MARCH 2013

VOL.4I, NO.3

Active galaxies such as NGC 1275 in

Perseus may be the sources of the
highest-energy cosmic rays.

FEATURES COLUMNS
Strange Universe 11
22 38 56
BOB BERMAN
How astronomers know StarDome and A day with two dawns Ilt
Observing Basics 1 4
the universe's age Ilt Path of the Planets Perfect weather on eclipse morn
GLENN CHAPLE
A fteT decades of analyzing stars Two all-sky star maps, solar ing brought stunning views of

and the cosmic expansion rate, system charts, and lots of other the solar corona, prominences, Secret Sky 18
scientists nailed down the age of data summarize what to observe and two diamond rings, but it STEPHEN JAMES O'MEARA

this month. RICHARD TALCOTT; was just one highlight of our

the universe - simply by listen (osmic Imaging 66
ing. LIZ KRUESI ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY trips across Australia. TONY HALLAS
MICHAEL E. BAKICH AND
Astro Sketching 68
28 COVER STORY 44 RICHARD TALCOTT
ERIKA RIX
A new eye on the violent China's race to study
universe Ilt the cosmos I!t 60
As this eastern nation grows Get ready for Comet QUANTUM GRAVITY
An observatory the size of Rhode
prosperous, a renewed focus on PANSTARRS Snapshot 9
Island seeks to understand the
most energetic particles in the science moves it closer to the The brightest comet of the past Breakthrough 10
forefront of research. ERIC PENG six years will stand out in the
universe. YVETIE CENDES Astro News 12
evening sky. MICHAEL E. BAKICH

50
34
Explore spring's best 64
IN EVERY ISSUE
Ask Astro
Stellarvue's 6.3-inch From the Editor 6
Saturn's weird hexagon. deep-sky objects
Whether you own a small or refractor field-tested letters 11, 18,66
large telescope, you'll experience Superb optics and a top-notch Web Talk 20
36
some terrific celestial treats. focuser place this apochromat
The Sky this Month New Products 67
MICHAEL E. BAKICH high on any observer's want list.
Comet fever strikes.
JON TALBOT Advertiser Index 71
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND
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ALISTER LING
Final Frontier 74

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FROM THE EDITOR
BY DAVID J. EICHER
lease join me in con
P
gratulating and wel
coming Sarah Scoles as
Astronomy's newest
associate editor. Scoles
comes to us from Green Bank,
West Virginia, where she has
been a public education spe
cialist with the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO).
There, she worked with
students and teachers to help
bring astronomy and scientific
inquiry to the classroom.
Much of her ability to discuss
complex topics in a straight
forward and engaging manner
comes from working with
kids: After all, when sixth
graders are the ones taking
radio-telescope observations
of neutral hydrogen, you can't
use too much jargon.
In addition to her job at
NRAO, Scoles has also com
pleted projects at Arecibo
Observatory (where she
learned to make 3-D models
of near-Earth asteroids and to
Sarah Scoles. JIM FORBES
6 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
Welcome
Sarah,
farewell Bill
scuba dive) and the Harvard
Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (where she stud
ied X-ray binary systems).
Scoles has a long-standing
interest in astronomy. Her
upbringing in Geneva, Flor
ida, first stirred her interest in
the subject, for there she felt
the vibrations of rocket
launches about 50 miles away
at Kennedy Space Center.
She checked out many
books about black holes,
astronauts, and time travel
from the local library.
Inspired by Carl Sagan's
novel, Contact, and Jodie Fos
ter's great performance in the
movie version, Scoles found
herself drawn increasingly to
radio astronomy.
She pursued the subject
professionally, earning a
degree in astrophysics from
Agnes Scott College, near
Atlanta, and an MFA in cre
ative writing from Cornell
University. Scoles' ability to
explain technical subjects in
Bill Andrews. Blllzuem
understandable ways is
evident at the science blog
she co-founded and contrib
utes to: Smaller Questions, at
www. smallerquestions.org.
There, she writes about peer
reviewed research.
Scoles says her interests
include "trail running with
my emotive dog, reading and
writing short stories, travel
ing to places that have large
rock formations, and
researching catastrophic
weather phenomena:'
Please join me in welcom
ing Scoles to Astronomy.
Alas, we found Scoles
because another staff mem
ber, Bill Andrews, left us.
After three marvelous years
on Astronomy, Andrews is
moving across the hall to our
sister title, Discover, the gen
eral science magazine. The
staff has enjoyed working
with Andrews, and we'll miss
his humor and clever writing,
particularly with the science
feature stories and news he
kept busy with. But our loss
will be a gain for Discover,
and I'm sure you read and
enjoy both magazines - or
you should.
Yours truly,
(:leo
David J. Eicher
Editor
Astronomy
Editor David J. Eicher
Art Director luAnn Williams Belter
EDITORIAL STAFF
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 -

. QUANTUM
GRAVITY

STRANGEUNIVERSE FROM OUR INBOX

BY BOB BERMAN
The case for Pluto's satellite
As a fan of Pluto, I hasten to pOint out an omission in the "Gath

Who are we?

We may all be different, but we each get
something from the wonders of the universe.
aspects like wormholes and
ering moons" image in the November 2012 Ask Astro. Charon,
the distant world's largest moon, should have been included in
the collage of major moons. It is larger than several satellites
in the picture: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, and Miranda. Some
astronomers may not consider Pluto a full-fledged planet any
more, but Charon is still a large moon in the solar system.
- Lawrence Silverman, Plymouth, Massachusetts

W
hat does the
word astrono
mer mean?
When the
topic is "peo
ple contemplating the universe;'
we fall into distinct categories.
Which of them are you?
The professionals. This
includes everyone who makes at
least half of his or her living
from astronomy. Some teach
college. Others do research. The
latter have specialties like
astrometry that occupy most of
their attention.
The telescope makers and
gadgeteers. This breed once
made up a large proportion of
astronomy hobbyists. They
grind mirrors, build fantastic
telescopes, and haul them to
star parties. They are hands-on
and innovative. Many are first
adopters of new technology.
They enjoy looking at telescopes
as much as through them.
The amateur specialists.
These include variable-star
observers, satellite trackers, and
comet hunters. They produce
sCientifically useful data.
The backyard amateurs.
These people think astronomy
is cool. Many of them know a
lot. They enjoy reading about
science. Some own telescopes.
The beginners. Members of
this group can be any age and
just awakened to astronomy.
They don't know much yet but
find everything exciting.
The photographers. These
artists create and share astro
photography techniques. Theirs
is a vast kingdom of skill and
patience. The rest of us sit back
and enjoy what they do.
The sci-fi crowd. These folks
mostly care about hypothetical
tachyons. They never tire of
doors into other dimensions and
folded space. They mainly focus
on astronomy that pertains to
such possibilities.
Space travel advocates.
These romantics, who include
members of The Planetary
Society, want to colonize other
worlds. They primarily concen
trate on Mars, asteroids, and
jovian moons, and they actively
push for NASA funding.
The nuts and visionaries.
Every science magazine gets
letters "disproving" relativity or
offering a "theory of every
thing:' Some are absolutely bril
liant. Others are from people
who believe an imminent aster
oid collision will destroy Earth
and NASA is covering it up. The
correspondence sometimes
includes detailed math and
WHICH OF THESE CATEGORIES ARE YOU?
physics. These folks are con
vinced they've found something
no one else knows. A few may
even be right.
The prisoners. Some
inmates develop a deep interest
in astronomy. They read all they
can about the subject and often
write Astronomy magazine
interesting letters. Alas, their
skies are always light-polluted.
The cosmology zealots.
Their obsessions are the "Big
Picture" and the farthest -out
models. Throw them a "collid
ing branes" or "multiverses"
hypothesiS, and they'll lap it up.
They are cerebral, speculative,
and open-minded. They value
original thinking and novel
possibilities over hard data.
While I agree that Charon is a fairly large moon itl the solar system,
both the question and answer related to the moons of the ''planets.''
Pluto's current "dwarf plmlet" status meant it didrl't make the cut.
- Liz Kruesi, Associate Editor
The spouses. They get
dragged to star parties, astron
omy tours, and public talks -
and sort of enjoy them.
The navigators. Mostly
pilots and yachtsmen, they
focus on the night sky because
they enjoy the ancient art of
hands-on celestial navigation.
The people who don't
have a clue. Like my Aunt Shir
ley. This is the vast majority of
the world. This isn't a put-down;
folks have different interests.
Still, it's a fact that 99 percent of
the population cannot name the
brightest star, the closest planet,
or the universe's most common
element. The cosmos just
doesn't interest them.
There's very little crossover.
You might belong to more than
one group but rarely, say, five.
For example, many of you prob
ably would go out of your way to
see a total solar eclipse or an
auroral display. Yet a top British
solar researcher I know has never
bothered seeing an eclipse. For
many professionals, actual sky
spectacles have a low priority.
Astrophysicists are skeptics
(properly so) and usually shrug
off speculative theories, espe
cially those claiming to overturn
established models. Unlike
many hobbyists, they are com
fortable with calculus and com
plex statistical analyses.
Another dichotomy: Many
amateurs and some profession
als are knowledgeably at home
under the stars, but, in my expe
rience, most researchers don't
know the actual night sky at all.
They really don't care how to
find the place in the sky where
the galaxy they're studying lies.
As for cosmologists and theo
reticians, they're model-oriented.
In their world, paradigms some
times merrily shift. In sharp con
trast, planetary scientists never
feel the slightest impulse to cre
ate imaginary dimensions to
make stuff work. Planetary sci
ence is totally down-to-earth.
We're a motley group. Yet the
cosmic pinata contains such a
vast assortment of goodies that
cool stuff keeps tumbling out no
matter what we're seeking.
Our family even includes
Aunt Shirley, who (honest-to
gosh true story) once asked me,
"How were the astronauts able
to steer around all those stars
when they went to the Moon?"
Sharing that during a lecture
makes all the various group
members smile (yes, even
inmates, since 1 taught college
astrophysics for four years at a
maximum security prison). We
may run the spectrum, but
we're bonded by no fragile
epoxy. We're linked by the
fabric of the universe. 8
Contact me about
my strange universe by visiting
http://skymanbob.com.

WWW.ASTRQNQMY.(OM 11
 A ST R 0 N E WS
GRAVITATIONAL GAP. The protoplanetary disksurrounding Sun-likestar PDS 20has a giant gap that
an October 10articlein The AstrophysicalJournal Letterssays is dueto multi ple materializing planet s .

SUPER SUPERMASSIVE. NGC
combined mass of its stars, than galactic black holes typically are. NASMS1.IANOREWCFABIANIltEMCOCE.VAN DEN 8OSC (MPIA)
BRIEFCASE
TELLTALE DUST GRAINS
The protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star
UX Tauri A harbors dust particles large in size and non
spherical in shape, say astronomers in the December 25
issue of the Publications of the AstronomicalSociety of
Japan. This finding implies that these dust grains are col
liding and sticking to one another, which will eventually
lead to the formation of planets. - liz Kruesi
1277's central black hole is 140 times more massive, compared to the
HOW PALLASITES FORM
Geophysicists studying pallasites, a rare type of stony
iron meteorite with olivine crystals. have proposed a

A TOO-MASSIVE BLACK HOLE? new formation theory_ John Tarduno of the University of
Rochester in New York and colleagues found that metal
grains in the olivine crystals are magnetized and thus
raditional wisdom holds that the A team of researchers led by Remco van must have formed far from the hot iron core of a proto

T
smaller a galaxy, the less massive its
black hole. However, a Nature article
published online November 28 reveals
a galactic black hole with a mass of 17 bil
lion Suns at the center of NGC 1277. For
reference, the Milky Way's central black hole
is a comparably tiny 4 million solar masses,
even though our galaxy's diameter is four
times that ofNGC 1277. A supermassive
central object is usually about 0.1 percent of
its host's total mass. NGC 1277's black hole,
den Bosch of the Max Planck Institute for
Astronomy used the Hubble Space Tele
scope and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in
Fort Davis, Texas, to observe the velocities
of stars in orbit around the lenticular gal
axy's center. The faster their travels, the
more massive the object in the center must
be. Ongoing analysis suggests that five
other galaxies in the data might have simi
lar disk-to-center mass ratios; if that is the
case, NGC 1277 is not anomalous, and
planet, not along the core-mantle boundary as previ
ously theorized.Thus, they argue in the November 16
Science, pallasites likely formed as an asteroid impacted
a protoplanetary object about 250 miles (400 kilome-
ters) wide with a core half that size. - L. K.
UNLIKE PLUTO
Dwarf planet Makemake does not have a significant
atmosphere, say scientists in the November 22 issue of
Noture_ Using seven telescopes across Brazil and Chile,
they observed the world as it passed in front of a distant
star. Researchers say Makemake is shaped like a sphere
that is flattened slightly at both poles and has the
brightness of dirty snow. - L. K.

on the other hand, is 14 percent, upsetting scientists will need to revisit the accepted
the accepted relationship. story of galaxy evolution. - Sarah Scoles

25 years ago 10 years ago

in Astronomy
In the March 1988 issue,
Ken Croswell gave the
hi sto ry of potential
detections, failed confir
mations, and contradic
tory results that attempt
to answer the question
"Could Barnard's Star
have planet sr
"Future observations
of Barnard's Star will
take place not only from
Earth but also from
space,"Croswell said.
"Even so, ground-based
observers have a long
head start in an area
that by its very nature
requires long-term
observations.NThere is
still no conclusive evi
dence that gravity from
planets is making Bar
nard wobble.
in Astronomy
In March 2003, Steve
Nadis shared predictions
about astronomy's dis
tant future. One exam
ple is thei mpossibi lity
of studying other galax
ies in a universe domi
nated by dark energy. In
this hugely expanded
universe, they'll be so
distant t hat the ir light
will have to travel longer
than the age of the uni
verse to reach Earth.
Future astronomers will
never see them.
NUntil evidence of
dark energy ... our hori
zons were nearly infi
nite," Nadis wrote.NNow
it appears we have to
resign ourselves to a
future of narrowing
pOSSibilities." - S. S.

12 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

 STARBIRTH,
NOW IN3-0
In a November Astronomy &
Astrophysics paper, scientists
describe a 3-D model of the
molecular cloud Barnard 6B.

ASTRO ADVOCATE
On November 1, the America n
Astronomical Society
announced that Joel Parriott,
formerly of the National
Research Council, will be its
new director of public policy.
RECORD BREAKER. The effects of gravitational lensing around the massive
galaxy cluster MACS J0647+7015 allowed the Hubble Space Telescope to capture

the magnified image of a galaxy (inset) observed when the universe was only 420 YOUNG, HOT ROGUE
million years old. NASA.ISA/M.I'OSTMAN AND O.CO(iST5<:IIIfH(UASHT(AM A December study in Astronomy
& Astrophysics reports a 4- to

Most distant galaxy found

7-Jupiter-mass object not orbit CLUSTER CONNECTION. The Planck spacecraft
ing any star. It's young (200 mil has observed a bridge of hot gas that extends some
lion years old, max), 800" F 10 million light-years between galaxy clusters Abell

with gravitational lensing

(4270 C), and unattached. 399 and Abell 401. Planck detected the effects of the
gas on background radiation photons.
PAST PRIME

Filament of hot
The Hubble Space Telescope, billion years to reach Earth, is Kepler finished its prime 3.5-
with the help of a natural Nzoom called MACS0647-JD. year mission, NASA stated
lens;' continues to make records Analysis of the new star city November 14, but will continue

in the galaxy-hunting depart
ment. According to an upcoming
paper in The Astrophysical Jour
nal, the team behind the Cluster
Lensing and Supernova Survey
with Hubble (CLASH) has discov
ered the lensed image of a gal
axy from when the universe was
only 3 percent of its current age,
13.7 billion years, which makes it
the most distant galaxy found to
date using such a method.
The purpose of CLASH is to
use massive galaxy clusters to
magnify the light from more
distant star cities in an effect
called gravitational lensing. In
this case, the phenomenon pro
duced three magnified images
of a small galaxy around the clus
ter MACS J0647+7015; the new
galaxy, whose light traveled 13.3
shows that it is less than 600
light-years wide, indicating it
might be in the first steps of gal
axy formation. NThis object may
be one of many building blocks
of a galaxy;' says lead author Dan
Cae of the Space Telescope Sci
ence Institute in Baltimore. NOver
the next 13 billion years, it may
have dozens, hundreds, or even
thousands of merging events
with other galaxies and galaxy
fragments."
Another of NASA's great
observatories, the Spitzer Space
Telescope, helped rule out other
explanations for the object's
identity, and now researchers
plan to use the instrument to
confirm the detection and help
them estimate the galaxy's age
and dust content. - Karri Ferron
up to four more years. Scien
tists have found 2,300 candi-
date and 100 confirmed
planets using Kepler data.
SUPER-JUPITER
Astronomers used the Subaru
Telescope to directly image a
planet 13 times Jupiter's mass,
according to a paper forthcom
ing in The AstrophysicalJournal
Letters. It orbits the star Kappa
Andromedae.
ALMA MILESTONE
On November 21, the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory
announced that North America
delivered its last antenna to
the Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA), an international
telescope project located in
Chile.-S. S.
gas spotted
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Planck
mission has detected a filament of hot gas
bridging two galaxy clusters. While the space
craft's main goal is to study in detail the cos
mic microwave background (CMB) - the
residual radiation leh over from the Big Bang
- it also uses its detectors to analyze the con
tents of the universe between the CMB and us.
As CMB photons interact with hot gas,
their energy changes in a way that is charac
teristic of the "Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect."
Planck mission scientists studied 25 galaxy
cluster pairs and found two with evidence of
filamentary emission between the members:
Abell 399/401 (10 million light-years separate
the clusters, which lie about a billion light
years from Earth) and Abell 3391/3395 (this
system lies about 700 million light-years from
us). ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray spacecraft gave
hints a few years ago that Abell 399/401 har
bors a connecting filament of gas, but the
results were inconclusive.

Capturing a
After factoring in archival X-ray data from
the German ROSAT satellite, the Planck team
confirmed that a stream of gas connects Abell

born-again star
399/401; the other cluster system needs fur
ther analysis. This discovery, published online
November 20 in the journal Astronomy & Astro
physics, marks the first time a filament has
RARE REBIRTH. Astronomers have uncovered been detected using the SZ effect. -l. K.
evidence for a dying star briefly coming back to
life in these composite images of planetary nebula Abell
30 released November 1S. The wide-field view shows the

3.33%
result of the star's outer shell casting outward over the
past 12,500 years in hydrogen (green/blue) and oxygen
(orange) emissions. But about 850 years ago, the dying star
briefly reverted to its red-giant phase, coughing out knots
The current rate of star formation in the
of helium and carbon-rich material. As the evolution of the
planetary nebula then restarted some 20 years later, it cre universe compared to its peak, as published
ated a fast wind that produced shock-heated gas visible in online November 7 in the Monthly Notices
X-rays (purple) and the cometlike orange tails near the
central star in the inset image. - K. F. of the Royal Astronomical Society.

WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 13
 OBSERVINGBASICS
BY GLE NN CHAPLE
Roaring galaxies
Leo the Lion provides excellent targets to begin
your spring galaxy voyage.
n his poem "Locksley Hall;'
I
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
wrote, "In the Spring a
young man's fancy lightly
turns to thoughts of love:'
Not so for amateur astronomers!
When spring flowers bloom and
robins sing. our fancy turns to
galaxies. For me, the words
spring and galaxies bring to
mind the seemingly endless
riches of the Virgo cluster. But if
you've never sailed into this
galaxy-rich ocean, you'll want to
trim your sails in some easier
to-navigate waters. Leo provides
such an opportunity.
You can increase your odds
of capturing these star cities by
following some simple guide
lines. After setting up in a dark
sky location on a clear moonless
night, allow about 15 minutes
for your eyes to adapt to the
dark. Locate each galaxy with a
low-power sweep before switch
ing to higher magnification for
a detailed view. Take your time!
The phrase "faint fuzzies" aptly
describes the initial appearance
of most galaxies. You'd be sur
prised at how much detail you
can tease out if you spend some
10 minutes studying a galaxy.
The constellation Leo provides many spring galaxies to observe this month.The author
highlights nine such star cities. 5TRCWOMI': ROEN KElLY
..
14 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
And finally, take advantage of
averted vision to discern faint
objects. If you can't see a star or
deep-sky object directly, turn
your gaze slightly to the side.
The light will encounter a more
sensitive part of the retina, ren
dering the invisible visible.
Our Leo voyage begins with
the spiral galaxy NGC 2903. A
Messier catalog shoulda-been
that somehow eluded the comet
hunter's eye, this star city was
eventually discovered by Wil
liam Herschel in 1784. NGC
2903 is a viewer-friendly galaxy.
Located 1.50 south of Lambda
0.) Leonis, it's bright enough for
you to glimpse with small
aperture instruments.
In my early years as a back
yard astronomer, I spotted this
9th-magnitude spiral through a
3-inch reflecting telescope and
magnifying power of just 30x.
Recently, I returned to NGC
2903 armed with a 10-inch
Dobsonian. After picking up its
oval form with a low-power
eyepiece, I switched to 200x. At
this magnification, 1 could make
out a bright nucleus and (with
averted vision) hints of detail in
the outer anns.
COSM IC WORLD
A look at the best and the worst that astronomy and
space science have to offer. by Bill Andrews
Cold as
space
.. .
Science v. An Ffor
justice MSNBC
An Italian court Daredevil Felix
convicts six sci- Baumgartner
entists of man- dives from 24
slaughter for miles up, break-
inaccurate ing the sound
earthquake pre- barrier. Or, as
dictions. Watch MSNBC put it,
yourselves, he went "faster
asteroid than the speed
hunters! of light.H
Your appetite for galaxies
thus whetted, turn your tele
scope eastward to a spot mid
way and slightly south of a line
connecting Regulus (Alpha [a]
Leonis) and Theta (S) Leonis.
Here, in an area just 1.50 across,
you'll find a quartet of 9th- to
10th-magnitude galaxies, three
of which are recorded in Messi
er's catalog. The southernmost
two, the barred spiralM9S and
its spiral neighborM96, share
the same eyepiece field. 1 find
M95 to be fainter and more
difficult to see, especially
through small scopes.
The elliptical galaxyMl0S,
less than 10 north and slightly
east ofM95 and M96, is midway
in brightness between the two
and lies near the slightly fainter
spiral galaxy NGC3384. A fifth
galaxy, the 12th-magnitude spi
ral NGC 3389, forms a tight
triangle with M105 and NGC
3384. It's the most challenging
of this month's galactic offer
ings. With averted vision under
dark skies, I can barely glimpse
it with a 4.5-inch reflector. Even
through the I O-inch, it has a
ghostly glow.
Our final port of call takes
us to the Lion's hindquarters,
home of the Leo Trio. Theta
again will serve as a guide star,
this time in partnership with
Iota (t) Leonis. A low-power
Supernova
hot
Whoa! Peaceful paint
German scien- MIT research
tists devise a suggests that
way to test if paintballs could
the universe is work as a way
actually a giant to deflect an
simulation. incoming aster-
Didn't Neo and oid. NWho's the
Morpheus do crazy one now?H
that experiment asks Armaged-
14 years ago? don smugly.
telescope search midway
between them will pick up two
Messier galaxies. The more
westerly isM6S; its partner to
the east isM66. These 9th
magnitude spirals appear some
what elongated through my
3-inch reflector. Viewed with
the lO-inch scope, M66 seems
more centrally concentrated.
Completing the Leo Trio is
the edge-on spiral NGC 3628,
situated 10 north of M65 and
M66. According to most deep
sky catalogs, this galaxy is 0.5
magnitude fainter than M66;
however, the difference seems
greater. That's because NGC
3628 is longer than its neigh
bors, spreading its light over a
larger area.
Galaxy hunting is an exciting
activity, espeCially when done
with a small-sized telescope.
Imagine: a cosmic entity that's
tens of thousands of light-years
across, tens of millions of light
years distant, and home to hun
dreds of billions of stars, yet
captured with nothing more
than a telescope whose diam
eter is measured in inches or
centimeters!
Questions, comments, or
suggestions? Email me at
gchaple@hotmail.com. Next
month: Sulu, take us to the
Virgo cluster, warp factor 5!
Clear skies! 8
ASTR 0 N EWS
NIPPY NUCLEUS. A December 10 paper In The AstrophysIcal
journal says Comet C!199501 (Hate-Bopp) has a new frost laye r.
SPACE SCIENCE UPDATE
ICE ON MERCURY
Three articles published online in Science
Express on November 29 provide extremely
strong evidence that Mercury harbors water
ice at its poles. The closest planet to the Sun
may reach some 8000 Fahrenheit (4300 Cel
sius) on its surface, but its low rotational tilt
- less than 10 - and deep craters provide
permanently shadowed regions at its poles.
Because these areas never feel the Sun's heat,
they remain much colder - below -370 F
(-220 C) - and thus offer a haven for ice.
Scientists first detected hints of possible
ice at Mercury's north pole when the Arecibo
Observatory in Puerto Rico mapped regions
of high radar reflectivity in 1992. But confir
mation had to wait until a spacecraft could
study the innermost planet up close.
Scientists credit the discovery to the MEr
cury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemis
try, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission,
which entered a highly elliptical orbit around
the innermost planet in March 2011. The craft
comes betw'een 193 miles (311 kilometers) and
276 miles (442km) above Mercury's northern
regions during its orbit. MESSENGER doesn't
pass directly above the north pole, however,
and instead has an inclined orbit. North of 83,
its measurements require oblique viewing.
Two of MESSENGER's instruments were
critical in this discovery: the Mercury Laser
Altimeter (MLA) and the Neutron Spectrom
eter. MLA maps the planet's surface structures
and optical reflectivity by emitting laser pulses
that then bounce off the surface. The instru
ment clocks the round-trip time of each pulse,
and thus the distance it travels.
The Neutron Spectrometer maps chargeless
particles called neutrons that specific elements
on the surface emit when they're hit by high
energy incoming cosmic rays. Scientists ana
lyze the number and energy of the neutrons
that scatter back; fewer ones indicate hydrogen
content, which could come from water.
CHILLY CRATERS. Mercury's north pole harbors regions
that have remained in shadow throughout the MESSENGER
mission (red). Yellow shows radar-bright deposits. New
measurements provide strong evidence that those deposits
are surface ice. NASA/JHU API.I(IWINAK.AR(CIWOI!S(RVATORV
Both the MLA and neutron measurements
suggest that the radar-bright regions consist
mostly of surface water ice. Areas of fewer neu
trons also appear to be optically dark, which
indicates subsurface ice covered by insulating
material of organic compounds some 4 to 8
inches (10 to 20 centimeters) thick. Exposure
to Mercury's space environment darkens it.
The team thinks the polar ice depOSits got to
Mercury via comets or water-rich asteroids.
The water and organiC compounds would have
spread over a wide swath of the planet, and
some migrated to the poles. If they "fell" into a
crater, they'd become "cold-trapped" and
remain for billions of years. In the warmer
regions, the water ice would vaporize, leaving
behind only the organic compounds.
The authors of the third Science Express
paper take both instruments' discoveries into
account to create a thermal model of Mercury's
surface temperature. They say the planet dis
plays the largest range of surface temperatures
of any body in the solar system. - L. K.
of Mars is 100times
thinnerthan Earth's.
TASTING M ARS' AIR
CARBON DIOXIDE CACHE. In October 2012, the
Curiosity rover began measuring the composition of
the Red Planet's atmosphere. Scientists will see if any of
these percentages change throughout the mission.
5rnOMJMr: ARRI fERRO AD IlOEN KELLY
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 15
ASTROCONFIDENTIAL BY KARRI FERRON

WHAT ARE CURRENT STUDIES TEACHING

US ABOUT THE MOON'S FORMATION?
Our views of the early Moon and Earth have material. Then, after the
been completely revised over the past year Moon formed, the spin
with new data and ideas about the origin of of the Earth-Moon system slowed down due
our satellite. The giant-impact hypothesis to an orbital resonance with the Sun to reach
can explain the relatively large mass of the our present-day angular momentum.
Moon and its tiny iron core; however, there is Earth's origin is intimately linked to that
a fatal flaw with this standard model. of the Moon. Earth grew by a series of giant
Geochemists use isotopes of different ele impacts - and one such event that occurred
ments to "fingerprint" different planets and before the Moon-formation impact spun up
meteorite groups. The standard giant-impact the proto-Earth. The Moon-forming impact
model predicts that the Moon should be was the last big event during Earth's growth,
made mostly from the impactor, which melting much of the planet to form a deep
should have had a different isotopic signa magma ocean. Our high-spin impact sce
ture. But Earth and the Moon have identical nario would have blown off the proto-Earth's
isotopes, which means they must have entire atmosphere, and our present atmo
formed from the same materiaL sphere must have been delivered by small
SETI scientist Matija Cuk and I propose a planetesimals after the giant impact. With
solution to this problem: If the early Earth new geochemical data from the deep mantle
were spinning with a two- to three-hour day and lunar rocks, and spacecraft data from the
- much faster than previously thought - a Moon, I am working toward a clearer picture
giant impact could have launched material of the dramatic construction of our home
off Earth to make the Moon out of the same and nearest neighbor.

Possible super-Earth in habitable zone found

After reanalyzing archival data of could exist on a planet's surface. Silla 3.6-meter telescope at the
HD 40307, a K-type orange star The findings appeared online European Southern Observa
about 77 percent the mass of the December 17 in the journal tory. They used a newly devel WHERE ARE All THE
Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Sun, astronomers say it hosts
twice as many super-Earth plan Mikko Tuomi of the Univer
oped software tool to analyze
HD 40307's velocity measure ASTEROIDS?
ets as previously detected.These sity of Hertfordshire in Hat ments, which can be used to
six worlds have masses some field, United Kingdom, and tease out the gravitational pull
where between those of Earth colleagues studied 345 of planets orbiting the star.
and Neptune, and one candidate archived spectra taken with The scientists verified the
world orbits within its star's hab the High Accuracy Radial three planets already known
.
itable zone (HZ) - the region Velocity Planet Searcher that orbit 0.05, 0.08, and 0.13

around a sun where liquid water (HARPS) attached to the La astronomical unit (AU, the
average distance between .

Earth and the Sun) from HD o
Habitable zone with 100%
carbon dioxide douds carbon
40307, but they also found ]
dioxide signals indicating planets 0.19 E
Habitable zone
\
.. /...-.l.=:i;; douds AU, 0.25 AU, and 0.60 AU from
,
z

the star. The farthest-out

Sun world, if it exists, is seven
Mercur Venus Earth Mars
III IIII times Earth's mass and com
o 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 pletes a full orbit around its
Astronomical unit (AU)
sun in 200 days in the middle
SPACE ROCKS. Although astronomers h ave dis
of the HZ. (HD 40307's HZ
covered several hundred thousand asteroids in the
spans 0.43 AU to 0.85 AU.) The
inner solar system, most of them orbit within a
HD 40307 team, however, says the signal
main belt. This region stretches from approximately
b c d e is wavelength-dependent and
2 to 3.2 astronomical units from the Sun. (One
o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1)2 1.4 thus could be noise from the
astronomical unit, or AU, is the average Earth-Sun
AU star. They add that future stud
distance.) An object's semi major axis is its averag e
ies - especially a space-based distance from the Sun. The gaps in the main belt
WATER HUNT. Astro nomers say HD 40307 harbors six planets with mission to directly image this result from orbital resonances with Jupiter, which
masses between 3.5 and 9.5 times Earth's, and one lies in the center of the planetary system - are lies 5.2 AU from the Sun. (The cluster of objects at
star's habitable zone - where liquid water could exist on such a world. needed to verify the world's that distance are Trojan asteroids that share Jupi
AI/ONOM: ROl/ KUY, AfTR F. Sl$lS. T Al_ {l(l(I7I existence. - L. K. ter's orbit.) ASTRONOMY: RICIIARDTAI.(On AND ROW KltY

16 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

Determining the total amount of starlight
Astronomers using the Fermi Gamma-Ray
Space Telescope have measured the total visible
and ultraviolet starlight in the universe. After
stars die, their radiation continues to travel,
leaving a "fossil" record. The sum of this light is
called the "extragalactic background light," or
EBL; from the EBL, scientists can determine the
amount of light that stars have emitted over the
history of the universe.
Ajello and colleagues used gamma rays from
blazars to investigate the EBL's density. A blazar
STARS NOT SINGLE. The presence of not one but
two white dwarfs at the center of the planetary nebula
Fleming 1 caused the symmetric jets (in red) that flow
from the central region. ESOIli. 60HI
Partners shape
planetary nebulae
Planetary nebulae are the complex shells of
symmetrical gas around dying Sun-like stars.
They make some of the prettiest astronomical
pictures, but why do they look that way? In the
November 9 issue of Science, astronomers
reported the discovery of two white dwarfs in a
1.S-day orbit inside the planetary nebula Flem
ing 1. They spotted the interacting binary sys
tem with the European Southern Observatory's
(ESO) Very Large Telescope. Combining those
observations with computer models, research
ers demonstrated that the presence of two
dying stars could, in fact, create the two jets
that stream out symmetrically from the center.
Until now, no one could explain the twin
outflows seen in Fleming 1 and other systems.
As ESO scientist Henri Boffin says, NAstronomers
have suggested a binary star before, but it was
always thought that in this case the pair would
be well separated. . .. We found the pair to be
several thousand times closer.N
Because of the stars' proximity, one stole
material from the other. As this material flowed
toward the thieving star, it formed a swirling
disk. In Fleming ,'s case, the gravitational inter
play of the two stars caused the disk to wobble
like a top, a movement that, the new simula
tions show, produced the jets. - S. S.
1.5 billion years
after the Big Bang
How far back in time the most distant
supernova exploded, according to a
November 8 study in Nature.
is an active galaxy that has jets of high-speed gamma rays had encountered. More-distant,
material, and thus gamma rays, shooting from and thus older, blazars' rays traveled through
its supermassive black hole. These rays encoun older light, telling the story of star formation
ter the EBL as they travel through space, and and galaxy evolution in the universe. Results of
the interaction changes some gamma rays into the study appeared online in an October 2S Sci
matter-antimatter pairs. ence Express paper, which states that there is
Astronomers estimated the quantity and one star in every 100 billion cubic light-years of
energy of blazar-emitted gamma rays and com space and that the average distance between
pared that estimate to how many Fermi actu stars in the universe is about 4,150 light-years,
ally received. From the difference between the or about laO times the distance between the
two, they inferred how much starlight the Sun and its nearest stellar neighbor. -S.S.
to
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WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 17
 SECRETSKY
BY STEPHE N JAMES O'M E A R A

Comet color
and you
When Comet (/19% B2 (Hyakutakel In February 1997, Comet C/1995 01
Take this month's observing opportunity approached Earth in March 1996, it burned (Hale-Bopp) displayed a yellow sunlit
to test out your eyes' color receptors. with an exceptional blue plasma tail. dust tail and a glowing blue gas tail.

R
ed sensitive? Blue It doesn't matter whether under extreme conditions). in the blue part of the visible
sensitive? How per C/2011 L4 swells to a bright, They're most intense as they spectrum. But ion tails also may
ceptive are your eyes naked-eye object or fizzles into a round the Sun, and the most have cyanogen and diatomic
to the colors of astro stunning binocular or telescopic luminous comets can stimulate carbon molecules, which both
nomical objects? One sight for you to succeed in this the eye's color-sensitive cones, glow green when the Sun's light
way to find out is to observe artistic exercise - as long as the allowing spectral shades to energizes them.
newly discovered Comet C/20 II comet displays decent tail struc appear. If you do not observe
L4 (PANSTARRS) with friends ture. As of this writing, Comet color with the unaided eye, try It's all subjective
under a dark sky this month. PANSTARRS should achieve a looking through binoculars, Whatever colors you see
(For more about this comet, maximum magnitude of -1.0 on then a telescope at the lowest depend partly on where the
including a finder chart, see "Get March 9. But remember, comets power possible (this condenses light falls onto the eye, which
ready for Comet PANSTARRS" are as predictable as cats. the tail's light, which maximizes stimulates either your long
on p. 60). All you need to do is your chances of seeing color). wavelength or short-wavelength
sketch the comet head and its Watch for tails The broad and gently curved receptors. It's up to the brain,
tail(s) and rate their intensity Comets generally display two dust tail usually dominates the however, to collate this infor
and their color. It's an exercise primary tails: one made of dust visual scene because it shines mation and create a viable color
that's both informative and fun. and the other plasma (gas with reflected sunlight, in a solution - to make colors out
wavelength range between 400 of this. So there is no right or
and 700 nanometers (visible wrong, just what you see. That's
light), from violet to red. Gen why it's fun! By performing this
FROM OUR INBOX erally, intense dust tails appear exercise, we learn a little about
pale yellow, like straw, espe how our eyes work and our
The meaning of the Higgs cially closer to the comet's fuzzy brains think.
The headline to your excellent November 2012 article "Why you head where dust production is One way to document the
should care about the Higgs boson!" and the subsequent text greatest. That's because the eye's differences is to create a numer
from Bill Andrews makes me ask, "Why indeed?" As the Fermi peak spectral response lies ical scale that everyone can
National Accelerator Laboratory's Patrick Fox noted, the particle around 550 nanometers in the agree on. For instance, you can
has not existed naturally, except rarely in exceptional circum yellow-green range. record not only the color you
stances, since immediately post-Big Bang. In the 1960s, Peter If the comet looms close to see but also its intensity. When
Higgs originally postulated the boson to give mathematical con the horizon, where atmospheric comparing notes with others,
sistency to the standard model and to provide an explanation for contaminants can scrub away it's important not to reveal the
how all fundamental particles have mass. But one still has to ask: the shorter wavelengths, the colors and intensity you detect
What today is the purpose of the virtually nonexistent Higgs dust tail might appear omi until after everyone has com
boson? - Alexander McKay, Calgary, Alberta, Canada nously red, like the setting Sun. pleted observing. Otherwise,
(Such a sight, combined with you run the risk of projecting
I'm no expert in particle physics, but my take on the potential dis the dust tail's curved nature, led your opinion onto others,
coverys significance is its confirmation of the standard model as early skywatchers to see them as which might sway what they see
currently understood. The Higgs field is still considered the ultimate bloodstained swords.) and think. Actually, that said,
source of the universes mass, so a finding that proVides hard evi In contrast, the plasma tail, perhaps you should try sharing
dence that it exists would be important. which always pOints directly results after the first attempt
And in a large sense, many of the physicists 1 spoke to felt that the away from the Sun, contains and see if some people change
symbolic importance of humankind setting a nigh-impossible goal carbon monoxide (CO) ions, their minds!
for itself (finding this elusive boson) and then achieving it through which causes those gases to Good luck. As always, let me
ingenuity arid determination is at least as importarlt as the goal glow blue. The most abundant know what your eyes see and
itself Bill Andrews, Associate Editor
- ion, CO+, emits radiation your brain thinks at someara@
around 400 to 460 nanometers, interpac.com.1!t

.! ..

18 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

 Read the entire sets of Dp Skyand Telescope
Making mognines - also included!
Search the digital Index by issue, <o",lrib,,,o,.
keyword and more

Enjoy an in--depth history of Astronomy

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What's new at Astronomy.com.
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The interesting and odd of the cosmos
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Through quarterly new episodes,
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stand intriguing objects and concepts.
The series covers everything from galax
ies and nebulae to the Big Bang and black
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 the universe must be at least that old. But
would other methods concur?

Stellar groups hold secrets

Globular clusters are large groups of stars
that live in a galaxy's outer regions and
occasionally pass through the galactic disk.
The stellar members in any cluster form at
about the same time.
A star's mass and how much energy it
puts out (called luminosity) dictates its
lifetime. More-massive stars burn through
their stellar material faster than those
with less mass.
Scientists can't determine luminosity
directly, but they can measure flux (how
bright the star appears) and find out the
object's distance to learn its true luminosity.
So by measuring the age of the brightest
(and most massive) star in a cluster, astron
omers can learn the maximum value of all
the cluster members. The oldest globulars i n
our galaxy hold stars n o more massive than
0.7 times the Sun's mass, which dates them
to an age of about 11 to 14 billion years. So
this method, although less precise than ana
lyzing chemical makeup, matches the age
determined through other methods.

Every radioactive element decays at a set rate, called its halflife. Both astronomers and archaeologists The expanding cosmos
use this method to determine the ages of objects. To date stars, astronomers analyze uranium-238; to
But the Milky Way Galaxy and its constitu
date bones or other artifacts, archaeologists use carbon-14.IoHIIONOMY: ROEN HLY ANORICKJOHNSON
ents aren't the only objects in the universe,
and thus they aren't the only tools that sci
entists have to figure out the cosmic age.
DECAY INTO A NEW PRODUCT Discoveries in the 1910s and 1920s solidi
fied the fact that the Milky Way is one of
Parent isotoe Daus.hter roduct Half-life (ears) Examles of use
many galaxies when astronomers measured
Carbon14 Nitrogen14 5,730 Organisms, cultural tools
the distances to "nebulae" in the sky
Aluminum26 Magnesium26 720,000 Meteorite fragments many of which turned out to be galaxies
Potassium40 Argon40 1.3 billion Earth rocks hundreds of thousands to millions of light
Rubidium-87 Strontium87 48.8 billion Lunar samples, rocks years away. Then, Edwin Hubble, assisted

Thorium232 Uranium-232
Uranium-238 Lead-206
of lines from dozens of elements and their
isotopes litter the spectrum of our com
paratively young Sun, while old stars were
born when the universe's gas contained
fewer elements and so have cleaner spectra.
None of the universe's first stars still
exist; they burned through their primitive
material in just a few million years and died
in huge explosions. They then spewed ele
ments heavier than helium created in their
cores into the universe, which future gen
erations of stars incorporated. The second
generation of stars grew from this material.
(The Sun is a third-generation star and con
tains even more heavier elements.)
14.05 billion Stars
4.468 billion Stars, meteorites
Astronomers measure the amounts of
thorium-232 (which has 90 protons, 142
neutrons, and a half-life of 14.05 billion
years) and uranium-238 (which has 92
protons, 146 neutrons, and a half-life of
4.468 billion years) in a star to find its age.
This method allowed scientists to "dis
cover" the oldest known star a few times.
In 2001, Roger Cayrel of the Paris Obser
vatory and colleagues identified a sun
about 12.5 billion years old. And in 2007,
Anna Frebel at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and her group determined
the oldest star now known, HE 1523-0901,
with an age of 1 3.2 billion years. So, again,
by Milton Humason, found that the more
distant galaxies were traveling away from
Earth faster - the universe is expanding.
The rate at which the universe expands
is now called the Hubble constant, and
astronomers have been trying to nail down
its precise value for decades. The number is
crucial for knowing the universe's age
because it hints at how long the cosmos has
taken to reach its current size.
Hubble himself first gave a value of 500
kilometers per second per megaparsec
(Mpc), where I Mpc is about 3.26 million
light-years. Over the years, astronomers
have found that Hubble's number was too
high, and they've since refined the value.
In October 2012, Wendy Freedman of
the Observatories of the Carnegie I nstitu
tion in Pasadena, California, and colleagues
measured the distances of 90 pulsating stars

24 ASTRONOMY - MARCH 2013

Globular cluster secrets

A Globular cluster MSS is about 12.3 billion years old. Astronomers use the
ages of such stellar groupings to set a lower limit on the universe's age - the
cosmos must be older than the objects within it. ESO/J. EMERSONMSTA. ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
CAMBRIDGE ASTRONOMICAL SURVEY UNIT

