SHOP NOW FOR

SCIENCE &
ASTRONOMY
PRODUCTS
Huge selection!
Books • Magazines • Globes & Maps
Posters • Downloads • And more!

MyScience S ho p.co m
P29014
 ASTRO-CAMERAS
For beginners and more advanced users: astro-cameras
for auto-guiding, deep-sky and planetary photography

Highly sensitive CMOS sensors: high quantum efficiency

and low readout noise – for cleaner astrophotos

Wide range: whether monochrome or colour, you will find

the perfect pixel and sensor size for your telescope

INDI and ASCOM compatible: control the camera using the

image capture software of your choice

Julian Zoller, veTEC 16000 C, 200/1200 Newton

139 264 854
Price from Price from Price from

$ Art. Nr. 61032

$ Art. Nr. 61037
$ Art. Nr. 61045

Art. Nr. 61031 – 61036 Art. Nr. 61037 – 61044 Art. Nr. 61045, 63068 - 63070
AR0130, IMX290 IMX178, IMX385, IMX224, IMX290, IMX287 MN34230, IMX432

Compact autoguider: the ideal Professional level planetary Large sensors: wide field of view for
Omegon is part of nimax GmbH. Price changes and errors excepted. All rights reserved

add-on for a deep-sky camera photography: USB3.0 and the breathtaking deep-sky images
innovative Region of Interest
function ensure a super-fast frame
rate – freeze the seeing!
Thermoelectric cooling: minimal
thermal noise and complete control
Uncomplicated auto-guiding without headaches: thanks to the ST4 port over the sensor temperature
and PHD2 compatibility
Neither condensation nor freezing:
Well-thought-out design: owing to the compact 1.25" eyepiece format, the
thanks to a dew heater and a
robust anodised aluminium body fits every telescope
rechargeable desiccant cartridge
USB hub: two USB ports for an
You can connect various accessories: the adaptor included offers a CS- and
autoguider, filter wheel or focus
C-mount thread as well as a 1.25" filter thread. Astronomical filters, CCTV
motor. Astrophotography without
lenses or mini guide scopes – they all fit!
cable clutter!

Open Astronomy
Instrumentation

ASCOM & INDI compatible Recommended for PHD2 & N.I.N.A.

Order online at www.omegon.com

 We are a full-service astronomy store
Orange County Telescope
that has the number one goal
of making better amateur 2216 N Main Street
astronomers one at a time. Santa Ana, CA 92706

Creator of the Award-Winning

Revolution Imager R2
• The only stand-alone color camera system
• Enables deep sky viewing from anywhere
• Triples brightness of any tracking telescope
• Everyone can enjoy the view at the same time
• Get Started with this complete package
“Only $299” includes everything needed
including color monitor
J. Philpott Evolution 8 Live view from city skies
ACCESSORIES

Wi-Fi Emitter for Revolution Imager Revolution DVR

• allows you to view • save the images or videos without

the image on any iOS having a computer in the field. And the
or Android device up to optional hands-free DVR holder that
200 feet away. attaches the DVR to the R2 Camera body

Celestron NexStar Great Telescope Celestron

Evolution 8 with NexStar 8SE
Eyepiece Kit and and Imager and Skyportal
Lens Shade bundle deals! Wifi link

3X
3X Add Rev
3X Your
olution
or Nexs
I
t
View!
m
ar
a g
S
e
E
r to any
Telesco
pe

3X Evolution
H a lf O ff $150
e for
Purchas 3 X m ore Ligh
t
And ge t

Package deals to choose at:

ocTelescope.com/Promotions

Nexstar SE Telescopes starting at $499

Evolution Telescopes starting at $1,199
Add: Revolution Imager R2 $299.00 $150 (HALF PRICE!)
Add: Revolution Imager $299.00 $150 (HALF PRICE!)
Add: Celestron SCT Piggyback Mount
Add: Evolution Revolution Kit $49.99
with Free Ballhead $41.95 $31

ocTelescope.com • 888-471-9991 • octelescope@gmail.com

 Online Content Code: ASY2008
Enter this code at: www.astronomy.com/code AUGUST 2020
to gain access to web-exclusive content VOL. 48, NO. 8

ON THE COVER
The European Space Agency’s

CONTENTS
Solar Orbiter should retool our
understanding of how the Sun
44 works. ESA/ATG MEDIALAB; ESA/AOES

COLUMNS
Strange Universe 16
FEATURES BOB BERMAN

18 38 For Your Consideration 62

A fresh look at Star Dome and JEFF HESTER
our home star Paths of the Planets Secret Sky 64
Solar Orbiter will soon explore RICHARD TALCOTT; STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
what shapes and powers the ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY
solar wind. BEN EVANS Observing Basics 66
44 56 GLENN CHAPLE
Observe Jupiter and
28 Don’t miss the Perseids
Saturn at their best
Binocular Universe 68
Excavating This annual meteor shower will PHIL HARRINGTON
Catch the two greatest
cosmic fossils put on a great show in 2020.
telescopic planets at opposition
Like dinosaur bones, tiny MICHAEL E. BAKICH
micrometeorites reveal
this month and you’ll see 9
beautiful planetary worlds! QUANTUM GRAVITY
much about the ancient past. 50 STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
ILIMA LOOMIS Mine Aquila’s Everything you need to
know about the universe
deep-sky gems 60
36 Star clusters and planetary this month: ATLAS
Meet an easy-to-use breaks up in the sky,
Sky This Month nebulae will keep you looking
Outer planets on display. at the Eagle all night long. imaging scope how COVID-19 affects
This clever device will capture the world’s telescopes, a
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND MICHAEL E. BAKICH
celestial portraits even Moon map, and more.
ALISTER LING
through light-polluted skies.
52 RAYMOND SHUBINSKI
Life on the wide side IN EVERY ISSUE
How to breathe new life
into old astrophoto targets.
70 From the Editor 6
Ask Astro Astro Letters 8
STEVE CANNISTRA
Interstellar visitors.
Advertiser Index 65
New Products 69
Reader Gallery 72
Breakthrough 74
ONLINE
FAVORITES Ask Astro Globes My Science Picture of Astronomy (ISSN 0091-6358, USPS 531-350)
Go to www.Astronomy.com is published monthly by Kalmbach Media
Archives From Mercury to Shop the Day Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P. O. Box 1612,
for info on the biggest news and Answers to all Pluto, get the Perfect gifts for Gorgeous Waukesha, WI 53187–1612. Periodicals postage
observing events, stunning photos, your cosmic hottest globes your favorite photos from paid at Waukesha, WI, and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
informative videos, and more. questions. around. science geeks. our readers. Astronomy, PO Box 8520, Big Sandy, TX 75755.
Canada Publication Mail Agreement #40010760.

4 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

https://starwalk2.page.link/am

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 5
 FROM THE EDITOR

Editor David J. Eicher

A close look Design Director LuAnn Williams Belter

EDITORIAL
Production Editor Elisa R. Neckar
Senior Associate Editor Alison Klesman

at the Sun
Associate Editor Jake Parks
Copy Editor McLean Bennett
Editorial Assistant Hailey McLaughlin
ART
Contributing Design Director Elizabeth Weber
Illustrator Roen Kelly
Launched early this year, the Production Specialist Jodi Jeranek
European Space Agency probe CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Michael E. Bakich, Bob Berman, Adam Block,
called Solar Orbiter is on a seven- Glenn F. Chaple Jr., Martin George, Tony Hallas,
year mission to study our home star in unprec- Phil Harrington, Korey Haynes, Jeff Hester, Alister Ling,
Stephen James O’Meara, Martin Ratcliffe,
edented ways. In a huge, elliptical orbit, Solar Raymond Shubinski, Richard Talcott
Orbiter will swing out via gravity assists from SCIENCE GROUP
Executive Editor Becky Lang
Earth and Venus to a wide berth that carries it
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
between 26 million and 85 million miles from Buzz Aldrin, Marcia Bartusiak, Jim Bell, Timothy Ferris,
the Sun. The mission’s first three and a half Alex Filippenko, Adam Frank, John S. Gallagher lll,
Daniel W. E. Green, William K. Hartmann, Paul Hodge,
years will be spent simply getting to its func- Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian May, S. Alan Stern,
James Trefil
The recently launched tional position. Thereafter, it’ll start science
Solar Orbiter space-
craft will revolutionize operations and, we hope, bring us a new understanding of the Sun. Kalmbach Media
our understanding of The objective here is to study the Sun’s heliosphere, the bubblelike Chief Executive Officer Dan Hickey
Senior Vice President, Finance Christine Metcalf
the Sun. NASA/SDO region of space that surrounds our star. A constant stream of particles Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing Nicole McGuire
Vice President, Content Stephen C. George
and energy flowing from the Sun, the solar wind, controls the helio- Vice President, Operations Brian J. Schmidt
sphere. How is it created? What governs its behavior? What does the Vice President, Human Resources Sarah A. Horner
Senior Director, Advertising Sales and Events David T. Sherman
interaction between the heliosphere and the region surrounding it in Advertising Sales Director Scott Redmond
our local part of the galaxy say? If Solar Orbiter is a success, we may Circulation Director Liz Runyon
Director of Digital Strategy Angela Cotey
come away in less than a decade with a far better understanding of Director of Design & Production Michael Soliday
Managing Design Director Lisa A. Bergman
how the Sun works as a star, and how our solar system relates to the Retention Manager Kathy Steele
galaxy around us. Single Copy Specialist Kim Redmond
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
The spacecraft’s orbit will carry it close to the Sun every six months. Phone (888) 558-1544
Solar Orbiter will study magnetically active regions that can produce Ad Production AdServices@Kalmbach.com
Dina Johnston, djohnston@kalmbach.com
flares and eruptions. It will study, in detail, how the so-called solar
RETAIL TRADE ORDERS AND INQUIRIES
dynamo, the energy-generating process deep within the Sun, works. Selling Astronomy magazine or products in your store:
Phone (800) 558-1544
It will study how the magnetic field originates, and the genesis of the Outside U.S. and Canada (262) 796-8776, ext. 818
solar wind. It will study solar storms and how they affect the helio- Fax (262) 798-6592
Email tss@kalmbach.com
sphere with energetic particles. It will study how flares, coronal mass Website www.Retailers.Kalmbach.com
ejections, prominences, and shock waves change the outflow of the CUSTOMER SALES AND SERVICE
Phone (877) 246-4835
heliosphere. Outside U.S. and Canada (903) 636-1125
We should be on the cusp of a new understanding of our home star. Customer Service customerservice@AstronomyMagazine.info

Science journalist Ben Evans provides a detailed look at the game-
changing Solar Orbiter in our cover story, beginning on page 18.
As we live our complex lives on Earth, it’s easy to forget that the
Sun’s radiation can affect us dramatically. Not only does our local
star give us the energy needed for our lives, but it can present signifi-
cant dangers, too. Huge flares and solar storms in the past have rocked
Earth’s magnetic field, and such mammoth disruptions have never
yet happened in our modern, technological world. As we have har-
nessed electronics to make our lives better, the Sun may someday give
us an ugly check, reminding us that we are not masters of the solar
system — not yet.
CONTACT US
Ad Sales adsales@astronomy.com
Ask Astro askastro@astronomy.com
Books books@astronomy.com
Letters letters@astronomy.com
Products products@astronomy.com
Reader Gallery readergallery@astronomy.com
Editorial Phone (262) 796-8776
For reprints, licensing, and permissions:
PARS International at www.parsintl.com
Copyright © 2020 Kalmbach Media Co., all rights reserved. This publication
may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Printed in the U.S.A.
Allow 6 to 8 weeks for new subscriptions and address changes. Subscription
rate: single copy: $5.99; U.S.: 1 year $42.95; 2 years $79.95; 3 years $114.95.
Canadian: Add $12.00 postage per year. Canadian price includes GST, payable
in U.S. funds. All other international subscriptions: Add $16.00 postage per
year, payable in U.S. funds, drawn on a U.S. bank. BN 12271 3209 RT. Not
responsible for unsolicited materials.

Follow the Yours truly,

Dave’s Universe blog:
www.Astronomy.
com/davesuniverse FOLLOW ASTRONOMY
Follow Dave Eicher
on Twitter: David J. Eicher www.twitter.com/AstronomyMag
@deicherstar Editor www.facebook.com/AstronomyMagazine

6 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 EXPLORE THE NIGHT SKY IN BIG SKY COUNTRY

Montana Learning Center

Home of the Largest Public-use Observatory in Montana
The Night Sky Planisphere™ MontanaLearning.org

The Perfect Companion for Astronomy Summer Annual Star Festival Private Small Group
Observing and Astrophotography Camp for High with National Guided Use of
School Students Experts Telescopes

HOME-DOME AND PRO-DOME OBSERVATORIES

www.davidchandler.com PROFESSIONAL DESIGN - AMATEUR PRICE

6, 10, & 15 ft. Diameter
Stand-alone or On Building CloudWatcher
All Fiberglass Low cost, accurate system to detect
FORXGFRYHUOLJKWOHYHOVDQG¿UVWWUDFHV
Easy Assembly
of rain. With DDW Interface.
Manual/Computer Automated
Full Height/Handicap Access www.clouddetection.com
Priced from $3,995
Phone: 407-601-1975
Dedicated to
Craftsmanship! www.homedome.com
Absolute Encoders
Mach2GTO Power & Go
Auto-Adjusting
Gear Mesh
12-24V DC

Connectivity: GTOCP5

www.astro-physics.com
Machesney Park, IL USA
Ph: 815-282-1513

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 7
 A Hubble Space
ASTRO LET TERS Telescope image
of NGC 1156.

We welcome Smelling the coffee

your comments Thank you, Dave, for pointing out the dilemma that
at Astronomy Letters,
science faces today. Not only has the world gone back-
P.O. Box 1612,
Waukesha, WI 53187; wards in its thinking, but in its reasoning as well. We
or email to letters@ do need more rational, scientific thinkers and I do hope

ESA/HUBBLE, NASA, R. JANSEN

astronomy.com . the world is not doomed to continue moving back-
Please include your wards, but instead moves forward. This is not so much
name, city, state, and for my sake, but for our future generations. Our leaders
country. Letters may need to wake up and smell the coffee. — Pete Neiland,
be edited for space
Calgary, Alberta
and clarity.

An attack on science
Thanks to David Eicher for the April editorial about
the attack on science, reason, and truth in recent years.
The editorial struck a chord with me. Eicher rightly
and frighteningly compared that trend to a dark period
in the Middle Ages — sometimes called the Dark Ages.
How people today, with the gift of thinking and rea-
soning, can promote pseudoscience and take opinion
for truth astonishes me. I certainly hope we don’t lose
the guidance from the inspiring wonders of knowledge
that humanity has gained since the Renaissance.
— Robert Walty, Stephens City, VA
Hubble forever
I was very disappointed in the Hubble article in your
March 2020 issue. It was much too short! I could have
easily read an entire issue devoted to this marvelous
observatory. — Frank Hanou, Golden, CO
Searching the cosmos
I am a 15-year subscriber to your magazine, and obvi-
ously I find it interesting. I especially enjoyed reading
your interview with Ann Druyan in the April edition.
I will certainly not miss the new Cosmos series.
— Margareta Thompson, Durham, NC

Deep-Sky Planner 7
Gaze at
Exceptional Planning & Logging software
for Imaging and Visual Observers Astronomy.com
Windows • Android • iOS • iPadOS

News
Learn more at www.knightware.biz Photos
Videos
Blogs
And More!

Go to
Astronomy.com

8 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 QUANTUM GRAVITY
QG EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH

SNAPSHOT

HUBBLE
CAPTURES
COMETARY
BREAKUP
Comet ATLAS
disintegrated
before our eyes.
When astronomers first spotted
Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) in
December 2019, they predicted
it might become one of the
brightest comets to sweep past
Earth in two decades. The
comet seemed on track for a
brilliant apparition, brightening
through mid-March. But then
it started dimming again. On
April 11, amateur astronomer
Jose de Queiroz discovered that
NASA, ESA, D. JEWITT (UCLA), Q. YE (UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND). BOTTOM FROM LEFT: NASA; ESO/L. CALÇADA; ESO/M. KORNMESSER

ATLAS was falling apart when

photographs revealed the comet
had broken into three pieces.
By the time the Hubble Space
Telescope snapped this image
on April 20, the comet had
further disintegrated into about
30 fragments, some as large as
a house. Astronomers believe
the comet’s nucleus may have
originally been about the size of
two football fields before pieces
began breaking off. Although
this breakup ended our chances
of seeing a spectacular comet
HOT #BEANASTRONAUT PERFECT MATCH SO LONG
A new theory suggests
streak through the sky, it could BYTES During March, NASA
received more than
A German-led team
of astronomers has that the strange,
ultimately give astronomers 12,000 applications verified that a star elongated shape of
some much-needed answers from candidates ready orbiting the Milky interstellar visitor
about why comets break apart to become part of its Way’s supermassive ‘Oumuamua arose
next astronaut class. black hole moves in a through gravitational
and how often such disruptions It’s the second highest precessing, rosettelike interactions with its
occur. — HAILEY ROSE MCLAUGHLIN number of applications orbit — just as Einstein’s home star before the
the space agency has theory of general object’s ejection from
ever received. relativity predicts. its star system.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 9
QUANTUM GRAVITY
EARTH’S LARGEST TELESCOPES
CLOSE AMID COVID-19 OUTBREAK
More than 100 major telescopes shut down due to the
worldwide pandemic. What does that mean for astronomy?
The alarm sounded at around
3 A.M. on April 3. An electrical
malfunction had stalled the behemoth
South Pole Telescope as it mapped
radiation left over from the Big Bang.
Astronomers Allen Foster and Geoffrey
Chen crawled out of bed and got
dressed to shield themselves from the
–70-degree-Fahrenheit (–57 degrees
Celsius) temperatures outside. They
then trekked the few thousand feet
across the ice to restart the telescope.
The Sun set on March 22 in
Antarctica. Daylight won’t return until
six months later. Yet life at the bottom of
the planet hasn’t changed much — even
as the rest of the world has been turned
upside-down. The last flight from the
region left on February 15, so there’s
no need for social distancing. The 42
“winter-overs” still work together. They
still eat together. They still share the
gym. They even play roller hockey most
nights. And that’s why the South Pole
10 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
CLOSED DOORS. Earth’s biggest optical
telescope, the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio
Canarias, is one of over a hundred observatories
closed due to COVID-19. INSTITUTO DE ASTROFÍSICA DE CANARIAS
Telescope is one of the last large observa-
tories still monitoring the night sky.
An Astronomy magazine tally in
April found that more than 120 of
Earth’s largest research telescopes
closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What started as a trickle of closures in
February and early March became an
almost complete shutdown of observa-
tional astronomy. And the closures are
unlikely to end soon.
At the time of the tally, directors said
the telescopes could remain offline
for six months — or longer. In many
cases, resuming operations will mean
inventing new ways of working during
a pandemic. And that might not be pos-
sible for instruments that require teams
of technicians to maintain and operate.
As a result, new astronomical discover-
ies are expected to slow to a crawl.
“If everybody in the world stops
observing, then we have a gap in our data
that you can’t recover,” says astronomer
Steven Janowiecki of the McDonald
Observatory in Texas. “This will be a
period that we in the astronomy commu-
nity have no data on what happened.”
Yet these short-term losses aren’t
astronomers’ main concern. Instead,
researchers worry about missing any
rare, one-and-done events that could
occur while observatories are shuttered.
“If we have our first bright supernova
in hundreds of years, that would be ter-
rible,” says astronomer John Mulchaey,
director of the Carnegie Observatories.
“But except for really rare events like
that, most of the science will be done
next year. The universe is 13.7 billion
years old. We can wait a few months.”
CLOSING THE WINDOWS
ON THE COSMOS
Many of the shutdowns happened in
late March, as astronomy-rich states
like Arizona, Hawaii, and California
issued stay-at-home orders. Nine of the
10 largest optical telescopes in North
America shut down. The Hobby-Eberly
Telescope at McDonald Observatory
near Fort Davis, Texas, became the
largest optical telescope still scan-
ning the skies until May 19, when the
Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea,
Hawaii, opened its dome once more.
In Chile, an epicenter of observing,
the government placed the entire coun-
try under strict lockdown, shuttering
dozens of telescopes. Spain and Italy,
nations with extensive astronomical
communities — as well as a large num-
ber of COVID-19 infections — closed
their observatories, too.
Even many small telescopes closed,
as all-out shutdowns were ordered on
mountaintops ranging from Hawaii’s
Mauna Kea to the Chilean Atacama to
the Spanish Canary Islands. Science
 EARTH’S LARGEST OPTICAL TELESCOPES
CALDERA DE TABURIENTE
Gran Telescopio Canarias
Isaac Newton Telescope
William Herschel Telescope
Nordic Optical Telescope
CALIFORNIA Telescopio Nazionale Galileo
Nickel Telescope RUSSIA
NEW MEXICO SPAIN
Shane Telescope Bolshoi Azimuthal
ARC Telescope
Hooker Telescope CALAR ALTO Telescope
SDSS Telescope
Hale Telescope 1.23-meter Telescope
2.2-meter Telescope
HAWAII CANARY
HALEAKALA ARIZONA TEXAS 3.5-meter Telescope
ISLANDS
Pan-STARRS WIYN Telescope Hobby-Eberly Telescope Schmidt Telescope
Mayall Telescope Harlan J. Smith Telescope
MMT Telescope
MAUNA KEA LBT
UKIRT
Subaru Telescope
CFH Telescope CERRO PARANAL
Gemini North VISTA CHILE CERRO MANQUI
NASA IRTF Kueyen Telescope du Pont Telescope
Melipal Telescope SOUTH AFRICA
Keck I and II Telescopes Magellan Telescopes
Antu Telescope Southern African
Yepun Telescope Large Telescope
AUSTRALIA
Anglo-Australian
Telescope CERRO TOLOLO
Victor Blanco Telescope
LA SILLA
New Technology ACROSS THE MAP. The world’s premier optical
Telescope telescopes, shown here, had shut down in
OPEN CERRO PACHÓN
ESO 3.6-meter droves by early April. Construction also halted
CLOSED SOAR Telescope
Gemini South Telescope Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory site in Chile.
Sites that remained open at the end of April
appear in green. The Gemini North Telescope in
Hawaii reopened May 19 as the largest optical
telescope taking data. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

historians say nothing like this has hap-
pened in the modern era of astronomy.
Even during the chaos of World War II,
telescopes kept observing.
But although modern observatories
are more automated, few can safely
operate during a pandemic. “We do
have some remote options, but the large
fraction of our astronomers still go to
the telescopes,” says Mulchaey, who also
The search for dangerous asteroids continues
Despite widespread telescope closures
due to COVID-19, there’s no need to worry
about an incoming asteroid — at least, not
any more than usual. Earth’s top asteroid-
hunting instruments remain on the prowl
for potentially deadly space rocks.
NASA funds most major asteroid-hunting
efforts. The space agency has a congres-
sional mandate to find some 90 percent
of near-Earth objects larger than 460 feet
(140 meters) across. These objects consist
of comets and asteroids that get a little too
close for comfort.
The effort’s workhorse instruments are
Hawaii’s twin Panoramic Survey Telescope
and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS)
telescopes, as well as the three Catalina
Sky Survey telescopes in Arizona. Both of
oversees Las Campanas Observatory in
Chile and its Magellan Telescopes. “It’s
not as automated as you might think.”
However, astronomers still say they’re
confident they can find solutions to
reopen observatories. In April, Tony
Beasley, the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (NRAO) director, said his
team was working on a long list of what
they’re calling “VSDs,” or violation of
those efforts continue. Likewise, NEOWISE,
a NASA space telescope repurposed to hunt
for near-Earth objects, is also still operating.
“We are an essential service, funded
by NASA, to help protect the Earth from
[an] asteroid impact,” says Ken Chambers,
director of the Pan-STARRS Observatories
in Hawaii. “We will continue that mission
as long as we can do so without putting
people or equipment at risk.”
Earth will get hit with a major asteroid
again; it’s just a question of when. And
that’s why astronomers think it’s important
to keep a constant watch, even during a
pandemic. Fortunately, there’s only a slim
chance humanity will have to face two
global crises at once. And that’s something
we can all be happy about. — E.B.
social distancing problems. Their
workarounds typically involve finding
ways to have one person do something
that used to take an entire team.
NRAO operates the Very Large Array
in New Mexico and the global Very Long
Baseline Array. Beasley is also vice presi-
dent for Radio Astronomy Operations
for Associated Universities Inc., which
operates the Green Bank Telescope in
West Virginia. All three are still observ-
ing, thanks to remote operations and a
reimagined workflow. Although the new
workflow is not as efficient as it was in
the past, at the time of this writing, there
haven’t been any problems that couldn’t
be solved. And Beasley and others think
more interesting and valuable lessons
could still come out of the catastrophe.
“There’s always been kind of a sense
that you had to be in the building, and
you’ve got to stare the other people down
in the meeting,” he says. “In the space of
a month, I think everyone is surprised at
how effective they can be remotely. As we
get better at this over the next six months
or something, I think there will be parts
where we won’t go back to some of the
work processes from before.” — ERIC BETZ

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 11
QUANTUM GRAVITY

The Sun
Our Sun is

Brightness variations (percent)

0.4

0.2
strangely docile
0.0 The Sun’s steady stream features, shows our star
of energy sustains life is extremely tame. And
–0.2 on Earth. And, thank- based on radioactive
fully, that energy output evidence trapped in
–0.4 doesn’t usually fluctuate tree rings and ice cores,
2010 2011 2012 2013
Year enough to cause any it’s been like that for at
major problems. Mild least 9,000 years. Data
Brightness variations (percent)

KIC 7849521 0.4 tantrums, in fact, even obtained from 2009

produce the spectacles
0.2
we call aurorae. But
how does the Sun’s
0.0
behavior match up to
similar stars? A new
MPS/HORMESDESIGN.DE
to 2013 by the Kepler
Space Telescope indi-
cate that Sun-like stars,
such as KIC 7849521
(at left, bottom), exhibit

–0.2
analysis of 369 Sun-like brightness fluctuations
–0.4
stars, each with compa- averaging about five
2010 2011 2012 2013 rable rotation periods times as strong as those
Year
and other fundamental of the Sun. — JAKE PARKS

MERCURY VENUS EARTH MARS

8% < 0.1% 0.9% 0.1% 1.6%
Other Other Argon Other Argon
6% 4% 21% (carbon dioxide, 2.7% 0.7 %
Helium 42% Nitrogen Oxygen water, etc.) Nitrogen Other
Oxygen

ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

22%
Hydrogen
22% 96% 78% 95%
Sodium Carbon dioxide Nitrogen Carbon dioxide

TERRESTRIAL ATMOSPHERES FAST FACT

A column of air from
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. Although the amount of each varies from one to the next, the sea level to the top of
terrestrial planets in our solar system have atmospheres composed largely of the same few Earth’s atmosphere
with a base of 1 square
elements, with others present in trace amounts. Astronomers believe these atmospheres are inch (6.5 square
not original to the planets, but are secondary atmospheres generated mostly through impacts centimeters)
and outgassing. These graphs show the rough composition of the atmosphere of each planet weighs 14.7 pounds
in our inner solar system, illustrating their similarities and their differences. — ALISON KLESMAN (6.7 kilograms).

12 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 QUICK
TAKES
NASA drives a Mars rover from home
SPACE BRAIN
MRI scans of 11 astronauts revealed
that living in a microgravity
environment increases the volume of
the brain and cerebrospinal fluid, as
well as changes the size and shape of
the pituitary gland. These changes
persisted at least a year after
returning to Earth.

