New Horizons flies past Ultima Thule p.

28

JUNE 2019

The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine

How fast
is the
universe
EXPANDING?
Answering cosmology’s Bob Berman on
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sky objects
p. 12

EXPLORING
The Outer Limits
universe p. 44

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JUNE 2019
VOL. 47, NO. 6

ESA/HUBBLE & NASA

ON THE COVER
Expansion of the universe governs
how galaxies like the Antennae
(NGC 4038–9) interact.

CONTENTS
FEATURES
28
COLUMNS
Strange Universe 12
BOB BERMAN
20 COVER STORY 38 56
Tension at the heart StarDome and Mission complete for Binocular Universe 14
PHIL HARRINGTON
of cosmology Path of the Planets Opportunity rover
Astronomers have found two RICHARD TALCOTT; After 15 years exploring the Red Observing Basics 16
different — and mutually exclusive ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY Planet, the Mars Exploration GLENN CHAPLE
— values for the expansion rate of Rover mission has ended.
the universe. ROBERT NAEYE 44 ALISON KLESMAN AND JOHN WENZ
Secret Sky 64
STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
The Outer Limits universe
28 Objects briefly seen on television 60
New Horizons swings over 50 years ago make terrific The story behind
QUANTUM GRAVITY
past Ultima Thule targets for today’s amateur Stellarvue Snapshot 9
The historic encounter gave us astronomers. MICHAEL E. BAKICH From the start, this company’s Astro News 10
our first close-up look at a Kuiper goal was the perfect telescope.
Belt object, the most distant body 50 TONY HALLAS IN EVERY ISSUE
we have ever explored. The paper trail
DAVID J. EICHER of astronomy From the Editor 6
68
Transient treasures of word and Ask Astro Astro Letters 8
36 art show that our science has a Solar storms. Advertiser Index 65
Sky This Month rich and colorful past.
Jupiter dazzles all night. RAYMOND SHUBINSKI New Products 66
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND Reader Gallery 70
ALISTER LING Breakthrough 74

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FROM THE EDITOR
BY DAV I D J. E I C H E R
T
he famous Hubble
constant has been a
source of heated con-
troversy since its earli-
est days in the 1920s.
The number that defines the
expansion rate of the uni-
verse, the Hubble constant
(or H0) is estimated primarily of its consequences. It trans-
by measuring redshifts:
changes in a galaxy’s spec-
trum attributed to the fast
motion of the galaxy away
from an observer. Spectral
lines are shifted toward
the red end of the
spectrum by a small For decades, astronomers based on a Hubble
amount, giving away
a galaxy’s distance.
This may all sound
complex, but it’s not
the end of the story.
For decades, astrono-
mers have argued
about the value of the Hubble controversy stalks the
constant and faced off in
different camps, depending
on the technique used to find held the magic number at
the magic number. The clas-
sic battle raged from the
1960s through the 1980s and
saw teams led by Allan
Sandage on one side and
Gérard de Vaucouleurs on
the other. The Sandage team
argued for 50 to 55 kilometers about by uncertainties
per second per megaparsec,
and the de Vaucouleurs team
fixed upon 100 kilometers per of the cosmic microwave
second per megaparsec. (A
Follow the Dave’s Universe blog:
www.Astronomy.com/davesuniverse
Follow Dave Eicher on Twitter: @deicherstar
6 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
The
expanding
cosmos
parsec, one of the fundamen-
tal units of distance in the
cosmos, is 3.26 light-years.)
This month’s cover story
by science writer Robert
Naeye examines the history
of decoding the expansion
rate of the universe and all
lates into big implications
for the cosmos, including its
age, fate, and size, among
other things.
Naeye describes how
have argued about
value of the Hubble
constant and faced off
in different camps.
Hubble constant even now.
For some years, astronomers els, any remaining tension
73, after extensive research
by Wendy Freedman and the a new understanding of the
Hubble Space Telescope’s
Key Project. Many scientists
think the controversy
over the number will
disappear, and is brought
in measurements.
But recent measurements
background, the afterglow of
radiation left from the Big
Bang, suggest a somewhat
smaller number. They are
not direct measurements of
the Hubble constant, but
imply a number more like 67.
Data from the Planck satel-
lite, with the known compo-
sition of the universe — dark
energy, dark matter, and
normal matter — yield this
smaller result.
The implications are big.
Right now, astronomers
believe our universe is
13.8 billion years old,
constant of 67 from
the Planck. But if the
Hubble constant is
73, it would mean a
younger universe by
some several hundred
million years.
As methods converge and
theorists sharpen their mod-
among scientists over this
magic number might signal
standard model of physics.
Exciting times we live in, no?
Yours truly,
David J. Eicher
Editor
Editor David J. Eicher
Art Director LuAnn Williams Belter
EDITORIAL
Senior Editors Michael E. Bakich, Richard Talcott
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Reynolds, Sheldon Reynolds, Erika Rix, Raymond Shubinski
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 CELEBRATING
50 YEARS OF
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Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing with
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 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.

No Bull
“Specters of past constellations” in your
February issue is a fine article on failed
constellations, but it missed Poniatowski’s
Bull. It was created in honor of Stanisław
Poniatowski, king of Poland from 1764
to 1795. This starry tribute goes unrec-
ognized today, but it grips you none-
theless. When I showed the Bull to my
survey class in astronomy last semester, it
looked back at us through its eye, double
star 70 Ophiuchi. At a mere 17 light-
years away, Poniatowski lives on! And a
wide-field scope makes this bull’s-eye a
showpiece. — Michael Farney, Mitchell, SD
Alien commentary
Kiona N. Smith wrote compellingly in
February’s “How to build aliens in the
lab” about the attempts to create non-
carbon-based life, like what might exist
on Titan. The beauty of this comes from
the scientists’ creativity in devising
non-carbon-based cell parts. The news-
paper writer and critic H.L. Mencken,
writing about 100 years ago, once specu-
lated about the manner in which life might
exist on other planets. Writing philosophi-
cally, he said: “If the Lord God Almighty,
by combining carbon and the three gases,
can make an Ambassador to the Court of
St. James, I see absolutely no reason why
he cannot create a monad of helium and
fluorine.” — Paul Campion, New York, NY
Historic equations
Jeff Hester’s article in the February issue,
“Wigner’s anachronism,” is an enlight-
ened review of Eugene Wigner’s accom-
plishments and their importance to all
of science. His definition of mathematics
was written in 1960 and in the framework
provided at that time. More advanced
concepts have altered our thinking and
the utility of mathematics. While it may
be “trendy” to talk about how the uni-
verse is fine-tuned for our existence, we
must remember that eons before there
were any creatures living on this planet,
the universe was evolving with the same
patterns that later became identified as
mathematics. — Donald Craig, Indianapolis, IN
‘Oumuamua annihilation
I find it incredible that, in our lifetime, an
extrasolar object like ‘Oumuamua sailed
right through our solar system. From this
discovery, a scientist extrapolated such an
object can be found in the solar system
at least once a year. So what does this
mean for interstellar space travel, where a
fast spaceship could be annihilated after
colliding with a speck of dust? Hitting
an “ ‘Oumuamua” would light up the
sky, like a miniature supernova! Perhaps
that’s why we have not seen any aliens yet.
— Guenter Hoernig, Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Correction
The photo of Abell 39 on p. 59 of the
February 2019 issue was credited incor-
rectly. The photo credit should have read:
Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/
University of Arizona.

Take Part in Astronomy’s Readers Choice Awards

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8 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
QG
HOT BYTES >>
TRENDING
TO THE TOP
PUZZLE PIECE
Neptune’s newly
QUANTUM
GRAVITY
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH . . .

discovered smallest
moon, Hippocamp,
may be a piece broken
off from the larger
TALK IT OUT
A Northwestern University
model will use data from
isolation experiments to
predict and avoid crew
communications problems
DUSTY DISCOVERY
While searching data for
brown dwarfs, citizen
scientist Melina Thévenot
discovered the first white
dwarf surrounded by
moon Proteus. on missions to Mars. multiple dusty rings.

SNAPSHOT

Glowing
galaxies
A tiny neutron star shines brightly.

This vivid image shows the slow

merger of the two galaxies that make
up the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).
They both sit 23 million light-years
from Earth. The photo combines
optical imagery (appearing in blue)
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
with X-ray data (shown in green)
from NASA’s NuSTAR mission.

NASA/JPL-CALTECH, IPAC. TOP FROM LEFT: ESA/HUBBLE, NASA, L. CALÇADA; NASA; NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER/SCOTT WIESSINGER
Much to astronomers’ surprise,
the supermassive black holes in the
centers of these two galaxies are not
shining as intensely in X-rays as
expected. Researchers think this may
be due to a brief dip in brightness as
the black holes “flicker” over time.
Odder still, the X-ray emission
from these behemoths is matched by
an object millions of times less mas-
sive: a single, incredibly dense neutron
star about 12 miles (20 kilometers)
across and two times the mass of the
Sun. This neutron star is situated
on the left side of the main galaxy,
where its green glow can easily be
seen. Astronomers think the neutron
star’s strong magnetic field could be
causing it to blast out high-energy
X-rays, and that the other green spots
of X-ray emission in the colliding
galaxies could also be neutron stars.
— Amber Jorgenson

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 9
 ASTRONEWS SYSTEMS GO. NASA plans to launch the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices
Explorer, or SPHEREx, in 2023 to observe the entire sky in almost 100 different wavelengths and illuminate the origins of the universe.

MARS LANDER DIGS IN, THEN GRINDS TO A HALT

One of InSight’s instruments is stuck
in the ground; engineering models
on Earth could solve the problem.

N
ASA’s Mars InSight lander touched
down in November and immediately
got to work studying Mars’ deep
interior, including what it’s made of
and how the planet’s layers move. InSight
spent months studying the area around its
landing site, practicing its movements and
scouting the best locations to place instru-
ments. Then, in late February, it started
digging — and promptly got stuck.

ABRUPT STOP
InSight’s Heat Flow and Physical Properties
Package (HP3) instrument includes a “mole”
— a self-hammering spike — designed to

burrow up to 16 feet (5 meters) underground.
But the mole made it only about a foot
(0.3 m) deep before stopping. In March, HP3
principal investigator Tilman Spohn told
Astronomy the team’s best guess was that the
mole hit a rock or a gravel layer shortly after
beginning to dig February 28.
To find out more, the NASA team
turned to InSight’s camera and other sen-
sors. They also set to work on re-creating
the problem with engineering models on
Earth: InSight has a twin in Berlin, and
copies of its various instruments, including
the mole, also exist. Any potential solutions
will be tested extensively using the models
on Earth before trying them on the real
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
SITTING PRETTY. The HP3 instrument sits on the martian surface in this image taken March 19 by InSight’s
Instrument Deployment Camera. NASA is trying to find out why a hammering spike on HP3 has stopped digging.
Spohn says. “The hope is that what we’re dig, as the lander runs on solar power and
hammering against is a small rock, say half was designed for two Earth years of duty.
the size of the mole’s length. We could push
that aside by continuing to hammer.” Spohn STILL GOOD SCIENCE
calls this the “brute force” approach. The mole needs to descend at least 10 feet
One possible tactic would be to press (3 m) to measure heat flow from Mars’
down on the mole or its support structure, interior. If it can’t continue, “we would lose
probably with InSight’s arm, lending the a significant amount of science,” Spohn
mole more force and limiting recoil. But the admits. But InSight’s other instruments are
arm wasn’t designed for such a move. “If working as planned, and NASA could still

InSight on Mars.
But some scenarios might stop the
$800 million mission where it stands. “If it’s
a 1-meter (3 feet) block of rock at the spot,
there’s no way we can handle that situation,”
you make a mistake, it’s gone,” Spohn says.
But he also points out that if the mole is
able to dig freely again, it could reach its
target depth within about four hours.
InSight has plenty of power to finish the
NASA, ESA, A. SIMON (NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER), AND M.H. WONG AND A. HSU (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY)
get information from the dirt InSight has
already dug through. “It would still be stuff
that hasn’t been done before,” Spohn says.
“Not as bold as originally planned, but still
good science.” — Korey Haynes

CLOUDY SKIES. Astronomers use the Hubble

Summer storms on Uranus and Neptune Space Telescope to check on our outer solar system
neighbors annually. These images, taken in September
and November 2018, show weather on the ice giants.
At right, a dark storm spanning about 6,800 miles
(11,000 kilometers) rages on Neptune. It is the fourth
such tempest Hubble has imaged on the planet
since 1993. To the right of the dark vortex are white
companion clouds, which form as methane gas is
thrust upward by the storm’s vortex and freezes into
clouds. On the left is Uranus, with a large, white cloud
over its north polar cap. Researchers believe the
cloud is a result of the planet’s unique rotation and
tilt, which expose the north pole to uninterrupted
sunlight during the long summer season. Astronomers
aren’t sure how the narrow band of clouds around
the equator formed. Charting the weather on these
two ice giants helps scientists better understand the
differences — and similarities — between the planets
that share our Sun. — Alison Klesman

10 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 ASTRONEWS KEEP COOL. Research suggests the insulating crust of dwarf planet Ceres could keep salty water (called cryomagma)
in liquid form beneath the surface for up to 10 million years, explaining the various ages of its surface deposits.
In Andromeda,
a star explodes
like clockwork
This nova has erupted once
a year for millions of years,
leaving behind the largest
known cloud of stellar debris
around a white dwarf.
Astronomers have discovered that a
star in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
has been regularly erupting for the
past million years, leaving behind one
of the biggest shells of ejected mate-
rial ever seen. The new research, pub-
lished January 9 in the journal Nature,
not only marks the first discovery of
such a super-remnant in another gal-
axy; it also paves the way for detect-
ing a potentially huge population
of repeatedly exploding stars called
recurrent novae.
SWING YOUR PARTNER
The star responsible for this expan-
sive remnant, which stretches more
than 400 light-years across, is actu-
ally a diminutive white dwarf, the
Earth-sized remnant of a Sun-like
star. But in the case of this rem-
nant, which bears the catchy name
M31N 2008–12a, the culprit is not an
ordinary white dwarf: This star has a
dance partner.
As the tiny white dwarf and its
nearby companion star orbit each
other, the white dwarf rapidly
siphons hydrogen from its buddy.
HOW BIG
IS THE SUN?
Jupiter
Earth
The Moon
400,000
2,158 miles
(3,475 km)
86,882 miles
(139,823 km)
7,918 miles
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY AFTER SOHO/EIT CONSORTIUM/MDI TEAM
(12,742 km)
The Sun’s diameter
864,340 miles (1,391,020 km)
SUN WORSHIP. Our solar system is so
named because it’s dominated by Sol, the
Sun. This image, taken July 19, 2000, includes a
vast array of sunspots. But it’s hard to imagine how
just how big those sunspots — and the Sun itself —
are without a visual comparison. We’ve depicted
Jupiter, Earth, and the Moon to scale here, so you can
see how they stack up against our local star.
— Michael E. Bakich
Some 1.3 million Earths
could fit inside the Sun.
NOT DEAD YET. Like M31N 2008–12a, GK Persei (pictured) is a prime example of
a nova remnant.
When this material reaches the sur-
face, it’s heated and compressed
thanks to the white dwarf’s intense
gravitational pull. Eventually, the
hydrogen reaches a breaking point
and spontaneously fuses to create
helium, resulting in a powerful sur-
face explosion called a nova.
This burst of fusion causes the
white dwarf to temporarily brighten
up to a millionfold as it ejects material
outward at up to 3 percent the speed
of light. In the case of M31N 2008–12a,
over time these repeated explosions
have created an extensive and ever-
expanding cocoon of gas and dust
around the white dwarf. According
to the paper, “Larger than almost all
known remnants of even supernova
explosions, the existence of this shell
demonstrates that the nova M31N
2008–12a has erupted with high
frequency for millions of years.”
300,000 200,000 100,000
Miles
FAST
FACT
QUICK TAKES
X-RAY: NASA/CXC/RIKEN/D. TAKEI ET AL.; OPTICAL: NASA/STSCI; RADIO: NRAO/VLA
GROWING DARKER
Dark energy’s repulsive force
may be increasing over time,
suggests a new study that
used nearly 1,600 quasars to
track the universe’s expansion.
•
GAUGING GRAVITY
Scientists have repurposed a
movement-tracking device on
the Curiosity rover to measure
tiny variations in Mars’
gravitational field, revealing
new clues about the formation
of Mount Sharp, which the
rover is currently climbing.
•
FEELING SPACE
Astronomers teamed up with
IT KEEPS GOING AND GOING teachers to design a workshop
The massive size of the remnant is where those with hearing loss
not its only claim to fame. Indeed, can feel vibrations from
M31N 2008–12a also now holds the cosmic sources like stars,
galaxies, and supernovae.
title of most frequently recurring
nova, as it erupts at least once a year. •
SHORTER TIMELINE
“When we first discovered that
According to data from the
M31N 2008–12a erupted every year,
Gaia satellite, the Milky Way
we were very surprised,” said
will collide with the
co-author Allen Shafter of San Diego Andromeda Galaxy in some
State University in a press release. 3.9 billion years, not 4.5 billion
Most recurrent novae explode only years as previously thought.
about once a decade.
Even though the white dwarf has •
SALTY STAR
spent the past million years or so New ALMA observations
exploding, researchers don’t think it revealed the first detection
will last forever. The study concludes of sodium chloride (table salt)
that in less than 40,000 years, the in the disk surrounding a
white dwarf will either explode one young, massive star in the
last time as a type Ia supernova or Orion Nebula (M42).
collapse under the weight of the
accreted material into a neutron
•
ROCK ON
star. — Jake Parks Asteroid Day, which aims to
raise awareness about
asteroids and the search to
find them, will celebrate its
fifth anniversary June 30 with
thousands of events hosted
around the world.
•
IN PLAIN SIGHT
An international team of
researchers uncovered
hundreds of thousands of
0 previously unseen galaxies
in radio data from the Low
Frequency Array telescope.
•
SYNTHETIC LIFE
Research funded by NASA has
created a DNA-like molecule
that can store and transmit
information, which may force
scientists to rethink life
beyond Earth.
•
SHOT IN THE DARK
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft
fired a tantalum bullet into the
surface of asteroid Ryugu to
dislodge and collect samples
that will be brought to Earth
in December 2020. — J.P.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 11
 STRANGEUNIVERSE
BY BOB BERMAN
Flirting with
futility
Some phenomena can be
challenging to find, but
well worth the effort.
W
ith sky observ-
ing, as in most
things, success
is more satisfy-
ing than fail-
ure. If you want to show people
Saturn’s rings, there is no
upside to turbulent air blurring
those rings into an incoherent
mess. So why attempt an obser-
vation whose chance of success
is negligible?
Yet I know I’m not alone in
finding futility appealing.
I saw this last November
when I invited a couple of peo-
ple to join me in the meadow
behind my home for some
naked-eye exploring. I had two
targets in mind: the planet
Uranus and the Triangulum
Galaxy (M33). I expected the
first quest to be successful,
but not the second.
Sure enough, after they’d
followed my green laser to east-
ern Pisces and viewed Uranus
through image-stabilized bin-
oculars, we tried for a naked-
eye glimpse of the planet. And
we all saw it. There is a strange,
wonderful satisfaction to this
that cannot be shared with
most of our friends. Only
another astronomer can under-
stand the allure of seeing the
seventh planet with no optical
assistance. If there’s even a
word for this singular pleasure,
I don’t know what it is.
That autumn night was dry,
clear, and moonless, with the
nearest population center of
25,000 some 20 miles (30 kilo-
meters) away, so seeing M33
was a possibility. But from my
backyard meadow, I’ve seen it
only once all these years. The
BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman.
12 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
chance of success was minus-
cule. And so it happened; M33
wasn’t there. The point, how-
ever, is that it was fun to try.
Then I noticed a star where
there normally is only a blank
piece of celestial real estate.
“There’s Mira!” I practically
shouted. For decades I’ve delib-
erately avoided reading when
Mira (Omicron [ο] Ceti) would
reach naked-eye visibility.
There’s no trace of it nearly the
entire year. And then, for about
a month, an obvious star sud-
denly shines to the right of
Cetus’ tail. The thrill is seeing
that blank bit of sky undergo
that metamorphosis. The under-
lying science of a pulsating giant
star in its final death gasps
before becoming a planetary
nebula is pretty riveting, too.
Comet hunters routinely do
I know I’m not alone in finding
futility appealing.
the near-futility thing. They
search the sky hour after hour,
year after year, and typically
see nothing. And then in one
glorious pre-dawn moment,
they may become the first per-
son to witness the approach of
a new celestial object.
Something even more aston-
ishing happened to Oscar
Duhalde in 1987. He runs the
equipment at Las Campanas
Observatory in Chile, where the
great 6.5-meter Magellan tele-
scopes are perched. On
February 24, 1987, while per-
forming his technical and
instrument tasks, he stepped
The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is a difficult target for the naked eye, requiring utterly
perfect conditions. Even though it is rarely visible, many observers find the challenge to
spot it exciting. STEPHEN RAHN/FLICKR
out to walk to another observa-
tory building. Glancing casually
into the clear Chilean skies at
the Large Magellanic Cloud, as
he had done a thousand times
before, he now saw a star in it.
Oscar, one of the nicest guys in
the world, knows the sky far
more intimately than most pro-
fessional astronomers, and he
knew then and there that he’d
discovered the first naked-eye
supernova in four centuries.
Actually, Oscar’s story
doesn’t count — futility-wise
— because he wasn’t trying to
find a supernova. His tale is
more similar to that of the two
amateur observers (I knew one
of them) who observed the
spokes on Saturn’s rings
through their backyard tele-
scopes years before the Voyager
spacecraft first showed that
“impossible” feature to be real.
A more relevant quest involving
the sixth planet might be you or
me trying to see Saturn’s Great
White Spot. The storm typically
appears once every 29 years.
Normally there’s no trace of it.
Another impossible observa-
tion? What about the Sun’s bril-
liant red chromosphere? This is
something you should not look
for if you value your eyesight.
For a few seconds just as a total
eclipse is ending, immediately
before the literally blinding
photosphere starts to appear,
the awesome chromosphere is
briefly exposed. Using binocu-
lars longer than she should
have, near the end of the 2017
totality, my wife suddenly
shouted, “Oh my God, what is
that?” Despite being a veteran
of five totalities, she had never
even heard of the chromo-
sphere, but excitedly told us
how the Sun’s western edge had
just turned a vivid purple-red.
Far safer is the circum-
zenithal arc (CZA), which I
used to consider a near-futile
quest. I look for the CZA
almost every day, whenever the
Sun is lowish and a thin cirrus
layer is overhead. This upside-
down rainbow, whose vivid
color is unsurpassed by any
other phenomenon, can hover
directly overhead — but
nowhere else. Does successfully
seeing something only once out
of every 50 attempts qualify as
a nearly futile project?
What does? Please send your
favorite near-futile targets.
Join me and Pulse of the Planet’s
Jim Metzner in my new podcast,
Astounding Universe, at
http://astoundinguniverse.com.
 ASTRONEWS DOUBLE DOWN. A NASA researcher found a 23-mile-wide (37 kilometers) impact crater beneath the Greenland ice.
The new crater is about 100 miles (160 km) from a 19-mile-wide (30 km) crater discovered just three months before.

