Skywatch June 2006

Skywatch line for Thursday, June 1, 2006
by Ray Bogucki

   In last Thursday's Skywatch line, we described a marvelous cluster of spiral and elliptical galaxies that form the Virgo Group, of which our Milky Way galaxy is considered to be an outlying member.  Long time exposure images taken by the Hubbell Space Telescope show that far beyond the Virgo Cluster many other clusters of galaxies extend out to the limits of our ability to see.

  In the 1950s, astronomers were detecting strong radio wave emitters, one of which was located toward the southern end of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.  The resolution of the radio waves was not precise enough to enable them to associate these signals with any particular visual object in the vicinity. Then, in 1962, a group of Australian astronomers realized that the Moon would be passing through the region of Virgo where the radio source designated as 3C-273 was located.  They monitored the radio signals and recorded the precise time that the edge of the Moon passed across the emitter and blocked the signals.  Since the position of the Moon in the sky is known with great accuracy, they were able to assign the radio emissions to a faint, thirteenth magnitude "star".  The optical spectrum of this "star" was unlike that of any other star.  Astronomers solved the puzzle when they realized that the hydrogen emission lines had been red-shifted by an astonishing amount, implying that this object was receding from us at a speed of almost 26,000 miles per second.  Calculations showed that this object is more than two billion light years away!  No ordinary star would be visible at that staggering distance.  Thus the object was named a "quasi-stellar object" or "quasar".  To be observable at this distance, the quasar must be shining with the light of 1,000 entire galaxies combined!

  If you have a telescope (six-inch or larger) and a detailed star atlas, you can locate this quasar, 3C-273, about five degrees northwest of the double star Porrima in Virgo.  This tiny, bluish speck of light is not, in itself, spectacular to see, but while you are studying it, consider the implications.  A photon of light left the quasar over 2 billion years ago, when the Earth was young, and has finally found its way into your telescope and into your eye.  There it ends its fantastic journey when it collides with a chemical molecule in your retina and the tiny bit of energy it has guarded for 2 billion years, is used up in changing the shape of the molecule.  This fires a neuron in your optic nerve which informs your brain that this particular photon has finally arrived from 3C-273.  It just may leave you speechless.

This is the Skywatch Line for Friday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5.
by Alan French

The Moon will be at first quarter at 7:06 Saturday night.  At first quarter,
the Moon has completed one quarter of its journey around the Earth since new
Moon, and half the Moon is bathed in sunlight from our earthly vantage
point.

On Friday night at 10:30, you'll find the Moon in the western sky, appearing
a little less than half sunlit.  To the lower right of the Moon you will
find Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, the Lion.
Regulus marks the lion's heart and is Latin for "Little King."  By Saturday
night at 10:30, the Moon will be past first quarter, and will appear a bit
more than half full.  Its eastward motion among the stars will have moved it
higher and farther east, and Regulus will appear considerably farther to the
Moon's right.

The weather for this weekend does not sound at all promising for star
watchers, so why not spend some time with one of the fine astronomy
magazines?  There are three excellent magazines for amateur astronomers, and
they are available at bookstores and libraries.  All three feature astronomy
news and information, and provide star watchers with a guide to what is
happening now in the night sky.

The two magazines that would appeal to the avid or more experienced amateur
are Sky & Telescope and Astronomy.  If this sounds like you, why not try
them both and see which you prefer?  If you are just starting in the hobby,
consider Night Sky, which is written with the novice in mind.  It comes out
every other month, while Sky & Telescope and Astronomy are monthly
publications.

If you are looking for a book that introduces amateur astronomy and
telescopes you can't do any better than Nightwatch, by Terence Dickinson.
Terry provides a marvelous overview of the hobby and does a fine job
acquainting beginners with the many telescope choices available today.

If you have youngsters in the family, you might consider getting a copy of
"The Grand Tour" A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System," by Ron Miller and
William K. Hartmann.  The marvelous illustrations will capture the
imagination of any youngster with an interest in our solar system, and the
writing is clear and interesting.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday, June 5.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets tonight at 8:30; night falls at 10:43. Dawn breaks at 3:05 tomorrow morning and ends with sunrise at 5:18 AM.

As the sky darkens, four planets and the Moon attract our attention. The nine-day-old Moon lies due south and, of course, is the brightest object.

Saturn and Mars lie low in the West. These two bright planets are only six degrees apart. A wide field pair of binoculars should contain both. Note their positions; over the next weeks, they grow closer together until they are in conjunction on June 17. While you have your binoculars out, also note that Saturn travels through the beautiful Beehive star cluster.

Elusive Mercury is positioned low to Saturn's and Mars' right. If your horizon is unobstructed, Mercury appears like a miniature version of our Moon in a telescope. Their phase is identical @ 69 degrees. The reason is that both Mercury and the Moon share the same angle with the Sun and Earth. Mercury sets during twilight, but Saturn and Mars hang on until nightfall. 

