Ceres-Lagoon Nebula Transit Caught On Camera

It was quite an event for amateur astronomers: dwarf planet Ceres was going to be crossing the Lagoon Nebula at the turn of May into June. True, while Ceres is always visible (and photographic), the fact that it was going to be crossing the second brightest nebula in the Northern sky would make it very easy to find and then shoot over the nights of the transit.

The only thing that could ruin the event would be clouds.

Fortunately, here in Northeast Ohio at least, the sky cooperated for two of the three best nights when the event was taking place. Below are two photos, the top one is from the morning of June 2 and the bottom is from the morning of the 4th (the 3rd was a cloud-out). Marked with an arrow is Ceres, the celestial body that was once considered a planet for about 50 years after its discovery.

Sorry for the low quality of the images, but these were single night events and the neighbors trees do not afford a long view of something this low in the sky.

Hope you like them anyway . . .

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Galileo's Fingers On Display

Galileo Galilei

In a story from the strange file, three of Galileo's fingers are currently on display at an Italian science museum. While everyone interested in astronomy knows all about Galileo himself, the story behind his fingers is little-known and quite interesting.

Galileo died in 1642 while under house arrest for challenging the geocentric view of the solar system, which was, according to the church, official dogma. Although he recanted, Galileo was not allowed a tomb befitting the prestigious scientist he was. However, in 1737, nearly a century after his death, this attitude had softened and it was decided to give Galileo a more fitting final resting place.

Galileo was dug up and while his body was in storage, three of the digits from his right hand, a tooth, and one of his vertebrae were removed by admirers (a strange way to show appreciation by today's standards!). The vertebrae ended up in the University of Padua, where Galileo was a professor. The fingers on the other hand, went on quite an odyssey.

The mummified fingers, along with the tooth, were kept in a sealed container that was kept in one family and passed from one generation to the next through the centuries (quite an inheritance!). Unfortunately, by the turn of the 20th century, no one seems to have remembered where the body parts went. Oops! Needless to say, they were all thought to have been lost.

The good news was that a few years ago, everything turned up[ at, of all places, an auction. This just goes to show that one never knows what will turn up when buying antiques! The relics, once recognized for what they were, then went straight to the Museum of the History of Science, which reopened as the Galileo Museum this year after renovation.

So now, in addition to instruments built and used by Galileo, visitors can also come face to finger with the great man himself!

Don't believe it? Here's a link with a photo!

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Titan as seen from Cassini: an abode of life?

Recent discoveries about Titan, Saturn's largest moon, have led to increased speculation that we may not be alone in the universe. All of the new findings come courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft, launched on its mission to Saturn and Titan over five years ago.

The discovery? An unexpected absence of hydrogen on Titan's surface. The implications: anything from life to natural processes. Life first.

The findings concerning hydrogen on Titan are interesting to say the least. First, hydrogen has been detected high up in Titan's atmosphere. However, as one gets closer to the surface of the moon, hydrogen decreases. So where is it all going? One possibility is that it is being used by living organisms.

So far as we know, all life requires liquid in some form. On Titan, it is far too cold (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) for any life to use water. However, liquid methane lakes have been detected on Titan. Now, this is an educated guess, but it is possible. Models for methane-based (rather than carbon based) life have been proposed. Now think about it: humans use oxygen to breathe. The human body is also made up, in large part, of oxygen, as the human body is mostly water. Now if life on Titan follows a similar path, it is very possible that methane-based life would use part of the methane molecule (the hydrogen) for respiration.

Now the other possibilities.

Some unknown chemical reaction could be going on that converts bare hydrogen into something else, such as methane. Sunlight reacting with chemicals on Titan could be doing something to make the hydrogen form into something else in the atmosphere. In short, there are a lot of possible chemical reactions going on that could account for the unexpected absence of hydrogen.

When searching for life on other worlds, there are a lot of things that can give false positives. What scientists need to look for is some life-hinting signature that cannot explained by any natural phenomenon.

Stay tuned.

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May 2010 Astrophotos

May was quite a month for astrophotography. First, May-June is the time for the early globular clusters, three of which (M13 in Hercules, M5 in Serpens, and M3 in Bootes) are represented (I'll try for M92 this month). While spring may offer only a few globulars, all of the four mentioned here are among the sky's best even though the summer sky contains many more. May also presented a nice Jupiter-Moon conjunction early in the month. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that it was clear all three mornings ofthe closest passes! May also produced a Young Moon (24 hours or less) on the 14th. All in all , good times for shooting. Enjoy!

The Milky Way through the Summer Triangle, 5 minute single exposure

M13, the great Hercules cluster

M5 in Serpens, another beauty

M3 in Bootes, the first big globular of the season

M94 galaxy just below the Big Dipper

May 14 produced a Young Moon, captured on the P&S Olympus

Jupiter and Moon

Closest pass the next day

The day after close approach

Clouds and an orange Moon

Jupiter is well up by 4:45am EDT

Moon through the ED80

Note: all of the remaining Moon shots were done with the pocket Olympus (as were the conjunction pictures), this goes to show what a P&S cam can go

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One Year On Examiner

Wow, has it really been that long since I started writing for Examiner.com? Sure has been! It was exactly one year ago today that I posted my first article, a brief piece on the three basic types of digital cameras, to the rapidly growing, mostly news website.

