Posted on by Jason Major

Kickstart Your DNA (And a Rover) To The Moon!


Omega Envoy, the non-profit research lab Earthrise Space, Inc.’s team competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, has launched a Kickstarter project to help fund a 4-axis CNC milling machine needed to continue development on their proposed lunar rover. CNC machines don’t come cheap, but in typical Kickstarter fashion Earthrise Space is offering incremental rewards to anyone who donates to their project — from mentions on their site to t-shirts, Moon globes and facility tours (and even 5-gallon tubs of duck sauce) and, if you’re lucky enough to have deep pockets and a desire to help a student training ground get their designs off the ground, you can even have your DNA sent to the Moon!

From the Google Lunar X PRIZE article:

For the first time in human history, individuals will have the opportunity to send a sample of their DNA to the lunar surface. For a pledged donation of $10,000 or more, ESI will collect your DNA sample, package it into a storage container mounted on the company’s Lunar Descent Vehicle and fly it to the surface of the moon where it will be preserved for all time.

“We are excited to be exploring new approaches for fundraising and for public engagement, including through the crowdsourcing Kickstarter platform,” said ESI’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Joseph Palaia. “We are hopeful that this Kickstarter project helps us to make significant progress towards our near-term fundraising goals, while also providing some incredible rewards for our supporters.”

With the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a total of $30 million in prize money is available to the first privately funded team to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, have that robot travel 500 meters over the surface, and send HD video, images and data back to Earth.

Of the 26 teams in the competition, ESI is one of only six teams which have been selected for a NASA Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data contract worth up to $10M. But the contract is awarded incrementally and a multi-axis CNC machine is needed to take their designs to the next level (and meet upcoming contract goals.) Donate to their Kickstarter project here.

At whatever level you contribute, know that you are helping students build real spacecraft, and you’re going to be getting some pretty amazing rewards as well! The students appreciate your support!

— Omega Envoy team, ESI

Find out more about ESI’s project on the Earthrise Space Inc. website, and check out the other Google Lunar X PRIZE competitors here.

Source: Google Lunar X PRIZE blog

Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: June 25 – July 1, 2012

Crater Julius Caesar - Credit: Wes Higgins

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! What a great week to enjoy lunar features! We’ll celebrate many famous birthdays – including Charles Messier – and take on challenging double stars. If you’re in the mood to just kick back in a lawn chair and enjoy, then check out the June Draconid meteor shower. (sssssh… it may have been responsible for the Tunguska Blast!) Still more? Then keep an eye on the western horizon, because Mercury is about to become a “guest star” in the Beehive Cluster! When ever you’re ready, just meet me in the back yard…

Monday, June 25 – Today celebrates the birth of Hermann Oberth – who has often been considered the father of modern rocketry. Born in Transylvania in 1894, Oberth was a visionary who was convinced space travel would one day be possible. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, Oberth studied rockets and wrote many books devoted to the possibility of achieving spaceflight. He was the first to conceive of rocket “stages” – allowing vehicles to expend their fuel and lose dead weight. But tonight you won’t need one of Oberth’s rockets to travel to the Moon, as take on another challenge as we look mid-way along the terminator at the west shore of Mare Tranquillitatis for crater Julius Caesar.

This is also a ruined crater, but it met its demise not through lava flow – but from a cataclysmic event. The crater is 88 kilometers long and 73 kilometers wide. Although its west wall still stands over 1200 meters high, look carefully at the east and south walls. At one time, something plowed its way across the lunar surface, breaking down Julius Caesar’s walls and leaving them to stand no higher than 600 meters at the tallest. While visiting the “Tranquil Sea”, look for the unusually shaped crater Hypatia. Can you spot its rima on the southern shore of Tranquillitatis? Perhaps the bright pockmark of Moltke on its north edge will help. Hypatia sits on the northern shore of a rugged area known as Sinus Asperitatis. Do you see Alfraganus on the terminator? Follow the terrain to Theophilus and look west for Ibyn-Rushd with crater Kant to the northwest and the beautiful peak of Mons Penck to its east.

Tuesday, June 26 – On this day in 1949, asteroid Icarus was discovered on a 48-inch Schmidt plate made nine months after that telescope went into operation, and just prior to the beginning of the multi-year National Geographic-Palomar Sky Survey. The asteroid was found to have a highly eccentric orbit and a perihelion distance of just 27 million kilometers, closer to the Sun than Mercury, giving it its unusual name. It was just 6.4 million kilometers from Earth at the time of discovery, and variations in its orbital parameters have been used to determine Mercury’s mass and test Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

But, today is even more special because it is the birthday of none other than Charles Messier, the famed French comet hunter. Born in 1730, Messier is best known for cataloging the 100 or so bright nebulae and star clusters that we now refer to as the Messier objects. The catalog was intended to keep both Messier and others from confusing these stationary objects with possible new comets.

] If you missed your chance last night to see the incredible Alpine Valley, it’s now fully disclosed in the sunlight. Viewable through binoculars as a thin, dark line, telescopic observers at highest powers will enjoy a wealth of details in this area, such as a crack running inside its boundaries. It’s a wonderful lunar observing challenge and a guide to our next lunar feature – Cassini and Cassini A. Where the valley joins the lunar Alps, follow the range south into Mare Imbrium. Along the way you will see the protruding bright peaks of Mons Blanc, Promontorium DeVille, and at the very end, Promontorium Agassiz ending in the smooth sands. Southeast of Agassiz you will spot Cassini. The major crater spans 57 kilometers and reaches a floor depth of 1240 meters. The challenge is to also spot the central crater A, which is only 17 kilometers wide, yet drops down another 2830 meters below the surface. This shallow crater holds another challenge within – Cassini A. But look carefully, can you spot the B crater on Cassini’s inner southwestern rim? Or the very small M crater just outside the northern edge?

For more advanced lunar observers, head a bit further south to the Haemus Mountains to look for the bright punctuation of a small crater on the southwest shore of Mare Serenitatis. Increase your magnification and look for a curious feature with an even more curious name… Rima Sulpicius Gallus. It is nothing more than a lunar wrinkle which accompanies the crater of the same name – a long-gone Roman counselor. Can you trace its 90 kilometer length?

Now see how many Messier objects that you can capture and wish Charles a happy birthday!

Wednesday, June 27 – Let’s begin our lunar studies tonight with a little “mountain climbing!” Using Copernicus as our guide, to the north and northwest of this ancient crater lie the Carpathian Mountains ringing the southern edge of Mare Imbrium. As you can see, they begin well east of the terminator, but look into the shadow! Extending some 40 kilometers beyond the line of daylight, you will continue to see bright peaks – some of which reach a height of 2072 meters. When the area is fully revealed tomorrow, you will see the Carpathian Mountains disappear into the lava flow that once formed them.

