips of a transiting object only 30 percent larger than Jupiter. The star decreases in brightness by 2 percent for 3 hours every 3.9415 days  -  the companion's orbital period. Armatur Transit organization Transit.org

Comets for May.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering FREE web hosting on our servers for you or your organization's website. In order to promote the hobbies of Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography, Birding or generally any topic that is of interest to our customer base, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is offering Hosting Grants.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the Trav'ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro� my curtains peep,
For you never shut you eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

'Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav'ller in the dark:
Tho' I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

---Jane Taylor, The Star, 1806

Listener Question

Venus Elongation Explorer
Planet Orbit JAVA script

Try it for yourself using western elongation or inferior conjunctions.

Data for western elongation (viewing Venus at sunrise)

Apparition      Date              Elongation
--------------------------------------------------
 Morning     2006 Mar 25     46.5W
 Morning     2004 Aug 17     45.8W
 Morning     2003 Jan 11     47.0W
 Morning     2001 Jun  8     45.8W
 Morning     1999 Oct 31     46.5W
 
 

Data for Inferior Conjunctions
Planet Orbit JAVA script

2004 Jun 9
2006 Jan 14
2007 Aug 21
2009 Mar 27
2010 Nov 1

You will need to look down on the solar system for these to work.

Just running a 16 year cycle will let you see the over lapping 8 year cycles. Here is one 8 year cycle with a dot representing a weeks worth of movement. Venus has a strange path!

Viewing

Naked eye - Watching Mars speed across Gemini. Pay careful attention to SAFE solar viewing: Projection with binoculars and good old Pinhole projection

Binocular - a good practice for steadiness is looking at Jupiter and Saturn and while you are at Saturn take a look at the Beehive cluster M44. The Coma cluster (Mel 111) in Coma Berenice just north of Leo's tail Denebola and Open cluster NGC 4755 in Crux

Telescope - 9.6 magnitude globular cluster - NGC 5634. Found about halfway between Iota and Mu Virginis and almost due south of Phi, what makes it special is it shares the fieldwith an 8th and a 12th magnitude star. This gives it the appearance of a 3 star system!

M108 - Start with Beta Ursae Majoris - southwestern star of the Big Dipper. About a finger-width between it and Phecda to the southeast, you'll catch the 10.1 magnitude Edge-On galaxy Despite being faint, M108 contrasts well on a good dark night sky and larger scopes will make out irregular patches of detail.

Less than a finger-width further southeast M97 - the Owl Nebula.

For the Southern hemisphere go to Omega Centauri and catch 7.0 mag galaxy NGC 5128. NGC 5128 is easily found halfway between Omega and Iota Centauri.

Constellations

Lyra - the Lyra or Harp - Lyra the Lyre or Harp is the instrument invented by Hermes (Mercury) and given to Apollo his half-brother, who in turn gave it to his son Orpheus, the musician of the Argonauts.

Chamaeleon - the Chameleon in Australia it is sometimes unofficially called "the Frying Pan" when finding the south by the stars. The constellation contains a number of molecular clouds (called the "Chamaeleon dark clouds") that are forming low-mass T Tauri stars. The cloud complex lies some 400 to 600 light years from Earth, and contains tens of thousands of solar masses of gas and dust.

The Moon

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, if you know where to look! The bright star to the SE is Zuben Elgenubi in Libra the bright star west along the ecliptic is Spica in the constellation Virgo. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands and four Galilean satellites.
• Saturn - Mag 0.3 in Cancer and tonight and moving East. 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 in Gemini creeping west towards Cancer and Saturn. It is the bright point of light SW of Castor and Pollux
  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.
• Neptune - Mag. 7.9 in Capricorn low in the south west before dawn
• 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.
  
• Mercury - in superior conjunction hence invisible

Variable Stars - Guest Presenter: Tom McDonagh!

Finder charts for Leo, Sextans and Andromeda

Tom's links:
I use MaxIm DL pretty exclusively.
AstroArt is a good less expensive program.
AIP4Win is a great program/text and goes a long way in explaining the imaging process as well as data reduction
Astrometrica Shareware
Professional level IRAF -Free!

Sample Variable Stars:

Designation Name	Type	Mag1	Mag2	Period(days)
0918-68 RW CAR	M	9.3	15	318
0929-62 R CAR	M	4.6	9.6	308
0954-58 RR CAR	SRB	9.1	10.4	109
0955-63 RV CAR	M	11.3	16.2	365
1004-69 OY CAR	UGSU	12.2	16.5	260
1006-61 S CAR	M	5.7	8.5	150
1010-58A A CAR	M	10.7	15.2	384
1032-70 RZ CAR	M	10	15.4	272
1041-59 ETA CAR	SDOR	-0.8	7.9	157

AGN = Active Galactic Nucleus
C = Cepheid
M = Mira; long period variable
RCB = R Coronae Borealis type
RV = RV Tauri type
SR = Semiregular
UG = U Geminorum type cataclysmic
Z Cam = Z Camelopardalis type cataclysmic

Great links to keep bookmarked:
AAVSO Variable Star of the Season
Juliean Dates
Hands on Astrophysics
Sky and Telescope's "Top 12 Naked Eye Variable Stars"
An international form of weather clocks

Comets

Comets for May.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

M87 is an active galaxy, one in which we see interesting objects. Near its core there is a spiral-shaped disc of hot gas. From the spectra of the two sides researchers can determine the speed of rotation of the disk and its size. From this they can weigh the size of the invisible object at the center.

Although the object is no bigger than our solar system it weighs three billion times as much as the sun. This means that gravity is so strong that light cannot escape...aka a black hole.

Cygnus X-1, Book One: The Voyage

"Prologue:
In the constellation of Cygnus,
there lurks a mysterious, invisible force:
the black hole of Cygnus X-1....

Six Stars of the Northern Cross
In mourning for their sister's loss
In a final flash of glory
Nevermore to grace the night...

1.
Invisible to telescopic eye
Infinity, the star that would not die

All who dare to cross her course
Are swallowed by her fearsome force

Through the void
To be destroyed
Or is there something more?
Atomized...at the core?
Or through the Astral Door?
To soar...

2.
I set a course just east of Lyra
And northwest of Pegasus
Flew into the light of Deneb
Sailed across the Milky Way
On my ship, the "Rocinante"
Wheeling through the galaxies,
Headed for the heart of Cygnus
Headlong into mystery

The x-ray is her siren song
My ship cannot resist her long
Nearer to my deadly goal
Until the black hole
Gains control...

3.
Spinning, whirling,
Still descending
Like a spiral sea,
Unending...

Sound and fury
Drown my heart
Every nerve
Is torn apart...

To be continued..."

- Neil Peart
(a truly amazing drummer!)

Welcome

Star Parties

If you have a star party you would like to have mentioned on the show please email me at astronomyagogo AT gmail DOT com and I will give your party a shout-out!

Listener Questions

One listener asked about how to tell if a particular site is dark...the best way is to talk to people who use the site or go to Clear Sky Clocks and look up the site.

Here are a couple of examples of clear sky clocks for Ft. Steilacoom, our city viewing site for TAS public nights:

or

Click on the larger Clear Sky Clock to learn more about how to use them and how to get one for your favorite star gazing spot!

The Moon

Images created with Lunar Phase Pro

• Oceanus Procellarum - Ocean of Storms
• Mare Frigoris - Sea of Cold
• Mare Imbrium - Sea of Showers
• Sinus Iridum - Bay of Rainbows
• Sinus Roris - Bay of Dew
• Crater Plato -named after the great Greek philosopher Plato, the crater was also called the Greater Black Lake by Johannes Hevelius
  With a telescope see if you can find...
  
• Crater Harpalus - named after a treasurer for Alexander the great who had problems differentiating between Alexander's money and his own. This was the crater chosen as a rocket landing site in the 1950s science fiction film Destination Moon.
• Crater Pythagoras - named after the Greek mathematician and father of numbers. Pythagoras was well aware of the numerical significance of periods of the planets, sun and moon and the spheres of which produced a mathematical harmony he called the music of the spheres. Kepler would later attempt to formulate a model of the then known solar system in his work the "Harmony of the Worlds" based on some of the ideas of Pythagoras.
• Crater Xenophanes - Greek philosopher, poet and critic

The Sun

Sun Dogs

A couple of weeks ago a listener emailed in questions about a large beautiful ring around the moon. If you remember the conversation we talked about how ice crystals high in the atmosphere refract the light from the moon into large halos. Sun dogs are halo companions.

The 22 degree radius( from your thumb to your pinky) halos are visible anywhere on the planet and created by sun or moon. Always complete circles although sometimes the horizon can block some of the ring. They are caused by light refracting through ice crystals at high altitude.

Photos courtesy of Lauri A. Kangas www.photon-echos.com

On the other hand, corona are caused by water droplets they are very bright in the center and ringed with the subtle hues of rainbow colors and will grow larger or smaller as the cloud passing in front changes in density. Corona is produced by the diffraction of light. Small particles like water drops fine dust, ice can cause light to scatter light

Planets

Evening Planets
• Mars is in Gemini creeping closer to the belly of Pollux.
• Saturn - Is in Cancer and tonight and moving East. 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. It sits just west of the Beehive cluster
• Jupiter - The largest of our planets Jupiter sits in Libra just west of Zubenelgenubi. Even with the full moon you should be able to see Jupiter. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
  Morning Planets
• Mercury - Lost in the morning glare 30degrees from Venus towards the sun
• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and 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 - is west of Venus (about 28 degrees) in Aquarius. Neptune is 24 degrees further along in Capricorn.