Jupiter was also up at Sunset, but quite low in the sky. When the sky is dark, Jupiter can be appreciated. Binoculars show all four Galilean moons on the same side.

As Jupiter sets, Venus rises after dawn. It is the sole planet visible. Venus is quite low in the East, but still the brightest object. A telescope will show it about three-quarters illuminated.

Jupiter's position happens to mark the division between spring and summer constellations. As Leo, Gemini and Orion set, Scorpius, Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila rise. By midnight, the Milky Way should be obvious to those observing from rural locations. Summer constellations are not the brightest but hold some of the most interesting objects: the double star Albireo in the Cygnus; and the Ring Nebula and the "Double Double" star, both in Lyra. The Albany Area Amateur Astronomers hold many star parties in the summer, during which you see the wonders of the night sky for free.

 

Skywatch Line June 7, 2006
by Bernard Forman

The Sun sets tonight at 8:30 PM.  The waxing gibbous moon, in the constellation Virgo,  rises at 4:31 PM and sets tomorrow at 2:55 AM.  First quarter moon occurred last Saturday.  Full moon occurs next Sunday.

Sunset tonight finds Mercury low in the west northwest in the constellation Gemini.  Slightly brighter than zero magnitude it will be difficult to find.  An unobstructed view of the horizon, together with a pair of binoculars, will help.

Mars and Saturn are both in the constellation Cancer, a little more than five degrees apart.  Both set before midnight and are not well placed although Saturn is quite close to the M 44, the Beehive Cluster.  See if you can get all three in the same field of view in a pair of binoculars.

Of the naked eye planets, only Jupiter is reasonably well placed.  In the constellation Libra, Jupiter is easily found about eight degrees northeast of the moon.  Almost minus two and a half magnitude, Jupiter transits the meridian at 10:22 PM.  Many people know that, among other features, Jupiter has the Great Red Spot that, for the last several years, has really been a rather pale salmon color.  Now there is another spot, dubbed Red Junior.  Currently, Red Junior lags behind the Great Red Spot, passing the midpoint on the planet about an hour after the Great Red Spot.  However, there are reports that Red Junior is moving relative to the Great Red Spot.  Both should be visible in relatively small telescopes.

To round out the naked eye planets, Venus is a morning star, visible before sunrise in the east northeast.  At almost minus four magnitude, Venus should be unmistakable rising at 3:33 AM Thursday, less than two hours before the Sun.

By 10:00 PM tonight, the constellation Bootes is to the south, the dominant spring constellation Leo, the Lion, already sinking in the west.  The summer constellations are now up in the east and, by midnight, the summer Milky Way should be obvious from a reasonably dark location.  See if you can follow the Milky Way all the way from Cassiopeia in the north to Scorpius in the south.

Summer has many fascinating sights for the amateur stargazer, many requiring no greater optical aid than a simple pair of binoculars.  In fact, its easy to lose track of time just scanning the Milky Way with binoculars. With just the naked eye, a person can see between two and four thousand stars under good conditions.  With a simple pair of binoculars, hundreds of thousands of stars become visible.  Either way, its easy to get lost for hours among the stars.

Skywatch line for Thursday, June 8, 2006
by Ray Bogucki

  This month provides a good opportunity to keep track of the motions of all seven bright members of the Solar System.  The daily travel of the Sun along the ecliptic, is, of course, obvious.  After sunset during this month we can watch the more varied and interesting motions of all six of the other bright objects which also move in a narrow band along the ecliptic.

  Fleet Mercury, which passed behind the Sun just three weeks ago, is now climbing rapidly in the western sky where it shines brightly at zero magnitude low in the west-northwest about 12 degrees (roughly a fist-width at arm's length) below Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars of the Gemini twins.  Look for it about 9:30, an hour after sunset.  It will remain visible at roughly the same location and time for the next couple of weeks, after which it will begin to drop back toward the Sun, preparing to pass in front of the Sun, at inferior conjunction, in mid July.

  Meanwhile, about 25 degrees above and to the left of Mercury, the ringed planet Saturn, which has been hanging around the open star cluster M44, also known as "The Beehive" in the constellation Cancer the Crab for the past several months, has resumed its normal leisurely eastward motion.  Saturn's 29-year orbital period means that it will spend, on average, a little over two years in each of the twelve Zodiac constellations it visits in each of its revolutions around the Sun.  The Red planet Mars, about 5 degrees to the right and a little below Saturn has an orbital period of only 1.9 years and thus a much higher angular velocity than Saturn.  As a result, Mars is rapidly overtaking Saturn at a readily apparent half degree, or one Moon-width, each night.  Watching Mars close in on Saturn is especially interesting with binoculars.  By next Thursday, Mars will be crossing the Beehive cluster, and two days later it will be skimming past Saturn about a half degree to the north.