Ultima Thule reveals

its flatter shape

INCOMING! A planetary collision is exactly as bad as you would imagine. Unlike an asteroid impact, there’s not
just a crater left behind. Instead, such a massive crash strips the surviving world of much of its lighter elements,
leaving behind the dense core. NASA/JPL-CALTECH

First evidence of exoplanet collision

For the first time ever, astronomers think
they’ve discovered an exoplanet that
survived a catastrophic collision with another
planet. The evidence for the impact comes
from two “twin” exoplanets that seem a
bit more fraternal than identical, accord-
ing to research published February 4 in the
journal Nature Astronomy.
The pair of planets in question (along with
at least two other planets) orbit a Sun-like star
in the Kepler-107 system, roughly 1,700 light-
years away in the constellation Cygnus the
Swan. Known as Kepler-107b and Kepler-107c,
these planets have nearly identical sizes (both
have a radius of roughly 1.5 times that of
Earth), but the inner planet, Kepler-107b, is just
one-third the density of Kepler-107c, which is
more than twice as dense as Earth.
Previous studies have shown that intense
stellar radiation can strip the atmosphere from
a planet that sits too near its host star. But if
the inner planet lost its lighter atmospheric
ABOVE JUPITER’S THICK ATMOSPHERE
A FISHY SCENE. If you stood on the
cloud tops at the south pole of Jupiter and
looked straight overhead, these are the
PUPPIS
Canopus
D OR AD O
South Celestial Pole
CA RINA
RETICULUM
LMC
VOL ANS
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
elements, it should be denser than its twin,
not less dense. According to the paper, this
would “make the more-irradiated and less-
massive planet Kepler-107b denser than
Kepler-107c,” which is not the case.
However, there is another way that a planet
can lose a lot of mass: by getting whacked by
another planet. This is exactly what the
researchers think happened to Kepler-107c.
The team argues that the denser planet,
Kepler-107c, likely experienced a massive colli-
sion with a third, unknown planet at some
point in its past. Such a gigantic impact, the
study says, would have stripped the lighter sil-
icate mantle from Kepler-107c, leaving behind
an extremely dense, iron-rich core. According STRANGE SHAPE. The top image of Ultima
to the study, Kepler-107c could be as much as Thule averages 10 separate frames; the image
70 percent iron. below it has been processed to eliminate
Though further research is needed to con- blurring due to motion. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/NOAO
firm the hypothesis, if proven correct, this find
would become the first evidence for a plane-
tary collision outside our solar system. — J.P. Though it originally appeared as a snowman
made up of two globes, the Kuiper Belt object
Ultima Thule is actually more of a pancake.
The new view comes from parting shots taken
with the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager
on NASA’s New Horizons on January 1, as the
spacecraft was already 5,494 miles (8,862 kilo-
meters) past the contact binary. Researchers
reconstructed the object’s shape by watch-
stars you would see. The gas giant’s axis ing background stars disappear behind it in
points toward a nondescript region separate images, revealing that the larger
in the constellation Dorado the lobe, Ultima, is flattened like a pancake while
Dolphinfish, some 12° away from the smaller lobe, Thule, is shaped more like a
the night sky’s second-brightest dented walnut, according to a press release.
star, magnitude –0.7 Canopus. Going back over previous data, researchers
Even more impressive, the confirmed that their new model of Ultima
center of the Milky Way’s
Thule’s shape is consistent with the character-
galactic neighbor, the Large
istics gleaned from all prior observations. “We
Magellanic Cloud (LMC),
sits just 5° away. had an impression of Ultima Thule based on
— Richard Talcott the limited number of images returned in the
days around the flyby, but seeing more data
has significantly changed our view,” said New

Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern.

Because Jupiter’s Galilean
moons orbit in the planet’s
equatorial plane and their axes
are perpendicular to their orbits,
observers at their south poles
5° would have similar views.
FAST The object’s true shape has left researchers
FACT wondering about its formation, but will cer-
tainly shed further light on the processes that
shaped our outer solar system. — A.K.

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 13
 BINOCULARUNIVERSE
BY P H I L H A R R I N G TO N
Let’s go
asteroiding!
Minor planets make for challenging binocular targets.
O
n January 1, 1801,
Italian astrono-
mer Giuseppe
Piazzi spotted a
“star” through his
telescope that was not on his
detailed charts of the region. He
returned to the same location
over the next few nights, only to
find that this new star couldn’t
be a star at all. It had moved
against the stationary backdrop.
Whatever he had discovered, it
had to be orbiting the Sun.
At first, he thought he had
discovered a comet, but later
observations (by him and oth-
ers) allowed an orbit to be cal-
culated. Piazzi’s new object was
revolving around the Sun in a
nearly circular orbit at a dis-
tance of 2.77 astronomical
units. (An AU is the average
Earth-Sun distance.) That
placed it in the gulf between
Mars and Jupiter. He had dis-
covered the first asteroid, now
reclassified as a dwarf planet by
the International Astronomical
Union. As is customary, the
discoverer of a new member of
the solar system has the honor
of naming it. Piazzi chose
N AR I ES
j Path of Vesta
k faint stars of Aquarius, 3.7° west
Oct 21
E 31
Nov 10
TAU RU S
Vesta remains bright weeks before and after the asteroid’s opposition November 12.
14 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
May 12
q
22
June 1
N e
Path of Ceres
r
E
OPH IU CH US
SC OR PIUS t
t
Ceres crosses into Ophiuchus, Scorpius, and Libra from late May through early July.
Ceres for the Roman and Ophiuchi. As it continues to
Sicilian goddess of grain. march westward, it passes 1.5°
Asteroids can change dra- north of 4th-magnitude Nu (ν)
matically in brightness depend- Scorpii on June 9, and on the
ing on their distance from 17th, it appears 1.6° north of
Earth. The best time to look for Graffias (Beta [β] Scorpii).
them is when their distance During July, its retrograde
away from us is minimal. This motion will slow, allowing
occurs at opposition, when the Ceres to resume its normal,
asteroid rises in the east as the easterly track. It will hover
Sun sets in the west. between Graffias and Lambda
June opens with Ceres just (λ) Librae, slowly arcing south,
past its May 28 opposition. then southeast by the end of the
From late May through early month. In the process, Ceres
July, it appears to move in ret- will fade by more than a magni-
rograde as quicker Earth passes tude since June 1.
by. During this time, it slides Once you spot Ceres, make
from Ophiuchus, through visiting it a habit over the next
northernmost Scorpius, and few months. Note its position
into Libra. Throughout, it will on the chart each time you
remain around 7th magnitude. glimpse it. In the end, you’ll
Of course, that region of the have a personal record of Ceres’
sky has lots of 7th-magnitude 2019 apparition.
stars, so spotting which one is Ceres is not the only member
Ceres is a bit like looking for a of the asteroid belt visible
celestial needle in a haystack. through your binoculars. More
Ceres moves past several than 60 become brighter than
notable stars during the month, 10th magnitude around opposi-
which should help in our quest. tion, and should therefore be
I hope the sky is clear for you visible through binoculars.
May 24 and 25. On those On August 13, the 15th aster-
nights, Ceres is just north oid discovered, Eunomia, will
of 4th-magnitude Chi (χ) reach opposition. That night, it
will shine at magnitude 8.2,
faint but doable through
steadily supported 50mm bin-
oculars. It will lie among the
h
of Sadalsuud [Beta Aquarii].
You’ll need a good finder chart
20 30 Dec 10 to locate this challenging target.
(More on that later.)
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Surprisingly, even though
CET US Ceres is the largest object in the
asteroid belt at about 600 miles
1°
_
(960 kilometers) across, it is not
the brightest. That honor goes
LIBR A
11
21
July 1
i

`
31
11
h
21
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
t
b
1°
to Vesta, the fourth asteroid
discovered. German physician
Heinrich Olbers found Vesta on
March 29, 1807. Olbers had also
discovered the asteroid Pallas
five years earlier.
Vesta always puts on a fine
show around opposition. That’s
next set to occur November 12.
At that time, Vesta will be
within the constellation Cetus
the Whale. At opposition, Vesta
will be 1.56 AU from Earth and
shine at magnitude 6.5. It will
be 1.9° west-southwest of 4th-
magnitude Omicron (ο) Tauri,
which marks one of the Bull’s
front hoofs. That night’s Full
Moon will be only about a bin-
ocular field away, confounding
efforts to see Vesta. But take
heart. Vesta stays bright several
weeks before and after opposi-
tion: In November, it remains
brighter than 7th magnitude
and within binocular range.
I mentioned earlier that
Eunomia would be challenging
to search for, and the same is
true of most asteroids — accu-
rate finder charts are a must.
One of the best online resources
for this is in-the-sky.org/
newsindex.php?feed=asteroids.
Good luck with this introduc-
tion to asteroiding.
I’d enjoy hearing your
results. Contact me through my
website, philharrington.net.
Until next month, remember
that two eyes are better than
one.
Phil Harrington is a longtime
contributor to Astronomy and
the author of many books.
 ASTRONEWS HIDDEN FIGURE. NASA has renamed its Independent Verification and Validation Facility, which ensures the
agency’s missions succeed by confirming their software performs correctly, in honor of Katherine Johnson.

Radioactivity may dry out water worlds

Although we imagine that Earth’s oceans make
it a watery planet, our home is actually only a
tiny fraction of water by mass. And in other plan-
etary systems, water is more common than our
own planet implies: Some exoplanets are up to
50 percent water by mass. So, what causes some
planetary systems to stay wet, while others dry
out? The answer might be aluminum, says a
Nature Astronomy study published February 11.
Lead author Tim Lichtenberg of the University
of Oxford told Astronomy that when large
amounts of aluminum-26 — a radioactive form
of aluminum — decay, the process can heat up
and dry out the large boulders that collide to
form planets. As a result, the amount of alumi-
num in a young star system could predict which
types of planets will evolve there.
Aluminum heating matters only for bodies
of a certain size. Small pebbles don’t have HEAT IT UP. This artist’s concept illustrates how a planet’s birthplace affects the amount of radioactive aluminum
enough aluminum-26 to cause any heating. it inherits. At left, a planet formed in a massive, dense star cluster is subject to significant bombardment, resulting
Full-size planets may be able to retain their in a hotter, drier planet. The world at right, formed in a different environment, receives less aluminum-26 and stays
water through other methods, such as in an cooler and wetter. THIBAUT ROGER
atmosphere. But aluminum heating would
affect all objects in the unlucky size range which appears unexpectedly dry. However, this new idea remains just one possibility out of
between 5 and 50 miles (8 and 80 kilometers). Lichtenberg points out there’s no solid proof potentially many. “This is not the only method”
A good example of this effect in action that aluminum heating caused either our solar that can dry out systems like TRAPPIST-1, he
might be the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system, system’s or TRAPPIST-1’s relative dryness, so said. “But it is a powerful one.” — K.H.

1.6
The amount of data in the Pan-STARRS
digital sky survey’s second release.
It is the largest amount of
astronomical data ever published,
PETABYTES equivalent to 2 billion selfies.

MEET SOME CONTACT BINARIES

Asteroid 624 Comet 67P/ ODD COUPLE. In
January, New Horizons
Hektor Churyumov-Gerasimenko

flew by the Kuiper Belt
object Ultima Thule (MU69)
and identified it as a
contact binary: a double-
lobed object made up of
two bodies that have
come together until they
are gently touching. This
odd arrangement is not
unique in our solar system;
there are numerous other
bodies that astronomers
believe are contact
binaries, many of which
are closer to home in the
main asteroid belt or
Asteroid 216 Comet 1P/Halley circling the Sun as short-
Kleopatra period comets. Here are a
few of the solar system’s
more famous contact
binaries. — A.K.
FAST
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
NASA
Earth’s extended atmosphere
Think that Earth’s atmosphere only encompasses,
well, Earth? Think again. New findings published
February 15 in the Journal of Geophysical Research:
Space Physics show that our atmosphere stretches
much farther into space than previously thought.
Researchers made this discovery while “dusting
off” data from ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO), which has been studying the
Sun since 1995. Between 1996 and 1998, the space-
craft used its sensors to trace Earth’s geocorona —
the cloud of hydrogen atoms appearing where
Earth’s atmosphere meets outer space. When these
atoms interact with the Sun, they emit ultraviolet
light, visible in this image taken by Apollo 16
astronauts on the Moon in 1972.
SOHO used this light to measure how far the
geocorona extends. To their surprise, the researchers
found that the Moon, which sits about 239,000 miles

(385,000 kilometers) from Earth, lies well within the

FACT
As of July 2018, astronomers had
identified 83 suspected contact
binaries in our solar system: 69
asteroids, eight trans-Neptunian
objects, and six comets.
geocorona’s boundary, which stretches 390,000 miles
(630,000 km) into space. Now, the team hopes to
use this technique to detect hydrogen in the
atmospheres of more distant planets. — A.J.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 15
 OBSERVINGBASICS
BY GLENN CHAPLE
Make a mask
for double stars
Some stellar pairs are too bright to separate with a large
scope. An off-axis mask can help you easily split them.
O
ver the years, I’ve
always been an
advocate for the
small-aperture
telescope, tout-
ing its remarkable capabilities
in my writings and through
talks at astronomy conven-
tions and club meetings.
During my salad days as an
amateur astronomer, back in
the 1970s, my telescopic arse-
nal was made up of a 3-inch
f/10 reflector and a 2.4-inch
f/11 refractor. Modest in size
though they were, these high
focal ratio instruments were
remarkably capable — espe-
cially on double stars, my
favorite night-sky targets.
In the early 1980s, I took
a giant leap and purchased a
13.1-inch Dobsonian-mounted
reflector. This “fast” (f/4.5)
light-gobbling beast revealed
deep-sky wonders well beyond
the grasp of my little scopes.
But it didn’t do well with dou-
ble stars. The bright binary
star Castor, whose component
stars were separated by 2" at
the time, was resolvable in
the 3-inch, but not so in the
13.1-inch. Instead of two sepa-
rate stellar images, my eye was
greeted by an elongated, scin-
tillating blob of light.
Fortunately, the big scope
came with directions to make
an off-axis mask that would
convert it into an unob-
structed 5-inch f/12 long-focus
scope that promised to yield
sharper stellar images. When I
placed a cardboard prototype
over the front of the tube and
BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/Chaple.
16 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
pointed the scope at Castor,
the fuzzy blob was indeed
transformed into two
beautifully separated stars.
Encouraged by my success, I
fashioned a more permanent
model out of ⅛-inch plywood.
A few years ago, I sold the
13.1-inch Dobsonian (reluc-
tantly!) for an easier-to-handle
10-inch f/5 instrument.
Although there were no direc-
tions for making an off-axis
mask, I used my previous
experience to cobble together a
crude prototype in less than an
hour. To do the same, all you
need is a sheet of corrugated
cardboard greater in diameter
than the telescope tube, a pen-
cil, a hobby knife, a tape mea-
sure, and a roll of duct tape.
A mask allowed me to shift my attention
from faint fuzzies to close double stars.
Here’s the process:
1. To make sure the mask is
the correct size, hold the card-
board against the top of the
tube and trace out a circle that
matches the telescope’s out-
side diameter.
2. Use the tape measure
to determine the diameter of
the largest circle that will fit
between the secondary mirror
and support vanes. I found
that to be a 4-inch diameter
hole for my 10-inch scope.
3. Use a compass (or an
appropriately sized can) to
trace out the opening for the
mask. To compensate for the
Limiting the brightness
of double stars with an off-
axis mask can significantly
help you separate otherwise
indistinguishable stars. The two
large, bright stars of Castor (which
is really six stars that appear as one)
are seen in this sketch. JEREMY PEREZ
thickness of the telescope tube,
place the opening a half-inch
from the edge of the mask.
4. With the hobby knife,
cut out the aperture mask and
the opening.
5. Attach the mask to the
telescope with a few strips of
duct tape, and you’re ready to
head outside and use it.
On an evening of fair seeing
conditions, I tested the mask
on the striking near-twin dou-
ble star Epsilon (ε) Arietis,
whose diamondlike magnitude
5.2 and 5.6 component stars
were 1.3" apart. To my scope’s
credit, the pair was reasonably
split at 212x without the mask.
But with the mask taped in
place, I noticed a slight
improvement. Although the
seeing conditions didn’t war-
rant it, I decided to go for
broke with a 3.2mm eyepiece
that yielded a magnification
of 397x. This time, the view
using the mask was a definite
improvement over what I saw
without it.
There are limitations to a
“new” masked scope, however.
For me, the theoretical resolu-
tion limit was reduced from
0.5" for my 10-inch scope to
a little over 1" for its 4-inch
alter ego. Still, it allowed me
to shift my attention from
faint fuzzies to close double
stars without having to put
the 10-inch away and bring
out my 3.5-inch f/11 refractor.
I made my off-axis mask
last January when Epsilon
Arietis was conveniently
located in the evening sky. If
you make one now, you might
want to test it on Mu (μ)
Draconis (mags 5.7 and 5.7,
sep. 2.3"), Xi (ξ) Ursae Majoris
(4.3 and 4.8, 1.9"), or the clos-
est components to the neat
triple star Xi (ξ) Scorpii (4.9
and 5.2, 1.1"), whose third
member (mag 7.3) is 7.6" away.
Once you’ve made a work-
able prototype, you can move
on to a more durable model. As
mentioned, I made mine out of
⅛-inch plywood, then spray-
painted it flat black on the
inside, and secured it to the
main scope with small metal
L-brackets. I’ll leave it to you to
come up with a final design of
your own once you’ve created a
workable prototype.
Questions, comments, or
suggestions? Email me at
gchaple@hotmail.com. Next
month: We honor an event
that happened 50 years ago.
Clear skies!
Glenn Chaple has been an
avid observer since a friend
showed him Saturn through a
small backyard scope in 1963.
 ASTRONEWS NEWLY NAMED. The International Astronomical Union approved the name Statio Tianhe, which is derived from the
ancient Chinese term for Milky Way, for the landing site of the Chang’e-4 lander currently studying the Moon’s farside.
Hello there, Chang’e-4
PASSING BY. This image on February 1 from the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Chang’e-4 lander
(vertical arrow) and its rover, Yutu-2 (horizontal arrow).
Not often do two spacecraft get to say hello to
each other. But NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter (LRO) and the China National Space
Administration’s Chang’e-4 have had the chance
several times.
In early February, LRO spied the Chang’e-4
lander and its Yutu-2 rover on the farside of the
Moon from an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilome-
ters). At the time, the rover had already traveled
95 feet (29 m) northwest of the lander, though it
has gone even farther since then.
Sitting in Von Kármán Crater, the Chinese mis-
sion will study the Moon’s topography, explore
what lies beneath its surface, and record the
composition of the crater’s rocks. Researchers
hope this information will reveal more about
how the Moon’s farside differs from the nearside
we see from Earth. — A.J., A.K.
$20,400,000
FROM HOT TO COLD
Saturn
Neptune
°F – 400° –300°
°C –200°
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Pluto
Uranus
CHAO LIU, NATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
NASA/GSFC/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
WARPED DISK. The Milky Way’s disk has a distinctive twist — exaggerated here for illustrative purposes.
The Milky Way has a galactic twist
The shape of the Milky Way, usually pictured Chinese Academy of Sciences determined
as a flat spiral, may actually be more akin to the distance to each Cepheid in their data set
a warped and twisted disk, according to a to an accuracy of 5 percent or better. They
new study published February 4 in Nature then plotted these distances in 3D, creating
Astronomy. The study analyzed 1,339 stars a new map of the Milky Way that shows the
whose distances could be determined with galaxy’s disk has a distinct kink.
great accuracy. Astronomers had known about a kink in
Each star in the study is a Cepheid vari- our galaxy’s gas disk, but they didn’t know
able, a type of pulsating star whose intrinsic that the stars would follow the same shape.
brightness is tied to how long it takes to oscil- The new data also suggest that the warp in
late between bright and dim. Normally, it’s the Milky Way’s disk precesses, or spins, like
difficult to tell if a star is bright and far away a top. “The twisting of the warp is new,”
or dim and nearby. Because a Cepheid’s astronomer and study co-author Richard
period tells astronomers how bright the star deGrijs of Macquarie University told
truly is, by comparing that number with how Astronomy. “It’s been seen in a dozen other
bright it appears, researchers can accurately galaxies before, but not ours.”
pin down its distance. The authors hypothesize that as the Milky
Using infrared data from the Wide-field Way’s inner disk of stars rotates, it produces
Infrared Survey Explorer, astronomers from drag on the outer disk as well, distorting the
Macquarie University in Australia and the flat spiral. — K.H.
The funding awarded by the National Science Foundation to
Caltech and MIT to upgrade LIGO by 2024, allowing scientists
to search a greater volume of space for gravitational waves.
PLANETARY TEMPS. Although many planets (and dwarf planets) have temperatures that
vary drastically, as a general rule of thumb, the average temperature of a planet drops as you
go farther from the Sun. Venus, however, is the exception. Even though Mercury is the closest
planet to the Sun, Venus, at more than 850 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius), has the
highest average temperature of any planet in the solar system. Unlike Mercury, which has a
very thin atmosphere and slow rotation rate, Venus has an incredibly dense, heat-trapping
atmosphere that perpetuates the global greenhouse effect. — J.P.
Venus
Mercury
–200° –100° 0° 100° 200° 300° 400° 800° 900°
–100° 0° 100° 200° 400°
The dayside temperature of Mercury FAST
reaches about 800 degrees Fahrenheit, FACT
Mars
Earth while the nightside temperature drops
Jupiter as low as –290 F (–180 C), about as cold as
the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 17
 ASTRONEWS MELTED MOLECULES. As the young, active star V883 Orionis flares up, its snow line — the distance from the star at which
water turns to ice — is pushed outward, thawing previously frozen organic molecules in the star’s protoplanetary disk.

