Constellations Tonight presented by Teri Young
Theme Southern Polar Constellations
Chameleon - Lizard Indus- American Indian
Mensa- Table Mountain Musca- The Fly Octans- The Octant
Chameleon
Chamaeleon first appeared in Bayer's Uranometria of 1603. Chameleons
are family of lizards found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Madagascar seems
particularly blest with them (about 35 species), and it may be these
to which the constellation refers. Chameleons can change color, and have
toes fused into groups of two and three, teeth attached to the edge of
the jaw, and a long tongue. Like its namesake in the animal kingdom,
this constellation does not stand out.
Chameleon Star Patterns may be seen at http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/chamaeleon.htm
NGC 3195 - http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cha/index.html
One of Dreyer's remarkable objects, Caldwell 109 (NGC3195) is a planetary
nebula described as
fairly bright (no magnitude given, the central star is mag. 15.3),
small (.7'x.5'), with little elongation. Most telescopes show 2 fairly
prominent stars to the west (right).
Indus
the Indian ( American), is completely visible in latitudes South
of 15 degrees North from July - September. Indus was invented
by Pieter Dirksz Keyser and Fredick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597.
Just a century after Columbus' discovery of America, Johann Bayer named
this region of the southern sky after the native peoples of the New World.
Perhaps the best known of Indus' stars is Epsilon Indi, which lies just
12 light years from the Sun.
Indus Star Pattern and Galaxy View
The constellation Indus represents a broad, thin 'slice' of the
southern sky. http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/indus.html
Nearest Stars (distance light years) Alpha
Centuari 4.3, Sirius 8.7, Epsilon Eridani 10.8, 61 Cygni 11.1 Epsilon
Indi 11.4 Procyon 11.3
Epsilon Indi is similar to the sun and during 1978 was one
of the stars that was being searched for planets. Also, two other
projects were going on at this time:
Project Ozma which was looking for radio signals and Project
Copernicus which was looking for signs of laser flashes from other
planets.
Mensa
Mensa the table is another of Nicolas de Lacaille's creations, this
one named for the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope, where Lacaille
observed the
southern hemisphere skies in the mid eighteenth century. The asterism
shows an upside down mountain top. The mountain is seen right-side up
in the Southern
Hemisphere around midnight in mid-July
Near the Southern Celestial Pole lies this small faint group of
stars, which also contains a part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its
original full name was Mons
Mensae, named after the Table Mountain where de La Caille had his
observatory.
Mensa Star Pattern
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/mensa.html
Musca
The fly or the Bee depending on which maps you follow. Johann Bayer
originally named this constellation Apis (the bee). Edmond Halley called
it Musca Apis (the fly-bee). Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille named it Musca
Australis (the southern fly).
Musca Star Pattern
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/musca.html
Octans The Octant is a rather non-descript constellation which
includes the
southern polar region. The constellation was devised by Nicolas
Louis de
Lacaille in 1752. It commemorates the octant, which was invented
by John Hadley in
1730. This instrument divides the circle into eight parts
which facilitates the
making of angular measurements in both astronomy and navigation.
The octant later evolved into the
sextant. The full name of the constellation is Octans Hadleianus.
13) Octans Star Pattern and Galaxy View
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/octans.html
Solar Activity Presented by Jerry Truitt
Jerry presented this program as a Power Point slide presentation.
Jerry first briefly defined Solar Activity as all of the Sun’s
variable aspects. This
includes: geomagnetic storms, coronal mass ejections, sunspots,
flares, prominences, all emissions from radio waves to soft xrays.
The X-ray solar flares are important because of their effects
of the electromagnetic spectrum.These occur in wavelengths of 1 to 8
angstroms
and are classified in 3 catagories as follows:
X-Class Flares are the biggest events and disrupt radio transmission
and evencause power outages as well as lengthy radiation storms.
M-Class Flares are medium size events causing brief radio
blackouts and radiation storms in the polar areas.
