TAAS Fabulous Fifty Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Friday May 8, MDT (7:30 pm) All TAAS and other new and not so new astronomers are invited Ursa Major

Evening Events 7:30 pm – Meet inside Dee’s house for overview of winter sky. 8:30 pm – View night sky outside. 9:00 pm – Social session inside Dee’s house. 10:00 pm – Optional additional viewing outside.

1.Provide new astronomers a list of 50 night sky objects that can locate with the naked eye. 2. A list that will showcase the night sky for an entire year. 3. A list that the beginning astronomer will remember from one observing session to the next. 4. A list that once observed will be the basis for knowing the night sky well enough to perform more detailed observing. Objectives

1. Divide the observing activities into the four seasons: a. winter –Jan-Feb-Mar b. spring –Apr-May-Jun c. summer – Jul-Aug-Sep d. fall –Oct-Nov-Dec 2. Begin with the bright and easy to locate and identify stars and associated constellations. 3. Add the other constellations for each season. Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Methodology Boötes

4.Add a few naked eye Messier Objects. 5.Include planets as a separate observing activity. 6.Include the Moon as a separate observing activity. 7. Include meteor showers as separate observing activity. Methodology (cont.) Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita M 44 “The Beehive”

Constellations Stars Messier Object Ursa Major Dubhe Merak Leo Regulus M 44 “The Beehive” Boötes Arcturus M 3 Spring

The Messier objects are a set of over 100 astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets, so he compiled a list of them in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Mechain, to avoid wasting time on observing them. The number of objects in the catalog is currently 110. The Messier objects are the first deep space objects (outside of our solar system) that amateur astronomers will attempt to observe after observing the moon and the planets. All of the Messier objects are visible in small telescopes and many are observable in binoculars. A few are visible to the naked eye. What Are the Messier Objects (M)?

Star Charts Free on-line

Tonight’s process 1.We will first look at a “free” Skymap. It can be downloaded at 2. Then we will examine each constellation and its bright star(s) in detail. 3. Observe outside.

The Evening Sky Map We will examine how to best use the Sky Map We begin by locating the four cardinal directions: a. South b. North c. East d. West Next we will learn how to hold or “orient” the Sky Map as we observe. It is very simple. As you observe, you hold the chart so that the direction that you are looking is at the bottom of the chart. We will now use the Evening Sky Map to find some objects in the night sky. This lesson will use the Northern Hemisphere May Sky Map

The Spring Skymap Hold your Skymap with EAST on the bottom and view to the EAST. Leo Boötes Ursa Major

Star hopping to find objects 1. Learning how to move from a know object to an unknown object. 2. Looking for “geometric situations” half-way between two visible stars is the object I want to view

Spring Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Constellation Ursa Major “the Big Bear” Two bright stars Dubhe Merak North Star “POLARIS” Pointers to the North Star

Two stars of the bowl always point to Polaris (north)

Spring Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Constellation Ursa Major “the Big Bear” Two bright stars Dubhe Merak BUT this photo is actually just an ASTERISM North Star “POLARIS” Pointers to the North Star

A prominent pattern or group of stars, typically having a popular name but smaller than a constellation. Asterism The Big Dipper is NOT a constellation it is an asterism.

The constellation is called “URSA MAJOR.” The asterism is called “THE BIG DIPPER.” The constellation called URSA MAJOR

Spring Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Constellation Leo “the Lion” Bright star Regulus “The backward question mark” This constellation actually “LOOKS LIKE” a lion.

The Spring Naked Eye MESSIER OBJRCT Next to Leo M 44 Open Cluster called “The Beehive”

M 44 The BEEHIVE The Spring Naked Eye Messier Object is M 44 in the constellation CANCER “the crab” Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

Star Hopping to M 44 “the BEEHIVE” It is “near” Leo in the dim constellation Cancer

Constellation Cancer is a dim constellation between LEO and GEMINI A winter FAB 50 constellation

Star Hopping to M 44 “the BEEHIVE” Draw a line from Regulus in LEO to Pollux in GEMINI M 44 is about ½ way between the two stars.

Spring Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Constellation Bootes (bow-OH-tease) “the herdsman” Bright star Arcturus

Arcturus has a visual magnitude of −0.04, making it the brightest star north of the celestial equator, and the fourth brightest star in the night sky. ARCTURUS in Bootes

Magnitude (brightness ) Sky Lesson 5.1 *

Magnitude (brightness) (cont.) Sky Lesson 5.3 The “bigger” the dot the brighter the star

Arc to Arcturus Follow the handle of the BIG DIPPER and “arc” to Arcturus You just “star hopped” from the Big Dipper to Arcturus

Arc to Arcturus (cont.)

Spring A very BIG star A SMALL star Arcturus Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

So, how BIG is Arcturus? How many EARTHS will fit into ARCTURUS? 109 EARTHS will fit into the SUN. 17,500 SUNS will fit into ARCTURUS. Therefore, 1,900,000 EARTHS fit into ARCTURUS. 1.9 million

Arcturus is a “BIG” Star This summer we will look at even BIGGER star, ANTARES. 186 million miles

The Spring MESSIER OBJRCT near Boötes M 3 Globular Cluster

Finding M 3 Cor Caroli Arcturus Draw line from Cor Caroli to Arcturus Go about mid-point Then just a “little bit” more M3

Spring TAAS Fabulous 50 (cont.) Stars Constellations Messier Regulus Leo M 44 (actually in Cancer) Arcturus Bootes (bow-OH-tease) M 3 Dubhe Ursa Major Merak Cancer M 44 Photo Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita Leo

The Spring Skymap Leo Bootes Hold your Skymap with EAST on the bottom and view to the EAST. Ursa Major Leo Boötes

Gemini Ursa Minor Auriga Canis Major Canis Minor Orion Taurus Cassiopeia Review of the Winter Sky

Review of Winter Sky Looking West on Friday May 8, 2015 at 9 pm Auriga Capella Orion Betelgeuse Gemini Castor Pollux Canis Major Sirius Canis Minor Procyon

Review of the Spring Sky Leo Boötes Ursa Major Photos Courtesy of Naoyuki Kurita

The End