Tag Archives: aphelion

Go Stargazing! July Edition

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Saturn is the only planet visible to the naked eye in the evening skies of July, 2011.  Face south-southwest at dusk, and you’ll see Saturn near a star of similar brightness—Spica in Virgo.  Saturn is a bit to the right of Spica as you face southwest.   The ringed planet remains well placed for evening viewing, and remains in the evening sky until late September 2011.

Hubble Images Suggest Rogue Asteroid Smacked Jupiter
Creative Commons License photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Mars and Jupiter are now higher in the pre-dawn sky.  Jupiter, set against a background of very dim stars, dominates the eastern sky at dawn.  Mars is dimmer and much lower in the east northeast.  It has fully emerged from the sun’s glare, and will brighten slightly each morning.  Venus is now out of sight, as it is passing around the far side of the sun from our perspective.

The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing up.  From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’; those stars are in the southwest at dusk.  Leo, the Lion, sets in the west at dusk.

Antares, brightest star of Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the south, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius rising behind it.  The Summer Triangle has fully risen in the northeast.  The stars of summer now dominate the evening sky.

Moon Phases in July 2011:

New Moon                       July 1, 4:02 p.m.

1st Quarter                     July 8, 9:09 p.m.

Full Moon                        July 15, 3:12 p.m.

Last Quarter                  July 23, 6:48 a.m.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse
Creative Commons License photo credit: Bruce McKay~YSP

The new moon of July 1 partially blocks the sun, but only as seen from the Antarctic.  No one will get to see a total eclipse because the moon’s full shadow, or umbra, passes just below the Earth.

As we celebrate our independence this July 4, Earth will be at aphelion (at its greatest distance from the sun).  The precise time is 10 a.m.  Perihelion, the Earth’s closest approach to the sun, occurs in January.  Earth has perihelion and aphelion because its orbit is not a circle but an ellipse with an eccentricity (out-of-roundness) of about 1.6%.  Such a small variation, however, exerts no significant influence on our seasons, as you can determine for yourself by stepping outside.  The 23.5 degree tilt of Earth’s axis, on the other hand, is a much more dominant effect.  The very high midday sun of July ensures long days and baking heat in Houston and across much of the Northern Hemisphere.

By popular demand, our George Observatory will open to the public Fridays and Saturdays this summer (except July 8, due to a prior booking).  The Discovery Dome, our traveling planetarium, will be set up each of these Fridays to show films throughout the evening.

See Comet Hartley 2!

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Perhaps you were able to observe Comet McNaught this past June and July.  In case you missed that comet, however, another brighter than average comet has approached the Earth this October. Comet Hartley 2 is now visible in binoculars, and could be a naked-eye object around the time of its closest approach to Earth on October 20. As its name indicates, this is the second comet found by Malcolm Hartley. He discovered this comet in 1986 at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Comet Hartley 2 is a small object only about 1.5km across. It orbits the sun once in about 6.5 years, attaining a maximum (aphelion) distance from the sun of about 5.87 AU (beyond Jupiter’s orbit) and a minimum (perihelion) distance of about 1.05 AU (just beyond Earth’s orbit). This orbit places it in the Jupiter family of comets, which orbit in the same direction as the planets with periods of less than 20 years.   In fact, there is evidence that interaction with Jupiter has shortened Hartley 2′s orbital period from over 9 years to the present 6.5.

In October 2010, Hartley 2 comes to perihelion while Earth is on the same side of the sun. This brings Hartley 2 within 11.2 million km of the Earth, close enough to make it visible in our skies—possibly even to the naked eye.  Many comets come inside the Earth’s orbit as they approach the sun, which means we look more or less in the sun’s direction when seeing them at their brightest.  Hartley 2, on the other hand, has a perihelion just outside Earth’s orbit, so Earth is passing roughly between the sun and the comet this month.  Therefore, we can observe it while looking away from the sun in our sky. 