ALMOST EARTH
Astronomers found an Earth-sized,
habitable-zone exoplanet hiding in data
from the now-defunct Kepler Space
Telescope. The world, named

On March 22, the Curiosity
rover began drilling a rock
sample at a Mars location
called Edinburgh. The
command to do so, which
had been sent two days
earlier, marked the first time
the rover’s actions had been
planned by a team working
completely remotely. Amidst
the coronavirus pandemic
back on Earth, NASA’s
Curiosity mission team took
California stars in Spitzer’s final mosaic
NASA’s 16-year-old Spitzer Space
their rover-driving equipment
— headsets, monitors, and
extra computers — home.
The exception was the 3D
goggles normally used to
view images of the martian
landscape, which did not
work without computing
equipment that couldn’t be
easily removed from the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Instead, the team used red-
blue 3D glasses to visualize
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Kepler-1649 c, is located about 300 light-
years away and is just 6 percent larger
than Earth. Unlike Earth, however, it
orbits a tiny red dwarf star.
Curiosity’s surroundings
and plan arm movements
MIDSIZED BEAST
New observations provide the
and driving paths. Although
strongest evidence yet for a
working remotely presents theorized “missing link” between the
many challenges and each smallest and largest black holes —
day’s planning takes one to an intermediate-mass black hole.
two more hours than usual, The object sits in the outskirts of a
the group has managed star cluster about 800 million light-
to keep the rover actively years away and has a mass of some
exploring the Red Planet at 50,000 Suns.
a time when many other
science operations have
CHILLED COMET
The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov
come to a standstill. — A.K.
contains nine to 26 times more
carbon monoxide than a typical solar
system comet, ALMA observations
show. This suggests it formed in an
extremely cold environment with
temperatures below –420 degrees
Fahrenheit (–250 degrees Celsius).
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/PALOMAR DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY

Telescope was decommissioned

January 30. Five days prior, the BEPI, SLOW DOWN
Amid coronavirus restrictions, the
telescope took its last images.
European Space Agency monitored
Its target was a region within the
BepiColombo’s successful flyby of
California Nebula (NGC 1499), which Earth on April 10. The Mercury-
appears in visible light as a glowing bound spacecraft came within
cloud of gas lit up by the nearby star about 7,900 miles (12,700 kilometers)
Xi (ξ) Persei. But to Spitzer’s infrared of our planet, harnessing Earth’s
eyes, the nebula is filled with tangles gravity to reduce its speed.
of warm, sootlike dust heated by high-energy light from the star. This final mosaic shows
images taken with Spitzer’s two filters, which captured light at 3.6 micrometers (cyan) and COSMIC CATAPULT
4.5 micrometers (red). The central region, which appears gray, shows where the images Hyper-realistic computer
simulations show supernovae
overlap, creating a multi-wavelength composite. Mission scientists chose the California
clusters near the centers of galaxies
Nebula as the space telescope’s final target because it had never before been studied with
can fling new stars to the galactic
Spitzer and promised high science returns with its wealth of warm dust and gas, which fringes. The researchers propose
produce interesting features for astronomers to study at infrared wavelengths. — A.K. this process could account for as
many as 40 percent of stars in a
galaxy’s outer halo. — J.P.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 13
QUANTUM GRAVITY
A SUSPECTED EXOPLANET
DISAPPEARS BEFORE HUBBLE’S EYES
Fomalhaut
and ring
More than a decade ago, astrono-
mers believed they’d captured
the first direct image of a planet circling
another star. Dubbed Fomalhaut b, the
suspected world seemed to be orbiting a
star that’s a little hotter than the Sun and
located about 25 light-years away.
In the years that followed, researchers
used the Hubble Space Telescope to regu-
larly check in on the distant planet. But
then it started to dim, almost completely
disintegrating by 2014. And though there
are reasons why an exoplanet can fade,
they certainly don’t just disappear.
No, some Death Star-type spacecraft
didn’t decimate an entire planet. Instead,
according to new research published
April 20 in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the world never
really existed. By piecing together shots
of Fomalhaut b over time, astronomers
realized that what they thought was an
exoplanet was actually just the remains
of a gigantic collision between icy objects.
“These collisions are exceedingly rare,
and so this is a big deal that we actually
get to see one,” said lead author András
Gáspár, an astronomer at the University
of Arizona, in a press release. “Our study,
1,425
The wind speed, in mph (2,293 km/h), measured on a brown
dwarf 40 times more massive than Jupiter. This is the first time
astronomers have measured wind speed on a brown dwarf.
14 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
Model of Fomalhaut b
expanding dust cloud
2014
2012
2010
2008
2006
2004
NASA/GSFC/USGS
GOING, GOING, GONE. The star Fomalhaut is
surrounded by a vast ring of debris, as seen in
the composite image of the system (left) made
by combining many Hubble exposures. The
simulation-based image to the right shows the
THIS IS THE
evolving aftermath of a collision between two
minor bodies. NASA/ESA/A. GÁSPÁR AND G. RIEKE (UNIVERSITY OF
ARIZONA)
DEFINITIVE
which analyzed all available archival MOON MAP
Hubble data on Fomalhaut b, includ-
ing the most recent images taken by Although humans have
Hubble, revealed several characteristics gazed up at the Moon
that together point to a picture that since the dawn of our
the planet-sized object may never have existence, it wasn’t until
existed in the first place,” he added.
Based on the evolving shape and loca-
1959 that the Soviets’
tion of the ejected debris, the researchers Luna 3 spacecraft pro-
estimate the original colliding bodies vided the first glimpse
were each likely a mix of ice and dust of the lunar farside. And
measuring about 125 miles (200 kilome-
now, for the first time
ters) in diameter.
Unfortunately, Hubble was late to the ever, the U.S. Geological
main event, as the researchers think the Survey, with the help of
crash happened right before the telescope NASA and the Lunar and
began observing the system in 2004. Planetary Institute, has
However, simply detecting the aftermath
of such a violent event is still exciting,
released a definitive map
they say. According to the researchers’ of the entire lunar sur-
calculations, massive collisions like this face. This orthographic
may only happen once every 200,000 projection of the new map
years for any given system. — H.R.M. highlights the complex
topography, geology, and
stratigraphy (rock layers)
of the Moon’s nearside
(top) and farside (bottom)
in incredible detail. — J.P.
Astronomers
see our Sun
spin threads
of plasma

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE

The Sun’s magnetic field blasts
charged particles into space.
On Earth, we experience this
steady stream as the solar
wind, which fuels aurorae.
Our planet also deals with
fallout from occasional strong
outbursts. However, for all of
the downstream effects we
experience thanks to the Sun’s
magnetic field, its true nature
remains an elusive mystery.
Now, new images are bring-
ing scientists one step closer
to understanding this impor-
tant phenomenon. For the first
time, astronomers have cap-
tured the extremely fine details
of our star’s magnetic field
— details too intricate to have
previously been seen. The new
research was published April 1
in The Astrophysical Journal.
FINE THREADS. New images
show delicate magnetic field
lines, haloed by scalding
plasma, sprouting from seemingly
featureless regions of the Sun.
The close-ups were taken
by NASA’s High Resolution
Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, which
is not aboard a spacecraft.
Instead, it’s briefly carried aloft
by a suborbital-flight rocket
before returning to Earth. Once
in the air, the telescope zooms
in on solar features as small
as 43 miles (70 kilometers)
across, or just 0.01 percent the
width of the entire Sun. That
makes these photos of the
Sun’s atmosphere the highest-
resolution versions ever taken.
The new images show never-
before-seen bundles of million-
degree plasma threading
across the Sun’s atmosphere,
tracing the star’s magnetic field
itself. Each of these threads is
only about 310 miles (500 km)
across, roughly the driving
distance between Chicago
and Cleveland.
Now that scientists have
actually seen these delicate
threads, the next step is to
understand them. Researchers
aren’t yet sure what generates
the Sun’s fine magnetic field
lines. They also don’t know
how the field lines affect things
like the solar wind and coronal
mass ejections, with the latter
capable of pumping out billions
of tons of material into space.
The international Hi-C team
is already working to plan the
telescope’s next suborbital
flight, where they hope to
combine their observations
with data taken simultaneously
by the Parker Solar Probe and
Solar Orbiter. — A.K.

Protect Your
Investment!
Preserve your library of
Astronomy magazines with durable
hardcover binders.

Item #14007
$13.95 each
Order Yours Today!

MyScienceShop.com
Sales tax where applicable.

P29472

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 15
 STRANGE UNIVERSE
What else besides
photons?
Why looking through a telescope wows us.
Saturn and its rings
look stunning in this
2019 portrait of the
ringed planet. But
even such an exquisite
space telescope
image doesn’t elicit
the same feeling as
looking at the planet
through a telescope.
NASA, ESA, A. SIMON (GSFC), M.H.
WONG (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, I look at the gibbous Moon using a mere 50x. There’s the
BERKELEY) AND THE OPAL TEAM
BY BOB BERMAN
Join me and Pulse
of the Planet’s
Jim Metzner
in my podcast,
Astounding Universe,
at www.astounding
universe.com
16 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
And it doesn’t diminish with time. It’s inexplicable. It
seems astronomical objects are fundamentally unlike
terrestrial ones — meaning, you might visit a particular
lake 100 times but are unlikely to always find it visually
exciting. Been-there-done-that sets in. But not when
you look at the Moon.
Let’s try to figure this out. The Moon’s terminator
moves at a rapid 10 mph (16 km/h), making the lighting
and shadows change in just a few hours. You’ll rarely
observe the Moon under lighting that’s truly identical
to a previous time. Newness is thus almost baked into
the Moon experience. Also, there’s so much darn detail
in lunar features. Two nights ago, I saw ultra-high-
definition pebbly terrain just west of the strange crater
Aristarchus. I gawked for 15 minutes through my
5-inch refractor. Later, I looked it up in a reference and
learned the area is a small, isolated plateau of built-up
volcanic material. I’d never known it was there.
But Saturn offers no such fine detail. And its lighting
scarcely changes unless you wait months or years.
There’s no rational reason that Indian astronomer and
I should have jumped up and down like 6-year-olds.
When we get a new telescope, we can’t wait to Perhaps the equipment itself plays a role. After I’d
see what it will show us. But that first-light bought my 12.5-inch f/6 equatorial reflector in 1983, I
experience can only happen once — there’s spent as much time looking at the telescope as looking
obviously more to observing than the pleasure of novelty. through it. I regarded it like a beloved soul mate. So,
So, why do we observe? The answer introduces a strange maybe our geeky infatuation with optics provides some
and wonderful phenomenon. of the rationale.
I honestly don’t know why I’m so thrilled every time But it doesn’t explain everything. Why doesn’t this
effect apply to photographed images, but instead solely
rugged Apennine mountain range. It looks the same as to directly imbibed cosmic scenery? There’s apparently
it did when I was 14. Twixt then and now I’ve probably some sort of vibe that streams into our consciousness
stared at it 500 times, no exaggeration. Why is it still a along with the photons. It makes newbies who look at
thrill? Here’s an illustrative story. Saturn at 150x let out cries of “Oh my God!”
When I was 24 years old, the Indian gov- and “That’s not real!”
ernment invited me as a science journalist to I’ve repeatedly heard those two specific
visit their largest observatory in the
There’s exclamations from our observatory visitors
Himalayan foothills at Nainital. With amaz- obviously through the decades. No photograph, even
ing hospitality, the director offered to let me more to those from Hubble, elicits such shouts, despite
use the 40-inch telescope. We arrived to find observing space telescope images being far better than
the massive two-story instrument set up with than the the eyepiece view they just experienced.
a visual eyepiece and a junior astronomer (Astroimages are indeed wow-producing;
assigned to operate it. Asked what I’d like to pleasure of they just don’t elicit the specific emotional
see, I picked Saturn. Well, friends, let me novelty. effect we’re discussing.)
share that I’d never before experienced such What, then, delivers that visceral impact?
perfect seeing. After I viewed the rock-steady Do lenses and mirrors focus an unknown
image, I gestured to my young host to have a peek, too. entity? Or, rather, is this one of those unanswerable
You know what he did after his glance? He jumped up questions about consciousness?
and down and clapped his hands like a child. I peeked Science has yet to identify it. But, if you don’t yet own
again, then jumped and clapped, too. It didn’t matter a good telescope, borrow one from a friend or club.
that he had an astrophysics doctorate or that I’d seen You’re in for quite a treat when you check all this out for
this planet hundreds of previous times. Saturn made us yourself.
both into kids.
What I’m getting at in this long-winded way is that BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE
many celestial objects produce a strange visceral thrill. AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman
 by AstronSCIENTIFIC
Change your setup with one ClicK!
Motorized and remote telescope
rotary wheels & system accessories
“…The first portable telescope for Viewing,
Planetary and DSO imaging in a single set-up.
Big Congrats to AstronSCIENTIFIC!”
Al Nagler -TeleVue Optics Inc.

www.astronscientific.com Patented USA & EU

UNCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE SKY

The Complete Star Atlas: A Practical Guide to Viewing
the Night Sky is the all-in-one guide to the stars. It is
EXPLORE:
87,000 Stars
a must-have 160-page book for anyone who wants to 1,200 Deep-Sky Objects
learn the constellations and find the brightest stars.

Discover a multitude of lesser-known deep-sky objects, such as Maffei 1, Cope-

land’s Septet, Palomar globular clusters, Abell galaxy clusters, and more with 24
accurate, easy-to-use star maps perfect for all stargazers!

24 FULL-COLOR MAPS
Easy-to-read details for practical
use outdoors!

Item #81372 • $29.99

Order now!
MyScienceShop.com/StarAtlas
Sales tax where applicable.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 17
 A fresh look at our

Solar Orbiter will soon explore what shapes

and powers the solar wind. BY BEN EVANS

From within the orbit of Mercury, Solar Orbiter

will study our Sun, turning its suite of instruments
on our home star to offer a new perspective that
includes observing the Sun’s poles. This artist’s
illustration shows how the spacecraft might
appear as it faces the Sun while collecting data
from its science orbit. ESA/ATG MEDIALAB

18 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 19
 onsumed by the hubris of youth, Icarus
thought himself invincible as he calmly
fastened a pair of homemade wings and
prepared to fly. The wax-and-feathers
ensemble had been made by his father,
Daedalus, master craftsman of Greek myth. But Icarus —
arrogant, supremely confident, and overawed by the giddiness
of flight — forgot his father’s warning not to venture too close
to the Sun. Heated to extremes, the wax melted, the wings
crumbled, and Icarus plunged to his death.

In February 2020, scientists from 10 system. Its unwavering emergence at

nations took the first step on a journey to
our star more daring than Icarus’ wildest
dreams. The European Space Agency
(ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter carries
protections far tougher than waxen
wings, yet even its bristling high-tech
design owes a debt to our distant, cave-
dwelling ancestors.
What we know
about our Sun
More than 4.6 billion years old, the Sun
is the heart of our solar system. A stable
G-type star on the cusp of middle age, it
is fast approaching the halfway point in
an evolution that has seen life sprout on
at least one of its planetary retinue. More
than 300,000 times more massive than
Earth and 864,400 miles (1.4 million
kilometers) in diameter, the Sun holds
99.86 percent of the mass in the solar
Solar Orbiter’s elliptical orbit will carry it as
close as 0.28 AU on its nearest approach
to the Sun. This artist’s concept shows the
marked difference in the apparent size of
the Sun we see from Earth’s distance of
1 AU (left) and the Sun that Solar Orbiter
will see at 0.28 AU. YEUS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
dawn in the east, its daily transit across
the sky, and its disappearance in the west
at nightfall have earned it great spiritual
importance throughout history. The
Sun’s life-giving warmth and timekeep-
ing beneficence objectified it for venera-
tion from the ancient Near East to the
pre-Columbian Americas.
Yet only recently have astronomers
and physicists come to theoretical grips
with the Sun’s true nature: a broiling
sphere of plasma comprising three-
quarters hydrogen and one-quarter
helium, and the singular reason for
earthly existence. Instruments on the
ground and in space have opened an
insightful window into its throbbing
interior. A core more than 13 times
denser than lead and 25 times wider
than Earth generates temperatures of
15.6 million kelvins, hot enough to fuse
The corona — the outermost layer of the Sun’s
atmosphere — is far hotter than the star’s
surface. Researchers continue to strive to
understand the behavior of this tenuous solar
feature, which is only visible from Earth during
a total solar eclipse, as illustrated in this shot
captured in August 2017. NASA/AUBREY GEMIGNANI
hydrogen into helium and transform
millions of tons of matter into energy
every second. Temperatures cool to 5,800
kelvins (9,980 degrees Fahrenheit [5,527
degrees Celsius]) at its visible surface (the
photosphere), then climb precipitously
from 10,000 to 1 million-plus kelvins in
its glowing corona, which appears like an
effervescent veil during solar eclipses.
Spacecraft have watched the Sun from
afar for five decades, spotting shock
waves, flares, and coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) that unleash huge quantities of
plasma and internal magnetism into the
bubblelike heliosphere that surrounds the
planets. The joint ESA/NASA Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and
NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal
Explorer showed the Sun’s energetic vigor
ebbs and flows in tight lockstep with each
11-year cycle of solar activity. Ultraviolet
data from SOHO and the Japanese
Institute of Space and Astronautical
Science’s Yohkoh probe revealed the role
of thin, magnetized loops in heating and
accelerating coronal plasmas. NASA’s
Solar Dynamics Observatory sharpened
our awareness of how this magnetism is
created, stored, and released.
But for all we know about our star,
there are still mysteries left to unlock.

20 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020


One such enigma is the solar dynamo
— an elusive mechanism thought to
induce the Sun’s global magnetic field.
Currently, astronomers believe the
dynamo lies in a 12,000-mile-deep
(19,300 km) shear zone between the radi-
ative and convective regions of the Sun’s
interior, where rotational velocities shift
markedly. To determine the relationship
between the dynamo and the interior,
researchers need details about the move-
ment of material beneath the Sun’s sur-
face at different latitudes on the star.
(Latitude on the Sun is referred to as
heliographic latitude, with 0° at its equa-
tor and 90° at its north pole.)
Two decades ago, ESA and NASA’s
Ulysses probe flew outside the ecliptic
plane in which the planets orbit and
found surprising uniformity across the
Sun’s global magnetic field. But the probe
never got closer than 1.2 astronomical
units. (One astronomical unit, or AU, is
the average Earth-Sun distance.) Solar
Orbiter will scrutinize lower latitudes
than Ulysses — climbing no higher than
34°, effectively solar midlatitudes. But it
will approach to 0.28 AU, offering a ring-
side seat for this magnetic action.
The immense corpus of spacecraft
data has also begun to clarify how coro-
nal plasmas drive the solar wind. This
million-mile-per-hour torrent of charged
particles streaming from the Sun pro-
foundly affects life on Earth, from dis-
rupting radio communications and
upsetting power grids to disabling satel-
lites and triggering aurorae. The twin
NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations
Observatory probes watched storms
brewing on the Sun’s farside, while
Ulysses found that the solar wind flows
faster at higher latitudes, where it’s dis-
charged along open magnetic field lines
through holes in the corona at the Sun’s
poles. And although SOHO provides
some early warning for incoming storms,
Solar Orbiter’s close-up view of the Sun
Solar Orbiter launches from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida aboard a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V rocket at 11:03 P.M. EST on
February 9, 2020. The spacecraft will take about
two years to reach its primary science orbit
around the Sun, performing flybys of Earth and
Venus on the way. ESA – S. CORVAJA
and state-of-the-art science toolkit allow
it to better predict the effects the solar
storms will have when they reach us.
A Solar Orbiter is born
In 1998, the success of Ulysses and
SOHO prompted recommendations for
a new European solar mission. It would
study the Sun from beyond the eclip-
tic, as Ulysses did, using high-spatial-
resolution imaging sensors, as SOHO
had. But it would also fly closer to our
star than prior missions, approaching
as blisteringly close as 26 million miles
(41,843,000 km), just 0.28 AU — inside
the orbit of Mercury. There, incident
temperatures on the spacecraft would
surpass 968 F (520 C).
ESA selected Solar Orbiter to proceed
in 2000 with a launch date between 2013
and 2015, but grim fiscal reality had other
ideas. In 2011, Solar Orbiter was named
Europe’s first medium-class Cosmic
Vision mission. The same year, a
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 21
 Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, can blast
billions of tons of material away from the Sun and travel through
space at millions of miles per hour. This CME erupted on August 31, 2012, traveling
at more than 900 miles per second (1,450 km/s). NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

partnership with NASA brought an added inexorably slid back as prime contractor probably a little unrealistic, given the dis-
dowry of an Atlas V rocket and funding Astrium (now part of Airbus) and indus- parate nature of the measurements to be
for additional scientific instrumentation. trial teams across Europe labored to made by the two missions,” Owen says.
Solar Orbiter was built alongside ESA’s ensure the spacecraft could survive its
Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft, perilous journey and accomplish its sci- A new view
which launched in October 2018, to lever- entific goals. Mission scientists met fre- Solar Orbiter will be ideally situated to
age design synergy between them. The quently with ESA and Airbus to clarify explore how solar phenomena shape and
mission’s multilayered insulation, heat Solar Orbiter’s unique requirements dur- power the solar wind and how the Sun
pipes, batteries, data-handling systems, ing construction, according to Chris propels energetic particles into the helio-
and parts of the high-gain antenna draw Owen of University College London sphere. Flying so close to the Sun, the
directly from BepiColombo, while other (UCL), principal investigator for the Solar spacecraft will study the star’s magnetic
elements (including radiators and heat Wind Plasma Analyser. “The original fields and plasmas in a pristine state,
shielding) are unique to Solar Orbiter. philosophy to reuse as much of the before their properties are altered as they
The mission was planned for launch BepiColombo spacecraft and subsystems move away from the Sun and through
sometime after 2017 — a date which as possible to reduce time and costs was the solar system.
The need for such up-close, “young”
measurements was cemented by the twin
Helios probes, which found that solar
SOLAR ORBITER’S PATH AROUND THE SUN wind ions (atomic nuclei that have had
Earth’s orbit electrons knocked away) are still much
Venus’ orbit hotter than their surroundings as close
to the star as just 0.29 AU. Because these
ions have not yet thermalized, or radiated
Sun away excess heat and energy, researchers
want to know the processes responsible
Mercury’s orbit for preventing them from cooling.
“We will not get much further in than
Helios did,” Owen says. “We will just be
Orbits not
shown to scale
able to make much more comprehensive
measurements with our modern instru-
Solar Orbiter’s orbit
mentation.” Solar Orbiter’s more advanced
instruments will make it easier, Owen
Solar Orbiter’s trajectory takes it past Earth shortly after launch, then later past Venus for several
flybys. Each successive planetary interaction pumps up the spacecraft’s inclination, allowing it to peer says, “to understand the physics of the
at the poles of our star. (This illustration shows only a few successive passes, not every orbit since acceleration and heating of the solar
launch.) If its mission is extended, even more flybys will further increase Solar Orbiter’s inclination.
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
wind, before this plasma has undergone
significant amounts of evolution.”