Huge, rare jet bursts from a young star

ESO, A MCLEOD ET AL.

TEMPER TANTRUM. At just over 150,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is bursting with newly formed stars. In a paper published January 24
in Nature, astronomers homed in on a particularly fertile — and visually stunning — star-forming region of the LMC named LHA 120-N 180B, informally known as N180 B,
shown at left. Probing the nebula with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the researchers spotted a
fledgling star 12 times the mass of our Sun firing a huge, narrow jet into space, shown at right with the jet colorized to show its orientation pointing toward (blue) and away
(red) from Earth. At nearly 33 light-years long, it is one of the longest such jets observed to date. It is also the first time astronomers have spotted such a jet in a galaxy other
than the Milky Way using visible light. Although such narrow jets are often observed around low-mass baby stars, few have been found around stars weighing more than
8 solar masses. This rare example provides yet another piece of evidence suggesting small stars are not the only ones that throw tantrums in their early years. — J.P.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo reaches space for second time

On February 22, Virgin Galactic’s
SpaceShipTwo, also named VSS
Unity, flew in space for the second
time, taking off from Mojave,
California, after days of weather
delays. The craft carried two pilots,
one crew member, and a nearly
full payload of science projects.
Unlike most spaceflights,
which fire rockets from the
ground, SpaceShipTwo is carried
on the belly of a plane named
WhiteKnightTwo. Once released,
SpaceShipTwo propels itself into
the upper atmosphere.
During the test, SpaceShipTwo
was released at a height of 45,000
feet (13,700 meters) before suc-
cessfully firing its rocket engine to
reach suborbital space less than an
hour after taking off. It coasted
there for only a few minutes of
weightlessness before heading
back to the ground, where it
touched down like an airplane.
SpaceShipTwo made its maiden
space voyage December 13, 2018.
February’s test was its fifth pow-
ered flight in total. The third crew
member on board was Virgin
Galactic’s chief astronaut instruc-
tor and cabin evaluation lead. Her
job was to experience flying on
the ship firsthand to better pre-
pare future passengers.
Virgin Galactic’s goal is to ferry
paying tourists into space for a few
minutes of weightlessness — and
a priceless view. ENGINES ON. SpaceShipTwo, also named the VSS Unity, fires its engine during
The spacecraft also carried four its first successful test flight. Unity, which seats six passengers, is carried underneath
research projects from NASA’s a flying plane before taking off into space under its own power. VIRGIN GALACTIC
Flight Opportunities program,
which pairs research institutions to perform another test: determin- the flight was successful, boding
with private companies that can fly ing how the vehicle flies with a well for the craft’s future in ferrying
their projects into space. Carrying greater weight distribution. Details paying passengers in addition
the projects allowed the company will likely come later, but ultimately to cargo. — K.H.

18 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 Join us for a truly unique and exclusive
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Enjoy 15 days of five-star luxury aboard the privately chartered, 332-passenger
M/S Paul Gauguin – sailing December 5-19, 2020.
Stand in the Moon’s shadow for 38 seconds during the December 14 sunrise total
eclipse of the Sun.
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on the islands of Nuka Hiva and Hiva Oa.
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W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 19
TENSION
AT THE HEART
OF COSMOLOGY
Astronomers have
found two different
— and mutually
exclusive — values
for the expansion
rate of the universe.
by Robert Naeye

Spiral galaxy M106 harbors a
water megamaser — amplified
microwave emission from water
molecules — near its massive
central black hole. The maser
provides an independent way
to measure M106’s distance and
thus helps calibrate the cosmic
distance ladder, leading to more
accurate values for the Hubble
constant. NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE
TEAM (STS CI/AURA)/R. GENDLER (FOR THE HUBBLE
HERITAGE TEAM)
Something appears
amiss in cosmology. A
tension has arisen from
attempts to measure
the universe’s current
expansion rate, known
as the Hubble constant.
Large international teams have used two
general methods to determine it. All the
groups have been extremely diligent in their
research and have cross-checked their
results, and their measurements seem rock
solid. But the practitioners of one approach
can’t quite come to agreement with practi-
tioners of the other.
The stakes are high. As Nobel laureate
Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science
Institute and Johns Hopkins University
explains, “The choices now are either a con-
spiracy of errors, not just in one measure-
ment but in multiple measurements . . . or
there’s some kind of interesting new physics
in the universe.”
The Hubble Wars
Controversies surrounding the Hubble
constant are hardly new to cosmology.
This parameter, often called H-naught
(and abbreviated H0), is fundamental to
determining the age of the universe and its
ultimate fate, giving astronomers a powerful
incentive to get it right.
To measure H0 directly, astronomers need
to observe many galaxies and glean two key
pieces of information from each one: its dis-
tance and the speed at which it moves away
from us. The latter comes directly from
measuring how much the galaxy’s light has
shifted toward the red. But determining dis-
tances proves to be much trickier.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, a team
led by Allan Sandage of the Carnegie
Observatories consistently measured values
of H0 around 50 to 55 kilometers per second
per megaparsec. (A megaparsec equals
3.26 million light-years.) A competing
team led by Gérard de Vaucouleurs of the
University of Texas obtained figures around
100. This discrepancy by a factor of two was
so extreme that the scientific dispute degen-
erated into personal animosity.
Both teams used a traditional “distance
ladder” approach to measure distances.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 21
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:
The Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038 and
NGC 4039) lie 65 million light-years
away in Corvus. Hubble astronomers
targeted this interacting pair because
it is one of 19 galaxies to host a type Ia
supernova (2007sr) and many Cepheid
variables, helping to forge a link
between these two standard candles.
ESA/HUBBLE & NASA
Face-on spiral galaxy M101 in Ursa
Major lies a mere 21 million light-years
from Earth. Its proximity means that
astronomers got particularly sharp
views when type Ia supernova 2011fe
erupted in a spiral arm in August
2011. Hubble astronomers also have
measured the periods and luminosities
of 272 Cepheids in M101. NASA/ESA/STSCI
Supernova 2009ig exploded in the
barred spiral galaxy NGC 1015. (The
arrow points to the location of the
supernova.) The galaxy also contains
more than 40 Cepheid variable stars,
helping to strengthen the link between
these two vital standard candles.
NGC 1015 lies 118 million light-years
from Earth in the constellation Cetus.
NASA/ESA/A. RIESS (STS CI/JHU)
Spiral galaxy NGC 3972 hosted
Supernova 2011by. (The arrow shows
the position of the star that exploded.)
Astronomers have tracked several
dozen Cepheid variables in this galaxy,
making it a key object connecting two
rungs on the cosmic distance ladder.
NGC 3972 lies 65 million light-years
away in Ursa Major. NASA/ESA/A. RIESS (STSCI/JHU)
22 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
They monitored Cepheid variable stars
in far-flung galaxies. The luminosities of
these supergiant stars correlate with their
periods of variation, making them excel-
lent “standard candles” — objects that
radiate a well-known amount of light.
Once astronomers measure the distances
to Cepheids in our Milky Way using
trigonometric parallax, they can calcu-
late the distances to other galaxies by
watching their individual Cepheids
brighten and fade.
The Hubble Wars appeared to wane in
2001, when the Hubble Space Telescope’s
Key Project published an H0 of 72 with
an uncertainty range of plus or minus 8.
By using Hubble, Wendy Freedman (now
at the University of Chicago) and her col-
leagues monitored Cepheids in galaxies
out to about 80 million light-years. They
then used these results to calibrate other
distance indicators in galaxies out to
about 1.3 billion light-years. At that dis-
tance, cosmic expansion dominates the
speed of galaxies away from us, with lit-
tle “contamination” from the motions of
galaxies within their host clusters.
More recently, teams that employ the
traditional distance ladder method have
measured H0 values of about 73, consis-
tent with the Key Project, but with
greater precision. However, teams that
study the cosmic microwave background
(CMB), the leftover radiation from the
Big Bang, are calculating H0 values of
around 67. And all of these measure-
ments have become so precise that their
ranges of uncertainty no longer overlap.
The Hubble constant is 73
There’s still a lingering suspicion among
many cosmologists that the Hubble ten-
sion will eventually disappear, a result
of measurement or systematic errors.
Although that position remains tenable,
recent advances in measurement tools
and techniques are pointing in the oppo-
site direction. “There’s less than a 0.01
percent chance of this kind of difference
occurring just by chance,” Riess says.
A case in point is the latest result from
SH0ES — the Supernova H0 for the
Equation of State — a large international
consortium Riess leads. In 2018, the team
published an H0 of 73.5 with an uncer-
tainty of only 2.2 percent.
SH0ES uses the same distance ladder
method employed by the Key Project, but
it adds powerful new measurement tools.
The most important are type Ia superno-
vae — white dwarfs that explode with a
relatively uniform luminosity. Scientists
have carefully calibrated their variations
in intensity by studying how fast they
brighten and fade, making them ideal
standard candles. And these supernovae
are incredibly bright, so they can be seen
at far greater distances than Cepheids.
Riess and his colleagues are particu-
larly interested in galaxies that are close
enough for Cepheid monitoring but also
have hosted type Ia supernovae in recent
years. His team has analyzed 19 such gal-
axies to date, with another 19 to come,
Supernova 2009ig
giving them independent distance mea-
surements. But to cross-check their
Cepheid and supernova results, SH0ES
also uses geometric distance indicators,
such as eclipsing binary stars in the
Large Magellanic Cloud and water
masers in the spiral galaxy M106.
And even the Cepheid distances in
our own galaxy have become more accu-
rate, thanks to extremely precise parallax
measurements from the European Space
Agency’s Gaia satellite and improved
cameras on Hubble. SH0ES is getting
virtually the same H0 as the Key Project,
but its range of uncertainty has narrowed
significantly. “What’s changed from pre-
vious generations is that the data quality
is much better,” says Riess.
Yet another group, the Carnegie
Supernova Project, is reaching an identi-
cal result. Its most recent paper lists two
H0 values, 73.2 and 72.7, taken through
different wavelength filters, with uncer-
tainties of just 2.3 and 2.1, respectively.
Carnegie team leader Christopher
Burns says his group uses the same
Cepheid, eclipsing binary, and maser
data that SH0ES does, but Carnegie
employs a different method for analyzing
Supernova 2011by
supernova data and making corrections
for variations in luminosity and the red-
dening effects of dust.
“We’ve done these corrections in
slightly different ways with different
assumptions and different data sets, but
we’re coming up with the same answer,”
says Burns. “So as far as supernovae are
concerned, I’m pretty confident we’re
doing the right thing.”
But Burns is quick to add that SH0ES
and Carnegie work with the same
Cepheid data and use similar methods
to study them. That part gives him a bit
of unease. “I would love to have another
method of figuring out distances to these
supernovae and making sure that agrees
as well,” he says.
Adding confidence to the SH0ES
and Carnegie results, the H0 Lenses flickering brightnesses of distant quasars derive H0 from the time delays. The team
in COSMOGRAIL’s Wellspring that are gravitationally lensed by fore- recently measured an H0 of 72.5, with
(H0LiCOW) group recently announced a ground galaxies. Because the light from 3 percent uncertainty.
new H0 measurement. Using a completely each lensed quasar takes multiple paths “Throughout our analysis, we kept the
independent method, this international and different amounts of time to reach Hubble constant blinded, meaning we
team has spent years watching the Earth, the H0LiCOW astronomers can never know what value we were getting

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 23
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:
The gravitationally lensed quasar in
B1608+656 offers an independent way
to determine cosmic distances. The
close-up view reveals two foreground
galaxies that smeared the light of a
more distant quasar into four arcs. The
galaxies lie 5 billion light-years from
Earth; the quasar is 4 billion light-years
farther away. NASA/ESA/HUBBLE/S. SUYU (MPIA) ET AL.
Spiral galaxy NGC 3370 in Leo shines
across 98 million light-years of space.
It hosted type Ia supernova 1994ae
in November 1994. It also boasts 65
Cepheids astronomers have tracked to
get an independent distance measure.
NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM AND A. RIESS (STSCI)
Astronomers studied 85 Cepheids in
spiral galaxy NGC 5584 in Virgo to learn
it lies 70 million light-years away. They
then applied this value to the galaxy’s
Supernova 2007af to help calibrate
distances to these far more luminous
objects. NASA/ESA/A. RIESS (STSCI/JHU)/L. MACRI (TEXAS
A&M UNIVERSITY)/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA)
TENSION IN
THE COSMOS
Values of the Hubble
constant measured by
direct observations
of relatively nearby
galaxies differ from
those garnered
through data on the
cosmic microwave
background. The error
bars between the two
different methods no
longer overlap.
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
60
24 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
throughout the entire analysis,” says
H0LiCOW team leader Sherry Suyu of
the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
in Garching, Germany. “That’s impor-
tant because that avoids confirmation
bias. So it’s not that we subconsciously
favor one H0 over another.”
The H0LiCOW result is beautifully
consistent with SH0ES and Carnegie. In
other words, all the teams that measure
H0 in the local universe are getting the
same result: about 73.
No, the Hubble constant is 67
Were it not for the CMB measurements,
the Hubble constant would probably
be considered a solved problem, and
researchers would move on to other
projects. But the CMB results are highly
compelling despite the fact they are not
CMB LOCAL UNIVERSE
Planck
(2018) SH0ES (2018)
Carnegie (2018, H band)
Carnegie (2018, B band)
H0LiCOW (2018)
65 70 75 80
Hubble constant (km/s/Mpc)
direct measurements of H0. Instead, they
are predictions of what H0 should be,
given known conditions in the early cos-
mos and how the universe’s main ingre-
dients influence cosmic expansion.
The material that gave rise to the
CMB was forged in the Big Bang. For
380,000 years, the universe was a dense,
opaque sea of electrically charged gas
known as plasma. Sound waves coursing
through this plasma caused matter to
compress and rarify non-randomly into
high- and low-density regions. These are
now imprinted on the CMB as slight
temperature irregularities. About
380,000 years after the Big Bang, the uni-
verse had expanded and cooled enough
for electrons to combine with atomic
nuclei to form atoms. This enabled the
Big Bang’s remnant gas to radiate freely
as light in all directions. Over the next
13.8 billion years, cosmic expansion has
redshifted this ancient light into the
microwave portion of the spectrum.
The precise mixture of dark matter
and normal matter affected how those
early sound waves imprinted the CMB
with temperature variations. NASA’s
WMAP satellite and Europe’s Planck sat-
ellite have measured these irregularities
with increasing precision across the entire
sky, with Planck providing the most sen-
sitive map of all. A detailed analysis of the
Planck data, combined with other data,
enabled cosmologists to measure the uni-
verse’s contents as 68.3 percent dark
energy, 26.8 percent dark matter, and
4.9 percent “normal” matter. When
cosmologists plug these numbers into
Einstein’s equations from the general the-
ory of relativity, they predict an H0 of 67.4,
with an uncertainty range of only 0.5.
“The CMB predictions for H0 assume
that the contents of the universe are well
described by atomic matter, cold dark
matter, and dark energy. If this descrip-
tion is incomplete, the predictions could
be in error, but there is no evidence for
this,” says CMB researcher Gary Hinshaw
of the University of British Columbia.
The Planck result is consistent with all
other CMB studies. But it’s conspicuously
lower than the H0 values measured by
SH0ES, Carnegie, and H0LiCOW, and
their error bars do not overlap.
“I have to confess that as someone
whose professional training dates to the
era of a factor-of-two uncertainty in H0,
I have a difficult time becoming terribly
agitated by disagreements of a few per-
cent!” says Penn State University astron-
omer Donald Schneider.
But what happens if this tension over
H0 persists?
A lot of unknown physics
If future observations fail to show that
this tension results from measurement
errors, it will throw a monkey wrench
into the prevailing cosmological model,
known as Lambda CDM. Lambda is a
Greek letter that symbolizes Einstein’s
cosmological constant, an unchanging
property of space that exerts a tiny but
inexorable repulsive force. The model
thus tacitly assumes that the cosmologi-
cal constant is the dark energy that is
causing cosmic expansion to acceler-
ate. CDM stands for “cold dark matter,”
meaning that most of the universe’s mass
consists of heavy particles that move
relatively slowly.
Lambda CDM beautifully explains the
cosmos and is consistent with virtually
every parcel of astronomical data. The
model assumes that the universe is spa-
tially flat on large scales, meaning two
parallel light beams traveling unhindered
through intergalactic space will remain
parallel over billions of light-years. It also
assumes that Einstein’s general relativity
explains the universe on large scales.
This model has been so successful
that cosmologists would be loath to give
it up, or even to make substantial modifi-
cations. But as Riess explains: “There’s a
lot of unknown physics in that model.”
For example, we don’t know what kind
of particle constitutes dark matter, or
even if it is a particle. After all, numerous
experiments to detect dark matter par-
ticles have come up empty. And we don’t
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 25

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:
Europe’s Planck satellite has taken the
best data on the cosmic microwave
background. Combining these results
with the standard model of the universe
yields a Hubble constant slightly but
meaningfully smaller than that from
nearby galaxies. ESA/PLANCK COLLABORATION
The Meathook Galaxy (NGC 2442) lies
55 million light-years from Earth in
Volans. This ground-based image nicely
shows its two asymmetric spiral arms.
Close-up Hubble observations studied
Supernova 2015F and 143 Cepheids to
forge a link between two key rungs on
the universe’s distance ladder. ESO
Astronomers used light variations in
16 Cepheids to deduce that NGC 3982
in Ursa Major lies 68 million light-years
away. Supernova 1998aq, a far brighter
object, lit up NGC 3982 in April 1998.
Scientists use galaxies with both types
of objects to extend the distance ladder
deep into the cosmos. NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE
HERITAGE TEAM (STS CI/AURA)
A nearby star overshadows NGC 7250, an
irregular galaxy 45 million light-years
away in Lacerta. Host to Supernova
2013dy and 22 Cepheids, NGC 7250 has
played a significant role in measuring
the Hubble constant. ESA/HUBBLE & NASA
26 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
know what is causing cosmic expansion
to accelerate. It might be Einstein’s cos-
mological constant; it might be some
kind of dynamical field that changes over
time; or it might be something else.
“I don’t think we should be totally
stunned if we can’t explain the dynamics
of the universe across all of cosmic time
to 1 percent when we don’t really under-
stand the physics of 95 percent of the
universe,” says Riess.
Hinshaw adds, “It’s a great surprise that
Lambda CDM works as well as it does.”
A daunting challenge
The H0 tension presents a challenge to
theorists. Although theorists are a cre-
ative lot, they can’t just concoct any idea
to resolve this cosmic conundrum. “It’s
really hard to change Lambda CDM in
a way that actually fits this enormous
suite of data from the early universe and
the late universe in a way that works,”
explains Princeton University physicist
Joanna Dunkley.
“The consensus tends to be that if
you’re looking for a source, it most likely
involves something about the physics of
the early universe,” adds Riess.
Vivian Poulin of Johns Hopkins
University recently published a promis-
ing idea. He and three colleagues posit
that a form of dark energy that modestly
affected cosmic expansion infused the
universe from about 20,000 to 100,000
years after the Big Bang. Poulin says this
dark energy “could explain this mis-
match in the measurements,” adding,
“The beauty of the idea is that it’s not so
exotic. We have already observed similar
effects at different times.”
Another plausible idea is the existence
of a fourth type of neutrino currently
unknown to science. This ethereal par-
ticle, known as a sterile neutrino, would
have increased the amount of radiation
in the early universe. When plugged into
Lambda CDM, the extra radiation
increases the Hubble constant predicted
from the CMB.
Both of these ideas could relieve the H0
tension without making radical changes
to Lambda CDM. But other ideas would
deliver more of a hammer blow.
For example, perhaps the overall spa-
tial geometry of the universe is not flat
after all. A non-flat universe would be
dynamically unstable, however, and it
would contradict CMB observations
showing that the universe must be
extremely close to flat. “It would be very
unusual for the universe to be almost
flat, but not quite, today. That’s hard to
engineer,” says Hinshaw.
Or perhaps dark energy is not the cos-
mological constant, but is caused by some
kind of dynamical field that changes over
time. Poulin notes that such a field would
have “exotic” properties because instead
of diluting as the universe expands, it
does the opposite. Although Poulin says
such a field is “not absolutely impossible
from a theoretical standpoint, people are
not at ease with it. It’s a bit weird.”
An even more radical proposal is that
we live in a region of the universe with
an anomalously low density. Dunkley
states the objection of many cosmologists
to this idea: “It doesn’t make sense that
our local region should be that strange
compared to the rest of the universe.”
Relieving the tension
All the observing teams express high
confidence in their methodologies and

results. Fortunately, unlike the Hubble
Wars of yesteryear, the modern discrep-
ancy has not devolved into personal
animosity or professional disrespect.
Instead, it has motivated an insatiable
desire to get to the bottom of a profound
mystery. For observers, it means reduc-
ing their errors even further, down to
1 percent if possible. It also means new
types of measurements.
For example, Freedman leads a large
international group that will soon pub-
lish a new H0 using the distance ladder
method. But instead of basing the result
on Cepheids, her team is using Hubble to
observe the most luminous red giants in
the halos of distant galaxies, which cut
off at a specific maximum luminosity. By
observing in galactic halos, her team can
make brightness measurements that are
less contaminated by the light of back-
ground stars. Cepheids, in contrast, are
young stars found in crowded galactic
disks, where other stars contribute noise
to the data. Red giants are also simpler
objects than Cepheids, which have com-
plex, dynamic atmospheres.
For these and other reasons, Freedman
claims the red giants are more precise
distance indicators than Cepheids, and
they produce less scatter in the data. So
far, her team has measured red giants in
17 galaxies that also have hosted type Ia
supernovae. This new method provides
“a completely independent, ground-up
recalibration of type Ia supernovae. It’s
pretty exciting,” she says.
Large survey telescopes will help
astronomers precisely measure how the
density variations in the early universe
imprinted themselves on the large-scale
distribution of galaxies. These signatures,
known as baryon acoustic oscillations,
will enable scientists to measure how cos-
mic expansion evolved during the uni-
verse’s middle ages, which in turn will
help connect CMB observations of the
early universe and distance ladder mea-
surements of the modern-day universe.
Dunkley is now working with the
Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile,
which is making detailed measurements
of the CMB’s polarization. This result will
provide an independent H0 measurement.
“We’ll be able to add our data to the
Planck data and actually further shrink
the uncertainty on the Hubble constant
from the CMB, and then see if it’s even
more different from the local one or
whether the tension is reduced,” she says.
Further down the road, the LIGO and
Virgo gravitational wave detectors will
make their own H0 measurements. From
just one event — the neutron star merger
observed August 17, 2017 — LIGO scien-
tists measured an H0 of 70, but with an
uncertainty of about 15 percent. Once
LIGO registers many dozens of neutron
star mergers over the next decade, scien-
tists should be able to calibrate them as
“standard sirens” and nail down H0 to
within 1 percent.
Right now, cosmologists calculate that
the universe is 13.8 billion years old,
based on Planck’s H0 of 67.4. But if H0 is
actually closer to 73, it could shave hun-
dreds of millions of years off the uni-
verse’s age, depending on what changes
would be required in Lambda CDM.
And more importantly, a resolution of the
Hubble tension could also shed light on
dark energy, which controls the universe’s
ultimate fate. If dark energy is indeed
Einstein’s cosmological constant, the cos-
mos will expand forever and lead to a Big
Chill. But a dynamical dark energy could
become so powerful that it would tear
all matter to shreds in a Big Rip. And
according to Hinshaw, “If the dark energy
is unstable, it could decay into a new sub-
stance and change the laws of physics
entirely, with unpredictable results.”
If the tension still exists after observ-
ers get down to 1 percent uncertainty,
we’ll have “extraordinary evidence” that
the tension is for real, says Hinshaw. This
would necessitate changes in Lambda
CDM, which would be incredibly excit-
ing. He concludes, “The best scenario
would be that all of this holds up and it
points us in a direction that ultimately
gives us more insight about the dark
universe — the dark matter and dark
energy — which would be fantastic.”
Former Sky & Telescope editor in chief Robert
Naeye served as an editor at Astronomy from
1995 to 2000. He is one of just two people
who have worked on the editorial staffs of
America’s two largest astronomy magazines.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 27
 New Horizons
swings past
Ultima Thule
The historic encounter gave us our first
close-up look at a Kuiper Belt object, the
most distant body we have ever explored.
by David J. Eicher

An artist’s impression shows

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft
approaching Ultima Thule,
a Kuiper Belt object 4.1 billion
miles from the Sun, on January 1,
2019. NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED
PHYSICS LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST RESEARCH
INSTITUTE/STEVE GRIBBEN

28 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 29
 It
could not have been set up any better. And its master architect,
planetary scientist Alan Stern, had that in mind all along. On
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2019, the famed New Horizons
spacecraft had a date. In 2015, this intrepid explorer swung past the
dwarf planet Pluto, giving us our first close-up view of that world
and its system of moons. Now, New Horizons would take on a second target
much farther out than Pluto, a distant Kuiper Belt object (KBO).
The New Horizons science team named this extravaganza was marked by several hundred
strange object Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO- scientists and journalists converging on the
lee), Latin for “beyond the known world.” campus of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics
The flyby of Ultima Thule would mark a Laboratory in Baltimore, the mission’s
hugely significant event: the most distant human headquarters.
exploration of a body in world history. And the I was invited to this unique New Year’s party
timing, coinciding with New Year’s Eve parties by the lead architect and party master, Stern
from Times Square and elsewhere, would capital- himself. He serves as the mission’s principal
ize on amazing publicity that would catapult investigator, and he will contribute a story in
planetary exploration into hundreds of millions an upcoming issue of Astronomy that will sum-
of living rooms across the globe. The whole marize the depth of the scientific findings about

30 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
Ultima Thule. For now, my mission was
to soak in the historic moment and to
highlight the first results, the first images.
Accompanying me was Senior Editor
Rich Talcott, who was also busy with
coverage. And the party would have a
unique contribution from a friend: Brian
May, a New Horizons team member and
guitarist of the legendary band Queen,
was on hand to debut his new song, dedi-
cated to New Horizons.
The planning for this first-ever
encounter with a KBO extended back to
days after the Pluto flyby in 2015. With
New Horizons showing us that dynamic
little world, with its light-colored, heart-
shaped Tombaugh Regio, we were all
stunned by the close-up imagery of what
had been the last unexplored major body
of the solar system. (Yes, Pluto was

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: New Horizons
team members (from left) Alan Stern,
Helene Winters, Frederic Pelletier, and
John Spencer brief the media on initial findings
as the spacecraft approaches its target.
ALL PHOTOS BY DAVID J. EICHER UNLESS NOTED
Near the moment of closest encounter, Stern,
the mission’s principal investigator, marks the
occasion with a group of science-interested kids.
The media auditorium at Johns Hopkins
begins to fill with several hundred curious
journalists.
The auditorium at Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory fires up for a busy few
days to come, on December 30, 2018. The
flyby of New Horizons past Ultima Thule
would occur on New Year’s Eve and New
Year‘s Day.

As the spacecraft passes close by Ultima Thule,
Stern and his family celebrate success.
On New Year’s Eve, New Horizons team member
and Queen guitarist Brian May unveils his
first solo song in 20 years, honoring the New
Horizons mission.
NASA Science Missions Associate
Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen (far
left) leads a science panel discussion
about exploring other small bodies with
(from left) Olivier Barnouin, Hal Levison,
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, and Stern.

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 31
demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006,
but the plans had long been underway to
visit this world, viewed as being on the
virtual edge of our solar system.)
DRAWING A BEAD
ON THE KUIPER BELT
Between Pluto’s discovery in 1930 and the
spacecraft’s arrival in 2015, our knowl-
edge of the framework of the solar system
changed, regardless of whether you think
of Pluto as a planet or something less. In
1992, astronomers David Jewitt and Jane
Luu discovered the first KBO — 1992
QB1, nicknamed Albion — and we now
know that a vast population of icy bod-
ies exists beyond the orbit of Neptune, of
which Pluto appears to be the largest.
We’d also since learned about three
distinct populations of bodies in the solar
system: the terrestrial planets, the gas and
ice giants, and the Kuiper Belt. The latter
probably holds tens or hundreds of thou-
sands of small, icy bodies beyond
Neptune. That’s roughly 40 astronomical
units (AU) away from the Sun, or 40
times the Sun-Earth distance — a long
way out. And yet the outer edge of the
Oort Cloud, comprising some 2 trillion
cometary nuclei, stretches some 50,000
AU away from the Sun. Exploration by
spacecraft of the outermost reaches of the
solar system still has a long way to go.
What makes exploring the Kuiper Belt
particularly exciting for planetary scien-
tists is plain old chemistry. Bodies in the
Homing in on a distant rock
Raw
Finding Ultima Thule in the New Horizons camera’s field of view was not easy, particularly with
a spacecraft whizzing by at 32,000 mph (51,000 km/h). These images depict a raw and processed
field of view, showing Ultima Thule in the center. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
32 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
Two become one
Ultima Thule formed as numerous planetesimals in the infant solar system gently stuck
together (left). The smaller materials were eventually cast off (center), and the two principal
spheres gently merged by gravity (right), leaving the contact binary we see today. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
A rotating cloud of small, icy Eventually, two larger bodies remain:
bodies starts to coalesce. Ultima and Thule.
inner solar system — be they planets,
moons, asteroids, or infalling comets —
are all subject to major chemical changes
as they evolve because the Sun warms
them and makes those reactions possible.
The Kuiper Belt, however, is in a deep
freeze. The temperatures of the icy bodies
there — many of which have been there
since they formed, planetary scientists
believe — make ordinary chemical
reactions impossible. So these objects,
including Ultima Thule, offer a way for
scientists to look back in time to the pris-
tine conditions of the early solar system.
Maybe we can even better understand its
very formation.
The Kuiper Belt stretches from about
Processed
Ultima and Thule slowly
spiral closer until they touch,
forming the bi-lobed object
we see today.
30 AU to its outer edge at some 55 AU
from the Sun. Sometimes it is called the
Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt, as the great
Dutch-American astronomer Gerard
Kuiper hypothesized it, and the
independent Irish astronomer Kenneth
Edgeworth helped to confirm it. The
name is a bit of a misnomer: The Kuiper
Belt is more of a doughnut, or torus, than
a belt. It is somewhat thick, with many
objects extending 10° outside its plane,
and it is inclined relative to the ecliptic,
the plane made by Earth’s orbit around
the Sun, by about 2°.
KBOs, perhaps vast in number, are
leftover debris and icy chunks from the
solar system’s early days. Their heritage is
made more complicated by the existence
of Neptune, whose presence throws the
orbits of many of the objects out of
whack, making them unstable. Within a
zone of about 42 to 48 AU from the Sun,
most of the objects can remain stable for a
long time. The planet does establish reso-
nances, at 2:3, or 1:2. That is, an object in
2:3 resonance with Neptune completes
two orbits around the Sun for every three
Neptunian orbits. An object in 1:2 reso-
nance completes an orbit once every two
Neptunian orbits. Objects in these
resonances can remain stable, without
Neptune kicking them outward into
unstable orbits.
PLUTO: THE DOMINANT KBO
The first known KBO was not actu-
ally 1992 QB1, but Pluto. Discovered in
A closer look at Ultima Thule
2018 2019
Thule

21 miles 21 miles
(33 km) (33 km)

Ultima

3 miles

WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE: On New Year’s
Day 2019, scientists received the first close-up
images of Ultima Thule — larger than a small
number of pixels — and believed, for a time, that
the Kuiper Belt object was shaped like a bowling
pin. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
TWO SPHERES: Ultima Thule was named after
a Latin phrase meaning “beyond the known
world.” On January 1, New Horizons scientists
attached the name Ultima to the larger sphere
and Thule to the smaller sphere. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
OCCULATION PROFILE: When Ultima Thule
passed in front of various stars, momentarily
blocking their light, astronomers believed the
object may be binary in nature. The profile based
on the occultation observations turned out to be
amazingly accurate. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

Think of New Horizons as a time machine that has brought us back

to the very beginning of the solar system, to a place where we can
observe the most primordial building blocks of the planets.

CLOSE APPROACH IMAGE (ORIGINAL):
To appreciate the targeting challenge to image
Ultima Thule, this image shows the original
snapshot of the Kuiper Belt object as seen from
New Horizons at closest approach. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
COLOR VARIATION: Overall, Ultima Thule appears dark and reddish because its
icy surface, which contains organic molecules, has been exposed to radiation for
billions of years. The surface does show variations in color, however. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

0.12 SURFACE VARIATIONS:

The geology of Ultima
0.1 Thule is not yet well
Brighter known. The object’s
regions unusual features include
0.08
an overall mottled
0.06 appearance, brighter
Remarkable and darker regions,
0.04 “neck” the strange neck, no
obvious impact craters,
0.02 and possible hills and
ridges. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
0
Darker
regions
REFLECTIVITY VARIATIONS: Variations in reflectivity on the surfaces
of Ultima Thule suggest a range of ices, particle sizes, and brightnesses
on the Kuiper Belt object‘s surface. The “neck” connecting the two spheres
is particularly bright, and scientists believe it holds highly reflective, fine-
grained particles that have slumped downward by gravity. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 33
 Ultima Thule’s color
Makemake
Haumea
Kuiper Belt
Ultima Thule, which isn’t the only notable Kuiper Belt object, has a
moderately high degree of redness that fits in well with the other so-called
cold classical KBOs in relatively normal, low-tilt orbits. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
Sharp curves
The surfaces of Ultima Thule show some
fairly extraordinary slopes, especially in areas
near the neck, the joint between the two
bodies. Here, scientists believe, fine-grained
material has slumped down to fill the neck,
0°
and it is more reflective. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
1930 and labeled a planet, Pluto was
the result of the long search at Lowell
Observatory for an outer planet. Believed
to be both more massive and more distant
than Pluto turned out to be, the hypothet-
ical planet ultimately didn’t exist — but
the search did uncover Pluto.
By the 1990s, it was becoming clear
that a large population of icy objects
existed in the realm beyond Neptune.
Scientists call these bodies trans-
Neptunian objects (TNOs), and many of
them, they came to find out, exist in the
Kuiper Belt.
Beyond the Kuiper Belt lies another,
34 AS T R ON O MY • JUNE 2019
Eris
Redness
Pluto
Ultima Thule (2014 MU69)
Flyby January 1, 2019
-10
0°
Rotation period = 15 hours
5° 10° 15° 20°
Local slope
sparser population of icy asteroid-like
bodies, in the so-called Scattered Disk.
These objects have been disrupted by
Neptune or other bodies, and they have
high inclinations and eccentricities —
weird orbits that have them careening up
and down at odd angles relative to the
plane of the major solar system planets.
Within the last generation, whether or
not you consider it a planet, Pluto has
come to be recognized as the largest KBO.
With a diameter of 1,477 miles
(2,370 kilometers), Pluto is the largest
body in the Kuiper Belt, and it has five
satellites, one of which, Charon, is quite
50
40
30
Ultima Thule
20
10
0
Cold classical
Other KBOs
5° 10° 15° 20° 25° 30° 35°
Orbital tilt
large. But it’s not the only significant
KBO known. Dwarf planet Haumea
spans 1,000 miles (1,600 km), dwarf
planet Makemake measures 890 miles
(1,430 km) across, and 50000 Quaoar is
more than 750 miles (1,200 km) across.
The Kuiper Belt also has several popu-
lations. The main one, the so-called clas-
sical population, holds about two-thirds
of the objects. It contains both cold and
hot objects, referring not to temperatures
— they’re all cold — but to orbits. The
cold classicals have nearly circular orbits
25° 30°
with small eccentricities. The hot popula-
tion is characterized by much more
inclined orbits.
Resonances also play a role in defining
the objects. The 2:3 resonant group con-
sists of at least 200 objects, including
Pluto. This gives the group the nickname
“Plutinos.” The 1:2 resonant group is
more sparsely populated and is nick-
named “twotinos.”
PARTYING WITH ULTIMA THULE
We arrived in Baltimore to celebrate a
suddenly famous member of the cold
classical Kuiper Belt family, Ultima
Thule. Originally designated 2014
MU69, the object being approached by
New Horizons remained mysterious until
the final days and hours of the encoun-
ter. Near year’s end, the New Horizons
team believed Ultima Thule to be about
20 miles (30 km) across and quite elon-
gated. Months earlier, Earth-based
observations of Ultima Thule occulting
(passing in front of) stars led the team
to suspect a binary shape.
The prediction turned out to be right:
On the first data release, we got an image
of an object that resembled a bowling
pin, but with few pixels to support the
certainty. The next day, when the
highest-resolution images were released
in early January, the object clearly
appeared to be a binary, giving rise to
the name “Cosmic Snowman.” In fact,
the team determined Ultima Thule to
be a contact binary, two objects that
gravitationally migrated inward and
stuck together. Thus, we had the first
close-up observations of a contact binary
in history. The team, in a tribute to sim-
plicity, named the larger sphere Ultima
and the smaller one Thule.
The atmosphere in the press audito-
rium at Johns Hopkins was electric, as it
has been for many other key moments in
space exploration. Perhaps 200 people or
so — media, scientists, family, and friends
— packed the room, and at important
announcements of success, applause and
sometimes screams of joy erupted. Many
press conferences and talks entertained
the attendees, and Stern took center stage
much of the time, communicating the
latest news and explaining a vast amount
of knowledge for the media. Others
featured prominently, too — and far
In stereo
ABOVE: When New Horizons swung past
Ultima Thule on New Year’s Eve, it explored
the most distant object ever visited by
human technology. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
LEFT: Graduate student and New Horizons
team member Mallory Kinczyk holds a
model of Ultima Thule she created with
Styrofoam, a wooden dowel, and clay.
She displayed it at a press conference just
a few hours after the release of detailed
data on the object’s shape.
too many to mention — but they Ultima Thule, knowing that history was
included major mission participants like about to be made, although we wouldn’t
Cathy Olkin, John Spencer, Hal Weaver, have the imagery and other data in hand
Joel Parker, Alice Bowman, Frederic until the next morning. (The telemetry
Pelletier, Marc Buie, Will Grundy, Jeff time from the Kuiper Belt back to Earth
Moore, Leslie Young, Kelsi Singer, Kirby was about six hours.)
Runyon, Bill McKinnon, Alex Parker, and To celebrate, May took to the stage and
Andy Cheng. introduced the video he created, his first
When it came time for the New Year’s solo release song in two decades, “New
Eve celebration itself, we moved to a Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix).” The
large, open area with a beautiful stage. crowd, stunned and amazed, loved it,
Champagne in hand, we counted down to and we had one tremendous party going.
the closest approach of the spacecraft to Then Stern mounted the stage and,
accompanied by a large group of
schoolkids, celebrated the spirit of
discovery at this critical time.
Ultima Thule And then we crashed, getting up early
appears as a
floating cosmic for exciting and important press confer-
snowman in this ences — and those magical pictures of the
stereo image Cosmic Snowman. The early data releases
created by Paul
Schenck and the tell the tale of an alien world — the most
New Horizons distant object ever visited by human tech-
Imaging Team. nology. We will see this story repeated,
Relaxing one’s
eyes allows even likely by this spacecraft, as it ven-
the images to tures deeper into the abyss.
merge, revealing
a 3D picture.
NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/NOAO
David J. Eicher is the editor of Astronomy
and a longtime fan of Pluto and other KBOs,
having enjoyed knowing Clyde Tombaugh
in his later life.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 35
 SKYTHIS
MONTH
June 2019: Jupiter dazzles all night
Small telescopes reveal details in Jupiter’s cloud bands when the gas giant
looms large, as it does throughout June. In this Hubble Space Telescope
image, the Great Red Spot looks like a bloodshot eye with the shadow of
Ganymede representing its pupil. NASA/ESA/A. SIMON (GSFC)
A
lthough June nights may
be short, you can pack
a lot of planet view-
ing into those limited
hours. Most observ-
ers will spend the bulk of
their time with Jupiter, which
reaches peak visibility and is
up all night. But you’ll also
want to watch Mercury and
Mars as they have their closest
evening conjunction in more
than a decade. Be sure to turn
your attention toward Saturn
and its magnificent rings as
midnight approaches, then
wrap up a memorable night
with a view of Venus in morn-
ing twilight.
But your first order of
business these June nights
should be to track down
Mercury and Mars. On the
1st, Mercury shines at magni-
tude –1.0 and appears 6° high
36 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
MARTIN RATCLIFFE and ALISTER LING describe the
solar system’s changing landscape as it appears in Earth’s sky.
in the west-northwest a half-
hour after sunset. It stands
out quite nicely in the twilight
glow. Four other objects join
the inner planet. Capella, at
magnitude 0.1 the brightest
star in Auriga, stands 21° to
Mercury’s upper right. Mars
lies 16° to Mercury’s upper
left and at the same altitude
as Capella. Glowing at magni-
tude 1.8, the Red Planet may
be hard to see in twilight
without binoculars. Finally,
the twin stars Castor and
Pollux in Gemini appear 13°
directly above the slightly
fainter Mars.
A two-day-old crescent
Moon joins the party June 4.
Luna lies 6° to Mercury’s left,
and both stand some 9° high
30 minutes after sundown. As
the sky darkens, watch the
unlit side of the Moon grow
more prominent. This is earth-
shine — sunlight that bounces
off Earth, hits the Moon, and
reflects back to our eyes. The
following evening, a slightly
fatter crescent Moon appears
6° to Mars’ upper left.
Over the next two weeks,
Mercury climbs higher and
Mars drops lower. The solar
system’s smallest planets are
destined for a dramatic meet-
ing just after midmonth. On
June 17, the two appear side by
side with 28' — just less than
the Full Moon’s diameter —
between them. (This is the
separation observers in central
North America will see; the
planets appear slightly farther
apart from the eastern part of
the continent and a bit closer
from farther west.)
On the evening of the 18th,
the two stand just 18' apart
— the closest they have been to
each other in the evening sky
in 13 years. Mercury now lies
above Mars and shines at mag-
nitude 0.1, some five times
brighter than its companion.
This close conjunction is
Jupiter at its finest
OPHI U C HU S
Jupiter
S AGI T TA R I US
SC OR PIUS
Saturn
June 10, 11 P.M.
Looking south-southeast
The giant planet peaks at opposition June 10, but it reigns supreme against
the backdrop of Ophiuchus all month. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
merely a line-of-sight effect.
Mars currently lies on the far
side of the Sun from Earth
while Mercury is on the near
side. The view through a tele-
scope confirms this: Even
though Mars is physically
40 percent larger than
Mercury, it appears only 3.7"
across — half as big as the
inner planet’s 7.4" diameter. A
telescope also shows the con-
trast between ruddy Mars’
nearly full disk and whiter
Mercury’s half-lit phase.
Following this close con-
junction, Mercury continues
to edge away from the Sun. It
reaches greatest elongation
June 23, when it lies 25° east
of our star and appears 11°
high a half-hour after sunset.
It then starts to sink closer
to the horizon, ending the
month 3.8° to Mars’ left.
As Mercury and Mars set
in the northwest, Jupiter
rises in the southeast. The
solar system’s largest planet
comes to opposition June 10,
when it lies opposite the Sun
in our sky and remains visible
LIBR A
Antares
LU P US
10°
 RISINGMOON
A terrific trio of conspicuous craters
Three magnificent large craters
beckon observers the evening
of June 10, when the Moon is
less than a day past First Quarter
phase and appears slightly more
than half-lit. The northernmost
and largest of the three craters,
Ptolemaeus, lies just south of
the lunar equator. It sports a
rugged rim that casts long shad-
ows onto the relatively smooth
floor. A small crater northeast of
Ptolemaeus’ center affords a
good test of your telescope’s
optics and seeing conditions.
Like most large impact fea-
tures, Ptolemaeus probably pos-
sesses a complex central peak
— but you won’t see it no mat-
ter how hard you look. Lunar sci-
entists suspect that it lies buried
under deposits sprayed out dur-
ing the excavation of giant Mare
Imbrium to the northwest. You
might also glimpse a few subtle
depressions, telltale signs of
all night. Opposition brings
Jupiter closest to Earth, so it
shines at its brightest for the
year: magnitude –2.6. It brings
a touch of brilliance to the
otherwise faint constellation
Ophiuchus the Serpent-bearer.
Jupiter’s proximity also
makes it appear larger than
at any other time in 2019. Its
46"-diameter disk should dis-
play a wealth of detail through
telescopes of all sizes. A paral-
lel pair of relatively dark belts,
one on either side of a brighter
zone that coincides with the
planet’s equator, dominates
the view. In moments of
steady seeing, look for a whole
series of alternating belts and
zones as well as the dusky
north and south polar regions.
You also might notice several
dark and white spots lurking
near the boundaries between
the belts and zones. The Great OBSERVING
— Continued on page 42 HIGHLIGHT
Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel
ancient craters hidden under a
Ptolemaeus
blanket of debris.
The smaller impact that cre-
ated Alphonsus immediately to
the south of Ptolemaeus pro-
duces more distinct features and
a higher central peak. Return to
this feature every hour or so and
note how quickly the spire’s Alphonsus
shadow retreats under the rising
Sun. The unusual ridge that
bisects Alphonsus lines up with
other linear features that point
back toward Imbrium.
Arzachel
The youngest of the three
craters is Arzachel to the south. N
Its rim and inner walls appear
sharper than those of its north-
E
ern neighbors, which suffered
many more millennia of impacts. The First Quarter Moon boasts three large and spectacular craters just
Don’t hesitate to return south of the lunar equator. CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/UA/LPL; INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
to this region on subsequent
nights. Although the higher gray spots on Alphonsus’ floor. studies show the composition
Sun masks topographic relief, These are deposits of ash of the ash is similar to that of
it reveals surface composition. gently sprayed out during vol- the lava that welled up to flood
Notice the handful of darker canic eruptions. Spectroscopic the large lunar maria.
METEORWATCH
Early summer’s Pearly noctilucent clouds
twilight clouds
Despite the lack of major meteor
showers in June, sporadic meteors
continue to light up the sky. These
random flashes arise when tiny
grains of dust slam into Earth’s
atmosphere and friction with air
molecules incinerates them. Under
a dark sky, observers typically see
a half-dozen or so of these random
meteors per hour.
Similarly fine meteoritic dust June’s extended twilight offers ideal conditions for northern skygazers
plays a role in producing summer’s to see these highly reflective, high-altitude clouds. NASA
gorgeous noctilucent clouds.
These silver-blue clouds form condense on dust particles. Search for them in twilight an
about 50 miles up (10 times higher They typically appear in early hour or two after sunset, when
than cirrus), where Earth’s atmo- summer from latitudes our star still illuminates these
sphere is coldest, when ice crystals between 50° and 60° north. high-altitude clouds.
Jupiter reaches its 2019 peak June 10, when the gas giant planet
shines at magnitude –2.6 and spans 46" through a telescope.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 37
 N
STAR
DOME d _
a
b
¡
_
`

CA
SSI
OP
E IA
` C A M E L O PA R DA L I S
How to use this map: This map portrays the
sky as seen near 35° north latitude. Located
inside the border are the cardinal directions
and their intermediate points. To find
stars, hold the map overhead and
orient it so one of the labels matches

k
f a
the direction you’re facing. The NE _ b
CE Polaris
stars above the map’s horizon ` PH _
EU
now match what’s in the sky. LA c S NCP
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C
` M82
+ 1
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The all-sky map shows d URSA
how the sky looks at:
_
midnight June 1 b

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11 P.M. June 15
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10 P.M. June 30

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STAR COLORS 22 Ant
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A star’s color depends   h m / m
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on its surface temperature. b o _ M4 /

c

• The hottest stars shine blue SE SA

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• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow R

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• Lower-temperature stars appear orange S
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use optical aid to gather more light
NORM _ c
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38 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019 S
 Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary
in size due to the distance from Earth
JUNE 2019 and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
MAP SYMBOLS
Open cluster
1
NX Globular cluster
LY
Diffuse nebula
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Planetary nebula
k
NW
Galaxy
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
f

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

e
R 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
JO
A
M
_

SA
LE NOR

R
h

` U 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
O
MI
+
`

30
s
IC
AT

Calendar of events
N

c
i
VE

Regulus
d

SPECIAL OBSERVING DATE

ES

1 The Moon passes 3° south of

N

Venus, 2 P.M. EDT 18 Mercury passes 0.2° north

CA

LEO

of Mars in evening twilight.

b

2 Asteroid Pallas is stationary,

` Denebola

10 P.M. EDT 18 The Moon passes 0.4° south of

W
M64 NGP

M66 e

Saturn, midnight EDT

3 New Moon occurs at
M65

6:02 A.M. EDT 19 The Moon passes 0.07° south

_

of Pluto, 7 A.M. EDT

4 The Moon passes 4° south of
_

ANS

Mercury, noon EDT 21 Mercury passes 6° south of

Pollux, 1 A.M. EDT
SEXT
¡

5 The Moon passes 1.6° south of

`

Mars, 11 A.M. EDT Summer solstice occurs at

ic )
11:54 A.M. EDT
b

pt
cli 7 The Moon is at perigee
a

e
c n(
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u (228,978 miles from Earth), Neptune is stationary,

G

S
he 7:15 P.M. EDT
IR

t midnight EDT
of
V

th
Pa 10 First Quarter Moon 23 Mars passes 6° south of Pollux,
ER

i
b

occurs at 1:59 A.M. EDT 3 A.M. EDT

AT

ca
_ Spi
S

4
CR
U

10
V

M Jupiter is at opposition, The Moon is at apogee (251,375

b
R

a
O

11 A.M. EDT miles from Earth), 3:50 A.M. EDT

C

15 The Moon passes 0.9° north of Mercury is at greatest eastern

¡

dwarf planet Ceres, 11 A.M. EDT elongation (25°), 7 P.M. EDT

` _
a
16 The Moon passes 2° north of The Moon passes 4° south of
Jupiter, 3 P.M. EDT Neptune, 9 P.M. EDT
A
R
D
Y

M8
3 SW
H

17 Full Moon occurs at 25 Last Quarter Moon

S 4:31 A.M. EDT occurs at 5:46 A.M. EDT
U RU
TA f
EN Venus passes 5° north of 27 The Moon passes 5° south of
Aldebaran, 5 P.M. EDT Uranus, 6 P.M. EDT
8
i
C 512
NG
+

51 39
NGC

BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT www.Astronomy.com/starchart.

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 39
 PATH OF THE
PLANETS The planets in June 2019
LY N C AS DR A
Objects visible before dawn
AU R
AN D L AC
PER C YG HE R

LYR B
T RI C rB
ARI
Sun
Venus PEG VUL
Uranus PSC S GE
OR I SE R
TAU EQU
AQL SER
Celestial equator
Neptune OPH
Eunomia Parthenope
AQR S CT
CET Melpomene Ceres
ER I Saturn n
Path of the Moo
C AP L IB
L EP Pluto
F OR SGR Jupiter appears at its
S CL
Ps A MIC
best for the year in June
C OL C AE C rA LU
PHE GRU SCO

Moon phases Dawn Midnight

5 4 3 2 1

30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15

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

N
Pluto
Saturn
Venus Ceres Neptune
10"
Jupiter

Planets MERCURY VENUS MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO
Date June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15
Magnitude –0.1 –3.8 1.8 7.4 –2.6 0.2 5.9 7.9 14.2
Angular size 6.8" 10.2" 3.8" 0.7" 46.0" 18.2" 3.4" 2.3" 0.1"
Illumination 56% 96% 98% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Distance (AU) from Earth 0.983 1.638 2.497 1.801 4.285 9.124 20.503 29.832 32.927
Distance (AU) from Sun 0.401 0.723 1.641 2.777 5.298 10.051 19.843 29.936 33.819
Right ascension (2000.0) 7h12.1m 4h21.1m 7h22.7m 16h08.0m 17h10.9m 19h20.7m 2h11.7m 23h19.1m 19h36.6m
Declination (2000.0) 24°13' 20°40' 23°16' –18°07' –22°23' –21°47' 12°44' –5°30' –21°58'

40 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 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.

UM a
Objects visible in the evening
Jupiter’s moons
LY N AUR Dots display positions
C Vn Io
of Galilean satellites at
Mercury appears bright in 11 P.M. EDT on the date Europa
LMi
BOÖ G E M evening twilight during June shown. South is at the
C OM Mars top to match
S
Pallas C NC the view
Ganymede
Sun through a W E
LE O
pt ic) telescope. N Callisto
(ecli OR I
Su n
the
ath of CMi
P
1
VI R SE X
MON 2

C RT HYA 3

C RV CMa 4
LEP
AN T ER I 5 Io
PYX
C OL 6
UP CA E
VEL PU P 7
CE N
8 Ganymede
Early evening

To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day straight up to the curved blue line. 9
Note: Moons vary in size due to the distance from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time. 10

11

14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 12 Callisto

13

14

15 Europa

16 Jupiter

17
Mars
18
Venus Mercury
19
Greatest eastern
elongation is June 23 20

21
Earth
Summer solstice 22
in June 21
Ceres 23

24
Jupiter
Opposition 25
is June 10
26

27
The planets Uranus
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

28
in their orbits Jupiter 29
Neptune
Arrows show the inner planets’
Saturn 30
monthly motions and dots depict
the outer planets’ positions at mid-
month from high above their orbits.
Pluto

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 41
— Continued from page 37

Hunt down Jupiter’s four bright satellites

WHEN TO VIEW THE PLANETS Jupiter
S
Callisto
EVENING SKY MIDNIGHT MORNING SKY
Io Ganymede
Mercury (northwest) Jupiter (south) Venus (northeast) W Europa
Mars (northwest) Saturn (southeast) Jupiter (southwest)
Jupiter (southeast) Saturn (southwest)
June 11, 4:00 A.M. EDT 1'
Uranus (east)
Neptune (southeast) The giant world’s moons show up nicely through small scopes, but they can
be tricky to identify. Their arrangement at opposition makes the task easy.

Red Spot appears about half
the time — whenever the plan-
et’s 10-hour rotation carries it
onto Jupiter’s Earth-facing
hemisphere.
The sharpest views of the
giant world come when it lies
highest in the south. Jupiter
peaks at an altitude of about
30° at 1 a.m. local daylight
time the night of opposition. It
reaches the same benchmark
about a half-hour earlier with
each passing week. Still, the
planet lies nearly as high and
the views are almost as good
for a couple of hours on either
side of these times.
Jupiter’s four brightest
moons create a scene that
changes dramatically from
night to night. Their motions
sometimes appear noticeable
even within minutes, particu-
larly when a satellite transits
the planet’s face or lies near
the limb.
The night of opposition
offers a good opportunity to
acquaint yourself with these
so-called Galilean moons. If
you look during the morning
hours of June 11, you’ll see Io,
Europa, and Ganymede lined
up to Jupiter’s east while
Callisto stands alone to the
planet’s west.
The month’s most dra-
matic scene occurs the follow-
ing night, however. Both Io
and Ganymede start to cross
Jupiter’s disk the evening of
June 11. But with the gas giant
so close to opposition, the
shadow that each satellite
casts falls onto the jovian
cloud tops almost directly
beneath the moon.
Io’s transit begins at
10:22 p.m. EDT. Within five
minutes, you should notice its
shadow immediately to the
moon’s east, with the two over-
lapping. Ganymede lies north
of Io and begins to transit at
11:28 p.m. Its shadow falls on
the cloud tops just southeast of
the moon. Because Ganymede
lies farther from Jupiter than
Io, its shadow appears slightly
more separated from the
moon. Io completes its transit
at 12:33 a.m., when Ganymede
is about halfway across the
giant planet’s disk. The outer
moon completes its trek
around 1:40 a.m.
Saturn lies 30° east of
Jupiter, which means it trails
about two hours behind its
bigger brother. The ringed
planet rises around 11 p.m.
local daylight time June 1 and
some two hours earlier by
month’s end.
Saturn lies in northern
Sagittarius, just south of that
constellation’s Teaspoon
asterism. It shines at magni-
tude 0.2 in mid-June and
appears four times brighter
than any of the Archer’s stars.
The best time to view
Saturn through a telescope
occurs during the early morn-
ing hours when it climbs
highest in the south. Even the
smallest telescope delivers
stunning views. The planet’s
disk measures 18" across
while the rings span 41" and
tilt 24° to our line of sight.
Saturn’s disk shows little
detail, though you might spot
an equatorial belt and a dark
polar hood.
Although Saturn’s moons
don’t glow as brightly as
Jupiter’s Galilean satellites,
small scopes reveal at least

COMETSEARCH
A killer takes aim at the Whale Comet ASASSN (C/2018 N2)

Comet observers often hope a hour before morning twilight N

new discovery will herald a
bright target to feed their pas-
sion. This does happen, though
not often. Two arrivals bright-
ened to 9th magnitude in late
2018, but unless we get a similar
surprise this month, we’ll have to
be satisfied with a comet that
reaches only 12th magnitude.
To catch Comet ASASSN
(C/2018 N2), wait for the Moon-
free period at the end of June.
ASASSN — short for the All-
Sky Automated Survey for
Supernovae program — then
resides in northeastern Cetus
the Whale and rises about an
j
commences. Look for the faint 30
smudge of light as it glides
northward between magnitude
27
4.9 Nu (ν) Ceti and magnitude Path of Comet ASASSN
4.3 Xi2 (ξ2) Cet. Astronomers dis-
C ET US
covered this comet in July 2018, 24
and it appears destined to peak E
at 11th magnitude this autumn. 21
A harder target lies on the
border of Centaurus and Lupus
in early June. Comet ATLAS i 18
(C/2017 M4) passes between
magnitude 2.7 Beta (β) Lupi and June 15
magnitude 3.1 Kappa (κ) Centauri 0.5°
during June’s first week. You’ll
need a 12-inch or larger scope to Reserve some time on June mornings to track down this faint comet as it
spot this 13th-magnitude object. slides to the northeast against the background stars of Cetus.

42 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 Mercury tangos with Mars
Pollux
Mars
June 17, 45 minutes after sunset
Looking west-northwest
These two planets slide within 0.3° of each other June 18. They have not
passed this close in the evening sky since 2006.
four of them. Titan is the easi-
est. It shines at 8th magnitude
and shows up through any
instrument. This large moon
orbits Saturn in 16 days, pass-
ing south of the ringed world
the mornings of June 5 and 21
and north of the planet on the
13th and 29th. Look for three
10th-magnitude moons —
Tethys, Dione, and Rhea —
closer to Saturn.
Scan 60° east-northeast of
Saturn and you’ll arrive at
Neptune. The solar system’s
most distant major planet rises
shortly after 1 a.m. local day-
light time June 15 and climbs
25° above the southeastern
horizon by the time twilight
begins. Neptune glows at mag-
nitude 7.9, so you’ll need bin-
oculars or a telescope to see it.
The outer world resides in
northeastern Aquarius, in the
same binocular field as magni-
tude 4.2 Phi (ϕ) Aquarii. It
begins June 1.2° east-northeast
of this star and crawls 0.1° far-
ther away by the latter half of
the month. This places the
planet within 0.4° — slightly
less than the Full Moon’s
diameter — south of the mag-
nitude 5.6 star 96 Aqr. When
viewed through a telescope,
Neptune displays a blue-gray
disk that appears 2.3" across.
Uranus slowly emerges into
a dark sky by the end of June.
On the 30th, it rises around
2 a.m. local daylight time and
climbs 15° high in the east by
Castor
Mercury
GE M I NI
5°
the time twilight starts to
paint the sky. The planet
shines at magnitude 5.8
and shows up quite easily
through binoculars.
The hardest part of finding
Uranus is zeroing in on the
right star field. The world lies
in southern Aries, about 10°
south of the Ram’s brightest
star, magnitude 2.0 Hamal
(Alpha [α] Arietis). This is a
sparse area of sky, however.
First locate 6th-magnitude
19 Ari, which lies 8° south of
Hamal and shows up to the
naked eye from under a dark
sky. Center 19 Ari in your
binoculars and you’ll see
Uranus 2.4° to its south.
To confirm your planet sight-
ing, swing a telescope in its
direction. Uranus shows a
3.5"-diameter disk with a dis-
tinctive blue-green color.
Morning twilight is well
underway before our final
planet appears. Venus rises
an hour before the Sun on
June 1 in the company of a
slender crescent Moon. The
two stand about 6° apart and
a similar distance above the
eastern horizon a half-hour
before sunrise. Although
Venus shines brilliantly at
magnitude –3.8, the Sun’s
glare drowns it out within
the next 15 minutes.
Venus slowly sinks lower
as the month progresses. It
GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek.
LOCATINGASTEROIDS
Tangled up in Berenice’s tresses
Asteroid 2 Pallas glows at 9th
magnitude in June, making it a
nice target for asteroid seekers.
Visible with some effort through
binoculars, it’s a cinch to find
with the extra light-gathering
power of a small telescope.
Pallas lies high in the south
after darkness falls. To find it,
first locate Arcturus, the magni-
tude –0.04 orange giant in
Boötes that ranks as the night
sky’s fourth-brightest star. Next,
move 6.4° west-northwest to
5th-magnitude 6 Boötis, then
another 2.4° northwest to 6th-
magnitude 2 Boo. From there,
cross the border into eastern
Coma Berenices, Berenice’s Hair,
Pallas continues its nice run
B O ÖT ES
E 16
2
6 July 1
1°
This 9th-magnitude object rides high in the south on June evenings as
it traverses the sparse star fields of eastern Coma Berenices.
stands just 3° high a half-hour
before sunup June 30, when
you’ll need a haze-free sky and
an unobstructed horizon to see
it against the twilight glow.
The inner planet is heading
toward its mid-August supe-
rior conjunction, and will dis-
appear from view in early July.
Earth reaches its summer
solstice at 11:54 a.m. EDT on
June 21. This marks the instant
and star-hop to Pallas’ position
with the help of the chart below.
If you want to see the aster-
oid move in a single evening,
June 12 and 26 offer the best
chances. Both nights, Pallas
skims near a similarly bright star
that helps you gauge its motion.
When Heinrich Olbers dis-
covered Pallas in 1802, astrono-
mers thought it might be the
second “missing planet” in what
seemed like an abnormally large
gap between Mars and Jupiter.
Scientists later figured out that
the gravity of massive Jupiter
prevented any major planet
from forming at that distance
from the Sun.
N
June 1
Path of Pallas 6
11
21
26
C OMA BERENICES
when the Sun lies farthest
north in our sky, and is the
reason why the days are so
long and the nights so short in
the Northern Hemisphere.
Martin Ratcliffe provides plane-
tarium development for Sky-Skan,
Inc., from his home in Wichita,
Kansas. Alister Ling, who lives in
Edmonton, Alberta, has watched
the skies since 1975.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 43
Objects briefly seen on television over 50 years ago mak
 by Michael E. Bakich M67
Our first target is the “other” open cluster in the
constellation Cancer — in other words, not the more
or myself and other “more sea- famous Beehive Cluster (M44). You’ll easily find M67
soned” readers of Astronomy through binoculars or a small telescope 1.7° due west
magazine, 1963 doesn’t seem of magnitude 4.3 Alpha (α) Cancri. At magnitude 6.9,
all that long ago. The space race M67 glows just past the limit of the human eye.
with the USSR (not Russia yet) Through a 4-inch telescope, you’ll resolve roughly
was in full swing, and NASA two dozen stars in M67 across an area two-thirds the
had to accomplish a Moon land- width of the Full Moon. Increase the aperture to
ing to fulfill a national goal set 6 inches, and 50 stars will shine
by President John F. Kennedy. It
seemed everyone was talking about
space, rockets, and astronauts. And
not all the talk was strictly about science; interest in science
fiction was also on the rise.
In this environment, a new television program debuted
Monday, September 16. Each episode began with a brief scene
followed by a “Control Voice” speaking the words, “There is
nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to
adjust the picture. … You are about to experience the awe and
mystery, which reaches from the inner mind to [dramatic
pause] the Outer Limits.”
A total of 49 black-and-white episodes of The Outer Limits
aired over two seasons. But although the show ran only for a
few years, it forever changed the face of televised science fic-
tion. The first episode, “The Galaxy Being,” addressed the pos-
sible danger involved in contacting an extraterrestrial. By the
end of the hour, I was hooked! The last thing that caught my
eye, however, even at the tender age of 10, was the sequence
that concluded each episode: As the credits rolled, eight
deep-sky objects appeared in the background.
M67
The members of this group — one open cluster and
seven galaxies — are all spectacular targets, especially RI CH AR D M CC
OY

for beginning observers with small- to medium-sized
telescopes who have access to a dark observing site.
In order of their appearance during the credits,
they are M67, NGC 891, M104, M101, NGC 5128,
NGC 1300, M81, and M31. Let’s take a detailed
look at each of these celestial jewels so that,
on the next clear moonless night, you can
begin your journey to [dramatic pause]
the outer limits.
forth. The official listed
diameter of M67 is 29', which is almost identical
to the Full Moon.
A dozen of M67’s stars shine brighter than 11th
magnitude. When you view the cluster through a
telescope, you’ll undoubtedly notice a yellow star on
its northeastern edge. Identified as SAO 98178, this
star shines at magnitude 7.8 but is not a member of
the cluster.

e terrific targets for today’s amateur astronomers.

