Astronomy - February 2019 USA PDF

Get ready for the 2019 ECLIPSE p.
52
FEBRUARY 2019
The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine
Why the
universe
loves small
STARS! p. 20
ALIENS Dazzling
winter
in the lab p. 28
planetary
nebulae
p. 44
BOB BERMAN www.Astronomy.com

on astronomical clichés p. 12 BONUS
Vol. 47
EXPLORE extinct constellations p. 48 ONLINE

CONTENT
•
Issue 2
WE TEST Coronado’s new solar scope p. 60 CODE p. 4

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FEBRUARY 2019
VOL. 47, NO. 2
CFHT/COELUM – J.-C. CUILLANDRE AND G. ANSELMI

ON THE COVER
The universe loves small stars,
churning out far more of them
CONTENTS
FEATURES
52
than large ones. This month,
we explore why.
COLUMNS
Strange Universe 12
20 COVER STORY 44 56 BOB BERMAN
Why does the universe Observing stellar Cosmic catalogs For Your Consideration 16
make so many tiny stars? blowouts you can use JEFF HESTER
In star-forming regions, These challenging planetary Dip into these lesser-known
low-mass objects vastly nebulae will put your telescope catalogs for a look at some
Secret Sky 18
STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
outnumber their bigger brothers. and keen eye to the test. different deep-sky wonders.
Astronomers want to know how STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA ALAN GOLDSTEIN Observing Basics 62
this happens. BRUCE DORMINEY GLENN CHAPLE
48 60
28 Specters of past We test Coronado’s Binocular Universe 64
PHIL HARRINGTON
How to build aliens constellations latest solar scope
in the lab You don’t have to look too A sleek look, easy operation,
To find life on Earth, follow the far back in time to find star and a tunable filter make the
water. But what about on other patterns that no longer exist. SolarMax III one to consider. QUANTUM GRAVITY
planets? KIONA N. SMITH MICHAEL E. BAKICH RAYMOND SHUBINSKI Snapshot 9
36 52 68 Astro News 10
Sky This Month Chasing Luna’s shadow Ask Astro
Mercury’s superb show. in South America No returns. IN EVERY ISSUE
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND On the afternoon of From the Editor 6
ALISTER LING July 2, the Sun will
disappear along a
Astro Letters 8
38 narrow track that New Products 66
StarDome and stretches from Chile’s Advertiser Index 67
Path of the Planets coast to just south of
RICHARD TALCOTT; Buenos Aires. Reader Gallery 70
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY MICHAEL E. BAKICH 69 Breakthrough 74
ONLINE Astronomy (ISSN 0091-6358, USPS 531-350)

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FROM THE EDITOR
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W
e think of our across vast distances on the stage of a star’s life. The Gaia
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nary star, star- snapshot of how stars weigh European Space Agency, is Hartmann, Paul Hodge, Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran,
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6 AS T R O NO M Y • FEBRUARY 2019
We welcome your comments at Astronomy Letters, P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187;
ASTROLETTERS or email to letters@astronomy.com. Please include your name, city, state, and country.
Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
A unique reminder the more recent past and the history and was intriguing, meticulously researched,
Stephen James O’Meara had an excel- development of astronomy. I think it and exceedingly well written. Like the
lent piece in the September issue of would be great if you offered a series of ancient coins that Jakiel writes about,
Astronomy. It was an appropriate articles that narrates the story of astro- your magazine is multifaceted, and I
reminder that observing should always be nomical developments in thought and appreciate your ongoing commitment to
an individualistic endeavor. We read the technique. — Amos Gvirtzman, Zippori, Israel exploring astronomy’s history, as well as
articles, descriptions and captions, but its present and future state. — Bill Warren,
do any of us really see anything? Does it Griffin, GA
really look like a Coathanger, an Eagle, or The great motivator
a Running Man? If so, fine, but see things David Eicher wrote a wonderful memorial
as you would, not necessarily as someone tribute to Stephen Hawking in the June Looking into the dark
else tells you that you should. That’s the 2018 issue. I recall reading A Brief History We’ve come a long way from believing
beauty of this pursuit, both amateur and of Time some years ago, but due to my Earth is the center of the universe. For
professional. Beauty and amazement are deficiency in mathematics and even more a while now, there’s been this belief that
individual perceptions, and you (and the so in physics, much of it was incompre- dark energy/dark matter is holding us
Buddhists) were so very right in remind- hensible. But the desire to learn was there, together, but we cannot seem to locate it,
ing us to keep them that way. and I believe that Stephen inspired desire find it, or prove it exists. What if there is
— Steve Solon, Rio Rancho, NM in so many of us. — Kay Freeman, Phoenix yet another possibility? Something not yet
considered? Something so large that only
the effects of its presence are detected as
Astronomical history Minted in my mind dark energy/dark matter? Gravity, maybe,
I have been a subscriber for many years, I always look forward to reading Richard but on a scale of almost inconceivable
and it’s given me the opportunity to look Jakiel’s articles in Astronomy, and his lat- proportions. I propose that all theoretical
into the distant past through your great est, “Minting a celestial memory” in your physicists consider this possibility.
articles. However, I miss looking into September issue, did not disappoint. It — Susan Rawski, Hamtramck, MI
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HOT BYTES >>
TRENDING
TO THE TOP
HYPERION
Astronomers
discovered the
QUANTUM
GRAVITY
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH . . .
largest supercluster
of galaxies to date;
it formed some
TO INFINITY
Voyager 2 is rapidly
approaching
interstellar space
after more than
40 years.
TRY AGAIN
Undetected black holes below
the threshold of our current
surveys’ ability to find them
cannot completely account
for the universe’s dark matter,
11.5 billion years ago. a new study has determined.
SNAPSHOT
Pirate of
the skies
Strike the colors.
This vivid but ominous

image — taken with the
FOcal Reducer and low
dispersion Spectrograph
(FORS2) instrument on
the European Southern
Observatory’s (ESO) Very
Large Telescope — shows
NGC 2467, otherwise
known as the Skull and
Crossbones Nebula.
Resembling a freakish
ESO; TOP FROM LEFT: ESO/ CALÇADA & OLGA CUCCIATI ET AL.; NASA/JPL-CALTECH; MIGUEL ZUMALACÁRREGUI IMAGE, UC BERKELEY
face in the sky, the young
nebula is packed to the
brim with clouds of dust
and gas, making it a hot-
bed for star formation.
Located about 17,000
light-years away in
Puppis, the colorful
formation isn’t a single
star-forming nebula, but
rather a group of them
moving at different veloc-
ities along our line of
sight. This vibrant image
was taken as part of ESO’s
Cosmic Gems program,
which photographs celes-
tial wonders when condi-
tions aren’t ideal for
science investigations.
— Amber Jorgenson
ASTRONEWS DARK CONNECTION. Simulations show a link between the formation of binary black holes and the amount of dark matter in dwarf
galaxies, suggesting the detection of gravitational waves from extragalactic black hole mergers could aid dark matter research.
ROVER COMPLETES MISSION ON ASTEROID RYUGU

MASCOT — a toaster-sized, hopping
lander — will expand our knowledge
of the near-Earth asteroid.
I
n a historic feat, Hayabusa2’s Mobile
Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) has
completed its mission to explore, probe,
and photograph the surface of asteroid
Ryugu. In October, the rover spent just over
two full asteroid days, or 17 Earth hours,
conducting research with an array of high-
powered instruments. Scientists will use the
new findings to learn more about Ryugu’s
TOUCHDOWN. The MASCOT rover captured this image of asteroid Ryugu’s jumbled surface from a height of 30 to
past and present, as well as decode the ele- 60 feet (10 to 20 meters) during its descent and landing on October 3. Ryugu is surprisingly devoid of dust. Astronomers
ments that made up our ancient solar system. expected that space weathering should produce a blanket of fine grains, but none was seen by the rover. MASCOT/DLR/JAXA
Hayabusa2 descended from 12 miles
(20 kilometers) above Ryugu, where it had radiometer, which will help determine how investigation sites instead of roam on wheels
hung out since arriving in June, to drop well Ryugu retains heat. or crawlers like other rovers. MASCOT used
MASCOT off about 200 feet (60 meters) Finally, MASCOT used its infrared spec- its motorized swinging arm to propel itself
above the asteroid. The tiny, box-shaped trometer to probe the asteroid’s composition. upward and leap several yards across the
rover, which measures just under a foot Astronomers believe the chemical makeup of rocky surface, carrying out another round of
(30 centimeters) at its widest and weighs just asteroids remains relatively unchanged from measurements when it landed. Scientists later
22 pounds (10 kilograms), spent its first their formation in the early days of our solar launched the rover on its biggest jump to its
seven-and-a-half-hour day studying its system, unlike planets and moons. Some final location, where it completed a third set
landing site. researchers hypothesize that asteroids were of investigations.
MASCOT used its wide-angle camera to responsible for transporting organic mol- After 17 hours of hard work — one hour
photograph the asteroid’s physical character- ecules and water throughout our ancient longer than expected — Hayabusa2 lost
istics and take measurements of geological neighborhood and depositing them on Earth. MASCOT’s signal, and the rover finally ran
features, giving researchers information A search of Ryugu’s composition may pro- out of juice. But before it did, it managed to
about the environment in which the asteroid vide evidence that corroborates this theory. transmit all of its data to Hayabusa2, which
formed, and the wear and tear it has experi- After completing its first round of mea- passed it along to Earth.
enced over the years. The rover also used a surements, MASCOT wasted no time getting Before heading home in 2020, Hayabusa2
magnetometer to test the strength of the to its next destination. Because the asteroid’s will approach the surface and launch projec-
asteroid’s magnetic field, and recorded its terrain is rocky and uneven, researchers tiles at Ryugu, collecting ejected debris to
surface temperature with a high-powered opted to have the lander hop to its return samples back to Earth. — A.J.
Earth HOW FAR AWAY IS THE MOON? Moon

Surface-to-surface distance between Earth and the Moon at apogee is 247,000 miles (398,000 km)
FERMI NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY

nu y
Ve cur
s
er
M
Jupiter Saturn
s
ar
M
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Uranus Neptune
Diameter of all other planets combined is 236,000 miles (380,000 km)

In memoriam: Leon Lederman
GODFATHER. Physicist Leon Lederman — discoverer
TIGHT FIT. We often think of the Moon as just a hop, skip, and a jump of the muon neutrino and the bottom quark, as well as
FAST If you use the average Earth- from Earth. This is partly because humans have explored the lunar surface in the man responsible for nicknaming the Higgs boson
FACT Moon distance of about person, and partly because most images of the Earth-Moon system shrink the “God particle” — died October 3, 2018, at age 96.
234,000 miles (376,000 km) the vast distance between them to better show the worlds themselves. But The longtime director of the Fermi National Accelerator
surface to surface, the planets in reality, the Moon routinely swings out to a surface-to-surface distance of Laboratory, Lederman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in
still fit, but they must be about 247,000 miles (398,000 kilometers) during apogee. As it turns out, this 1988. He was not only a giant in his field, but also a
aligned along their polar axes leaves just enough space to squeeze in all of the solar system’s other planets valued ambassador for science who made physics
since planetary equators tend side by side between Earth and the Moon. — Jake Parks accessible to the general public. — J.P.
to bulge.
ASTRONEWS WE’RE BACK! The Hubble and Chandra space telescopes both resumed normal science operations
after experiencing gyro problems, coincidentally just five days apart, in early October.
QUICK TAKES
Extragalactic
stars zip through SHINE ON
New computer simulations
the Milky Way suggest that just before

merging supermassive black
holes collide, they should glow
primarily in ultraviolet and
The Milky Way is apparently a hot
X-ray light.
spot for stars immigrating from
other galaxies. In a study published •
LOOK OUT!
September 20 in Monthly Notices of
Fields of 50-foot-tall ice spikes
the Royal Astronomical Society, astron- (called penitentes) may plague
omers discovered a baker’s dozen of the equatorial region of
hypervelocity stars barreling into the Jupiter’s moon Europa, a study
Milky Way from galaxies beyond. in Nature Geoscience says.
After sifting through a sample of
around 7 million bright stars with full SLOW DOWN, STRANGER. Out of 20 hypervelocity stars found in Gaia data, only •
CHILL OUT
3D velocity measurements from the seven (red) seem to originate from within the Milky Way. The remaining 13 (yellow) For the first time, German
Gaia spacecraft, the team found 20 appear to come from another galaxy altogether. ESA/NASA/HUBBLE/MARCHETTI ET AL. researchers have produced a
stars that appear to be traveling fast bizarre state of ultracold matter,
enough to escape the Milky Way alto- few possibilities. The hypervelocity during ancient interactions with one called a Bose-Einstein
gether. Of these, the team noted stars may have been ejected from a of the Milky Way’s tiny satellite galax- condensate, in space.
seven “hyper-runaway star candi-
dates” from the Milky Way’s galactic
neighboring galaxy, such as the Large
Magellanic Cloud. According to co-
ies. According to the study, this would
imply the Milky Way is more massive •
BEE QUIET
disk, while none of the stars appears author Elena Maria Rossi of Leiden than astronomers currently believe. Citizen scientists and schoolkids
to come from the Milky Way’s core. University, such a stellar expulsion No matter the origins, the authors helped researchers determine
The remaining 13 stars — includ- could have been caused by a variety point out there is still much to learn that bees stopped buzzing
ing the two fastest, which are zip- of events, ranging from an interaction about these speeding stars. throughout totality during the
ping through our galaxy at about with a supermassive black hole to a Fortunately, Gaia plans to release Great American Eclipse in 2017.
1.5 million mph (2.4 million km/h) —
cannot be traced back to the Milky
binary companion going supernova.
But it’s also possible that the extra-
at least two more data sets in the
2020s. They are expected to help
•
BULKY BUNCH
Way at all. galactic stars appear to be from researchers discover hundreds or Astronomers discovered four
But where did these intergalactic another galaxy, but actually are Milky thousands more hypervelocity stars. gas giants around a 2 million-
interlopers come from? There are a Way halo stars that were tossed about So stay tuned. — J.P. year-old star, marking the first
time so many massive planets
have been found in such a
3
young system.
The number of women who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, now that 2018 laureate
Donna Strickland has joined Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1963).
•
PANSPERMIA
A new study estimates that
cometlike objects could be
spreading life from star to star
A radiant, in the Milky way, especially in

binary systems.
•
distant universe GOTCHA!
New observations suggest
magnetic fields act like a
NIGHT LIGHT. Thousands of luminous
galaxies fill our universe everywhere we “cosmic net,” trapping material
look, but astronomers have now discovered to feed the supermassive black
another source of light. The MUSE instrument hole at the heart of Cygnus A.
on the European Southern Observatory’s
Very Large Telescope recently uncovered
•
HOT, HOT, HOT
Lyman-alpha emission, which is light emitted The strange blue asteroid
by hydrogen at a specific wavelength, Phaethon gets so hot during
shining in an otherwise unremarkable trips around the Sun that
region of the sky in the constellation Fornax. metals on its surface melt.
Shown here as bright bouts of (false-color)
blue, the emission comes from clouds
•
COOL HAZE
of atomic hydrogen surrounding early A newly proposed chemical
galaxies. Astronomers believe such clouds mechanism may explain how
are scattered throughout the entire sky, not Saturn’s largest moon, Titan,
just across the region pictured, meaning our produces its ultracold,
entire sky is alight with this glow. Nearby hydrocarbon-rich atmosphere
ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, ESO/LUTZ WISOTZKI ET AL.
Lyman-alpha emission — which occurs at with so little available heat.

122 nanometers (1,220 angstroms) — is
typically absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere.
•
RING RAIN
But because these hydrogen clouds are so Cassini observed water ice and
far away, their emission lines are stretched complex organic molecules
by cosmic expansion to wavelengths long pouring from Saturn’s rings
enough to reach the ground. The discovery onto the planet’s atmosphere
marks the first time that hydrogen emission at 22,000 pounds (10,000
of this type has been seen in the early kilograms) per second. — J.P.
universe. — A.J.
STRANGEUNIVERSE
BY BOB BERMAN
More sand or
stars?
FROM LEFT: FOTOSCHAB/DREAMSTIME; NASA, ESA

Let’s examine some of astronomy’s
most famous clichés.
C
arl Sagan wrote in by the number of galaxies,
his book Cosmos which is somewhere between
that there are more 200 billion and 2 trillion.
stars in the universe That takes care of the
than all the sand observable universe. We can’t Astronomy clichés are common, but are they accurate? Comparing the number of sand
grains on Earth. You still hear tackle the actual universe, the grains on Earth and the number of stars in the visible universe yields a surprising result.
this from time to time; it’s one part farther than the distance
of those astronomy clichés that light has had time to travel “Many a night from yonder “You’re in charge but
never goes away. It’s an awe- across since the Big Bang, ivied casement, ere I went to don’t touch the controls.”
provoking image that captures because we cannot see it and rest, / Did I look on great Orion — astronaut Shannon Lucid,
the vastness of the cosmos in a hence have no idea what’s there. sloping slowly to the West. / recounting what the two
way that mere numbers cannot. So perforce, we’re limited to the Many a night I saw the Russian cosmonauts told her
Except it isn’t true. cosmos within view. Pleiades, rising thro’ the every time they left the Mir
I set out to tackle this more I got a surprise. The num- mellow shade, / Glitter like a space station for a spacewalk
than 20 years ago, during my bers pretty much matched. swarm of fire-flies tangled in a
16th year with Discover maga- There are about the same num- silver braid.” — Alfred, Lord “We had the sky, up there,
zine. I initially tried to research ber of stars in the observable Tennyson, Locksley Hall all speckled with stars, and we
the answer, with no luck. You’d universe as there are sand used to lay on our backs and
think someone would have grains in all of Earth’s beaches. “Of all tools, an observatory look up at them, and discuss
already attempted to confirm Ah, but that’s not how the is the most sublime. . . . What is whether they was made, or
this well-worn cliché, but I had cliché is commonly phrased. so good in a college as an obser- only just happened.” — Mark
to do it myself. Usually, people say “sand grains vatory? The sublime attaches to Twain, Huckleberry Finn
First, I grabbed some beach on Earth.” Which means you’d the door and to the first stair
sand and, using a reversed “But I am constant as the
telescope eyepiece, which northern star.” — William
makes a fabulous magnifying “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
glass, laboriously counted the
number of grains in a cubic
which he never shows to anybody.” “Everyone is a moon, and has
centimeter — a sugar cube’s — Mark Twain a dark side which he never shows
volume of beach. This tells you to anybody.” — Mark Twain
how important my time was
back then. It took over an hour. have to go beyond beaches to you ascend, that this is the road Whoa, this last one brings
But, it turned out, that was the include all the vast deserts and to the stars.” — Ralph Waldo us back to myth-busting.
easy part. undersea sand. Obviously if Emerson, as quoted in A Year Twain, who loved astronomy
Next, I multiplied this num- you include all that, there are with Emerson, a Daybook and probably knew better, was
ber by the total number of cubic incomparably more earthly disseminating the common
centimeters of earthly beaches. sand grains than stars. “It has always irked me as myth that the Moon has a per-
There’s no way to do this with More sand than stars — that improper that there are still so manent dark side. He meant
any precision. Merely learning takes care of that chestnut. many people for whom the sky far side; although, granted,
how many square miles of Maybe now we can tackle other is no more than a mass of ran- that would have made his met-
beaches are on this planet is not famous astronomy quotes. dom points of light. I do not aphor meaningless.
simple to find. I had to extrapo- Roget’s Thesaurus and a Google see why we should recognize a We may have to cut these
late and make educated guesses. search uncovered a bunch of house, a tree, or a flower here literary folks some celestial
The other part of the equa- well-known celestial expres- below and not, for example, slack.
tion was easier. To find the sions and astro-nuggets, but the red Arcturus up there in
number of stars, we simply mul- some are too lovely to find fault the heavens as it hangs from its Join me and Pulse of the Planet’s
tiply the total per galaxy (we’ll with. constellation Boötes, like a bas- Jim Metzner in my new podcast,
Astounding Universe, at
say 100 billion because most Let’s list merely a few of the ket hanging from a balloon.” http://astoundinguniverse.com.
galaxies are smaller than ours) most famous: — M.C. Escher
BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman.
ASTRONEWS BRAIN DRAIN. Long-term exposure to microgravity was shown to alter the brains of astronauts
by both reducing the amount of gray matter and increasing the volume of cerebrospinal fluid.
A joint mission will deliver two orbiters

BepiColombo launches for Mercury to the innermost planet.
SELF-CHECK. Shortly after liftoff, BepiColombo’s Mercury Transfer Module, which houses the orbiters and the engines that will carry them to Mercury, sent back several
selfies so engineers could check the status of the craft. At left is a deployed solar panel for power; the middle and right images show the MPO’s medium- and high-gain
antennas, respectively. ESA/BEPICOLOMBO/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
With the launch of a single Ariane 5 rocket send a probe from Earth to Mercury. His ideas cameras, spectrometers, and particle analyzers.
October 20, two spacecraft are now on their were used by NASA to send Mariner 10 and later Mio holds six science packages, which include
way to Mercury. The joint BepiColombo mission MESSENGER, opening the door to up-close plasma detectors and analyzers, a magnetome-
of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the exploration of our solar system’s smallest planet. ter, an ion spectrometer, and an imager.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Ultimately, BepiColombo’s path to Mercury The orbiters’ instrument suites will dig
carries two orbiters and will reach our solar includes 1.5 initial orbits of the Sun, a return to deeper into the planet’s strange features, which
system’s innermost planet in late 2025, provid- Earth, and two passes by Venus. This path will continue to baffle astronomers. Among the
ing researchers with a wealth of new data on a reduce the need for the spacecraft’s onboard mysteries is Mercury’s high density, which sug-
mysterious world. engine by half, minimizing the amount of fuel gests it is made largely of iron and nickel, unlike
— and extra weight — it must carry. The craft Earth and Venus. Astronomers also aren’t sure
Toward Mercury will then make six separate flybys of Mercury to how to explain Mercury’s weak magnetic field,
Despite its proximity to Earth, Mercury is hard reduce its speed and allow the small, speedy and the planet even has an unexpected, loosely
to reach. BepiColombo will become only the planet to capture it into an orbit that swings bound layer of atoms serving as a thin atmo-
third spacecraft to visit the world, after Mariner as close as 420 miles (675 kilometers) and as sphere. Ice dots craters that lie in permanent
10 and MESSENGER. Because the planet is so far as 110,600 miles (178,000 km) from the shadow at its poles despite the blazing Sun,
close to the Sun, any approaching spacecraft planet’s surface. and its surface shows distinct evidence of past
will pick up speed as it nears our massive star, volcanic flows.
which in turn requires the craft to put on some In-depth study With its successful launch, BepiColombo is
serious brakes — not an easy feat in space. Upon arrival at Mercury, ESA’s Mercury Planetary set to join a slew of spacecraft currently explor-
To accomplish this task, BepiColombo will Orbiter (MPO) and Japan’s Mio orbiter will sepa- ing the solar system, including Hayabusa2,
take a circuitous route. In fact, the mission’s rate and begin taking data until at least mid- InSight, Juno, and New Horizons. For a more in-
name, BepiColombo, is in tribute to the Italian 2027. MPO carries eight instruments, including depth look at what BepiColombo is expected to
scientist, mathematician, and engineer Giuseppe a radiometer, a laser altimeter, a magnetome- find, check out “Voyage to a world of extremes”
“Bepi” Colombo, who determined how best to ter, and an accelerometer, in addition to in our November 2018 issue. — Alison Klesman
INNER PLANET DELIGHT

