Wed, 14 March 2007 Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night! Image credit:copyright 2006 by Dr. Walter Koprolin (astro.nightsky.at)
ALDEBARAN AT DUSK O star of peace,come tenderly and soon, Nor heed the drowsy and enchanted moon, Who dreams in silver at the eastern gates Ere yet she brim with light the blue estates Abandoned by the eagles of the noon. But shine thou swiftly on the darkling dune And woodlands where the twilight hesitates. Above that wide and ruby lake to-West, George Sterling, 1911 Horsehead Nebula -B33 Image credit:sadly I can't remember who's drawing this is! If it is yours please email me so I can give you due credit. The annotations are mine.
Here is the long windbag version of how I find B33! If you have a smaller scope (8") wait until the belt of Orion is as high as it gets or in the darkest part of the sky for your area. Seeing conditions have more to do with success than just about anything else (IMHO). Half of the time I am parked right on it and can't see it at all which can be both frustrating and tantalizing at the same time...so close and yet.... Start off on the eastern most star in Orion's belt, Alnitak or zeta Ori, move the scope east and look for the Flame Nebula, NGC 2024 Keep moving east and slide Alnitak out of the field of view, now if you can see the Flame nebula chance are that you will be able to see the Horsehead nebula. If you can't see the Flame then see if you can find a bigger scope or darker skies. If you don't see it at first step away close your eyes and let them re-dark adapt after looking at bright Alnitak. (These days I don't start at Alnitak but just to the west of her...) Starting at Alnitak inch south to two relatively bright stars, the first one fainter, the second one brighter, 7th mag labeled "A" on the picture This is the higher-contrast, eastern edge of IC 434 the bright 'river' of nebulosity streaming south from Alnitak. East of the second star there is another star surrounded by not-so-faint nebulosity designated NGC 2023 start getting ready for looooooow contrast. Drawing an imaginary line from NGC 2023 to the 7th magnitude star, and extending it across IC 434, you will find another two relatively bright stars (the northern one brighter "B", the southern one fainter) not quite aligned with the eastern edge of IC 434. Exactly there, at the eastern edge of IC 434, B33 is located. Make an equilateral triangle with "A" and "B" and the imaginary 3rd point to the south and just inside the imaginary 3rd point is B33. To see it, use averted vision and keep the eye steady by fixing one of the stars. If the conditions are excellent and you get a little experience in observing B33, you can even detect the Horsehead shape. Experiment with power and filters but don't give up! If you don't get it then try again another night...you are probably right on top of it! My mistake each time is to look for something small and contrasty...you need to look for a larger, dark mass protruding (east to west) into IC 434 with optically very little contrast except with a large scope and darker skies (and maybe a little filtering). I can usually make out the flat top and the bulge of the head but not the snout...not on the 8". StellariumWe recently had our Student Program learn to write scripts in Stellarium (with a lot of help from one of our super-parents, Bob!) for their annual public night presentation on the "Constellations". If you haven't played with Stellarium scripts it is a lot of fun and somewhat addicting. You will end up spending a lot more time than you think! Stellarium zip file
Messier_aff.sts -This is one that I wrote (I'm a beginner too!)for our "Get ready for the Messier Marathon" meeting. It goes through an alternate selection of the viewing order, at least the beginning is different. The beginning of the file runs while we talk about what you need for the marathon. Press "K" to advance from object to object (M40 is missing from Stellarium) at each title break it will spin to the next object by itself and then you can continue to advance as you wish. REMEMBER! This was programmed in a hurry and I haven't had a chance to work with it since. But I will get it cleaned up soon. You will want to comment out the landscape or if you want to see what it is like to view from our observing hill at the college then go to the TAS website and download our landscape files. Follow the directions included in the file to add the TAS Ft. Steilacoom landscape to your Stellarium. Messier MarathonThe ultimate Messier Marathon site...SEDS!As far as the order you use there are several lists on the above site but I like the logic behind Tom Polakis' order. Southern Hemisphere-September would be a good time for a marathon of "Bennett List" and "Best Sky Objects from SAAO latitude"
SunsunspotsListener FeedbackCloudy Nights Telescope ReviewQuick NewsNew Horizons - This dramatic image of Io was taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on New Horizons at 11:04 Universal Time on February 28, 2007, just about 5 hours after the spacecraft's closest approach to Jupiter. The distance to Io was 2.5 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) and the image is centered at 85 degrees west longitude. At this distance, one LORRI pixel subtends 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) on Io.  Time again for the Globe at Night program! Planets  Evening Planets
Constellations Monoceros (moh-NOSS-er-us) - the Unicorn Introduced by: very old, reported found on Persian spheres Best known stars: Plaskett's Star-HR 2422 Monocerotis one of the most massive binaries known, with two hugely massive blue-white class O (as best we can tell, O7.5 and O6) supergiants tightly orbiting each other with a period of only 14.40 days. Beta Mon-triple star system a great triple star system, especially for smaller telescopes. William Herschel, discovered it in 1781 Deep sky objects: The Rosette Nebula, 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246. Inside the clear center of the rose is open cluster 2244. On the southeast corner of the nebula is 2264 another bright open cluster. Also the fan/comet-shaped Hubble's variable nebula NGC 2261, which is associated with the very young star R Monocerotis at its southern tip. A friend just brought an image in to our last meeting of Hubble's variable and it was quite impressive! M50 This is a cluster of about a hundred bright stars, rather tightly grouped, ideal for small telescopes. It can even be seen by the naked eye on a good night. There is a red star near its center. NGC 2506 is a beautiful , bright mag 7.6, densely packed open cluster...almost a wanna-be globular cluster! Double stars: Epsilon Mon is a fixed binary Variable stars: S Monocerotis located at the center of NGC 2264 ViewingNaked eye and binoculars M44 - Praesepe (the manger) or the Beehive