TV SET: CHEPKO ELELNA/DREAMSTIME
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 45

NGC 891
NGC 891
You know, second place is fine if
people remember you. NGC 891 is the
second-best galaxy in the constellation
Andromeda. Not bad, except the constel-
lation’s top dog happens to be one of the
sky’s supreme wonders: the Andromeda
Galaxy (M31, the last entry on this list).
Despite often being overshadowed,
NGC 891 ranks as one of the sky’s best
edge-on spiral galaxies. It inclines only
1.4° to our line of sight. Its more than
4-to-1 length-to-width ratio (13.0' by 2.8')
and magnitude 9.9 brightness easily
earned it the nickname the “Silver Sliver.”
But it has another common name as well,
given to it sometime within the past half-
century: the Outer Limits Galaxy.
To find NGC 891, locate magnitude 2.2
Almach (Gamma [γ] Andromedae) and
move 3½° due east. I’ve really enjoyed the
views I’ve had of this object through small
scopes. True, not much detail is visible, but
you’ll immediately see why this object
earns the “sliver” descriptor.
You’ll do better if you can move up to
a 10-inch telescope, which reveals a sym-
metrical object about 10' long with a
noticeable but narrow central bulge. A
dark dust lane bisects the galaxy and runs
nearly its entire length. This is a really cool
46 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
M104
feature to spot, so it’s definitely worth
waiting for the seeing (atmospheric steadi-
ness) to improve. Additionally, dozens
of foreground stars populate the field,
which adds the third dimension of depth
to the view.
At magnifications above 200x, note the
sections of NGC 891’s nucleus on each side
of the dust lane. The western section glows
slightly brighter. Likewise, the galaxy’s disk
to the southwest outshines its lesser half,
which lies to the northeast.
M104
Deep within Virgo sits a showpiece spi-
ral galaxy guaranteed to delight amateur
astronomers and the general public alike.
KEN CRAWFORD
R. JAY GA BA NY
It’s easy to see why the creators of The
Outer Limits selected this object for the
credits sequence. The Sombrero Galaxy is
undoubtedly one of the finest objects you
can see through a small telescope.
But permit me a bit of science. M104
was the first galaxy astronomers discovered
with a large redshift, which refers to the
magnitude of the galaxy’s motion away
from us caused by the uni-
verse’s expansion. In 1912,
American astronomer
Vesto M. Slipher discovered
the Sombrero Galaxy was
moving away from us at a
speed of 2.2 million mph
(3.6 million km/h).
At magnitude 8.0, M104 is a bright
spiral galaxy. And that brightness is
confined to a relatively small area measur-
ing only 7.1' by 4.4'. Because it is both bright
and small, the galaxy’s surface brightness is
relatively high, which makes it easy to see.
To find it, point your telescope 5½° north-
northeast of magnitude 2.9 Algorab
 M101
ADAM BLO CK/MO UN
T LEM MO N SKYCEN TER
(Delta [δ] Corvi), or 11° west of Spica
(Alpha Virginis).
The Sombrero Galaxy’s lens shape and
the dark dust lane that splits it are easy to
spot. What’s more, the galaxy’s two sec-
tions have unequal brightnesses — the
north outshines the south because M104
inclines 6° to our line of sight. The dust
lane, therefore, appears to cross a bit south
of center from our perspective.
Through a 4-inch telescope, you may
detect the dust lane, but only near the
Sombrero’s center. The core is bright, and
a large halo surrounds it. It even extends
above and below the sections of the spiral
arms nearest the nucleus.
M101
Only one thing prevents spiral galaxy
M101 from making every observer’s top
10 list: its surface brightness. Covering
slightly more area than the Full Moon,
M101’s light spreads out so much that only
large amateur telescopes (those 12 inches
and larger in aperture) do it justice. That’s
not to say you can’t see it through smaller
scopes; I just want you to reduce your
expectations a bit.
M101 represents one of the sky’s
“grand design” spiral galaxies — one
with prominent and clearly defined spiral
arms. Usually, the arms mostly or com-
pletely envelop such galaxies. Only about
/UN IVE RSI TY OF ARI
ZON A
10 percent of all spiral
galaxies fall into the
grand design
category.
This wonderful
object lies in the
constellation Ursa
Major. To get a
rough idea of its
position, make the
MICHAEL SIDONIO
base of an equilateral
triangle with the end
two stars of the Big NGC 5128
Dipper’s handle; M101
marks the triangle’s third
point above. Alternatively, it lies 1.5° east-
northeast of the magnitude 5.7 star
86 Ursae Majoris. M101 glows at magnitude
7.9 and has a diameter of 40'.
From a dark site through a large telescope,
look for M101’s multiple spiral arms. The
core is concentrated but broad, not starlike. a nebula filter to tell the difference
Many star-forming regions and stellar asso- between star-forming regions and
ciations (loose open clusters) lie along M101’s associations. The filter will dim the
spiral arms. In fact, at least five — NGC 5447, stars within the associations, but not the
NGC 5455, NGC 5461, NGC 5462, and nebular gas of the star-forming regions.
NGC 5471 — are bright enough to have their This technique will help you see the
own NGC numbers. Of these, NGC 5447 is glowing hydrogen clouds better.
the most prominent. Find it 6' southwest of
M101’s core. Several other objects within NGC 5128
M101 once carried catalog designations, but One note about the objects as they
astronomers no longer recognize them. Use appeared in The Outer Limits: Starting
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 47

with this one, the
final four images
were reversed.
Seeing NGC 5128 high in the sky
is one of the thrills of Southern
Hemisphere observing. Skygazers there
call it the Hamburger Galaxy because two
stellar regions (the bun) surround a dark,
dusty lane (the burger). Its more common
name is Centaurus A, because it was the
first radio source identified in the constel-
lation Centaurus.
Unfortunately, most northern viewers
get only a taste of this object’s details. For
example, even from southerly Tucson,
Arizona, NGC 5128 climbs to a maximum
altitude of 15°. Viewing any object
through that much of Earth’s atmosphere
presents a distorted view. For best results,
head farther south.
NGC 5128 is a peculiar galaxy that
glows at magnitude 6.7. It’s not quite
300
NGC 1
48 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
round, but it is big, with dimensions
of 31' by 23'. To find it, look 4½° west
of magnitude 3.5 Mu (μ) Centauri.
Scottish astronomer James
Dunlop discovered NGC 5128 in
1826, and published the observation
within a list of 629 objects titled “A
catalogue of nebulae and clusters of
stars in the southern hemisphere,
observed at Parramatta in New South
Wales,” which appeared in volume 118
of the Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society.
NGC 5128’s appearance arises from
a galactic collision. The main body of
Centaurus A — a giant elliptical galaxy
— is absorbing a smaller spiral galaxy.
The two objects collided more than
200 million years ago, causing huge
bouts of star formation.
Through small telescopes, NGC 5128
appears round with a wide, dark lane cut-
ting the galaxy in half. Use a 12-inch or
larger scope, and you’ll see a thin wedge of
light shining through the lane’s western M31
end. That lane widens on both ends.
NGC 1300
NGC 1300 in the constellation Eridanus
has a simple shape: that of a squashed let-
ter S. Once you observe it, I’d wager you’ll
find yourself returning to view this celes-
tial wonder again and again. Better yet,
show it to your friends. It’s a classic barred
spiral galaxy with two arms, both of which
originate from the ends of the bar and
move out at right angles to it.
To find NGC 1300, look 2.3° due north
of magnitude 3.7 Tau4 (τ4) Eridani.
Although, at magnitude 10.4, it’s the faint-
est object on this list, its light covers a small
region of only 5.5' by 2.9', so it’s not hard to
spot even through small telescopes.
If you have an 8-inch or larger scope,
crank the magnification past 200x and look
first for the bright oval nucleus. It’s twice as
long as it is wide. The next features that will
become evident are the beginnings of the
spiral arms. They’re quite clumpy near the
/N A S A nucleus. Finally, if you’re viewing through a
GE TE A M /E S A
H E R ITA
HUBBLE
16-inch or larger scope, try to trace the thin
spiral arms as they tightly curve past the
nucleus on the northern and southern sides.

BO B FER A
M81
To view our penultimate wonder, head
to the northwest section of the constel-
lation Ursa Major the Great Bear, where
you’ll find M81, one of the sky’s brightest
galaxies. It is located 2° east-southeast of
the magnitude 4.5 star 24 Ursae Majoris.
It glows at magnitude 6.9 and measures
24' by 13'.
German astronomer and celestial car-
tographer Johann Elert Bode discovered
this object December 31, 1774, so its
common name is Bode’s Galaxy. (He also
found the nearby irregular galaxy M82.)
French astronomer Pierre Francois André
Méchain independently discovered both
galaxies five years later and reported
them to Charles Messier, who added them
to his classic list.
Bode’s Galaxy glows brightly enough to
show up through binoculars, but the larger
the telescope you can point at it, the better.
Through an 8-inch scope, you’ll see a large,
bright central region surrounding the much
brighter core. Through a 12-inch instru-
ment, you’ll detect how the spiral arms
wind tightly around the core. The eastern-
most appears brighter. Unfortunately, you
won’t detect any dust lanes or star-forming
regions through amateur scopes of any size.
M81 is the brightest member of the M81
Group, one of the closest galactic groups to
M81
CK /M O UN T
ADAM BLO
our own Local Group. The M81 Group
contains about a dozen galaxies and lies
12 million light-years away. Other mem-
bers of this group include M82, NGC 2403, in favor of greatly magnified looks at small
NGC 2366, and NGC 3077.
M31
Like The Outer Limits, I’ve saved the best
for last. The northern sky’s greatest galaxy
gets its familiar name from the constel-
lation where it resides, Andromeda the
Princess. This galaxy is the nearest large
spiral, and it sits at the far end of the Local
Group of galaxies. And in this case, near-
ness equals brightness: magnitude 3.4.
Observers have long described M31
as something other than starlike. For
instance, in A.D. 964, Persian astronomer
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi called it a “little
cloud” in his Book of Fixed Stars. German
astronomer Simon Marius (1573–1625) was
the first to study M31 telescopically. He
described it, “Like the flame of a candle
seen through horn, and like a cloud con-
sisting of three rays; whitish, irregular and
faint; brighter toward the center.” Messier
cataloged the object on August 3, 1764:
“The beautiful nebula of the belt of
Andromeda, shaped like a spindle; it
resembles two cones or pyramids of light,
opposed at their bases.”
In 1888, British astronomer Isaac
Roberts became the first to photograph the
spiral structure of M31. In 1912, V.M.
Slipher first measured M31’s radial velocity
(the speed of a celestial object toward or
away from us). He found
its velocity far sur-
passed that of any
other object, and his
measurement helped
prove M31 lay far from
the Milky Way. In
1923, Edwin Hubble
measured a Cepheid
variable star in M31
and confirmed its
extragalactic nature.
Observers approach
the Andromeda
Galaxy in one of two
ways: Some opt for
low-power optics to
take in the entire view,
which includes M31’s
nucleus, dust lanes,
and two companion
galaxies, M32 and
LE M M O N SK YC EN TE R/ UN IV
ER SI TY O F
AR IZO NA
NGC 205. If this is
your approach, try to trace M31’s full
length, which equals six Full Moons side
by side (185' by 75').
Other amateur astronomers eschew
wide-field views of the Andromeda Galaxy
regions through large telescopes. If this
plan appeals to you, use as big a scope as
you can, and crank up the magnification to
300x or more. The central region will still
be featureless, but it will pay for you to
scan M31’s spiral arms for bright clumps,
which indicate star-forming regions.
Good luck on your voyage to [dramatic
pause] the outer limits.
Michael E. Bakich thanks Ken Murray of
Alhambra, California, for writing the email
that sparked his desire to write this story.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 49
 THE PAPER
S ay the word ephemeris
to an astronomer, and she
or he most likely will think
of a reference book like
The Astronomical Almanac,
with its lists of planetary, lunar, and solar
positions for specific dates and times.
On the other hand, the word ephemera
means something fleeting, changeable,
temporary. This word refers to paper items
that don’t last long or were meant for
short-term use but have since become col-
lectibles. Those 1977 ticket stubs from the
original Star Wars movie are ephemera.
A great deal of astronomical ephemera
exists. The material ranges from almanacs
to early 20th-century astronomy-themed
sheet music, from antique stereo cards to
50 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
Transient treasures of word and art show that
our science has a rich and colorful past.
text and photos by Raymond Shubinski
playing cards depicting famous astrono-
mers. Then there are the tea and cigarette
cards, produced for nearly 100 years, that
covered how to find constellations, the
development of the telescope, spectros-
copy, space exploration, and more. A
wide range of other items has survived
the ravages of time as well.
The postcard era
Postcards appeared with the rise of
cheap and regular mail delivery. They
first became popular in the mid-19th
century in Europe, and then America.
The cards usually showed a sentimental
picture and a verse on the front, with
room for the address and a
message on the back. They also
became “wish you were here” greetings
with drawings and then photographs of
interesting locations. Observatories were
a favorite photographic subject.
Near the beginning of the 20th cen-
tury, Lick Observatory in California
appeared on many postcards. Some
showed drawings of the observatory at
night. A few even had holes poked out
for the stars. When held up to the light,
the “stars” seemed to twinkle in the
sky above this marvel of 19th-century
technology.
Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin, was also popular. Postcards
that span a century show many exterior
and a few interior views. One card in my
collection has a colorized image of the
40-inch Yerkes refractor. The message
on the back is what makes it so special:
“Dear Gary, this telescope gives me the
idea to replace the mirrors in the baggage
room.” It’s an odd response after seeing
one of the most powerful telescopes in the
world. Postcards of observatories from
across the globe provide insights into a
world that, in many cases, has been lost.
The 1910 appearance of Halley’s Comet
also provided a wealth of material for
postcard makers. The range of sub-
jects ran the gamut from the artful
to the comic. Originals of these cards
are extremely rare. With the return
of the comet in 1985, many of the
1910 cards were reproduced, along
with new cards that may now be
tucked away waiting for 2061, when
Halley’s Comet returns.

Trade cards
Long before mailboxes were cluttered with
endless color flyers and ads, merchants
produced trade cards to promote their
products. These were given out in stores
and other points of sale. Throughout the
19th century, people collected these cards.
One of the earliest cards in my collection
is an ad for lessons in practical naviga-
tion. Captain E.A. Dunkerton advertised

help for those

who were studying
to become master’s
mates and pilots. This
card may have been handed
out in stores that sold nautical
equipment.
As color printing became cheaper,
cards became more elaborate and beauti-
ful. The aim was to get consumers to keep
the card because that reminded them of
the product. The German company Liebig
issued a series of trade cards showing dif-
ferent ancient goddesses, including Urania,
the muse of astronomy. It is a beautiful
card even though the back promotes
Liebig’s Meat Extract!
Another set of such cards in Italian
tells the life story of Galileo in great
detail. The company that produced it also
did a series about the planets and comets.
Some cards used astronomical images
simply to catch the eye. A trade card for
optical equipment shows a number of
elves deep in a cave, using a prism to
create a lovely spectrum.

Decorative pieces
Antique prints, drawings, and even car-
toons provide areas of ephemeral interest.
It was common in the 19th century for
print shops to produce decorative images
for the home and collectors.
Two artists of note, Wilhelm Kranz and

52 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 Etienne Leopold Trouvelot, produced By the 1860s, every middle-class home Lucky Strike means …
beautiful astronomical artwork, had a stereo viewer and a box filled with By far, the most beautiful and prolific
which was reproduced many cards showing scenes from around the source of astronomical ephemera comes
times. Kranz painted beautifully world. Some of the stereo cards boasted in the form of tea and cigarette cards. In
atmospheric images such as the Big Dipper astronomical subjects. A stereo card of the 1875, the Allen & Ginter tobacco company
and Little Dipper above a frozen field. Moon from this period was based on pho- began placing small, colorful cards into
Originals from these artists are quite tographs by Draper. Unfortunately, many cigarette packages. Some of the earliest
valuable, but prints have early cards were pro- baseball cards were, in fact, produced as
also survived and are duced on poor-quality cigarette cards. The cards were issued
worth collecting. The first paper and have not sur- in series to encourage smokers to buy
Some images poke fun photograph vived in large numbers. more packs.
at astronomy and astrono- One of my cards By the 1880s, the British cigarette com-
mers, and the public’s of the Moon — shows a group of chil- pany H.O. Willis also started to issue
interest in both. The taken in 1840 dren involved in an cards to increase sales. Other British man-
British satirical magazine by astronomer astronomy lesson, with ufacturers soon embraced this marketing
Punch was particularly John W. Draper the young “professor” idea enthusiastically, and, indeed, many of
creative. One drawing draped in his father’s the best cards were printed in England. It
shows a group of middle-
— was printed dressing robe. Another wasn’t long before they were appearing in
class viewers bemused by
on metal as a has a fake image of tea packages, chocolate tins, and other
a sidewalk astronomer. daguerreotype. Saturn with what appears products. These cards covered every con-
The world of gaming to be cardboard rings. By ceivable topic, including astronomy.
also got into the act. the 1870s and beyond, I was introduced to astronomical ciga-
Famous 19th-century astronomers such as both the paper quality and the artwork on rette cards by the English astronomer of
Sir Robert Ball, Sir William Huggins, and the cards had become much better. lunar nomenclature fame, Ewen Whitaker.
Lord James Lindsay appeared on playing A card from 1902 shows the business These incredibly delightful and colorful
cards made by Vanity Fair. end of the great equatorial refracting tele- cards are quite small, measuring only 2.5
scope at Lick Observatory, on Mount by 1.5 inches (64 by 38 millimeters).
Stereo cards Hamilton in California. It almost makes The cards always have a graphic image
The first photograph of the Moon — taken the viewer want to reach in and turn the on the front and detailed information on
in 1840 by astronomer John W. Draper — knobs. By the turn of the 20th century, the back. The series usually contained
was printed on metal as a daguerreotype. these cards sported real celestial images of between 20 and 50 cards. That’s a lot of
Within a few years, paper photographs Saturn, Mars, nebulae, comets, and even cigarettes! A collector could learn all the
became common. Then two images were meteors. This is how the public saw astron- constellations, how telescopes and spec-
combined to create stereo cards. omy more than a hundred years ago. troscopes work, famous astronomers, and

