Tammy was a professional astronomy author, President Emeritus of Warren Rupp Observatory and retired Astronomical League Executive Secretary. She’s received a vast number of astronomy achievement and observing awards, including the Great Lakes Astronomy Achievement Award, RG Wright Service Award and the first woman astronomer to achieve Comet Hunter's Gold Status.
(Tammy passed away in early 2015... she will be missed)
Located just south of the ecliptic plane, Piscis Austrinus was one of the original 48 constellations charted by Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations adopted by the IAU. Spanning 245 square degrees of sky, it ranks 60th in size. Piscis Austrinus contains 7 mains stars in its asterism and has 21 Bayer Flamsteed designated stars within its confines. It is bordered by the constellations of Capricornus, Microscopium, Grus, Sculptor and Aquarius. Piscis Austrinus can be seen by all observers located at latitudes between +55° and -90° and is best seen at culmination during the month of October. Today the IYA “Live” Telescope was aimed at its brightest star… Wanna’ see?
Piscis Austrinus is also known as Piscis Australis – Latin for the “Southern Fish”. Prior to the 20th century, it was also known as Piscis Notius. In mythology it is said to represent the parent of Pisces. Perhaps the legend came from the Syrians who did not eat fish, but worshipped them as gods. The Greeks also kept fish ponds at their temples and one legend tells of woman who was turned into a mermaid when she threw herself into a pond in a suicide attempt. There are those who believe Pisces Austrinus is associated with the Assyrian fish god Dagon and the Babylonian god Oannes, but at least all accounts give a rather “fishy” tale!
Let’s take a look at Piscis Austrinus’ brightest star – Alpha – the “a” symbol on a star chart. Alpha Piscis Austrini is best known as Fomalhaut – the “Mouth of the Whale”. This class-A main sequence star is about 25 light years from Earth, and like Vega, has an excess of infra-red radiation which indicated a circumstellar disk. Not only does it have a disk, but it has an extrasolar planet, too… One that was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2006 and confirmed in 2008! The Jupiter-sized planet orbits about 11 billion miles away from the parent star and takes about 872 years to make the full trip – and may very well have a ring system which dwarf’s that of Saturn’s.
As stars go, Fomalhaut is quite interesting enough on its own. In ancient times it was considered one of the four “royal” stars that marked the cardinal directions and Ptolemy gave it astrological significance as well. It is a young star, maybe around 100 to 300 million years old and part of the Castor Group of Moving Stars. The stellar association in the Castor group include stars of similar age, origin and similar velocity and include Castor, Fomalhaut, Vega, Alpha Cephei and Alphae Librae. All of these stars may have originated from the same location at some point in time which may have made them part of star cluster. In binoculars you will also notice another nearby star – TW Piscis Austrini – it is also a member of this group and may actually be a physical companion of Fomalhaut. Keep a watch on TW, though! Because as its two letter designation indicates, it is a variable star… But not just any variable. TW Piscis Austrini is a flare star! While flares can erupt periodically within a matter of hours or days with no predictable timetable, TW is also a prime candidate for harboring an Earth-like habitable zone, too!
Eclipse from Chongqing Municipality (Xinhua/Liu Chan)
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The total solar eclipse which just occurred on the 22nd of July 2009 was the longest maximum duration of the 21st century. Not since Saros 1991 have astronomers and eclipse chasers been treat to such an event! Totality lasted over six and a half minutes at maximum. duration. The event started in India along the western shore near Surat moved towards Butan and reached the southern tip of Nepal and the northern edge of Bangladesh.
For other lucky astronomers like Vietnamese student Dang Anh Tuan at Hanoi National University of Education, the eclipse path also took the event over cities like Chengdu, Suining, Chonging, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Hangzhou, and Shanghai – and event which yielded five minutes of totality. Leaving Shanghai the shadow path raced across the ocean, to fall across islands such as Toshima and Akusaki south of Japan and eventually the Marshall islands. Where was the longest point? The maximum eclipse duration of 6 minutes and 43 seconds occurs far off the coast in the Pacific Ocean! Are you ready to become an eclipse chaser? Then follow me…
I’ve always wanted to go on an eclipse chasing journey, but I’m afraid I’ll never quite be rich or well enough, unless it happens somewhere near me. But, my world is one that is both large and very small at the same time… And filled with wonderful friends from every corner. Bill Fish of Lubrizol Advanced Materials made my day by sending me some photos shared by their employees immediately after the eclipse had ended.
Seeing such incredible beauty, like this image of Bailey’s Beads taken in Chong Qing, and in just a few hours meeting great people like Jessica Bian, Kelly Zhou, Jun-Sheng Cao, Leo Chi, Mars Meng, Lucy Wang and Helen Tong felt so wonderful. Truly astronomy is a language we all speak! By roughly 9:00 in the morning, this is what they would have seen from their office windows or rooftops. Can you imagine what an exciting day it must have been?!
Well, needless to say, once I saw something like that, all my worries and cares for the day seemed so small. Even though I couldn’t leave my desk, the marvelous opportunity for me to become an eclipse chaser had just opened up like a fortune cookie right before my eyes. It was time for me to learn Chinese… and check out this awesome video done by Hubei Jingmen!
But he wasn’t alone… And neither was I. Millions of folks all over China were witnessing the eclipse and with each video I felt more and more like I was there, too.
“In the Zhejiang Haining, huge amounts of people were out to observe the wonderful total solar eclipse. The observation person is sea of people. But two big marvelous sight’s secret directions are the Sun, the Earth and the Moon…. “three meet”.”
Now, let’s travel to Beijing where the sky was enveloped in mist. Despite the weather, some 200 astronomy watchers queued in front of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory at 6:30 a.m. Staff at the observatory said the eclipse had sparked interest in astronomy. Yang Jing, a high-school student from Urumqi said. “I didn’t expect such a big crowd to watch the eclipse!”
Our next video comes from Chengdu… You can imagine the city stopping for just a moment to look skyward. “As soon as the totality happened, the clouds closed in so we couldn’t see the corona. That’s a pity,” said Zhen Jun, a man whose work unit had given the day off for the spectacle.
