Astronomy201312 PDF

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National Science Foundation
Division of Astronomical Sciences
Discover
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CONTENTS
4 ASTRONOMY t DECEMBER 2013
24 COVER STORY
Speaking the language
of the cosmos

Lets take the scare factor out
of equations and ask scientists
a fundamental question: How
much of astronomy is math?
BOB BERMAN
30
Torrid Mercurys
icy poles

Te MESSENGER spacecraf re-
veals water ice lurking in deeply
shadowed craters. JAMES OBERG
36
The Sky this Month
ISON continues to shine.
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND
ALISTER LING
38
StarDome and
Path of the Planets
RICHARD TALCOTT;
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY
44
Spacecraft: Where are
they now?
What happens afer planetary
missions end? YVETTE CENDES
48
Ask Astro
Auroral zones.
50
Behind the scenes at
Celestron
For more than 50 years, this
innovative company has helped
amateur astronomers observe the
sky. MICHAEL E. BAKICH
56
Comet ISONs dazzling
all-night show

Tis cosmic interloper should
remain a grand sight throughout
these long December nights.
RICHARD TALCOTT
62
11 top winter binocular
gems

One supernova remnant, two
double stars, and eight clusters
beckon cold-weather skygazers.
PHIL HARRINGTON
64
Grab a Cometron scope
to view Comet ISON
Celestron has made a pair of
low-cost telescopes for beginners
watching the great sky show.
MIKE REYNOLDS
COLUMNS
Strange Universe 12
BOB BERMAN
Secret Sky 16
STEPHEN JAMES OMEARA
Observing Basics 20
GLENN CHAPLE
Cosmic Imaging 66
TONY HALLAS
Astro Sketching 68
ERIKA RIX
QUANTUM GRAVITY
Snapshot 9
Astro News 10
IN EVERY ISSUE
From the Editor 6
Letters 12, 16, 66
Web Talk 23
New Products 67
Advertiser Index 69
Reader Gallery 72
Final Frontier 74
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ON THE COVER
Math describes how matter, energy,
and the mysterious components
of the universe interact. Learn to
embrace the equations.
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O
ver the past year or
so, a team of editors,
designers, and pro-
grammers has been
working on a new
website for Astronomy, found
at www.Astronomy.com. Te
improved site went live Sep-
tember 18, and you may well
have seen it recently. Te new
site, modeled afer the archi-
tecture used by our sister pub-
lication, Discover, not only
modernizes Astronomys Web
content, but expands and
improves it dramatically.
First, the site is optimized
across multiple platforms. It
will work smoothly on com-
puters, tablets, and smart-
phones in an elegant,
sophisticated way.
We also have improved the
content. The site now fea-
tures a new visual layout with
more information organized
in a dramatically better way.
A sliding graphics bar near
the top of the home page
highlights important stories,
and we feature alerts on
breaking news and develop-
ing stories that youll want to
keep an eye on.
Programmers also signifi-
cantly improved the sites
search feature. Users will be
able to find related content
easily by tags that exist on
stories, videos, podcasts, and
other elements. We inte-
grated multimedia elements
far more effectively into the
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Take some time to explore
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omy materials on the Web
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As always, we encourage
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those who simply register,
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receive added benefits and
access. We also hope you
currently subscribe to our
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which contains a summary of
the weeks big stories in
astronomy. You can sign up
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I want to thank the Kalm-
bach team that worked so
diligently on this process
over the past months: Jeff
Felbab, Karri Ferron, Alex
Gaudynski, Craig Kuhlow,
Ken Meisinger, Rob Ober-
heide, Sarah Scoles, Craig
Schneider, and Jeanne
Wieland. Please let me know
if you have comments about
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Yours truly,
David J. Eicher
Editor
Astronomys
new website
For information on all of our products and services, or to find an authorized Sky-Watcher USA dealer near you, just visit www.skywatcherusa.com.
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For the month of November, Sky-Watcher USA is making it easy to step up
to a high-quality refractor for either visual or entry-level astrophotography
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2
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TECH
ON THE
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DOORWAY
TO A CURE
Grassroots eforts are
beating cystic fbrosis p.42
INSIDE THE MIND
OF A HERO p.26
CITIZEN
SCIENTISTS
Try THIS in your
own backyard p.52
ELYSIUM
Hollywood goes
transhuman p.64
Discover
SECRET ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE REVEALED? p.36
Coming one
day to a brain
near you:
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LATEST RESEARCH
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SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOUS
COMPELLING
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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH . . .
QG
QUANTUM
GRAVITY
WWW. ASTRONOMY. COM 9
SNAPSHOT
Comets
and the
Oort Cloud
Where comets live tells
us about their behavior.
In 1950, Dutch-American
astronomer Jan H. Oort recog-
nized that long-period comets
must originate from a huge
spherical cloud at 10,000 or
more astronomical units from
the Sun. The concept of the
Oort Cloud was born.
Oort turned to the number
of new comets seen each year,
about one, and suggested a
population figure for the Oort
Cloud of 200 billion comets.
More recent simulations have
increased the proposed num-
ber of Oort Cloud comets
to 2 trillion.
The size and shape of the
Oort Cloud are not precisely
known, of course. But plan-
etary scientists believe the
cloud is an oblate spheroid
with the long axis pointed
toward the center of the Milky
Way. The cloud extends as far
away as 1.5 light-years, or
about 40 percent of the way to
the nearest star, the Alpha Cen-
tauri system. That is a stagger-
ingly long way. David J. Eicher
HOT BYTES >>
TRENDING
TO THE TOP
PULSAR AS A TOOL
Scientists studied a pulsar
some 0.5 light-year from
our galaxys supermassive
black hole to learn that the
black holes magnetic eld
is stronger than expected.
TOUGH TITAN
Researchers say Saturns
moon Titan may have a
rigid ice shell some 25
miles (40km) thick with
largerootsof ice extend-
ing into the ocean below.
GASSY COLLISION
A 23,000-light-year-wide
cloud of 10-million-degree
Fahrenheit gas arose from
an impact between NGC
1232 and a dwarf galaxy,
astronomers suggest.
Noted for its spectacularly long tail, Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) put on an incredible show for observers in 1996, just as Comet Hale-Bopp
was steadily brightening. This image was shot with a 130mm f/6 refractor, ISO 800 film, and a 30-minute exposure in April 1996.
M
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ASTRONEWS
FAST
FACT
Radio
Wavelength
10m 10cm 1mm 0.3mm 780nm 380nm 10nm 0.01nm 0.000001nm
(Sub) mm Infrared Visible Ultraviolet X-ray Gamma ray Microwave
Fermi
Gamma-ray
Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray
Observatory
Hubble
Space Telescope
Stratospheric
Observatory For
Infrared
Astronomy
(SOFIA)
Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA)
Arecibo radio
telescope
MONSTER MAGNET. The magnetar SGR 0418+5729 has a magnetic eld between 200 and 1,000 trillion gauss one
of the most powerful known in the universe, according to recent measurements reported in the August 15 issue of Nature.
BRIEFCASE
EARLY BLOOMERS
Large ancient galaxies began to
resemble todays massive gal-
axies like the Milky Way
much earlier than previously
thought. Hubble Space Tele-
scope images show mature
galaxies emerging just 2.5 bil-
lion years after the Big Bang,
according to an announcement
in the September 1 issue of The
Astrophysical Journal. At that
time in cosmic history, large
galaxies already were elliptical,
spiral, lenticular, or irregular
the four modern categories.
t
FAIREST OF THEM ALL?
Students at the Niels Bohr
Institute in Copenhagen dis-
covered a quasar an active
supermassive black hole
the organization announced
August 7. Whats even more
remarkable is that they found
it six times. As the quasars
light traveled, it encountered a
galaxy cluster. The massive
cluster warps space-time, and
this curvature bent the qua-
sars light like a lens would,
projecting six fun-house
images of the same object.
t
LUNAR LEAKAGE
The Moon has water under-
neath its surface, scientists
announced online August 25
in Nature Geoscience. This is the
first water scientists have found
that is native to the Moon.
While other studies have shown
that outside sources like aster-
oids leave water on the lunar
landscape, this new water is
internal. The impact that cre-
ated Bullialdus Crater exposed
deeper geological layers, allow-
ing scientists to see this mag-
matic water. Sarah Scoles
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ASTRONOMY
N
early 40 years ago, radio
astronomers saw a long rib-
bon of gas stretching nearly
halfway around our galaxy.
They named it the Magellanic
Stream because it appeared to come
from material stripped out of either
the Small or Large Magellanic
Cloud, dwarf galaxies orbiting the
Milky Way. However, scientists
werent positive where the gas
originated. They are now. In two
papers published in the August 1
issue of The Astrophysical Journal,
astronomers reported that most of
the material was stripped from the
Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)
about 2 billion years ago and a
second smaller region of gas
emerged more recently from the
Large Magellanic Cloud.
The international team of scien-
tists used four distant, extremely
bright active galaxies called qua-
sars as searchlights to measure the
composition of the Magellanic
Stream. By mapping the ultraviolet
light that made it through the gas-
eous material, the astronomers
determined what elements com-
pose the stream oxygen, carbon,
silicon, sulfur, iron, aluminum, and
others. They then measured the
abundances of elements at six dif-
ferent locations in the stream and
compared those to abundance
measurements within the two
Magellanic Clouds.
The measured low amounts of
oxygen and sulfur match the abun-
dances within the SMC about 2
billion years ago, which implies
thats when the Milky Ways gravity
first stripped the small galaxy of
its gas. Closer to the Magellanic
Clouds, however, the sulfur abun-
dance is much higher. This inner
region is very similar in composi-
tion to the Large Magellanic
Cloud, suggesting it was ripped
out of that galaxy more recently,
says team co-leader Andrew Fox of
the Space Telescope Science Insti-
tute in Baltimore. Liz Kruesi
SOURCE OF MAGELLANIC STREAM SOLVED
TELESCOPE POPULATION. Astronomers are interested in the whole electromagnetic spectrum because objects in space emit photons with a wide range of wavelengths. Ener-
getic events like supernovae and extremely hot regions like the centers of active galaxies emit photons with shorter wavelengths. Longer wavelengths, on the other hand, often
come from cool objects and magnetic interactions. In the middle of the spectrum the more familiar regime astronomers often investigate starlight of both distant and nearby
origin. Engineers design each telescope for a specific set of wavelengths. The scopes shown above are some of the largest and most sensitive for each type of wave.
The Arecibo telescope covers some 20 acres more
area than 15 football elds. Its dish is made of mesh
with holes smaller than radio waves.
SOURCE SECURED.
Astronomers have
confirmed that the
material within the
Magellanic Stream,
seen here as the pink
arc of gas in the lower
half of the image, was
stripped from the
Small Magellanic
Cloud about 2 billion
years ago; a lesser
amount came more
recently from the
Large Magellanic
Cloud. DAVID L. NIDEVER, ET AL.,
NRAO/AUI/NSF AND MELLINGER,
LEIDEN/ARGENTINE/BONN SURVEY,
PARKES OBSERVATORY, WESTERBORK
OBSERVATORY, AND ARECIBO
OBSERVATORY
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ASTRONEWS
Chelyabinsk meteor plume travels the world
The black hole at the center of the
Milky Way, called Sagittarius A*,
emits suspiciously few X-rays. This
object, with 4 million times the
mass of the Sun, should be
devouring gas, heating the mate-
rial and causing it to radiate high-
energy photons as it swirls
inward. Astronomers have long
been puzzled by how little such
radiation they see. The Chandra
X-ray Observatory, though, has
provided clues about the black
holes quiescence. The results
appeared in the August 30 issue
of Science.
Chandras images of the galac-
tic center show that more than 99
percent of the gas that could fall
into the black hole avoids that
fate. Sagittarius A* ejects this vast
majority of approaching material
away from the galactic core, the
meal too hot and spread-out for it
to digest. Cooler material, though,
has less energy and is easier for
Sagittarius A* to grab. By reject-
ing most of what comes its way,
the black hole causes whats left
to lose momentum, cool down,
and stop resisting.
This new Chandra image is
one of the coolest Ive ever seen,
says study co-author Sera Markoff
of the University of Amsterdam.
Were watching Sagittarius A*
capture hot gas ejected by
nearby stars and funnel it in
toward its event horizon. More
precisely, they are able to watch
the unlucky 1 percent take this
irreversible journey. S. S.
QUICK TAKES
LADEE LAUNCHES
NASAs Lunar Atmosphere and
Dust Environment Explorer
(LADEE) launched September 6
from Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia to study the Moon.
t
FIVE MORE YEARS
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope celebrated five years
of observations August 26 after
entering a five-year extended
mission phase August 11.
t
PRECISE TIMEKEEPERS
Physicists with the National
Institute of Standards and Tech-
nology in Boulder, Colorado,
describe in the August 22 Sci-
ence Express their creation of
two optical lattice clocks capable
of a precision of 1 part in 10
18

after seven hours of operation.
t
MIRROR MADE
Scientists and engineers with
the Giant Magellan Telescope
cast the third of seven 8.4-
meter mirrors August 24 at the
University of Arizonas Steward
Observatory Mirror Lab.
t
LAUNCHER CHOSEN
NASA announced August 6 that
it had chosen United Launch
Services LLC to launch its
OSIRIS-Rex mission in Septem-
ber 2016 to explore near-Earth
asteroid 101955 Bennu.
t
LIGHT SEARCH
The High-Altitude Water
erenkov Gamma-Ray Observa-
tory began searching for the
highest-energy light in the cos-
mos August 1 in Pueblo, Mexico.
t
SOLAR TWIN
Astronomers reported in the
September 10 issue of The Astro-
physical Journal Letters that the
star HIP 102152 is more like our
Sun than any other star found so
far even though its almost 4
billion years older. L. K.
DRIFTING DUST. On February 15, a 59-foot (18
meters) meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia,
releasing energy equivalent to 30 atomic bombs. All of
that blown-up material didnt just disappear. The NASA-
NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satel-
lite detected the dust some 25 miles (40 kilometers)
above sea level, drifting east at a cool 190 mph (305
km/h). Four days after the explosion, the fastest part of
the plume shown as combined model and satellite
data in red had zipped all the way around Earth and
returned to the skies over Chelyabinsk, according to a
statement NASA released August 14. S. S.
Black holes reject hot gas
IN MEMORIAM. Bruce C. Murray, the director of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory between 1976 and 1982, died August 29 at the age of 81.
N
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IM FULL. The black hole at the center of our galaxy, seen here in infrared light
(main image) and X-rays (inset), ejects most of the hot material that approaches
its event horizon. X-RAY: NASA/UMASS/D. WANG, ET AL.; INFRARED: NASA/STSCI
T
he universe is filled
with radiation. Its
everywhere.
By radiation, I
mean subatomic par-
ticles that penetrate your body,
or short electromagnetic waves
doing the same mischief. Long
waves like visible light or micro-
waves cannot damage genes or
cause cancer. But gamma rays
and X-rays can break atoms
apart; so can speedy subatomic
particles, especially heavy ones.
All this stuff flies through
space continuously. Supernovae
in our galaxy and others create
galactic cosmic rays (GCRs),
which provide a steady flux of
radiation. The Suns particles are
usually gentler than GCRs, but
this totally changes during large
solar storms. Fortunately, Earths
atmosphere blocks most space
radiation, but the higher up you
live, the more you get.
Radiation is confusingly
expressed using a carnival of
disparate units like roentgens,
grays, Sieverts, rads, and rems
but lets use millirems (mrem)
for this article. The average per-
son receives 360 mrem a year, of
which more than 80 percent
comes from natural sources.
(People who get periodic CT
scans receive far more, and such
medical tests are so common in
the U.S. that the populations
annual radiation exposure is
higher 620 mrem.) Some
sources create significant hazards,
like radon gas oozing into base-
ments. Others are measurable but
truly minor, like that from smoke
alarms. Radiation creates much
misunderstanding and unneces-
sary fear: Who would guess that
you get more from eating one
banana (0.01 mrem) than by
living within 50 miles (80 kilo-
meters) of a nuclear power plant
for an entire year (0.009 mrem)?
While background radiation
is responsible for some of the
spontaneous tumors that have
always plagued the human race,
scientists debate whether low
doses pose any risk. Tibetans and
Peruvians who live at extreme
altitudes and thus receive more
radiation do not have higher
rates of leukemia. On the other
hand, professional pilots and
flight attendants suffer a 1 per-
cent greater cancer occurrence
rate than the rest of us.
You can achieve major radia-
tion reductions by getting your
basement checked for radon or
asking your doctor whether you
really need a CT scan instead of
an X-ray. A whole-body CT
scan can give you the same
radiation that Hiroshima survi-
vors more than a mile from
ground zero received.
Only 24 humans ventured
beyond our atmosphere and our
magnetosphere, which protects
humans on Earths surface from
much harmful space radiation.
That was during the Apollo pro-
gram from 1969 to 1972. They all
saw spurious streaks or flashes of
light, like meteors, cross their
visual fields once a minute. Turns
out GCRs mostly protons
traveling a healthy fraction of
light-speed continually ripped
through their brains.
Yet the Apollo guys were
lucky. Not a single major solar
storm erupted during any of
their nine excursions beyond
Earths magnetosphere. Scientists
didnt even know about the fierc-
est solar storms when Armstrong
and Aldrin walked Tranquillity
Base, since these coronal mass
ejections (CMEs) werent identi-
fied until 1971, two years later.
If a one-week Moon excur-
sion is risky, what about the one-
year round-trip travel time to
Mars? Even discounting the con-
siderable radiation exposure
while on the Red Planet, which
has neither a magnetosphere nor
appreciable atmosphere, how
dangerous is a long trip in a
flimsy spacecraft?
We finally have the answer,
sort of.
Two years ago, the Mars Sci-
ence Laboratory began its 253-
day journey to Mars to deliver
the Curiosity rover. En route, the
first-ever onboard radiation
detector, an instrument acro-
nymically called RAD, measured
the radiation environment inside
the spacecraft. During RADs
martian odyssey, not a single
major solar storm went off, so
the instruments mostly sampled
the GCR flux rather than the
human hazard during brutal
CMEs or solar flares.
The results were not encour-
aging.
In terms of accumulated
dose, [traveling to Mars] is like
getting a whole-body CT scan
once every five or six days, said
the Southwest Research Insti-
tutes Cary Zeitlin, a principal
scientist involved with the mea-
surements. It would be like a
Hiroshima survivor experiencing
that event two dozen times over.
GCRs are mostly highly pen-
etrating particles that are not
stopped by a spacecrafts modest
shielding. A vehicle carrying
humans into deep space would
likely have a storm shelter to
protect against solar particles.
But the GCRs are harder to stop,
and even an aluminum hull a
foot thick wouldnt change the
dose very much, said Zeitlin.
The RAD data showed an
average dose equivalent of about
66,240 mrem for a future mar-
tian round-trip mission what
the average person gets in 184
years (107 years even for those
radiation junkies in the U.S.). It
would increase ones fatal cancer
risk by 3 or 4 percent. This did
not include major solar radiation
or what would be received on the
martian surface.
This issue will have to be
addressed before humans can
go into deep space for months or
years at a time, said Zeitlin. On
a more upbeat note, recent stud-
ies show lightweight plastic is a
more effective shielding than
heavier metal.
Bottom line: Such trips would
be worrisome but not automati-
cally lethal.
Bananas, anyone?
STRANGEUNIVERSE
While future trips beyond low Earth orbit wouldnt
be automatically fatal, the data are not comforting.
BY BOB BE RMAN
Radiation in space
FROM OUR INBOX
BROWSE THE STRANGE UNIVERSE ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman.
Contact me about
my strange universe by visiting
http://skymanbob.com.
IF A ONE-WEEK MOON EXCURSION IS RISKY,
WHAT ABOUT THE ONE-YEAR ROUND-TRIP
TRAVEL TIME TO MARS?
Astronomical assistance
On July 9, Marc Stowbridge of the New Hampshire Astronomical
Society delivered a beautiful telescope that was provided by funds
granted from Astronomy magazine through its Out-of-this-world
Award. This is the first donation of a telescope to our community,
which is rural and quite economically depressed. Overnight, I had
a waiting list of 25 patrons. As a community, we are planning to
organize viewing parties.
I cant stress how much joy youve been able to spread with
your donation. On behalf of our very lucky patrons and trustees,
I thank you! Elizabeth Thompson, Gorham, New Hampshire
ASTRONEWS
Astronomy Physics Chemistry Biology Psychology
33.5%
19.6%
37.4%
52.4%
69.8%
36.1%
20.3%
49.9%
59.0%
77.1%
15.8%
9.5%
13.7%
24.8%
36.0%
36.9%
22.7%
48.5%
58.0%
79.1%
FAST
FACT
KEPLER, RIP. Scientists couldnt revive either of the two dead gyroscope-like reaction wheels on the
Kepler spacecraft, thus ending its planet-nding career, NASA announced August 15.
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
Women have received just
two Nobel Prizes in physics
and four in chemistry.
GENDER RATIOS. Women earn more than half of biol-
ogy and psychology undergraduate degrees, but astron-
omy and physics lag far behind. Some argue that fewer
female professors results in less women studying college
astronomy and physics and continuing on to advanced
degrees. However, biology and psychology departments
also have fewer women as faculty, and at least on the
surface it doesnt seem to affect the gender ratios. The
percentages shown in this diagram coincide with the sym-
bols heights, not areas. ASTRONOMY: LIZ KRUESI AND JAY SMITH
2010 data tabulated by the NSF/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF/NCSES); data from the Department of
Education/National Center for Education Statistics: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey, and NSF/NCSES:
Survey of Earned Doctorates
*Data from Nelson Diversity Surveys 2007; astronomy data for top 40 programs only
Bachelors degree
Doctoral degree
Masters degree
Faculty at top 50 programs

*
EXPLORE WITH US
The University of Arizona begins its 27
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ACTIVITIES
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imaging & spectroscopy of celestial objects
through 12, 20, 36, 50, 61, 90
telescopes
C Interactive lectures & hands-on
activities led by astronomers on topics from
the solar system to cosmology
C Tour of Mirror Laboratory
C Applications of computer and
engineering technologies
CAMP DATES
ADULTS (Advanced): May 20-23
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ASTRONOMY CAMP
IMMERSION ADVENTURES
AT RESEARCH OBSERVATORIES
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
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NP101
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eyepiece shown
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setting circles.
Pneumatic
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ASTRONEWS
13.5 to 15.4 11.5 to 13.4 9.5 to 11.4 6.5 to 9.4 3.5 to 6.4 Less than 3.5
25 years
ago in
Astronomy
In the December
1988 issue of
Astronomy, Gerrit
Verschuurs article
Exotic Pulsars
graced the cover.
Astronomers knew
pulsars were the spinning, highly magnetized
remnants of massive stars that exploded as
supernovae and did not become black holes.
But the race to find the fastest-rotating ones
was on after scientists first found millisecond
pulsars, which spin hundreds of times per sec-
ond, in 1982.
Verschuur interviewed Don Backer, a pulsar
scientist, writing, Backer summed up the
moral of the story this way: Science is cruel this
way; you have to turn over every rock. In
1988, scientists knew of just four millisecond
pulsars. They now have found 206.
10 years
ago in
Astronomy
In the December
2003 issue of
Astronomy, Senior
Editor Richard Tal-
cott showcased
the Hubble Space
Telescopes top 25
images. That month was the 10th anniversary
of the first Hubble servicing mission, in which
seven astronauts installed corrective optics for
the scopes mirror, allowing it to produce clear,
stunning images.
Talcott encouraged readers to sit back and
recall some of the highlights from the past
decade, and imagine what treats [the camera]
still has in store.Ten years later after this state-
ment, Hubble is still going strong. S. S.
Chilean workers
at ALMA site go
on strike
The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-
millimeter Array (ALMA), a 66-antenna
radio interferometer located 16,500
feet (5 kilometers) above sea level in
Chile, cost $1.4 billion to build and
began operations just over six
months ago. On August 22, though,
the nascent scientific work stopped
when 195 of the observatorys Chil-
ean workers went on strike.
While the telescope is in Chile, it is
an international project, funded by
the National Astronomical Observa-
tory of Japan, the European Southern
Observatory, and the United States
National Radio Astronomy Observa-
tory (NRAO). The Washington, D.C.,
organization Associated Universities
Incorporated (AUI), which governs
NRAO, is the official employer of the
Chilean staff, who provide engineer-
ing, data, and administrative support
for the high-altitude telescope.
In anticipation of their three-year contracts expi-
ration August 13, unionized Chilean employees
negotiated with AUI starting July 1 for a new con-
tract featuring raises, bonuses, and shorter shifts. The
negotiations failed, and the worlds largest and most
expensive radio array did not observe cool gas, star
birth, planet formation, or any of its other scientific
specialties for more than two weeks.
The groups reached a compromise September 7,
though, when AUI agreed to a shorter work sched-
ule, bonuses, and some permanent raises. In a state-
ment released at the conflicts conclusion, Pierre Cox,
the ALMA director, said, We are relieved that both
sides were able to reach an agreement that enables
restarting the operations of the largest radio tele-
scope in the world to continue delivering spectacular
scientific results. S. S.
DARK PRESERVE. The International Dark-Sky Association named the Chaco
Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico its newest dark-sky park August 19.
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CLEAR DAYS
IN DECEMBER
PICKET LINE.
From August
22 to Septem-
ber 7, the
newly inaugu-
rated Atacama
Large Millime-
ter/submillime-
ter Array
(ALMA) ceased
science opera-
tions due to a
union-led strike
involving 195
employees.
24
The number of
pulsars scientists
discovered with
the help of the
volunteer comput-
ing project
Einstein@Home,
as described in
the September 10
issue of The
Astrophysical
Journal.
A
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R
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K

J
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H
N
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N
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B
O
B

B
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M
A
N

Join Bob Berman
and Te Old
Farmers Almanac
in Alaska for the
Northern Lights
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March 1, 2014
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Chiles Atacama Desert,
where ALMA is located,
is the driest place on Earth.
FAST
FACT
Give your loved
one the Sun, the
Moon, and the
stars this
holiday season
Give your loved
one the Sun, the
Moon, and the
stars this
holiday season
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that is; on nights they are not,
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And as long as there is a
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T
he December night
sky is famous for its
wash of bright stars,
including those form-
ing the Celestial G
namely, Betelgeuse, Rigel,
Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Castor,
Capella, and Aldebaran (going
clockwise). It also hosts a cache
of naked-eye deep-sky objects,
many of which are in Orion, as
are two of the most famous
asterisms in the celestial sphere:
Orions Belt and Sword. Both are
parts of the southern extension
of the Orion Molecular Cloud
(OMC), which is a vast complex
of bright nebulae, obscuring
dust clouds, and young star-
forming regions all some 1,500
light-years distant and several
hundred light-years across.
The most popular of all the
OMCs structures is M42, the
great Orion Nebula the mid-
dle star in Orions Sword. This
enormous cloud of dust and gas
SECRETSKY
Six naked-eye
wonders in Orion
Orion is one of the most recognizable constellations, but
it still contains gems you might not know about.
cluster NGC 1977, which is also
surrounded by several swatches
of bright and dark nebulosity.
Under dark skies, some observers
have seen its brightest clouds
without optical aid, meaning
M42 is not the only bright,
naked-eye nebula to be found in
Orions Sword.
But the most secreted of all
Orions naked-eye wonders is the
magnitude 4.6 open star cluster
NGC 1981. It holds the distinc-
tion of being the northernmost,
and faintest, star in Orions
Sword. The cluster has roughly
the same apparent size as the Full
Moon and shines with a pale
light. But it is a wonder through
binoculars and telescopes.
The Sword dangles from Ori-
ons Belt, which itself is more
than meets the eye. Its three
brightest stars belong to the open
star cluster Collinder 70, which
contains 100 members that coil
around the Belt stars like a celes-
tial python. You can glimpse
some of the brighter objects
without optical aid, and binocu-
lars will reveal at least 70 of them
with a single glance.
Our last Orion naked-eye
wonder is an isosceles triangle
made of three stars grouped mid-
way between and a little north of
the Hunters shoulders. They
make up his head. The brightest,
3rd-magnitude Meissa (Lambda
[] Orionis), shines as the pri-
mary star in the Lambda Orionis
Association (Collinder 69) a
BY S T E PHE N J AME S O ME AR A
sparse conglomerate of some 20
binocular/telescopic stars
spread across 70' of sky. A huge
supernova explosion 12 mil-
lion years ago triggered star
formation in the region and
affected the structure of the vast
4-wide cloud of gas and dust
known as Sharpless 2264, in
which Collinder 69 resides.
If you get under dark skies,
see if you can detect the area
around Lambda Orionis with-
out optical aid. Whether you
see the nebulosity itself or just
an optical fuzziness due to the
closeness of the stars will be
debatable. Either way they took
this fuzziness, early stargazers
did not overlook the regions
cloudy appearance. Its original
Arabic name is Al-Hakah or
Al-Haqah, which refers to Ori-
ons head as a white spot. The
Greek astronomer Ptolemy (ca.
a.d. 100170) described it in
his work Almagest as The Neb-
ulous One or The Mistiness
in Orions Head.
One way to test whether you
believe you see nebulosity is to
block Lambda and its atten-
dants with a distant rooftop or
similar sharp-edged structure.
That should remove any artifi-
cial fuzziness, enabling you to
investigate the visibility of the
nebula itself.
If you were able to detect the
Great Hunters jewels, send
your observations to me at
sjomeara31@gmail.com.
glows because of the ultraviolet
radiation streaming from its cen-
tral Trapezium star cluster (Theta
[] Orionis). We see this struc-
ture without optical aid as a
swollen knot of starlight at the
nebulas core.
The second object of interest
is 3rd-magnitude Iota () Orionis
the southernmost star in Ori-
ons Sword. Some 2 million
years ago, gravitation slung it out
of the Trapezium star cluster to
where we see it today, 2,000
light-years distant from that cen-
tral region. Iota also is the bright-
est member of a small open star
cluster called NGC 1980, which
is immersed in veils of nebulosity
visible through telescopes.
Shouldering M42 to the north
is what we commonly consider
the faintest of the three naked-
eye stars in Orions Sword. Look
closely, though, and youll see
that it is two stars the two
brightest in the loose open star
BROWSE THE SECRET SKY ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/OMeara.
FROM OUR INBOX
Corrections
In 40 years of amateur astronomy, the image of the Leonid
meteor on p. 55 (bottom right) in the August 2013 issue was
taken by Barry Burgess and not Stephen Pitt as stated.
In the same issue, we mistakenly stated the May 19, 2011,
space shuttle flight was the final one on p. 13. That launch was
the second to last. The final mission for the space shuttle was
STS-135, which occurred July 8, 2011.
In David Levys lifetime of observations (September 2013),
the people who helped the author archive his observing logs
were incorrectly named; they are Randall Rosenfeld and Walter
MacDonald.
Also, the authors visual telescope Miranda is 16 inches in
aperture, not 26 as stated in the caption on p. 54.
We regret any confusion. Astronomy Editors
NEW this year
Wanting something different and unique to
give this Christmas? And truly affordable too!
You will surprise everyone with Northern
Lights and Comet ISON images as they
happen! Live from Manitoulin Island Canada.
Visit: www.mytelescope.com for details
on this and other gift ideas.
Photos by: Paul Beduhn
ASTRONEWS
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE) operated from January 2010 to Feb-
ruary 2011. During that time, it discovered
135 near-Earth objects (NEOs) and charac-
terized the sizes and thermal properties of
about 2,000 others. It also found 34,000
asteroids in orbits between Mars and Jupiter
(within the main asteroid belt) and 21 com-
ets. Now, NASA has decided to reactivate the
spacecraft to find more NEOs orbiting
within 28 million miles (45 million kilome-
ters) of Earths path around the Sun.
This decision is part of the space agencys
asteroid initiative to better understand these
space rocks and to protect Earth from devas-
tating impacts. The WISE three-year extended
mission will characterize any potentially haz-
ardous objects and identify possibilities for
future asteroid exploration missions.
Reactivating the spacecraft is not as sim-
ple as flipping a switch. It will take about
three months for the telescope to cool down
to operating temperatures, and after a short
check-out period, we will be ready to begin
surveying again, says Amy Mainzer, the
principal investigator of WISEs near-Earth
object survey, called NEOWISE, which ran
during the primary mission.
WISE sees the universe with infrared-
sensitive eyes. This radiation is less ener-
getic, and thus corresponds to colder
temperatures, than visible light. Asteroids
and comets glow in infrared light, as does
dust in the cosmos. The spacecraft mapped
the entire sky and compiled an immense
amount of data.
During its 13-month mission, WISE col-
lected more than 2.7 million images that
scientists used to produce a catalog listing
the infrared properties of more than 560
million objects.
To view infrared radiation, the craft needs
to remain cold. Luckily, the emptiness of
space helps cool WISE (like anything in a
cold environment, it radiates heat). Scientists
will turn the spacecraft so that it points away
from Earth. Once we do that, well be look-
ing at the cold background of space, and the
telescope will begin to cool down, says
Mainzer. Once we reach operating tempera-
tures after a few months, we will recalibrate
the instrument and begin surveying. L. K.
SPACE SCIENCE UPDATE
NASA REACTIVATES WISE SPACECRAFT
DECADAL DANCE. The Spitzer Space Telescope celebrated 10 years of
operations August 25. It launched in 2003 to investigate the infrared universe.
Blast from
merging
objects
imaged
KILONOVA CAUGHT? On June 1213, astronomers trained the Hubble Space Telescope on a spot in the sky
where they had detected a brief blast of gamma rays June 3. They then re-imaged the same region associated
with a galaxy about 4 billion light-years from Earth July 3. Hubble spied a faint red object at the location of the
gamma rays during its June observation, but in the subsequent images the object had disappeared. Astronomers
reported August 29 in Nature that the red glow was the heat signature (in infrared radiation) after two objects col-
lided, merged, and exploded. They say the subsequent blast was likely a kilonova an explosion 110 to 1100 the
brightness of an average supernova. L. K. NASA/ESA/N. TANVIR (UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER)/A. FRUCHTER (STSCI)/A. LEVAN (UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK)
MISSION
EXTENDED.
NASA has decided
to reactivate the
Wide-field Infrared
Survey Explorer to
search for near-
Earth objects.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
June 13, 2013 July 3, 2013
Telescopes.net
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8.0 0.1
miles per second (12.9 0.2 km/s)
The expansion velocity of the shock wave
from the W44 supernova remnant,
according to a September 1 article in
The Astrophysical Journal.
Alternative theory of
gravity predicts dwarf
galaxy features
For traditional gravitational theories to make
correct predictions, scientists must assume that
the cosmos is filled with huge amounts of dark
matter. But some astronomers believe it is our
conception of those theories, rather than our
conception of the universes contents, that
requires alteration. A paper accepted for publi-
cation in The Astrophysical Journal reports that
an alternative theory of gravity called Modified
Newtonian Dynamics (MoND) predicts stars
motions without invoking dark matter.
MoND suggests that a small tweak to the
equations, which makes imperceptible changes
at smaller scales, modifies the way the universe
behaves at low accelerations on large scales
like galaxies and galaxy clusters in a way
similar to dark matter. This recent study shows
that MoND describes the way stars in 10 dwarf
galaxies around the Andromeda Galaxy move
relative to each other.
Most scientists think dwarf galaxies have a
higher dark-to-normal-matter ratio than any
other kind of stellar grouping, but MoND
explains their behaviors and the galaxies grav-
ity fields without the mysterious mass. Most
scientists are more comfortable with the dark
matter interpretation, says co-author Stacy
McGaugh of Case Western Reserve in Cleve-
land. But we need to understand why MoND
succeeds with these predictions. Either the
universe is filled with an as-yet-undetected
substance or the fundamental law of gravity
needs adjustment, and astronomers are work-
ing to distinguish between those two possibili-
ties and understand what controls motion
within the universe. S. S.
NON-NEWTONIAN. Dim dwarf galaxies like NGC
5477 contain few stars and, according to standard
physics, a huge amount of dark matter that gives the
group enough gravity to hold itself together. However,
an idea called Modified Newtonian Dynamics explains
the stars motions without invoking dark matter.
E
S
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&

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A
Scan to visit
Adorama.com
Expand your view
with all the top telescopes,
binoculars, night vision,
rangenders and more!
scope out
more
selection at
A
year ago, I intro-
duced a Prime 9
list of the best
objects to show at
public star parties.
The Prime 9 idea was inspired
by a show of the same name that
airs on the MLB Network. Each
episode features the nine greatest
in a particular baseball category
pitchers, home runs, teams,
etc. As stated at the end of each
episode, Prime 9 is guaranteed to
start arguments, not end them.
While mine didnt generate any
serious arguments, a few readers
proposed some tweaks.
Gil Wright of Boise, Idaho,
didnt disagree with my decision
to place the Moon at the top of
the list. He simply recommended
that I remind readers about the
need for a Moon filter, especially
around the time of Full phase. A
Prime 9 star party target isnt
prime if the viewer is blinded
by lunar glare!
Bert Probst of Ellicottville,
New York, liked my choices but
suggested expanding it to a bak-
ers dozen (thats 13 for you non-
bakers). He tacked on Almach
(Gamma [] Andromedae)
(beautiful double star with obvi-
ous color differences), the Dou-
ble Cluster (NGC 869/884)
(great in a wide field view), the
Lagoon Nebula (M8) (featuring
both a nebula and an open clus-
ter), and Ptolemys Cluster (M7)
(beautiful field of diamonds on a
black velvet cloth).
Todd Sanders of Tallahassee,
Florida, would put the Milky
Way at No. 4: Whenever Ive
handed over binoculars to some-
one unfamiliar with the stars and
OBSERVINGBASICS
BY GL E NN CHAPL E
Fun facts for star
party standouts
Having go-to sky objects and fascinating anecdotes
about them can help attract any astronomy newcomer.
8) The Ring Nebula (M57). A
shell of gas ejected by a dying star,
the Ring is wider than 1,000 solar
systems (orbit of Neptune) laid
end to end.
7) Albireo (Beta [] Cygni).
A double star isnt as uncommon
as you might think. About half of
the stars visible in our nighttime
sky are actually double, triple, or
multiple star systems.
6) The Pleiades (M45). These
delicate-looking stars may resem-
ble glistening dewdrops, but
theyre actually white-hot infer-
nos. Alcyone (Eta Tauri), the
brightest Pleiad, is nearly 10 times
the diameter of the Sun and some
2,400 times as luminous. If placed
where our Sun is, it would incin-
erate Earth in a matter of minutes.
5) The Orion Nebula (M42).
The bright star Sirius (Alpha
Canis Majoris), below and left of
the Orion Nebula, is about 8.6
light-years away. If the Orion
Nebula were that close, it would
cover 90 percent of the sky.
4) The Hercules Cluster
(M13). The Hercules Cluster is a
spherical swarm containing sev-
eral hundred thousand stars. If the
Sun were inside it, our nighttime
sky would be filled with thou-
sands of stars brighter than Sirius.
3) Jupiter. The largest planet
in the solar system, Jupiter is so
big that, if hollowed out, it could
hold over1,300 planet Earths.
2) Saturn. The least dense
planet in our solar system, Saturn
would float in a huge bathtub.
1) The Moon. Take a good
look. You may be walking around
up there some day as a colonist at
the first Moon Base. Study your
math and science! (I use this one
with my young star party guests.)
For more examples of cosmic
wows! look into the books The
Cosmic Mind-Boggling Book by
science writer Neil McAleer
(Warner Books, 1989) and
Extreme Cosmos by Bryan
Gaensler (Perigee Trade, 2012).
Want even more? Try a Web
search for amazing space facts
(or something similar). There are
dozens of websites that offer
mind-bending astro-facts. One of
my favorites is The Year in (Bad)
Astronomy Facts (http://tinyurl.
com/AstroFacts), compiled by
Bad Astronomer Phil Plait.
Dont be misled by the title. Plaits
work is anything but bad!
Questions, comments, or sug-
gestions? Email me at gchaple@
hotmail.com. Next month: astro-
nomical freebies. Clear skies!
planets and suggested they look
up at that cloud up there, they
are awestruck.
I got a Southern Hemisphere
viewpoint from Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, amateur astronomer Mar-
cos Contrucci. He replaced No. 7
(the double star Albireo) with
Alpha () Centauri, No. 6 (the
Pleiades) with the Large and
Small Magellanic Clouds, No. 4
(the Hercules Cluster) with
Omega Centauri (NGC 5139),
and suggested I add Eta () Cari-
nae, the wonderful jewel of the
southern skies.
Jack Gross of Bedford, Vir-
ginia, emailed: Love your Prime
9 article. I do a lot of outreach
and agree with your list. However,
its only half the story how
about a follow-up Fascinating
Facts to go with it? Folks love a
little information about what they
are seeing. Sounds like a plan,
Jack, and it also gives me the
opportunity to recap my Prime
9 star party targets for anyone
who missed last Decembers issue.
9) The Andromeda Galaxy
(M31). The Andromeda Galaxy
is about 2.5 million light-years
away, which means that the light
entering your eye from the eye-
piece left the galaxy 2.5 million
years ago around the time our
early ancestors were beginning to
make stone tools.
BROWSE THE OBSERVING BASICS ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Chaple.
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COSMIC WORLD
A look at the best and the worst that astronomy and
space science have to offer. by Sarah Scoles
The sight of a
snowfall can thrill
children, says
the Harvard-
Smithsonian Cen-
ter for Astrophys-
ics, but the
first-ever snow
line seen around
a distant star
gives astrono-
mers an even
greater thrill.
Because devalu-
ing kids experi-
ences is fun.
Scientists show
that when two
neutron stars col-
lide, they produce
10 Moon masses
of gold. Lead
researcher Edo
Berger says thats
quite a lot of
bling! Later this
year, he plans to
produce a hip-
hop album
about his career
at Harvard Uni-
versity.
Hubble observes
the true color of
an exoplanet for
the first time. This
exoworld is blue
not because of
oceans but
because its rain-
ing glass. Crayola
execs are scram-
bling to change
the name of their
cobalt crayon to
the catchy and
enduring HD
189733b.
The Forbes Gal-
leries in New York
hosts an exhibit
called Out of
This World! Jew-
elry in the Space
Age, featuring
items such as a
gold Lunar Land-
ing Module by
Cartier. Rudely,
no artist
acknowledged
that neutron
stars made their
work possible.
Cold as
space
Supernova
hot
Snow day Flashy science Color
your world
Wearable
science
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
B
O
B

F
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The Formation Of Water
And Our Solar System
From A Fission Process
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ASTRONEWS
ASTRONEWS
ASTROCONFIDENTIALBY K AR R I F E R R ON
Over the past few years, observations of distant galaxies
have presented a puzzle. When the universe was only about
a fourth of its present age, it already contained many mas-
sive galaxies. With similar stellar masses to those we see
around us today, many of these are not apparently forming
stars at a significant rate they are by then already dead.
They are a factor of about three smaller in radius, however,
and correspondingly have an average density of stars higher
by a factor of about 30 than their counterparts today. So, it
seems that these dead galaxies keep growing in size despite
not forming stars. But how?
The Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS), which
covers a huge volume of the distant universe, has enabled
us to discover that the number of these dead galaxies has in
fact increased greatly over time, with new galaxies being
continuously added to the graveyard population. These
new arrivals are systematically larger than the galaxies that
died earlier, and this simple effect explains a large frac-
tion of the apparent evolution of the average size of dead
galaxies that scientists had previously claimed.
The reason why later death means larger size is rela-
tively simple: We know that star-forming galaxies are
systematically larger at later times, even when compared at
the same stellar mass, and we understand this as a conse-
quence of the assembly of dark matter halos in the uni-
verse. This is because the average density of the dark
matter within halos should always be a constant mul-
tiple (about 200) of the average density of the uni-
verse, so halos at a given mass will always be much
larger at later times. If these star-forming galaxies then
die, it is not surprising that the resulting remnants are
also larger than the remnants formed at earlier times.
Nature has given us a fantastic way to look back in
time with our most powerful telescopes. But we only
see individual galaxies at a single snapshot in their
lives, and we must piece together how they evolve by
comparing the snapshots of different galaxies. Our
work is a strong reminder that a population can
evolve by adding new members, even if the indi-
viduals themselves are not changing at all.
SEARCH THE DARK. On September 3, the Dark Energy Survey began its ve-year mission to map 300 million galaxies
and 100,000 galaxy clusters in the southern sky from the 4-meter Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile.
WHAT ARE LARGE SURVEYS TEACHING
US ABOUT GALAXY EVOLUTION?
Uranus has a Trojan asteroid
A 40-mile-wide (60 kilome-
ters) asteroid shares Uranus
path around the Sun, lead-
ing the planet by 60, say
researchers in the August 30
issue of Science. This Trojan
oscillates around one of Ura-
nus five Lagrangian points
stable locations where
the gravity of the planet and
the Sun balance Uranus
motion. While scientists
have known for more than a
century that Jupiters orbit
holds Trojans, they thought
Uranus Lagrangian points
would be too unstable.
Mike Alexandersen of the
University of British Colum-
bia and colleagues surveyed
20 square degrees of the sky
using the Canada-France-
Hawaii Telescope atop
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, looking
for objects beyond Nep-
tune. They discovered 2011
QF
99
about 20.3 astronomi-
cal units (AU, the average
Sun-Earth distance) from
our star October 24, 2011,
and tracked its motion peri-
odically over the next year.
The team then compared
its observations to com-
puter models to determine
2011 QF
99
s orbit and con-
clude that it oscillates
around Uranus L4 point
and should do so for at least
59,000 more years. L. K.
Physicists find wild neutrinos,
dark energy in early universe
TIME MACHINE. New theoretical work examines the universes expansion in its early years, a
period researchers hope can explain the expansions current acceleration. They based their calcula-
tions on the Planck telescopes new map of the cosmic microwave background. ESA/PLANCK
Theoretical physicists have investigated the universes earliest era to look for clues to
how the cosmos expanded in its first few hundred thousand years. Its behavior back
then has implications for its expansion now, more than 13 billion years later. The new
results, published July 26 in Physical Review Letters, show that the balance of radiation
and matter part of what determines how fast the universe becomes larger
tipped in favor of radiation for longer than researchers had thought.
The team says two things could explain the anomaly: fast-moving particles called
wild neutrinos an early version of the nearly massless and abundant particles in
the universe today or early dark energy a phenomenon that could have been
110 times more powerful than todays dark energy. S. S.
C
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Y