C-Class Flares are the smallest events with few noticeable
effects.
Another very important solar activity of course are sunspots which
generally occur in 11 month cycles. Jerry showed charts with the last
three Solar Cycles;
21, 22, and the current Solar Cycle 23. These 3 cycles were charted
from 1976 through 2003. Solar Cycle 23 peaking in 2000 was so-so,
rarely exceeding 200 solar flux.
In spite of this, Sunspot 486 in October 28 produced an X17 class
flare, the third largest ever produced, October 29 gave an X10 flare
and November 4, 2003
produced the most powerful flare ever recorded at X28!
Jerry also had a slide showing all of the SOHO instrumentation.
SOHO is the Solar Heliospheric Observatory Satellite launched in
1995. To provide an uninterrupted
view of the Sun, SOHO was placed in a halo orbit around the L1 lagrange point.
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/ContentMedia/lagrange.pdf
This orbit is located about 1 million miles from earth on
a straight line toward the sun. This is the point at which the gravity
forces of the earth and the sun are
equal. Below is an image of a schematic view of SOHO’s halo
orbit:
From the President’s Desk.....
January 13, 2004
The headlines tonight are centered around extremely cold temperatures
and wind chills, the Mars Rover, mans’ return to the moon and exploration
of
Mars, and of course the war in Iraq. Our cold and dry January
weather is just a pendulum swing from the extremely wet, cloudy, muggy
year that stretched
from the fall of 2002 through September of 2003. Remember?
We asked ourselves if the rain would ever stop. Remember the foggy
nights?
I thought I would never see low humidity and cool temperatures again
– I remember my continuously soggy shirts. But, zero F, 15% relative
humidity,
and 25-35 mph winds has guaranteed there is no perspiration clinging
to the Surles boy. Brrrrrrrrr!
I am so thankful we succeeded in putting Rover on Mars. As
I am writing tonight there has been no contact with the Brits’ Beagle II
and we probably
will never know it’s actual fate. So far, the results of Rover
have not “bowled me over”.
Maybe NASA is being sooper dooper cautious but I want to see more
results than a panorama of the horizon taken from a vantage point only
a few
inches above ground level. Those are some expensive pictures
– about $200 million each! Why couldn’t we release a balloon with
a camera and
transmitter to gently float over the surface of Mars…we could fill
every picture album in Walmart!
Question: would a balloon float on Mars? I want to see
some real investigation of Mars’stuff. Turn on those experiments
and tell us what it will take to grow roses and tomatoes in that soil.
Tell us what we need to do to engineer the roses and tomatoes that WILL
grow on Mars. Maybe we can design a HUMANOID that could flourish on
Mars.
Do HUMANS belong in space? Let me say that I am proud of our
space effort and success in the Apollo program – and the Soviet Union
was very successful in their program. Remember they developed the
heavy lift solid fueled rockets we are using today. They also sent
two robotic rovers to the moon, explored the moon for several months, and
shipped moon rocks back to Earth. You may be surprised to know
that our first Mars robot rover (Pathfinder) was pretty much a copy of the
Soviet moon robot from the late 60’s. Back to the original question,
“Do humans belong in space?”
I once thought it would be great if we could establish a base on
the moon and from there develop the machines and fuel required for a Mars
settlement.
I once thought space exploration was mankind’s required duty, that is
was our destiny to “Go where no man has gone before”.
Why should we confine ourselves to this small planet? Bring back
Gene Roddenberry! We have watched two shuttles loaded with brave
men and women disintegrate in our own atmosphere.
Rocket science is a dangerous adventure, even here close to Earth,
especially when we put humans in the payload. Suppose we
can improve our success ratio leaving and entering our atmosphere; we
will continue to find ourselves in a very hostile environment outside
that thin blue line around our planet. I am beginning to accept
the concept that our human body which has evolved under the protection
of
our atmosphere will not be the same body that explores space…it just
costs too much to create a suitable environment to maintain our fragile
bodies in space.