Since that time, I have averaged almost an article a day on a wide variety (I hope you think so) of topics that are in some way photography related. True, while the basic how-to articles are not as numerous as they once were (hey, I get paid by the hit and news just gets more hits!) they are still there along with a wide variety of news topics. With the crazy world we live in, who knows what is going to happen, so why not check out my column, subscribe, and keep up on with what happens in the world of photography. You never know what is going to show up!

To celebrate my one year anniversary with Examiner, I compiled a list of my 15 best articles and arranged them into three categories for your reading pleasure. I could go on and on about how grateful I am to everyone who takes a minute or two each day to check out my column as it has been more successful than I ever could have anticipated, but for the sake of time, two simple words say it best: THANK YOU!

New News For Revolutionary Telescope, Lens

James Webb Space Telescope Model On Display

As we all know by now, despite still delivering breathtaking images time and time again, the Hubble Space Telescope is on its way out, due to be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope.

To help people gain a perspective of just what the scope will be like, its builder has constructed a full-sized replica of the future space scope. The model weighs 12,000 pounds, is 80 feet long, and 40 feet wide, and also features a replica of the Webb's 6.5m main mirror (which is over 3 times as wide as Hubble's). The model will be a central feature of the 2010 World Science Festival, which runs today through June 6 in New York City. This is just the latest stop for the model, which has seen Washington D.C., Florida, and Germany. As for the real scope, it will launch in 2014 and should be operational in 2015. The scope is named for James E. Webb, who headed NASA from 1961-1968.

Note the complete open design. Why would this be done other than as a weight-saving measure? Simple, the Webb scope is an infrared, not a visible light scope. According to NASA, this will allow the scope to see farther away (and farther back in time) than Hubble ever could.

Lenstip Tests Sigma 8-16mm DC HSM Lens

The world's widest lens just got run through another series of rigorous tests, this time by Poland-based Lenstip. The result: just like the earlier test on Photozone, very high praise. In short, Lenstip praided the lens for its high sharpness (among the best tested), high build quality, well-controlled distortion (for a lens this extreme), good flare control (for a lens with a huge, bulbous front element), and focus. Another thing noted in the review was that, due to the ultra, ultra wide angle and small apertures, missing focus should just about be impossible, so the whole Sigma inability to focus saga may not apply here.

On the down side, the lens was found to have very high vignetting (to be expected for a lens this wide that's not the size of a grapefruit) and high astigmatism (without which, an already above average lens would have been even better).

All in all, another good review for a one of a kind lens.

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What's Up Tonight: The June Sky

Grab The Camera!
Tonight, tomorrow. and the next night present a very unique photo op in that dwarf planet Ceres is crossing the Lagoon Nebula. Learn more here.

The Month At A Glance
With the arrival of June, the spring constellations are well established in the sky at dark and the stars of summer, headed by the unmistakable Summer Triangle are now starting to rise in the East with Scorpius in the South.

With June comes the Summer Solstice, which means the shortest night of the year. June is also the abode of the first consistently warm nights, earliest sunrise (5:53am) and
latest sunset (9:05pm). Like May, June is still a great time to use the Big Dipper (riding
high at nightfall) navigation system to find one’s way around the Spring Sky. Be sure to get a look at Leo and Corvus, as both are rapidly diving into the West by now. For anyone staying up late/getting up really early, look for the Milky Way arching across the sky from South to North

Planet-wise, June is great for viewing the two brightest of them all, blazing -4 magnitude Venus and still brighter than any star -2 magnitude Jupiter. At dusk, Venus will reach peak height around the middle of the month. Jupiter appears on the other end of the day and will rise a little earlier each night as June wears on. Be sure to see Mars and Saturn, as the two are quickly descending in the Western sky. The two planets are headed for a late July conjunction, so watch them get closer and closer during the course of June, too.

Now for some specific dates:
*NOTE: Sunrise/set times are for Northeast Ohio, your times, depending on location, will differ

All Month: Venus peaks in height after sunset, there's no better time than now to see Earth’s former “twin”
June 6 Jupiter and the waning crescent Moon meet up in the predawn sky
June 10: Mercury is about 7 degrees below the old moon low in the East/Northeast at dawn
June 11: Mercury is about 5 degrees right of the even older Moon at dawn
June 14: The sun will rise at 5:53am today and for the next
few, its earliest rising of the year
June 14: Venus meets a young waxing crescent Moon.
June 21: The summer solstice: the longest day (and shortest night) of the year
June 22: Venus is very close to the Beehive cluster at dusk
June 23: The waxing gibbeous Moon makes a near swipe at M4
June 24: Starting today and running for a few more, the Sun sets at 9:05pm, its latest set of the year
June 26: The nearly full Moon is in the Teapot’s “steam”
June 30: Jupiter is now rising nearly 5 hours before the Sun
End of the month: It’s now or never to get good views of both Mars and Saturn


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