Shades of White

Astronomy for Kids: Full moon and Universal Time

Full moon occurs when the sun is on one side of the earth and the moon is directly opposite the sun on the other side of the earth. That is going to happen on May 17th at 11:09 Universal Time.

So what is Universal Time and why do we use it?

If I wanted to tell everyone in every country what time of the day the moon was going to be full, I could write a great big list for every time zone throughout the world, OR I could tell them what time it will happen in England (standard time, not daylight savings time)--and call that Universal Time (UT).

In Wisconsin, if it is daylight savings time, you turn the clock back 5 hours from UT; if we do not have daylight savings time, you subtract 6 hours.

The moon will pass that spot where it is perfectly opposite the sun at 11:09 UT.

11:09 -5 hours = 6:09

So the moon will be perfectly full at 6:09 Central Daylight Time on the morning of May 17th, 2011. But wouldn't you know it? The moon is going to set and disappear below the horizon about a half an hour before that!

What's to do?

The moon is going to be large and beautiful on the evening and morning of the 16 and the 17th...so go outside and enjoy the big, full moon then. It will rise in the east at dusk and set just before dawn. It is a great time to go outside for a hike--with the moon so bright, you may not need a flashlight!

P.S. Some of you might be interested in knowing that Universal Time is also known as Greenwich Mean Time. You may have studied in your geography classes that the Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England--they chose the time of day on the Prime Meridian as our Universal Time.

Full Moon, 19 January 2011

 

 

 

 

Astronomy 101--The Full Moon

I put this together for a few of the homeschool groups in the area. Thought I'd pass it on to you, my blog friends, as well. :) Jean

 

Tonight the moon will be full--but not only will it be full, but it will be larger and brighter than most full moons!

 

I've put together some information about the full moon that you might not know:

 

• The Algonquian Indians called the January full moon the Wolf Moon--a time when the Wolves howled longer through the night, perhaps because the food was scarce or, due to the earth being closer to the sun this time of year, the moon is brighter. Europeans called it Old moon. I, however, prefer the name of Ice Moon. It seems so appropriate in Wisconsin!

 

• A full moon occurs when the sun, earth, and moon line up in a row. If the moon is directly behind the earth, we get an eclipse; but usually the moon is a little above or below so that the earth does not block the light coming from the sun. This website shows the moon's rotation around the earth and how that affects what shape the moon takes when viewed from earth: http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase/

 

• If you think about it, in order for the moon to be full, the sun must be located on one side of the earth, while the moon is on the other. As the earth spins today, we will see the sun rise in the east and set in the west; at the time that the sun is setting, we will see the moon rising in the east. ALWAYS when full, the moon is rising when the sun is setting. Tonight the moon should rise a little after 5:00 p.m. here in Wisconsin.

 

• The moon is not always the same distance from earth because its path around the earth is an ellipse--when it is at its closest, it is know as being "at perigee"; when it is at its furthest, it is know as "at apogee". Two days from now  (Fri., Jan. 21st), the moon will be at perigee. At this website, you can see a picture of the full moon at perigee and apogee: http://www.moonconnection.com/apogee_perigee.phtml You can see the difference, can't you!

 

So...the moon tonight is full, it is brighter than usual, and bigger than usual...but we are suppose to have clouds.

 

<sigh>

 

So how might you observe tonight's full moon?

 

• I suggest you take a walk in the moonlight--even if it is cloudy, usually there is enough light to walk outside without a flashlight if you let your eyes adjust to the darkness. Beware--white light from a flash light will cause your pupils to shrink, so spend a little time in the dark letting your eyes adjust with your lights and flashlights turned off. If you have a red flashlight, take that with you if you want--red does not affect your eye's dilation as much as white light. You can make a red flashlight with red fingernail polish--adjust the amount of light that is let through the lens with a bit of polish remover.

 

• Or, if you are not into a late night hike, what about making a meal of foods that are round? Apples, oranges, pancakes, pizza...

And we will hope for the clouds to open up enough for a peak at tonight's great big moon!

 

Jean

Life Is Like...

Although I was trying to photograph the moon,

the camera focused on the branches of the tree.

And when I did get the camera to focus on the moon,

I could not see any of the branches in the photo.

 

I decided photographying the moon

was a lot like life.

We do not alway get what we aim for,

so we are left finding the good

and beauty

and joy

in what we have.

 

Thirty-Four Constellations in One Evening

 

Last Friday night I spent the evening under the stars.

The skies were very clear (not so common in Wisconsin).

There were 34 constellations visible!