  Looking eastward from Mercury, Mars and Saturn tonight, we find the waxing gibbous Moon passing below the bright gas giant, Jupiter.  To see the sixth bright Solar System object, you'll have to wait till an hour and a half before sunrise tomorrow morning, when brilliant Venus, shining with a magnitude of almost negative four rises in the east-northeast at the beginning of morning twilight.  It will continue this pattern of rising at the beginning of twilight for the next two months.  It will not, however, always be alone.  By the end of July, Mercury will be joining Venus to provide us with two morning stars.  Then in late August, Saturn will join Venus and Mercury to present us with a three-planet sunrise and a very close conjunction between Venus and Saturn on August 26.

This is the Skywatch Line for Friday, June 9, through Sunday, June 11.
by Alan French

The Moon is now approaching full, and bright moonlight will dominate the night sky over the weekend.  The Moon will be full at 7:18 on Sunday morning, and June's full moon is known as the Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon.

This weekend the Moon's eastward motion among the stars will move it through the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion.  If you look to the southeast around 9:30 on Friday evening you'll see a bright Moon about 18 degrees above the horizon.  To the left of the Moon you will find a gentle arc of three stars.  The middle and brightest star is Dshubba, a corruption of the Arab word meaning forehead, and it marks the middle of the Scorpion's head.

To the lower left of the Moon and this arc of stars, you will find a bright, reddish star.  This is Antares, the brightest star in the constellation, and it marks the heart of the scorpion.  The name means "like Mars."  Mars can look very reddish when it is bright and closest to Earth, and the ecliptic or apparent path of the planets goes through Scorpius, so Mars and Antares sometimes appear close together in the sky.  There are other reddish stars in the sky, but the occasional proximity of the reddish heart of the scorpion to Mars gave it the name Antares.

By Saturday night at 9:30, the Moon will be close to Antares.  Earlier in the evening, before moonrise here, parts of South America and southern Africa saw the Moon pass in front of, or occult Antares.  Although we missed the occultation, Antares will be a pretty sight to the upper right of the Moon.

There are 88 constellations in the night sky.  More than half the constellations we know today came to us from the Greeks, and 48 were listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest around 150 AD.  As cartographers started drawing atlases of the night sky, they added constellations of their own invention using some of the fainter stars omitted from the Greek figures.  As adventurers started traveling south of the equator, they found new stars that were invisible to the Greeks; so new southern constellations were added.

Some of the new additions did not survive, and we no longer recognize Felis, the cat; Musca Borealis, the Northern Fly; or Rangifer, the Reindeer.  The 88 constellations we know today were recognized in 1922 by the International
Astronomical Union at their first General Assembly in 1922.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday, June 12.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets tonight at 8:34; night falls at 10:50 PM. Dawn breaks at 3:00 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:16.

The dimming sky finds four bright planets stretched across the southern sky. The first will be Jupiter, low in the constellation Virgo. Saturn and Mars form a trio with the Beehive star cluster. Both planets lie a degree and a half from the cluster. All three should fit within a single binocular field. Saturn is a bright creamy white, while Mars is a tiny red dot. Both planets skim the edges of the Beehive. Try to monitor Mars' movements this week; it travels through the heart of the star cluster. Mercury appears to Mars' lower right. Mercury glows brightly in the middle of Gemini. Mercury never lingers in a spot too long, and soon disappears in the fading sunset.

By nightfall, Mercury has set, with the Saturn-Beehive-Mars trio about to set. The Moon, just past Full phase, joins Jupiter.

Venus rises after Dawn. Venus outshines everything but the Moon, itself low in the West. Unlike Mercury, Venus tends to stay around for several months; this time, Venus graces pre-sunrise skies for the rest of the summer.

With Venus so bright, let us examine her in greater detail. Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is almost an Earth twin, about the same size and mass. Early observers noted its complete cloud cover. They speculated that Venus was a lush, tropical planet. As science obtained better instruments, rude shocks came. Venus did not rotate in 24 hours like Earth; its day lasts 243 earth-days. Russian and US probes landed on Venus. Pictures showed a rock filled wasteland. In addition, those same landers recorded a toxic atmosphere with true acid rain. Temperatures approached the melting point of lead. Venus turned out to be the furthest thing from a paradise. The one good benefit of this hellish environment is the highly reflective cloud cover. When Venus makes a close approach to Earth, its illumination can cause people to confuse it with aircraft landing lights.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

  This is the Dudley Observatory Skywatch Line for Tuesday, June 13th, 2006, written by Steven Russo, Planetarium Manager of the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady Museum.

   Sunrise today was at 5:16 AM, and it set tonight at 8:34 PM.  Sunrise tomorrow will be at 5:16 AM and Sunset will be at 8:34 PM.

   The Moon is in a waning gibbous phase today, with the Last Quarter Moon on Sunday, May 18^th. It rises at 11:00 tonight, and will set around 7:52 tomorrow morning.

    With the Moon out of the picture in the evening, it will be a good time to do some stargazing and planet watching.