M
A
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L
A

C
A
R
O
L
L
O
Marcella Carollo
Professor of astrophysics at
the ETH Zurich, Switzerland
TROJAN FOUND. Scientists discovered an asteroid (2011 QF
99
)
that shares Uranus orbit around the Sun and leads by about 60.
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FOLLOW
ASTRONOMY
Whats new at Astronomy.com.
BY KARRI FERRON
The new
Astronomy.com
anything youd find on the full version of the
website. No more compromises for being on
the go (or out under the stars)!
Beyond the new clean look and respon-
sive design, weve added some features to
make getting where you want on Astronomy.
com even easier: an expanded search func-
tion, related topics tags to connect you
with stories that fit your
interests, more articles
highlighted on the
homepage, an area on
every page that features
the latest news and
whats popular on the
website that week,
photos and videos
highlighted right in the
menu bar, and much more.
So put down this magazine (but be sure to
come back to it later!) and do some browsing.
Then let us know what you think by emailing
us at letters@astronomy.com. Were really
excited about the redesign, and we cant
wait to hear your feedback.
If you havent been to the magazines website in the past month, check out
www.Astronomy.com today. Over the past year, our talented team of
designers, programmers, and editors has been
working diligently to provide users with a better
Astronomy.com experience through a complete
visual redesign of the site and added navigation
functions. Then, on September 18, we debuted
the fruits of our labor.
First and foremost, Astronomy.com is now
what those in the tech world call a responsive
site. No, it doesnt talk to you. But the design
does respond to whatever device youre using to
connect to the Internet. Specifically, this means
no more stripped-down version of the website
that only offers news and blog content when
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responsive graphics move to better fit
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readable so you still can access
Our website gets a face-lift
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rofessional astronomers use math all the time.
Their journals brim with equations, data, and
tables that to many backyard amateurs resem-
ble the markings on Incan tablets.
And while some hobby astronomers love math, its not
really in their bones. Some even go way beyond arithmeti-
cal apathy. They hate the subject. Perhaps it reminds them
of school. Square roots and standard deviations bog down articles
for them, and science writers usually oblige by omitting math-
ematical equations altogether.
But can you get a true sense of the universe and scientists dis-
coveries without the dreaded variables and equals signs? Debra
In the lm A Serious Man, character Larry Gopnik, played by Michael
Stuhlbarg, is a junior professor of physics. Although he teaches his
students about the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics,
which mathematically makes the universe a mysterious place, he
believes that equations can make the world make sense. FOCUS FEATURES;
NASA/ESA/J. BLAKESLEE (NRC HERZBERG ASTROPHYSICS PROGRAM, DOMINION ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY)/
K. ALAMO-MARTINEZ (NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO)
Math class
Elmegreen, who recently retired as president of the American
Astronomical Society, represents the nations professionals, who
cannot shy away from calculations. It is true, she says, that
enjoying astronomy requires no numbers (and really, no words to
appreciate the beauty). But an investigation into the nature of
astronomical objects requires understanding the underlying phys-
ics, which therefore involves math.
Daniel Kelson, a Carnegie Institution researcher whose team
recently discovered one of the most distant galaxies known, is
even more adamant: As an astronomer, math is all I do. All the
time. All of it. Not 37 percent, not 83 percent, not even 99.99 per-
cent. Its 100 percent.
Mathophilia
No matter. My own pathological need to be loved usually makes
me leave out even simple favorite equations like the amazing
Lorentz transformation in my monthly column. But lets tackle
that very formula just once right this moment and observe
what happens. Because, as we will see, math can bring out the
greatest splendors and curiosities of astronomy.
Ready?
Its t1v/c. Doesnt that seem impossibly arcane? Despite its
seeming opaqueness, this is a fairly simple equation. Its purpose is
Lets take the scare factor
out of equations and ask
scientists a fundamental
question: How much of
astronomy is math?
by Bob Berman
Bob Berman is the author of the column Strange Universe.
Speaking the
of the cosmos
Start time End time
Rocket travels the speed
of light for a year.
Rocket travels 1 mile
per second for a year.
2014
Calendar
Observer
Astronaut in rocket
1 v/c
Time
Velocity
Speed of light
t
1 v/c
Distance
Velocity
Speed of light
d
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
4.37 light-years
to describe a consequence of special relativity Albert Einsteins
theory describing how the universe behaves when an object is mov-
ing called time dilation, which Einstein discovered forces time
to go more slowly for you (relative to stationary people) the faster
you travel. The Lorentz transformation reveals exactly how time
grows when you move at a particular speed. Einstein loved this
formula so much that he adopted it like a kitten.
Lets give this equation a try. Say youre going on a trip. First, we
have to account for t, which simply stands for the amount of time
that passed for the folks who stayed home and did not go on your
trip. Well make the calculations easy and say the trip was a single
year, making t simply 1.
Then, we have to multiply t with the meat and potatoes of Hen-
drik Lorentzs brilliant equation: 1v/c. Here, v represents the
travelers (your) velocity, and c is the speed of light. It all sits under
the square root symbol. This is a button on even $1 calculators
bought at Target. With those three numbers accounted for, were
now ready to see what it means.
You can insert any velocity as v, and this equation will work.
But first, lets watch what would happen if you zoomed at light-
speed. In that case, v and c are the same number: 186,282 miles per
second (299,792 kilometers per second). So the expression v/c, in
this case, becomes c/c. And dividing any number by itself always
results in 1.
The formula then tells us to subtract this 1 from 1, which yields
a 0. And thats all that remains beneath the square root sign. The
square root of 0 is 0 were done. The equation leads us to a
numerical answer that we can put into words: If you are traveling at
light-speed, zero time elapses. Time is frozen.
Now lets try some other speed. Say you go twice as fast as a rifle
bullet, or 1 mile per second (1.6 km/s), and you go that fast for a
year. Now, insert 1 mile/s for v. Go through the same steps we
followed above using this new velocity, and youll be amazed.
When you travel at that speed, your time passage is one year (well,
Isaac Newton believed that math-
ematical laws govern interactions
between objects, and he proved
it by discovering such equations
as the universal law of gravitation,
which accurately predicts how the
masses and separations of things
like planets and stars cause them to
behave. THINKSTOCK
Johannes Keplers laws of planetary
motion mathematically describe
how planets move within a solar
system, though they do not say why.
Physical laws describe what hap-
pens and predict what will happen;
theories explain why the laws work.
THINKSTOCK/ISTOCKPHOTO
As an astronomer,
All the time. Daniel Kelson
The faster a rocket moves,
the smaller it becomes. This
shrinkage is an eect of
special relativity called length
contraction, and it means that
if a rocket is traveling 99.995
percent of the speed of light,
it will be just 3 percent of its
standstill size. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
The equations for time dila-
tion and length contraction
which describe how time
stretches and space shrinks
when an object moves at a
high velocity are versions
of the Lorentz transforma-
tion. In time dilation, the
faster an object moves, the
slower time passes. ASTRONOMY:
ROEN KELLY
Special relativity
Time dilation
Length contraction
If an astronaut were able to travel at
the speed of light, she could cruise
around forever and no time would
pass compared to a resting observer.
However, if the astronaut traveled
1 mile per second for one year,
the dierence in time for the
astronaut and the observer would
be minuscule.
The distance the rocket travels will shorten, too. If a ship travels to
Alpha Centauri, the nearest star, at 99.995 percent the speed of light,
the distance contracts to 0.0437 light-years, 100 times shorter than the
proper distance between Earth and the star.
a year minus a few microseconds), while your stay-at-home friends
also experience one year.
Merely going as fast as a bullet is too slow to alter the passage of
time in any meaningful way.
By contrast, time grinds to a total halt, so far as outside observ-
ers would perceive it, when you move at the speed of light.
Somewhere between those two extremes are various degrees of
time slow-down. The beauty of this simple formula, which Lorentz
created in 1904, is that you can insert any speed as v to find out
how time would pass.
If you play around with various velocities speeds both com-
parable to the speed of light and much slower a pattern emerges:
Time is reluctant to change except at high speeds. If you plug in
184,420 miles per second (296,795
km/s) as v, which is 99 percent of
light-speed, time advances by just
0.14 times the rate experienced by
couch potatoes. In other words, a
day passes for you while a week
simultaneously elapses back home.
Another version of this very
same formula shows how distance
shrinks as you move faster. Just
substitute d (for length) in place of
t. If you travel very fast toward
Alpha Centauri, the distance
between Earth and that nearest
star shrinks.
The Lorentz transformation
tells us that the cosmos doesnt have a single inviolable size. Travel
at 99.9999999 percent of light-speed, and the equation will say the
observable universe is now 22,198 times smaller. The galaxys cen-
ter then lies just a little over 1 light-year away. If you could go at
light-speed to see what a photon experiences, there would be no
distance at all between you and the farthest edges of the cosmos.
Youd find yourself everywhere at once. And not because of some
alteration in your perception. The cosmos really would be that size.
The Lorentz transformation tells us that reality actually changes
when you vary your speed.
All of this is undeniably juicy. And it all derives from the rela-
tivity embodied in that single equation.
Math mechanics
Of course, humans obsession with numbers and the universe began
thousands of years before Lorentz. Early on, a debate arose: Was
math built into the universe? Or, instead, did our minds impose a
system that lets us make sense of objects and their interactions?
Many say that Isaac Newton discovered calculus. By using that
verb, they are implying that the cosmos operates by inherent math-
ematical principles that we humans can uncover. In the same way,
when Pythagoras discovered a proof that was factual for any right
triangle that when you square the lengths of the two legs and add
them together, the resulting number is the length of the longer side
squared he was convinced that he had lifted a curtain from a
cosmic truth. He was so overcome with gratitude that he reportedly
slaughtered 100 oxen to thank the
gods. This was before PETA had
an office on Samos.
Many others of Pythagoras
time shared his subdisciplinary
interest: geometry, the investiga-
tion of the shapes of things and
the paths they take. The circle got
most of the early math attention.
After all, the Moon and the Sun
both look perfectly round. Plus,
stars move in precise circles
around the North Celestial Pole.
It was not until the early 17th
century that Johannes Kepler
showed that the true paths of
planets and moons are not circles but ellipses.
To draw a perfect ellipse, push two tacks partway into a piece of
wood. Create a loop of string that fits loosely over them. Put a pen-
cil within the loop. Pull it outward, and move it all the way around
youll create an elliptical shape. Each of the tacks is called a
focus. If you bring the tacks closer together and re-loop the
string, the ellipse gets more circular. If you spread them apart, the
shape becomes less like a circle and more eccentric. And here,
eccentric is a technical term.
Eccentricity is the result of dividing the distance between the
ellipses center and one focus by the semimajor axis. Venus has the
roundest orbit in our solar system with an eccentricity of 0.007. If
James Johnson is the author of the
book For Gods and For Men (Delizon,
2012) and a math enthusiast. He is
aware that correlations between
physical aspects of the universe do
not always imply that they have a
physical relationship to each other.
JAMES JOHNSON
Debra Elmegreen is the Maria
Mitchell Chair of the astronomy
department at Vassar College in
Poughkeepsie, New York, and the
former president of the American
Astronomical Society. She re-
searches star formation, spiral and
interacting galaxy structure, and
galaxy evolution. NRAO/AUI/NSF
Daniel Kelson is a sta associate
at the Carnegie Observatories in
Pasadena, California. He primarily
studies the compositions of, and
dark matter distributions in, the
most distant and massive galaxy
clusters. CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE
The Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz
discovered the mathematical trans-
formation that Albert Einstein then
used to describe his special theory
of relativity. Because of Lorentzs
equation contributions, what we
now know as Einsteins theory
was originally called the Lorentz-
Einstein theory. MUSEUM BOERHAAVE
An investigation into
requires understanding the
underlying physics,
which therefore involves math.
Debra Elmegreen
Star
Planet
Focus
Focus
M
i
n
o
r

a
x
i
s
Major axis
e=0 circle e=0.43 e=0.77
e=c/a
c
a a
c
Minor axis
Star
Planet
Axis of
rotation
A B
A B
A B
this thing had tacks, they would be virtually touching. On the
other hand, the most squashed orbit Mercurys has an eccen-
tricity of 0.20. Its orbits diameter is five times larger than the dis-
tance between its foci.
Kepler discovered that all planets have elliptical orbits, with the
Sun occupying one focus. The other tack is just an empty point in
space. Cool or what?
He also found that if you tied a gigantic piece of string between a
planet and the Sun, it would sweep across equal areas of space in
equal amounts of time. So when
a planet is nearest the Sun (as
Earth is in early January), the
string is shortest, and our planet
must travel faster in order to
cover the same area in one week
as it does during a week in July,
when the string is longest. Bot-
tom line: Planets slow down and
speed up to keep this equal area
business always precisely true.
Finally, Kepler noted that if
you square any planets year, that time is proportional to the
orbits semimajor axis (half the major axis) cubed. If you measure
the year in Earth years and the axis in Earth-Sun spans, or astro-
nomical units (AU), the ratio works out exactly. This is astonishing.
Consider Jupiter. It chugs through the zodiac and completes one
orbit around our sky (and hence around the Sun) in 11.86 Earth
years. 11.86 squared is 140.6. According to Kepler, its semimajor
axis must be a length that, when multiplied by itself thrice over,
also equals 140.6. That number is 5.2. (5.2 5.2 5.2 = 140.6).
Thus, Keplers law reveals that Jupiter must lie 5.2 AU from the
Sun. It is like magic. Simple math done in our minds alone
reveals distances in the solar system.
Rithmetic relationships
An entirely different kingdom statistics provides astronomers
with perhaps their greatest tool. Its a perilous and often nonintui-
tive realm. For example, who
could guess that when 24 or
more people are in a room, sta-
tistics says that two of them
likely share a birthday? Simi-
larly, astronomers often see
tricky correlations that convince
them of a new discovery in their
data. A deeper analysis, though,
can make those initial break-
throughs vanish.
The search for celestial
meaning demands that we separate out seeming correlations from
mere coincidences. As author and math-lover James R. Johnson
notes: Consider the following three ratios: The density of a neu-
tron star divided by the density of water is 10
15
, and the maximum
magnetic field of a neutron star divided by the Earths magnetic
field is 10
15
. Do these similar magnitudes have meaning? Are there
other numbers or ratios that might show hidden relationships?
Kepler discovered
that planets sweep
out equal areas in
equal amounts of
time. In a circular
orbit, like the rst
example, a planet
travels equal dis-
tances and sweeps
out equal areas in
a given amount of
time. The second
illustrates a false
scenario in which
the planet goes
faster farther from
the Sun. In truth,
the closer a planet
is to the Sun, the
faster it moves,
allowing a line
from the planet
to the star to pass
over the same
amount of space,
shaded yellow, no
matter where it is
in its orbit. ASTRONOMY:
ROEN KELLY
Keplers
second
law
Keplers rst law
Planets orbit in ellipses with the Sun at one focus and empty space at
the other. Although many planetary orbits look circular, they usually
have at least slight eccentricity, a measurement of how far they deviate
from perfect roundness. An eccentricity of zero means the orbit actu-
ally is a circle, and the higher the eccentricity, the more elongated the
planets path around the star. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Are there other
that might show
James Johnson
T
i
m
e
Europa
Europa
Jupiter
Jupiter
Io
Io
Ganymede
Ganymede
A F G K M B O
W
h
it
e
d
w
a
r
f
s
M
a
in
s
e
q
u
e
n
c
e
The Sun
G
i
a
n
t
s
Supergiants
Spectral class
0.1
1
10
100
1,000
R
a
d
i
u
s

(
s
o
l
a
r

r
a
d
i
i
)
F=G(m
1
m
2
)/r
2
Matchups like those magnitudes happen all the time if you mul-
tiply and divide enough numbers, but which relationships are coin-
cidence, and which reveal genuine cosmic secrets? In the true
category, star colors, which come in every hue except green, do
indeed correlate with basic stellar traits. Blue stars are younger, hot-
ter, and more massive and spin faster than orange ones. Such celes-
tial realities were only revealed through math.
Certain traits cause a star to burn blue, so when you see blue,
you know the star has those traits. Its all about relationships. Take
Earths interactions with the Moon, which spins on its axis in the
time required for it to orbit around our planet. Its rotation and revo-
lution have a 1:1 ratio. This could be coincidence, except that virtu-
ally all of the solar systems nearly 200 satellites exhibit resonance
with their planets. Thats how scientists knew that some interaction
gravitational influence must cause this tidal lock.
Astronomers used to think Mercury had that same 1:1 resonance
as a satellite of the Sun. But radar proved that it rotates exactly three
times during two of its trips around our star. It has achieved stabil-
ity in a different way, with a resonance of 2:3. Still, tidal forces have
locked it into a neat mathematical relationship.
These variations of immaculate ratios are fascinating wherever
they occur. Jupiters moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io have a 1:2:4
resonance with each other. Ganymede makes one orbit around the
planet while Europa makes two and Io makes four. Or consider
Pluto and Neptune, which together are locked into a 2:3 resonance.
Neptune orbits the Sun three times just as Pluto revolves twice. Yet
Pluto never comes closer than 17 AU to Neptune, even though it
ventures nearly twice as close to Uranus!
Astronomers use the simple value for gravitys force (and how it
diminishes with distance) in their calculations every day. It works
every time because objects interact and relate to each other accord-
ing to physical mathematical laws.
The language of the universe
To do astronomy, scientists not only must know about the laws but
also must use them. As Elmegreen points out, For astronomical
research, math is necessary to describe a process such as a collapse
of a gas cloud to form a star or to develop a computer simulation
that shows the step-by-step evolution of two galaxies as they collide
and draw out long tidal arms and create starbursts.
Kelson, using one of the worlds largest telescopes in Chile, takes
it even further: Being asked how I use math implies that math is a
tool. But math is the language itself and not a tool.
The language of the universe?
Yes! Kelson affirms.
And by now, dear reader, youve had more than enough. But the
point is clear. Even if we must downplay it in writing, math is what
actually gives us discoveries to write about. The importance of
math in astronomy is infinite.
WHAT ARE THE TOP 10 EQUATIONS IN ASTRONOMY? FIND OUT AT www.Astronomy.com/toc.
Correlation doesnt imply causation. As childrens feet become larger, they
become better at math. Their ability to solve for x, though, does not depend on
shoe size but on age, and feet grow with time. However, in the case of stars, the
hotter the temperature, the bluer the color will be because the peak wave-
length changes, as the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram shows. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Three of Jupiters moons are locked into dierent resonances with the
gas giant. This plot shows that each time Ganymede orbits Jupiter,
Europa orbits twice, and Io orbits four times. Their motions are harmonic
variations of each other. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Newtons universal law of gravitation describes why orbiting objects
obey Keplers laws: The force of gravity (F) depends on the mass of the
planet (m
1
), the mass of the Sun (m
2
), and how far they are apart (r). As
the distance between the parent body and the satellite increases, the
eects of gravity decrease. For each doubling of the distance, the force
decreases by a factor of four. G is the universal gravitational constant, a
number that is the same everywhere. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Linked satellites
Newtons law of gravitation
Stellar groupings
Fire and ice
T
he saga of water ice hiding in
the shadows on Mercury ranks
among the most fascinating
chapters in the history of plan-
etary exploration. And the
story didnt end a year ago
when scientists using NASAs
MESSENGER spacecraft con-
firmed the existence of ice in craters near
the planets poles. MESSENGER short
for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment,
GEochemistry, and Ranging started
orbiting Mercury in March 2011 and has
been returning reams of data ever since.
The discovery of ice contains its own sur-
prises and new mysteries.
Scientists had suspected for decades that
water ice might survive in corners of the
solar systems innermost world. Theorists
realized that cold regions could exist in
certain areas, and observers seemingly
backed up these theoretical computations.
Planetary scientist David Paige of the
University of California, Los Angeles, a
participating scientist on the MESSENGER
project, stresses the wider significance of
the ice story. The Mercury discoveries
demonstrate the power of theory and
imagination in astronomy and planetary
science, he says. However, just because
something might be there doesnt necessar-
ily mean that it is. Careful observations
and analysis are required as proof. Science
Torrid Mercurys
works best when good observations are
guided by theory.
During the past several decades, scien-
tists have come to realize that a conspiracy
of freak accidents involving Mercurys
motion and orientation had created small
regions on the planets surface where it
ought to be cold enough for ice to form and
survive for billions of years. Unfortunately,
instruments on NASAs Mariner 10 space-
craft, which made the only previous visits
to the planet nearly 40 years ago, could not
make the observations necessary to prove
the case. Still, radar observations from
Earth did detect unusually reflective
regions in Mercurys polar regions that
seemed to overlap the supercold regions
theorists had calculated. This match pro-
vided a tentative hint of what might be.
Untangling Mercurys web
It took centuries for astronomers to deci-
pher Mercurys physical and dynamic
characteristics and to understand their
implications. Although the planet lies rea-
sonably close to Earth, it is a difficult world
to observe in detail. As the closest planet to
the Sun, Mercury never strays far from our
The MESSENGER
spacecraft reveals
water ice lurking in
deeply shadowed
craters near the
innermost planets
poles. by James Oberg
icy poles
Color explodes from Mercurys surface in this enhanced-color mosaic. The yellow and orange hues signify
relatively young volcanic plains, while blue represents older terrain. The planets equator runs horizon-
tally through the center of this image; the poles lie at top and bottom. NASA/JHUAPL/CIW
stars glare. The best observing conditions
occur when it lies near one of its greatest
elongations, which create brief periods when
the planet climbs well above our earthly
horizon and appears approximately half-lit.
It wasnt until the late 19th and early
20th centuries that astronomers, most
notably Giovanni Schiaparelli in Italy and
Greek-born Eugne Antoniadi in France,
consistently observed the same markings
on the planets illuminated side. These fea-
tures did not move over short periods and
reappeared in the same locations at succes-
sive greatest elongations.
These observations implied that Mer-
cury likely is tidally locked with the Sun
and always keeps the same face pointed
toward our star. The Moon suffers a similar
fate, in which Earths gravity locks the
Moon so that it rotates in the same period
it takes to revolve around our planet. The
observations of Mercury also suggested
that its rotation axis lines up nearly per-
pendicular to its orbital plane.
In Mercurys case, being tidally locked
would create a scorchingly hot Sun-facing
hemisphere, a perpetually dark and frigid
region on the opposite side, and a fairly
broad twilight zone where the Sun would
rise and set periodically in response to the
planets varying orbital speed as it follows
an elliptical orbit. (For the same reason, we
see slightly more than half of the Moons
surface during a lunar month.) Astrono-
mers accepted Mercury as another example
of rotational lock well into the 20th century.
But further Earth-based observations
suggested that Mercurys dark side was
far warmer than it should be. Theorists
proposed various ideas to explain the
apparent contradiction, including one
in which the planet possesses a massive
atmos phere that
spawns hurricanes
to carry super-
heated air into
the perma-
nently shad-
owed regions.
But none of the
theories seemed
to fit the obser vations.
Then, in 1965, researchers bounced
powerful radar beams off Mercury. A sub-
tle shift in the wavelengths of the signals
returned from the planets edges didnt
match an object rotating at the same rate
as it revolved around the Sun Mercury
spins faster than anyone had suspected.
Even so, the planet is tidally locked, just
not in a 1-to-1 ratio. Mercury rotates three
times on its axis for every two revolutions
it makes around the Sun. Although this
so-called 3:2 resonance is stable over long
periods, it has some bizarre implications.
First, each Mercury day, from one sun-
rise to the next, lasts two Mercury years.
Long phases of heating and cooling are the
rule across the planets surface.
Second, despite these long cycles, not all
longitudes experience the same share of
heating. Because the planet has a fairly
eccentric orbit, it travels much faster when
it lies closer to the Sun.
Noontime heating in one longitudinal
zone can be twice that in another 90
away. The 3:2 resonance also means
that the same regions experience
extra heating day after day after
day. The two hottest
zones lie along
the equator on
opposite sides of
the planet. Tem-
peratures there soar as
high as 845 Fahrenheit (725 kelvins).
Third, Mercurys true rotation period
relative to the stars (58.8 days) coincidentally
turns out to be approximately half of Mer-
curys 116-day synodic period, the time it
takes the planet to return to the same orbital
configuration as seen from our planet.
This means that successive observation
periods from Earth occur when the same
side of Mercury faces the Sun. This dynam-
ical accident is just bad luck for earthbound
astronomers, who noticed and misinter-
preted the repeated appearances of the
same surface features.
Deep craters near Mercurys north pole harbor water ice. The rst evidence for
these deposits came from Earth-based radar observations in the early 1990s,
which revealed bright patches that reected most of the incoming signal.
A mosaic of MESSENGER images of Mercurys north polar region appears
beneath radar data of the same area seen at left. All of the large deposits sit
on the oors or walls of impact craters, including Kandinsky and Prokoev.
N
A
T
I
O
N
A
L