Black Holes!

Every point mass attracts every other point mass by a force directed along the line 
connecting the two. This force is proportional to the product of the masses and inversely 
proportional to the square of the distance between them:

    F = G (m1*m2)/r2
		    

where:

    F is the magnitude of the (repulsive) gravitational force between the two point masses
    G is the gravitational constant
    m1 is the mass of the first point mass
    m2 is the mass of the second point mass
    r is the distance between the two point masses

In other words if one mass gets larger or the two masses get closer together the gravitational force is stronger, or if one mass decreases or the objects get further apart the gravitational force is weaker!

Stellar Evolution -the short course
Stellar Evolution - java script
Wikipedia article
Cornell Astronomy Class

References
Night Sky Network
Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and NASA
John Mitchell
Pierre Simon LaPlace
Einstein
Black Holes
Einstein's Legacy
Cambridge
Berkley
Kids sites

News

There are so many great space and astronomy news sites out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in.

New images of SW3 on the ESA site
ESA Mars Express

From the Planetary Society website we have some wonderful images from the Mars Express Orbiter but the images I found most interesting are at the bottom of the page where they show animated frames of dust devils in action.

Not to be out done...Wed, 10 May 2006 - After a month of maneuvering, ESA's Venus Express has reached its final science orbit. The spacecraft made its final maneuver on May 6th tighten its orbit above the planet. Its scientific instruments will now be turned on and tested over the course of May. This will make the spacecraft ready for its science phase, due to begin on June 4, 2006.

Two new distant companion galaxies have been discovered with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The first was found in the direction of the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dog) by SDSS-II researcher Daniel Zucker at Cambridge University (UK). His colleague Vasily Belokurov discovered the second in the constellation Bootes (the Herdsman). The Sloan telescopes live at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico The two astronomers also used the data to identify "Fields of Streams" star streams in our galaxy that may be the remnants of other galaxies consumed by our own galaxy.

Comets visible with binoculars/telescopes in the northern hemisphere.

Hello Alice,
 
   Last Sunday, two club members and I went to our observatory to look at 
Schwassmann - Wachmann 3 pass near the Ring Nebula.  We used a Stellacam EX camera 
on a Meade LX200 10 inch scope to display the pair on a TV monitor.  
I took pictures of the monitor with a regular digital camera.  Enjoy.
 
Brian Gray

Photo courtesy of Brian Gray (AAGG listener) Philip Hoyle and Phil Creed

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Astronomy a Go Go! Tour of the Sky: May 2006

I have divided the show into two parts, early May and late May with a song in the middle to help you find the division.

Northern hemisphere sky map
Southern hemisphere sky map - also visit
James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere May sky.

So spread out a blanket, pull out your scopes and binoculars and join me for a tour of the May skies.

Key Dates for May

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Comets

"From his huge vapouring train perhaps to shake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs,
Thro' which his long ellipsis winds; perhaps
To lend new fuel to declining suns,
To light up worlds, and feed th' ethereal fire."

�James Thomson, "The Seasons" (1730; 1748).

Comets for April.

If you really want to understand just how many solar system relatives we really have take a look at a chart for the inner and the outer solar system!

Constellations

His second labor was to slay the great Hydra. It was Iolaus who suggested burning the stumps before they had a chance to grow back. Hercules and Iolaus made a great team. The uncle chopped heads; the nephew burned the stumps before the new ones grew.

The eleventh labor was to steal the golden apples (a wedding gift from Hera to Zeus)that were protected by a great dragon, Ladon the dragon was a faithful guard, allowing only Atlas to approach him. Knowing this, Hercules made a deal with Atlas. Hercules offered to carry it for him while Atlas stole the apples.

Ladon was napping when he heard the footstep of Atlas. He glanced at his master and went back to sleep. Atlas took the apples, and realized he no longer had to carry the Earth on his shoulders. He told Hercules he would deliver the apples himself. Hercules read Atlas' mind perfectly; he was a bit smarter than Atlas (more of an insult to Atlas than a complement to Hercules). He told Atlas he didn't mind carrying the globe, but first he would need to get a shoulder pad to rest it on. Atlas took back the globe without suspecting Hercules. Hercules quickly took the golden apples, laughed at Atlas, and left the garden. Too late Atlas realized the deception.

Hera and Zeus were enraged because the dragon failed to protect the golden apples (after all the dragon was the guardian of the apple, not Atlas). To punish the dragon, Hera placed the creature among the chilly circumpolar constellations to guard the heavens forever, never resting, never setting

Planets

• Jupiter - In Libra and Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
  Here are the transit times (UT) of the Great Red Spot:
  • 4/26, 5:58, 15:53
  • 4/27, 1:49, 11:44, 21:40
  • 4/28, 7:36, 17:31
  • 4/29, 3:27, 13:22, 23:18
  • 4/30, 9:13, 19:09
• Saturn - Is in Cancer and tonight and moving East. 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 - Is cruising through Gemini and this weekend sits right on the navel of Castor.
  
  
• Mercury - Just before sunrise in the East 23.5 degrees SE of Venus (almost a full hand span)
• Venus - Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and you will want to grab a pair of binoculars or even just a finder scope to check out her phase.
• Uranus - 11.5 degrees NW of Venus in Aquarius April 26, 1781 Sir William Herschel Announces the discovery of Uranus (found on March 13,1781 as a new comet).
• Neptune - 35 degrees NW of Venus in Capricorn

Viewing

Another good naked eye observation is to start really watching the evening planets for the next month. Between Mars and Saturn you will see the difference between the apparent movement between object close to us compared to those far away. Mars just seems to leap across the sky while Saturn just inches away. By June 17, 2006 they will be right on top of each other!

Binocular - Try for Schwassman-Wachmann 3
It was dim in my 8" so you will need a very good tracking chart and no light pollution. The easiest to use and most accurate tracking charts I have found is from the Sky Hound site.

For the middle and southern latitudes turn due south and check out 47 Tuc or NGC 104 Looking east our SH friends have a good look at the Milky Way as Scorpius and Sagittarius rise in the East.
To the NE you have Corona Borealis and to the SE Corona Australis.

Telescope - For everyone lets look at an over looked object in Leo. We spent a lot of time in Leo last week but didn't head south far enough to pick up this lovely spiral galaxy but it is worth the hunt. At 8.9 mag it has a bright concentration in the middle and the slight tilt away from us make a slightly harder target to find. NGC 3521 in Leo

For those of you in the mid-Northern latitudes find a clear southern horizon. Centaurus and Lupus are just peeking up from the horizon.
Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) This cluster is a standard for our lucky friends down-under. Those of us in the high northern latitudes can't see it at all so for those of you south of 32 degrees North latitude take a look in the late evening just off the Southern horizon. Omega Centauri is a 3.9 mag object that makes a long triangle pointing south with Jupiter and Spica. The further South you are the higher in the sky and also look for the Southern Cross standing upright in the South.

For those of you in the high Northern latitudes let go look at NGC 869 and 884 (mag 5.3) or the Perseus Double Cluster
If you have dark skies do this one with binoculars first and then switch to a telescope. Use the lowest power eyepiece you have for the best view and you will get both clusters in the same field of view. The double cluster is low to the NE and is fading close to the Northern horizon so catch it now or wait until the end of summer when it starts to rise higher in the NE. For the experienced viewers out there this one may be old hat and if that is the case then challenge yourself to find the asterism the "Diamond Ring" or the "Parachute" inside the cluster

The Moon

Hector Hugh Munro claimed, "A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation."

Libration
On Monday May 1st the eastern limb will be tilted towards us exposing parts of the Moon we don't usually see. Look for Mare Australe on the SE edge of the lunar limb. This slight rocking motion that allows for this is called libration and allows us to see 59% of the lunar surface.

There are three types of libration.
Libration in latitude: The Moon's north-south bobbing. The Moon's axis of rotation being slightly inclined (1.5 degrees) to the normal to the plane of its orbit around Earth which is also inclined by 5 degrees. (Similar to the Earth's 23.5% tilt to its orbital plane. So you end up with 6.5 degrees of 'play' in the north-south surface.

Libration in longitude: The Moon's east-west wobble. The Moon's orbit around Earth is elliptical so even though the Moon's rotation is constant the orbital speed varies going fastest at perigee (Moon's closest approach to Earth) and slowest at apogee (Moon's farthest point from Earth).

Diurnal libration: This is a consequence of Earth's rotation, which carries an observer first to one side and then to the other side of the straight line joining Earth's center to the Moon's center, allowing the observer to look first around one side of the Moon and then around the other.

Also on May Day the Moon will reach its greatest northern declination (+29 degrees)

The Sun

X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.

M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.

C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.

I recommend adding the Space Weather website to your bookmark list

Tools

Sky and Telescope's "Field Map of the Moon"

News

Globe at night - for those of you who participated in the Globe at Night project back in March you can find yourself on their map at http://www.globe.gov/GaN/analyze.html. There were 4591 nighttime observations reported from 96 countries on all continents except Antarctica! I took a look at the map and found my report :-) and little dots where I know that AAGG listeners are from so take a look!

Hubble turns 16 -

Happy cross-quarter day. May Day (May 1st astronomically May 5th) marks the halfway point between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice...my first day of summer! Make sense give that the summer solstice is also called to as Midsummer! Just get use to it folks I'm going to keep it up until someone changes the calendars and makes them right. Besides those of us in the high northern or high southern latitudes need extra sun based holidays!

The National Park System in the United States has released data on its ongoing Night Sky light pollution assessment.

Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

"Welcome home!"

This is not really the Milky Way! 
Since we have not (yet) traveled out side of our own galaxy
we have to use current sky surveys and calculations to 'imagine' what we might look like.
(I love the analogy from Dr. Churchwell of Univ. Wisconson-Madison "...its like
trying to define the boundries of a forest from deep within the woods."

Current research results classify the Milky Way as a
barred spiral type galaxy with a central bar more pronounced than the image of M83 above.

Image: NASA, Galaxy M83, similar size and shape to the Milky Way (pre - 9/2005)

The Galaxy

Torrent of light and river of the air,
Along whose bed the glimmering stars are seen
Like gold and silver sands in some ravine
Where mountain streams have left their channels bare!
The Spaniard sees in thee the pathway, where
His patron saint descended in the sheen
Of his celestial armor, on serene
And quiet nights, when all the heavens were fair.
Not this I see, nor yet the ancient fable
Of Phaeton's wild course, that scorched the skies
Where'er the hoofs of his hot coursers trod;
But the white drift of worlds o'er chasms of sable,
The star-dust that is whirled aloft and flies
From the invisible chariot-wheels of God.

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A tool EVERYONE should have!

A simple observation template in Word
The Saguaro Astronomical Club (home of the SAO NGC 100 list) has a printable sheet
David Paul Green has a wonderful set of small database of preset lists (Messier, Caldwell)
Messier45.com is another online database to track your finds and excellent for researching
Blogging is a great way to keep an online journal to share especially if you take pictures or make sketches

Constellations

Sextans - the sextant - Hevelius who used the Sextant successfully to make stellar measurements from 1658 to 1679 There are a few galaxies in Sextans. The most notable is NGC 3115 (called the Spindle galaxy), a spiral galaxy of magnitude 9.1

Leo Minor - Little lion - Johannes Hevelius around 1690 to fill in the spaces around the constellations

The Moon

Planets

Evening
• Jupiter - In Libra and Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
• Saturn - Is in Cancer and tonight and moving East. 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 has left Taurus and is just North of Castor's foot right next to M35.
  Morning
• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and 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.
• Mercury - Just south of east about 21 degrees from Venus (towards the horizon and easterly) horrible for Northern Viewers but great for those of you along the equator look East and in the S.Hemisphere
• Uranus (5.9)- On the morning of the 23 it is between Venus and the Moon
• Neptune (7.9)- Is in Capricorn and 28 degrees West along the ecliptic

Viewing

Naked eye - Lyrid meteor shower peaks on the 21st. The left-overs of comet Thatcher and produces about 15 bright, long-lasting meteors per hour.
Best Venus/Moon conjunction of the year is pre-dawn on the 24rd but the morning prior you will have Venus and the Moon bracketing Uranus so pull out your binos and take a look for a small bluish faint star between the two. These times are for -5 UT so you will want to bump yourself forward a morning if you are in Australian for example.
Sometimes the simplest things are the most awe inspiring like looking at EAST at sunset and realizing that the beautiful dark inky purple band is actually the shadow of the earth.

Binocular - Swing over to Castor's foot and find Mars and just west of Mars is M35(5.1 mag) open cluster with about 100 stars there!
Likewise take a look at Saturn and then slide your binoculars east to pick up the brighter Beehive Cluster M44 (mag 3.1) which on a clear night is a naked eye object..
Bode's Galaxies/ Bode's Nebula - Find this extraordinary pair of small scope studies, first locate Phecda (Beta) and 2 Dubhe (Alpha). Draw a line between this bright pair and extend that line an equal distance northwest beyond Alpha. Both galaxies; M81 and M82 are visible in large finder scopes or binoculars.

The Monty Python Galaxy Song!

Telescope - Leo Trio and Virgo

Here is the absolutely simplest way to determine directions in the eyepiece:
East - West: Turn off the right ascension drive(if using one)and watch as the stars drift from east to the west.
North - South: Nudge the tube in declination towards the north, and the stars move towards the south in the eyepiece.
Galaxies in Leo

Find the first Leo Trio by finding Regulus and Denebola and establishing the triangle that makes the back hip of the Lion.

Chertan is the bright star that makes up the hip joint between Regulus and Denebola.
SE of Chertan is a bright 4.0 mag star that forms the back leg.
Half way down the line between this star and Chertan is our first Leo Trio: M65, M66, and NGC 3628.

The second trio M95, M96 and M105 is the southern point of an equilateral triangle with Zosma(the top star of the lion's hip) and Algieba the second brightest star in Leo's sickle. M95 and M96 are two spiral galaxies where as M95 looks like a squat barred spiral, M96 be it spiral, looks more elliptical.
M105 (9.4) is a strong elliptical and it forms another set of elliptical galaxies in the same field of view. NGC 3384 (also called NGC 3371) a 10 mag barred lenticular galaxy NE and to the SE 11.8 mag Spiral Galaxy NGC 3389- hard in a small scope or near city lights.

Markarian's Chain in the Virgo Cluster -

Make sure you start by following this link to a click-able image!
(The owner of the site doesn't allow mirrors but that's okay you need to see the site anyway!)

Here we begin:
Draw a line between Denebola and Epsilon Virginas (Vindemiatrix)
Half way between those two is M86 and one of the eyes of our starting happy face.
M86-(EG) 8.9 mag It displays the highest blue shift of all Messier objects, as it is approaching the Milky Way at 419 km/sec.
In the same field of view and WEST of M86 is M84 and other (EG) 9.2 mag
SOUTH and creating and equilateral triangle is 11.0 mag NGC 4388 a somewhat edge-on spiral
In the center, the nose, is 12 mag NGC 4387 another (EG)
Nudge the scope a hair EAST and NORTH for another set of eyes, this time Spiral Galaxies (SG) NGC 4435 -Mag 10.8 and NGC 4438 10 mag
NGC 4461(SG) - 11.1 mag and 4458 11.8 NORTH-EAST a hair
NGC 4473 10.2 mag (EG) and in the same field of view NE
NGC 4477 10.4 mag (SG) NNE keeping 4477 just in the eyepiece M88 9.4 mag (SG)
DUE SOUTH ~3 fields of view
NGC M87 8.6 mag (EG)

News

Comets for April.

"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

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

We are going to hop our way through one of the galaxy richest parts of the night time sky; Markarian's Chain in the Virgo Cluster!

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

"Birth of Venus"
Sandro Botticelli

Thank you Pamela!

Pamela came up to visit and we had a blast! I will post her presentations as soon as the video gets edited. Pamela was a keynote speaker at a large Girl Scout event and you can listen to the keynote speech on life, Scouting, astronomy, horses, and culture on the Slacker website

Pamela was delightful to work with and we had a great time with amateur astronomer from several local clubs and local educators talking about podcasting as an outreach tool and playing around with all the toys.

Venus

VE yesterday, returned the first ever images of the Venusian South pole providing not only and interesting day-side and night-side image but one in several different wave lengths. The mission to our 'twin' planet will hopefully answer:

• What is the mechanism and what is the driving force of the super-rotation of the atmosphere?
• What are the basic processes in the general circulation of the atmosphere?
• What is the composition and chemistry of the lower atmosphere and the clouds?
• What is the past and present water balance in the atmosphere?
• What is the role of the radiative balance and greenhouse effect in the past present and future evolution of the planet?
• Is there currently volcanic and/or tectonic activity on the planet

Mayans knew that it would appear in the morning sky after disappearing in the evening sky Moreover, they knew that every 2920 days (about eight years) Venus repeats its movements in relation to the sun. Mayans determined with great approximation the synodic period of Venus, which according to modern astronomers is 583.92 days. For the Mayans, it was 584 days!

So, how are we alike and different...

• Venus is 95% the size of Earth and 80% its mass
• Similar young craters
• Mostly large craters with crater trails indication the breakup of large objects. Small objects don't make it to the surface
• Tremendous atmospheric pressure 90 atm...similar to 1 km beneath Earth's the ocean
• Runaway greenhouse effect 400-750K (hot enough to melt lead)
• Hotter than all the planets including Mercury
• 350 phi winds in the upper atmosphere but only a few phi at the surface
• Gently rolling plains with a few shield volcanos
• Unique features include coronea which could be collapsed surface previously covering magma domes and pancake volcanos caused by the eruption of thick lava
• Planet only rotates once every 243 Earth days An a Venusian year is 225 Earth days
• Axial tilt of 177.36 degrees
• Orbital eccentricity of 1% almost perfect circle
• Orbits closer to the sun, inferior, thus has phases similar to our moon.
• Upper atmosphere wind circumnavigate the planet in 4 Earth days
• Venus has no magnetic field, perhaps because of its slow rotation.
• The oldest craters seem to be only 500 million years old, recent resurfacing - no steady pressure releases like on earth (venting earthquakes) instead massive global eruptions
• Most of the planetary features of Venus are named after famous women and goddesses pursuant to a decision of the International Astronomical Union, the organization responsible for selecting names for all celestial objects. craters - poets, artists, popular names; chasms - fairies, goddesses - undea (dunes) named after Sumerian and Arabian desert goddesses There is only ONE exception to this, James Clerk Maxwell the great Scottish physicist and theorist - father of electromagnitism has a mountain range named after him.

Listener Question

Christopher from Illinois was out looking at the planets and spotted something he had not seen before and emailed the following:

"...with tonight's full moon, I took your suggestion and went 
planet-hunting tonight Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars were
all present tonight though the moderate cloud cover and I 
saw something I've never seen before. There was a spectacular 
halo around the moon, occupying about 1/5th of the visible sky!  
Do you know what this could be?"