18
10° 23 13
8 Homeward
26
28 8 Anders’ Earthrise
21 March 3
Altitude
5° July 3 June 3
NASA/IAU
Feb. 16
19 14
24 9
Oct. 4 8
29 8 May 29
0°
Azimuth
West Lunar craters honor Apollo 8
EARTHRISE. On October 5, the International
MERCURY AT DUSK. The closest planet to the Sun rarely appears outside of twilight from mid-northern Astronomical Union approved two new lunar crater
latitudes. This chart plots Mercury’s position 45 minutes after sunset for an observer at 35° north latitude for the names: 8 Homeward and Anders’ Earthrise. The
planet’s three evening appearances of 2019. Despite similar altitudes, Mercury will be easier to see in February craters honor the Apollo 8 mission, which first sent
than in June because it is twice as bright and appears in a darker sky. Notice that the planet’s peak altitude men around the Moon in December 1968, and are
doesn’t necessarily coincide with its greatest solar visible in the famous Earthrise photograph taken on
elongation (dates highlighted in white). — Richard Talcott Mercury’s best evening FAST the mission by astronaut Bill Anders. — A.K.
appearance of the year comes
in late February, when it
FACT
reaches a peak altitude of 8.0°.
ASTRONEWS PHONE HOME. By tracing back the motion of ‘Oumuamua, astronomers have pinpointed four possible stars
that could have ejected the interstellar interloper more than a million years ago.
Cat’s Paw Nebula leaves its infrared print
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
MEOW! This infrared image, captured with the Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer instruments on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, shows the
Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) in stunning detail. Nestled just 4,200 light-years away, this active star-forming region houses distinct bubbles of gas (red), giving it a pawprintlike
appearance. These spherical structures likely formed when infant stars heated up the regions around them, causing the remaining gas to expand and glow. The flowing green
clouds show areas where radiation emitted by sweltering stars slams into large molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, causing the molecules to glow. And the
cat-themed region wouldn’t be complete without its wispy black “whiskers,” which are filaments of dust and gas so dense that light cannot penetrate them, preventing
astronomers from seeing what lies beyond. — A.J.
BINARY SYSTEM PRIMER: PART 2

EXOTIC PAIRS. We continue our
X-RAY: NASA/CXC/NCSU/S. REYNOLDS. OPTICAL: PAN-STARRS

discussion of binary systems, begun in
the January issue (page 18), by examining
massive stars: Greater than about 10 solar
masses, massive stars are the predecessors
of some of the universe’s most exotic
objects — neutron stars and black holes.
When massive stars evolve in binary
systems, conditions can become a little
extreme. — A.K.
COLLIDING WIND BINARIES occur when
massive stars in a binary system generate stellar
winds so strong that they collide in the space BABY PHOTO. In this composite image of Kes 75,
between the two stars. The shock created at the the blue region shows high-energy X-rays from a pulsar
interface where the winds collide can produce wind nebula. Purple shows low-energy X-rays from
radio emission, X-rays, and even gamma rays. the debris of the supernova that formed the pulsar.
CONTACT BINARIES are systems in which

the two stars are so large and so close that they
physically touch, sharing their outer gaseous
The youngest pulsar
envelopes. Many of these systems, as seen from
Earth, are also eclipsing binaries, in which one
in the Milky Way
star passes in front of the other from our point Astronomers successfully confirmed the Milky
of view. (See our previous issue for more details.) Way’s youngest known pulsar in an April 2018
paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
BLACK WIDOW BINARIES are systems in Kes 75 is a rapidly spinning neutron star
which one star has evolved into a neutron star or just 19,000 light-years from Earth, beaming
black hole and is accreting material from its intense radiation from its poles. The pulsar
companion star, which typically is in the later also generates a wind of energetic matter and
stages of its life. As the companion expands with antimatter particles, flowing outward at nearly
age, its outermost atmosphere extends into the the speed of light. Using more than 15 years of
gravitational influence of its compact binary data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory,
companion and is pulled onto an accretion disk.
the team discovered that the wind is creating

These are often also classified as X-ray binaries,
a bubble, called a pulsar wind nebula,
as the accretion disk shines brightly in X-rays.
surrounding the neutron star. The bubble is
expanding at a rate of over 2 million miles
The mergers that produce gravitational FAST (3.2 million kilometers) per hour. Based on this
waves detected by LIGO and VIRGO occurred
in binary systems where both stars had
FACT expansion rate, the researchers traced Kes 75’s
birth back to just 500 years ago. — A.J.
evolved into black holes or neutron stars.
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FORYOURCONSIDERATION
BY JEFF HESTER
Eugene Wigner (right)
Wigner‘s alongside the great

physicist Werner
Heisenberg in 1928.
WIKIMEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS
anachronism
The unavoidable effectiveness of mathematics.
“Math? Why math?” purpose.” It’s difficult to say Without patterns, there brains evolved to do one thing:
So asks many an undergraduate which definition is more vague. would be no galaxies, no stars, They keep us alive. How sur-
upon reading the syllabus of an Granted, Wigner’s definition no planets, no atoms, and no prising is it, then, that the
introductory astronomy course. encompasses algebra, geometry, chemistry. There would be no mathematical patterns to which
Schadenfreude aside, it’s actu- calculus and the five dozen or so foundation upon which to build our brains are most attuned are
ally not a bad question. other distinct pursuits that one the elegant structures of intel- the very patterns and regulari-
In 1959, Nobel Prize-winning might find listed on mathemati- ligent life and conscious ties of nature upon which our
physicist Eugene Wigner took a cians’ resumes. But it also thought. In a universe without survival depends? Of course we
run at the topic. Three centuries encompasses refereeing a foot- mathematical laws, there could have the potential to under-
earlier, Galileo was characteris- ball game as well. be no us! Rather than being stand physical law. How could
tically eloquent when he said, You can’t really blame Wigner “unreasonable,” the effective- it be otherwise?
“Mathematics is the language in for the ambiguity. In 1959, math- ness of mathematics in natural The flaw in Wigner’s think-
which God has written the uni- ematicians themselves weren’t science might better be ing lies in his failure to appre-
verse.” Wigner didn’t disagree. exactly sure how to define their described as a necessary pre- ciate the deep connection
“The mathematical language,” field. That would change. condition for . . . well, for just between the patterns that gov-
said Wigner, “has more to com- Award-winning mathemati- about anything. ern our world and evolved neu-
mend it than being the only cian and AAAS Fellow Keith That still leaves Wigner’s ral networks tuned to those
language which we can speak; it Devlin offers a very different second and frankly more inter- patterns. “Certainly,” writes
shows that it is, in a very real definition, upon which most esting question: Why should the Wigner, “it is hard to believe
sense, the correct language.” mathematicians today would mathematics governing the uni- that our reasoning power was
But Wigner was anything but agree. “Mathematics,” writes verse be discoverable by mere brought, by Darwin’s process
sanguine about that observa- of natural selection, to the per-
tion. In his provocatively enti- fection which it seems to pos-
tled essay, “The Unreasonable Why should the mathematics governing the sess.” Were Wigner correct
Effectiveness of Mathematics in universe be discoverable by mere mortals? — had human intelligence not
the Natural Sciences,” Wigner evolved in response to the con-
argued that the scientific utility straints of physical law — then
of math is downright miracu- Devlin, “is the science of pat- mortals? Ironically, Wigner yes, the effectiveness of math-
lous. “It is not at all natural that terns. What the mathematician answers his own question with- ematics in natural science
‘laws of nature’ exist, much less does is examine abstract ‘pat- out realizing it. might well be an unreasonable
that man is able to discover terns.’ . . . [Those patterns] can “It stands to argue,” says miracle, beyond our compre-
them.” That is quite a statement arise from the world around us, Wigner, “that the concepts of hension. But that’s not the case.
from the guy who was largely from the depths of space and mathematics, which invite the Writing in 1959, Wigner
responsible for introducing time, or from the inner workings exercise of so much wit, have knew little about the evolution-
group theory to physics! of the human mind.” So to say the quality of beauty.” Beauty, ary origins of human intelli-
To understand what Wigner that something is “mathemati- as they say, is in the eye of the gence. If he had, perhaps
was on about, we need to start, cal” is really no more or less beholder. And in this instance, instead of unreasonable he
as did he, with just what we than to say that it characterizes the beholder is the pattern- would have called the effective-
mean by mathematics. In 1964, and is characterized by pattern. recognition circuitry of the ness of mathematics in natural
Supreme Court Justice Potter Given that deeper, more human brain. science a wondrously unavoid-
Stewart commented that he meaningful definition, try to It’s trendy to talk about how able consequence of what it is
really couldn’t define just what imagine a universe without the universe is fine-tuned for to be human.
pornography is, “but I know it mathematical laws. In such a our existence. That statement is,
when I see it.” Wigner defines universe, lacking pattern, how of course, exactly backward. The Jeff Hester is a keynote speaker,
mathematics as “the science of could any structure exist at all? universe is not fine-tuned for us. coach, and astrophysicist.
skillful operations with concepts Matter, energy, space, and time: It is us who are fine-tuned to the Follow his thoughts at
jeff-hester.com.
and rules invented for just this All of these are patterns. universe by evolution. Our
BROWSE THE “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Hester.
ASTRONEWS DUST BUSTER. More often than not, planetary systems seem to outweigh the protoplanetary disks in which they
formed, leaving astronomers re-evaluating planet-formation theories.
Opportunity peeks out
OBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA/SCOTT SHEPPARD, COURTESY OF CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE

after dust storm
UNSEEN FORCES. An artist’s concept of Planet X, which may shape the orbits of smaller, extremely distant
objects like the newly found dwarf planet nicknamed “The Goblin.”
‘The Goblin’ bolsters case for Planet X

Astronomers have found a dwarf planet how the presence of Planet X on various
beyond Pluto, announced October 2 and orbits would affect the look of The Goblin’s
dubbed “The Goblin,” thanks to its discovery orbit. They found that The Goblin’s orbit is
just a few weeks before Halloween. stable over the lifetime of the solar system,
Officially named 2015 TG387, The Goblin suggesting it has been shepherded and
joins two other small Inner Oort Cloud locked in place by gravitational interactions
objects far out in our solar system — Sedna that keep it from running into the proposed
and 2012 VP113 — and its presence adds massive planet.
further credence to the tantalizing theory Based on their data, the team determined I SEE YOU. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
of another much more massive “Planet X” that The Goblin’s orbit is highly elliptical; it snapped this picture of the Opportunity rover (which
hiding beyond Neptune. never comes closer to the Sun than 65 astro- appears at the center of the circle) September 20, after
Over the past few years, Carnegie nomical units. (An AU is the average Earth- the massive dust storm that had engulfed Mars finally
Institution for Science astronomer Scott Sun distance.) When it was discovered, The passed. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UNIV. OF ARIZONA
Sheppard and his team have noticed some- Goblin was 80 AU from the Sun, two and a
thing interesting about the ragtag group of half times the current distance of Pluto. NASA’s Opportunity rover has, at long last,
smaller bodies circling the outer reaches of Sheppard and his team have submitted a reappeared on the martian surface after a
our solar system. They all share certain orbital paper to The Astronomical Journal. With this planet-spanning dust storm on Mars.
similarities, which, according to Sheppard, is a new discovery in hand, they will continue to The storm, which started last June and
clue that something with a much larger gravi- scan the night sky in search of more objects lasted through the summer, shielded
tational pull is shepherding them: Planet X. like The Goblin — smaller prizes that could Opportunity’s solar panels from the Sun, forc-
After discovering The Goblin, Sheppard’s one day help them to land the big one: ing it into hibernation mode. In September,
team ran orbital simulations to determine Planet X. — Chelsea Gohd, A.K. NASA reported that enough light was now
shining through the dust above the rover’s
location to potentially activate Opportunity’s
solar panels and recharge its batteries.
Though the mission’s team is actively listen-
ing for the rover’s attempts at communications,
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. TRUMBO ET AL.
no signal has yet been received, and efforts to

communicate with it are being reassessed.
Opportunity is more than 5,000 days past its
90-day mission warranty. While it has weath-
ered dust storms before, it was much younger
at the time — a spry 3 years old. — A.J., A.K.
November 17 November 25 November 26 November 27
ALMA takes Europa’s temperature

BENEATH THE SURFACE. In 2015, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) snapped
four pictures of Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons, to create the first thermal map of the satellite. The images
were published in a paper September 18 in The Astronomical Journal. ALMA’s ability to detect radio waves at
40
The number of years StarDate,
millimeter wavelengths allowed it to record temperature variations on Europa’s surface in regions as small as
125 miles (200 kilometers) across. By comparing the new data with models based on thermal observations the longest-running nationally
from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, the researchers hope to gain insight into the moon’s interior. Studies suggest
that vast oceans slosh beneath Europa’s frozen surface, and that the moon is also geologically active. This aired science radio program,
underground activity could cause variations in surface temperatures. By tracking these thermal deviations,
astronomers can hypothesize where and what kind of geological activity looms beneath the surface. — A.J.
has been on the airwaves.
SECRETSKY
BY STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
Meanwhile, in Tomball,
Texas, 17-year-old Lauren
Herrington challenged herself
to see Mars with the naked
eye, and after several attempts,
Naked-eye Mars she succeeded September 17.

That day, sunset occurred at
7:25 p.m. Lauren first found
Mars through binoculars
in daylight around 6:50 p.m. So, she lined

Mars up with a tree and started
searching naked-eye. “Talk
You won’t be the first to spot the Red Planet about blue field entoptic phe-
when the Sun’s up. nomenon!” she shared. “The
blue field phenomenon really
got in my way, with shimmery
T
he naked-eye vision and little bright points
appearance of Mars everywhere. So, with my vision
has captivated dense with all that, picking out
humanity since Mars was a real challenge.”
the emergence of Persisting, Lauren suddenly
human thought. That’s why I got the idea to move her head
found the following comment back and forth and see if motion
by E.B. Knobel (in a letter to would pull it out, “like tapping a
the journal The Observatory, scope,” she said. She was suc-
dated February 8, 1910) cessful, as “little Mars became
strange: “I do not think there immediately apparent! It wasn’t
is anything remarkable in the quite the same as how motion
‘Naked-eye Observation of helps in the eyepiece, but it
Mars during Sunlight’ [men- made Mars move differently
tioned] in the current issue.” than the blue field phenomenon
The Red Planet was easy to pick out in a The author spotted Mars a couple of
As proof, Knobel submitted clear blue sky 20 minutes before sunset. minutes before sunrise July 22, 2018,
and stick out like a sore thumb
two drawings showing Mars in within the Belt of Venus and Earth’s among the many other tiny
June 1873 (then 15" in diame- shadow. BOTH IMAGES: STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA points of light in my vision. It
ter) “when the Sun was shining Casual vs. was 7:03 p.m., and though it was
brightly upon me,” adding that dedicated efforts of Evening Shade, Arkansas, faint, I bet I could see it earlier if
“it was bright enough to have My first attempts at seeing was able to follow Mars for I keep trying, now that I know
been easily detected by even Mars in daylight were some- 1 minute 30 seconds after about the trick of swaying back
the most casual observer with what casual. On the morning sunrise. For him, Mars was and forth.”
the unaided eye.” of July 22, just five days from only 3.2° high and also in the Harrington had a string
Then I read the Editors’ opposition, I saw Mars min- dark purple-blue part of the of success in sighting Mars
comment below: “We regret gling with the Belt of Venus Belt of Venus. (magnitude –1.6) with his
that we are unable to repro- in the west, about 10 minutes My first success came naked eyes, also beginning
duce Mr. Knobel’s sketches before sunrise. At the time, September 11 when Mars was September 18, when he saw it
of Mars . . . which show Mars was nearly superlative: 48° above the horizon, 92 per- exactly seven minutes before
prominent surface details 100 percent illuminated, at 171° cent illuminated, at 131° elon- sunset. As with me and Lauren,
quite plainly.” elongation from the Sun, 24" gation from the Sun, 19" in Harrington used the first night
OK, I have to admit that in diameter, 0.39 astronomi- diameter, 0.49 AU from Earth, to line Mars up with a tree
seeing Mars with the unaided cal unit (AU) from Earth, and and shining at magnitude –1.8. after sunset, then marked his
eye in daylight is not excep- shining at magnitude –2.7. What’s more, the skies were location and returned to it the
tionally “remarkable,” espe- Easy, right? Actually, no. not as transparent as they were next night. His record naked-
cially during a perihelic While Mars was apparent in July. Clearly, the greater alti- eye sighting of the Red Planet
opposition, like the one we just five minutes from sunrise (easy tude was a major factor. was 17 minutes before sunset
had last July. But it is fun to try enough for me to take photos After spying Mars, I lined September 19.
and exciting if you succeed. of it), I lost sight of it as sunrise up the planet with some If you’ve had similar success,
On the other hand, it is in approached simply because I branches, then moved a chair share your views with me at
no way as easy as Knobel looked away from it for about to that prime viewing spot. The sjomeara31@gmail.com.
makes it out to be. Nor would 30 seconds! Try as I might, I next afternoon, I sat in the
the planet, by any stretch of just couldn’t pull it out of the chair and found Mars 30 min- Stephen James O’Meara
the imagination, be visible to a sky background after that. utes before sunset through bin- is a globe-trotting observer
casual gaze — especially a But there is good news. On oculars, and 16 minutes before who is always looking for the
next great celestial event.
half-hour prior to sunset. the same day, Scott Harrington sunset with my unaided eyes.
BROWSE THE “SECRET SKY” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/OMeara.
ASTRONEWS SLUGGISH STAR. Astronomers found the slowest spinning pulsar yet, which leisurely rotates just once
every 23.5 seconds — nearly three times slower than the previous record-holder.
NASA/ESA/D. PLAYER (STSCI)

SATELLITE SURPRISE. Researchers think they may
have found the very first exomoon, around a Jupiter-
sized planet named Kepler-1625b. NASA
Hubble hunts
DEADLY DWARFS. Superflares from young red dwarf stars, like the one shown in this artist’s concept,
can strip the atmospheres from fledgling planets, potentially spelling disaster for any life on the surface.
Superflares plague young red dwarfs exomoon

Red dwarf stars, which make up an estimated dubbed the “Hazflare,” released about 1025 A pair of astronomers may have discovered the
75 percent of stars in the Milky Way, tend joules of energy, on par with the most ener- first confirmed exomoon — a moon orbiting a
to be pretty harsh, at least when they’re getic flares from the Sun ever recorded. planet outside of our solar system. By search-
young, unleashing massive flares of powerful “With the Sun, we have a hundred years of ing through recent data from NASA’s now-
radiation. In fall 2017, during the first stage good observations,” said lead author Parke retired Kepler space telescope, Alex Teachey
of a study called the HAbitable Zones and Loyd of Arizona State University in a press and David M. Kipping of Columbia University
M dwarf Activity across Time, or HAZMAT, release. “And in that time, we’ve seen one, spotted evidence that an exomoon might orbit
astronomers caught a handful of infant red maybe two, flares that have an energy the Jupiter-sized exoplanet Kepler-1625b. Their
dwarfs emitting some of the most formidable approaching that of the Hazflare. In a little results were published October 3 in Science
superflares ever observed, often erupting less than a day’s worth of Hubble observa- Advances.
with 100 to 1,000 times more energy than tions of these young stars, we caught the To follow up on their curious find, the
their older counterparts. Their results will be Hazflare, which means that we’re looking at researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope,
published in The Astrophysical Journal. superflares happening every day or even a which is about four times more precise than
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the few times a day.” Kepler, to catch the planet’s next transit in
researchers monitored the surfaces of 12 red Though he admitted such powerful flares front of its host star. A few hours after Hubble
dwarfs between 120 and 165 light-years from could strip the atmospheres from any unfor- observed Kepler-1625b finish its transit, the
Earth. In less than a day’s worth of observing tunate exoplanets nearby, Loyd said, “That telescope saw a second short dimming event.
time, the team detected 18 flares bursting doesn’t necessarily mean doom and gloom The two signals together looked like a moon
from the young stars, which are about 40 mil- for life on the planet. It just might be different was “trailing the planet like a dog following its
lion years old. Of the 18 flares, 10 had ener- life than we imagine. Or there might be other owner on a leash,” Kipping said in a statement.
gies of over 1023 joules, which is roughly the processes that could replenish the atmo- The researchers estimate that if the signal is
amount of energy that strikes the surface of sphere of the planet. It’s certainly a harsh due to an exomoon, the moon would be about
Earth from the Sun over the course of a week. environment, but I would hesitate to say that the size of Neptune. Teachey said that it’s likely
The most powerful flare they observed, it is a sterile environment.” — J.P. this possible large exomoon is “in some ways
the lowest hanging fruit. We should expect to
see something like this before we see the really
small moons.”
Diameter of Ceres
588 miles (946 km)
THE LARGEST ASTEROIDS Despite the evidence, the finding remains
tentative. To confirm whether the exomoon
ROCK ON! Asteroids are 1 Ceres really exists, the team hopes to use Hubble to
called “minor planets” for a 4 Vesta observe Kepler-1625b during its next transit
reason. Even the biggest, 2 Pallas event, which will occur in May 2019. — C.G.
Ceres, has a diameter of only 10 Hygiea
588 miles (946 kilometers), and 704 Interamnia
the sizes drop dramatically 52 Europa
10,764
from there. A scant 13 asteroids 511 Davida
have diameters of 150 miles 87 Sylvia
(241 km) or more. 65 Cybele
— Michael E. Bakich 15 Eunomia
3 Juno
31 Euphrosyne The number of square feet
624 Hektor
(1,000 square meters) occupied by a
FAST Of all asteroids, only 4 Vesta new artificial lunar dust pit that
Width of Texas
FACT ever gets bright enough to be
seen by the naked eye.
researchers in Cologne, Germany,
773 miles (1,244 km) will use to test the latest lunar tech.
Swaddled in dust, the stars
forming inside the Lupus 3
cloud remain largely hidden to
astronomers’ eyes. For reasons
scientists are still trying to figure
out, most developing stars have
masses considerably smaller than
the Sun. ESO/F. COMERÓN
Why does the universe
make so many
TINY STARS?
In star-forming regions, low-mass objects
vastly outnumber their bigger brothers.
Astronomers want to know how this happens.
by Bruce Dorminey
A
drift in a sea of dim red dwarfs, the Sun stands
out like a bright yellow gemstone. Astronomers
estimate these low-mass red dwarfs account
for 70 to 80 percent of our galaxy’s stellar
content. Why? Are we here to ask that
question only because life arose on a
planet circling a star several times
The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is the
the mass of its neighbors? brightest star-forming region in the sky.
It already has churned out thousands of
Stars are a fundamental building fundamental boundary condition that stars, and thousands more are growing
block of the cosmos. Their births, lives, needs to be observationally determined inside dark clouds of cold hydrogen.
NASA/ESA/N. SMITH (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY)/
and deaths profoundly affect the evolu- to enable a complete and predictive the- THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA)
tion of galaxies everywhere and the ory of star formation to be constructed,”
potential for life to develop on any plan- Lada writes in Astrophysics in the Next
ets born in the wake of a star’s formation. Decade: The James Webb Space Telescope M dwarfs. Even more perplexing: By
As such, they ultimately are the key to and Concurrent Facilities. “With knowl- some estimates, the IMF peaks at around
the universe’s long-term future. edge of the IMF and how this function one-tenth of a solar mass. That’s awfully
“[But] the theory of stellar structure varies in space and in time, one can, in close to the minimum mass needed to
and evolution has a critical missing ele- principle, predict the future evolution of ignite hydrogen fusion in the smallest
ment: It is not able to predict the masses all stellar systems, from galactic star clus- red dwarfs, which is about 0.08 solar
of stars that form in our universe,” says ters to massive galaxies.” mass. Below that limit are brown dwarfs
Charles Lada, a senior astrophysicist — failed stars without enough mass to
at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center At the limit fuse hydrogen into helium.
for Astrophysics. Astronomers are arguably most puzzled Stars form from the diffuse, cold
“The distribution of stellar masses by the fact that of the roughly 400 billion interstellar gas that makes up molecular
at their birth, the so-called initial stars in the Milky Way, some 300 billion clouds. These clouds span roughly 100
mass function (or IMF) is the most appear to be red dwarfs, also known as light-years and hold between 10,000 and
1 million solar masses of material. “It is
remarkable,” Lada writes in the same
book, “that the physical process of star
formation . . . through the action of grav-
ity, transforms a small fraction of this
material, reducing its size by more than
eight orders of magnitude and increasing
its density more than twenty orders of
magnitude, into numerous objects with
just the right mass to fuse hydrogen.”
Astronomers are still trying to figure
out exactly how this happens. “Since we
don’t yet have a complete
theory of star formation,
The red, orange, and yellow we don’t yet have an
points of light near the center of accepted theory of how the
the Serpens Cloud Core are some
of our galaxy’s youngest known IMF was put together,”
low- and moderate-mass stars. says Lada.
Unlike most stellar nurseries in the Understanding the IMF
Milky Way, this one seems to lack
massive stars. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/2MASS is important partly because
stars of different masses
play different roles in the
The Monoceros R2 star-forming
region lies embedded within
a much larger, more massive
molecular cloud that has just
started to give birth to new
suns. This infrared view allows
scientists to peer through much And the typical stellar
of the region’s dense dust.
ESO/J. EMERSON/VISTA
mass is just about the
minimum mass at which
nuclear fusion can occur, says
A star is born Mark Krumholz, an astronomer at the
A collapsing molecu- Australian National University in
lar cloud will give birth Canberra. “The similarity between the
to stars with a range of peak of the IMF and the mass scale for
masses defined by the nuclear fusion seems like it can’t be a
IMF. Research into the coincidence, but it’s far from easy to
origin of the IMF began come up with a physical explanation that
some 60 years ago. In links them together,” he says. After all,
1955, Cornell University the interstellar medium from which stars
theoretical physicist Edwin form is a cold, low-density gas. Why
Salpeter put forward the should it know the first thing about
idea that stellar popula- nuclear fusion?
tions must have what he According to Lada, a molecular
termed an initial mass cloud’s collapse into stars can produce
The dusty band seen in this section of the function. Sometimes the IMF in two ways: turbulent fragmen-
Taurus Molecular Cloud partially hides
several newly born stars as well as the known as the Salpeter tation and thermal Jeans fragmentation.
dense gas clouds on the verge of collapsing function, it describes the distribution Supersonic turbulence moving through a
into new suns. This segment of the cloud of masses among a newly formed group giant molecular cloud drives turbulent
spans about 10 light-years. ESO/APEX (MPIFR/ESO/
OSO)/A. HACAR ET AL./DSS2
of stars before any of them are able to fragmentation: The clouds break apart
lose mass or explode as supernovae. into filaments, dense sheets, and molecu-
Molecular clouds are cold — typically lar cores, leaving behind low-density
life of a galaxy, says Chris McKee, an only about 10 kelvins — and their tem- voids. In thermal Jeans fragmentation, a
emeritus professor of physics and astron- perature is similar across a large range cloud fragments when the inward pull of
omy at the University of California, of densities, says astrophysicist Matthew gravity exceeds the outward force exerted
Berkeley. The more massive stars create Bate of the University of Exeter in the by the gas’ thermal pressure. So cold,
heavy elements and energize the inter- United Kingdom. The surprising thing dense clouds are more apt to collapse
stellar medium through their radiation, about the IMF is that wherever we look than warmer, more rarefied ones. The
stellar winds, and supernova explosions. in our galaxy, stars always seem to have latter process is named after the late
Their small siblings, however, are the ones the same distribution of stellar masses, British physicist Sir James Jeans, who
that dominate the total mass in stars. he says. showed that once a gas cloud reaches a
that it also begins the process of revers-
ing the collapse of the remaining core
material, enabling the star to emerge
from its birth cloud.
We know that all low-mass stars form
in dense cores that do not have much
more mass than the stars they produce,
says Steven Stahler, a theoretical astro-
physicist at UC Berkeley. So the real
question, he says, is why does nature cre-
ate dense cores with stellar-type masses?
Pulling the trigger