22 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 SOLAR FEATURES
Our Sun’s structure and behavior produce
a number of phenomena observed by
spacecraft and from Earth. Understanding the
mechanisms that trigger features such as
CMEs and the solar wind will help astronomers
unlock the mysteries that remain about our
life-giving star. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Corona
This is the Sun’s outer
atmosphere and source
of the solar wind.
Chromosphere
This is the middle layer of
the Sun’s atmosphere.
Photosphere
This is the Sun’s
visible surface.
Meridional flow
A current of plasma
that acts as a
conveyor belt in the
convection zone.
Prominence
Magnetic fields suspend an
arch of gas far above the
Sun’s surface.
Sunspots
Dark spots mark where amplified
magnetic fields anchored far within
the Sun break through the surface.
Carried by the deep meridional flow,
sunspot fields emerge closer to the
equator as the solar cycle progresses.
Solar wind
This thin, ionized gas speeds
away from the Sun.
After its launch, Solar Orbiter will
cruise past Venus in December 2020
and again in August 2021, then execute
a nail-biting skim within 270 miles
(435 km) of Earth in November 2021.
These gravity assist maneuvers (GAMs)
will reduce orbital energy and increase
inclination, pulling the spacecraft closer
to the Sun. In its final orbit, it will circle
our star every five months, approaching
within 60 solar radii (0.28 AU) at perihe-
lion and drifting to 220 solar radii (1 AU)
at aphelion.
Solar Orbiter will exceed 25° in helio-
graphic latitude during its seven-year
Flare
Flares are sudden releases
of energy stored in sunspot
–
magnetic fields.
+
primary mission. If the mission length is
extended to 10 years, additional Venus
GAMs between September 2022 and
September 2030 will tweak the space-
craft’s orbit to reach latitudes up to 34°.
“Orbital dynamics is a mysterious sub-
ject, but it seems that one can’t just keep
cranking up the latitude; there is some
sort of diminishing return,” says Tim
Horbury of Imperial College London,
principal investigator for Solar Orbiter’s
magnetometer. “I think there is little
chance of going a lot higher than we’re
planning. I’d be delighted to be wrong.”
Ulysses reached far higher latitudes of
Coronal mass ejection
Billion-ton clouds of charged
particles leave the Sun moving
at millions of miles per hour.
Tachocline
The Sun spins like a solid body below
the tachocline, and like a fluid above.
Intense shear here helps create the
Sun’s magnetic field.
Inner magnetic field lines
Magnetic field lines are pulled
into an east-west rotation and
become twisted as the lines
rotate faster at the equator
and slower at the poles.
Core
This is the Sun’s energy
source, where hydrogen
fuses into helium.
Radiative zone
Deep inside the Sun, energy
generated through nuclear
fusion travels outward as
radiation, or photons.
Convective zone
In the upper layers of the Sun,
energy is moved via convection:
Hot material rises and radiates heat
away, then sinks as it cools.
Global magnetic field lines
The Sun’s global magnetic field is about 10 times
more powerful than Earth’s. Field lines exit the Sun
at the positive pole and enter at the negative pole.
80° but carried no telescopes to image
the Sun directly. Additionally, “Ulysses
never went closer to the Sun than Earth,
so we could never see young solar wind
like Orbiter will,” Horbury says. “The
telescopes will also make a huge differ-
ence. Orbiter is all about the connections
between the Sun and space, and with
Ulysses, we were flying blind.” Even
SOHO’s ultraviolet “sight” only viewed
our star from a single perspective; fur-
thermore, its inability to take measure-
ments at different latitudes made it
difficult to determine if changes were
indeed global.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 23
 SOLAR MISSIONS As it approaches perihelion, Solar
Orbiter’s angular velocity will closely
parallel the rotation rate of the Sun itself,
Investigate solar offering a unique opportunity to scan
wind from the Ulysses 1990–2009 areas of the surface for days at a time.
Sun’s poles
This orbit will permit the spacecraft to
take measurements of internal magne-
Monitor energetic
1991–2001 Yohkoh light and flares
tism, as well as the triggers and propaga-
from the Sun tion characteristics of emerging solar
phenomena. Observing these across mul-
Study radio waves
and plasma in the Wind 1994–present tiple latitudes allows scientists to study
solar wind complex flows deep inside the Sun and
better constrain existing and evolving
theoretical models for the solar dynamo
1995–present Solar and and coronal magnetic fields.
Study the Sun’s
Heliospheric “We have some generic plans and will
global behavior
Observatory
tailor them to individual orbits as we get
Study how magnetic Transition closer,” Horbury says. “Planning for a
fields extend from Region and 1998–2010 given orbit starts one year ahead and
the Sun’s surface Coronal
into its atmosphere Explorer iterates towards a final detailed plan over
six months or so.”
Look at the effects
of the solar wind on
2000–present Cluster Earth’s magnetic Solar Orbiter’s instruments
environment (four
spacecraft)
Solar Orbiter’s 10 instruments include
four in-situ sensors that will run continu-
Observe how solar
Solar ously, tracking fields and particles around
wind disturbances
Terrestrial 2006–present
move through space
Relations the spacecraft. Its six remote-sensing
from the Sun to Earth
(two spacecraft)
Observatory detectors will peer directly at the Sun for
about 30 days per orbit, using protected
apertures cut through its heat shield.
Study interactions Hinode Solar Orbiter will work closely with
between the Sun’s NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. But whereas
magnetic field and
atmosphere Parker’s extreme closeness to the Sun —
2009–present Project for Study solar plasma as little as 0.046 AU, squarely inside the
Onboard passing through corona — promises a fields-and-particles
Autonomy-2 Earth’s magnetic field
bonanza, its location nixed any chance
that it could carry telescopes, thanks to
Solar 2010–present high temperatures. The moderately more
Observe solar
activity in real time Dynamics benign thermal climes at Solar Orbiter’s
Observatory distance will allow its imagers to provide
additional context for Parker.
Complement Solar
2013–present Interface
Dynamics Observatory
Most of the in-situ instruments
Region Imaging occupy an extendable boom to minimize
by observing lower
Spectrograph
solar atmosphere interference from spacecraft electronics.
The Radio and Plasma Waves instru-
Approach the Sun 2018–present
closely to study how
Parker ment from France’s Observatoire de
Solar
the solar wind is
Probe
Paris has sensors on the boom and on
produced three monopole antennas, angled 90°
apart. UCL’s Solar Wind Plasma
Obtain up-close Analyser also has detectors on the boom
Solar images and data
2020– Orbiter of the Sun and and antennas, plus two more on the
heliosphere main spacecraft body, including a NASA
heavy ion sensor. These will study the
densities, velocities, temperatures, and
Solar Orbiter comes from a long line of missions sent compositions of solar wind ions and
to observe our Sun, beginning with the Ulysses mission electrons. “The relative composition of
launched in 1990 and culminating with the recent launch
of the Parker Solar Probe in 2018. Each probe has offered the heavy ions provides a kind of finger-
a new view of our star, allowing researchers to slowly print, which can be compared with
build a more comprehensive picture of its structure and
behavior. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY, AFTER ESA/ATG MEDIALAB
 MEET SOLAR
ORBITER’S
INSTRUMENTS
Magnetometer (MAG)
Solar Wind
Plasma Analyser
suite (SWA)
MAG
Solar Orbiter carries 10 instruments, including
several imagers that will allow it to complement
the Parker Solar Probe’s measurements of the
Sun. Its telescopes lie behind its heat shield on
the spacecraft’s body, while several other
instruments are spread out on its three 21-foot
(6.5 m) antennas. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
similar information from spectroscopic
measurements of the solar surface and
thereby confirm the link between the
source and the spacecraft,” Owen says.
“These measurements should help us
reveal how the dynamics of the Sun drive
the solar wind and its variability, how
that links into interplanetary space and
affects Earth’s near-space environment.”
Imperial’s magnetometer will investi-
gate magnetic field evolution, how ener-
getic particles traverse the heliosphere,
and why coronal plasmas are so much
hotter than the Sun’s surface. The last
question has long stumped researchers:
“The jury is still out as to whether waves,
nanoflares, or something else is doing the
extra heating,” Horbury says. “It’s prob-
ably a combination of lots of things, but
we need to know the contribution of each
and how they vary. Helios has given us
some strong hints that nanoflares must be
playing a role and, with Orbiter, we’ll be
able to tie those things down by looking
at the solar plasma and fields in unprec-
edented detail, while looking remotely at
the source regions and linking the two.”
Solar Orbiter’s instruments have been
a decade in the making. Imperial also
Solar Orbiter
Energetic Particle
Heliospheric
Imager (SoloHi) Heat shield
Detector (EPD)
Radio and
Plasma
Waves (RPW)
contributed magnetometers to Ulysses
and Cassini. “There’s a lot of know-how
in the design of a sensitive scientific
instrument and this flow from one mis-
sion to the next, through the expertise
of the engineering team,” Horbury says.
“It would have been far harder to start
from scratch.”
For Solar Orbiter, “our fundamental
design hasn’t changed,” Horbury adds,
“but we’ve had to change a lot of the
mechanical and thermal design from
what we’d planned.” The extendable
boom faces the frigid cold of deep space,
continuously shadowed by Solar Orbiter’s
heat shield. As a consequence, perhaps
ironically, the magnetometer needs a
small heater to keep warm.
Solar Orbiter also includes many novel
technologies. “Perhaps the most signifi-
cant is the way the sensor is run,”
Horbury explains. Traditionally, he says,
magnetometers use analog electronics to
measure influences from an external
magnetic field on the instrument’s inter-
nal field. But for Solar Orbiter, “we’d been
funded to develop a new digital version”
of the magnetometer. “We’ve also had to
develop an entirely new set of software
SWA
Spectral Imaging of
the Coronal Environment (SPICE)
X-ray Spectrometer/Telescope (STIX)
Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI)
Multi Element Telescope for
Imaging and Spectroscopy (METIS)
Polarimetric and
Helioseismic Imager (PHI)
SWA
RPW
EPD
that runs on the instrument to talk to the
spacecraft, which is far more complex
than anything we’ve done before,” he says.
The last in-situ instrument, the
Energetic Particle Detector from the
University of Alcalá in Spain, resides on
Solar Orbiter’s main bus. Its five sensors
will monitor suprathermal (fast-moving)
and energetic particles from helium to
iron to identify where they come from,
what accelerates them, and how they
propagate through space. It includes a
NASA-funded suprathermal ion spectro-
graph built by the Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Elsewhere on the bus, the six remote-
sensing instruments represent multiple
nations. The Royal Observatory
of Belgium’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager
uses high-resolution telescopes and full-
Sun imagers to analyze the photosphere
and the corona, providing context for
Italy’s Multi Element Telescope for
Imaging and Spectroscopy (METIS)
coronagraph and the NASA-funded
Spectral Imaging of the Coronal
Environment (SPICE) imager. Supplied
by the Astronomical Observatory of
Turin, METIS will examine the corona
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 25

and inner heliosphere at visible and ultra-
violet wavelengths. Meanwhile, SPICE
performs extreme ultraviolet inspections
of the solar atmosphere and solar wind.
Switzerland’s X-ray Spectrometer/
Telescope, STIX, was built at the Institute
of Astronomy at ETH Zurich and will
explore hot coronal plasmas and high-
energy electrons accelerated by solar
flares. Germany’s Max Planck Institute
has provided the Polarimetric and
Helioseismic Imager for high-resolution
and full-disk measurements of the global
magnetic field. Its detailed mapping will
offer insights into the solar interior.
Finally, the NASA-funded Solar Orbiter
Heliospheric Imager from the Naval
Research Laboratory (NRL) will study
the corona in three dimensions and
observe CMEs. Interestingly, NRL has
a long history in this area — although
CME phenomena were recorded as long
ago as during the 1859 Carrington Event,
it was an NRL physicist who in 1971 first
provided optical confirmation of these
violent events.
Although several instruments will sit
in direct sunlight, most of Solar Orbiter’s
payload will cower behind what could be
unflinchingly described as the “mother
of all heat shields.” Ten feet long and
Solar Orbiter’s heat shield is uniquely
designed to protect the spacecraft
and its delicate instruments from
the harsh environment near the Sun.
Its telescopes will peer through
custom-cut apertures, visible in this
engineering model of the shield as
engineers lower it into ESA’s Large
Space Simulator for testing prior to
the mission’s launch. ESA/ANNEKE LE FLOC’H
26 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
About a year before its launch, Solar
8 feet wide (3 meters by 2.4 meters), this Orbiter prepares to undergo vibration
bulky edifice will guard against wither- testing to ensure it can withstand the
forces it will encounter aboard the
ing highs of 968 F (520 C) at perihelion rocket that will carry it into space, as
and frigid lows of –220 F (–140 C) at aph- well as the stresses of space travel
elion, all the while keeping the sensors from Earth to the Sun. ESA - S. CORVAJA
comfortably at room temperature. The
15-inch-thick (38 centimeters) shield
comprises multiple sheets of high-
temperature insulation and titanium
and will direct heat laterally into space
via gaps between its main layers.
However, to continually protect the
spacecraft, the shield needs to maintain
a comfortable temperature range and
avoid shedding material, outgassing
vapors, or building up static charge over
years of exposure to harsh solar radia-
tion. To solve the problem, the Irish firm
Enbio, based in north Dublin, adapted
its methodology for coating titanium
medical implants to create a thermal
material called SolarBlack. This black
calcium phosphate is bonded directly
onto the shield’s titanium skin, replacing
its natural oxide surface. The SolarBlack
material incorporates charcoal produced
through charring animal bones, once
used by our prehistoric ancestors as a
pigment for cave art.
The remote-sensing instruments will
peep through long, titanium-walled
cylinders in the shield, which are cov-
ered by optical baffles of protective glass
or beryllium. Trapdoors will snap shut if
heat-induced damage begins to occur.
Solar Orbiter’s high-gain antenna can be
rotated above or behind the shield to
afford it protection from the heat flux.
The spacecraft’s elliptical orbit will
impose unusual thermal demands on the
antenna, rendering its downlink capabil-
ity somewhat sporadic, so data will be
stored onboard and transmitted later.
The solar arrays, too, must be carefully
angled to avoid ruining their optics or
the glue that holds their cells in place.
A group effort
Building and testing this complex space-
craft across eight countries underscores
the significance of international col-
laboration on Europe’s most ambitious
solar science endeavor. “Relationships
within the team have been excellent and
some strong bonds have been made that
will be used for future collaborations,”
Owen says. “The international nature
of what we have done, and the mission
as a whole, is critical, since the costs
involved would probably not have been
taken on by a single European nation.”
Ultimately, the story of Solar Orbiter
is one of collaboration. Not only will
the mission complement existing solar
probes and datasets, its design also
reflects the immense effort numerous
international teams put into building
a single spacecraft with every system
working in concert.
“There is an unusual level of mutual
understanding on this mission,” Owen
says. “All instruments have worked very
hard to accommodate the environmen-
tal requirements of the others. We all
recognize that the big advances will cer-
tainly come from the full combined pay-
load. We have mechanisms in place to
share data between instruments on the
spacecraft, so it can autonomously rec-
ognize events and record the best or
most appropriate data. We all agreed in
principle early on that if one instrument
made a strong science case for operating
for some period in a way that did not
necessarily work for the rest of us, we
would seek to accommodate this for the
benefit of the overall combined science
return.”
Ben Evans is a science and spaceflight
writer whose next book, Experimental Flying
Machine, is due out in 2021.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 27
 EXCAVATING
COSMIC FOSSILS
Like dinosaur bones, tiny
micrometeorites reveal much about
the ancient past. BY ILIMA LOOMIS
S
omething was wrong with
Martin Suttle’s micrometeorites.
The Ph.D. student at Imperial
College London had collected 76
tiny grains of space dust that had
fallen to Earth near the white
chalk hills of the North Downs,
close to his home in Kent,
England. When Suttle used a
microscope to study the sand-
sized particles — found in a layer
28 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
of 87-million-year-old rock —
he recognized the characteristic
shape of small round spherules,
like metal droplets. But when he
cut them open and looked inside,
he was surprised by what he saw.
Where Suttle expected to find
nickel, a common metal in mete-
orites, he instead found manga-
nese, an element more associated
with the geological processes of
Earth’s deep-sea floor. He
scanned more particles with
the same results. Suttle left the
microscope disheartened. The
samples looked like space dust,
but the geochemistry was wrong.
“I was kind of disappointed,”
says Suttle, who is now a plan-
etary scientist and geologist at
the Natural History Museum in
London. “I thought, ‘Oh, these

aren’t micrometeorites. These are
something else.’ ”
Then, Suttle and his adviser,
Imperial College planetary geolo-
gist Matthew Genge, took another
look. This time, they noticed that
the minerology was more familiar
than it had seemed at first glance.
The relative ratios were right. But
the manganese was where the
nickel was supposed to be.
The pair also
found that, while the
grains looked like
micrometeorites, they
contained tiny flaws. They had
small growths and protrusions
— something often seen in fossils
when the minerals replacing
organic material aren’t an exact
1-to-1 match. Suttle and Genge
began to form a hypothesis:
Colliding asteroids,
such as those seen in
this artist’s concept,
create huge amounts
of tiny dust particles,
which can eventually
rain down on Earth
as micrometeorites.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/R. HURT
Perhaps the spherules
were simply fossilized
micrometeorites.
Cosmic time capsules
“It was a gradual realization,”
Suttle says. “It was entirely
plausible that these particles,
when they were embedded in
the seafloor mud, had been
altered through diagenesis,” the
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 29
 fossils, also demonstrating exactly
how the fossilization process
played out.
In their paper, published in
2017 in Earth and Planetary
Science Letters, Suttle and Genge
outlined five new criteria for posi-
tively identifying cosmic spher-
ules that have been fossilized.
These include their spherical
shape, treelike “dendritic” tex-
tures typical of molten metals
that have been rapidly cooled, and
large central cavities, where the
beads of metal typically found at
the center of iron-rich microme-
teorites have weathered away.
TOP: Martin Suttle takes “They’ve done this very careful
a break from collecting
samples of late
chemical process that converts study to show that you can iden-
Cretaceous rocks found sediment into sedimentary rocks. tify [fossilized micrometeorites]
in the white chalk hills Researchers have found even without the typical chemical
of North Downs, Kent,
England. MARTIN SUTTLE ancient micrometeorites pre- signatures,” says Larry Nittler, a
served in sedimentary rock like cosmochemist and planetary sci-
ABOVE: A block chert and limestone before, and entist at the Carnegie Institution
extracted from the white some think they were diageneti- for Science. “[It’s] just like a dino-
chalk hills, a site hiding
many micrometeorites.
cally altered. But Suttle and saur bone is replaced by new min-
MARTIN SUTTLE Genge are the first to show they erals, but you can still identify it
have truly found micrometeorite as a bone.”
30 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
This methodology gives
researchers a tool to identify
ancient micrometeorites that
might have been previously over-
looked because they didn’t have
the right chemical composition.
“Without this method, studies
can be skewed toward specimens
that survive better than others,”
Nittler says.
Ancient grains
Micrometeorites are particles of
dust and rock that fall to Earth
from space. A few enter the
planet’s atmosphere at a low angle,
causing them to drift slowly to
the ground and remain intact.
But most arrive at high speed,
largely melting in the heat of their
descent. They then quickly harden
into spherules as they cool, shap-
ing into microscopic droplets.
Their tiny size also makes them
hard to find — the largest might
be as big as a grain of sand, while
the smallest can’t be seen without
a microscope.
 And yet, the clues micromete-
orites provide about our solar sys-
tem make them worth the hunt.
“They are samples of distant
objects like asteroids or comets
that we don’t typically have direct
samples from,” says David
Nesvorny, a planetary scientist at
the Southwest Research Institute
in Boulder, Colorado. The rocks
and minerals that make up larger
bodies like Earth and the Moon
have been altered by geological
forces over time. But smaller bod-
ies like asteroids are largely
unchanged, so sampling them
gives scientists an idea of the raw
materials that existed when our
solar system was in its infancy.
When it comes to space relics,
bigger isn’t necessarily better.
“The question I get asked is,
‘They’re so small — how much
can you get out of them? Why
don’t you study large meteorites?’ ”
says Penny Wozniakiewicz,
a planetary scientist at the
University of Kent, who was not
involved in the research but stud-
ies micrometeorites herself. One
reason is abundance. “At the
moment, far more material is
arriving as micrometeorites than
meteorites,” she says. While “mac-
rometeorites” are rare and hard
to find, it’s estimated that up to
A B
50 µm
E F
I J
88 million pounds (40,000 metric
tons) of space dust sprinkles down
on Earth each year, making it a
plentiful source of extraterrestrial
material if you know how to look
for it. “It’s much more fruitful to
work with [micrometeorites],
because they’re more easy to find,”
agrees cosmochemist Philipp
Heck, curator of meteorites at the
Field Museum in Chicago.
C D
G H
K L
ABOVE: Different types
of micrometeorites
Scientists have studied a rare have distinct mineral
structures and grain
cache of large ancient meteorites patterns. Here we see:
preserved in a limestone quarry in A) fine-grained
Sweden, but such finds are few unmelted;
B) coarse-grained
and far between. “The chance of unmelted;
finding one in a random outcrop- C) scoriaceous;
D) relict-grain-bearing;
ping is extremely small,” he says. E) porphyritic;
“You might have to look 10 or 20 F) barred olivine;
years to find one meteorite — but G) cryptocrystalline;
H) glass;
only if you look every day.” I) CAT (calcium,
Furthermore, while large mete- aluminum, titanium);
J) G-type;
orites tend to come from only cer- K) I-type; and
tain parts of the asteroid belt, L) single mineral.
particles from any body that pro- S. TAYLOR/SHAW STREET/
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
duces dust are pulled inward
toward the Sun from all direc- LEFT: By taking
tions, giving researchers a much microscopic cross
larger sample size. “They have the sections of
micrometeorites,
potential to come from anything researchers can
in the solar system,” Suttle says. determine what
specific structures
Many micrometeorites are now and minerals they
collected in Antarctica, where sci- contain, revealing
entists melt large volumes of snow more about their
past. This scoriaceous
or ice, filter the water, and then micrometeorite is
pick through the leftover particles characterized by a
relatively low melting
under a microscope one by one. point, being very
Scientists have also collected vesicular, and
micrometeorites and cometary containing olivine
crystals. MARTIN SUTTLE
dust by flying research planes
high in the stratosphere, trapping
the particles on plates coated with
sticky silicon oil. Others have
been found in sediment dredged
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 31

TOP: The branching
(dendritic) crystals of
this 17-micrometer (µm)
mote of fossilized dust
exhibit a treelike
structure. MARTIN SUTTLE
ABOVE: Zooming in
on a 75-µm wide
micrometeorite
reveals a roughly 4.5-
by-7 µm fossilized
coccolithophore — a
unicellular plankton
with microscopic
limestone plating.
MARTIN SUTTLE
RIGHT: A smattering of
melted micrometeorites
highlight that these
cosmic spherules
drastically vary in size
and appearance. The
largest particle in this
image is about 300 µm
wide. SHAW STREET/WIKIMEDIA
COMMONS
32 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
up from the seafloor, where they
are separated from the sludge
with magnets — although this
process only picks up particles
containing ferrous metals.
But while these methods have
resulted in a harvest of modern
micrometeorites, there’s growing
interest in studying ancient space
dust. Scientists have found cosmic
dust in sedimentary rock since the
1980s. Heck says his colleague,
geologist Birger Schmitz of Lund
University in Sweden, studied
these larger meteorites, which were
recovered from a limestone quarry
in Sweden. “They’re pretty rare, so
they only found about two or three
[large meteorites] a year,” Heck
says. “But the thinking was that
micrometeorites are far more
frequent and abundant than bigger
ones, so they might be hidden in
the sediment, still preserved.” Sure
enough, Schmitz’s team docu-
mented their discovery of extrater-
restrial particles in a 2003 paper.
Since then, researchers from
different disciplines have been
taking another look at these pre-
served particles, studying them
for clues about the solar system’s
distant past. “We’ve known
they’re there for a while,” says
Andy Tomkins, an earth and
planetary scientist at Monash
University in Melbourne,
Australia, who was not involved
in the study. “Now it’s [a question
of] what can they tell us.”
Measuring cosmic
dust flux
Scientists are interested in learn-
ing the rate at which space dust
falls to Earth over time. Although
micrometeorites usually arrive in a
steady sprinkle, studies show peri-
ods in the planet’s geological past
when this “flux” has briefly spiked
for a few million years or so.
Researchers believe these sudden
showers coincided with a major
collision in the asteroid belt or
some other large dust-generating
event farther out in our solar sys-
tem. “This is the only empirical
evidence we can have of geologi-
cal activity in the asteroid belt,”
Suttle says. Although researchers
have hypothesized many of these
historical cosmic events by model-
ing the movements of asteroids
and planets, “it can’t be verified
through any other way than by
looking at the cosmic dust flux
over time,” he says.
The chemical composition of
ancient micromete-
orites can also
offer clues about
the evolution of
the solar system.
Today, most meteor-
ites and micrometeorites
hitting Earth are ordi-
nary chondrites, con-
taining minerals that
come from S-type, or
siliceous, asteroids that are
abundant in the inner part of the
asteroid belt. But when research-
ers examine micrometeorites
found in sedimentary rocks that
are 466 million years old, they
find something different.
“Ordinary chondrites were not
ordinary at that time,” says Heck.
Other types of micrometeorites,
including achondrites (which
have no chondrules, or rounded
silicate droplets found in the
most primitive types of space
rocks), were more abundant.
These mineral types are linked
to other asteroid families. “From
the geological record, we will
reconstruct when different aster-
oid families formed, when there
were perhaps orbital perturba-
tions in the solar system — times
when the solar system may not
have been as stable as many
researchers believe today,” says
Schmitz, who works with Heck
on micrometeorite research.
“We say that we do astronomy
by looking down, instead of by
looking out in space.”
Scientists have also used
micrometeorites to study the
environment of early Earth.
Tomkins and his team discovered
micrometeorites in 2.7-billion-
year-old sedimentary rock in
Australia, the oldest fossilized
space dust ever recorded. When
they analyzed their find, they saw
that the iron and nickel in the
particles had been oxidized — a
chemical process also seen in
modern micrometeorites,
which occurs when the
heated metal is exposed to oxy- A B C
gen. “That was what led us on to
the discovery,” Tomkins says.
“We thought, ‘Oh, wow, this hap-
pened as they went through the
upper atmosphere.’ ”
The finding was significant
because it coincided with the
period before when scientists
believe oxygen first appeared in 40 µm 40 µm 5 µm
Earth’s atmosphere, during the
Great Oxidation Event some
D E F
2.4 billion years ago. The oxidized
metals in the micrometeorites
provided the first empirical evi-
dence that the upper atmosphere
may have been more oxygen-rich
than the lower atmosphere at that
time. A next step could be to find
and study micrometeorites from
40 µm 40 µm 5 µm
both before and after the event,
to see how the upper atmosphere
responded to the biggest atmo-
A B C
spheric change in Earth’s history.

Fossil record
While Heck is delighted by the
discovery of fossil micrometeor-
ites, he’s not surprised. He and
his colleagues recognized a simi-
lar fossilization process at work 10 µm 20 µm 10 µm
in large meteorites years ago.
“There, it is really obvious,” he
says. “It still looks like a meteor- D E F
ite, but it is not anymore, because
as the fluids went through, they
replaced the minerals without
changing the shape of the object.”
But even though researchers
have been studying ancient
micrometeorites for some three
decades, they may not have rec- 50 µm 10 µm 10 µm
ognized them as true fossils.
Heck says his team ignored the G H I
more common melted spherules
and worked with the rarer
unmelted ones. This was because
they contain chromite — a min-
eral that retains trace elemental
characteristics indicative of
extraterrestrial material. Since
chromite is not one of the miner- 20 µm 10 µm 30 µm
als affected by fossilization, “it’s
something we didn’t look at or
TOP: The external and internal textures of fossilized iron-silicide spherules, as seen through a
didn’t even see,” says Heck. microscope, exhibit voids (F), protrusions (D), and cavities (B), with the latter being the result
Schmitz also says he was aware of venting volatile gases while entering Earth’s atmosphere. MARTIN SUTTLE
that most micrometeorites, espe- ABOVE: Fossilized iron-oxide spherules, seen here, include dendrites on their surfaces (A-C),
cially the melted spherules, had as well as circular cavities (D and F) — the result of corrosion while on the seafloor. MARTIN SUTTLE

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 33

ABOVE LEFT: The
dips and divots in this
micrometeorite show
where internal water
has pushed its way
to the surface and
vaporized. This piece
of cosmic dust is about
75 µm wide by 130 µm
long. IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
ABOVE RIGHT: Cross
sections of detrital
pyrite grains from
the chalk hills reveal
pentagonal structures
commonly found in
cubic crystals like
pyrite. MARTIN SUTTLE
BELOW: The white
chalk hills of North
Downs in Kent, England,
may be reminiscent of
Tolkien lore, but the
area also contains relics
from space — namely,
fossilized grains of
microscopic dust.
MARTIN SUTTLE
34 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
A B
almost certainly been altered
through diagenesis. “That’s what
we expected,” he says, “and that’s
why we have never worked with
that type of micrometeorite,
because you cannot really get a lot
of information. It’s the same with
the fossil meteorites that we find.
You cannot get any information
from them, because they’re so
altered — just like a fossil.” But
Schmitz questions whether all the
spherules identified in Suttle’s
paper were truly extraterrestrial,
saying it is difficult to prove with-
out specific chemical signatures.
After all, lots of spherical things
that resemble micrometeorites
appear in sediments, he says.
Suttle agrees that fossilized
micrometeorites may have limited
value in traditional meteoric
research because it’s no longer
50 µm
possible to analyze the chemical
traces of their parent asteroids.
But there’s still much that scien-
tists can learn from them, he says.
In addition to measuring the total
cosmic dust flux over time and
investigating the oxygen content
of the early atmosphere, they can
also be used to study diagenesis in
sedimentary rocks. “Just as with
fossils of biological remains,
many important investigations
can still be conducted, even when
the animal’s tissues are no longer
preserved,” Suttle says.
Investigating and proving the
true nature of the tiny grains cer-
tainly wasn’t easy. Suttle first
scanned the outside of his micro-
meteorites with an electron
microscope to capture images
of their external shapes and tex-
tures, especially characteristics
50 µm
that would flag them as extrater-
restrial. Looking inside was
harder. To cut these microscopic
grains in half, Suttle first cast
them in tiny cylinders of resin.
He then polished them down
until the interiors were exposed.
“When I looked at the external
textures, they looked exactly as
I expected,” Suttle says. “It was
only when I cut them open and
started analyzing their minerol-
ogy that I realized they weren’t
what they should be.”
The discovery was even more
surprising because searching for
cosmic dust in ancient sediments
started off as a side project that
was outside the scope of Suttle’s
original Ph.D. plan. Suttle’s main
project was supposed to focus on
investigating the sources of con-
temporary micrometeorites, but
he took an interest in what he
might find in the local white
chalk hills of the North Downs.
“I lived there my whole life,
and it was nice to do a project
which explored the geology where
I live,” he says. “I was doing it in
my spare time, just because I was
interested.” But the new work has
since been added to his thesis. “I
changed my title to ‘Investigating
the Sources of Micrometeorites,
Past and Present,’ ” Suttle says
with a chuckle. “Often in science
we must follow where the discov-
eries take us. You start out with a
proposal stating ‘We’re going to
do X.’ But occasionally, instead,
something you overlooked or
never knew of in the first place
turns out to be just as
interesting.”