 

1. Andromeda, the beautiful daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and king Cepheus--This is where you will find the Andromeda Galaxy, visible with the naked eye. As far as I know, it is the only object up here in the northern hemisphere that we can see with our eyes that is not inside the Milky Way.
2. Aquarius the water carrier
3. Aquila the eagle
4. Aries the ram
5. Auriga the charioteer--part of the winter hexagon and just rising on the horizon in the evening. It tells us winter is coming!
6. Bootes the herdsman--his dogs, Canis Venatici, chase the big and little bears around the sky all night long.
7. Camelopardalis--did you know there was a giraffe up there? A friend and I found this in the sky for the first time Friday night. It is very faint and can only be seen in the darkest of skies.
8. Canes Venatici, the herdsman's  dogs
9. Capricornus the sea goat--looks like a big boomerang in the sky
10. Cassiopeia the queen looks like a squashed W
11. Cepheus the king is upside down right now and looks like a child's drawing of a house
12. Cetus the whale or sea monster
13. Corona Borealis--said to be a crown of jewels, but I call it the happy face in the sky :)
14. Cygnus the swan--the head of the swan is a star named Alberio. It is a beautiful double star. One is blue; the other, yellow (or white or orange, depending upon which book you are reading today).
15. Delphinus the little dolphin
16. Draco the dragan which winds its way between and around the Big and Little Dippers.
17. Equuleus the foal. To be honest, I forgot to look for this. I cannot find it without a star chart and a lot of staring at the sky! But it was up there, not too far from Pegasus!
18. Hercules--he looks like a miniature Orion with only two stars in his belt.
19. Lacerta the lizard
20. Lyra the lyre or the harp
21. Ophiuchus the serpent barer. He holds a snake (Serpens) and he claimed to have learned about medicine from it--and that is where the snake on a staff that represents the international medical community comes from. Ophiuchus is sometimes said to be the shape of a wooden coffin.
22. Pegasus the winged horse--part of the Great Square in the sky.
23. Perseus--the guy who killed Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and killed Cetus the sea monster with the head of Medusa.Comet Hartley 2 is coming through Perseus right now--not very spectacular in my telescope, but it is visible.
24. Pisces the fishes
25. Piscis Austrinus the southern fish
26. Sagitta--the little arrow that Sagittarius lost and now lies in the summer triangle in the sky.
27. Sagittarius--they call him a centaur, but we say the constellation looks like a tea pot. It was behind the trees and, therefore, not easy to see, but still there.
28. Scutum the shield. This was behind the trees with Sagittarius
29. Serpens, Ophiucus' snake
30. Taurus the bull. The Pleiades is in this constellation and it is visible early in the evening. Before midnight, however, Taurus rises high enough for us to see.
31. Triangulum the triangle
32. Ursa Major the big  bear with the Big Dipper being the bear's back end.
33. Ursa Minor the little bear and Little Dipper. The 1st star in the handle of the Little Dipper is Polaris, our North Star. And no. It is NOT the brightest star in the sky as so many folks try to tell you!!
34. Vulpecula a faint little constellation known as a fox.

Venus and the Crescent Moon

Venus is till visible in the evening at sundown. It is the first "star" to come out in the western sky.

If you turn around and face the east, you will be able to see Jupiter shining brightly.

If you look at Venus with a binoculars, try to steady them by setting them on a porch railing or some other object. You should be able to see that it is slowly growing more and more into a crescent shape.

And if you turn your binocs on to Jupiter, you should be able to see a small disk of light with as many as 4 moons all in a row. The moons rotate quickly, so you might have 4 on one side or 3 on one and 1 on the other. Sometimes they are evenly split, and other times one or two will be behind or in front of the planet so that you can not see all of them. They look just like a row of stars!

The night sky is so beautiful. As a friend always says, Keep looking up!

Conjunction

I saw the International Space Station and the shuttle Atlantis go over last night. I'm told that this is the last flight they are planning to do with Atlantis, and the next time we see her, she will be in a museum.

Conjunction: The Moon, Venus, International Space Station and Shuttle Atlantis

April's moon with Venus

Today would be a good day to look for Venus during the day. I always insist that the students stand beside a building so that they cannot see the sun but can see the sky to the left (east) of the sun so they don't accidentally get the sun in their binoculars. The crescent moon is below and a bit to the right of Venus today, following the path of the sun (http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/cresc...-sunset-may-15). If you use the crescent moon to guide you, you might be able to find Venus with binoculars--there have been times I have been able to see Venus with the naked eye once I've located her even in bright sunlight.