Let’s try looking just south of Sinus Medii and identifying these features: (1) Flammarion, (2) Herschel, (3) Ptolemaeus, (4) Alphonsus, (5) Davy, (6) Alpetragius, (7) Arzachel, (8) Thebit, (9) Purbach, (10) Lacaille, (11) Blanchinus, (12) Delaunay, (13) Faye, (14) Donati, (15) Airy, (16) Argelander, (17) Vogel, (18) Parrot, (19) Klein, (20) Albategnius, (21) Muller, (22) Halley, (23) Horrocks, (24) Hipparchus, (25) Sinus Medii

When skies are dark, it’s time to have a look at the 250 light-year distant silicon star Iota Librae. This is a real challenge for binoculars – but not because the components are so close. In Iota’s case, the near 5th magnitude primary simply overshadows its 9th magnitude companion! In 1782, Sir William Herschel measured them and determined them to be a true physical pair. Yet, in 1940 Librae A was determined to have an equal magnitude companion only .2 arc seconds away…. And the secondary was proved to have a companion of its own that echoes the primary. A four star system!

While you’re out, keep watch for a handful of meteors originating near the constellation of Corvus. The Corvid meteor shower is not well documented, but you might spot as many as ten per hour.

Thursday, June 28 – Tonight on the lunar surface, use crater Copernicus as a guide and look north-northwest to survey the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians ring the southern edge of Mare Imbrium beginning well east of the terminator. But let’s look on the dark side. Extending some 40 km beyond into the Moon’s own shadow, you can continue to see bright peaks – some reaching 2000 meters high! Tomorrow, when this area is fully revealed, you will see the Carpathians begin to disappear into the lava flow forming them. Continuing northward to Plato – on the northern shore of Mare Imbrium – re-identify the singular peak of Pico. Between Plato and Mons Pico you will find the many scattered peaks of the Teneriffe Mountains. It is possible that these are the remnants of much taller summits of a once precipitous range. Now the peaks rise less than 2000 meters above the surface.

Time to power up! West of the Teneriffes, and very near the terminator, you will see a narrow line of mountains, very similar in size to the Alpine Valley. This is known as the Straight Range or the Montes Recti. To binoculars or small scopes at low power, this isolated strip of mountains will appear as a white line drawn across the grey mare. It is believed this feature may be all that is left of a crater wall from the Imbrium impact. It runs for a distance of around 90 kilometers, and is approximately 15 kilometers wide. Some of its peaks reach as high as 2072 meters! Although this doesn’t sound particularly impressive, that’s over twice as tall as the Vosges Mountains in west-central Europe, and on the average very comparable to the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States.

When you’re finished with your lunar observations, tonight let’s try a challenging double star – Upsilon Librae. This beautiful red star is right at the limit for a small telescope, but quite worthy as the pair is a widely disparate double. Look for the 11.5 magnitude companion to the south in a very nice field of stars!

Friday, June 29 – Today we celebrate the birthday of George Ellery Hale, who was born in 1868. Hale was the founding father of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. Although he had no education beyond his baccalaureate in physics, he became the leading astronomer of his day. He invented the spectroheliograph, coined the word astrophysics, and founded the Astrophysical Journal and Yerkes Observatory. At the time, Mt. Wilson dominated the world of astronomy, confirming what galaxies were and verifying the expanding universe cosmology, making Mt. Wilson one of the most productive facilities ever built. When Hale went on to found Palomar Observatory, the 5-meter (200?) telescope was named for him and dedicated on June 3, 1948. It continues to be the largest telescope in the continental United States.

It’s time to head deeper toward the lunar south as we take a close look at the dark, heart-shaped region Palus Epidemiarum. Caught on its southern edge is the largely eroded Campanus with well defined Cichus to the east and Ramsden to the west. Power up in your telescope and look carefully at its smooth floors. If conditions are favorable, you will catch Rima Hesiodus cutting across its northern boundary and the crisscross pattern of Rima Ramsden in the western lobe. Can you make out a small, deep puncture mark to the northeast? It might be small, but it has a name – Marth.
Now let’s go deep south and have look at an area which once held something almost half a bright as tonight’s Moon and over four times brighter than Venus. Only one thing could light up the skies like that – a supernova. According to historical records from Europe, China, Egypt, Arabia and Japan, 1001 years ago the very first supernova event was noted. Appearing in the constellation of Lupus, it was at first believed to be a comet by the Egyptians, yet the Arabs saw it as an illuminating “star.”

Located less than a fingerwidth northeast of Beta Lupus (RA 15 02 48.40 Dec -41 54 42.0) and a half degree east of Kappa Centaurus, no visible trace is left of a once grand event that spanned five months of observation beginning in May, and lasting until it dropped below the horizon in September, 1006. It is believed all the force created from the event was converted to energy and very little mass remains. In the area, a 17th magnitude star shows a tiny gas ring and radio source 1459-41 remains our best candidate for pinpointing this incredible event.

Saturday, June 30 – We start our observing evening with the beautiful Moon as we return first to the ancient and graceful landmark crater Gassendi standing at the north edge of Mare Humorum. The mare itself is around the size of the state of Arkansas and is one of the oldest of the circular maria on the visible surface. As you view the bright ring of Gassendi, look for evidence of the massive impact which may have formed Humorum. It is believed the original crater may have been in excess of 462 kilometers in diameter, indenting the lunar surface almost twice over. Over time, similar smaller strikes formed the many craters around its edges and lava flow gradually gave the area the ridge- and rille-covered floor we see tonight. Its name is the “Sea of Moisture,” but look for its frozen waves in the long dry landscape.

Caught on the north-western rim of Mare Humorum, look for crater Mersenius. It is a typical Nectarian geological formation, spanning approximately 51 miles in diameter in all directions. Power up in a telescope to look for fine features such as steep slopes supporting newer impact crater Mersenius P and tiny interior craterlet chains. Can you spot white formations and crevices along its terraced walls? How about Rimae Mersenius? Further south you’ll spy tiny Liebig helping to support Mersenius D’s older structure, along with its own small set of mountains known as the Rupes Liebig. Continue to follow the edge of Mare Humorum around the wall known as Rimae Doppelmayer until you reach the shallow old crater Doppelmayer. As you can see, the whole floor fractured crater has been filled with lava flow from Mare Humorum’s formation, pointing to an age older than Humorum itself. Look for a shallow mountain peak in its center – there’s a very good chance this peak is actually higher than the crater walls. Did this crater begin to upwell as it filled? Or did it experience some volcanic activity of its own? Take a closer look at the floor if the lighting is right to spy a small lava dome and evidence of dark pyroclastic deposits – it’s a testament to what once was!

Still got the moonlight blues? Then try your hand at a super challenging double – Mu Librae. This pair is only a magnitude apart in brightness and right at the limit for a small telescope. Up the power slowly and look for the companion just to the southwest of the primary. Good luck and mark your observation because Mu’s blues are on many observing lists!

And out of the blue comes a meteor shower! Keep watch tonight for the June Draconids. The radiant for this shower will be near handle of Big Dipper – Ursa Major. The fall rate varies from 10 to 100 per hour, but tonight’s bright skies will toast most of the offspring of comet Pons-Winnecke. On a curious note, today in 1908 was when the great Tunguska impact happened in Siberia. A fragment of a comet, perhaps?

Sunday, July 1 – Today In 1917, the astronomers at Mt. Wilson were celebrating as the 100? primary mirror arrived. Up until that time, the 60? Hale telescope (donated by George Hale’s father) was the premier creation of St. Gobrain Glassworks – which was later commissioned to create the blank for the Hooker telescope. Thanks to the funds provided by John D. Hooker (and Carnegie), the dream was realized after years of hard work and ingenuity to create not only a building to properly house it – but the telescope workings as well. It saw “first light” five months later on November 1.
As anxious astronomers waited for this groundbreaking moment, the scope was aimed at Jupiter but the image was horrible – to their dismay, workmen had left the dome open and the Sun had heated the massive mirror! Try as they might to rest until it had cooled – no astronomer slept. Fearful of the worst, sometime around three in the morning they returned again long after Jupiter had set. Pointing the massive scope towards a star, they achieved a perfect image!

If you’re looking for a perfect image, then look no further than the western horizon tonight at twilight. Why? Because Mercury is going to be a “guest star” in the Beehive Cluster! Be sure to at least get out your binoculars and look at the speedy little inner planet as it cruises about a degree or so to the western edge of M44.

Tonight we’ll return again to our landmark lunar feature – crater Grimaldi – and begin our journey north…

As you move north of Grimaldi on a crater hop, the next feature you will en-counter is the walled plain of Hevelius. With a diameter of about 64 miles, this round area doesn’t have a height we can really measure because of its lunar position, but we can see that it does have some relatively steep walls around its edges. Hevelius was formed in the Nectarian geological period and if you look closely you’ll see that it has a small central peak, a fine rimae and many craterlet chains, too. Can you spot large interior Crater Hevelius A with just binoculars? How about companion crater Cavalerius which is part of its northern border?

While you’re out, take the time to look at lowly Theta Lupi about a fistwidth south-southwest of the mighty Antares. While 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 the 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 the “ordinary” lies a trio of three spectral types and three magnitudes in a diamond-dust field. An undiscovered gem…

Until next week? Ask for the Moon, but keep on reaching for the stars!

Posted on by Jason Major

Rivers of Rock

The Moon may not have ever had liquid water on its surface — despite the use of the term mare, Latin for “sea” and moniker for the large regions of darker material visible from Earth — but liquid did indeed flow on the Moon in ages past… liquid rock, briefly set loose by the impacts that formed its ubiquitous craters.

When large meteorites impacted the Moon, crust at the site would melt and get flung outwards, flowing downhill as rivers of rock and creating streams and pools of melted material before cooling and solidifying. There the rivers would remain, a permanently-hardened testament to the event that made them.

The image above, part of a NAC scan acquired by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 9, shows a solidified melt flow dating back to the creation of Tycho crater approximately 108 million years ago –which may sound like a long time but it’s actually very recent for large-scale lunar features.

The flow is interrupted by a younger, 400-meter-wide crater that impacted the lunar surface along its length. Since it punches through the melt flow as well as the local surface, it would be a great place for future astronaut geologists to explore!

Taken under slightly different lighting conditions, the image below shows a large melt pond that the flow above terminates in. The pond is about 4500 meters long by 2100 meters across (2.8 x 1.3 miles).

Such images wouldn’t be possible without the awesome Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO explores the lunar surface from an altitude of only 50 km (31 miles). Read more on the LRO site here.

Image credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Loads of Ice Waiting for Explorers at the Moon’s Shackleton Crater

Shackleton crater on the Moon’s south pole has been somewhat of an enigma, as its permanently shadowed interior has made it difficult to detect what is inside. But with new observations using the laser altimeter on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, a team of researchers has essentially illuminated the crater’s interior with laser light, measuring its albedo, or natural reflectance. The scientists found that the crater’s floor is quite bright, an observation consistent with the presence of ice. In fact, ice may make up 22 percent of the material on the crater floor, with possibly more ice embedded within the crater walls.

“We decided we would study the living daylights out of this crater,” said Maria Zuber from the Massachuesetts Institute of Technology, who lead a team to study Shackleton Crater. “From the incredible density of observations we were able to make an extremely detailed topographic map.”

For laser altimeter observations, elevation maps can be created by measuring the time it takes for laser light to bounce down to the Moon’s surface and back to the instrument. The longer it takes, the lower the terrain’s elevation. Using these measurements, the group mapped the crater’s floor and the slope of its walls.

The team used over 5 million measurements to create their detailed map.


While the crater’s floor was relatively bright, Zuber and her colleagues observed that its walls were even brighter. The finding was at first puzzling. Scientists had thought that if ice were anywhere in a crater, it would be on the floor, where no direct sunlight penetrates. The upper walls of Shackleton crater are occasionally illuminated, which could evaporate any ice that accumulates. A theory offered by the team to explain the puzzle is that “moonquakes”– seismic shaking brought on by meteorite impacts or gravitational tides from Earth — may have caused Shackleton’s walls to slough off older, darker soil, revealing newer, brighter soil underneath. Zuber’s team’s ultra-high-resolution map provides strong evidence for ice on both the crater’s floor and walls.

“There may be multiple explanations for the observed brightness throughout the crater,” said Zuber. “For example, newer material may be exposed along its walls, while ice may be mixed in with its floor.”

The crater, named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is nearly 20 km (more than 12 miles) wide and over 3 km (2 miles) deep — about as deep as Earth’s oceans. Zuber described the crater’s interior as “extremely rugged … It would not be easy to crawl around in there.”

She added that the new topographic map will help researchers understand crater formation and study other uncharted areas of the moon.

“I will never get over the thrill when I see a new terrain for the first time,” Zuber said. “It’s that sort of motivation that causes people to explore to begin with. Of course, we’re not risking our lives like the early explorers did, but there is a great personal investment in all of this for a lot of people.”

Ben Bussey, staff scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, said the new evidence for ice in Shackleton crater may indeed help determine the course for future lunar missions.

“Ice in the polar regions has been sort of an enigmatic thing for some time … I think this is another piece of evidence for the possibility of ice,” Bussey says. “To truly answer the question, we’ll have to send a lunar lander, and these results will help us select where to send a lander.”

And for any humans explorers, a crater like Shackleton at the lunar poles may well be the best location for a base, as the poles contain regions of near-permanent sunlight needed for power, and regions of near-permanent darkness containing ice — both of which would be essential resources for any lunar colony.

The team’s research was published today in the Journal Nature.

Sources: MIT, NASA

Lead image caption: Elevation (left) and shaded relief (right) image of Shackleton, a 21-km-diameter (12.5-mile-diameter) permanently shadowed crater adjacent to the lunar south pole. The structure of the crater’s interior was revealed by a digital elevation model constructed from over 5 million elevation measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Credit: NASA/Zuber, M.T. et al., Nature, 2012

Second image caption: This is an elevation map of Shackleton crater made using LRO Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The false colors indicate height, with blue lowest and red/white highest. Credit: NASA/Zuber, M.T. et al., Nature, 2012

Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: June 18-24, 2012

NGC 3981 - Credit: Palomar Observatory, Courtesy of Caltech

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Let’s begin the week with some awesome galactic studies and enjoy a meteor shower during Summer Solstice! We’ll be studying variable stars, the planet Mars, Saturn, the Moon and Mercury, too! There’s always a bit of astronomy history and some unusual things to learn about. When you’re ready, just meet me in the back yard…

Monday, June 18 – With dark skies on our side, we’ll spend the next few days concentrating on a very specific region of the night sky. Legend tells us the constellation of Crater is the cup of the gods – cup befitting the god of the skies, Apollo. Who holds this cup, dressed in black? It’s the Raven, Corvus. The tale is a sad one – a story of a creature sent to fetch water for his master, only to tarry too long waiting on a fig to ripen. When he realized his mistake, the sorry Raven returned to Apollo with his cup and brought along the serpent Hydra in his claws as well. Angry, Apollo tossed them into the sky for all eternity and it is in the south they stay until this day.