A long road ahead

Experts such as Heck say that
Suttle and Genge’s work — and
their five new criteria for iden-
tifying fossils — could inspire
researchers to go back and take
another look at ancient microme-
teorites, especially concentrating
on spherules. This might help
them identify specimens that
had been overlooked before. “As
scientists look for these in other
locations, they will get a more
accurate idea of the numbers and
different kinds of micrometeorites
that have been fossilized,” Nittler
says. “This will give a much more
accurate picture of the past flux
of cosmic dust.”
“It’s a step forward in enabling
others to go ahead and study
ancient micrometeorites,”
Wozniakiewicz says. And Heck
agrees. “I think it will trigger an
increased interest in the search
for fossil micrometeorites in the
sedimentary record,” he says.
“The geological record is so vast,
and deep time is so enormous,
that in order to get a good under-
standing, it’s important that more
people work on this. Right now,
it’s only a few groups. But in order
to get the puzzle together, we need
to find more puzzle pieces.”
Suttle’s collection contributes
one piece to that puzzle, notes
Nesvorny. Previous sets of
ancient micrometeorites included
specimens from around 40 mil-
lion years ago, as well as those
from 170 million years ago and
older. However, “There’s a huge
gap between 40 million and
170 million,” Nesvorny says.
“This is the first sample from
that interval.”
After finishing his Ph.D.,
Suttle completed a postdoctoral
position at the University of Pisa,
where he studied a new collection
of “giant” micrometeorites recov-
ered from cracks in the tops of
Antarctic mountains. Most of
these modern micrometeorites
are millimeter-sized fragments
of water-rich asteroids that fell to
Earth in the past 1 million to
2 million years. By analyzing
their chemistries, textures, and
compositions, researchers can
learn about the early lives of
planetesimals, which were objects
Cosmic dust particles
may be small, but they
roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers) move so quickly (tens of
wide that were the precursors thousands of miles per
to the planets. This is because hour) that they can do
some real damage to
the interaction between liquid anything they strike
water and silicate rock on these that’s beyond Earth’s
protective atmosphere.
bodies represents a snapshot of For example, this image
the planet-forming era. from 2006 shows a tiny
Now, one of Suttle’s next goals hole created when a
micrometeorite struck a
is about semantics. panel on NASA’s Solar
For years, all space dust par- Maximum Mission. NASA
ticles were commonly referred to
as fossil micrometeorites, no mat-
ter whether they were truly fossil-
ized or remained unaltered. “I’m
forced to call those other collec-
tions fossilized, because that’s the
word people use. I’d like to
change it,” Suttle says. Calling
nonfossilized micrometeorites
“ancient” would draw a clear dis-
tinction, he adds. “This is some-
thing I’ve been on a bit of a
personal campaign about.”
Award-winning writer Ilima Loomis
is the author of Eclipse Chaser:
Science in the Moon’s Shadow
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 35
SKY THIS MONTH
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.
BY MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND ALISTER LING
AUGUST 2020
Outer planets on display
The summertime
planetary bonanza
continues through August as
Jupiter and Saturn maintain
their dominance of the south-
ern sky soon after sunset and
remain visible all night. Jupiter’s
moons offer a triple dose of
combined Io and Ganymede
transits. After midnight, it’s
time for Mars, which is really
brightening now and is a fine
object in telescopes. Together
with the Red Planet, Uranus
and Neptune share a tradition-
ally dim region of the sky. In
the hours before dawn, Venus
provides a treat and Mercury is
visible during the first week of
the month, low in the northeast.
Let’s begin our planetary
sojourn with Jupiter, Saturn,
and the near-Full Moon, which
stand together above the south-
eastern horizon on August 1 in
eastern Sagittarius. The two
36 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
giant planets are past opposi-
tion and are 20° high an hour
after sunset in the first week of
the month. By the same time at
the end of the month, they’re
nearing the meridian due south.
The Moon revisits the region
between August 28 and 29.
Jupiter shines at magnitude
–2.7 and dims 0.1 magnitude
during the month. Saturn is
dimmer, at magnitude 0.1 as
August opens and fading to
0.3 during the month. The
planets remain about 8° apart
throughout August.
Jupiter moves westward
relative to the stars in
Sagittarius and arrives less than
6° northeast of Nunki (Sigma
[σ] Sagittarii) by August 31, just
below the teaspoon asterism.
Like a drop of golden syrup
suspended in the sky, Jupiter
dazzles with a yellowish hue
and never disappoints the
Perseid meteors streak away from
the shower’s radiant in 2018, with the
Milky Way as a backdrop. TONY HALLAS
telescopic viewer. Its disk spans
47" and shrinks less than 5 per-
cent during the month due to
increasing distance from Earth.
Barring the blurring effects
of our atmosphere, Jupiter
offers a wealth of detail. Its
twin dark equatorial belts jump
out immediately. Once your eye
adjusts to the planet’s brilliance,
more subtle cloud belts and
zones appear. With patience,
you’ll capture fleeting moments
of good seeing.
The Great Red Spot makes
occasional appearances as
it’s carried with the planet’s
9-hour, 55-minute rotation
period. (Jupiter’s equatorial
zones rotate five minutes faster.)
Mars rises high
PISCES
A RIE S Mars
Mira
TAURU S
August 31, 2 A.M.
Looking southeast
The Red Planet is gaining altitude and brightness in the morning sky. Look for
it well above the horizon in the early morning as August progresses.
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
Also popping into view
through any telescope are the
Galilean satellites: Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Callisto.
Eclipses and occultations of
these four bright moons occur
frequently. Transits of moons
and their trailing shadows are
fascinating to watch, and
sometimes more than one
occurs at the same time. Here
are a few examples to watch for
this month; note that more
occur than are listed here.
Early evening on August 14
finds Jupiter’s largest moon,
Ganymede, transiting the planet.
It exits the disk at 10:51 P.M.
EDT, visible in darkness in the
eastern half of the U.S. The
moon’s large, dark shadow also
transits this evening, taking
another three hours to do so. In
the meantime, Io is approaching
CETUS
Diphda
ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
10°

OBSERVING
HIGHLIGHT
VENUS shares the morning sky
with a waning crescent Moon
on August 15. You’ll find the
planet 4° due south of our
satellite in the east.
Jupiter’s eastern limb and
begins to transit at 11:24 P.M.
EDT. Io’s shadow joins in
44 minutes later.
Io and Ganymede repeat the
event on August 21. Ganymede
begins transiting at 10:59 P.M.
EDT, and Io follows shortly
after, at 1:11 A.M. EDT. Soon
after 2 A.M., three events occur
in relatively quick succession.
Io’s shadow moves onto the
disk at 2:03 A.M., Ganymede
leaves the opposite limb at
2:19 A.M., and Ganymede’s
shadow appears on the eastern
limb at 2:31 A.M. (all times
EDT). Ganymede’s shadow is
so large it takes seven minutes
to become fully visible.
The pair return August 29
in the early hours. This time Io
has caught up with Ganymede
and the pair begin transits
within 28 minutes of each other,
starting with Ganymede at
2:31 A.M. EDT. The western half
of the U.S. will see Io overtake
Ganymede to leave the disk first
at 5:15 A.M. EDT. Ganymede
follows 35 minutes later.
Swing your scope 8° east of
Jupiter to find Saturn. Through
a scope its disk is clearly visible,
spanning 18" while the long
axis of the rings stretches 41"
— almost the same as
Jupiter’s girth, but Saturn
lies twice as far away.
Saturn’s north polar axis is
tilted nearly 22° toward us,
revealing the northern
— Continued on page 42
RISING MOON I No glory for Galileo
WE HAVE DRESSED the Moon’s face in the
honor roll of the great scientists and philosophers
of human history. The bigger the name, the more
impressive a feature, generally, with the best cra-
ters used for the pre-telescopic age thinkers.
Galileo must have rubbed the lunar cartogra-
phers the wrong way, because his crater is half
the size and less prominent than the one named
for his friend and student, Reiner. Appropriately,
though, they appear near each other as isolated
islands in the large western “sea” of Oceanus
Procellarum. Look due west of Copernicus, the
dominating large crater with prominent
rays near the middle of the Moon's
disk. You’ll first find a smaller rayed
crater, Kepler; go farther west still to
find Galilaei.
Spanning 9 miles in diameter,
Galilaei is a classic sharp-rimmed crater,
young in that it formed well after the
huge lava upwellings that characterized the ear-
lier parts of the Moon’s existence. As evening on
the 2nd arrives in North America, the Sun has
already been shining for 20 hours over Galilaei,
high enough in the sky that bright albedo fea-
tures catch the eye. Use a filter to reduce the
intensity of light coming through the eyepiece.
A most curious splotchy white feature, Reiner
Gamma, lies between Galilaei and Reiner to the
east. Apollo missions confirmed this is not topo-
graphic in origin but, like other white splotches
on the farside, is quite magnetic. To date, there
METEOR WATCH I Dodging the Moon
Perseid meteor shower
Radiant
A RI ES
C A M EL OPAR DAL IS
PERSEUS
Pleiades Moon
Capella
AUR IG A
Aldebaran
PERSEID METEORS
Active dates: July 17–August 24 August 12, 2 A.M.
Peak: August 12 Looking northeast
Moon at peak: Last Quarter
Maximum rate at peak: Although the Moon will brighten the sky,
100 meteors/hour you’re still likely to catch the brightest Perseid
meteors when the shower peaks August 12.
Galilaei
A
Galilaei
Kepler
Reiner Gamma
N
E
Nine-mile-wide Galilaei lies within
Oceanus Procellarum. To the west are
Kepler’s bright rays. CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/UA/
LPL; INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
is no widespread agreement as to what it is or
how it formed — a lasting lunar mystery!
Come back on the 31st to see some gorgeous
hills, rilles, and ridges. Note the super long, sinu-
ous wrinkle ridge snaking through Galilaei and
its junior, A, to the north. The craters break up
the ridge, solid evidence that the impacts came
after the lava of Procellarum solidified. Just to
the northeast lies a fantastic field of volcanic
domes called the Marius Hills. Can you see the
thin Rima Galilaei rille wriggling along the hills’
western flank?
THE FAMOUS PERSEID meteor
shower is active between July 17
and August 24, and peaks on
August 12. The predawn hours
are the best for viewing the
shower, but this year a Last
Quarter Moon in Aries adds a lot
of light to the sky. Consequently,
low rates of only the brightest
meteors will be observable.
Watch for glowing persistent
TAURUS trains left by these brighter
shower members. Meteors streak
into our atmosphere at 36 miles
per second and burn up in a fiery
10°
burst of light, vaporizing the
original particle.
The Perseid meteors are the
result of trails of debris left over
from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle,
which completes one full orbit
of the Sun every 133 years.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 37
 N

STAR DOME LO
ME
CA
PA
RD
AL _
IS
a

HOW TO USE THIS MAP RS

PE
C8
NG
M8 1
This map portrays the sky as seen S
EU 84
near 35° north latitude. Located M82
NG
inside the border are the cardinal

N
C8 CA

E
69 SS
directions and their intermediate IO ¡
PE
points. To find stars, hold the map

A
N
IA b Polaris

D
overhead and orient it so one of

R
_ NCP

O
d
the labels matches the direction

M
a R
_ a MINO

ED
M
you’re facing. The stars above

33
CE

A
URSA

`
PH
the map’s horizon now match ` EU
S `
what’s in the sky.

M3
f ` a

1
The all-sky map shows b
b O
how the sky looks at: b RA
C
_ D
c
11 P.M. August 1
` + f
d c

_
_

10 P.M. August 15
d

LA
9 P.M. August 31

CE
i

TA R
Planets are shown

D
`

ene
at midmonth

S
b
`

LE
a

d b a

CU
C

ER
YG
a

d
+

M13
H
a ¡

N
Veg

U
¡
MAP SYMBOLS

S
PEGASUS

/
d r
c
_

c
_

A
E

a
Open cluster

R
M

LY
57
Pa

PISCES

Globular cluster

+
th

VU

b
M27
c
of

Diffuse nebula

LP
_
th

SA
Enif

M15
e

EC
DE
a

G
_
Su

Planetary nebula a

IT

UL
n

LP

TA

_
`
¡ E
(e

A
Al a _
HI
c

Galaxy ta
li p

c) ir c
QU

NU
ti

` _

g
_

UL
_ US

SERPENS
E

b C AU DA U
STAR ` CH
AQ

IU
e AQ d
`

MAGNITUDES PH
UA

UI O
L h
RI

Sirius A d
US

_
0.0 3.0 M11
_
b

SCUTUM i
a

1.0 4.0 M16

C `
b

A
2.0 5.0 PR M17 d
IC
O Jupiter / j +
RN
U S a tu M20
PI US

rn M22
S
A
SC TR

m h e
IS IN

STAR COLORS o M8
A star’s color depends  
U
SE

b M6
S

on its surface temperature. c a

S AG I
MI T TA R
•• The hottest stars shine blue
Slightly cooler stars appear white
CR
OS
CO
PI _
IUS
¡
d
M7 h

• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow

UM
`
C O R O NA
AU S T R A L I S f
g p

• Lower-temperature stars appear orange _ NG C

623

• The coolest stars glow red ` TELESCOPIUM e d

• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color

receptors, so they appear white unless you
_

_ ARA
use optical aid to gather more light

S
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
 e
AUGUST 2020
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.

OR
AJ
M
A S 1
UR
`

W
N
_ s 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

a
b 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
¡

r
iza

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

`

16 17 18 19 20 21 22
M
I
NE IC

c
C A N AT
51

S
M

VE
d

23 24 25 26 27 28 29
P
NG
S
CO ENICE

M6 4
MA

30 31
ES
a

BER
`

ÖT

Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
_
BO

from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.

b

¡
BOREALIS

_
C O R O NA

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
d
_

Arcturus

1 The Moon passes 1.5° south of Jupiter, 8 P.M. EDT

W

2 Mercury passes 7° south of Pollux, 2 A.M. EDT

The Moon passes 1.1° south of Pluto, 2 A.M. EDT
`

The Moon passes 2° south of Saturn, 9 A.M. EDT

S
CA PEN
T

3 Mars is at perihelion (128.4 million miles from the Sun), 5 A.M. EDT
GO
PU
R
SE

VIR

Full Moon occurs at 11:59 A.M. EDT

M5

S 6 The Moon passes 4° south of Neptune, 11 A.M. EDT

U

9 The Moon passes 0.8° south of Mars, 4 A.M. EDT

b

The Moon is at apogee (251,444 miles from Earth), 9:50 A.M. EDT
`
¡

10 The Moon passes 4° south of Uranus, 5 P.M. EDT

A
BR
a
c

11 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 12:45 P.M. EDT

_
LI

` 12 Perseid meteor shower peaks

Venus is at greatest western elongation (46°), 8 P.M. EDT
b

/ 15 The Moon passes 4° north of Venus, 9 A.M. EDT

m

es m
tar _ 4
A n
M Uranus is stationary, 1 P.M. EDT
o
SW

US 17 Mercury is in superior conjunction, 11 A.M. EDT

R PI
S CO 18 New Moon occurs at 10:42 P.M. EDT
¡
P US 21 The Moon is at perigee (225,876 miles from Earth), 6:57 A.M. EDT
+
d LU
31 a 25 First Quarter Moon occurs at 1:58 P.M. EDT
c 28 Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition, 8 A.M. EDT
Asteroid Massalia is at opposition, 5 P.M. EDT
The Moon passes 1.4° south of Jupiter, 10 P.M. EDT
29 The Moon passes 1.2° south of Pluto, 7 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 2° south of Saturn, 1 P.M. EDT

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 39
PATHS OF THE PLANETS
PER AND L AC
AUR
UM a LYN C YG
G EM
LMI T RI
LY R
A RI
C NC Path of the Sun (eclip tic)
L EO PEG VUL
ry
M ercu Uranus
Asteroid Massalia reaches
PSC Pallas
Sun opposition August 28
TAU Mar
s AQL SE R
Venus appears farthest from Flora Fortuna
the Sun in August’s morning sky Celestial
SE X OR I equator
AQR
MON Neptune
HYA CET Saturn SC T
ER I C AP
Jupiter
CMa
L EP PsA
PYX F OR Pluto
A NT Dwarf planet Ceres reaches S GR
opposition August 28 M IC
C OL CA E
PU P C rA
PHE
VEL
HOR TE L

Dawn Midnight
Moon phases

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day
straight up to the curved blue line. 31 30 29 28

THE PLANETS Uranus THE PLANETS IN THE SKY

IN THEIR ORBITS These illustrations show the size, phase,
Arrows show the inner and orientation of each planet and the two
planets’ monthly motions brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT for the dates
and dots depict the in the data table at bottom. South is at the top
Jupiter Neptune to match the view through a telescope.
outer planets’ positions
at midmonth from high
Saturn
above their orbits. Venus
Mars
Mercury

Pluto
Mercury
Superior conjunction
is August 17

Venus PLANETS MERCURY VENUS

Greatest western elongation
is August 12 Date August 1 August 15
Magnitude –0.9 –4.4
Ceres
Opposition is Angular size 6.1" 23.1"
Earth
August 28
Illumination 70% 51%
Mars Distance (AU) from Earth 1.096 0.723
Perihelion is
August 3 Distance (AU) from Sun 0.316 0.726
Right ascension (2000.0) 7h36.3m 6h28.3m
Jupiter Declination (2000.0) 21°29' 20°06'

40 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left). Arrows
and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month. AUGUST 2020
1 Io

CVn Callisto 2 Europa

HE R UM a LY N
LMi
BOÖ
C rB 3
C OM
Europa
4
L EO
Sun Io 5 Jupiter
SE R Comet
PanSTARRS
OPH 6

VIR SE X
Ganymede
L IB n 7 Callisto
e Mo o
th o f th CRV C RT
Pa
Iris H YA
JUPITER’S 8
Comet 88P/Howell
MOONS 9
PYX Dots display
AN T
positions of
LUP 10 Ganymede
SCO Galilean satellites
C EN
V EL at 11 P.M. EDT on
AR A the date shown. 11

Early evening South is at the

top to match the 12
view through a
telescope. 13

14
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
15

Jupiter 16

S
17
Saturn W E

18
N

19

10" 20

21

Ceres Uranus Neptune Pluto 22

23

24

MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO 25

August 15 August 15 August 15 August 15 August 15 August 15 August 15

26
–1.4 7.8 –2.7 0.2 5.8 7.8 14.7
16.4" 0.7" 46.1" 18.3" 3.6" 2.4" 0.1" 27

88% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

28
0.571 2.018 4.273 9.086 19.556 29.028 33.216
29
1.382 2.982 5.145 10.007 19.790 29.929 34.110
1h32.6m 23h03.7m 19h20.1m 19h54.7m 2h32.6m 23h24.9m 19h39.0m 30
5°16' –22°21' –22°33' –21°06' 14°30' –4°59' –22°33'
31

SKY THIS MONTH — Continued from page 37
Io and Ganymede race across Jupiter
S
W Io
Ganymede
August 22, 3 A.M. EDT
In one of several doubleheaders this month, Io and Ganymede trek across
Jupiter within hours of each other. Swing your scope upward at the right time,
and you can spot both moons and their shadows in a single glance.
side of the rings. A is the outer
ring, B is the brighter central
ring, and C is the dusky inner
ring. Rings A and B are sepa-
rated by the 2,980-mile-wide
Cassini Division, which is vis-
ible in a small telescope.
Saturn’s brightest moon,
Titan, glows at an easy 8th
magnitude. You’ll find Titan
due north of Saturn August 1
and 17, and due south on
August 9 and 25. A trio of 10th-
magnitude moons orbit closer
to the rings. Tethys, Dione, and
Rhea change their relative posi-
tions over the course of a few
hours. Enceladus is faint and
near the edge of the A Ring,
making it harder to see due to
the ring’s brilliance. You can
spot Iapetus less than 3' south-
west of Saturn on August 1,
when it shines about magnitude
11. The moon will brighten and
move west of Saturn, reaching
9' due west on August 17.
Slightly south of a line
between Saturn and Jupiter we
find Pluto. It’s really faint at
magnitude 14.6, but well within
reach of modern digital cam-
eras attached to a telescope.
Take a few images over several
nights to detect its motion.
Neptune is located in
northwestern Aquarius. The
ice giant rises after 10 P.M. local
time in early August and is up
by sunset on August 31. Grab a
pair of binoculars to pick up
the magnitude 7.8 planet. Find
42 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
Io’s shadow
Ganymede’s shadow
30"
4th-magnitude Phi (φ) Aquarii
and slew 3° east-northeast to
find the planet in early August.
By August 31 it’s only 2.5°
from the star. Note that 6th-
magnitude 96 Aquarii lies 1.5°
northeast of Phi. A sketch of
the stars each night will reveal
the planet by its motion. A tele-
scope will show its 2.4"-wide
bluish disk.
COMET SEARCH I Dependable returner
LIKE A GOOD CHILDHOOD
FRIEND who pops by for a
visit every few years, Comet
Howell changes but largely
stays the same, providing good
company between dusk and
midnight. You’ll need at least
a 4-inch scope out under dark
country skies to spot its soft
11th-magnitude glow. Try it
during the Perseids’ peak on
August 12 and again a week later
as it slides through Libra.
88P’s elliptical path brings it
just inside Mars’ orbit, looping
back out to Jupiter’s domain
roughly every 5.5 years. Gravity’s
adjustments brought it to us
and, millions of years in the
future, will likely eject it to
become another solar system’s
interstellar comet.
Don’t fret if at first you can’t see it. There’s a decent chance that haze and a longer path through the
atmosphere make 88P a challenge. Bump up the power past 100x, get comfortable, and look for a small,
elliptically shaped smudge floating southeast of the Virgo Cluster. Imagers will pick up the tint of classic
green. Next month the comet should be a magnitude brighter and more obvious.
While you’re in comet mode, take a peek at the fading Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2) floating almost
30° away in Boötes.
WHEN TO
VIEW THE
PLANETS
Early August is the best
time this year to observe Ceres, EVENING SKY
the closest dwarf planet to Jupiter (southeast)
Earth. On August 5, it lies only Saturn (southeast)
Neptune (east)
4.5' southeast of the star 88
Aquarii. Ceres’ motion relative MIDNIGHT
to the star is noticeable within Jupiter (south)
an hour. It remains within 11' Saturn (south)
of the star the day before and Mars (east)
after this close appulse. Uranus (east)
Neptune (southeast)
Ceres reaches opposition on
August 28. That day, it’s located MORNING SKY
roughly at the midpoint of a Mercury (northeast)
line between 88 Aquarii and Venus (east)
Epsilon (ε) Piscis Austrini. Mars (south)
Ceres is an easy binocular tar- Uranus (south)
Neptune (southwest)
get and brightens to magnitude
7.7 during the month.
Mars rises in the south
shortly before midnight local Square of Pegasus, from Scheat
time on August 1. It’s a dra- through Algenib. Mars treks
matic object at magnitude –1.1 briskly eastward and a waning
in Pisces the Fish. You’ll find it gibbous Moon passes 0.8°
roughly in line with a diagonal south of the Red Planet on
drawn southeast across the August 9. By the last week of
Comet 88P/Howell
N
` b
j2 g
Spica
LIBR A
j1 h August 1
+ 5
10 VIRGO
i _
15
E
20
25 Path of Comet 88P
+ f 30
a
m
/ 4°
H YDR A
Magnitude 11 88P/Howell requires dark skies and at least a small scope to
spot — for now. The comet is still on its approach to the Sun and will
continue growing brighter throughout this month and into next.

Uranus floats in darkness
August, Mars brightens to
magnitude –1.8, rising about
10 P.M. local time. Its eastern
track slows as it approaches
next month’s retrograde turn.
The apparent size of the
martian disk grows from 15" to
19" this month as the distance
between Earth and Mars con-
tinues to decline, leading up to
its October 13 opposition. The
planet reaches perihelion on
August 3. Its gibbous disk
changes from 86 to 92 percent
lit during August.
We’re entering peak Mars
observing season, which will
last through mid-December.
Right now, the best time to
observe it is in the predawn
hours when it is high above the
horizon. By 4 A.M. local time on
August 31, Mars stands nearly
60° high due south for midlati-
tudes in North America.
Mars rotates in 24 hours
and 37 minutes. The Red
Planet’s visible features depend
on the time of night you
observe, and landmarks appear
to shift backward when
observed at the same time of
night. Mars is approaching
southern summer, so its south
polar cap, tilted toward us, is
small. The bright Hellas basin
is often confused with the polar
cap due to its prominence.
GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT
www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek.
The ice giant
Uranus makes an
excellent target
with binoculars
or a telescope
this month. This
false-color image
shows the planet
as it appeared in
2010. DAMIAN PEACH
Uranus rises just after mid-
night local time on August 1
and is well up in the eastern sky
on August 31 at the same time.
It can be spotted with binocu-
lars quite easily, shining at
magnitude 5.8. No other bright
stars are nearby. A scope
reveals a greenish-colored disk
spanning 3.6".
Uranus sits 9° northeast of
the Last Quarter Moon soon
after midnight on August 10.
On August 31, Uranus stands
14° northeast of Mars and lies
roughly midway between
Hamal, the brightest star in
Aries, and Menkar, the bright-
est star in Cetus.
Venus is a brilliant object
in the eastern sky before dawn.
It’s already up by 3:30 A.M. local
time on August 1 and glows at
magnitude –4.5 just south of
Zeta (ζ) Tauri, the southern
horn of Taurus the Bull. Its
43-percent-lit disk spans 27".
As the month progresses,
Venus treks across northeast-
ern Orion and then across
Gemini the Twins. Between
August 12 and 13, the disk is
half lit. Observationally, the
exact moment it reaches 50
percent is hard to judge. When
do you think it occurs?
On August 15, Venus is 4°
due south of a waning crescent
LOCATING ASTEROIDS I
Steady as she stays
IN THE SUITE of characteristics that make for a good asteroid
hunt, 7 Iris hits a rare one this month: It is nearly motionless on
the sky. It spends the month in a single low-power field, making
it perfect for one sketch to mark its gradual shift against the back-
ground stars.
When Earth, on its inside orbital track, catches up to and passes
a more distant object, the asteroid or planet appears to slow down
and switch direction, called retrograde motion. Usually the loop is
so big our chart just shows a curved line, but Iris happens to be
close enough to the ecliptic this year that the path is a hairpin turn.
If your scope does not slew you directly to the asteroid, star-
hop to or dial in Messier 23, a lovely star cluster in northern
Sagittarius, then shift 1° to the southwest. Look for a trapezoid
made by four stars and scan west to pick out the fainter magni-
tude 9.8 pinprick of this main belt object.
The downside to this single-field advantage is that it will be
a true challenge to see it ooze position over the course of one
observing session.
Iris was discovered by Englishman John Hind in 1847.
Iris executes a hairpin turn
N
M23
30 25 20
Path of Iris
E
5 10 15
August 1
S AGI T TAR I US
0.5°
August opens with asteroid Iris traveling west. Between August 16 and
20, the tiny world swings around a magnitude 9.5 star, reversing course.
Moon. It’s a beautiful morning when it’s 3° high 45 minutes
view in the east, along with before sunrise. It quickly sinks
Taurus, the Pleiades, and Orion. out of view.
By August 31, the planet has Mercury reaches superior
faded to –4.3 and is less than 9° conjunction on the far side of
south of Gemini’s brightest star, the Sun on August 17 and reap-
Pollux. Your scope will reveal a pears in the evening sky in late
59-percent-lit disk spanning 20". August. It remains difficult to
Mercury is briefly visible in see and disappears again in
the morning sky in the first few mid-September.
days of August. On August 1, it
stands 5° high 45 minutes Martin Ratcliffe provides
before sunrise, shining at mag- planetarium development for
nitude –0.9. Each following Sky-Skan, Inc., from his home
morning it drops lower toward in Wichita, Kansas. Alister
the horizon, although it also Ling, who lives in Edmonton,
brightens. Try catching it Alberta, has watched the skies
August 4 at magnitude –1.1, since 1975.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 43
 Don’t miss the
PERSEIDS
This annual meteor
shower will put on a
great show in 2020.
BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH

THIS MONTH, THE PERSEID METEOR
shower once again dominates the astronomical
news. Not only is it always one of the year’s
richest displays, but it also occurs during the
summer, so many people who are not usually
amateur astronomers will head outside to
watch at least some of it.
Because the targets are
fast-moving bright streaks
against a dark sky, viewers
won’t need a telescope or any
other astronomical equip-
ment. In fact, a telescope nar-
rows the field of view so
much that the chances are
slim that an observer would
see a meteor through one.
That said, binoculars, which
have a slightly larger field of
view, will make any smoke
trails left by bright meteors
easier to see, so they can be
followed for a longer time.
In 2020, the Perseids
peak August 11/12 — from
Tuesday night (the 11th) into
Wednesday morning (the

44 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020


12th). The Moon — the bane
of most observing events —
will be at its Last Quarter
phase, so it will rise at local
midnight (1 a.m. for those
observing daylight saving
time) and be only half illumi-
nated, meaning it will pro-
duce only one-tenth the light
of the Full Moon.
LEFT: Meteor
photographers often
combine exposures to
show many Perseids
over a period of time.
This composite, made
August 13, 2015,
combines 45 exposures
of 13 seconds apiece,
taken from Mount
Rainier National Park.
MATTHEW DIETERICH
BELOW: Perseid
meteors originate
from a point called
the radiant, which lies
near the northern tip
of the constellation. To
see the most meteors,
look roughly 30º away
from the radiant.
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Polaris A R I ES
Radiant
Algol
PERSEUS
What’s going on?
Meteor is often confused with Pleiades
meteoroid and meteorite. The
difference is simple: A particle Capella
TAU RUS
is a meteoroid (made of rock,
AUR IGA
metal, or a combination of Aldebaran
both) in space. It becomes a
meteor when it enters Earth’s 10°
Looking northeast
atmosphere and creates a 2 A.M., August 12
glowing column of gas. If
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 45
 FAST FACTS ABOUT METEORS
You must be less than 120 miles (200 kilometers)
from a meteor to see it.
Meteors become visible at an average height of
55 miles (90 km). Shower meteors burn up before
they reach an altitude of 50 miles (80 km).
No shower meteor has survived its flight through
the atmosphere and been recovered as a meteorite.
They’re just too small.
The typical bright meteor is produced by a particle
no larger than a pea with a mass less than 1 gram.
The meteors you’ll see during a shower are even
smaller. Their size is roughly that of a grain of sand.
Astronomers estimate that the average total mass
of meteoritic material entering Earth’s atmosphere
is between 100 and 1,000 tons (91,000 and
910,000 kilograms) per day.
The typical rate for meteors bright enough to
see with unaided eyes on a “non-shower” night is
approximately six per hour. Astronomers call these
random streaks sporadic meteors.
A meteoroid from the Perseid shower enters the
atmosphere at an average speed of 133,000 mph
(214,000 km/h).