Astronomers plot all of the stellar members of a globular cluster on what's

called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (this compares a star's luminosity to its
temperature, which is related to mass). The more massive stars will have left
the main sequence track of stellar evolution; the place where the diagram
shows this curve is called the "turn-off" point, and it gives astronomers an
estimate of the cluster's age. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY. AFTER LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS AND BRIAN CHABOYER

called Cepheids (the same type that Hubble energy into account, astronomers using the Cosmologists now know that the C M B
studied in the 1920s). Using the infrared newest Hubble value date the cosmos to shows detail from 375,000 years after the
power of the Spitzer Space Telescope to see about 13 billion years old, consistent with Big Bang, has a temperature of 2.72 5 K, and
through intervening dust, the team found other methods. But there's an even better has fluctuations that vary by just thou
the most precise value of the Hubble COI1- way to find the age of the universe. sandths of a degree. These differences con
stant yet: 74.3 km/s/Mpc, with just less than tain important information: the universe's
3 percent uncertainty. This means that the The telltale eMB density, composition, and shape.
oretically a galaxy 1 Mpc (3.26 million light Just moments after the universe began, it Astronomers have used spacecraft, high
years) distant is moving away from Earth at was small, hot, dense, and filled with a gas altitude balloons, and ground-based detec
74.3 km/s, and a galaxy 2 Mpc (6.53 million of protons, neutrons, electrons, and pho tors to analyze the detail in the C M B ever
light-years) distant is moving away at twice tons; it has since been expanding. Once the since its 1965 discovery, and each new data
that speed, 148.6 km/s. cosmos reached a particular size, its tem set provides more answers. The best num
"Vhile searching for a precise value of perature had cooled enough so that elec bers to date are from the Wilkinson Micro
the constant in 1998, two teams of scientists trons and nuclei could combine. Photons wave Anisotropy Probe (""MAP) team. Its
found that the universe isn't just made of then didn't have as many objects to bounce, seven-year data release in 2011 gives the
matter. It also contains some odd material or scatter, off of, and thus they streamed percentages of normal matter (which makes
- dark energy - that counteracts its gravi away. This epoch of "last scattering" then up the stars and galaxies), dark matter (the
tational pull and speeds up cosmic expan froze a picture of the cosmos at that time. majority of the universe's mass), and dark
sion. Some astronomers now think that the The universe's expansion has since energy (the mysterious "something" that's
universe's makeup incorporates an energy stretched the wavelengths of those photons accelerating expansion) in the cosmos.
related to the vacuum of from infrared to the The W M A P team calculated the density
space - called a "cosmo microwave regime of the universe and determined that it is
logical constant." Anna Frebel and her and cooled the uni geometrically flat. ( This means that if you
How the universe verse to just a few follow parallel lines forever across the uni
expands depends on its group determined degrees above abso verse, they will never meet or diverge.) The
density and composition. lute zero; this limit is team also analyzed the CMB's fluctuations
Once they have a value the oldest star now o kelvin. Scientists to find that the universe's age is 1 3.77 bil
for the Hubble constant, detect the resultant lion years with an error of only a few dozen
scientists extrapolate that known, with an age radiation as the cos million years.
expansion rate back in mic microwave So, how did astronomers determine this
time. By taking dark of 13.2 billion years. background (CMS). value? "It happens, somewhat accidentally,

WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 25
 Sound filled the universe
When light scattered from atoms 375,000 years after the Big Bang, it left
an Imprint on the sky called the (osmic microwave background (eMB). The
colors In this map represent slight temperature, and thus density, differ
encas that existed In the early universe. The eMB also shows the random
panern of density fluctuations; highdensity areas are equivalent to
compression regions in an acoustic. or sound, wave, whereas low-density
areas are the least compressed regions. Think of pushing a Slinky forward
periodically. Larger amounts ofmaner would move slower and (orre
spond to bigger spots in the eMB. AlTRONOMY, ROEN KELlY;NASAlWMAPSCIENCETEAM (CMS)

Big Ba ng Ti me ( yea rs) What we see today

that the C M B pattern is very sensitive to anymore, the normal matter flowed back Cosmic song
the universe's age," says Dragan Huterer, in and compressed the region again.
who studies cosmology's big questions from This set up a pressure fluctuation at such
Amplitude of
,,-""""" Dominant
angular scale
the University of Michigan. areas - the gas bounced in and out of the fluctuations

Listen to the clues

Fractions of a second after the universe
began, it experienced a period of extremely
regions with dark matter. These pressure
(oscillation) waves existed throughout the
universe, and each had its own shape and
size. When the universe had cooled and let
I <"" '" ".,.
90"
..
2" OS 0.2"

fast expansion called "in flation," which
led to small differences in density in the
hot mix of mat ter and light. As time went
on, gas moved toward the slightly denser
regions. As normal matter fell toward
these areas, it compressed and heated up.
Radiation pressure tried to counteract
gravity and pushed outward to make each
region less dense, but dark matter clumps
remained there because this material
doesn't interact with radiation. When
thermal pressure couldn't fight gravity
the radiation stream away, it essentially
froze a pattern of the waves into the eMB.
Scientists can measure the sizes of the
eMB's temperature fluctuations - the
angles they span on the sky - which tells
them the wavelengths of all those pressure
waves. The oscillation pattern, called the
acoustic (sound) spectrum, holds precious
information. (The early universe's pressure
waves were like sound waves, but they were
much deeper than what we hear through
today's music and conversation.)
Scientists plot the strength, or "amplitude," of the
sizes of spots in the cosmic microwave background.
The "fundamental" (the largest) and "harmonic"
notes tell astronomers about the age of the uni
verse, the cosmic composition, and structure.
Just like the sound spectrum of a musi
cal instrument depends on its shape, size,
and composition, so does the universe's
sound frozen into the e M B depend on its
density, shape, expansion rate, and compo
sition. The key is listening to unravel it.
Scientists measure the strength of all

Astronomy has covered many aspects of the early universe in the past few years.
LEARN MORE Visit www.Astronomy.com/extracontentto purchase a PDF package of those
articles and learn more about what cosmologists know about the cosmos.
the sound waves imprinted in the universe
at last scattering. "While amplitudes of
all frequencies are measured, they are not

26 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013


. ..
.

'f;
.ii ) .'

. ,

....

..

I!

..

,




"
0




o.

The Bullet cluster lies some 3.8 billion light-years from Earth. Such objects started as slightly overdense regions in the early (osmos- the red spots of cosmic mi
crowave background maps. As a result of gravity, these dense areas pulled more matter in, eventually forming huge structures. NASNSTScI;MAGHlANru.ARlZONND.ClOWE, ET AL

all useful," says Huterer. But the loudest
one, the "fundamental" note, holds a
wealth of information.
The universe's age determines this
length because the waves had a limited time
to propagate through the cosmos. The
wavelength is the farthest distance a pres
sure wave could reach in the finite time of
at the time of last scattering to calculate the
age of the universe as 13.77 billion years.
Find the tune
While the quest to date the universe has
spanned decades and many tools, it seems
the current era of precision cosmology
might have the final say.
which launched in May 2009, is also study
ing the CMB, but with a resolution nearly
four times better than WMAP's. Scientists,
however, now are just minimizing the
error in the age number; they've reached
the point where they don't need another
method to determine the value. "It will be

Astronomers have answered one of

375,000 years. (So, if the surface of last scat "Just over a decade ago,
tering marked a later time in the universe's using the words precision

the biggest questions of humanity:

history, say at 500,000 years, the wavelength and cosmology in the same
would be longer.) This oscillation is one sentence was not possible,

How old is the universe?

period of least dense to most dense pressure.
Scientists know the size the fundamental
note appears on the sky. "This angle that we
observe is about 1," says Huterer. They can
then use trigonometric math to find the
region's width, and thus wavelength.
The WMAP team found that the full
wavelength is about 146 Mpc (480 million
light-years). The scientists incorporated
information about the cosmic composition
and the size and age of the
universe was not known to
better than a factor of two,"
says Freedman, of the Hubble constant
study. "Now we are talking about accuracies
of a few percent. It is quite extraordinary."
Scientists should be able to refine the
CMB figures even further with upcoming
data from the European Space Agency's
Planck mission. This microwave satellite,
very hard to measure age with anything else
as accurately as the eMB," says Huterer.
Astronomers have answered one of the
biggest questions of humanity: How old is
the universe? And they've done it by per
fecting detectors to hear the notes of the
cosmic birthday song. lilt

WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 27
When high-energy cosmic rays strike Earth's upper atmosphere, they often interact with air molecules to Two workers labor on one of the observatory's
create a shower of subatomic particles that rain down on our planet. ASTRONOMY: ROHI kELLY water tanks under the watchful eyes of a herd of
cattle. Human activity at the site often draws the
attention of the area's Ubiquitous animals.

In the century since Hess first detected
cosmic rays, scientists have learned that the
best way to study them is to search for the
signatures of those that do not reach
Earth's surface. Cosmic rays often interact
with air molecules in the upper atmos
phere, triggering a shower of billions of
electrons, muons, and other fundamental
particles. Scientists used such air showers
to discover the positron (the electron's anti
particle), the muon, and the pion.
In fact, researchers often jokingly refer
to the sky as "the poor man's particle
accelerator" because they can observe air
showers for a fraction of the cost it takes a
man-made accelerator located deep under
ground. And the poor man's accelerator
still delivers great results.
Despite the hoopla surrounding Europe's
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most
energetic particles ever observed are cosmic
rays. The record holders are ultra-high
energy cosmic rays (U HECRs). These par
ticles pack some 100 billion billion electron
volts - an astounding 10 million times
more energy than the LHC can deliver.
One UHECR carries as much energy as a
far more massive tennis ball traveling at
Although cosmic rays remain mysterious, scientists have learned a lot about
LEARN MORE them in the past 40 years. To purchase a
covering this knowledge evolution, visit www.Astronomy.com/.xtracont...t.
53 mph (85 km/h). Nobody knows what pro
duces these incredibly rare particles, which
have defied understanding since scientists
first detected them some 50 years ago.
"They really are a big mystery," says
Corbin Covault, a high-energy astrophysi
cist at Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland. "There is nothing in our gal
axy's immediate neighborhood that could
boost a particle to such a high energy, and
any ultra-high-energy particles from far
ther away shouldn't be observed." That's A single water tank resides by one of the many
because the cosmic microwave background rivers that flow out of the nearby Andes. The water
(CMB), a sea of photons left over from a helps make the pampas home to a wide variety
of wildlife. PIERREAUGEROBSERVATORY
time some 375,000 years after the Big Bang,
fills the universe. Any U HECR traveling
across the cosmos at nearly the speed of
light would be drained of energy as it con enough of these particles to conclude what
stantly interacted with CMB photons. The they might be and where they originate?
most energetic U HECRs simply can't be There was only one viable option: Build
reconciled with several basic theories of an observatory on a scale the world had
physics, including general relativity. never seen before.
To understand these particles better,
astronomers need a lot more data. That's A cosmic-ray observatory
a huge problem itself - on average, one The Pierre Auger Observatory fits the bill
U HECR strikes a square-mile area once perfectly. Earth's largest cosmic-ray faciIit y
every 39 years (one per square kilometer looks nothing like a traditional telescope.
per century). How can you ever observe Instead of using mirrors or radio dishes to
focus electromagnetic radiation, the instru
ments at the heart of the array are cylindri
PDF package ofAstronomy artictes
cal water tanks that produce a flash of light
whenever particles from an air shower

30 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

The snow-capped Andes Mountains make a fitting backdrop for one of the fluorescence detectors at the Pierre Auger Observatory. Both point toward the sky,
although the instrument's purpose is to search for signs of high-energy cosmic rays. PIERRE "UGER QBSERVMQRY

/' . .... . ... \ .-.'.-. - .... .

.
- .....
streak through. Each tank measures 11.8
feet (3.6 meters) across and 3.9 feet (l.2m)
I
. ......
\
"
--
tall and holds 3,170 gallons (12,000 liters) of '- i
purified water. Airshower particles propa " ,
. -.......-. MENDOZA "
gate at close to the speed of light in a vac .,
uum, which is far faster than light travels Santiagoo .,
i
through water. This creates electromagnetic i
shock waves and a flash of light that sensors i ENLARGED AREA

s'n(
ARGENTINA \
mounted on the tank record. \
A second set of detectors helps in the \
hunt for cosmic rays. Charged particles in
an air shower excite atmospheric nitrogen. Malargtie
i
!
I
Malar ::18
i
The molecules subsequently release this
._._.
_ ..i..-.-'- ARGENTINA
--
energy as ultraviolet light through a process r'-

i
called fluorescence. The Auger Observatory
includes four buildings housing fluores ./
cence detectors that search for the faint ../
/ I
ultraviolet glows from these showers. ..../ I
o 250 miles i
The water tanks can pinpoint an air I I
shower's arrival time to within nanosec -...... I
500 km
!
1 I

onds, information that is then sent to i. i

observatory headquarters in the small town

The Pierre Auger
of Malargiie. Besides the gauchos and occa Observatory lies in
sional ski tourists in winter, Malargiie's western Argentina,
primary claim to fame before the observa not far from its
border with Chile.
tory was the Andes flight disaster, which
The nearest town
occurred on a nearby peak in October 1972. is MalargUe, which
More than a dozen survivors ofan airline has a population of
crash were stranded for 72 days and nearly 25,000. The
observatory com
resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. prises 1,600 water
This is a truly remote and empty corner tanks and four fluo
of the world - precisely the reason scien rescence detectors
designed to record
tists built the Auger Observatory here. The
the air showers
facility comprises 1,600 water tanks spread produced when
0.6 mile (Ikm) from one another in a grid cosmic rays strike
that covers a total area of 1,200 square the atmosphere.
A5TROIYOMY, KElUEMEGER
miles (3,000 square km). The extreme rar
ity of U HECRs leaves little choice in the
matter. If you see only one per square mile
Mal argUe
in 39 years, you either need to find some
incredibly patient scientists or build on a o 10 miles
I 1 I
colossal scale, and few places in the world 20km
are empty enough to hold such a facility.

WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 31

Each of the observatory's 1,600 enclosed water tanks houses a cosmic-ray detector that holds 3,170
gallons (12,000 liters) of purified water. The mast holds an antenna that transmits observations to
headquarters in Malargue and a GPS device to provide precise timing. PIERE"-UGEROBSERV"-TOY
It takes people, too
The huge magnitude of the venture also
requires a level of collaboration that was
unheard of in astronomy until a few years
ago. Five hundred scientists from 55 insti
tutions spread over five continents work on
the project. With such numbers, the sleepy
town of Mal argue becomes packed during
collaboration meetings, and an Auger paper
devotes several pages to listing every author.
It seems hard to believe that a group of
people larger than the u.s. House of Rep
resentatives could ever reach consensus.
"It can be a bit like herding cats," admits
Covault, "but at the end of the day, things
get done." Greg Snow, a physicist at the Uni
versity of Nebraska, agrees. "Auger is run
like a company. We have a hierarchy, but we
must keep ourselves a democracy," he says.
Despite its immense scale, the entire
observatory cost just $50 million to build,
making it a relative bargain when com
pared with the construction budgets of
traditional astronomical observatories,
which often can run $100 million or
more. Because none of the 15 countries
contributed a majority of the funding,
democracy among the project scientists
is all the more important.
Diplomacy and persistence have paid
off. The instrument has observed several
thousand garden-variety cosmic rays, and
a new UHECR turns up every other
month or so. Even with such little data
32 ASTRONOMY - MARCH 2013
onUHECRs, scientists have started to
develop ideas about where they come from
and what they are made of. The only thing
is, the first hints appear to be even more
perplexing than anyone expected.
Zeroing in on black holes
At first, astronomers thought they had
pinned the origin ofUHECRs to supermas
sive black holes in active galaxies. Nearly all
large galaxies possess such objects in their
cores. These behemoths, which pack mil
lions or even billions of solar masses into a
region no larger than our solar system, may
have played a key role in galaxy formation.
Matter would accumulate around them
in much the same way that a pearl forms
around a grain of sand.
Supermassive black holes can be diffi
cult to detect. Scientists confirmed the
Plenty of cattle ranches dot the pampas. The plants in the grasslands derive their energy from the Sun;
similarly, the nearby water tank uses solar panels to generate electricity. PIERREAUGEROBSERV"-TORY
Each of the observatory's four fluorescence build
ings holds six 3.S-meter telescopes attached to a
camera like this one. They scan the sky looking for
the faint ultraviolet light emitted when a cosmic
ray creates an air shower. PIERRE"-UGER OBSERVATORY
4-million-solar-mass one at the Milky
Way's center only in 2008 after a 16-year
study that tracked the movements of stars
near the galactic center. But when a black
hole strips material from a nearby star or a
merging galaxy, the liberated gas forms an
accretion disk before it falls into the hole.
Friction within the disk raises its tempera
ture to millions of degrees, generating a
huge amount of light across the electro
magnetic spectrum. Astronomers call this
special type of accreting supermassive black
hole an active galactic nucleus ( AGN).
Although AGN are the brightest con
tinuous sources of radiation in the uni
verse, many mysteries still surround them.
Astronomers still don't know exactly why
or how some AGN eject matter at velocities
approaching the speed of light. These giant
jets often occur in pairs that spurt in oppo
site directions toward the poles of its host
galaxy. The giant elliptical galaxy M87 in
the Virgo cluster is a nearby example of an
AGN with a single prominent jet.
Not surprisingly, astrophysicists were
elated in 2007 when researchers at the
Pierre Auger Observatory announced that
they had found a tentative correlation
One of the observatory's four fluorescence detec
tors stands on a hill that overlooks one of 1,600
water tanks. The entire facility stretches over an
area of 1,200 square miles (3,000 square kilo
meters). PIERRE AUGER 08SERVATORY
between the highest-energy cosmic rays
and the positions of nearby AGN. The jour
nal Science heralded the discovery as one of
the top breakthroughs that year.
Auger scientists hesitate to draw firm
conclusions from this data, however,
because high-energy cosmic-ray studies
remain in their infancy. Not only do
researchers have few data points to work
with, but they also can't pinpoint a source
as accurately as most other astronomers.
The Auger Observatory can locate a
UHECR's original direction to only a
3.1-square-degree field, some IS times the
area of the O.So-diameter Full Moon. And
to further complicate matters, the strength
of the correlation between UHECRs and
AGN has been decreasing since the scien
tists published their 2007 results.
Snow remains unperturbed. "We were
lucky with our first publication, but small
statistics fluctuate," he explains. "It's a part
of life, part of low-statistics physics we
need more data." Other project members
emphasize the large margins of uncertainty
and that the early Auger results simply
show that UHECRs correlate with the
positions of AGN in the night sky.
"A lot of objects can be found within a
few degrees of AGN," points out Ross Bur
ton of Case Western Reserve University.
"All we have observed was a correlation
with where AGN are, not that they're the
smoking gun."
An ironclad conundrum
Beyond the question of whether AGN
might be the universe's largest particle
accelerators, project scientists have encoun
tered a new and unexpected puzzle. Most
" The giant elliptical galaxy M87 in Virgo features
ajet of particles moving at nearly the speed of
light. A supermassive black hole at M87's center
(deep inside the yellow glow at top left) powers
the galaxy's jet and likely accelerates subatomic
particles to nearly the speed of light, creating
cosmic rays. NASAJESA/HlEHU8BLEHERITAGEnAM(STScVAURA)
.. As the Sun sets on the distant Andes, one of the
Auger Observatory's 1,600 water tanks waits for
the telltale signature of a high-energy cosmic
ray interacting with a molecule high in Earth's
atmosphere. MARTINRATCLIFFE ISKY-SkAN,
researchers assumed that UHECRs would
turn out to be protons - hydrogen atoms
stripped of their electrons. These subatomic
particles make up the great majority of
lower-energy cosmic rays, and theorists had
developed some ideas about how nature
might be able to accelerate a proton to such
high energies. None of these ideas, however,
could possibly work with heavier elements.
But Auger observations of air showers
seem to indicate that UHECRs are made of
iron nuclei. This complicates theories on at
least two levels. First, it requires prohibitive
amounts of energy to accelerate a heavy
iron nucleus to such speeds; second, any
mechanism that could likely would tear the
nucleus apart in the process.
So where could the iron particles come
from? No one knows, although some scien
tists suggest an alternative explanation.
"My gut feeling is they're not iron," says
Paul Sommers, a phYSicist at Pennsylvania
INC.)
State University in University Park. "This
result is probably more an indication that
the physics isn't well understood." The
research team suspects iron based on data
extrapolated from experiments at much
lower energies. The particle-physics mea
surements in earthbound laboratories
don't reach anywhere near the energies
astrophysicists observe originating from
the cosmos. Sommers argues that this
could be our first clue that particle physics
might be different at much higher energies.
Although these first hints of answers are
intriguing, scientists must be patient until
more data come in before reaching any
conclusions. And as they wait for the next
high-energy particle to arrive in the pam
pas, these cosmic-ray cowboys are ready to
tackle the new mysteries. After all, it's all
in a day's work when you're exploring the
frontiers of astronomy from the remote
plains of Argentina."
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 33
AS KASTRO
SATURNIAN
SHAPE
Q: WHAT IS THE HEXAGON AT SATURN'S
NORTH POLE, AND WHAT CAUSES IT?
A: The twin Voyager spacecraft
first observed Saturn's north
polar hexagon in 1980 and
1981. This highly geometric
feature in Saturn's atmosphere
has had significant speculation
about its origin and nature. (I've
even heard that some have
speculated that such a struc
tured shape must be created
artificially.)
Interestingly enough, the
hexagon has persisted over
decades, and the Hubble Space
Telescope and most recently
the Cassini spacecraft have
studied it. Because this feature
hasn't disappeared indicates
that it cannot result from the
change in seasons; Saturn's sea
sons last approximately seven
Earth years, so we would have
seen the hexagon vary. Some
have theorized that the hexa
gon is a standing wave in Sat
urn's atmosphere, or that a
storm just south of the hexagon
(observed during the Voyager
era) was the driving force.
Astronomers think the Milky Way's
disk is embedded in a dark matter
"halo,"like in this illustration. They
have yet to detect it, however.
34 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
Astronomy's experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
Gory Alexander, Watauga, Texas
However, that storm died out
while the hexagon has not.
Ana Aguiar and colleagues
at the University of Oxford
have, for the first time, arrived
at a working laboratory model
that produces a six-sided struc Scientists have found that steep contrasts in wind speed within Saturn's
northern region may be responsible for the hexagon-shaped clouds at the
ture. Aguiar's team compared
planet's north pole. NASAlJPlIlJNIVERSlTY OF ARIZONA
fluid-dynamics research to
Saturn observations to find
that the steep changes in wind can do with a spinning tank of a transit depends on two things:
speeds within Saturn's northern water in a lab! the size of the star and the size
region could create unstable Brigette Hesmon (or radius) of the orbit. The first
behavior in a fluid. Saturn's University ofMaryland, part is straightforward: The
north polar area has a jet College Park bigger the star, the more likely
stream, which moves at a spe wd:l witness a transit. The sec
cific speed. Strong contrasts ond requires some geometric
in wind speeds can create a Q: WHAT PERCENT OF STAR thinking: If the planet is
wavelike motion of that jet in SYSTEMS HAVE ORBITS IN extremely close to the star, then
the atmosphere; six waves THE RIGHT ORIENTATION you can imagine that there will
encircling the planet along with FOR SCIENTISTS TO FIND be a transit at almost any view
the jet would produce a hex EXOPLANETS THROUGH ing orientation. On the other
agonal structure. THE TRANSIT METHOD? hand, if the planet is far away,
The hexagon appears station Russell Carr the probability of haVing the
ary in relation to Saturn's atmo Pittsfield, New Hampshire correct alignment for a transit is
sphere because the waves move low. More mathematically, if we
at the same speed that the jet A: The probability of having an let D be the diameter of the star
propagates. This goes to show exoplanet's orbit oriented along and a be the distance of the
that you never know what you our line of sight so that there is planet from the star (called the
semi-major axis), the probabil
ity for a transit is IJ'(2a). This
assumes circular orbits and a
Q: HAS DARK MATTER EVER BEEN DETECTED small planet.
IN OR AROUND THE MILKY WAY GALAXY? So, there is no single percent
Frank Coulter, Pauanui Beach, New Zealand age to answer the question
because it depends on how big
A: While some scientists claim they've seen evidence of a "wind" of the orbit is. For a planet whose
dark-matter particles, most members of the astronomy community orbital period is just a few days,
believe this was a false detection and direct observation of this mys the probabil ity could be 10 to 20
terious material hasn't happened yet. This isn't necessarily bad news, percent or more. But for an
though. By not detecting it, researchers narrow the mass range of Earth-like world at 1 astronomi
the particle likely associated with dark matter, which helps scientists cal unit (our planet's distance
create the next-generation experiments and detectors to find the from our star) with a period of
material type that composes some 85 percent of the cosmic mass. 365 days, the probability is only
Liz Kruesi, Associate Editor 0.47 percent. Thus, the percent
age ranges, roughly, from 0.5
percent to 15 percent for a star
like the Sun. Because NASA's
Kepler mission team is most
interested in planets within
their stars' habitable zones -
where liquid water might exist
on these worlds' surfaces - the
probability is close to that half
percent mark.
Another important aspect
to keep in mind: Transits of
planets in large orbits are rare
events. You get just one transit
per year of a planet in an
Earth-like orbit. So, not only is
the probability low of ever see
ing a transit, but for the vast
majority of the time the planet
will not be transiting. You have
to observe for many years to
know for sure.
William Welsh
San Diego State University
Q: HOW MANY TRANSITING
EXOPLANETS MIGHT NASA'S
KEPLER SPACECRAFT FIND?
Russell Carr
Pittsfield, New Hampshire
A: Kepler stares at about
160,000 stars continuously
we don't change targets because
we don't want to miss a transit
that might last only 10 hours
and occur only once per year.
Half a percent of 160,000 stars
is 800 stars, so you might think
that this is about how many
transiting planets with Earth
sized orbits Kepler should find.
But nothing is simple when
working at such high precision;
we must consider several
important factors.
Two factors tend to increase
the numbers: (1) P lanets closer
to their stars than Earth is to
the Sun are easier to detect. (2)
Many planets live in multiworld
systems, so several transiting
planets could orbit one star.
Two factors will decrease the
number: (1) Not all stars are the
same. Most are more active
("noisier") than the Sun, and
this makes it more difficult to
One of the simplest and least expensive ways to dive into solar observing is to project the Sun's image onto a white
backdrop. Use the scope's shadow to align the Sun - do not look through the instrument. MICHEL HUH
detect the transits. Small planets
can become lost in the stellar
noise, even to Kepler. And the
fainter the star, the harder it is
to see any transits. (2) Kepler
has been collecting data since
May 2009. We want to observe
at least three or four transits
before we have confidence that
any event is real, which requires
four or more years for planets
in large orbits.
As of now, Kepler has
detected 2,321 planet candidates,
which are objects that show
transitlike features. Most of these
are likely exoworlds, but at this
time we don't have enough
information to state with confi
dellCe that they are all planets.
William Welsh
San Diego State University
Q: WHAT IS THE BEST AND
CHEAPEST WAY TO GET
INTO SOLAR OBSERVING?
Jonathon Scott
Atlanta
A: Solar observing is a great way
to extend the pleasure of back
yard astronomy into daylight
hours. It can be one of the least
expensive facets of amateur
astronomy, but also one of the
riskiest. A brief telescopic peek
at the Sun without proper pre
caution can result in permanent
eye damage. That said, let's look
at the best and cheapest ways to
safely view our star.
First, there's solar projection
- using a telescope to project
the Sun's image onto white card
board or a sheet (see the photo
above). With a low-power eye
piece in place, pOint your scope
sunward; use the scope's shadow
- not the finder - to aim.
You'll know you're on target
when sunlight illuminates the
eyepiece. Position the cardboard
a foot or two from the eyepiece,
and focus until the bright circle
of light (the projected image of
the solar disk) is sharp at the
edges. If the Sun is active, as it
currently is, sunspots will
appear as dark blotches. Daily
observations will reveal the
spots' ever-changing appearance
and stately drift across the solar
disk as the Sun rotates.
Solar projection doesn't re
quire a large, expensive telescope
- a big plus for the budget
minded astro-hobbyist. In fact,
an ideal instrument for solar
observing is a 60-millimeter
refractor, available from many
retailers for under $100.
If you want to see more
detail (and who doesn't?), con
sider an "aperture filter" that
affixes to the front of the tele
scope and prevents most of the
sunlight from entering. The
method is slightly riskier than
solar projection because an
improperly secured filter can
fall off with disastrous results.
It's also a bit more expensive,
but not excessively so. Solar
filters for small-aperture scopes
typically run from $50 to 565.
Using such a setup, you'll see
more intricate detail in sun
spots, as well as the bright
cloudlike features called plages
that often accompany them.
The Sun's visible surface (the
photosphere) will appear grainy
- dramatic evidence of its tur
bulent nature.
For more information about
safely viewing our nearest star,
check out my Observing Basics
articles "Good Sun behavior"
(June 2005) and "Solar safety"
(July 2009) in the archives at
www.Astronomy.com/Chaple.
Glenn Chop/e
Contributing Editor and
longtime observer
Send us your
questions
Send your astronomy
questions via email to:
askastro@astronomy.com;
or write to Ask Astro,
P.o. Box 1612, Waukesha,
WI 53187. Be sure to tell us
your full name and where
you live. Unfortunately, we
cannot answer all questions
submitted.
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 35
 SKYTHIS
MONTH
MARTIN RATCLIFFE and ALISTER LING describe the
solar system's changing landscape as it appears in Earth's sky.
March 2013: Comet fever strikes
I
A
eyes will be on the
western sky after
sunset to see whether
Comet C/2011 L4
(PANST ARRS) puts
on a great performance. This
visitor from the solar system's
depths promises to be the
brightest comet in six years.
By March's second week,
PANSTARRS should be a fine
binocular object and could
appear bright to naked eyes.
Of the solar system's eight
major planets, only two show
up easily this month. Jupiter
blazes high in the sky and
will be the major planetary
attraction on March evenings.
Saturn rises before midnight
and stands out a few hours
later. The rest of the planets
lie far closer to the Sun
throughout March.
Let's begin our tour of
the solar system with Comet
(/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) and
its potential for making this
month memorable. It reaches
perihelion (its closest point to
the Sun) March 9, when it lies
28 million miles from our
star. It should shine brightest
around then, peaking perhaps
at magnitude 0 or - 1 if astron
omers' predictions hold true.
It likely won't be easy to
spot until a few days later,
however. On March 12,look
due west a half-hour after
sunset, and you should see a
slender crescent Moon hang
ing some 80 above the hori
zon. The comet's head, or
coma, lies just 40 to its left in
Martin Ratcliffe provides plane
tarium development for Sky-Skan,
Inc., from his home in Wichita,
Kansas. Meteorologist Alister
Ling works for Environment
A crescent Moon slides past Jupiter the evening of March 17, creating a
memorable sight against the backdrop ofTaurus the Bull. ASTRONOMY, ROEN KELLY Canada in Edmonton, Alberta.
36 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
(2) Visible to the naked eye
., Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
the sky. You'll likely have to
wait for twilight to deepen
before the coma comes into
view, and you still may need
binoculars. But if luck is on
our side, the comet will show
up easily. Then, as the sky
darkens, the comet's dust tail
should come into view. Even
if PANSTARRS fizzles some
what, the binocular view still
should be impressive.
If the comet develops a
long tail, March 13 will be a
night to treasure. The waxing
crescent Moon then lies in
line with the gas tail. For com
plete details on viewing the
comet, see "Get ready for
Comet PANSTARRS" (p. 60).
The solar system's two
largest planets, Jupiter and
Saturn, are the only ones vis
ible in a dark sky this month.
Jupiter appears far brighter,
shining at magnitude -2.3
March 1 and fading just 0.2
magnitude by month's end.
The giant planet currently lies
against the backdrop of Tau
rus the Bull. Be sure to grab
your binoculars and enjoy
the stunning sight of Jupiter
flanked by the Pleiades (M4S)
and Hyades star clusters.
The view gets even better
March 17 when a lovely cres
cent Moon passes some 20
south ofIupiter. After looking
with naked eyes and binocu
lars, point a telescope at the
planet. Two of Jupiter's own
moons, 10 and Europa, pull a
disappearing act that evening.
Europa slips behind Jupiter's
western limb at 10:51 P.M.
EDT, followed by 10 at 12:13
A.M. For the next 68 minutes,
the planet appears to have
just two moons.
Jupiter and its four Gali
lean moons provide many
 The hills are alive with ancient volcanoes
The best volcanic features on
the Moon's face are the lava
filled circular basins called
maria (Latin for "seas"). But the
field of volcanic domes known
as the Marius Hills makes a
good second choice. Located
in the vast Oceanus Procella
rum, the hills appear as coarse,
sandpaper-like terrain near the
craters Marius and Reiner. This
region sees fjrst light about
three days before Full Moon.
The Moon shines brightly
the evening of March 23, and
an inexpensive filter (even sun
glasses) will help reduce the
glare. Tycho's spectacular ray
system will first draw your
attention, and then brilliant
Aristarchus in the north will
catch your eye. Enjoy them for
a few minutes before shifting
your gaze to the Marius Hills.
The area lies along the termina
tor -the dividing line between
light and dark on the surface
just north of the lunar equator
and west of the bright rays
emanating from the relatively
young crater Kepler.
Boost the magnification for a
good look, and then think about
how the Moon developed this
outbreak of hives. The evidence
points to a few episodes of
volcanism. First, a few hundred
steep-sided volcanoes erupted
when a huge zone of magma
welled up from below. Less
violent eruptions then built the
dome structures that surround
them. Finally, lava oozed out of
cracks and filled much of Ocea
nus Procellarum. The huge
expanse of darker, smoother ter
rain convinced early observers
to call it an ocean.
The Marius Hills become
harder to see March 24, and
by the 25th, the Sun's higher
elevation wipes out the shad The field of domes known as the
Marius Hills lies west of the prominent
ows necessary to view the
Marius Crater and shows up nicely a
textured terrain.
couple of days before Full Moon.

other notable events this

month. On the evening of
March I, Ganymede's large
shadow falls on the jovian
atmosphere starting at 9:46
P.M. EST, while Europa begins
its own transit of the planet's
disk 17 minutes later.
On March 2/3, lo's shadow
marches across the jovian disk
behind the innermost moon.
10 first touches the planet's
eastern limb at 10:04 P.M. EST,
METEORWATCH
Meteoroids glow in the west after darkness falls
March features no major meteor
showers, and the only minor one
-the Gamma Normids -lies
deep in the southern sky and
out of the reach of northerners.
Yet this month offers a chance
to view millions of meteoroids
whose combined glow gives rise

followed by its shadow at 11:22 to the zodiacal light.

P.M. The moon exits the disk The Sun illuminates these

at 12:14 A.M., while the shadow tiny bits of dust that orbit in the

lingers 79 minutes longer. solar system's plane, or what

Perhaps the most intrigu
ing series of events occurs
the night of March 26/27.
For a brief period of time,
Jupiter appears to have just
one moon. Callisto lies far
west of the planet and is the
only one visible all night. As
darkness falls across the east
ern half of North America,
however, Jupiter blocks both
10 and Ganymede from view
while Europa transits the
planet's disk.
Ganymede starts to reap
pear from behind the planet's
- Continued on page 42
astronomers call the "ecliptic."
The zodiacal light shows up
best when the ecliptic inclines
steeply to the horizon, as it does
in March after darkness falls in
the Northern Hemisphere.
You need to look for the faint
glow from a dark site. And try
during March's first two weeks
when the Moon is gone from
the evening sky. The cone
shaped glow extends from the
western horizon up through The pyramidal glow of the zodiacal light appears In the western sky after
Aries and into Taurus. evening twilight completely fades during March's first two weeks. O-'lECUPP
OBSERVING Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) IS sh api ng up to be the brightest
HIGHLIGHT comet in six years; don't miss its excellent evening appearance. <!Z>.M.
L.D
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 37

northeastern limb at 10:12
P.M. EDT. At 10:43 P.M.,
Europa's shadow begins a
transit, and five minutes
later, Europa exits the disk.
Although 10 leaves the planet
behind soon thereafter, you
won't see it because Jupiter's
giant shadow envelops it in
darkness. The moon moves
out of eclipse at 12:04 A.M.,
when it appears well east of
the jovian disk. To gradually
brightens to full luminosity a
few arcseconds southeast of
Ganymede. From then until
Jupiter sets, the three inner
moons cluster near the planet.
becomes prominent in the
southeast shortly thereafter.
It shines at magnitude 0.3 in
mid-March and ranks among
the brightest objects in the
sky. The ringed planet lies
among the dim background
stars of western Libra the Bal
ance, slightly less than 20
east of 1st-magnitude Spica,
Virgo's brightest star.
The Moon meets Saturn
twice this month. A waning
gibbous Moon passes 3 south
of the planet March 2 and
again on the 29th, when our
satellite appears much closer
to Full phase. Both conjunc
Jupiter's innermost major moon, 10, crossed the planet's disk September 28,
2011 (it lies in front of the Great Red Spot in the right-hand image), and it
will do so again March 2/3. Although a moon can be difficult to discern
against the cloud tops, its pitch-black shadow appears conspicuous. DAVETnER
because the Moon moves noticeable and arises from a
about 0.5 every hour, the combination of Saturn's rapid
objects won't appear as near rotation and gaseous nature.
during the overnight hours. Saturn's atmosphere usu
Although the ringed planet ally doesn't show more than a
will reach opposition and few pale bands. High-altitude
peak visibility in late April, haze hides the deeper cloud
the views of it through a tele layers where activity normally
scope this month won't be occurs. Large storms occa
much different. The main Sionally punch through the
change is that you'll have to haze layer, however. A white
wait until early morning for spot typically heralds the start
Saturn to climb high enough of such a storm.
to deliver crisp views. In mid Of course, few observers
March, the planet's disk mea spend a lot of time examining
sures 18.3" across the equator the planet's disk the rings

Saturn rises before mid tions occur during daylight but only 16.7" through the are just so magnificent. The
night local time all month and from North America, so poles. This difference is ring system spans 41" and tilts

(OMETSEARCH
Rise of a heavenly sword
It's time to get ready for what
should be a delightful comet.
Even grizzled amateurs who
think they've seen it all are look
ing forward to seeing Comet
C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). At its
peak just before midmonth, the
comet will be set against a deep
ening azure sky. If predictions
hold, it could show a small, bright
core that lies close to the horizon
with the pale blue flame of its
gas tail slanting upward and a
feathery whitish plume from its
dust tail curving to the left.
The apparition begins with a
tease about SO minutes after
sunset March 7. Observers
looking just south of due west
should see a pale glow extend
ing to the upper left that looks
like a jet contrail. A day later, the
comet's compact yellow-white
head will appear above the hori
zon. Each night thereafter, the
comet climbs higher into a
darker sky, the gas tail's angle
to the horizon g rows more verti
cal, and the expanding dust tail
fans to the left. Observers at
higher latitudes will see the
same progression but delayed
by one to two nights.
Unfortunately, the Moon's
light gets worse after the 1 2th
and will partially obscure the
delicate tails that should con
tinue to grow. By the time the
Full Moon leaves the evening
sky in late March, PANSTARRS
likely will have faded to 4th
magnitude - although that's
nothing to complain about! For
more information on viewing
the comet, see "Get ready for March's best comet, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), climbs northward through the
Comet PANSTARRS" (p. 60). constellations Pisces and Andromeda as it puts on a show after the Sun sets.

42 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013


The inner three Galilean satellites buzzaround Jupiter March 26/27.
Outermost Callisto then lies some 1 2 planet diameters west of Jupiter.
19 to our line of sight in
March. The outer A ring, the
brighter B ring, and the dark
Cassini Division that sepa
rates the two all appear clearly
through any size telescope.
Under good conditions, you
also might spot the innermost
C ring. The planet's limb
often shows through this
semi-transparent region.
Although Saturn's moons
appear fainter than Jupiter's
quartet, several show up to
discerning eyes. Titan glows
at 8th magnitude and will
look obvious through any size
instrument. This large moon
passes due south of Saturn
March 4 and 20 and north
of the planet March 12 and
28. Saturn's trio of lOth4
magnitude satellites - Tethys,
Dione, and Rhea - typically
show up through 4-inch
scopes. Each orbits closer
to the planet than Titan.
Intriguing Iapetus varies
in brightness because one
hemisphere reflects more than
90 percent of the sunlight that
hits it while the opposite side
reflects less than 10 percent.
It brightens to 10th magni
tude when it lies far west of
Saturn but dims to 12th
magnitude when it's well east.
Iapetus reaches greatest west
ern elongation March 13 and
should be fairly easy to spot 9'
from the planet.
While observers will shout
their praises of Jupiter and
Saturn throughout March,
LOCATINGASTEROIDS
A dwarf planet horns in on EI Nath
Bagging the dwarf planet Ceres But it is a decently bright
doesn't get much easier than dot, glowing at magnitude 8.3
this. The king of the asteroid as it slides past Beta during
belt passes less than 10 from March's first 10 days. So few
the bright star EI Nath (Beta [l background stars exist here that
Tauri) this month, and through Ceres lies in the open. The typi
a telescope it will appear as the cal defining characteristic of an
first "star" south of Beta. Magni asteroid - the night-to-night
tude 1.7 EI Nath represents the motion against the stellar back
northern horn of Taurus the drop - is a lot tougher to see.
Bull, a constellation that lies That changes in the follow
high in the southwest after ing two weeks. The space rock
darkness falls. gradually moves in front of a
the five other planets besides
Although it spans slightly richer star field, and you won't
Earth will merit barely a whis
more than 600 miles, Ceres is be able to pick it out at first
per. Mercury, Venus, Mars,
barely one-quarter the Moon's glance. Still, the pattern of fixed
Uranus, and Neptune all
size. Put it some 210 million stars gives you a framework
spend the month within 400
miles away, and you can under to spy the one object that
of one another, and, unfor
stand why it looks like a dot changes place from one night
tunately, this sweep also through a backyard telescope. to the next.
includes the Sun.
You might spy Uranus on
one of the first evenings of
March. It sets two hours after
the Sun on the 1st and appears
60 high in the west 90 minutes
after sundown. You'll need
binoculars or a telescope to
see this 6th-magnitude world.
Ten days later, Uranus
takes part in the closest plan
etary conjunction in several
years. Mars passes 43" north
of Uranus on March 22, but
the pair lies just 60 east of the
Sun and will be hopelessly lost
in its glare. Unlike Uranus,
Mars stays close to our star
all month and doesn't put in
any appearance.
The largest asteroid heads eastward along the border of Taurus and
Uranus passes on the far Auriga this month, passing less than 10 south of 2nd-magnitude EI Nath
side of the Sun on March 28, (Beta [PI Tauril. ASTRONOMY, ROE KHLY
coincidentally just eight hours
after Venus does. Uranus
then lies 0.70 south of our elongation on the 31st, when Neptune appears a bit
star, and Venus is the same it lies 280 west of the Sun. higher than Mercury but
distance south of Uranus. Unfortunately, the innermost much fainter. It glows at 8th
Like Mars, Venus remains too planet doesn't climb high for magnitude from a spot 70
close to the Sun's glare to see observers at mid-northern high in the east-southeast 45
throughout March. latitudes. Mercury lies 50 minutes before the Sun comes
On March's final morning, above the eastern horizon up. Viewers with transparent
you should be able to find 30 minutes before sunrise. It skies and plenty of patience
Mercury and perhaps catch shines at magnitude 0.2, how might try to track down the
a glimpse of distant Neptune. ever, bright enough to show distant world through binoc4
Mercury reaches greatest up against the twilight sky. ulars or a telescope.1!t
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 43
T
hroughout history,
many civilizations have
advanced our knowledge of
the cosmos, and centuries ago
Chinese astronomers recorded
their observations as part of this great tra
dition. Indeed, the most accurate eclipse
predictions in the lIth century came not
from astronomers in Europe or the Middle
East, but the skygazers of the Song
Dynasty in China.
A millennium later, the rise ofehina's
economy has resulted in the dedication of
significant resources to fundamental sci
ences like astronomy. One reflection of the
nation's ambitious plans to make itself a
world leader in astrophysical research once
again came this past August, when scien
tists worldwide converged on Beijing to
44 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
attend the XXVIII General Assembly of the
International Astronomical Union.
More tangible evidence comes from
China's large investments in science that,
in the case of astronomy, range from com
missioning mega-projects within its bor
ders to joining various international
collaborations. China is poised to drive
major advances in astronomical research;
look for many of its ground-based projects
now in various stages of completion to
make a big impact in the coming decade.
Make LAMOST of it
To build a competitive observatory, it's best
to start with a high-quality site. Optical
observers judge a potential site by the num
ber of clear nights and the steadiness of the
atmosphere (called the "seeing"). American
observatories long ago left the comfort of
eastern campuses for the darker and drier
skies of Arizona. New Mexico, and ulti
mately Hawaii and Chile. China possesses
many high and dark sites - for instance in
the Himalayas - but none has consistently
clear weather or exceptional seeing. So,
lacking an optimal astronomical location
that can compare to the world's best. new
Chinese optical facilities have required
Eric Peng is a research professor of astronomy at
Peking University in China and its Kavli Institute
for Astronomy and Astrophysics. He first became
interested in the science by reading Odyssey and
Astronomy as a child in New York City.
careful planning to optimize their future
scientific output.
One such project is the Large Sky Area
rr'KOREA
Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Tele NORTH

scope (LA MOST), also named after the
6SO "
o
13th-century Chinese astronomer Guo Beijing TH 'i
KOREA
Shou Jing. LA MOST is located at Xinglong
Despite a relative
Observatory in mountains only 71 miles oXi'an lack of pristine
( 1 14 kilometers) from the center of Beijing. CHINA oShanghai astronomical sites,
oWuhan China's growing
Although this spot was more remote when SONG Interest in profes
telescope construction began in 2001, the sional astronomy
lights and pollution from today's nearly 20 TAIWAN has led to impressive
projects throughout
million Beijing residents, coupled with OHong Kong
unfavorable weather and seeing, make the INDIA the country - and
the world.
site less than ideal for conventional astron PHILIPPINES ASTIIOHO'oIY:ROI:N KELLY

omy. Nevertheless, LA MOST has the

potential to be a uniquely powerful obser
spomlles
vational tool, with capabilities that will be
unmatched for years to come.
1 I
1,OOQkm
SRI
LANKA
WWWASTRONQMY.COM 45

