gallery

Thors Helmet (above)

by DOUG CLAPP
Located near the galactic equator in Canis Major, NGC
2359 is a bubble of gas, which some observers say re-
sembles Thors helmet. Captured in a tricolor CCD
image, this very faint nebula is made of material eject-
ed from the outer layers of an aging massive star
whose remnant core is now a Wolf-Rayet star at the
center of the nebula, which causes the gas to shine.

Moon Mosaic (right)

by GIORGIO MENGOLI
The eastern half of Mare Imbrium is scattered with inter-
esting features. The mares largest crater is Archimedes
(center), 83 kilometers across, while to its right are
smaller Aristillus (top, 55 km) and Autolycus (39 km).
Mare Imbrium is bordered to its southeast (lower right)
by the Apennine Mountains, and to the northeast by the
lunar Alps cut by the prominent Alpine Valley.

Shadow Transits (below, left to right)

b y T H O M A S T R E G AY
This sequence of CCD images obtained last August
23rd shows the shadow of the Galilean satellite Europa
preceding that of Ganymede across the face of Jupiter
from east to west. Although double shadow transits
such as this are relatively common, Tregay comments
that it has taken him many years to capture a sequence
of this quality.

126 July 1998 Sky & Telescope 1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula
by GERARD RHEMANN
Dazzling Rigel in Orions right foot is the seventh-brightest star in the sky. This blaz-
ing blue supergiant stands in stark contrast to the subtle swath of blue reflection
nebulosity, IC 2118, to its upper right. Known as the Witch Head Nebula, the cloud
lies just over the border from Orion in Eridanus and spans more than 2 of sky. The
Witch Heads blue tint is from the color of starlight illuminating it, but the faint red
emission nebulosity at left is fluorescing hydrogen gas.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope July 1998 127
 As the World Turns (left)
b y J O S H U A VA U G H A N
Earth spinning on its axis generates the most evident
movement in astronomy the diurnal motion of the
heavens. While this motion is often the bane of deep-
sky photographers, it is a blessing for those intent on
recording star trails. Arizona amateur Joshua Vaughan
found the perfect foreground for his photograph a
spinning windmill to echo the circling stars.

Dark Nebulae in Sagittarius (lower left)

b y C H U C K VA U G H N
The luminous starclouds of the Milky Way are riddled
with irregular dark regions, which fascinated the famous
astronomer E. E. Barnard at the end of the last century. It
took years of visual and photographic observations be-
fore Barnard convinced himself that these regions result-
ed from clouds of obscuring material rather than simply
being starless voids on the sky. At the Sagittarius-Ophiu-
chus border lurk the dark nebulae Barnard cataloged as
entries 84 (looping band) and 83a (isolated patch at
upper right) in his compilation of 349 such objects.

First-Quarter Moon (below)

by REMY COURSEAUX
To the unaided eye, the boundary between the illuminat-
ed and dark halves of the first-quarter Moon is a razor-
sharp line. However, as this photograph by French ama-
teur Remy Courseaux shows, lunar peaks and valleys
catch the Suns light in surprising ways and make the
boundary a ragged one. For instance, the rim of the crater
Copernicus (93 km across) is clearly seen on the dark side
well away from the terminator.

128 July 1998 Sky & Telescope 1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Glitter Path (above)
b y P E K K A PA R V I A I N E N
A renowned Finnish photographer of atmospheric phe-
nomena, Pekka Parviainen doesnt disappoint with this
exceptional view of the setting Sun and its accompany-
ing glitter path a shimmering column of reflected
light on the water. The width of the column changes
with the Suns elevation. A narrow, well-defined path
like this one occurs only when the Sun is very low.

The Scorpius Milky Way (right)

by SEAN EVERINGTON
An immense array of celestial sights is found in this
ever-popular region of the Milky Way. Dense starclouds,
dark dust lanes, colorful giant stars, glowing nebulae,
and compact star clusters abound in this field, which
encompasses the familiar stars of the constellation
Scorpius.

NGC 4631 (right)

b y B R U N O M AT T E R N
A 9th-magnitude edge-on galaxy in Canis Venatici, NGC
4631 is accompanied by a companion 12th-magni-
tude NGC 4627. The dark lanes, lack of central bulge or
nucleus, and many bright knots of intense star forma-
tion give NGC 4631 a distorted appearance in amateur
telescopes. Viewing with ever-larger aperture brings
out more of these details, in contrast to the galaxys
neighbor, which remains nearly featureless.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope July 1998 129

HOW THEY DID IT
Thors Helmet
Meade 10-inch f/10 LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain tele-
scope and SBIG ST-6 CCD camera. Separate exposures
through red, green, and blue filters lasting 3, 3, and
21 minutes, respectively, were processed and com-
bined with Skypro, Hidden Image, and Adobe Photo-
shop. Field 18' wide centered at 7 h 18.6m, 13 15';
north is up.
Moon Mosaic
Meade 10-inch f/10 LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain tele-
scope and Starlight Xpress MX-512 CCD camera.
Three 0.7-second exposures assembled into a single
view with Adobe Photoshop. North is up.
Shadow Transits
Meade 12-inch f/10 LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain tele-
scope and homemade Cookbook 245 CCD camera.
South is up to match the familiar view in an astro-
nomical (inverting) telescope.
Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula
7 12 -inch f/2.29 Schmidt camera. Two 7-minute expo-
sures on Kodak Pro 400 color-negative film. Negatives
stacked and printed. Field 5 34 wide centered at 5h
13.5m, 6 05'; north is up.
As the World Turns
Nikon 35-mm lens set at f/4 and 5-hour exposure on
Kodak Elite 100 film.
130 July 1998 Sky & Telescope 1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Orion Under the Arch
by LARRY D. GUENTHER
This scene must be similar to what John J.
ONeill and other lunar observers in the
1950s imagined could be seen by someone
standing at the western edge of Mare Crisi-
um. The illusionary feature, dubbed ONeills
Bridge (see last Januarys issue, page 105),
was nothing more than an unusual play of
light and shadow. Nevertheless, the terres-
trial view here is quite real and was cap-
tured as Orions Belt set behind a natural
land bridge in Utahs Arches National Park.
Dark Nebulae in Sagittarius
Astro-Physics 5.1-inch f/8 refractor, 60-minute expo-
sure of gas-hypersensitized Kodak Technical Pan 2415
film. The field is about 1 wide centered at 17 h 46.4m,
20 10'; north is up.
First-Quarter Moon
Takahashi TSC225 (9-inch) f/12 Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescope, 18-second exposure on Kodak Technical
Pan 2415 film. Negative digitized and processed with
Adobe Photoshop.
Glitter Path
300-mm telephoto lens, unrecorded exposure on Ko-
dachrome 64 film.
The Scorpius Milky Way
Olympus OM-1 camera and 50-mm lens set at f/2.8.
Exposure 8 minutes on Kodak ISO 400 color negative
film. Original print scanned and processed with Paint
Shop Pro 4.0. Field 24 wide centered at 16h 50m,
33; north is at upper left.
NGC 4631
Meade 12-inch f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope fit-
ted with a Celestron f/6.3 focal reducer, Starlight
Xpress CCD camera. Combination of two 10.9-minute
exposures processed with PIXWIN. Field 16' wide cen-
tered at 12h 42.1m, +32 32'; north is up.
Orion Under the Arch
Olympus OM-2S, Sigma 35-to-70-mm zoom lens set at
35 mm and f/2.8.The unrecorded automatic exposure
on Kodak T-Max 100 film was made with the camera
mounted on an opportunistic tripod a fence post.