Astronomy.com blog : David J. Eicher

Try these weekend observing targets

David Eicher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:28:00 GMT

Did you ever find yourself out under a clear, dark sky in November wondering what to look at? How about targeting a few objects in the constellation Pegasus, one of my favorite autumn constellations. Here are some suggestions:

Galaxy NGC 7479 is one of the most popular objects for viewing in the constellation, as it shows a distinct, nearly face-on barred spiral structure. Photos of NGC 7479 appear frequently in astronomy magazines and on the web and give this object a familiar form. This galaxy lies at the end of a long string of stars that appear starkly to viewers with a 3-inch scope. In a 6-inch scope, this galaxy appears as a bar with a faint haze surrounding it. Larger scopes show much more detail, however, including the asymmetrical arms arcing away from the central glow.

How about targeting the two most conspicuous members of the Pegasus I galaxy cluster (pictured at right)? NGC 7619 and NGC 7626 are worth viewing even in small scopes. The galaxies lie just 7 arcminutes apart; the former shows a bright starlike nucleus while NGC 7626 has a tiny center.

If novelty’s your game, you could also target the first two objects in the NGC — NGC 1 and NGC 2. These galaxies are just 1.8' apart and are easily visible in a 6-inch scope under a dark sky.

Have you ever seen these galaxies? Do you spend time tracking down deep-sky objects in Pegasus? Let us know what your favorite November sky objects are and what you’re viewing them with.

Additional online observing resources from Astronomy magazine:

StarDome — Our interactive star chart helps you create an accurate map of your sky. This tool will help you locate these targets.
Video: Observe easy to find objects in the autumn sky, with Senior Editor Rich Talcott
Video: Autumn observing targets for small telescopes, with Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich [available to magazine subscribers]
Video: Autumn observing targets for large telescopes, with Editor David J. Eicher [available to magazine subscribers]
Podcast: Weekly observing targets, with Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich [available for free to registered members of Astronomy.com]

Astronomy editors head off site to brainstorm magazine improvements

David Eicher — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:46:00 GMT

The Astronomy staff gets things rolling the morning of October 16, 2009. David J. Eicher photo

Be prepared for plenty of surprises to come in the next few months. Last Friday Astronomy’s editorial staff joined forces with the art staff and our publisher and went off site, as we do each year, for a daylong discussion. The topics cover the entire spectrum of magazine and web site creation, and the goal is to give you the best possible product we can over the coming year. We spoke about potential stories, special issues, magazine design, covers, outreach activities with astronomy groups, trips and tours, our web site, and a whole load of other stuff.

We convened at 9 a.m. at my house about 10 miles from Kalmbach’s corporate headquarters. The morning began over lots of coffee, orange juice, breakfast goodies. Eventually we had boxed lunches and the chatter rolled into the afternoon. It was a serious analytical discussion and one punctuated by lots of laughs and a bit of silliness, as always.

So stay tuned — much came out of the discussion, and I promise some of things we spoke about will make a nice difference in the pages of your issues of Astronomy during the coming year.

An evening with author Dava Sobel

David Eicher — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:24:00 GMT

Last night our homeland at Astronomy magazine had the good fortune to receive a visit from a friend of the magazine, Dava Sobel. Dava is an award-winning science writer whose books, Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, and The Planets, have graced the New York Times bestseller lists. She has contributed to the magazine in the past and has traveled with several editors on trips around the globe in the past to see solar eclipses. Last night, September 24, she gave a talk and introduced a wonderful new planetarium movie at the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium in Milwaukee, and Kalmbach Publishing Co., Astronomy’s publisher, was proud to help sponsor the event. The planetarium exists in an IMAX theater within the Milwaukee Public Museum in the city’s downtown area and offers a great setting for science education.

After a wonderful reception, Dava spoke to the large crowd of assembled guests that included many Kalmbach staff members. (Publisher Kevin Keefe, Marketing Director Dan Lance, Circulation Director Ken Meisinger, Art Director LuAnn Belter, Illustrator Roen Kelly, and editors Rich Talcott, Liz Kruesi, Bill Andrews, and Karri Ferron were among the guests.) Dava’s talk centered on Galileo’s life and achievements, appropriate for the International Year of Astronomy, and then the show, Galileo: The Power of the Telescope, provided a beautifully done overview of his life story and telescopic discoveries. If you have the chance to see this film in a planetarium near you, I heartily encourage doing so. The production quality is top-notch, the graphics spectacular, and the voice provided by Dava very well done. It was a triumph, and I look forward to hearing from you about this show when it comes to a planetarium near you.

