TAAS Fabulous Fifty

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Saturday August 8, 2015

2000 MDT (8:00 pm)

All TAAS and other new and not so newastronomers are invited

Scorpius

Evening Events

8:00 pm – Meet inside Dee’s house for overview of summer sky.

9.00 pm – View night sky outside.

9:30 pm – Social session inside Dee’s house.

10:00 pm – Optional additional viewing outside.

   1. Provide new astronomers a list of 50 night sky

objects that can locate with the naked eye.

2. A list that will showcase the night sky for an entire year.

3. A list that the beginning astronomer will remember from one observing session to the next.

4. A list that once observed will be the basis for knowing the night sky well enough to perform more detailed observing. 

Objectives

   1. Divide the observing activities into the four

seasons:  a. winter –Jan-Feb-Mar b. spring –Apr-May-Jun c. summer – Jul-Aug-Sep d. fall –Oct-Nov-Dec

 2. Begin with the bright and easy to locate and identify stars and associated constellations.

 3. Add the other constellations for each season. 

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Methodology

Lyra

   4. Add a few naked eye Messier Objects.

 5. Include planets as a separate observing activity.

 6. Include the Moon as a separate observing activity.

 7. Include meteor showers as separate observing

activity.

Methodology (cont.)

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

M 8 “The Lagoon Nebula”

A star forming area

Visible to the naked eye

Star Charts

• Free on-line

http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Tonight’s process

1. We will first look at a “free” Skymap.

It can be downloaded at

http://skymaps.com/

2. Then we will examine each constellation and its bright star(s) in detail.

3. Observe outside.

The Evening Sky Map

We will examine how to best use the Sky Map

We begin by locating the four cardinal directions:

a. South

b. North

c. West

d. East

Next we will learn how to hold or “orient”the Sky Map as we observe.

It is very simple.

As you observe, you hold the chart

so that the direction that you are looking

is at the bottom of the chart.

We will now use the Evening Sky Map to find some objects in the night sky.

This lesson will use the Northern Hemisphere August Sky Map.

The Messier objects are a set of over 100  astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771.

 Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets, so he compiled a list of them in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Mechain, to avoid wasting time on observing them.

 The number of objects in the catalog is currently 110. 

The Messier objects are the first deep space objects (outside of our solar system) that amateur astronomers will attempt to observe after observing the moon and  the planets. 

All of the Messier objects are visible in small telescopes and many are observable in binoculars. 

A few are visible to the naked eye.

What Are the Messier Objects (M)?

Constellations Stars Messier Object

 

Ursa Major Dubhe

Merak

Leo Regulus M 44 “The Beehive”

Boötes Arcturus M 3

 

 

Review of

Spring

Spring

Photo Courtesy of N

aoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Ursa Major

“the Big Bear”

Two bright stars

Dubhe

Merak

North Star“POLARIS”

Pointers to theNorth Star

Spring

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Leo

“the Lion”

Bright star

Regulus

“The backward question mark”

This constellation actually “LOOKS LIKE” a lion.

Spring

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Bootes

(bow-OH-tease)

“the herdsman”

Bright star

Arcturus

Spring Objects in August SkyMap

Ursa Major

Bootes

Leo

Looking west

Summer Objects

Constellations Stars Messier Object

 

Lyra Vega

Cygnus Deneb

Aquila Altair

Scorpius Antares M 4

Sagittarius Nunki M 8

Summer

Summer

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Lyra

“the Lyre”

Bright star

Vega

“The leaning over” parrelogram

The Summer Skymap Lyra

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Lyra

Summer

Cygnus

“the Swan”

Deneb (DEN-ebb)

Albireo (double star)

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

The Summer Skymap Cygnus

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Cygnus

Summer

Constellation

Aquila

Bright star

Altair

The “eagle”

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

The Summer Skymap Altair

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Aquila

A crowded sky

These three constellations are very close to each other.

Lyra

CygnusAquila

Three Bright Stars

Three bright stars in three separate constellations

create a very visible pattern.

Lyra

CygnusAquila

Three Bright Stars (cont.)

Three bright stars in three separate constellations

create a very visible pattern.

Lyra

CygnusAquila

Summer Triangle

Summer

The Summer Triangle

Is an asterism

Photo Stellarium

A prominent pattern or group of stars,

typically having a popular name

but smaller than a constellation.

Asterism

The Summer Triangle is

NOT a constellation

it is an asterism.

