Upcoming celestial & astronomical events

[Doctor D]

Last week, I was dismayed to learn that I had missed a lunar eclipse on Feb. 9th by 1 day. Someone had made a thread to let us know about it, and I missed it. So I got to thinking - what if we had one thread for all the eclipses, meteor showers, planetary alignments, etc? Then everyone who subscribed should be able to stay on top of the new occurrences pretty easily.

So what do you say? This will only work if you use it! If you know of an upcoming meteor shower, planets viewable in the sky, or any other astronomical phenomena viewable from earth, let us know here! Or, if you prefer to create your own thread, post a link to that thread here too so we can see it.

I'll start the thread off by linking to Mycochondria's thread here:

http://forums.mycotopia.net/twilight...coming-up.html (Nice Planetary Alignment Coming Up)

Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury will all be viewable in the sky beginning on Feb.16th through Sunday the 22nd.

[Doctor D]

There's still time to see Comet Lulin!

http://forums.mycotopia.net/lifestyl...hes-earth.html (Green Comet Approaches Earth)

Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects.

Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation LEO . Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will.

[thatgreenthumb]

Great idea! i always forget until its too late.
i know what i'm doing tomorrow morning!

[Ras Asad]

great idea DocD!

thanks!

[Doctor D]

Thanks Ras! You do such a good job of staying on top of these things, I'm counting on you to keep us all informed!

[Ras Asad]

hehe, thanks Doc.
no prob
ill do my best.

but im counting on mycochondria and oibchip to!! haha

Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects.

here is a visual of where to look for anyone curious..

[LSDarkstar]

Aww man , how cool . Right On !!!!

I'm 18 hrs late for this pass. shucks .....

At least I've got the closest pass coming up on the 24th to try and catch....please please please. dig it, a green comet ta boot.

Back in school I kept up with the astronomy gig a little bit. Took a couple classes in school......8" Celestrron strapped to my back, climbing the mountains at night. God that was the stuff stories are told of... ahhh.

thanks guys for doing this. Sweet Dr. THANKS Ras !!!!!!

c ooooolllll,
LSD

[Ras Asad]

welcome LSDarkstar!!

still got your scope?


Have You Seen the Zodiacal Light?


The first time I knowingly saw the zodiacal light, it was so bright that I couldn't believe I'd never seen it before. I was in Chile, across the valley from the professional observatories at Cerro Pachon and Cerro Tololo. I commented to my host, the superb astrophotographer Daniel Verschatse, that the light pollution from nearby La Serena was unbelievably intense. The light in the west was washing out even the Sagittarius Milky Way, which was quite high in the sky at the time.

The pyramid of pearly light reaching from the horizon through the Pleiades (just right of center) is the zodiacal light.
Doug Zubenel


"Look again," said Verschatse. "That's not light pollution; it's the zodiacal light! See its tall, triangular shape? See how it leans to the right, following the ecliptic?" (In the north, the evening zodiacal light leans left, as shown at right.)

Now that I know what to look for, I see the zodiacal light quite often. I've even seen it — just barely — from my astronomy club's observing field in the outer Boston suburbs. But it's much more prominent if you're far from any artificial light pollution. It's well worth the trip.

The zodiacal light is brightest and broadest near the Sun. But the very brightest part of all can never be seen from Earth, because it's overwhelmed by the Sun's glare. So your best opportunities come right before the onset of morning twilight and after the end of evening twilight, when you can see the sky quite close to the Sun, but the Sun's light is blocked by our own planet.

S&T: Casey Reed


And since the zodiacal light follows the ecliptic, it's easiest to see when the ecliptic runs highest in the sky near twilight, as shown at right. In the Northern Hemisphere, that happens during the evening from mid-February through mid-April, and in the morning from mid-August through mid-October. (The situation is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, which is why I could see the zodiacal light so easily on an October evening in Chile.)

Most people prefer to view in the evening, so late winter and early spring are the ideal time. Find spot as far as possible from any artificial lights that has a low western horizon. Go there shortly after sunset on a moonless evening and watch for the zodiacal light to appear as twilight fades.

What are you seeing? The zodiacal light is the combined glow of countless tiny particles (debris from comets and asteroid collisions) that orbit the Sun. Like the dust in an unswept room, their mass is minuscule but their combined surface area is quite large, so they reflect a lot of sunlight. In fact, if it could be condensed into a single point, the zodiacal light would handily outshine all the planets, including even Venus.

