Dave's Universe - Astronomy Magazine - Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes

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Brian May Queen “One Vision” Contest winners announced

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Congratulations to Marvin Long of Austin, Texas, and Philip Knight of Wolverhampton, England, for winning the “One Vision” Contest! Marvin and Philip each will receive a set of Brian May’s London Stereoscopic Company’s astronomical stereo cards along with an OWL viewer, signed by Brian! The magazine received an enormous response from the article I wrote in the January issue, “Brian May’s world of stereo astro pictures,” and the accompanying co...

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Beautiful waxing crescent Moon closes out year

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Ohio astroimager John Chumack captured a delicate waxing crescent Moon from his observatory in Dayton, Ohio, on Thursday, December 29, 2011. He used a 10-inch Meade SCT, an f/6.3 focal reducer, a Canon Rebel Xsi camera set at ISO 400, and a 1/60-second exposure. What a pretty way to ring in the new year and remember the last days of the old year! Happy New Year!...

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Stunning image of the Orion Nebula’s core

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Ohio astroimager John Chumack has done it again — he leaves us with a New Year’s image of the Orion Nebula (M42) that has been carefully processed to show amazing detail in the core. John shot this through his 10-inch scope in Dayton, Ohio, and combined this data with imagery from his 16-inch scope in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The images were combined and layered in Photoshop. The camera used was a modified Canon Rebel Xsi (Baader filter) at ISO 400, with dark frames subtracted. The tot...

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Killer Sun image shows prominences, filaments, sunspots!

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

As a reader of this blog, you’ve seen many cool images shot by astroimager John Chumack. Here is yet another — a fabulous Sun image John captured December 11, 2011, showing a full range of solar activity, prominences, filaments, plage, and sunspots all in one picture! John used a Lunt Solar LS60 scope with an LS50 Hydrogen-alpha filter, a DMK 31AF04 Firewire CCD camera, an exposure of 1/483-second for surface details, 1/30-second exposures for prominences, and stacked 4,616 frames fo...

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Brandon Doyle sketches starburst galaxy M82

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Sixteen-year-old Brandon Doyle of Albion, New York, loves sketching deep-sky objects at the telescope. Brandon’s latest drawing, made with his 10-inch Dobsonian at 200x, shows the famous galaxy M82 in Ursa Major. M82, sometimes called the Cigar Galaxy, is a starburst galaxy with a central black hole and oodles of star formation occurring along the galaxy’s hub, which is oriented edge-on to our line of sight. Enjoy!...

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Spectacular International Space Station view of Comet Lovejoy

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

As many of you know, Comet 2011/W3 (Lovejoy), a sungrazer that miraculously survived its encounter with the Sun’s corona December 15, is putting on a nice show in the Southern Hemisphere. The comet is showing a long tail that stretches 10° and glows at magnitude 4, having peaked as it rose above the horizon in the south at magnitude –1. Southern Hemisphere observers have had some brief, incredible views of the comet, and International Space Station Commander Dan Burbank phot...

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Final warning on Brian May’s Queen “One Vision” Contest!

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

The contest we have been running along with the story on Brian May’s astronomical stereo photos in the January 2012 issue is almost over! Read the story and check out the Queen song “39” by Brian in order to enter our contest, which ends December 31! You may win a set of stereo astro cards and a stereo viewer autographed by Brian!Be sure to check out Brian’s London Stereoscopic Company website (www.londonstereo.com) for info on how to order these cards and for information...

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Cool shot of Orion by Sheldon Reynolds

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Lots of Astronomy readers know about one of our great friends and contributors, Sheldon Reynolds, who is a legendary guitarist and former member of Earth, Wind, & Fire and The Commodores. Sheldon loves astronomy — he recently sponsored a contest in which he gave away several signed copies of his very cool CD, Feel Good, and he wrote an accompanying essay on the Moon, “The wonder of our nearest neighbor.” For more on the contest, see www.Astronomy.com/FeelGood. Sh...

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Comet Lovejoy plunges toward the Sun — and survives!

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Yesterday, recently found Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) survived its plunge into the Sun’s corona after passing a mere 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) from our star’s photosphere — an incredibly close encounter. This Kreutz sungrazer was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on November 27, 2011, and was immediately given up for dead, as nearly all such sungrazers are pulled into our star. Oddly, the comet had a little detached mini comet riding alongside...

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Ever seen a LEGO Freddie Mercury?