ABOVE: This meteor, which exhibited

a small flare-up, appeared over
Hongcun, a UNESCO World Heritage
Site in Anhui Province, China, on
August 12, 2018. JEFF DAI

to originate. Another way to

This Perseid was bright enough to be seen through moderately thick monsoon clouds. It burned up above the Himalayas
near Shishapangma, Tibet, on August 12, 2015. The Teapot asterism of Sagittarius is visible at center. JEFF DAI
it’s large enough to survive
the fiery encounter and land
on Earth, it then becomes a
meteorite.
Almost all meteor showers
originate with comets. As a
comet orbits the Sun, the heat
from our star sublimates (turns
solids directly into gases) the
comet’s ice, which also releases
any trapped dust particles.
This action leaves a debris
trail. If our planet crosses that
trail, which it would do around
the same date each year, the
particles will enter our atmo-
sphere and a meteor shower
will occur. One notable excep-
tion to the comet rule is the
Geminids, a meteor shower
active in December. Its par-
ticles came from the asteroid
3200 Phaethon.
Perseid meteors are par-
ticles from Comet 109P/Swift-
Tuttle. It was discovered in
July 1862 by American
astronomers Lewis Swift of
Marathon, New York, and
Horace Tuttle, at Harvard
College Observatory in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When they found it, it glowed
at magnitude 7.5, but, by two
months later, it had bright-
ened to magnitude 2, the
same brightness as Polaris
(Alpha [α] Ursae Minoris). It
orbits the Sun every 133 years
and 102.3 days. It reappeared
in 1992, reaching perihelion
(closest approach to the Sun)
on December 11.
Comets are named for their
discoverers. Asteroids are
named by their discoverers.
A meteor shower, however, is
named for the constellation
that contains its radiant,
the point on the sky from
which all the meteors seem
think about this is that if you
traced the meteor trails from
a single shower backward,
they would all intersect at one
point, the radiant. The posi-
tion of the radiant is impor-
tant to meteor observers.
The higher the radiant is in
the sky, the more meteors
you’ll see.
One meteor shower that
seems to contradict the
named-for-the-constellation
rule is the Quadrantids,
which are active in January.
In actuality, this name does
follow the rule, although the
constellation for which it was
named — Quadrans Muralis
— is no longer a recognized
group. When the constella-
tions were formalized in 1928,
Quadrans Muralis ceased to
exist and became part of the
current constellation Boötes.
Currently, the International
Astronomical Union’s Meteor
Data Center lists 821 meteor

46 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

showers, of which 112 have
been established by repeated
observations. With only 88
constellations in the sky, many
of these showers come from
the same constellations.
Rather than designating
them “Perseids,” “Perseids 2,”
and so on, astronomers name
the shower after the visible
star nearest the radiant —
for example, the Alpha
Capricornids. They also This bright Perseid cast a colorful reflection on a lake at Cherry Springs State Park in Coudersport, Pennsylvania,
use other modifiers, so you August 6, 2016. LARRY KUHN
also may encounter the
Northern Daytime Omega
Cetids and the Southern a number called the zenithal number will increase as the guess would place the maxi-
Daytime Omega Cetids. hourly rate (ZHR). The ZHR radiant climbs higher. When mum hourly rate at between
for any shower is the number the Moon rises, its light will 50 and 75. Not too shabby!
2020 forecast of meteors per hour that an mask some of the fainter
Although this year’s Perseids observer could see under a meteors, although the bright The plan
peak August 11/12, the shower dark sky (no scattered light), ones will still be easy to see. As much as or more than any
actually begins when Earth assuming the radiant is at the Observers generally record other astronomical observ-
reaches the edge of the mete- zenith (the overhead point). higher hourly rates after local ing, meteor watching is a
oroid stream July 17 and con- The Perseids’ ZHR is 110. midnight because Earth has social event. You can watch for
tinues until our planet exits it As the saying goes, though, rotated so its night side is 10 minutes or 10 hours. The
August 26. Of course, the fur- your mileage will vary. If you heading into the stream. atmosphere is casual, so you
ther you observe from the peak, start observing on the 11th Before midnight, meteors can carry on conversations,
the fewer Perseids you’ll see. at the end of astronomical must catch up with Earth. So, although your personal taste
The main question each twilight (the moment no after balancing the increased in music may be distracting for
year for any meteor shower sunlight remains in the sky), meteor rate after midnight most observers, so please don’t
is: “How many will we see?” you can expect to see perhaps against the extra light from crank up your stereo. (I once
Meteor observers start with 20 Perseids per hour. That the Moon rising higher, a good almost got into a fight with

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 47
 Two Perseid meteors appear above the
Himalayan Chandra Telescope at the
Indian Astronomical Observatory near
Leh-Ladakh. The brighter meteor is to
the right of the Andromeda Galaxy,
the fuzzy patch at top. The fainter
meteor is at the top, just left of the
Milky Way. CHIRAG UPRETI

another observer who was con-
tinuously playing Celine Dion’s
“My Heart Will Go On” from
the Titanic soundtrack.)
As I mentioned earlier, no
telescope is required, but a
few items will make the night
more comfortable for you.
The most important is a
reclining chair. But don’t set
it up so you face the radiant.
Looking directly at it, you’ll
These two Perseids appeared in a single 30-second exposure taken August 11,
2016. They blazed above the Deir-e Gachin Caravanserai, located in Kavir
see only the shortest streaks
National Park, Iran. Its construction dates from the Sasanian era (A .D. 334-651). because the meteors will be
AMIR SHAHCHERAGHIAN
coming right at you. The best
plan is to pick a region of sky
about 30° from the radiant.
An angle of 30° is one-third
of the distance from the hori-
zon to the zenith.
Other things you might
want to bring are insect repel-
lent, light snacks, and a warm
or cold drink, depending on
where you’re observing. One
note about drinks: Don’t
bring booze, because alcohol
impairs visual acuity and

48 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020


dark adaptation (and judg-
ment and many other things).
Some late nights during the
summer in the north can get
quite chilly, so bringing a
blanket may be a good idea.
Furthermore, if you observe
at a location with high
humidity, the addition of a
Michael E. Bakich is a
contributing editor of Astronomy
and a veteran of dozens of
Perseid meteor showers.
This Perseid fireball appeared as the photographer was capturing exposures
of Mars and the Milky Way on August 13, 2018, from Mount Athos, Greece. The
smoke trail the meteor left was visible for 10 minutes. DANIEL CHAMARATOS
simple plastic tarp will keep
you dry all night.
Fun awaits
The Perseid meteor shower
always ranks as the year’s best
because of its high hourly rate
and its appearance during the
northern summer. In 2020,
the Moon will cut into your
count a bit, but if your sky
is clear and you are patient, Luck has some part to play in capturing a Perseid. This imager was shooting
the Milky Way behind a driftwood stump east of Grand Marais, in the Upper
success is assured. So, go Peninsula of Michigan. He caught this Perseid in one of his nine exposures
watch some shooting stars! August 13, 2019. ANDREW BARTKOWIAK
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 49
 q
Star clusters and planetary nebulae will
keep you looking at the Eagle all night long.
BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH

IN SUMMER, ONE OF THE

s
easiest star patterns to find is the
Summer Triangle. The constellation AQUI L A

Aquila (pronounced ACK-will-uh) / r

q
the Eagle is one of the three groups k
a
whose Alpha stars — in this case, 10°
Barnard’s E
Altair — make up that popular DELPHINUS
group. This easy-to-recognize _ Altair
j
constellation is visible from late p
spring through late autumn in the o +
Northern Hemisphere. Its center `
lies at right ascension 19h37m and
declination 3°30'. m
Although the Eagle’s wingspan
might not take up as much space
as larger constellations like Hydra
(1,303 square degrees), the 22nd-
largest constellation still covers a CAPRIC ORNUS
0° d
respectable 652.47 square degrees,
or about 1.58 percent of the night
sky. Its size undercuts its visibility, e f
however; it lies in the middle of the
constellation ladder (41st) in terms
of overall brightness.
The best date each year to see MAP SYMBOLS
Aquila is July 14, when it stands Open cluster
opposite the Sun in the sky and Globular cluster
reaches its highest point at local Planetary nebula g
midnight. With respect to visibility,
anyone living between latitudes 78°
north and 71° south can see the
entire figure at some time during –10°
the year. In fact, portions of it are
visible worldwide. S AGI T TA RI U S 20h
21h
Aquila contains no Messier
objects or emission nebulae. Still,
as you can see, there are plenty of NGC 6709
targets within its borders for you This rich open cluster sits 5°
southwest of Zeta (ζ) Aquilae.
to explore with your telescope. Glowing at magnitude 6.7 (just out
Good luck! of naked-eye range), it measures
13' across. Binoculars show a
concentrated glow against a
Michael E. Bakich is a contributing crowded stellar background.
editor of Astronomy who enjoys slowly Through a 6-inch telescope,
you’ll count some 50 stars. A
moving his telescope through a single 12-inch scope will more than
constellation. double that number. MARTIN C. GERMANO

50 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 NGC 6751
This magnitude 11.9 planetary
nebula sits 1° south of Lambda
(λ) Aquilae. Through a scope
with an aperture of 14 inches or
more, you’ll see two stars, each
a magnitude fainter than the 20"-
wide planetary, flanking it to the
east and west. The central star
is a tough catch, but high
magnification helps. NASA/ESA/
THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STScI/AURA)
NGC 6749
This globular cluster — one of
the least concentrated known
— is a challenge to spot even
through large scopes. It glows
at magnitude 12.4, measures 6.3'
across, and lies 5° west-southwest
of Delta (δ) Aquilae. Through a
12-inch instrument, NGC 6749 is
only a soft haze whose central
region is slightly brighter than
the halo. MARTIN C. GERMANO

NGC 6741
This planetary nebula, which
observers call the Phantom
Streak, lies 4.5° north-northwest
¡ of Lambda Aquilae. With a
c magnitude of 11.4 and a diameter
HE RC UL ES
11 of 6", it’s a tough catch through
small scopes. Through an 11-inch
telescope at high powers, the
disk will look larger than the
t other similarly bright stars in
NGC 6738 the field of view. ESA/HUBBLE AND NASA
NGC
6709
NGC 6804 NGC 6755 and NGC 6756
OPH IUC H U S These two open clusters lie 3°
east of Theta (θ) Serpentis. NGC
6755 is brighter (magnitude 7.5)
and larger (14') than NGC 6756
NGC 6781 (magnitude 10.6, 4' across).
Through a 6-inch scope at
medium magnification, both
NGC 6756 clusters stand out from the Milky
Way background, although NGC
NGC 6755 6755 does so more easily.
b BERNHARD HUBL

NGC 6749
NGC 6760 NGC 6781
This planetary nebula glows at
i magnitude 11.4 and measures
109" across. It lies 3.8° north-
northwest of Delta Aquilae. Peer
SERPENS CAUDA
NGC 6741 5 through an 8-inch scope, and
NGC 6781 will stand out against a
starry background. An Oxygen-III
filter will help a lot. The disk
NGC 6772 appears soft, irregular, and oval-
shaped with a slightly darker
center. ADAM BLOCK/NOAO/AURA/NSF
h
V 12
NGC 6804
NGC 6751 This 12th-magnitude planetary
nebula lies almost 2° north-
northwest of Mu (μ) Aquilae.
You’ll see its 31"-wide disk
through scopes as small as
SCU TUM 6 inches. At high powers, NGC
6804 looks diffuse. If you use an
Oxygen-III filter, you’ll see a
broken ring of gas that surrounds
19h the 14th-magnitude central star.
LIBBY HARRELL/ADAM BLOCK/NOAO/AURA/NSF

NGC 6772 Barnard’s E

This large planetary nebula (62"
across) lies 3° northeast of Lambda
Aquilae. Because it glows softly at
magnitude 12.7, it’ll be difficult to spot
through an 8-inch telescope. A 12-inch
instrument will reveal its circular
structure, and perhaps you’ll even see
a hazy edge and a slight north-south
elongation. Use a nebula filter to
guarantee success. GUNNAR HURTIG/ADAM
BLOCK/NOAO/AURA/NSF
To find this great combo object,
point your binoculars at yellow
Tarazed (Gamma [γ] Aquilae).
With the star centered, Barnard’s
E will appear 1.4° to the west-
northwest. Barnard 143 (B143) is
the easier of the pair to spot. It’s a
narrow U with two bars about 15'
long, oriented east-west. B142,
just to the south, is a single line
and not as dark. ROBERTO FERRERO

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 51
 Life
on the
WIDE
SIDE
How to breathe
new life into old
astrophoto targets.
TEXT AND IMAGES BY
STEVE CANNISTRA
The author’s technique
produced a beautiful wide-
field image of the supernova
remnant Simeis 147 (lower
right, sometimes called the
Spaghetti Nebula), and the
region of nebulosity in
Auriga that includes IC 405
and IC 410 (near top left).
AT SOME POINT in an amateur astrophotographer’s journey,
you reach a plateau. You may find that you’ve imaged most
common targets, perfected processing techniques, and mastered
your equipment. Unless you’re willing to travel to a different
hemisphere, everything begins to feel like a familiar old friend
compared with the excitement of a brand new relationship.
Some of us find new energy by pur- of 3.5" per pixel. But, recently, I’ve
chasing a longer focal length scope to pushed things even further to capture
image smaller targets, only to discover very wide-field views of nebulae and
unexpected challenges due to poor see- star fields in the Milky Way. I’ve taken
ing, imperfect collimation, and the need a hybrid approach, employing an even
for off-axis guiding, not to mention lim- wider field of view obtained using an
ited portability. inexpensive, high-quality Pentax lens
Others go in the direction of forgoing as a canvas upon which to repurpose
amateur equipment entirely and instead some of my prior, higher resolution
processing data captured by professional images. I’ve found that this offers a
astronomers using ground-based obser- new perspective on familiar targets by
vatories or space telescopes. Still others showing how they relate to one another
have gone to wider fields of view (FOV), in the night sky.
using large CCD chips like the KAF-
16803, along with a high-quality apo- Choosing equipment
chromatic telescope. In order to obtain a very wide-field
This is the approach I’ve taken in my backdrop, I decided to couple my
evolution as an amateur astrophotogra- Apogee Alta U16M CCD camera (which
pher over the past two decades, in order has a KAF-16803 chip) with a Pentax 67,
to gain a greater appreciation of target 200mm fixed-focal-length lens that I
size — especially when it comes to large, obtained at a great price from eBay a
sprawling nebulae. few years ago. This afforded me a very
In recent years, I’ve enjoyed using wide field of view of almost 11 square
a Takahashi FSQ-106 apochromatic degrees, while still maintaining a rea-
refractor, which has a focal length of sonable image scale (9.27" per pixel).
530mm and yields a respectable field of I also take advantage of a high-
view of 4° at image scales in the range quality CCD camera and filter wheel
The author’s wide-field imaging setup employs a Pentax 67 200mm lens, coupled with an Apogee Alta
U16M CCD camera, with a filter wheel attached.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 53
that I have owned for many years. This Using a RoboFocus is critical to achiev-
avoids the smaller field of view typical of ing good focus with this system, especially
most DSLR camera chips, and also enables since most filters are not exactly parfocal,
me to take advantage of individual R, G, and I wanted my setup to be automated. I
and B filters to minimize the chromatic also found that with the Pentax lens, the
aberration typical of achromatic lenses sweet spot for obtaining sharp images
(including the Pentax 67), such as those with a reasonable aperture was f/5.6.
used with most consumer-grade DSLR
cameras. This is not to say that one cannot Building a composite image
obtain a pleasing wide-field backdrop I won’t review all of the usual steps in
using a one-shot color-cooled CCD cam- image processing here, since these have
era, or even using a DSLR with a fixed been well covered in other articles on the
focal length lens, but I’ve always found subject. Rather, let’s focus on steps that
that monochrome CCD cameras, com-
bined with broadband or narrowband
filters, have yielded the best results in
my hands.
My setup is not exactly “plug and play,”
but the results are worth it. The U16M
CCD camera requires an adapter to con-
nect the filter wheel to the Pentax lens, and
was manufactured to my specifications by
PreciseParts (www.preciseparts.com). The
length of my custom adapter for the
Pentax 67 lens to the Apogee FW50-7S/9R
Series filter wheel was 29.5 millimeters,
but your setup could be different. I use a
RoboFocus attachment that I tailor-made
with sheet metal and a few odds and ends
from the local hardware store, and I A spectacular finished image of the Cepheus field
containing IC 1396 and Sh 2–129 shows the
obtained the rubber belt and timing effectiveness of this inventive technique, and how
sprocket from www.robofocus.com. it brings life and detail into wide-field astroimages.

A typical image from the author’s setup shows the region of IC 1396 in and After aligning previously made, higher resolution images of the two principal
around Sharpless 2–129 Cepheus. This represents eight hours of an HαRGB targets in this field, IC 1396 and Sh 2–129, the author placed the higher resolution
exposure, after calibration, stretching, and gradient removal. images into the wide field at this stage, making sure to carefully align them.

54 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020


are specific to building a wide-field com-
posite. Above you’ll see a typical image
from the Pentax 200mm/U16M setup,
after calibration, stretching, and gradient
removal, representing eight hours of an
HαRGB exposure. It’s reassuring that the
star colors are preserved without exces-
sive blue fringing despite the achromatic
lens system. Also preserved is the detail
in the Hα components of the two main
targets, as well as the intervening faint
Hα signal that bathes this entire region
(and which is often not appreciated when
imaging a more limited field of view).
The image above left shows my ear-
lier, higher resolution images of IC 1396
and Sharpless 2–129 placed into the
Pentax field in Photoshop, after these
were aligned (using the Pentax image as
reference) in RegiStar. Two steps are then
useful in order to achieve seamless
blending of these higher resolution
images against the Pentax backdrop.
First, I assign the two higher resolution
layers to “lighten” mode, adjusting opac-
ity to enhance the details in the target
but also to match the background of the
wide-field Pentax canvas. Second, I cre-
ate a layer mask for this image and use
the brush tool set to black (soft edge) to
selectively hide the edges of the higher
resolution image, adjusting the opacity
of the tool as necessary to achieve the
best result.
Subsequent adjustments are made to
the individual components using clip-
ping masks to achieve the proper color
balance with the wide-field background,
using RGB, curves, and other such tools
as needed.
Take in the view
As shown in the accompanying pictures,
this relatively simple technique can
breathe new life into old images. How
many of us realized that the Elephant
Trunk was so close (in angular separa-
tion, at least) to Sh 2–129, or that the
Central Cygnus, including
the North America and
Pelican nebulae (upper left)
and the IC 1318 nebulosities
around Gamma Cygni
(lower right) come alive in
this breathtaking wide-field
shot by the author.
Spaghetti Nebula (Simeis 147) was near
the Flaming Star Nebula? And how
many of us painstakingly created mosa-
ics of the North America, Pelican, and
IC 1318 nebulae to capture a wide field
of view, when we could have used the
composite approach described here to
achieve a very similar result?
This approach has reenergized my
interest in wide-field astrophotography
and has enabled me to recycle some of
my older images, painting them onto a
sweeping canvas that gives them a new
perspective. Even if you don’t have a
Pentax setup like mine, try this
approach with whatever wide-field lens
system you have, and you will likely be
pleased with the results.
Steve Cannistra is an academic physician
by day, and is often sleep-deprived due to
his passion for astrophotography by night.
More images may be found at his website,
www.starrywonders.com.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 55
This Hubble Space Telescope image of
Saturn at opposition in October 1999
shows the planet’s rings tilted –20°. Look
carefully for the thread of shadow adjacent
to the planet’s ball. Also look for another
thread of shadow of the ring on the
planet’s southern hemisphere.
NASA AND THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA);
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: R.G. FRENCH
(WELLESLEY COLLEGE), J. CUZZI
(NASA/AMES), L. DONES
(SWRI), AND J. LISSAUER
(NASA/AMES)

OBSERVE
Jupiter and Saturn at
Catch the two greatest telescopic
planets at opposition this month
and you’ll see beautiful planetary
worlds! BY STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
his month promises
planetary observ-
ers their best views of Jupiter
and Saturn for the year as
both worlds reach opposition
within a week of one another.
Earth first moves directly
between Jupiter and the Sun
on July 14, then between
Saturn and the Sun on the
20th. Come opposition, the
gas giants will be at their clos-
est and brightest for the year.
But opposition is more than a
moment in time; it is a chance
to seek out those brief win-
dows when the atmosphere
allows us to see fine details
— the most these planets can
display each year.
What’s more, we are pre-
sented on December 21 with
a rare opportunity to compare
and contrast Jupiter and
Saturn, our solar system’s two
largest planets, when they
approach within 6' of one
another in the sky. So, begin
familiarizing yourself with the
appearance of these worlds
through your telescopes, for
who knows how many per-
sonal or scientific discoveries
you’ll make! It is the very
nature of these two dynamic
gas giants to offer up surprises.
Because Jupiter reaches
opposition first, let’s look at
some of the unusual phenom-
ena that you can attempt to see
on the king of planets with the
naked eye and a telescope.
Naked-eye sightings
of Jupiter
Shortly after opposition,
Jupiter enters the pre-sunset
sky, making it a perfect target
for daytime naked-eye sight-
ings. At opposition, Jupiter
will shine at magnitude –2.8,

56 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020


their best
just 0.1 magnitude brighter
than Mars during its July
2018 opposition. (The Red
Planet was then sighted by
several people without optical
aid.) Observers have spotted
a dimmer Jupiter in the day-
time as well. In August and
September 1917, F. Sargent of
Bristol, England, followed the
planet in the daylight sky for
more than an hour when the
planet glowed at magnitudes
–2.1 and –2.3, respectively.
Close to opposition, when
Jupiter is at its highest in the
southern sky, keen-eyed
observers will also have their
best opportunity to search for
at least one of the planet’s four
Galilean moons without opti-
cal aid. On the evenings of
July 13 and 14 between the
hours of 3 and 5 Universal
Time (UT), Callisto will be at
its greatest western elongation
from Jupiter — the prime
time to look for the moon.
Jupiter and the
witching hour
To get the most out of observ-
ing Jupiter at opposition,
concentrate on the midnight
hour, when the planet appears
highest in the sky and its
detail is most rewarding. And
no planet shows more detail
than Jupiter, especially when
observing with powers up to
JUPITER CLOUD FEATURES
S
South Polar Region
South Temperate Zone
South Temperate Belt
South Tropical Zone
Great Red Spot
South Equatorial Belt
Equatorial Zone
North Equatorial Belt
North Tropical Zone
North Temperate Belt
North Temperate Zone
North Polar Region N
A combination of wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric jets, and cloud
composition causes Jupiter’s banded appearance. NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
On November 1, 1880, French astronomer Étienne Léopold Trouvelot
recorded a stretch of white clouds in Jupiter’s South Equatorial Belt. Could
this have been an SEB disturbance? Also note the fantastic extent of the
Great Red Spot, which has been shrinking ever since. WIKICOMMONS
75x per inch of aperture. This slivers of red material have
July, Jupiter’s disk measures been observed peeling off the
48" across, only 2.1" less than spot, distorting its familiar
its maximum apparent size. oval appearance, usually with
Fine details then will be near extensions described as flakes,
their best. blades, and hooks. While it’s
Although all of Jupiter is not unusual for the GRS to
worth monitoring, observers pull in material or slough it
have of late been keeping off, the magnitude of these
watch on several recently recent events has been great
active regions. Jupiter’s trade- enough to make them visible
mark Great Red Spot (GRS) in a 3-inch refractor at 200x
especially bears watching. (in June 2019).
Most notably, since 2017, The GRS has significantly
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 57
diminished in size since the
1800s and may be on its way
to nonexistence, although its
recent shearing behavior may
also be linked to a natural
weather phenomenon: the
interaction of winds between
the GRS (an anticyclone) and
a cyclone that has come close
to it.
In August 2019, Australian
amateur astronomer Phil
Miles detected a white storm
erupting in the planet’s South
Equatorial Belt (SEB, just pre-
ceding the GRS). By February
2020, the disturbance had
coursed through the normally
dark belt, creating a bright
interior zone.
Such disturbances are
uncommon but not unusual.
Jupiter’s dark bands change
over irregular timescales.
SATURN CLOUD FEATURES
South Polar Region
South South Temperate Zone
North Temperate Zone
North North Temperate Belt
North Polar Region
North North Temperate Zone
SATURN RING FEATURES
58 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
Occasionally they can even
fade away entirely, as the SEB
last did in 2010. The SEB dis-
appears when whitish clouds
form on top of it. This type of
event is associated with exten-
sive changes to other bands,
spots, and colors in Jupiter’s
atmosphere. Interestingly,
astronomers anticipate a sig-
nificant color change in the
planet’s Equatorial Zone in
the next year or two.
Jupiter’s Equatorial Zone
normally appears white due
to extensive high cloud cover.
Every six or seven years
(though not always), the
zone’s high ammonia clouds
clear out, changing the
region’s color to ochre. The
disturbance usually lasts
between 12 and 18 months,
allowing telescopic observers
South South Temperate Belt
South Temperate Zone
South Temperate Belt
South Tropical Zone
South Equatorial Belt
Equatorial Zone South
Equatorial Band
Equatorial Zone North
North Equatorial Belt
North Tropical Zone
North Temperate Belt
Maxwell
Gap
Colombo
Gap
Cassini
Division
B Ring
D Ring
C Ring
a rare chance to see details
deeper in the planet’s atmo-
sphere, normally hidden by
those high clouds. We are
currently in that window of
opportunity, as the next
clearing has been predicted to
occur between 2019 and 2021.
Saturn and the
midnight hour
Saturn achieves opposition on
July 21 at 22h14m UT, when
the planet will shine at mag-
nitude 0.1 with an apparent
equatorial diameter of 19",
while the rings will measure
42" across. If you monitor
Saturn’s rings through a
telescope in the weeks before
opposition, you’ll find them
shining roughly as bright as
the planet’s globe. For a cou-
ple of days around opposition,
the rings will temporarily
intensify in apparent bright-
ness, outshining the globe
before dimming back to their
normal appearance. It’s one of
the most visually fascinating
occurrences of any planet.
This peculiar change is
called the Seeliger effect, in
honor of German astronomer
Hugo von Seeliger (1849–
1924), who first noticed it in
1887. In addition to this
shadow hiding, the Cassini
spacecraft revealed that
coherent backscattering
Janus/
Epimetheus Ring
Atlas
Encke
Ring
Division
G Ring Pallene Ring
F Ring
A Ring
— sunlight interacting with
the collective particles in the
planet’s rings — contributes
significantly to the phenom-
enon, as the many irregular
bits of rock and dust combine
to produce more intense light.
This light scatters back to our
eyes and makes the rings
seem to brighten.
A return of Saturn’s
White Spots?
Overall, Saturn presents a less
dynamic range of details on
its globe than does Jupiter,
mainly displaying vary-
ing belts and zones without
the finer details. This is
why most observers tend to
focus their attention on the
rings. Episodically, however,
Saturn’s globe erupts with
stunning detail. The planet’s
2020 apparition may be one
of those years that brings us
some visual surprises.
Chief among them may be
the return of the Great White
Spot — a fantastic high-
altitude storm that surfaces
roughly every 20 to 30 years.
The greatest storms can be
as large as Earth, with tails
that wrap entirely around
the planet over the course of
months as regions of Saturn’s
globe transform into a tempest
of dynamic change. Six such
storms have been observed
This diagram shows the common
nomenclature for Saturn’s
various belts, zones, and ring
sections. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
E Ring