The bulk of star formation in the
Milky Way occurs in a relatively thin
disk and within 30,000 light-years of
Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black
hole at the galaxy’s center. Astronomers
estimate that 15,000 stellar nurseries
populate our galaxy — and they all start-
ed as cold molecular clouds. In most
cases, large-scale density waves moving
through the spiral arms triggered the
collapse of these clouds. But the shock
wave from a supernova or a stellar
bubble expanding from a high-mass
O- or B-type star also can trigger frag-
mentation into stellar cores.
The edge of molecular cloud
To date, astronomers have detected
RCW 108 appears at the right of only a small variation in the mass distri-
this image. High-energy radiation bution of stars. “This strongly argues
and stellar winds from star cluster
NGC 6193 at left are slowly eroding
for some process of regulation that
the cloud. ESO decides what mass stars should have,”
says Krumholz.
What might that process be? Higher-
born, says Patrick Hennebelle, an astro- mass molecular cores are too massive to
physicist at France’s AIM/CEA Saclay. balance gravity and thermal pressure,
The protostar then accretes the rest of and large turbulent motions and higher
the parent core, he says. The initial internal pressures usually characterize
masses of these dense molecular cores them, says Lada. “When such turbulent
are governed by their own core mass objects collapse, they can fragment and
function (CMF). And many researchers form multiple protostellar cores which
now think that understanding the then evolve to become binary [stars].”
Proxima Centauri is not only the
closest star to the Sun, but it also is a CMF is the key to understanding the He adds that the more massive and
red dwarf, the most abundant stellar IMF’s origins. turbulent the core, the more readily it
type in the universe. Unfortunately, But the story grows more complicated can fragment. That might explain why
the strong flares typical of these
objects would make life a difficult when you consider that the core may massive stars are more likely to be found
proposition. ESA/HUBBLE AND NASA fragment as it collapses, and the proto- in binary systems than low-mass stars.
star may blow off excess material as it But Bate thinks that feedback from
accretes. Does the CMF control the the radiation emitted by low-mass proto-
critical mass, gravity will win out, and IMF’s shape? Observations show that stars is one key to determining the IMF.
the entire cloud — or an individual at the very least, the two seem to have He contends that the radiation heats the
pocket within the cloud — will fragment strong similarities. gas in the surrounding molecular cloud,
and collapse into dense cores. “The dense core collapses until its which inhibits further fragmentation.
Once a dense core with a mass equal central densities and temperatures
to a few times the mass of the final star become starlike and are high enough to A universal IMF?
forms inside the molecular cloud, gravity begin nuclear burning,” says Lada. “That Of course, the best observations of
triggers its collapse, and a protostar is signals the birth of a new star.” He adds the IMF come from relatively nearby
star-forming regions in the Milky Way.
But as far as we know, the IMF in disk
galaxies like ours is universal, says McKee.
One of the big questions confronting
astronomers is whether the IMF remains
constant over both space and time.
“So far, there is no evidence to suggest
that the IMF has significantly varied over
cosmic time,” says Lada. Still, there
might be an exception in the earliest
stages of the universe. Astronomers
believe that the first stars, so-called
Population III stars, were the most mas-
sive and possessed the fewest metals.
(Astronomers refer to all elements
heavier than helium as “metals.”) Once
these early stars started churning out
heavier elements in earnest, however,
subsequent generations of stars incorpo-
rated these metals, and the typical stellar
mass dropped significantly.
The massive star at RCW 120’s center Bate says it is still
has created an expanding bubble unclear whether the IMF
of ionized hydrogen 10 light-years
across. As the bubble slams into
ever varies. He wonders
the interstellar medium, this cold whether the mass function
gas and dust starts to collapse and would be the same even in
initiates new star formation. ESO/APEX/
DSS2/SUPERCOSMOS/DEHARVENG (LAM)/ZAVAGNO (LAM)
the extreme environments
found near the centers of
massive galaxies, where
radiation must be much higher, or early
in the universe, when there was no inter-
stellar dust.
A few observations hint at the possi-
bility of different IMFs. In a 2009 paper
published in the Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, Bate writes
that observations of stars orbiting
Sagittarius A* show the IMF near the
galaxy’s center may be “top heavy,”
biased toward massive stars. The same
goes for stars in the Arches Cluster, the
Milky Way’s densest-known open cluster,
which lies some 25,000 light-years from
Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.
Even so, he notes that the apparently top-
heavy IMF in the Arches Cluster may be
due to its evolution rather than to the
conditions at its birth. The opposite
effect may be happening in the crowded
cores of giant elliptical galaxies, where
indirect observations point to an excess
of low-mass stars.
Although the Small Magellanic The differences in the amount of
Cloud (SMC) has only a fraction of metals throughout the universe and over
the heavy elements our galaxy does, time seem to have a relatively small effect
it produces stars with the same
range of masses as the Milky Way. on the IMF. “You can go to the Small
The N90 star-forming region ranks Magellanic Cloud where there is about a
among the SMC’s finest. NASA/ESA/ fifth of the dust and metals found in the
THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA)
Initial mass function
1,000
Salpeter (1955)
Miller-Scalo (1979)
100
Kroupa (2001)
Chabrier (2003)
Mass function
10
0.1
0.01
0.001
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Mass (solar mass)
As a molecular cloud collapses, it produces
mostly low-mass stars, though the exact
number remains hotly debated. Edwin
Salpeter described this initial mass function
in 1955. Astronomers since have developed
different formulas that keep the number of
small stars from growing too fast. (The mass
function conveys the number of stars that
form at a specific mass.) ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
the telescopes needed to produce high-

angular-resolution maps of the gas and
Because the youthful cluster dust across entire molecular clouds.
Westerlund 1 seems to contain a Ideally, this would require millimeter-
large number of high-mass stars, and submillimeter-wave telescopes
astronomers consider it perhaps
the best cluster in the Milky Way in such clusters. It also will reveal the with apertures of 50 to 100 meters,
for exploring the initial mass IMF in some galaxies with more extreme and spectroscopic cameras capable of
function. ESA/HUBBLE AND NASA conditions than our own. multimillion-pixel resolution.
On the ground, the Large Synoptic “We know how to build the [tele-
Survey Telescope and the European scopes] but are far from realizing the
Milky Way, and [you find] no detectable Extremely Large Telescope, both now technology to produce millimeter and
difference,” says Krumholz. According to under construction in Chile, should pro- submillimeter cameras with spectro-
McKee, you wouldn’t expect to see much vide the light-gathering ability and reso- scopic capability and millions — or even
effect as long as the metal content is lution to advance our knowledge of the hundreds — of pixels,” says Lada. With
greater than about a few ten-thousandths IMF and any possible variations in it. such capability, we might learn how
of the current value. He says the main And the Atacama Large Millimeter/ molecular clouds form and evolve to pro-
difference between the metal-free first submillimeter Array (ALMA) will make duce the core mass function that in turn
stars and those being born today is that observations of dense interstellar regions produces the IMF, he says.
the earliest ones were born in a frame- heretofore obscured by dust. A primary
work dominated by dark matter, while assumption in current theory is that the
current ones form due to their own distribution of masses of gravitationally
self-gravity. bound regions within molecular clouds
determines the IMF, says McKee.
New tech, new answers “ALMA is the ideal instrument to test
New and improved computer modeling this, particu-
will help theorists refine their calcula- larly for high-
The Arches Cluster lies only about
tions of the IMF, researchers say. But mass stars,” 100 light-years from our galaxy’s
observational improvements could prove he says. center and is the Milky Way’s densest
even more important. The European However, known open star cluster. The Arches
appears to have a higher percentage
Space Agency’s Gaia satellite is allowing Lada points out of massive stars than most other
astronomers to hone their mass estimates that we don’t young clusters and star-forming
for stars in distant clusters. And NASA’s yet have the regions. NASA/ESA
James Webb Space Telescope will allow technology to
astronomers to directly observe the IMF build some of
The R136 star cluster lies at the
heart of the Tarantula Nebula in
the Large Magellanic Cloud. It
boasts some of the Local Group’s
highest-mass stars, but also a
huge number of smaller ones brown dwarfs or gas giants — or short- Sun, particularly early in their lives.
too dim to see across 160,000 lived, massive O-, B-, or A-type stars — Potentially life-hindering coronal mass
light-years of space. NASA/ESA/
P. CROWTHER (UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD)
then the road toward life would have ejections and strong stellar flares likely
been much tougher. would occur within striking distance of
Still, yellow dwarfs are not the IMF’s any extrasolar planet that might be hab-
An intriguing mystery preferred outcome, either. The small itable. So, it’s probably a stretch to say the
Ultimately, when it comes to understand- M dwarfs that the IMF favors have life IMF is fine-tuned for life as we know it.
ing why nature produces such an abun- spans of 50 billion to 100 billion years, Yet unraveling the IMF’s complexities
dance of low-mass stars, astronomers are enough time for life to arise and re-arise remains crucial to researchers in almost
left with more questions than answers. numerous times on any Earth-like planet every field of astronomy and astrophys-
Why doesn’t the IMF lend itself to mas- that might circle such a star. In contrast, ics. With the advent of new telescopes
sive O-type stars, brown dwarfs, or even our Sun already has made it halfway and technologies in the coming years,
gas giant planets? through its life as a stable star, and its perhaps the IMF won’t be such a mystery
Of course, as inhabitants of a solar endgame as a dying red giant promises to astronomers of future generations.
system dominated by what appears to be to be quite messy.
a rather ordinary G-type yellow dwarf Tiny red dwarfs are probably not the Science journalist Bruce Dorminey is author
star, the observed IMF may be precisely best stars to host planets on which life of Distant Wanderers: The Search for
why we are here to ask such questions. might evolve, however. After all, they Planets Beyond the Solar System (Springer,
If the IMF were honed to produce only tend to be much more active than the 2001). Follow him on twitter: @bdorminey.
How to build
Researchers are
conducting experiments
using oil droplets as a
simple analogue for cell
membranes on other
planets, providing
containers for the
chemistry of life.
DERIVATIVE OF “OIL ABSTRACT,
ALTERNATE” BY TIM SACKTON
To find life on Earth, follow the water.
But what about on other planets?
by Kiona N. Smith
EARTH IS TEEMING WITH LIFE proteins depends on water’s polar

— and water makes it all possible. hydrogen bonds.
But elsewhere in the cosmos, life Most hydrocarbons (compounds
might be built from different chemi- made of hydrogen and carbon, such
cals that dissolve and assemble in as methane and ethane) are nonpo-
some other liquid: perhaps methane, lar — there’s no charge at either end
kerosene, or even chloroform. For of the molecule. So it’s impossible to
now, it’s not feasible for humans form the same kinds of bonds in
to set foot on those worlds and see these chemicals as in water. That’s
what’s there, but researchers are why if you want to create life in
exploring some possibilities in labs Titan’s methane lakes, you’re going
here on Earth. to have use a different set of build-
The idea of a strange parallel form ing blocks altogether.
of life, whose cells do the same basic Chemists and biologists from
things as ours using a completely across the United States — led by
different chemistry, isn’t new to sci- organic chemist Paul Bracher at
ence. Isaac Asimov first broached the Saint Louis University and funded
subject in his 1962 essay “Not as We by a three-year grant from the
Know It: The Chemistry of Life.” National Science Foundation —
And in 2004, the same year the have formed a team to explore what
Cassini spacecraft entered Saturn’s the building blocks of truly
orbit, biochemist Steven Benner pro- alien life might be made
posed in a paper in Current Opinion of. Using computer
in Biological Chemistry that on a simulations and
world like Saturn’s moon Titan, life hands-on lab work, Water
might use liquid hydrocarbons as a they’re exploring
solvent (a liquid that can dissolve how molecules
other substances), the way water is bond in liquid
Hydrogen Hydrogen
used on Earth. hydrocarbons such
With new exoplanets joining the as hexane, ethers,
roster of known worlds every day, and chloroform. Oxygen
it’s likely that some of them have Their work falls right
oceans (or at least warm puddles) of on the border between
hexane, ethers, chloroform, or other sciences, where chemis-
exotic liquids that might serve as the try becomes biology.
basis for life as we don’t yet know it. “It’s like trying to build a car
in your backyard out of lawn mower
parts, versus having the Maserati
In such alien oceans, the chemistry factory build a supercar. Life as we
of life on Earth just wouldn’t work. know it is the supercar, and we are
Water is a polar molecule; its oxy- trying to hack together something
gen end has a slight negative charge, that looks like it, out of a different
while its hydrogen end has a slight set of parts, to see what we can learn
positive charge. Those charges about putting it together,” says Chris
affect the kinds of chemical bonds Butch of the Earth Life Science
that can happen in water. The struc- Institute. Butch, a computational
ture of molecules like DNA and chemist, will use digital simulations
W W W.A S T R O N O M Y.CO M 29
Hydrothermal vents form
when seawater enters
fissures in the ocean
floor, is heated by the
hot magma beneath, and
boils back up through
the cracks. The vents are
often teeming with life,
including microorganisms
that convert minerals and
other chemicals into energy.
Such vents could provide
a hospitable environment
for life elsewhere in the
universe as well. PACIFIC RING OF
FIRE 2004 EXPEDITION; NOAA OFFICE OF OCEAN
EXPLORATION; DR. BOB EMBLEY, NOAA PMEL,
CHIEF SCIENTIST
Methane
Hydrogen Hydrogen
to help under- Carbon simpler versions of consistently mixed into the water phase
stand the details Hydrogen the complex poly- in a droplet form,” says Connecticut State
Hydrogen
of the chemistry mers that come University biochemist Sarah Maurer,
his colleagues will together to carry out whose area of interest is cell membranes
observe in the lab. the chemical processes of and containers.
So which parts do you life. Their experiments include If you want life, you’ve got to contain
need to scavenge from your met- coaxing the building blocks of life as all the chemistry that happens in a cell,
aphorical lawn mower to build some- we know it into oil “membranes,” modi- separating it from the outside environ-
thing that looks like a Maserati? The two fying the structure of DNA and RNA, ment. In the cells of every living thing on
most important components you need to and creating their own genetic molecules Earth, oily membranes provide that con-
build a cell are a molecule that can carry from scratch. tainer. Membranes play an important
information, like DNA or RNA, and role in powering the cell’s functions;
some combination of molecules that can they’re involved in the chemical reactions
form a membrane. The team’s goal is to Picture an alien sea, where droplets of that allow plant and animal cells to pro-
see what other molecules might interact hydrocarbons float suspended in water. duce energy. And those chemical reac-
in ways that mimic the basic processes of “As long as there are waves crashing on tions depend on the basic fact that the
life, but using different machinery. To a shore, or some kind of weather, then membrane is an oily structure interact-
accomplish this, they’re using shorter, if oil floats to the top, it’s going to be ing with a watery cell inside of it.
Hexane
Hydrogen
Carbon
Hydrogen Hydrogen
But the team won’t be using methane cells to drive energy generation,” says
or ethane, the liquid hydrocarbons that Maurer, “and so it makes sense that you
fill Titan’s lakes, for its experiments. could, in some way, make an oil droplet
Those substances are liquids only when have functionality that’s similar to an
exposed to incredibly cold temperatures aqueous cell by using the surface of the
like those found on Titan’s surface, not oil droplet to drive reactions.”
those usually found in chemistry labs on This team isn’t the first to think about
Earth. Instead, the researchers are stick- the idea of alien cell membranes. In a
ing with hydrocarbons like hexane, 2015 Science Advances paper, planetary
which is a good analogue for methane scientist Jonathan Lunine of Cornell
but stays in liquid form at room tempera- University, working with two chemical
ture, as well as chloroform and others. engineers (none of the three is involved
The boundaries of these droplets — in Bracher’s project), used digital model-
where oil meets water — serve as a sim- ing to determine that vinyl cyanide — a
ple analogue for the early development of compound made of nitrogen, carbon,
cell membranes. and hydrogen, also called acrylonitrile
Maurer’s experiments won’t produce — could theoretically form rudimentary
anything you could reasonably call a cell barriers in methane.
membrane, but they just might shed some “To call it a membrane would be to
light on the basic chemistry that can give it too much credit, but it’s at least
occur at the boundary of oil and water. something [that] kind of encloses and
“We kind of need this oil phase in our could create a kind of container,” Lunine
says. In 2016, he and chemist Martin
Rahm (then at Cornell, and currently at
Chalmers University of Technology) digi-
tally modeled compounds of hydrogen
cyanide, showing they could bind
Water is a polar molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one
oxygen atom. The oxygen atom in one water molecule tends to be together to form sheets and rolls in a
attracted to a hydrogen atom in a neighboring water molecule, and vice simulated hydrocarbon sea. And then in
versa, giving water its unique properties. These properties are essential 2017, another paper published in Science
for the chemistry of life on Earth. Advances announced the discovery of
For the chemical processes of life to happen, molecules must be able to evidence for vinyl cyanide on Titan,
connect, separate, and reconnect in specific ways. Think about DNA marking a step forward in the search for
replication, for instance. The base pairs that make up the genetic code molecules capable of supporting life on
bond when their negatively charged hydrogen atoms are attracted to the distant moon.
positively charged atoms in another nucleotide. Those bonds hold the Back on Earth, Maurer’s experiment is
two strands of the double helix together, but because the hydrogen in simple. She and her colleagues want to see
water molecules also bonds this way, it’s relatively easy for enzymes to
if they can get compounds to cross that
“unzip” the double helix for replication, then bind the two new strands
together again. oil-water boundary at all. They’ll start
However, the molecules of life won’t work in hydrocarbons the way with the familiar genetic molecules DNA
they do in water. That’s because most hydrocarbons don’t tend to form and RNA, but these will need some help
hydrogen bonds. But it’s possible that other molecules floating around in crossing over. The backbone of nucleic
a lake of methane could bond and react in ways that let them carry out acids like DNA and RNA is a chain of
the basic chemical functions of life. — K.N.S. smaller molecules called phosphates,
which have a slight negative charge. But
who is especially interested in how poly-
mers behave in liquid chloroform.
The team also wants to swap out the
In 2016, the National Science Foundation Ideas Lab program brought nucleic acids’ phosphorus for silicon,
researchers in disparate fields together to brainstorm new ways to creating a molecule that dissolves more
approach questions about astrobiology and the origins of life. One of easily in hydrocarbons. They also plan
the ideas that emerged, like life from a prebiotic soup, was a series of
to test an alternative genetic molecule
experiments to test how the chemistry of life might happen on worlds
so alien that they had to use hydrocarbons in place of water. Here are using so-called “non-canonical nucleo-
some of the key players conducting these experiments in search of life tides,” substituting other chemicals for
elsewhere in the universe: the familiar adenine, thymine, guanine,
and cytosine.
1 PAUL BRACHER: boundaries between oil And then there are the really exotic
An organic chemist at and water to simulate ideas. Bracher’s group at Saint Louis
Saint Louis University cell membranes.
University is working on a completely
who is developing DNA
analogues using 4 CHRIS BUTCH: 1 synthetic molecule that will work like
hydrocarbons in non- A computational chem- DNA but be made of completely differ-
water solvents. ist at the Earth Life ent molecules that form a different type
Science Institute using 2 of chemical bond. Instead of the hydro-
2 LOREN WILLIAMS: digital simulations to gen bonds that link DNA base pairs,
A molecular biologist at interpret the team’s Bracher’s version would use base pairs
Georgia Tech University experimental results. that share molecules called thioesters.
interested in how poly- 3 There’s reason to think it could work.
mers like nucleic acids 5 MICHAEL TRAVISANO:
In 2015, Benner, who founded the
CHRIS BUTCH PHOTO BY NERISSA ESCANLAR