Now we move on to Hangzhou… When thousands of people thronged outdoors for the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, animals at the zoo in east China’s Hangzhou City also reacted, quickly and confusedly. The shadow of the moon disoriented birds whose body clock and direction depend on the sun. Red-crowned cranes and flamingos that had been wandering or drinking water suddenly fell asleep during the brief blackout of eclipse. But when the sun rays came out again several minutes later, the birds emerged from their cages and started the life of another “day.”
Even though I don’t understand a word of Chinese, I understand every word of “human”. Listen to them… Listen to the people talk and the children! How I wish I were there, too! Said Kang Hui:“The celestial phenomenon was a marvelous sight”. Are you ready to move again and follow the shadow? Then, let’s take a trip to Shanxi Linfen…
Now, I’ll race you to Hong Kong! Hundreds of people thronged into the Hong Kong Space Museum Wednesday morning for the Partial Solar Eclipse Observation activity. The public watched the eclipse using telescopes equipped with a safe filtering system and projection under guidance provided by the Space Museum.
Gosh, some of that footage feels like you could just reach right out and wrap your hand around that Moon, doesn’t it? Now let’s head to the middle of Anhui Yi County…
This one where you can see the corona dazzling is simply extraordinary. Can you imagine what it would feel like to be able to see this in real life? Come on… Let’s continue our eclipse chasing trip to Shanghai! It was raining in Shanghai when the total eclipse occurred at 9:35 a.m. The city put extra police on streets, and more than 30 police vessels patrolled the coast. Only street lamps were left on, as the city turned off all landscape lighting to allow people to watch the solar eclipse.
In Shanghai, more than 4,000 people ended up in suburban Yuehu Park of Sheshan Observatory and Yangshan Deep Water Port, two prime spots in the city, to observe the eclipse. Shanghai Science Hall also organized a public viewing session in downtown Fuxing Park and seventeen observation stations were set up in the solar eclipse path from Yunnan province to Zhejiang province.
Now we travel to the Henan Luoyang and say hello to these great kids and their equally excited parents and grandparents as we catch a partial eclipse.
“Luoyang’s light rain was intermittent, in the morning about 10:45, the Sun opened out the cloud layer to reveal the face of what was to come. The residents might see the partial solar eclipse! This kind of picture has not been seen here for a very long time. The Henan Luoyang partial solar eclipse looks just like the raging fire phoenix raising slowly.”
Shall we continue to Taiwan? Then grab us a cup of coffee and I will meet you at the Taibei Municipal Astronomy Scientific Culture Hall.
Shall we travel to Shenyang? This was also a partial solar eclipse location, but witnesses said the Moon “seemed like it was curved”.
Now, come with us to Ningbo. This one is so beautiful I wept when I saw it…
“This morning we just watched the total solar eclipse, which happens every 500 years. When the whole sun is blacken by the Moon. Everyone is highly excited. It’s pity I forgot to bring the camera by my side and the moment is passed away soon. But I am still lucky to see the sight. 500 years……how significant!”
When I was a child, I was charmed by a story about Ping the Duck, who lived on the Yangtze River. The last of the hundreds of videos I have watched today that I’d like to share with you is part of the Yangtze River collection.
Enjoy this beautiful composite image taken by Yang Lei at a park in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. It has been my most wonderful pleasure over the day to spend time in the East…
Chasing the Sun!
Solar eclipse occurring over Taipei of southeast China's Taiwan
My many thanks to Bill Fish for getting me started, Jessica Bian for investigating and translating and the wonderful people at Sina for sharing!
July 22, 2009 Solar Eclipse Image Submitted By Bill Fish
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The total solar eclipse which just occured on the 22nd of July 2009 was the longest in terms of maximum totality duration of the 21st century – lasting over six and a half minutes. Not since Saros 1991 have astronomers and eclipse chasers been treated to such a length of time! The eclipse footprint started in India along the western shore near Surat moved towards Butan and reached the southern tip of Nepal and the northern edge of Bangladesh. For other lucky astronomers, the eclipse path also took the event over the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Suining, Chonging, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Hangzhou, and Shanghai – yielding five minutes of totality. Leaving Shanghai the shadow raced across the ocean to fall across islands such as Toshima and Akusaki south of Japan and eventually the Marshall islands. Where did the longest time occur? The maximum eclipse duration of 6 minutes and 43 seconds was far off the coast in the Pacific Ocean! As I write this announcement, our readers are sending in their photos and stories to my home email (send them!!) and I just couldn’t wait to show you some of the beginning results. It will take a short time to do a little translation work… But it’s a small, wonderful world and this article will be updated very soon!
Hey, hey! We’re baaaaack… The IYA Live Telescope was on-line for the whole night “down under” and we had a chance to watch both Jupiter and Neptune accompanied by a nearby star for several hours – then a later view of the Helix nebula until dawn. If you didn’t get a chance to see it live, don’t worry. As always, we did a video capture to share…
When it comes to viewing Jupiter, sometimes there can always be a bit of a trade-off. In order to see dimmer Neptune, Jupiter must be over-exposed, thereby losing planetary details. Although the planetary pair has separated greatly over the last few days, it’s still nice to be able to catch them nearby each other in the same field of view!
Factual Information Courtesy of Wikipedia:
The Helix Nebula, also known as The Helix or NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation of Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years. It is similar in appearance to the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.
In this video, the Helix appear quite dim since it really requires a larger aperture telescope. However, you will find it slightly left of center where it makes a brief appearance haloed by faint stars when the image composites and resolves.
Once again, many, many thanks to our generous benefactor from the Mighty ETX group for donating the part needed to bring our IYA telescope back to life again! Please be sure to check the link to your left for future IYA “Live” telescope broadcasts!
Ah, yes… The skies have long been dark and the constellations have been on the move since the last time we’ve visited! Hercules now stands overhead when darkness falls. Summer Bugs and Scorpius are already going west of the meridian and Ophiuchus, the “Snake Charmer” has taken its place. In the southern hemisphere, they are tolerating winter – but the nights are warm in the north and with them comes our finest times of viewing our own Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arm… Sagittarius.