And the tragedy of losing another load of astronauts is more than our generation
– the same generation that cheered on the Apollo missions
and stared in disbelief at Challenger and Columbia – just the possibility
of such a tragedy is more than our generation is willing to risk.
We are willing to use our intellect and wealth to create the robots for
continued exploration and the vehicles to deliver them to their targets.
But we will demand more than just pictures…
Update: the word this morning (Jan 14) is “W will ask for
$1B for moon and Mars missions”. I have seen estimates of $1 trillion
for
this type of program; so I see this as an election year effort to buy
a few votes similar to the “lets legalize illegal immigration” bone he
threw
to the Hispanic community. With deficits in the $500B range and only
one billion to begin a trillion dollar venture what other conclusion
should be reached?
Yet another update: today, Jan 16, Rover has left home and is now
on Martian soil…Hurray!
And the war in Iraq? For what reason are we sacrificing 10
service men and women a week, with another 150-200 injured every week
(over 10,000 medical evacuations from Iraq to date), and $1 billion
spent with no return on investment every week?
We CAN do better and we MUST change this madness. The
Iraqi people are growing impatient with our attempts to create a western
style
democracy in their country that has known only dictators and theocracies
for 2000 years. Within months Iraq will be in the control
of an
Iraqi religious leader – maybe even an ayatolla. Country boys learn
early in life that you do not walk up to a hornet’s nest and try to extract
just one or a few hornets. All the hornets get agitated and act
exactly like hornets to rid the nest of the intruder. And the country
boy rapidly becomes experienced in the facts and laws pertaining to hornet
nests.
Law #1: leave hornet nests alone.
Law #2: if you accidentally come within the danger zone leave extremely
fast.
Law #3: if the nest is undesirable and you have to sturb it, make
sure you kill every hornet before you put your body in the danger zone.
Law #4: each hornet will sacrifice itself to maintain the nest.
Another story to illustrate the futility of our involvement in Iraqi
affairs has to do with a horse and a scorpion. Both found themselves
on
the wrong side of a deep river. The horse could swim but was
blind and he knew a single sting from the scorpion would be deadly.
But, he needed
the scorpion to sit on his head and provide navigation. The
scorpion could not swim but had excellent vision; the river would certainly
drown him if he
attempted a crossing by himself. So the two decided to make a pact and
attempt a river crossing. The scorpion sat between the horse’s ears
and gave
directions and all seemed to be going well. The crossing would
have been successful except the scorpion decided to sting the horse in
midstream.
The surprised horse asked just as he was becoming limp from the sting,
“Why did you sting me? Don’t you know we will both die in this river?”
And as the scorpion was swept from between the horse’s ears and was drowning,
he replied “I am sorry, but it is my nature to sting”.
Back to amateur astronomy and lowered blood pressure. Please
don’t pass up the opportunities to get your scope out during these clear
and
cold nights. Bundle up, get the arctic boots and gloves and a
warm hat…and do some serious stargazing. You will be healthier.
The clear, cold,
and damp night air is better for you than your stuffy, polluted and dried
house air. And the exercise you get will defer the progression
of your Buddha physique.
The winter nebulas and planets Jupiter and Saturn are about as well
positioned for our viewing as they will ever be.
Comets? Kent Blackwell says we should observe Comet Linear
C/2002T7. Coordinates are approximately 0 hours RA and +20 degrees
Dec
for Jan 17 – that should be somewhere about half way up the Andromeda
side of the Great Square of Pegasus.
A quick trip outside at 8:00 PM tonight shows the comet will be closing
in on the northwestern horizon shortly after dusk by the time
you get this letter.
Per Kent, there are two other comets in this area: C/2001 HT 50Linear
at 0 RA and +8 Dec, and 43P/Wolf-Harrison at 0 RA +13 Dec.
Zodiacal light…say what! I’ll leave the explanation of what
it is up to you and your Observer’s Handbook; there will be a quiz at
the next meeting.