behave in chloroform. An evolutionary biolo-
gist at the University Foundation for Applied Molecular
3 SARAH MAURER: of Minnesota who is Evolution in 2001 and is not involved in
A biochemist at simulating chemical 4 Bracher’s project, tested a version of
Connecticut State natural selection with DNA with an ether backbone in a sol-
University studying how an array of molecules vent of kerosene. He found that this
polymers behave at the and solvents. — K.N.S. 5 combination wouldn’t work to form life
on a place nearly as cold as Titan, but on
some so-called “warm Titan” exoplanets,
Hydrogen and life Deoxyribonucleic it might be a good option.
40 acid (DNA) “Given how many exoplanets we’re
finding around distant stars, chances are
35 there are going to be other worlds like
Titan Titan that could have something inter-
30 esting going on,” says Bracher.
Height (kilometers)
25
negatively charged molecules are less
20 likely to interact with oil than with water, From there, one of the next steps is to
so our familiar genetic molecules may not see how the building blocks of alien life
GRAPH: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY, AFTER MCKAY 2016. DNA: BINU OMANAKKUTTAN/DREAMSTIME
15 move into the oil droplets very readily. might evolve. Chemistry is subject to
However, other molecules might pair natural selection: Systems and structures
10 with the nucleic acids and help sneak that are better at replicating themselves
them across the boundary. Biochemical tend to outcompete others. That process
5
companies have developed molecules may be how molecular systems evolve
0
called transection agents, which help toward greater complexity, eventually
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 move nucleic acids through membranes, producing the specialized systems of
Hydrogen (H2) concentration (percent)
and one of the team’s goals is to look for molecules and reactions that form cells.
Measuring hydrogen concentrations could combinations of DNA and transection Michael Travisano, an evolutionary
indicate whether there is life on Titan. This
figure shows the expected concentration of agents that can migrate into the hydro- biologist with a background in astrophys-
hydrogen (H2) in Titan’s lower atmosphere as carbon droplets and remain stable. ics, plans to simulate that process on the
a function of height without a biological sink “That’s basically saying, ‘Can we team’s array of molecules. In this case,
at the surface — life-forms metabolizing the
molecule — as a solid vertical line. If life at the tease our biology into functioning at selection will be based on whether or not
surface is consuming hydrogen, the resulting some level in these strange environ- a molecule, or set of molecules, can move
amount of H2 in the atmosphere at differing
elevations is shown by a curved dashed line.
ments?’ ” says Georgia Tech University back and forth across the barrier between
molecular biologist Loren Williams, oil and water. The results will tell the
Sunlight
ic
nerget s
E ticle
par
Disso
cia
tio
Nitrogen
n
n
atio Low mass
iz Intermediate mass
on Methane C2H2
CN-/C2H-
I
C2H4
Low mass C3N-/C4H-
C2H6
C2H5+ C5N-/C6H-
HCN
HCNH+
CH5+
C4N5+ ics
omp lex organ
C
COMPLEX
CHEMISTRY Benzene
ON TITAN
Titan’s thick haze at lower
altitudes is the result of
chemical reactions between me
incoming sunlight and iou s growth regi
r
energetic particles from Myste
Saturn and molecules such as
s
nitrogen and methane in the
orga nic particle
moon’s upper atmosphere. Large
These reactions — which
incorporate elements such
as carbon, hydrogen, and
ic haze
nitrogen — create lighter Organ
carbon chain molecules (middle
box) that eventually form larger
organic molecules that scientists
believe sink to the moon’s Titan
surface. However, not all of
these reactions are known or
understood yet, and the signs
of life may be buried
within data yet to be
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY, AFTER ESA
analyzed from the

Cassini mission.
— Alison Klesman
team which types of molecular structures
or bonds are best suited to the simulated
environment. “That’s sort of the stuff of
natural selection,” says Travisano.
Maurer is interested in whether the
molecules will be able to support basic
chemical reactions inside the hydrocar-
bon droplets. The base pairs in DNA, for
example, “recognize” each other by find-
ing which base “fits” well enough to form
a bond with another — adenine to thy-
mine and cytosine to guanine. If alterna-
tive versions of those molecules can
recognize each other and form bonds in
other solvents, that’s an encouraging sign
that basic biochemistry could be possible
in alien seas.
Of course, such a system is not even
close to a working cell, and it would still
be missing some important building
blocks for life. In cells on Earth, proteins
called enzymes help reactions happen fast
enough to be useful. The team doesn’t
have alternative enzymes to go with its
membranes and genetic material, though.
“We have backbones we’re making,
and we’re going to have base pairs, but
the problem is we don’t have an enzyme
that will replicate it because the back-
bone chemistry is not the same,” says
Williams. “We really have to start at a
more basic chemical level and try to work
forward as far as we can.”
“A lot of this is going to be exploratory

science,” says Butch. “I think it’s a really
cool idea for just pushing the boundaries
of what our assumptions about the tran-
sition from chemistry to biology actually
looks like.” In other words, no synthetic
alien organism is going to crawl out of take shape in an ocean made of some-
the test tube. thing other than water. If the answer is
“I don’t think that we’re going to dis- yes, then that means our current search
cover the origin of life in the next three for life has a huge blind spot.
years or that we’re going to figure out “Our problem with looking for life is
exactly how life could develop [on other that we are looking for our life, largely.
worlds] in nonpolar solvents in the next ‘Follow the water’ might find some life,
three years,” says Bracher. “What this but it might not find other kinds of life,”
project is really about is starting to figure says Williams. By demonstrating that at
out how the rules of the game might least basic biochemistry can arise in other
change from life as we know it in water liquids, the team may help open new hab-
to some new form of life that works in oil itable zones, or at least keep some inter-
and nonpolar solvents, whether here on esting places from being ruled out.
While Titan is a major focus of the search Earth or on distant planets.” The results could provide useful ideas
for life in the solar system, there are other
icy worlds where life might thrive: Europa, What that will tell us, Bracher and his about not only where, but how to look for
Iapetus, Enceladus, and Triton are among colleagues hope, is whether the precur- life as we don’t know it. For instance,
the candidates that could host life. NASA/JPL/ sors of biochemistry might be able to Earth’s atmosphere is rich in oxygen
DLR, NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, NASA/A. TAYFUN ONER
Ice made of hydrocarbons,
rather than water, floats
on the surface of a lake
on Titan in this artist’s
concept. Using Cassini data,
scientists have confirmed
the presence of ethane in
lakes on the cloudy moon,
which contains the only
known surface liquid in the
solar system, aside from
Earth. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/USGS
Chloroform
Hydrogen
Chlorine
Carbon
Chlorine
Chlorine
because plants and observed both the lack Ultimately, tinkering with alien bio-
cyanobacteria release of an ethane layer around chemistry is a step into the unknown,
it as a product of photo- the moon and a lack of acet- and although the team has some ideas
synthesis. If Bracher and his ylene on its surface, though both about what to expect, they’re also pre-
team can identify potential molecular were expected. The depletion of these pared for surprises along the way.
building blocks for alien cells, they might substances could be due to a “biological “My expectation is that a lot of things
also be able to predict which chemicals sink” — life consuming them and lead- that we think are challenges to life will
those cells might breathe out into the ing to their absence. turn out to not be, and things we don’t
atmosphere of their home world. This kind of research can guide how realize are difficulties will all of a sud-
In 2005, astrobiologist Chris McKay we comb through the reams of data den [turn out to] be incredibly hard,”
worked out how organisms on Titan already in hand from missions like says Travisano. “It will be interesting
might metabolize acetylene or ethane, Cassini, says Lunine. “No one’s really what doesn’t work and what does.
and realized that they’d leave a notice- looked through the data very carefully Expect surprises.”
able signature in Titan’s atmosphere — for them, so one can go back now, seeing
which, it turns out, may actually be that they have these interesting proper- Kiona N. Smith is a science and technology
present, though the evidence isn’t yet ties, and really try to dig through the journalist, science history blogger, and science
clear. The Cassini and Huygens probes data to see if it’s actually there,” he says. correspondent for Ars Technica.
SKYTHIS Visible to the naked eye
MONTH MARTIN RATCLIFFE and ALISTER LING describe the

solar system’s changing landscape as it appears in Earth’s sky.
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
February 2019: Mercury’s superb show

the twilight. The outermost into Aries on the evening of
planet remains a tempting tar- the 12th. Although the Red
get in early February, however. Planet fades from magnitude
It then lies nearly 15° high in 0.9 to 1.2 during the month, it
the west-southwest as twilight easily bests the stars in these
fades to darkness. Neptune two constellations. Its closest
glows at magnitude 8.0, so rival, magnitude 2.0 Hamal
you’ll need binoculars or a (Alpha [α] Arietis), stands 10°
telescope to spot it. due north of the ruddy world
First find the 4th-magnitude on the 20th.
stars Phi (ϕ) and Lambda (λ) Despite its prominence,
Aquarii. Then look for a trio Mars proves disappointing
of 5th- and 6th-magnitude through a telescope. It shows
suns — 81, 82, and 83 Aqr — a featureless disk that spans 6"
midway between this pair. On in early February and just 5"
February 1, Neptune lies at month’s end.
0.8° due north of 83 Aqr, the Uranus also crosses from
brightest and southernmost Pisces to Aries in February
of the three. A week later, the (on the evening of the 5th).
planet appears 0.9° north and The distant planet moves
a bit east of this star. more slowly than Mars, how-
Mercury’s surface details stand out in this view from NASA’s MESSENGER
That’s about as long as you’ll ever, and the Red Planet
spacecraft. A view through earthly telescopes reveals only the planet’s be able to follow Neptune. It sweeps by around midmonth.
size and phase. NASA/JHUAPL/CIW disappears in twilight during On the 1st, Uranus lies 7° east-
February’s second week, sadly northeast of Mars. With the
T
he evening sky boasts innermost planet shines at just before it meets Mercury. ice giant world shining at
the majority of planets magnitude –1.1 and stands 5° The two planets pass like ships magnitude 5.8, observers with
this month. Mercury high in the west-southwest a in the night, coming within 1° sharp eyes might spot Uranus
leads the way as it half-hour after sunset. of each other on the 18th. with their naked eyes from a
makes its best eve- Mercury climbs higher Mars remains a notable dark-sky site. Binoculars easily
ning appearance of 2019 for with each passing day, at least evening presence all month. It show the fainter planet’s glow.
Northern Hemisphere observ- until the 26th when it reaches begins February among the The gap between the two
ers. Although the inner world greatest elongation. It then background stars of Pisces, but narrows by more than 0.5°
outshines its solar system lies 18° east of the Sun and its eastward motion carries it per day. On the 10th, just 1.5°
siblings, particularly nearby stands 11° above the western
Neptune, Mars appears almost horizon 30 minutes after sun-
as prominent. Be sure to catch down. The planet shines at Spy the innermost planet
the Red Planet when it slides magnitude –0.5 and appears
past Uranus in mid-February. conspicuous in the twilight. PEGASUS
The other three planets In sync with Mercury’s
occupy the morning sky. With improving visibility, the views
C ET US
the late sunrises at this time of through a telescope grow bet-
year, it shouldn’t be too hard to ter as February progresses. On
get up before dawn and enjoy the 15th, the disk spans 5.6"
Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The and appears nearly full. The Mercury
waning crescent Moon adds a planet’s diameter swells to 7.2" 10°
lovely touch when it joins these at greatest elongation, when
worlds February 27 and 28. the Sun illuminates half of its
We’ll begin our tour in eve- Earth-facing hemisphere. February 26, 30 minutes after sunset
Looking west
ning twilight in mid-February. Unfortunately, by the time
That’s when Mercury bursts Mercury becomes prominent, Mercury puts on its best evening show of the year in late February, when
on the scene. On the 15th, the Neptune has disappeared in the tiny planet appears highest at dusk. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
RISINGMOON
X marks the spot The Lunar X
On the evening of February 11, northwest. In the image at right,

observers across North America the X is just beginning to show.
are placed perfectly to watch a If you take webcam clips every Lunar X
few points of light on the Moon 5 to 10 minutes, you can create
evolve into a prominent letter X. a time-lapse movie of the X
Although it’s just a chance align- emerging, peaking, and disap-
ment of light and shadow as the pearing all in one evening.
Sun rises over some crater walls, Of course, the waxing cres-
it’s fun to see because it tickles cent Moon features dozens of
our pattern-recognition fancy. spectacular craters. Simply scan
If you live on the East Coast, along the terminator — the Werner
you’ll want to start viewing soon dividing line between light and
after sunset. Focus on a spot dark — and enjoy the view.
Aliacensis
almost halfway between the
equator and the south pole. This subtle play of light and N
shadow on the waxing crescent
Use the twin craters Aliacensis
Moon materializes the evening
and Werner as guides to the of February 11. CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/ E
Lunar X, which lies just to their UA/LPL; INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
separate the two. That same

evening, a crescent Moon
passes 6° southeast (to the left)
METEORWATCH
of Mars. The two planets
appear closest February 12, Sunshine lights up The zodiacal light
when Uranus stands 1.0°
south-southeast of Mars. The
interplanetary dust
following evening, Uranus lies To observe meteors at their best,
1.1° due south of Mars. you need a dark sky. Fainter mete-
Binoculars or a telescope at ors disappear under the glow from
low power nicely shows off the the Moon or from artificial lighting.
planets’ colors. While Mars Although February doesn’t feature
displays its characteristic any major meteor shower, you can
orange-red hue, Uranus pres- still see about a half-dozen so-
ents a distinct blue-green called sporadic meteors per hour.
color. Higher powers reveal These random streaks of light rep-
Uranus’ 3.5"-diameter disk. resent the fiery demise in Earth’s
Mars and Uranus set well atmosphere of dusty debris from
before midnight local time, long-dead comets. This detritus
and the sky remains planet- fills the inner solar system, particu-
free until Jupiter breaks the larly along the plane of the ecliptic
drought. The giant planet rises where the major planets orbit.
in the southeast around 4 a.m. Another signature of these
The cone-shaped glow of the zodiacal light rises from the western
February 1 and some 90 min- dust grains appears on February horizon after darkness falls late this month. ROB RATKOWSKI
evenings. Sunlight reflecting off
utes earlier on the 28th.
the particles creates a distinct because the ecliptic then makes February 21 to March 7 this year.
Jupiter resides in the
glow visible to the naked eye in a steep angle to the western Look for the ethereal glow just
southern part of Ophiuchus.
the west after darkness falls. This horizon after sunset. after the last vestiges of twilight
This sprawling constellation’s To see the zodiacal light, have faded away. Mars makes a
“zodiacal light” forms a cone-
brightest star, 2nd-magnitude shaped radiance similar in bright- view from a dark site on an good reference to the light’s
Rasalhague (Alpha Ophiuchi) ness to the Milky Way. It shows evening when the Moon is out direction because it also lies on
lies 35° north of the giant up best on late-winter evenings of the early evening sky — from the ecliptic.
world. Still, it offers little
competition: Magnitude –2.0
Jupiter shines 40 times OBSERVING Mercury peaks February 26, when it lies 11° high a half-hour after
— Continued on page 42 HIGHLIGHT sunset. A telescope shows its 7"-diameter disk and half-lit phase.
N
STAR
DOME η ζ
δ η
α
How to use this map: This map portrays the
ι DR
AC
O
sky as seen near 35° north latitude. Located
inside the border are the cardinal directions β US E
and their intermediate points. To find γ EPH C
stars, hold the map overhead and ι
orient it so one of the labels matches
the direction you’re facing. The NE η α
β
MINO
R
stars above the map’s horizon ζ URSA γ
now match what’s in the sky. α NCP
M5
M
Polaris
iza
A
1
EI
BE MA ε P
r
The all-sky map shows CO
IO
SS
RE
δ
how the sky looks at:
NI
LIS A
C
10 P.M. February 1 M8 RD ε
α
ES
γ
1 OP
α
V
9 P.M. February 15 EL
C
E
β
AM
NA S
A
8 P.M. February 28
M82 C
M S
NE
4
UR
AJ A
T
88 GC
β
IC
Planets are shown
OR
α N
NGP
I
at midmonth
M64
ο γ
β
α
θ
λ
LEO
ν
δ
ι LY a
μ
N ell
β
X p
Ca α
MIN
ζ ε
OR
η
β
δ
AU R I G A
β
M36
Castor
Denebola
M38
E
M3 θ
M66
Pollux β
ι
7
VIRGO
CANCE
γ
ε
LEO
M65
β
ε 5
M3
M44
η
β
M1
κ
R
ε
δ
Regu
α
μη ζ
ran α
ζ
GE λ γ
lus
M ON
ba
IN I
I ξ OR
de
λ
3
β Pro π
Al
ζ
γ
ε
cyo β
α
n e α
SE
STAR C Aα eu
s
XT
M NIS lg
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MAGNITUDES te
Be ε δ
YD
IN
AN
OR
CR
ζ η
RA
β
S
Sirius
AT
δ
ER
0.0 2
α
MONOC M4
3.0 EROS
ν
1.0 α κ el β
4.0 M47 Rig
2.0 5.0
Sirius μ
α S
CANIS α β PU
LE
MAJOR
STAR COLORS M41
ρ ξ ο2 β ε
A star’s color depends γ
on its surface temperature. δ
σ ε
• The hottest stars shine blue SE A
N
PY
ζ
_
T XI η Adhara
• Slightly cooler stars appear white LI
A
S
α
PUP
PIS α
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
π
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange
C OLUM BA
β
• The coolest stars glow red s
ζ
NGC 247
7
EL
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
VE
LA ν
CA
σ
use optical aid to gather more light
γ
38 AS T R O NO M Y • FE B R UARY 2019 S
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary
in size due to the distance from Earth
FEBRUARY 2019 and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
MAP SYMBOLS
μ
ζ β
Open cluster
TA 1 2
ER
α Globular cluster
δ C
LA
Diffuse nebula
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Planetary nebula
NW
Galaxy
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

β 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
α
A
γ
ED
η 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
M
C
RO
α
31
δ
M
US
N
9
86 GC
A
N 24 25 26 27 28
GA
δ
PE
β
S
U
Calendar of events
SE
γ
R
PE
M33
M
ULU
β
2 The Moon passes 0.6° north of 13 Mars passes 1.1° north of

Saturn, 2 A.M. EST Uranus, 3 P.M. EST
α
ρ β
ol
G
Alg
AN
The Moon passes 0.6° north of SPECIAL OBSERVING DATE

TRI
PISCES
ε
Pluto, 3 P.M. EST

β
18 Venus passes 1.1° north

η
of Saturn this morning.

ARIES
γ
Pleiades
Mars
4 New Moon occurs at

4:04 P.M. EST
ζ
19 The Moon is at perigee

ptic)
W (221,681 miles from Earth),
η
un (ec li
5 The Moon is at apogee
Uranus
th e S 4:03 A.M. EST

Path of (252,622 miles from Earth),
4:29 A.M. EST Full Moon occurs at
10:54 A.M. EST
α
Asteroid Herculina is at
opposition, 10 P.M. EST
des
26 Last Quarter Moon

S
λ
γ
RU
occurs at 6:28 A.M. EST

Hya
6 The Moon passes 1.1° north of

α
TA U
asteroid Vesta, 3 A.M. EST Mercury is at greatest eastern

a
Mir
elongation (18°), 8 P.M. EST

S
7 The Moon passes 3° south of

TU
Neptune, 1 A.M. EST 27 The Moon passes 2° south of

CE
ν
Jupiter, 9 A.M. EST

δ 10 The Moon passes 6° south of
Mars, 11 A.M. EST
S
U
N
The Moon passes 5° south of

A
ID
γ
Uranus, 3 P.M. EST

ER
12 First Quarter Moon

occurs at 5:26 P.M. EST
X
A
N
R
FO
SW
UM
α α
M
G IU
LO
RO
HO
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
PATH OF THE
PLANETS The planets in February 2019
DR A
Objects visible before dawn UM a
Comet 46P/Wirtanen
L AC LYN
LYR H ER CV N
C YG Asteroid Herculina reaches
BOÖ opposition February 5
C OM CNC
V UL C rB LEO
PEG DEL
S GE
SER
EQU CMi
AQL SER Pallas
Celestial equator OPH
Venus passes 1.1° north of VIR SEX

AQR tic)
Sun Saturn on February 18 eclip
S un (
SC T Ceres of the
C RV CRT H YA
Path
Venus
Pluto Saturn Jupiter
CA P ANT
LI B
Ps A PYX
PU P
M IC C rA
SGR LU P
G RU SCO
CEN
Dawn Midnight
Moon phases
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
The planets These illustrations show the size, phase, and orientation of each planet and the two brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT
for the dates in the data table at bottom. South is at the top to match the view through a telescope.
in the sky
Mercury Uranus
Mars
S
W E
Pluto
N Saturn
Ceres Neptune
10" Venus Jupiter
Planets MERCURY VENUS MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO
Date Feb. 28 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15 Feb. 15
Magnitude –0.4 –4.2 1.0 8.7 –2.0 0.6 5.8 8.0 14.3
Angular size 7.4" 17.2" 5.7" 0.5" 34.8" 15.4" 3.5" 2.2" 0.1"
Illumination 44% 67% 90% 97% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Distance (AU) from Earth 0.903 0.971 1.647 2.676 5.662 10.800 20.282 30.867 34.556
Distance (AU) from Sun 0.310 0.723 1.511 2.684 5.336 10.058 19.857 29.938 33.741
Right ascension (2000.0) 23h45.7m 18h53.6m 1h51.4m 16h20.7m 17h15.6m 19h09.9m 1h48.5m 23h06.8m 19h34.3m
Declination (2000.0) 0°20' –21°07' 11°58' –15°08' –22°25' –22°01' 10°38' –6°44' –21°51'
This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left).
Arrows and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month.
CAS
Objects visible in the evening
Jupiter’s moons
Dots display positions
L AC Io
PER AN D of Galilean satellites at
CYG 6 A.M. EST on the date Europa
AU R
Mars passes 1.1° north of shown. South is at the
GEM Uranus on February 13 top to match
S
the view
AR I Ganymede
PEG through a W E
os Path Mars DEL telescope. N Callisto

Er of the Mercury appears bright in the
Hebe Moo PSC
n evening sky in late February
TAU
Jun Uranus EQU
OR I o
Me 1
MON rc ury
CET
AQR 2
Sun
Neptune
3
4
CMa LEP E RI CAP
S CL
FOR PsA 5
C OL
G RU MIC 6
CAE
7
Early evening
8
To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day straight up to the curved blue line.
Note: Moons vary in size due to the distance from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time. 9
10 Callisto
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 11 Io
12
13 Europa
Mercury
Greatest eastern elongation
The planets 14
15
is February 26 in their orbits 16 Jupiter
Mars Arrows show the inner
planets’ monthly motions 17
Earth and dots depict the outer
18 Ganymede
planets’ positions at mid-
Venus
month from high above 19
their orbits.
20
Ceres
21
22
23
Jupiter 24
Jupiter 25
Uranus
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
26
27
Neptune
Saturn 28
Pluto
— Continued from page 37
Mars slides past Uranus

WHEN TO VIEW THE PLANETS N d
EVENING SKY MIDNIGHT MORNING SKY A RIE S
Mercury (west) Venus (southeast)
Mars (southwest) Jupiter (southeast)
Uranus (southwest) Saturn (southeast) 19 Path of Mars
17 PISCES
Neptune (southwest) /
E 15
13
11
brighter. The waning crescent You’ll also see Jupiter’s four Uranus 9
Moon passes 2° north of the largest and brightest moons: Feb 7
planet in a dramatic predawn Io, Europa, Ganymede, and j k
conjunction February 27. Callisto. If you see fewer, it
A telescopic view of Jupiter means one or more of them
rarely fails to impress. The are passing in front of or CETUS
planet appears sharper as it behind the planet’s disk. 1°
climbs farther above the turbu- Watch the morning of The Red Planet’s ruddy glow contrasts nicely with the blue-green hue
lent air near the horizon. Wait February 6 to see Io and its of the distant ice giant when they meet in mid-February.
until twilight is about to break shadow transit Jupiter. The
and then continue observing inner moon’s shadow first The inner planet clears the Grab your binoculars
for another half-hour or so touches the planet’s cloud tops horizon some 30 minutes after February 4, when you can
— the brightening sky helps at 5:45 a.m. EST followed by Jupiter. Venus spends February find the Trifid Nebula (M20)
reduce the glare. Jupiter’s Io itself just over an hour later. against the backdrop of 2° due south of the planet and
apparent diameter grows from Both are set against the North Sagittarius. It starts the month the Lagoon Nebula (M8) 1.5°
34" to 36" during February, and Equatorial Belt and take more near the Archer’s western bor- farther south. On February 10
even small scopes show major than two hours to cross the der with Ophiuchus and ends and 11, open star cluster M25
features in the gas giant’s cloud disk. Throughout the morning the month near its eastern lies 2° north of Venus while
tops. Look for a pair of parallel hours, you can find outermost border with Capricornus. In globular star cluster M22
dark belts, one of either side of Callisto due north of Jupiter. between, Venus passes near stands 3° south of the planet.
a brighter zone that coincides Venus is the next planet to some of the Milky Way’s finest All three fit nicely in the field
with the planet’s equator. rise, at least in early February. deep-sky objects. of 7x50 binoculars.
COMETSEARCH
Wirtanen tickles at the Great Bear’s leg Comet 46P/Wirtanen
As Comet 46P/Wirtanen enters couple of magnitudes fainter, N

the evening of its winter appari- which would mean you’ll need Feb 1
tion, the ball of frozen dust and a 6-inch scope to see detail.
3 18
ice recedes from Earth and dims The good news is that
noticeably. This periodic comet Wirtanen will be easy to find in
drops into the inner solar system the northeast on February eve- 5
every 5.4 years before looping nings. Use magnitude 3.2 Theta
out to Jupiter’s orbit. That 0.4 (θ) Ursae Majoris, which lies mid- E 7
decimal means that once way up the Great Bear’s front Path of Comet 46P
Wirtanen lines up for a good leg, as your guide. While you’re 9
26
apparition, like the one we’ve in the area, stop by the 9th-
experienced these past few magnitude spiral galaxy e 11
months, the timing won’t repeat NGC 2841. Compare the comet U RS A M AJOR
for another five trips, or 27 years and galaxy at medium to high 13 NGC 2841
from now. power. The galaxy’s brightness
Optimists predict the comet falls off abruptly on all sides, but 0.5°
will glow at 7th magnitude in Wirtanen should show a well- This periodic visitor could reach 7th magnitude in early February as it
early February, making it a defined flank where the solar rides high in the evening sky against the backdrop of Ursa Major.
decent binocular object under wind pushes the comet’s ejected
a dark sky and a nice subject gas away. February’s first week. Although Wirtanen should appear smaller
through 4-inch or larger tele- Your best Moon-free observ- the Moon will be gone again then and perhaps two magni-
scopes. Pessimists have it a ing window comes during during the month’s final week, tudes fainter.
Venus meets the ringed planet
LOCATINGASTEROIDS
OPHI U CH US
AQUIL A
Seek a high-numbered asteroid
Jupiter Antares Scientists number asteroids in south of 3rd-magnitude Alpha
the order they were discovered. (α) Lyncis. The sparse star fields
As you might guess, observers in this region should make it
Venus tend to find brighter objects easy to identify which starlike
before fainter ones, so most dot is the asteroid. You can even
10° bright asteroids have low num- see it move within an hour
Saturn
SAGIT TARI U S bers. That makes this month’s when it pairs up with slightly
SC OR PIUS
target, 532 Herculina, particular- fainter stars on the 9th and 14th.
ly noteworthy. It peaks at mag- Herculina has a high num-
nitude 8.9 during February’s ber simply out of bad luck.
February 18, 45 minutes before sunrise first two weeks. Among higher- Because its orbit inclines mod-
Looking southeast numbered asteroids, only a few estly to the solar system’s plane,
near-Earth objects ever surpass it often reaches peak visibility
Venus and Saturn pass within 1.1° of each other February 18. The bright
planets reside among the background stars of northern Sagittarius. it. You can nab Herculina outside of what were the major
through binoculars under a search areas for asteroids as the
country sky or with a 3-inch field was ramping up in the lat-
Venus’ finest conjunction 5:30 a.m. local time. By the
telescope from the suburbs. ter half of the 19th century.
in February doesn’t involve a 28th, it rises at 4 a.m. and
The asteroid begins February German astronomer Max Wolf
deep-sky object at all, however: stands 10° high in the south- in Leo, north of the Lion’s Sickle discovered Herculina photo-
On the 18th, the planet passes east as twilight commences. asterism, and appears high graphically in April 1904, one of
1.1° north of Saturn. Venus With Venus and Saturn at in the east at midevening. more than 200 minor planets
then shines at magnitude –4.2, low altitudes, views through a Herculina’s motion carries it into he captured. It typically ranks
some 80 times brighter than telescope are less than ideal. northern Cancer by month’s as the brightest asteroid discov-
magnitude 0.6 Saturn. The two Venus shows a 19"-diameter end, when it lies a few degrees ered in the 20th century.
remain within 2.5° of each disk that appears 62 percent
other February 16–20. lit February 1. By the end of Caught between the Lion and the Crab
Following this stunning the month, the planet’s disk
conjunction, Venus moves measures 16" across and the N _ LY N X
eastward around 1° per day Sun illuminates 72 percent of L E O M I NOR
into the more barren reaches it. If you grab a quick view of March 1
of Sagittarius. It wraps up Saturn in late February, you’ll 25
February 11° east of Saturn see a 16"-diameter disk sur- 21
17 Path of Herculina
and 2.5° north-northwest of rounded by a ring system that
13
globular cluster M75. The spans 35" and tilts 24° to our
E
waning crescent Moon then line of sight. 9
stands midway between Jupiter While Venus reigns as the o
5
and Saturn with Venus to their night sky’s brightest planet, C A NC ER
Feb 1
lower left. The four bright solar Sirius rules the stellar uni-
system objects appear strung verse. But it may relinquish its
across the predawn sky like crown briefly for a few lucky LEO
beads on a necklace. observers February 18/19. On + g
Unlike Venus, Saturn barely that night, the 17th-magnitude 1°
budges against the background asteroid 4388 Jurgenstock Asteroid 532 Herculina glows at 9th magnitude this month as it crosses
stars, remaining slightly south passes directly in front of the sparse backdrop of northern Leo and Cancer.
of Sagittarius’ Teaspoon aster- the brilliant star. Sirius will
ism. The ringed planet does dim significantly — if not
rise much earlier as February disappear — for 1.8 seconds. 11:30 p.m. CST (10:30 p.m. estimate that Sirius spans
progresses, however. On the The event can be seen MST). The track and time 0.006" and the asteroid 0.005".
1st, it comes up as twilight along a narrow path that depend on the asteroid’s exact If accurate, this means Sirius
starts to paint the sky around stretches from near Cabo San position, which won’t be known will dim significantly but not
Lucas, Mexico, to Winnipeg, until a week or so before. Visit disappear. But slight errors in
Martin Ratcliffe provides plane- Canada. (In the United States, www.asteroidoccultation.com those measurements could
tarium development for Sky-Skan, the track crosses New Mexico, for the latest predictions. result in Sirius vanishing. In
Inc., from his home in Wichita, Colorado, Nebraska, and the What might you see from either case, it’s an event you
Kansas. Meteorologist Alister Dakotas.) It occurs around the center line? Astronomers won’t want to miss.
Ling works for Environment
Canada in Edmonton, Alberta. GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek.
Observing These challenging planetary nebulae will
put your telescope and keen eye to the test.
by Stephen James O’Meara
stellar blowouts
FROM CEPHEUS TO VELA, LET’S GO ON A TOUR OF PLANETARY NEBULAE, intense concentration. Larger
exploring stellar blowouts that have been cast off by dying Sun-like stars. We’ll start scopes will enhance the view,
bringing out some of Medusa’s
with nearby objects and move outward; be sure to compare close nebulae with distant
snaking gaseous “hairs.”
ones. And you don’t have to see them all in one night — in fact, it’s best to peel back Moving to a distance of
the layers on different nights, so you can spend time to better appreciate their varied 2,900 light-years, we find a
appearances. Note that in all cases, an Oxygen-III (OIII) filter helps to enhance the marvelous midland object:
view. You’ll also find that several of the central stars — the dying embers of the suns NGC 2346, the Crimson
Butterfly. It lies about 4' west-
that created the nebulae — are more prominent than the nebulae themselves. southwest of magnitude 4.5
Delta (δ) Monocerotis, and it’s
Layer 1 relatively bright (magnitude surmise of it consisting of stars, hard to say how easy or diffi-
(1,000–3,000 light-years) 9.4) central star. This is one nor can there be a doubt of the cult this object will be to see
We begin our journey about of the few central stars we evident connection between because its central star is the
3½˚ east-southeast of 3rd- can see through binoculars. atmosphere and star.” I found variable binary star system
magnitude Zeta (ζ) Persei, Clinging to it like static lint is the glow difficult to see in a V651 Monocerotis. Usually, we
where we’ll peer into the crystal a tediously dim shell spanning 4-inch scope but apparent in a see that star “flapping”
ball: NGC 1514, sometimes 2' in diameter. The nebula’s 5-inch instrument. Use moder- between magnitude 10.5 and
called the Crystal Ball Nebula. discoverer, William Herschel, ate magnifications to reveal the 11.5, making it a cinch to spy,
This 5,000-year-old “inside- wrote in 1790: “The atmosphere inner shell’s delicate arcs, which but it may suddenly dip to
out” planetary lies only 1,200 is so diluted, faint and equal are oriented northwest to south- magnitude 15 or fainter if a
light-years distant and has a throughout that there can be no east. Perpendicular to them are dark cloud in the torus of gas
fainter elliptical lobes, like a surrounding the central binary
flower just beginning to bloom. star moves across our line of
To appreciate how age can sight. I’ve spied NGC 2346’s
affect the apparent size of a torus through a 5-inch under
planetary nebula, try sighting dark skies at magnifications of
Abell 21, the 8th-magnitude 150x and higher; the butterfly’s
so-called Medusa Nebula in 50" wings appear to open
Gemini. Although the Medusa through my 8-inch scope. It’s
lies only 600 light-years farther taken some 11,000 years for
away than NGC 1514, it the wings to flee from the cen-
appears 300 times larger tral star and blow out from its
because the shell around Abell wasp-waisted ring.
21’s 14th-magnitude central Now that you have a taste for
star has had nearly 30,000 years the dramatic differences that
to expand! Through backyard age and distance can make on
telescopes, the 10'-wide glow is these objects, let’s plunge more
brightest along its eastern cres- deeply into the planetary pool.
cent. While an OIII filter will
help pull it out from the back- Layer 2
ground, I was able to spy it (3,000–5,000 light-years)
without a filter through my On the other end of size spec-
8-inch reflector at moderate trum, we have objects like
magnification by gently sweep- IC 418, the Spirograph Nebula
NGC 1514 in Taurus, sometimes called the Crystal Ball Nebula, shows ing the area; seeing the in Lepus the Hare. You’ll
beautiful bluish internal structure within the nebular disk. DON GOLDMAN extremely pale specter required find this visually amenable
Gemini’s Abell 21, also known as
the Medusa Nebula, is a large,
reddish glow that shows multiple
twists within the nebula’s shell
structure. ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON
SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Butterfly-shaped NGC 2346 in Monoceros is a wonderful, challenging The beautiful bipolar nebula NGC 2371–2 in Gemini is so distinctly split into
planetary nebula for wintertime observers. The object’s bow tie structure two glowing lobes that William Herschel gave it two NGC numbers. This
is readily apparent through a multitude of telescopes. ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON elongated object makes a pretty sight in backyard telescopes. DIETMAR HAGER
SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
pipsqueak about 5° east of Alpha (α) Layer 3 showing the outer nebula as an egg-
Leporis. It shines at 9th magnitude and can (5,000–7,000 light-years) shaped glow with a beaded inner ring. The
be spied in binoculars — only this time, Moving out to 5,000 light-years, we come central star glows weakly at magnitude
you’re seeing its 10th-magnitude central to the magnitude 10.5 planetary IC 2149, 16.2.
star, as well as its highly compact main near 2nd-magnitude Menkalinan (Beta NGC 2440, the Albino Butterfly, is one
shell and crown. In fact, this spirograph [β] Aurigae). This celestial gnome visually of the most beautiful planetaries of its
of nebulous mayhem fills a disk only 14" resembles NGC 1514 in that its magnitude kind. At a distance of about 6,200 light-
across! While it lies 3,900 light-years dis- 11.3 central star dominates the view, but years, this 9th-magnitude beauty is situ-
tant (about three times farther than NGC the comparison stops there. IC 2149’s neb- ated about 4½° due south of open star
1514), its disk appears 8.5 times smaller, ula stretches a mere 8.5" across, appearing cluster M46 in Puppis, roughly midway
partly because IC 418 is 2,000 years young- as a knotty ring seen almost edge-on. And between the two preceding planetaries. So
er, so its shell has not expanded much. The while this baby blue nebula is 40 percent within the span of 200 light-years, try to
nebula is a challenge to resolve. Powers of the size of IC 418, it’s nearly 1.5 times as appreciate the subtle differences in each.
500x and greater are required to get good distant and 1,000 years younger; indeed, The butterfly sports an oval torus (with
separation between the star and shell. the nebula also sports youthful mini- two distinct condensations) and three
Stepping out to 4,600 light-years, we bipolar lobes caught in the process of for-
find the 11th-magnitude peanut-shaped mation. You’ll want to crank up the power
planetary NGC 2371–2. As with planetary to see this one, but use low power to spy
nebula M76, its discoverer, William its gentle color.
Herschel, resolved this single bipolar object Now let’s hop a mere 200 light-years
into two parts, thus the double NGC num- farther into space to inspect NGC 7354,
ber. The southwestern lobe is NGC 2371, a 12th-magnitude celestial introvert. It
and the northeastern one is NGC 2372. hides inconspicuously just outside the
You’ll find it 1½° north of 4th-magnitude House of Cepheus asterism, about 3¼°
Iota (ι) Geminorum. While the full nebula north-northeast of Delta Cephei.
(dim wings included) spans 58", its bright With a diameter of 22", the nebula has a
core is smaller. I could spy the twin arcs of 3,000-year-old clumpy oval main shell and
the central torus, divided by a clean dark an older circular outer shell. In the image
lane, at 94x in a 5-inch scope, being ori- at right, note the collection of low-excita-
ented northwest to southeast, but the view tion bright knots in its equatorial torus.
is much better at 180x. Larger scopes are Isn’t it reminiscent of IC 2149? I found the
required to see the wings, which have taken nebula apparent in a 5-inch scope at 60x Hiding in the inconspicuous constellation
3,000 years to blow out. Use a magnifica- as a tight and diffuse glow with a bright Cepheus is the unusual planetary nebula
NGC 7354, which appears like a glowing oval
tion of 500x or more to search for the mag- core and a small outer halo. The annulus shell set inside a fainter, outer spherical shell.
nitude 14.8 central star. opens at magnifications of 180x and more, ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Above: Sometimes called the Albino Butterfly
Nebula, NGC 2440 in Puppis is a gorgeous object
that shows substantial detail in its outer “wings.”
JEFF CREMER/ADAM BLOCK/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Right: The beautiful ring-shaped nebula

NGC 2438 lies about 3,000 light-years away,
some 2,000 light-years closer than the open
cluster M46, to which it appears to belong.
ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
pairs of white bipolar polyps (the wings) know exactly where to look; that’s one
emerging at different places from the solution. Another solution: A magnifica-
nebula’s core. The wings extend farther tion of 250x and above places a highway
(30") than NGC 7354’s partly because of of darkness between the star and the
its greater age (7,000 years) and closer planetary. The third solution is to use an
distance. As with NGC 7354, its high- OIII filter, which pops the nebula right
excitation central star is extremely dim, out of the background while dimming the
shining around 18th magnitude. Visible star some. Use an orthoscopic eyepiece
through a 4-inch scope, the bright central with a narrow field of view, and you can
shell displays knots and filamentary nudge the star out of the way. I’ve spied it
details that flutter in and out of view with through a 4-inch scope this way. If you see
the seeing; the wings are dim extensions it, you’re peering some 7,500 light-years
that taper like the flame of a candle. into space.
It’s also fun to visually compare the Our last target is high on my favorite
Albino Butterfly with the multiple-shell list of small-telescope challenges: IC 1747, Planetary Abell 12 poses a real challenge
planetary nebula NGC 2438, which we see the Holepunch Nebula. This 12th- because it lies a short distance from
the 4th-magnitude star Mu Orionis,
projected against M46 in a marvelous magnitude denizen lies an impressive which drowns out the nebula’s faint
chance alignment. By comparison, NGC 8,400 light-years distant, yet it displays a light. Still, the striking field makes an
2438 lies some 1,600 light-years closer, disk 13" across. It has the distinction of unusual sight. ADAM BLOCK/TIM PUCKETT
shines about 1½ magnitudes fainter, and being only one of 50 planetaries known
appears about 40" larger — again, partly with a central star (usually a white dwarf) Take some time this winter observing
because of its closer distance, as well as its that displays the spectral characteristics of season to check out some of these stellar
12,000-plus-year expansion age for its a Wolf-Rayet star (normally a highly blowouts. They show us the future of the
main shell. evolved massive star) but somehow with a solar system, as one day our vicinity will
mass typical of most planetary central end up in this chaotic, glowing fashion.
Layer 4 stars. It’s the dim specter of a ring in a They present beautiful shapes, and these
(Beyond 7,000 light-years) rich Milky Way field about 30' southeast glowing orbs remind us our Sun will not
Here’s a challenge with three reasonable of Epsilon (ε) Cassiopeiae in that constel- live forever. I think you’ll be challenged by
solutions. Abell 12, a peek-a-boo plan- lation’s W asterism that stirs my heart, some and delighted by others, and come
etary that’s 37" wide and magnitude 12.4, making it one of most delicate sights away from the hunt a better, more experi-
is dim enough and big enough to present through a 5-inch. Astrophotographers enced observer.
a challenge on its own. But if we add that should be aware that the ring has a fasci-
it lies only about 50" northwest of 4th- nating string of knots west and southwest Stephen James O’Meara is a contributing
magnitude Mu (μ) Orionis, the difficulty of the inner nebula, which might be part editor of Astronomy magazine and the author
becomes obvious. The good news is you of a fragmentary halo. of numerous books on astronomical observing.
You don’t have to look
too far back in time
to find star patterns
that no longer exist.
by Michael E. Bakich
Délimitation Scientifique
des Constellations by
Belgian astronomer
Eugène Delporte
announced the formal
boundaries of the star
patterns. The book
appeared in 1930.
A
Astronomers now recognize
N
88 constellations. They cover _ Altair
the sky with no overlaps and

no gaps between them. This,
however, is a fairly recent m
development. Prior to 1928,

celestial mapmakers were free b
to populate the skies as they E

pleased, with only the mildest of restraint placed upon d i
them by astronomers and other cartographers. The fact e f

that many of these star groups have become extinct
supports Darwin’s axiom of “survival of the fittest.”
Still, when I’m at a star party or observing on my own,
I often track down a couple of these defunct patterns h
because it’s fun. And I have the best time when friends 2° g
join in. If you’d like to try your hand at this, too, read on.
Antinoüs
This extinct constellation is easy to form
Background planet “Georgium Sidus,” or “George’s once you locate Aquila. You’ll want a dark
site, however. The stars range in brightness
The first star maps and globes had fewer Star,” after George III of England. That from magnitude 3.2 Theta (θ) Aquilae to
than 50 constellations, yet despite that rela- British-leaning name didn’t stick, so it was magnitude 5.2 Sigma (σ) Aql. ASTRONOMY: RICHARD
tively small number, some of those have not Uranus ever after. TALCOTT AND ROEN KELLY
survived. The most notable is the truly mas-

sive former constellation Argo Navis, the The list
legendary ship that carried Jason and the But just because we categorize a constel- Apes/Lilium/
Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. lation as extinct doesn’t mean we have Musca Borealis
Argo Navis is the only example of a star no record of it. Star maps exist that show Three constellations, all extinct, have occu-
pattern that fell into disuse for purely prac- these figures. We know which stars formed pied the same tiny area in the northern
tical reasons: It was simply too big. So, them. And, most importantly to observers, part of Aries the Ram. You can find — pick
around 1750, French astronomer Nicolas you can still go outside and find them. I’ve a name — by locating 33 Arietis, 35 Ari, 39
Louis de Lacaille divided it into the con- listed 12 of my favorites here (in alphabeti- Ari, and 41 Ari. They range in magnitude
stellations Carina, Puppis, and Vela. cal order), but there are at least a hundred from 3.6 to 5.3.
Sometimes the constellation Pyxis the others a little research will lead you to. The Dutch-Flemish mapmaker Petrus
Compass also gets lumped into this group- Have fun! Plancius got the ball rolling by putting
ing as well, but this is incorrect. In fact, Apes the Bee on his 1612 star chart. In
Lacaille himself pictured Argo Navis as a Antinoüs
complete ship with Pyxis just to its north The great German-Flemish
on a celestial map he produced in 1752. mapmaker Gerardus Mercator
The use of designations for Argo Navis’ placed this figure on a celestial
stars was so ingrained that, when it was globe he created in 1551. He
rent asunder, the original set of Greek let- formed it from the stars Eta
ters was retained, with no additional ones (η), Theta (θ), Sigma (σ), Delta
added. As a result, Puppis and Vela have no (δ), Nu (ν), Lambda (λ), Kappa
Alpha or Beta stars. Those letters stayed (κ), and Iota (ι) Aquilae. The
BOOK: MICHAEL E. BAKICH LIBRARY. BACKGROUND: SHAIITH/DREAMSTIME
with stars that now form Carina. stars range in brightness