A
S
T
R
O
N
O
M
Y

A
N
D

I
O
N
O
S
P
H
E
R
E

C
E
N
T
E
R
/
A
R
E
C
I
B
O

O
B
S
E
R
V
A
T
O
R
Y
James Oberg, a former NASA rocket scientist,
now works as a space consultant for NBC News.
N
A
S
A
/
J
H
U
A
P
L
/
C
I
W
MESSENGER
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Maximum temperature (kelvins)
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550
Ice depth (centimeters)
0 10 20 30 40 50
A chill at the poles
But not all coincidences are bad news. With
better observations in following years, sci-
entists realized that Mercurys axis tilts
89.99 to its orbital plane almost pre-
cisely perpendicular. Theory suggests that
this near-perfect match of axis and orbit is
a long-term effect of the planets gravita-
tional coupling with the Sun, which would
mean that Mercurys rotation axis adjusts
to changes in its orbital inclination over
time. As a consequence, deep craters near
the planets poles can remain in permanent
shadow and serve as ice traps for a billion
years or more.
In 1991, researchers beamed radar sig-
nals at Mercury. Using the Goldstone radio
telescope in California and the Very Large
Array in New Mexico, they detected unusu-
ally strong radar returns from the planets
polar regions. These areas come into view
because Mercurys orbit tilts 7 to Earths,
which allows astronomers to peek over the
inner worlds poles. The giant 1,000-foot
(305 meters) radio dish at Arecibo Obser-
vatory in Puerto Rico later observed these
same regions with similar results.
Photographs taken during the three
Mariner 10 flybys in the mid-1970s showed
that, in some cases, the high-return regions
seemed to coincide with deep polar craters.
Although water ice seemed the most likely
cause, theorists developed several even
more exotic explanations, including sulfur
snow, sodium ions, or an unknown feature
of the supercold surface. (After all, this
was the coldest surface radar scientists
had ever explored.)
MESSENGER to the rescue
Into this uncertainty and mystery, NASA
launched the MESSENGER probe in 2004.
It was a challenge to get a spacecraft to
Mercury with a speed slow enough that the
biggest propulsion module possible could
decelerate the craft into a stable orbit. After
a seven-year voyage that included three
flybys of the inner world, the probe arrived
in its planned orbit March 17, 2011.
After a year of observations and anal-
ysis, NASA announced the results in
November 2012. The ice is real, but it isnt
what scientists expected. If anything, it
proved even more interesting.
MESSENGER Principal Investigator
Sean Solomon, director of Columbia Uni-
versitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Obser-
vatory, described how the science team
painstakingly developed its case for ice at
the poles. First, the researchers tested the
hypothesis that the areas where scientists
This oblique view of the inner worlds north polar region shows the surface temperature averaged over
two Mercury years. Blue and purple represent the coldest areas, where ice can persist. NASA/UCLA/JHUAPL/CIW
The highest temperature observed over two Mercury years gives a better idea of where ice can survive. The
coldest spots in permanently shadowed craters only reached 370 Fahrenheit (50 kelvins). NASA/UCLA/JHUAPL/CIW
This map of permafrost shows the same area as above and indicates the depths below Mercurys surface
where water ice should be stable. Gray denotes regions that are too warm for any ice, color reveals areas
where subsurface ice can exist, and white shows spots cold enough for surface ice. NASA/UCLA/JHUAPL/CIW
Low-hydrogen layer
(48 inches [1020cm] thick)
Pure ice
Ice layer
Neutrons
Neutrons
Cosmic rays
0.98
0.97
30 50 70 90 40 60
North latitude
No ice
Pure ice
MESSENGER data
Medium-speed neutrons
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

f
u
x
80
0.99
1.00
1.01
1.02
had observed bright radar returns were
positioned inside craters having the right
shape and in locations where ice could sur-
vive. Imaging of both poles over multiple
solar days on Mercury confirmed that all
polar deposits are located in areas of per-
manent shadow, says Solomon. And the
craters are big enough so that light reflect-
ing from the Sun-facing rims does not
flood the shadows with too much heat.
Second, the scientists used the crafts
neutron spectrometer, an instrument that
already had proved its worth during ice
searches on the Moon, to seek evidence of
hydrogen, two-thirds of the building blocks
for water molecules. Neutron spectrometer
measurements [in the northern hemisphere]
showed that the polar deposits have a hydro-
gen abundance consistent with a composi-
tion dominated by water ice, says Solomon,
but only if most ice deposits are buried
beneath several tens of centimeters [at least
several inches] of a low-hydrogen material.
The spacecrafts laser altimeter provided
the third line of evidence. This instrument,
developed to measure the precise shape and
elevation of the planets surface, also paid
dividends in the hunt for ice. Reflectance
measurements showed that most polar
deposits are dark at near-infrared wave-
lengths [1,064 nanometers in this case], but
some of the polar deposits at the highest
latitudes are much brighter than average
for Mercury, says Solomon.
Finally, the team matched the newly
imaged candidate regions to actual cold
areas. Thermal models derived with topo-
graphic maps constructed from altimeter
profiles showed that water ice is thermally
stable at the surface in those areas with
bright reflectance, but is stable only if bur-
ied by several tens of centimeters of another
still-volatile material for most [other] polar
deposit areas, says Solomon. This uniden-
tified material appears to be less volatile
than water ice, which means it remains
stable at higher temperatures.
A dark cover-up
MESSENGER scientists didnt anticipate
discovering such a dark overcoat: Finding
unusually dark material in association with
the ice deposits was definitely unexpected,
says Paige. We hypothesized that these
may be dark organic-rich deposits like we
find in comets and primitive outer solar
system bodies. If this stuff really exists on
Mercury, that would be pretty amazing.
Solomon agrees: The surprise was that
the material covering most of those [ice]
deposits is not typical soil from Mercurys
regolith [the layer of loose rock and soil
found on the surfaces of most solar system
bodies] but is instead material with a reflec-
tance half that of Mercurys average. The
specific reflectance and limiting tempera-
ture are best matched by organic-rich mate-
rial found in comets and volatile-rich
meteorites, and on the surfaces of outer
solar system objects. Solomon adds that
these properties strongly suggest that the
water ice and the organic material found
their way to Mercurys polar craters by a
common process.
The researchers found the dark protec-
tive layer over ice in craters at some distance
from both poles. Its distribution clearly
avoids the longitudes of the hot spots cre-
ated by Mercurys peculiar 3:2 resonance.
The volatile deposits extend farther from
both poles along the coldest longitudes
those 90 off the hot spot locations pro-
viding further proof of their icy nature.
But closer to both the north and south
poles, the temperatures drop even lower. In
these regions, ice can remain stable without
any protection. The water ice is pure, and it
is naked to space. We had expected to find
evidence of ice, but bright ice on the surface
and right where the thermal models pre-
dicted it was a surprise, says Paige. Bright
surface ice requires ongoing processes to
deliver water to the polar regions faster
than it can be buried by impact debris and
[ultraviolet] radiation.
Taking a bath
Considering NASAs exobiology imperative
to follow the water in search of extrater-
restrial life, the question arises whether
water ice on Mercury opens a potential new
habitat for biology. The answer, so far at
least, appears to be no.
The likelihood of persistent liquid
water is remote, says Solomon. Water in
Mercurys polar craters either will be a sta-
ble solid or in vapor form. There may be
brief intervals where water ice may be
melted by sunlight or subsurface heat, he
continues, but there is no evidence that
water has modified the surface or near-
surface in ways detectable from orbit.
We dont think theres any possibility
for liquid water in association with these
deposits, adds Paige. They are way
too cold. While surface and subsurface
temperatures in the soil surrounding the
ice deposits can be in the habitable zone
[where conditions allow liquid water to
exist], Mercury has no atmosphere, so any
liquid water in these warmer regions would
quickly boil away into space.
When high-energy cosmic rays strike Mer-
curys surface, they liberate neutrons from
subsurface atoms. Although these particles
normally escape into space after traveling
through the surface, hydrogen atoms in water
ice block their route. An insulating layer low in
hydrogen protects the ice. ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON
How neutrons point to ice
Neutrons tell the tale
MESSENGERs neutron spectrometer surveys
the entire planet looking for neutrons. If no
ice existed on Mercury, the number of neu-
trons would remain constant with latitude.
If the radar-bright deposits were pure ice,
the plot would follow the yellow curve. The
MESSENGER data closely match the pure-ice
scenario. ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON, AFTER NASA/JHUAPL/CIW
550K
350K 80K
Shadow
Sunlight
North
But where it is cold, water ice is stable
for a long time. There could definitely be
billion-year-old ice on Mercury because the
cold traps [have remained frigid for a major
fraction of the solar systems history], says
Paige. Still, he remains cautious: We dont
know enough about the sources and
destruction rates of the ice to say how old
any given piece of ice might be.
Could the ice exist in successive layers,
with the oldest at the bottom? If so, it could
provide future explorers with a time-lapse
history of Mercury and, perhaps, solar
activity. In much the same way, terrestrial
geologists use ice cores from Antarctica and
Greenland to study Earths climate history.
This is one possibility, but, unfortu-
nately, we just dont know the answer,
Paige admits. He does speculate that the
apparently well-organized nature of Mer-
curys deposits suggests that they might
have migrated, mixed, and reformed as the
planets orbit evolved over millions of years.
This could jumble any time history.
To the next stage
The MESSENGER spacecraft continues to
orbit Mercury, dipping closer to the surface
to gather more precise measurements of
particularly interesting regions. During the
probes final year of operation, mission
planners intend to have it descend within
15 miles (25 kilometers) of the surface at
specific points, where it will be able to
make the most detailed observations yet.
Until then, scientists will have to be con-
tent with what the orbiter already has deliv-
ered. For Solomon, the water ice detection
ranks high for two reasons. First, the
required measurements were difficult,
given that our spacecraft was far from the
planets polar regions and the polar depos-
its filled only a small fraction of the field of
view of key remote sensing instruments,
he says. Second, the confirmation of water
ice required that multiple lines of evidence
all pointed in the same direction. The
results came in one at a time, like plot
developments in a mystery novel, and the
solution came only on the final page.
Paige echoes those sentiments: Scien-
tists have been studying polar ice on the
Moon and Mercury since the 1960s. The
MESSENGER observations are like a satis-
fying end to a good story or at least one
chapter in a longer story.
David Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory, who
led the design team for the neutron spec-
trometer that detected the hydrogen, stresses
that polar ice on the Moon and Mercury
reflect different phenomena. Mercurys
poles are warmer than the lunar poles, he
points out, but the planet has a lot more
water in much purer form. Its a continuing
mystery, the differences in the ice between
the Moon and Mercury, he says. Well
need to go down and sample the surface.
Actually reaching and analyzing Mer-
curys polar ice is a challenge at the current
limits of technological speculation. Perhaps
a lander could do the job, or an impactor
paired with an orbiting collector made of
aerogel that captures the collisions debris.
In other words, its an ideal goal for
young planetary scientists to consider.
After all, the next chapter on Mercurys
polar ice remains to be written.
READ MORE ABOUT THE MESSENGER SPACECRAFTS DISCOVERIES AT MERCURY AT www.Astronomy.com/toc.
Sunlight hits an impact crater near Mercurys
north pole at a shallow angle. Although
the sunlit rim grows hot, the opposite side
remains in shadow (1). When comets strike the
planet (2), they spread water and organic com-
pounds over a wide area, and some migrate to
the poles and get trapped in craters (3). Water
ice in the warmer areas vaporizes over time (4)
but stays stable in the coldest spots, protected
by a layer of organic material (5).
How ice forms and survives
A
S
T
R
O
N
O
M
Y
:

R
I
C
K

J
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This enhanced-color mosaic reveals Mercurys south polar region. MESSENGERs most detailed observa-
tions show the planets northern half because the probe ies closer to that hemisphere. But images of
the south pole show craters that lie in permanent shadow, just like those in the north. NASA/JHUAPL/CIW
1
2
3
4
5
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
MARTIN RATCLIFFE and ALISTER LING describe the
solar systems changing landscape as it appears in Earths sky.
December 2013: ISON continues to shine
I
ts a busy month in Earths
sky. At the top of every-
ones mind is Comet ISON
(C/2012 S1), which could
be magnificent both after
dusk and before dawn. But
dont pass on the many bright
planets visible these long
nights. Venus outshines every
object except the Sun and
Moon, making it impossible
to miss on December eve-
nings. Jupiter gleams almost
all night as it approaches its
peak in early January. And
mornings favorably show off
Mercury, Mars, and Saturn.
Venus commands your
attention as darkness falls. It
shines at magnitude 4.9
the brightest it ever gets
throughout Decembers first
half. (Greatest brilliancy
occurs officially on the 6th,
but you wont notice any
brightness change until after
midmonth.) If you have a car-
pet of fresh snow, wave your
hand a foot or so above the
ground under a dark sky, and
you should see the planet cast-
ing a shadow. Venus fades to a
still impressive magnitude
4.5 by months end.
This world also lies highest
in the southwestern sky in
early December. It stands 15
above the horizon an hour
after the Sun goes down and
doesnt set until nearly two
hours later. A waxing crescent
Moon passes 8 north of
Venus on December 5. By the
31st, the planet lies just 4
high an hour after sunset.
Any telescope shows the
remarkable changes Venus
undergoes. On December 1,
the planet appears 37" across
and 31 percent lit. New Years
Eve reveals a 59"-diameter
disk, but the Sun illuminates
only 5 percent of it.
Youll have to wait for twi-
light to fade completely before
hunting for Uranus and Nep-
tune through binoculars.
Look for Neptune around
7 p.m. local time, when it lies
30 high in the southwest.
First find Theta () and Iota
() Aquarii, a pair of 4th-
magnitude stars near Aquar-
ius border with Capricornus.
With 7x50 binoculars, place
Iota at the bottom of your
field of view; Theta will
appear at the top right. Then
locate 5th-magnitude 38 Aqr,
the brightest star on the line
joining these two.
Neptune lies about 2
northeast of 38 but appears
10 times fainter, at magnitude
7.9. The handful of 7th- and
8th-magnitude stars that dot
this area will complicate your
search. To confirm a sighting,
target the object with a tele-
scope at high power and look
for a blue-gray disk measur-
ing 2.3" across.
Uranus stands more than
halfway to the zenith in the
southern sky after darkness
settles in. Its easier to locate
than Neptune because it
shines at magnitude 5.8, more
than two magnitudes brighter
than its planetary sibling.
Uranus rests on the Pisces-
Cetus border, so use 4th-
magnitude Delta () Piscium
as a guide star. The planet lies
6 southwest of Delta, or
slightly less than the field of
view in 7x50 binoculars.
SKYTHIS
MONTH
The Moon joined Venus in the morning sky over Australia on March 6, 2008 (with dimmer Mercury above the pair). The
rst two objects have a similar close conjunction December 5. MIKE SALWAY
Venus shines brighter and climbs higher in the evening sky during early
December than at any other time during this apparition. ASTRONOMY: JAY SMITH
Martin Ratcliffe provides plane-
tarium development for Sky-Skan,
Inc., from his home in Wichita,
Kansas. Meteorologist Alister
Ling works for Environment
Canada in Edmonton, Alberta.
As with Neptune, a tele-
scope provides proof that
youre viewing a planet. At
medium magnification, youll
quickly recognize Uranus
distinctive blue-green hue
and see its 3.6"-diameter disk.
Giant Jupiter rises shortly
after 7 p.m. local time Decem-
ber 1 and around sunset on
the 31st, when it remains vis-
ible all night. With opposition
and peak visibility arriving
during Januarys first week,
the gas giant appears stun-
ning this month. It shines at
magnitude 2.7 New Years
Eve, when it dominates the
sky after Venus sets.
Jupiter lies against the
backdrop of Gemini, approxi-
mately 10 southwest of that
constellations brightest stars,
Castor and Pollux. It resides
much closer to magnitude 3.5
Delta Geminorum, however.
RISINGMOON
The evening of December 13
features a waxing gibbous
Moon. While meteor observers
wait for the bright light to set
and clear the stage for Geminid
viewing, Moon watchers will
break out their telescopes and
target the lunar southwest.
Tucked along the western
shores of Mare Humorum (Sea
of Moisture) lies a curving scarp
(or cliff) named Rupes Liebig.
Centered on the impact that cre-
ated the basin, the cliff appears
as a white arc that changes by
the hour as it catches the rising
Sun. The scarp formed when
Humorum sank under the
weight of lava, cracking the floor
and causing it to fall. A smaller
impactor later punctuated the
scarp with a diminutive crater.
Notice a few line segments
on Rupes Liebigs western side.
They belong to a family of rilles
on the lunar nearside that
appear radial to a huge but now
buried basin. The ancient impact
that excavated this basin also
created deep cracks. Later on,
the walls slumped and impacts
splashed material into them.
On the 14th, sunlight fully
illuminates the modestly bat-
tered crater Mersenius. This
52-mile-wide crater should have
a central peak, just like the simi-
larly sized Tycho. Its there, but
its buried under lava that oozed
through cracks in the floor. Sci-
entists dont know why the lava
pushed upward in a broad dome
instead of forming a flat pool.
This bulge shows up best on the
13th when the Sun hangs low.
Can you see a dragons
mouth tucked south of the pair
of Henry craters? The play of
light and shadows on peaks and
crater rims there led observer
Dave Gamble to imagine a
mouthful of very bright teeth.
Similar conditions return
between midnight and 3 A.M.
EST December 15. They are
nothing more than tricks of the
terrain and the minds fancy, but
its fun to observe them, espe-
cially when the illusion may
come and go in a half-hour.
A cacophony of craters and cliffs
Continued on page 42
The gentle arc of Rupes Liebig stands out on the waxing gibbous Moon
the night of December 13/14. CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/UA/LPL; INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) should glow brightly and sport a long tail
as it climbs into view before dawn in early December.
OBSERVING
HIGHLIGHT
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)

December 17, 11:30 P.M. EST
S
E
Callistos shadow
Callisto
Ganymede
Europa
Io
Jupiter
30"
Callisto casts a large shadow
On December 10, the planet
skims just 15' half the Full
Moons diameter north
of the star.
Youll want to spend a lot
of time at the telescope view-
ing details in Jupiters atmos-
phere. The planet is almost
perfectly placed for late-
evening and after-midnight
viewing during December. It
climbs higher than 60 for
more than three hours every
night. The great altitude
means you dont have to look
through as much of Earths
image-distorting atmosphere.
The planets feature-laden
disk grows from 45" to 47"
across this month. At first
glance, youll see two dark
stripes, one on either side of
the planets brighter equator.
These two belts initially may
appear featureless, but close
inspection reveals subtle dark
spots and turbulent edges.
These features move quickly
in response to Jupiters rapid
spin it completes a rotation
once every 10 hours or so.
The four Galilean moons
of Jupiter Io, Europa, Gan-
ymede, and Callisto orbit
the planet in 1.8, 3.6, 7.2, and
16.7 days, respectively. They
change relative positions
from night to night and often
from hour to hour. Observers
particularly enjoy watching
when a moon passes in front
of, or transits, the planets
disk shortly after its shadow
transits the jovian cloud tops.
With the long December
nights and Jupiters near-
optimal position, plenty of
satellite events take place this
month. But perhaps the most
interesting sequence occurs
December 17/18 and involves
Callisto and Io. The pitch-
black shadow of Callisto,
which shows up easily
through even small telescopes,
starts to transit Jupiters disk
at 10:04 p.m. EST. The dark
dot takes more than three
hours to cross the planets
southern hemisphere.
As the shadow exits the
disk at 1:17 a.m. EST, the
moon itself appears 8" off
Jupiters southeastern limb.
The gap closes quickly, how-
ever, and by 2:20 a.m. EST the
moon begins its own transit.
This journey doesnt conclude
until 5:46 a.m. EST.
Some 20 minutes before
Callisto reaches the planets
southwestern limb, Ios
shadow begins a transit on
the opposite side, at 5:27 a.m.
EST. Nearly 30 minutes later,
Io commences its own transit.
Although observers on North
Americas East Coast will have
to watch the moon and its
shadow march in lock step
COMETSEARCH
Greatness is fleeting. Comet
ISON (C/2012 S1) will max out for
just a week or so in late Novem-
ber and early December. Before
and after this peak, most astron-
omers expect ISON to look like
Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4)
did in March and April a nice
object for experienced observ-
ers but not as much for the
general public.
Youll need to be up by the
crack of dawn to catch ISONs
tail above the eastern horizon
before the rest of the comet
climbs into view, followed too
quickly by the Sun itself. Use
binoculars and a telescope at a
range of magnifications to see
the most cometary detail.
As ISON retreats from the
Suns radiation, its brightness
and activity level will diminish,
but its contrast against the
darker background sky will
surge. To naked eyes or through
binoculars, the prettiest views
may come a week or more
into December.
No matter how much the
comet flares or fizzles, it always
will look better from under a
dark sky. Search for an observ-
ing site east of your city or town
to put the veil of light pollution
behind you. But even if you
must remain in town, observe at
every opportunity any night
could provide the observation
of a lifetime.
ISON makes a beeline to the north
EVENING SKY MIDNIGHT MORNING SKY
Venus (southwest) Jupiter (southeast) Mercury (southeast)
Uranus (southeast) Uranus (west) Mars (south)
Neptune (south) Jupiter (west)
Saturn (southeast)
WHEN TO VIEW THE PLANETS
Continued from page 37
Comet ISON glowed dimly in early September, when it returned to view
before dawn after months lost in the Suns glare. DAMIAN PEACH
Jupiters outermost major moon, Callisto, casts a shadow onto the jovian
cloud tops the night of December 17/18. ASTRONOMY: JAY SMITH
10
LIBRA
VIRGO
Spica
Mercury
Saturn
December 1, 45 minutes before sunrise
Looking east-southeast
Comet ISON
Moon
OPHIUCHUS
TAURUS
E
N
Path of Davida
31
26
21
16
11
6
Dec 1
66
45
47
46
+
1
Taurus gives sanctuary to a massive asteroid
The Moon meets Mercury, Saturn, and ISON

GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek.
across the cloud tops during
twilight, West Coast viewers
will see it in a dark sky.
Although Mars hasnt
offered amateur astronomers
much all year, thats starting
to change. The Red Planet
rises around 1 a.m. local time
in early December and an
hour earlier by months end.
During this period, Mars
brightens from magnitude
1.2 to 0.9, the brightest it has
been since 2012.
Earths neighbor passes
several modest stars in the
constellation Virgo during
December. On the 2nd, Mars
treks just 1.2 north of mag-
nitude 3.6 Beta () Virginis.
On the 17th, the planet slides
0.7 north of magnitude 3.9
Eta () Vir, and it stands a
similar distance south of mag-
nitude 2.7 Gamma ()
Vir on the 29th.
Although the ruddy world
looks nice with naked eyes
and binoculars, the telescopic
view still leaves something to
be desired. Even by months
end, Mars spans only 7" and
shows few details beyond its
white north polar cap. The
planet grows significantly
larger in early 2014, however,
and should show many dusky
surface markings.
Decembers first morning
promises a fine sight. A slen-
der crescent Moon rises
around the beginning of
twilight and climbs nearly
10 high in the southeast by
45 minutes before sunrise.
Mercury, which shines at
magnitude 0.6, lies 5 east
of the Moon while Saturn
(magnitude 0.6) appears 2
above our satellite.
Binoculars will provide the
best views of this scene and
should reveal a bonus object:
Comet ISON. Assuming that
this long-awaited visitor sur-
vived its brush with the Sun
in late November, ISON will
quickly improve before dawn.
Although the comets nucleus
lies on the horizon 45 minutes
before sunup on the 1st, the
tail angles above the horizon
and ought to be easier to see.
If predictions hold, ISON
should shine at 1st magnitude
this morning.
Of the four morning
objects on display December
1, the Moon disappears first.
It succumbs to the Suns glow
the next day when it reaches
its New phase. Mercury exits
from the stage next. Just a
week into December, the
innermost planet sits only 4
high 30 minutes before sun-
rise. It becomes lost in the
dawn glow a few days later.
Saturn fares much better.
By the end of the year, it rises
four hours before the Sun
and appears 20 high in the
southeast as twilight begins.
Any telescope shows the plan-
ets 16"-diameter disk and
beautiful ring system, which
spans 36" and tilts 22 to our
line of sight.
But Comet ISON likely
will draw the lions share of
attention. The comet tracks
northward rapidly and climbs
higher into a darker morning
sky. Still, astronomers expect
it to dim by five magnitudes
this month, so the best views
should come during Decem-
bers first two weeks. For
more details on viewing this
cosmic visitor, see Comet
ISONs dazzling all-night
show on p. 56.
Whats the highest numbered
asteroid youve ever seen? You
could achieve a personal best
this month with 511 Davida,
whose elliptical orbit brings it
about as close to Earth as it can
get. This favorable alignment
occurs only every 45 years.
Astronomers estimate that
Davida spans a respectable 200
miles and ranks among the 10
most massive members of the
main asteroid belt. American
astronomer Raymond Dugan
discovered the object photo-
graphically in 1903.
Despite the objects high
number, Davida peaks at 10th
magnitude this month and
shouldnt be difficult to hunt
down. Wait until mid-evening
for Taurus to climb high. The
asteroid lies in the southern
part of this constellation,
roughly 10 south of Aldebaran.
The background sky has a nice
range of star brightnesses to
provide you with a recogniz-
able pattern at the eyepiece.
Magnitude 4.3 Mu () Tauri
serves as an anchor point near
the end of Davidas track.
If you want to see a solar
system object move in just two
or three hours, the evening of
December 7 will work well.
Davida then slides past two
9th-magnitude stars. The three
form a triangle whose shape
changes noticeably in a couple
of hours. You need to draw only
three dots on a sheet of paper
and return to identify the one
that shifted position.
LOCATINGASTEROIDS
Lowly Davida runs with the Bull
Decembers rst morning showcases a grand conjunction among four bright
solar system objects. ASTRONOMY: JAY SMITH
Asteroid 511 Davida wanders through the southern part of Taurus the Bull
during December, not far from 4th-magnitude Mu () Tauri. ASTRONOMY: JAY SMITH
lthough space missions get a lot
of attention when they first leave
Earth and when they complete
their primary mission goals, after the proj-
ects are done, we hear little about them.
But just because a spacecraft leaves the
headlines doesnt mean it really has dis-
appeared: Missions can be extended for
years, and the flotsam is usually des-
troyed or abandoned in space.
What ever happened to your favorite
space missions? Here is a survey of some
of the most famous and where they are
now (with two yet to reach their primary
targets). Unless otherwise noted, the mis-
sions shown here are American.
SPACECRAFT:
Where are they now?
What happens after planetary missions end?
We show you the fates of 20 spacecraft.
by Yvette Cendes; illustrations by Roen Kelly
Venus
Earth
Inner solar system
1
1958
1
1957
2
1958
1964
3
1962
3
1963
5
1994
4
1975
5
1990
1
2
3
5
4
1 2
3 5
A
Yvette Cendes is a doctoral student in
astronomy at the University of Amsterdam.
Her Twitter handle is @whereisyvette.
SPUTNIK 1
The Soviet Union launched
the rst articial satellite,
Sputnik 1, on October 4,
1957, giving the USSR a leg
up in the space race with
the United States. The craft
orbited Earth while sending
out radio pulses for three
weeks until its transmitter batteries ran out.
It burned up as it reentered our atmosphere
January 4, 1958.
MARINER 2
On December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 became the rst spacecraft to
successfully encounter a planet when it ew by Venus. It returned
data about the venusian atmosphere, magnetic eld, and mass
from its 42-minute survey. The last contact with Mariner 2 occurred
January 3, 1963, and it remains in orbit around the Sun, although its
exact location is unknown.
VENERA 9
Venera 9 was the rst probe to return images from the surface
of another planet. This USSR mission landed on Venus on
October 22, 1975; it transmitted data for 53 minutes until radio
contact was lost when the orbiter relaying signals went out of
range. The lander compiled data about the thickness of Venus
clouds, the composition of its atmosphere, and the planets surface temperature
and pressure. Venera 9 is still on the surface of Venus and likely corroded due to the
atmospheres extreme conditions.
MAGELLAN
From 1990 to 1994, the Magellan spacecraft mapped the surface of Venus via radar
imaging, giving scientists the most detailed maps of the planet that exist today.
Eventually, faced with fading power, the spacecraft was placed into a decaying or-
bit that caused it to travel through the thick atmosphere October 13 and 14, 1994.
Although most of the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere, a Magellan Status
Report from October 1994 suggests that some of its debris hit the venusian surface.
VANGUARD 1
The United States Naval Research Laboratory
launched Vanguard 1 on March 17, 1958.
(NASA wasnt established until late 1958.)
This craft is the fourth-oldest articial
satellite and also the oldest man-made
satellite still in orbit. Vanguard 1 pro-
vided researchers with extensive
information about satellite
drag and atmospheric density,
and conrmed that Earth is wider across the equa-
tor than across its poles. Vanguard 1s transmitter
stopped working in 1964, but scientists expect it
will last in orbit for roughly 185 more years.
11
1974
11
1975
300 4,900
Mars
Mercury
6
1976
1982
10
2008
7
1999
9
2004
Current
8
2004
2010
7
11
610
Primary mission (location and year)
Last contact (location and year)
Spacecraft that burned up or crashed
Key
Planetary fyby
NASA (SPUTNIK 1; VANGUARD 1; VENERA 9; MARS; MARINER 10); NASA/JPL (MARINER 2; NEPTUNE); MICHAEL CARBAJAL/NASA
HEADQUARTERS (VIKING 1; VOYAGER 1; VOYAGER 2); ESA (GIOTTO; HUYGENS); NASA/JPL-CALTECH (MAGELLAN; NEAR SHOEMAKER;
DAWN; PIONEER 10; PIONEER 11; GALILEO; ROSETTA); CORBY J. WASTE/NASA (MARS CLIMATE ORBITER); NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER
(SPIRIT; OPPORTUNITY); NASA/JPL/UA/LOCKHEED MARTIN (PHOENIX); JHUAPL/SWRI (NEW HORIZONS); HALLEY MULTICOLOR CAMERA
TEAM/GIOTTO PROJECT/ESA (COMET 1P/HALLEY); NEAR PROJECT/NLR/JHUAPL/GODDARD SVS/NASA (433 EROS); NASA/JPL-CALTECH/
UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA (4 VESTA); NASA/ESA/SWRI/CORNELL UNIVERSITY/UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND/STSCI (1 CERES); ESA/AOES MEDIALAB
(COMET 67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO); NASA/ESA/ERICH KARKOSCHKA, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA (URANUS); NASA/ESA/M. BUIE
(SWRI) (PLUTO); NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE (TITAN)
VIKING 1
On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became the rst spacecraft
to successfully land on Mars. Its mission lasted until
November 13, 1982, when a faulty command from Earth overwrote the
landers antenna-pointing software. The lander is still in its original posi-
tion the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged it in 2006. The Viking 1
orbiter, which was in use until 1980, is still in martian orbit.
MARS CLIMATE ORBITER
Launched in 1998 with a planned orbital insertion in
September 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter was supposed to
monitor atmospheric conditions on the Red Planet. Instead,
it became a costly lesson about the importance of unit con-
version. NASA lost contact with the spacecraft when it rst
went into orbit around the planet in September 1999. The
space agency later determined the orbiter went too close
to Mars and burned up in the atmosphere due to a mistake
in its software between American and metric units. NASA
now has safeguards in place to ensure that such a metric
mix-updoesnt occur in the future.
6
SPIRIT
Spirit was the rst of two Mars Exploration Rovers that landed on the Red
Planet in January 2004. Its explorations in the Gusev Crater area led to new
discoveries about martian geology. The mission lasted much longer than
planned, but after driving 4.8 miles (7.73 kilometers) on Mars, the rover got
stuck in soft soil May 6, 2009. Scientists briey used Spirit as a stationary
research platform, but due to the angle between its solar panels and the
Sun, many critical components failed during the extremely cold martian
winter. The last communication from Spirit was March 22, 2010.
OPPORTUNITY
Opportunity is Spirits twin rover, and it landed just
three weeks later; it is still active and has driven the
second-farthest distance on a world other than Earth of
any vehicle. As of September 20, 2013, it had traveled
23.82 miles (38.34km). (The Soviet Unions Lunokhod 2 lunar
rover traversed some 26 miles [42km].)
PHOENIX
The Phoenix lander touched down May 25, 2008, in Mars north polar region
to learn more about this extreme environment. The
mission lasted two months longer than its
planned three; in October, a lack of power
from its solar panels due to the start of
martian winter forced the craft into safe
mode. Phoenix made its last transmission
November 2, 2008. The Mars Reconnais-
sance Orbiter imaged the lander in 2012 and found that it was
coated in carbon-dioxide ice some 12 inches (30 centimeters) thick during
the winter; the ices weight caused Phoenixs solar panels to crack and fall o.
MARINER 10
Launched November 3, 1973, Mariner 10
was the rst to successfully y by
Mercury. It imaged much of the
planet during three ybys:
in March 1974, September 1974, and March 1975.
Its altitude-control gas ran out in March
1975, and team members then switched o
the crafts transmitter. Researchers believe
Mariner 10 is still orbiting the Sun.
11
8
9
10
12
1986
13
2000
13
2001
15
2014
14
2015
14
2011
17
1989
Spacecraft: Where are they now?
Comets and asteroids
GIOTTO
The European Giotto mission photo-
graphed a comets nucleus for the
rst time when it ew by Comet
1P/Halley in March 1986.
Although scientists didnt
expect the instruments to
survive the encounter due
to dust from the comets
jets, eight of Giottos 10 did.
Scientists then placed the
spacecraft in hibernation mode for a future cometary
encounter. In July 1992, Giotto visited Comet 26P/
Grigg-Skjellerup, after which researchers switched it o again.
They havent attempted further contact.
ROSETTA
The European
Space Agency
launched the
Rosetta space-
craft in 2004 to
visit Comet 67P/
Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will begin or-
biting the comet in May 2014, and a small
lander, Philae, will attempt to land on the
comets surface in November.
DAWN
The Dawn
spacecraft was the rst in history to visit
the asteroid 4Vesta, which it orbited from
July 16, 2011, to September 5, 2012. Using
Dawn data, scientists determined that Vesta
has a crust, mantle, and core. The mission
hasnt ended, however: Dawn is en route to
the dwarf planet
1 Ceres, and, if all
goes well, it will be
the rst mission
to orbit a dwarf
planet when it
arrives in 2015.
1P/Halley
26P/Grigg-Skjellerup
4 Vesta
1 Ceres
NEAR SHOEMAKER
On February 14, 2000, Near Earth As-
teroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker
became the rst spacecraft in history to
orbit an asteroid the near-Earth ob-
ject 433 Eros. The mission was wildly successful: The craft spotted more
than 100,000 craters on the surface. After NEAR Shoemaker fullled all
its science goals, engineers had the craft land on Eros surface
February 12, 2001. Despite being an orbiter and
not designed to land, NEAR Shoemaker con-
tinued to transmit from the surface before
researchers shut it down February 28.
433 Eros
12
13
Uranus
Neptune
12
1992
17
1986
12
12
14
14
15
13
14
15
67P/Churyumov-
Gerasimenko
16
1973
18
1995
18
2003
17
1979
20
1974
21
1979
19
2007
16
81.8 AU
2003
(109.1 AU current)
17
102.6 AU
Current
20
43.4 AU
1995
(88.7 AU current)
21
125.8 AU
Current
19
2015
Saturn
Jupiter
17
17, 2022
17
17
21
22
1621
NEW HORIZONS
New Horizons launched January 19,
2006, as the rst mission to Pluto and
the Kuiper Belt. It ew by Jupiter in
February 2007 and took data of the
giant planet. It is currently between
the orbits of Uranus and Neptune
and about 6 AU from Pluto; scientists
expect it to arrive July 14, 2015.
Pluto
19
Outer solar system
PIONEER 10
After NASA launched the
spacecraft in March 1972,
Pioneer 10 conducted the rst Jupiter yby in
1973. In January 2003, the space agency
detected the crafts last signal. Scientists
believe it is 109.1 astronomical units (AU, the average Sun-Earth
distance) from Earth and moving at a speed of 2.5 AU per year.
During much of Pioneer 10s and its twins (Pioneer 11) voyages through
the outer solar system, they were subject to what was called thePioneer
anomaly: According to calculations, the spacecraft were moving slower
than expected. Some scientists suggested this was evidence of new physics,
but in 2012, researchers published the reason for the slowdown: Heat from
the crafts electronics and power source is creates a force that acts as a brake.
VOYAGER 2
Voyager 2, like its twin, visited Jupiter and Saturn.
It also is the only man-made probe to y by Ura-
nus and Neptune, capturing the best photographs
we have of those outer worlds. On September 20,
2013, Voyager 2 was 102.6 AU from Earth.
GALILEO
Galileo catapulted to fame in 1995 when it
became the rst spacecraft to orbit Jupiter
(in addition to making the rst asteroid
ybys on the way to the giant planet).
During its nearly eight years at Jupiter,
Galileo completed 34 orbits of the planet. The
spacecraft released an atmospheric probe, which
entered the jovian atmosphere December 7, 1995. The probe sent back 58
minutes of data before succumbing to immense pressures and temperatures.
Eventually, radiation took its toll on the orbiters instruments. Worries about
low fuel and potential contamination of Jupiters moons with Earth bacteria
led scientists to crash Galileo into the planet September 21, 2003.
18
19
PIONEER 11
Pioneer 11 was the rst probe to explore Saturn as it passed
about one-third of the ringed worlds radius from the planets
cloud tops in September 1979. Science operations ended in
September 1995, when the power output couldnt support
the spacecrafts experiments.
VOYAGER 1
Known for its dazzling photographs of Jupiter in March 1979 and Saturn
in November 1980, Voyager 1 also had a close yby of Saturns moon
Titan an encounter that sent the spacecraft out of the plane of the
solar system. The imaging did not end there, however: In
1990, Voyager 1 took a family portrait of the solar
system from a distance approximately 40.1 AU away
from Earth, which includes the famous Pale Blue
Dot image of our planet. The spacecraft is now
the farthest man-made object from us and is
125.8 AU from Earth. In August 2012, Voyager
1 passed out of the solar system and into inter-
stellar space. Scientists expect its instruments to
work through 2020.
HUYGENS
Carried to Saturn as part of the still ongoing
Cassini mission, the Huygens lander separated
from Cassini on December 25, 2004, and land-
ed on Saturns largest moon, Titan, on January
14, 2005. Huygens continued to transmit data
for 90 minutes from the moons surface before
its batteries ran out. It remains where it landed,
on what is similar to a ood plain on Earth and
frozen at 292 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius).
20
Titan
21
1980
22
2004
20
1979
17
1981
16
A: The visible aurorae result
from electrons that move along
magnetic field lines from space
into the upper atmosphere.
There, the electrons lose their
energy in collisions with atoms
and molecules, which, in turn,
radiate this energy as light. To
generate an aurora, we need
enough electrons of sufficient
energy, a magnetic field to guide
them, and an atmosphere to
produce the light. Earth meets
these conditions: The atmo-
sphere is everywhere, and the
magnetic field reaches into space
at high latitudes. The question is,
then, where do the energetic
electrons come from?
To produce good aurorae on
Earth, electrons need to have
energies in the range of 1,000 to
more than 10,000 electron volts
(1 eV is the energy an electron
would pick up by going through
a 1-volt electric field). Electrons
with less energy will create faint
red aurorae at high altitudes;
electrons with much more energy
penetrate too deep into the atmo-
sphere and make X-ray aurorae.
Earths magnetic field creates
a protective bubble called the
magnetosphere. The magnetic
field can be separated into two
distinct regions: high and low
latitudes. At high latitudes, the
field lines reach into the solar
wind of radiation and particles
and never connect to Earths
other hemisphere; these are
called open field lines. At low
latitudes, the field lines are like
bar magnets, curving through
space to the other pole; these are
closed lines. The open field
lines connect to the solar wind
and also to the outer layers of
the interaction region between
this solar wind and the magne-
tosphere. The electrons in that
region usually have energies in
the range of 10 to a few hundred
eV. Only on rare occasions do
these particles cause a faint red
glow above the polar cap.
Between the regions of open
and closed field lines lies a tran-
sitional boundary, where pro-
cesses can accelerate enough
electrons to the energy necessary
to cause aurorae. This boundary
forms a ring-shaped region
around Earth called the auroral
zone, where aurora can occur.
At latitudes lower than the
auroral zone, Earths magnetic
field connects to regions of space
that are closer to the center sec-
tion of our planets magneto-
sphere. These field lines dont
reach far enough into space to
energize auroral electrons.
Dirk Lummerzheim
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Q: DONT BLACK HOLES DIS-
OBEY THE CONSERVATION
OF MASS BECAUSE BLACK
HOLES ESSENTIALLY EAT
MATTER, THUS DESTROYING
THE MATERIAL?
Jacob Grant
Potomac, Maryland
A: Mass is a type of energy and
can be converted into other
Astronomys experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
AURORAL
ZONES
types (for example, during
nuclear fusion when hydrogen
nuclei can convert into helium
nuclei and release energy). Black
holes do not violate the law of
conservation of energy. When
gas or other material falls past
the point of no return (called
the event horizon) and into a
black hole, the exact amount of
energy (including mass) con-
tained in the material as it falls
in is added to the black hole. So
the total amount of energy in
the system doesnt change.
Black holes feeding on gas
and stars is an example of an
extremely important process for
adding mass, called accretion,
that is widespread throughout
the universe. For example, we see
black holes weighing up to 10
billion times the Suns mass in
the centers of galaxies. These
supermassive black holes must
have grown by feeding on enor-
mous quantities of gas, in some
cases in a short amount of time.
Young, heavy black holes provide
clues about both the accretion
process and the size a black hole
must have been at birth.
Black hole accretion also
powers some of the most spec-
tacular phenomena in the uni-
verse: quasars (the brightest
persistent objects in the sky)
and radio galaxies (where jets
of energy shot out of the black
holes vicinity at nearly the speed
of light interact with their sur-
roundings to emit radio waves).
Currently, astronomers are
attempting to make the first
pictures of black holes feeding
in real time by combining data
from radio telescopes across the
world. Using this Event Horizon
Telescope project, scientists will
study the immediate surround-
ings of black holes for several
years to try to understand the
accretion process and prove that
black hole event horizons exist.
Jason Dexter
University of California, Berkeley
Q: WHAT CAN ASTRONO-
MERS TELL US ABOUT THE
DIFFERENT COLORS ON THE
SURFACE OF JUPITERS
MOON EUROPA?
Harold Manuel
Ville Platte, Louisiana
A: We can use the colors of
Europas surface to tell us about
ASKASTR0
Q: WHY DO AURORAE APPEAR STRONGEST
WITHIN RINGS CENTERED ON EARTHS
POLES INSTEAD OF FILLED-IN CIRCLES?
Stephen Smith, Charlotte, North Carolina
Water ice covers most of Europas
surface. Scientists think the brown,
yellow, and red colors represent
salt-water mixtures that have been
brought up through the surface
from an ocean below. Radiation and
high-energy particles from Jupiters
magnetic eld have processed the
compounds on Europa and altered
their colors. NASA/JPL/UNIV. OF ARIZONA
1 2
the chemical compounds that
make up the surface and sub-
surface of the jovian moon.
Even before the first spacecraft
made a close visit to Europa,
astronomers on Earth used tele-
scopes to study the moon and
were able to use a technique
called spectroscopy to determine
that Europas surface is com-
posed mostly of water ice.
Spectroscopy is the scientific
measurement of the brightness
of the surface of an object at
many different wavelengths of
light. The brightness at visible
wavelengths gives an object its
color as seen by human eyes
just by looking at the colors of
Earth rocks, for example, we can
easily distinguish between a
black volcanic rock, like basalt,
and a light tan rock, like sand-
stone. The colors come from the
different chemical elements that
make up each rock. Scientists
can extend this technique to
wavelengths the human eye cant
see, like infrared and ultraviolet.
By looking at the detailed pat-
terns of brightness at a wide
range of wavelengths, they can
determine a unique pattern, or
spectrum, associated with dif-
ferent materials.
Using the technique of spec-
troscopy, scientists study Euro-
pas surface with images taken by
robotic spacecraft. They have
found that bright white water
ice or frost covers most of the
moons surface, and regions of
yellowish, brownish, or reddish
colors also exist. These areas
have spectra that are consistent
with salts with added water
(called hydrated salts), such as
magnesium sulfate or sulfuric
acid. These non-ice materials are
largely associated with regions
of Europas surface that appear
geologically young, such as
ridges, large impact structures,
and disrupted terrain called
chaos. Formation models for
these features suggest that they
could bring up materials from
under the surface. In addition,
the non-ice materials are
remarkably consistent in com-
position all over Europas sur-
face, suggesting that they all
came from a single, well-mixed
subsurface layer.
The colors of Europas surface
also vary with longitude. The
moon is tidally locked, meaning
that the same side always faces
Jupiter. The hemisphere that
leads Europa in its orbit experi-
ences the most dust, including
yellow sulfur from the jovian
moon Io, while the hemisphere
that always trails endures more
radiation from high-energy
charged particles accelerated by
Jupiters strong magnetic field.
This radiation changes the chem-
istry, and therefore the color, of
Europas surface. Scientists have
found that the concentration
of salts on the moons surface
is higher on the trailing hemi-
sphere. Although salts are gener-
ally colorless, radiation also can
process sulfur-containing salts to
produce long chains of sulfur
atoms that are reddish in color.
These observations, plus
other evidence from gravity and
magnetic field measurements,
have helped lead scientists to
conclude that Europa likely has
a huge ocean of liquid water
underneath its icy surface. The
salts from this ocean water could
eventually reach the surface dur-
ing the formation of geologically
active features, staining it yellow,
red, or brown as the salts inter-
act with radiation and with sul-
fur from Io, depending on their
location on the surface.
Cynthia B. Phillips
SETI Institute, Mountain View,
California
Q: HOW BIG ARE THE
LAGRANGIAN POINTS? I
HEAR OF TELESCOPES
ORBITING AT A CERTAIN
LAGRANGIAN POINT, BUT
FOR THESE CRAFTS TO NOT
INTERFERE WITH ONE
ANOTHER, ARENT THESE
POINTS MORE LIKE
LAGRANGIAN AREAS?
Dave Aiken
Ada, Michigan
A: The Lagrangian points are
indeed points, infinitesimal in
size, where the gravitational
forces from a planet and another
body (generally the Sun or a
moon) exactly balance the cen-
trifugal force. But, as you guessed,
surrounding each actual La-
grangian point is an extended
zone where a spacecraft can con-
veniently park itself in an orbit
that requires little fuel to main-
tain. When you hear about a
spacecraft orbiting at a certain
Lagrangian point, it really means
the probe is traveling within or
near one of these extended, three-
dimensional islands of orbits.
The size of these islands
varies. Each planet in the solar
system has its own Lagrangian
points. The islands of stability
get bigger farther from the Sun
and also for more massive plan-
ets. The ones associated with
Earth are roughly 500,000 miles
(800,000 kilometers) wide. The
biggest zones (at least in the
solar system) are Neptunes;
they are about 2 billion miles
(3.2 billion km) across.
Not just man-made space-
craft park themselves near
Lagrangian points. Sometimes
asteroids do, too. Jupiters L4
and L5 Lagrangian points are
full of these Trojan asteroids.
Marc Kuchner
NASAs Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Send us your
questions
Send your astronomy
questions via email to
askastro@astronomy.com,
or write to Ask Astro,
P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha,
WI 53187. Be sure to tell us
your full name and where
you live. Unfortunately, we
cannot answer all questions
submitted.
Earths magnetic eld creates a protective magnetosphere around the planet. Occasionally, if the Sun ejects a powerful coronal mass ejection toward Earth (1),
our planets magnetic eld lines can capture some of that energy. If theyre stressed enough, they can snap (2) and send some of those electrons back to Earth
(3), which can collide with particles in our atmosphere at certain latitudes to produce aurorae (4). NASA/GSFC-CONCEPTUAL IMAGE LAB/WALT FEIMER (HTSI)
3 4
Profile
C
elestron of Torrance, California, is
the worlds leading manufacturer
of telescopes for amateur astrono-
mers. Most readers of Astronomy
who observe the sky have either
owned or viewed some far-flung wonder
through Celestron equipment. But where
did this astronomy colossus come from?
And, more importantly, where is it headed?
The beginning
The company that astronomy aficionados
today know as Celestron began in 1955 as
Valor Electronics in Gardena, California.
American electronic engineer Tom Johnson
founded the firm to produce components
for various industries and the military.
A few years later, while searching for
and not finding a telescope for his two
young sons, Johnson built a 6-inch reflector
from scratch. The project piqued his inter-
est, and he progressed to building larger
and more sophisticated designs. Sensing
that his hobby could grow into a full-time
business, he created an astro-optical divi-
sion within Valor Electronics in 1960.
On July 28, 1962, Johnson publicly
unveiled a portable 18-inch Cassegrain
reflector. The venue he chose was a star
party hosted by the Los Angeles Astronom-
ical Society on the summit of Mount Pinos,
a mountain in the Los Padres National For-
est. He had built the scope in six months of
spare time. By using surplus and junkyard
materials, he kept the cost to $1,000. The
telescope was a sensation, and he received
numerous requests to build others.
Instead of duplicating his design, John-
son created a method to produce and market
a large Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT),
which is a hybrid of reflector and refractor
designs. His immediate challenge was to
find a way to efficiently produce the correc-
tor plate, which is an SCTs front optic.
Because this thin piece of glass contains a
subtle curve, it corrects the errors intro-
duced by the spherical mirror the scope uses.
For more than 50
years, this innovative
company has helped
amateur astronomers
observe the sky
selling them more
telescopes than anyone.
by Michael E. Bakich
Behind the scenes at
Celestron
Michael E. Bakich is a senior editor of
Astronomy and author of 1,001 Celestial
Wonders to See Before You Die (Springer, 2010).
Tom Johnson founded Valor Electronics in 1955. In
December 1964, he rechristened it Celestron Pacic.
C
E
L
E
S
T
R
O
N
The rst issue of Astronomy (August 1973) featured a full-page ad for Celestron Pacic on the back cover,
one of only three pages of ads in that issue. ASTRONOMY
Once that was done, his Celestronic 20
(C20) was ready for sale. In May 1964, the
new company, Celestron Pacific (still a
division of Valor Electronics), advertised
C20s for sale.
Seven months later, Johnson perma-
nently changed Valor Electronics name to
Celestron Pacific. Later, he dropped
Pacific, and Celestron was born.
By 1970, Celestron designers and engi-
neers had discovered a new method of pro-
ducing SCTs in volume and, what was more
important, at reasonable cost. They incor-
porated this optical breakthrough in the
first 8-inch Celestron, an f/10 SCT with an
orange tube. Amateur astronomers imme-
diately christened the scope the C8.
That year, the company also offered
larger apertures for observatories. The
Celestron 10, Celestron 12, Celestron 16,
and Celestron 22 came with piers rather
than with tripods. The C8s popularity
among observers and photographers led to
the production of a 5-inch version in 1971:
the C5. The following year, the amateur line
saw the addition of a 14-inch SCT, which
reigned for several decades as the worlds
largest-production catadioptric telescope.
After more than a decade running
Celestron, Johnson began to turn over
many of his responsibilities to staff. He had
transformed the electronics firm into the
worlds leading telescope-making company,
1960
t Electronics engineer
Tom Johnson, presi-
dent and owner of
Valor Electronics,
starts an astro-optical
division to build tele-
scopes.
1962
t Johnson takes his
first 18-inch Casseg-
rain telescope to the
Los Angeles Astro-
nomical Society star
party, where it
receives rave reviews.
1963
t Johnson creates a
method to produce a
compact 20-inch
Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescope for serious
amateur and profes-
sional astronomers.
He calls it the
Celestronic 20 (C20).
1964
t In January, Johnson
runs his first ad for the
C20.
t In a May advertise-
ment for the C20, the
first public announce-
ment of the company
Celestron Pacific, a
division of Valor Elec-
tronics, is made.
t In December, John-
son drops the name
Valor Electronics, and
Celestron Pacific offi-
cially begins taking
customer orders for
new scopes. Pacific
disappears from the
company name soon
after.
1966
t Celestron introduces
the first commercially
available Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescopes
(SCTs) with a blue and
white color scheme.
1969
t The company offers
a full line of SCTs.
1970
t Celestron begins
printing and supply-
ing product catalogs
and brochures, revolu-
tionizes the amateur
telescope market by
introducing the
orange tube Celestron
8 (C8) for less than
$1,000, and introduces
available observatory-
class telescopes in 16-
and 22-inch apertures.
1971
t The company debuts
the Celestron 5 (C5)
and the cold camera, a
film camera that