Are you ready to learn more? Then for most of you, the journey will begin as the sky starts to darken. Do you remember the herdsman, Bootes? His marker star, Arcturus, has now moved from overhead to the high west for most locations. How about the Summer Triangle? Instead of waiting for hours for it to arrive, those three bright stars show clearly as well risen to the east and high east. Do you remember the Scorpion? It’s here, too… And as the sky gets truly dark, you won’t be able to miss sparkling red Antares or the distinctive pattern of Scorpius as it sits against the southern skyline slightly to the southwest.
But, we promised you summer, didn’t we? That’s right. And no summer would be complete without some starry nights and peering into the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy. We’ll begin by identifying the southernmost star of the Summer Triangle, Altair, and the Aquila constellation. Its distinctive “T” shape shows in even relatively light polluted areas! Beginning with Altair (Alpha Scu), count four stars down the back towards the south. At the end of this chain, you will see two stars close together. Starhop almost this same distance west with your binoculars and listen to the wind….
“What Summer would be complete without looking for a beautiful flock of Wild Ducks taking flight against the starry night? You’ll find this sparkling open cluster just south of another sky-bird, Aquila. Count down four stars to Lambda Scuti…” In binoculars it will show as a distinctive diamond-shaped compression of star field and will begin some resolution. In the finderscope it will appear as a small hazy patch. Even in a small telescope it will resolve into a glorious open cluster and will show hundreds of stars to larger aperture. At around 220 million years old, Messier 11 is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its brightest and hottest main sequence stars are of spectral type B8 and it also contains many yellow and red giant stars. Speeding away from us at 22 kilometers per second, a total of 82 variable stars have so far been discovered amidst its vast population!
“If you like beach parties, then why not capture your own lobster? Although it is sometimes known as the Omega Nebula, Messier 17 looks like a ghostly green lobster just waiting on your pot!” How do you find it? For binoculars and image correct finderscopes, try starting with the constellation of Aquila and begin tracing the stars down the eagle’s back to Lambda – just like you did for M11. When you reach that point, continue to extend the line through to Alpha Scuti, then southwards towards Gamma Scuti. M17 is slightly more than 2 degrees (about a finger width) southwest of this star. If you are in a dark sky location, you can also identify it easily in binoculars by starting at the M24 “Star Cloud” north of Lambda Sagittari (the teapot lid star) and simply scan north. This nebula is bright enough to even cut through moderately light polluted skies with ease, but don’t expect to see it when the Moon is nearby. You’ll enjoy the rich star fields combined with an interesting nebula in binoculars, while telescopes will easily begin resolution of interior stars.
“Summer nights mean a chance to swim, and what more peaceful way than in the Blue Lagoon? Get out your binoculars and explore M8 – the Lagoon Nebula….” Although the constellation of Sagittarius is recognized as the Archer, it is most familiar as an asterism known as the ‘teapot’. Where skies are dark, its simple house-like shape appears like a teapot in the sky and the steam escaping the spout in the Milky Way. Finding Messier 8 in binoculars or a telescope is easy in a dark location, because you only need to start at the tip of the teapot’s spout and move your optics due north until this large, bright nebula appears. However, not everyone is blessed with dark skies and finding M8 from an urban location can be a little more difficult. From a well-lighted situation, both the teapot lid star (Lambda) and Alpha Scorpii (Antares) show well. You’ll find M8 just slightly north about 1/4 of the distance between Lambda and Alpha. In binoculars it will be quite bright and you’ll see the beginnings of its embedded open cluster – while a telescope of any size will resolve the cluster and bring up wonderful details in the wispy nebula. Large aperture should also look for accompanying dark nebula, too. Be aware that although it is bright, well-lit situations will greatly reduce contrast and a moonlit night or city lights will make it very difficult to find. Because of the Lagoon Nebula’s large apparent size, use low magnification to see the full extent of the nebula, but be sure to up the power to study its many features!
Messier Object 8 is a giant interstellar cloud. An emission nebula is a localized region of ionized gas which emits light in different colors at wavelengths not always visible to the human eye. Its energy source is ionization from high-energy photons emitted from a nearby hot star, which causes it to glow – much like the heating coil on an electric stove. The colors you see photographically depend on the chemical composition and how much it is being ionized. Most nebulae contain an abundance of hydrogen, which doesn’t require much energy to be ionized and appears red. Where more energy is available from more powerful stars, other elements will be ionized and green and blue hues will appear. To our human eyes, we see nebulae like M8 is gray, or gray/green… Doubly ionized oxygen! Many emission nebulae like M8 often have dark areas in them where no stars or light seems to appear. We refer to these as ‘dark nebula’ but they’re really just clouds of dust which block the light.
The Lagoon Nebula is about 5200 light years away and covers an area of space about 140 by 60 light years. Its brightest portion is often called the “Hourglass Nebula” and it’s a region where new star formation is occurring. Inside you’ll also see young open star cluster NGC 6530. According to information, it may be situated just slightly in front of the nebula from our perspective, but interstellar reddening shows the nebula is also involved with the cluster. M8 is also famous for its Bok globules – dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material!
“Are you ready to go catch some lightning bugs? Then you’ll find a whole swarm of them just waiting for you near the top of the celestial tea kettle.” From its position almost on the ecliptic plane, bright globular cluster M22 is easy to find in optics of all sizes… The most important clue is simply identifying the Sagittarius “teapot” shape! Once you’ve located it, just chose the “lid” star, Lambda (Kaus Borealis) and look about a finger width (2 degrees) due northeast. In binoculars, if you center Lambda, M22 will appear in the 10:00 region of your field of view. In a finderscope, you will need to hop from Lambda northeast to 24 Sagittari and you’ll see it as a faint fuzzy nearby also to the northeast. From a dark sky location, Messier Object 22 can also sometimes be spotted with the unaided eye! No matter what size optics you use, this large, very luminous ball of stars is quite appealing. A joy to binocular users and an exercise in resolution to telescopes. Drifting along in space some 10,400 light years from our solar system, M22 shares common ground with a lot of other clusters of its type. It’s true that it is a gravitationally bound sphere of stars and that most of its stars are all about the same age. It’s also true that it’s part of our galactic halo and may once have been part of a galaxy that our Milky Way cannibalized… But it’s there that the similarities end. There’s a lot more to this ball of stars that’s receding away from us at 149 kilometers per second than meets the eye.
