Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

Brian Ventrudo

The Constellation Crux – The Southern Cross

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Image of the southern Milky Way showing Crux and the dark Coalsack Nebula, just right of center; the Southern Pointers Rigil Kent and Hadar, left of center, and the eta Carinae Nebula at extreme right. Credit: A. Fuji.
Image of the southern Milky Way showing Crux and the dark Coalsack Nebula, just right of center; the Southern Pointers Rigil Kent and Hadar, left of center, and the eta Carinae Nebula at extreme right. Credit: A. Fuji.

Following the southern Milky Way, through the bright constellations Orion, Canis Major, Puppis, Vela, and Carina, you finally arrive at the famous constellation Crux, the Southern Cross, arguably the most famous constellation in the night sky.  It’s also the smallest constellation by area, just 68 square degrees compared to Hydra’s 1302 square degrees.  Most new stargazers are a little startled by its tiny size.  The cross is just 6o long from top to bottom.

(This article is an excerpt of the Cosmic Pursuits course Fundamentals of Stargazing, to be released in February 2016) [Read more…] about The Constellation Crux – The Southern Cross

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The Dusty Birth of a New Star

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Science

A newly formed star lights up the surrounding cosmic clouds in this image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Dust particles in the vast clouds that surround the star HD 97300 diffuse its light, like a car headlight in enveloping fog, and create the reflection nebula IC 2631. Although HD 97300 is in the spotlight for now, the very dust that makes it so hard to miss heralds the birth of additional, potentially scene-stealing, future stars. Credit: ESO.
A newly formed star lights up the surrounding cosmic clouds in this image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Dust particles in the vast clouds that surround the star HD 97300 diffuse its light, like a car headlight in enveloping fog, and create the reflection nebula IC 2631. Although HD 97300 is in the spotlight for now, the very dust that makes it so hard to miss heralds the birth of additional, potentially scene-stealing, future stars. Credit: ESO.

This marvelous image from the European Southern Observatory shows a small section of the Milky Way going about its business making new stars. Here you see in this dusty region the reflected light of a new main sequence star, HD 97300, as it settles down into its billion-year life span [Read more…] about The Dusty Birth of a New Star

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Animated Flyover of Dwarf Planet Ceres

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab has released this simulated but rather stirring flyover of the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest denizen of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Using hundreds of images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, a team at Germany’s national space center (DLR) created a video that gives you a close-up of the most striking features of this little world.

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The Crab Nebula

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The Crab Nebula, M1, a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus (credit: Terry Hancock).
The Crab Nebula, M1, a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus (credit: Terry Hancock).

With binoculars or a small telescope, just one degree northwest of the star zeta (ζ) Tauri in the horns of the constellation Taurus, the Bull, you can see the famous Crab Nebula, the remnant of a massive star that exploded nearly 1,000 years ago. The Crab Nebula takes its name from a drawing made by the Irish amateur astronomer Lord Rosse in 1844 using his 36-inch telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland. The drawing resembles a horseshoe crab [Read more…] about The Crab Nebula

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A Ninth Planet Discovered?

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Science, Solar System

Artist's conception of the hypothetical "Planet 9" in the distant regions of the solar system. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)
Artist’s conception of the hypothetical “Planet 9” in the distant regions of the solar system. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

It’s been 170 years since the eighth (and so far last) major planet, Neptune, was discovered in our solar system. Pluto, of course, was discovered in 1930, heralded as the ninth planet, but then demoted by consensus of the astronomical community, largely at the behest of the Caltech astronomer Mike Brown who reasoned that Pluto was not large enough to gravitationally clear its path of other bodies, one of the three criteria for a major planet. In the ten years since Pluto’s demotion, Brown has been asked if there are any other planets in our solar system. His answer: “Nope, that’s it.” [Read more…] about A Ninth Planet Discovered?

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