Recent Astronomy Articles at Cosmic Pursuits

The Owl Nebula

May 28, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Northern stargazers in spring look out of the plane of the Milky Way in the night sky before midnight, so there are few bright stars and star clusters visible, and even fewer bright nebula. But there is a little gem under the bowl of the Big Dipper, the famous Owl Nebula, also known as M97. A young planetary nebula, M97 is a speeding cloud of glowing gas ejected by a small dying star. In a small telescope under dark sky, the nebula resembles the eyes of wise old barn owl gazing out of the interstellar darkness [Read more…] about The Owl Nebula

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Saturn at Opposition 2015

May 20, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Saturn at the 2014 opposition as imaged by Damian Peach (damianpeach.com)

The planet Saturn reaches opposition on May 22, 2015. It rises as the Sun sets and makes its closest approach to Earth this year. The planet is as bright as it’s been in eight years, with rings dramatically tilted towards our point of view. This is your best chance in many years to see this beautiful planet in a telescope and share a view of it with others.

Saturn lies well south of the celestial equator this observing season near the border between the constellations Libra and Scorpius in the southeastern sky (as seen from the northern hemisphere) and the eastern sky (as seen from the southern hemisphere). At magnitude 0.0 in late May and early June, Saturn is the brightest object in that part of the sky. It outshines even the brilliant red-orange star Antares to the east. By 10 p.m., you can see the planet low over the horizon, nestled near the three bright stars in the head of Scorpius. You can watch the planet’s motion relative to these stars from night to night over the next few months. It’s been moving ‘in retrograde’ a little westward each day, over and above its daily westward motion. It resumes its normal eastward motion relative to the background stars on August 2 [Read more…] about Saturn at Opposition 2015

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From the Observer’s Log: Four Great Globs

May 19, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Four globular clusters visible in the May sky as imaged with a Mallincam Xtreme camera, 30 s exposure, through a VRC-6 telescope.

While it may take a little practise to see the subtle differences in each of these balls of ancient stars, and despite claims of many beginning stargazers, all globular clusters do not look the same. The images above show four of the brightest globular clusters visible in a telescope this time of year. Each has a distinctive appearance, pattern, and brightness gradient. All images were taken with the same exposure and filter and with the same 6″ RC telescope so you can get an idea of their comparative appearance [Read more…] about From the Observer’s Log: Four Great Globs

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Nebulosity in the ‘Swan’s Chest’

May 19, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Gamma Cygni mosaic_LRGB+HA_small_Terry Hancock — Blue-white star Sadr (right) is surrounded by a complex of dark nebulae and bright emission nebulae in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan (credit: Terry Hancock)

The bright star Sadr marks the chest of the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Located in the direction of the northern Milky Way, this little patch of sky is packed with diffuse emission and dark nebulae that are part of the much larger Cygnus Molecular Cloud. This image by Terry Hancock shows the rich nebulosity in this region as captured from his backyard observatory in Fremont Michigan. He created this mosaic originally consisting of 5 panels and later cropped to make 4 panels using 187 individual frames and a total exposure time of over 18 hours. The total mosaic covers an area approximately 6.5 x 5.4 degrees. Equipment used, QHY11 Monochrome CCD and Takahashi E-180 [Read more…] about Nebulosity in the ‘Swan’s Chest’

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Alpha Centauri Through a (Really) Big Telescope

May 14, 2015 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Stargazing

1. Alpha Centauri Through a (Really) Big Telescope

The razor-sharp images afforded by Earth-based telescopes with high-tech adaptive optic systems often rival images from space-based scopes like Hubble. But is it possible to look through the eyepiece of one of these big scopes? A select group of professional astronomers did just that. They peered through the 6.5 m Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and saw the two brightest stars in the Alpha Centauri system split as wide as a church door. By contrast, this is what the two stars look like in a small amateur telescope.

2. Venus Brightens

Venus, already tremendously bright and high in the western sky after sunset, is now tangled in the feet of Gemini in the northern Milky Way. The planet reached its highest point above the horizon last week and now slowly sinks in the west on its way to a photogenic rendezvous with Jupiter on the last day of June.

3. A Paradise Lost?

Speaking of Venus… the planet is similar to Earth in size and mass, and lies within the zone in which a planet might be habitable. Yet Venus has a distinctly un-Earth-like environment. It’s a pressure-cooked hellhole of a world hot enough to melt lead, a place where rain falls in the form of battery acid. But Venus may not always have been so unpleasant. About 650 million years ago, the planet was wracked by volcanic activity that covered much of its surface in lava and turned the planet into a giant toxic greenhouse. A pair of planetary scientists recently found evidence that Venus may once have had tectonic activity, continents, and perhaps even oceans, and may have been a much more hospitable place.

4. Eta Carinae: The Next Supernova?

The Eta Carinae Nebula, the jewel of the southern-hemisphere constellation Carina, the Keel, is the most spectacular example of an active star factory in all the heavens. In this excerpt from an upcoming e-book about the most striking nebulae of the Milky Way, you get a close look at this star-forming region that harbors a star that’s too big to be stable… or to last for much longer.

5. A Video Game As Big As A Galaxy

I last played a video game when Ronald Reagan was early in his first term. Life’s too short, I say, to muck around in front of a game. The real world is interesting enough. But this may change. A new game called “No Man’s Sky” is due for release at the end of the year, and it’s a jaw-dropping extravaganza of imagination and computer science that enables the ‘player’ to navigate and explore more than 18 quintillion unique planets. The ‘universe’ in this game is designed using natural laws that determine the age and composition and physical characteristics of stars, planets, and life. Early video clips are awfully impressive. A feature on the creation of the game is out this week in the New Yorker.

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