The Summer Triangle

The summer triangle is one star from

three different constellations.

Visible for almost 7 months.

The Summer Triangle

June looking EAST December looking WEST

Asterism

The Big Dipper is

NOT a constellation

it is an asterism.

The constellation is called “URSA MAJOR.”

The asterism is called “THE BIG DIPPER.”

The constellation called URSA MAJOR

The constellation called URSA MAJOR

The constellation is called “URSA MAJOR.”

The asterism is called “THE BIG DIPPER.”

Summer

Scorpius

“the scorpion”

Antares

M 4 globular cluster

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

M 4

The Summer Skymap Scorpius

Hold your Skymap

with SOUTH on the bottom

and view to the SOUTH.

Scorpius

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Summer has a very big star

Summer has a very big star

Antares

A SMALL star

A very BIG star

Sun

So, how BIG is Antares?

864 million miles ------------------------.= 9. 3 93 million miles

9.3 x distance to the sun

Summer

Photo Wikipedia

Constellation

Sagittarius

Bright star

Nunki

The “teapot”

Nunki

The Summer Skymap Sagittarius

Hold your Skymap

with SOUTH on the bottom

and view to the SOUTH.

Sagittarius

The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy

The Summer Skymap

Hold your Skymap

with South on the bottom

and view to the South.

Sagittarius

Scorpius

GalacticCenter

The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy

Star hopping to find objects

1. Learning how to move from a know object

to an unknown object.

2. Looking for “geometric situations”

half-way between two visible stars is the object I want to view

Summer

Sagittarius

“the teapot”

Nunki

M 8 Lagoon Nebula

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Nunki

M 8

How to Find M 8

Nunki

M 8Top of the Pot

Almost equal distance

In a dark sky M 8 visible to naked eye

Almost always visible in binoculars

Two stars of the bowl always point to Polaris (north)

Review

ScorpiusAquila

Triangleof

Summer

Cygnus

Lyra

Coming in the Fall

Stars Constellations Messier Schedar Cassiopeia

Alpheratz Pegasus / Andromeda

Alpheratz Andromeda / Pegasus

Mirach Andromeda M 31

Mirfak Perseus

Fomalhaut Piscis Austrinus

Fall

Cassiopeia

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

TAAS Fabulous 50 (cont.)

Fall

Cassiopeia

Schedar

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Fall

Pegasus

Alpheratz

in Andromeda

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Fall

Andromeda

Alpheratz

Mirach

M 31 Andromeda Galaxy

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Pegasus

Fall

Perseus

Mirfak

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Fall

Piscis Austrinus

Fomalhaut

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Fall Objects in August SkyMap

Looking east

Perseus

Andromeda

Cassiopeia

Pegasus

Review

ScorpiusAquila

Triangleof

Summer

Cygnus

Lyra

The End of Dee’s mumblings

Begin to dark adapt by

closing one eye before

you go outside.

Bring with you

1. A red light (cell phone app)

2. Sky Map

The Summer Triangle

“an asterism”

Star Constellation Vega Lyra

Deneb Cygnus

Altair Aquila

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

The Summer Triangle

Spring

Photo Courtesy of N

aoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Ursa Major

“the Big Bear”

Two bright stars

Dubhe

Merak

BUT this photo is actually just an ASTERISM

North Star“POLARIS”

Pointers to theNorth Star

The Summer Skymap

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Lyra

CygnusAquila

Summer Triangle

Constellations Stars Messier Object

 

Virgo Spica

Lyra Vega

Cygnus Deneb

Aquila Altair

Scorpius Antares

Sagittarius Nunki M 8

Summer

Summer

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Virgo

“the Virgin”

Bright star

Spica

The Summer Skymap

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Lyra

CygnusAquila

Summer Triangle

Summer

Aquila

(ack-WILL-lah)

“the eagle”

Altair

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Summer

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Cygnus

“the Swan”

Bright star

Deneb

“The Northern Cross”

Summer

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Scorpius

Bright star

Antares

Looks like a scorpion

Summer

Stars Constellations Messier

Spica Virgo

Deneb (DEN-ebb) Cygnus

Altair Aquila (ack-WILL-lah)

Antares Scorpius M 7

Nunki Sagittarius M 8

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

ScorpiusTAAS Fabulous 50 (cont.)

“Summer triangle”

Summer

Cygnus

“the Swan”

Deneb (DEN-ebb)

Albireo (double star)

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita