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| Overnight Open Thread (4-24-2013) – Stats Edition �
April 24, 2013
CAC's Spaced Out Challenge: Rings, SMOD, & a Handy ListThis week, we're going local and going far on the subject of rings. Despite the full moon this week washing out the skies for even the most remote observers, I'll give you two items definitely worth checking out. I also compiled a very, very long list of objects for urban/suburban observers who may feel left out with their light-washed skies. Big bonus image of SMOD after the jump. Just before we get to this week's objects, check out the latest image of Comet ISON, courtesy the 23-year-old Hubble Space Telescope: Source: Hubblesite.org Credit: NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team From the NASA press release: Comet ISON is potentially the "comet of the century" because around the time the comet makes its closest approach to the Sun, on November 28, it may briefly become brighter than the full Moon. Right now the comet is far below naked-eye visibility, and so Hubble was used to snap the view of the approaching comet, which is presently hurtling toward the Sun at approximately 47,000 miles per hour. When the Hubble picture was taken on April 10, the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter's orbit at a distance of 386 million miles from the Sun. Even at that great distance the Sun is warming the comet enough to trigger outgassing from its frozen gases locked up in the solid nucleus. Hubble photographed a jet blasting dust particles off the sunward-facing side of the comet's nucleus. Preliminary measurements from the Hubble images suggest that the nucleus of ISON is no larger than three or four miles across. The comet was discovered in September 2012 by the Russian-led International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) using a 16-inch telescope. Now, time for this week's objects, starting with that hussy of the solar system, Saturn: Unlike Deep Sky Objects which mostly benefit from low to medium magnification, feel free to crank things up for the ringed planet. With steady skies and good eyepieces, cloud bands, the Cassini division, and even a few fainter outer rings will make their presence known. You will likely spot the moon Titan as well. Saturn "shifts" in it's appearance year by year, with 2013 giving us one of the best views of it's extensive ring system in quite some time. The easiest object to find in our weekly hunt thus far: Once you locate the bright star Spica in the south/southeastern sky, Saturn trails right behind it. Aim and enjoy. Next up, we go for galactic rings: The darker the skies, simply the absence of the moon, can really bring out the detail in perhaps the most famous planetary nebula. Planetary nebulae are the end result of a star much like our sun which has exhausted it's hydrogen and helium and has attempted to burn it's carbon. What remains is a dead white dwarf, the core of a star shrunken to the size of the Earth, surrounded by an expanding puff of gas, its' former outer layers escaping off into the blackness of space. Easily visible from a small telescope, an Oxygen-III filter will also help darken the background bringing more detail out in its' smoky ring. Here's how to find it. Views are from a light-polluted sight, more stars visible from country skies but the "hop stars" will all stand out: With good transparency and no moon, color (blue/green) may even be detected in the ring. Larger aperture instruments will also reveal the white dwarf visible in the photo above. A few morons in threads past live in areas much like my apartment, and have asked for objects they can actually look for in their washed-out skies. Well, ask no more: The FULP List contains objects that are visible using either 15x70 astronomy binoculars or a modest telescope from severely light-polluted zones (red/white border and better) on a clear, moonless night. I define a severly light-polluted zone as sny place where, on a good night, no more than three stars in Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) are visible naked-eye within one hour of sunset. So if you live anywhere besides the center of the white blobs, you're in luck. If you live in darker skies, many of these objects will improve through the eyepiece, and color may start to be detected in the fainter planetary nebulae and the Great Nebula in Orion. Amateurs in the burbs often get frustrated because either a) they expect photographic appearances of many objects and are disappointed by the faint streaks, nodes and blobs they do see and/or b) they purchased an overpriced instrument with collimation issues and/or poor aperture. Open expectations and good optics are good friends where light pollution threatens to ruin your evening. All the objects listed are visible from 42� N southwards. You might be surprised to find 63 out of Messier's 110 objects are listed, the most glaring absences being galaxies which, with a few notable exceptions, suffer the most from light pollution. Almost all of these objects are listed on Stellarium, and many will be included as future Spaced Out Challenges in the coming weeks. Solar System Objects: Open Clusters Globular Clusters: Nebulae: Intriguing Stars and Misc Messiers (doubles, variables, death stars): Extra-Galactic Wonders: This is by no means a complete list of what you can see, but it's a great start for morons and should give encouragement to those who think their binoculars or telescope are only worth while in the sticks. As always for your astronomy needs, feel free to browse Ace's Amazon Store in the electronics section. If you have any astrophotography, tips or items you care to share, email me at theonandonlyfinn (at) gmail.com. Clear skies and keep looking up! | Recent Comments
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