My last What's Up podcast of 2009's International Year of Astronomy
features The Orion Nebula. It takes the listener/viewer from Galileo's
sketch of the Trapezium stars 400 years ago, on to Christian Huygens'
first detailed sketch of the nebula itself and on to studies by the
Hubble Telescope.
You can find it here on the Solar System Exploration archive page, along
with all the rest of the podcasts.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
On the JPLnews Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#g/u
On the NASA podcast page:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
Each month in 2009 the podcast series explores the first observation of
a celestial object honoring the IYA 9International Year of Astronomy)
400 years of telescopic observations theme. Here is a brief recap [from
each written transcript] of the podcast series. The animations in each
podcast show and explain these first observations, telling a great story
spanning from the present back to prehistoric times! If you'd like any
of the components (artwork, old sketches, current images, etc.) just let
me know! It's been a really fun and educational project. As I did the
research each month, I learned something new about these objects that I
never knew before!
January 2009 - Four hundred years ago, Galileo first observed the phases
of Venus through a telescope. The prevailing belief was that the sun and
planets revolved around the Earth. The phases looked similar to what he
saw on Earth's Moon each month.
February 2009 - Galileo's famous observations of the moon from 1609 were
the first to be published and publicized in 1610. [good lunar phase
animation]
March 2009 - When Galileo aimed his telescopes at Saturn in 1610 he
wasn't sure what he was seeing. He thought the rings were "handles" or
large moons on either side of the planet. A few years later in 1612, he
was astounded that the "handles" he previously observed had disappeared!
And in 1616, the handles were back, but they looked different. This time
he saw two half-circles on either side of the round globe of Saturn.
April 2009 - In 1845, Ireland's Third Earl of Ross, William Parsons,
used his huge telescope at Birr Castle in the center of Ireland to
observe and sketch the spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy.
May 2009 - Galileo and Englishman Thomas Harriott both observed the sun
and sunspots in 1610, but they weren't the first. Chinese and Korean
astronomers wrote about sunspots almost three thousand years ago. John
of Worcester, who was an English monk, made the earliest existing
drawing of sunspots in 1128.
June 2009 - It's [the Hercules Cluster] called M-13 because this object
is the 13th of Charles Messier's 1764 catalog of celestial objects. But
he wasn't the discoverer of this cluster! M-13 was discovered half a
century earlier by Edmund Halley.
July 2009 - The Milky Way - Ptolemy had identified the six brightest
stars in the Pleiades, but Galileo saw 36 stars through his telescope.
Through the next two centuries, astronomers used bigger and bigger
telescopes to study and map the Milky Way galaxy.
August 2009 - Have you ever wondered what makes these cosmic fireworks?
Meteor showers are just the debris of a passing comet or sometimes the
debris from a fragmented asteroid. [good meteor viewing animation]
September - Jupiter also has four large satellites, three of which are
larger than our own moon. These four moons were discovered by Galileo
400 years ago. You can see them yourself with a small telescope or even
binoculars, and watch them move around the planet just as Galileo did!
October 2009 - Astronomers have observed the Andromeda galaxy for over a
thousand years. Persian astronomer Al-Sufi was the first to record and
sketch his observations of what he called "the little cloud". In 964 he
published this observation and many others in his "Book of Fixed Stars".
Simon Marius first viewed the galaxy through a telescope in 1612.
November 2009 - In 1758, Charles Messier was scanning the skies for
comet Halley. He noticed a whitish light, shaped like the flame of a
candle in the constellation Taurus. M1, the Crab nebula became the first
entry in his catalogue of 110 comet-like objects. 700 years earlier, a
"guest star" was visible in the summer sky of 1054. Ancient astronomers
in both the old and new worlds documented a new bright star in the
daytime sky. It was a supernova in the constellation Taurus and was
visible with the unaided eye for nearly two years.
December 2009 - This is the final month of International Year of
Astronomy. But that shouldn't stop you from looking up next year.
This month's target is in one of the most-recognizable constellations:
Orion.
January 2010 will be all about Mars opposition, first observations and
the spacecraft studying this fascinating world! Here's to looking at
What’s Up in 2010! Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Websites: http:www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My NASA JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
On behalf of the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers I hope that you all had a
wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.
This weekend we have the opportunity to do a second Saturday of sidewalk
astronomy for the month.