As an interesting side note, Brian May, founding member of the rock group Queen, completed his doctoral dissertation on the zodiacal light in 2007, obtaining a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in London. He had started the thesis in 1970, but took a 35-year break to become a rock celebrity.

[Doctor D]

NEAT Ras! I didn't know about that!

[0omnidirectional]

I missed the feb 9th event because of cloudy sky.

This thread is a good idea.

[Freaky]

This is a Fabulous thread! It's stuck now too

I'm even learning things I can share with a kid who has their first telescope.....Thank you astronomy Topiates

[LSDarkstar]

In fact, if it could be condensed into a single point, the zodiacal light would handily outshine all the planets, including even Venus.

hummmm...interesting, so it has an apparent magnitude then ?

sweet Ras , no I didn't know this. very cool , I'll be peeled.

welcome LSDarkstar!!

still got your scope?

I wish I did, but its been 20 years ...
craigslist here I come

Ras was that yer shot ?

Peace,
LSD

[MycoChondria]

Just caught Stargazer this evening and I hear tell that there will be a really nice view of Venus nearly "touching" a crescent moon come the morning of Friday, the 27th. I gotta confirm this info, but it'll probably be on Jack Horkheimer's site in a few hours.

Wanna thank you all who are into celestial events (and you know who you are) for starting this sticky. BTW, if you hear about the killer asteroid before I do, PM each other with the news but please don't post it here cause well, ya know, it's really gonna f**kin' ruin my day

[Ras Asad]

Ras was that yer shot ?

hey bro...

nah, im sorry..
i forgot to post the link.. doh!!

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser.../16987266.html

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by MycoChondria

Wanna thank you all who are into celestial events (and you know who you are) for starting this sticky. BTW, if you hear about the killer asteroid before I do, PM each other with the news but please don't post it here cause well, ya know, it's really gonna f**kin' ruin my day

This thread is very helpful to celestial novices!

[Ras Asad]

Incoming Meteors Causing Fireballs Around the World
17-Feb-2009

Update: Huge Fireball Crossed Sweden Saturday. -
Huge Fireball Over Italy. On Friday the 13th at around 10PM US eastern time, sonic booms were heard across Kentucky, windows trembled and buildings shook, and green fireballs exploded over the state. Hours before in Italy, three fireballs were recorded by astronomers. One, captured on video, was ten times brighter than the full moon, and has sparked a scientific meteorite hunt because of its size. Then, on Sunday at 11AM, a fireball so bright that it could be seen easily in direct sunlight shot across Austin, Texas, startling hundreds of people running the Austin Marathon with a resounding sonic boom. Initially, it was thought that the wave of fireballs might be from the recent collision between a US Iridium satellite and a defunct Russian spy satellite on February 10, but NASA astronomer Bill Cook of the Meteor Environment Office says that the Kentucky object was definitely a meteor, and US Space Command, which is monitoring the debris from the satellite collision, says that none of it has as yet re-entered the atmosphere.
Meteors strike earth every day, and many involve fireballs. Most hit over the oceans and are not seen. On rare occasions, there have been 'fireball storms,' but it is not known whether or not this will turn into one. We'll be watching the skies.

also...

THE GREEN COMET COMETH: From remote Portal, Arizona, astrophotographer Jack Newton reports: "Comet Lulin has brightened considerably and is now an easy naked eye object in dark, country skies." He photographed it using a Meade 14" HyperStar and sends this 16-minute exposure:

Comet Lulin's vivid green atmosphere is about three times as wide as the planet Jupiter, and its dusty tail stretches more than 1.5 million km into space. The comet is so big that "it no longer completely fits in my telescope's field of view," says Newton.
On Feb. 24th, Comet Lulin will swing past Earth only 38 million miles away. Got clouds? No problem. The Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia, plans to webcast the encounter. "We're going to transmit the view through our observatory's 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope," says astronomy professor Rosa Williams of Columbus State University. "The webcast begins at 11:30 EST on Monday, Feb. 23rd and will continue until 5 a.m. EST on Tuesday the 24th." Tune in!

http://spaceweather.com/

[Ras Asad]