    Mars and Saturn are low in the west after darkness, and the Planet Jupiter is high up in the east in the constellation of Libra.  Look for Leo the Lion high up in the south, and towards the west. The Big Dipper is just about directly overhead.

    The stars of Summer are beginning to make an appearance, with Cygnus the Swan low on the north east horizon. The bright stars of the Summer triangle, Vega, Deneb, and Altair are low in the east after 10 PM, getting higher each night.

    Venus, the brightest object in the Solar System after the Sun and the Moon, is in the east about an hour before Sunrise.  By that time, the Summer Triangle and the Milky way are just about overhead.

    Public Programs at the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady Museum, are on Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 2, and 3 P. M.  The 1:00 program is “The Sky Above Mister Rogers Neighborhood”, a program for young people. At 2 P. M. is “Cowboy Astronomer”, and at 3 P. M. is a live narration of the Winter Sky.  “Cowboy Astronomer” also plays Tuesday through Fridays at 2 PM.

Skywatch Line June 14, 2006
by Bernard Forman

 The Sun sets tonight at 8:34 PM.  The waning gibbous moon rises at 11:38 PM in the constellation Capricornus, and sets tomorrow morning at 9:11 AM.  Full moon occurred last Sunday and third quarter moon occurs next Sunday.

The star maps astronomers typically use plot the positions of the stars and other celestial objects against a grid based on right ascension and declination.  Right ascension is comparable to longitude and is reckoned in hours, minutes and seconds, from 0 to 24 hours, west to east, along the equator; declination is the angular distance north or south of the celestial equator, which is the earth’s equator projected into the sky. Objects above the celestial equator have a positive declination and objects below the celestial equator have a negative declination.  Every object in the sky has a set of coordinates consisting of its right ascension and declination.  This, of course, proves extremely helpful in locating celestial objects on star maps.

Another way to plot celestial objects would be on a map using galactic coordinates.  On such a map, the galactic equator, the equator of our Milky Way galaxy, would be represented by a central, horizontal line.   The center of the galaxy, or zero degrees galactic longitude, would be located in the middle of the galactic equator, and the middle of the map.  The center of our galaxy lies close to the point where the constellations Sagittarius, Scorpius and Ophiuchus meet.  Such a map would be quite useful in what it could tell us about the distribution of certain objects in the sky.

People familiar with the nighttime sky know that globular clusters are, primarily, summer objects.  On an all sky map employing galactic coordinates, globular clusters are predominantly located in a halo around the Milky Way.  They appear predominantly in the direction of the center of our galaxy, in part due to our own vantage point as we reside closer to the edge of our galaxy than its center.

Globular clusters are the favorite objects of many amateur astronomers.   Consisting of hundreds of thousands of old stars, globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in the universe.  Globular clusters can even be seen around other galaxies.  The globular clusters of our own galaxy which are readily visible in binoculars or a telescope each have their own personality.

If you go to a star party this summer, you will likely see quite a few.

Skywatch line for Thursday, June 15, 2006
by Ray Bogucki

    Next Wednesday, June 21, at 12:30 p.m., the Sun will reach the northernmost point in the ecliptic, its annual path through the sky.  At that time, the Earth's northern rotational axis will be tilted its maximum 23.5 degrees toward the Sun.  This moment marks the summer solstice and occurs during the longest day of the year.  In the Albany area, the Sun will rise well north of east about 5:20 a.m., EDT, and, as it crosses the southern meridian near noon, it will stand about 71 degrees above the southern horizon, its highest point in the sky for the year.  It will set well north of west at about 8:40 p.m., giving us a day with a little over 15 hours of available sunlight.  As a corollary, it follows that the longest day must lead to the shortest night, and we are left with a bit under 9 hours without the Sun.  When we subtract 2 hours for evening twilight to fade, and another 2 hours for the beginning of morning twilight, we are left with only 5 hours of full darkness for astronomical observing.  This is a high price that astronomers pay for more comfortable observing temperatures!
   Six months from now, at the winter solstice, the Earth's northern axis of rotation will be tilted its maximum 23.5 degrees away from the Sun.  At that time, the Sun will rise well south of east, crawl a paltry 23 degrees above the southern horizon at noon and set about 4:30 p.m.,EST, providing us with only 9 hours of sunlight.  For the next 15 hours the Sun will remain below the horizon, plunging to deep beneath us at midnight and providing extended, but less comfortable, observing time.
   Inasmuch as the Full Moon occurs when the Moon is just opposite the Sun, the behavior of the Full Moon will be just opposite the behavior of the Sun.  For example, in the summer when the Sun climbs high, sets late and dips a mere 23 degrees below the northern horizon at midnight, the Full Moon will rise late and climb only about two fist-widths above the southern horizon at midnight, where it is easily obscured by hills or nearby trees.  This was the case with the full Moon last Sunday.  On the other hand, in winter, when the Sun lies low in the south at noon and passes deep beneath us at midnight, the Full Moon will climb almost to the zenith.  If there is fresh snow on the ground, the effect is spectacular.  Shadows of trees and other objects cast upon snow by the winter Sun are softened and brightened by the blue reflection from the daytime sky, but shadows cast upon snow by the Full Moon appear jet black.  Indeed, a midnight walk through snowy fields and woods under the cold brilliance of the Full Moon high above, is a magical, otherworldly experience where the entire world appears rendered only in stark tones of black and white.  Try it next winter.