WARNING!!!!! BE SAFE.!!!! DO NOT TAKE ANY CHANCES OF LOOKING AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS--YOU COULD LOOSE YOUR EYE SIGHT! STAND BEHIND A BUILDING SO THAT THE SUN IS NOT VISIBLE TO YOU WHEN YOU LOOK FOR VENUS! IT IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO ACCIDENTALLY SWING THOSE BINOCULARS AROUND AND HIT THE SUN!!! CHILDREN SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT!

Tomorrow the moon will be "behind" Venus (http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/moon-...enus-on-may-16), so if you miss her today, you might see her tomorrow.

Also, tonight in the western sky at sunset there is going to be a conjunction of the moon and Venus (meaning they will be close together) at the same time as the space shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station go over! In my area they are going over around 8:30 p.m...check this site to see when (and if) you can see them in your area: http://www.heavens-above.com/ (login for your area and then click on the links for ISS and STS132).I was told that this is the space shuttle's last mission, so if you want to see them together, you need to do it now! They are visible with the naked eye.

Here is an article that might interest you:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...andspaceships/
"This weekend, Venus and the crescent Moon are gathering in the western sky for a spectacular conjunction, and they're not alone. The International Space Station and, very likely, space shuttle Atlantis will join them for a rare four-way meeting of spaceships and planets over many locations."

Blow those clouds away!
Jean

Cleaning the Dob

Here it is: clean and ready to use...I hope!

When I bought this Dobsonian telescope, the people who owned it had never really used it--it was a gift that sat in their sitting room.  The primary mirror was dusty and dirty, so this weekend I decided to take it apart and clean it (of course it was an adventure!).

I found out that:

~~the primary mirror is very heavy

~~if you tighten the clamps down tightly (instead of loosely floating on the mirror surface), stars turn into very un-star-like triangles.

~~stars can appear to be spiked when using a low power because there is a  bracket inside my scope that holds the secondary mirror and can affect them--something I never noticed with the mirror so dirty!

~~collimating a scope (getting the mirrors lined up to bounce the light into the eyepiece correctly) after the mirrors are taken out and put back in again can be an experience--(my collimator's laser beam was so far off the mark that it was bouncing around on the wall outside the scope!).

~~a film canister can be used as a replacement cover cap (placed where the eyepiece goes when being stored)--this I found by accident when I was Googling for a solution to those triangular stars. 

~~there is a repair technician at Orion Telescopes that deserves a raise--he patiently and cheerfully walked me through all my problems, explaining and informing me about the whole process!

But it is done, and I am waiting for clear skies (not easily found in Wisconsin). Collimating is something I never had to do with my Maksutov Cassegrain scope (the mirror is fastened down and does not get bumped out of position). I am learning new things!

The folks who sold it to me said they had always referred to their scope as The Hubble. The name has stuck, and my van is now dubbed the Hubble Hauler!

Blow those clouds away!

The Dandelion

It is rainy and cold here today, but the dandelions are still cheerfully greeting me in my backyard.

In my childhood, I had assumed that all flowers were pleasantly fragrant; it came as a surprise that their scent was considered nasty! I spent my early years making necklaces out of them--and staining the sweet , yellow, satin dress with hand sewn scallops  that my mom had made for me . I wore that gorgeous dress to church for the rest of the summer with green stains decorating the bodice! The experience did teach me not to pick dandelions at church on Sunday morning and to watch for the 'milk' that dripped from the stems and stained everything it touched.

Tomorrow night is supposed to be clear (I hope), and our astronomy group is having a program for the public. It is suppose to be cold, though--low of around 40 degrees F. I look forward to getting my scope out and enjoying the night.

Blow those clouds away!

The Moon and Venus

 

A few days ago I took this photo at a star party as we watched the sun go down. You can see the crescent moon at the top of the photo; Venus is about a finger's width below the moon.

Right now Venus is a very large "star" that sets shortly after the sun--when Venus is on one side of the sun, we see her as the Evening Star. After she travels past the sun and comes out the other side, we see her as the Morning Star. And although she is not a star, to the naked eye, she looks like one--a very bright one.

If you do not have a telescope, balance a pair of binoculars on something to take the shake out, and you might be able to see that Venus goes through the same phases as the moon--right now it is gibbous (more than 1/2). Sometimes it is a small crescent.

Beautiful!

May Astronomy Notes

Sky and Telescope has a planisphere that you can print for free on your computer.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/letsgo/familyfun/Make_a_Star_Wheel.htm

After you put it together, you can take it outside and try to find the constellations. Use a red light (you can buy one or you can cover the lens with a light layer of red fingernail polish or red saran wrap)--your pupils will contract when using white light, causing you to lose your night vision.