Recent picture of Comet Lulin.. ( said: loo-lin ). lol
Source: spaceweather.com

[Ras Asad]

Explanation: Now growing brighter, Comet Lulin is headed for its closest approach to planet Earth early next week. But the comet's greenish glow, familiar to earthbound skygazers, is replaced by false colors in this premier view from the orbiting Swift satellite. Image data from the Swift detectors, normally intended to follow cosmic gamma-ray bursts, were recorded on January 28. The data are combined here, along with a sky survey image of background stars, to show optical and ultraviolet light in green-blue hues and x-rays from the comet in red. The result maps remarkable x-ray emission on the comet's sunward side as incoming solar wind ions interact with gases in the swollen coma. It also shows substantial ultraviolet emission opposite the Sun, in the direction of motion and the comet's tail. The ultraviolet emission is from the OH molecule derived from the breakup of water, an indicator of the copius amounts of water produced by this extremely active comet. In fact, astronomers estimate Lulin was releasing about 800 gallons of water each second, enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in less than 15 minutes.

source, A.P.O.D.

[claykrys]

Great pic. Wish the clouds would clear around here.

[Ras Asad]

yeah me to man.
oh well... maybe in a few hours? lol.. ill keep hopin. lol

Explanation: Sweeping through the inner solar system, Comet Lulin is easily visible in both northern and southern hemispheres with binoculars or a small telescope. Recent changes in Lulin's lovely greenish coma and tails are featured in this two panel comparison of images taken on January 31st (top) and February 4th. Taken from dark New Mexico Skies, the images span over 2 degrees. In both views the comet sports an apparent antitail at the left -- the comet's dust tail appearing almost edge on from an earth-based perspective as it trails behind in Lulin's orbit. Extending to the right of the coma, away from the Sun, is the beautiful ion tail. Remarkably, as captured in the bottom panel, Comet Lulin's ion tail became disconnected on February 4, likely buffeted and torn away by magnetic fields in the solar wind. In 2007 NASA satellites recorded a similar disconnection event for Comet Encke. Don't worry, though. Comet tails can grow back.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090207.html

[MycoChondria]

Did anyone have any luck with Lulin last night? I hear that the view tonight will be comparable so I'm gonna try again. Tonight, the sky is cloudless so I'll be starting my trek towards the Kansas foothills for a better view

G'luck all!!

[duaut]

I woke up at 3:30am to check the skies out and it was spotty clouds and icy outside. Couldn't find the comet. Today is clear as a bell, so I will be getting up and going outside to puff down and search the skies. I have good feelings about tonight. Hope the winds subside for awhile, it gets cold up here.

[claykrys]

Originally Posted by MycoChondria

Did anyone have any luck with Lulin last night? I hear that the view tonight will be comparable so I'm gonna try again. Tonight, the sky is cloudless so I'll be starting my trek towards the Kansas foothills for a better view

G'luck all!!

I am about to go and try again myself.

[Ras Asad]

yea baby!!

clear here too!!
wo0t!!

[Ras Asad]

[Ras Asad]

Heres from stellarium...
i added the comet.. lol

[Doctor D]

There is a really lovely Cheshire cat grin crescent moon tonight, if you have a chance to spot it. It even runs almost perfectly horizontally! Not too often you get to see a horizontal moon (must be every February though, eh?).

No Lulin sitings for me! Perfectly clear skies, but there's just too much light pollution around here, and binoculars suck for looking at anything but star squiggles and tracers.

[Ras Asad]

too much light pollution here to...

i had Saturn right in the scope...
but not dark enough here for Lulin..

and my car is still in the garage..
so i couldnt drive out to a dark site.

oh well,
there will be more

[Ras Asad]

( This is tonight, so look for it!)

Pretty Sky Alert
02.26.2009

February 26, 2009: Be careful, this sort of thing can cause an accident.
On Friday evening, Feb. 27th, the 10% crescent Moon will glide by Venus, forming a gorgeous and mesmerizing pair of lights in the sunset sky. Moon-Venus conjunctions are not unusual, but this conjunction has some special qualities:


(1) Venus is at maximum brightness: magnitude -4.6. The planet is twenty times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. It is so luminous that it can actually shine through thin clouds and cast subtle shadows on the ground.