This is the Skywatch Line for Friday, June 16, through Sunday, June 18.
by Alan French

The planets Mars and Saturn will appear very close together in the early
evening sky over the weekend.  The pair will be closest on Saturday night,
but they will be close enough to form a very pretty pair on any night this
weekend.

On Friday night, you'll want to look toward the western horizon at 9:30 PM.
You will find a pair of stars a little less than 20 degrees above the
horizon (remember that a fist held at arm's length spans 10 degrees across
the knuckles).  The brighter star to the left is Saturn, and the other is
Mars.  They will be a bit less than one degree apart on Friday night.  (The
Moon spans one-half a degree of sky.)

If you look again on Saturday night you will find they are very close
together, with just a little over one-half a degree separating them.  They
should be a very pretty sight in binoculars, and if the skies are nice and
clear, you might see the Beehive star cluster to their right.

By Sunday night at 9:30 PM, the two planets will be a little farther apart,
and Saturn will be above Mars.

The International Space Station will make two nice passes over our area this
weekend.  The first pass, on Friday night, will be interesting because the
ISS will emerge from the Earth's shadow when high in the sky.

At 10:41 PM on Friday night, watch high in the east-southeast.  The ISS will
appear as a brightening star 60 degrees above the horizon as it moves out of
the Earth's shadow, and will quickly brighten to rival the brightest stars.
It will then move toward the north-northeast and disappear below the
horizon.

On Sunday night, you can follow the ISS across the entire sky.  It will
appear at 9:49:10 PM above the southwestern horizon.  It will be highest at
9:52:02 when it will be 65 degrees above the southeastern horizon, and will
vanish in the east-northeast just before 9:54.

The Albany Area Amateur Astronomers will meet at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, June
20, at the Schenectady Museum on Nott Terrace Heights.  Club member Colin
Littlefield will present a talk on digital astrophotography.  Guests are
welcome and there is no charge.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday, June 19.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:36 PM, with night falling at 10:52. Dawn breaks at 3:00 AM, ending with sunrise at 5:17.

The Summer Solstice takes place Wednesday; it is the longest day of the year. Today and tomorrow are almost as long.

At Sunset, four bright planets occupy our attention. Low in the West, Saturn and Mars drift a degree apart, within the beautiful Beehive star cluster. Saturn and Mars are seen not long after sunset, but an observer must wait until about 10:00 PM to see the star cluster.

Mercury is at its greatest elongation from the Sun tomorrow. It will be a bright star-like object below and to the right of the Mars-Saturn pair.

Jupiter is already up by Sunset and glows, low in the South. It sets shortly before Dawn.

At Dawn, the Moon becomes the brightest object. Our satellite is just past Last Quarter and is about a third illuminated. Venus rises just after Dawn.

The planet Pluto is hosted by the evening constellation Ophiuchus. While it is possible to see this distant planet in an eight-inch telescope, most people need to observe from a rural area and have a much larger telescope, as well as a very detailed star chart.

For millennia people knew only the visible planets. Then, in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the planets Uranus and Neptune were discovered. They are visible in binoculars and modern amateur telescopes. However, their orbits betrayed another body out there.
Percival Lowell was a wealthy Chicago magnate.
He funded his own observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona. The staff was tasked with finding the elusive "Planet X." After years of observation and sifting through thousands of photographs, Clyde Tombaugh found it. When Lowell Observatory announced the discovery, Pluto was seen as a lone planet in the far reaches of our Solar System. We now know that Pluto is one member of the Kuiper Belt, a region of asteroids and comets. Bodies larger than Pluto have been found. One is vying for status as a tenth planet.


This is the Dudley Observatory Skywatch Line for Tuesday, June 20th, 2006, written by Steven Russo, Planetarium Manager of the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady Museum.

   Sunrise today was at 5:16 AM, and it set tonight at 8:37 PM.  Sunrise tomorrow will be at 5:17 AM and Sunset will be at 8:37 PM.

   The Moon is in a waning crescent phase today, with the New Moon on Sunday, June 25^th. It rose at 1:40 this morning, and set at 3:30 this afternoon.  It will rise again at 2:03 tomorrow morning, and will set at 4:46 PM tomorrow afternoon.  

    Mars and Saturn are low in the west after darkness, a few degrees from each other and the Planet Jupiter is high up in the east in the constellation of Libra.  Look for Leo the Lion high up in the south, and towards the west. The Big Dipper is just about directly overhead.