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

OK, here’s something fun, light, and kooky for a Thursday, pointed out to me by Astronomy’s Senior Graphic Designer Alison Mackey. The website BuzzFeed recently featured a LEGO Freddie Mercury, complete with the half mic stand that was Freddie’s trademark stage prop. This is way cool — now can someone out there build a LEGO Brian May so that we can show it to Astronomy’s Editorial Advisory Board member? To see more of LEGO Freddie, check out: http://w...

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Amateur astronomer investigates a galaxy’s tidal stream

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Frequent Astronomy magazine contributor R. Jay GaBany, who operates the Blackbird II Observatory near Alder Springs, California, recently participated in a study of the dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 and its attendant tidal stream. He is working with several professional astronomers on the project. Here is the story of this project from GaBany’s website:“We have mapped and analyzed a stellar stream in the halo of the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449, detecting it in deep inte...

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Bright Geminids light up the sky!

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Astroimager John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, has done it again. Check out this image John captured with his southern sky video camera December 10 with the near-Full Moon hanging in the sky. It’s a great image with Orion in plain view, the Moon shining brightly, and bright Geminids streaking past the stars! Says John: “Despite the bright Moon, I turned on all my sky cameras and captured several dozen bright Geminid meteors. Dress warmly and get out there to see some of these, folks! Moon...

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Breathtaking view of the eclipse from Hawaii

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Astronomy Contributing Editor Stephen James O’Meara sent along this spectacular view of Saturday’s lunar eclipse as he imaged it from his home on the Big Island of Hawaii. Steve and his wife, Donna, who are, in addition to expert astronomy enthusiasts, also specialists in studying volcanoes, captured this superb image of totality. As Steve writes, “It was a bright and beautiful eclipse, coppery red. We had so much rain lately that I was really holding my breath. But the clouds ...

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Brandon Doyle captures Seyfert galaxy M77

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Sixteen-year-old observer Brandon Doyle of Albion, New York, is an enthusiastic sketcher at the eyepiece. For ample evidence of this, see his story, “How to sketch deep-sky objects,” in the January 2012 issue of Astronomy. In that story, you’ll find 16 of Brandon’s sketches made with his 10-inch Dobsonian reflector. However, not all of his great drawings made it into the story. For example, see the attached sketch of the Seyfert galaxy M77 made with his 10-inch...

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Killer Jupiter photo by Don Parker

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

As you probably know, Jupiter has been a prominent part of our evening sky over the past few months, reaching opposition — opposite the Sun in the sky and consequently at its brightest — October 28. The planet still dazzles at magnitude –2.7 as it floats among the stars of Pisces. Don Parker of Coral Gables, Florida, has for years been the reigning champion of photographing planets. Just as Aaron Rodgers is playing quarterback on another level, so are Don’s pic...

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Cool 3-D movie of the Andromeda Galaxy

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Astroimager John Bunyan of Grants Pass, Oregon, sent along this very cool movie he made of the Andromeda Galaxy on 3-D approach. He shot the underlying image of M31 at this year’s Oregon Star Party and then played around with it a bit in Photoshop to create the 3-D zoom-in sequence. Very cool, John! ...

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David H. Levy’s observing logbooks now online

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Astronomy Contributing Editor David H. Levy has had a long and storied career as an astronomy popularizer. Co-discoverer of the famous Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that slammed into Jupiter in 1994, David has been active in observing since the late 1950s. He is the discoverer or co-discoverer of 22 comets and more than 150 asteroids, and he is the first person ever to have discovered comets visually, photographically, and by electronic means. A longtime member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Can...

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Brandon Doyle sketches heart of the Orion Nebula

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Sixteen-year-old observer Brandon Doyle of Albion, New York, is an enthusiastic sketcher at the eyepiece. For ample evidence of this, see his story, “How to sketch deep-sky objects,” in the January 2012 issue of Astronomy. In that story you’ll find 16 of Brandon’s sketches made with his 10-inch Dobsonian reflector. However, not all of his great drawings made it into the story. For example, see the attached sketch of the heart of the Orion Nebula (M42) made with his 1...

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See a monster prominence seven times bigger than Earth

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

Our friend and astroimager John Chumack regularly takes pictures of the Sun from his observatory near Yellow Springs, Ohio (practically my old home stomping grounds!). On Wednesday, November 30, John captured this mega prominence during lunchtime, and reported yesterday the prominence was still visible. With activity on the Sun increasing, it makes for many beautiful opportunities to watch and photograph such phenomena. John used a 60mm Lunt Hydrogen-alpha solar scope, 2x Barlow lens, a DMK...

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Big funding trouble for NOAO

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

The current issue of NOAO Currents, the online newsletter of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, contains a dire budget projection for the organization’s future. NOAO operates three major observatory complexes that are at the heart of a vast portion of major astronomy research — Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the NOAO Gemini Science Center. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AU...