Right: A Moon-Venus conjunction in Dec. 2008 photographed by Tamas Ladanyi of Mönichkirchen, Austria. This month's conjunction will be even tighter and brighter. [larger image]


(2) As seen from North America, the Moon-Venus separation is only a little more than 1o. Stick up your thumb and hold it out at arm's length. Venus and the Moon will fit comfortably behind the thumb-tip. Tight conjunctions like this are the most beautiful of all

(3) Not only is the Moon a crescent, but so is Venus. A small telescope pointed at the glittering planet will reveal a slender 20%-illuminated disk.

Add it all together and you've got a major distraction. Evening drivers should pull to the verge. Staring at Venus and the Moon could be riskier than texting!
Venus is a crescent because, like the Moon, it has phases. The planet can be be full, gibbous, new, or anything in between. The illuminated fraction we see on any given date depends on how much of Venus' nightside is turned toward Earth.


It might seem odd that Venus is brightest now when it is a crescent. That reverses our commonsense experience with the Moon, which is brightest when it is full. A 6-month animation of Venus created by Hong Kong astrophotographer "Wah!" solves the mystery at a glance:

The crescent phase of Venus occurs when Venus is close to Earth, very big and bright. The full phase of Venus, on the other hand, occurs when Venus is on the opposite side of the Sun, far away and relatively dim.


Crescent Venus is so bright, you can see it in broad daylight. During the day on Friday, scan the sky for the crescent Moon. Hint: Stand in the shadow of a tall building to block the glare of the Sun. At noon, the Moon will be due east of the Sun's position. Got it? Look a few thumb-widths around the Moon and—voilà!—Venus pops out of the blue. The planet is surprisingly easy to see when you know where to look.




Once daytime Venus has been located, you might feel tempted to examine the planet with binoculars or a telescope. Don't. The nearby Sun can damage your eyes if you accidentally point your optics in that direction.



Wait until the Sun sets and behold the pair framed by deepening twilight blue, first with your unaided eyes, then with a small telescope. On the Moon, you will see mountains, craters, and a vast expanse of nighttime lunar terrain gently illuminated by Earthshine. On Venus, you will see a delicate little crescent of impenetrable clouds.
It's a nice way to end the day.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2..._prettysky.htm

[MycoChondria]

Just checked the moon out...lovely "star and crescent" motif goin' on.

Thought I saw Lulin through my binocs earlier this week. Just a blur with a greenish hue, but I might have missed my target. Damn! I want a Dobsonian...

Keep looking up!!!

[chimp]

Nice idea Doc!

[Ras Asad]

March IYA2009 events




March continues the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), which commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning the telescope to the heavens. Here’s what the month has in store for you:
March 2009
NASA theme:Observing at night (and during the day)
Featured object in the sky:Saturn and its nearly edge-on rings

March 8: Saturn is at opposition (exactly opposite the Sun) and in the sky all night. It’s great for viewing in a telescope this month, but its rings are nearly edge-on and thus hard to see. To track Saturn’s position in your night sky, use StarDome, Astronomy.com’s interactive star chart.


March 10: The Full Moon is just south of Saturn in the southeastern sky during the evening.


March 14: Celebrate Albert Einstein’s 130th birthday. Einstein’s ideas of space and time underpin our modern view of the universe.


March 14: Add a little pie to your festivities! March 14 (3.14) is also Pi Day. This day celebrates the Greek letter π, which in math is the symbol that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameters (3.14159…).


March 20:The spring equinox (when the Sun is located vertically above a point on the equator and day and night are the same length) marks the culmination of NASA’s Sun-Earth Day. Each year, the Sun-Earth Day recognizes NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection science, missions and cutting-edge research. This year’s theme is “Our Sun, Yours to Discover.”


March 16–28: Spend two weeks measuring the darkness of the sky and the amount of light pollution in your area with the GLOBE at Night campaign.


March 28:You can turn off your lights for one hour (between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. local time) to show your support for the Earth Hour campaign.

[chimp]

WORM MOON: Tonight's full Moon has a special name--the Worm Moon. It signals the coming of northern spring, a thawing of the soil, and the first stirrings of earthworms in long-dormant gardens. Step outside tonight and behold the wakening landscape. "Worm moonlight" is prettier than it sounds.

[LuCiD]

WOW! I just saw this thread for the first time. Thank you guys for starting it. I will also contribute as much as I can to it since I am an amateur astronomer.


