Tammy Plotner, Author at Universe Today

April 28, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

In Your Eyes – The NGC 4486 Jet by JP Metsavainio

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We’re all familiar with the photo of the jet of material emanating from the core of the Virgo A galaxy as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, but this 5,000 light year long streamer coming from the nucleus of M87 has never been more “in your eyes” than it is through the stereo magic visualizations produced by Jukka Metsavainio. Are you ready to take a closer look at this relativistic jet of extremely powerful plasma emerging from one of the best studied radio galaxies around? Then step inside…

Whenever we present a dimensional visualization it is done in two fashions. The first is called “Parallel Vision” and it is much like a magic eye puzzle. When you open the full size image and your eyes are the correct distance from the screen, the images will seem to merge and create a 3D effect. However, for some folks, this doesn’t work well – so Jukka has also created the “Cross Version”, where you simply cross your eyes and the images will merge, creating a central image which appears 3D. As we learned with the last image, it might not always work for all people, but there are a few other tricks you can try. Now sit back and prepare to be blown away…

The year is 1918, and high on top of Mt. Hamilton at Lick Observatory an astronomer named Herbert Curtis is busy studying Messier Object 87. But, Mr. Curtis isn’t your ordinary garden-variety astronomer. In just two more years, he and a man named Harlow Shapely were going to have it out publicly about the nature of these “distant fuzzies” and Curtis was going to be eventually proved correct: Spiral “nebulae” were indeed galaxies just like our own. However, good old Herbert was noticing something about M87 that would take nearly 8 decades to discover its true nature… a “curious straight ray” coming straight from its heart. Now, you’ve got to give Herbert some very big credit for being an astute visual observer, because this was back in the day long before wide field imaging camera, infra-red technology, x-ray photography, radio studies and more. Heck, it would be 2 more years before Hubble began identifying Cepheid variables and 10 more years before interstellar absorption was discovered!

Are you ready to fast forward to 1977? Because it would be about that long before another noble name in galaxy studies would again reveal astonishing visual things about M87’s jet by resolving knots and clouds – Halton C. Arp of Mt. Palomar and J. Lorre of JPL. “The shred itself, however, is the object of most significance for establishing the reality of the ejection of the radio source. It is difficult to make a quantitative statement, but objects of this nature are not frequently seen. The inference is plain that the radio source has either left a wake behind it, (i.e. condensations along its track) or that this is some kind of jet or material associated with the ejection of the radio source form the parent peculiar galaxy.”

It wasn’t long until the discovery of a disk of rapidly rotating gas around the nucleus of M87 occurred and thanks to the Hubble Space telescope, we were taking closer than ever looks into the violent active nucleus of this galaxy. “We see almost a dozen clouds which appear to be moving out from the galaxy’s center at between four and six times the speed of light. These are all located in a narrow jet of gas streaming out from the region of the black hole at the galaxy’s center,” said Dr. John Biretta of the Space Telescope Science Institute. “We believe this apparent speed translates into an actual velocity just slightly below that of light itself.”

What we know now is the jet in M87 connects the innermost black hole to the outer parts of the source. It supplies the radio source and the surrounding region with energy and relativistic plasma. The speeds reported are two to three times faster than the fastest motions previously recorded in M87, the only nearby galaxy to show evidence for superluminal motion. “This discovery goes a long way towards confirming that radio galaxies, quasars and exotic BL Lac objects are basically the same beast, powered by super massive black holes, and differ only in orientation with respect to the observer,” Biretta said.

And this time the orientation is right in your eyes…

Many thanks to JP Metsavainio of Northern Galactic for his magic with Hubble Space Telescope images and allowing us this incredible look inside another mystery of space.

April 27, 2009April 26, 2016 by Tammy Plotner

The Celestron “FirstScope” Telescope: Official Product of International Year of Astronomy

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One of the most important goals of the International Year of Astronomy is to “promote widespread access to the universal knowledge of fundamental science through the excitement of astronomy and sky-observing experiences.” What’s the objective? “Enable as many laypeople as possible, especially children, to look at the sky through a telescope and gain a basic understanding of the Universe.” And how is this going to be facilitated? By the “number of laypeople, especially young people and children, viewing the Universe through a telescope at street astronomy events, star parties, professional observatory webcasts etc.” and the “number of ‘cheap’ new telescope kits produced, assembled and distributed.” Well, the Celestron FirstScope Telescope hits the mark perfectly as aimed at anyone, able to view the Universe and inexpensive, but it’s anything but cheap…

In 1609, world-renowned Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei, introduced an elementary telescope to the growing astronomy community which sparked interest into the mysterious night sky for centuries to come. Four centuries later, in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, Celestron offers the portable FirstScope Telescope. The FirstScope pays tribute to Galileo Galilei and many of history’s most notable astronomers and scientists by displaying their names around the optical tube. We honor the contributions of these men and women, who brought us one step closer to understanding the universe around us.

When I first read the introduction and saw the first images of the Celestron Firstscope Telescope, I knew that I’d have to get my hands on one. They are a unique little altazimuth reflector – a tabletop model that bears a strong resemblance to the dobsonian design. Of course, I read the specifications, and I knew that a 76 mm (2.99 in) aperture reflector optical tube with a 300 mm (11.81 in) focal length wasn’t going to be a whole lot large than a tennis ball can, but I’ve learned that small telescopes are quite capable of performing some amazing feats when put into the right hands. According to what I’ve read the Celestron First Scope is a nice, fast focal ratio of f/3.95… and from what I know of Celestron telescopes, it should behave quite nicely. But there’s only one problem.

They aren’t available on the market yet.

So who would be the kind of person to wander around NEAF confronted with telescopes worth tens of thousands of dollars, but would be the one to take off to neverland with a kid’s telescope that cost less than $50? Yeah. You’re right. Me.

From the moment I laid eyes on the little black sonotube covered with the most famous names in astronomy, I was charmed. The mount is absolutely made out of enamel covered pressboard and its bearing is basically a big locking nut… But, hey. So am I. I took the whole thing apart and put it back together again (sans removing primary mirror cell, secondary and focuser – because I didn’t want to have to go “borrow” a laser collimator) in a matter of minutes and I found it surprisingly well constructed. Both the base and the bearing are going to hold up to use… And I don’t mean just casual use… I mean good, hard, honest-to-goodness kid use. Unlike a dobsonian, the side bearing needs to be loosened to move the telescope in its “up and down” path and re-tightened to hold position, but the user is faced with two options. The bearing is machined well enough that it can be placed to the “just snug” point where friction holds it in place and allows for minor movements (such as slight tracking adjustments) and it is quite strong enough to allow for thousands of tightening (and overtighenings) as the years go past. If something should strip out? These are common parts. It can be replaced with trip to the hardware store.

Now for the optical tube…

Good old sturdy sonotube. I used to be afraid of “cardboard” many years ago, but I’ve learned with time. Despite what you might think, it holds up to dew, cools down to ambient temperature like a dream, and really has its advantages – like not dinging easily. The 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser on the Celestron FirstScope Telescope is very standard and a tiny bit stiff, but we’re not talking cotton candy here. The focuser is surprisingly quality, well-machined, and is going to withstand use and abuse. It has excellent clearance from the secondary and more than sufficient enough backfocus to allow for a wide variety of eyepieces. What’s that you say about eyepieces? Oh, yeah. Again, Celestron has outdone themselves by providing two 1.25″ eyepieces – a 20mm and a 4mm. Did I hear you groan? Yeah. Me, too. A 4mm is simply too much magnification for a scope that size, but when testing it on a larger, more stationary target (like the Moon) I found it wasn’t too bad. Again, surprising quality because the eyepieces and focuser alone were worth what the telescope cost!

How did it perform? If you aimed the Celestron FirstScope at something large, you’d be doing fine if you were a beginner, but like most small optical tube assemblies – it isn’t offered with a finderscope. While reflex sighting along the tube isn’t too hard to do, I can also see where that could be extremely frustrating for someone a bit more new to the game. So… I asked for a solution. Guess what? Celestron telescope had one that fit the criterion – inexpensive, but not cheap.

Enter the Celestron FirstScope Telescope Accessory Kit. People? For under $20 I just got handed a 1.25″ Celestron 12.5 mm eyepiece, 6mm eyepiece, moon filter, nifty little carry bag for the whole outfit, and get this… a 5X24 finderscope and bracket. No kidding! A real, honest-to-goodness optical finderscope… Not one of those “red dot” marvels that accidentally get left on and whose batteries run down and end up being totally useless next time you go out unless you have spares. Folks? You can’t even buy a moon filter for under $20, let alone a finderscope, eyepieces and… and… what’s this? Why, there’s even a CD ROM in here called “Sky X” that teaches you, prints maps, runs a planetarium program and more.