The 22 degree radius( from your thumb to your pinky) halos are visible any where on the planet and created by sun or moon. Always complete circles although sometimes the horizon can block some of the ring. They are caused by light refracting through ice crystals at high altitude.

On the other hand, corona are caused by water droplets they are very bright in the center and ringed with the subtle hues of rainbow colors and will grow larger or smaller as the cloud passing in front changes in density. Corona is produced by the diffraction of light. Small particles like water drops fine dust, ice can cause light to scatter light

The horizontal reflection point of the sun or the moon on the outside edge of a halo. Also called "false sun" or "false moon."

News

There are so many great space and astronomy news sites out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Moon

The Sun

Sunspots are creeping back and I am hoping the clouds will stay away this weekend. We are having a solar viewing event and I would like to at least have a sun to share. Not to mention the fact that we are building stomp rockets!

Jay, at the Observing the Sky blog, posted tonight that at his clear moonlit site in N. Dakota he was out viewing aurorae!

Planets

• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and 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.
• Jupiter - In Libra and Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites. On Friday it will be just East of the Moon
• Saturn - Is in Cancer and tonight and moving East. 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 has left Taurus and is just North of Castor's foot.
• Mercury - Just south of east about 25 degrees from Venus (towards the horizon and easterly) if you remember how to measure 25 degrees, it is the spread between your pinky and thumb when fully extended.
• Uranus - On April 17th, 18th and 19th, Venus and Uranus are going to have a close encounter in the dawn sky. Simply look east before sunrise. As a guidepost, Venus can't be beat. It is so bright people often think it's a landing airplane. Simply scan Venus with a pair of binoculars (or a small telescope) and you'll see Uranus right beside it. If the sky is very dark, you may be able to lift your eyes from the optics and see Uranus directly. On April 17th the pair will be separated by about one degree, the width of your pinky finger held at arm's length. On the 18th they'll be even closer together, 0.3 degrees. On the 19th the distance increases again to one degree.

Comets visible with binoculars/telescopes in the northern hemisphere.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Hello!

Hello to Trustin in Newfoundland and James in Christchurch

Eclipse

Glossary of Telescope Terms

Telescopes

Rice University's Galileo project
Refractors
Hans Lippershey gets credit for inventing the refractor in 1608, and the military used the instrument first. Galileo was the first to use it in astronomy. Both Lippershey's and Galileo's designs used a combination of convex and concave lenses. Kepler improved the design to have two convex lenses.

Isaac Newton developed the reflector about 1680, in response to the chromatic aberration (rainbow halo) problem that plagued refractors during his time. Instead of using a lens to gather light, Newton used a curved, metal mirror (primary mirror) to collect the light and reflect it to a focus. Mirrors do not have the chromatic aberration problems that lenses do. Newton placed the primary mirror in the back of the tube.

In 1722, John Hadley developed a design that used parabolic mirrors, and there were various improvements in mirror-making. The Newtonian reflector was a highly successful design, and remains one of the most popular telescope designs in use today.

The first compound telescope was made by German astronomer Bernhard Schmidt in 1930. Catadioptric telescopes are hybrid telescopes that have a mix of refractor and reflector elements in their design. Schmidt-Cassegrain design, which was invented in the 1960s, is the most popular type of telescope; it uses a secondary mirror that bounces light through a hole in the primary mirror to an eyepiece.

Alt-Azmuth mounts move left-right and up-down. Dobsonians are the most popular Alt-Az mounts
Equitorial mounts are polar aligned so their "left-rights" will track along the ecliptic keeping objects in the scope as the Earth turns (if motorized)

peep sights reflex sights finder scopes or telecope sights

The Moon

This weekend the moon is a waxing gibbous moon which will make things tough for our starparty on Saturday, tough but not impossible!

Triple Marshes(pa'les) Palus Epidemiarum (latin for Marsh of Epidemics) -pink circle p Palus Somni (Latin for "Marsh of Sleep") -yellow circle p Palus Putredinus (latin for "Marsh of Decay")-blue circle p

Triple craters Three craters that tell a story - in a red elipse Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharine. Starting with Theophilus note how each crater progressively older.

Triple ranges Montes (Monteez) Alpenninus(ap a nay us)-yellow line Montes Heamus(He ma us) - blue line Montes Caucasus (Caucasias)-pink line

Planets

• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and 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.
• Jupiter - In Libra and Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites. There are some great new Cassini composit images on the Planetary Society Webpage
• Saturn - Is in Cancer and tonight stop in it's apparent backsliding to the West and will begin moving in it's direct motion to the East. 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. A 6-inch telescope will begin to show the orange color of its atmospheric haze.
• Mars has swung past Aldeberon and is almost between the tips of the bulls horns.
• Mercury - Just south of east about 25 degrees from Venus (towards the horizon and easterly) if you remember how to measure 25 degrees, it is the spread between your pinky and thumb when fully extended. Show #10 has our primmer for measuring distances in the sky

News

There are so many great space and astronomy news sites out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in. Here is a list of some of the sites I visit daily:

• NASA's Eclipse Page -
• How Prometheus Pulls on Saturn's F Ring Wed, 05 Apr 2006 - One of the most amazing images sent back by the Cassini spacecraft shows one of Saturn's shepherd moons, Prometheus, tugging a stream of particles away from the F ring. Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have developed a model that explains the forces at work in this dramatic interaction. It was originally believed that Prometheus steals ring particles, but it now appears that it just borrows them as it comes past, and they drift back into the ring system after the moon sweeps by.
  
  Prometheus acting on Saturn's F ring. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
• Don Quijote to impact an asteroid -ESA 3 April 206 Asteroids: treasures of the past and a threat to the future If a large asteroid such as the recently identified 2004 VD17 â�� about 500 m in diameter with a mass of nearly 1000 million tonnes - collides with the Earth it could spell disaster for much of our planet. As part of ESAâ��s Near-Earth Object deflecting mission Don Quijote, three teams of European industries are now carrying out studies on how to prevent this. The impactor, Hildalgo will be monitored by an orbitor, Sancho.
• Dead Stars Producing Planets - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has uncovered new evidence that planets might rise up out of a dead star's ashes. The infrared telescope surveyed the scene around a pulsar, the remnant of an exploded star, and found a surrounding disk made up of debris shot out during the star's death throes. The dusty rubble in this disk might ultimately stick together to form planets. This is the first time scientists have detected planet-building materials around a star that died in a fiery blast.
• Spirit continues to have problem - Two years and three months after landing on Mars, Spirit can't help but dig trenches in the martian sand. The right front wheel of NASAâ��s Mars Exploration Rover is no longer working.

  Essentially, it's a race against time. The period of minimum sunshine in the martian winter is more than 100 days away, but Spirit currently gets only enough power for about one hour of driving on flat ground. And, Spirit literally has an up-hill battle.

• Great Moon Buggy Race - Fifty high school and college student teams are putting the finishing touches on designs of their very own lunar vehicles. Teams from the United States and Puerto Rico are competing in NASA's 13th annual Great Moonbuggy Race. The event, which is open to the media and public, runs Friday and Saturday at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Listener Question

Space probe VOYAGER 1 successfully received On March 31st, 2006 an AMSAT-DL / IUZ team received the American space probe VOYAGER 1 with the 20m antenna in Bochum.

The distance was 14.7 billion km. This is a new record for AMSAT-DL and IUZ Bochum. The received signal was clearly identified through means of doppler shift and position in the sky. The receive frequency was exactly measured and compared with the information provided by NASA.

This distance equals approximately 98 times the distance between Earth and Sun. VOYAGER 1 is the most distant object ever built by mankind. This again proves the superior performance of the Bochum antenna. Most probably this is the first time Voyager 1 has been received by radio amateurs.

Comets visible with binoculars/telescopes in the northern hemisphere.

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

I have divided the show into two parts, early April and late April with a song in the middle to help you find the division.

So spread out a blanket, pull out your scopes and binoculars and join me for a tour of the April skies.

Free Monthly Sky Maps

Key Dates for April

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat or write us a favorable review in iTunes of Podcast Pickle or iPodder!

Music

Many thanks to Kristine Washburn for spending time with us to talk about eclipses! Here are some of the links we mentioned to in the show.

Today and tomorrow the NASA home page will have info on the eclipse feed from Turkey

The Exploratorium's website for the live eclipse webcast

The NASA Sun-Earth Day homepage

Following are the times for the March 29th solar eclipse and NASA
eclipse webcast. 

EVENT         UT            EST         PST         Turkey
Webcast       10-11:15am    5-6:15am    2-3:15am    1-2:15pm
Telescope     9:30-12:30pm  4-7:30am    1:30-4:30am 12:30-3:30pm
Totality      10:55-10:59   5:55-5:59   2:55-2:59am 1:55-1:59pm

1st Contact   9:38am        4:38am      1:38am      12:38pm
2nd Contact   10:55am       5:55am      2:55am      1:55pm
3rd Contact   10:59am       5:59am      2:59am      1:59pm
4th Contact   12:13am       7:13am      4:13am      3:13pm


Sun-Earth Day 2006 is this week- March 29th.  The following is a 
schedule of the web cast:

   5:00 a.m. Welcome
   5:02 a.m. What is an eclipse?
   5:05 a.m. How are we seeing it?
   5:09 a.m. Where we are and why
   5:12 a.m. What is the sun?
   5:24 a.m. Crowd reactions
   5:27 a.m. What will we see looking down?
   5:33 a.m. What will it be like for us?
   5:39 a.m. Crowd reactions
   5:41 a.m. What will we see looking up?
   5:47 a.m. What we learn from eclipses (past/present)
   5:54 a.m. Prepare for totality
   5:54:59 a.m. Totality begins
   5:58:44 a.m. Totality ends
   6:00 a.m. Crowd reactions
   6:06 a.m. Commentary and replay of eclipse and sky darkening
   6:12 a.m. Thank you and sign off

NASA TV will carry the web cast live beginning at 4:30 am EST with
ground based telescope images.  The actual web cast will begin at
5:00am EST ending at 6:15 am EST.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Hello!