In fact here are some amateur astrophotgraphy images I have taken with my 5" Newtonian Reflector.

[Ras Asad]

awesome chip!!! thanks!!

Great pics Lucid!!!

Ive got a 5 inch newtonian as well,
you should start an album in your profile with your pics like this.. then we could share easily!! lol Thanks!

[Doctor D]

Bump... seems to be a slow period for astronomical events that you can view with the naked eye. About all I could find for April was that Mercury will be at its Eastern Elongation this month - the furthest point away from the Sun, as viewed from Earth.

http://www.astronomyworld.net/planetary_events.html

Planet Viewing in 2009


Mercury
The solar system's smallest planet flits back and forth from morning sky to evening sky several times a year. It never strays far from the Sun in our sky, so it's tough to find in the glare. From the northern hemisphere, it is visible in the morning sky this year in February and early March, June, and October. The late-year appearance is the best, because the planet will stand highest above the horizon. In the evening, Mercury is best seen in April and early May, August and early September, and December. The spring appearance is best.


Venus
Venus, the dazzling morning or evening star, outshines all the other stars and planets in the night sky. It begins the year in the evening sky, well up in the west as darkness begins to fall. It will disappear from view in late March as it passes between Earth and the Sun. It will return to view as a “morning star” by early April, and remain in the morning sky until December.


Mars
Mars climbs into view as a modest orange “star” quite low in the east or southeast at sunrise in late February. As the year progresses, it will pull farther away from the Sun and be visible for more of the night. By late in the year, it will in view for more than half of the night, and will outshine all but two planets and one star. Mars will stage beautiful encounters with Venus in mid-April and again in mid-July.


Jupiter
The largest planet in our solar system is a commanding presence for much of the year. It looks like an intensely bright cream-colored star, shining brighter than anything else in the night sky except the Moon and Venus. It climbs into view in the pre-dawn sky in February. It rises earlier as the months go by, and moves into the evening sky in late spring. Jupiter is at opposition in mid-August, when it appears brightest for the year and remains visible all night. Late in the year it is visible only in the evening sky, dropping lower each night.


Saturn
Saturn looks like a bright golden star. It spends the first eight months of the year in Leo, the lion, then moves into the neighboring constellation Virgo, the virgin. Saturn is at its best in early March, when it's closest to Earth. It disappears behind the Sun in late August, then returns to view in the morning sky in October.



Uranus
Although it's the third-largest planet in the solar system, it's so far from the Sun that you need binoculars to see it. It begins the year in the constellation Aquarius, then slides into Pisces in spring. It stages its best appearance in September.



Neptune
The fourth-largest planet in the solar system is so far away that you need a telescope to find it. Neptune is in the constellation Capricornus, and stages its best appearance in August.

[Doctor D]

http://forums.mycotopia.net/lifestyl...tml#post694960 (WED APRIL 22ND heavenly show)

[Brakiska]

Awesome, there'll be plenty of events this summer, glad we'll share some of them

<3

[golly]

The eclipse of Venus by the moon was pretty cool earlier this week..Had to be up early to see it though..

[chimp]

http://spaceweather.com/headlines/y2...eveningsky.php

[Ras Asad]

Tonight~ ( 9 p.m.)

[Ras Asad]

ohhh, its gettin pretty!!!

get out there kids!! lol

[PsychoDrogue]

very cool. that system next to the moon will look great. i noticed the crescent the other night but venus was miles away. i love seeing things nestled up close like that, especially in phases.

I will also be looking for mercury. Don't believe i've managed to find it before.

[Doctor D]

Thanks guys! I see the moon and Mercury, but unfortunately there's no Pleiades.

[Ras Asad]

yeah bro, pleiades are blocked out by light pollution here,
i just talked to my dad tho, and out at his house in the country he can see them.

i need to move back to the country... lol

[funguyonfungi]

As a fellow star gazer i have to say this is a great thread!!!

[chimp]

The morning of May 6th right before the sun come sup is supposed to be the best.

Those in the southern hemisphere will get the best show.up to 85 meteors per hour..the poor saps like me that live in the USA will only get 20-30 per hour.

http://spaceweather.com/meteors/etaa...idovmb3i7j44a0

[Doctor D]

June bump. No known phenomena to be reported by me at this time - anyone else? Chip, that spaceweather.com website is fantastic. Thanks!