    The Planet Mercury, not usually easily seen, is very low in the west after Sunset.

    Summer begins at 8:26 AM tomorrow, and the bright stars of the Summer triangle, Vega, Deneb, and Altair are in the east after 10 PM, getting higher each night.

    Venus, the brightest object in the Solar System after the Sun and the Moon, is in the east about an hour before Sunrise.  By that time, the Summer Triangle and the Milky way are just about overhead.

    Public Programs at the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady

Museum, are on Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 2, and 3 P. M.  The 1:00 program is “The Sky Above Mister Rogers Neighborhood”, a program for young people. At 2 P. M. is “Cowboy Astronomer”, and at 3 P. M. is a live narration of the Winter Sky.  “Cowboy Astronomer” also plays Tuesday through Fridays at 2 PM.

Skywatch Line June 21
by Bernard Forman

The Sun sets tonight at 8:36 PM.  The waning crescent moon has already set, and doesn’t rise until 2:32 AM Thursday morning.  New moon occurs next Sunday.  Today is the first day of Summer. 

Summer observing involves a tradeoff.  While the nights are, generally, warmer, they are, also, considerably shorter, especially around the Summer solstice.  The sky doesn’t get really dark until a couple of hours past sunset.  But by midnight, the Summer Milky Way is high in the sky, affording a naked eye view of one of the most spectacular sights in all of nature.  One can easily spend hours tracing the Milky Way, both naked eye and with binoculars, from Cassiopeia in the north to Scorpius and Sagittarius in the south.  Looking south in Sagittarius, near where it meets Scorpius and Ophiuchus, we are peering toward the center of our own galaxy.

Regular skywatch listeners, and readers, know that  globular clusters are located in a halo surrounding the core of our galaxy, and because of our vantage point well away from the galaxy center, we see most globular clusters when looking in the direction of our galaxy’s center.  Examples are M 22, a large, bright object easily found with binoculars near the top of the teapot asterism in Sagittarius, and M 4, near first magnitude Antares in Scorpius. 

In contrast to globular clusters, open clusters are usually found near the plane of our galaxy, and accordingly are most numerous close to the brightest parts of the Milky Way.  Primarily made up of hot, young stars, open clusters, also known as galactic clusters, are often best viewed with binoculars.  Try sweeping the sky in Cassiopeia with binoculars or look for the Double Cluster in Perseus.

Like open clusters, diffuse nebulae are predominantly found along the spiral arms of our galaxy and so, also, figure prominently as targets for the summer stargazer.  The most easily found, possibly without optical aid and obvious in binoculars, is the famous Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, also known as M 8 due to its inclusion in Messier’s famous catalog.  The Lagoon covers a large area and contains an open cluster, visible with binoculars or a small telescope, formed from the gas and dust of the nebula.  Try to find the Lagoon by scanning the sky to the northwest of the top of the teapot.  With the use of a telescope, you should also see the dark rift in the nebula’s center from which M 8 gets its name.

This is the Skywatch Line for Friday, June 23, through Sunday, June 25.
by Alan French
The Moon will be new 12:05 PM on Sunday, so the night sky will be dark and
moonless.  Amateur astronomers enjoy moonless nights because the dark skies
make it easier to see the many faint "deep sky objects" they love.  Deep sky
objects include glowing clouds of gas and dust called nebulae, distant
galaxies, and star clusters.  Many of these objects can be seen through
telescopes provided by local amateur astronomers at their star parties.
Weather permitting the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers will host two public
Star Parties this coming weekend.  At Star Parties a variety of telescopes
are set up for your viewing pleasure.  During the early part of the Star
Party, club members will have their telescopes pointed at some of the
celestial showpieces.  Later on, we take requests, as long as the object is
above the horizon.
Star Parties will be held on Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24.  Both
Star Parties are at George Landis Arboretum in Esperance, and begin at 10:00
PM.  If you enter Esperance traveling west on Route 20, watch for the
arboretum sign on your right, immediately after crossing the bridge over the
Schoharie River.  After taking the right, follow the signs to the arboretum.
Continue up the hill past the main parking area and farmhouse, and turn
right into the Meeting House drive as you reach the top of the hill.  A
reflective "Star Party" sign will mark the driveway.
The Star Parties will be canceled if the skies are mostly cloudy.  If in
doubt, call 374-8460 after 6:00 PM.
The weather does not sound very promising for this weekend, so perhaps you
can enjoy some "virtual astronomy."  While amateur astronomers enjoy seeing
deep sky objects, they photograph far better than they look through a
telescope.  You can enjoy some exceptional astronomical photographs at
Robert Gendler's web site.  The URL is www.robgendlerastropics.com
If you are interested in fine views of the solar system, check out Damian
Peach's web site at
www.damianpeach.com  Damian has taken some of the finest photographs of the
planets.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday, June 26
by Joe Slomka

 The Sun sets tonight at 8:28, with night falling at 10:55 PM, Dawn breaks at 3:02 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:19.