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) has a 4-meter reflecting cor
rector that tracks the sky within 30 of the meridian, sending the image up to a 6-meter primary mirror,
which focuses the light onto 4,000 fiber optic cables. The observatory has an unprecedentedly large field
of view (some 5 in diameter) for its aperture, allowing for a relatively quick survey speed.
The reason for this is that LAMOST will
do one thing only, and do it well: study the
spectra (analyze the light) of 4,000 objects
at a time over a wide field of view, one cov
ering about the same area as 100 Full
Moons. LAMOST's unique design is a
meridian-reflecting Schmidt telescope. The
classic Schmidt telescope gets its wide field
of view from a spherical primary mirror.
Such a design, however, requires a correc
tor, typically a lens placed at the front of the
telescope. This limits the size of the instru
ment, and most classical Schmidt telescopes
have openings of less than 1 meter.
LA MOST is the first large Schmidt tele
scope to use a mirror as the corrector,
allowing for a 4-meter aperture that sees a
20-square-degree field of view. In the
LA MOST design, the corrector can collect
light from celestial objects during the few
hours around the time when they cross the
meridian (the imaginary north-south line
through the sky). The mirror then reflects
that light up a long tube to the primary
mirror, which directs the light to 4,000
optical fibers that funnel the starlight into
16 spectrographs. LAMOST's impressive
abilities help it overcome the disadvantages
of a less-than-ideal site. A $37 million proj
ect, it ended construction in 2008, finished
its commissioning phase in June 2012, and
has now embarked on its main five-year
spectroscopic survey.
46 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
Galactic archeology
LAMOST will study the structure of the
Milky Way star by star and make a power
ful contribution to one of the most active
fields of research in astronomy, "galactic
archeology." Evidence suggests that some
fraction of our galaxy formed by the merg
ing of smaller star cities. Many of these
accreted remnants are now disrupted, with
their stars scattered across the Milky Way
in long streams. These "fossil" streams can
mix spatially with lots of other stars, mak
ing them impossible to pick out by their
positions alone.
Luckily, they all still share a common
momentum. Therefore, if scientists can
measure not only the positions but also the
velocities of millions of stars, they can bet
ter dissect the origins of the Milky Way.
The previously invisible stellar streams
could potentially reveal themselves.
LA MOST will be the world's most effi
cient machine to measure the line-of-sight
velocity of millions of nearby stars. For
comparison, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- a digital imaging and spectroscopic sur
vey of the northern sky begun in 2000 and
now considered one of the most successful
experiments in modern astronomy
focuses mostly on extragalactic studies and
has measured velocities and distances for
600,000 stars. The LA MOST data set will
achieve its full potential when it eventually
combines with data from the European
Space Agency's space-bound GAIA mis
sion (originally an acronym for Global
Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophys
ics), which will be launched in 2013.
Together, the two telescopes will be able to
create a catalog of three-dimensional
velocity information for millions of stars.
FAST and versatile
Another astronomy mega-project lies in
southwest China, in the scenic subtropical
province ofGuizhou. The karst limestone
hills in this part of the country are known
from their appearances in landscape photo
graphs, but soon they'll also be home to the
world's largest single-dish radio telescope.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture
Spherical Telescope (FAST) uses a concept
pioneered by the LOOO-foot-diameter (305
meters) Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto
Rico. Both instruments are non-steerable
dishes set into natural limestone depres
sions. The ground's shape provides the
basic framework for the dish, allowing for a
Scenic Guizhou province, in southwest China,
is home to karst limestone hills well-suited for
housing China's upcoming Five-hundred-rneter
Aperture Spherical Telescope in one of the large
depressions. QUENTIN SCOUfLAIRE