helped make astro-
photography less
time-consuming.
1972
t The company moves
from Gardena to Tor-
rance, California, and
comes out with the
Celestron 14 (C14).
1973
t Alan Hale becomes
president.
1976
t Binoculars become
part of the product
line.
1977
t An orange C8
appears in the movie
Close Encounters of the
Third Kind.
1978
t Alan Hale becomes
CEO.
t Celestron moves
within Torrance, Cali-
fornia, to its current
facility.
t Johnson receives the
David Richardson
Medal from the Opti-
cal Society of America
for his notable contri-
butions to applied
optics through the
design and manufac-
ture of high-quality,
low-cost SCTs. John-
son is the first non-
degreed optical
engineer to win this
award.
TIMELINE
Continued on page 54
Celestrons corporate headquarters occupies a modest building in Torrance, California. DAVID J. EICHER
The company maintains a storage room that contains examples of most of its former products so that its
technical support sta can refer to them directly. CELESTRON
Preparing the glass
Celestrons founder, Tom John-
son, invented and patented a
way to mass-produce Schmidt
correctors using a master
block method. He based the
method for making the curve
on precision master blocks
with the exact inverse of the
desired curve.
Each master block takes
highly skilled opticians months
to create, but this method
greatly simplified the produc-
tion process, making mass-
production feasible.
Celestron sources sheets of
water-white, high-transmission,
low-iron, soda-lime float glass
cut to a specified diameter. The
glass comes in lots to assure
consistent quality. Staff exam-
ine each lot for flaws and verify
that it meets all requirements
before accepting it. [1]
Next, technicians spend
more than three hours grinding
and polishing each piece of
glass to even out both surfaces
to an optical finish. Each piece
receives another inspection for
embedded air bubbles and
other flaws.
Polishing and
figuring
Workers clean the master block
and corrector blank. They then
apply a vacuum to pull them
into intimate optical contact.
This gently bends the flat cor-
rector blank to match the curve
of the master block.
Employees then take the
combined master block and
the corrector blank and process
the top surface of the corrector
to a polished concave spherical
surface. [2]
An optician tests the sur-
faces figure against a reference
matchplate. [3] Once it passes,
the worker separates the
corrector from the master
block for another test. [4]
Next, an optician using a
diamond-tipped coring tool
drills the central hole in the
Schmidt corrector. The second-
ary mirror will attach here. [5]
Matching
Each optical system is put
together as a set (the primary
and secondary mirrors and the
corrector) and evaluated in a
fixture called a double-pass
autocollimator. [6]
Workers then put the com-
bined optical system through
several tests. [7]
A technician corrects optical
errors by hand-figuring the sec-
ondary mirror. Optical systems
cannot leave this area until they
meet all specifications. [8]
Coating
Celestrons StarBright XLT (Extra
Light Transmission) coatings
get applied next. They consist
of high-transmission coatings
on the refractive elements and
enhanced aluminum coatings
on the mirrors. [9]
The StarBright XLT Schmidt
corrector receives multiple lay-
ers of hafnium oxide and mag-
nesium fluoride. Coatings for
the sub-aperture lenses in
EdgeHDs are similar.
Secondary mirror coatings
include aluminum, titanium
oxide, and silicon oxide. The
primary mirrors arrive from
Celestrons manufacturing
partner factory pre-coated with
similar materials.
Installation
Technicians carefully bond the
primary mirror to the mechani-
cal component (focus tube)
using a bonding agent called
RTV. The RTV then cures for
several hours. [10]
Next, workers install the
optical components into the
14-inch optical tube. [11]
Collimation
Technicians move and tilt the
secondary mirror to initially
align the optical system on axis.
The Schmidt corrector is the
only optical element within the
EdgeHD optical system whose
surfaces are not part of a
sphere or cylinder; therefore,
workers need to optically align
it to achieve high performance
over a large imaging sensor as
it was intended. Using a propri-
etary process on a double-pass
autocollimator, technicians
align the Schmidt corrector
with the main axis of the opti-
cal system. [12]
Staff then evaluates a com-
pleted telescopes optical per-
formance for the first time
using an artificial star that a
532nm green laser and a high-
quality mirror generate. [13]
Final Acceptance
Test (FAT)
Materials expand and contract
with temperature changes, so
the FAT room is a controlled
environment. Spacing toler-
ances between optical compo-
nents are strict, so the EdgeHD
optical tube acclimates to the
FAT room for about two hours.
To simulate real-world con-
ditions, technicians analyze
white-light artificial star images
to ensure that they appear as
pinpoints both in the center
and at the edges of the field of
view. They use a full-frame
camera with a 42mm diagonal
sensor. [14]
Packing
Staff inspects the finished tube
one last time and then packs it
into its shipping box. [15]
THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE
14-INCH EDGEHD OPTICAL TUBE
Many of Celestrons products come fully assembled from the
companys plant in China. Workers at the Torrance, California,
plant, however, still create one optical tube assembly that
of the 14-inch EdgeHD. Heres how they do it. ALL PHOTOS: CELESTRON
1 2
12
13
14
15
HOW DOES
CELESTRON DEVELOP
A PRODUCT?
Ideas for new products
come from a number of
different places. Some
come from our Product
Development staff, many
of whom are avid ama-
teur astronomers them-
selves. Others come from salespeople
who relay what our customers and deal-
ers are looking for in the next generation
of telescopes.
Ideas also emerge from discussions
directly with customers at trade shows
and astronomy events as well as from our
beta testers, who are the ultimate critics
of our products.
Our Product Development manage-
ment team vets all these ideas to ensure
they are feasible and marketable. Engi-
neers may need to develop a prototype
as a proof of concept. Only the best ideas
receive approval to move forward.
From there, we begin to work on the
product fine-tuning the design,
optics, mechanics, electronics, and soft-
ware. We present the finished plans to
our manufacturing partners who pro-
duce a first article. We test this sample
thoroughly for performance. Finally, we
approve the sample, and the factory
begins production.
Corey Lee, senior vice president of
Celestron Product Development
1979
t Celestron introduces
the Celestron 90 (C90),
available Maksutov-
Cassegrain scope.
1980
t Johnson sells Celestron
to Diethelm, a Swiss
holding company. John-
son retires while Hale
remains as president
and CEO of Celestron.
1983
t The company intro-
duces enhanced coat-
ings called StarBright on
the Super C8, which has
a black tube, and the
first drive system that
uses 9-volt batteries.
1985
t Celestron becomes
the first U.S. company
to offer a German equa-
torial computerized
telescope system.
1987
t Celestron debuts
the CompuStar 14,
a mass-produced,
fully integrated
computerized go-
to-class telescope,
and launches the
Ultima telescope
series in 8-, 9-, and
11-inch models.
1992
t In July, a C5 and an
8x50 Polaris finder
scope fly aboard the
U.S. space shuttle
Atlantis.
1993
t Johnson wins the
Western Amateur
Astronomers Bruce
Blair Award.
1994
t A C8 appears in
the movie Dumb
and Dumber.
3 4 5
6
7
8
9 10 11
C
E
L
E
S
T
R
O
N
but now it was time for someone else to
take the helm.
The Hale years
Alan Hale, who joined
Celestron in 1960, suc-
ceeded Johnson as
president in 1973. He
became CEO in 1978.
Before coming to the
company, he had no
technical experience. I
was just a young kid
who graduated from
high school the year before, Hale says. I
was going to college and working part-time
jobs to support myself. I still wasnt sure
what I wanted to be when I grew up. David
Doke, a high school friend who was work-
ing for Celestron Pacific, hired him.
In 1980, Johnson and Hale sold
Celestron to a large manufacturing com-
pany in Zurich named Diethelm Keller
Holding. At that time, Johnson retired.
Hale remained for a time, but later left.
He returned in 1987 to head up the com-
panys recovery. His biggest challenge was
turning Celestron around after it nearly
collapsed following the appearance of Hal-
leys Comet. In short, the company had
produced way too much product to sell.
All companies sold whatever they could
get their hands on during the comet
hoopla, Hale says. However, Celestron
was not managed well at the time. The
senior management believed sales would
keep rising even after the comet, but this
was a really stupid mistake. That group did
a bad job at virtually everything.
The situation was almost hopeless, but
Hale felt that with Celestrons existing staff
and the addition of some top-quality
people, there was a chance to make the
company successful. Our parent company
in Switzerland was very supportive, he
says. Still, I had to invest money of my
own, and everything was at risk.
It was a huge challenge, but Hale felt a
sense of satisfaction from seeing employees,
suppliers, retailers, and many others pull-
ing together to put Celestron back on a
solid footing.
The Lupica presidency
Another key figure in the recent Celestron
story has been Joe Lupica, who joined the
senior management team in June 1987 and
became the companys chief operating offi-
cer in 1996. Starting in 1998, he led the
company through the four turbulent years
when Tasco, then of Miramar, Florida,
owned it. On June 28, 2002, Lupica, Hale,
and Senior Vice President Rick Hedrick
(currently the CEO of PlaneWave Instru-
ments) purchased Celestron from Tasco,
which had effectively collapsed.
Lupica had a strong financial back-
ground. He was formerly chief financial
officer of an independent oil and gas explo-
ration company who assisted in the syndi-
cation of 25 limited partnerships. At
Celestron, he created a positive atmosphere
that allowed the development of new prod-
ucts while also improving the companys
market share. In fact, it became financially
stronger than at any time in its history.
In 2005, Lupica and his partners sold
the company to a group of investors led by
David Shen, the owner of Synta Technology
Corporation in China. Together, Shen and
Lupica helped Celestron develop a structure
that offered consumers optical products
with more features at lower prices.
Celestron certainly has changed from
Lupicas perspective. During our first 30
years, we were primarily a manufacturer
and engineering design company, he says.
In the past decade, we redefined our core
competencies as engineering, design, and
sales/marketing.
Lupica emphasizes the commitment the
company has to developing products for
serious astronomers, citing Celestrons staff
of full-time engineers. We also are gener-
ating lower price point products to attract
general consumers into the hobby, he says.
One long-term objective is to make more
people aware of how easy and entertaining
it is to enjoy stargazing.
Lupica announced his retirement at the
Perspective on Imaging meeting hosted
by Celestron this past June. He reflected on
his proudest moments at the company.
It is difficult to identify one moment in
26 years as my proudest, he says. Over the
last four years of my career, Celestron
achieved the highest sales ever in its 52-year
history. In fact, net earnings during the four-
year period exceeded the total net earnings
of the company over the previous 48 years.
That being said, I think I am more
proud of the team I assembled at Celestron
Alan Hale was Ce-
lestrons second CEO.
This room houses the machinery that coats the optical components of the
companys telescopes. CELESTRON
Celestron maintains a huge warehouse just a short drive from its oce. This
facility contains the inventory they ship to dealers. DAVID J. EICHER
Joseph A. Lupica held the reins at the company as
its third CEO. CELESTRON
Continued from page 51
C
E
L
E
S
T
R
O
N
that achieved these goals and the company
culture we established during this period of
time.
I developed a close relationship with 50
to 75 team members, Lupica says, and
that has made retiring very difficult. But at
the same time, I am proud that this team
will be able to carry on successfully for
many years in the future.
Meet Dave Anderson
As of 2013, Celestrons CEO is Dave Ander-
son, who previously worked for a medical
laser company. He came to Celestron 16
years ago and has held
multiple positions
within the finance and
operations disciplines.
As Celestron moves
forward, Anderson has
a clear vision about
how to achieve growth
and outreach. The
greatest opportunity is
with the youth, he
says. Technology is
being introduced at earlier periods of a
childs development. Though there may be
many benefits, I also believe that this
encroachment may begin to limit explora-
tion. He fears that hands-on experiences
as a whole may give way to virtual ones.
He doesnt want to sound alarmist, but it
is one of his concerns. And he sees recent
reductions to the U.S. space program as
compounding it.
At Celestrons recent Perspectives con-
ference, we heard many attendees mention
that the space race of the 60s had a tremen-
dous impact on their motivation to get into
the hobby, he says. Who is going to
inspire the youth of today? There is hope
from the private sector; SpaceX and Virgin
Galactic [as well as others] are presenting
interesting programs, but it is yet to be
proven that these entities can be inspira-
tions for multiple generations.
So, getting high-quality products into
the hands of todays youth is a constant
topic at Celestron. Anderson and his team
believe that telescopes are the tools that can
ignite the passion for space and transport
inspired minds.
And where does Anderson think the
hobby is headed? I feel that the best days of
the hobby are ahead of us, he says.
Hale agrees. He recently commented as
to where he sees the hobby headed. Up!
he stated emphatically. He points out that
technology will continue to change. This
is good for the industry because it will
enhance both the viewing and imaging
experiences and make it easier to use tele-
scopes, he says.
Celestron has the largest product devel-
opment staff [engineers and product man-
agers] that any telescope company has ever
had, he says. He lauds the managers in
those areas, Senior Vice President of Prod-
uct Development Corey Lee and Director of
Product Development Eric Kopit.
These groups will continually develop
and bring to market new and exciting prod-
ucts, Hale continues, and Im sure that
the market will be very pleased with what
they see from Celestron in the future.
Anderson adds, Maybe its from being
around so many engineers, but I have never
had a moment where I feel that the hobby
has stagnated. That said, I believe it is the
responsibility of all amateur astronomers to
pass their knowledge and passion along.
Thats how we advance. We need to be aware
that if we dont pass it along, it ends with us.
Its this type of positive mindset that has
characterized Celestron since Johnson
designed his first telescope. Indeed, in addi-
tion to producing high-quality products,
this companys dedicated employees pro-
vide a variety of educational materials,
hands-on demonstrations at conventions
and star parties, and forums to encourage
feedback from users. Such commitment in
so many directions will help keep Celestron
at the forefront of our hobby for the fore-
seeable future.
1996
t The Ultima 2000, a
computerized tele-
scope that uses AA
batteries as a power
source, debuts.
t The Celestar
becomes the first
commercially avail-
able 8-inch fork-
mounted SCT under
$1,000.
t Joe Lupica becomes
CFO/COO.
1997
duces the Fastar sys-
tem, capable of f/2
imaging.
1998
t Tasco purchases
Celestron Interna-
tional from Diethelm.
2001
t The NexStar GPS
series the first
commercial SCTs with
carbon-fiber tubes
appear.
2002
t Three employees
Lupica, Hale, and Rick
Hedrick purchase
Celestron from Tasco.
duces the NexStar 5i
and 8i models, which
are GPS-compatible.
2003
t Celestron comes
out with improved
coatings called Star-
Bright XLT.
2005
duces SkyAlign, a
three-object align-
ment process.
t Synta Technology
Corporation pur-
chases Celestron.
2006
t The company
debuts the SkyScout
Personal Planetarium,
the first hand-held
device to use GPS
technology to identify
sky objects; launches
the NexStar SE Com-
puterized Telescope
series; and introduces
the C20 Astrograph, a
20-inch observatory-
class optical system.
2008
t A CPC 1100 appears
in the movie Iron Man.
t Celestron unveils
the CGEM mount.
2009
t Two items the
SkyScout and First-
Scope telescope
become official
products of the Inter-
national Year of
Astronomy 2009 (IYA
2009).
t Celestron launches
the CGE Pro line of
observatory-class Ger-
man equatorial tele-
scopes in 9-, 11-,
and 14-inch apertures
and introduces the
EdgeHD line, an apla-
natic Schmidt flat field
optical system.
t A NexStar SE
appears in the televi-
sion show The Big
Bang Theory.
t President Barack
Obama views the sky
through a CPC 1100
at the White House
during Galilean
Nights, an IYA 2009
global event.
2010
t Two products the
EdgeHD Computer-
ized Telescope and the
LCD Deluxe Digital
Microscope receive
Innovations honoree
status in the personal
electronics category at
the Consumer Elec-
tronics Show.
2011
t StarSense Technol-
ogy allows a tele-
scope, using an
internal camera and
software, to align itself
to the night sky in less
than three minutes.
2012
t Astronauts install a
CPC 925, which
becomes part of
NASAs ISERV mission,
aboard the Interna-
tional Space Station.
2013
t Dave Anderson
becomes CEO.
t In June, Celestron
hosts the first annual
Perspective on Imag-
ing event for manu-
facturers and media.
Dave Anderson
became CEO earlier
this year. CELESTRON
Celestron built and maintains the Joseph A. Lu-
pica, Jr. Observatory for its sta and the companys
hosting of sky-related events. CELESTRON
Afer a harrowing pass by the Sun late last month, this cosmic interloper should
remain a grand sight throughout these long December nights. by Richard Talcott
Comet ISONs
COMET OF THE CENTURY?
s December dawns, the nucleus of
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) should be
seething with activity. Just three
days removed from its November
28 perihelion when the comet
skimmed within 730,000 miles (1.16 mil-
lion kilometers) of the Suns surface
ISON will be bathed in a sea of solar
radiation. The heat will warm the dirty
snowballs surface, causing the ices there
to turn directly to gas, or sublimate.
The comets proximity to the Sun in
early December means that the nucleus will
spew a lot of gas and liberate bits of rock
and dust with it. Intense sunlight then
reflects off these particles, so they glow with
a yellowish hue. Meanwhile, solar radiation
energizes the gas molecules and causes
them to lose electrons. These so-called ions
shine with a bluish color.
But the Sun isnt finished with this com-
etary debris. The solar wind, which carries
the Suns magnetic field outward through
the solar system, picks up the gas ions and
blows them into a straight tail. And the
pressure of sunlight gently pushes the dust
particles away from our star, where they
form a curved tail along the comets orbit.
All of these features combine to create
the iconic image of a bright comet. The
small ball of ice and rock, some 3 miles
(5km) across in ISONs case, releases a
cloud of gas and dust that completely
shrouds the nucleus. The ejected material
forms a roughly spherical halo, called a
coma, that can span a million miles (1.6
million km) or more. The dust component
tends to dominate here, so the coma typi-
cally glows yellow.
Sprouting from this region are two tails
one of ionized gas molecules and the
other of tiny dust particles. Either or both
tails can stretch 100 million miles (160 mil-
lion km) or more from the coma. Depend-
ing on the geometry of the Sun, Earth, and
DAZZLING
ALL-NIGHT SHOW
Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) glowed bright enough
in March to see in twilight above Italys Po Valley. ISON
should be this bright in early December. LORENZO COMOLLI
Comet ISON glowed at 11th magnitude in mid-September when
the imager captured it through a 17-inch telescope. GIANLUCA MASI
A
comet, the tails might overlap, appear com-
pletely distinct, or occupy a middle ground.
Bright or dim?
This is the kind of show observers hope
ISON delivers. Of course, there are no
guarantees with comets. Some of the most
highly anticipated ones of the past 50 years
turned out to be major disappointments.
Others flared to brilliance unexpectedly
and managed to catch even seasoned
observers by surprise.
Predictions for how bright ISON will
appear in December vary widely. Some
astronomers still expect it to rival the bril-
liant planet Jupiter (magnitude 2.7) on the
1st, when it will appear low in morning
twilight. Others think it will be a difficult
object to view with naked eyes at any time
during the month.
For this article, we use brightness esti-
mates calculated by the Minor Planet
Center of the International Astronomical
Union (IAU). They show the comet shining
at 1st magnitude December 1, which would
equal the brightness of Mars. (The Red
Planet lies high in the southeast before
dawn this month.) By late December, ISON
should fade to 6th magnitude, around the
limit of naked-eye visibility for observers
under a dark sky. The IAU correctly pre-
dicted that the comet would glow around
11th magnitude in mid-September, shortly
before this issue went to press.
ISON could even be a magnitude or so
brighter than the models predict. Solar
system geometry places ISON roughly
between the Sun and Earth. As sunlight
hits the comets dust particles, they will
forward scatter the light and enhance the
comets brightness. The smaller the scatter-
ing angle, the brighter a comet appears. The
angle for ISON wont be as good as it was
for comets McNaught (C/2006 P1) or Love-
joy (C/2011 W3), but forward scattering still
should help. The more dust ISON produces,
the greater this effect will be.
Of course, all this assumes that ISON
will survive its close encounter with the
Sun in late November. The Suns heat will
bake the comets nucleus and sublimate lots
of its ices. But most of the Suns heat remains
near the cometary surface and doesnt pen-
etrate the interior, which should stay cool.
A bigger concern will be the Suns tidal
forces. Comets tend to be constructed more
like handfuls of loose snow than hard-
packed snowballs. As ISON nears the Sun,
our stars gravity will stretch it in the same
way that the Moon raises tidal bulges on
opposite sides of Earth. Many sungrazing
comets break apart around closest approach,
as did the famous Comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 when it passed near giant Jupiter in 1992.
Although most astronomers expect
ISON to survive its close passage, the show
could go on even if it doesnt. Several Great
Comets, including Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1),
West (C/1975 V1), and Lovejoy (C/2011
W3), fragmented near perihelion yet
remained bright and sported long tails for
days, if not weeks. In some instances, a split
nucleus boosts a comets brightness because
fresh ice gets exposed to solar radiation.
Out of the Suns glare
If the predicted appearance of ISON during
December seems a bit fuzzy, at least astron-
omers know where it will be. Observations
dating back more than a year allow scien-
tists to calculate precisely where in the sky
Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) glowed through colorful auroral bands above the frozen landscape of
Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada, on March 31, 2013. MALCOLM PARK
Comet 17P/Holmes (the fuzzy object at top center) reached 2nd magnitude in November 2007. This
image shows it after a brief but intense snowstorm. TUN TEZEL
December 20, 5 A.M.
Looking east-northeast
Comet ISON
M13
Vega
Arcturus
DRACO
LYRA
HERCULES
OPHIUCHUS
SERPENS
CORONA
BOREALIS
BOTES
10
the comet will appear. On December 1, its
coma pokes above the horizon during
morning twilight, approximately 40 minutes
before sunrise from sites at mid-northern
latitudes. The comets tails, of course, point
away from our star, and thus rise earlier.
Find a location with a low eastern hori-
zon uncluttered by trees or buildings, and
be ready to observe at least an hour before
the Sun comes up. Start your search
through binoculars; once you locate the
comet, see what your eyes alone show.
Although the background stars wont be
visible in twilight, the comet now resides
on the border between the constellations
Scorpius and Ophiuchus.
As the month progresses, ISON speeds
northward. With each passing day, the
comet rises earlier and appears higher in
the morning sky. Although its apparent
brightness diminishes, its contrast surges as
it climbs into a darker sky. The best views
may well come a week or two after perihe-
lion. The Moon reaches New phase Decem-
ber 2, so it wont shed any unwanted light
into the predawn sky until midmonth.
By December 4, the comets coma rises
about 75 minutes before the Sun and
appears some 5 high in the east a half-hour
later. This morning, ISON forms a near
isosceles triangle with two other solar sys-
tem objects. Mercury, which shines at mag-
nitude 0.7, lies some 13 to the comets left.
Magnitude 0.6 Saturn stands 12 above
Mercury. Although the comet should
Breaking up isnt
so hard to do
No one knows how solidly Comet ISON is put together. But its structure could play a key
role in deciding what happens when it slides 730,000 miles (1.16 million kilometers)
from the Suns surface November 28. If its interior is loosely held, our stars heat and
tidal forces could break it into two or more fragments. Two of the brightest comets of
the past half-century Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1) and West (C/1975 V1) split as they
passed near the Sun. Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is one of the more spectacu-
lar recent examples. It broke into four big pieces in 1995 but really fell apart when it
returned in 2006. Observers saw at least eight major fragments then. The Hubble Space
Telescope revealed that two of the larger ones had spawned dozens of house-sized bits.
Even if ISON breaks up, it likely would remain
a fascinating target for observers and imagers.
Here, two of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmanns
big fragments put on nice shows. GERALD RHEMANN
Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann broke into
eight big pieces in 2006. Hubble revealed dozens
of house-sized boulders trailing one of them.
NASA/ESA/H. WEAVER (JHUAPL)/M. MUTCHLER AND Z. LEVAY (STSCI)
Comet ISON passes near the bright globular star cluster M13 in Hercules shortly after mid-December,
when the pair should create a memorable predawn scene. ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON
Comet LINEAR (C/2006 VZ13) passed within 1 of
globular cluster M3 in July 2007. This month, ISON
passes a bit farther from the spectacular globular
M13 in Hercules. MICHAEL JGER AND GERALD RHEMANN
E
N
Path of Comet ISON
31
26
21
16
11
6
Dec 1
Deneb
Vega
M13
Spica
Arcturus
DRACO
CYGNUS
LYRA
HERCULES
OPHIUCHUS
LIBRA
VIRGO
SERPENS
CORONA
BOREALIS
BOTES
URSA MAJOR
URSA MINOR
10
appear a couple of magnitudes fainter than
the ringed planet, all should show up nicely
through binoculars.
Two days later, on the 6th, look for ISON
just 0.5 west of magnitude 2.7 Delta ()
Ophiuchi. The comet now rises shortly
before morning twilight commences, so it
should stand out much better. If the IAU
predictions hold, ISON should glow less
than a magnitude fainter than Delta.
Remember, however, that astronomers
measure a comets brightness as if all of its
light were concentrated to a point. So, a
fuzzy 3rd-magnitude comet wont look as
bright as a 3rd-magnitude star. To compare
ISONs brightness to Delta, set your bin-
oculars or telescope slightly out of focus so
the stars size matches the comets coma.
Into the Serpents lair
On December 7, ISON crosses from Ophiu-
chus into Serpens. Delta Oph remains your
best guide, however, from its perch 2
south-southeast of the comet. Serpens
doesnt contain many bright stars, so track-
ing the comet could be a bit more difficult
during the coming week, particularly if it
doesnt meet astronomers expectations. If
you find it one morning, remember its loca-
tion relative to the starry background and
then sweep the same area with binoculars
the next morning. ISON moves about 2
per day, so it will appear in the same field.
Comet ISON races from Scorpius the Scorpion northward all the way to Draco the Dragon during December, covering more than 80 of the celestial sphere. The
map shows the comets positions at 5 A.M. EST and includes stars down to magnitude 6.0. ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON
The comet makes its closest approach to
Serpens luminary, magnitude 2.6 Alpha
() Serpentis, on December 11. ISON lies 6
due east of the star before dawn, so both fit
in the typical field of view of 7x50 binocu-
lars. The pair rises some 2.5 hours before
the Sun, enough time to let observers view
at a more leisurely pace before twilight
starts to encroach. Unfortunately, the wax-
ing gibbous Moon soon will intrude on the
morning sky. This morning, it pokes above
the horizon around 1:30 a.m. local time.
By Full Moon on December 17, the
bright orb will be up all night. Its scattered
light will reduce contrast between the sky
and comet and make observations more
difficult. At least the comet has moved into
a splashier constellation Hercules the
Strongman. On the 17th, the comet lies 4
west of magnitude 2.8 Beta () Herculis.
ISON slides into the eastern part of
Corona Borealis the Northern Crown on
the 18th and for the next few days appears
roughly 5 east of that constellations dis-
tinctive semicircle of stars. The comet
never strays far from the border with Her-
cules, however, and it returns to the Strong-
mans grip by the 23rd.
A date with a globular
But the highlight for ISON observers in the
week before Christmas is its close approach
to the great globular star cluster M13 in
Hercules. The comet stands 6 southwest of
the cluster on the 21st, 5 west on the 22nd,
and 6 northwest on the 23rd. (The 21st
also finds the comet almost precisely half-
way between two of the skys five brightest
stars, Arcturus and Vega.) Both objects will
fit in the field of 7x50 binoculars on all
three mornings. Predictions have ISON
glowing around magnitude 5.4, some 0.4
magnitude brighter than M13.
Although the comets coma appears far-
ther from the globular December 20, dont
pass up the chance to view the pair if you
have clear skies. The geometry of ISONs
gas tail will bring it closer to M13 that
morning than on succeeding mornings. On
any of these days, compare the comets
coma with the globular. The two should
appear similar through binoculars because
their small apertures cant resolve the clus-
ter into individual stars. A telescope reveals
the stark differences between the objects.
The comet remains highest in the pre-
dawn sky throughout December, but by the
Richard Talcott is an Astronomy senior
editor and author of Teach Yourself Visually
Astronomy (Wiley Publishing, 2008).
Comet LINEAR (C/2012 K5) showed a fan-
shaped dust tail when it passed through
Auriga in early January. GERALD RHEMANN
Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) sported a thin bluish ion tail and a broader anti-tail of dust that pointed
toward the Sun in February 2012. GERALD RHEMANN
New Moon Dec. 2
First Quarter Dec. 9
Full Moon Dec. 17
Last Quarter Dec. 25
MOON PHASES
IN DECEMBER
months final week, it pushes far enough
north to make observing worthwhile after
sunset. In fact, for observers north of 45
north latitude, ISON becomes circumpolar
(meaning it never sets) during the months
final seven days. And with the Moon rising
after midnight, evening views could be just
as good as those before dawn.
December 26 marks two significant
milestones for the celestial visitor. First, it
crosses the invisible boundary separating
Hercules from Draco the Dragon. But
more importantly, ISON makes its closest
approach to Earth. At 6 p.m. EST, the comet
lies 40 million miles (64 million km) from
our planet. ISONs slow approach to our
observing platform this month is what
helps it remain reasonably bright in the sky.
As 2013 winds down, the comet has one
final close encounter with a bright star. On
the morning of the 29th, ISON passes just
0.5 from magnitude 2.7 Eta () Draconis.
With the comet now moving northward
nearly 4 per day a direct consequence of
its nearness to Earth evening observers
will find it some 2 from the star.
On the years final morning, ISON
stands poised on Dracos border with Ursa
Minor the Little Bear. The easiest way to
find it will be to scan the region 8 south-
east of magnitude 3.0 Gamma () Ursae
Minoris in the bowl of the Little Dipper.
If you wait until New Years Eve, the gap
between the two drops to 6.
As 2013 gives way to 2014, the Moon
returns to its New phase (on January 1).
Thats good news because the comet should
be fading to the limits of naked-eye visibil-