On February 25, 2011, astronomers captured the 2010/11 Great White Spot
on Saturn with the Cassini spacecraft, about 12 weeks after the storm
began. The storm clouds by this time had formed a tail that had wrapped
around the planet. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
on Saturn over the past 140
years, alternating between the
equator and midlatitudes. Up
until 1990, all the storms had
occurred on a roughly 30-year
cycle, but a surprise Great
White Spot broke the cycle,
occurring at an unexpected
time and latitude.
The storms usually occur
when Saturn’s northern hemi-
sphere is most tilted toward
the Sun near the moment of
saturnian midsummer. The
spots appear to be caused by
erupting plumes of warm
moist air that rapidly bring
ammonia ice crystals into the
planet’s upper atmosphere,
triggering thunderstorms.
Three types of storms have
been recognized to date: small
white storms (like those that
occurred in 1994 and 2006)
that measure about 1,240 miles
(2,000 kilometers) across and
appear as bright clouds for a
few days; Great White Spots
(like those of 2010 and 1990)
that are up to 10 times larger
than the small storms and last
for months every two to three
decades; and midsized storms
(like those detected near
Saturn’s north pole in 2018)
that can last anywhere from
10 to more than 200 days.
Will a Great White Spot
appear on its normal 30-year
cycle in 2020? The answer
remains unknown. In fact,
much remains uncertain
about these storms, such as:
How periodic are they? Can
they occur at any latitude?
How are they triggered?
Will we see
Saturn’s spokes?
This year, the north face of
Saturn’s rings will be inclined
21° from edge-on. That’s
just 6° from their maximum
opening, or within 1° of the
ring angle (20°) when spokes
may occur.
Spokes are tiny particles
levitated above the ring plane
by electrostatic forces. Some
astronomers believe they are
connected to massive thun-
derstorms in Saturn’s atmo-
sphere. According to one
theory, lightning strikes —
10,000 times more energetic
than those on Earth —
release beams of electrons
that surge up from Saturn’s
cloud tops like sprites, zap-
ping the rings and blasting
out jets of electrically charged
dust that get trapped in the
planet’s electromagnetic field
and appear as spokes.
Some models of spoke for-
mation, which take into
account plasma density in the
rings, say that spoke activity
switches on when the angle
between the rings and the Sun
is between 0° and 20°. When
that happens, we may expect
spoke activity for about eight
years. The spoke situation
should be in full swing by
Saturn’s August 2021 opposi-
tion, when the rings will be
angled 18° to our line of sight.
As these predictions are only
based on models, be sure to
start looking now.
Given that this is a good
season for white spots and
thunderstorm activity to
occur, will the spokes mani-
fest in concert with increased
white spot activity?
Shadow play
Around the time of opposi-
tion, the shadow of Saturn’s
globe plays a game of hide-
and-seek with observers. At
opposition, the shadow lies
directly behind the globe,
which hides it from view.
But most observers will not
see Saturn at that exact time.
Careful observations in the
days and hours around oppo-
sition may reveal the shadow
as a thin thread of darkness
Saturn as rendered by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, displaying notched
optical effects in the shadow of the ball of Saturn on its rings. Trouvelot
observed this phenomenon on November 30, 1874. WIKICOMMONS
adjacent to the planet, appear-
ing very straight or with a
gentle curve toward the globe.
In the weeks before opposi-
tion, all manner of fun optical
illusions related to the shadow
may have you scratching your
head. Irradiation, simultane-
ous contrast, and effects
within Earth’s atmosphere
can make the shadow appear
to bulge toward the Cassini
Division, develop a notch
(blackdrop effects), or even
reverse its curvature.
Finally, don’t forget to look
for another whisker of shadow
— that of Saturn’s rings. You’ll
find it adjacent to the A Ring,
where it appears projected
against the globe of the planet.
It’s a hyperfine detail that
requires the best of atmo-
spheric seeing. Be patient, take
your time, and let the planet
reveal its secrets. Now, more
than ever, observations of
Jupiter and Saturn by amateur
astronomers are needed to
round out what we know
about these two planets. Why
not take a look at these mag-
nificent worlds, record what
you see, capture images of
them, and help astronomers
untangle the mysteries that
still linger over the solar
system’s largest worlds?
Stephen James O’Meara is a
contributing editor of Astronomy
and the author of numerous
books on backyard observing,
including planetary viewing.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 59
Meet an easy-to-use
imaging scope
STELLINA is an imaging
telescope that captures and
stacks exposures to create
ever-more-detailed celestial
images. COURTESY OF VAONIS
60 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020
This clever device
will capture celestial
portraits even through
light-polluted skies.
BY RAYMOND SHUBINSKI
I HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY
to use a variety of astronomical equipment,
including telescopes at Kitt Peak National
Observatory, Percival Lowell’s 24-inch
refractor at Lowell Observatory, and just
about every kind of amateur scope you can
imagine. But the STELLINA observation
station, made by the French company
Vaonis, is unique. I first encountered
STELLINA and the CEO of Vaonis,
Cyril Dupuy, at the 2018 CES electronics
trade show in Las Vegas.
Scope? Imager?
At first glance, it’s hard to tell that
STELLINA is a piece of astronomical
equipment. In its shutdown mode, it looks
like a small monolithic lump of plastic and
metal. When activated, however, it quickly
comes to life. With a bit of a whirring
noise, the center section begins to elevate
and the whole unit rotates to start its
observing sequence. I wasn’t sure if I was
looking at something from Star Wars or a
miniature of a scope from Mauna Kea. I
commented at the show that it looked like
R2-D2, and was told that Vaonis preferred
EVE from the movie WALL-E.
The idea behind STELLINA, which is
Italian for “little star,” is to approach
observing in a different way than the
norm. It has no eyepiece holder or any
other parts associated with a typical ama-
teur telescope. In fact, it is really a sophis-
ticated astroimager or dedicated sky
camera. In an interview at the 2018 CES
show, Dupuy said the observation station
“is a completely new generation of tele-
scope, and with this product, the goal is
to make astronomy more accessible for
everybody.” We live in an age of connec-
tivity, and STELLINA may be the next

step for skygazers. Dupuy’s goal is to cre-
ate a community of observers that allows
for immediate access to images captured
by this instrument.
STELLINA is a 3.15-inch (80 millime-
ters) refracting telescope. The focal
length is 400mm, so it has a focal ratio
of f/5. It has a field of view of about 1°,
or twice the diameter of the Full Moon.
The telescope objective is an apochro-
matic extra-low-dispersion (ED) doublet,
which gives exceptional images. By defi-
nition, this is a rich-field telescope. The
standard magnification is 50x, and it can
zoom to 100x. This is a nice scope for
large deep-sky objects, but not for plan-
ets; I tried to photograph Saturn, but
found the image too small. In short,
STELLINA was designed for observing
nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies.
Operation
We’ve all heard, “There’s an app for that,”
and that’s exactly how STELLINA
PRODUCT INFORMATION
STELLINA
Type: Refractor/imager
Aperture: 3.15 inches (80 millimeters)
Focal length: 400mm
Sensor: 6.4-megapixel CMOS
Sensor array: 3,096 by 2,080 pixels
Size: 19 by 15 by 4.7 inches
(49 by 39 by 13 centimeters)
Weight: 24.7 pounds (11.2 kilograms)
Price: $3,999
Contact: Vaonis
Cap Alpha, 3 Avenue de l’Europe,
34830 Clapiers, France
+33 4 67 59 30 22
adrien@vaonis.com
https://vaonis.com
The author used STELLINA to capture images of (left to right) the Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and
NGC 884), the Hercules Cluster (M13), and the Dumbbell Nebula (M27). RAYMOND SHUBINSKI
operates. To use the telescope, it’s neces-
sary to download an app from Vaonis.
The app is available for both iOS and
Android operating systems, and it’s a sim-
ple matter of linking your device with
STELLINA’s wireless network. Like a lot
of computer gear, there was no operator’s
manual provided; rather, the user is
directed to a video on YouTube that
explains the ins and outs of operation.
Setup is straightforward. The unit I tested
came with a small, well-made tripod by
the Italian company Gitzo. There was also
a small circular bubble level, which is
placed between the scope and the tripod,
and an off-the-shelf ASUA power pack.
This fits into a small compartment on the
side of the telescope. Fully charged, you
should be able to observe all night.
Next was linking the telescope with my
iPad. When the app is first opened, it asks
if you want to log in to your home net-
work or Facebook. You can skip this step
and go straight to observing. The next
window has you connect to STELLINA.
Once done, the scope goes into observing
mode. The telescope rises from the main
body and begins to point and sample the
sky, using the GPS in your phone or tablet
to determine its location. Once this is
complete, you are ready to take your first
image. For my observing platform, I used
the patio table in my backyard, making
sure the scope was level.
I opened the catalog of objects avail-
able in the app. You can choose from
nebulae, galaxies, clusters, and solar sys-
tem objects. My first target was the
Dumbbell Nebula (M27). I loved watch-
ing the scope swing into position. A
graphic of a rotating galaxy indicated the
scope was searching. Once it locked onto
the target, a black hole on the screen
appeared to pull all the stars into an
event horizon. Then, there it was: M27.
I was amazed. Not only could I clearly
make out the distinctive shape of the
nebula, but color as well. This was from
my light-polluted backyard!
After observing M27, I turned the
scope on one of my favorite objects, the
Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and
NGC 884). I simply tapped the icon for
these clusters and the telescope swung
into action. As I watched on my iPad, I
could see the image of the two clusters
increasing in brightness and detail.
STELLINA uses a 6.4-megapixel Sony
CMOS optical sensor (3,096 by 2,080 pix-
els), which provides a high-definition
image. The optical system also has an
inline city light suppression (CLS) filter to
deal with light pollution. This was imme-
diately apparent as the image began to
build. STELLINA has an algorithm that
repeatedly scans the object and stacks the
images. This is not a fast process, but it’s
worth the wait. The resulting image of the
Double Cluster was great. In keeping with
the social media aspirations of this prod-
uct, I emailed the photos to friends before
I even continued my observing.
A hit at parties
As a dedicated wide-field imaging system,
STELLINA is great fun and produces out-
standing pictures of deep-sky objects.
Still, the long wait time in creating the
images — up to 30 minutes — made me
want to set up a visual scope to fill the
time. STELLINA is a great specialized
instrument, but I don’t think most back-
yard observers will give up their other
telescopes. I would love to have this scope
to capture and record my favorite objects,
or as a centerpiece at parties. As Vaonis
develops and adds new features, this
instrument may become a real power-
house for astroimaging.
Raymond Shubinski is a lecturer, observer,
and contributing editor of Astronomy.
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 61
 F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N

Cogito, ergo sum? don’t they? Philosophers call the idea that our senses
give us reliable information about the world naïve real-
ism. Naïve might seem pejorative, but it just means
Interfaces isolate us from the world, and from ourselves. something that is taken for granted by someone who
doesn’t know any better.
You sit down at Surely there is no experience of the world more
your computer to direct, immediate, and reliable than sight. Seeing is
buy a telescope. A believing, right? Yet the interfaces between the world
beautiful page pops up, and our perceptions are legion. An optical interface
promising hours of wonder converts information about the direction in which
that await you. You ponder a electromagnetic radiation is traveling into locations on
menu of nifty gadgets and the retina. (Of course, the properties of that radiation
finally click “buy.” A few are only indirectly related to the properties of the
days later, boxes arrive at objects from which it is emitted and off of which it
your doorstep. Your signifi- reflects.) Next, an electro-optical interface turns infor-
cant other watches as you mation about the intensity and spectrum of light into
spread the contents out on electrochemical impulses. Those are further processed
the living room floor and, in the retina before being sent down the optic nerve.
with a shake of the head, Deep in the brain, those signals reach structures that
wonders about this person are really more chefs than waiters.
with whom they share a life. You call it seafood gumbo, but look at the recipe and
Every time you sit You sit down in a restau- you might discover that not much of what is in the bowl
down and order in rant to buy a meal. A young person steps up, smiles, and ever lived in the ocean. Likewise, deep in our brains,
a restaurant, you’re
experiencing a hands you a menu of delicious-sounding choices. You signals from the optic nerve are combined with signals
user interface. ponder your options, then pass your order to the waiter, coming from many other sources. Only about 5 percent
LIGHTFIELDSTUDIOSPROD/
DREAMSTIME
who, after a while, returns with your food. Your signifi- of the signals that affect what we see comes from the
cant other looks at your bowl of gumbo and, with a eyes. Most of that information comes from the visual
shake of the head, wonders about this person with cortex itself; what you see depends far more on your
whom they share a life. own expectations and prior experiences than it does on
In computer-speak, what you see when you go to the anything coming from your eyes.
toy store’s … er … the telescope shop’s web- Once that witch’s brew has been stirred,
page is a user interface, or UI. It might seem the chef hands it off to another API, which
a bit impersonal to also call the waiter who Descartes carries it to the visual cortex, where the real
served your meal a user interface, but the processing begins. How many waiters and
shoe fits.
famously chefs are involved in finally conveying
User interfaces are the outward-facing said, “I think, something to us?
parts of what the geek set call application therefore Face it. The notion that vision provides
programming interfaces, or APIs. An API I am.” us with direct, true information about the
sits between you and a service provider, car- world is about as naïve as it gets. Going
rying things back and forth, allowing both further, just talking about “us” and the
of you to get what you need without either of you having world is naïve. An inescapable but radically counterin-
to know very much about the other. Back to the restau- tuitive conclusion of recent neuroscience is that our
rant: The waiter/API takes your order and passes it on very perception of a unified self is an illusion. It is a
in terms the chef will understand. The chef does what- useful product of layers upon layers of interfaces, no
ever it is that chefs do, and the waiter reappears with more direct a window on our own fundamental nature
the goods to appease your hunger. You don’t need to than are our visual perceptions a direct experience of
know anything about what is happening in the kitchen the world.
to order and enjoy your food. Mercifully, good UIs and Descartes famously said, “I think, therefore I am.”
APIs hide how the sausage gets made. But, having realized that my sense of self emerges from
UIs and APIs simplify the world and isolate us from a tangle of chefs and waiters cooking up and carrying
BY JEFF HESTER complex realities. That’s their job; it’s how they make it information around in my brain, I’m not sure what
Jeff is a keynote
possible for us to accomplish what we set out to do. Descartes’ truism even means.
speaker, coach,
and astrophysicist. That’s all fine for websites and fancy dinners, but
Follow his thoughts what about our direct experiences of the world? Surely BROWSE THE “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION”
at jeff-hester.com those offer us the real scoop about what is out there, ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Hester

62 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 Astronomy Magazine and TravelQuest International Present

Experience Totality in 2020

Don’t miss one of the biggest years in astronomy!

South Pacific Cruise

to Totality
Dec. 5–19, 2020
Enjoy 15 days aboard the M/S
Paul Gauguin discovering gems
like Fakarava, Bora Bora, and
Moorea.

Other Exciting Eclipse Tours...

Argentina and Brazil Wonders of Chile

Total Solar Eclipse Tour
Dec. 6–18, 2020
Luxuriate in three nights each in
Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu Falls, and
Buenos Aires.
P36879
Total Solar Eclipse Tour
Dec. 6–15, 2020
Enjoy gazing at the spectacular
southern deep-sky, see the
ALMA Observatory, and tour
Santiago.

For complete details and to book, go to: TravelQuestTours.com

 SECRET SK Y

Pearl in the mist with a luminous mist. The central star, however, was
invisible despite the increase in aperture.
The smallest telescope through which I’ve seen the
A faint treasure lies deep within the Ring. Ring’s central star is the 9-inch f/12 Clark refractor at
Harvard College Observatory in 1976, and the story was
The deep sky is no different. Seeing the star required magnifications
filled with tele- between 600x and 700x with the Ring nearly filling the
scopic t rea- field of view. Much time and patience behind the eyepiece
sures. And like Russian were also required — two other important factors needed
dolls, some hide addi- to achieve success when using smaller apertures.
tional bounty within; the So, a search for the Ring’s central star has at least three
Trapezium star cluster in principal components: 1) the ability to see stars to roughly
the Orion Nebula (M42) magnitude 15; 2) a telescope that can handle magnifica-
is a classic example. This tions of 600x or more; and 3) atmospheric conditions that
month we’ll plunge into allow such magnifications to be employed. In addition, I
the heart of another — find that a limited field of view (of only a few arcminutes)
the Ring Nebula (M57) helps by removing peripheral distractions. Long-focal-
in Lyra the Harp, one of length instruments with orthoscopic or Ramsden-type
the sky’s most famous eyepieces and a Barlow lens to increase the magnification
planetary nebulae — and will do the job nicely.
The Ring Nebula try to visually snatch a A final consideration is the eye’s sensitivity to color.
(M57) in Lyra is one stellar pearl from the surrounding mist. Observers with blue-sensitive eyes have a bet-
of the great sights
through amateur Aside from sky conditions, one’s ability to ter chance of seeing the Ring’s hot central star
telescopes during the snag the central star requires seeing to at Seeing faint than those with red-sensitive eyes. Young
Northern Hemisphere least magnitude 15 through your telescope. stargazers — and people who have had cata-
summer. This Hubble
Space Telescope To find out how faint a star you can see, try is only part racts removed — have a much better chance
image reveals the using the American Association of Variable of the at achieving success than more senior observ-
central star nicely.
NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE
Star Observers’ star chart for HS Sagittae equation, ers whose eye lenses have begun to yellow.
(STScI/AURA)–ESA/HUBBLE (bottom right) before heading for the Ring. however. As always, send your thoughts and obser-
COLLABORATION
This star lies about 17 ° southeast of M57 in vations to sjomeara31@gmail.com. I’m always
the tiny constellation Sagitta the Arrow. open to suggestions for other topics as well.
Comparing the eyepiece view with this chart
will reveal your scope’s limiting magnitude.
Seeing faint is only part of the equation, however.
What’s paramount to success is your ability to over-
come yet another obstacle: the feeble “mist” filling the
Ring’s annulus. When seen at low magnification, the
mist appears bright, thus lowering the contrast between
the central star and its background. In 1988, several
observers at the 18-inch f/14 Clark refractor at Wilder
Observatory in Amherst, Massachusetts, couldn’t
detect the Ring’s central star when viewed at 250x in a
wide field of view because M57’s “hole” was filled with
light. After they changed the magnification to 1,000x,
however, the Ring filled the field of view and everyone
saw the central star.
In August 1995, at Lick Observatory on Mount
Hamilton in California, the Ring’s inner edge rimmed
the small field of view of the 36-inch f/19 Clark refractor
BY STEPHEN at 1,176x. The sight of its dark well revealed the central This 30'-wide telescopic field of view centered on HS Sagittae
JAMES O’MEARA shows stars to magnitude 15.8. The bright stars at top right are
star and another field star shining brightly against a Beta (β , top) and Alpha (α) Sagittae, both of which glow at
Stephen is a globe-
dark, high-contrast background. An immediate walk magnitude 4.4. South is up and east is to the right. AAVSO
trotting observer who
is always looking down the hall to Lick’s 40-inch Nickel reflecting tele-
for the next great scope and a glance at the Ring through it at a much BROWSE THE “SECRET SKY” ARCHIVE AT
celestial event. lower power showed a magnificently bright ring filled www.Astronomy.com/OMeara

64 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 MARKETPLACE
ScopeBuggy
• For use with most tripods, DOBs
and piers
• 10” Pneumatic tires for soft ride
• Load tested to 600+ pounds
• Assemble & disassemble in minutes
• Adjustable rear axle height (1½” to 7”)
• Ideal for scopes up to 36”
• One person can quickly
and easily move
any sized scope Still #1
$345.00*
Plus S&H
Approx. $60 Shipping
USA
*Subject to change

Patent Pending

SCOPEBUGGY
P.O. BOX 834
Elephant Butte, NM 915-443-9010 Build Your Own
87935 Custom Astronomical Adapter
www.preciseparts.com

www.ScopeBuggy.com +1 305 253-5707

info@preciseparts.com

Keeping it “Beautifully” Simple

Almost Zero Maintenance... Very little to go wrong
Almost Zero Operation Software... No Rotation

YOUR AD HERE
Call 1-888-558-1544, Ext. 523
domesales@astrohaven.com
for advertising information 949.215.3777 www.astrohaven.com

INDEX of David Chandler Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Precise Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

ADVERTISERS Hubble Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Rainbow Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

10Micron by Comec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Astro Haven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Astro-Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Astronomy Binders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
AstronSCIENTIFIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Callisto Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Celestron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Complete Star Atlas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
iOptron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Knightware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Metamorphosis Jewelry Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Montana Learning Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
MRSTARGUY INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Oberwerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Omegon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Optic Wave Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Planewave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Revolution Imager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Scope Buggy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Specialty Interest Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Stellarvue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Technical Innovations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
TravelQuest International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
True Astronomy and Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Vito Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Advertiser Index is provided as a service to Astronomy magazine readers. The magazine is not responsible for omissions or for typographical errors in names or page numbers.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 65
 star parties, organized social events, and produced the
OBSERVING BASICS club’s newsletter, Star Fields. Her contributions to astron-
omy go well beyond ATMoB, too. Myers is also a member
of the Springfield Telescope Makers in Vermont, helping
them with their annual Stellafane Convention.

Women in Then there’s Marion Hochuli, who holds the distinc-

tion of being ATMoB’s first female president. Her love of
astronomy came at an early age. “I had the good fortune

astronomy clubs of having a mother who knew the bright stars and major
constellations by name,” she recalls. “How many mothers
would say on a chilly October night after putting out the
Focusing on diversity is a win for everyone. garbage: ‘I know winter is coming — Capella is rising over
our garage’?” Thanks in part to her mother instilling an
Members of the early appreciation of the night sky, when Hochuli reflects
Amateur Telescope on her experience as an ATMoB member, she says, “Being
Makers of Boston pose
for a picture during a female in a male hobby never really occurred to me. We
one of their meetings. were all just amateur astronomers with a common love
From left: Glenn of this hobby. We all knew the sky well, read and referred
Chaple, Eileen Myers,
Tom McDonagh, and to the same books, had similar equipment, and spoke the
Mario Motta. AL TAKEDA same language (astronomy). I was just one of them.”
Though Myers and Hochuli have been members of
ATMoB for decades, you don’t have to be a veteran mem-
ber to help an astronomy club reach its full potential.
Case in point: Laura Sailor. Soon after joining the club
in 2013, Sailor got involved in our outreach program,
bringing her telescope to public star parties to share with
as many people as possible. And like Hochuli, Sailor’s
interest in astronomy was inspired by a family member.
In looking over my past Observing Basics “The Moon has had a large draw for generations of my
articles, I was surprised to discover that I’ve family, who are rooted under the northern lights in
never devoted a full column to astronomy northern Maine,” she says. “My grandfather was an
clubs. I’ll remedy that situation this month, but with an amazing storyteller and a self-taught astronomer.” Sailor
added element — a focus on women in astronomy clubs. sums up her reasons for getting involved in ATMoB
I may not know what it’s like to be a female member of activities with a simple but true statement: “The energy
a group that’s historically been male-dominated, but as a you put in is the energy you get out.”
four-decade member of the Amateur Telescope Makers ATMoB’s grande dame is Anna Hillier, a member since
of Boston (ATMoB), I’ve seen firsthand how important it the days of Sputnik 1. In fact, she was part of a Project
is to have a diverse club. And because female Moonwatch team, which was among the first
membership has room to grow, it seems fitting to spot the Soviet satellite after its launch in late
to highlight some of the club’s female members “The energy 1957. A history of ATMoB compiled by Hillier
— concentrating on what got them into astron- you put in is shows that women have been a driving force in
omy, as well as some of their outstanding the club since the very beginning. In 1934,
accomplishments. Then, next month, we’ll
the energy Thelma Johnson played a pivotal role in the
tackle how clubs can encourage more women you get out.” club’s founding and served as its first secretary.
to join. So, without further ado, let me intro- In recent years, former president Virginia
duce you to some of our crew. Renehan headed ATMoB’s Star Party
First is our current treasurer, Eileen Myers. Myers Committee. With the help of Renehan’s tireless efforts,
became interested in astronomy in 1995 after attending thousands of adults and children got their first telescopic
lectures at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for glimpse of the wonders hiding in the night sky.
Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Although this article was written about one club in
these lectures, she met several ATMoB members, which Massachusetts, the narrative could apply to any group.
led her to eventually visit our clubhouse in Westford, You want as many enthusiastic members as possible!
Massachusetts. She notes, “I was immediately greeted by Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email me at
a gentleman who put an eyepiece in my hand and gchaple@hotmail.com. Next month: Why should women
BY GLENN CHAPLE explained the details of how a telescope works. That eve- join astronomy clubs and how can current members
Glenn has been an
ning, I saw Stephan’s Quintet through a member’s 25-inch make them feel more welcome? Hear what female readers
avid observer since
a friend showed telescope. I was hooked on astronomy.” of this column have to say. Clear skies!
him Saturn through Over the past quarter century, Myers’ growing passion
a small backyard for the night sky led her to undertake terms as both presi- BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE
scope in 1963. dent and secretary of ATMoB. She has coordinated public AT www.Astronomy.com/Chaple

66 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 PAID ADVERTISEMENT

 ,I'LVFRYHUHU5DPHVK9DUPD,QGLDKDGEHHQDFDGHPLFTXDOL¿HG3K'VFLHQWLVWQRWFLWL]HQVFLHQWLVWGLVFRYHU\FODLPLQVWHDGRIEHLQJDQDGYHUWLVHPHQWZRXOGKDYHDSSHDUHG