much larger and cheaper structure than is
possible with a full steel-support frame.
At FAST, the whole dish rests on a cable
net that hangs from a 1,600-foot-diameter
(SOOm) steel ring at the top of the depres
sion and is secured with tie-down cables
underneath. The surrounding hills also
help shield the telescope from unwanted
radio frequency interference (RFI). The
main disadvantage of the design, though, is
that the dish cannot move, so astronomers
must observe whatever objects happen to be
passing within 40 of directly overhead.
This means that only a certain band of the
sky is visible to the telescope.
Still, FAST improves on the Arecibo
design. Although the dish is 1,600 feet in
diameter, at any given time the receivers
hanging above the dish at prime focus only
see illumination from a 985-foot (300m)
aperture. Looking at different parts of the
dish allows scientists to look at different
parts of the sky, giving much wider sky cov
erage than at Arecibo, including regions as
far south as the galactic center. And
whereas Arecibo's dish is spherical and
requires correction for aberrations at prime
focus, the FAST reflector will have an active
surface that deforms into a paraboloid in
real time as it aims. This simplifies the feed
systems to the receivers and enables sensi
tivity across a wide frequency band, making
FAST a versatile survey telescope.
.. China's model for the Five-hundred-meter
Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) (left) im
proves upon the design of Puerto Rico's Arecibo
radio telescope (above). When its construction
is complete, FAST will be the largest single-dish
telescope in the world. OILiANOfASTTEAM (FASTI;NATIONAL
ASTRONOMY AND IONOSPHERE CENTER/CORNElL l!NMRSITY/NSF (ARECIBOI
need to focus on specific concepts and make
the best of any design or geographic advan+
tages. The science goals for such projects,
however, are not lacking in ambition.
The 21 Centimeter Array (2ICMA), also
called the Primeval Structure Telescope, is a
radio array built to detect the emission from
atomic hydrogen at a rest wavelength of21
centimeters - corresponding to the cosmic
Observing at long radio wavelengths. epoch before the first stars. This radiation is
FAST is sensitive to neutral hydrogen gas. the same emission that FAST will observe
the most abundant element in the universe. locally, but 21CMA will detect it in a differ
One of the main project goals is to create ent form at extremely large distances.
new maps of the gas in the Milky Way, as Because of the expansion of the universe,
well as to detect thousands of distant galax the emission's wavelength has stretched so
ies through their hydrogen emission. FAST much that it is the same as that of commer
also will discover thousands of new pulsars, cial television broadcasts. The downside of
spinning neutron stars that remain after this is that any faint celestial signal will be
stellar explosions. Construction of FAST, a drowned out by terrestrial emissions any
$110 million project, has already begun, and where with TV reception. The upside is that
first light is expected in 2016. you can use standard rooftop antennas to
build your telescope! In a remote valley in
Turning 21CMA western China, shielded from TV signals
Not every astronomy project in China is as and other RFI, the 21CMA team has built a
big as FAST. Those with modest budgets huge array using off-the-shelf rooftop
More than 10,000 rooftop television antennas combine in the 21 Centimeter Array (21CMA), a radio
telescope formation sensitive to the emission of neutral hydrogen gas from the era before the first stars
formed. These antennas, built in a remote, radio-quiet valley in northwest China, point unwaveringly
toward the North Celestial Pole. The job of correlating the signal from all the antennas and constructing
the images goes to a duster of off-the-shelf computers. XIANGPINGWlJ
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 47
The Chinese node of the StellarObservations Network Group (SONG) will sit at this remote site on north
west China's Qinghai plateau. SONG nodes will span the globe and monitor minute brightness variations
in nearby stars that are the telltale signs of"starquakes:'The sitemonitoring tower, seen here with star
trails in the background, has proved the location to be quite dark with reasonably clear weather. LlCAIDENG
signals between all the antennas goes to a
relatively inexpensive cluster of computers
running free Linux software. Although it
will never be a multipurpose radio telescope
like the Low Frequency Array in Europe,
21CMA cost just a fraction of that project at
$6.4 million and is now at work generating
4 terabytes of data every day.
Science for a SONG
Astronomers increasingly need 24hour
observing coverage to understand the many
The PLATeau Observatory (PLATO) experiment is celestial phenomena that change with time.
one of many taking place at the Dome A site in From the ground, any optical observatory
Antarctica. This is the highest point on the conti has just eight to 10 hours of observation per
nent, but it does not rise steeply like a mountain
day, and that's if the weather cooperates.
summit. Instead, it has a gradual slope, giving the
impression of a plateau more than a peak. PLATO Continuous coverage requires a network of
contains site monitoring equipment as well as observatories around the globe, situated to
four S.7inch telescopes that make up the Chinese cover all time zones. Although China may
Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR).xUZHDU
not have a worldc1ass optical site like
Hawaii or Chile, it does have the best spots
antennas at a fraction of the cost of a stan in its longitude range. East of southern
dard radio telescope. Africa and west of Australia, the most ideal
21CMA consists of 10,287 antennas laid areas for optical astronomy are in western
out in two "arms" of2.5 miles (4km) and China, making the country an ideal partner
3.7 miles (6km). Each antenna points at the in any global monitoring program.
North Celestial Pole, so it requires no drive The Stellar Observations Network
motors, and the computationally intensive Group (SONG), a Danishled international
task of interpreting and correlating the collaboration that will study star variability
48 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
at high precision, will place one of its eight
nodes in the Qinghai province of western
China. This site, at an altitude of 10,500 feet
(3,200m), will host a lmeter telescope iden
tical to seven others around the world.
These instruments will continuously
monitor bright stars for minute variations
in their velocities and temperatures to
detect small pulsations, or "starquakes." Just
as geologists can use earthquakes to probe
Earth's interior, astronomers have used
"sunquakes" to study the Sun's interior.
Now their instruments are sensitive enough
that they can use pulses in other stars to
probe the structure of their interiors, a prac
tice called asteroseismology. Using this
data, SONG will produce stellar parameters
for roughly 100 nakedeye stars in the solar
neighborhood, expanding our knowledge of
stellar structure and evolution.
Although China's scientific development
has largely focused on domestic programs,
it is increasingly integrating with global
research efforts. The rise of global monitor
ing networks such as SONG is a natural fit
and likely a sign of future international
agreements. SONG's node in Qinghai is still
under construction and is scheduled for
delivery to the site later in 2013.
Explosive science with TMT
Some projects are global in scope because,
like SONG, they require continuous sky
coverage. Many others, however, are simply
too complex for just one country and
therefore require international consortia.
The next generation of optical telescopes,
the "extremely large telescopes," will have
apertures of24 to 39 meters, depending on
the project, and all will be the result of
international partnerships.
In 2012, China joined the Thirty Meter
Telescope (TMT) project, a multi national
partnership (also including the California
Institute of Technology, the University of
California, Canada, Japan, and India) to
build a 30-meter optical-infrared telescope
atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. One of the
technologies developed for LA MOST, the
ability to polish mirror segments for the
primary mirror, is now under consider
ation to be one of China's contributions to
TMT. When the project is complete in
2018, China's astronomers will for the first
time have direct access to one of the
world's best optical-infrared facilities.
The largest multipurpose optical tele
scope in China today has an aperture of
2.4 meters (not including special survey
telescopes like LAMOST), and the jump
from 2.4 to 30 meters will be an enormous
one. To prepare for this advance and give
China a chance to develop large-aperture
science, the country recently negotiated
access to approximately 50 nights each
year on telescopes in both the United
States and Chile with apertures between
3.6 and 6.5 meters.
PLATOnic ideal
One of the final remaining frontiers for
ground-based astronomy is the vast conti
nent of Antarctica. The characteristics of
this desolate land - high altitude, steady
atmosphere, dry air, long winter nights,
and even its cold temperatures - make it
an ideal place in which to do astronomy.
The disadvantages are its remoteness and
the harsh environment for both people
and equipment.
Dome A, the highest point in Antarc
tica, about halfway between the pole and
the coast, is home to Kunlun Station, one
of three Chinese research facilities on the
isolated continent. In 2008, this was where
the Polar Research Institute of China, in
collaboration with American, Australian,
Japanese, and European partners, built the
PLATeau Observatory (PLATO). This
international project combines monitoring
equipment (to observe weather and atmo
spheric conditions at the site) with a small
array of four 5.7-inch telescopes. This Chi
nese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR)
takes advantage of the 24-hour darkness
during the Antarctic winter to monitor
variable stars, sky brightness, and atmo
spheric transparency.
Testing indicates that the upper atmo
sphere above Dome A is very stable, which
provides good seeing, and it may be the
driest site currently under development
for astronomical research. With the lack
of good locations available at home, Chi
nese astronomers are working to take
advantage of the conditions at Dome A,
with plans in the works for larger optical
infrared telescopes and a submillimeter
wave observatory at the site during the
coming decade.
Starry future
Throughout history, many great civiliza
tions have advanced our knowledge of the
cosmos. Centuries ago, Chinese astrono
mers recorded their observations as part
of this grand tradition. In modern times,
the rise of China's economy has been one
of the major news stories of the 21st cen
tury. One result of its increasing wealth is
the dedication of significant resources to
fundamental sciences like astronomy.
Some of the projects currently planned
will no doubt be more successful than
others as Chinese astronomers gain the
experience needed to do big science. Nev
ertheless, with so many questions yet
unanswered, China is ready to help drive
the global quest for a better understanding
of our universe.
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 49
Small scopes
he richness of our first springtime
T
object, the Beehive Cluster (M44)
- a naked-eye celestial object known
since antiquity - makes up for the faint
ness of Cancer the Crab, the constellation
that contains it. M44 sits midway between
Gemini the Twins and Leo the Lion.
If your sky isn't all that dark, use bin
oculars to locate the Beehive. With an
50 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
apparent size of some three Full Moons side
by side, M44 looks best to most observers
through binoculars with magnifications
between lOx and 16x.
To the unaided eye, the Beehive appears
nebulous, but the telescope's invention
revealed its true nature. Galileo wrote in
Sidereus Nuncius ("Starry Messenger") that
he counted more than 40 stars in M44 as
early as 1610. Astronomers today list
upward of350 stars in the cluster.
When you add up its members, the Bee4
hive has a total magnitude of 3.1. Its bright4
est star is Epsilon (e) Cancri, which shines
at magnitude 6.3. Some 80 of the cluster's
stars are brighter than 10th magnitude.
Next, head far south to the sky's largest
constellation, Hydra. In this star pattern's
west4central section, you'll find the Ghost
of Jupiter (NGC 3242), a showpiece plan
etary nebula. Specifically, look 1.80 south of
magnitude 3.8 Mu () Hydrae. This object
got its common name from its planetlike
appearance through small telescopes,
though based on its color and brightness, it
more closely resembles Uranus or Neptune.
At low magnification through a 64inch
telescope, you'll see the Ghost's softly glow
ing, pale blue4green disk. Its magnitude is a
healthy 7.8, so you won't have any trouble
spotting it. Through larger scopes, and at
powers in excess of200x, the interior
appears oval, like an eye or a football. The
inner 10" looks hollow, except for the dim
central star. A faint spherical shell 40"
across encloses the "eye." Your best bet for
observing the outer shell is to use a 124inch
or larger scope, an eyepiece that provides
about lOOx, and a nebula filter.
Our next target is perhaps the sky's red4
dest star, V Hydrae. To find it, first locate
the 4th-magnitude star Alkes (Alpha lal
Crateris) and look 3.50 south4southwest.
V Hydrae is bright enough to spot through
binoculars but looks best through a tele4
scope at a magnification of lOOx.
 V Hydrae is a variable star that takes 531
days to complete one cycle. During that
time, its magnitude drops from 6.6 to 9.0
and rises back again. That means at mini
mum, the star shines only 1 1 percent as
bright as when it's brightest. The star hov
ered near its maximum brightness a few
months ago, so now it's on a steady decrease
for the next half year. View it every week or
so, and watch it fade and redden.
You also can spot our next object, the
Broken Engagement Ring, through bin
oculars. This group of seven stars lies 1.5
west of one of the Big Dipper's Pointer stars:
Merak (Beta [l Ursae Majoris). This aster
ism's brightest star also is its northernmost
- magnitude 7.5 SAO 27788. The next
brightest star shines at magnitude 9.1, and
the faintest glows at magnitude 9.9.
Generally, the Ring's stars lie south and
west of SAO 27788 and form a tight arc. It
spans 16', which is half the diameter of the
Full Moon. You'll get the best views
through lOx and higher binoculars as well
as small telescope/eyepiece combinations
that give a wide field of view.
The single galaxy in our smallest scope
range is the Silver Needle Galaxy (NGC
4244) in Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs.
It shines at magnitude 10.4 and measures
17.0' by 2.2'. To find it, point your scope 7.5
west of magnitude 2.8 Cor Caroli (Alpha
Canum Venaticorum).
NGC 4244's disk tilts only 5 to our line
of sight. Through the eyepiece, this spiral
galaxy has a relatively even illumination
- the core appears only slightly brighter
than the rest. What sets the Silver Needle
Galaxy apart, however, is its amazing
length-to-width ratio.
Once you view this object through a
4-inch telescope from a dark site, you'll
understand why its name contains the word
needle. Through larger scopes, unfortu
nately, the needlelike quality disappears. To
the northeast, the galaxy's stars fade gradu
ally into a broad haze. On the opposite side
of the core, the surface appears more mot
tled and irregular.
Next, head 20 due north into Ursa
Major for M40, the most unusual entry in
Charles Messier's catalog. You'll find it 1.4
northeast of magnitude 3.3 Megrez (Delta
[8] Ursae Majoris).
Michael E. Bakich is a senior editor of
Astronomy and author of 1 ,001 Celestial
Wonders to See Before You Die (Springer, 2010).
This object is a widely spaced double
star also called Winnecke 4. The two suns
glow faintly at magnitudes 9.0 and 9.6, and
the separation is a wide 53". The primary
star appears light yellow and the secondary
deep-yellow, almost pale orange. Despite its
ho-hum nature, M40 still is a Messier
object, so it deserves at least one look dur
ing your observing lifetime.
For our next object, head 30 due south.
The Coma Berenices star cluster is a
loose open cluster that carries the designa
tion Melotte 111. The center of this object
lies about 14 northeast of magnitude 2.1
Denebola (Beta Leonis). That distance is
easier to trace if you use 7x50 binoculars,
which have a 7-wide field of view.
Melotte 1 1 1 contains some 40 stars
between magnitudes 5 and 10. About a
dozen rise above naked-eye visibility, and
those bring the total magnitude to 1.8.
Because this object's diameter spans more
than 4.5, you'll need optics with a wide
field of view to see all of the stars simulta
neously. Start by using binoculars. Because
most scopes won't give that wide a view,
scan around the cluster looking for inter
esting arrangements of stars.
Our next object takes us south into Cor
vus the Crow. This asterism has many
names, but the one amateur astronomers
use most is the Stargate. You'll find it mid
way between magnitude 3.0 Delta Corvi
and magnitude 4.7 Chi (X) Virginis.
The Stargate is a triangle of stars within
a bigger stellar triangle. Neither is huge.
The large one measures roughly 5' on a side.
The small one spans less than l' on a side.
Some observers have seen the Stargate
through lOx50 binoculars, but I've only
succeeded with 16x70 binoculars.
I guarantee success if you point a tele
scope at this group. Use an eyepiece that
gives a magnification of about SOx, and
you'll see both triangles well. The brightest
of the Stargate's outer three luminaries
shines at magnitude 6.6. Stars of magni
tudes 6.7 and 9.9 complete the big triangle.
The small triangle's stars glow more subtly,
at magnitudes 8.0, 9.7, and 10.6.
Our next target is another of the sky's
red stars. Its astronomical designation is
Y Canum Venaticorum, but observers
usually call it La Superba. Generally, the
star's brightness varies between a peak of
magnitude 4.8 and a low of magnitude 6.3
over a ISS-day period.
To find it, look a bit more than 7 north
northwest of magnitude 2.8 Cor Caroli in
Canes Venatici. Remember, a sky-distance
of 7 equals the field of view of7x50 bin
oculars. And although you can find La
Superba through binoculars, its color
appears best through small telescopes.
Return to Cor Caroli to find our final
small-scope object, globular cluster M3.
Draw a line 25 long to the southeast until
you hit the star Arcturus (Alpha Bootis).
M3 lies near the midpoint of that line. No
other bright deep-sky object lies nearby, so
you'll have no trouble finding this globular.
At magnitude 6.3, M3 looks great even
through a 4-inch scope. The cluster sports a
bright center that accounts for about half of
its width. Around the center are dozens of
stars whose density gradually decreases
with their distance from M3's core.
Start with a magnification around lOOx
and increase the power if the steadiness of
the air warrants it. M3 isn't small. Its over
all size - 16.2' - is half that of the Full
Moon, but it still has a dense appearance.
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 51
Medium scopes
eo the Lion contains many fine galax
L ies, five of which (M65, M66, M95,
M96, and MlOS) made Messier's list.
Don't overlook NGC 2903, however, which,
at magnitude 9.0, shines brighter than any
of them except M66. You'll find it 1.50
south of magnitude 4.3 Lambda (A) Leonis.
Although NGC 2903 is a bright galaxy,
you won't see much detail through a tele
scope with an aperture smaller than 10
inches. Look for a halo 4' by 2' that sur
rounds a bright core. Close examination at
high power reveals the galaxy's bar and the
spiral arms, which aren't much brighter
than its halo. Through larger scopes, look
for dust lanes and emission nebulae spread
throughout NGC 2903's spiral arms.
A second deep-sky object - NGC 2905
- appears as a bright knot slightly more
than l' north-northeast ofNGC 2903's core.
NGC 2905 is a star-forming region.
Our next target, dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Leo I, is a personal favorite of mine. It dem
onstrates that a celestial object can be easy
to find, but difficult to observe details in.
What makes Leo I easy to find is its loca
tion: It lies only 20' due north of magnitude
1.3 Regulus (Alpha Leonis). But that bril
liant star's glare through the eyepiece also
makes Leo I difficult to see.
At a dark site, a lO-inch telescope at a
magnification of 150x reveals a magnitude
10.2 mist that appears uniformly bright.
And at 12.0' by 9.3', the galaxy is relatively
large. But whatever you do, keep Regulus
out of the field of view.
Amazingly, it wasn't until 1950 that
American astronomers Robert G. Har
rington and Albert George "Vilson discov
ered Leo 1. They were searching
photographic plates taken at Palomar
Observatory during the National Geo
graphic Society Palomar Sky Survey.
52 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
Our next target, the nearly edge-on spi
ral galaxy NGC 3511, is another of the sky's
"needles." It lies ZO west of Beta Crateris.
Elongated east to west, NGC 351 1 glows at
magnitude 11.0 and appears four times as
long as it is wide. At high magnifications,
the galaxy shows mottling (alternating
bright and dark regions). The oval core
appears to be offset to the north of center.
Only 1 1' to the south-southeast in the
same telescopic field as NGC 3511, you can
find the magnitude 1 1.5 barred spiral gal
axy NGC 3513. Through a 12-inch scope at
300x, the slightly oval halo leads to a
brighter central region. A more careful look
reveals the thin central bar with its long
axis oriented east to west.
Next, head north to the constellation
Ursa Major. One of the best springtime
planetary nebulae is the Owl Nebula
(M97). To observe it, point your telescope
2.30 southeast of Merak. M97 touts a mag
nitude of9.6, but with a diameter of 194", it
has quite a low surface brightness.
Astronomers long ago dubbed M97 the
Owl for its disk's two dark circular regions.
Each eye is less than l' across, and the
northwestern one appears a bit darker.
You'll need a big telescope to spot the
16th-magnitude central star. This faint dot
lies between the two eyes. Because the Owl
Nebula has a low surface brightness, use an
Oxygen-III filter and a magnification of
about 100x to see it best. If you view
through a lO-inch or larger telescope, look
for the size discrepancy between the eyes. If
your sky is dark, you may see the disk's
outer 10 percent as a faint ring.
The next target is the Leo Triplet - a
triangular group of galaxies that fits into a
field of view 0.60 across. To find it, draw a
line from magnitude 3.3 Chertan (Theta Ie]
Leonis) to magnitude 4.0 Iota (t) Leonis. At
the midpoint of that line, you'll find spiral
galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628.
Magnitude 9.3 M65 appears nearly four
times as long as it does wide. Spiral struc
ture is difficult for most observers to dis
cern through medium-sized scopes, but
you'll see some mottling north and south of
the galaxy's broad core.
Now move only 0.3 east-southeast to
find an even brighter spiral, magnitude 8.9
M66. Small scopes show a hazy galaxy
twice as long as it is wide, oriented north to
south, with a brighter central region.
A 12-inch scope at 200x reveals a hint of
M66's spiral arms. Look for a hook-shaped
feature pointing northeast from the south
ern end of the bar. The corresponding fea
ture at the northern end is more difficult to
see, so crank the magnification past 300x.
Larger telescopes show the spiral arms
dotted with star-forming regions as well as
a dark lane east of M66's central region.
Through any scope, the galaxy has a well
defined edge.
Magnitude 9.5 NGC 3628 rounds out
the Leo Triplet. Although it glows more
faintly than the Triplet's two Messier
objects, NGC 3628 still ranks as one of the
sky's brightest galaxies. Start at M65, and
nudge your telescope 0.60 northeast to cen
ter this fine object.
Through a 12-inch telescope, you'll see a
bright object four times as long as it is wide.
A dust lane runs the galaxy's entire length.
It crosses south of the center and is not par
allel to the long axis.
Next, head east one constellation to
Virgo for the Silver Streak Galaxy (NGC
4216). The easiest way to find it is to start at
the hindquarters of Leo the Lion. From
Chertan, draw a line through Denebola and
extend it nearly as far eastward as the dis
tance between those two stars. Your desti
nation is the western edge of the Virgo
cluster of galaxies.
From a dark site, a lO-inch telescope will
reveal several hundred galaxies here, so use
a high-quality star chart to be sure of your
deep-sky identifications.
NGC 4216 itself appears as a magnitude
10.0 streak of light four times as long as it is
wide. The core is bright, but to see its bulge
requires a 12-inch or larger scope. Look for
12th-magnitude NGC 4206 only 12' to the
southwest ofNGC 4216. It has a similar
appearance to its brighter neighbor. And if
you're ambitious, 1 3th-magnitude NGC
4222 lies an equal distance northeast of
NGC 4216.
T think you'll like the next object, irreg
ular galaxy NGC 4449. You'll find it 2.90
north-northwest of magnitude 4.2 Chara
(Beta Canum Venaticorum). It shines at
magnitude 9.6 and measures 5.5' by 4.1'.
The galaxy's high surface brightness makes
it easy to observe.
Astronomers classify NGC 4449 as a
Magellanic-type galaxy because it appears
similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a
satellite of the Milky Way visible from the
Southern Hemisphere. Both galaxies have
large stellar bars running through them.
Using a lO-inch telescope, you'll see
NGC 4449's unusual rectangular shape. It
has a bright, concentrated nucleus that also
looks rectangular. Crank the magnification
past 250x to examine the irregular halo
outside this galaxy's core.
Tfyour seeing is good, a 14-inch scope
will help you spot several concentrations of
star-forming activity. One lies to the north,
and a smaller one is just south ofNGC
4449's core. Larger telescopes will bring out
more detail in the galaxy's central region.
Our next object, the Theoretician's
Planetary (IC 3568), lies in the northern
sky, on Iy 80 from the celestial pole. It glows
at magnitude 9.6 and spans a tiny 10". Look
for it 10.50 north-northwest of magnitude
2.1 Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris).
The tiny inner core of this planetary
nebula appears bright, but you'll need at
least a lO-inch telescope and 200x to see the
13th-magnitude central star. A slightly
fainter shell surrounds the core. You'll also
spot a 12th-magnitude star just 15" to the
west. vVhatever scope you view this object
through, be sure to use as high a magnifica
tion as the sky will allow.
The common names given to this plan
etary are just as interesting as the view of
the object itself, but my favorite is the Theo
retician's Planetary. This comes from what
Bruce Balick, an astronomer at the Univer
sity of Washington who has written a num
ber of stories for Astronomy, said about this
object in 1996: "lfIC 3568 did not exist, it
might have been created by theoreticians."
In other words, it fits the perfect theoretical
model for a planetary nebula.
Now head south to Canes Venatici for
the terrific Whale Galaxy (NGC 4631).
This showpiece is both bright (magnitude
9.2) and large (IT by 3.5'). You'll find iI6.4
south-southwest of Cor Caroli.
At first glance, the Whale Galaxy, with
its bulging core and asymmetrical material
distribution, doesn't look like an edge-on
spiral galaxy. Yet this object is one of the
sky's brightest of this type.
Through a lO-inch scope, you'll see an
imperfect lens shape that's bigger and
brighter on one side. Spend some time
observing NGC 4631's companion - dwarf
spheroidal galaxy NGC 4627, which sits 2.5'
northwest. NGC 4627's gravity has dis
torted the V\'hale's spiral structure. In fact,
the largest telescopes reveal a faint bridge of
material connecting the two galaxies.
For the Whale Galaxy, the close passage
of the smaller galaxy really has stirred
things up. Its central region is a maelstrom
of star formation. Huge clumps of stars,
visible through 12-inch or larger telescopes,
lie all along the spiral arms. If you're lucky
enough to observe NGC 4631 through a
scope with an aperture bigger than 16
inches, look for dark areas made of dust
and cold gas amid the bright patches.
The final deep-sky object in this tele
scope range is the Hockey Stick Galaxy
(NGC 4656-7). Not many bright stars lie
nearby, so to find it you'll need to head 6.60
south-southwest of Cor Caroli.
The core is the brightest part of this
magnitude 10.5 irregular galaxy. The blade,
which lies to the northeast, appears quite a
bit fainter. Together, they form an object
14' by 3'. The disk widens and gets fainter
toward the southwest.
As you view this unusual galaxy, it's
interesting to note that astronomers gave
the stick and the bright knot in the blade
separate NGC numbers. The long stick is
NGC 4656 while the knot is NGC 4657.
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 53
Large scopes
he first of OUT large-telescope targets,
T spiral galaxy NGC 3311, is part of
Abell 1060 (also known as the Hydra
I galaxy cluster). Look for it 4.10 north
northeast of magnitude 4.3 Alpha Antliae.
Abell 1060 lies three times as far away as
the Virgo cluster, which it resembles.
Through a 20-inch telescope, this small
region of sky teems with faint galaxies.
Before you notice them, you'll spot two
stars, magnitude 4.9 SAO 179041 and mag
nitude 7.3 GSC 6641:1410. Nearby, you'll
spot NGC 3307, NGC 3308, NGC 3309,
NGC 3311, NGC 3312, NGC 3314, and
NGC 3316. At magnitude 1 1.7, NGC 3311 is
the brightest. but even it appears as just a
circular haze with a bright center.
Magnitude 12.8 NGC 3312 lies 5' east
southeast ofNGC 3311 and is the most
visually interesting. but you'll need at least
a 16-inch telescope to resolve its spiral
arms, arching to the north and south.
NGC 3309 is another large elliptical that
appears to be in contact with the western
edge ofNGC 3311. It looks similar to NGC
3311, but it's a bit smaller than its neighbor.
Next on our list is an irregular dwarf
galaxy called the Spider Galaxy (UGC
5829). You'll find this low-surface
brightness object 3.70 southeast of magni
tude 4.2 Beta Leonis Minoris.
This galaxy glows ever-so-softly at mag
nitude 13.5 and measures 4.6' by 2.2'. Still,
it's visible through 20-inch telescopes as a
54 ASTRONOMY . MARCH 20\ 3
rectangular smudge twice as long as it is
wide. Through even larger scopes, you may
note that the inner two-thirds is slightly
brighter than the outer regions.
The next target is M95. This terrific
barred spiral galaxy lies 3.60 northeast of
magnitude 3.9 Rho (p) Leonis. It looks great
through any scope, shining at magnitude
9.7 and measuring a healthy 7.8' by 4.6'.
Through an S-inch scope, M95 appears
slightly elongated in a north-northeast to
south-southwest orientation. The central
region appears bright. A faint outer ring
surrounds the core. The ring is the bright
est part ofM95's spiral arms. Through an
l8-inch or larger telescope at high magnifi
cation, you'll immediately recognize this
object's bar, which stretches east to west
from one side of the ring to the other.
M95 belongs to the M96 Group of galax
ies, sometimes called the Leo I Group,
which lies at a distance of38 million light
years. Don't associate the name with dwarf
galaxy Leo I (page 52). That object has
nothing to do with this group. Nine galax
ies make up the Leo J Group. Along with
M95, M96, M 105, NGC 3384, and NGC
3377 are the brightest members.
Next, head north to Ursa Major for
another great sight through a large scope.
Not only is magnitude 10.0 M108 a barred
spiral galaxy, but it also sits edge-on to our
line of Sight. M 108 tilts east-northeast to
west-southwest and measures four times as
long as it is wide. You can find it 1.50 east of
magnitude 2.3 Merak.
You'll immediately see the magnitude 12
star that lies between us and this galaxy's
core. This stellar luminary has tricked
many an observer into thinking they'd
found a supernova.
Few amateur telescopes will allow you to
trace M lOS's spiral arms. If, however, you're
lucky enough to observe this star system
through an l8-inch or larger scope, look for
a darkening running along the galaxy's
northeast side. That region appears less
luminous because it's a massive dust lane in
M 108's star-forming areas.
You'll need serious aperture to get much
out of our next object, Copeland's Septet
(Hickson 57), but it's worth the trouble to
set up a large telescope just to say you've
seen it. This group lies 5.70 east-northeast
of magnitude 2.6 20sma (Delta Leonis).
Scottish astronomer Ralph Copeland
discovered this tiny group of galaxies in
1874. At the time, he worked for William
Parsons, Third Earl of Rosse.
Copeland almost certainly sighted what
would come to be called his Septet through
Parsons' 72-inch speculum-mirror reflec
tor, the Leviathan of Parsonstown. In
Copeland's descriptions for the New Gen
eral Catalogue, he described five of the
seven galaxies as "pretty bright."
The Septet naturally comprises seven
galaxies: magnitude 15.2 NGC 3745, mag
nitude 14.2 NGC 3746, magnitude 14.8
NGC 3748, magnitude 14.2 NGC 3750,
magnitude 15.0 NGC 3751, magnitude 13.6
NGC 3753, and magnitude 14.4 NGC 3754.
Please note that the listed magnitudes for
these galaxies are all over the (sky) map, so
you will find variations of the ones I've
listed. Hickson 57 stretches some 6' in a
general north-south orientation.
Be patient when you observe Copeland's
Septet, especially through "only" an 18-inch
telescope. The key to spotting all seven is
your site's seeing (atmospheric stability). If
stars near the zenith are twinkling, move
on and try for the Septet another night.
The next deep-sky object is also a tough
one: barred spiral galaxy NGC 3172 in Ursa
Minor. Because it glows dimly at magni
tude 13.S, you'll need a large scope and a
really dark sky to spot it.
But ifyou live north of the equator, you
do have an advantage. You can search for
NGC 3172 any night of the year. That's
because it's the closest NGC object to the
North Celestial Pole - only 0.90 from that
heavenly marker. Its extreme northern
position keeps it above the horizon for the
Northern Hemisphere, so astronomers have
dubbed NGC 3172 Polarissima Borealis.
Visually, this galaxy is pretty uninterest
ing apart from its location. If you spot it,
you'll see a faint oval haze about l' across
with a slightly brighter center.
Astronomers refer to our next target,
NGC 4038 and its companion, NGC 4039,
as the Antennae because of their bright
tails. These debris trails are the result of
violent tidal interactions between the two
galaxies. Along the length of these tails are
concentrations of stars as large as dwarf
galaxies. At a distance of about 60 million
light-years, the Antennae represent the
nearest example of a galaxy collision. You'll
find this pair 3.60 west-southwest of magni
tude 2.6 Gienah (Gamma [yJ Corvi).
Through small telescopes, you'll see two
incredibly faint, cottony smudges with a
combined magnitude of 10.5. The larger
and brighter smudge, NGC 4038, sits to the
northwest. A 20-inch telescope at 200x
shows both galaxies' cores as ovals roughly
twice as long as they are wide.
Double the magnification, and you'll see
dual patchy surfaces with bright and dark
knots and traces of at least one tidal tail. To
study these features that give the Antennae
their name, you'll need to view through at
least a 24-inch scope. The tails' surface
brightness is uniform, so you'll be able to
trace their entire length.
If you have an 18-inch or larger tele
scope, there's another pair of interacting
spirals to pay particular attention to: mag
nitude 10.8 NGC 4435 and magnitude 10.2
NGC 4438 in Virgo. Modern observers call
them the Eyes, or Markarian's Eyes in
honor of Armenian astronomer Beniamin
Markarian. This duo lies 8.70 to the west
northwest of magnitude 2.9 Vindemiatrix
(Epsilon Virginis), or OAo east ofM86.
Because of immense gravitational forces,
these galaxies are tearing themselves apart.
Astronomers estimate that the two once
passed within 16,000 light-years of each
other. NGC 4438 is the more distorted gal
axy. Crank up the magnification, and try to
spot this object's irregular outer regions.
Our next target is for those of you with
the largest telescopes. It's the Coma galaxy
cluster, also designated Abell 1656. You'll
find this group 2.7 due west of magnitude
4.2 Beta Comae Berenices.
For those of you using go-to drives,
Abell 1656 may not be in your database.
Instead, target this cluster's brightest gal
axy, magnitude 1 1.5 NGC 4889.
Abell 1656 spans a whopping 4. Within
that neighborhood, hundreds of member
galaxies lie in range of a large amateur
scope. The cluster's richest region, however,
is the center, which measures 0.5 across
and covers the same area as the Full Moon.
Even through a large scope, you won't
pull out much detail from individual mem
bers. The exceptions are magnitude 12.8
NGC 4911 and magnitude 12.2 NGC 4921.
Both are spirals and respond well to magni
fications above 300x.
But perhaps the main point of viewing
the Coma galaxy cluster is just to see it.
After all, this is a group of nearly 1,000 gal
axies that lies more than 300 million light
years away. Even for astronomers, that is an
astounding distance.
The last object in the large-telescope
range gets its name from Philip C. Keenan,
a former professor of mine at the Ohio State
University. NGC 5216 and NGC 5218
together form Keenan's System, a pair of
interacting galaxies in Ursa Major. To find
it, point your telescope 3.9 west-southwest
of magnitude 3.7 Thuban (Alpha Draconis).
The big draw for astronomers is the
22,000-light-year-Iong filament oflumi
nous material, which Keenan discovered,
that connects the two galaxies. Caused by
the gravitational interaction of the two sys
tems, this bridge hosts numerous star
forming regions.
The magnitude 12.3 spiral NGC 5218 is
the larger and northernmost of the pair.
Elliptical NGC 5216 lies 4' to the south and
glows at magnitude 12.6. Use a magnifica
tion around 200x to frame this pair in a
nice star field. And just so you know: The
debris stream connecting the two objects
only appears in images."
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 55

text by Michael E. Bakich
T
he big astronomy event of 2012
occurred Wednesday, Novem
ber 14. Select observers who
either found or put themselves
in the right locations witnessed
one of nature's grand events - a total solar
eclipse. I was one of them, the lead astrono
mer for a trip organized by Astronomical
Tours of Warrensburg, Missouri.
Our group witnessed the lineup I call
"sublime celestial geometry" under a rela
tively clear sky in northeastern Australia.
For nearly two minutes, the Moon's orbit
aligned exactly along the Earth-Sun line,
and our satellite's shadow created a narrow
zone of darkness - totality!
, The Sydney Opera House is one of the world's
foremost performing arts centers and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. This view is from the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. HOllEYY.BAKI(H
.. Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas, offers hikers
a landscape of spectacular scenery. HOllEY Y.BAKICH
56 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
, Shadow bands are elusive features occasionally seen on the ground
before totality. This image shows them as dark lines on clouds. JEN WINTER
Before the big day
Because I'm tall, flights don't thrill me,
especially long ones. But no other option
existed, so we flew from Milwaukee to
Houston, then to San Francisco, and then
to Sydney, Australia. The final leg took
some 14Y2 hours. Ugh!
You'd think after being crammed into
an airline seat for half a day, all I'd want to
do would be sleep. Think again. After
clearing customs, we headed for our hotel.
Check-in was later, so a group of us left our
bags with the concierge and headed to the
world-renowned Sydney Opera House.
We then walked across the Sydney Har
bour Bridge. Our route afforded grand
views of the Opera House, ships in the har
bor, and surrounding neighborhoods. We
later attended our first group dinner and
then retired for a 6:45 A.M. flight to Cairns,
where we'd spend the next five days.
On our first full day in Cairns, we
enjoyed a natural attraction as famous in
Australia as the Grand Canyon is in the
United States: the Great Barrier Reef. We
took a two-hour boat ride to a part of the
giant wonder set aside for tourists.
We moored to a pontoon vessel that
became our base ofoperations. Most of our
group snorkeled while others used scuba
gear. We saw lots of colorful and amazing
fish - including sharks and turtles - and
our whole group had an absolute blast.
The next day, we took a two-hour train
ride through part of the Australian rainfor
est. We moved slowly up a mountain
through switchbacks and tunnels. At the
top. we found Kuranda Village. an old hip
pie town full of art and souvenir shops.
Rather than take the railway back to
Cairns, we boarded the Skyrail. an hour
long cable car ride above the rainforest's
canopy that provided sweeping treetop vis
tas. The Skyrail has two stops where grand
views of canyons and waterfalls await the
photographically inclined.
, Many northern travelers
took the opportunity to snorkel
or scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. JEN WINTER
 ! The total solar eclipse of November 14, 2012, began shortly after
sunrise. This sequence captures the entire event. BEN COOPE
Eclipse!
The big day arrived for our group with the
same tension that grips a rookie NFL player
in his first Super Bowl. During four days of
touring Australia, we'd seen lots of clouds
and numerous rain showers. Such events
tend to dishearten eclipse-chasers, but we
remained positive.
The buses left our hotel at 3:30 A.M.
During the previous night (and into the
morning), Jen Winter and Fred Bruenges
from Astronomical Tours had spent hours
poring over weather forecasts and satellite
maps. In the end, they chose a beach they
had selected more than a year ago.
The one-hour drive afforded anyone
with equipment an hour and a half to set
up. Some in our group had brought tele
scopes, and it seemed nearly everyone was
intent on photographing the spectacle.
First contact, the initial "bite" of the
Moon out of the Sun's disk, occurred
shortly after sunrise. Clouds floated every
where, but our view of the eclipse was
mostly clear. Five minutes before totality, I
spotted Venus above the Sun. Two minutes
later, we all saw shadow bands, the evanes
cent features that occur when the solar disk
shrinks to a sliver. And these bands were
great - the best I've ever seen.
As the Moon hid the Sun, darkness
enshrouded us and the famous call
announcing the start of totality went out:
diamond ring! Filters came off telescopes,
binoculars, and cameras, and shutters
started clicking. At the ring's appearance,
Michael E. Bakich is an Astronomy senior editor.
my wife and I each switched
from our filtered naked-eye
views to binoculars.
We saw Baily's beads, prom
inences (including two huge
ones), and the corona. Unfor
tunately, a cloud then moved
across the Sun, and it didn't
move away until most of the
total phase was gone. Just
before totality ended, however,
we did see some different prominences, Bai
ly's beads on the Moon's other side, and the
second diamond ring.
Then light began to return to the Aus
tralian coast, and we started buzzing. It
wasn't perfect, but all judged it a rousing
success. Had this been any other day, we
may as well have slept in.
Post-eclipse bliss
The day after the eclipse, our group took a
2%-hour flight to Uluru, the country's
colossal natural wonder formerly known as
Ayers Rock. Our bus first shuttled us to
Kata Tjuta, a formation similar to Uluru,
where we trekked into a canyon along some
of the most impressive scenery I've encoun
tered. We then observed Uluru from the
west at sunset, from the east at sunrise the
following morning, and via bus. Up close,
the rock appears incredibly textured, giving
it an almost fabric-like appearance. We also
got to see some Aboriginal rock art.
The next day, we toured Kings Canyon,
another natural wonder that looks a lot like
the desert in the American Southwest. That
night, our group gathered beneath a clear,
! The eclipse chasers that booked
a tour with Astronomical Tours had a fabulous
adventure in the land Down Under. HOLUYY. BAKICH
dark sky and turned our collective gaze
southward. The most prominent star was
Canopus (Alpha [al Carinae). Above and to
its right, the Large and Small Magellanic
Clouds (LMC and SMC) hung above the
South Celestial Pole. These wonders are
satellite galaxies of our Milky Way. Half
our group had never seen them.
We aimed telescopes and binoculars at
the LMC and sought out the famous Taran
tula Nebula (NGC 2070). Then we targeted
the SMC and its nearby neighbor, 47 Tuca
nae (NGC 104), the sky's second-brightest
globular cluster. I pointed out obscure
southern constellations, suggested deep-sky
targets, and answered questions as we
moved from one object to the next.
A memorable adventure
When I someday look at all my travels, this
trip will rank highly. And for good reason:
Few things could top standing beneath the
Moon's shadow in the land Down Under.
WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 57