For the next few days, it will be our pleasure to study the Cup and the Raven. The galaxies I have chosen are done particularly for those of us who still star hop. I will start with a “marker” star that should be easily visible unaided on a night capable of supporting this kind of study. The field stars are quite recognizable in the finder and this is an area that takes some work. Because these galaxies approach magnitude 13, they are best suited to the larger telescope.

Now, let’s go between map and sky and identify both Zeta and Eta Crater and form a triangle. Our mark is directly south of Eta the same distance as between the two stars. At low power, the 12.7 magnitude NGC 3981 (Right Ascension: 11 : 56.1 – Declination: -19 : 54) sits inside a stretched triangle of stars. Upon magnification, an elongated, near edge-on spiral structure with a bright nucleus appears. Patience and aversion makes this “stand up” galaxy appear to have a vague fading at the frontiers with faint extensions. A moment of clarity is all it takes to see tiny star caught at the edge.

Tuesday, June 19 – New Moon! Tonight’s first study object, 12.7 magnitude NGC 3956 (Right Ascension: 11 : 54.0 – Declination: -20 : 34) is about a degree due south of NGC 3981. When first viewed, it appears as edge-on structure at low power. Upon study it takes on the form of a highly inclined spiral. A beautiful multiple star, and a difficult double star also resides with the NGC 3956 – appearing almost to triangulate with it. Aversion brings up a very bright core region which over the course of time and study appears to extend away from the center, giving this very sweet galaxy more structure than can be called from it with one observation.

Our next target is a little more than two degrees further south of our last study. The 12.8 magnitude NGC 3955 (Right Ascension: 11 : 54.0 – Declination: -23 : 10) is a very even, elongated spiral structure requiring a minimum of aversion once the mind and eye “see” its position. Not particularly an impressive galaxy, the NGC 3955 does, however, have a star caught at the edge as well. After several viewings, the best structure I can pull from this one is a slight concentration toward the core.

Now we’ll study an interacting pair and all that is required is that you find 31 Corvii, an unaided eye star west of Gamma and Epsilon Corvii. Now we’re ready to nudge the scope about one degree north. The 11th magnitude NGC 4038/39 (Right Ascension: 12 : 01.9 – Declination: -18 : 52) is a tight, but superior pair of interacting galaxies. Often referred to as either the “Ringtail” or the “Antenna”, this pair deeply captured the public’s imagination when photographed by the Hubble. (Unfortunately, we don’t have the Hubble, but what we have is set of optics and the patience to find them.) At low power the pair presents two very stellar core regions surrounded by a curiously shaped nebulosity. Now, drop the power on it and practice patience – because it’s worth it! When that perfect moment of clarity arrives, we have crackling structure. Unusual, clumpy, odd arms appear at strong aversion. Behind all this is a galactic “sheen” that hints at all the beauty seen in the Hubble photographs. It’s a tight little fellow, but worth every moment it takes to find it.

Return to 31 Corvii and head one half degree northwest to discover 11.6 magnitude NGC 4027 (Right Ascension: 11 : 59.5 – Declination: -19 : 16). Relatively large, and faint at low power, this one also deserves both magnification and attention. Why? Because it rocks! It has a wonderful coma shape with a single, unmistakable bold arm. The bright nucleus seems to almost curl along with this arm shape and during aversion a single stellar point appears at its tip. This one is a real treat!

Wednesday, June 20 – Today marks the official date of 2012 Summer Solstice!

With no Moon to contend with in the predawn hours, we welcome the “shooting stars” as we pass through another portion of the Ophiuchid meteor stream. The radiant for this pass will be nearer Sagittarius and the fall rate varies from 8 to 20, but it can sometimes produce unexpectedly more.

Tonight let’s look to the sky again and fixate on Eta Crater – our study lay one half degree southeast. The 12.8 magnitude NGC 4033 (Right Ascension: 12 : 00.6 – Declination: -17 : 51) is a tough call even for a large scope. Appearing elliptical at low power, it does take on some stretch at magnification. It is smallish, even and quite unremarkable. It requires good aversion and a bit of patience to find. Good luck!

The last of our studies resides by a star, one degree west of Beta Corvii. In order to “see” anything even remotely called structure in NGC 4462 (Right Ascension: 12 : 29.3 – Declination: -23 : 10), this one is a high power only galaxy that is best when the accompanying star is kept out of the field as much as possible. It holds a definite stellar nucleus and a concentration that pulls away from it making it almost appear barred. On an exceptional night with a large scope, wide aversion and moments of clarity show what may be three to four glints inside the structure. Ultra tiny pinholes in another universe? Or perhaps an unimaginably huge, bright globular clusters? While attention is focused on trying to draw out these points, you’ll notice this galaxy’s structure much more clearly. Another true beauty and fitting way to end this particular study field!

Thursday, June 21 – Keep an eye out for the exiting planet Mars! It’s been on the move and has now crossed the border of Virgo and returned to Leo. Have you noticed it quickly changing in both apparent brightness and size? It won’t be long until it’s gone! And speaking of planets on the move, have you spotted Mercury yet? You can find the swift little planet low on the western horizon just after sunset. Look for it just to the south of Castor and Pollux!

For challenging larger telescope studies, return to eastern edge of Mare Crisium and Promontorium Agarum to identify shallow crater Condorcet to its east. Look along the shore of the mare for a mountain to the south known as Mons Usov. Just to its north Luna 24 landed and directly to its west are the remains of Luna 15. We’ll study more about them in the future. Can you spot the tiny dark well of crater Fahrenheit nearby? Continue with your telescope north of Mare Crisium for even more challenging features such as northeast limb studies Mare Smythii and Mare Marginis. Between them you will see the long oval crater Jansky – bordered by Jansky A at the very outer edge.

While you’re out tonight, take a look at the skies for a circlet of seven stars that reside about halfway between orange Arcturus and brilliant blue/white Vega. This quiet constellation is named Corona Borealis – or the “Northern Crown.” Just northwest of its brightest star is a huge concentration of over 400 galaxies that reside over a billion light-years away from us. This area is so small from our point of view that we could cover it with our thumbnail held at arm’s length!

For variable star fans, let’s explore Corona Borealis and focus our attention on S – located just west of Theta – the westernmost star in the constellation’s arc formation. At magnitude 5.3, this long-term variable takes almost a year to go through its changes; usually far outshining the 7th magnitude star to its northeast – but will drop to a barely visible magnitude 14 at minimum. Compare it to the eclipsing binary U Coronae Borealis about a degree northwest. In slightly over three days this Algol-type will range by a full magnitude as its companions draw together.

Friday, June 22 – Today celebrates the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1675. That’s 332 years of astronomy! Also on this date in history, in 1978, James Christy of the US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona discovered Pluto’s satellite Charon.