Am I impressed? Yes. I will give you fair warning that the Celestron FirstScope telescope is not the Hubble. I will stress to you repeatedly that you are not going to see majestic sweeping spiral arms on tiny galaxies – nor are you going to resolve globular clusters or reveal intricate planetary details. But, what you can expect from this telescope is far, far more than Galileo saw 400 years ago. When put on a steady surface, the Moon will display its tortured surface and Jupiter its moons. Bright, open star clusters will become things to marvel over and the Andromeda Galaxy will look like it truly is next door. Just as the rings of Saturn “disappeared” on Galileo so long ago, you will only see a fine line now to mark their place until the tilt changes again… But who cares when the summer skies are filled with bright nebula to explore, fuzzy globular clusters to capture and the Milky Way curls across the sky like a swarm of fireflies? Do it for your kids… Do it for your grandkids. Do it for yourself as a momento of IYA 2009. You won’t be disappointed.

It’s small wonder the Celestron FirstScope telescope named was Official Product of International Year of Astronomy 2009, for the FirstScope truly pays tribute to the men and women who brought us one step closer to understanding the Universe around us by putting an affordable “real telescope” into the hands of anyone who wants one. It won’t be long until they’re available at Celestron dealers everywhere, and you’ll find them for under $50 (and the accessory kit for under $20) at premier Celestron dealers like Oceanside Photo and Telescope, Scope City, High Point Scientific, Adorama and Astronomics.

Reminder to Universe Today Readers… Don’t forget! While all premier Celestron dealers will offer the FirstScope at the same price, you’ll get a discount for being a Universe Today reader if you enter our name in the Club Affliliation section if you chose to order a Celestron FirstScope from OPT.

April 24, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast – April 24 – 26, 2009

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for one grrrrrrreat weekend? Then let’s do a little lion taming while the Moon is out of the picture and hunt down the “Leo Trio”. For you pirates in the crowd, hoist the Jolly Roger, because it’s time we took a look at the “Skull and Crossbones”, too! Prefer to relax? No problem. The Mu Virginid meteor shower will be in town on Saturday night for your kicked back pleasure and Sunday is time for a Herschel challenge. Time to dust off the binoculars and telescopes and I’ll see you in the back yard…

Friday, April 24, 2009 – On this date in 1970, China launched its first satellite. Named Shi Jian 1, it was a successful technological and research craft. This achievement made China the fifth country to have sent a vessel into space. Observe a moment of silence for Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, the first man known to have died during a space mission. He was Command Pilot of Voskhod 1 and Soyuz 1. Komarov died during the landing of the Soyuz, when the spacecraft became entangled in its main parachute and fell several miles to Earth.

Tonight let’s do a galaxy hop that’s relatively easy for larger binoculars and small telescopes. You’ll find a pair of galaxies almost perfectly mid-way between Theta and Iota, and their names are M65 (RA 11 18 55 Dec +13 05 32) and M66 (RA 11 20 15 Dec +12 59 21). Discovered by Mechain in March 1780, apparently Messier didn’t notice the bright pair when a comet passed between them in 1773. At around 35 million light-years away, you will find M66 to be slightly brighter than its 200,000 light-year-distant western neighbor, M65. Although both are Sb-class spirals, the two couldn’t appear more different. M65 has a bright nucleus and a smooth spiral structure, with a dark dust lane at its eastern edge. M66 has a more stellar-like core region with thick, bright arms that show knots to larger scopes, as well as a wonderful extension from the southern edge.

If you are viewing with a larger scope, you may notice to the north of this famous pair yet another galaxy. NGC 3628 (RA 11 20 16 Dec +13 35 13) is a similar magnitude edge-on beauty with a great dissecting dark dust lane. This pencil-slim, low surface brightness galaxy is a bit of a challenge for smaller scopes, but larger ones will find its warped central disk well worth high-power study. You may also be able to spot the ‘‘Leo Trio’’ and members of Arp’s Peculiar Galaxy Catalog!

Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Today marks the 19th anniversary of the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) . Although everyone in the astronomical community is well aware of what this magnificent telescope ‘‘sees,’’ did you know you could see it with just your eyes? The HST is a satellite that can be tracked and observed. Visit www.heavens-above.com and enter your location. This page will provide you with a list of visible passes for your area. Although you can’t see details of the scope itself, it’s great fun to track it with binoculars or see the Sun glinting off its surface in your scope.

Tonight is the New Moon. You’ve got dark skies ahead and hopefully an itch to see something out of the ordinary with your telescope. If so, let’s go south and locate a fine reflecting nebula – NGC 2467 – in northern Puppis (RA 07 52 19 Dec –26 26 30). Sometimes referred to as the ‘‘Skull and Crossbones Nebula,’’ this billowing cloud of gas and dust is easily found less than a finger-width south-southeast of 3.5 magnitude Xi Puppis.