 Halley’s Comet with tail

Comets are made of ice and dust and are often called ‘dirty snowballs.’  We believe they are left over from the formation of the solar system.  As comets approach the sun, ice changes into gas and dust embedded in the ice is released.  A cloud of particles expands out to form a coma around the comet’s solid nucleus. This coma may be a hundred thousand miles across. Radiation pressure of sunlight and the powerful solar wind sweep gases and dust away from the comet’s head, forming tails pointed away from the sun.  Comets have bluish gas tails and yellowish dust tails.   Since Earth is passing more or less between the sun and Hartley 2, however, its tails will be mostly oriented away from us and foreshortened from our point of view. 

Hartley 2′s coma is now quite large in our sky, so you should look for a fuzzy area, perhaps bigger than the full moon, not a single point of light. The total brightness of the comet is about that of the dimmest stars visible, so the farther you can get from city lights, the better.  The large coma means that Hartley 2′s brightness is diffused over a large area, and therefore the comet may look dimmer than its total brightness would suggest.  Averted vision, which involves looking slightly away from the comet’s actual position, may help you see Hartley 2 if it is at the threshold of visibility.   If you choose a viewing site far from big cities and a night with no moon, you may see the comet with the unaided eye.  The extended coma has a soft, diffuse look comparable to the Milky Way band.  

October 20, the day of closest approach to Earth, has a large waning gibbous moon approaching its full phase on October 22.  Before the full moon, it may be easier to spot Hartley 2 at dawn, after the moon has set.  Or, you can look towards the end of the month, with the moon is at Last Quarter.   Here  is a chart showing Hartley 2′s position through November 3, 2010.  (Note that the dates given are in Universal Time, which corresponds to the previous evening for us.)  Of the constellations shown, Perseus rises in the northeast at dusk in mid-October, while Auriga comes up at about 9:30, also in the northeast.  Gemini, the Twins, rises closer to midnight. Keep in mind that predictions for a comet’s brightness are just that–predictions.  many comets appear significantly brighter or dimmer than expected. 

 Tempel 1 as photographed by Deep Impact

Amateur astronomers who get out and observe this comet won’t be alone in observing Hartley 2.  NASA has retargeted its Deep Impact spacecraft to fly past Hartley 2 on November 4, 2010.  Back in 2005, NASA used Deep Impact to study comet Tempel 1.  In that mission, scientists released a probe to impact Tempel 1 and study the material released.  Deep Impact will simply fly by Hartley 2, however, taking advantage of this opportunity to study yet another comet up close.

With its short orbital period, Hartley 2 should return for its next perihelion near April 20, 2017.  Earth, however, will not be on the same side of the sun as Hartley 2 in 2017, so the comet will be much dimmer in our sky.  Hopefully, our skies will cooperate, and Hartley 2 will brighten as expected or even more, and we’ll all get to appreciate a fascinating sight in the fall 2010 sky.

Go Stargazing! July Edition

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During July, you can watch a great planet race, as Venus closes in on Mars while they both close in on Saturn!

Saturn is now in the south southwest at dusk.  Look just to the west of due south, about 2/3 of the way up from the horizon to the zenith.

Venus remains high in the evening sky during July.  Face west at dusk and look for a point of light that outshines everything in the sky but the Sun and the Moon.

Mars is also in the western sky.  Look in the west at dusk for a reddish point of light between Venus and Saturn.

Observe all three carefully throughout July and watch as they get closer together.  By July 31, Mars will have caught up to Saturn, with Venus only about 7.5 degrees away.  Keep watching next month as Mars moves ahead of Saturn and Venus passes them both.

Jupiter is in the south at dawn this month.  It outshines all stars in the sky, so it’s easy to find.  By July 31, Jupiter rises at about 11 p.m.; it will be a late evening object next month.

