TAAS Fabulous Fifty

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Friday May 8, 2015

1930 MDT (7:30 pm)

All TAAS and other new and not so newastronomers are invited

Ursa Major

Evening Events

7:30 pm – Meet inside Dee’s house for overview of winter sky.

8:30 pm – View night sky outside.

9:00 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

Boötes

   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 44 “The Beehive”

Constellations Stars Messier Object

 

Ursa Major Dubhe

Merak

Leo Regulus M 44 “The Beehive”

Boötes Arcturus M 3

 

 

Spring

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)?

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. East

d. West

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 May Sky Map

The Spring Skymap

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Leo

Boötes

Ursa Major

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

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

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

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

A prominent pattern or group of stars,

typically having a popular name

but smaller than a constellation.

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

Spring

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Leo

“the Lion”

Bright star

Regulus

“The backward question mark”

This constellation actually “LOOKS LIKE” a lion.

The Spring Naked Eye MESSIER OBJRCT Next to Leo

M 44 Open Cluster called “The Beehive”

M 44 The BEEHIVE

The SpringNaked Eye Messier Object is

M 44 in the

constellation

CANCER

“the crab”

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Star Hopping to M 44 “the BEEHIVE”

It is “near” Leo in the dim constellation Cancer

Constellation

Cancer

is a dim constellation

between LEO and

GEMINIA winter FAB 50 constellation

Star Hopping to M 44 “the BEEHIVE”

Draw a line from

Regulus in LEO

to

Pollux in GEMINI

M 44 is about ½ way

between the two stars.

Spring

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Constellation

Bootes

(bow-OH-tease)

“the herdsman”

Bright star

Arcturus

Arcturus has a visual magnitude of −0.04,

making it the brightest star north

of the celestial equator,

and the fourth brightest star in the night sky.

ARCTURUS

in

Bootes

Magnitude (brightness)Sky Lesson 5.1

*

Magnitude (brightness) (cont.)Sky Lesson 5.3

The “bigger” the dot the brighter the star

Arc to Arcturus

Follow the

handle of

the BIG DIPPER

and “arc”

to Arcturus

You just “star hopped” from the Big Dipper to Arcturus

Arc to Arcturus (cont.)

www.earthsky.org

Spring

A very BIG star

A SMALL star

ArcturusPhoto Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

So, how BIG is Arcturus?

How many EARTHS will fit into ARCTURUS?

109 EARTHS will fit into the SUN.

17,500 SUNS will fit into ARCTURUS.

Therefore, 1,900,000 EARTHS fit into ARCTURUS. 1.9 million

Arcturus is a “BIG” Star

This summer we will look at even BIGGER star, ANTARES.

186 million miles

The Spring MESSIER OBJRCT near Boötes

M 3 Globular Cluster

Finding M 3

Cor Caroli

Arcturus

Draw line from Cor Caroli to Arcturus

Go aboutmid-point

Then just a“little bit” more

M3

Spring

TAAS Fabulous 50 (cont.)

Stars Constellations Messier  Regulus Leo M 44 (actually in Cancer)

Arcturus Bootes (bow-OH-tease) M 3

Dubhe Ursa Major

Merak

Cancer M 44

Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Leo

The Spring Skymap

Leo

Bootes

Hold your Skymap

with EAST on the bottom

and view to the EAST.

Ursa Major Leo

Boötes

Gemini

Ursa Minor

Auriga

Canis Major

Canis Minor

Orion

Taurus

Cassiopeia

Review of the Winter Sky

Review of Winter Sky

Looking West on Friday May 8, 2015 at 9 pm

AurigaCapella

OrionBetelgeuse

GeminiCastorPollux

Canis MajorSirius

Canis MinorProcyon

Review of the Spring Sky

Leo

Boötes

Ursa Major

Photos Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

The End