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Astronomy contributing editor attends White House star party

Matt Quandt — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:53:00 GMT

Special guest blog from Contributing Editor Martin Ratcliffe

President Barack Obama and his family joined 150 school children, dozens of amateur astronomers, professional scientists, and education and public outreach professionals Wednesday night during the Star Party at the White House. And how cool was this? “Cool” doesn’t even come close. I was lucky to be a part of the exciting events running one of the planetarium domes set up on the South Lawn of the White House.

Thirty of us spent most of the day setting up for the 2-hour evening event. And weather cooperated except for some strong winds during the daytime. A more perfect night could not have been achieved, with crystal clear skies of the nation’s capital.

Crater impact experiments and samples of Moon rock provided great activities to highlight today’s LCROSS impact on the Moon. Many telescopes ranging from 2 to 18 inches were available. Dr. Stephen Pompea demonstrated the 2-inch Galileoscope, and he showed me a great view of Jupiter’s moons. Dean Koenig of the Starizona company brought his amazing f/2 Fastar imaging system, which showed one group of children a quick image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) right after they had seen M31 in my planetarium dome. The teacher had asked if they could see M31 directly, and I suggested they visit the Fastar scope and ask for a CCD image, and they saw it in all its glorious detail.

This unique night included special guests such as astronaut John Grunsfeld (Hubble servicing mission), Sally Ride (first American woman in space), Buzz Aldrin (second man on the Moon), and Charlie Bolden (NASA administrator, who helped launch Hubble from the cargo bay of the space shuttle).

White House staffers said presidents are not known to spend much time at events on the South Lawn. The Obamas spent more than an hour at the event, and the family showed a great deal of interest. They looked through telescopes at Jupiter and the Moon, and after his formal remarks, the president and first lady viewed the famous Double-Double in Lyra. As readers of Astronomy magazine know well, these objects are star party favorites.

Two planetarium domes were there, one supplied by Sky-Skan, Inc., a major digital planetarium supplier, and a second from Goddard Space Flight Center. The Obama family, daughters included, climbed into the Sky-Skan dome along with 25 school children, and they spent 10 minutes flying around the solar system and asked interesting questions. With two girls of my own, I know how important it is to expose your kids to science, and astronomy is a great way to do it. It was a great privilege to present the planetarium show for the president’s family, huddled as we were inside the 25-foot diameter dome.

Providing a cosmic perspective to young children is fun, engaging, and important, and bringing astronomy to the nation’s attention for a brief moment Wednesday night was the highlight of nearly 6 months of behind-the-scenes work by NASA educators, who, following encouragement from IYA organizers and many individuals to host a star party at the White House, were called in by the White House to plan the event.

Martin Ratcliffe, in addition to being a contributing editor to Astronomy magazine, is also Director of Professional Development for Sky-Skan.

New video: Observe the Moon with a small telescope

Michael Bakich — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:55:00 GMT

What's the best time to look at the Moon? What equipment do you need? What features should you target? Astronomy magazine's latest video about observing the Moon with a small telescope answers those questions and more. Along the way, you also will learn a few techniques that will help you become a better lunar observer.

This video is available to magazine subscribers.

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

August 28-September 4, 2009: Thuban, the Hercules Cluster, and the Veil Nebula

Michael Bakich — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Each week, Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich, a master at explaining how to observe, posts a podcast about three objects or events you can see in the sky.

In each episode, Michael highlights:

One object you can see without any optical aid
One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope
One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope

Targets for August 28-September 4, 2009

Binoculars:

Small telescope:

8-inch or larger telescope:

The weekly observing podcast is available to registered members of Astronomy.com. The podcast remains FREE, so please register with the site to make sure you don't miss an episode!

Listen to this week's podcast.

This week's podcast is brought to you by Celestron — one of the world's leading designer and manufacturer of high-quality optical equipment. Learn more about Celestron and their products at www.Celestron.com.

See a rotation movie of the new Jupiter impact site

Karri Ferron — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:20:00 GMT

Astronomy contributor John Chumack was finally able to capture the Jupiter impact site with his 10-inch telescope from his backyard in Dayton, Ohio. And he was nice enough to share an image and a Jupiter rotation movie with us. Below is how he put the video together:

There was an incredible amount of work that went into this movie. I captured more than 51,820 useable frames, and each full color RGB set had at least 3,900 frames.