LQDOO6FLHQFH-RXUQDOVDVSXEOLFDWLRQUHVXOWLQJWRPDNHLWYLUDODPRQJWKHFRQFHUQHG0RGHRIQHZGLVFRYHU\LQIRUPDWLRQVHWE\WKH$FDGHPLF:RUOGLVDFXUVHRQWKHPDQNLQG
DWWHPSWHGDWWHPSWVWRNHHSLWDZD\EXWIHHEOHPDWHULDOLVWLF VDPHDVWUXHUHDVRQEHKLQGURWDWLRQRIWKH9HQXVLQWKH
6RPHQHZGLVFRYHU\FODLPV SDUWLFOHVUD\VIURPWKH0RRQFDQQRWGRWKDW6RPRVWRIWKH UHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQ3ODQHW+RW-XSLWHUZKLFKLVFORVHUWRLWV
1RWH 3UHYLRXV 1HZ 'LVFRYHU\ &ODLP DGYHUWLVHPHQWV ELJ LPSDFWV FUDWHUV DUH WRZDUGV WKH VLGH RI WKH 0RRQ KRVW VWDU RQO\ WKDW SODQHW +RW-XSLWHU URWDWHV LQ WKH
SXEOLVKHG)HEUXDU\5RWDWLRQRIWKH6XQ0DUFK ZKLFKLVDZD\IURPWKH(DUWK)ORDWLQJVSDFHSDUWLFOHVDUH UHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQ6WURQJPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\V
1HZ'LVFRYHU\2ULJLQRIWKH0RRQ$SULO%LJ GULIWHG WRZDUGV WKH 0RRQ E\ WKH PDWHULDOLVWLF SDUWLFOHV IURPWKHVWDUHQWHULQWRWKHGHQVHUDWPRVSKHUHRIWKH+RW
%DQJ WR ZKLFK H[WHQW LV LW FRUUHFW"  0D\  :KDW FXUYHG UD\V RI WKH (DUWK ZKHUHDV IHHEOH PDWHULDOLVWLF -XSLWHUDQGRQHQWHULQJLQWRWKHGHQVHUPHGLXPWKH\EHQG
VXJJHVWVPHDQGHQVLWLHVRISODQHWV0HUFXU\DQG9HQXV" SDUWLFOHV UD\V RI WKH 0RRQ FDQQRW GULIW WKHP SDUWLFOHV WRZDUGVWKHQRUPDOUHVXOWLQJWRSURYLGHURWDWLRQWRWKH+RW
-XQH  :RUNLQJ 0HFKDQLVP RI 6RODU 6\VWHP  -XO\ DZD\ 6R WKH ¿QH GXVW SDUWLFOHV KDYH ¿OOHG WKH DOUHDG\ -XSLWHULQWKHUHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQ
*DOD[\%ODFNKROHDQG3XPSLQJKROHQHZQDPH
0\VWHULHVRIWKH0RRQ
0RVWP\VWHULHVUHODWHGWRWKH0RRQ
KDYHQRZEHHQVROYHG
1HZ'LVFRYHU\2ULJLQRIWKH0RRQKDVDOUHDG\EHHQ
H[LVWLQJFUDWHUVDQGQHZO\IRUPHGWRRZKLFKDUHWRZDUGV
WKHVLGHRIWKH0RRQIDFLQJWKH(DUWK
-XSLWHUDQG+RW-XSLWHUV
:K\ VRPH +RW-XSLWHUV DOVR RUELW LQ WKH UHYHUVH
GLUHFWLRQ WKDQ WKH RWKHU SODQHWV" +RW -XSLWHU ZKLFK
URWDWHVIDVWHULQUHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQWKDQLWVKRVWVWDUOLNHO\WR
DGRSWRUELWDOPRWLRQLQWKHUHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQGXHWRLWVUHÀH[
DFWLRQ 5HÀH[ DFWLRQ +RW -XSLWHU E\ LWV RZQ VWURQJ
PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVUD\VDWWHPSWVWRSXVKLWVKRVWVWDUWR
RUELW DURXQG LW EXW GXH WR LWV +RW-XSLWHU
V PDVV PXFK
DGYHUWLVHGLQWKH0DUFKLVVXH
 $OO VROYHG P\VWHULHV DUH EH\RQG WKH SXUYLHZ RI
FRPSXWHU PRGHOOLQJ WR NQRZ WKH VHFUHWV EHKLQG WKH
SKHQRPHQD 2QO\ YLVXDOLVDWLRQ E\ WKH KXPDQ EUDLQ DQG
FRPSXWLQJ RI WKH IDFWXDO GDWD UHODWHG WR WKH 0RRQ
$VWURQRP\ DQG VRPH VFLHQWL¿F ODZV FDQ UHYHDO WKH
DQVZHUV %HORZ LV WKH VFLHQWL¿F VWRU\ RI WKH 0RRQ WKDW
SURYLGHVWKHDQVZHUVWRWKHIROORZLQJP\VWHULHVGHWDLOHG
0RVW0\VWHULHVVROYHG OHVVHUWKDQWKHVWDULWLWVHOIJHWVRUELWDOSXVKLQWKHUHYHUVH
GLUHFWLRQ
 -XSLWHURIWKHVRODUV\VWHPDQG+RW-XSLWHUVLQVSDFH
KDYH QXPHURXV P\VWHULHV ZKLFK FDQQRW EH XQGHUVWRRG
FRUUHFWO\XQOHVVWKHFRQFHUQHGXQGHUVWDQGIRUPDWLRQDQG
ZRUNLQJ PHFKDQLVP RI WKH VRODU V\VWHP EDVHG RYHU
XQGHUVWRRGGLVFRYHUHGPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHSURSHUWLHVRI
WKHUD\VIRUGHWDLOHGH[SODQDWLRQUHDGRQWKHZHEVLWH
8UDQXV
 )RUPDWLRQRI8UDQXVWLOWWRLWVD[LVDQGHOOLSWLFDO
H[SODQDWLRQRIVWDWHGP\VWHULHVDQGVRPHRWKHUVLVRQWKH RUELW DUH EDVHG RYHU XQGHUVWRRG GLVFRYHUHG
ZHEVLWH
 0\VWHULHV :K\ WKH 0RRQ NHHSV WKH VDPH IDFH
WRZDUGV(DUWK":K\DUHWKHYROFDQLFHUXSWLRQVDQGPDULD
RYHUWKH0RRQFRQFHQWUDWHGRQWKHVLGHQHDUWRWKH(DUWK"
:K\GRPHWHRUVZKLFKVWULNHRYHUWKH0RRQKDYHVRPH
SDWWHUQDFFRUGLQJWRWKHLUVL]HV":KDWFDXVHVP\VWHULRXV
TXDNHVWKDWYLEUDWHWKURXJKOXQDUURFNVRYHUWKHVLGHRIWKH
0RRQ ZKLFK LV DZD\ IURP WKH (DUWK" :K\ LV WKH 0RRQ
FORVHUWRWKH(DUWKZKHQLWLVFORVHWRWKH6XQDQGIDUWKHU
DZD\ZKHQDZD\IURPWKH6XQ"
 9LVXDOL]HG 6FLHQWL¿F VWRU\ ,Q WKH SDVW KLVWRU\
\RXQJ(DUWKDQG\RXQJ0RRQZHUHDGMDFHQWSODQHWV7KH\
RQJDLQLQJPDVVIURPWKHGLVFRISDUWLFOHVDQGDVWHURLGV
 -XSLWHU  :K\ -XSLWHU LV WKH ELJJHVW SODQHW" 'XULQJ
IRUPDWLRQRIWKHSODQHWVIURPWKHÀDWGLVFRIGXVWDQGJDVHV
DURXQGWKHSURWRVXQJUDYLW\DQGIRUZDUGWKUXVWRYHUWKH
SDUWLFOHVE\WKHPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VIURPWKH
6XQDORQJZLWKRWKHUVRODUHMHFWVKDYHDUUDQJHGSDUWLFOHVRI
WKHGLVF'HQVHUDQGELJJHUQHDUHUWRWKH6XQDQGRWKHUVDW
IDU Rႇ 7KH VDLG XQGHUVWRRG IDFWRU KDV DFFXPXODWHG
PD[LPXP PDVV RI WKH GLVF SDUWLFOHV DW WKH FHQWUH IURP
ZKLFKWKHSODQHW-XSLWHUKDVEHHQIRUPHG7KHSURWRFRUHRI
-XSLWHUVWDUWHGLWVMRXUQH\DWDGLVWDQFHIDUDZD\IURPWKH
SUHVHQW ORFDWLRQ 'XH WR WKH VWDWHG IDFW LW LV WKH ELJJHVW
SODQHW 'XULQJ PLJUDWLRQ IURP IDU Rႇ WR SUHVHQW ORFDWLRQ
-XSLWHU VZDOORZHG WKRXVDQGV RI ELJ REMHFWVDVWHURLGV
PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHSURSHUWLHVRIWKHUD\V
 6ROLGFRUHLVRIVKDSHSURODWHVSKHURLGWKXVLWLV
WLOWHG3ODQHWVKDYHIRUPHGIURPWKHGLVFRIGXVWDQGJDVHV
ZKLFK ZHUH DURXQG WKH SURWRVXQ $OO WKH SODQHWV KDYH
PLJUDWHGIURPIDURႇWRWKHSUHVHQWORFDWLRQE\VZDOORZLQJ
SDUWLFOHV DVWHURLGV DQG HYHQ VRPH VPDOOHU SODQHWV
3ODQHWV ZKLFK KDYH WKLFN JDVV\ DQG OLTXLG JDVV\ VKHOOV
SURYLGHVRIWODQGLQJWRWKHREMHFWVRUHYHQSODQHWVVDWHOOLWHV
ZKLFKDUHDWWUDFWHGWRZDUGVLW :LWKWKHSDVVDJHRIWLPH
DWWUDFWHGREMHFWVLQNVLQWRLWVFRUH%HFDXVHRIWKHIROORZLQJ
UHDVRQVROLGFRUHRIWKH8UDQXVLVIRUPHGRIWZRFOXEEHG
ZKLFK ZHUH DURXQG WKH 6XQ VKRUWHQHG WKHLU RUELWDO
GLVWDQFH:LWKWKHUHVXOW\RXQJ0RRQFDPHFORVHUWRWKH
9
RYHULWVHTXDWRULDOSODQH7KHVWDWHGWUDS
\RXQJ(DUWKDWWKHLUDOLJQPHQWZLWKWKH6XQ'XHWRPXWXDO
JUDYLW\DWWUDFWLRQ\RXQJ(DUWKSXOOHGWKH\RXQJ0RRQZKLOH
LWZDVSDVVLQJQHDUE\7KH\RXQJ0RRQJRWGHUDLOHGIURP
WKHRUELWDURXQGWKH6XQDQGDGRSWHGQHZRUELWDURXQGWKH
(DUWKDQGEHFDPHDVDWHOOLWHRIWKH(DUWK
 %RWKFOXEEHGWRJHWKHUDWDGLVWDQFHDQGGXHWRWKHLU
FOXEEHGPDVVPRYHGFORVHUWRWKH6XQ
)RUZDUGWKUXVWIURPWKHVRODUZLQGPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHV
FRPHWV DQG QXPEHU RI SODQHWV WRR 5HFHQWO\ LW KDV
VZDOORZHG WZRDVWHURLGV DQGZLWKWKHSDVVDJH RIWLPHLW
ZRXOG VZDOORZ WKH HQWLUH DVWHURLG EHOW -XSLWHU ZLWK DQ
DWWHPSW WR EHFRPH KRW -XSLWHU ZRXOG VZDOORZ DOO WKH
WHUUHVWULDOSODQHWV
:K\ LV FHQWUH RI WKH VROLG FRUH RI WKH -XSLWHU QRW DV
GHQVHDVLWZDVXQGHUVWRRG"2ULJLQRIWKHSURWRFRUHRI
WKH-XSLWHUZDVDWIDURႇIURPWKHSUHVHQWORFDWLRQ,WKDV
PLJUDWHG GXH WR DGGLWLRQ RI PDVV DV VWDWHG DERYH $V
-XSLWHUJDLQHGPDVVLWVKRUWHQHGLWVRUELWDOGLVWDQFH(YHU\
QH[W VKHOO IRUPHG RI WKH VROLG PDVV RYHU WKH FRUH ZDV
SODQHWV RU LW FDQ EH VDLG RI VKDSH SURODWH VSKHURLG
0DWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VIURPWKH6XQIRUPDWUDS
]RQHRIVKDSH
]RQHGRHVQRWDOORZDQ\SODQHWRIVKDSHSURODWHVSKHURLGWR
URWDWHYHUWLFDOO\RYHUHTXDWRULDOSODQHRIWKH6XQLWKDVWR
VSLQZLWKLWVD[LVDOPRVWSDUDOOHOWRWKHVDLGSODQH6RVKDSH
RI WKH VROLG FRUH RI 8UDQXV PXVW EH RI VKDSH SURODWH
VSKHURLG )LQGLQJ E\ WKH VFLHQWLVWV KDV FRQ¿UPHG VR
6FLHQWLVWVKDYHQRWLFHGWKDW8UDQXVGRHVQRWEXOJHDWLWV
HTXDWRUDVZRXOGH[SHFWIRUVXFKDFRPSRVLWLRQDQGVXFKD
UDSLGUDWHRIVSLQLWVHTXDWRULDOGLDPHWHULVRQO\SHUFHQW
FXUYHGUD\VDORQJZLWKRWKHUVRODUHMHFWVRQWKHFOXEEHG
IRUPDWLRQKDVWLOWHGURWDWLRQD[LVRIWKH(DUWK2UELWDOSODLQ
RIWKH0RRQWRRFKDQJHGZLWKUHVSHFWWRRUELWDOSODQHRIWKH
6XQGXHWRWLOWRIWKH(DUWK)RUZDUGWKUXVWE\WKHVRODUZLQG
LVDOVRNHHSLQJWKH0RRQFORVHUWRWKH(DUWKZKHQLWLVFORVH
WRWKH6XQDQGIDUWKHUDZD\ZKHQDZD\IURPWKH6XQ
 7KH0RRQSULRUWREHFRPLQJVDWHOOLWHRIWKH(DUWKZDV
DOVRURWDWLQJOLNH(DUWK7KH0RRQZKLOHRUELWLQJDURXQGWKH
(DUWK KDG WR FRPH FORVHU WR WKH SODQHW 9HQXV ZKHQ WKH
SODQHW9HQXVRYHUWDNHVWKH(DUWKZKLOHRUELWLQJDURXQGWKH
6XQ 'XH WR UHWURJUDGH URWDWLRQ RI WKH 9HQXV LWV
PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VLQWHQGWRURWDWHWKH0RRQ
LQWKHUHYHUVHGLUHFWLRQ7KH0RRQZLWKIHHEOHJHQHUDWHG
PDWHULDOLVWLF SDUWLFOHV FXUYHG UD\V FRXOG QRW RSSRVH WKH
PRYHRIWKH9HQXVZKLFKUHVXOWHGWRKDOWLWVURWDWLRQ)URP
WKDW PRPHQW WKH 0RRQ KDV WKH VDPH IDFH WRZDUGV WKH
(DUWKDQGLQDGGLWLRQWRLWDQRWKHUIDFWRUVWRSSHGURWDWLRQRI
WKH 0RRQ *UDYLW\ RI WKH (DUWK NHSW RQ SXOOLQJ GHQVHVW
GHQVHUWKDQWKHH[LVWLQJFRUHWKDWLVZK\FHQWUHRIWKHFRUH
RIWKH-XSLWHULVOHVVGHQVHWKDQWKHXSSHUVROLGVKHOOV
+RZ GLG -XSLWHU JHW HQULFKHG LQ KHDY\ HOHPHQWV
FRPSDUHG WR WKH 6XQ" $V SHU WKH GLVFRYHU\ FODLP
QXFOHXV RI WKH FRPHWV KDYH IRUPHG IURP WKH GHQVHU
HOHPHQWVZKLFKZHUHLQWKHÀDWGLVFEHWZHHQWKH6XQDQG
WKH SODQHW 0HUFXU\ )RUPDWLRQ PHFKDQLVP RI WKH -XSLWHU
VWDWHG DERYH VXJJHVWV WKDW GXH WR KLJK JUDYLW\ SXOO
VZDOORZLQJRISDVVLQJE\FRPHWVLQWKHSDVWKLVWRU\ZRXOG
KDYHHQULFKHG-XSLWHUZLWKKHDY\HOHPHQWV
+RZGRHVWKHLQWHULRUDQGH[WHULRURI-XSLWHUURWDWH"
*HQHUDWHG PDWHULDOLVWLF SDUWLFOHV FXUYHG UD\V ZKLFK
HPHUJH IURP WKH FHQWUH WR HVFDSH URWDWH WKH OLTXLG DQG
FORXG\PDWWHUEHVLGHVURWDWLRQWRLWVVROLGPROWHQFRUH6ROLG
FRUHZRXOGURWDWHLQWKHVDPHGLUHFWLRQLQZKLFKWKH6XQ
URWDWHV ZKHUHDV LQWHQVLW\ RI JHQHUDWHG PDWHULDOLVWLF
SDUWLFOHV FXUYHG UD\V DQG GHQVLW\ RI WKH PHGLXP
ELJJHUWKDQLWVSRODUGLDPHWHU
 9LVXDOL]HGVFLHQWL¿FVWRU\RIWKHIRUPDWLRQRIWKH
SODQHW8UDQXV'XULQJIRUPDWLRQHUDRIWKHVRODUSODQHWV
EH\RQGWKHSODQHW6DWXUQWKHUHZHUHWZRDGMDFHQWSODQHWV
VD\8UDDQG1XV%RWKSODQHWVKDGÀDWULQJVDQGWKH\ZHUH
URWDWLQJ ZLWK VRPH WLOWHG D[LV GXH WKH WKUXVW IURP
PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VRIWKH6XQIDOOLQJRQWKHLU
ÀDWULQJV%RWKSODQHWVZHUHJDLQLQJPDVVE\VZDOORZLQJ
DVWHURLGV ZLWK WKH UHVXOW WKHLU RUELWDO GLVWDQFH ZDV
GHFUHDVLQJ$PRPHQWFDPHWKDWIDUWKHUSODQHW1XVFDPH
FORVHU WR WKH SODQHW 8UD DW WKHLU DOLJQPHQW ZLWK WKH 6XQ
7KHLUPXWXDOJUDYLW\DWWUDFWLRQWULJJHUHGWKHSKHQRPHQRQ
WRFOXEWKHPWRJHWKHU7KLFNDQGGHQVHJDVV\OLTXLGJDVV\
VKHOOV SURYLGHG FXVKLRQ IRU WKHLU VRIW FOXEELQJ :KLOH
FOXEELQJERWKJRWJUHDWHUWLOWWRWKHLUD[LVGXHWRWKHLURZQ
RXWJRLQJPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VZLWKWKHUHVXOW
6RXWK3ROHRIWKHSODQHW8UDFOXEEHGZLWKWKH1RUWK3ROHRI
GHWHUPLQHV URWDWLRQ FLUFXODWLQJ VSHHG DQG URWDWLRQ WKH 3ODQHW 1XV ,Q WKH SURFHVV RI FOXEELQJ PRVW ULQJV

HOHPHQWV IURP WKH PROWHQ FRUH RI WKH 0RRQ WRZDUGV LW PDWWHUGULIWHGDZD\WRVSDFHE\WKHVRODUZLQGEXWODWHUDW
UHVXOWLQJWRVORZHUURWDWLRQVSHHGDQG¿QDOO\WRORFNLWVVSLQ
V OLTXLG DQG JDVV\
 2QFHURWDWLRQRIWKH0RRQZDVVWRSSHGJUDYLW\RIWKH
(DUWK JRW WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR SXOO WKH GHQVHU FRUH RI WKH
FLUFXODWLQJ GLUHFWLRQ RI WKH -XSLWHU
PDWWHU VWDELOL]DWLRQ RI WKH FOXEEHG SODQHW 8UDQXV ÀDW ULQJV
UHIRUPHG DQG ZHUH UHJDLQHG WKH VDPH ZD\ DV SODQHW
6XUIDFHRIWKHVROLGPDWWHUZRXOGQRWEHSHUIHFWO\VPRRWK
0RRQWRZDUGVLWWRORFNURWDWLRQRIWKH0RRQSHUPDQHQWO\E\
PDNLQJLWHFFHQWULF)XUWKHUFRQWLQXRXVSXOOE\WKHJUDYLW\
RIWKH(DUWKIRUPLOOLRQVRI\HDUVRYHU0RRQ
VGHQVHUFRUH
PDGHWKHPDQWOHVKHOOEHWZHHQWKHFRUHDQGVXUIDFHRIWKH
0RRQWKLQQHU(DUWK
VJUDYLW\WUDQVIRUPHGVSKHULFDOFRUHWR
DQG URXQG LW ZRXOG EH SDUWLDOO\ LPEHGGHG ZLWK VRPH 6DWXUQJRWLWVÀDWULQJV([SODQDWLRQLVRQWKHZHEVLWH
 (OOLSWLFDORUELWRIWKHSODQHW8UDQXVLVEHFDXVHRILWV
VZDOORZHGELJVROLGREMHFWVDQGSODQHWVGXHWRZKLFKXSSHU
FLUFXODWLQJJDVV\PDWWHUIRUPVHGGLHV3ODQHWVZKLFKKDYH ÀDWULQJVZKLFKDUHDOPRVWYHUWLFDOWRLWVRUELWDOSODQH:KHQ
VXUIDFHRIWKHÀDWULQJVIDFHVWKH6XQLWJHWVJUHDWHUWKUXVW
GHQVHU DQG WKLFN JDVV\ DQG OLTXLG JDVHV VKHOO SURYLGH
JHQWOH DQG VRIW ODQGLQJ LQVWHDG RI FUDVK LPSDFW WR WKH PDJQLWXGH IURP WKH PDWHULDOLVWLF SDUWLFOHV FXUYHG UD\V RI
WKH 6XQ WKXV 8UDQXV DGRSWV ZLGHU RUELWDO GLVWDQFH WKDQ
DQHJJRUSHDUVKDSHGFRUHKDYLQJSRLQWHGVLGHWRZDUGV DWWUDFWHGREMHFWVDQGSODQHWV)RUIXUWKHUFODUL¿FDWLRQUHDG
DKHDGIRUPDWLRQRIWKHSODQHW8UDQXV ZKHQHGJHRIWKHÀDWULQJVIDFHVWKH6XQ'XHWRWKHVWDWHG
WKH(DUWKZKLFKPDGHPDQWOHHYHQWKLQQHU
 &RUHRIHYHU\SODQHWLVPROWHQREYLRXVO\FRUHRIWKH
0RRQWRRZRXOGEHPROWHQLQWKHSDVW&RQWLQXRXVJUDYLW\
SXOO E\ WKH (DUWK RYHU WKH FRUH RI WKH 0RRQ KDV SXOOHG
IDFWVRUELWDOSDWKRIWKH8UDQXVLVHOOLSWLFDO
:K\-XSLWHUURWDWHVIDVWHU"-XSLWHULVIDURႇIURPWKH6XQ
VRLWVPROWHQFRUHGRHVQRWSXWUHWDUGDWLRQWRLWVURWDWLRQ
VSHHGDVPROWHQFRUHVRIWKHSODQHWV0HUFXU\DQG9HQXV $OVRVHHRYHUWKH<RX7XEH
GRHV )XUWKHU -XSLWHU JHQHUDWHV JUHDW TXDQWXP RI
GHQVHU PROWHQ PDVV WRZDUGV LW (DUWK DQG JDVHV ZHUH
SXVKHGRSSRVLWHWRZDUGVWKHVLGHRIWKHFRUHZKLFKLVDZD\
IURPWKH(DUWK(VFDSHRIWKHJDVHVWKURXJKFUDFNVRIWKH
URFNVFDXVHVPRRQTXDNHVUHVXOWLQJWRYLEUDWHWKHURFNV
 *UDYLW\RIWKH(DUWKKDVSXOOHGPROWHQDQGGHQVHUODYD
IURPWKH PROWHQ FRUH RI WKH0RRQ GXH WR WKLQQLQJ RIWKH
PDQWOHZKLFKIDFHVWKH(DUWK2YHUWKH(DUWKYROFDQRHV
HUXSWGXHWRSUHVVXUHRIWKHJDVHVIURPLQVLGHWKH(DUWKEXW
YROFDQRHV RYHU WKH 0RRQ ZHUH GXH WR WZR IDFWRUV RQH
PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VZKLFKRQWKHLUHVFDSH  1HZ'LVFRYHU\5RWDWLRQWR6XQE\LWV
SURYLGHIDVWHUURWDWLRQWRLWGXHWRWKHLUEDFNWKUXVW PDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVUD\V
:KDW UHODWLRQVKLS GR WKH 7URMDQV KDYH ZLWK WKH
-XSLWHU" +LJK SRZHUHG VHOIJHQHUDWHG PDWHULDOLVWLF  0RRQ (DUWKZHUHDGMDFHQWSODQHWV
SDUWLFOHV FXUYHG UD\V IURP WKH -XSLWHU NHHS D JURXS RI +RZ GLG WKH (DUWK FDSWXUH LW GXH WR
DVWHURLGVDZD\ZLWKWKHLUWKUXVW2QWKHRWKHUVLGHWKUXVW
SXVKHVDQRWKHUJURXSRIDVWHURLGVWRRUELWIDVWHUWKDQWKH
UHODWLYHVORZRUELWDOPRWLRQ"
UHVW RI WKH DVWHURLGV UHVXOWLQJ WR IRUP 7URMDQV
VLPLODUWRWKH(DUWKDQGDQRWKHUDGGLWLRQDOLHSXOOE\WKH DFFXPXODWLRQVRIDVWHURLGVIURPWKHDVWHURLGEHOWRQERWK  5HDG LQ GHWDLO WKH GLVFRYHU\ FODLP
JUDYLW\RIWKH(DUWKRYHUWKHPROWHQPDWWHUH[LVWLQJEHQHDWK VLGHVZKLFKPRYHDORQJDVWKH-XSLWHURUELWV
WKHWKLQPDQWOHRIWKH0RRQ
0$7(5,$/,67,& 81,9(56(
 RQ
7KH0RRQKDGVRPHFUDWHUVSULRUWRLWVFDSWXUHE\WKH(DUWK
EXW DIWHU EHFRPLQJ D VDWHOOLWH RI WKH (DUWK SDWWHUQ RI WKH
QHZO\ IRUPHG FUDWHUV FKDQJHG 0RVW ELJ FUDWHUV IRUPHG
RYHU WKH VLGH ZKLFK LV DZD\ IURP WKH (DUWK :KHQ DQ\
PHWHRUGDVKHGWRZDUGVWKHFOXEEHGIRUPDWLRQ(DUWKDQG
+RW-XSLWHUV+RZ+RW-XSLWHUVIRUP"7KHSURFHVVWR ZHEVLWHZZZQHZWRQXJHDPFRP
IRUP+RW-XSLWHULVWKHVDPHDVVWDWHGDERYHIRUWKH-XSLWHU
EXWWRIRUP+RW-XSLWHUVWDUDQGVWDUV\VWHPELJJHUWKDQWKH
6XQDQGVRODUV\VWHPLVDPXVW 3OHDVH UHSO\ WKDW ZK\ DERYH VWDWHG
:K\VRPH+RW-XSLWHUVZKLFKDUHFORVHUWRWKHLUKRVW
VWDUV URWDWH LQ WKH UHYHUVH GLUHFWLRQ" 5HDVRQ LV WKH
GLVFRYHUHGIDFWVDUHQRWFRUUHFW
WKH0RRQPDWHULDOLVWLFSDUWLFOHVFXUYHGUD\VIURPWKH(DUWK
 missed M24. Others said that M24 must be one and the
BINOCULAR UNIVERSE same as NGC 6603, a densely packed open cluster super-
imposed on the northeastern quadrant of M24. But
NGC 6603 shines faintly at 11th magnitude and mea-
sures only 4'. Compare that to Messier’s original descrip-

Explore tion and it’s obvious that they are not the same object,
though many past sources insisted they were.
While M24 stands out nicely through binoculars,