Even small telescopes will find this expansive, starstudded emission nebula, a real beauty! Large aperture telescopes should look for neighboring splotches of nebulosity illuminated by small groupings of stars, some of which are part of a newly forming open cluster. Keep in mind while observing NGC 2467 that we are seeing it from a great distance. At 17,000 light-years away, this region of star formation is some 10 times farther away than the Great Nebula in Orion. If it were the same distance away, NGC 2467 would dwarf M42!

While you’re out, keep an eye turned toward the sky as the Mu Virginid meteor shower reaches its peak at 7–10 per hour. With dark skies early tonight, you might catch one of these medium-speed meteors radiating from a point near the constellation of Libra.

Sunday, April 26, 2009 – On this date in 1920, the Shapely–Curtis debate raged in Washington on the nature of (and distance to) spiral nebulae. Shapely claimed they were part of one huge galaxy to which we all belonged, while Curtis maintained they were distant galaxies of their own. Thirteen years later on the same date, Arno Penzias was born. He went on to become a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation while he was searching for the source of the ‘‘noise’’ coming from a simple horn antenna. His discovery helped further our understanding of cosmology in ways Shapely and Curtis could never have dreamed of.

Tonight we’re off to study another Herschel object (H II.506) in Hydra that’s a 7 degree drop south of Alpha – NGC 2907 (RA 09 31 42.1 Dec –16 44 04). Although it will require at least a mid-aperture telescope to reveal, this edge-on galaxy is quite worth the trouble. NGC2907 is highly prized because of research done on its dust extinction properties, which greatly resemble those of our own Milky Way Galaxy. For larger telescopes, averted vision will call up a hint of a dark dust lane across a bright core. Although it is neither particularly huge nor particularly bright, this object will present an interesting challenge for those with larger scopes looking for something a bit out of the ordinary.

Until next week, remember… Dreams really do come true when you keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images are (in order of appearance): Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (historical image), M65, M66 and NGC 3628: the Leo Trio (credit—REU Program/NOAO/AURA/NSF), Hubble SpaceTelescope (credit—NASA), NGC 2467 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Arno Penzias (widely used public image) and NGC 2907 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech). We thank you so much!

April 18, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Reporting From the NorthEast Astronomy Forum

So what’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Try acres of telescopes and hundreds of amateur astronomers. If you’re not familiar with NEAF then let me introduce you into some of the fun that’s been going on for almost two decades at Rockland College in Suffern, New York.

When NEAF first began, it was a small affair sponsored by the Rockland Astronomy Club and held in a cozy corner of the college campus. As each successive year passed, the event expanded and grew more popular – drawing ever larger crowds from further distances and encompassing every aspect of astronomy. Today, some 18 years later, the NorthEast Astronomy Fourm’s speaker, vendor and guest list reads like a virtual “who’s who”… Yet, unlike other social events, a gathering of astronomers is, well… a gathering of astronomers. If you’re not wearing your favorite battered space t-shirt and willing to talk about telescopes, imaging techniques, eyepieces, tripods, supernovae and the latest recipe for calamari in chocolate sauce then you just might be in the wrong place.

If you want to know what’s new on the market? Then take a walk around. There’s what seems like endless acres of the latest technology and the best representatives of each company willing to take the time to talk to you about their products. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking or cooking – the point is getting what’s available to the public to be seen, tested, talked about, and drooled on. There are telescopes here that none of us will ever be able to afford – but that’s part of the beauty of NEAF. At least these magnificent instruments are here for us to see, and more than a fair share of equipment we can’t usually find readily available offered at prices that are darn hard to refuse. And if you’re feeling lucky? The vendors who come here are hugely generous and give away thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to the guests in door prizes.

But, NEAF is a whole lot more than just a sales floor. Two days prior to the event is the NorthEast Astro-Imaging Conference, where some of the finest minds share their talents and their secrets with all who are willing to listen. During the weekend, guests can enjoy planetarium programs, amateur telescope making workshops, or engage in fine array of guest speakers. Why not step outside and enjoy the sunshine while you’re here, too? Because the courtyard is always filled with a huge array of solar telescopes where you’ll have the opportunity to see our nearest star through every aperture and wavelength you can imagine.

Is it all about astronomy? Yeah. It is. The astronomy family. And nothing makes the astronomy family more happy than to see a smiling face. It can be the smiling face of the fellow you’ve seen at every star party and astronomy event for the last 15 years and never did catch his name – or it might be the smiling face of a child who has a plastic bag filled with tiny treaures accumlated through the day. And sometimes the smiling face you see?

Is your own at the end of a day at NEAF.