Running through all the separate RGB channels through Registax was an all-day and all-night affair, but now I have a piece of Jupiter history in movie format, plus many very nice still images of the impact site.

I captured images starting about 2 a.m. and ran until 4:30 a.m. EST July 28 — basically 2.5 hours of rotation compressed into about 10 seconds — from my backyard observatory in Dayton, Ohio, using a DMK 21F04 Firewire camera, 2x Barlow lens, and Optec filter wheel attached to a Meade 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

I used IC Capture software, VirtualDub, Maxim DL, and Adobe for processing and Windows movie maker for the WMV file.

The impact mark is now spreading out. It is at least 3 times the size it was at discovery, and it appears darker and easier to see.

Get out your small scopes to witness a piece of history by getting a peek at the impact mark before it’s gone.

Astronomy contributor images new Jupiter impact site

Karri Ferron — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:52:00 GMT

Astronomy magazine contributor and longtime imager John Chumack had some luck spotting the new Jupiter impact site from his home in Dayton, Ohio, July 24, and he was nice enough to share his account with us:

Even though the seeing sucked, and the sky was full of thick haze, I was able to capture the impact mark on Jupiter.

I shot these images with my ToUcam PRO II webcam attached to my 6-inch f/8 cave reflector from my front driveway last night.

Unfortunately, the neighbors’ trees block my view from my backyard 10-inch scope, with little time to capture it between about 11 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., so I dug out a small portable 6-inch scope to shoot it from my front yard.

I Stacked 643 frames out of 1800 in Registax. North is up in the images.

You can see the Great Red Spot (GRS) on the right edge of the first image (above) and the Little Red Spot (LRS) on the second image (to the right), just above the dark impact mark. Surprisingly, it is very noticeable in small telescopes.

I’ll have to try again with my DMK Firewire camera and a bigger scope when the sky is clearer and more stable!

Thanks, John!

Have you spotted or imaged the impact site? Vote in the poll on our home page and share your stories below.

Photos credit: John Chumack

Send us your astronomy questions

Liz Kruesi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:05:00 GMT

Perplexed by planets? Confused by cosmology? Baffled by black holes? Then send in your questions to Astronomy magazine at askastro@astronomy.com.

If you have an astronomy question about observing, the planets, stars, cosmology, or astronomy history, send it in! Five are selected each month for publication in the Ask Astro section of Astronomy magazine. If your question is selected, we will forward it to an expert for his or her response. Then, the question and answer will appear together in a future issue. We may edit or revise your question for clarity.

We aren’t always able to respond to questions individually. But please keep the questions coming — they help us to learn what our readers are interested in, and what topics we should consider for future coverage in the magazine.

June 26-July 3, 2009: The Keystone, globular cluster M10, reflection nebula NGC 6726

Michael Bakich — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:18:00 GMT

Each week, Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich, a master at explaining how to observe, posts a podcast about three objects or events you can see in the sky.

In each episode, Michael highlights:

One object you can see without any optical aid
One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope
One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope

Targets for June 26-July 3, 2009

Naked eye:

Small telescope:

8-inch or larger telescope:

The weekly observing podcast is available to registered members of Astronomy.com. The podcast remains FREE, so please register with the site to make sure you don't miss an episode!

Listen to this week's podcast.

June 5-12, 2009: Variable star R Coronae Borealis, open cluster NGC 6124, and globular cluster NGC 6144

Michael Bakich — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:57:00 GMT

Each week, Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich, a master at explaining how to observe, posts a podcast about three objects or events you can see in the sky. In each episode, Michael highlights:

One object you can see without any optical aid
One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope
One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope

Targets for June 5-12, 2009
Naked eye: Variable star R Coronae Borealis
Small telescope: Open cluster NGC 6124
8-inch or larger telescope: Globular cluster NGC 6144

Starting June 4, the weekly observing podcast is available to registered members of Astronomy.com. The podcast remains FREE, so please register with the site to make sure you don't miss an episode!

Listen to podcast.