Almost every other constellation that’s from magnitude 3.2 (Theta)
gone the way of Argo Navis has vanished to magnitude 5.2 (Sigma),
because of non-acceptance by the commu- so spotting them requires a
nity of astronomers at large. Many of those reasonably dark site.
star groups were meant to honor the The figure represented
patron or monarch of the astronomer who the servant/lover of the
named them. Needless to say, outside the Roman Emperor Hadrian. According to Musca Borealis
boundaries of the relevant country, those one account, Antinoüs drowned himself in This constellation, whose position in northern
tributes were not well received. A similar the Nile River, believing that, with this sac- Aries was previously occupied by Lilium and
situation occurred in 1781, when a row rifice, he would prolong his master’s life. Apes, appears on Plate 16 of Urania’s Mirror,
a collection of 32 star chart cards by Richard
developed after Sir William Herschel After his death, he was worshipped as both Rouse Bloxam. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/RESTORATION BY ADAM
attempted to name his newly discovered a god and a hero. CUERDEN
Cerberus Marmor
The capture of Cerberus
was the 12th and final Sculptile
labor of Hercules. On Marmor Sculptile the
this star chart, created Bust (of Christopher
by Elijah Hinsdale Burritt Columbus) appeared
in 1835, the hero grasps on exactly one star
the creature tightly. chart: the 1810 A
MICHAEL E. BAKICH LIBRARY Mercator Map of the
Starry Heavens by
William Croswell.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,
GEOGRAPHY AND MAP DIVISION
Noctua
the Owl
Once you find
Libra’s four main
stars, look a bit
south for the
much fainter
curved line of 54 Hya
five points that 55 Hya 4 Lib
formed Noctua 56 Hya
the Owl. TONY HALLAS
57 Hya
1679, French architect Augustin Royer used the head of Hercules and the head of Gladii Electorales
the same stars for Lilium the Fleur-de-lis. Cygnus, made primarily of the stars 93, 95, Saxonici
About a decade later, Polish astronomer 96, 102, and 109 Herculis. Do note that the German astronomer Gottfried Kirch intro-
Johannes Hevelius re-christened that area brightest of these stars, 109 Her, glows at duced this constellation — a pair of crossed
Musca, although later mapmakers who magnitude 3.9. I’ve found that the best way swords — in 1684 as a political move. He
used the figure called it Musca Borealis to to see this group is to use tripod-mounted hoped to win the patronage of Johann
distinguish it from the far-southern con- binoculars. You don’t need much magnifi- Georg III, Elector of Saxony.
stellation Musca the Fly. cation, but choose binoculars with a field The star pattern consists of nine stars
of view at least 7.5° wide (the distance between magnitudes 3.7 and 5.2. The area
The Battery of Volta between 93 Her and 109 Her). they’re in is bounded by Arcturus (Alpha
British physician and Egyptologist Thomas Boötis), Unuk al Hai (Alpha Serpentis),
Young designated this constellation in Felis Zubeneschamali (Beta [β] Librae), Mu
1806 to honor an important invention French astronomer Jérôme Lalande sug- Virginis, and Tau (τ) Virginis. Finding this
by Alessandro Volta: the electric battery. gested this constellation in 1799 because location is easy. Making Gladii Electorales
There’s not much to it, however. It’s just there was no cat in the sky. Apparently, Saxonici out of its stars is not.
two stars: 1 Pegasi, which glows at mag- he was thinking house cat, because three
nitude 4.1, and 9 Pegasi, which is ever so constellations — two lions and a lynx — Marmor Sculptile
slightly fainter at magnitude 4.3. Maybe already represented the feline family. It I wanted to include a few defunct constel-
Young decided to represent just the bat- made its initial appearance in the star atlas lations from the Southern Hemisphere;
tery’s terminals? Uranographia sive Astrorum Descriptio, my first is a figure that represents the
created by German astronomer Johann bust of Christopher Columbus. American
Cerberus Elert Bode in 1801. mapmaker William Croswell placed this
In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the You can find Felis — and I warn you, its star pattern on A Mercator Map of the
three-headed hound that guarded the stars are faint — by heading 30° due south Starry Heavens, which he produced in
gates of Hades, but not against intruders. of Regulus (Alpha [α] Leonis), and trying 1810. To form Marmor Sculptile, Croswell
Instead, he was there to prevent the dead to make a cat out of magnitude 3.8 Mu (μ) simply used the existing constellation
from leaving. Hevelius included Cerberus Hydrae and a few similarly dim stars Reticulum with a few stars from neighbor-
as part of Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive nearby. You’ll see the constellations Corvus ing Horologium.
Uranographia, totum Coelum Stellatum, a and Crater. Get a sense of their similar
collection of star maps he created in 1687. sizes. Felis lies on the western side of Crater Michael E. Bakich is a senior editor of
You can find Cerberus midway between opposite Corvus. Astronomy.
Telescopium
Herschellii
This star pattern honored the 1781
Robur discovery of Uranus by Sir William
Herschel. Its creator, Maximilian Hell,
Carolinum actually honored two of Herschel’s
Robur Carolinum
telescopes, but Burritt combined them
appears as a large oak
into a single constellation and placed it
tree on the southern-
on one of his charts. MICHAEL E. BAKICH LIBRARY
sky chart of the
1835 edition of Atlas
Designed to Illustrate Quadrans Muralis
the Geography of the This extinct constellation appears on
Heavens, created by Plate 10 of Urania’s Mirror by Richard
Elijah Hinsdale Burritt. Rouse Bloxam. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/RESTORATION BY
MICHAEL E. BAKICH LIBRARY ADAM CUERDEN
Noctua by Jean Fortin. Johann Bode changed the Tubus Herschelii

In 1822, Scottish writer Alexander constellation’s name to Quadrans Muralis Major and Tubus
Jamieson introduced this constellation in when he included it in his 1801 star atlas. Herschelii Minor
A Celestial Atlas. To create it, he used stars In the sky, locate the area that starts My final entry is a pair of defunct constel-
in far-eastern Hydra and western Libra. midway between magnitude 3.5 Nekkar lations. Hungarian astronomer and Jesuit
But he wasn’t the first to (Beta Boötis) and magni- priest Maximilian Hell formed both in 1789
appropriate the stars in tude 4.6 Chi (χ) Herculis to honor Sir William Herschel’s discovery of
this area. The first star and extends about 10° to Uranus. Tubus Herschelii Major commemo-
In 1776, French the north. If this constel- rated Herschel’s 20-foot telescope, while
maps and globes
astronomer Pierre lation’s name rings a bell, Minor represented his 7-foot telescope.
Charles Le Monnier cre- had fewer than you probably have heard Hell placed the larger constellation in
ated Turdus Solitarius, 50 constellations, it before. The radiant of Auriga and the smaller between Taurus and
the Solitary Thrush, yet despite that the Quadrantid meteor Orion. He did this so they would lie on
using no less than 41 shower, which peaks either side of the point in Gemini where
stars between 3rd and relatively small around January 4 each Herschel found the planet. Later maps com-
9th magnitude. You can number, some of year, lies within its (for- bined the two into Telescopium Herschellii.
find either of these birds those have not mer) boundaries. To find it, head outdoors and locate Castor
of yesteryear by locating (Alpha Geminorum). Telescopium
a curved line of five
survived. Robur Herschelii occupies a large region north of
stars: 4 Librae and 54, Carolinum that star in Lynx and Auriga.
55, 56, and 57 Hydrae. None other than the
Binoculars will make your task much easier great Edmund Halley created my sec- The ancient sky awaits
because the brightest of these luminaries ond extinct southern-sky constellation. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,
glows at only magnitude 5.2. In 1679, he used some seriously bright Dr. Leonard McCoy eulogizes Mr. Spock in
stars in Argo Navis (now also gone) to a way that can apply here: “He’s not really
Quadrans Muralis commemorate the Royal Oak where the dead as long as we remember him.” So,
French astronomer Jérôme Lalande invented King of England, Charles II, supposedly these constellations really aren’t extinct as
this constellation in 1795 to commemo- hid from the army of Oliver Cromwell long as we observe them. I encourage you
rate the wall-mounted quadrant at l’École after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The to head out on the next clear night and see
Militaire Observatory in Paris. It appeared brightest star of Robur Carolinum was if you can locate one of these obscure star
that year (as “Le Mural”) in Atlas Céleste magnitude 1.7 Miaplacidus (Beta Carinae). figures that meant so much to so few.
CHASING LUNA’S SHADOW
IN South On the afternoon of July 2, the
Sun will disappear along a narrow
Amerıca
track that stretches from Chile’s
coast to just south of Buenos Aires.
by Michael E. Bakich
CAN YOU FEEL THE EXCITEMENT?

We can. Millions of people traveled to wit-
ness the total solar eclipse August 21, 2017,
and when it was over, many of them asked:
When’s the next one?
As it turns out, the next total eclipse of the
Sun occurs July 2, 2019. Its path starts in the
South Pacific near Pitcairn Island and ends
over land, having touched just two countries:
Chile and Argentina.
Totality of the 2019 eclipse will be 70 per-
cent longer than the 2017 event. This is
because Earth is not always at the same dis-
tance from the Sun, and the Moon is not
always the same distance from Earth. Since
the Earth-Sun distance varies by 3 percent
and the Moon-Earth distance by 12 percent,
the length of totality fluctuates from one
eclipse to the next. So, while the eclipse of
August 2017 had a totality lasting 2 minutes
40 seconds, the next one will be a bit longer.
Maximum eclipse, a worthy 4 minutes
33 seconds, occurs over water 665 miles
(1,070 kilometers) north of Easter Island —
and some people may travel there to experience
This magnificent photo captures that length of totality. Most people who want to
the diamond ring at the start
of totality July 11, 2010, from see this eclipse, however, will be standing on
Easter Island. LES ANDERSON terra firma, and that means South America.
After you process and examine all your eclipse
images, you might want to put them together
to show how the eclipse progressed. Here, the
photographer recorded the major parts of the
total solar eclipse on August 1, 2008, from the
Ob Sea in Novosibirsk, Russia. BEN COOPER
Chile
The central path of the Moon’s shadow first
touches Chilean soil at 19h22m38s UT, just La Higuera
south of the berg of Chungungo, which has Vallenar SOUTH
AMERICA
a population under 400. If you’re in that
small village, totality will last 2 minutes
Bella Vista
Rodeo
ARGENTINA
36 seconds. You’ll lose only 0.3 second off San José de Jáchal
La Serena
the central path’s time. Villa Dolores
Vicuña
Some tourists will no doubt head for the Córdoba
centerline in or near La Higuera, a town of Pat
San Juan ho URUGUAY
about 4,300 inhabitants. Totality here also f to Buenos
tali
lasts 2 minutes 36 seconds. If you travel ty Aires
Santiago
north along Chile Route 5, La Higuera is a Río Cuarto Montevideo
five-and-a-half-hour drive from Santiago.
ILE
Most travelers probably will opt to stay Junín

in La Serena, which lies only 38 miles
CH

(61 km) south of La Higuera. With a popu-
lation near 200,000, it’s the fourth-largest 0 300 miles
urban area in the country. There, eclipse 0 500 km
seekers will also find lodging, transporta-
tion options, fine dining (including terrific
local cuisine), and more. And if by chance Eclipse chasers usually rely on the Anderson points out that the presence of
you find yourself stuck in the city on reports of Canadian eclipse meteorologist more than a half-dozen world-class obser-
eclipse day, you’re not out of luck. The Jay Anderson; he’s been predicting weather vatories in the mountains near La Serena
Moon’s shadow will cover La Serena for for eclipses of all kinds for several decades. testifies to its excellent and largely cloud-
2 minutes 13 seconds. With regard to weather prospects in Chile, free skies. July, however, is not a kind month
CHILE CLIMATE
Station Clear Few Scattered Broken Overcast Thin fog Average cloud Sunshine Days
% % % % % % % % with rain
La Serena 29.2 16.7 11.2 26.6 16 0.4 44.7 53 2.8
Vallenar 72.6 7.5 5 10.8 4.1 0 15.9 65 —
Copiapo 67.5 8.1 7.6 13.7 3 0 18.3 66 0.6
Juan Fernández Islands 0.5 3.3 6.5 57.6 12.3 19.8 80.5 31 21
particularly attractive. It’s protected from
the marine cloudiness by a range of
3,000-foot-high (1,000 meters) hills that lie
near the coast. When the coast at La Serena
is overcast, La Higuera may be clear,
although it would be unusual for clouds to
persist to eclipse time in either location.
Argentina
As the path of totality leaves Chile, it enters
Argentina. This marks the eclipse’s last
leg. The centerline actually crosses the
point where Chile Highway 41 becomes
Argentina Highway 150. And because we’re
approaching the endpoint of the eclipse, the
maximum durations of totality continue to
shrink as the path treks to the southeast.
The small hamlet of Bella Vista
is the first place eclipse chasers
The may head. There, you’ll
experience 2 minutes
only time 30 seconds of totality.
you can view the Bella Vista lies 20 miles
(32 km) from the sizable
Sun safely with the town of Rodeo and
naked eye is during 50 miles (80 km) from
the much larger San José
totality. de Jáchal. The two commu-
nities have good visibility west
toward the sinking Sun (11° high
at mid-eclipse). Another option for
lodging is San Juan, which boasts a metro-
politan area of 500,000 inhabitants and lies
about 100 miles (160 km) away.
Deeper in Argentina is Río Cuarto, a
city of 150,000, which offers 1 minute
55 seconds of totality. Note: Drive just
Another way to show the eclipse from start to finish is to set up your camera centered on where
north to the centerline, and you’ll gain
totality will occur, and take an exposure every few minutes. Later, you can combine them into another 20 seconds of totality. But here’s
a single image. Including a foreground object can be a nice touch. ALLAN WHETZEL the issue: At mid-eclipse, the Sun stands
just 6.3° above the horizon.
Buenos Aires offers a lot to tourists. And
there for eclipse observers or astronomers. four or more hours of sunshine, and most indeed, the southwestern outskirts of the
Observations from La Florida Airport, of these hours are in the afternoons. city do get about 50 seconds of totality. But
about 4.5 miles (7 km) inland from the These clouds usually do not penetrate a — you guessed it — the Sun at mid-eclipse
coast at La Serena, show that the city large distance inland, so an observer could stands a meager 1° above the horizon.
receives only about 53 percent of the maxi- move into a sunnier area by heading a bit For what travelers can expect from the
mum possible sunshine during the month. east. From La Serena, that would mean a weather in Argentina, we turn once again
Cloud cover is about the same, with an trip up the Elqui Valley toward the city of to Jay Anderson. He says that the available
average amount of 45 percent at 21h UT. Vicuña and beyond. While no cloud statis- evidence — satellite and ground-level mea-
(Totality is at 20h39m UT, or 4:39 P.M. local tics are available from Vicuña, the satellite surements — points to a location against
time.) Despite these somewhat pessimistic measurement of cloud cover there shows the eastern slopes of the Andes as having
statistics, a frequency graph of daily sun- an 11 percent drop compared with La the best chances of seeing the eclipse. In
shine hours for the city (see the chart on Serena. Anderson’s results suggest that the particular, Bella Vista and Iglesia to its
p. 53) shows a large number of clear or Elqui Valley might be the best spot, par- north lie on an open plain where satellite
mostly clear days. ticularly at Vicuña. Past Vicuña, the valley imagery promises the lowest average cloud
Anderson says most of the clouds at La narrows significantly, and viewers must amount anywhere along the track.
Serena come from the marine stratus that choose locations carefully to avoid the Sun July finds this region in the middle of
pushes on shore, but satellite observations being shadowed by the terrain. winter with little precipitation. But
show that the clouds typically evaporate If eclipse day promises to be sunny although the climate is dry, the terrain still
around noon. A large number of days have along the coast, La Higuera may prove has a modest effect on clouds. From a
Above: Wondering whether traveling halfway
across the globe to see a total solar eclipse is
worth it? Yes, it is! TONY HALLAS
Right: Wide-angle photos are on the other end

of the spectrum from close-up shots of the
diamond rings and corona. Such images convey
the sense of being at the event. TUNÇ TEZEL
ARGENTINA CLIMATE
Station Clear Few Scattered Broken Overcast Thin fog Average cloud Sunshine Days
% % % % % % % % with rain
San José de Jáchal 37.7 22.6 14.2 16 9.4 0 31.6 61 2
San Juan Airport 37.8 20.6 18.4 18.6 4.4 0.2 30.4 75 2
Villa Dolores 39.1 15.8 10.9 25.8 8.4 0 35.8 38 9
Río Cuarto 35.5 10.7 11.9 24.5 17.2 0.2 43.4 54 3
Junín Airport 25.8 12.3 12.3 27 22.5 0.2 51.1 46 5
minimum of about 28 percent at Bella I’ve recruited several friends and eclipse equipment you’re taking and photograph
Vista, the cloud cover rises a fraction at photographers (among them Astronomy the Sun. Of course, you’ll do a few things
San José de Jáchal and then climbs more Contributing Editor Mike Reynolds), so I’m differently on eclipse day. The one to be
distinctly to 43 percent at Río Cuarto. just going to sit back and watch. We’ll sure of is that you take the solar filter off
Bella Vista, along with Iglesia and Rodeo, travel in large vans, so on eclipse day we your telescope or camera lens at the start of
lies in a deep, narrow, north-south tectonic can change our location if clouds intervene. totality — or, as many imagers do, just
valley. The valley has a climate and geogra- prior to the first diamond ring. You’ll also
phy comparable to that in Death Valley, Helpful advice change the exposure times once the Moon
California. It has one of the driest and sun- On July 2, I’ll witness my 15th total solar hides the brilliant solar disk. Because the
niest climates in Argentina. So, if you plan eclipse. I’ve written numerous stories and Sun’s corona is the same brightness as the
to observe from there, make sure the even a book about these events, so I feel Full Moon, you can practice those expo-
eclipsed Sun won’t slip behind a mountain. qualified to offer a few words of advice. sures (under similar lighting) on it.
My first point cannot be overstated: The Finally, if you’re planning to photograph
Our plans only time you can view the Sun safely with the event and anything goes wrong . . . stop!
Two editors from Astronomy are headed the naked eye is during totality. It is never Just back away from your equipment and
south to experience the eclipse. Associate safe to look at a partial or annular eclipse, watch the eclipse. The maximum duration
Editor Jake Parks will be the astronomer or the partial phases of a total solar eclipse, of totality is a scant 273 seconds, and that’s
for TravelQuest International, the maga- without the proper equipment and tech- from a ship on the ocean. On land, it’s
zine’s partner on such trips. His group will niques. Even when 99 percent of the Sun’s about half that. Really, how many problems
first visit Peru, where it will tour Machu visible surface (the photosphere) is do you think you can fix in two minutes?
Picchu, Cuzco, and other sites. At the time obscured during the partial phases of a Sure, you might not get the classic shot of
of this writing, only a few spots remain in solar eclipse, the remaining crescent Sun is the corona, but you’ll still have a memory
his group, so it’s likely not an option for still intense enough to cause a retinal burn. that will last a lifetime.
last-minute planners. So, protect your eyes!
I’m heading to northern Chile with a Second, if you plan to photograph the Michael E. Bakich is a senior editor of
group of about 20 intrepid eclipse chasers. eclipse, rehearse. Set up the exact Astronomy.
ABELL 21 The filaments of glowing
gas in this planetary
nebula recall the snakes
that formed the hair of
mythology’s Gorgon
Medusa, leading
astronomers to name
it the Medusa Nebula.
H. SCHWEIKER (NOAO/AURA/NSF)
AND T.A. RECTOR (UNIVERSITY OF
ALASKA-ANCHORAGE/NOAO/AURA/NSF)
Dip into these lesser-known

catalogs for a look at some
you can use different deep-sky wonders.

by Alan Goldstein
TRUMPLER 2 TRUMPLER 3 TRUMPLER 5
A magnitude 7.4 orange giant star anchors this This youthful group of some 570 stars looks much This tightly packed cluster of 150 stars lurks just
group of about 20 stars in Perseus. MARTIN C. GERMANO sparser through amateur scopes. MARTIN C. GERMANO west of the Cone Nebula in Monoceros. CHUCK KIMBALL
E
ver since humans first looked up
at the night sky, they have felt
compelled to record what they saw.
The Babylonians of Mesopotamia
compiled the first known star cata-
log more than 3,100 years ago, and other
ancient civilizations followed with their
own star catalogs. All were limited to what
the naked eye could see.
The telescope’s debut 400 years ago
revealed objects invisible to the naked eye.
As the universe began to unfold, astrono-
mers developed new catalogs to record
ARP 157
their observations. A pair of spiral galaxies started to collide about 300 million years ago, creating this peculiar galaxy
that one day will become a single elliptical. NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA)/B. WHITMORE (STSCI)
In the 18th century, French comet-
hunter Charles Messier created the first
account of deep-sky objects that included (POSS) was the first systematic attempt eventually became the Trumpler catalog.
both locations and descriptions. He did to photograph the entire sky visible from Although most of these clusters tend to be
it to avoid “rediscovering” previously a single location (California’s Palomar overlooked, a few are true gems.
observed faux comets. His list soon became Mountain). Astronomers used hand lenses Trumpler 2 is a scattering of 20 stars
the catalog of choice for amateur astrono- to study the black dots and blobs that about 2.5° southeast of the Double Cluster
mers because the clusters, nebulae, and appeared on the large photographic plates. in Perseus. This small collection glows at
galaxies it contains are bright and varied. In the second half of the 20th century, 6th magnitude across a distance of more
The objects also covered most of the sky large low-cost optics became available to than 2,000 light-years. Its brightest mem-
visible from mid-northern latitudes. amateur astronomers, and fainter, more ber is the orange star SAO 23469.
In 1888, Danish-Irish astronomer obscure objects grew popular. Observers Trumpler 3 lies 8.6° east of the 3rd-
John Louis Emil Dreyer compiled the next turned to newer catalogs to tackle objects magnitude star Epsilon (ε) Cassiopeiae.
astronomical standard: the New General that many folks a generation earlier had At first glance, it shows about 30 stars in a
Catalogue. (For a more complete story on thought impossible to see. Completing these 23' field, but astronomers have discovered
this catalog, see “An NGC primer” in the catalogs became badges of honor for ama- some 570 members in total. Researchers
September 2018 issue.) Based on visual teurs seeking targets that few had seen. estimate the 7th-magnitude cluster formed
observations, the NGC was the main Many obscure catalogs have now only about 70 million years ago, during
source for non-stellar celestial objects become mainstream. Some of the objects Earth’s Late Cretaceous period.
for more than 60 years. Even today, it they contain are easy, while others require Trumpler 5 resides just west of the
remains the preferred catalog for serious large scopes and superb skies. Let’s take a Cone Nebula (part of the NGC 2264
deep-sky observers. look at some of my favorite examples. complex) in Monoceros. This rich cluster
Photography gradually replaced the contains some 150 stars packed in an area
astronomer’s eye in the second half of the Open clusters 7' across, but the 11th-magnitude object
19th century. And as telescopes grew up Robert Trumpler studied open star clusters glows faintly enough that you’ll need large
to 200 inches in aperture in the 1940s, the in the early 20th century to learn their dis- optics for a good view. This ancient cluster
universe started to reveal its secrets at an tances, sizes, and distribution in the Milky lies in the direction opposite to our galaxy’s
astonishing rate. The National Geographic Way. He investigated 100 clusters, 37 of center and appears to be between 3 billion
Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey which were unknown at the time and and 4 billion years old.
ABELL 262
ARP 84 This rich galaxy cluster contains a surprisingly
These interacting spirals are in the early stages of colliding. A few billion years from now, they’ll large number of spirals. It forms a small part of
merge into a single boring elliptical galaxy. ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER the vast Perseus-Pisces Supercluster. MARK MANNER
Peculiar galaxies Arp 85). Arp 84 is visible through modest