April 16, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast – April 17-19, 2009

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for a much darker weekend? I’m off to NEAF, but while I’m gone, I hope you’ll take advantage of the weekend to enjoy a little galaxy hunting and a minor meteor shower? If not, how about a great variable star – or the “Eight Burst Planetary”! Finding Comet Yi-SWAN will be easy Sunday night, but be sure to set your alarm early for Sunday morning, because there’s something very worth getting up to see…

Friday, April 17, 2009 – On this date in 1976, the joint German and NASA probe Helios 2 came closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft so far. One of its most important contributions helped us to understand the nature of gamma ray bursts.

Let’s begin our evening with a burst of galaxies in Hydra about 5 degrees due west of the Xi pairing (RA 10 36 35 Dec –27 31 03). Centermost are two fairly easy to spot ellipticals, NGC 3309 and NGC 3311, accompanied by spiral NGC 3322. Far fainter are other group members, such as NGC 3316 and NGC 3314 to the east of the 7th magnitude star; and NGC 3305 north of the 5th magnitude star. Although such galaxy clusters as the NGC 3308 region are not for everyone, studying those very faint fuzzies is a rewarding experience for those with large aperture telescopes.

Now let’s kick back and watch the peak of the Sigma Leonid meteor shower. The radiant is traditionally located on the Leo–Virgo border but has migrated to Virgo in recent years. Thanks to Jupiter’s gravity, this shower may eventually become part of the Virginid Complex as well. The fall rate is very low at around 1–2 per hour.

While we’re watching, let’s talk about Giovanni Riccioli, who was born on this date in 1598. Italian astronomer Riccioli was the first to observe a double star in the year 1650. . .and it was one you’ve probably observed, too – Mizar! He also watched shadow transits on Jupiter and did many lunar studies, including mapping. If you’ve ever wondered who gave such fanciful names to the lunar maria, or tagged the major craters with names of famous scientists and philosophers, now you know that it was Riccioli!

Saturday, April 18, 2009 – Today let’s take a look at the 1838 birth of Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran on this date, who improved the field of spectroscopic identification and spent many years scanning minerals for undiscovered spectral lines. His persistence finally netted him the discovery of three new elements!

Tonight let’s start out ‘‘elemental’’ as we use binoculars to identify R Corvi , located almost dead center in the Corvus ‘‘rectangle’’ and to the southwest of its companion field stars. Although variable stars are not every one’s cup of tea, R (RA 12 19 37 Dec –19 15 21) has changed greatly in a little less than a year—from magnitude 8 to as faint as magnitude 14! This Mira-type star should be nearing its maximum, so be sure to try it before it fades away…

Now let’s head out in search of an object that is one royal navigation pain for the Northern Hemisphere but makes up for it in beauty. Start with the southernmost star in Crater, Beta. If you have difficulty identifying it, it’s the brightest star east of the Corvus rectangle. Now hop a little more than a fist-width southeast to reddish Alpha Antilae. Less than a fist-width below, you will see a dim 6th magnitude star, which may require binoculars in the high north. Another binocular field further southwest and about 4 degrees northwest of Q Velorum is our object,NGC 3132 (RA 10 07 01 Dec –40 26 11). If you still have no luck, try waiting until Regulus has reached your meridian and head fully 52 degrees south. More commonly known as the ‘‘Southern Ring’’ or the ‘‘Eight Burst Planetary,’’ this gem is brighter than the northern ‘‘Ring’’ (M57) and definitely shows more details. Able to be captured in even small instruments, larger ones will reveal a series of overlapping shells, giving this unusual nebula its name.

Sunday, April 19, 2009 – Don’t sleep in this morning! It’s worth getting up early to see Jupiter and the Moon only about a fingerwidth apart in the morning sky. If you check out the pair in binoculars, you’ll notice faint little Neptune is also a part of this early morning trio!

On this date in 1971, the world’s first space station was launched, the Soviet research vessel Salyut 1. Six weeks later, Soyuz 11 and its crew of three docked with the station, but a mechanism failed, denying them entry. The crew conducted their experiments, but were sadly lost when their re-entry module separated from the return spacecraft and depressurized. Although the initial phase of Salyut 1 seemed doomed, the mission continued to enjoy success through the early 1980s and paved the way for Mir.

Now, tonight let’s try picking up a globular cluster in Hydra that is located about three finger-widths southeast of Beta Corvi and just a breath northeast of the double star A8612—namely, M68. This class X globular cluster was discovered in 1780 by Charles Messier, and first resolved into individual stars by William Herschel in 1786. At a distance of approximately 33,000 light-years, it contains at least 2,000 stars, including 250 giants and 42 variables. It will show as a faint, round glow in binoculars, and small telescopes will perceive individual members. Large telescopes will fully resolve this small globular to the core!