As the Sun sets, look westward. If you have a clear northwestern horizon, you can see a very thin crescent Moon. Tonight, it is only thirty-three and a half hours after New Moon on Sunday. Binoculars may help pick the slim Moon out of the darkening sky. However, the Moon is so low that trees or hills can easily hide it.

Mercury appears low to the Moon's left. Mercury also appears, in a telescope, as a crescent, but much fuller than the Moon.

Mars and Saturn lie to Mercury's left. Saturn is brighter, but Mars is higher. Once more, views could be obstructed. Mars appears as a small rust colored dot. Tomorrow it reaches aphelion, or furthest distance from the Sun. Mars takes two years to orbit the Sun; so, each season takes six months. Both Mars rovers are now resting on sun-facing slopes to gather as much light as possible while waiting out the long Martian winter.

Jupiter glows brightly, low in the southeast.
If you observe Jupiter with either binoculars or a telescope, you may feel confused. Jupiter appears to have five moons. Actually, they are the four moons Galileo discovered along with a rather anonymous star in Libra.

Summer constellations are quite evident. If you live in rural areas, the Milky Way stretches from the northern horizon, overhead, to Sagittarius in the South.

A binocular observer has a choice of objects. He can sweep the Milky Way and wonder at the myriad of stars. Our galaxy resembles a Frisbee. The Milky Way is actually the rim of our Galaxy. Globular clusters of stars surround the galaxy like Christmas ornaments. Many of these tightly packed star cities can be seen in binoculars. For example, M4 is only a binocular field away from Antares, the heart of Scorpius. Another is the pair on either side of the tip of Sagittarius' teapot top. Both M22 and M 28 are beautiful binocular objects.


Dudley Observatory Skywatch Line for Tuesday, June 27th, 2006, written by Steven Russo, Planetarium Manager of the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady Museum.

   Sunrise today was at 5:20 AM, and it set tonight at 8:43 PM.  Sunrise tomorrow will be at 5:20 AM and Sunset will be at 8:43 PM. Now that we are past the longest days of the year, we are loosing about a minute a day of daylight.

   The Moon is in a waxing crescent phase today, with the First Quarter Moon on Monday July 3^rd. It rose this morning at 6:54, and will set at 10:45 tonight.  Tomorrow it will rise at 7:59 AM, and will set at 11:11 tomorrow night.  The Moon will be below and to the right of Mars and Saturn tonight, and will be near Mars tomorrow night.

    Mars and Saturn are low in the west after darkness, a few degrees from each other and the Planet Jupiter is high up in the south in the constellation of Libra.  Look for Leo the Lion in the south west, and the Big Dipper just west of directly overhead.

    The Planet Mercury, not usually easily seen, is very low in the west after Sunset.

    The bright stars of the Summer triangle, Vega, Deneb, and Altair are in the east after 10 PM, getting higher each night.

    Venus, the brightest object in the Solar System after the Sun and the Moon, is in the east about an hour before Sunrise.  By that time, the Summer Triangle and the Milky Way are just west of overhead.

    Public Programs at the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at the Schenectady Museum, are on Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 2, and 3 P. M.  The 1:00 program is “The Sky Above Mister Rogers Neighborhood”, a program for young people. At 2 P. M. is “Cowboy Astronomer”, and at 3 P. M. is a live narration of the Winter Sky.  “Cowboy Astronomer” also plays Tuesday through Fridays at 2 PM.

Skywatch Line for June 28, 2006
by Bernard Forman

The Sun sets tonight at 8:37 PM, followed by the waxing crescent Moon, in the constellation Cancer, the Crab,  which sets at 11:03 PM.  New Moon occurred last Sunday and first quarter moon occurs next Saturday.  Facing toward the west northwest at 10:00 PM tonight, Mars is less than two degrees to the lower right, or southwest, of the Moon, with Saturn less than six degrees to the southwest of Mars.  Both are rapidly dimming and are too close to the horizon for decent views.  Both planets are preceded toward the western horizon by Mercury, which sets at 9:53 PM and, accordingly, will be difficult to spot. 

If you draw a line from Saturn to Mars to the Moon and keep going, you eventually come to Jupiter, shining at brighter than minus two magnitude in the constellation Libra, the Scales.  This line is the ecliptic, the path the Sun and planets follow in the sky.  The Sun’s path in the sky is actually the result of the Earth’s orbital motion around the Sun.  The other planets, except Pluto, do not stray far from the ecliptic, an indication of how the planets formed along the same plane.  The ecliptic is inclined to the celestial equator approximately twenty-three and one half degrees.  The Sun is at the highest point along the ecliptic, that is, furthest north of the celestial equator, on the first day of Summer, which occurred a week ago.