In the west, a distinct backwards question mark shape outlines the mane and forepaws of Leo, the Lion.  Three stars forming a right triangle are to its upper left; they mark Leo’s hindquarters.  This month, the Lion serves as the backdrop for the great planet race described above.  The Big Dipper is high in the northwest at dusk. You can extend the curve of its handle to ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica.’  These stars high in the west and southwest, respectively, by dusk tonight.  Arcturus, by the way, is the fourth brightest star we ever see at night, but the brightest one Americans ever see in all of July.

In the east, look for the enormous Summer Triangle, consisting of the stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair.   This triangle is up all night long in July, hence its name.  Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the southeast at dusk.  Sagittarius, the Archer, known for its ‘teapot’ asterism, is to its left.  Between these two star patterns is the center of our Milky Way—the brightest part of that band as wee see it.  On a cloudless night far from the big city, see if you notice the Milky Way glow near the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius.

Summer Triangle

Moon Phases in July 2010:

Last Quarter                       July 4, 9:36 am

New Moon                            July 11, 2:40 pm

1st Quarter                         July 18, 5:11 am

Full Moon                            July 25, 8:36 pm

Flag of Turkey
Creative Commons License photo credit: steelight

The new moon of Sunday, July 11, will align precisely with the sun and Earth, casting its shadow on the Earth.  This will cause a total solar eclipse.

Unfortunately, the shadow’s path is entirely over the South Pacific Ocean.  Easter Island and certain islands of French Polynesia are the only land where totality can be seen.  Even partial phases are visible only from South America.

On Tuesday, July 6, Earth is as far from the sun as it will get this year, a position called aphelion.  Remember, the Earth’s orbit is not quite a circle but an ellipse.  We are therefore slightly closer to the Sun in January than in July.  Also, remember that the difference between our January and July distances from the Sun is small.  When it comes to making us hotter or colder, the effect of our axial tilt dominates.

Partial Eclipse of the Eclipse: Report from Shanghai

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In July 2009, I had a rare opportunity to travel with an HMNS sponsored tour group to the path of a solar eclipse. That eclipse occurred the morning of July 22, 2009, and was visible in Asia and the Pacific. Unfortunately, clouds marred the event as seen from our location just outside Shanghai. But since the clouds did not completely hide the eclipse, we were able to witness some of its effects.

Eclipsed? Not totally.
Creative Commons License photo credit: James Jordan

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth and casts its shadow on the Earth.  The shadow itself, called the umbra, is the region in which the Moon completely blocks the Sun.  Anyone in the Moon’s umbra experiences a total eclipse of the Sun.  As the Moon passes in front of the Earth, its shadow traces a path across the Earth’s surface; this is the ‘path of totality’.  To see a total solar eclipse, one must travel to a place on the path of totality.  As it happens, last month’s path covered parts of India, the Himalayas, China, and the open Pacific.

In an interesting coincidence, the Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun and about 400 times closer.  Thus, the Moon and Sun appear to be about the same size (just over 1/2 degree across) in our sky.  However, the Moon had been at perigee (closest approach to Earth) on July 21, making it slight larger than usual in our sky.  Further, every year in early July (July 3 in 2009) the Earth is as far as possible from the Sun (called aphelion).   These factors combined to make the New Moon of July 22 8%  larger than the Sun in our sky.  Thus, this is the longest eclipse of the 21st century, lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds when seen on the centerline at local noon.

This was the latest eclipse in Saros cycle 136.  Astronomers in ancient Babylon noticed that similar solar and lunar eclipses recurred every 18 years, 10, 11, or 12 days, and 8 hours.  This corresponds to 223 lunations.  (One lunation is the period from one New Moon to the next–about 29.5 days).  The 10, 11, or 12 days depend on how many leap years are in the 18 year period.  In 1691, Edmund Halley applied the name ‘saros’ to this cycle, based the ‘SAR,’ a Babylonian unit of measure.  It turns out that the unit for keeping track of eclipses in Babylon was not the SAR, but Halley’s term stuck.  Cycle 136, then includes the eclipses of  July 11, 1991, June 30, 1073, and June 20, 1955.  Future eclipses in this cycle will occur on August 2, 2027, August 12, 2045, and so on.  As eclipses of cycle 136 occur further and further from aphelion, they won’t be quite as long as this year’s.  There won’t be a longer total solar eclipse until June 13, 2132.  That’s when a different saros cycle, #139, begins to occur near aphelion.