ity. The IAU predicts ISON will fade from
magnitude 6.2 to 9.6 during January. Bar-
ring some unforeseen brightening, the
comet will become a binocular object,
though a fine one at that. And telescopes
should continue to show a wealth of detail
as the comet passes 3 from Polaris before
heading southward into Cepheus, Cassio-
peia, and Camelopardalis. Well be back
next month with viewing details as ISON
bids the inner solar system goodbye.
FOR CONTINUING UPDATES OF ISONS PROGRESS, VISIT www.Astronomy.com/ISON.
Comet LONEOS (C/2007 F1) featured a
pencil-thin ion tail and no dust tail to
speak of when it passed closest to the
Sun in late 2007. GERALD RHEMANN
Comet SWAN (C/2006 M4) possessed an intricate gas tail with several individual streamers that were
sculpted by the action of the solar wind in 2006. PAOLO CANDY
One supernova remnant, two double stars, and eight clusters beckon cold-weather skygazers.
by Phil Harrington
11 top winter
binocular gems
BINOCULAR STARGAZING
T
he rush of Arctic air often leads to the most transparent
and coldest nights of the year. Binoculars make it
easy to step out and quickly take in the overhead tapestry
of stars without freezing through any setup time. Here are
11 wonderful winter targets you can enjoy any clear night.
Lets start in the constellation Taurus the Bull. I can still recall
one frigid January night back in high school when I first spotted
the Crab Nebula (M1) through old 7x35 binoculars. Lying in a
snow bank and scanning the winter stars, I aimed toward its loca-
tion, 1 northwest of Zeta () Tauri, the Bulls eastern horn. Sure
enough, there it was. Admittedly, the Crab lies at the limit of most
binoculars, but I could definitely make out its tiny patch by using
averted vision. How about you?
Next, head 42 northwest to sparkling M34, one of my favorite
early winter open clusters. M34, an object British amateur astrono-
mer Jeff Bondono christened the Spiral Cluster, is located roughly
midway between Algol (Beta [] Persei) and Almach (Gamma []
Andromedae). Only 5 separate Algol and M34, and both just
squeeze into the same view. M34 looks like a hazy patch of light
about as large as the Full Moon. Through my 10x50 binoculars, the
brightest of its 100 or so stars twinkle amid the soft glow of fainter,
unresolved suns.
Next, target a different type of star group. Globular clusters lit-
ter the summer Milky Way, but winter holds just one within reach
of most binoculars.
Youll find M79 in the small constellation Lepus the Hare,
directly south of Orion. To spot the cluster, extend a line from
Arneb (Alpha [] Leporis) through Nihal (Beta Leporis), and con-
tinue an equal distance southward. It can be challenging to see
through 50mm binoculars, but with patience, youll spot the faint,
round glow of M79 lying a Moons diameter east-northeast of the
magnitude 5.5 star SAO 170351.
From Lepus, head north through Orion. Youre probably famil-
iar with the Double Cluster in Perseus, but what about the Double
Cluster in Taurus? Thats what Stphane Meloche of Coaticook,
Quebec, calls the close-set open clusters NGC 1807 and NGC 1817,
which youll find some 8 east of Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri). NGC
1807 contains about 20 stars and has an apparent diameter of 17'.
Giant binoculars may just be able to resolve its brighter stars, which
make a cruciform pattern. NGC 1817 proves a little less distinct,
although it has about three times as many stars. Viewing both
together through his binoculars reminds Deer Park, Washington,
observer Jonathan Casselman of a bow tie. Do you agree?
Now raise your sights high overhead, and youll see brilliant
Capella (Alpha Aurigae). With your binoculars, extend a line from
Capella through Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), and continue almost
10 farther east-southeast. There, youll come to a prominent cross-
shaped asterism of five 5th-magnitude stars centered on Psi
5
(
5
)
Aurigae. Open cluster NGC 2281 floats just south of the cross
southernmost star, Psi
7
Aurigae. My 10x50 binoculars show what
an observer might think is a nebulous wisp surrounding a central
point, while my 16x70s resolve this as a diamond of four faint suns.
For our next three targets, head to the constellation Monoceros
the Unicorn. Of this trio, only M50 was known in Charles Messi-
ers time. Monoceros may be vague, but M50 is surprisingly easy to
spot if you aim about halfway between Sirius (Alpha Canis Majo-
ris) and Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris). Through most binoculars,
M50 looks like a soft blur of light peppered with a few dim stars. Its
brightest sun, just south of the clusters center, shines at 8th magni-
tude and may appear golden through 80mm and larger binoculars.
Phil Harrington is an Astronomy contributing editor and author of
Cosmic Challenge (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Open cluster NGC 2281 lies in Auriga and spans 14'. At magnitude 5.4, its
relatively bright and easy to spot through binoculars. ANTHONY AYIOMAMITIS
Although Messier never saw this next open cluster, NGC 2232 is
easily visible through binoculars if you look about two fields of
view (13) due east of the Orion Nebula (M42). This objects bright-
est star is 5th-magnitude 10 Monocerotis.
The remaining 20 or so cluster suns range between 8th and 10th
magnitude. With an apparent diameter equal to that of the Full
Moon, triangular NGC 2232 strikes me as more enjoyable through
binoculars than through most telescopes.
Our final stopping-off point in Monoceros is Hagrids Dragon
(NGC 2301). Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Stephen
James OMeara sees a dragon in flight when he looks at this cluster.
He named it Hagrids Dragon after a creature in the Harry Potter
series of novels by J. K. Rowling.
To find it, scan 13 west-southwest of Procyon. NGC 2301 will be
there, displaying a tiny smudge centered on a dim star. With averted
vision, I can count half a dozen faint stars within the mist in my
10x50s. My 20x80s further resolve that glow into many pinpoints.
Lets wrap things up this season with a pair of pretty double
stars. The first, Nu () Geminorum, marks the halfway point
between the ankles of the twin Gemini brothers. Aim its way, and
youll discover that 4th-magnitude Nu flies through space with an
8th-magnitude partner just to its northwest. Set in a rich star field,
both white stars are separated by nearly 2', so just about any bin-
oculars should resolve them.
Finally, the 4th-magnitude binary star 15 Geminorum nestles
only 0.6 northwest of Nu Gem, just past an intervening star, 16
Gem. But be forewarned that only 25" separate 15 Gem and its
magnitude 8.4 companion. Thats right at the resolution threshold
for 10x binoculars, so youll need to brace your equipment against a
support or mount the binos on a tripod to steady the view. If you
see them, can you also make out that 15 Gem is slightly yellowish
and its companion faintly blue?
Thats our winter roundup for 2013, but there are many more
breathtaking wonders awaiting you tonight. Dress warmly and enjoy
the view. And remember our motto: Two eyes are better than one.
FOR 10 MORE GREAT WINTER BINOCULAR SIGHTS, VISIT www.Astronomy.com/toc.
M34 is an open cluster in Perseus. It shines at magnitude 5.2 and measures
35' across, which means it covers one-quarter more area than the Full Moon.
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The Crab Nebula (M1) is a supernova
remnant in Taurus. It glows at magni-
tude 8.0 and measures 6' by 4'.
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A
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
Celestron has made a pair of low-cost
telescopes for beginners watching the
great sky show. by Mike Reynolds
I
clearly remember my first telescope; in fact, I still have
it. I was 9 years old, and my parents bought me a 2-inch
reflector for Christmas. The tube was cardboard, it held
a second-surface secondary mirror, and it had a 0.925"
eyepiece with an all-plastic lens. The mirror cell was
plastic and glued in, so there was no way to collimate (optically
align) the telescope.
The mount was a ball with a locking clamp on a tripod. The
finder scope was a hollow aluminum tube. As you might imagine,
views through this telescope were not great. Yet, as a kid who was
developing an interest in astronomy, I thought I had gotten the
greatest gift ever.
Todays telescopes for children and adults just getting into the
hobby are far superior to my reflector. And based on the predicted
popularity of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), lots of people will be look-
ing up this year. To meet the demand for high-quality, low-cost
telescopes, Celestron recently introduced two models for the
beginner: the Cometron FirstScope and the Cometron 114AZ.
These two products prove that you dont have to invest a large sum
of money to get started in amateur astronomy.
The Cometron FirstScope
The Cometron FirstScope is barely reminiscent of my 1960s reflec-
tor. It has a higher-quality mirror, which also is larger (3 inches
versus 2 inches). Other, better features for this telescope include a
first-surface and adjustable secondary mirror and two 1" Kellner
eyepieces. The 20mm eyepiece produces 15x, and the 10mm yields
30x. The tube is metal, and the focuser is a rack-and-pinion style.
The telescope also has a real finder scope: a small 5x24 refractor.
The Cometron FirstScope includes both an end cap and a
focuser cap to seal the optical tube assembly when not in use. This
is a nice feature for those of us who might leave it in a car over-
night. The mount is a Dobsonian-style tabletop mount, which I
found works smoothly enough both for telescope movement and
observing. The entire package is light just over 5 pounds (2.3
kilograms) so a child could take the telescope out and set it up.
Optically, the Cometron FirstScope sports a fast focal ratio at
f/3.95. This makes for a shorter tube, thus a lighter telescope and
mount. It also means the images will be bright with a wide field of
view all advantages for a beginners first views of the heavens.
Mike Reynolds is an Astronomy contributing editor and dean of Liberal
Arts and Sciences at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
The Cometron FirstScope allows you to
view celestial objects with the telescope
sitting on a table. Its simple to set up and
light enough for a child to carry. BOTH IMAGES
COURTESY OF CELESTRON
WWW. ASTRONOMY. COM
65
The Cometron 114AZ
The Celestron Cometron 114AZ is a 4.5-inch reflector that also has
the fast focal ratio f/3.95. The manufacturer notes that the mirror is
parabolic, which is an essential optical characteristic for such a
short focal length. The tube is metal with a dovetail mount for the
included tripod. Tube and focuser caps also come with this instru-
ment to keep the optics clean when not in use.
A rack-and-pinion focuser and easy-to-use collimation screws
are part of the scope. Celestron placed a small circle on the primary
mirror to aid in collimation. To help you locate objects, the Com-
etron 114AZ features Celestrons StarPointer Red Dot Finder. The
company includes the same two eyepieces that come with the First-
Scope: 20mm and 10mm Kellners. Used with the 114AZ, however,
they provide magnifications of 22.5x and 45x, respectively.
The Cometron 114AZ tripod is an adaptation of those used to
support lightweight cameras. It has one set of leg extensions, which
I found adequate for viewing. Celestron also includes an easy-to-
use snap-in shelf for holding eyepieces. A panning head adjusts the
tripod in altitude and azimuth. I found that it extends far enough
below and beyond the optical tube assembly to be easy to use. Both
motions are smooth, and the azimuth has a lock screw.
Under the sky
I observed with the Cometron FirstScope and 114AZ at the same
time. My first object again reminiscent of the object I started
with through my first telescope was a 35-percent-illuminated
waxing crescent Moon. After I aligned the optical finder of the
FirstScope and the Cometron 114AZs red dot finder, I used them
to zero in on our satellite.
I began observing with the 20mm eyepieces. Through the two
scopes, I had two different views of the Moon, as I expected. It looked
fainter through the Cometron FirstScope because its primary mirror
has only 44 percent of the surface area that the Cometron 114AZ has.
Focus was good, and I could see a hint of earthshine.
Meanwhile, earthshine was easy to spot through the Cometron
114AZ. Focus was crisp and lunar details sharp.
I changed eyepieces on both scopes to the 10mm Kellners, at
which time the view of the Moon was better through the First-
Scope, probably because of the lower power. The Cometron 114AZ
continued to surprise me, however, with nice views and snap focus.
I finished my observing session with several other objects,
including Saturn. Even at 15x through the FirstScope, I could easily
tell there was something in addition to the planet rings! The best
view of Saturn, however, was through the 114AZ at 45x.
I checked the edge of the field through the Cometron 114AZ to
look for coma, an aberration found in Newtonian reflectors that
really shows up in short focal lengths. I saw no glaring problems at
either magnification.
How can you go wrong?
All in all, I was surprised and pleased at the performance of both
Cometron telescopes, especially the 114AZ. These scopes are ter-
rific bargains. However, if even the 114AZs price is too high, yet
you really want to purchase a telescope, the Cometron FirstScope
would be a good first choice, especially for a child.
The Cometron 114AZ would make an excellent first telescope
or even a next telescope. Children who get either of these as a gift
might do the same thing as me in 50 years: look back fondly on
their first telescope with the added bonus of views it will give
them of Comet ISON.
Cometron FirstScope Cometron 114AZ
Optical design: Newtonian reflector Newtonian reflector
Aperture: 3 inches 4.5 inches
Focal ratio: f/3.95 f/3.95
Focal length: 300 millimeters 450 millimeters
Total weight: 4.3 pounds 8.4 pounds
(1.95 kilograms) (3.81 kilograms)
Finder scope: 5x24 StarPointer Red
Dot Finder
Included eyepieces: 10mm and 20mm 10mm and 20mm
Kellner Kellner
Price: $59.95 $179.95
Contact:
Celestron
2835 Columbia Street
Torrance, CA 90503
[t] 310.328.9560
[w] www.celestron.com
The Cometron 114AZ is
a 4.5-inch Newtonian
reector. With its included
eyepieces (which give
22.5x and 45x), youll get
great views of the Moon,
the bright planets, and
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1).
PRODUCT INFORMATION
I
do not consider myself an
expert at using a digital
single-lens reflex camera
(DSLR), but I have experi-
mented enough to pass on
some useful ideas. In my
November 2012 column, I out-
lined briefly my method for
processing DSLR data. In this
article, I want to explain how I
actually take the images.
The specific noise that
plagues most DSLR imaging is
not the hot pixels and cosmic-
ray hits that plague CCD imag-
ing, but color mottle. Take a
single DSLR image shot at ISO
3200 of a faint object, and
enlarge it. Most likely you will
see magenta or green and
sometimes brown patches of
color permeating the image.
Thats color mottle.
The patches typically extend
five to 10 pixels in size, and
shooting flats and darks does
not get rid of them. Only one
method can address this major
noise source: massive dithering.
By this, I dont mean dithering a
few pixels I mean three to
five star diameters! The setup
for dithering in most software is
sufficient if youre shooting
through a large telescope, but
for camera-lens-type imaging,
you will need to manually dither
the image. To accomplish this, I
use a small mount, specifically
the Vixen GPD2 that I reviewed
in the June 2013 issue. It is per-
fect for this task, allowing man-
ual slow-motion movements in
both right ascension and decli-
nation sufficient to cover the
size of the mottle.
My favorite lenses for imag-
ing are the Canon 70200mm
f/2.8 L IS II and the Nikon
1424mm f/2.8 G used via the
Novoflex adapter for the Canon
camera body. My favorite cam-
era is now the Hutech-modified
Canon D6, which I have found
to be more sensitive with less
noise than any other. This is
costly equipment, but you get
what you pay for specifically,
a flat field with very little sec-
ondary spectrum.
I try to shoot at least nine
exposures, each with the lens at
f/4 and an ISO of either 1600 or
3200. I determine the length of
the exposures by placing the
histogram in the center of the
COSMICIMAGING
BY TONY HAL L AS
graph. To view a histogram after
you take an image, press the
information button on the back
of the camera.
A histogram is a graph the
software creates that works
within a zone of 0 to 255, where
0 is black and 255 is white. The
horizontal axis, therefore, shows
how bright or dark your data is.
The vertical axis shows how
many pixels have a specific value.
So the bell curve of most histo-
grams shows that you have just a
few pixels in the dark values.
Toward the midtones (moving to
the right toward white), a lot
more pixels per brightness unit
appear, so the curve goes up.
Then as we approach pure white,
the number of pixels plummets,
and the curve moves down to
represent this.
I started my session by taking
a 2-minute exposure. When I
examined the histogram, my
bell curve was way over to the
left, indicating that I did not
have enough midtone pixels. In
other words, I needed to make
the image brighter overall. So I
added an extra minute and got
just the curve I wanted. If I had
exposed for six minutes, the bell
curve would have been all the
way to the right, indicating an
overexposure.
Between each exposure, I
dither the image significantly.
Oh, and I shoot everything in
Camera Raw. I do not want
the camera to do any processing
of the image, just the recording.
Once I am back home, I pro-
cess the images and then com-
bine them using RegiStar, which
I detailed in Octobers column.
The final result is free of most, if
not all, mottle, and it shows a
smooth, beautiful background.
Happy shooting!
The author shares some tips
for non-CCD imagers.
Shooting with
a DSLR
BROWSE THE COSMIC IMAGING ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Hallas.
Since the beginning
I am a charter subscriber to Astronomy. The August 2013 40th
anniversary of its first issue has me reminiscing about my life
who I was in 1973 and all thats happened since. Astronomy has
been perhaps my most enduring interest. I can vividly remember
my father showing me the stars as a young child and being
stunned by seeing Jupiter and Saturn for the first time through a
scope at about age 10. I ground a mirror and built a 6-inch scope
at age 12. My mother first saw notices of the upcoming publication
of a new and beautiful magazine Astronomy devoted to the
field and thought I should be getting it.
I have always told friends that the stars and constellations are
the most constant and faithful of companions. They are always
there, and they still speak to me in the same way that they did
when I was a boy. Astronomy has been there as well, providing
wonderful pictures, information, excitement, and imaginative
thinking through graduate school and a career in software engi-
neering. Peter Watterberg, Albuquerque, New Mexico
FROM OUR INBOX
This Milky Way image illustrates the techniques the author uses to
create great shots through a DSLR. He acquired and combined
nine 3-minute images, which he strongly dithered. He took them
through a Hutech-modified Canon 6D with a Nikon 1424mm
f/2.8 lens set to 24mm and f/4. ALL IMAGES: TONY HALLAS
The author then zoomed into the Rho Ophiuchi area (which
includes a significant part of northern Scorpius) with a Hutech-
modified Canon 6D and a 70200mm f/2.8 L IS II lens set to f/4
and 135mm. He combined sixteen 3-minute exposures at ISO
1600. Note the colors he recorded in addition to myriad stars.
We welcome your comments at Astronomy Letters, P. O. Box 1612,
Waukesha, WI 53187; or email to letters@astronomy.com. Please
include your name, city, state, and country. Letters may be edited for
space and clarity.
Finder scope
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Watsonville, California
Orions 70mm Multi-Use Finder Scope lets
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[t] 800.447.1001
[w] www.telescope.com
Camera
Lumenera Corporation,
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Lumeneras Lt425 is a
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interface. The camera features a rate of
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Focuser
Sky Instruments
Vancouver, Canada
Sky Instruments FOCH is a 2" heli-
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Moon calendar
Ashland Astronomy Studio
Ashland, Oregon
The Ashland Astronomy Studio
2014 Moon Calendar shows how
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the year. The poster measures 36
by 18 inches (91 by 46 centime-
ters). The printed images match
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Lens warmer
Kevin Adams Photography
Waynesville, North Carolina
The Digital After Dark Lens-
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Combination tripod
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The StarGuy Alt Az Wood Mount
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Attention, manufacturers: To submit a product
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ASTROSKETCHING
BY E RI K A RI X
Capturing comets
Its been an exciting year with
Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011
L4) reaching magnitude 1 in
March and Comet ISON
(C/2012 S1) having just passed
perihelion (its closest approach
to the Sun) November 28. Com-
ets are a real treat to sketch as
they journey near the Sun.
The approach to rendering
them depends greatly on the
optics, if any, that you use. Wide-
field sketches work well for
naked-eye and binocular obser-
vations, while preprinted star
fields and observing templates
work best with a telescope.
One of my May observations
of PANSTARRS will illustrate
how to sketch a comet telescopi-
cally. An observing template is
available for your use on the
PCW Memorial Observatory site
at www.tinyurl.com/PCWsheet.
Youll also need a clipboard, a #2
pencil, a blending stump, and a
red light. I use an LED light that
I can vary in brightness with a
piece of transparent tape placed
over the lens to create a soft,
even glow. For faint comets, keep
your light as dim as possible to
preserve your night vision.
Frame the comet in your eye-
piece, and then begin adding the
brightest stars to your sketch.
Plotting the star field first pro-
vides reference points when add-
ing the comet. Create your stars
by holding the pencil straight up
and down on your paper while
twisting it with slight pressure.
Establish star magnitudes by the
amount of pressure you use.
A super-fine black felt-tipped
pen works great for the brightest
stars. Simply press the tip on the
paper no need to twist. Work-
ing in small sections, use a pen-
cil to add the remaining stars,
visualizing geometric patterns or
chains to help you accurately fill
in the entire view.
Once the star field is
complete, create a small
graphite patch off to
the side of your
sketch with a pen-
cil. Swirl the tip of
your blending
stump through
the graphite to
load it. Then
use the blending
stump to draw the
comet. You can
remove excess
graphite on the tip by
rubbing it on a clean
section of paper. Reload the
stump as needed.
Switch off your light to study
the comet. Averted vision (look-
ing just to the side of the bright-
est part) and slight telescope
movement (tap the tube lightly)
will help pull out faint details.
Look for variances in brightness
or colors, an off-center
coma (head), and the
presence of multiple tails,
as well as the comets size,
position, and shape.
Then, with the light back
on, plot the coma in your star
field with the blending stump.
Softly expand the coma with
circular motions while compar-
ing its size and distance from the
surrounding stars. The coma of
Comet PANSTARRS had a
bright center, so I built up lay-
ers of graphite there. Use a
pencil if the coma appears
stellar, blending softly
afterward. And be sure
to record the time and
the comets orientation.
If you observe tails,
start at the coma and
add the brightest areas
first, using small strokes.
Again, use the surround-
ing stars as reference points.
Soften the pressure when tran-
sitioning to the faded edges.
Comet PANSTARRS had a sec-
ond bright tail. This wasnt an
actual tail, but rather an area of
reflective dust particles that
remained in the comets orbital
plane. Often referred to as an
anti-tail, its the bright spike we
see stretching toward the Sun. I
used averted vision to detect
the dust tail between the
wedge of the ion tail and
the anti-tail. I added it by
smudging graphite into
that area with my
blending stump.
End your sketch by
adding relevant observ-
ing data such as the date,
sky conditions, equipment
used, and any notes. The
more you sketch, the more
changes youll see when tracking
a comet and best of all, youll
have a personal record of the
visit to remember it by.
To better represent the telescope view,
the author scanned her sketch of Comet
PANSTARRS and then inverted it using
Photoshop. She made all sketches from
Liberty Hill, Texas, on May 13, 2013, at
5h13m UT through a 16-inch f/4.5 reflec-
tor on a non-tracking Dobsonian mount
using a 13mm eyepiece (138x).
First, visualize shapes or chains connecting
the stars to assist you in accurately plot-
ting the field. ALL SKETCHES: ERIKA RIX
Then sketch the remaining stars and add
the coma with a loaded blending stump,
comparing its distance and size to the
surrounding stars. Add the brightest sec-
tions of the tail(s) next.
Finally, you can render the nebulosity in
the dust tail by pressing softly with a
blending stump.
2014 Astronomy Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Adorama . ......................................................... 19
AP Theory . ....................................................... 21
Armstrong Metalcrafts. ............................... 70
Ash Manufacturing . ..................................... 21
Astro Factors . ................................................. 70
Astro Gizmos . ................................................. 71
Astro Haven. ................................................... 70
Astro-Physics . ................................................. 70
Astrodon. ......................................................... 13
Astronomics. ................................................... 15
Astronomy Binders . ..................................... 69
Astronomy Camp. ......................................... 13
Astronomy.com . ........................................... 67
Bob Berman Tours . ....................................... 14
Celestron. ........................................................3, 5
Discover magazine . ....................................... 8
Equatorial Platforms . ................................... 70
Explore Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Glatter, Howard . ........................................... 71
Hubble Optics. ............................................... 70
ISTAR Optical . ................................................. 67
Jewelry Designs For Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Jims Mobile, Inc. . ......................................... 71
Khan Scope Centre . ..................................... 67
Knightware. ..................................................... 71
Mallin Cam. ..................................................... 67
Meade Instruments Corporation . . . . . . . 76
Moonglow Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
My Telescope. ................................................. 17
National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . 2
New Tomorrow. ............................................. 70
Observatory Inc, The. ................................... 71
Oceanside Photo & Telescope. . . . . . . . . . 23
Optic Wave Laboratories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars . . . . . . . . . 75
Rainbow Symphony . ................................... 70
Santa Barbara Instrument Group. . . . . . . 15
ScopeStuff . ..................................................... 67
Sky-Watcher USA. ........................................... 7
Skylight Refractors . ..................................... 70
StarGPS . ........................................................... 71
Starizona. ......................................................... 17
Stellarvue . ....................................................... 71
Technical Innovations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Tele Vue Optics, Inc . ..................................... 13
TravelQuest International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Vernonscope, LLC . ....................................... 70
William Optics Co. . ....................................... 67
Woodland Hills Cameras & Telescope. . . 18
www.bigbinoculars.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
INDEX of
ADVERTISERS
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.
72 ASTRONOMY t DECEMER 2013
1. NOVA DELPHINI 2013
The explosion of this star was visible
to observers easily from dark sites this
past August. The image on the left is a
blue-ltered exposure of the region. The
right shows the nova near its brightest
August 15, 2013. (12-inch Astro-Physics
305RHA Riccardi-Honders astrograph
at f/3.8, SBIG ST-10XME CCD camera,
fteen 6-second, red-ltered images,
stacked) t MFGU /BUJPOBM (FPHSBQIJD
1BMPNBS 0CTFSWBUPSZ 4LZ 4VSWFZ
SJHIU "OUIPOZ "ZJPNBNJUJT
2. SHARPLESS 2119
This emission nebula lies in an incred-
ibly rich star eld in the constellation
Cygnus the Swan. To cut the stars
brightnesses, the imager used nar-
rowband lters similar to the ones the
Hubble Space Telescope employs. He
then mapped the data from one of the
lters to red, one to green, and one
to blue to produce an image our eyes
could see. (2.4-inch Takahashi FS60C
refractor with a reducer to give f/4.25,
Quantum Scientic Instruments QSI683
CCD camera, H/OIII/SII image with
exposures of 5, 3, and 3 hours, respec-
tively) t #FIZBS #BLITIBOEFI
READER
GALLERY
1
2
3. HFG1 AND ABELL 6
This shot shows two rarely imaged
planetary nebulae in Cassiopeia. The
smaller one is Abell 6, while the larger
is HFG1. In the latter, the binary star
V664 Cas, moving rapidly through our
Milky Way, plows into interstellar gas
and dust, forming a bow shock. (12-inch
Astro-Physics 305RHA Riccardi-Honders
astrograph at f/3.8, FLI Proline KAF-
16803 CCD camera, H/OIII/RGB image
with exposures of 260, 300, 18, 18, and
18 minutes, respectively)
t 5IPNBT 7 %BWJT
4. A GIANT FILAMENT
The word lament is a term astronomers
use to describe a solar prominence seen
silhouetted against the Suns bright
disk. Usually, they appear dark. This
image, however, shows the objects true
nature. (Lunt 100T Hydrogen-alpha tele-
scope, Point Grey Grasshopper 3 CCD
camera, taken August 7, 2013, at 5:32:22
P.M. PDT, from Redlands, California)
t +JN -BFSUZ
5. COMET LEMMON
C/2012 F6 still looked great nearly a
month past its closest approach to the
Sun, which occurred March 24. At that
time, the comet reached its brightest
at 5th magnitude. The comet crossed
the celestial equator and became a
Northern Hemisphere object the day
before the photographer took this
image. (12-inch Astro Systeme Austria
ASA astrograph at f/3.6, FLI ML-8300
CCD camera, LRGB image with 6-minute
exposures through each lter, taken
April 21, 2013, at 4h UT, from Farm
Tivoli, Namibia) t (FSBME 3IFNBOO
6. A PERSEID WITH TRAIL
This two-part image shows a bright
Perseid meteor streaking southward
along the Milky Way. The left frame is
the frame where the meteor appears
brightest. The other shot is one of the
frames that shows the lingering smoke
trail that followed the ash. (Nikon
D800E DSLR, Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens set
at f/2.8, ISO 3200, 20-second exposures,
taken August 13, 2013, at 12:44 A.M. PDT,
from the Mojave Desert, California)
t 5POZ 3PXFMM
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 expo-
sures. Submit images by email to
readergallery@astronomy.com.
3
4 5
6
This summer, astronomers at
the European Southern Obser-
vatory released a stunning new
image made with the Atacama
Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA) and the New
Technology Telescope, the Chil-
ean radio telescope interferom-
eter. By recording the glow of
carbon monoxide molecules
coming from Herbig-Haro
46/47, they imaged jets emanat-
ing from this young star, still in
formation.
Herbig-Haro objects are
clouds of gas associated with
forming stars that are acted on
by jets of material from the
newborn suns. The gas from
this young star is crashing
outward at 620,000 mph (1 mil-
lion km/h) and slamming into
the surrounding medium, caus-
ing it to glow. In this image, the
star lies inside the bright trian-
gular glow at center; one jet
shooting toward Earth fans out
below the star, and another jet
above the star is less visible
because of obscuring dust.
A closeup
look at the
birth of a star
FINALFRONTIER To the ends of the cosmos
E
S
O
/
A
L
M
A