Photos credit: David J. Eicher

Deep-sky observing at Rancho Hidalgo

David Eicher — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:03:00 GMT

Following the dedication of Astronomy magazine’s observatory, and of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s telescope at Rancho Hidalgo, New Mexico, desert adventure awaited us. Astronomy’s publisher Kevin Keefe had joined me to trek out to visit developer Gene Turner and Loy Guzman, our hosts at Rancho Hidalgo. With the many guests from the night before now departed, we set about exploring nearby attractions surrounding the Hidalgo site — Portal, Arizona, with its Cave Creek Canyon and delightful birds, Turner’s Arizona Sky Village settlement, and some Native American sites near Hidalgo that still sport amazing relics dating to 1,000 years ago or even older.

Editors note: You can see the full image gallery of Dave and Kevin's trip to Rancho Hidalgo in our Online Reader Gallery.

The Chiricahua Mountains are amazingly beautiful, and we stood in awe of the perilous ride up the mountain that holds the 24-inch Cassegrain telescope associated with Arizona Sky Village. After exploring the vistas from that high altitude (much higher than the 4,600-foot desert floor below), we retreated to visit the desert itself.

Kevin and I were astonished to see a tarantula (two, actually) for the first time in the wild. We hiked for an hour and a half to reach a rocky shelf on one of the small mountains close to Hidalgo to find the area inhabited by various Native Americans, including Mimbres, from before 1,000 years ago to about the year 1,300 a.d. Tools and numerous stone chips from fashioning arrowheads and other implements lay abundantly on the sand in great areas of concentration. Inside one complex of caves, we found red and black petroglyphs seemingly telling of rivers, mountains, and long-forgotten messages of the ancient past.

This September we had an extremely late monsoonal flow (pictured at right) that threatened our observing on Friday night. But we stuck with the plan, feasted on a bountiful steak dinner, and then prepared Gene’s 30-inch Dobsonian (pictured above) to go after a laundry list of deep-sky objects. For Kevin, it would be a special treat, his first night under a premier sky with a really large telescope. Memories of M13 as seen with a small reflector at his summer camp way back when aroused comparisons with what we might see, until darkness fell, we had generally clear sky, and M13 was the first object dialed up. “My God!” Kevin exclaimed. It was a stunning view of the cluster, resolved cleanly across the face and with numerous lines of bright stars arcing from the central glow. A nice way to start the night, indeed.

We then gave Kevin a taste of the Sagittarius mainline, the arch of bright deep-sky objects from the galactic center northward. The Eagle Nebula (M16) looked fine, although the dark “pillars of creation” were a little subtle, as the sky was still darkening. The Lagoon Nebula (M8) did not fail to impress, as its star cluster, bright central glow, and rivers of dark nebulosity filled the field of view abundantly. We popped in an oxygen-III filter just to give the image a little more kick, to knock up the contrast. We then skittered over to the Trifid Nebula (M20), whose twin glows of emission and reflection nebulosity were superb. The Omega Nebula (M17) had such stunning surface brightness that it practically blew our heads off.

Not to be lost in Sagittarius and Serpens forever, we scooted up to the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), which was so richly stunning that its triangular shape looked wedge-like, set with the single, right orange jewel in its center. From there we shot over to the Dumbbell Nebula (M27), and by now the sky was getting dark enough to be superb. M27 was so brilliant — the brightest part a complete dumbbell but the fainter “ears” of nebulosity completely filling the object into an eerily glowing oval. It was like a superb photo without the color.

A long list of smaller planetary nebulae followed, many in Aquila and Cygnus, with NGC 6781, NGC 6905, NGC 6804, NGC 7008, and the Ring Nebula (M57) leading the way.

We observed many more objects, although some hopping back and forth around the sky was necessary due to very dark clouds that slowly washed over parts of the sky. The view of the Andromeda Galaxy and its satellites was incredible, the nucleus glowing brilliantly and the dust lanes sharply defined, with rich starfields on all sides of the major action. We took the galaxy question to the other extreme, too, by looking at the distant galaxy NGC 4319 and the nearby quasar Markarian 205. In the end, I think Kevin was satisfied with his first night of dark-sky, big-scope viewing. After lots of looking, it was a cool ending to a hot day in the desert, and we returned to Milwaukee on Saturday in time to get back into rhythm for another week at Astronomy magazine starting Monday morning.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on activities at Astronomy’s observatory and on images made from the facility in the coming days.

Photo credits: Gene Turner (30-inch); David J. Eicher (tarantula and monsoon)

Editors dedicate Astronomy magazine’s new observatory

David Eicher — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:05:00 GMT

On Thursday night, September 17, at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico, Astronomy magazine editors joined a group of some 50 people to dedicate the magazine’s new observatory facility and to dedicate Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s personal telescope in its new location. Now called Pluto Park, the area of the ranch has been set aside for astronomy education goals by Rancho Hidalgo developer Gene Turner, in conjunction with his large and enthusiastic team of partners, notably builder Tim McShane.

Editors note: You can see the full image gallery of the dedication ceremony in our Online Reader Gallery.