But, if you are curious about this atmospheric phenomenon look
for it in the west after twilight during the second and third week of February.
Of course you will need a good view of the western horizon and it
should not include any city light. A camera on a tripod with a 50mm
lens will
confirm and document what you think you are seeing. Stay tuned for improvements
for Delmarva Star Gazers conceived, engineered, and delivered
by Star Gazers for the enjoyment of us all. And stay tuned for
more information from Rover and it’s twin, Opportunity,
which
will be arriving on Mars very soon.
See you at the Church or Tuckahoe. Don…
Observing Deep-Sky Objects in Canis Major
By Kent Blackwell
As we prepare for the coldest months of the year, stargazing hardly comes
to mind as a fun thing to do, yet some of the cleanest, clearest and most
crisp air occurs in January and February. I actually prefer winter observing.
It's easier to dress warmly than it is to combat the insects of summer.
Some of the most beautiful stars are in the winter sky, and what
single star outshines them all but brilliant Sirius in Canis Major? I once
projected Sirius on a white sheet of paper some 30 feet away from my 25"scope!
I thought I'd write about a few of the deep sky objects visible in this
constellation, since it culminates (when it's near the meridian) about
10:00pm in the middle of the month. Many of the objects I've chosen are
quite easily seen in small telescope, but I've included a few challenges
as well
.
M 41 - Certainly this is the most conspicuous of all deep-sky
objects in Canis Major. In fact, it's easily seen naked-eye in a dark
sky. Look about a thumb's distance below Sirius. You might even use your
thumb to block the light of Sirius when locating M 41. Don't forget to view
it with binoculars, but it's best with a moderate size telescope and low
power. Even at somewhat high power (150x) you'll see a scattering of stars
running in every direction. In his latest book, "The Messier Objects" Stephen
James O'Meara sees the stars form the shape of a fruit bat. O'Meara has
many colorful and flowery descriptions of how objects appear to him but
it'll take a vivid imagination to see what his visions conjure up for various
objects. Therein lies the fault in this book, plus his over-exaggeration
of the brightness of many Messier objects. He even suggests the Pleiades
nebulosity is visible naked eye!! For more scientific and accurate
reading of Messier objects I still prefer Kreimer & Mallas' "The Messier
Album". Don't' get me wrong, if I have a choice between a romantic vs. scientific
writing style I tend to lean towards the romantic, but Omeara's descriptions
are just too far out for my taste.
Kreimer & Mallas' book is a great little treasure, and quite
usable at the telescope. Regardless of what you see when you "connect the
dots" of stars in M 41 be sure to view it with as many instruments as you
can. It's one of the loveliest open clusters in the sky, and with Sirius
lying so close one of the easiest to locate. My earliest notes mention viewing
it with a new pair of binoculars given to me one 1967 Christmas night. I
still remember how enraptured I was with this wonderful object, and this
was near my home in downtown Norfolk, VA. My how light pollution has changed
things in the year 2004.
NGC 2196 - I chose this and NGC 2283 (see below) because of how
close they are to Sirius. Its kind of fun to see if you can find these
galaxies so close to that brilliant star. NGC 2196 is even closer than
NGC 2283, in fact it's less than a degree to the southeast. I see it as
quite bright, and very small, even at 150x. Be sure to use high enough power
to place Sirius well out of the field of view. I'd be interested if anyone
can see it with an ETX-size telescope. Now that's a challenge!
NGC 2204 - This open cluster appears just a bit SSE of a
6th magnitude star. You can find it quite easily by drawing a line from
the stars Sirius & Mirzam. Extend that imaginary line just about
1/3 the distance further west. My 4" Unitron shows N2204 as a beautiful
nebulous patch of stars.
NGC 2207/IC 2163 is included for those with apertures larger than
6".These galaxies are interesting because they're an interacting pair.
Actually the last time I observed NGC 2270 was in the 1970's with a 4"
telescope. At that time my notes don't indicate seeing IC 2163. It would
be interesting to hear from anyone who is able to see IC 2163.