Messier 22 contains at least 70,000 individual stars – and out of those? Only 32 are variable stars. It spans an incredible 200 light years in diameter and ranks 4th in brightness against all the known globular clusters in our galaxy. And four is its lucky number… Because it is also one of only four globular clusters known to contain a planetary nebula. But is that all? Not hardly. Recent Hubble Space Telescope investigations of Messier 22 have led to the discovery of an astonishing discovery. It would appear that there’s planet-sized objects floating around in there about 80 times the mass of Earth!
“Summer fun means including the whole family and it would appear a curious cat has been tracking around the center of our Milky Way Galaxy! Get out your telescope and look for the Cat’s Paw Nebula, NGC 6334, just above the Scorpion’s tail.” Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble! Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat’s Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat’s Paw is an emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there in only the past few million years.
“What Summer night would not be complete without telling a ghost story around the campfire!It’s time to take a look at Telescopium – the telescope – and find NGC 6369.” This pretty planetary nebula was discovered by astronomer William Herschel as he used a telescope to explore the constellation Ophiuchus. It’s called a planetary nebula because it is round and planet-shaped – but it’s far fainter. For that very reason, it’s often called the Little Ghost Nebula! What is is a sun-like star at the end of its life… shedding its outer layers and expanding into space. During this time, the star’s core begins to shrinks until it ends up as a white dwarf star. Once transformed, the white dwarf star then lights the “left over” nebula material. Over 2,000 light-years away, the Little Ghost Nebula shows us what make eventually become of our own Sun in another 5 billion years!
Enjoy your summer evenings….
Many thanks to these great resources for the images! Sagittarius Region Map courtesy of Bill Keel of the University of Alabama, M11, M17, M8, and M22 images courtesy of NOAO/AURA/NSF, NGC 6334 courtesy of Travis Rector, NOAO/AURA/NSF and the “Little Ghost” courtesy of the Hubble Heritage Team
This beautiful Leo spiral galaxy – NGC 2903 – is only some 20 million light-years away and is one of the brightest galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere. Despite easily being seen in larger binoculars and small telescopes, for some reason it was never included in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of celestial grandeur. “You don’t understand! I could’a had class. I could’a been a contender. I could’a been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.” This incredible color image taken with an amateur ground-based telescope shows off the galaxy’s exquisite spiral arms – including intriguing details of NGC 2903’s core region, a stunning amalgamation of old and young star clusters with immense dust and gas clouds. But there’s a whole lot more there to be seen…
Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way, NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across and displays an exceptional rate of star formation activity near its core in visible light – but it also screams bright in radio, infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray bands. While in every respect, this galaxy is much like our own home neighborhood, just like “On The Waterfront”, there’s some mysterious goings-on along that central bar – very young, hot globular clusters. Apparently, star formation is absolutely running rampant in a 2000 light-year wide circumnuclear ring surrounding NGC 2903’s center. “This isolated system strikingly reveals a soft extended X-ray feature reaching in north-west direction up to a projected distance of 5.2 kpc from the center into the halo. The residual X-ray emission in the disk reveals the same extension as the Ha disk. Since galactic superwinds, giant kpc-scale galactic outflows, seem to be a common phenomenon observed in a number of edge-on galaxies, especially in the X-ray regime, and are produced by excess star-formation activity, the existence of hot halo gas as found in NGC 2903 can be attributed to events such as central starbursts.” says D. Tschoke (et al), “That such a starburst has taken place in NGC 2903 must be proven. The detection of hot gas above galaxy disks also with intermediate inclination, however, encounters the difficulty of discriminating between that contribution from disk and active nuclear region.”
So what causes extremely starburst activity? As we’ve learned from our astrophoto lessons – galaxy interaction is a prime suspect. “NGC 2903 is found to have an H I envelope that is larger than previously known, extending to at least three times the optical diameter of the galaxy. Our search for companions yields one new discovery. The companion is 64 kpc from NGC 2903 in projection, is likely associated with a small optical galaxy of similar total stellar mass, and is dark matter dominated. In the region surveyed, there are now two known companions: our new discovery and a previously known system that is likely a dwarf spheroidal, lacking H I content.” says Judith A. Irwin (et al), “If H I constitutes 1% of the total mass in all possible companions, then we should have detected 230 companions, according to cold dark matter (CDM) predictions. Consequently, if this number of dark-matter clumps are indeed present, then they contain less than 1% H I content, possibly existing as very faint dwarf spheroidals or as starless, gasless dark-matter clumps.”
So how do we study what we cannot see? Only through photography and understanding how each phase of cosmic construction affects photographic results. “These results, and other considerations, have led to the hypothesis that the dark matter surrounding spiral galaxies consists of cold gas, mainly in the form of molecular hydrogen. The spatial distribution of this cold gas should be similar to that of the observed neutral hydrogen.” says H. Hoekstra of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institut, “There is a potentially powerful selection effect that may cause a relationship between the surface densities of HI and dark matter for the galaxies in our sample. This is because the HI surface density distributions of the galaxies in our sample have the common characteristic that the highest values in the inner regions, as well as the lowest values in the outer regions are similar from galaxy to galaxy.”
Now that we understand how astrophotos are used to determine galactic properties, open the image and take a closer look at all the galaxies hidden nearby NGC 2903 – and the details inside. When Warren Keller and David Plesko at Cherry Mountain Observatory collaborated on this photo, you can bet the first results from the raw data didn’t look like this finished work of art. For those of you who already understand the ins and outs of what makes deep space imaging what it is – perhaps I’ll totally explain this wrong, because it’s a new concept to me… But that’s why the world has Warren Keller.