If you’d like to practice some unaided eye astronomy, then look no further than the western skyline as the Sun sets. At twilight you’ll first notice the very slender crescent Moon – but don’t delay your observations as you can spot Mercury to the west! The inner planet will set very fast, so you’ll need an open horizon. But that’s not all… the speedy little dude is lined up perfectly with Castor and Pollux! With the foursome nearly “in a row” this will make a very cool apparition to remind friends and family to watch for!

Now, grab your favorite optics for a selenographic treat tonight return to the area just north of Mare Crisium area to observe spectacular crater Cleomides. This two million year old crater is separated from Crisium by some 60 kilometers of mountainous terrain. Telescopically, Cleomides is a true delight at high power. To Cleomides’ east, begin by identifying Delmotte, and to the northwest, Trailes and Debes. About twice Clemoides’ width northwest, you will see a sharply well-defined Class I crater Geminus. Named for the Greek astronomer and mathematician Geminos, this 86 kilometer wide crater shows a smooth floor and displays a long, low dune across its middle.

When you’re finished, point your binoculars or telescopes back towards Corona Borealis and about three fingerwidths northwest of Alpha for variable star R (Ra 15. 48.6 Dec +28 09). This star is a total enigma. Discovered in 1795, most of the time R carries a magnitude near 6, but can drop to magnitude 14 in a matter of weeks – only to unexpectedly brighten again! It is believed that R emits a carbon cloud which blocks its light. When studied at minima, the light curve resembles a “reverse nova,” and has a peculiar spectrum. It is very possible this ancient Population II star has used all of its hydrogen fuel and is now fusing helium to carbon. It’s so odd that science can’t even directly determine its distance!

Saturday, June 23 – If you missed yesterday’s apparition of Mercury, then try again tonight. While the small planet might be dim, just look for the brighter pairing of Castor and Pollux above the western horizon at twilight. Can’t find it? Then try this. When you look at this famous pair of stars, judge the distance between the two. Now, apply that same distance and angle to the left (southern) star, Pollux, and you’ve found Mercury! Need more? Then check out the Moon and you’ll see Regulus is about a fistwidth to the east/southeast and Mars is a little more than two handspans to the southeast. Still more? Then continue on from Mars southeast about about another two handspans and you’ll see the pairing of Spica and Saturn!

Using your telescope tonight on the Moon will call up previous study craters, Atlas and Hercules to the lunar north. If you walk along the terminator to the due west of Atlas and Hercules, you’ll see the punctuation of 40 kilometer wide Burg just emerging from the shadows. While it doesn’t appear to be a grand crater just yet, it has a redeeming feature – it’s deep – real deep. If Burg were filled with water here on Earth, it would require a deep submergence vehicle like ALVIN to reach its 3680 meter floor! This class II crater stands nearly alone on an expanse of lunarscape known as Lacus Mortis. If the terminator has advanced enough at your time of viewing, you may be able to see this walled-plain’s western boundary peeking out of the shadows.

While we’re out, let’s have a look at Delta Serpens. To the eye and binoculars, 4th magnitude Delta is a widely separated visual double star… But power up in the telescope to have a look at a wonderfully difficult binary. Divided by no more than 4 arc seconds, 210 light-year distant Delta and its 5th magnitude companion could be as old as 800 million years and on the verge of becoming evolved giants. Separated by about 9 times the distance of Pluto from our Sun, the white primary is a Delta Scuti-type variable which changes subtly in less than four hours. Although it takes the pair 3200 years to orbit each other, you’ll find Delta Serpens to be an excellent challenge for your optics.

Sunday, June 24 – On this day in 1881, Sir William Huggins made the first photographic spectrum of a comet (1881 III) and discovered cyanogen (CN) emission at violet wavelengths. Unfortunately, his discovery caused public panic around 29 years later when Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet. What a shame the public didn’t realize that cyanogens are also released organically! More than fearing what is in a comet’s tail, they should have been thinking about what might happen should a comet strike. Tonight look at the wasted Southern Highland area of the Moon with new eyes… Many of these craters you see were caused by impacts – some as large as the nucleus of Halley itself.

Now let’s pick up a binocular curiosity located on the northeast shore of Mare Serenitatis. Re-identify the bright ring of Posidonius, which contains several equally bright points both around and within it – and look at Mare Crisium and get a feel for its size. A little more than one Crisium’s length west of Posidonius you’ll meet Aristotle and Eudoxus. Drop a similar length south and you will be at the tiny, bright crater Linne on the expanse of Mare Serenitatis. So what’s so cool about this little white dot? With only binoculars you are resolving a crater that is one mile wide, in a seven mile wide patch of bright ejecta – from close to 400,000 kilometers away! While you were there, did you notice how much Proclus has changed tonight? It is now a bright circle and beginning to show bright lunar rays…

Before we head for deep sky, be sure to at least take a look at Saturn and Mars. Right now the Ring King has reached its greatest westward position and will begin its tour back to the east. Now, check out Mars’ position to the west and measure with your hands roughly how far apart they are. At this point they are separated by about two handspans. Check again in a few weeks to see planetary motion displayed right before your eyes!

Now let’s turn binoculars or telescopes towards magnitude 2.7 Alpha Librae – the second brightest star in the celestial “Scales.” Its proper name is Zuben El Genubi, and even as “Star Wars” as that sounds, the “Southern Claw” is actually quite close to home at a distance of only 65 light-years. No matter what size optics you are using, you’ll easily see Alpha’s 5th magnitude companion widely spaced and sharing the same proper motion. Alpha itself is a spectroscopic binary which was verified during an occultation event, and its inseparable companion is only a half magnitude dimmer according to the light curves. Enjoy this easy pair tonight!

Until next week? Ask for the Moon… But keep on reaching for the stars!

Posted on by Jason Major

Is It Time to Return to the Moon?

Should we pay another visit to the Moon? (From "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" by Georges Méliès, 1902)

Humans haven’t set foot on the Moon — or any other world outside of our own, for that matter — since Cernan and Schmitt departed the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. That will make 40 years on that date this coming December. And despite dreams of moon bases and lunar colonies, there hasn’t even been a controlled landing there since the Soviet Luna 24 sample return mission in 1976 (not including impacted probes.) So in light of the challenges and costs of such an endeavor, is there any real value in a return to the Moon?

Some scientists are saying yes.

Researchers from the UK, Germany and The Netherlands have submitted a paper to the journal Planetary and Space Science outlining the scientific importance of future lunar surface missions. Led by Ian A. Crawford from London’s Birkbeck College, the paper especially focuses on the value of the Moon in the study of our own planet and its formation, the development of the Earth-Moon system as well as other rocky worlds  and even its potential contribution in life science and medicinal research.

Even though some research on the lunar surface may be able to be performed by robotic missions, Crawford et al. ultimately believe that “addressing them satisfactorily will require an end to the 40-year hiatus of lunar surface exploration.”

The team’s paper outlines many different areas of research that would benefit from future exploration, either manned or robotic. Surface composition, lunar volcanism, cratering history — and thus insight into a proposed period of “heavy bombardment” that seems to have affected the inner Solar System over 3.8 billion years ago — as well as the presence of water ice could be better investigated with manned missions, Crawford et al. suggest.