If you managed M68, and can find the famous Perseus “Double Cluster”, then surely you can tackle Comet C/2009 Yi-SWAN! Need a chart? Then here it is…

Until next week? Dreams really do come true when you keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images (in order of appearance) are: NGC 3308 region (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Map showing Riccioli features (historical image), R Corvi and NGC 3132 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech), Salyut 1 (credit—NASA) and M68 (credit—Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech. We thank you so much!

April 16, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Bridge Between the Stars – NGC 602: Hubble Visualization by Jukka Metsavainio

NGC 602 Parallel Hubble Visualization by Jukka Metsavainio

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It’s been awhile hasn’t it? Time may have passed, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. For those of you who have missed our very special dimensional looks into the Cosmos, then it’s high time we let our minds and eyes relax and we take a 200 thousand light-year distant journey towards the edge of the Small Magellanic Cloud for a look at a bright, young open cluster of stars known as NGC 602…

Whenever we present a dimensional visualization it is done in two fashions. The first is called “Parallel Vision” and it is much like a magic eye puzzle. When you open the full size image and your eyes are the correct distance from the screen, the images will seem to merge and create a 3D effect. However, for some folks, this doesn’t work well – so Jukka has also created the “Cross Version”, where you simply cross your eyes and the images will merge, creating a central image which appears 3D. Upon further study, we’ve also come to realize that there is a certain percentage of people who also are unable to make this happen as well. You aren’t weird – just a percentage. Here’s why…

Typical for hunting animals (as opposed to ‘prey’ animals), we have our eyes set in the front of our heads. Our eyes are typically about 2½ inches apart, and so they see slightly different versions of the scene in front of them, from which the visual part of our brain constructs an internal three-dimensional model. Thus a human being can directly estimate the distance of something without moving a muscle – an important evolutionary advantage for a hunter. The trick is to then ‘fool’ the brain into processing the photographic images as if they really were distant scenes, not just color photos a few inches away. First, you will need a piece of white card, about 12 inches long. You hold the card vertically between your eyes and the pictures, so that it touches the centerline of the stereo pairs. Next? A pair of cheap reading glasses. If you usually have to wear reading glasses then you’ll need a higher power. Try different pairs in the store until you find one that will allow you see sharply no further away than a little over 12 inches. That’s it! Then sit back, relax and prepare to be blown away…

NGC 602 Cross Hubble Visualization by Jukka Metsavainio

Cruising along some 200 thousand light-years away from the Milky Way is the Small Magellanic Cloud – a satellite galaxy of ours. Sitting on its edge is cloud of gas and dust which comprise a nebula known as M90, and within it shines a sparkling cluster of new stars called NGC 602. But these new stars aren’t shy… They’re hot and massive. The radiation and shock waves which pour from them have pushed the nebula away, compressing it and triggering new star formation. While these pre-main sequence embryonic suns lay hidden to all but infrared wavelengths, the beauty of this area is the chemical properties it shares with our own galaxy.

According to the studies of L.R. Carlson (et al) NGC 602’s star formation at a low chemical abundance makes it a “good analog to the early universe in terms of examining the processes and patterns of star formation. This cluster in particular is ideally suited to this aim. Its location in the wing of the SMC means that, while its chemical properties should be similar to those of the rest of the galaxy, it is relatively isolated.” Isolated… But young, very young. Says Carlson, “This pre-Main Sequence population formed coevally with the central cluster about 5 million years ago. Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) images of the region in all four Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) bands reveal a second population of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), which formed after the stars seen with HST/ACS imaging. Some of these very young objects are still embedded in nebular material. We infer that star formation started in this region less than five million years ago with the formation of the central cluster and gradually propagated towards the outskirts where we find evidence of on going star formation less than a million years old.”

Another interesting factor is NGC 602’s position in the wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud leading to the Magellanic Bridge – a stream of neutral hydrogen which connects the two Magellanic Clouds like a invisible cord. While it’s mostly comprised of low-metallicity gas there have been two early-type stars found inside it. The Magellanic Bridge is also a favored region for investigations of interstellar gas and star formation in very low metallicity region… Much like the home of our bright young cluster. Why is this so fascinating? Because studying star formation in regions like this gives astronomers a look at what may happen during galaxy formation – long before heavier elements are created from successive generations of stars undergoing nuclear fusion.

So, as you look deep into this bridge between the stars, gaze with wonder at the long “elephant trunks” of dust and turn your mind towards these beautiful, bright blue stars still forming from gravitationally collapsing gas clouds. It is a very unique event, occurring where it should not happen – but is. A true bridge between the stars…

And touchstone to the Cosmos.