If you enjoy this, you may want to get a planisphere that is made out of a more rugged material (plastic coated helps on damp nights) and has a dark background (easier on the eyes). This is the one I like:

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?...anisphere&st=2

It is made for my latitude in the northern hemisphere--if you live significantly further south or north, you will need to get the planisphere that is appropriate for your latitude. There are many types of planispheres, and they are available at bookstores and astronomy stores online. You can find your latitude here:

http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html

If you look on your planisphere before you go outside, look for these constellations: Canis Major, Bootes, Auriga, Canis Minor, Gemini, and Leo. Then go out early as the sky begins to darken to find the first stars that are visible to your eyes:

At dusk in May 2010, the first stars you will be able to see are:

Capella (in Auriga) will be setting in the west--but the brightest object over there right now is Venus, which is that big light bulb closer to the horizon, below Capella.

To the left of Venus is Sirius (part of the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog) setting low in the southwest.

Higher in the sky above Sirius will be Procyon (in Canis Minor, the Little Dog--sometimes referred to as the Hot Dog since it is made up of only 2 stars).

Above Procyon, on an arc between Procyon and Capella, will be two stars that are one or two finger-widths apart--those will be Castor and Pollux (the heads of the twins in Gemini).

To the left of those two stars will be a bright reddish/butterscotch colored "star" which is not on your planisphere--that is Mars.

Further to the left of Mars, high in the southern sky, you will find Regulus (in Leo)--so Mars is more or less half way between Regulus and Pollux.

Even further left of Regulus and a bit lower in the sky will be a very bright "star"--that is Saturn.

Now you are all the way over to the eastern sky, and high in the east is Arcturus, (in Boötes).

This is how I found my way around the night sky--looking for the brightest stars that first come out at night --they helped me get an idea of where those constellations were located. As you get more acquainted with the sky, you will be able to hop between constellations and find more of the smaller and dimmer ones. It takes some time, and each season the stars in the east, south, and west change. The ones around the north star are visible year 'round. It is a hobby that can keep the amateur and the most advanced astronomer busy!

Finally, anyone interested in the night sky ought to consider downloading Stellarium: http://www.stellarium.org/ It is WONDERFUL!

And now...if you have read this far, you deserve a medal. Blow those clouds away!
Jean

The Lyrid Meteor Shower Is Tonight

Meteor showers are normally caused by earth crossing the path of a comet (otherwise known as a dirty snowball) which, when flying past the sun, began to melt, leaving small particles behind. Most of the particles that hit our atmosphere are no larger than a pea, but they heat up the atmosphere around them to such a degree that we see them streaking across the sky.

It is not until after midnight that the earth is turned into the path of the comet, so if you go out early in the evening, you may see some meteors but not as many as you would later in the night. The best way to enjoy them is to throw a blanket on the ground and lie down so that you can see as much of the sky as possible. I plan to set my alarm for early morning to see if the skies are clear.

Learn more about the Lyrids here:

http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/lyrid...-moon-and-mars

Enjoy!

Spring: 12:32 P.M. Central Daylight Time

The sun

crossed the celestial equator

at 12:32 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

Celebrate Spring!

And to those on the other side of that equator,

Enjoy your Autumn!

Messier Marathon

This is Messier Marathon season! It is the time when all amateur astronomers insanely spend one entire night looking for all 110 deep sky objects that Charles Messier charted in the 1800's: galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and even a double star.

It has been exceptionally cloudy here is Wisconsin. Our astronomy clubs in this area had planned the marathon for last weekend, but we moved it to this coming weekend since the skies were not clear. The forecast does not look any better.

So last night I set up my telescope and went armed with a down coat, hand and toe warmers, and snow pants.

Early after sunset, I looked for objects setting in the west, but a few clouds, a remnant of sunlight, and a small town throwing light in the northwest made the search fruitless--even the Andromeda Galaxy was not visible!

But once I moved into the southern sky, the search was on. I found the Great Orion Nebula, the Beehive Cluster and moved onto the Virgo cluster (a large cluster of galaxies). I flew threw as many as I could, and shortly after 11:00 p.m., I had found all the objects that could be seen until the earth rotated and brought a new set of constellations up on the eastern horizon. So I gathered my things and went inside to warm up and take a nap.

I woke at 2:00 a.m....and rolled over rather than heading back outside. I really needed a few others to cheer me on! That is why Messier Marathons do much better when done in groups!

But I did find 66 deep sky objects. Not bad for an evening's work. I'll have to go out and see if I can find the remainder some summer or autumn evening. It was fun!