When processing a raw image, there’s a lot more to it that just whacking it into photoshop and tweaking this or adjusting that. There’s things hiding inside and just like a great symphony, it takes a composer and a virtuoso to end up with music to make you cry. Because I don’t fully understand the process, I asked Warren to help me along, so I might also understand how these tiny details are drawn from thin air… or the blankness of space. “One of my big things is color balance- being true to the data, coupled with an understanding of how the object should look. What I see though is what I call assumptive processing- ‘It’s a galaxy and its arms must be really blue!’ In reality, each is very different and that’s why I love ’em so much. That sets a precedent, but I say be faithful to the data (once gradients are eliminated).”
And taking that data and teaching others how to process it is what Warren is all about. “All that being said, I’m aware of Atmospheric Extinction, CCD’s relative insensitvity to Blue, especially front lit and ABGs and the cancellation of Blue by the yellowing lens of middle-aged folks.” But is there a way that even us yellowing old dogs can be taught new tricks? Yeah. Warren not only knows how to sing the song, but he’s a music teacher. He’s created a teaching program called Image Processing for Astrophotography – or IP4AP. Say’s Warren: “IP4AP “Image Processing For Astrophotography” was created for Astrophotographers of all skill levels. There are many resources for learning Image Processing, but we believe these techniques are best taught – Visually!”
So, I was curious… And here’s a introductory look at Warren’s teaching style:
Before you take a cut out of me for being “commercial”, please remember that my job as a astronomical reporter is to also find products and methods which I find exciting and our readers might want to be made aware of. And, quite frankly, after having looking at many of Warren’s images and how his lesson plans work, I thought there just might be more than one budding (or seasoned) astrophotographer out there that might find what IP4AP has to offer of great value. As a matter of fact, even premier astro imagers like Dietmar Hager have used it. “Having had a couple of sessions with Warren covering essential facts about sophisticated usage of AstroArt and Photoshop was like leading me out of the dark basement of astrophotography into the highlighted groundfloor and further up. Guys, and I can tell you this is a high rise building and Warren is the perfect guide. Thanks for enriching my knowledge about digital processing!”
Go on, open it… Count all the details you can see in this image of NGC 2903 and its companions… and when you’re ready to become a contender, you can find IP4AP at many great retailers like OPT, Adirondak Astronomy and High Point Scientific. You’ve made a large investment in equipment – Now make a small one and learn the secrets of producing stunning astrophotographs!
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It’s a picturesque weekend to get up early as the Moon heads for the Pleiades and on towards a close encounter with Venus. With plenty of dark skies to go around and the random meteor rate a little higher than usual, why not spend some time with the constellation of Lupus? No telescope or binoculars? No problem. There’s also plenty of things to do over the next few days that only requires just your eyes and a little knowledge of the skies. I’ll see you in the backyard…
Friday, July 17, 2009 – This date marks the 1904 passing of Isaac Roberts, an English astronomer who specialized in photographing nebulae. Since many deep sky objects are far too faint to be seen with the human eye, photography soon became a great way of studying them, but as the Earth moved, long exposure photography became problematic as the image also moved and blurred. Roberts’ developed a telescope/camera combination which would track, allowing for a long exposure times and perfected images. As an ironic twist, this is also the date on which a star was first photographed at Harvard Observatory!
Tonight let’s have a look at a real little power punch globular cluster located in northern Lupus— NGC 5824. Although it’s not an easy star hop, you’ll find it about 7 degrees southwest of Theta Librae,
and exactly the same distance south of Sigma Librae (RA 15 03 58 Dec –33 04 04). Look for a 5th magnitude star in the finderscope to guide you to its position southeast.
As a Class I globular cluster, you won’t find any others that are more concentrated than this. Holding a rough magnitude of 9, this little beauty has a deeply concentrated core region that is simply unresolvable. Discovered by E.E. Barnard in 1884, it enjoys its life in the outer fringes of its galactic halo about 104 light-years away from Earth and contains many recently discovered variable stars. Oddly enough, this metal-poor globular may have been formed by a merger. Research on GC 5824’s stellar population leads us to believe that two less dense and differently aged globulars may have approached one another at a low velocity and combined to form this ultra-compact structure. Be sure to mark your observing notes on this one! It also belongs to the Bennett catalog and is part of many globular cluster lists.
Saturday, July 18, 2009 – Celestial scenery alert! Get up before dawn to witness the Moon graze by the Pleiades. For some observers, the pair will be separated by around half a degree; it will be an occultation event for others. Still not enough? Then be sure to look for the twin red pair of Mars and Aldebaran spaced equidistant to the Moon’s south!
Tonight let’s begin with the 1689 birth of Samuel Molyneux. This British astronomer and his assistant were the first to measure the aberration of starlight. What star did they choose? Alpha Draconis, which oscillated with an excursion of 39’’ from its lowest declination in May. Why choose a single star during an early dark evening? Because Alpha Draconis—Thuban—is far from bright. At magnitude 3.65, Thuban’s ‘‘alpha’’ designation must have come from a time when it, not Polaris, was the northern celestial pole star. If you’re aware that the two outer stars of the ‘‘dipper’’ point to Polaris, then use the two inner stars to point to Thuban (RA 14 04 23 Dec +64 22 33). This 300-light-year distant white giant star is no longer main sequence, a rare binary type.
Now head to binary Eta Lupi, a fine double star resolvable with binoculars. You’ll find it by staring at Antares and heading due south two binocular fields to center on bright H and N Scorpii—then one binocular field southwest. Now hop 5 degrees southeast (RA 16 25 18 Dec – 40 39 00) to encounter the fine open cluster NGC 6124. Discovered by Lacaille, and known as object I.8, this 5th magnitude open cluster is also Dunlop 514, Melotte 145, and Collinder 301. Situated about 19 light years away, it shows a fine, round, faint spray of stars to binoculars and is resolved into about 100 stellar members to larger telescopes. Although NGC 6124 is low for northern observers, it’s worth the wait to try at culmination. Be sure to mark your notes because this delightful galactic cluster is also a Caldwell object and counts for a southern skies binocular award.