Many thanks to Jukka Metsavainio for his magic with Hubble Space Telescope images and allowing us this incredible look inside another mystery of space.

April 14, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Catching Up With Comet Yi-SWAN

Comet Yi-SWAN Rough Locator Chart - April 14/16

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Now that the Moon is out of the early evening sky, far northern observers are out in force hunting down Comet C/2009 Yi-SWAN… and it’s there! In 10X50 binoculars it appears like a very faint, small globular cluster, but definitely has the signature of a comet in a 4.5″ telescope. Surprisingly enough, it’s not very hard to find. Would you like a hand?

First use the rough locator chart that I’ve provided for you at the beginning of this article to get you in the right area. Don’t forget that Cassiopeia is circumpolar and you will need to orient the map according to its position at the time you view it. Rather than confuse you further – just remember as the days pass that Yi-SWAN’s trajectory will take it slowly towards the left hand side of the chart. Here is a close up look at where it will appear in a magnitude 8 filtered field of stars on the night of April 15.

At this point I personally have not observed any tail, nor has any of my co-observers. By using the de-focusing method, we estimate the Comet Yi-SWAN to be right at its 8.5 magnitude mark, totally diffuse and no sign of a bright nucleus at this time. We’d be interested in hearing your observations, too!

Best of luck…

April 13, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

IYA Live Telescope – UT Reader Requests – Small Magellanic Cloud

The IYA Live Telescope broadcasting on “Galactic TV” has been busy fillling your requests and we hope UT reader Didi had a chance to follow the Small Magellanic Cloud for several hours in the remote telescope on April 12! (I was still down and out, but it was still there despite the moonlight!) Come on inside… Your request has been fulfilled and your images are waiting!

The following is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:

Object: Small Magellanic Cloud – Constellation: TUCANA

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy. It contains several hundred million stars. Some speculate that the SMC was once a barred spiral galaxy that was disrupted by the Milky Way to become somewhat irregular. It still contains a central bar structure. At a distance of about 200,000 light-years, it is one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors. It is also one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye.

With a mean declination of approximately -73 degrees, it can only be viewed from the Southern Hemisphere and the lower latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It is located in the constellation of Tucana and appears as a hazy, light patch in the night sky about 3 degrees across. It looks like a detached piece of the Milky Way. Since it has a very low surface brightness, it is best viewed from a dark site away from city lights. It forms a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which lies a further 20 degrees to the east. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a member of the Local Group.

In the southern hemisphere, the Magellanic clouds have long been included in the lore of native inhabitants, including south sea islanders and indigenous Australians. Persian astronomer Al Sufi labelled the larger of the two clouds as Al Bakr, the White Ox. European sailors may have first noticed the clouds during the Middle Ages when they were used for navigation. Portuguese and Dutch sailors called them the Cape Clouds, a name that was retained for several centuries. During the circumnavigation of the Earth by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519–22, they were described by Antonio Pigafetta as dim clusters of stars.[6] In Johann Bayer’s celestial atlas Uranometria, published in 1603, he named the smaller cloud, Nubecula Minor. In Latin, Nubecula means a little cloud.

Between 1834 and 1838, John Frederick William Herschel made observations of the southern skies with his 20-foot (6.1 m) reflector from the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. While observing the Nubecula Minor, he described it as a cloudy mass of light with an oval shape and a bright center. Within the area of this cloud he catalogued a concentration of 37 nebulae and clusters.

In 1891, Harvard College Observatory opened an observing station at Arequipa, Peru. From 1893 and 1906, under the direction of Solon Bailey, the 24-inch (610 mm) telescope at this site was used to survey photographically both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an astronomer at the Harvard College Observatory, used the plates from Arequipa to study the variations in relative luminosity of stars in the SMC. In 1908, the results of her study were published, which showed that a type of variable star called a “cluster variable”, later called a Cepheid variable after the prototype star Delta Cephei, showed a definite relationship between the variability period and the star’s luminosity. This important period-luminosity relation allowed the distance to any other cepheid variable to be estimated in terms of the distance to the SMC. Hence, once the distance to the SMC was known with greater accuracy, Cepheid variables could be used as a standard candle for measuring the distances to other galaxies.

Using this period-luminosity relation, in 1913 the distance to the SMC was first estimated by Ejnar Hertzsprung. First he measured thirteen nearby cepheid variables to find the absolute magnitude of a variable with a period of one day. By comparing this to the periodicity of the variables as measured by Leavitt, he was able to estimate a distance of 10,000 parsecs (30,000 light years) between the Sun and the SMC. This later proved to be a gross underestimate of the true distance, but it did demonstrate the potential usefulness of this technique.