Halton Arp’s famous 1966 Atlas of Peculiar telescopes, though larger apertures reveal
Galaxies remains a favorite of deep-sky more detail. NGC 5394 is a magnitude 13.0
observers. Many of the catalog’s 338 objects compact spiral measuring 1.7' by 0.7' with
are bright (a few are Messier objects), while two faint, elongated arms. Glowing at
others pose a challenge for big apertures. magnitude 11.7, NGC 5395 is bigger (2.7'
Although Arp considered these galaxies by 1.2') and has one arm sweeping in front
peculiar for the way they looked, astrono- of its disk.
mers now realize most are interacting or
colliding galaxies. As such, they often look George Abell:
intriguing through a telescope. master list creator
Arp 157 (NGC 520) ranks among the Caltech graduate student George Abell
more unusual objects in Pisces. This edge- was among the first people to study the
on pair of colliding galaxies looks like a POSS plates after they were developed. As
ARP 22 triangular door wedge. Glowing at magni- a result, he had first dibs on looking for
A lone extended spiral arm and an asymmetrical tude 11.4 and measuring 4.6' by 1.7', the new objects. His efforts produced three
disk qualify this galaxy as peculiar. ESO object shows up through 8-inch scopes. lists of different objects: planetary nebulae,
Arp 22 (NGC 4027) is a barred spiral globular star clusters, and galaxy clusters.
galaxy with a single extended arm that He published the first two in 1955; the
looks like a comma through amateur tele- 1957 galaxy cluster catalog served as his
scopes — definitely not a typical spiral! Ph.D. thesis.
This 11th-magnitude denizen of Corvus
spans 3.8' by 2.3'. Its strange appearance Planetary nebulae
likely arises from a collision with a smaller Abell 12 is the easiest of the Abell plan-
galaxy millions of years ago. etaries to find because it lies just 1.2'
Arp 214 (NGC 3718) lies 3.2° west of west-northwest of 4th-magnitude Mu (μ)
Gamma (γ) Ursae Majoris. A distorted Orionis. Like all low-surface-brightness
spiral with a large dust lane arcing across planetary nebulae, an Oxygen-III filter
the middle of the disk, Arp 214 combines increases its contrast with the background
features of a face-on and edge-on galaxy. sky and makes it easier to see. This Sun-
Shining at magnitude 10.7 and measuring like star’s death shroud spans 40".
10' by 4.7', it is large and easy to observe. Abell 21, better known as the Medusa
NGC 3729 is a smaller spiral to the east Nebula, resides in southern Gemini near
ARP 214 that likely collided with NGC 3718. the constellation’s border with Canis
A galactic collision produced this odd-looking Arp 322, a complex group of galaxies also Minor. This crescent-shaped nebula mea-
object (at right) that seems to be part edge-
on and part face-on spiral. Directly south of
cataloged as Hickson 56, lies 7' south of sures about 10' by 6', which translates into
it (below) lurks the tangled mess of galaxies Arp 214 and in the same field of view. a physical diameter of 4 light-years, plac-
cataloged as Arp 322. DIETMAR HAGER Arp 84 (NGC 5394-5) is a wonderful ing Abell 21 among the oldest known
pair of interacting galaxies often over- planetaries.
looked in favor of its neighbor in Canes Abell 39 in Hercules is a ghostly cloud
Venatici, the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51, of ionized gas in the shape of an almost
PALOMAR 6
It’s hard to identify this 12th-magnitude globular
ABELL 39
cluster against the rich backdrop along the The circular form of this planetary nebula caught the eye of George Abell as he examined photographic
Ophiuchus-Sagittarius border. DANIEL B. PHILLIPS plates from the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. WIYN/NOAO/NSF
perfect circle spanning 2.6'. Like many Helen Sawyer Hogg probably deserves
Abell planetaries, it is a challenge, but the credit for giving them the “Palomar”
observers with an 8-inch scope under name. Thirteen of these 15 clusters were
a dark sky can see it. unknown to astronomers of the mid-
1950s. They are not easy to observe
Galaxy clusters because they have low surface bright-
Abell’s catalog of rich galaxy clusters ini- nesses, and interstellar matter obscures
tially contained 2,712 entries. After Abell many of them. The three targets I’ll high-
died in 1983, Harold Corwin and Ronald light are among the toughest objects in
Olowin continued the survey in the this article. Seek them under the most
southern sky. They added 1,361 clusters, transparent skies you can get.
bringing the total to 4,073. Palomar 6 rates as one of Ophiuchus’
Abell 262 glows at 13th magnitude most challenging clusters. Embedded in
and is one of several galaxy clusters in a rich star field on the constellation’s bor-
Andromeda visible through modest tele- der with Sagittarius, Palomar 6 is large PALOMAR 8
scopes. It holds seven NGC objects and (7.2' across), faint (magnitude 11.6), and This compact, 11th-magnitude globular star cluster
dozens of fainter galaxies in a compact diffuse. It is one of four globulars known stands out quite well despite the myriad stars in
this part of Sagittarius. ANTHONY AYIOMAMITIS
field. Unlike most rich galaxy clusters, to harbor a planetary nebula, a 16th-
Abell 262 has a high percentage of spirals. magnitude object that spans 8" on the
It belongs to the enormous Perseus-Pisces cluster’s north side.
Supercluster, which includes the Perseus Palomar 8 in Sagittarius shines at
Cluster (Abell 426). magnitude 11.0, making it one of the
Abell 1367, the Leo Cluster, dwells list’s brighter clusters. A round glow mea-
5.5° north of 2nd-magnitude Denebola. suring 4.7' across, Palomar 8 lies 2.4° east-
The brightest cluster member, the mag- southeast of the bright open cluster M25.
nitude 11.8 elliptical galaxy NGC 3842, Palomar 11 lies 2.3° east-southeast
possesses a central black hole with a of 5th-magnitude Kappa (κ) Aquilae.
mass of nearly 10 billion Suns, making Although Palomar 11 glows at 10th mag-
it one of the most massive black holes nitude, that’s deceptive because its light
known. This spiral-rich cluster appears is spread over a diameter of nearly 10'.
more than three times the diameter of the I hope this article entices you to
Full Moon, so you’ll want to use a wide- explore the tip of an astronomical iceberg.
field eyepiece to explore it. Many of the You can find plenty more specialized cata-
targets glow brighter than 13th magni- logs online. Look for names like Collinder, PALOMAR 11
tude; the challenge comes in identifying Hickson, Sharpless, and Terzian — these Plan to use a large scope to find this challenging
each object. are just a few that await discovery as you globular cluster, whose light spreads across a
diameter of nearly 10'. ANTHONY AYIOMAMITIS
expand your universe.
Palomar globular clusters
Although Abell created this list, several Longtime deep-sky observer Alan Goldstein
other astronomers helped find these has been writing about distant objects
globulars on the POSS plates, and for Astronomy since 1981.
We test Coronado’s
latest
A sleek look, easy operation, and a

tunable filter make the SolarMax III
one to consider. by Raymond Shubinski
W
hen I was director Out of the box A double-stack with a 400mm focal length. The
of the East Kentucky Those of us who own quality Hydrogen- actual solar filters are mounted on
alpha filter sits
Science Center in equipment know the impor- at the front of front of the tube assembly, making
Prestonsburg, Kentucky, tance of good storage. The the telescope. this an incredibly versatile telescope
we created an outreach program with a SolarMax III case is made of MEADE INSTRUMENTS — but more about that later. As
mobile observatory. Because the program aluminum with metal reinforc- with all solar scopes, SolarMax III
went to schools in the daytime, we needed ing bands across all the edges, and addi- lets you directly and safely observe the
solar scopes. tional reinforcement on each corner. The Sun’s chromosphere in real time. Unlike
So I visited Coronado Telescopes in aluminum panels on the case are anodized common full-aperture, white-light solar
Tucson, Arizona. At the time, it made black, while all the reinforcing bands are filters, which allow you to safely view a
the best small solar telescopes available. finished in brass. This carrying case looks combination of all of the Sun’s visible light,
When I entered the workshops, I was like a piece of luxury luggage; it was cer- the SolarMax III provides views of our
immediately struck by the people and tainly built to protect the telescope inside. daytime star specifically in the Hydrogen-
products I encountered. The attention Opening the case reveals the SolarMax alpha (Hα) wavelength.
to detail, craftsmanship, and precision telescope nestled in the fitted interior Meade produces the SolarMax with
were obviously paramount. foam. The finish on the scope is a combi- either a single and double stack of filters;
The solar scopes I purchased for the nation of brass and black anodization. this refers to the number of etalon filters
Science Center performed flawlessly. It looks great and reminds me of a fine supplied on the instrument. (Etalon is a
Needless to say, that meant I was excited 19th-century instrument. French word for “standard.”) These filters
to receive the new 70mm SolarMax III SolarMax III is, in fact, a 2.75-inch were developed over a hundred years ago
telescope to inspect, use, and review. (70 millimeters) f/5.7 refracting telescope and remain the standard for this type of
60 AS T R O N O M Y • FE B R UA RY 2019
equipment. The review telescope has a
double-stack configuration, which gives
finer control of tuning and, thus, reveals
more detail.
The Sun produces energy all across the
electromagnetic spectrum. It’s like the
Sun’s total energy output being all the keys
on a piano played at once. Hα, then, is just
a single key. Wavelengths are measured in
angstroms or nanometers. That of Hα is at
6562.8 A or 656.28 nm. Etalon filters are
designed to eliminate all but this single line
of energy.
second etalon filter. You adjust The SolarMax III knobs that tune the etalon filters.
Using the scope these to fine-tune the etalons is an impressive
telescope, optically
It was easy to get a fantastic 3D
The tripod didn’t come with the scope, and thus bring out additional and mechanically. image. Some features on the Sun
but that wasn’t a problem. The unit comes details. Meade also placed a MEADE INSTRUMENTS are moving toward or away from
with a standard dovetail mounting rail, blocking filter in what looks Earth. Light undergoes a
which works on most telescope mounts. like a star diagonal, which is Doppler shift as a result. The
Once I attached the telescope to the attached to a tube that fits in the focusing T-Max Tuners adjust the etalon filters to
equatorial mount on my tripod, I set the rack. The blocking filter eliminates more help compensate for this visual Doppler
SolarMax III out under the desert Sun. wavelengths of light and produces an image shift. The end result is amazing contrast
I’ve often been asked why I need a that’s safe to look at. and detail.
finder scope to locate the Sun. It’s not as It takes some practice to get the best When observing with the SolarMax III,
easy (or safe) as most people think — it’s visual image through this scope. The solar features normally only seen in profes-
not like you can look through the scope or SolarMax III is fitted with a high-quality 2" sional images are visible. At the time I used
even sight down its tube. But on this scope, dual-speed rack and pinion focuser, which this telescope, the Sun was relatively quiet.
Meade’s 3½-inch-long brass SolRanger allows for both coarse and fine adjust- The chromosphere had a distinct mottled
Sun finder is firmly attached to the upper ments. I had to pull the blocking filter with (grainy) look. At times, I could see promi-
mounting ring. This little gadget allows its tube about halfway out to get the best nences looping up from the Sun’s edge. By
sunlight to fall on a small piece of ground focused image. Then I adjusted the playing with the T-Max Tuners, I was able
glass at its back end. There’s no need to RichView Tuner. to achieve a definite 3D effect that was
look through the SolRanger. Just adjust the When I first looked though the eyepiece, astounding.
telescope until you center a small bright I saw several secondary solar images.
dot of sunlight on the glass. Rotating the tuner helped move these to Bonus!
Using a solar telescope isn’t as straight- where they weren’t noticeable. While still As I mentioned, the SolarMax III is a
forward as a regular scope. The various watching the image, I worked the two small basic refracting telescope with its front
filters need “tuning” to get the best image. end loaded with filters that allow you
The SolarMax III comes with a CEMAX to view the Sun. But if you unscrew the
18mm 1¼" eyepiece. Any standard 1¼" eye- etalon filter section, remove the blocking
piece will work, but the Coronado CEMAX PRODUCT INFORMATION filter, and replace it with a star diagonal
eyepieces are specially designed and coated (all quite simple to do), you end up with a
for Hα wavelength. SolarMax III quite normal optical telescope to view the
Four filters in this telescope make it Aperture: 2.75 inches planets or Moon. In fact, if you so desire,
possible to safely observe the Sun in the Focal length: 400 millimeters you can place a Meade 2" Solar White-
Hα wavelength. When you remove the Focal ratio: f/5.7 Light Herschel Wedge in the focusing
front dust cap, you’ll see that the objective Focuser: 2" two-speed rack and pinion rack, making this a nice white-light solar
lens is red. This is where the filtering Dimensions: 19.3 by 5.9 by 5.5 inches telescope. Talk about versatile!
starts. The red objective reduces or (49 by 15 by 14 centimeters) Meade Instruments bought Coronado
“rejects” most of the light energy entering Weight: 9.3 pounds (4.2 kilograms) Telescopes some time after my visit to its
the telescope. Comes with: Vixen-style dovetail, shop. Having used the SolarMax III
Directly behind the objective is the CEMAX 18mm 1¼" eyepiece, telescope, I can see that the dedication to
RichView Tuner, which sits in front of the SolRanger Sun finder quality and precision has not changed. In
first etalon filter. The tuner (it’s not a filter) Price: $2,299 fact, after using this scope, I’d say that
is mounted in a large brass ring and can be Contact: Meade Instruments these qualities not only have remained,
rotated to improve contrast and detail. An 27 Hubble but also improved.
inch or so behind the tuner is a small brass Irvine, CA 92618
knob on the first etalon filter. This is one 800.626.3233 Raymond Shubinski is a contributing editor
of two T-Max Tuners. There is a second www.meade.com of Astronomy who views the Sun often under
T-Max Tuner knob farther back at the the cloudless skies of Las Vegas.
OBSERVINGBASICS
BY GLENN CHAPLE
θ1 Orionis B
Experience the
θ1 Orionis A
θ1 Orionis D
θ1 Orionis C
Orion Nebula
It’s so visually stunning, you could almost sing its praises.
W
hat’s the top- — you experience it! I suggest
ranked nebula in doing that in three stages: first
the entire night with your unaided eyes, then
sky? The No. 1, with binoculars, and finally
must-see target through a telescope.
for the backyard astronomer? A naked-eye view of the
By sheer grandeur, the hands- Orion Nebula from a dark site
Embedded within Orion the Hunter is the Orion Nebula (pictured), which, in turn,
down winner would be the allows us to admire its name- contains a tight cluster of stars known as Trapezium (inset). NASA, ESA, M. ROBBERTO (STSCI/ESA),
Carina Nebula. However, I can sake constellation — arguably AND THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ORION TREASURY PROJECT TEAM; INSET: THEOFANIS N. MATSOPOULOS
only guess at its visual splendor the grandest of all. Orion the
because it lies at a declination Hunter consists of an 18°-by-11° star Iota (ι) Orionis is the wide by the French astronomer Jean-
of –60° and I’ve never had the lopsided rectangle formed by double star Struve (Σ) 747, Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan
fortune to travel far enough four bright stars framing a dis- whose magnitude 4.7 and 5.5 and later became the 43rd entry
south to spot it. tinctive diagonal row of three components are 36" apart. It’s in Messier’s catalog.
For that reason, I would cast more recognizable luminaries. interesting to note that Galileo The visual impact of the
my vote for the Orion Nebula. Each of these seven stars ranks himself observed and mapped Orion Nebula is so overwhelm-
It’s smaller and fainter than the among the 70 brightest in the the Sword but failed to see the ing that we initially overlook an
Carina Nebula, but it’s just 5° night sky. Two of them — 1st- Orion Nebula. The magnifying amazing little quartet of stars
south of the celestial equator, magnitude Betelgeuse and Rigel power of his telescope was com- embedded in the nebulosity and
making it accessible to virtually — are in the top 10. The myth- parable to that of modern-day best seen with a magnification
anyone on the planet. It’s a neb- ological Orion was an imposing binoculars, but its ¼° field of of 75x to 100x. This is the
ula for everyone! figure, and his namesake con- view would have been too small Trapezium, a tight cluster of
Before I sing a paeon to the stellation is no less impressive. to encompass the nebula. stars birthed by the Orion
beauty and wonder of Orion’s Nebula. Small scopes reveal the
Great Nebula, let me lay out a four stars — magnitudes 5.1,
few nuts-and-bolts facts. The A naked-eye view of the Orion 6.4, 6.6, and 7.5 — that make up
Orion Nebula is classified as an Nebula allows us to admire its namesake the group. The brightest of these
emission nebula — a cosmic constellation — Orion the Hunter. four suns is Theta1 (θ1) Orionis
cloud of dust and gas that C. Larger instruments will add
shines by emitting its own light. a pair of 11th-magnitude stars
Recent studies place its distance Hanging vertically from the A telescope places the Orion to the mix. Although some may
at about 1,300 light-years. Its three-star row (Orion’s Belt) is a Nebula at center stage — no question the choice of M42 as
apparent size of 1½° by 1° trans- fainter three-star chain (Orion’s competition from constellations the sky’s finest nebula, there is
lates to a true diameter of some Sword). Look at the middle or immediate surroundings! no doubt that the Trapezium
25 light-years. The nebula’s dis- member. It seems hazy. Is it the Even a common 2.4-inch refrac- is the heaven’s most beautiful
covery is credited to the French nebula, or is it an illusion? tor magnifying at just 30x to multiple star.
astronomer Nicholas Peiresc, Binoculars allow us to key in 50x captures impressive detail. Questions, comments, or
who spotted it in 1610. Charles on the Sword and its surround- Nebulous wreaths branch out- suggestions? Email me at
Messier observed and cataloged ings, proving that the haze at its ward like the open wings of a gchaple@hotmail.com. Next
it the night of March 4, 1769, center is not an illusion after ghostly eagle. Larger scopes month: I correct an error I
designating it M42. all. This hazy, puffy ball is a reveal a mottled, almost chaotic, made in The Edmund Scientific
On second thought, maybe definite attention-getter, but it texture and an overall greenish Mag 6 Star Atlas. Clear skies!
I’ll pass on “An Ode to the has competition from its sur- color. Just north of the Orion
Orion Nebula,” as music and roundings. A degree to its Nebula is a 7th-magnitude star Glenn Chaple has been an
words fail to adequately capture north is the open cluster NGC surrounded by haze. This avid observer since a friend
its visual grandeur. You don’t 1981. At the bottom of the detached portion of the Orion showed him Saturn through a
small backyard scope in 1963.
just observe the Orion Nebula Sword and next to the bright Nebula was discovered in 1731
BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Chaple.
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BINOCULARUNIVERSE
BY P H I L H A R R I N G TO N
Treats in Taurus
This is no bull — just great deep-sky observing.
I
closed last month’s col- and even though the Sun was
umn, which discussed nearby at the time, it was visible
some off-the-beaten-path in broad daylight for more than The Crab Nebula is one of the great supernova remnants in the sky, but it is relatively
targets in Taurus, with the three weeks. Halfway around small and faint for binocular users. R. JAY GABANY
promise that we would the globe, drawings attributed to
return to the Bull this month Anasazi and Mimbre Native snowbank. As I scanned back magnitude, M35 can be
in search for the corpse of a American artists also captured and forth through those bin- glimpsed by eye alone on the
star that died millennia ago. its appearance. Strangely, there oculars, I decided to see just darkest nights. But it takes bin-
That stellar corpse is none are no records that anyone in how many Messier objects I oculars to expose the true
other than the famous Crab Europe, just emerging from the could find. It seemed appropri- beauty of this object. Even when
Nebula (M1), one of the most Early Middle Ages, took notice ate to start at the beginning, so used under moderate suburban
fascinating objects found any- of the event. I aimed toward M1. Sure light pollution, most 7x and 10x
where in the heavens. When Today, of course, we know enough, it was there! It wasn’t binoculars resolve the brightest
he first happened upon it that they witnessed a super- obvious, but I could definitely dozen or so cluster stars from
August 28, 1758, Charles nova, the final hurrah of an make out a tiny smudge right the misty glow caused by
Messier mistook it for a comet. extremely massive star. All that where I knew the Crab lurked. another 200 fainter suns that
This singularly important obser- is left is an expanding cloud of I bet that you can do it, too, make up this outstanding stellar
vation ultimately led to his now- gaseous debris and, buried deep if you wait for an exceptionally gathering.
famous list of deep-sky objects. within, the rapidly beating clear night. Aim your binocu- Just southwest of M35 is the
But Messier was not the first heart of that ancient star, the lars toward the star Zeta (ζ) very rich and very distant open
person to lay eyes on the Crab. Crab Nebula pulsar. Tauri, marking the Bull’s east- cluster NGC 2158. Studies show
That moment went to London I can still remember the cold ern horn. Now look for two that M35 is 2,800 light-years
physician John Bevis, who had January night back in high fainter stars just to Zeta’s north away, but NGC 2158 is nearly
discovered it 27 years earlier. school when I first spotted the that together form a tiny tri- 16,000 light-years distant.
The Crab’s impact on our Crab through my original 7x35 angle. Finally, without moving NGC 2158 is usually listed
view of the universe began long binoculars. At the time, I con- your aim, shift your eyes from as between magnitudes 8.5
before that, however. On July 4, sidered it to be a reasonably those two dim suns about ½° to and 9 in observing handbooks,
1054, Chinese astronomers easy catch using my 8-inch the west. That’s where M1 lives. but I have always felt this is
studying the early predawn sky reflector, but impossible Please drop me a line through a bit optimistic. I can see it
suddenly noticed a brilliant star through binoculars that small. my website if you see it. through my 10x50 binoculars
where no star previously existed. One evening, I was out in my One of my favorite winter if steadily supported, but only
It outshone the planet Venus, backyard, literally lying in a open clusters is little more than on the best nights.
a binocular field to the east- There’s a third open cluster
northeast of Zeta Tauri, across in the same binocular field
the border in Gemini. M35 is as M35, although few pay it
much brighter and easier to find much attention. Lying about
than the Crab. Look for it near midway between M35 and Mu
the stars that form the foot of Geminorum, Collinder 89 is
the twin Castor. Trace his body a sparsely settled collection of
down from his namesake star about 15 suns. Only four, how-
toward his ankle and foot, ever, are apparent through
which are marked by an arc of binoculars: 9, 10, 11, and 12
three stars, Mu (μ), Eta (η), and Geminorum. This slender
1 Geminorum. M35 lies to the diamond of stars helps define
northwest of Eta. Its position the span of this obscure open
near Castor’s big toe leads me to cluster.
think of this as the “Soccer Ball
RICHARD MCCOY
Cluster,“ as it looks like Castor Phil Harrington is a longtime

is about to kick it right between contributor to Astronomy and
Binocular sweeps in Gemini will unveil M35, one of the winter sky’s brightest open the horns of Taurus. the author of many books.
clusters (center), and the more distant cluster NGC 2158 as a fainter glow (bottom). Shining at about 5th
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ASKASTR0 Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
SHEATH
HELIO
NO RETURNS
Q: PAGE 13 OF THE JULY 2018 ISSUE STATES
T ER
M INATION SHO
NEPTUNE
CK
VOYAGER 2
August 30, 2007
Crosses the
termination shock
URANUS
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S ESCAPE VELOCITY IS
U
1,381,308 MPH. THE VOYAGER SATELLITES SAT RN
VOYAGER 1
ARE NOT GOING THAT SPEED BUT APPEAR February 17, 1998
Becomes the most distant
HEADED OUT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. human-made object
SHOULD WE EXPECT THEM TO RETURN?