Sunday, July 19, 2009 – Want a picturesque sight before dawn? Then look for the close pairing of Venus and the Moon. Which has the greater crescent? This probably would have interested Edward Charles Pickering, who was born on this date in 1864. Pickering was the director of Harvard College Observatory for 42 years and published the first all-sky photographic map in 1902. While at Harvard, he recruited many women to work for him, including Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Antonia Maury. These women were called “Pickering’s Harem” by the scientific community – but don’t you believe any crap for one instant. In those days, it was incredibly difficult for a woman to have her academic work recognized and Edward Pickering was one of the very few men open-minded enough to realize just what these women astronomers could achieve and allow them the chance to do it!
Tonight for unaided observers, let’s begin by identifying Zeta Ophiuchi, the centermost in a line of stars marking the edge of the constellation of Ophiuchus, about a handspan north of Antares. As a magnificent 3rd magnitude blue-white Class O, this hydrogen-fusing dwarf is eight times larger than our own Sun. Hanging out some 460 light-years away, it is dulled by the interstellar dust of the Milky Way and would shine two full magnitudes brighter if it were not obscured. Zeta is a ‘‘runaway star’’—a product of a one-time supernova event of a double-star system. Now roughly halfway through its 8 million-year life span, the same fate awaits this star! Nowpoint binoculars or small scopes about three finger-widths south to have a look at Phi Ophiuchi. This is a spectroscopic double star, but it has several delightful visual companions!
Almost in between these two bright stars is our telescopic target for tonight—M107. Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1782, and added to the catalog in 1947, it’s probably one of the last of the Messier objects to be discovered and wasn’t resolved into individual stars until studied by Herschel in 1793.
M107 isn’t the most impressive of globulars, but this Class X is notable as a faint, diffuse area with a core region in binoculars and is surprisingly bright in a small telescope. It’s a curious cluster, for some believe it contains dark, dust-obscured areas, which make it unusual. Located around 21,000 lightyears away, this little beauty contains around 25 known variable stars. Visually, the cluster begins to resolve around the edges to mid-aperture, and the structure is rather loose. If sky conditions permit, the resolution of individual chains at the globular’s edges makes this globular well worth a visit!
This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Isaac Roberts (historical image), NGC 5824, Alpha Draconis, NGC 6124 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Edward Pickering (historical image) and M107 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you so much!
In this new generation of everything high def – from computer screen to televisions – is it possible to create a high definition telescope? The answer is yes… And the designer is Celestron. As always, I keep my eyes and ears open when it comes to the latest in astronomy equipment. While I’ve seen a lot of things come and go over the years (including other Ritchey-Chretien and astrograph knock-offs), the Celestron EdgeHD is a design that I think really deserves a closer look…
First let’s start the story off where it deserves to be started… the basic Schmidt Cassegrain design. Some four decades ago, the SCT was cutting edge technology. Its predecessor the Cassegrain, used a primary concave mirror and a secondary hyperbolic convex mirror to focus the light back through the hole in the primary to the eyepiece or camera. The Schmidt design allowed for a corrector plate to be added to the optical path to help eliminate spherical aberrations – the increased refraction or reflection of the light rays when they strike near the mirror’s edge. This produced great flat-field images and long focal lengths in an extremely compact design – but it also introduced a very expensive telescope. One the average consumer couldn’t afford.
Enter Celestron…
In 1970 Celestron telescope designers and engineers announced a revolutionary method of producing Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes at a reasonable cost and in volume. This optical breakthrough was incorporated in the first Celestron C8. The popularity of the C8 Celestron telescope in the consumer marketplace led to the C5 Celestron telescope and then to larger versions, including an 11″ and 14″ telescope. The “orange tube” telescopes became an instant classic and many of them are still in use today… But the design could be a little bit better, couldn’t it? Yeah. It could be aplanatic.
Aplanatic telescopes can be designed with two aspheric mirrors, configured to correct spherical and coma aberrations – a design which minimizes astigmatism and can be optimized to have no vignetting across the field. What’s more, the aplantic design also allows for a significant reduction in scale sizes when it comes to astrophotography, making them extremely compatible with finely-pixilated modern imaging equipment, like CCD cameras. But that would also make it very expensive wouldn’t it? Yeah… It would. But still, that design could get a little bit better couldn’t it? Sure. It could be an astrograph!
In this case, the astrograph is a telescope designed for the sole purpose of astrophotography. Not so great if you want to use it visually… But just dandy if you’re interested in wide field surveys of the night sky. It’s a pure research grade telescope – designed to work in conjunction with a specific shaped photographic plate or CCD detector. With an astrograph you could work on things like astrometry, stellar classifications and, with time, even proper motion of nearby stars. An astrograph means the possibility of finding things like asteroids, meteors, comets, variable stars, nova, and even unknown planets. But an astrograph means you’re talking about a mighty expensive telescope, right? Right.
Enter Celestron…
Just like 40 years ago when Celestron revolutionized the affordability factor of the Schmidt-Cassegrain design (once also the domain of researchers only), they are about to revolutionize amateur astronomy once again by giving the world its very first high definition telescope – the Celestron EdgeHD.
Is Celestron making promises it can’t keep? Let’s take a look at the track record of some major telescope manufacturers.
It hasn’t been that long since Meade also introduced a similar design telescope known as the ACF, or Advanced Coma Free. It was a knock-off of the Ritchey-Chretien design, and supposedly free of third-order coma and spherical aberration, and heavily advertised as being as the same design as the Hubble Space Telescope. Well, we all know what happened right off the bat with the Hubble, don’t we? Darn right. One little wrong tweak in the optical design led to a major Hubble error and one wrong move in poorly executed RCT design will lead to fifth-order coma, severe large-angle astigmatism, and comparatively severe field curvature.
When companies compete with comparative design models for the consumer, they’re putting out a lot of advertising hype your way. But let’s cut to the chase. Two companies… Both produced a sky navigation product – one failed and one endured. Which one? Yeah. The Celestron SkyScout. You’re getting the picture. Let’s take our own IYA Live Telescope as another example. The Meade ETX lasted through 28 observations and I have a Celestron 114 that’s 22 years old and I can’t even begin to fathom how many times it’s been used. Try calling or writing the companies for customer service or questions… See which one answers you and which one doesn’t.