The magazine’s observatory has been a long time coming. When I first arrived at Astronomy as a young, enthusiastic kid from Ohio, there was talk about someday having a dark-sky facility for the magazine for observing, story writing, equipment testing, and remote-control imaging. I recall Richard Berry and Robert Burnham, driving forces at the magazine, talking about such possibilities, but the pressure of producing the world’s most popular magazine on its subject relegated these talks to occasional fits and starts. The day I arrived at the magazine was 27 years ago last Wednesday! Thus, a lesson in persistence! Thanks for making this powerful capability finally happen are due to Gene Turner, Tim McShane, Publisher Kevin Keefe, and Kalmbach executives Butch Boettcher and Chuck Croft.

The observatory will be used for imaging of deep-sky objects and planets, and also Hydrogen-alpha imagery of the Sun. Imaging will be controlled remotely from our offices in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The observatory now contains a 14-inch SCT and a refractor for solar imaging, both fitted with CCD cameras and of course a solar filter on the refractor. You will soon begin to see images made with both telescopes filter into the magazine and onto our web site. Editors will also occasionally travel to the ranch for hands-on, dark-sky viewing with other telescopes such as Gene’s 30-inch reflector.

The moment was a proud one last night, having the dedication coupled with the first-light event for Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s reassembled 16-inch telescope (pictured at right), which stands adjacent to the magazine’s observatory. The last time I had used the Tombaugh telescope was more than 20 years ago, accompanied by David Levy, when it was in Clyde’s backyard in Las Cruces. I vividly recall how stunned I was through the whole night observing things with the man who discovered Pluto and seeing him manhandle the big metallic tube so effectively.

We lost Clyde 12 years ago, but his widow, Patsy Tombaugh (pictured at right), arrived on the scene last night and made a terrific impression on the whole assembled group. At age 97, she is still going strong, and she recounted many stories of Clyde, his life, their school days, and their marriage, as well as aspects of Clyde’s research. I stood and listened in amazement. What a wonderful woman she is. Additionally, Clyde’s daughter, Annette Sitze, and her husband, Wilbur, were in attendance. So was a close friend of Clyde’s: ALPO founder and longtime director Walter H. Haas. (ALPO stands for the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers.)

Several friends and notables gave short talks, beginning with Gene Turner, the head man. Then came a very entertaining remembrance of Clyde by David Levy, Astronomy’s contributing editor and the man who wrote the definitive biography of Tombaugh, Clyde Tombaugh: Discoverer of the Planet Pluto. I then spoke briefly about the Astronomy Observatory and my fondness for Clyde, and Patsy Tombaugh said a few words the crowd very much enjoyed. We then repaired to the sky, which was not cooperating. Indeed, the monsoon season has extended this year far longer than normal, and we had occasional rain as well as scattered clouds and “sucker holes” tempting us with brilliant constellations.

However, Gene Turner, Publisher Kevin Keefe, and I set alarms for 3 a.m. and wandered out to see a clear and amazingly beautiful sky. We observed for a while and have a good prognosis, it would seem, for a long evening of deep-sky observing tonight. Stay tuned for more.

Photos credit: David J. Eicher, editor

What music do you listen to while observing?

David Eicher — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:10:00 GMT

What CDs do you like to spin when you’re out under a dark sky enjoying a long evening of observing?

As for me, I’ll pull one out from the old days — Pink Floyd’s epic Dark Side of the Moon. The classic album that sold 45 million copies was a stalwart on the bestselling lists for years after its debut in 1973 and did much of the heavy lifting at planetarium laser shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Engineered at Abbey Road Studios by Alan Parsons and featuring the classic, post-Syd Barrett lineup of Dave Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright, the album is so iconic it’s hard to comment on anymore.   

The album’s themes related to lunacy, rather than astronomy — a connection to the departed and institutionalized Barrett — but the astronomical themes are there as innuendo anyway, culminating in the final song, “Eclipse.” Classics that run up to the finale include the moody and weird cuts “Breathe in the Air,” “The Great Gig in the Sky,” and “Brain Damage,” as well as the well-known hits “Time,” “Money,” and “Us and Them.”

  If you haven’t listened to the Floyd under the stars or haven’t for years, I encourage you to dust off Dark Side of the Moon. It still holds up pretty well out under a dark sky, and reminds you of astronomical themes, even if the original intent was a tip of the hat to Barrett’s “lunacy.”

So, what music do you like to listen to when you’re observing?

Related blog:

Astronomy goes to the movies, by David J. Eicher, editor

Astronomy goes to the movies

David Eicher — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:07:00 GMT

Are you one of those amateur astronomers who sees references to space or astronomy in the movies and either wants to capture the moment because you loved it or or can’t stand it because of inaccuracies? The editors of Astronomy want to know your favorite (or least favorite) moments in astronomy in the movies.   