Cluster in Cancer Telescope - Northern Hemisphere chart Taki's chart Maps 78 and 79Southern Hemisphere chart Taki's chart Map 55, Map 104, Map 108 M35 in Gemini near Castor's foot but what is more interesting is the neighbor... NGC 2158, NGC 2174 and 2175 IC 418 planetary nebula in Lepus nicknamed the Raspberry Nebula at 9.6 mag in a smaller scope it doesn't appear to have the red color large scope can claim, slightly bluish (bottom of map 104). Viewing challenges: NGC 404 just off of beta Andromeda 10.2 mag galaxy, interesting and tough with beta so bright.NGC 613 10.1mag in Sculptor (map 108) you need a lot of mirror for this one. Galaxy with a very long 'core'. NGC 2185 in Monoceros a pair of nebula the eastern one looks like a tulip. CometsComets for the Month.Check out the Sky Hound site."One touch of nature makes the whole world kin" Email us at astronomyagogo@gmail.com or leave a note in our show notes at
www.astronomy.libsyn.com MusicCeltic Stone's "Drowsy Maggie" (should we re-name it drowsy Alice after this weekend!)Ariaphonic's Sposa son disprezzata
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.  Comments[6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 1 March 2007  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 Those in the Southern Hemisphere should also visit James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere December sky.
Another great site for Southern Hemisphere viewers is the Royal Astronomical
Society of New Zealand's Southern Hemisphere Calendar can be found at the RASNZ site
Download "What's up 2007: 365 days of Skywatching" by Tammy Plotner, published by Universe Today (Faser Cain) it is a fantastic and it is free! Planets for March 2007Mercury After the first week of March look for Mercury in the morning twilight, for Northern observers your lower latitudes are more favorable. For S.H. viewers Mercury puts on its best show all year. On the 23rd look for the 0.2 mag planet 10 deg even before astronomical twilight and will stand out in the dark eastern sky 2.8 mag (1st) to 0.2 mag (21st) Venus Brilliant for both N.H. and S.H. observers. Shining right through the clouds in the Pac NW! Telescopes will show Venus as small and more than 80 percent illuminated -3.8 mag (1st) to - 3.9 mag (21st) Mars In Capricornus rises after Jupiter and about 1.5 hours before the Sun 1.3 mag (1st) to 1.2 mag (21st) Jupiter In Ophiuchus rising mid-month around midnight making it easier to squeeze into night time observing. For those of you who like the early morning observing Jupiter you will find him NW of Antares in a beautiful part of the sky, just West of Sagittarius. On the 3rd Jupiter is 90 deg West of the sun providing observers with shadows thrown farthest west and a greater chance of Galilean satellite eclipses. -2.0 mag (1st) to -2.2 mag (21st) SaturnBeautiful and high in the ESE at dusk. Saturn creeps further West away from Regulus but still near the paws of the Lion. 0.0 mag (1st) to 0.1 mag (21st) Uranus 5.9 mag (1st) to 5.9 mag (21st) Neptune will camp out in Capricorn all year long 8.0 mag (1st) to 8.0 mag (21st). Key Dates for March 2007Days and Times in UT (help with time) Great site for sunrise and sunset times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards Observations are for 9pm for everyone...happy Equinox! Astronomical Highlights
Astronomical Highlights for 2007Earth's major motions for 2007 Planet Positions for 2007 Eclipses for 2007 March 19 - partial solar eclipse (see map, times, and animation!): The first solar eclipse of 2007 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in Pisces and is visible from eastern Asia and parts of northern Alaska September 11 - partial solar eclipse (see map, times, and animation): The last eclipse of 2007 is a partial solar eclipse at the Moon's descending node in southern Leo. Its visibility is confined to parts of South America, Antarctica and the South Atlantic March 3-4 - total lunar eclipse (see map): The beginning of the umbral phase visible in the Arctic region, Africa, Europe, Asia except for extreme eastern region, most of Indonesia, western Australia, Queen Maud Land of Antarctica, extreme eastern South America, Greenland, the Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean; the end visible in Africa, Europe, western Asia, Queen Maud Land of Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula, South America, eastern North America, Greenland, the Arctic region, the Atlantic Ocean, the western Indian Ocean, and the extreme eastern South Pacific Ocean. August 28 - total lunar eclipse (see map): The beginning of the umbral phase visible in North America, South America except extreme east, Antarctica except for Enderby Land, New Zealand, eastern Australia, extreme northeastern Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the western Atlantic Ocean; the end visible in New Zealand, Australia, most of Antarctica except Queen Maud Land, Indonesia, eastern Asia, western North America, the Pacific Ocean, and the southeastern Indian Ocean. Eclipse information from: NASA Eclipse Homepage, Eclipses Online (HM Nautical Almanac Office, UK in coordination with the U.S. Naval Observatory)Meteor Showers for 2007 As luck would have it, all the major meteor showers reach their peaks in 2007 with the Moon out of the sky. Any of these showers can produce dozens of shooting stars each dark hour leading up to dawn. Mark your calendar to look for...
Comets for March Gary Kronk's comet and meteor pagesSkyhound Comet pages 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" Comments[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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