(Read: A New Look At Apollo Samples Supports Ancient Impact Theory)

In addition, the “crashed remains of unsterilized spacecraft” on the Moon warrant study, proposes Crawford’s team. No, we’re not talking about alien spaceships — unless the aliens are us! The suggestion is that the various machinery we’ve sent to the lunar surface since the advent of the Space Age may harbor Earthly microbes that could be returned for study after decades in a lunar environment. Such research could shed new light on how life can — or can’t — survive in a space environment, as well as how long such “contaminants” might linger on another world.

Crawford’s team also argues that only manned missions could offer all-important research on the long-term effects of low-gravity environments on human physiology, as well as how to best sustain exploration crews in space. If we are to ever become a society with the ability to explore and exist beyond our own planet, such knowledge is critical.

And outside of lunar exploration itself, the Moon offers a place from which to perform deeper study of the Universe. The lunar farside, shielded as it is from radio transmissions and other interference from Earth, would be a great place for radio astronomy — especially in the low-frequency range of 10-30 MHz, which is absorbed by Earth’s ionosphere and is thus relatively unavailable to ground-based telescopes. A radio observatory on the lunar farside would have a stable platform from which to observe some of the earliest times of the Universe, between the Big Bang and the formation of the first stars.

Of course, before anything can be built on the Moon or retrieved from its surface, serious plans must be made for such missions. Fortunately, says Crawford’s team, the 2007 Global Exploration Strategy — a framework for exploration created by 13 space agencies from around the world — puts the Moon as the “nearest and first goal” for future missions, as well as Mars and asteroids. Yet with subsequent budget cuts for NASA (a key player for many exploration missions) when and how that goal will be reached still remains to be seen.

See the team’s full paper on arXiv.org here, and check out a critical review on MIT’s Technology Review.

“…this long hiatus in lunar surface exploration has been to the detriment of lunar and planetary science, and indeed of other sciences also, and that the time has come to resume the robotic and human exploration of the surface of the Moon.”

— Ian A. Crawford,  Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck College, UK

 Top image from “Le Voyage Dans La Lune” by Georges Méliès, 1902. Second image: First photo of the far side of the Moon, acquired by the Soviet Luna-3 spacecraft on Oct. 7, 1959.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Stunning Partial Lunar Eclipse Images from June 4, 2012

Composite of 10 images from the Partial Lunar Eclipse on June 4, 2012 from Mexico City. Credit: Genaro Grajeda

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Early on June 4th, the full “Strawberry” Moon passed through the shadow of Earth, producing a partial lunar eclipse. It was visible across the ‘Pacific’ side of Earth, from Asia to North America, and began at about 10:00 UTC (3:00 a.m. PDT), reaching its maximum at 11:03 UTC (4:03 a.m. PDT). At most about 38% of the Moon’s diameter was in shadow.

Some great images are coming in, like this collage of 10 photos from Genaro Grajeda in Mexico City, taken from 3:55 a.m. to 6:35 a.m.

See more below, and for any of the images, click for larger versions and/or the original version!

Prolific and accomplished astrophotographer John Chumack traveled from his home in Ohio to Tucson, Arizona to capture the eclipse. Compare these two images he took, the first with 1/160th of a second exposure, the second with a half second exposure.

“I took many shots, and here are a couple,” said Chumack, “one showing normal exposure of the Moon, but something dark is covering it…and the second shot was deliberately over exposed to reveal the culprit — Earth’s Shadow covering up part of the Moon during Maximum Eclipse for us in Tucson.”

Partial Lunar Eclipse 6-04-2012 from Tucson, Arizona, USA during maximum, with 1/160th of a second exposure. Credit: John Chumack.
Partial Lunar Eclipse 6-04-2012 from Tucson, Arizona, USA, during Maximum Eclipse. Credit: John Chumack
A view of the eclipse between telephone wires. Credit: Astro-Nutt (ColinC) on Flickr.
The June 4, 2012 lunar eclipse taken through a Galileoscope and webcam from Arizona. Credit: Rob Sparks.
Taken during the eclipse on the road up to Summerhaven on Mt. Lemon, near Tucson AZ, at about 6,300 feet elevation. Credit: Bob Riddle.
'Caught the last little bit of the eclipse' said photographer Bill Ogg.
The June 4, 2012 partial lunar eclipse. Credit: Jason Hill

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Timelapse of a Moonrise as Seen from the ISS

Astronaut Don Pettit continues to ‘wow’ us all with his photographic exploits. In this great timelapse video, not only does Pettit capture a stunning Moonrise over Earth, but he had the presence of mind to set up his video camera in such way that he could also show himself opening the shutters in the space station’s Cupola observation windows just in time to watch all the action. The time-lapse scene was photographed from the airlock of the ISS’s Russian segment.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Moon Affects the Solar Wind

his is a view of the moon transiting, or passing in front of, the Sun as seen from the STEREO-B spacecraft on Feb. 25, 2007. The Sun is in false color, and the moon appears as a black disk on the upper right. NASA's STEREO mission consists of two spacecraft launched in October, 2006 to study solar storms. Credit: NASA

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From a NASA press release:

With the Moon as the most prominent object in the night sky and a major source of an invisible pull that creates ocean tides, many ancient cultures thought it could also affect our health or state of mind – the word “lunacy” has its origin in this belief. Now, a powerful combination of spacecraft and computer simulations is revealing that the moon does indeed have a far-reaching, invisible influence – not on us, but on the Sun, or more specifically, the solar wind.

The solar wind is a thin stream of electrically conducting gas called plasma that’s constantly blown off the surface of the Sun in all directions at around a million miles per hour. When a particularly fast, dense or turbulent solar wind strikes Earth’s magnetic field, it can generate magnetic and radiation storms that are capable of disrupting satellites, power grids, and communication systems. The magnetic “bubble” surrounding Earth also pushes back on the solar wind, creating a bow shock tens of thousands of miles across over the day side of Earth where the solar wind slams into the magnetic field and abruptly slows from supersonic to subsonic speed.

Unlike Earth, the Moon is not surrounded by a global magnetic field. “It was thought that the solar wind crashes into the lunar surface without any warning or ‘push back’ on the solar wind,” says Dr. Andrew Poppe of the University of California, Berkeley. Recently, however, an international fleet of lunar-orbiting spacecraft has detected signs of the Moon’s presence “upstream” in the solar wind. “We’ve seen electron beams and ion fountains over the Moon’s day side,” says Dr. Jasper Halekas, also of the University of California, Berkeley.

These phenomena have been seen as far as 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles) above the Moon and generate a kind of turbulence in the solar wind ahead of the Moon, causing subtle changes in the solar wind’s direction and density. The electron beams were first seen by NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission, while the Japanese Kaguya mission, the Chinese Chang’e mission, and the Indian Chandrayaan mission all saw ion plumes at low altitudes. NASA’s ARTEMIS mission has now also seen both the electron beams and the ion plumes, plus newly identified electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in the plasma ahead of the Moon, at much greater distances from the moon. “With ARTEMIS, we can see the plasma ring and wiggle a bit, surprisingly far away from the Moon,” says Halekas. ARTEMIS stands for “Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun”.