NGC 2283 is very easy to locate, being just a degree or so
south of Sirius. The problem is it's quite faint, and also lies in a
tiny little cluster of stars. You won't be sure if the glow you see is
this cluster or the galaxy. My earliest observations of it are with a
12-1/2" Newtonian. A real favorite of mine, and I'd be very interested
in hearing from anyone who can spot it with a smaller aperture. Call or
email me if you see it.
IC 2165 - I thought since almost every other type of deep
sky-objects is discussed in this article, I might include a planetary
nebula. My only notes on this were on January 16, 1997 with a 16" telescope,
where I noted it was bright, but extremely small. Sure enough, it's about
10th magnitude, but only 9" in size. Use low power at first, then step
up to at least 100x. Those with nebula filters might try the "blinking"
trick; that is hold the filter between your eye and the eyepiece and quickly
remove it. By flashing the filter back and forth the planetary nebula will
appear to blink, as other stars in the field of view appear to almost disappear.
Once you find it try using about 30x per inch of aperture for a better
view.
PK 229-2.1 - Ok, if you were able to see IC 2165 try this
even more difficult planetary nebula. In the 25" it's faint, but not terribly
so. It is, however very stellar. The only way I could see it was to use
an OIII filter and the blink method described above. The nebula forms the
apex of a triangle with two stars of equal brightness. Good luck on this
difficult object.
NGC 2327 - An interesting nebula extending north from a faint
double star. It reminds me of the more famous NGC 2261 in Monocerous (Hubble's
Variable Nebula) because of the wedge-shaped extension. Most sources list
it as a bright diffuse nebula but I question that. Emission nebulae "emitting"
their own light generally look considerably brighter in the telescope when
using specific line, or nebula, filters. NGC 2327 does not brighten; therefore
I suspect it might be a reflection, rather than emission, nebula. When
you find it look at the faint star just a bit eastward, in the same field
of view. It, too is nebulous, fainter and more difficult.
NGC 2359 - This emission nebula is absolutely stunning in
a large telescope, especially if fitted with a Lumicon OIII nebula filter.
I find it odd that it is seldom listed in observing guides, especially
since it's visible in almost any telescope. Just to see how small an aperture
could see it I fitted an OIII filter over the objective of my 1.5" finder
and managed to see it! Having several nicknames, the
one most aptly suited is "Thor's Helmet". In a large telescope the helmet
is easily visible, as are both horns of the helmet. Try stepping the magnification
up to about 150x once you find this magnificent object.
NGC 2360 - An open cluster just off the head of Canis Major,
and only minutes east of a 5th magnitude star. Visible in a 40mm finder,
NGC 2360 is simply gorgeous in a 3" or larger telescope. You'll see a
beautiful scattering of 11-13 magnitude stars, making it magnificent in
any size telescope. I find it surpassed only by M 41.
NGC 2362 - Located at the tail of Canis Major is this wonderful
open cluster surrounding 4th magnitude star Tau Canis Major. Tau is suspected
of being a member of this less than a million years old cluster, making
it one of the youngest star clusters known. If Tau is indeed a member,
it's easily one of the most brilliant stars in our galaxy. Once you find
the cluster try using high power and look for the two small, faint companions
just east of Tau.
NGC2380 - this galaxy lies 2-1/2 degrees SE of NGC 2362.
It appears fairly bright, and very round. In fact it looks more like
a distant unresolved remote globular than a galaxy.
vdB 96 - Just north of NGC 2362 lies this very, very faint
reflection nebula. To me it looks like a faint version of the Merope
Nebula in the Pleiades. I see the brighter portion extending north
and east from the 3 primary stars associated with it. vdB is surely reserved
for apertures 10" and larger.
Though Canis Major is not a huge constellation it nevertheless contains
some marvelous deep sky objects, due to its proximity to the Milky Way.
