Astronomy Club of Asheville, NC

June - 2003

"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of science. He who knows it not and can no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead" (Albert Einstein)

MOON:
New Moon: May 31 & June 29

STAR GAZE: (June 27):
Sun: sets at 8:48pm
Moon: (illuminated 3%) sets at 7:17pm on the night of the Gaze. (Per Megastar)
Jupiter & it's moons: Jupiter sets at 11:23pm. Moon activity: Jupiter is so low in the west by the end of June, catch it as early in the night as possible. It is 30 degrees above the horizon at sunset. Try to catch Io & its shadow as soon as darkness allows: (1) Io egresses from transit at 9:27pm, followed by its shadow at 10:19pm. The Great Red Spot (GRS) is not visible tonight.

(Note: if the gaze is postponed until Saturday night due to clouds, the GRS will be visible as soon as darkness allows, but quickly rotates out of view..

You need only about a 6" reflector to see transits! Begin to look for a Jovian moon in transit about 30 minutes before it leaves Jupiter's disk, or just as begins to cross in front of Jupiter's disk. Once the moon gets more towards the middle of Jupiter's disk, the tiny, sharp, white disk of the moon is much more difficult to detect. In contrast to this, the shadow of the moon is visible all the way across Jupiter's disk. This is because of the greater contrast between the dark shadow and the bright disk of Jupiter.

PLANETS:
Mercury: Low in the east just before sunrise. Within 1/2 degree of Venus on the 21st.

Venus: Low in the east just before sunrise.

Mars: Quite small, about 11" diameter. Increases from magnitude 0.0 to -0.6 this month. (The red planet is getting ready for it's late-August extravaganza: the closest approach to Earth in the last 2000 years! Unfortunately, since Mars is south of the ecliptic, it will be only about 40 degrees above the southern horizon when it crosses the meridian each night, so Earth's atmosphere will blur the image a bit here at 35.5 degrees north. To get Mars higher in the sky for a sharper view, I recommend a quick trip to southern Florida in August. Be sure our rooms are air conditioned!)

Saturn: Only 13 degrees above the horizon at sunset on June 1st, so too low to observe for several months.

Jupiter: Dominates the sky, bright (mag -1.9) & 49 degrees altitude in the west at nightfall. Getting dimmer and sets early. Catch it early in the night, early in the month.

Asteroids: Vesta (in Virgo) is mag 7.0 when June arrives, and is at mag 7.4 the end of June. You'll need binoculars to see it, even at the beginning of the month. Vesta is the second largest asteroid (530 km) this side of the Kuiper Belt, but is by far the brightest due to it's 42% albedo (reflectance). Ceres is the largest (933 km), but has an albedo of only 11% and reaches only mag 7. See April S&T, p102 for a finder chart.

DEEP SKY OBJECTS (DSO's): (Not the biggest or best, but interesting)
3C273: The most distant object visible thru many amateur scopes: a quasar "near" to earth, and appears brighter than all others. It is about 2.5 billion light years away and has the brightness of 6,000,000,000,000 suns. Appears stellar thru an amateur scope. As you sit at the scope contemplate that the photons striking your retina and stimulating the electric charge to your brain have been traveling thru space for billions of years. Only the "lucky" photons have not struck a particle of dust or been absorbed by a molecule of hydrogen. Burnham's Celestial Atlas has a finder chart on page 2101. Magnitude 12.8. Catch it early in the night while it's still high. (Location: 12hr 29m 06.8s RA +02deg 03' 07" Dec, in Virgo)

Zeta Ursae Majoris (Double stars): The two stars in the crook of the Big Dipper's handle are Mizar & Alcor. They can be seperated without using optical aid. These two stars share a common path thru space, but may not be in orbit around each other. Put a telescope to the brighter of the two, Mizar, and a double star is revealed: 14" separation; Magnitudes 2.3 & 4.0. The "secondary" star takes about 1,000 years to complete it's orbit around the "primary". Their distance from Earth is 70 light years & true separation is 200 a.u. (5x that of our sun and Pluto). (Location: 13h 23.9m R.A. 54 deg 56' Dec)

HIGHLIGHTS:
June 21: Longest day of the year (and to our consternation, the shortest night).

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THE BIG PICTURE: Each chart below covers a very wide area of sky, roughly from eastern horizon to western horizon. Constellations are green stick figures. The dividing line between constellations are dashed blue lines. The purpose is to show the large scale structure of the night sky: why certain types of objects are visible in certain areas of the sky.

1. Above: 6 hr R.A. (passes overhead on winter evenings; not visible in June): OPEN CLUSTERS in the sky north to south (Auriga to Pupis). Open Clusters are generally within the arms of the galaxy and are roughly co-located with the Milky Way. They are plotted as tan circles above. You are looking away from the center of the galaxy. (Note: all types of objects are labeled, not just open clusters.)

2. Above: 12 hr R.A. (passes overhead on spring evenings; low in the west just after dark in June): GALAXIES in the sky north to south (Ursa Major to Virgo). They are plotted as blue ovals in the chart above. At 9:00pm during mid-June, the Milky Way is rising in the east. Just to the west of the zenith is the North Galactic Pole, in the constellation Coma Berenices. In southwest Coma Berenices happens to be the heart of the Local Supercluster of galaxies. Many of these galaxies are visible in medium-sized telescopes.

3. Above: 18 hr R.A. (passes overhead on summer evenings; overhead at midnight in mid June): GLOBULAR CLUSTERS (yellow cross inside a circle) & PLANETARY NEBULAE (blue circle in a cross) in the sky north to south (Cygnus to Sagittarius). The lower-middle of this chart is towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Charts created using Megastar
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CLUB STARGAZE:
The June stargaze is Friday, June 27, 2003. You can check the Yahoo group for AstroAsheville (or call Tim Barnwell @ 251-0040 or John Chappell @ 251-1933 x17 (before 5:00) or 667-9268 (after 5:00)) for a go/no-go decision and to verify location.

Blue Ridge Parkway Information Line is 828-298-0398 and go to Road Conditions on the menu.

CLUB MEETING:
The club meeting is the first Thursday of every month, at 6 p.m. at Sim’s Group located at 230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.

Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm!

(Much of the above info derived from Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines, Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Megastar 5.0, Planets202, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little (very little) common sense.)
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Archived Monthly Sky 2002: Feb Mar Apr May June July Oct Nov Dec
Archived Monthly Sky 2003: Mar Apr May