Will the Celestron EdgeHD telescope be all that? The image you see here was taken by Andre Paquette using Celestron EdgeHD Optics. I’ve examined it upside down, backwards, forwards and from edge to edge… and what I see are perfect stellar images. (Open the full-sized image and check it out yourself. You’ll be impressed!)
Celestron promises the light becomes more concentrated when focused precisely. This maximizes image brightness, improves resolution and limiting magnitude when compared to telescopes of equal aperture. I know for a fact that you can’t beat Celestron’s Starbright XLT coatings, because I’ve never had to recoat a Celestron mirror yet. I look at the modern ergonomic design and I don’t see “cool” the same way as others… I see a self contained unit that isn’t going to be dragging or snagging on things – one with cooling vents located on the rear cell allow hot air to be released from behind the primary mirror. I see a telescope that’s going to perform incredibly in both visual and photographic capabilities…
So where’s the bottom line? The cost. Don’t start selling your gold dental fillings or thinking about taking out a second mortgage on your home, because Celestron has done it again. Just like so many years ago when they made the SCT affordable to backyard astronomers, they are now putting cutting edge, research grade design telescopes into the realm of possible. The average price is only about 1/3 more for the optical tube assembly than a standard SCT and it gets even lower as the aperture goes up. If you need the complete telescope package with a mount and tripod? Sure. It’s expensive – but the high quality of the mount is what you’re paying for and it’s worth it. (Remember two little telescopes – one that lasted through 28 observations and one that’s still going strong after 22 years.) What kind of faith do I have in Celestron? The same faith I’ve always had. Every Celestron product I’ve purchased over the years is still functioning… and the same cannot be said of other “M”anufacturers.
Go on… Take a look at the Celestron EdgeHD for yourself! You’ll find much more information and illustrations at the Celestron EdgeHD Tour pages, and you can take a look at pricing, specifications, and other information through Celestron’s premier dealers such as OPT, telescopes.com, Scope City, High Point, Hands On Optics, Astronomics and Adorama.
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Did you happen to see the close appearance of the Moon and Jupiter last night? If you thought that was fun, they’re about to get a whole lot closer tonight – and have company! With a bit darker skies this weekend, it looks like a good time to go globular and explore a few of the summer’s finest. But what weekend would be complete without a little treat? I have one in mind just for you. Follow me…
Friday, July 10, 2009 – If you’re out when the Moon rises, look for the asteroid Psyche nearly brushing the limb 0.2 degrees north. You’ll find the pairing of Jupiter and Neptune about a degree and a half apart and a little more than a finger-width south!
Today we celebrate the 1832 birth on this date of Alvan Graham Clark. An astronomer himself, Clark was also a member of a famous American family of telescope makers. He helped to create the largest refractor in the world—the lenses for the 4000 Yerkes Telescope. Perhaps the stress of worrying for their safety took its toll on Alvan, for he died shortly after their first use.
Before the Moon rises tonight, let’s honor Clark’s work by studying a globular cluster suitable for all optics, M4. All you have to know is Antares! Just slightly more than a degree west (RA 16 23 35 Dec –26 31 31), this major 5th magnitude Class IX globular cluster can even be spotted unaided from a dark location. In 1746 Philippe Loys de Cheseaux happened upon this 7,200-light-year-distant beauty, one of the nearest to us. It was also included in Lacaille’s catalog as object I.9 and in Messier’s in 1764. Much to Charles’s credit, he was the first to resolve it!
As one of the loosest, or most ‘‘open’’ globular clusters, M4 would be tremendous if we were not looking at it through a heavy cloud of interstellar dust. To binoculars, it is easy to pick out a very round, diffuse patch, yet it will begin to resolve with even a small telescope. Large telescopes will also easily see a central ‘‘bar’’ of stellar concentration across M4’s core region, which was first noted by Herschel. As an object of scientific study, in 1987, the first millisecond pulsar was discovered within M4, which turned out to be ten times faster than the Crab Nebula pulsar. Photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, M4 was found to contain white dwarf stars—the oldest in our galaxy—with a planet orbiting one of them! A little more than twice the size of Jupiter, this planet is believed to be as old as the cluster itself. At 13 billion years, it would be three times the age of the Solar System!
Saturday, July 11, 2009 – Today marks the 1732 birth on this date of Joseph Jerome Le Francais de Lalande, who determined the Moon’s parallax and published a comprehensive star catalog in 1801.
Tonight let’s head on out toward two more giants that appear differently from the rest (and each other) – same-field binocular pair M10 and M12. Located about half a fist-width west of Beta Ophiuchi, M12 (RA 16 47 14 Dec –01 56 52) is the northern most of this pair. Easily seen as two hazy round spots in binoculars, let’s go to the telescope to find out what makes M12 tick.
Since this large globular is much more loosely concentrated, smaller scopes will begin to resolve individual stars from this 24,000-light-year-distant Class IX cluster. Note that there is a slight concentration toward the core region, but for the most part the cluster appears fairly even. Large instruments will resolve out individual chains and knots of stars.
Now let’s drop about 3.5 degrees southeast and check out Class VII M10 (RA 16 57 08 Dec –04 05 57). What a difference in structure! Although they seem to be close together and similar in size, the pair is actually separated by some 2,000 light-years. M10 is a much more concentrated globular, showing a brighter core region to even the most modest of instruments. This compression of stars is what differentiates one type of globular cluster from another and is the basis of their classification. M10 appears brighter, not because of this compression but because it is about 2,000 light-years closer than M12!
Sunday, July 12, 2009 – Today marks the 1682 passing of Jean Picard. No, not he of Star Trek fame but the Jesuit astronomer who created a movable-wire micrometer to measure the diameters of celestial objects such as the Sun, Moon, and planets!