As an example, I’ll provide a dramatic moment from a 1930s classic. Everyone knows the legendary Gone with the Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh in the Civil War classic about survival and renewal “as the old South died one night.” Although astronomy didn’t play a significant role in the downfall of the Confederacy, it did provide a dramatic and pivotal moment in the eyes of director Victor Fleming. As Leigh’s character, Scarlett O’Hara, returns home to war-ravaged Tara, she longs with her last energies to see whether the family estate has survived Sherman’s March. The cloudy, dark, dull night doesn’t afford her a view until a hole opens in the clouds, exposing the Moon, which reveals the house standing. This dramatic moment provides a turning point in the story, nicely created by the screenwriters.

  Do you have other great cinematic moments you wish to share that involve the heavens? Let us know. We’ll be listening. Please comment below or e-mail me at editor@astronomy.com with anything you’d like to say.

Additional images from the China Eclipse Tour

David Eicher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:16:00 GMT

Along with the other 186 people on our ship, the Victoria Prince, I found myself reporting from China during our last week with very limited Internet capability. Thus, I could not send images with the final blog posts during the week of July 20.

To make up for this, I am now posting a selection of images from the last week of the trip that includes shots of eclipse day.

Enjoy!

Previous post: We visit a Revolutionary

Photo credit: David J. Eicher

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: We visit a Revolutionary

David Eicher — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Here's my final blog from the China 2009 eclipse tour the Astronomy magazine editors have conducted, along with Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates. Sunday we travel to Shanghai, board a plane in the afternoon, and fly back to Chicago and then to Milwaukee.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

This morning our group of 187, including Senior Editor Rich Talcott and his wife Evelyn, boarded buses in Nanjing and traveled through the city to see a holy place of sorts for Chinese citizens, the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who died in 1926. En route we heard from our local guide about the history of Nanjing (formerly Nanking), a "medium-sized" city of three million residents. The place is infamous for Japan’s invasion in 1937, when the Japanese army overran the area, including the city, burning, pillaging, murdering, and raping in what has become known collectively as the "Rape of Nanking." Altogether, some 300,000 people died in the carnage.

When we arrived at the tomb site, we disembarked and marched up the incredibly long procession of steps and plazas to see the burial place of China's first president. The architecture and presentation was vaguely reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial, in an odd way.

Afterward, we returned to the city and explored at length the Confucius Temple area of Nanjing, exploring the Quing Dynasty style bazaar with almost unlimited shops and stalls. It was an amazing sight to behold.

This afternoon I participated in an astronomical roundtable with the other lecturers aboard the Victoria Prince, who included Talcott, SETI Institute astronomers Frank Drake and Seth Shostak, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Executive Director Jim Manning, and astroimager Dennis Mammana. We responded to many questions about life in the universe and how Astronomy magazine works, as well as this week's impact observed in the cloudtops of Jupiter. It was a most enjoyable session.

This evening we have our farewell dinner and then ready to set sail for the States! This is over and out from the 2009 China Eclipse Trip, and I'll look forward to blogging again from our offices in Waukesha.

Follow Astronomy Senior Editor Michael Bakich at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag) as he continues his tours of China.

Previous post: We soak in the spectacular scenery of Yellow Mountain 

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: We soak in the spectacular scenery of Yellow Mountain

David Eicher — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Today our group of travelers left our ship, climbed aboard buses, and made a 2.5-hour journey from our dock to Huang Shan, Yellow Mountain, a national treasure of China. Although the weather was hardly favorable, with rain coming down strongly or sometimes partial clearing and fog and haze rolling by, we journeyed toward our destination through charming little towns, villages, and cities. The pastoral countryside was amazing in that every farmhouse in every land seemed to have crops of all types from rice to melons to corn to beans planted in a willy-nilly way to fill up nearly every square inch of ground. With mostly new roads traversed by cars, carts pulled by bicycles, and motorbikes, the mountains looming behind came closer and closer as we sped along.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

When we reached Yellow Mountain, the air of the place was like a national park in the United States. We climbed up many steps and, after eating a fine lunch at a fancy hotel, boarded a huge cable car that could accommodate dozens at a time for a 20-minute journey incredibly high up in their air. We passed over six supporting columns, the car falling down and swaying after it reached each post, before coming to the end of our journey. The views were magnificent — Disney has nothing on this ride. That was just the beginning.

Our group spent about 2 hours hiking along high and perilous overlooks, viewing spectacular mountain panoramas with waterfalls, diverse green trees, birds flitting around, and spectacular rock outcrops. We were told that among the native animals are abundant monkeys, but we didn't see any and suspect they are mostly out at night.

In any case, it was a magnificent day, and we just returned to the ship to await dinner. Our Friday was splendid, and we carry on again tomorrow.

Follow Astronomy editors Dave Eicher and Michael Bakich as they continue their tours of China at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag)

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