(
E
S
O
/
N
A
O
J
/
N
R
A
O
)
/
H
.

A
R
C
E
1975
Since
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
NEWPRODUCT
2013
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SOUTHERN
SKY
MARTIN GEORGE describes the solar systems changing landscape
as it appears in Earths southern sky.
February 2014: Venus shines brightest
Jupiter dominates the north-
ern sky during February
nights. The largest planet
shines at magnitude 2.5,
which makes it the brightest
point of light in the sky until
Venus rises before dawn. Jupi-
ter lurks near the center of
Gemini the Twins, to the
upper left of the constellations
brightest stars, Castor and
Pollux. The planet moves
slowly westward relative to
the background stars in Feb-
ruary, ending the month just
2 south of 3rd-magnitude
Epsilon () Geminorum.
Although Jupiter reached
opposition and peak visibility
in early January, the view
hardly diminishes this month.
The giant world spans 44"
across the equator and 41"
through the poles, a difference
thats easy to discern through
small telescopes. Also look for
the alternating series of paral-
lel dark belts and bright zones
that characterizes the planets
dynamic atmosphere. Above
the cloud tops, Jupiters four
bright moons create a differ-
ent pattern each evening.
By late evening, Mars rises
in the east. It appears among
the background stars of Virgo
the Maiden, just below that
constellations brightest star,
Spica. Reaching magnitude
0.1 in mid-February, the
orange-red planet clearly out-
shines the blue-white star. By
the end of the month, Mars
will be the fourth brightest
point of light in the evening
sky, trailing only Jupiter, Sir-
ius, and Canopus.
After more than a year of
poor viewing circumstances,
Mars now has become an
interesting telescopic target.
During February, the planets
diameter grows from 8.9" to
11.5". This is large enough to
show detail through moderate
apertures. The most obvious
feature will be the white north
polar cap, while dusky surface
markings will appear during
moments of good seeing.
One constellation east of
Virgo lies a less-conspicuous
grouping known as Libra the
Balance. Libras stock rises
precipitously in 2014, how-
ever, because it hosts beautiful
Saturn. At magnitude 0.5, the
ringed planet stands out from
the stellar backdrop. Saturn
climbs above the eastern hori-
zon approximately 90 minutes
after Mars.
Although Saturn wont
reach opposition until May,
even a small telescope delivers
great views this month. Wait
until the planet climbs high
in the predawn sky for the
best looks. The planets disk
measures 17" across in mid-
February while the lovely
rings span 39" and tilt 23 to
our line of sight. Also watch
for 8th-magnitude Titan, Sat-
urns biggest moon and the
second-largest satellite in the
solar system. Titan orbits Sat-
urn once every 16 days.
Brilliant Venus leaps into
the eastern predawn sky dur-
ing February. It appears about
10 above the horizon an hour
before sunrise February 1; by
the 28th, it has climbed nearly
30 high at an equivalent time.
Theres no mistaking Venus
for any other celestial object.
It peaks at magnitude 4.9 at
midmonth, some 10 times
brighter than Jupiter. A thin
crescent Moon occults Venus
on February 26. The event
appears best from the equa-
torial part of western Africa.
From Luanda, Angola, the
planet disappears behind the
lunar crescent at 3h25m UT
and reappears at the dark limb
at 4h05m UT.
Observers who point their
telescopes at Venus this
month will see dramatic
changes in the planets size
and shape. At the beginning
of February, it appears 51"
across and just 13 per cent lit.
By months end, its diameter
has shrunk to 33" while its
crescent phase has waxed to
33 percent illumination. Its
amazing what a difference
a month can make when
observing Venus.
Mercury puts on its own
morning show late this
month, when it becomes an
easy naked-eye object in the
east during twilight. You can
find it well below and a little
to the right of Venus. On the
28th, a waning crescent Moon
passes 3 to Mercurys left.
Point a telescope at the planet
that morning and youll see a
9"-diameter disk that appears
one-quarter lit.
The starry sky
When I was a boy, one of the
first astronomical gifts my
parents gave me was a plastic
planisphere, a device that
shows the positions of the
stars in the sky at any time
of night during the year. Its
showing a little wear and tear
these days!
After using it a while, I
noticed a curious name on the
chart. Between Puppis and the
dim constellation Antlia
appeared the word Malus.
Because I had never heard of
this constellation, I checked
another star chart and found
that Pyxis the Compass now
occupies this location. For
years, I wondered about this
apparent contradiction.
Both names date back to
the 18th century, when
French astronomer Nicolas
Louis de Lacaille visited the
Southern Hemisphere and
observed the heavens from
South Africa. He named 14
new southern constellations
and made big changes to the
huge constellation Argo
Navis. In mythology, Argo
was the ship Jason and the
Argonauts used to sail in
search of the Golden Fleece.
Because the constellation
was so large, Lacaille divided
it into Carina the Keel, Puppis
the Stern, and Vela the Sails.
These three bright star pat-
terns appear prominent on
any clear February evening.
Lacaille also suggested that
there be a fourth constella-
tion, which he named Malus
the Mast. However, he eventu-
ally settled on a new grouping
formed from the stars in the
Masts area, which he named
Pyxis the Mariners Compass.
Although some people like
to say Lacaille divided Argo
into four constellations, he
really split it into three. After
all, the compass is not part of
the ship itself, and mariners
did not use such compasses in
ancient times.
FEBRUARY 2014
Calendar of events
1 The Moon passes 4 north of
Mercury, 7h UT
The Moon passes 5 north of
Neptune, 14h UT
3 The Moon passes 3 north of
Uranus, 23h UT
6 Mercury is stationary, 7h UT
First Quarter Moon occurs at
19h22m UT
11 The Moon passes 5 south of
Jupiter, 6h UT
12 The Moon is at apogee (406,231
kilometers from Earth), 5h10m UT
14 Full Moon occurs at 23h53m UT
15 Venus is at greatest brilliancy
(magnitude 4.9), 9h UT
Mercury is in inferior conjunction,
20h UT
20 The Moon passes 3 south of
Mars, 0h UT
21 The Moon passes 0.3 south of
Saturn, 22h UT
22 Asteroid Pallas is at opposition,
9h UT
Last Quarter Moon occurs at
17h15m UT
23 Neptune is in conjunction with
the Sun, 18h UT
26 The Moon passes 0.4 north of
Venus, 5h UT
27 The Moon is at perigee
(360,440 kilometers from Earth),
19h51m UT
The Moon passes 3 north of
Mercury, 21h UT
Mercury is stationary, 23h UT

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