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NASA saves the Webb space scope

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

An enormous process of politics and money unfolded over much of the year, with NASA’s planned James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, hanging in the balance. With money tight everywhere and Congress disputing the value of funding science, it appeared for some time during the summer that the next-generation space scope might be ingloriously axed. And then you made your voices heard, contacted representatives, senators, and the White House, and in late...

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Killer shot of the Andromeda Galaxy

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

You wanna see a remarkable image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in a way you’ve never seen it before? Check out Texas astroimager Jason Ware’s shot, which combines data from his 12-inch Meade Schmidt Camera and that of the blue plate of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey II. (Note that Jason obtained permission from Caltech to do this.) He also included data from a shot of the galaxy’s core taken with his Meade 12-inch ACF 400 scope, and the result is simply amazing. Check it ou...

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Brian May's Queen “One Vision” month at Astronomy is here!

Posted 12 years ago by David Eicher

• Bone up on your Queen knowledge for a chance to win autographed items from Brian May• “One Vision” contest opens November 28 and runs until December 31• Read the story “Brian May’s world of stereo astro pictures” in the January 2012 Astronomy• Watch Editor Dave Eicher’s all-time top Queen songs (online subscriber extra)• And don’t miss May’s story about space exploration in the February 2012 Astronomy Man...

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Brian May presents Queen “One Vision” month at Astronomy magazine! And a little bit about “A Kind of Magic.”

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

• Bone up on your Queen knowledge for a chance to win autographed items from Brian May• “One Vision” contest opens November 28 and runs until December 31• Read the story “Brian May’s world of stereo astro pictures” in the January 2012 Astronomy• Watch Editor Dave Eicher’s all-time top Queen songs (online subscriber extra)• And don’t miss May’s story about space exploration in the February 2012 Astronomy We...

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Brian May presents Queen “One Vision” month at Astronomy magazine! And 21 minutes at Live Aid that changed music forever . . .

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

• Bone up on your Queen knowledge for a chance to win autographed items from Brian May• “One Vision” contest opens November 28 and runs until December 31• Read the story “Brian May’s world of stereo astro pictures” in the January 2012 Astronomy• Watch Editor Dave Eicher’s all-time top Queen songs (online subscriber extra)• And don’t miss May’s story about space exploration in the February 2012 Astronomy Welc...

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Guest blog: "Sharing the universe — why astronomy outreach matters," by Benjamin Palmer

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Yesterday would have been Carl Sagan’s 77th birthday. It seems unreal to those of us who were privileged to know him that he has been gone for 15 years. In the spirit of what Carl would like most, here is a great essay about sharing astronomy from our young friend Benjamin Palmer of Queensbury, New York. Benjamin won this year’s Youth Essay Contest, which netted him a trip to the Northeast Astronomy Forum, and also is the Youth Committee Chair for the Astronomy Foundation. Enjoy. &l...

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Cool movie of the asteroid that almost hit us

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

You no doubt heard much yesterday about the passage of near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55, which came within 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) of our planet last night. The asteroid was relatively small, about the size of an aircraft carrier, but would have made for some fun and games if it had struck the planet. The fact that it passed 0.85 times as close as the Moon was close enough. In any case, we are temporarily safe once again from space rocks — if only for a time —and...

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NOW is the time to contact Congress to support astronomy!

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

As someone who cares about science, and astronomy in particular, it’s critical that you take action now to demonstrate to the U.S. Congress your support of future astronomy. I want to share a letter from several distinguished astronomers — Debra Elmegreen, Kevin Marvel, Jack Burns, and Bethany Johns of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) — reporting on the urgent need to support astronomical funding. Please read this and contact your senators and representatives. The t...

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Brian May presents Queen “One Vision” month at Astronomy magazine!

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

• Bone up on your Queen knowledge for a chance to win autographed items from Brian May• “One Vision” contest opens November 28 and runs until December 31• Read the story “Brian May’s world of stereo astro pictures” in the January 2012 Astronomy• Watch Editor Dave Eicher’s all-time top Queen songs (online subscriber extra)• And don’t miss May’s story about space exploration in the February 2012 Astronomy Welcome ...

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On the road: Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, Days 9-10

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Last Saturday, October 29, the group of Astronomy magazine readers I was traveling with reached Munich, Germany, after spending the previous week in Stuttgart, Prague, and Vienna. We had been tracing the footsteps of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Carl Zeiss, and having a good time with the history of astronomy and lots of European restaurants. Now it was time to make our way back to Germany, and the generally cloudy and cool weather we had experienced broke wide open into blue skies and suns...

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