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 53

HIDDEN FOR DECADES
I have had lots of experience with astronomical
ephemera. My wife and I once went to Lowell
Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, on a rescue
mission. The observatory was clearing out a
mountain of material related to the failed
Astrographic Sky Survey, first instituted by the
observatory’s founder, Percival Lowell, at the
start of the 20th century. There were thou-
sands of photographic star charts taken by
observatories from around the world.
When I began sorting through all of this,
I ran across an envelope addressed to
“Professor Percival Lowell, 53 State St.,
Boston, Mass.” The postmark shows that
it was sent from Flagstaff on March 12,
1907, at 4 P.M. It contained
a single sheet of
paper listing a
number of charts
and nothing more.
This bit of ephemera,
which speaks of
a grand human
endeavor, went
unnoticed for more
than a century. — R.S.
54 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
more. A real education could be gotten
from these miniature cards.
At the beginning of the 20th century,
John Player & Sons produced a set of 25
cards called “Those Pearls of Heaven,” show-
ing the brightest constellations.
They include Orion, Leo,
Taurus, and even small finder
star charts. The back of the card
“Bears — Great and Little”
explains: “Part of the Great Bear is
the familiar Plough, also called
Charles’s Wain. Between the Pointers
is the Owl Nebula invisible to the
unaided eye.” (Before you write in, I
realize that last statement is a mistake.
M97 isn’t between the Pointers.)
These cards reflect the astronomical
knowledge of their time. A card by
Wills Cigarettes shows a face-on spiral
nebula — in other words, a galaxy. The
back states it consists of “highly diffused
gaseous matter, thought to have been
expelled from the Milky Way.”
Mars is shown with a spider’s web of
canals, while its surface is crisscrossed by
waterways under a blue martian sky. The
same set also illustrates volcanoes forming
lunar craters. An illustration of an eclipse
viewed from the Moon indicates a lunar
surface that is sharp and craggy.
Many cards became small works of
art in their own right. One card shows
Halley’s Comet shining in a star-filled
sky above a calm lake. Others feature
polar explorers trudging over ice fields
under the glow of the aurora australis
and a fireball blazing across a darkened
sky. Equipment like the Yerkes’ refractor
or a brass spectroscope also appear on
these cards.
Even the Zeiss projector at the London
Planetarium appears on a Tonibell lemon
juice card. Astronomers Sir Robert Ball,
Hans Lipperhey, and Sir Isaac Newton
also have places in these miniature
encyclopedias of information. Of all
the astronomical ephemera that might
tempt a collector, these cards are the
hardest to resist.
Astronomical
almanacs
In 2009, Sotheby’s auction house sold a
1733 copy of Poor Richard’s Almanack by
Benjamin Franklin for $556,500! This little
publication of a few dozen pages was found
tucked away on a shelf and forgotten for
more than 270 years.
Almanacs have been around for centu-
ries. Old European almanacs listing saints’
days and religious observances are rare and
valuable. In early America, almanacs took
on a different form. The agrarian society of
that time needed particular information for
successful farming, so Franklin and others
began to fill this void with small annual
publications. The Old Farmer’s Almanac
(originally just The Farmer’s Almanac),
which has been continually published since
1792, can still be found in grocery stores
across America.
Almanacs contain a great deal of astro-
nomical information. There was usually a
page per month listing Moon phases, rise
and set times of the Sun and the Moon,
tides, the equation of time, and much more.
Facing pages held information about plant-
ing times, seasonal changes, and general
“useful” information.
Monthly weather predictions were also
an important part of these publications.
Unlike almanacs for professional astrono-
mers, these slim volumes were meant to be
Raymond Shubinski is a contributing editor
of Astronomy and a longtime collector of
astronomy ephemera — and many other things.
used and then discarded. Many of them Brief glimpses
found their way to the outhouse. As a All these items provide a wonderful look
result, old almanacs are hard to find. into the history and understanding of
I have a copy of Leavitt’s Genuine, astronomy from the 19th to the mid-20th
Improved New-England Farmer’s century. Astronomical ephemera also
Almanack, and Scholar’s Astronomical give a fascinating look at how the public
Diary for the year 1822 in my collection. viewed this fast-developing science, and
Like most almanacs, it was printed on what information was important and use-
poor-quality paper to keep down the price. ful to them. Many of these items are not
This is another reason for the scarcity only beautiful, but also provide incredible
of such publications. insight into the human response to the
On the cover are illustrations of heavens. Whether through benign neglect,
eclipses of the Sun and Moon for that happy accident, or purposeful preserva-
year. Inside is more information about tion, ephemera are a treasure for us all.
astronomical events, “Chronological
Cycles,” and important dates. It even con-
tains a small selection of “Pleasant [in
other words, scientific] Experiments.”
This is all followed by a page-per-month
listing of important daily
information.
It is the human connection
that makes these almanacs so
special. Many farmers made
notes throughout them. For
example, the original owner
of my Leavitt Almanac
recorded the first snowfall
on October 28, as well as
other information. This is
the best type of ephemera
because it reaches through
time to touch us here in the future.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 55
 JANUARY 25, 2004, marked the start
of a 90-day planned mission for NASA’s six-
wheeled, golf cart-sized Opportunity rover
— one of two vehicles comprising the Mars
Exploration Rover mission. Fifteen years
later — eight years after its twin, Spirit, went
silent — Opportunity’s mission finally drew
to a close Wednesday, February 13, 2019.
The rover ultimately sent back more than
200,000 raw images and traveled a total of
RED ROVER. 28 miles (45 kilometers),
A simulated image farther than a standard
shows Opportunity marathon and an accom-
traversing Burns
plishment mission plan-
Cliff in Endurance
Crater, which the ners never expected. Over
rover studied in the years, Opportunity’s
2004. NASA/JPL-CALTECH findings have helped

MISSION
researchers reconstruct
Mars’ wet past, raising the
possibility that microbial
life could have survived
on its ancient surface.

COMPLETE
for OPPORTUNITY
ROVER
After 15 years exploring the Red Planet,
the Mars Exploration Rover mission has ended.
by Alison Klesman and John Wenz

56 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
MISSION’S END
On June 10, 2018, Opportunity fell silent under the shroud
of a planet-encircling dust storm. By February 6, 2019, NASA
reported that more than 835 recovery commands had been
sent to the rover over a span of frequencies, including those
outside its normal communications range. None had been
answered. According to the mission site, this was the team’s
“strategy of last resort.”
In a February 13 press conference, NASA announced
the completion of the Mars Exploration Rover mission.
“Our beloved Opportunity remains silent,” said Thomas
Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission
Directorate, NASA Headquarters, during the broadcast.
Zurbuchen had been present the previous evening dur-
ing a final planned attempt to reach the rover, asking it to
respond. But no response came, prompting NASA to con-
clude that it remains asleep, and the mission can now be
honored as a resounding success.
“Today we get to celebrate the end of this mission,”
said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. He added that
scientists will benefit for years from the data taken during DARKNESS FALLING. In 2014, Opportunity snapped this wide-angle image of its
Opportunity’s 14 years spent roving the Red Planet. own late-afternoon shadow against the backdrop of Endeavour Crater. NASA/JPL-CALTECH

WHAT KILLED OPPORTUNITY?
Early last June, Opportunity’s location
“Spirit and in Perseverance Valley, on the western
Opportunity rim of the crater Endeavour, had been
may be gone, engulfed by a growing dust storm.
That storm clouded the Red Planet’s
but they leave skies with dust and blotted out the
us a legacy.” Sun. Opportunity, which relied on
MIKE WATKINS sunlight to charge its batteries and
keep its electronics warm, went to
sleep as a protective measure against
the prolonged period of darkness. But even after the skies
began to clear in early August, the rover slept on.
By September 11, the atmosphere above the rover’s loca-
tion had cleared enough for adequate sunlight to reach its
panels, provided they were relatively free of dust. It also
started the clock on a 45-day period that NASA believed
would be the best window for getting a response from the
rover. Throughout that period, NASA’s Deep Space Network
continued broadcasting commands to the rover, which
likely suffered a number of faults due to the prolonged lack
of sunlight, affecting its internal clock and thus its ability

ONE LAST LOOK. This sprawling, 360-degree
panorama — composed of 354 individual shots
captured by Opportunity’s Panoramic Camera
between May 13 and June 10, 2018 — shows a host
of intriguing features near a site fittingly named
of Endeavour Crater spans roughly 600 feet
(182 meters) and contains many shallow channels
sloping down from the crater’s rim to its floor. Visible
are Opportunity’s entrance point to the valley (near
the top center) and portions of the rover, including
and low-gain antenna (on the right side at the
bottom). The lower left portion of the panorama
contains incomplete images taken in only one
color filter before the rover shut down.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/CORNELL/ASU

Perseverance Valley. This area on the western rim its solar panel (just left of center at the bottom)

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 57
 AFTER SOME 15 PROLIFIC YEARS on the
martian surface, NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover
has gone silent. We talked to the NASA engineers
and scientists whose lives have been touched by
the mission about their experiences and what the
rover meant to them. For some researchers, the
mission has encompassed their entire careers. For
others, the spacecraft team was like a close-knit
family that will now go its separate ways. Their
eulogies for the lost rover are below. — J.W.

REMEMBERING
DUST IN THE WIND. In January 2014, Opportunity had accumulated
a thick coat of red dust, as seen on the left-hand side of this self-portrait.
Two months later, wind had blown off much of the dust, as seen on the

OPPORTUNITY
right-hand side, improving the performance of the solar panels that
gathered power for the rover. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/CORNELL UNIV./ARIZONA STATE UNIV.

to communicate at preplanned times. By consistently

pinging the rover during both preplanned recovery
times and other random intervals, engineers had
“ “
Put simply, I loved
Opportunity, as I did her
twin sister, Spirit. I was
hoped to catch Opportunity when it was awake. privileged to be part of a
But after the final planned attempt, NASA concluded team that was ecstatically
that Opportunity will remain silent and stationary at its devoted to them for years.
final location. We sacrificed dinners with
family, vacations, whole
MISSION COMPLETE marriages, to those rovers.
As of January 25, Opportunity — with an original mis- “And they were worth it:
sion plan lasting just 90 days and covering only about In exchange, they gave us a
1,100 yards (1 km) of distance — had clocked 15 years planet. They were our eyes
on Mars. The rover had long surpassed both its origi- and ears, our remote robot
nal three-month warranty period, as well as its twin bodies, as we made a god
rover, Spirit, which fell silent in 2010 at a location on into a place. [They were] our
the western side of the Home Plate plateau named daughters, alongside whom
Troy. Spirit, which had suffered wheel damage, became we were lucky enough to
stuck and was unable to collect sufficient sunlight dur- walk for a while.
ing the martian winter, succumbing to a lack of power “The thought of saying
and cold damage. goodbye to Opportunity fills
“Spirit and Opportunity may be gone, but they leave me with mixed emotions.
us a legacy,” said Mike Watkins, director of NASA’s Jet Pride, certainly, at her
Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars Exploration Rovers, he enormous accomplishments.
added, “energized the public about the spirit of robotic But grief and despair at her
Mars exploration.” Their legacy, he said, will live on loss. And truthfully, I think
with the enthusiasm and support for not only Curiosity, the pride will have to wait a
currently exploring Mars, but the upcoming Mars 2020 while. There’s no room for it
mission as well. now.”
— Scott Maxwell,
former rover planning lead
Alison Klesman is an associate editor of Astronomy.
for Mars Exploration Rovers
Spirit and Opportunity
If I had the chance to say
one last goodbye, I would
thank her for her tireless
service above and beyond
all possible expectations.
There’s probably no more
fitting way for her to have
gone than in the strongest
dust storm we’ve ever seen
on Mars — for her, I would
expect nothing less. Now
she can rest, beneath a thin
layer of dust, knowing she
did humanity proud.”
— Tanya Harrison,
director of research for the
Space Technology and Science
Initiative at Arizona State
University and science team
collaborator on the Mars
Exploration Rover Opportunity
“I wish she
could have
persevered
a little longer,
but Mars had
other plans.”
KERI BEAN

58 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 “ “
LONG HAUL. Opportunity Because [Opportunity has]
took this false-color panorama such a small team, we have
while looking down onto
Marathon Valley from an
a lot more of a family feel. . . .
overlook near Endurance Crater We’re all really close, we hang
in March 2015. Once the rover out on the weekends, we go out
reached the valley, it had to dinner, and I haven’t really
traveled the equivalent of an gotten that vibe with any other
Olympic marathon. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/
CORNELL UNIV./ARIZONA STATE UNIV.
project. . . . It’s sort of sad to see
this family disbanded.
“I think Opportunity has
“
It’s sort of bittersweet. We
lasted almost 15 years for a
three-month mission. We made
multiple scientific discoveries
that fundamentally changed
our understanding of Mars,
in a way that has guided all
of the future exploration that
we’ve been doing since. And
to have been a part of that,
Opportunity was the first
rover to find evidence for
liquid water on the surface
of Mars. Before that, we
didn’t have any definitive
evidence. It was the first
rover to look at sedimentary
rocks on another planet.
And we learned a lot
about how to drive rovers

“
[Opportunity is] the longest
lasting mission we’ve had
on the surface. That rover
was basically driving until
the end. It deployed its IDD
[the rover’s arm] shortly
before the storms started. . . .
They’ve got an instrument
down ready to do science.
The fact that you’ve had a
functioning mission for this
long set a bar awfully high
for Mars exploration. Mars
2020 is going to really have
to work to best Opportunity.
It’s appropriate that
Perseverance Valley is where
the Opportunity rover rests.”
— Mike Siebert,
former tactical activity
planner, sequence integration
engineer, flight director
for the mission, and
Opportunity rover planner
made the solid case that at
least in some point in the past,
Mars was habitable. We don’t
know when, we don’t know if
it ever happened, but at least
there were several spots on
Mars where we could have
potentially had life, and I think
that’s really fascinating.
“For me personally, I think
Opportunity has just always
persevered. Mars has thrown
a heck of a lot at her. This isn’t
even her first global dust storm.
She’s survived so much. Parts
have broken along the way.
There have been problems
along the way. Yet every
single time, we’ve overcome
it, and this is finally the one
we can’t overcome. It’s kind
of bittersweet that she’s dying
in Perseverance Valley. I wish
she could have persevered
a little longer, but Mars had
other plans.”
— Keri Bean,
science planner on Opportunity
and Curiosity team member
and to have had it be so much
more successful than anybody’s
wildest imagination, is a really
wonderful thing. It’s going
to be a sad day, but it’s also
going to be a day to celebrate
in a way, because what we’ve
accomplished is incredible
and honestly may never be
matched again.
“Things that we had to
do to survive with Spirit and
Opportunity have now become
fundamental, built-in parts of
Curiosity and 2020. And again,
I don’t know that we’ll ever
have another surface asset
that contributes as much for as
long. I certainly think that the
distance that we’ve driven may
be the longest we drive off the
planet for a long time to come.
And just being able to look at
that and say, ‘Look at what we
can achieve.’ I think that will be
the other [part] of its legacy.”
— Ashley Stroupe,
Opportunity rover planner and
Curiosity engineering team member
on another planet using
Opportunity.
“Another legacy that I
think is important from
my personal story is the
legacy of inspiration. I
know I’m not the only one
who . . . thinks that Spirit
and Opportunity flipped a
switch in their heads and
said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’d love
to pursue a career in math
or in science to be able to
do something like this for a
career,’ whether it be a rover
or doing science. . . . I think
that’s just as important as
the science results that have
come out.”
— Abby Fraeman,
Opportunity deputy
principal investigator
Some quotes have been edited for
length and clarity.
John Wenz is a former
associate editor of Astronomy
who now freelances from
Lincoln, Nebraska.

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 59
The story behind
Stellarvue
From the start, this company’s
goal was the perfect telescope.
text and photos by Tony Hallas

A
ll stories have a beginning. In
the case of Vic Maris, the story
starts with a kid who was sim-
ply fascinated with the stars.
A neighbor noticed the boy’s
passion and gave him a copy of The Golden
Book of Astronomy, by Rose Wyler and
Gerald Ames. Young Vic pursued his inter-
est and, much later in life, went on to found
Stellarvue.
During his childhood, Maris asked his
parents for a telescope, and they innocently
bought him one of those terrible “depart-
ment store” scopes that proved nearly
impossible to use. A friend who was
equally interested in astronomy suggested
to Maris that if he wanted a better scope,
he’d have to build it himself.
Thus was born the guiding principle
that stuck with Maris all his life: If you
want something built right, you have to
build it yourself.

Building scopes
The first telescope Maris made was a
6-inch f/7.8 Newtonian reflector that
came as a kit from Edmund Scientific. He
learned how to grind the mirror and, with
a little help, to parabolize it. This scope
served him well over the next few years,
but he didn’t like the tube currents, which

Every telescope Stellarvue

has ever produced has been
a refractor.

60 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Alex Mayer uses
the laser interferometer to check the quality
of the curves ground into the lenses.
Stellarvue’s president and owner, Vic Maris,
programs settings into the company’s Haas
VF3 CNC machine, to create the proper curves
on lenses.
The company’s optical fabrication lab is
a wonder to behold.
distorted the views of celestial objects. So,
his next endeavor was to build a refractor,
and he has been building them ever since.
For many years, Maris’ telescope mak-
ing took a back seat to his main job as a
park ranger in California. It was only
toward the end of this career that he began
teaching astronomy to the general public
and decided to make a few more refractors,
one for himself and a few for his friends.
The telescopes worked so well that Maris
found himself with more requests for them,
so he set up a shop in his garage. In all, he
made about 25 of these 3.2-inch scopes with
achromatic doublet lenses. But demand just
kept increasing. Maris was working full time
as a ranger, and the telescopes were taking
up whatever spare time that remained.
In his 50s, Maris retired from the park
service and decided it was time to open a
real shop. He chose a commercial building
in Auburn, California, to begin this next
chapter of his life. During the next 20 years,
this small space expanded to an ultra-
modern 9,000-square-foot facility that
produces optics for space exploration, the
military, and astronomers all over the world.
Products galore
Stellarvue’s products for astronomers
include 3.2-inch, 4-inch, 5.2-inch, and
6-inch refractors. All incorporate trip-
let apochromatic lenses, and can be
used either photographically or visually.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 61