For hard-core observers, tonight’s globular cluster study will require at least a mid-aperture telescope, because we’re staying up a bit later to go for a same-low-power-field pair—NGC 6522 (RA 18 03 34 Dec –30 02 02) and NGC 6528 (RA 18 04 49 Dec –30 03 20). You will find them easily at low power just a breath northwest of Gamma Sagittarii, better known as Al Nasl, the tip of the ‘‘teapot’s’’ spout.
Once located, switch to higher power to keep the light of Gamma out of the field, and let’s do some study. The brighter, and slightly larger, of the pair to the northeast is Class VI NGC 6522. Note its level of concentration compared to the Class V NGC 6528. Both are located around 2,000 light years away from the galactic center and are seen through a very special area of the sky known as ‘‘Baade’s Window’’—one of the few areas toward our galaxy’s core region not obscured by dark dust. Although each is similar in concentration, distance, etc., NGC 6522 has a slight amount of resolution toward its edges, while NGC 6528 appears more random.
Although both NGC 6522 and NGC 6528 were discovered by Herschel on July 24, 1784, and both are the same distance from the galactic core, they are very different. NGC 6522 has an intermediate metallicity. At its core, the red giants have been depleted, or stripped tidally by evolving into blue stragglers. It is possible that core collapse has already occurred. NGC 6528, however, contains one of the highest metal contents of any known globular cluster collected in its bulging core!
Before you go, why not travel to Lupus and discover Theta, about a fist-width south-southwest of the mighty Antares (RA 16 06 35 Dec –36 48 08). Although this rather ordinary looking 4th magnitude star appears to be nothing special, there’s a lesson to be learned here. So often in our quest to look at the bright and incredible—the distant and impressive—we often forget about the beauty of a single star. When you take the time to seek the path less traveled, you just might find more than you expected. Hiding behind a veil of ‘‘ordinariness’’ is a trio of three spectral types and three magnitudes in a diamond-dust field. An undiscovered gem…
Until next week? Enjoy your beautiful starry nights when you have them. Before you turn down a chance to watch a waning July moonrise… think of how many July moon rises you may have left. Savor each moment and delight in all that’s around you. The rewards are stellar!
This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Alvan Clark with Yerkes objective (historical image), M4, M12, M10, NGC 6522, NGC 6528 and Theta Lupi (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you!
According to AAVSO Special Notice #161 posted today by M. Templeton, dwarf nova WX Ceti is now in outburst and has been recorded at magnitude 12.62. There’s a lot to be learned about this cool little star…
Hazel McGee (Guildford, UK) has reported that the infrequently outbursting dwarf nova WX Ceti is in outburst. WX Ceti was recorded at a magnitude of 12.62 (clear filter, V zeropoint) on 2009 July 8.44375 (JD 2455020.94375). The observation was obtained remotely with GRAS-001 (New Mexico).
Follow-up observations of this outburst are urgently requested, including both visual estimates and instrumental photometry. CCD time-series observations capable of detecting possible superhumps
are particularly important. Please obtain the highest signal-to-noise data you can with the shortest exposures possible; filtered observations are not required. Please report all observations to the AAVSO with the name “WX CET”. Information on submitting observations to the AAVSO may be found at here and additional charts are available here.
WX Ceti is located at the following (J2000) coordinates: RA: 01 17 04.20 , Dec: -17 56 23.0
So what kind of star is WX Ceti? Try a SU UMa type dwarf nova… but one with a superoutburst cycle that happens about every 880 days. But, WX is a bit different. It can have short eruptions every 200 days…. and apparently the outburst cycle length has doubled over the last 70 years. “According to our numerical simulations, this can be explained in the context of the disc instability model by assuming enhanced mass transfer during outburst and a decreasing mean mass transfer rate during the last decades. Using the data available, we refine the orbital period of WX Ceti to 0.0582610 ± 0.0000002 days and interpret the orbital hump found in quiescence as emission from the hot spot. During two recent superoutbursts in July 2001 and December 2004 we observed superhumps, with a rather large positive period derivative of Ps/Ps = 1.6 x 10-4, present only during the first 9 days of a superoutburst. Afterwards and during decline from the “plateau” phase, a constant superhump period of about 0.05922 days was observed. Late superhumps are present for at least 12 days after the decline from the “plateau”, with a period of 0.05927 days. We find this phenomenology difficult to interpret in the context of the standard explanation for superhumps, i.e. the thermal tidal instability model.” says C. Sterken (et al), “We interpret the long-term light curve of WX Cet as the result of a significantly decreasing mean mass transfer rate. Highlighting the complexity of the observed superhump light curves, we emphasise the importance of WX Ceti for a proper understanding of the SU UMa star outburst physics and the evolution of ultra-short period cataclysmic variables.”
What could cause this kind of behavior? Try a nearby white dwarf star. “We find that the accreting white dwarfs in VY Aquari and WX Ceti are remarkably similar. Both systems contain white dwarfs with Teff = 13,00013,500 K, a rotation velocity below 8001200 km s-1, and subsolar metallicity. Both white dwarfs are better fitted with a two-temperature white dwarf plus accretion belt model in which part of the white dwarf is cooler and “slowly” rotating and part is hotter, smaller, and spinning at the Keplerian speed.” says Edward M. Sion, “The occurrence of more outbursts on shorter timescales makes it likely that the accretion rates in VY Aqr and WX Ceti are somewhat higher than in the other systems. This possibility is supported by an increased amount of emission compared with the lowest accretion rate systems in our program. Moreover, there is less prominent absorption around the Balmer lines than in the other systems. The apparent presence of an accretion belt in VY Aqr and WX Ceti may be a direct result of the higher accretion. Surprisingly, the rotational velocities of VY Aqr and WX Ceti fall in the same range as the white dwarfs in LL And, SW UMa, HV Vir, BC UMa, EF Peg, EG Cnc, and other ultrashort-period, high outburst amplitude dwarf novae, viz., 200 to 500 km s-1. The abundances of photospheric metals at subsolar values for VY Aqr and WX Ceti, taken at face value, also appear to be a hallmark of the entire group. The evolutionary significance of the chemical abundances as well as the fate of the accreted angular momentum remain to be explained.”
Good luck and clear skies!
Finder chart courtesy of AAVSO, field image Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech.