The Shanghai Tourism Administration estimates that over 13,000 overseas visitors traveled to Shanghai to watch the eclipse.  Along with hundreds of other eclipse chasers, our group left Shanghai proper to observe the eclipse from the Yangshan Deep Water Port, a small island southeast of the city itself.   To understand why, refer again to the July 2009 path of totality.  Drawn on the eclipse path on that map is a black Sun with small rays, indicating a point on the open water southeast of Japan.  This is the point of maximum eclipse, where the eclipse occurred at local noon and lasted the full 6 minutes and 39 seconds.  At other places on the path, totality was slightly shorter.  A few folks actually sailed the Pacific in order to be near that point.  We, however, opted for the convenience of observing on land.  Shanghai was the place in the path of totality closest to the point of maximum eclipse while still on the Asian mainland.

Also, note the blue line drawn down the middle of the path of totality.  Observing on that line, as opposed to the northern or southern edges of the path, gives you a longer eclipse.  Shanghai, although well within the path, is somewhat north of the blue centerline.  Moving from Shanghai itself to Yangshan island to the southeast put us closer to the centerline.  This gave us 5 minutes, 57 seconds of totality as opposed to about 5 minutes even in Shanghai.

eclipse 1
Photo from Shanghai, 2009 solar eclipse

As it turns out, there was another benefit from observing from Yangshan.  July 22, 2009 was rainy in Shanghai.  At Yangshan, however, it was simply overcast.  And just when we were beginning to think we’d miss the entire event, the clouds began to thin out in spots, allowing us occasional glimpses of the partially eclipsed Sun.

Unfortunately, those thinner clouds were not with us during totality.  We missed seeing the beautiful corona around the totally eclipsed Sun.  We could not see the planets and the brighter stars against the mid-day twilight sky.  And we could not watch the Moon’s shadow approach and then leave us  making shadow bands on the ground as it did so.  However, we did notice how much darker and cooler it got during totality.  After all, an overcast sky at night or in twilight is much darker than an overcast sky in broad daylight.  Cheers and whistles rose from Yangshan as darkness fell at 9:37 am and lasted until 9:43 am local time.

eclipse 2
Photo from Shanghai, 2009 solar eclipse

Literally seconds after totality was over, the clouds once again became thin enough for us to see the Sun through them.  As we watched the Sun come out of eclipse, we gave thanks for having avoided the rain and for being able to see as much as we saw, although we wished the clouds had thinned a little earlier to give us a glimpse of totality.

Would you like to have a similar experience?  Well, the path of the next total solar eclipse, on July 11, 2010, scarcely touches land at all, although it does pass over exotic Easter Island.  On November 13, 2012, totality is visible from northern Australia.

Can’t afford to leave the country to see an eclipse?  The Moon’s shadow crosses the United States on Monday, August 21, 2017.  The path of totality for that eclipse passes roughly from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.  How about a total eclipse right here in Texas?  Mark April 8, 2024, on your calendars.  On that date the Moon shadow first touches land near Mazatlan, Mexico, then sweeps right across the center of Texas before heading off to the northeast.  Folks in Dallas, Austin, and the western part of the San Antonio area see a total eclipse on that date; Houston experiences a deep partial eclipse.  The really young can look forward to May 11, 2078.  On that date, the Moon’s shadow passes just south of the upper Texas coast on its way to New Orleans and Atlanta.  Houstonians again experience a very deep partial eclipse.

The Moon’s shadow, then, will visit North America several times in the 21st century.  Maybe you can go observe the rare and beautiful spectacle of a solar eclipse, with better luck than I had in Shanghai.