If you have some particularly interesting objects you've observed let
me know, or better yet write an article for an upcoming Star Gazer News
newsletter.
Kent Blackwell,1169 Old Kempsville Road
Sun and Moon Data for February 2004 Tuckahoe MD
38.98°N 75.93°W 5hrW Standard Time Astronomical Twilight
Sun Moon
Date Twi. Rise Transit Set Twi. Rise Transit Set %
2/1/2004 5:39a 7:11a 12:17p 5:24p 6:56p 1:03p 8:50p 3:44a 80
2/2/2004 5:38a 7:10a 12:17p 5:25p 6:57p 1:48p 9:42p 4:42a 87
2/3/2004 5:38a 7:09a 12:18p 5:27p 6:58p 2:41p 10:34p 5:35a 93
2/4/2004 5:37a 7:08a 12:18p 5:28p 6:59p 3:41p 11:26p 6:23a 97
2/5/2004 5:36a 7:07a 12:18p 5:29p 7:00p 4:45p ***** 7:04a 99
2/6/2004 5:35a 7:06a 12:18p 5:30p 7:01p 5:52p 12:17a 7:39a 100
2/7/2004 5:34a 7:05a 12:18p 5:31p 7:02p 6:59p 1:06a 8:10a 98
2/8/2004 5:33a 7:04a 12:18p 5:32p 7:03p 8:06p 1:53a 8:37a 94
2/9/2004 5:32a 7:03a 12:18p 5:34p 7:04p 9:13p 2:39a 9:02a 88
2/10/2004 5:31a 7:02a 12:18p 5:35p 7:05p 10:21p 3:25a 9:27a 80
2/11/2004 5:30a 7:01a 12:18p 5:36p 7:06p 11:31p 4:12a 9:52a 70
2/12/2004 5:29a 6:59a 12:18p 5:37p 7:07p ***** 5:00a 10:21a 60
2/13/2004 5:28a 6:58a 12:18p 5:38p 7:08p 12:43a 5:52a 10:54a 48
2/14/2004 5:27a 6:57a 12:18p 5:39p 7:09p 1:57a 6:48a 11:34a 37
2/15/2004 5:26a 6:56a 12:18p 5:40p 7:10p 3:10a 7:48a 12:23p 26
2/16/2004 5:25a 6:55a 12:18p 5:42p 7:11p 4:19a 8:51a 1:23p 17
2/17/2004 5:24a 6:53a 12:18p 5:43p 7:12p 5:19a 9:54a 2:32p 9
2/18/2004 5:23a 6:52a 12:18p 5:44p 7:13p 6:09a 10:54a 3:45p 4
2/19/2004 5:22a 6:51a 12:18p 5:45p 7:14p 6:49a 11:50a 4:59p 1
2/20/2004 5:20a 6:49a 12:17p 5:46p 7:15p 7:21a 12:42p 6:11p 0
2/21/2004 5:19a 6:48a 12:17p 5:47p 7:16p 7:49a 1:29p 7:19p 2
2/22/2004 5:18a 6:47a 12:17p 5:48p 7:17p 8:14a 2:14p 8:24p 6
2/23/2004 5:17a 6:45a 12:17p 5:49p 7:18p 8:37a 2:57p 9:27p 12
2/24/2004 5:15a 6:44a 12:17p 5:50p 7:19p 9:00a 3:39p 10:29p 19
2/25/2004 5:14a 6:43a 12:17p 5:52p 7:20p 9:24a 4:22p 11:31p 28
2/26/2004 5:13a 6:41a 12:17p 5:53p 7:21p 9:51a 5:07p ***** 37
2/27/2004 5:11a 6:40a 12:17p 5:54p 7:22p 10:21a 5:53p 12:32a 46
2/28/2004 5:10a 6:39a 12:16p 5:55p 7:23p 10:57a 6:42p 1:33a 55
2/29/2004 5:09a 6:37a 12:16p 5:56p 7:24p 11:40a 7:32p 2:32a 65