Mark Lampe, St. Louis, Missouri
VOYAGER 1
December 16, 2004 VOYAGER 1
A: Both Voyagers are on one- from the Sun. The escape veloc- Crosses the August 25, 2012
termination shock Passes the reach
way tickets out of the solar sys- ity was thus 30,400 mph (49,000 of the solar wind
tem. But, as you note, neither is km/h), well below the probe’s
traveling anywhere near exit velocity of 49,000 mph
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 (blue) has exited the solar system, with
1,381,308 mph (2,223,000 (79,000 km/h). Today, the dis- Voyager 2 (red) to follow. To leave the solar system, the Voyagers only
km/h). The apparent inconsis- tant spacecraft is still traveling at needed to reach the escape velocity at the last planet from which a gravity
tency arises because escape 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h) and assist was received: Saturn and Neptune, respectively. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
velocity depends on where you leaving the solar system at nearly
start your journey. five times the escape velocity of particles — as well as X-rays and and that is precisely why we
A handy formula for calcu- 7,900 mph (12,700 km/h). gamma rays (both highly ener- study it.
lating escape velocity is Richard Talcott getic forms of light). These can Our ignorance is a conse-
be extremely penetrating and quence of the fact that the tem-
2GM
Senior Editor
can damage, or microscopically perature (or, equivalently, the
υ esc
R
burn, cells and electronics. On energy) of everything in the
Q: IS IT POSSIBLE Earth, the atmosphere and mag- early universe exceeds, by far,
where vesc is the escape velocity, TO PASS THROUGH A netosphere largely protect us those that we can probe experi-
G is the gravitational constant, 4 MILLION-DEGREE CLOUD from cosmic rays. Some lethal mentally in even the most
M is the mass of the object OF INTERSTELLAR GAS radiation is still present, but it is advanced laboratory. However,
you’re leaving, and R is the dis- WITHOUT BURNING UP? emitted mostly from rocks and we have strong reasons to
tance from the center of that Launie Wellman soils — no cause for concern, as believe that the four fundamen-
object. The diagram and Fast Festus, Missouri long as the radiation dose is low. tal interactions that govern how
Fact in the July issue assumed Here again, the density matters! matter behaves — the strong,
you were escaping from the A: Four million degrees indeed Daniel Wang weak, electrical, and magnetic
object’s surface, so R is simply sounds like a burningly high Professor of Astronomy, interactions — are all manifes-
the radius. temperature. However, for a University of Massachusetts, Amherst tations of a single underlying
If you’re trying to leave the body to actually burn requires physical mechanism that occurs
solar system from Earth’s orbit, not only a high enough tem- only at these extreme tempera-
however, R is about 93,000,000 perature, but also a sufficiently Q: HOW CAN WE DETERMINE tures. As the universe expanded
miles (150,000,000 km; the dis- dense gas cloud. Interstellar THAT INFLATION OCCURRED and cooled, the strong and
tance of Earth from the Sun) space is mostly empty, especially FROM 10-35 TO 10-32 SECOND electro-weak interactions (this
and not 432,000 miles (695,500 in hot gas clouds, more so than AFTER THE BIG BANG, AND refers to the weak, electric, and
km; the Sun’s radius, as used in any vacuum produced on Earth. THAT THE UNIVERSE GREW magnetic interactions together)
the figure), so the escape veloc- Such a cloud simply does not 1026 IN THAT TIME? underwent a phase change,
ity is only about 94,000 mph have the heat or energy density Louis Lessinger which means they split apart
(151,300 km/h). Further, for an (a term that refers to the amount Plainview, New York and became distinct.
interplanetary spacecraft, its of energy available in the gas per It is not known exactly (i.e.,
escape velocity from the solar unit volume) high enough to A: The answer is the combina- through direct experimental
system is the escape velocity at effectively burn a human body, tion of a big extrapolation and evidence) how this process pro-
the last planet it received a grav- let alone a spaceship. So the an even bigger assumption, ceeded, but by comparison with
ity assist from. Take Voyager 1 high temperature is not a con- based on a solid hunch and the other phase changes we can
as an example: It encountered cern for interstellar travel. surety of our ignorance regard- probe, it is thought possible that
Saturn in November 1980, when However, one does need to ing what was really going on. this strong/electro-weak phase
the ringed planet was about consider cosmic rays — high- The truth is, everything about transition (splitting) could drive
890 million miles (1.4 billion km) energy subatomic charged the early universe is speculative, the period of inflation. The time
period you reference (10-35–10-32 involved with the invention of
second) is directly tied to the the inflationary paradigm in
temperature at which this phase the first place (e.g., Paul
transition was thought to occur. Steinhardt, Neil Turok), find
It is important that observa- inflation to be so contrived and
tional facts be differentiated finely tuned that it cannot be a
from theory or speculation. viable ultimate theory of the
Although inflation does not yet early universe.
fall within the realm of obser- William Jones
vational fact, many of its poten- Associate Professor, The Andromeda Galaxy is speeding toward us, but it will take 4 billion
tial implications do. I’ll list years to get here. This artist’s concept shows the night sky from Earth
Department of Physics, Princeton
in 3.75 billion years: Andromeda is much closer, appears larger, and
just a couple: We observe cor- University, Princeton, New Jersey has begun to distort the plane of the Milky Way with its gravitational pull.
relations in the cosmic micro- NASA, ESA, Z. LEVAY AND R. VAN DER MAREL/STSCI, T. HALLAS, AND A. MELLINGER
wave background (CMB) that

are acausal; fluctuations in Q: THE ANDROMEDA out how fast Andromeda is straight for us, or is it aimed off
temperature that occur at two GALAXY IS MOVING moving. We do this by observ- to the side? Right now, we know
points in space so far apart that TOWARD THE MILKY WAY ing the galaxy and comparing that if there is any offset, it’s
light could not travel between FROM 2.5 MILLION LIGHT- what we expect to see from a pretty small (less than the size
them in the lifetime of the uni- YEARS AWAY. TODAY, WE SEE galaxy at rest to what we actu- of a pixel on the Hubble Space
verse are found, empirically, to IT AS IT WAS 2.5 MILLION ally see from Andromeda. Telescope’s detector). However,
be highly correlated. Also, YEARS AGO. WOULDN’T ITS Things moving away from us even a small angle between
there is a characteristic scale ACTUAL POSITION BE have light that is Doppler Andromeda and the Milky Way
associated with these fluctua- 2.5 MILLION LIGHT-YEARS shifted toward the red end of will affect when and how the
tions, measured by both the CLOSER, AND SHOULDN’T IT the spectrum; things moving two galaxies collide, which stars
WMAP and Planck satellites, BE COLLIDING WITH OUR toward us have light shifted will be flung out of the galaxies,
that is too large to explain GALAXY NOW? toward the blue. and which will stay in. Think
unless inflation occurred. Bill Gerhold Based on Doppler shifting of about playing golf or baseball
Finally, our universe currently Hewitt, New Jersey its light, Andromeda is speeding or tennis — the movement of
seems to be undergoing some- toward us at 68 miles per sec- the ball changes when you don’t
thing like the inflation that A: Ever since we could measure ond (110 kilometers per second). hit it head on.
people imagine in the early the movement of Andromeda, Compare this to the light from Unless something radically
universe. By some bizarre we’ve known it was on a colli- Andromeda, which is moving changes Andromeda’s course,
coincidence it seems to have sion course with the Milky toward us at 186,000 miles per current estimates say that we’re
started about the time our solar Way. Fortunately, a galaxy is second (300,000 km/s). only about 4 billion years from
system formed, some 5 billion much heftier than a photon, So how much closer to colli- a catastrophic collision that
years ago. and it is not flying toward us at sion with Andromeda have we will leave us inside a merged
These facts are true whether the speed of light, so we have a come in the past 2.5 million remnant of what was once two
or not our current theories of little more than 2.5 million years? If we assume Andromeda separate galaxies.
the early universe are true. years to prepare. To figure out has been moving at the same Valerie Mikles
Indeed many leading physicists, how soon this collision will speed without accelerating, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
including some of those occur, first we have to figure then in the last 2.5 million Administration Contractor,
years, Andromeda has moved Quality Assurance, I.M. Systems Group,
only 900 light-years closer to us. College Park, Maryland
Considering that the galaxy
itself is 110,000 light-years
across (give or take; this num- Send us your
ber is continually being questions
revised), this is a small but sig- Send your astronomy
nificant mosey. questions via email to
But our assumption isn’t askastro@astronomy.com,
totally correct. As Andromeda or write to Ask Astro,
gets closer, the gravitational P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha,
attraction between it and the WI 53187. Be sure to tell us
Milky Way gets stronger and your full name and where
The cosmic microwave background, as measured by the Planck satellite, Andromeda accelerates in our you live. Unfortunately, we
shows tiny temperature fluctuations that were “blown up” when inflation
occurred. These fluctuations are correlated over distances too large for
direction. On top of that, there’s cannot answer all questions
light to have traveled between them, given the age of the universe, one more factor we don’t know submitted.
indicating they were once much closer together. ESA AND THE PLANCK COLLABORATION well: Is Andromeda headed
READER
GALLERY
1. PASS THE BUTTER

The Lobster Claw Nebula (Sharpless
2–157) is relatively easy to image, but
a difficult catch using your eyes and
a telescope. This emission nebula lies
in the constellation Cassiopeia the
Queen. • Peter Jenkins
2. ONCE AND FORMER STAR

CTB 1 (Abell 85) is a supernova
remnant in the constellation
Cassiopeia. It’s about the same
apparent size as the Full Moon but
quite faint. The object is round except
for the breakout structure to the
northeast. George Abell originally
classified it as a planetary nebula,
No. 85 in his catalog.
• Douglas J. Struble
3. JUST PASSING THROUGH
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
approaches within 1° of the Salt and
Pepper Cluster (M37) in Auriga on
September 10, 2018. At the time, the
comet shone at 7th magnitude, a bit
fainter than the cluster, which glows
at magnitude 5.6. Comet 21P is the
parent body of the Draconid meteor
shower, a minor display that peaks
October 8 each year. • Miguel Claro
4. SPIRAL SYMMETRY
The delicate arms of NGC 3486 show
the promise of star birth through their
glittering blue and pink patches. This
barred spiral galaxy lies 27.4 million
light-years away in the constellation
Leo Minor. And what a field it floats
in — just look at all the background
galaxies. • Adam Block/Mount
3 Lemmon SkyCenter/University of
Arizona
5. LOOP THE LOOP

The Cygnus Loop, also known as the
Veil Nebula, is a huge supernova
remnant that measures some 3° across.
Parts of this object have their own
names. Examples include the Witch’s
Broom (NGC 6960), Pickering’s Triangle
(NGC 6979), and the Network Nebula
(NGC 6992/5). • Joseph P. Fisher
6. WHAT’S POLARIS?
This image, taken July 25, 2018, at the
height of the Southern Hemisphere
winter, shows the Amundsen-Scott
South Pole Station in Antarctica. The
station lies at an altitude of 9,301 feet
(2,835 meters) and a latitude within
8.8° of the South Pole. • Hunter Davis
4 5
7
7. ROSE-COLORED GASES
The Small Rosette Nebula (Sharpless
2–170) is an emission nebula in the
constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.
It lies some 7,500 light-years away.
The small star cluster centered on the
nebula is Stock 18. • Chuck Ayoub
8. I MEANT TO DO THAT!
The photographer calls this image
“the luckiest shot I ever took.” It
shows the Milky Way, reddish Mars
(bottom), and a superluminous Perseid
meteor. He captured this image with a
13-second exposure August 13, 2018,
at 0h19m33s UT. • Daniel Chamaratos
9
9. SMART-LOOKING OBJECT
The Little Dumbbell (M76) in Perseus
is one of four planetary nebulae in
Charles Messier’s famous catalog of
deep-sky objects that are not comets
— but which looked like comets when
viewed through the small telescopes
of his time. This object appears as a
smaller version of one of the other
planetaries in Messier’s list, the
Dumbbell Nebula (M27). • Jonathan
Talbot
10. SO MANY GALAXIES

The Hercules Cluster of galaxies
(Abell 2151) lies half a billion light-
years away in the boundaries of the
constellation Hercules the Hero. It
contains some 200 members, many
of which are interacting with their
neighbors. • Tony Hallas
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
10 readergallery@astronomy.com.
BREAK
THROUGH
A whale of
a show
The universe may be vast,
but it can feel downright
claustrophobic in some
places. Take this region of
western Cetus the Whale,
where two barred spiral
galaxies are locked in a
fatal embrace. Although
these galaxies started to
interact only recently,
signs of chaos appear all
over. The collision has
triggered a burst of star
formation that reveals
itself in a profusion of
bright blue clusters.
Meanwhile, tidal forces
have pulled long streamers
of stars, gas, and dust from
each galaxy. The pair,
collectively cataloged as
Arp 256, lies 350 million
light-years from Earth.
ESA/HUBBLE & NASA
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SOUTHERN
SKY MARTIN GEORGE describes the solar system’s changing landscape
as it appears in Earth’s southern sky.
April 2019: Mercury at its morning best

As darkness falls these early 42"-diameter disk. Also look celestial object except for the Zeta’s west-northwest. Or, per-
autumn evenings, Mars appears for Jupiter’s four bright moons, Sun and Moon. Unfortunately, haps it would be better to say
as a bright point of light low in which change relative positions Venus currently lies far from that NGC 2451 appears to be
the northwest. The Red Planet within just a few hours. Earth and doesn’t look like an open cluster.
stands 3° above the Pleiades star Saturn trails about two much through a telescope. The There’s no question that the
cluster (M45) at the beginning hours behind Jupiter and planet’s disk spans 12" at mid- collection makes a fine target
of April, and the two make a appears some 25° to its larger month and appears nearly full. through binoculars. The slight
pretty pair through binoculars cousin’s lower right in the late Mercury lies several degrees optical aid reveals a group of
during the month’s first week. evening sky. The magnitude 0.5 below Venus and stands out stars surrounding the magni-
As Mars drifts eastward ringed planet stands out against because no star in the vicinity tude 3.6 sun c Pup. This central
against the starry backdrop, the backdrop of northeastern rivals it. The innermost planet star has a distinct orange-red
however, it leaves the Pleiades Sagittarius the Archer. reaches greatest elongation color that stands out particu-
behind and slides north of the If you thought Jupiter April 11, when it lies 28° west larly well when viewed through
larger Hyades star cluster. The looked nice through your tele- of the Sun and appears nearly a telescope at low power.
V-shaped Hyades spans about scope, wait until you get a peek 15° high an hour before sunup. Although NGC 2451 makes
4° and is anchored by the 1st- of Saturn. The best views come It then shines at magnitude 0.3 for great stargazing, it turns out
magnitude foreground star when it climbs high in the east just 5° below Venus. (The plan- not to be a cluster at all. When
Aldebaran. Mars remains after midnight because you’re ets close to within 4° of each astronomers studied the precise
within a binocular field of the looking through less of Earth’s other around midmonth before motions of the stars in this
cluster for nearly 10 days, pass- turbulent atmosphere. On a separating again.) The best tele- direction, they learned that a
ing 7° north of similarly col- night with good conditions, a scopic views of Mercury come majority of the bright apparent
ored Aldebaran on the 16th. At small scope reveals the planet’s early in the month when its members are merely a chance
magnitude 1.6, the planet glows 17"-diameter disk surrounded 9"-diameter disk shows a alignment.
slightly fainter than the star. by a dramatic ring system that crescent phase. The story doesn’t end here,
Unfortunately, Mars lies far spans 38" and tilts 24° to our however. An open cluster does
from Earth and offers little to line of sight. You’ll also see The starry sky exist in this location, but it is
those who target it through a Saturn’s biggest and brightest Puppis the Stern rides high in separate from the object
telescope. The planet shows a moon, 8th-magnitude Titan. the western sky after darkness marked NGC 2451 on star
featureless disk that measures A waning gibbous Moon falls in April. The constellation charts. A close examination
just 4" across. occults Saturn on April 25 for once belonged to the great ship of the region shows a group
Although Mars is the lone observers in eastern Australia, Argo, which French astronomer of stars — since named NGC
planet to grace our early eve- New Zealand, and western Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divid- 2451A — moving together
ning sky, better subjects are South America. From ed into three parts — Puppis, through space. This cluster
only a few hours away. Jupiter Auckland, New Zealand, Carina, and Vela — in the 18th lies about 650 light-years
rises around 9 p.m. local time in Saturn’s disk begins to disap- century. Johannes Bayer had from Earth.
mid-April and climbs nearly pear behind the Moon’s bright assigned Greek letters to the As if that weren’t enough, it
halfway to the zenith in the limb at 12h32m UT with the brighter stars in Argo in the became clear some years later
east by midnight. At magnitude rings starting to vanish 15 to early 1600s, however. After the that a second cluster resides in
–2.3, the giant world shines 20 seconds earlier. The ringed breakup, the stars in each con- the same direction, at about
more than 50 times brighter planet reappears at the dark stellation retained their original twice the distance. Not surpris-
than any of the background limb at 13h41m UT. From designations, so each ended up ingly, astronomers named it
stars in its host constellation, Auckland, the event occurs on with only a partial set. NGC 2451B.
Ophiuchus the Serpent-bearer. the morning of the 26th. Puppis includes the magni- Although you won’t be able
As dazzling as Jupiter The two inner planets tude 2.2 star Zeta (ζ) Puppis, to make out these two struc-
appears to the naked eye, take remain companions in the east- an O-type supergiant that tures as you observe the strik-
a few moments to observe it ern sky before dawn all month. ranks among the hottest visible ing collection of suns dubbed
through a telescope. Even a Venus rises first and appears to the naked eye. But our target NGC 2451, it’s an appealing
small instrument reveals a far more prominent. At magni- this month is the nice open star story to keep in mind while
wealth of detail on the planet’s tude –3.9, it outshines every cluster NGC 2451 located 4° to enjoying the view.
STAR S
DOME
THE ALL-SKY MAP PA V O
97
SHOWS HOW THE 63
GC
SKY LOOKS AT: Ach NGC 1 O C TA N S
04
9 P.M. April 1 rna e
r
8 P.M. April 15 _
SMC
7 P.M. April 30 E
RU S
HYD
R AL LUM
ST GU
Planets are shown AU IA N
at midmonth TR
S
APU
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RO MEN
LO
RE SA IN
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IU C C
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207
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UMB
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MAGNITUDES
37
Cas
tor
Sirius Open cluster OR
MIN
0.0 LEO
Globular cluster LY N X
1.0
Diffuse nebula
2.0
3.0 Planetary nebula
4.0
5.0 Galaxy
N
HOW TO USE THIS MAP: This map portrays
the sky as seen near 30° south latitude.
Located inside the border are the four
APRIL 2019
directions: north, south, east, and
AR
west. To find stars, hold the map Calendar of events
overhead and orient it so a
direction label matches the 1 The Moon is at apogee (405,577 12 First Quarter Moon occurs at
A direction you’re facing. kilometers from Earth), 0h14m UT 19h06m UT
M
R The stars above the
O
N map’s horizon now 2 The Moon passes 3° south of 16 Mars passes 7° north of
match what’s Venus, 4h UT Aldebaran, 22h UT
in the sky.
Mercury passes 0.4° north of The Moon is at perigee
S U
Neptune, 19h UT (364,205 kilometers from Earth),

UP
22h05m UT
L
The Moon passes 3° south of

Neptune, 23h UT 19 Full Moon occurs at 11h12m UT
The Moon passes 4° south of 22 Uranus is in conjunction with the

Mercury, 23h UT Sun, 23h UT
C
5 New Moon occurs at 8h50m UT 23 Lyrid meteor shower peaks
Asteroid Iris is at opposition, The Moon passes 1.6° north of

9h UT Jupiter, 12h UT
A
6 The Moon passes 5° south of 25 Pluto is stationary, 9h UT

LIBR
M83
Uranus, 13h UT
The Moon passes 0.4° south of
8 Dwarf planet Ceres is stationary, Saturn, 14h UT
21h UT
The Moon passes 0.07° north of
9 The Moon passes 5° south of Pluto, 20h UT
E Mars, 7h UT
Spica
26 Last Quarter Moon occurs at

10 Asteroid Pallas is at opposition, 22h18m UT
_
1h UT
M104
)
28 The Moon is at apogee
ptic Venus passes 0.3° south of (404,582 kilometers from Earth),
GO
li
(ec Neptune, 4h UT 18h20m UT
VIR
Jupiter is stationary, 17h UT 30 Saturn is stationary, 2h UT
11 Mercury is at greatest western The Moon passes 3° south of

elongation (28°), 20h UT Neptune, 8h UT
ES
rus
ÖT
tu
BO
_Arc
4
M6
STAR COLORS:
ES
IC
GP Stars’ true colors

EN
N
depend on surface
ER
temperature. Hot
B
A
stars glow blue; slight-

M
O
ly cooler ones, white;

C
I CI intermediate stars (like

N AT the Sun), yellow; followed
VE by orange and, ultimately, red.
ES Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’
N
CA color receptors, and so appear white
without optical aid.
Illustrations by Astronomy: Roen Kelly
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT www.Astronomy.com/starchart.

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Astronomy - February 2019 USA PDF

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Get ready for the 2019 ECLIPSE p.

The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine

BOB BERMAN www.Astronomy.com

EXPLORE extinct constellations p. 48 ONLINE

WE TEST Coronado’s new solar scope p. 60 CODE p. 4

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M16 Eagle Nebula

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This vivid but ominous

ROVER COMPLETES MISSION ON ASTEROID RYUGU

Earth HOW FAR AWAY IS THE MOON? Moon

FERMI NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY

ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

Diameter of all other planets combined is 236,000 miles (380,000 km)

the Milky Way suggest that just before

A radiant, in the Milky way, especially in

Lyman-alpha emission — which occurs at with so little available heat.

FROM LEFT: FOTOSCHAB/DREAMSTIME; NASA, ESA

BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman.

A joint mission will deliver two orbiters

INNER PLANET DELIGHT

ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

Cat’s Paw Nebula leaves its infrared print

BINARY SYSTEM PRIMER: PART 2

X-RAY: NASA/CXC/NCSU/S. REYNOLDS. OPTICAL: PAN-STARRS

CONTACT BINARIES are systems in which

the team discovered that the wind is creating

SOLAR SYSTEM MINI SET

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Eugene Wigner (right)

Wigner‘s alongside the great

BROWSE THE “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Hester.

Opportunity peeks out

OBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA/SCOTT SHEPPARD, COURTESY OF CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE

‘The Goblin’ bolsters case for Planet X

no signal has yet been received, and efforts to

ALMA takes Europa’s temperature

Naked-eye Mars she succeeded September 17.

in daylight around 6:50 p.m. So, she lined

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NASA/ESA/D. PLAYER (STSCI)

Superflares plague young red dwarfs exomoon

Pulling the trigger

the telescopes needed to produce high-

EARTH IS TEEMING WITH LIFE proteins depends on water’s polar

CHRIS BUTCH PHOTO BY NERISSA ESCANLAR

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