Hello to Anthony from Manchester, England! He is doing what most parents do just trying to stay one step ahead of the kid! And hello to Anthony's kids!

And happy birthday to my sister Mandy back home in Texas!

Special Viewing Project!

Art

Donald Olson Marilynn Olson, his wife, and Russell Doescher Texas State University, San Marcos. Astronomer Russell Doescher confirmed that the star in "White House at Night" is actually Venus, just like in "Starry Night" and the placement of the moon. In Starry night Van Gogh actually painted the moon in the proper gibbous phase then changed it to a more romantic crescent

The Moon

Tonight the moon is in it's last quarter phase and shrinking daily. Which is good for all of the Messier hunters this weekend!

Grimaldi a tiny spot, sometime mistaken for a tiny sea on the western limb of the moon.
The approximate diameter of the inner rim is 140 kilometers(87 miles). The inner wall of Grimaldi has been so heavily worn and eroded by subsequent impacts that it forms a low, irregular ring of hills, ridges and peaks, rather than a typical crater rim. However there are peaks remaining that reach heights of over 2 kilometers.

There was an interesting computer enhanced image of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, I ran across it on the Bad Astronomer's Blog It has been cleaned up...a bit too much! Also thanks to Tom's Astronomy Blog I found out that the IAU has provisionally approved of naming 7 of the moon's craters after the astronauts who perished in the Columbia tragedy. Once all is said and done I will find craters; Husband, McCool, Chawla, L. Clark, M. Anderson, D. Brown, Ramon for you.

Planets

• Earth - Normally we don't mention our little planet but with our Vernal/Autumnal Equinox just passing it is worth a mention. Great Animation - showing the Earth moving around the sun through it's season. If you carefully watch the illumination of sunlight on the earth you will notice that only on the vernal and autumnal equinox does it cover the globe from pole to pole. It also has the arctic and antarctic circles mapped so you can see the difference between equinox and solstice.
• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky and 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.
• Jupiter - The largest planet resides in the confines of Libra and is highest around 3:am on the ecliptic between the bright Spica to the west and the ruddy Antares to the east. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
• Saturn - 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. A 6-inch telescope will begin to show the orange color of its atmospheric haze.
• Mars has swung past Aldeberon and is almost between the tips of the bulls horns.
• Mercury - by this weekend and on into next week start looking for the re-appearance of Mercury as a morning planet. Just south of east about 25 degrees from Venus (towards the horizon and easterly) if you remember how to measure 25 degrees, it is the spread between your pinky and thumb when fully extended. Show #10 has our primer for measuring distances in the sky

Tools/Gadgets

• Telrad
• lenses
• lens cleaner(brush/lens pen)
• canned air
• all the telescope bits
• red led flashers
• red flashlights
• My binder (star charts, various lists I'm working on, telrad Messier charts)

• All the Sky Spot Telrad Finder Scope books
H.E. Ray's books of constellations (both)
• several different reference books depending upon the season and the reason for the outing.\
• 6 planispheres different varieties
• flat panel red light viewer - Light Wedge
• extra batteries (AA AAA etc)
• extra red flashlights
• tools (screw drivers, adjustable wrench, duct tape, clear tape, small bolts with wing-nuts, wire, etc)

• Sky Atlas - desk set in white
• Loads of books!
• Computer

• Eyepiece bench - I like this layout - don't have that many eyepieces!! But he has great directions for drill/cutting foam. I really like how he organized his filters.
• An observing chair, something like this
• A binocular mount, something like this

Clusters

Globular - Globular clusters are gravitationally bound concentrations of approximately ten thousand to one million stars. They populate the halo or bulge of the Milky Way and are believed to be very old and formed from an earlier generation of stars. Hayden Planetarium has a great simulation on the life of a globular cluster

Open cluster - Open (or galactic) clusters are physically related groups of stars held together by mutual gravitational attraction. They are believed to originate from large cosmic gas/dust clouds in the Milky Way, we can observe the formation of new young open star clusters. You can easily see this nebulosity in the Pleiades.

There are two types of descriptors you will see with open star clusters. There is the Shapley index (Harlow Shapley)
c - very loose and irregular
d - loose and poor
e - intermediately rich
f - fairly rich
g - considerably rich and concentrated

The more detailed and specific Trumpler index/rating which is broken into 3 parts + optional nebulosity note.

The first part is a Roman numeral that denotes concentration

The second part is a Arabic number to show the range in brightness

Thirdly a letter to represent the richness of the cluster

Binocular/Telescope viewing
Open Clusters
NGC images courtesy of the Chinese Public Understanding of Science website (NGC)
NGC 2451 (mag 2.8) next door to...
NGC 2477 (mag 5.8) these together show you how differnt open clusters can be!

M47 ( NGC 2422 - mag 4.4) he Sky Catalog 2000 gives an estimated age of 78 million years for this stellar swarm which is receding from us at 9 km/sec. A bright cluster in Puppis, easily visible as a hazy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars will show a large hazy patch with many stars resolvable.
M46 (NGC 2437 -mag 6.0 )This cluster is right next to M47 and is also visible to the naked eye. In binoculars M46 appears as a large hazy patch with no stars resolvable, giving a nice contrast to M47. In telescopes at low powers this cluster evenly fills the eyepiece. While you are here go to medium or high power and look for the planetary nebula NGC 2438. It will appear as a faint uneven ring, with a blue/green color.

M48 (mag 5.8) in Hydra

Not to ignore the far N. Hemisphere try
M67 (NGC 2682 - mag 6.1) in Cancer
Mel 111 in Coma Berenices (mag 1.8) P.J. Melotte had cataloged it in his 1915 catalog as No. 111. One of Potolomy's first catalogued clusters. The Coma star cluster is currently neither approaching nor receding from us, i.e. it moves tangentially to us with a velocity. (see map in Constellation section)

Constellations

Coma Berenices, Berenice's hair - One of the last of the ancient constellations. Queen Berenice sacrificed her beautiful hair to the goddess Aphrodite in order to assure the safe return of her husband from battle. Upon his return the king demanded to be shown her hair. In order to save his own life(for the hair had been stolen) the temple priest related how Aphrodite was so moved by the sacrifice removed the hair and placed it into the skies as a constellation. Coma Berenices is a small, faint constellation that can be found immediately to the east of Leo.

News

There are so many great space and astronomy news sites out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in. Here is a list of some of the sites I visit daily:

• NASA's Eclipse Page -
• Great Animation - showing the Earth moving around the sun through it's season. If you carefully watch the illumination of sunlight on the earth you will notice that only on the vernal and autumnal equinox does it cover the globe from pole to pole. It also has the arctic and antarctic circles mapped so you can see the difference between equinox and solstice.
• Wiki fun- This has very little to do with astronomy but have you ever tried entering a date, like March 22, in Wikipedia. It will list world events and personalities who share that date.

Comets visible with binoculars/telescopes in the northern hemisphere. -
Pojmanski
and 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
and C/2005 E2 ( McNaught )

"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
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

The Star-Splitter
by Robert Frost

You know Orion always comes up sideways.
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me
Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something
I should have done by daylight, and indeed,
After the ground is frozen, I should have done
Before it froze, and a gust flings a handful
Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney
To make fun of my way of doing things,
Or else fun of Orion's having caught me.
Has a man, I should like to ask, no rights
These forces are obliged to pay respect to?"
So Brad McLaughlin mingled reckless talk
Of heavenly stars with hugger-mugger farming,
Till having failed at hugger-mugger farming,
He burned his house down for the fire insurance
And spent the proceeds on a telescope
To satisfy a life-long curiosity
About our place among the infinities.

--first stanza

Welcome!

I know it is a little late, but happy Pi day. March 14th at 1:59 UTC can be fudged into 3.14159. In our department we celebrate the notorious number 3.14.59 with Pie of course, any excuse for a party!

To make thing even better it was Albert Einstein's birthday as well.

Another anniversary to celebrate is On this day in 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket.

Planets

• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky
• Jupiter - The largest planet resides in the confines of Libra and is highest around 3:am on the ecliptic between the bright Spica to the west and the ruddy Antares to the east. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
• Saturn - It appears as a yellowish star that rivals Capella in brightness, but in the constellation of Cancer (1 1/2 thumb width west of The Beehive - M-44) A small telescope will always show Titan, Saturn's largest and most extraordinary moon. A 6-inch telescope will begin to show the orange color of its atmospheric haze.
• Mars is sneaking it's way closer to Aldeberon creating another eye for the bull. So in that part of the sky it is hip to be red, red Beetleguese, orange Aldeberon and the red Mars
• Mercury - hidden in the glare of the sun as are Uranus and Neptune

Tools

Catalogues -

• Uranography - The branch of astronomy concerned with mapping the stars, galaxies, or other celestial bodies.
• Uranometria - The sky atlas compiled by Johann Bayer in 1603
• Messier catalogue- compiled by Charles Messier
• New General Catalogue (NGC)- compiled by John Dreyer
  IC I published in 1895 added 1,529 new star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies
  IC II published in 1908 listed a further 3,857 objects
• NGC 2000.0 - is a modern compilation of the New General Catalogue, the Index Catalogue, and the Second Index Catalogue
• HIP - Hiparcos catalogue - Its name is an acronym for High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite and was chosen for its similarity to that of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus.
• Caldwell and Herschel 400 and Uranometria - all great astronomy catalogues

Constellations

Volans, the Flying FishOriginally named Piscis Volans, this constellation was named by Johann Bayer. It is located where all good fish should be, below a boat. In the southern sky Volans is southwest of Carina, the keel, and east of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Johannes Kepler called this set of stars Passer, the Sparrow.