Sagittarius NGC 6603 is challenging due to its dimness, com-

pounded by its unfortunate position in front of the “star
cloud’s” brightest region. Estimates place as many as 100
Explore one of the richest areas of the Milky Way. individual stars within, although with none brighter
than 14th magnitude, they are far too faint to resolve
One of the most amazing through even giant binoculars. Instead, their light
regions to enjoy through blends to form a softly glowing smudge against a rich
binoculars lies just north backdrop. Look for it just north of an equilateral triangle
of the Sagittarius Teapot’s spout. of 7th-magnitude stars. By waiting for that special night
There, the clouds of our Milky Way under a clear, dark sky free from moonlight, artificial
billow northward like steam from a light pollution, and summer haze, you just might see
percolating kettle. Aim toward the something that Messier missed.
star at the spout, Alnasl (Gamma 2
There are several isolated patches of dark nebulosity
2
[γ ] Sagittarii), an optical double silhouetted in front of M24. The most obvious is cata-
star circumstantially paired with loged as Barnard 92 in Edward Barnard’s “On the Dark
1
unrelated 5th-magnitude Gamma Markings of the Sky, With a Catalogue of 182 Such
1
(γ ) almost a degree to its north. Objects,” published in The Astrophysical Journal’s
While viewing through your January 1919 edition. Barnard’s one-line description
binoculars, hop northeastward portrayed it as a “Black spot, 15' north and south, 9' east
along a series of wonderful deep-sky and west.” That likely led to its nickname, the Black
targets. You’ll pass a gallery of Hole, coined long before the expression was applied to
showpieces, including the Lagoon the end result of the most massive stars when they deto-
Nebula (M8) and the Trifid Nebula nate as supernovae.
(M20). Barnard’s black spot may be glimpsed with 35- and
The region known as By all means, pause at each, but 50mm binoculars, growing more obvious as magnifica-
M24 contains a vast then continue northeastward. Some 12° — about two tion and aperture climb. It does indeed look like an oval
cloud of stars, the
compact star cluster binocular fields — beyond Alnasl, you’ll arrive at a “black hole” oriented north-south through my 16x70s,
NGC 6603 (left of large, denser region of the Milky Way measuring about appearing about half as large as our Moon.
center), and two three Moon diameters across. Charles If you spot B92, try your luck with the next
prominent dark
nebulae, B92 and Messier included this as the 24th entry in his catalog entry, Barnard 93, about 1/3° east of
B93 (above right of famous catalog, noting its appearance in 1764 An amazing B92. But be forewarned; it’s tougher. While
center). FRED CALVERT AND
ADAM BLOCK, NOAO, AURA, NSF
as “a large nebulosity in which there are many region lies B93 matches B92’s size north-to-south, it
stars of different magnitudes.” just north appears less than half as wide east-to-west.
M24 was later christened the Small Unlike B92, which has sharp edges that clearly
Sagittarius Star Cloud, but that is not accurate.
of the define it from the surroundings, B93 slowly
M24 is not a single object. Nor is it a cloud of Sagittarius diffuses outward into its environs. In photo-
stars at all. Instead, this star-studded area is Teapot’s graphs, it looks like the silhouette of a
an open window into the depths of the Milky spout. northward-facing comet with a denser “coma”
Way. Like other spiral galaxies, the plane of and a fainter “tail” trailing southward.
our Milky Way is heavily polluted with inter- Finally, as a postscript to the history of
stellar matter, including vast clouds of opaque dust. M24: While it is obviously not NGC 6603, it is in fact
That’s why studying the center of our galaxy is so chal- listed in the second supplemental Index Catalog pub-
lenging. There is just too much local interference — lished after the New General Catalogue. There, we find
except toward M24. There, the dust is thin enough that it cross-referenced as IC 4715 and described as a “most
we can peer through our local arm to a depth of about extremely large cloud of stars and nebulae.” That seems
16,000 light-years, all the way to the Carina-Sagittarius reasonable.
arm, halfway between us and the inner Norma arm. Questions, comments? Send them to me via my web-
BY PHIL
Somewhere along the way, M24 went “missing.” At site, philharrington.net. Until next month, remember
HARRINGTON
Phil is a longtime least, that’s how some 20th-century references termed that two eyes are better than one.
contributor to it. That’s probably because those authors were looking
Astronomy and the through the narrow fields of their telescopes, which BROWSE THE “BINOCULAR UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT
author of many books. couldn’t take in the full breadth of the area and thus www.Astronomy.com/Harrington

68 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 NEW PRODUCTS

CMOS Imaging control Folding

camera Software Bisque chair
Orion Golden, Colorado Blue Ridge
Telescopes & Software Bisque’s TheSky Fusion Chair Works
Binoculars combines object-acquisition and Asheville,
Watsonville, imaging software with hardware North Carolina
California to power your devices. It wirelessly Blue Ridge
Orion’s StarShoot controls TheSky software and has Chair Works’
1.3mp Solar System Wi-Fi, GPS, Ethernet, and four Nomad Stool
V Imaging Camera USB 3.0 ports. It also contains eight weighs 5 pounds
uses a 1/2.5-inch color power ports with configurable (2.3 kilograms)
CMOS chip with 2.2-micron voltages and amperages. but can support
pixels in a 1280x1024 array. The a 300-pound (136 kg) load. It
$1,695
exposure range is from 0.001 to locks with a simple pin system
303.278.4478
0.4 second, and it will capture and features a sling seat with a
www.bisque.com
16 frames-per-second video at back support. Open, it measures
1272x952. The camera comes with 16 by 16 by 23 inches (41 by 41 by
a 1¼-inch nosepiece threaded for 58 centimeters). It is available in
eyepiece filters. black and green.
Attention, $79.99 $138
manufacturers: 800.447.1001 828.299.9990
To submit a product
www.telescope.com www.blueridgechair.com
for this page,
email mbakich@
astronomy.com.

CALLISTO GLOBE s second largest moon, captured in this

Astronomy Magazine
EXCLUSIVE
highly detailed 12” desktop globe, available only from Astronomy

154 SURFACE FEATURES PLUS

identified and labeled from the latest an informational flyer
data. about the moon, the images,
and the globe's production.
DETAILED IMAGES
from the Galileo, Voyager 1, and Voyager
2 spacecraft.

CUSTOM-PRODUCED
injection-molded globe with a single
seam and clear acrylic base.

Order now! LIMITED

MyScienceShop.com/Callisto QUANTITIES!

Item #81393 • $99.95

P38065

Sales tax where applicable.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 69
 ASK ASTRO Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.

Interstellar
Comets and asteroids slow them down completely. Therefore, the trajectory
in our solar system
orbit the Sun with
shows that the object originated somewhere else in the
closed elliptical universe, traveled through interstellar space, and

visitors
orbits. But objects entered the solar system. The object then reaches peri-
that come from other
star systems have helion before eventually leaving the solar system.
open-ended, Davide Farnocchia
hyperbolic orbits. This Navigation Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
means they not only Caltech, Pasadena, California
originated elsewhere,
but also are traveling ORBITAL TRAJECTORIES
too fast for the Sun
to capture them, so
they’ll eventually
escape back into
interstellar space.
Elliptical orbit
QI WHY DOES SUPERNOVA 1987A
LOOK LIKE A RING INSTEAD OF
A SPHERICAL BALL OF DEBRIS?
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY James Johnson
Indianapolis

Circular orbit
AI Supernova 1987A is a supernova remnant in
the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way’s
largest satellite galaxy. The remnant was created when a
Sun massive star exploded — an event we saw here on Earth
in February 1987. Since then, the remnant has evolved
as the energy from the exploding star travels outward,
slamming into nearby gas and dust.
Hyperbolic But if the explosion sent material and energy in all
orbit directions, then why does the remnant appear to have
three rings, instead of looking like a sphere? The answer
lies in what happened before the supernova, in the
behavior of the progenitor star doomed to explode. As
QI HOW DO ASTRONOMERS
DETERMINE IF ASTEROIDS OR
COMETS ARRIVE FROM OTHER STARS?
that star neared the end of its life, it evolved from a red
supergiant star into a blue supergiant star. At the same
Douglas Kaupa time, the star’s winds changed from dense and slow-
Council Bluffs, Iowa moving to thin and fast-moving. When the fast-moving
wind collided with the slower-moving wind that was

AI We recognize that an asteroid or comet is

interstellar from its trajectory. The trajectory
of an object is computed by comparing precise measure-
ejected before it, it caused material to pile up around

ments of its changing position on the sky to the possible

trajectories that account for all known forces acting on
it, such as the gravity of the Sun and the planets. The
calculated trajectory we use is the one that best matches
the object’s observed motion.
Objects that reside within our solar system (planets,
asteroids, and comets) all move approximately along
closed elliptical orbits, each with a perihelion (closest
point to the Sun) and an aphelion (farthest point from
the Sun). Objects move fastest at perihelion, and then
solar gravity slows them down as they try to race away
from the Sun. Eventually, they reach aphelion and solar
gravity brings them back closer to the Sun again.
Despite being computed the same way as the trajec-
tory of asteroids and comets, the trajectory of an inter- The star responsible for Supernova 1987A ejected more material
stellar object is different. It is essentially an open-ended in some directions than others. This artist’s impression shows
hyperbola with a perihelion point but no aphelion. how the supernova remnant might look from a different
viewpoint than we have on Earth. Rings of material are now
Interstellar objects have such high velocities that, on the lighting up as shock waves from the supernova pass through
outbound leg, the Sun’s gravity is not strong enough to them. ESO/L. CALÇADA

70 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 Each image in this
series depicts a unique
galaxy pair in a
different stage of a
galactic merger. As
time progresses from
1 to 6, the galaxies’
spiral shapes become
stretched out and are
ultimately destroyed.
NASA, ESA, THE HUBBLE HERITAGE
TEAM (STSCI/AURA)-ESA/HUBBLE

1 2 3 COLLABORATION AND A. EVANS

(UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA,
CHARLOTTESVILLE/NRAO/STONY
BROOK UNIVERSITY), K. NOLL (STSCI),
AND J. WESTPHAL (CALTECH)

4 5 6

the star. Furthermore, astronomers believe that, based
on factors such as the star’s magnetic field and its rota-
tion during the red supergiant phase, more material
piled up around its equator and in regions around its
poles. When faster winds crashed into those regions
later, it formed three distinct rings.
When the star finally exploded, the energy from the
blast moved outward in all directions. The rings we now
see are caused by shocks that occur as that energy
smacks into the existing rings, exciting the gas and light-
ing them up. The other areas around the now-dead star
aren’t glowing in a sphere simply because there isn’t
much material there, since it’s mostly concentrated in
the rings that were left behind from before the explosion.
Over time, these rings have appeared to change and
expand as the shocks move through them, illuminating
new regions as the material closer to the star fades once
the shock has passed.
To complicate matters, astronomers suspect the
supernova explosion itself was possibly not symmetric,
but instead sent more energy in one direction than oth-
ers, exaggerating the nonspherical shape of the remnant
we see.
Alison Klesman
Senior Associate Editor
QI WHY DO TWO COLLIDING SPIRAL
GALAXIES FORM AN ELLIPTICAL
GALAXY RATHER THAN ONE LARGER
SPIRAL GALAXY?
Bill Dellinges
Apache Junction, Arizona
pull the stars, gas, and dust of the spiral arms out of
their original orbits. This is what causes the warped
shape of famously interacting pairs such as the Mice
(NGC 4676) and the Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038
and NGC 4039). It is also what ultimately destroys the
initial spiral patterns of the two galaxies and results in
an elliptical galaxy once the merger is complete.
Galaxy collisions aren’t typically one-and-done
events — galaxies don’t approach each other, smack
together, and stick. Instead, depending on their initial
trajectories as they approach one another, two galaxies
may pass by or even through each other several times
over the course of billions of years before they finally
merge. This repeated interaction pulls the spirals apart
a bit like stretching taffy, yanking at the stars that once
serenely circled the center of their home galaxy in an
orderly fashion. During the merger, the stars become
scattered and their orbits become random. This is what
results in a single, football-shaped elliptical galaxy with
stars orbiting the center in all planes, rather than the
single plane of a flat spiral galaxy.
Elliptical galaxies are also known for their dearth of
star-forming material. This is because when spirals — SEND US YOUR
which typically contain plentiful gas with which to
make new stars — collide, gravity also triggers that gas
QUESTIONS
Send your
to quickly condense and form stars all at once in a single
astronomy questions
big burst. Such starbursts, as astronomers call them,
use up the gas so that by the time the merger has fin-
ished, it has little material for new stars. What gas
via email to askastro@
astronomy.com, or
write to Ask Astro,
remains is too hot and spread out to condense into new P.O. Box 1612,
stars or clump together into new spiral arms. Instead, Waukesha, WI 53187.
the elliptical galaxy remains puffed up and its compo- Be sure to tell us
your full name and
nents keep their randomized orbits, never again settling where you live.

AI When two spiral galaxies collide, gravity is the

main force that comes into play. As the galax-
ies approach each other, gravitational forces start to
into a spiral shape.
Alison Klesman
Senior Associate Editor
Unfortunately, we
cannot answer all
questions submitted.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 71
 READER GALLERY

Cosmic portraits

1
1. TRIPLE TREAT
As Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) moved
through Ursa Major on February 2,
2020, it passed the Owl Nebula
(M97, top) and edge-on spiral galaxy
M108. The Asteroid Terrestrial-
impact Last Alert System (or ATLAS)
survey discovered it December 28,
making it the final comet discovered
in 2019. • Gerald Rhemann

2. EXHAUST GAS
NGC 6883 is an open cluster in the
constellation Cygnus. This deep
image shows a bubble of interstellar
gas being blown away from the
Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, a star that
outshines our Sun by 400,000 times.
• Fred Herrmann

72 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 3. THE QUESTION
N185 is a superbubble that
lies in the Large Magellanic
Cloud. The current debate
about such objects is whether
they are supernova remnants
or supersonic flows of stellar
winds. Globular cluster NGC
1751 appears above N185, and
open cluster NGC 1711 lies to
its right. • Don Goldman

4. DON’T TELL A SOUL

Sharpless 2–201 lies in the
constellation Cassiopeia the
Queen, some 10,000 light-
years away. It sits along the
eastern border of the Soul
Nebula (IC 1848). The
photographer captured 51.4
hours of exposures through
Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen-III,
3 and Sulfur-II filters to create
this image. • Douglas J.
Struble

5. I SEE YOU
Starburst galaxy IC 10 lies in
the constellation Cassiopeia
and belongs to the Local
Group. Although it glows at
magnitude 10.4, it’s difficult to
see because of its size (7' by
6') and because it’s near the
Milky Way’s plane. IC 10 lies
2.2 million light-years away.
• David Wills

6. CIRCLE OF LIGHT
On December 23, 2019,
moonlight created a halo
at daybreak over the Honghe
Hani Rice Terraces, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
in Yunnan Province, China.
Thin cirrus clouds containing
4 5 tiny ice crystals refract the
light into a 44°-wide halo.
• Jeff Dai

SEND YOUR IMAGES TO:

Astronomy Reader Gallery,
P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha,
WI 53187. Please include
the date and location of the
image and complete photo
data: telescope, camera,
filters, and exposures.
Submit images by email to
6 readergallery@
astronomy.com.

WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 73
 BREAKTHROUGH

FROM TINY SEEDS GROW MIGHTY STARS

Astronomers often dream up fanciful names for the glowing gas clouds and sparkling star clusters that dot the sky. Yet this
stunning nebula is known only by a dreary catalog designation: LHA 120-N150. The small star-forming region lies on the
outskirts of the giant Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxy. Scientists
targeted LHA 120-N150 and six other small LMC nebulae because they harbor still-developing massive stars that appear
isolated, despite the assumption such suns should form only in clusters. However, it looks like theorists can breathe easy: The
Hubble images reveal compact clusters of 100 or more nascent stars surrounding each of the massive stars. ESA/HUBBLE, NASA, I. STEPHENS

74 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2020

 PlaneWave Instruments

L-SERIES DIRECT DRIVE MOUNTS

GEARS ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND

WHY USE L-SERIES?

• Gearless direct drive motors
• High resolution axis-encoders
• High-precision tracking, from sidereal-rate to
degrees/second
• Mount modeling and control software included
• Automated motor tuning
• ayload 100lbs, 200lbs, and 300lbs
respectively for L-350, L-500 and L-600
• Compatible with many OTAs
• Equatorial or Alt-Az operation

WHY USE DIRECT DRIVE?

• No gears
• No backlash
• No periodic error
• Silent operation
• Years of maintenance-free heavy use
• Highly responsive
• Fast target acquisition
• Technology from PlaneWave
1 meter in a small package

NGC3579 photo by PlaneWave staff Matt

Dieterich and CDK600 equipment owner Nick
Dunckel from ObsTech in Chile

This close-up is from the corner of an unregistered stack of a 9x5 minute

sequence, using an L350 mount and CDK14 in Alt/Az with IRF90
de-rotation, unguided. Less than 1% elongation, at less than 0.65
arc-seconds/pixel!

1375 North Main Street • Adrian, Mi 49221 • www.planewave.com

 1

Tom Johnson founded Celestron in 1960 to make

astronomy simple and accessible to everyone.
That guiding principle continues to inspire
everything we do. For our 60th anniversary, we’ve
put all of our most cutting-edge technologies
into a new telescope that completely redefines
the observing experience.

1. EDGEHD OPTICS for views free of coma

and field curvature—our very best visual and 2
astroimaging performance

2. STARBRIGHT XLT OPTICAL COATINGS

for maximum light transmission and bright,
detailed views

3. NEXSTAR EVOLUTION MOUNT with

3
built-in, rechargeable lithium iron phosphate
battery to power 10 hours of observing

4. INTERNAL WIFI so you can control the 4

telescope wirelessly via a smartphone
or tablet

5. STARSENSE AUTOALIGN, our innovative

accessory that allows the telescope to align
itself to the night sky in about 3 minutes with
no user input

6. CPWI TELESCOPE CONTROL

SOFTWARE so you can control your
telescope and accessories seamlessly
via your PC

This limited-edition scope has an all-new 6

look with a carbon fiber tube, vintage-style
badging and logos, a set of interchangeable
commemorative “spinner” emblems, and a
certificate of authenticity individually numbered
and signed by Celestron pioneer Alan Hale and
CEO Corey Lee. We’re producing only 600 units
to commemorate 60 years.

B&H Photo – 800.947.9970 – bhphotovideo.com Woodland Hills – 888.427.8766 – telescopes.net

High Point Scientific – 800.266.9590 – highpointscientific.com Adorama – 800.223.2500 – adorama.com
Optics Planet – 800.504.5897 – opticsplanet.com Focus Camera – 800.221.0828 – focuscamera.com
Astronomics – 800.422.7876 – astronomics.com Agena AstroProducts – 562.215.4473 – agenaastro.com
OPT Telescopes – 800.483.6287 – optcorp.com
SOUTHERN SKY
The Red Planet returns to glory
As darkness falls in
early October, a glitter-
ing array of planets spreads
across the sky. You’ll want to
make Mercury your first tar-
get. For Southern Hemisphere
observers, the innermost planet
puts on its best evening show of
the year during spring. To
locate the diminutive world,
first find majestic Scorpius
halfway up the western sky
about an hour after sunset.
Mercury is the brightest object
below the Scorpion.
The planet reaches greatest
elongation October 1. It then
lies 26° east of the Sun and
stands 12° high an hour after
the Sun goes down. Glowing at
magnitude 0.0, Mercury out-
shines every other object in the
vicinity. Although the planet
dims slowly during the next two
weeks, its appearance through a
telescope improves. On the 1st,
Mercury appears 6.7" across
and 61 percent lit. A week later,
the world spans 7.6" and the
Sun illuminates just under half
of its disk. The planet grows
larger and displays a thinning
crescent until it disappears in
twilight around midmonth.
Once you’ve spent some
time with Mercury, shift your
gaze to the opposite side of the
sky for magnificent Mars. The
Red Planet reaches opposition
and peak visibility October 13,
when it rises at sunset and
climbs highest in the north
around midnight local time.
The ruddy world shines bril-
liantly at magnitude –2.6 and
appears as a warm beacon
October 2020
among the dim stars of Pisces.
Mars moves slowly westward
relative to the Fish’s stars this
month as Earth overtakes it on
our planet’s faster, smaller orbit
around the Sun.
This is the best time to
observe Mars through a tele-
scope in more than two years.
The planet spans 22.6" at its
closest during October’s first
week, but it remains above 20"
all month. Watch for subtle
dark markings on the other-
wise ocher surface, and be sure
to notice the bright white south
polar cap. The south polar
region stands out because it
tilts about 20° toward us.
After viewing the solar sys-
tem’s two smallest planets, turn
your attention to the two larg-
est. Jupiter and Saturn pass
nearly overhead shortly after
sunset. The two appear just a
few degrees apart against the
backdrop of Sagittarius, north-
east of the Archer’s distinctive
Teapot asterism.
Jupiter shines at magnitude
–2.3 in mid-October, just a
shade dimmer than Mars. And
with an equatorial diameter of
39", it remains a splendid tele-
scopic sight. During moments
of good seeing, the gas giant’s
atmosphere resolves into an
alternating series of bright
zones and darker belts punctu-
ated with smaller sites of turbu-
lence near their borders. Also
keep an eye out for Jupiter’s
four brightest moons, which
show up through any scope.
Magnitude 0.5 Saturn pales
in comparison with Jupiter but
BY MARTIN GEORGE
far outshines the background
stars of Sagittarius. The ringed
planet lies east of its planetary
companion, though the gap
between the two worlds shrinks
from 7° to 5° this month. Any
telescope reveals Saturn’s
17"-diameter disk surrounded
by a splendid ring system that
spans 38" and tilts 23° to our
line of sight. You should also
see the planet’s brightest satel-
lite, 8th-magnitude Titan.
Venus doesn’t clear the
horizon until a few minutes
before morning twilight starts
to paint the sky. The brightest
planet remains conspicuous,
however, because it shines bril-
liantly at magnitude –4.0. You
can find it low in the east as
twilight brightens. The inner
planet has lost much of its tele-
scopic appeal from earlier this
year. In mid-October, Venus
spans 14" and appears about
three-quarters lit.
The starry sky
A quick look at any good star
atlas will show labels attached
to many stars. Some have prop-
er names, such as Sirius and
Canopus, but these and others
are also often marked with
the Greek letters 17th-century
German astronomer Johann
Bayer assigned to them. And
in many cases, a number also
appears next to a star.
The numbers, which reach
as high as 140 (in the constella-
tion Taurus the Bull), owe their
existence to a star catalog pro-
duced by England’s first
Astronomer Royal, John
Flamsteed (1646–1719). Yet
Flamsteed himself did not
assign these numbers.
Following a complex history
that involved Isaac Newton,
Edmond Halley, and Johann
Bode, the numbers we use
today are the ones that
appeared in 18th-century
French astronomer Jérôme
Lalande’s 1783 almanac.
However, astronomers then
and now still refer to them
as Flamsteed numbers.
As important as the original
catalog was, it contained many
errors. It included nonexistent
stars and even Uranus, which
was cataloged as 34 Tauri.
From his observatory in
Greenwich, England, Flamsteed
could see no farther south than
a declination of about –38°. So
his catalog did extend into the
southern half of the celestial
sphere, but only so far.
The southernmost star with
a Flamsteed number is Upsilon
(υ) Scorpii, which appears as
34 Sco in the catalog. Almost as
far south is Shaula (Lambda [λ]
Scorpii), which is number 35.
Together, the two form the
Scorpion’s Stinger, which you
can find halfway up in the
west-southwest during
October’s early evening hours.
While gazing in this direction
and thinking of the famous
Astronomer Royal, grab your
binoculars and scan the lovely
star fields in this part of
Scorpius. You can find two
of my favorite open star clus-
ters, M6 and M7, just 5° from
Shaula.
STAR DOME
S

C RU
X
516
MUSCA
CE
NT S
AU ` AN
RU
S
_ CIR
CIN
HOW TO USE THIS MAP AU
US
C HA M A E L E O N
This map portrays the sky as seen TR STRA
near 30° south latitude. Located
IA
NG LE 2070
UL A
MENS NGC

SW
inside the border are the cardinal UM
directions and their intermediate SCP
APU
points. To find stars, hold the map S

LU
S Y DRU UM
H UL

PU
overhead and orient it so one of N
C

S
O
the labels matches the direction M
R AR
you’re facing. The stars above A A
SMC

NG
the map’s horizon now match O C TA N S

C
NG

62
PA V
what’s in the sky. C

31
63 O 04
M4 97 NG C 1

SC
ar
The all-sky map shows T U C A NA ern

OR

TE
h
how the sky looks at: Ac
Anta

LE
IU P

AU R O
10 P.M. October 1

CO
res

CO
M6

S
PI

T
9 P.M. October 15

RA A
UM
8 P.M. October 31

N
M7

L
IN

IS
DU
S
Planets are shown

IX
M8

M
at midmonth

S AG

ICR

R
G RU S

IT

PTO
M20

O
M22

SC
ARI T

L
OP

SCU
M17

MAP SYMBOLS

US

IUM
OPHIUCHUS

PI
M16

aut
AU S C
W

SCUTUM

Jupiter

Open cluster ST IS

alh
RI
S a tu r n

Fom
Globular cluster N
U
S
Diffuse nebula
CA
SER

PR
M11

Planetary nebula
AQ
PEN

IC
UI

Galaxy
OR
S C

LA

NU

AQ Path
o f th
AU D

UA e Su
S

RI
EQ US
A

STAR UU
LE
US
MAGNITUDES
Al
ta

Sirius Enif
ir

SA
G DE M15
V

0.0 3.0 IT
U

TA LP
LP

H S
IN ASU
EC

1.0 4.0 US PEG

U
LA

2.0 5.0

STAR COLORS CY
A star’s color depends GN
US
N
W

on its surface temperature. L AC E RTA

•• The hottest stars shine blue

Slightly cooler stars appear white
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange
Den
eb
• The coolest stars glow red
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
use optical aid to gather more light

N
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
 NA
OCTOBER 2020
RI
NGC CA SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
VO

R 1 2 3
TO C us
PI n op
Ca

4 5 6 7 8 9 10
BA

SE
M

C O
LM
LU

D
A
O

R
C

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

D
T
RE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
M
U
EL
CA

M
IU
G 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
LO
RO
O
H

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
US AN
ERID

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
OE
PH

1 Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation (26°), 16h UT

Full Moon occurs at 21h05m UT
SGP

3 Venus passes 0.09° south of Regulus, 0h UT

N G C 25

The Moon passes 0.7° south of Mars, 3h UT

The Moon is at apogee (406,321 kilometers from Earth), 17h22m UT
4 Pluto is stationary, 6h UT
Mira

The Moon passes 3° south of Uranus, 9h UT

6 Mars comes closest to Earth (62.1 million kilometers away), 14h UT
10
S

Last Quarter Moon occurs at 0h40m UT

TU
rs
Ma

un (e
13 Mars is at opposition, 23h UT
CE

clip t
ic)
14 The Moon passes 4° north of Venus, 0h UT
Mercury is stationary, 4h UT
ES
SC

16
us

New Moon occurs at 19h31m UT

PI

an
Ur

The Moon is at perigee (356,912 kilometers from Earth), 23h46m UT

ES

17
RI

The Moon passes 7° north of Mercury, 19h UT

A

21 Orionid meteor shower peaks

22 The Moon passes 2° south of Jupiter, 17h UT
23 Dwarf planet Ceres is stationary, 3h UT
33 M
LU
M The Moon passes 3° south of Saturn, 4h UT
U
E

G
N

N First Quarter Moon occurs at 13h23m UT

IA
R
1 T Asteroid Parthenope is at opposition, 14h UT
M3
25 Mercury is in inferior conjunction, 18h UT
DA
O ME 26 Asteroid Papagena is at opposition, 6h UT
DR
AN 27 The Moon passes 4° south of Neptune, 6h UT
29 The Moon passes 3° south of Mars, 16h UT
30 The Moon is at apogee (406,394 kilometers from Earth), 18h45m UT
31 The Moon passes 3° south of Uranus, 13h UT
Full Moon occurs at 14h49m UT
Uranus is at opposition, 16h UT