Assuming clear and dark skies, after the Moon has set it should be a relatively easy matter to trace the Milky Way all the way from Cassiopeia in the north to Sagittarius in the south.  Possibly the most prominent constellation  through which the Milky Way passes is Cygnus, the Swan.  Many people refer to Cygnus as the Northern Cross, since its principal stars do form the shape of a cross.  At the top of the cross is Deneb, or alpha Cygni, a first magnitude blue-white super giant star seventeen hundred light years away.  At the bottom of the cross is Albireo, or beta Cygni, one of the most famous double stars in the entire sky.  The double consists of  yellow and blue-green stars, easily split in steadily held binoculars or a small telescope.  To my eyes, the yellow star, the brighter of the pair, appears gold colored and the other star appears more blue than green.  In comparing the view with several people through the same telescope, I have found that different people perceive the contrasting colors differently.  If you get a chance to view Albireo, try defocusing the view slightly, which brings out the colors.

Skywatch line for Thursday, June 29, 2006
by Ray Bogucki

    The astronomical observing opportunities over the past two months might charitably be described as "dismal" and forecasts for the near future are no better.  This situation presents the opportunity to resurrect a skywatch line I wrote a couple of years ago under similar conditions.  It seems quite appropriate for today.  We might draw some consolation by reflecting on how much astronomy goes on even when the stars are not visible to the casual observer.
     From  the earliest times, when primitive humans began to ponder the significance of the Sun, Moon, stars and the few nebulas and galaxies visible to the unaided eye, all of the information came to human eyes in the narrow band of electromagnetic radiation known as visible light. In 1609, Galileo first began observing the night skies through a telescope, and the rapid advance of optics allowed observers to see greatly enlarged images and much more detail in celestial objects, but still only in visible light.  But the electromagnetic spectrum is very broad and includes, in order of higher frequencies or shorter wavelengths, the broad categories known as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays.  The radio waves are at the lowest energy end of the spectrum while gamma rays are the highest energy radiation.
  Most celestial objects transmit energy in several of these categories and, over the past century, scientists and engineers have developed sensors that can receive and interpret these signals.  This has led to an explosive expansion of the information available to modern astronomers.
  For example, radio waves transmitted by the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, or by the Mars Rovers, carry information that is decoded here on Earth and reconstituted as the glorious images we see on the web or in papers and magazines.  The development of microwave detectors led to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the remnant radiation of the Big Bang that suffuses our Universe. Infrared and radio detectors allow us to penetrate the extensive gas and dust clouds that visually obscure the center of our galaxy and lead to the startling conclusion that the hub of our galaxy is probably powered by a huge black hole.  Because high-energy ultraviolet and gamma radiation are largely blocked by our atmosphere, NASA launches satellites to orbit high above our gaseous blanket and study high energy radiation from our Sun and much more distant objects such as quasars and short-lived gamma ray bursters, which may be associated with the cataclysmically explosive deaths of supergiant stars.  Even on rainy nights, with visual observatories closed, the information gathered from all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum continues to pour in (pun intended).

Skywatch Line for Friday, June 30, through Sunday, July 2, 2006
by Alan French

The International Space Station will pass over the capital district this
weekend, and you'll have two chances to see it.  The ISS appears as a moving
star, and it is brightest and easiest to spot when it is highest in the sky.
We see the ISS because it is still up in sunlight while we are down in the
Earth's shadow.  These passes will be interesting because the ISS will move
into the Earth's shadow and fade from view before it moves below the
horizon.

The times given here are for Schenectady, but they should be close enough
for anyone living in the capital district.

On Saturday night, the ISS will appear above the northwestern horizon at
10:04.  I often find I do not spot it until it has risen a bit higher in the
sky, so you might not see it until a little after the appearance time.  The
ISS will be highest at 10:06:44 when it will be 52 degrees above the
north-northeastern horizon.  If you didn't spot it coming up from the
horizon, look very high in the north-northeast at 10:06 and watch for a
bright star moving toward the east.

The ISS will begin moving into the Earth's shadow and fading from view at
10:08:21 when it is still 22 degrees above the eastern horizon.  How long
can you see the ISS before it vanishes from sight?

On Sunday night, the ISS will appear above the west-northwestern horizon at
10:26:44.  It will be highest at 10:29:28 when it will be 50 degrees above
the southwestern horizon.  If you missed it coming up from the horizon, look
high in the southwest at 10:29 for a bright star moving toward the south.

The space station will begin moving into the Earth's shadow at 10:30 when it
is still 44 degrees above the southern horizon.  Watch as it slowly fades
from view as it moves deeper into the Earth's shadow.

Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Commander Pavel Vinogradov currently man
the ISS.  The shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch at 3:49 PM EDT on
July 1, and it will dock with the space station.  According to the NASA
timeline, Discovery will dock with the ISS on day 3 of the mission.
Discovery is delivering European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter to the
ISS.  He will return the station to three crewmembers.

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