We would like to once again thank Didi for the request and remind you that you can always watch our IYA telescope “live” whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria by simply clicking on the logo “Live Remote Cam” to your right. Enjoy!

(Information Source: Wikipedia.)

April 13, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

IYA Live Telescope – UT Reader Requests – 47 Tucana (NGC 104)

The IYA Live Telescope broadcasting on “Galactic TV” has been busy fillling your requests and we hope Johnathan Kade had a chance to follow 47 Tucana (NGC 104) for several hours in the remote telescope on April 11! (I was down and out – but the scope wasn’t.) Come on inside… Your request has been fulfilled and your images are waiting!

The following is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:

Object: 47 Tucana (NGC 104) – Constellation: TUCANA

47 Tucanae (NGC 104) or just 47 Tuc is a globular cluster located in the constellation Tucana. It is about 16,700 light years away from Earth, and 120 light years across. It can be seen with the naked eye, and it is bright enough to earn a Flamsteed designation with a visual magnitude of 4.0.

It is one of only a small number of features in the southern sky with such a designation. 47 Tucanae was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751, its southern location having hidden it from European observers until then. The cluster appears roughly the size of the full moon in the sky under ideal conditions.

It is the second brightest globular cluster in the sky (after Omega Centauri), and is noted for having a very bright and dense core. It has 22 known millisecond pulsars, and at least 21 blue stragglers near the core. 47 Tucanae is included in Sir Patrick Moore’s Caldwell catalogue as C106.

NGC 104 competes with NGC 5139 for the title: Most splendid Globular Cluster in the sky. NGC 104 has two features in its favour. It is rounder and has a more compact core. However due to location more observers go for NGC 5139.

We would like to once again thank Johnathan Kade for his request and remind you that you can always watch our IYA telescope “live” whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria by simply clicking on the logo “Live Remote Cam” to your right. Enjoy!

(Information Source: Wikipedia.)

April 9, 2009December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

IYA Live Telescope Today – Omega Centauri – NGC 5139

On April 9, 2009 the IYA Live Telescope was busy broadcasting from the Southern Galactic Telescope Hosting facility and fulfilling your “100 Hours of Astronomy” requests. Are you ready to take a look at the video that came from the adventure and to add it to our library? Then attention Astrofiend… Your request of Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) has gone live!

The following information is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:

Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) – Constellation: CENTAURUS

Omega Centauri – NGC 5139 is a globular cluster seen in the constellation of Centaurus, discovered by Edmond Halley in 1677 who listed it as a Nebula. Omega Centauri had been listed in Ptolemy’s catalog 2000 years ago as a star. Lacaille included it in his catalog as number I.5. The English astronomer John William Herschel recognized it first as a globular cluster in the 1830s. It orbits our galaxy, the Milky Way. One of the few that can be seen with the naked eye, it is both the brightest and the largest known globular cluster associated with the Milky Way. Omega Centauri is located about 18,300 light-years (5,600 pc) from Earth and contains several million Population II stars. The stars in its center are so crowded that they are believed to be only 0.1 light years away from each other. It is about 12 billion years old.

Though it is not a star, Omega Centauri was given a Bayer designation. Unlike other globular clusters, it contains several generations of stars. It has been speculated that Omega Centauri may be the core of a dwarf galaxy several hundred times its present size, which was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way galaxy. Omega Centauri’s chemistry and motion in the galaxy is also consistent with this picture.

Reporting in the April 1, 2008 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, astronomers claimed to have found evidence of a intermediate-mass black hole at the center of Omega Centauri. The observations were made with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Gemini Observatory on Cerro Pachon in Chile. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys showed how the stars are bunching up near the center of Omega Centauri, as seen in the gradual increase in starlight near the center. Measuring the speed of the stars swirling near the cluster’s center with the Gemini Observatory, the astronomers found that the stars closer to the core are moving faster than the stars farther away. The measurement implies that some unseen matter at the core is tugging on stars near it. By comparing these results with standard models, the astronomers determined that the most likely cause is the gravitational pull of a massive, dense object. They also used models to calculate the black hole’s mass.

Like Mayall II, Omega Centauri has a range of metallicities and stellar ages which hints that it did not all form at once (as globular clusters are thought to form) and may in fact be the remainder of the core of a smaller galaxy long since incorporated into the Milky Way.

We would very much like to thank Astrofiend for the suggestion of NGC 5139 and we hope you like the view! As always, you can visit the remote telescope by clicking on the IYA “LIVE Remote Cam” Logo to your right. We’ll be broadcasting whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria! Enjoy…

(Information Source: Wikipedia)