text by Richard Talcott
S
pending two weeks in Australia
last November began with an
unavoidable ordeal - getting
there. The land Down Under
isn't precisely on the opposite
side of Earth from the United States, but it's
pretty close. Astronomy Editor Dave Eicher
and I spent four hours flying from Milwau
kee to Los Angeles, another 14 hours over
the Pacific Ocean to reach Brisbane, and
then four more hours in the air before
arriving at our destination: Darwin, the
capital of Australia's Northern Territory.
We were understandably blearyeyed
the first evening when we met some of the
nearly 200 people joining us for this trip of
a lifetime. A cruise of Darwin harbor was
the first official event of the journey orga+
nized by our tour partner, Melita Thorpe
... Comb-crested jacanas walk on
lily pads in the shallow waters of Kakadu National
Park in Australia's Northern Territory. EVElYN TAlCOn
Saltwater crocodiles rank among the deadliest
creatures in Australia, a continent known for its
plethora of dangerous critters. This one shadowed
our boat in Kakadu National Park. EVElYN TAlcon
58 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
... Experiencing the changing colors on Ayers Rock
(Uluru) at sunset is the climax of any sunny day in
Australia's vast Red Center. EVElYNTAlCOn
of MWT Associates. She typically had
us jumping from dawn to dusk (and usu
ally later), but a long first night's sleep left
us raring to go.
Darwin was sunny, hot, and humid. The
tropical weather was great for exploring the
surrounding countryside. We spent our
first full day visiting Kakadu National Park
southeast of the city. We barely touched the
surface of this immense World Heritage
Site but still managed to see incredible river
basins, countless species of birds and ani
mals, and Aboriginal rock art. A fabulous
cruise along one of the rivers brought us
close to many of those birds and quite a few
saltwater crocodiles.
Although we spent a lot of time in
planes and buses - necessary in a country
nearly the size of the lower 48 United States
- the transportation highlight was the
journey from Darwin to
Alice Springs aboard the
Chan. This elegant train fer
ries passengers across the
continent, though we took it
only about halfway on a visit
to the vast Red Center. Much
like a cruise ship, the Ghan
makes stops along the way.
We took a wonderful side trip
to Katherine Gorge, a deep
... The dazzling diamond ring at third contact
included a bonus - shadow bands at play in the
thin clouds surrounding the Sun.lES ANDERSON
scar carved into the red sandstone cliffs of
Nitmiluk National Park.
The big rock
After disembarking in Alice Springs, we
immediately hopped on buses for a four
hour trip across the Outback to Ayers Rock
(Uluru to the native Aborigines). The
world's largest sandstone outcrop is sacred
to the Aborigines, and seeing it up close
makes it easy to understand why. Its richly
textured surface looks spectacular at any
time of day, but particularly at sunset when
the rock reddens.
After dinner, we explored the celestial
wonders of the southern sky from one of
the darkest places on the planet. Seeing
Orion the Hunter standing on his head was
a stark reminder that we weren't in Kansas
(or Wisconsin) anymore. Although the
Milky Way was relatively low in the evening
sky, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
- our galaxy's two bright satellites - were
outstanding. Clearly visible to naked eyes,
both were stunning through binoculars.
The next day we were off again, flying
from the sparsely populated Red Center to
the bustling metropolis of Sydney. In a day
and a half there, we cruised its harbor,
explored its neighborhoods and beaches,
and sampled its amazing restaurants. We
even got a guided tour of the
iconic Sydney Opera House
which, despite its name, holds
eight different theaters that host
all manner of artistic expression.
Richard Talcott is an Astronomy
senior editor and author ofTeach
Yourself Visually Astronomy (Wiley
Publishing, 2008).
 .. The symmetric corona visible during totality is
a hallmark of eclipses that occur near a maximum
in solar activity. LES ANDERSON

.... The totally eclipsed Sun hangs above Green

Island on November 14, 2012. Thousands of
eclipse watchers in northern Australia had simi
larly great views. MAY ANDERSON

converged on Green Island to "Vith the partial phases beginning just

witness the New Moon pass in 10 minutes after the Sun rose at 5:35 A.M.,
front ofthe blazing Sun. The we had to be in place well before dawn. The
island was a perfect spot because sky was perfect, and everyone witnessed
.. We journeyed the prevailing easterly winds gen the grand eclipse we had traveled nearly
from Darwin to Alice Springs erated clouds along much of the half a world to see. Gorgeous prominences
onboard the elegant Ghan, a train that ferries
coast, where many people missed popped into view once the Moon covered
passengers across the continent. The steep walls
of Katherine Gorge were a highlight during a out on all or part of totality. (The island the last of the Sun's bright photosphere. We
scheduled Ghan stop. EVHYNTAlcon also proved a popular choice for the group also saw a brilliant diamond ring at both
because explorer James Cook named it the start and end of totality as well as the
after Charles Green, the astronomer Sun's beautiful and symmetric corona.
After Sydney, we hopped on a plane to onboard his ship Endeavour.) The 126 seconds of totality flew past so
reach the final stop on our tour. Cairns lies quickly, it left all of us wanting more. Our
on Queensland's east coast, but its main next opportunity to see a total eclipse
claim to fame is being the gateway to the comes this November in equatorial Africa.
Great Barrier Reef. All of the various MWT But you'll have to wait until March 2015 to
groups gathered on our first night there see a longer eclipse, when the Moon's
(November 11), when SETI Institute astron shadow crosses the sea east of Iceland. It's
omer Seth Shostak delivered a talk on never too early to start making plans. !!II
detecting extraterrestrial intelligence and
our civilization's potential response.
The next morning, the groups split
again. Eicher stayed on the mainland,
where he explored Daintree National Park,
while I headed to Green Island National
Park, located 17 miles (27 kilometers) off
shore. Everyone also had a chance to snor
kel or dive on the reef, where we got
stunning views of colorful coral, giant
clams, and more fish than you can imagine.

The big day .i. Most of Green Island features lush trop .i. Two black-necked storks put on
But nature's grandest show was just around ical vegetation, but a few trees near the a show along one of the many rivers that wind
the corner. On November 14, the groups shore haven't fared so well. EVElYN TALCon through Kakadu National Park. EVElYN TAlcon

YOU CAN SEE MORE PHOTOS

WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 59
 it rains, it pours. At
least that's the saying
amateur astronomers
are hoping relates to
this year's two bright
comets, the first of which, C120l! L4
(PANSTARRS), becomes brightest in
March. I discussed the other comet, C/2012
SI (ISON), in the January issue.
ISON's best visibility occurs in the last
two months of2013, and we'll continue our
coverage as it approaches our region of the
solar system. And although PANSTARRS
will provide a test for all the observing and
imaging procedures amateurs plan to use
on ISON, it looks like it will be a bright
comet on its own.

A faint start
The official discovery announcement of
Comet PANSTARRS came when the Cen
tral Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massa
chusetts, issued Circular No. 9215. It stated,
in part, "Richard Wainscoat, Institute for
Astronomy, University of Hawaii, reports
that an object discovered on four CCD
images taken with the 1.8-m[eterl 'Pan
STARRS I' IT]elescope at Haleakala . . .
appeared to show slight nOll-stellar appear
ance; three follow-up 30-slecond] rled]
band exposures were then acquired by
M[arcol Micheli and Wainscoat with the
Canada-france-Hawaii Telescope on
Mauna Kea (queue observer Lisa Wells) on
JUlle 7.44 UT, showing that a coma is defi
nitely visible with a subtle hint of a faint tail
towards plositionl alngle] 60 deglrees]."
"Pan-STARRS" is an acronym for the
Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid
Response System, an innovative design for
a wide-field imaging facility developed at
the University of Hawaii's Institute for

Astronomers documented the discovery of (/20 1 1 L4 (PANSTA RRS) in this series of images. The comet (arrow) glowed at a meager magnitude 19.5.

60 ASTRONOMY . MARCH 2013

 WATCH COM ET PA NSTA R R S BRIGHTEN A N D FADE
Astronomy. The system combines a rela
tively small l.8-meter mirror with a
l.4-gigapixel digital camera. This results in Date Magnitude Right ascension Declination Distance
a system that can observe the entire avail (2000.0) (2000.0) from Sun
able sky several times each month. The pro
totype single-mirror telescope PSI is now Jan. 1 5 7.0 IShOOm 4215' 30.So
operational on Mount Haleakala. A col Jan. 24 6.0 18h38m -4356' 33.3
laboration among 10 research organizations
Feb. 2 5.0 19h28m -4523' 34,r
in four countries is conducting its scientific
research program. Feb. 1 0 4.0 20h27m -4516' 34.0
Pan-STARRS acquired the four images Feb. 1 6 3.0 21h21m -4310' 31.8
during a 2.6-minute interval June 7, 201l.
Feb. 21 2.0 22hlOm -3915' 28,r
At the time of discovery, the comet sat at
right ascension 16hlOm40s and declination Feb. 26 1.0 22h59m -3242' 24.4
-1638'39". Those coordinates placed it in March 2 0.5 23h34m -2515' 20.6
the constellation Scorpius, 3.4 north
March 3 0.0 23h42m -2306' 19,r
northeast of magnitude 2.5 Graffias (Beta
[] ScorpiO. Astronomers listed the comet's March 5 -0.5 23h56m -1827' 17.9
brightness at discovery in the range of mag March 9 1.0 OhlSm -sol1' IS,SO
nitude 19.4 to 19.6.
March 15 0.5 Oh33m rll' 16.4
One unusual aspect to Comet
PANSTARRS was how far it was from the March 17 0.0 Oh3Sm W43' 17.8
Sun at discovery - nearly 8 astronomical March 22 1.0 Oh3Sm 2132' 22.3
units. (One astronomical unit [AU] is the
March 27 2.0 Oh34m 2938' 27.2
average distance between the Sun and
Earth, approximately 93 million miles [150 April 2 3.0 Oh31m 3r50' 33.2
million kilometers].) When a comet lies so April 9 4.0 Oh2Sm 4603' 39,r
far from the Sun at discovery, it's notori
April 19 5.0 Oh22m 5618' 48r
ously difficult to pin down its orbit.
Fortunately, other astronomers using April 30 6.0 Oh13m W21' 56.4
different telescopes had captured the comet May 1 5 7.0 23h29m 7830' 65,r
on images without realizing it. When they
May 6 S.O OhOOm 7215' 61.0
went back and examined their data, they
found 34 locations of C1201 1 L4 between Positions and estimates of brightness are for Oh UT on the dates given.
May 24 and June 8, 2011.
For example, American astronomer
N
Steve Larson reported that Steward Obser 30" - -

vatory's 61-inch Kuiper Telescope atop

Mount Bigelow north of Tucson, Arizona,
E
had captured the comet May 24. He gave a -
- -
brightness range between magnitude 18.9 -
-
-
-

- -
and 19.2. And in mid-June, astronomers
discovered that even Pan-STARRS had pre
viously imaged the comet. On May 21, the
- -
telescope had acquired a set of four images
that showed the comet glowing between
- -
magnitude 19.5 and 19.9.

A slow but steady climb

Comets orbit the Sun, so they don't stay in
.! -

-

the same spot for long. From our perspec - -

I l:::l
tive, however, their orbits aren't simple - -
- -
paths through the stars because Earth also

Michael E. Bakich is a senior editor of
Astronomy who will put his deep-sky observing
on hold to view Comet PANSTARRS.
On May 18, 2012, Comet PANSTARRS glowed weakly at magnitude 14.9. Despite its dim appearance, a
stack of five 6O-second exposures through the 2-meter Faulkes Telescope South located at Siding Spring,
Australia, revealed its glowing coma and the beginning of a tail. The right image is a logarithmic plot of
the comet's brightness at various points. Such an image is better at showing the coma's structure.

WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 61
 is moving. Their positions change slowly
when they're far from the Sun and rapidly
when they lie close to it.
Between its discovery and July 8, 2011,
Comet PANSTARRS moved a mere 0.20
northward and a bit more than 40 westward
into Libra before creeping south for nearly a
year. On May 28, 2012, it stood before Scor
pius again only 4.40 west of globular cluster
M4. It then headed north until August 4,
when it stood 0.50 northwest of magnitude
3.2 Sigma (cr) Librae. By this encounter, the
comet had brightened more than a hun
dredfold since discovery to magnitude 13.9.
Then, for the next seven months. it
dipped southward. If predictions remain
valid, on February 5, 2013, PANSTARRS
will reach its maximum southerly declina
tion, halfway between the celestial equator
and the South Celestial Pole. At that time, it
will lie only 5' from the magnitude 7.3 star
SAO 229866 in the nondescript constella
tion Telescopium. That star should provide
a nice contrast to the magnitude 6.3 comet.
If your location allows you to view the
pair on this date, I'd suggest keying in on
three points to enrich your experience.
First, how does the star's brightness com
pare to the comet's coma (the gas shell that
surrounds the comet)? Second, is the coma
large enough to envelop the star? And
third, how long is the comet's tail?

Picking up the pace

From early February through the end of
May, C/2011 L4 zooms 1300 northward
(from a declination of _450 to one of85).
Comet-watchers should target February 21
through March 27. During that entire
period, the comet should shine more
brightly than a 2nd-magnitude star like the
North Star, Polaris (Alpha la] Ursae Mino
ris). Remember, however, that comet mag
nitudes are estimates of the light emitted by
the entire object, while a star is a point
source. So, when Comet PANSTARRS
reaches magnitude 1.5, for example, it won't
appear as bright as a magnitude 1.5 star
because the comet's light will spread over a
much larger area.
This nearly three-week span does
include some highlight dates. On March 5,
the 1st-magnitude comet reaches perigee
- its closest approach to Earth. It then will
lie 1.09 AU from our world. Search for the
comet immediately after sunset 170 south
east of the Sun. Use binoculars or a tele
Follow Comet PANSTARRS' northern trek after it encounters the Sun with the help of this chart. With each scope with a wide field of view. Because of
passing day, its distance from our daytime star increases. ASTRONOMY: RICHARDTAlcon AND ROfN KEllY where it is in relation to us, PANSTARRS

!9 ila.1Mb.'" ii;(dn'i!i'''fll'i''ifd RS GO TO www.Astronomy.com/news.

62 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

Comet McNaught, also known as C/2006 Pl and the Great Comet of 2007, was the brightest comet in more than 40 years. It still looked great in a twilight sky
January 18, 2007, six days after perihelion. How will Comet PANSTARRS compare? MARTIN MOLINE

sets only 15 minutes after the Sun from

mid-northern latitudes.
Five days later, on March 10 (Universal
Time - it still will be the evening of the
9th in North America), C/2011 L4 arrives at
perihelion (its closest approach to the Sun).
At a distance of only slightly more than 0.3
AU from our daytime star, this is when the
comet should appear most brilliant. The
current estimate for its total brightness is
magnitude -1.0, but it could be somewhat
fainter - or brighter.
On the 10th, Comet PANSTARRS also
sets later than it did at perigee. Because it
stands 15 due east of the Sun, we'll have a
whole hour to spot it low in the west after
sunset. That pretty much guarantees that
you'll be able to see it from any location
with reasonably clear skies and an unob
This image of Comet PANSTARRS taken remotely September 10, 2012, through the 2-meter Faulkes Tele
structed western horizon. And there's the scope South shows a discernible tail. The imagers combined four 30-second red-filtered exposures. The
potential for more. If your site is dark, once barred spiral galaxy at far left is magnitude 15.8 PGC 53700. K, ROCHOWICZlE.GUIOO/N.HOWES/G.SOS HRO
the comet's head sets, you still may be able
to see the tail arcing among the stars that
lie above the western horizon. having lost a full magnitude approximately amateur astronomers, well worth observing
And that's not all. New Moon occurs every five days. Between then and July 1, and imaging throughout its path. But as
March 11, so light from our nearest natural the comet dims to magnitude 11, but its bright as it might be, it's just the warm-up
satellite won't dilute Comet PANSTARRS' dark-sky presence will be better as its dis act for the headliner late in the year. That's
appearance when it's at its brightest. tance from the Sun increases to nearly 80. when C12012 SI (ISON) should dazzle us.
After perihelion, the comet fades as According to current predictions, Comet
quickly as it brightened. By April 19, it The best is yet to come ISON will be 10,000 times as bright as
shines at 5th magnitude - still bright for a C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) should prove to Comet PANSTARRS. Now that's a holiday
comet but a shadow of its former glory - be a fine sight for both casual observers and gift worth unwrapping! I!t

WWW.ASTRONOMY.(OM 63
R
ecently, I had the opportunity
to review the largest telescope
from Stellarvue, in Auburn,
California - the SV160 triplet
refractor. According to com*
pany owner Vic Maris, the SV160's initial
design came out six years ago. Since then, it
has gone through several iterations to opti
mize performance.
"VeIl, the latest version promises to be
another hit. And that statement holds true
whether you are a visual observer or an
astroimager, and whether your taste runs to
galaxies or planets.
For example, the initial objective was an
oil-spaced triplet lens, but in 2008, the
company replaced it with an air-spaced one
that optimizes imaging capabilities.
Changes to the 2012 version include a lens
set made in the United States.
F irst impressions
The optical tube assembly arrived safely
packed in a custom foam-lined carrying
case with the Stellarvue logo on the side.
The 6.3-inch telescope's finish was the
company's standard glossy white, and it
64 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
was immediately evident that this instru
ment was built like a tank.
That said, its weight surprised me when
I lifted it. T expected it to be much heavier
than its actual 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms).
I also noted that the case was compact
because the design incorporates a sliding
dew shield, which has a machined and
threaded dust cap.
At the eye end of the tube, Stellarvue
attached a massive Starlight Instruments
The SV160 revealed numerous belts and zones on
Jupiter. The author used an flratio of 44 and his
Canon 60Da DSLR set to ISO 640 to record a stack
of one thousand lho-second images. JON T-'L80T
Feather Touch 3.5" focuser. This unit is a
proven performer with heavy loads. It also
allows you to adapt large-format cameras
and field flatteners for imaging. At the end
of the focuser's drawtube is a one-piece
machined and threaded 2" adapter, which
allows the use ofl" accessories.
Astroimagers can unscrew this adapter
and thread camera accessories directly onto
the drawtube. This valuable option can
prove key to reducing flex and tilt within a
large imaging system.
The SV160 features a focal length of
1,2BO millimeters, which translates to a
focal ratio of fiB. With it, the scope provides
stunning high-power views of planets and
deep-sky objects, but it's also fast enough
for most imaging applications.
Visual impressions
I mounted the scope in my observatory,
and during my first night with it I did a star
test using eyepieces from Bmm (l60x) to
Jon Talbot, a meteorologist by trade, is an avid
astroimager who resides in southern Mississippi
and flies into hurricanes for kicks.