This is an artist's concept of the Earth's global magnetic field, with the bow shock. Earth is in the middle of the image, surrounded by its magnetic field, represented by purple lines. The bow shock is the blue crescent on the right. Many energetic particles in the solar wind, represented in gold, are deflected by Earth's magnetic "shield". Credit: Walt Feimer (HTSI)/NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

“An upstream turbulent region called the ‘foreshock’ has long been known to exist ahead of the Earth’s bow shock, but the discovery of a similar turbulent layer at the moon is a surprise,” said Dr. William Farrell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Farrell is lead of the NASA Lunar Science Institute’s Dynamic Response of the Environment At the Moon (DREAM) lunar science center, which contributed to the research.

Computer simulations help explain these observations by showing that a complex electric field near the lunar surface is generated by sunlight and the flow of the solar wind. The simulation reveals this electric field can generate electron beams by accelerating electrons blasted from surface material by solar ultraviolet light. Also, related simulations show that when ions in the solar wind collide with ancient, “fossil” magnetic fields in certain areas on the lunar surface, they are reflected back into space in a diffuse, fountain-shaped pattern. These ions are mostly the positively charged ions (protons) of hydrogen atoms, the most common element in the solar wind.

“It’s remarkable that electric and magnetic fields within just a few meters (yards) of the lunar surface can cause the turbulence we see thousands of kilometers away,” says Poppe. When exposed to solar winds, other moons and asteroids in the solar system should have this turbulent layer over their day sides as well, according to the team.

“Discovering more about this layer will enhance our understanding of the Moon and potentially other bodies because it allows information about conditions very near the surface to propagate to great distances, so a spacecraft will gain the ability to virtually explore close to these objects when it’s actually far away,” said Halekas.

The research is described in a series of six papers recently published by Poppe, Halekas, and their colleagues at NASA Goddard, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Los Angeles, and the University of Colorado at Boulder in Geophysical Research Letters and the Journal of Geophysical Research. The research was funded by NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, which is managed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and oversees the DREAM lunar science center.

Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: May 28 – June 3, 2012

Hadley Rille - Credit: Damien Peach

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Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! As the Venus Transit draws closer, our bright neighboring planet is quickly disappearing into the sunset glow. As we await this astronomical piece of history, let’s take the time this week to have a look at a host of wonderful lunar features and bright stars. Be sure to catch the conjunction of Spica, Saturn and the Moon – and to catch a shooting star from the Tau Herculid meteor shower! If you’re ready to learn more about the history, mystery and magic of astronomy, then grab your optics and meet me in the back yard…

Monday, May 28 – On this day in 1959, the first primates made it to space. Abel (a rhesus monkey) and Baker (a squirrel monkey) lifted off in the nose cone of an Army Jupiter missile and were carried to sub-orbital flight. Recovered unharmed, Abel died just three days later from anesthesia during an electrode removal, but Baker lived on to a ripe old age of 27.

Our first challenge for the evening will be a telescopic one on the lunar surface known as the Hadley Rille. Using our past knowledge of Mare Serenitatis, look for the break along its western shoreline that divides the Caucasus and Apennine mountain ranges. Just south of this break is the bright peak of Mons Hadley. You’ll find this area of highest interest for several reasons, so power up as much as possible.

Impressive Mons Hadley measures about 24 by 48 kilometers at its base and reaches up an incredible 4572 meters. If this mountain was indeed caused by volcanic activity on the lunar surface, this would make it comparable to some of the very highest volcanically caused peaks on Earth, such as Mount Shasta or Mount Rainer. To its south is the secondary peak Mons Hadley Delta – the home of the Apollo 15 landing site just a breath north of where it extends into the cove created by Palus Putredinus.

Along this ridgeline and smooth floor, look for a major fault line known as the Hadley Rille, winding its way across 120 kilometers of lunar surface. In places, the rille spans 1500 meters in width and drops to a depth of 300 meters below the surface. Believed to have been formed by volcanic activity some 3.3 billion years ago, we can see the impact that lower gravity has had on this type of formation, since earthly lava channels are less than 10 kilometers long and only around 100 meters wide.

During the Apollo 15 mission, Hadley Rille was visited at a point where it was only 1.6 kilometers wide – still a considerable distance as seen in respect to astronaut James Irwin and the lunar rover. Over a period of time, its lava may have continued to flow through this area, yet it remains forever buried beneath years of regolith.

Now let’s head about four fingerwidths northwest of Beta Virginis for another unusual star – Omega. Classed as an M-type red giant, this 480 light-year distant beauty is also an irregular variable which fluxes by about half a magnitude. Although you won’t notice much change in this 5th magnitude star, it has a very pretty red coloration and is worth the time to view.

Tuesday, May 29 – Today in 1919, a total eclipse of the Sun occurred and stellar measurements taken along the limb agreed with predictions based on Einstein’s General Relativity theory – the first such confirmation. Although we call it gravity, space/time curvature deflects the light of stars near the limb, causing their apparent positions to differ slightly. Unlike today’s astronomy, at that time you could only observe stars near the Sun’s limb (within less than an arc second) during an eclipse. It’s interesting to note that even Newton had his own theories on light and gravitation which predicted some deflection!

Tonight on the Moon we’ll be looking for another challenging feature and a crater which conjoins it – Stofler and Faraday.

Located along the terminator to the south, crater Stofler was named for Dutch mathematician and astronomer Johan Stofler. Consuming lunar landscape with an immense diameter of 126 kilometers and dropping 2760 meters below the surface, Stofler is a wonderland of small details in an eroded surrounding. Breaking its wall on the north is Fernelius, but sharing the southeast boundary is Faraday. Named for English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday, it is more complex and deeper at 4090 meters, but far smaller at 70 kilometers in diameter. Look for myriad smaller strikes which bind the two together!

If you’re up for a bit more of a challenge, then let’s head about 59 light-years away in Virgo for star 70. You’ll find it located about 6 degrees northeast of Eta and right in the corner of the Coma, Bootes, and Virgo border. So what’s so special about this G-type, very normal-looking 5th magnitude star?

It’s a star that has a planet.

Long believed to be a spectroscopic binary because of its 117 day shifts in color, closer inspection has revealed that 70 Virginis actually has a companion planet. Roughly 7 times larger than Jupiter and orbiting no further away than Mercury from its cooler-than-Sol parent star, 70 Virginis B just might well be a planet cool enough to support water in its liquid form.

How “cool” is that? Try about 85 degrees Celsius…

Wednesday, May 30 – Are you ready to explore some more history? Then tonight have a look at the Moon and identify Alphonsus – it’s the centermost in a line of rings which looks much like the Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina trio.

Alphonsus is a very old, Class V crater which spans 118 kilometers in diameter and drops below the surface by about 2730 meters and contains a small central peak. Partially flooded, Eugene Shoemaker had made of study of this crater’s formation and found dark haloes on the floor. Again, this could be attributed to volcanism and Shoemaker believed them to be maar volcanoes, and the haloes to be dark ash. Power up and look closely at the central peak, for not only did Ranger 9 hard land just northeast, but this is the only area on the Moon where an astronomer has observed a change and back up that observation with photographic proof.

On November 2, 1958 Nikolai Kozyrev’s long and arduous study of Alphonsus was about to be rewarded. Some two years earlier Dinsmore Alter had taken a series of photographs from the Mt. Wilson 60? reflector that showed hazy patches in this area that could not be accounted for. Night after night, Kozyrev continued to study at the Crimean Observatory – but with no success. During the process of guiding the scope for a spectrogram the unbelievable happened – a cloud of gas containing carbon molecules had been captured! Selected as the last target for the Ranger photographic mission series, Alphonsus delivered 5814 spectacular high-resolution images of this mysterious region before Ranger 9 splattered nearby.
Capture it yourself tonight!