Camelopardalis(ka-MEL-oh-PAR-duh-lis), the Giraffe can be found between Perseus, Auriga and Ursa Minor. This constellation was first observed to look like a camel but name was eventually changed to camelopardalis, which is Latin for giraffe. In the winter months the giraffe appears upside down. Only during the summer months does it appear right side up.

The Moon -

This weekend the moon will be moving from a full moon to a waning gibbous so your early evenings will be darker.

Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) slices across the northern cap of the moon and at it's western end seems to dump into Sinus Roris.

Image courtesy of the Lunar Republic

Sinus Roris (Bay of Dew)leads into the great Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms). This ocean of regolith sweeps down the western side of the moon.

Last week we looked at the craters Copernicus and Kepler, this week our lunar crater is in the great ocean further north, but just as bright as Kepler. Crater Aristarcus

Image courtesy of the Lunar Republic

We are actually looking at a complex of Aristarcus a Greek grammarian noted for is commentary on the Iliad and the Odyssey and just a little bit SW Herodotus named after the greek "Father of History". Squiggled above and between them is Valles Schoteri. To see Herodotus or Schoteri will take a telescope. At the southern edge it finally meets up with Mare Humorum (Sea of Moisture) and Mare Congnitum (The Sea that has become known)

Naked eye viewing-The splendid open cluster IC 2602 is still known under the common name "Southern Pleiades." An open cluster of more than 50 stars in the constellation Carina, centered on the blue-white star Theta Carinae and can be seen with the naked eye. (use the chart below)

Binocular viewing Kemple's Cascade

Kemble�¢ï¿½ï¿½s cascade is situated in one of the most difficult constellations to detect in the night sky, Camelopardalis or the Giraffe. A string of 15 to 25 stars ranging from the 5th to the 9th magnitude. The stars seem to cascade from the northeast down to the southwest they do not form a group or cluster physically, it's only a chance arrangement of stars. At the southeastern end of the chain of stars you will find the 6th magnitude open cluster NGC 1502, containing 15 stars in a 7' area.

Eta Carina - The Eta Carina Nebula is the largest diffuse nebula in the sky, much larger than the more famous Orion Nebula. The star Eta Carinae itself is also interesting. It is a variable star; in the mid-19th century it was the second brightest star in the sky; today it is not even visible with the naked eye.
Star Chart generated from "Star Charts R Us"

Telescopic viewing My favorite object E.T (kachina doll cluster)

News

There are so many great space and astronomy news sites out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in. Here is a list of some of the sites I visit daily:

• Planet Quest - the counter has moved up from 159 to 160 extrasolar planets. Starting in 1991 with Pulsar 1257 but more popularly realized with 51 Pegasi in 1995 the list now seems to have grown to 160 (plus a few others in waiting ) with the last addition residing in Sagittarius. Still getting the data in.
• Enceladus - "Our search for liquid water has taken a new turn. The type of evidence for liquid water on Enceladus is very different from what we've seen at Jupiter's moon Europa. On Europa the evidence from surface geological features points to an internal ocean. On Enceladus the evidence is direct observation of water vapor venting from sources close to the surface," said Dr. Peter Thomas, Cassini imaging scientist, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

  But in the mean time, scientist who believed that Enceladus was fueling Saturn's E ring now have further proof!

• Stardust Update - Comets, they said, may not be as simple as the clouds of ice, dust and gases they were thought to comprise. They may be diverse with complex and varied histories. Wild 2 seems to be an example of that complexity.

  Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice," said Donald Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator and professor of astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle. The returned samples show high-temperature materials from the coldest part of our solar system.

  The material like that in the green Hawaiian beach sand is called olivine. Its presence in the comet's dust trail was a surprise. "It seems that comets are �¢ï¿½�¦ a mixture of materials formed at all temperatures, at places very near the early sun and at places very remote from it," said Michael Zolensky, Stardust curator and co-investigator at JSC

• Martian crater flyby - A "Grand Canyon of Mars" slices across the Red Planet near its equator. This canyon -- Valles Marineris, or the Mariner Valley -- is 10 times longer and deeper than Arizona's Grand Canyon, and 20 times wider. As the picture shows, you could drop the whole Los Angeles basin into a small part of Valles Marineris and leave plenty of room to spare. In length, the canyon extends far enough that it could reach across the United States from East Coast to West Coast, while its rim stands more than 25,000 feet high, nearly as tall as Earth's Mount Everest.

Comets visible with binoculars/telescopes in the northern hemisphere. - C/2006 A1 Pojmanski

and 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
and C/2005 E2 ( McNaught )

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

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Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

 Canis Major

The great Overdog
That heavenly beast
With a star in one eye
Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog,
But to-night I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.

-- Robert Frost 

Welcome!

Welcome to Brian from Minnesota, Dave from Alabama and Pat from Montreal and thank you for the email.

Hello to Bill from Missouri who sent me a very nice note and also hello to his son who will be starting his Astronomy Merit badge soon! Remember, if it is a nice night out then you have an excuse to go outside and stay up late...as long an you are learning those constellations....and your homework is done!

Tips and Tricks - Time!

"Tiiiiiiime is not on my side...no siree!"

Local Apparent Time (LAT), also called apparent solar time or sundial time. Noon was what most people still think is noon: when the Sun crosses the meridian or the highest point in its path.

Your Local Mean Time (LMT) Astronomers created an imaginary, "averaged" Sun that travels along the celestial equator. Differs from your standard civil (clock) time by many minutes. The correction depends on how far you live east or west from the center of your time zone.

Standard time. Time zones are standardized on certain longitudes: 75 degrees W for Eastern Standard Time, 90 degrees for Central, 105 degrees for Mountain, and 120 degrees for Pacific. For every degree you are east of your time zone's standard longitude, add four minutes to standard time to get LMT. For each degree you are west, subtract four minutes. The number of minutes the real Sun lags behind or runs ahead of the mean Sun was named the equation of time.

Summer-time To obtain daylight saving time ("summer time"), subtract one hour from standard time.

Universal Time (UT). Standard time (and its daylight-saving variant) serves fine within a given time zone. But when a time applies worldwide, such as in an astronomical almanac, you need one reference point. Logically enough, the "universal" time zone that was agreed upon (in 1884) is that of 0 degrees longitude. This longitude is, by definition, that of a line engraved in a brass plate in the floor of the Old Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. UT is often called.....

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Greenwich Mean Time" or UT1, until the popular meaning drifted to match UTC. Astronomers now try to avoid the term altogether unless they are waxing nostalgic. Adding to the confusion, GMT began the day at noon, not midnight. .

Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, Since 1967 the second has been defined as how long cesium-133 atoms take to emit 9,192,631,770 cycles of a certain microwave radiation in an atomic clock. To keep our clocks in close step with the turning of the Earth, a leap second is inserted into Universal Time when required - about once a year on average. A leap second may be added at the end of June 30th or December 31st UT, giving the last minute of the chosen day 61 seconds.

The result is the system by which all the world's clocks are set. UTC is the basis for all time-signal radio broadcasts and other time services.

Civil twilight - when the Sun's center is 6° below the horizon the brightest stars are visible and at sea the horizon is clearly defined.

Nautical twilight - when the Sun's center is 12 degrees below the horizon this would be the "dark" to obey in the mother's order to "be home before dark"! For nautical purposes it is that time when the horizon ceases to be clearly visible and it is impossible to determine altitudes with reference to the horizon.

Astronomical twilight - when the Sun's center is 18 degrees below the horizon and there is no sun glow left at all.

John Harrison (March 24, 1693 - March 24, 1776) an English clock maker, who designed and built the world's first successful maritime clock, one whose accuracy was great enough to allow the determination of longitude over long distances.

Sky and Telescope article on Time

Planets

Naked eye viewing- Moon is a waxing gibbous and becomes full on the 14th (don't forget the penumbral eclipse!) Mare Frigoris is the long narrow strip of a sea across the lunar N.Pole
Right below Frigoris is Mare Imbrium (IM-bree-um - Sea of Rains) the second largest sea.
Craters Kepler and Copernicus run along just above the equator (I"m trying to create a picture so check back soon!)
and Mare Insularum(Sea of Islands) and Mare Nubium (NEW-bee-um)run below Copernicus.

Binocular viewing- looking for comets!

Telescopic viewing- Jupiter's new spot

Comets visible with telescopes in the northern hemisphere. - C/2006 A1 Pojmanski

and 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
and C/2005 E2 ( McNaught )

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Music

Astronomy a Go Go! Tour of the Sky: March 206

Key Dates for March

Two comets visible with telescopes in the southern hemisphere. - Pojmanski is now an early morning 5th magnitude comet
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 may eventually become a naked eye comet but I'm not going to predict that...we will keep an eye on both of these.

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Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

For those of you wanting to calculate when to see the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. there is a GRS calculator on the Sky and Tel website...