We try to arrange our sidewalk events for a first quarter moon however this
month the first quarter moon occured during the week so last weekend was a
little early while this weekend is a little late and the moon will be slightly
more full than usual. When the moon gets close to full the lighting becomes
flatter and features are not as interesting visually. However part of the moon
is still shadowed from the sun by the Earth and the region where it crosses
into shadow, know as the terminator, will provide interesting detail for us to
view tomorrow.
This will almost certainly be our last chance to get a brief glimpse of
Jupiter until late August of next year. Tomorrow Jupiter doesn't technically
set until after 10 pm however the buildings and trees around our location mean
that it disappears from view much earlier than that - the best chance to get
that last glimpse will be immediately after dark.
There will only be a few astronomers out but we look forward to seeing you at
the corner of Myrtle and Lime in Monrovia tomorrow Saturday, 28th November
after 6pm. Obviously if it is cloudy we will not be there but the current
forecast predicts a clear night.
There will be no sidewalk astronomy in Old Town Pasadena this evening.
Best regards,
Gary
--
Gary Spiers
Pasadena, CA
http://http://lambert-drive.smugmug.com/
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/garyds
Watch the shuttle follow the ISS tonight! Sorry for the short notice -
I just received the info myself. Begin looking in the NW at 6:20 p.m.
tonight - it will be over by 6:25p.m when the ISS reaches 38 degrees
above the horizon, less than halfway to the zenith overhead. The
shuttle should follow - I don't know by how long, but I'd watch for a
couple minutes. There are not too many shuttle missions left, so seeing
each one is a treat!
This is for southern California only. For other locations you can use
the same website I do: http://www.heavens-above.com Happy hunting, and
happy Thanksgiving too! Jane
Event Time Altitude Azimuth Distance (km)
Rises above horizon 18:21:33 0° 312° (NW ) 2,131
Reaches 10° altitude 18:23:33 10° 311° (NW ) 1,294
Maximum altitude 18:25:30 38° 304° (NW ) 536
Enters shadow 18:25:30 38° 304° (NW ) 536
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Websites: http:www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My NASA JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
The weather looks good tonight for sidewalk astronomy. We'll be at the
corner of Myrtle & Lime from about 6:00 'til 9:00, showing the crescent
moon and bright Jupiter.
It could get a little cold tonight, so we'll be adding clothing layers.
Last weekend Jane and I did a little dark sky observing, and I grabbed a
few images of some favorite fall and winter objects. Have a look here:
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/11/21/pinwheels-horseheads-and-flaming-stars/
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
Hi everyone! We saw a few shooting stars from the desert on Saturday night.
It was in the 40's at midnight, but the sky was absolutely gorgeous! Mojo
and I are working on a story or two combining his gorgeous images from that
night. You'll see those in a few days. :-) But tonight is Leonid night!
The Leonids are my favorite meteor shower, partly because I've been
participating in meteor counting research as an amateur astronomer for a
dozen years. But mostly because this shower is well documented in art,
culture and history going back to the 900's.
It looks like we'll have decent weather tonight for those who want to see a
few shooting stars. If you want to see some of this historic meteor shower,
the best time for us here in the US is from 12:30 am to 2:30 am. (that's
Pacific time) Tuesday morning - aka in less than 12 hours from right now.
The time usually recommended for meteor shower watching is the "hours before
dawn" timeframe. But this time, because Earth will be plowing through a
"denser clump" of meteor dust at that time, the rates will go up a little.
Not like the storm years of 1998-2002, when thousands of meteors rained down
on the Earth, but a nice reminder that our solar system is an amazing place
Still, it won't be raining meteors tonight. Expect maybe 10-20 before
midnight and maybe up to 30 per hour during the 12:30 - 2:30 am timeframe.
An article recalling the 1999 and the 1899 Leonids is here:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2289
Let me know if you see any! I'll pass on your report if you'd like to the
Leonid ground-based team, observing from Kathmandu, Nepal. They are counting
meteors (and there will be an outburst of maybe 300) right now where it's
meteor time in Asia! http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/
Jane
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
NEW! 2009 What's Up For November-The Crab Nebula
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
Hi everyone, we are really looking forward to our weekend dark sky
getaway on the 14th. Weather permitting, we'll be sure to see Taurids
and Leonids and more, oh my! Mojo mentioned it to you all a few weeks
ago. To repeat part of his invite:
"We travel about 160 miles from home in Monrovia out I-10 to a spot on
BLM land south of Joshua Tree. Most of us make a night of it, catching a
couple hours sleep as we can, and enjoy breakfast the next morning at
Chiriaco Summit. Some will leave around midnight to make the trek back."