[Ras Asad]

I gotchu....

(original link in heart at bottom)

What’s Up This Month - June 2009

June 2, 2009

As June arrives, the galaxy fields of spring slowly give way to the beautiful overhead arc of the Milky Way. On June 6, a nearly-full Moon passes in front of a bright red supergiant star in Scorpius. All planets are visible this month, though only Saturn is found in the evening sky.

For observers in the northern hemisphere, the sun lies high in the sky during the day and not far below the horizon at night, which makes for long twilight and short nights. Summer arrives at 5:46 GMT on June 21. But the days now– slowly at first– start getting shorter. (Of course, it’s the other way around for observers in the southern hemisphere).

Life is busy, I know. But try to get out to enjoy a few moments of stargazing. Let a few rays of ancient starlight strike your eye and incite your imagination.

Celestial Events in June

Moon occults Antares. In the evening of June 6, in the Caribbean, northern parts of Latin America, and all but northeastern and far western North America, the nearly-full Moon occults the bright supergiant star Antares in Scorpius. It should be quite a show. This month, you can see the dramatic rise of Scorpius in the late evening as it lurches over the south-eastern horizon, claws first, looking for its prey.

Io and Ganymede cast shadows simultaneously on the face of Jupiter from 8:06 to 10:16 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on June 9. A small telescope at 100x or more should give you a good view. Click here to translate Greenwich Mean Time to the time in your area. The event will look a little like this…



Pluto lies directly opposite the Sun this month in northern Sagittarius. At 14th magnitude, it lies beyond the sight of all but the most determined stargazers.
Moon and Planets

The Moon. Full on June 7; new again on June 22. On June 19, as a thin waning crescent, the Moon is just 6-7 degrees above Venus and Mars in the pre-dawn sky.

Venus. The beautiful planet wheels away from the Earth and dims slightly in the morning sky. On June 6, the Sun illuminates only half of the face of Venus as seen from the Earth.

Mars. Lies about 10 degrees above the eastern horizon early in the month, rising a little higher towards the end.

Saturn follows Leo into the southwest after sunset. But it’s still putting on a good show. The rings tilt just 3 degrees from edge on. Regulus lies west of Saturn and Spica lies further east. Saturn is the one that doesn’t twinkle.

Jupiter. The king of planets lies in eastern Capricorn, low in the sky for northern observers again this year. Observe it carefully on nights with steady seeing, when the image of the planet doesn’t seem to “boil” in your field of view. As mentioned above, in a telescope, you can see a double shadow on the planet on the morning of June 9.

Neptune. Fairly dim at 8th magnitude. Even a good-sized telescope will struggle to show Neptune’s disk, which is only 2.3″ across. But the outer planet is less than 0.5 degrees from Jupiter all month, so you can see them in a single low-power field of view.

Uranus rises a couple hours after midnight. It’s in Pisces, near the “circlet” of stars that makes up the head of the western “fish”. It’s visible in a telescope before the sun rises.

Deep-Sky Sights

The fine double star Izar (epsilon Bootis) is well worth a look. Separated by just 3″, you’ll need decent seeing and a magnification of 100x or so to resolve the pair. The reward for your effort is the sight of a splendid contrast of color and brightness. The brighter star has exhausted its fuel and become a bright red-orange giant; the fainter is a bright white main sequence star which still burns hydrogen in its core. The pair lies about 200 light years away and takes more than 1,000 years to revolve around each other.

Quote:
the double star Izar (left center) in the constellation Bootes

For southern observers, try Acrux (alpha Crucis), the magnificent double star at the foot of the Southern Cross. Acrux is actually a triple. The main pair, stars A and B, are brilliant blue-white, and separated by 4″. C is nearly 5th magnitude some 90″ away. The widely separated A and C components are visible in 10×50 binoculars, and a 3-inch scope shows the A-B pairing at 70x or more.

And finally, June’s Astronomy Haiku…

Darkness falls later,
Testing stargazers’ patience:
The summer solstice

<3

[feralronin]

"Life is busy, I know. But try to get out to enjoy a few moments of stargazing. Let a few rays of ancient starlight strike your eye and incite your imagination."

Hell yeah man. That's what I'm talking about. Gonna make this happen this weekend. Thanks for all the info everyone.