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_107_1.asp

The GRS is currently around 104 d long and I believe around 20 d South so unless my upside-down thinking is off Junior should transit after GRS. (the image on Science@NASA being south-side up) without lats and long on both I can be exact with a calculation but with a 10hr rotational period you wouldn't have to wait very long maybe 2 hours would get both in the same frame???

Astrophotographers out there have any comments or corrections???

Cheers!
Alice

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

M104 Image courtesy of Thomas McDonagh
Copyright: Thomas McDonagh 2005 
60 second image collected remotely April 13, 2005
300 mm f/ 11.9
23.6 x 23.6 Arcmins FOV
RAS Observatory, NM

The Old Astronomer to His Pupil

Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.

Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.

But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,
What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and smiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles!

You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late,
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate.
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

          Sarah Williams

Welcome!

Hello to the original Go Go girl Joan! (aka Mom! aka Go!Go! Joanie)

RapidEye sent us more references for free planispheres and star charts...

"I heard your request for a free "Southern" Planisphere and this one didn't come up:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/planisphere/planisphere.htm
The guy is amazing and also did a free Mag 6.5 Atlas with a similar layout to Norton's:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas/atlas.htm
Then he went a step further and did a free Mag 8.5 Atlas (his substitute for SA2K):
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas_85/atlas_85.htm"

David in Cardiff U.K. made a wonderful suggestion to create MP3s for 'in the field' listening

A big thanks to Kevin, Matt and Joseph who are feeding me information for a segment on astrophotography!

I am really enjoying watching as people appear on the Frappr Map! Our most southern listener is "Iluvtheclean" from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the furtherest North is the "Neptune Family" in Anchorage AK...and I think we have some pointy stick issues in common so go visit www.justafewskeins.blogspot.com sometime!

Finally welcome to Mordechai from Israel who had found a rekindling of interest in astronomy and is looking for the Andromeda Galaxy and so lets start the program with that!

Don't forget

We have links to all the reference from tonight's show in our show notes you can find them at astronomy.libsyn.com

Tips and Tricks

Finding M31, M32, M110

This is what I do to find the Andromeda Galaxy. Start with Alpheratz (AL-fer-rats)the star shared by Andromeda and Pegasus. Most of Pegasus will be sitting just on the western horizon so Alpheratz will be the brighter star on the horizon. Andromeda is a long "V" shape which starts at Alpheratz and widens as she stretches towards Perseus. If you go down the brighter line to the second star Mirach then cross north to star on the dim line and make one more step, the same distance and on the same line north to a faint long smear. That is the Andromeda Galaxy and with in her spiral arms is M32 and just on the opposite side a little removed is M110. Think of Peter Pan.."Second star.. to the right and straight on til morning" don't ask me why that works but it does. Now, light pollution I can't fix for you.

Planets

• Venus - The brightest planet visible this month. Venus is outstanding in the Eastern morning sky!
• Jupiter - The largest planet resides in the confines of Libra and it can be seen in the South before sunrise or late, late, late at night on the ecliptic between the bright Spica to the west and the ruddy Antares to the east. Any telescope can reveal its two widest cloud bands to you, along with its four Galilean satellites.
  UPDATE! go look for the new red spot on Jupiter...Little Red or Red Spot Jr.
• Saturn - It appears as a yellowish star that rivals Capella in brightness, in the constellation of Cancer. (1 thumbwidths west of The Beehive - M-44)
• Mars is sneaking it's way closer to Aldeberon almost creating another eye for The Bull. So in that part of the sky it is hip to be red, red Betelgeuse, orange-red Aldeberon and the red Mars
• Mercury - creeping ever so much closer to the setting sun and will be gone soon!

Mercury

In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods and original FTD man.

• Because Mercury proximity to the sun makes it a tough subject to study. It move quickly from being a morning planet to and evening planet and back again.
• Size wise Mercury is between the second smallest planet in the solar system after Pluto. It is smaller than the Earth by 40% and larger that our Moon by 40%.
• Doppler radar observations finally figured out how Mercury rotates and orbits. Mercury had 3 days every two years...wrap your head around that one your head.
• It was little Mercury that helped prove Einstein's theory of general relativity. Because of Mercuries eccentric orbit (perihelion =46 million km from the Sun but at aphelion =70 million) observers using Newtonian physics couldn't account for the math and spent years looking for another planetary body closer still to the sun to make up the difference in mass, the mystery planet sometimes referred to as Vulcan. Einstein's theory more accurately describes the motions of bodies in strong gravitational fields so scientist were able to accurately measure and predict Mercury's orbit.
• Mercury has an atmosphere that is generated and then quickly disappears, blasted away by solar winds...not wind like blowing but a stream of charged electrons and protons traveling from the surface of the sun at 450km/sec! Without an atmosphere to protect it Mercury is as pock-marked as our moon.
• What I love is the naming scheme or planetary nomenclature for the craters of Mercury.
• It is interesting to note that Messenger will need to fly by Earth, Venus and Mercury multiple times before it can gain enough speed to match Mercury's pace around the sun and be successfully captured by the little planet!

Tools

This one is from the lost and found, a site I remember finding and then telling myself I would bookmark and then forgot. Check out Messier45.com

Constellations
Claudius Ptolemaeus, known to us as Ptolomy, 'created' the first 48 constellation and published them in his book Almagest or "The Great Book" in ~147/148 C.E. in Egypt. Relying much upon the first western star charts created by Hipparchus 3 centuries earlier. Charting only the constellations he could see from his latitude, it took Johanne Bayer who completed the task creating the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere in 1603.

Lynx - the Lynx or Tiger - Lynx, the Tiger, is a modern constellation, created by the astronomer Hevelius in the 17th century. He named it Lynx, as you had to have "eyes as sharp as a tigers" to see it the constellation.

Leo - the Lion is an old school constellation. The bright star is Regulus and it is easy to find with his large sickle shaped head. Leo contains many bright galaxies, the twins (Spiral Galaxy M65, Spiral Galaxy M66) and the Leo Trio.

The Moon - This weekend the moon will be moving from thin waxing crescent to first quarter. Start from the illuminated edge, this is the Moon's eastern limb regardless of her orientation to you. The large round sea we see is Mare Crisium acts as our East marker. The terminator is the North and South separator between the illuminated (day) part of the moon from the darker (night) side. On the 6th look for Mare Frigoris, the long narrow sea that stretches from East to West across the Northern 'cap' of the moon. The South has no large seas but lots of craters and is very bright. If you can practice finding these orientations and remember these markers you can travel anywhere and successfully navigate the moon even when she 'looks like a cup or a toad-stool"

On the 14th of this month much of the planet will see a partial lunar eclipse. This one is unique but might go unnoticed as the Moon passes only through the penumbra or outer shadow of Earth touching neither the dark 'true' shadow of the Earth, the umbra, or true light. If you follow the link and look at the diagram you will be impressed with just how little penumbra there is...basically only a Moon's width.

Naked eye viewing-

• Mare Crisium (KRY-see-um)Sea of Crisis
• Mare Undarium(un-DAR-um)Sea of Waves
• Mare Spumans(SPOO-manz)Foaming Sea
• Mare Fecunditatis(feh-KUN-di-TAH-tis) Sea of Fertility
• Mare Serenitatis(seh-REN-ih-TAH-tis) Sea of Serenity
• Mare Tranquillitatis(tran-KWIL-ih-TAH-tis) Sea of Tranquility
• Mare Nectaris(nek-TAHR-is) Sea of Nectar

Binocular viewing-On the South edge of Mare Nectaris is a crater called Piccolominni. The crater was named after Alessandro Piccolomini (June 13, 1508-March 12, 1578), and Italian writer, philosopher, and astronomer.

Ready for a challenge. Last week we talked about the two comets coming from the S.hemisphere and there has already been a sighting...with binoculars! This is from "Tom's Astronomy Blog" which I find informative and reliable enough to keep in in my Bloglines. I think we both look at the same news items because I find frequent overlap..which is good! His blog updates are daily.

"I made it outside early this morning, didn't bother with my coat, after all it was just a quick look. 
I was thinking Pojmanski would be below the horizon. Not so! Actually, it was higher than I had expected. 
It was also much brighter than I thought it would be, probably because I was expecting it to be much more 
diffuse than it was. Then again I heard it was a mag 5, seems about right.

I used binoculars and started doing a spiral sweep around 
Venus - talk about bright - and in a few minutes...success. "

Telescopic viewing- One of the prettiest spiral galaxies is in our northeastern sky during the evening hours. M51 more poetically named the Whirlpool galaxy.
Another challenge is M101, the pinwheel galaxy. After you find the bright, face on galaxy in Ursa Major come back inside and take a look at the new Hubble image. Wow! These new images have caused researchers to pull the Pinwheel out of our class of galaxy and put her into a much larger class 170,000 light years across and trillions of stars.
Magnitude 7.9 RA: 14h03m18s Dec: +54°22'00" M101 almost makes an equilateral triangle with the double star Alcor-Mizar, the second star from the end of the handle of the big dipper, and Alkaid the end star of the handle. Space News.

Comets

Make sure you check the links for update, always better from the horse's mouth so to speak....

Pojmanski has brightened to 5.3 magnitude (as of Feb 21) and is visible in the N.Hemisphere Tom of "Tom's Astronomy" reported finding it on a sweep starting around Venus. Follow the link above to find the associated starchart.
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Could be 3.5 mag at best, and will be visible with naked eyes. It is already bright and visible visually, 12.3 mag on Feb. 27 (Seiichi Yoshida). Strongly condensed and easy to see. It keeps observable in good condition all through the encounter in May, while it will be brightening rapidly. Two other components B and G are also visible.