With the time change it gets dark early now, so that means you'd need to
arrive before 5:30 p.m., It is dark in the desert, and you travel on a 2
mile dirt road, and you need light to park on soft sand with many pokey
bushes and cacti. This site is unfortunately not suitable for large
trucks or RV's.
Let us know if you'd like to join us, and we'll send the map. Plan to
bring plenty of water, a comfortable chair and layers of clothing for
(possibly chilly) meteor observing after midnight to dawn. I'm toying
with a Leonid morning trek (that would be Monday night the 16th until
dawn on Tuesday the 17th) depending on the weather. Maybe Warner
Springs, maybe all the way to our observing site. I get all sentimental
about the Leonids as Mojo and I have been observing them as part of the
NASA Airborne Meteor missions for many years. The bonus view will be
Saturn in Leo - been a while since we've had a good look at the real
Lord of the Rings. :-)
Now, on to business!
My What's Up November podcast is all about the Crab Nebula in Taurus and
the Leonids get a brief mention at the end.
Youtube http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u/0/DSRP2XoLgxk -
It is also on the JPL front page and lots of other places I mention
every month.
Blogging about the Leonids: I've been taking a trip down memory lane
this week. You can read my story about flying through the 1999 Leonid
Storm, and also an interesting (at least to me) article about the first
airborne mission one hundred years earlier. It is the story of a woman
astronomer (Dorothea Klumpke) observing the Leonids in a balloon!
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Here's looking up! Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Websites: http:www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My NASA JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Tonight should be great in Old Town Monrovia, we'll be there from about
7:00 'til 9:30 or so, showing a large gibbous moon and Jupiter.
A lot of people are curious about our dark sky observing nights. We do
often get together and trek out from under the Los Angeles light dome to
see the real night sky and look at galaxies and nebulae that are
impossible to see from within 100 miles of Los Angeles.
For a taste of what it's like, Jane and I both wrote observing reports
from our last outing:
Mojo's story with some astrophotos:
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/19/finally-autoguiding/
Jane's report:
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/24/another-perfect-stargazing-night/
A little photo album of the setup:
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2009-10-17-chuckwalla/index.html
Admittedly our dark sky excursions are mostly for our own benefit. It's
a great joy to enjoy the seclusion of the deserts around Southern
California. We prefer our out-of-the-way location to the more crowded
locations like Mt. Pinos. Besides that, our sky is darker. :)
We travel about 160 miles from home in Monrovia out I-10 to a spot on
BLM land south of Joshua Tree. Most of us make a night of it, catching a
couple hours sleep as we can, and enjoy breakfast the next morning at
Chiriaco Summit. Some will leave around midnight to make the trek back.
Even though we are certainly getting away from crowds, we don't mind
having you join us for one of our excursions. It's amazing to discover
what a modest telescope can do when you get away from the bright skies
of Los Angeles. It's a treat to watch the Milky Way overhead, see
satellites and meteors, and really see the constellations you didn't
know were there.
We're often limited by the weather, and we'll cancel if it's cloudy, too
windy, too hot, or otherwise inclement. The desert ground at our
location is soft, and a couple of visitors have had bad luck getting
stuck in the dirt. It's admittedly not a good place to get stuck. There
are no facilities of any kind; Jane and I bring along a portable
environmental toilet. And if you come you need to be prepared with
layers of clothes, plenty of water, and preferably dim red flashlights
to help you navigate.
With all that in mind, you should consider it. We're a friendly social
group, and love sharing views through the telescopes. Our trips to the
desert will not be announced here. We generally pick the Saturday night
closest to new moon. That's a homework assignment. :)
If you'd like to join us and try out that telescope in your closet on a
real dark sky, send me a note that week and find out if we're going.
It's a three-hour trip from Monrovia, and we generally try to arrive
about an hour before sunset.
Think about it ...
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers http://otastro.orghttp://twitter.com/mojo_la
Nothing will stop your intrepid Sidewalk Astronomers from delivering
telescopic eye candy. Not even Halloween!
Tonight, Friday the 30th we'll be at One Colorado in Pasadena. Now we always
set up our telescopes "someplace" between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues,
but tonight we're going to be as close to or in the courtyard of One
Colorado to support the Spitzer Science Center's exhibit. They are part of
the 3-week Pasadena Arts and Ideas Festival. So stop by and join us, and
check out the Spitzer Ask A scientist station, images and videos too!