Stellarvue's SVl60 APO Triplet Is a 6.3-lnch
f/8 apochromatic refractor. The optical
tube assembly comes In the company's
"Stardust Whtte"finlsh and has a retracting
dew shield. AHRONOMY,WllLl...". lUB...CK
3mm (427x) to assess the optics. After let
ting the instrument cool down for an hour,
I took a quick view of a fairly bright star
near the zenith; it showed nearly identical
diffraction patterns inside and outside
focus. A bit of atmospheric turbulence
caused the star to jump around a bit, but it
was obvious that the optics were excellent.
When I focused the scope, several centered
diffraction rings were evident around the
star, a clincher for a high-quality lens.
Using Harold Richard Suiter's Star Test
ing Astronomical Telescopes: A Manualfor
Optical Evaluation and Adjustment as a
guide, I noted no spherical or chromatic
aberration, or any other oddity. I slewed to
the Double Double (Epsilon [El Lyrae), and
the scope easily split both pairs of stars at
145x. Each ofthe four stars appeared well
resolved, with pitch-black space between
them. It was one of the most impressive
views I've ever had of this object.
Next, it was on to globular clusters M2
and MIS, also at 145x. Both were impres
sive, and each resolved into myriad faint
suns. A quick slew to nearby Uranus
showed the planet as a non-stellar blue orb.
The eye end of the SV160 features a Starlight
Instruments FeatherTouch 3.5" focuser. This
two-speed unit has a graduated scale and comes
with a 2" compression ring and a 1 %" adapter.
Imaging impressions
Fortunately, I was able to assess the imag
ing performance of the SV160 using two
different CCO camera setups: Quantum
Scientific Imaging's (QSI) 583wsg CCD
camera and Santa Barbara Instrument
Group's (SBIG) SIL-lIOOO CCD camera.
I used the QSI camera with Stellarvue's
SFF 7-21 field fiattener, which attached to
the supplied 2" adapter. This combo worked
well, although you will need a focuser
drawtube extension to allow the camera to
reach focus. The resolution with the small
pixels ofthe QSI 583 is 0.8" per pixel, but
because of my typical seeing, I shot a set of
images binned at 2x2 (where four pixels act
as one). This setup provided a resolution of
1.6" per pixel.
I used the larger 35mm-format SBIG
camera with Stellarvue's SFF160 Large Field
Flattener. This setup was a bit simpler
because the flattener threaded directly into
the focuser's drawtube - an extremely
rigid connection from focuser to camera.
The SV160 provided pinpoint stars across
the entire chip. Ihe SIL-lIOOO gave a field
of view just over 1.50 by 10 and a resolution
of 1.5" per pixel in a non-binned mode.
Deciding what to shoot was a bit chal
lenging. I live in the suburbs with plenty of
light domes surrounding my home. Still, I
wanted to see how much detail I could
record in faint nebulae and also how the
SV160 would image planets.
For the first, T imaged the Northern Tri
fid Nebula (NGC 1579) in Perseus and the
Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380) in Cepheus.
The scope worked wonderfully on these
objects and provided a plethora of detail
from my magnitude 4.5 sky.
Jupiter was my chosen planetary target. I
used my Canon 60Da DSLR in "Live View"
The author shot the Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380)
using Hydrogen-alpha and RGB filters. He attached
a QSI S83wsg CCO camera and the Stellarvue SFF
7-21 field flattener to the SV160.JONTAlBOT
mode during predawn hours that had
decent seeing. Using both a Barlow lens and
a Tele Vue Powermate, T cranked up the
f/ratio to 44. Wow! The telescope revealed
many of the giant planet's numerous fea
tures in the stack of 1,000 frames I took,
proving the sharpness of the SV160's optics.
T wasn't expecting this much detail from
6.3 inches of aperture.
Overall impression
Stellarvue's SV160 apochromatic refractor
is an impressive telescope for the discrimi
nating amateur astronomer. It's rock solid
and provides outstanding visual and imag
ing performance. vVhether your forte is
deep-sky or planetary work, this large
refractor will satisfy your desires for as
many years as you choose to use it.1!'t
PRODUCT I N FORMATION
Stellarvue SV160 refractor
Type: Apochromatic triplet optical tube
assembly
Focal length: 1 ,280 millimeters
Focal ratio: fl8
length: 44 inches ( 1 1 2 centimeters)
Weight: 30 pounds {13.6 kilograms}; tube
rings add 3 pounds (l.4kg)
Includes: 3.5" dual-speed Feather Touch
focuser, two tube rings, dew shield with
cap, heavy-duty padded nylon case
Price: $10,999
Contact:
Stellarvue
1 1 820 Kemper Road
Auburn, CA 95603
ItI 530.823.7796
[w] www.stellarvue.com
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 65
 COSM I CIMAG I NG
BY T O N Y H A L L A S
Galaxy rising
Sometimes, your astroimaging goal may be more
than meets the eye.
I
magination is a powerful
tool. It allows you to create
something that doesn't exist.
It is also the foundation for
what I call the creative force
- the ability to invent a new
reality. In this column and the
one next month, I'll show you
how some simple techniques
will help bring your mental
images to life. True, some people
are more imaginative than oth
ers' but we all can be on the
lookout for appropriate base
images from which our
"hybrids" can spring forth.
In this case, my base image is
an arch in Arches National Park
near Moab, Utah. I photo
graphed it many different ways.
In one of the shots, I positioned
the Sun at the bottom right COT
ner of the arch to create a "5tar
burst" effect. Months went by.
Then one day I looked at the
image, and the idea occurred to
me to fill the sky with some
thing. But what?
The image at bottom left
shows the arch as I shot it. Note
that most of the background is
blue sky. Blue sky can act like the
green screen that television and
movie studios use to drop out a
The author traveled to Arches National Park in Utah, where he captured a tiny bit of the Sun's disk within this arch. By using Photoshop, he
cleared out the blue sky in his original image so that a second image of the Andromeda Galaxy would show through. ALLIMAGES:TONYHALLAS
.! ..
66 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
background and replace it with
something else. After trying out
various backgrounds to substi
tute for the sky, I came upon my
image of the Andromeda Galaxy
(M31). Immediately, I imagined
the possibility of creating an out
of-this-world image.
In this example, I want to
replace the blue sky with the
Andromeda Galaxy. Using lay
ers, I will show you two ways to
accomplish this. The first is to
make the arch image a layer sit
ting on top of M31 and then
dear away the blue sky, leaving
the galaxy showing through.
The other is to put the arch
on top as before but turn a selec
tion into a mask that blocks the
open sky, letting the glorious
galaxy show through.
The first step is to use Photo
shop to open both images on
your desktop and scale them to
approximately the same size.
Make them the same width (in
pixels) and the same resolution.
Be sure to check the "Constrain
Proportions" box.
Next, make the arch image a
layer on top of M 3 1 by pressing
F7, and with the arch image
active, drag the icon of the arch
F RO M O U R I N BOX
The universe ;s something
I believe Bob Berman has gotten himself stuck in a Mobius strip
of semantics compounded with a strong dose of pessimism in
his November 2012 column, "Infinite universe:' He states that
because we live in a possibly infinite universe, all we can hope
to be able to study is essentially 0 percent of this universe.
But I do not believe that this is so. Zero percent gives the con
notation of nothing; however, when I look around, I see something.
Depending on where I am, I see people, buildings, and oceans;
when f look up, I see clouds, the Moon, the Sun, and stars. It might
be only a very small percentage of everything, but it is something.
For example, I read about studies of the cosmic microwave back
ground. If scientists can say what caused it and when it occurred,
then they are studying sometliing. - Phillip H. Riley, Kempner, Texas
Your confusion has two causes. First, when speaking about Earth or
even the cosmic microwave background (CMB), you are discussing
the visible or observable universe, but my article was about the
larger cosmos beyond, which we now know is indeed real even if it
is not infirlite. The CMB tells us nothing about the larger universe.
Second, you understandably demand logic. But when discussing
the overarching cosmos, our logiC ultimately fails. Itfails when try
ing to visualize afinite urliverse, or an infirlite one, or temporal
limitations, or eternity. In all likelihood, our current human tools
of math, science, and dualistic symbolic logiC are inadequate to the
task of "grasping" the cosmos as a whole. Hence paradoxes and
seeming impossibilities arise, just as tliey do with the superpositions
ofquantum mechanics. In this case, 0 percent of infinity does not
mean nonexistence, as you mistakenly but understandably assume.
- Bob Berman, Contributing Editor
on top of the galaxy image. This areas where you will need to
automatically turns the arch extend the selection. To do that,
into the layer you want. Close hold down the "Shift" key to
the single image of the arch. It make the "MagiC Wand" addi
now has duplicated itself, so you tive, and continue clicking
don't need it anymore. throughout the sky until you
Take the "Magic Wand" tool, have selected all of it.
set the strength at about 20, and Now, go to "Select;' then
click in the middle of the blue "Modify;' and then "Expand."
sky. The "marching ants" will Enter "2" to expand by two pix
show you what you have els, and click "OK:' Usually
selected. Most likely, there are when you select an area, a tiny
bit remains along the edge. By
expanding (by two pixels), we
make sure the edge is into rock.
With the arch layer still
active, go to "Edit" and then
"Clear;' and PllOtoshop will dear
the sky you have carefully
selected, revealing the galaxy
underneath (the right image).
Next month, I'll show you
how to do this with a mask and
continue to the final image. Our
goal will be to make the arch
seem like it's giving us a view of
M 3 1 from an alien world. 9
 Attention, manufacturers: To submit a product
for this page, email mbakich@astronomy.com.

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WWW.ASTRQNQMY.(QM 67
 ASTROSKETCH I NG
BY E R I K A R I X
The Messier
marathon
Many of you have enjoyed par
ticipating in Messier marathons,
but have you ever considered
sketching one? If not, I would
like to invite you to push your
self to the limit this month and
give it a try with me.
A Messier marathon is an
all-night viewing session during
which observers try to spot the
109 objects on French comet
hunter Charles Messier's famous
list. He occasionally observed
objects through his small tele
scope that looked like comets
but didn't move, so he began the
list to help other observers
avoid confusion.
I recommend two great
Internet resources related to
sketching the marathon. The
first is Jeremy Perez's extensive
website at www.beltofvenus.net/
marathon. There you'll find
valuable information including
sketch templates, reports. and
resources. Another informative
resource. with information on
The author used a 1 6inch Newtonian reflector at f/4.5 on a non-tracking Dobsonian mount and a 7-21mm eyepiece at a magnification
of200x to make the sketch on the left. She then inverted the image (right) using Phoroshop. Completed June 27, 2 0 1 1 , it shows the
Whirlpool Galaxy (MS1) and Supernova 2011dh, which she noted by tick marks. She made a hand-drawn circle using a compass on white
paper, and used a #2 graphite pencil, a black ink pen, a O.Smm mechanical pencil, and a blending stump. RIARIX
68 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013
the Messier marathon itself. is
on the Students for the Explora
tion and Development of Space
website, http://messier.seds.org/
xtra/marathon/marathon.html.
As an introduction to sketch
ing during the marathon. let's
take a closer look at two of the
most famous objects on the list.
Remember, on marathon night
you can spend only a few min
utes on each object, so time
management will be essential.
You'l! have just enough time to
include a few of the brightest
field stars and a rough sketch of
each object before moving on to
the next one.
First, try sketching the mag
nificent stellar nursery M42, a
nebulous complex in the con
stellation Orion the Hunter. It
combines emission and reflec
tion nebulosity surrounding
Theta (9) Orion is, the star in
the middle of Orion's Sword.
The first record of M42 was
by French astronomer Nicolas-
Jeremy Perez from Flagstaff, Arizona, made this eyepiece sketch of the Orion Nebula
(M42) through an 8-inch flS.9 Newtonian reflector. He used a 32mm eyepiece, which
yielded a magnification of 37.Sx. He drew with graphite on white stock using blending
stumps and chamois for shading. Then, using Photoshop, he inverted the image (black to
white) and applied colors digitally based on his written notes. JREMHR2
Claude Fabri de Peiresc in 1610. that M42 has a greenish hue
Dutch astronomer Christiaan through medium-sized scopes.
Huygens published the first It also sports a bright compact
sketch of it in 1659. Then Mess north-central region dominated
ier added it to his list in 1769. by a cluster of stars called the
In the winter sky, M42 offers TrapeZium.
stunning views through any size The second object, M51 in
telescope. It spans 10 square, the constellation Canes Venatici,
and when you observe it with is a bright spiral galaxy. It makes
adjoining M43. the area resem a remarkable pair with its major
bles a bird with outstretched satellite galaxy, NGC 5195,
wings. Most observers report which lies to the north. Any
telescope will let you view both
objects. Through larger aper
tures and at higher magnifica
tions. one of its spiral arms
appears attached to NGC 5195.
Messier discovered M51 in
1773, but it wasn't until 1845
that Irish astronomer William
Parsons. Third Earl of Rosse,
observed its spiral pattern using
a 72-inch reflector that he con
structed at Birr Castle. Ireland.
M51 and M42 are just two of
the 109 treats you'll encounter
when you undertake a Messier
marathon sketching project.
Both objects are so detail-laden
that you'll want to spend more
time drawing them than you
have. Don't fret. You can always
return to them on another night
and take all the time you need. "
 THE ONLY COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE
The Formation FORMATION OF WATER FROM GAS EVER PUBLISHED.
Of Water And Our Some of the most fundamental questions about the formation of water and

Solar System From

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1 . 20 1 2 TOTALITY
A total solar eclipse is one of nature's
grandest spectacles. Few of Earth's
inhabitants viewed this one because its
path tracked mainly over the waters of
the South Pacific. (Canon EOS 5D Mark
II DSLR, Canon EF3S-3S0mm f/3.S-S.6
USM lens set at 350mm and f17.1, ISO
100, various exposures, taken aboard
Celebrity Cruises'GTS Millennium along
the eclipse center line north of New
Zealand. November 14, 2012, at 10:23
A.M. local time) Mike Reynolds

2. THE TARANTULA NEBULA

NGC 2070 is an emission nebula in the
Large Magellanic Cloud. Forthat reason,
most northern observers haven't expe
rienced this celestial wonder. Although
its distance is 157,000 light-years, this
object looks incredible through any size
telescope. NGC 2070would span 20Q
if it were as close as the Orion Nebula
(M42), within the MilkyWay. ( 1 6-inch
Dream Telescopes astrograph at f/3.7S,
Apogee Alta U16M CCD camera, HaRGB
image with exposures of 80, 10, 10, and
10 minutes, respectively) Kfir Simon

72 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

3. THE MOON AND STARS
The photographer captured this image
in the land of Juromenha, one ofthe
regions covered by the Alqueva's Dark
Sky Reserve, distinguished as the first
site in the world to receive the Starlight
Tourism Destination-certification. Here,
the Moon rises in the east as the Pleia
des (M4S) shines brightly above and to
its right. On land, a small private lake
frames the silhouette of an olive tree.
(Canon SOD D5LR, 1 Omm lens at f/4, ISO
2000, 30-second exposure, taken Octo
ber 5, 2012, at 10:S4 P.M. local time, near
Alandroal. Portugal) ' Miguel Claro

4. THE ROSETTE NEBULA

NGC 2237-9 is a nebulous complex
in the constellation Monoceros the
Unicorn. Open cluster NGC 2244, which
appears as two dozen stars, lies at the
object's center. The Rosette's eastern
side is much wider. A nebulous wall
with a well-defined border forms its
northern edge. Although astronomers
classify the Rosette as an emission
nebula, you also can see many small
dark nebulae superimposed on the
bright background. (3.8-inch Thomas
M. 8ackTM8 9255 refractor at f/5.5,
QHYCCD QHY9M CCD camera, HalOli1/
SII image with 2 hours of exposure time
through each filter) Terry Hancock

5. COMET HERGENROTHER
Comet 168P glowed dimly at 18th
magnitude until last October, when it
suddenly brightened 6 magnitudes in
less than a week. This image, taken after
the comet's closest approach to the
5un, shows Comet Hergenrother with
a 0.25"-long tail. (1 2.5-inch homemade
Newtonian reflector at f/5, Canon Xli
DSlR, ISO BOO, 1 hour total exposure
time, taken October 8, 2012, from
Payson, Arizona) Chris Schur

6. THE BLUE SNOWBALL

NGC 7662, also known as Caldwell 22,
is a planetary nebula in Andromeda the
Princess. A bright ring of gas surrounds
the Snowball's hollow center. A fainter
gas shell, in turn, encompasses the ring.
(1 0-inch Meade lX200R catadioptric
telescope at fll0, Quantum Scientific
Imaging QSI 540Wsg CCD camera, 0111/
RGB image with exposures of 360, 60,
60, and 60 minutes, respectively, plus
120 minutes of additional exposures of
the core) Derek Santiago

Send your images to:

Astronomy Reader Gallery, P. O. Box
1612, Waukesha, Wi lliS). Please
include the date and location of the
image and complete photo data:
telescope, camera, filters, and expo
sures. Submit images by email to
readergallery@astronomy.com.

WWWASTRONOMY.COM 73
FI NALFRONTIER To the ends of the cosmos

A superb new window into the
Peeri ng i nto center of our galaxy opens up in
this image produced by astrono
the hea rt of mers at the European Southern
Observatory (ESO). The group
the M i l ky Way used the Visible and Infrared
Survey Telescope (VISTA) at
ESO's Paranal Observatory in
Chile. The result gives us the
highest-definition look at the
Milky Way's center, with some 9
billion pixels in the full image.
VISTA's infrared sensitivity
means this view peeks far
behind the obscuring veils of
dust. In years to come, studying
individual stars in this mam
moth data set will enable
astronomers to understand
motions of stars near the
galactic center.

74 ASTRONOMY MARCH 2013

 THE

GREAT
COURSES

Make Sense of
Black Holes
Black holes. They are one of the most exotic. mind-boggling. and
profound subjects in asttophysics. Not only are they at the heart
of some of the most intriguing phenomena in (he cosmos, they're
the gateway to fundamental and cutting-edge concepts like general
reiacivi[)T and wormholes.

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implications for our universe. Black Holes Explained finally makes
this awe-inspiring cosmological subject accessible. with 1 2 lavishly
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behind these amazing objects, you'll make sense of Einstein rings,
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WWW.THEGREATCOURS ES.COM/4ASTR
 SOUTHERN
SKY
MARTIN GEORGE
as it appears in Earth's southern sky.
May 2013: A ring of fire for Australia
After several months of great
views, Jupiter's days of gran-
deur are numbered. The giant
planet lies low in the north-
west as darkness falls. On May
I> it sets two hours after the
Sun, a value that dwindles to
a single hour by month's end.
Still, the giant world stands
out because it shines so
brightly, at magnitude -2.0.
Jupiter remains among the
background stars of Taurus
the Bull, but it now resides
near this constellation's center
and is well clear of the Hyades
star cluster. In early evening
from mid-southern latitudes,
the planet appears almost
directly below the bright
star Betelgeuse.
jupiter's low altitude and
increasing distance from
Earth makes the view through
a telescope less spectacular
than during the past several
months. Its 34"-diameter disk
still shows some atmospheric
structure with small instru-
ments, however. And don't
miss your last chance to see
the planet's four biggest and
brightest moons - 10,
Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto - before the Sun's
glare swallows them in June.
Venus appears low in the
northwest during evening twi-
light toward the end of May,
when the brilliant planet rises
up to meet jupiter. The two
objects appear closest May 28,
when Venus passes 10 north
oOupiter.
Mercury joins the party
as well, lying about 20 to the
right of the other two. Venus
shines at magnitude -3.9 and
is by far the brightest of the
describes the solar system's changing landscape
trio, followed by jupiter at
magnitude -1.9 and Mercury
at magnitude -0.7. Neither
Mercury nor Venus appears
particularly interesting
through a telescope, so use
your eyes or binoculars to
enjoy the sight.
If you turn your back on
Jupiter and gaze toward the
eastern sky as darkness falls,
your eyes will land on Saturn.
The ringed planet reached
opposition in late April and
spends May perfectly placed
for evening observers in the
Southern Hemisphere. Saturn
currently straddles the border
between Libra and Virgo and
appears to the lower right of
Spica, Virgo's luminary, as twi-
light fades away. At magnitude
0.2, the planet shines notice-
ably brighter than the star.
Saturn climbs higher in
our sky as evening progresses
and becomes a fine target for
any telescope. The planet's
disk measures 19" across
while the spectacular rings
span 43" and tilt 180 to our
line of sight. Keep an eye out
for 8th-magnitude Titan, Sat-
urn's largest moon, which
orbits the planet in 16 days.
A lO-centimeter or larger
telescope will also reveal
Tethys. Dione, and Rhea
closer to the planet.
Mars remains out of sight
during May. It will return to
the morning sky in the weeks
and months to come.
This month's most spec-
tacular event promises to be
the May 10 annular solar
eclipse. During such an
eclipse, the Moon appears
slightly smaller than normal
and thus can't quite cover the
whole Sun, leaving a ring of
sunlight visible at maximum.
Because at least a small part
of OUf star remains visible,
observers must use safe solar
filters to view the event.
The path of annularity
begins in central Western
Australia and then crosses
Australia's Northern Territory
and Queensland. The path
leaves the continent's coast
in northern Queensland at
Princess Charlotte Bay.
where annularity begins at
22h44m53s UT (locally, it' s
the morning of May 11) and
lasts 4 minutes and 43 sec-
onds. As it traverses the
Pacific Ocean, the shadow
touches parts of the Solomon
Islands and Kiribati.
The Moon occults Spica
on May 22. The region of vis-
ibility includes Papua New
Guinea, far northern and
northeastern Australia, and
parts of the Pacific Ocean.
From Cairns, Australia, Spica
disappears at IOh04m UT and
reappears at 11h05m UT.
The starry sky
When I was learning my way
around the sky many years
ago, I noticed how relatively
barren the sky appeared when
I looked to Orion's east. The
bright star Procyon in Canis
Minor stood out, of course,
but it was a long way from
there to the conspicuous con-
stellation Corvus the Crow.
A little more than one-third
of the way from Canis Minor
to Corvus, however, I spotted
an isolated but fairly promi-
nent star with a ruddy hue.
That object is Alphard, or
Alpha (a) Hydrae. Its Arabic
name, Al Pard, means "The
Solitary One;' and this is a
fitting title. The great pre-
telescopic observer Tycho
Brahe called it Cor Hydrae,
meaning "The Hydra's heart:'
Although Alphard is the
brightest star in the sky's larg-
est constellation, it shines only
at 2nd magnitude.
Alphard has a spectral
type of K3, which explains
its orange-red appearance.
This places it roughly midway
between our yellowish Sun,
a G-type star, and reddish
Betelgeuse, of type M. To my
eyes, Alphard's color is obvi-
ous - perhaps more so than
its spectral type otherwise
would suggest.
Alphard has about three
times the Sun's mass and has
evolved well off the main
sequence to become a red
giant. If it replaced the Sun
in our solar system, its surface
would reach two-thirds of the
way to Venus.
Take a look for lonely
Alphard on one of these May
evenings. It lies high in the
north as twilight fades. From
the Southern Hemisphere, a
sure way to identify it is to
watch for a tight group of five
stars located roughly midway
between Procyon and Leo's
luminary, Regulus. This quin-
tet - Eta (11). Sigma (cr), Delta
(8), Epsilon (f), and Zeta (1;)
Hydrae - forms the head of
the Water Snake. Alphard lies
about 150 above the group, or
about three-quarters the span
of your hand when held at
arm's length...