McNaught10.3 mag on Jan. 30 (Juan Jose Gonzalez). It was very small and sharp before, however, now it looks like a typical diffuse comet. It keeps 10 mag until March.

News

• Pluto might have rings (From Universe Today)
• ISS transits the moonEd Morana has a great photo of the ISS transiting the moon.
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaches Mars.
• Venus is not to be left outVenus Express (ESA) tested it's engine to be sure that it will be able to slow down enough to be properly captured into Venus orbit. The name Venus Express comes from the short time to define, prepare and launch the mission.

Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com or help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night!

Welcome!

Hello to Steve from Utah in the states , Cheryl who publishes "Backyard Astronomy" at Pikerpress.com and to
Joe from Middlefield Connecticut

Thank you to Craig from Poway, California for sending me the Rush song "Earthshine" If it weren't for the fact that the song is copy written I would play it here!
Thanks to a suggestion by Ian of Burford, Oxfordshire U.K. we have Frappr!map for Astronomy a Go Go! Ian has the distinction of being the only Astronomy a Go Go! listener, that I know of so far, who can hear lions roaring while he stargazes!

Russell from Australia had a new podcast "Dark Matters" and we have a snippet of his first podcast to play.

Thanks to the kids from After School Astronomy Clubs for the Venus report.

Tips and Tricks

Last week we talked about using your hands to measure distance of object in the sky by degrees and that is great for communicating to each other how to find an object, like finding Saturn 15 degrees from Procyon. But there is a more precise way to refer to objects and that is by their Right Ascension(hours, minutes and seconds) and Declination(degrees, minutes of degree and seconds of degree)

The Celestial Sphere - The transparent imaginary two-dimensional sphere around the earth so that the Earth's equator (0°) will equal the Celestial Equator (0°) and the Earth's south pole (-90°) will equal the south celestial pole (-90°). The Earth's north pole will represent the north celestial pole where the star Polaris resides (+90°).

The Ecliptic - The path of the Sun across the Celestial Sphere

The Meridian and your Zenith - The line that goes directly above over your head from North to South through your Zenith is called the Meridian. Your Zenith it the point directly above you head in the sky. (90 degrees up in the sky when using altitude).

Remember it like this: Right Ascension (RA) is equal to Longitude. If you ascend, you go up: up down, north south, the RA lines go from North to South in the sky. Declination (Dec) is equal to Latitude, the Dec lines turn like a wheel from west to east in the sky, parallel with the latitude lines on Earth which also go from west to east.

"Movement" of the Grid Lines - Just as the longitude and latitude lines are fixed to the Earth as the Earth rotates, so does the RA and Dec lines move together with the sky as it "rotates" around the Earth. A star will thus always be at the same coordinate at all times. The Moon, Sun and Planets though, will not always have the same RA and Dec, because they move on the ecliptic path in the sky much faster than the stars can ever imagine traveling.

Planets

Naked eye viewing- I am going to have you seek out our two solar hide and seek planets Mercury and Venus The after school astronomy club kids made this recording on how to find Venus.... This Friday the 24th Mercury officially reaches greatest elongation, which means that it is at its farthest visual distance from the Sun for this go-round and sets later than usual about one and a half hours after sunset. But to make sure you catch it I suggest looking during twilight about 45 minutes after sunset. And if you still have a real hard time finding it wait until Wednesday March first when an crescent Moon will be parked just above Mercury.

Telescopic viewing- Lets try for Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy. At mag 8.5 it straddle the line between Corvus and Virgo

News

there are so many great space and astronomy news sites and podcasts out there I won't try and duplicate them all, I'll just report things that really strike my fancy or that I think you might be interested in. Here is a list of some of the sites I visit daily:

• Universe Today
• NASA breaking news
• BBC Science and Technology - ! World Edition
• Planetary Society Blog
• Space.com
• And to get a good summary of all the news try Tom's Astronomy Blog
• Bad Astronomer's Blog
• Some of the names proposed for Pluto's two new moons.
• And since we are talking about moons, Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos are objects we can't catch in the normal backyard telescope but Mars express did a wonderful job returning some outstanding images
.
• Two comets visible with telescopes in the southern hemisphere. - Pojmanski is very faint magnitude 12.5 and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 may eventually become a naked eye comet but I'm not going to predict that...we will keep an eye on both of these.

Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music

Carpe Amor - Seize the Love!

Welcome!

Hello to Frank in Toronto he has a new scope and is floating on that new scope high!

Welcome to Ed from the Birmingham Astronomical Society in Birmingham Alabama. This club has a very nice webpage if you are looking for an example of a well laid out club page. I happen to be partial to ours as well! Ed did you know that there is a Birmingham Astronomical Society in the United Kingdom?

Lastly a special Howdy to my sister Kellie and her husband Craig and their boys. The final song in the show is for my nephews...Caleb and Ben when you are done looking at the stars put on the p.j.s and listen to the song... it is time for bed!

Tips and Tricks

We have been easing into astronomy and astronomical skills and I have a new skill for you to roughly gauge distances in the sky.

Held at arm's length, your pinky finger is about 1 degree wide. Your three middle fingers, held together, are about 5 degrees wide. If you hold out your fist, it will measure a 10 degree width of the sky. If you hold up just your pointer finger and your pinky finger, it will be about 15 degrees of sky between them. If you spread the thumb and pinky of one hand as far apart as they will go, it will be about 25 degrees from outside edge to outside edge.

Now this is an approximate measuring device of course but it works very well. So now I can go out and say that Saturn is 15 degrees SE of Pollux (of Castor and Pollux in Gemini)

Special Valentines Gift

In show #3 we talked about planispheres and how to use them. Planisphere are a wonderful tool and for the N. Hemisphere there are many that you can find for free online. Alas for the southern hemisphere I couldn't find one decent FREE planisphere. Chris, from the Astronomy in your hands website, is giving Astronomy a Go Go! podcast listeners a free planisphere! It is the city version but after looking at his site if you like the Milky Way version you can subscribe and get them all.

In order to make sure that folks don't just randomly find and pilfer these gifts I have hidden them on the show notes! For If you listened you will know what to do...(look at the bottom of the page)

Constellations

For most amateur astronomers constellations are shapes and containers that help us find other things that we really want to see like comets, double stars, and Messier objects. We have been working our way through the 88 'official' constellations since January and tonight we add 3 more all of which are tough!

• Lepus, the Hare. Only 4 bright stars from our city location and home to M79 is a beautiful globular cluster.
• Monoceros (mon-OSS-err-us), The Unicorn. Almost visible in the urban lights an home to M50 and open cluster.
• Columba, Noah's Dove. The constellation refers to the dove released several times during the voyage after the great flood to find land, it was this dove that returned with an olive branch in its beak, indicating dry land had been found.

Naked eye viewing- There are always celestial clues that time is just whizzing by. Not nearly as critical as the flooding of the Nile, when I start to seen Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Bootes, in my window at bed-time I know that it won't be long until the early summer (or winter in the S.H. )constellation will be visible.

But our naked eye challenge tonight is to find the Pleiades. They are in the constellation Taurus the Bull and near Mars. I have Mars marked in each of the charts on the show notes. The Pleiades, or M45 look to me like a very small cup with a short pokey handle. Just how many stars can you see. They are called the 7 sisters but this open cluster has hundreds of stars. I hope your vision is better than mine!

Binocular viewing- We are going to look back at the moon tonight and find the bright crater Copernicus

Named after the Polish astronomer who in 1543 gave us the first modern formulation of a heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the solar system. You can see it with the naked eye but with your binoculars you should be able to see the high walls and if you look north and east you will find another large crater Eratosthenes (aira TOTH tha nees) named after the Greek mathematician who is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude, and for being the first known to have computed the size of the Earth.

Telescopic viewing- If you have a telescope lets look for those Messier objects we talked about earlier. M79 and M50...you will be helping me get ready for next months marathon!

News

Cassini listens as well as looks! So if you think that Cassini is only taking fabulous pictures listen to this. The Cassini spacecraft has captured radio emissions believed to come from a large lightning storm on Saturn.

This image shows a rare and powerful storm on the night side of Saturn.

Light from Saturn's rings (called "ringshine") provided the illumination, allowing the storm and other cloud features to be seen. This storm is approx 2,175 miles north to south which is the distance from Seattle Washington to Dallas Texas

Space Station Flies in Higher Orbit The International Space Station (ISS) is in a higher orbit after a weekend boost from one of two unmanned cargo ships docked at the orbital platform. The maneuver will help place the ISS in position for the arrival of ISS Expedition 13 Russian ISS flight controllers said the reboost maneuver, which occurred at 5:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT) on Feb. 11, also allowed them to test techniques to dodge space debris in orbit, according to the Interfax News Agency.

Part of a solar system running in reverse?

In a NASA news release from Monday reports that NASA scientists have discovered a solar system with planets rotating to two different direction. Our solar system is a one-way boulevard. All the planets --- from Mercury out to Pluto and even the newly discovered objects beyond --- revolve around the Sun in the same direction. The fact that a solar system can have planets running in opposite directions is a shocker.

This solar system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, is a work in progress. At its center is a young star. No planets have formed yet and likely won't for millions of years. What Remijan and Hollis saw were two flat and dusty disks rotating around the equatorial plane of the central star in opposite directions.
A paper describing this result will appear in the April 1 edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

Trivia

Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at www.astronomy.libsyn.com
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