Saturday night, we "hope" to be on our Myrtle and Lime corner in Monrovia
with just a couple telescopes. Most of our gang will be doing sidewalk
astronomy in their own neighborhoods, so it might just be the two of us. But
no matter how many telescopes the view will be BOO-tiful!
Finally, before the links, here is my annual spooky astronomical observing
list. Hope it's not too scary!
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/30/spooky-halloween-observing/
Pasadena Arts and Ideas Oct 23-Nov 9th
http://artideasfestival.org/index.html
Spitzer Science Center and One Colorado presents Fri and Saturday night
(next weekend too):
All day long: Images from NASA in the courtyard
Dusk to 10pm with short videos, demonstrations, "Ask an Astronomer"
Dusk to 9:30 Friday night, probably not on Halloween night.Astronomers on
Colorado Blvd entrance to One Colorado
http://artideasfestival.org/nasa_center.html
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
2009 What's Up podcast archives
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
This month I talk about the history of the Andromeda Galaxy in my What's Up podcast. It's online here in lots of different formats for you to choose:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=224
itunes: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
All JPL podcastsincluding What's Up here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u
Here's an article on the Universe Today website about my sketching project: I have been observing and sketching the Galilean objects through a small
refractor similar to Galileo's ,all year long. It's my way to honor International Year of Astronomy and the 400 years since Galileo first aimed a telescope to the sky and saw wonderful things.
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/14/amateur-astronomer-is-chasing-galil…
I was recently in Canada giving a talk, and met a First Nation Science
Educator who was talking about astronomy legends and seeing the Cree Nation sky. I wrote a blog post about some of the star legends - it's here: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
This experience made me want to devote my next year to storytelling. I'd like to include one seasonal star legend in each of my monthly What's Up podcasts. If you have a favorite myth or star legend. I'm not looking for things you can just google - I can do that myself. I'm looking for stories you learned or heard or love about constellations, the moon, the sun, stars, etc. I really look forward to hearing from you!
Mojo and I are heading out to Warner Springs Ranch next weekend to conduct a star party there. It's a great weekend destination, not too far, but far enough, with hot springs, bicycles, horses, horseshoes, tennis hiking on the Anza Trail, and beautiful dark skies too! They offer free stargazing to their guests at least once a month - this will be our second star party there. :-)http://www.warnersprings.com/
Halloween weekend will find is at our usual haunts (get it, "haunts" as in haunted house) Old Town Pasadena Friday the 30th, Old Town Monrovia Saturday the 31st. Listed on our www.otastro.org website, weather permitting, of course.
Thats all for this time, Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Website: www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
What's Up October? Andromeda Galaxy! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Today the moon phase is "first quarter" which means you'll see a half
moon in tonight's sky.
That doesn't make sense does it? Shouldn't it be a quarter moon?
Actually the term "first quarter" refers to the fact that the moon is
one-fourth of the way through its 29.5 day orbit around the earth.
In one week the moon will be half-way through its orbit, but we don't
refer to its phase then as "half moon," instead we call it "full moon,"
which it is! (Homework: What then is "third quarter?")
Tonight it should be comfortable and clear in Old Town Pasadena, and
we'll be featuring the first-quarter moon and Jupiter. We try for
Colorado Blvd. somewhere between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave., near
Delacey, depending on parking, from 7:30 'til 9:30 or so.
Look for Jupiter to the left of the moon tonight -- it will be the
brightest object in the sky besides the moon, with a steady
cream-colored glow. In the telescope we'll easily see the four giant
moons of Jupiter discovered 400 years ago by Galileo.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) looks to be a carbon copy of tonight. Many of
our astronomers will be set up at the Huntington Library for a special
astronomy program, and will give out views through a great variety of
telescopes.
We'll also have at least a couple at our traditional spot in Monrovia at
the corner of Myrtle & Lime, at Library Park, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
A few of us had a good time under a true dark sky in the Colorado Desert
last weekend. I did a little astrophotography and wrote up a little trip
report: http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/09/21/a-perfect-night-in-the-desert/
First quarter moon brings out lots of telescopes to give out views.
Other LA astronomers and clubs will be setting up all over the place,
including the big monthly first-quarter star party at Griffith Observatory.
I hope you get out and catch some photons!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