Now let’s add to our double star list as we hunt down Zeta Bootes located about 7 degrees southeast of Arcturus. This is a delightful multiple star system for even small telescopes.

Thursday, May 31 – As we begin the evening, be sure to note a splendid conjunction. Tonight the waxing Moon will dominate the sky, but it’s joined by the visage of Spica and Saturn. Look for the brilliant star located just to the lunar north and the gentle giant planet about 10 degrees or so further north.

Now, let’s have a look at awesome crater Clavius. As a huge mountain-walled plain, Clavius will appear near the terminator tonight in the lunar southern hemisphere, rivaled only in sheer size by similar structured Deslandres and Baily. Rising 1646 meters above the surface, the interior wall slopes gently downward for a distance of almost 24 km and a span of 225 km. Its crater-strewn walls are over 56 km thick!

Clavius is punctuated by many pockmarks and craters; the largest on the southeast wall is named Rutherford. Its twin, Porter, lies to the northeast. Long noted as a test of optics, Clavius crater can offer up to thirteen such small craters on a steady night at high power. How many can you see?

While the glare will make it difficult to do many things, we can still have a look at other bright objects! Let’s start tonight by going just north of Zeta Bootes for Pi. With a wider separation, this pair of whites will easily resolve to the smaller telescope.

Now skip up northeast about a degree for Omicron Bootes. While this is not a multiple system, it makes for a nice visual pairing for a binocular challenge. For telescopes, the southeastern star holds interest as a small asterism.
Continue northeast another two degrees to discover Xi Bootes. This one is a genuine multiple star system with magnitude 5 and 7 companions. Not only will you enjoy this G-type sun for its duplicity, but for the fine field of stars in which it resides!

Now have a look at Mars. Over the last few weeks it has dropped significantly in brightness and has now reached an approximate +0.5 magnitude. Have you been watching its progress against the background stars? It won’t be long until it crosses constellation boundaries again.

Friday, June 1 – Tonight on the Moon, crater Copernicus will try to steal the scene, head further south to capture another lunar club challenge – Bullialdus. Even binoculars can make out this crater with ease near the center of Mare Nubium. If you’re scoping – power up – this one is fun! Very similar to Copernicus, note Bullialdus’ thick, terraced walls and central peak. If you examine the area around it carefully, you can note it is a much newer crater than shallow Lubiniezsky to its north and almost non-existent Kies to the south. On Bullialdus’ southern flank, it’s easy to make out its A and B craters, as well as the interesting little Koenig to the southwest.

Now let’s have a look at a tasty red star – R Hydrae. You’ll find it about a fistwidth south of Spica or about a fingerwidth west of Gamma Hydrae.

R was the third long term variable star to be discovered and it is credited to Maraldi in 1704. While it had been observed by Hevelius some 42 years earlier, it was not recognized immediately because its changes happen over more than a year. At maximum, R reaches near 4th magnitude – but drops well below human eye perception to magnitude 10. During Maraldi’s and Hevelius’ time, this incredible star took over 500 days to change, but it has speeded up to around 390 days in the present century.

Why such a wide range? Science isn’t really sure. R Hydrae is a pulsing M-type giant whose evolution may be progressing more rapidly than expected due to changes in structure. What we do know is that it is around 325 light-years away and is approaching us at around 10 kilometers per second.

In the telescope, R will have a pronounced red coloration which deepens near minima. Nearby is 12th magnitude visual companion star Ho 381, which was first measured for position angle and distance in 1891. Since that time no changes in separation have been noted, which leads us to believe that the pair may be a true binary.

Saturday, June 2 – Tonight would be a wonderful opportunity for Moongazers to return to the surface and have a look at the peaceful Sinus Iridum area. If you’ve been clouded out before, be sure to have a look for telescopic lunar club challenges – Promontoriums Heraclides and LaPlace.

Now let’s return again to R Hydrae. While observing a variable star with either the unaided eye, binoculars, or a telescope can be very rewarding, it’s often quite difficult to catch changes in long-term variables, because there are times when the constellation is not visible. While R Hydrae is unique in color, let’s drop about half a degree to the southeast to visit another variable star – SS Hydrae.

SS is a quick change artist – the Algol-type. While you will need binoculars or a telescope to see this normally 7.7 magnitude star, at least its fluctuations are far more rapid, with a period of only 8.2 days. With R Hydrae we have a star that expands and contracts causing the changes in brightness – but SS is an eclipsing binary. While less than a half magnitude is not a noteworthy amount, you will notice a difference if you view it over a period of time. Be sure to note that this is actually a triple star system, for there is also a 13th magnitude companion star located 13? from the primary. Watch if as often as possible and see if you can detect changes in the next few weeks!

Sunday, June 3 – If you’re up early, why not keep a watch out for the peak of the Tau Herculids meteor shower? These are the offspring of comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3, which broke up in 2006. The radiant is near Corona Borealis and we’ll be in this stream for about a month. At best when the parent comet has passed perihelion, you’ll catch about 15 per hour maximum. Most are quite faint and the westering Moon will interfere, but sharp-eyed observers will enjoy it.

Tonight let’s have a look at a very bright and changeable lunar feature that is often over-looked. Starting with the great grey oval of Grimaldi, let your eyes slide along the terminator towards the south until you encounter the bright crater Byrgius. Named for Joost Burgi, who made a sextant for Tycho Brahe, this “seen on the curve” crater is really quite large with a diameter of 87 kilometers. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of all is high albedo Byrgius A, which sits along its east wall line and produces a wonderfully bright ray system. While it is not noted as a lunar club challenge, it’s a great crater to help add to your knowledge of selenography!

Now let’s try a visual double for the unaided eye – Eta Virginis. Can you distinguish between a 4th and 6th magnitude pair?

The brighter of the two is Zaniah (Eta), which through occultation had been discovered to be a triple star. In 2002, Zaniah became the first star imaged by combining multiple telescopes with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer. This was the first time the three were split. Two of them are so close that they orbit in less than half the distance between the Earth and Sun!

Binocular users should take a look at visual double Rho Virginis about a fistwidth west-southwest of Epsilon. This pair is far closer and will require an optical aid to separate. The brighter of this pair – Rho – is a white, main sequence dwarf with a secret… It’s a variable! Known as a Delta Scuti type, this odd star can vary slightly in magnitude in anywhere from 30 minutes to two and a half hours as it pulsates.

For mid-to-large telescopes, Rho offers just a little bit more. The visual companion star has a visual companion as well! Less than a half degree southwest of Rho is a small, faint spiral galaxy – NGC 4608 (Right Ascension: 12 : 41.2 – Declination: +10 : 09) – at 12th magnitude, it’s hard to see because of Rho’s brightness…but it’s not alone. Look for a small, but curiously shaped galaxy labeled NGC 4596 (Right Ascension: 12 : 39.9 – Declination: +10 : 11). Its resemblance to the planet Saturn makes it well worthwhile!

Until next week? Ask for the Moon, but keep on reaching for the stars!