ABOVE: Stellarvue does the final milling
on all its lenses.
RIGHT: Machines that polish lenses have
little downtime.
62 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
Additionally, triplet APO 4.8-inch and
7.2-inch refractors are in the works for
release later this year.
Maris has experimented with importing
mass-produced optics, and the conclusion
has always been the same: They don’t meet
his standards for Stellarvue instruments.
Motivated by this realization, he recently
made a massive investment to secure in-
house production of all telescope compo-
nents — especially the optics.
Two enormous Haas CNC machines,
one for metalwork and one for glass,
form the backbone of Stellarvue’s high-
precision manufacturing. Maris also has
set up a “clean room” optical shop with
grinding and polishing spindles to create
the glass elements.
All work is checked with a state-of-the-
art Zygo phase-shifting laser interferom-
eter that is so sensitive, it has to sit on an
air table (think air hockey) to prevent
vibrations from interfering with it. The
machine can detect the most microscopic
variations in optical figure, enabling pro-
prietary techniques to achieve consistent,
LEFT: Once the components that will go into
Stellarvue’s refractors are created, Liz Ruiz
gets them ready for assembly.
ABOVE: Steve Fraticelli inspects each lens,
under high magnification, for defects.
RIGHT: The main crew at Stellarvue includes
(left to right) Ruiz, Maris, Fraticelli, Mayer,
and Ryan Rodriguez.
uncommonly high optical standards.
Customers can expect triplet lenses to have
Strehl ratios of 0.98 or 0.99. A theoretically
perfect lens has a Strehl ratio of 1.0.
Lens creation
Stellarvue is constantly experimenting with
optical designs to improve their already
excellent products. Let’s follow the process
of making one of the company’s high-end
telescope lenses.
It begins with a square or “strip” of
high-quality glass from Ohara. Once the
theoretical curves are known, the informa-
tion is fed into the Haas VF3 CNC
machine, where diamond-cutting tools
shape the blank and cut it to the correct
thickness. Tiny ridges left from the tools
are removed by grinding the blank and
then polishing it using ever-finer grits.
It’s then checked against a test plate
that has accurate opposite curves; when
the interference lines are straight, the lens
has the correct curve. The lens is then
checked under a microscope for any
physical imperfections.
Once all three lenses (for an air-spaced
triplet) have been manufactured, they are
mounted with the correct spacers and
taken to the interferometer for inspection.
Specifically, the lens assembly is tested for
zones, trefoil, astigmatism, spherical cor-
rection, and Strehl ratio. Imperfections are
corrected by hand polishing until the lens
assembly delivers an extremely high per-
formance. Once the prototype has passed
all the internal tests, it is then tested visu-
ally and photographically on the sky.
Stellarvue’s standard lens production is
much the same, except the process begins
with a glass disk that has already been
formed to the basic shape of the finished
product by the glass manufacturer. All
telescopes with the “SVX” label have
been hand-corrected to the highest stan-
dards possible.
Previously, the company made triplet
lens assemblies that were oil spaced. This
made the manufacturing process easier
because the lens assembly contains two
surfaces that act as one. So in all, you only
have to create four corrected surfaces.
An air-spaced triplet, however, has six
corrected surfaces, which allow for a much
higher degree of correction. Stellarvue uses
the highest-quality anti-reflective multi-
coatings that go well above and below the
visual spectrum. Because Stellarvue tele-
scopes are used photographically with
CCD cameras, and because CCDs typically
record outside the visible spectrum, this
helps eliminate ghosting.
Everything must work
As Maris has often said, it’s not enough
to manufacture superb optics — the lens
elements need to be properly supported by
the telescope. Lens cells must hold them
in perfect alignment without pinching the
glass when the temperature plummets.
Adhering to the same standards as its lens
making, Stellarvue has invested a great
deal of research into how to properly hold
the lens elements.
Maris is surrounded by a crew of dedi-
cated associates who are involved with
every aspect of telescope creation. Working
at Stellarvue is a progressive experience
because telescope design and manufactur-
ing keeps evolving to create better instru-
ments. This is especially true when all
elements of the telescope are manufactured
in-house to such high standards.
One day I’d love to add a 6-inch
Stellarvue refractor with an air-spaced
triplet that has a Strehl ratio of 0.99 to my
telescope arsenal. Using equipment of this
quality is like no other experience.
Perfection in astronomy is everyone’s
dream — including mine.
One of the world’s top astroimagers,
Tony Hallas is a contributing editor of
Astronomy who loves high-quality telescopes.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 63
 SECRETSKY
BY STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
Partial eclipse
oddities
O
n July 2, 2019,
a total solar
eclipse will be
visible over parts
of Chile and
Argentina just before sunset.
Its partial phases will be vis-
ible throughout much of South
and Central America. While
totality is usually the draw, I’d
be interested in reports of tele-
scopic observations of the dark
lunar limb during the partial
phases (using an approved
solar filter, of course), espe-
cially under less-than-perfect
atmospheric seeing. Although
it may sound counterintuitive,
an unstable atmosphere can
reward observers with some
fascinating optical phenomena.
A ripple effect
Occasionally, during the par-
tial phases of the August 2017
total solar eclipse, the Moon’s
following limb (edge) not only
rippled like waves but also
sported mysterious wing tips at
its north and south extremities.
This effect was in turn mirrored
by a bright collar of light that
ran along the outer edge of the
lunar limb. The latter phenome-
non is a well-known brightness-
contrast illusion. If you stare at
a black object (the New Moon)
long enough against a bright
background (the Sun’s disk), a
portion of the eye’s retina will
become fatigued, creating a
negative (bright) afterimage
that involuntary eye movements
carry beyond the borders of the
black crescent. Early telescopic
observers mistakenly believed
this bright collar was due to the
refraction of sunlight through
a lunar atmosphere.
BROWSE THE “SECRET SKY” ARCHIVE AT www.Astronomy.com/OMeara.
64 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
Take a closer look
at the dark edge.
Mountains and valleys near the south pole of the Moon are visible in this image of a partial solar eclipse taken from space by the Solar
Dynamics Observatory spacecraft October 7, 2010. SDO
The Moon’s rippling outer
edge was an auxiliary phenom-
enon. Under excellent seeing
conditions, the Moon’s limb
appears irregular under mag-
nification because of all the
peaks and valleys along the
limb that we see in profile. But
heat shimmer magnified and
warped these features and set
them in motion — an effect
similar to that seen along an
ocean horizon or a hot road
under mirage conditions.
What I didn’t expect to see
was the contrast illusion rip-
pling in sync with the mock
irregularities along the dark
lunar crescent.
I would be most interested to
hear if any of the black “wave
crests” along the undulating
limb appear to “rip free” and
vanish, like what happens with
terrestrial mirages. Watching
the partial phases as the eclipse
nears the horizon may just do
the trick.
The wing tips at the cusps
were an unexpected phenom-
enon. I’m guessing they, too,
were a mirage effect, coupled
with the black drop effect.
Usually associated with transits
of Venus, the black drop occurs
at second and third contacts,
when the black disk of Venus
may appear to elongate toward
the inner edge of the Sun’s disk.
Perhaps solar limb darkening
added the perceived extension
of the lunar limb. I’m not sure,
but it’s a working theory that
you may help to solve during
the next solar eclipse.
Lunar eclipses, too
Wavelike irregularities can
also be seen along the edge
of Earth’s shadow during the
Leonor Ana Hernandez, an amateur
astronomer and artist from La Mancha,
Spain, displays her pastel drawings of
the January 2019 total lunar eclipse.
LEONOR ANA HERNANDEZ
The author made this
sketch during the partial
phases of the August
2017 total solar eclipse.
It shows a rippling effect
along the lunar limb and wing
tip at the cusps, blunting the
solar crescent. STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
partial phases of a lunar eclipse,
as Leonor Ana Hernandez of
La Mancha, Spain, observed
the night of January 21, 2019.
Hernandez went to the La Hita
Observatory in Toledo, Spain,
to view the event, during which
she focused on the advance of
the curved shadow and associ-
ated visual phenomena.
Hernandez likened the
advancing shadow to a “sea
breaking gently on the shore of
the beach.” She watched as the
shadow deformed as a “channel
of darkness, opened like a dike,
and overflowed toward Mare
Frigoris. That plume of dark-
ness held for a while until the
false terminator advanced to
reach Aristarchus.” Hernandez
says she was “burning with
emotions” as she sketched the
eclipse and made some draw-
ings in pastel color on black
paper to capture “what my eyes
and my heart saw [and felt] in
this eclipse of ‘ice and fire.’ ”
As always, send your
observations and thoughts
to sjomeara31@gmail.com.
Stephen James O’Meara
is a globe-trotting observer
who is always looking for the
next great celestial event.
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INDEX of
ADVERTISERS ScopeBuggy
Apollo Anniversary Products. . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Astro Haven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 • For use with most tripods, DOBs
Astro-Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 and piers
Astronomy Backstage Pass: • 10” Pneumatic tires for soft ride
Flagstaff, AZ DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 • Load tested to 600+ pounds
Astronomy Flashcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 • Assemble & disassemble in minutes
Astronomy magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 • Adjustable rear axle height (1½” to 7”)
Astronomy Reader Choice Awards . . . . . . 8 • Ideal for scopes up to 36”
Bob Berman Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 • One person can quickly
Celestron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Central Appalachian Astronomy Society. . 3
and easily move
any sized scope Still #1
iOptron Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Kitt Peak National Observatory. . . . . . . . . . 3 $345.00*
Metamorphosis Jewelry Design . . . . . . . . . 5
NexDome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Plus S&H
Approx. $60 Shipping
Oberwerk Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 USA
Optic Wave Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Omegon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
*Subject to change Keeping it “Beautifully” Simple
Almost Zero Add-Ons... Robotic right out of the box
Peru & Chile - Ancient Paths to the
Almost Zero Installation... Takes hours not months
Present Total Solar Eclipse
North Bound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Precise Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Revolution Imager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Rainbow Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Patent Pending
Scope Buggy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ScopeStuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 SCOPEBUGGY
South Pacific Cruise to Totality 2020. . . . 19 P.O. BOX 834
Stellarvue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Elephant Butte, NM 915-443-9010
87935
Technical Innovations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Tele Vue Optics, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Advertiser Index is provided as a service to Astronomy
magazine readers. The magazine is not responsible for omissions
or for typographical errors in names or page numbers.
www.ScopeBuggy.com domesales@astrohaven.com
949.215.3777 www.astrohaven.com

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 65
 NEW
PRODUCTS Attention, manufacturers: To submit a product
for this page, email mbakich@astronomy.com.

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philosophy that includes a tradition of astronomical observation dating back two millennia.

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66 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
Curious about space?
Curiosity’s Martian
Selfie, Aug. 5, 2015.
Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-
Caltech/Space Science Institute
 ASKASTR0
SOLAR STORMS
Q: WHENEVER I READ ARTICLES ABOUT
SOLAR STORMS, THEY TALK ABOUT
BILLIONS OF TONS OF CHARGED
PARTICLES THAT ARE EJECTED. HOW
ARE THESE AMOUNTS CALCULATED?
A: The solar wind is composed
of a plasma of positively and
negatively charged particles
(protons and electrons) with
temperatures up to 2.7 million
degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 million
degrees Celsius). Such high
temperatures mean that these
particles are moving so fast that
they can escape the gravita-
tional attraction of the Sun and
are ejected from the Sun’s outer
layer, the corona, at speeds
between 150 and 500 miles
(250 and 800 kilometers) per
second. The winds trace the
solar magnetic field as it forms
a complex structure of closed
loops, with some field lines
staying close to the Sun and
others extending far past Earth.
Since these charged par-
ticles were first hypothesized
in 1918 by Sydney Chapman,
a multitude of studies and
Hydrogen absorption spectrum
Intensity
400 500
Wavelength (nm)
Each element absorbs light at specific wavelengths unique to that atom.
When astronomers look at an object’s spectrum, they can determine its
composition based on these wavelengths. ASTRONOMY: RICK JOHNSON
68 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
Ralph Heide, El Segundo, California
hundreds of spacecraft have
focused on learning more
about their physical properties.
One of the most famous space-
craft is the Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory
(SOHO), launched in
December 1995 and still in use
today. One of SOHO’s instru-
ments can detect the number
of charged particles of different
energies hitting its sensor.
Particles with smaller energies
(1–2 keV; 1,000 to 2,000 elec-
tron volts) come from the solar
wind, while large energies
(>10 MeV; 10 million electron
volts) come from large solar
eruptions. By determining the
number of these particles hit-
ting the sensor over a fixed
period of time and knowing
the mass of these protons and
electrons, it is possible to
extrapolate the mass of the
600 700
The astronauts of Apollo 12 — Alan Bean, Pete Conrad, and Dick Gordon
— experienced a solar eclipse while returning home from the Moon.
Their spacecraft flew through Earth’s shadow, allowing them to capture
this image on their 16mm motion picture camera. NASA/JSC
particles being ejected from
the Sun during a solar storm.
Kathryn Neugent
Ph.D. Candidate and Research
Associate, Department of Astronomy,
University of Washington,
and Lowell Observatory,
Flagstaff, Arizona
Q: HOW DO SCIENTISTS
DETERMINE THE CHEMICAL
COMPOSITIONS OF THE
PLANETS AND STARS?
Cristina Montes
Muntinlupa, Philippines
A: The most common method
astronomers use to determine
the composition of stars, plan-
ets, and other objects is spec-
troscopy. Today, this process
uses instruments with a grat-
ing that spreads out the light
from an object by wavelength.
This spread-out light is called a
spectrum. Every element —
and combination of elements
— has a unique fingerprint
that astronomers can look for
in the spectrum of a given
object. Identifying those fin-
gerprints allows researchers to
determine what it is made of.
That fingerprint often
appears as the absorption of
light. Every atom has electrons,
and these electrons like to stay
in their lowest-energy configu-
ration. But when photons car-
rying energy hit an electron,
they can boost it to higher
energy levels. This is absorp-
tion, and each element’s elec-
trons absorb light at specific
wavelengths (i.e., energies)
related to the difference
between energy levels in that
atom. But the electrons want to
return to their original levels,
so they don’t hold onto the
energy for long. When they
emit the energy, they release
photons with exactly the same
wavelengths of light that were
absorbed in the first place. An
electron can release this light
in any direction, so most of the
light is emitted in directions
away from our line of sight.
Therefore, a dark line appears
in the spectrum at that particu-
lar wavelength.
Because the wavelengths at
which absorption lines occur
are unique for each element,
astronomers can measure the
position of the lines to deter-
mine which elements are pres-
ent in a target. The amount of
light that is absorbed can also
provide information about how
much of each element is present.
The more elements an object
contains, the more complicated
its spectrum can become. Other
factors, such as motion, can
affect the positions of spectral
lines, though not the spacing
between the lines from a given
element. Fortunately, computer
modeling allows researchers to
tell many different elements
and compounds apart even in
a crowded spectrum, and to
identify lines that appear
shifted due to motion.
Alison Klesman
Associate Editor
Q: IF ONE WERE TO STAND
ON THE MOON WHEN
EARTH IS ECLIPSING
THE SUN AND LOOK UP,
WHAT WOULD ONE SEE?
Bill Cahill
Long Beach, California
A: Just as the Moon can eclipse
the Sun as seen from Earth,
Earth can eclipse the Sun as
seen from the Moon. These
eclipses may be partial or total.
During the lead-up to a
solar eclipse from the Moon, a
viewer on the Moon would see
the Sun approach the dark disk
of Earth, with the planet’s
nightside facing the Moon.
Earth’s atmosphere would be
lit from behind, creating a red-
dish ring around the planet
that would glow brighter as the
eclipse proceeded. Astronaut
Alan Bean, who experienced
such an eclipse while returning
home on Apollo 12, said in
interviews that the light filter-
ing through Earth’s atmo-
sphere shifted from red into
the full spectrum of colors dur-
ing maximum eclipse. On the
Moon, the landscape would
also grow darker and redder,
as the sunlight of every sunrise
and sunset on Earth filtered
through the atmosphere and
The open star cluster NGC 2547 (left) contains young, bright stars roughly 30 million years old that are loosely
gravitationally bound and will spread apart over time. By contrast, the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104)
contains millions of stars about 13 billion years old that have been bound in the spherical cluster their entire lives.
NGC 2547: ESO. 47 TUCANAE: ESO/M.-R. CIONI/VISTA MAGELLANIC CLOUD SURVEY. ACKNOWLEDGMENT: CAMBRIDGE ASTRONOMICAL SURVEY UNIT
reached the Moon. We see this
reddish color from Earth dur-
ing total lunar eclipses.
During a partial eclipse,
some bright portion of the Sun
would remain uncovered by
Earth. For near-total eclipses,
this would create a diamond
ring effect with the tiny part of
the Sun’s disk as the diamond
and Earth’s atmosphere acting
as the ring. During a total
eclipse, the entire Sun would
vanish, and the outer regions of
the Sun’s corona would become
visible, just as it is during a
total solar eclipse on Earth.
Alison Klesman
Associate Editor
Q: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A GLOBULAR
STAR CLUSTER AND AN
OPEN STAR CLUSTER?
Edward Dugan III
Camas, Washington
A: “Star cluster” is a generic
way for astronomers to refer
to a group of stars that formed
from the same material and are
gravitationally bound for at
least some period of time.
There are two major types of
star clusters — globular clusters remain gravitationally bound
and open clusters — and they over time and spread out,
are actually quite different. scattering their stars far and
Globular clusters are old wide. Because they are not
clusters of stars that have gravitationally bound, these
remained in a gravitationally clusters can have random and
bound system. These clusters irregular shapes. They are
are usually roughly spherical located in the plane of our
and can contain anywhere galaxy, along the spiral arms
from a few thousand to a where the gas and dust in the
million stars. Milky Way resides. Because
Globular clusters are found open clusters are both younger
in our galaxy’s spherical halo, and shorter lived, astronomers
so they are distributed above, use them to study young stars
below, and level with the plane and the processes of star for-
of our flat, disk-shaped Milky mation, as well as the dynamics
Way. They are typically on the of how material spreads out in
order of 13 billion years old, our galaxy.
meaning they contain some of Alison Klesman
the oldest stars in our galaxy. Associate Editor
As such, astronomers use them
to study our galaxy’s early his-
tory to learn more about what Send us your
the Milky Way was like when questions
these stars formed. Send your astronomy
Open clusters are much questions via email to
younger and smaller than glob- askastro@astronomy.com,
ular clusters. They are the or write to Ask Astro,
recent birthplaces of new stars, P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha,
which form out of clouds of WI 53187. Be sure to tell us
dust and gas, and contain only your full name and where
hundreds or thousands of stars. you live. Unfortunately, we
Though the stars in an open cannot answer all questions
cluster formed together out of submitted.
the same material, they do not
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 69
 READER
GALLERY

Diameter = 6.7"
Magnitude = 0.8 Diameter = 13.9"
Magnitude = –0.8 Diameter = 24.3"
Planetwide dust storm Magnitude = –2.8
March 2018 April May June July

Opposition: July 27, 2018

1 Closest to Earth: July 31, 2018

1. ONE YEAR OF MARS

This sequence resulted from nearly
100 imaging sessions, and those don’t
count the processing. Of note are the
planet’s changing angular diameter,
the global dust storm during June
and July, the South Polar Cap (SPC)
emerging from its winter hood and
shrinking away to a tiny summer
remnant, and the planet’s tilt slowly
increasing southward, giving a better
view of the small SPC. • Damian Peach

2. COMPLEX PLANETARY
NGC 6894 is a planetary nebula in
the constellation Cygnus the Swan. It
features several diffuse outer shells
and a convoluted inner structure. The
nebula lies 5,000 light-years away,
and is expanding at 96,000 mph
(43 km/sec). • Adam Block/Mount
Lemmon SkyCenter/University of
Arizona

3. A DISTINCT PAIR
M65 (right) and M66 are spiral galaxies
in the constellation Leo the Lion. M66’s
face is more open in our direction, so
it presents a more complex picture.
Its red and blue regions contrast with
M65’s more yellowish appearance.
Both galaxies lie 35 million light-years
away. • Rodney Pommier

4. LOOK DEEPER
Globular cluster Palomar 13 is not the
grouping of bright stars strewn about
this image. Rather, it is the small and
loosely concentrated collection of
much fainter stars at center. Palomar 13
lies in the constellation Pegasus and
glows faintly around magnitude 14.
• Anthony Ayiomamitis

70 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 Diameter = 6.9"
Diameter = 13.7" Magnitude = 0.6
Diameter = 18.3"
Magnitude = –1.7 Magnitude = –1.0

August September October November December January 2019

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 71
 5

5. NIGHTS OF THE COMET

Comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) evolved
as these images were captured;
specifically, the shape of its ion tail
changed. From left to right, the dates
of these exposures are January 9, 11,
14, 17, and 19. Note the background of
interstellar “cirrus” in the constellation
Taurus the Bull. • José J. Chambó

6. MOON METEORITE
The total lunar eclipse this past
January was captured by thousands
of people. Some fortunate souls
even caught a meteoroid striking the
Moon’s surface. This imager used a
Canon 80D at ISO 100 with a Tamron
150-600mm zoom lens set at 600mm
and f/10. He took this 13-second
exposure January 20, 2019, at 11:41:51
P.M. EST, from Jacksonville, Florida.
• William Eyler

Meteorite strike
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
exposures. Submit images by email
to readergallery@astronomy.com. 6

72 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 7. TRANSFORMATION
Asteroid (6478) Gault was discovered
in 1988 and was classified as a main
belt asteroid — one between Mars and
Jupiter. On January 9, 2019, however,
astronomers reported that Asteroid
Gault had developed a tail. This
40-minute exposure, taken January
12 from Payson, Arizona, shows the
magnitude 18.8 comet with its faint
tail pointing toward the upper right.
• Chris Schur

8. ATACAMA MILKY WAY

This image, taken in Chile’s Atacama
Desert, is a combination of 72 panels
taken through a Nikon D810a and a
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens. Each exposure
was 8 seconds long at ISO 5000. The
field of view spans more than 200°.
• Matt Dieterich

W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM 73
 BREAK
THROUGH
An ancient
city of stars
This tightly packed ball
of colorful suns sparkles
deep in Earth’s southern
sky. Globular cluster
NGC 1466 lies 160,000
light-years away in the
Milky Way’s largest
satellite galaxy, the
Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC). The heavyweight
cluster spans about
150 light-years and holds
roughly 140,000 times the
mass of the Sun. NGC 1466
formed some 13.1 billion
years ago, just as the
cosmic Dark Ages that
ruled the early universe
were giving way to light.
The cluster resides in the
constellation Hydrus,
well away from the LMC’s
central hub on the border
between Dorado and
Mensa. NASA/ESA/HUBBLE

74 AS T R ON O MY • J U N E 2019
 NGC-2170 image A Jon Talbot

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 SOUTHERN
SKY
August 2019: Gas giants galore
The solar system’s two largest
planets continue to grace these
late winter evenings. Jupiter
and Saturn both lie well south
of the celestial equator and
climb high from our part of
the world, providing magni-
ficent views whether you
observe with the naked eye
or with optical aid.
Jupiter appears far more
prominent. The giant world
shines at magnitude –2.3 in
mid-August and passes nearly
overhead as twilight fades to
darkness. Its slightly yellowish
hue contrasts nicely with
nearby Antares, the star that
marks the heart of Scorpius the
Scorpion, which appears one
binocular field above the
planet. Oddly enough, Jupiter
actually lies within the confines
of Ophiuchus, near where the
Serpent-bearer’s southern bor-
der meets the arachnid’s north-
ern side. The planet hardly
budges against the starry back-
drop this month, reaching its
stationary point during
August’s second week.
As dazzling as Jupiter
appears to the naked eye, it
really sizzles when you turn a
telescope in its direction. The
gas giant’s atmosphere resolves
into an alternating series of
bright zones and darker belts
that run parallel to one
another. Finer details emerge
near the borders of these belts
under good seeing conditions.
All this activity plays out on a
disk that measures a healthy 41"
across the equator. You’ll also
want to follow the motions of
Jupiter’s four brightest moons.
Scan 30° to Jupiter’s lower
right and you’ll see Saturn.
MARTIN GEORGE describes the solar system’s changing landscape
as it appears in Earth’s southern sky.
The ringed planet follows about
two hours behind Jupiter and
thus appears nearly overhead
in midevening. Saturn resides
against the stunning backdrop
of Sagittarius the Archer, not
far from the asterism that our
Northern Hemisphere friends
call the Teapot. The giant world
shines at magnitude 0.2, some
four times brighter than any of
the constellation’s stars.
Especially on nights with
good seeing, Saturn is a superb
telescopic sight. The planet’s
disk measures 18" across at
midmonth while the rings span
41" and tip 25° to our line of
sight. The large tilt provides
excellent views of ring struc-
ture. You should be able to
notice the thin, black arc of the
Cassini Division that separates
the outer A ring from the
brighter B ring.
A waxing gibbous Moon
occults Saturn on August 12.
The event can be seen in a dark
sky from eastern Australia
(except the far southeast), most
of New Zealand’s North Island,
and much of the South Pacific
Ocean. From Sydney, Saturn
disappears behind the dark
limb of the 91-percent-lit Moon
at 8h34m UT and reappears
from behind the bright limb at
9h23m UT. From Auckland,
New Zealand, the correspond-
ing times are 9h16m and
10h16m UT.
You’ll have to wait for morn-
ing twilight to find the Sun’s
smallest planet. Mercury
reaches greatest elongation
August 9, when it lies 19° west
of the Sun and appears 7° high
in the east-northeast a half-hour
before sunrise. The innermost
planet shines at magnitude 0.1
and may be hard to spot with-
out binoculars. A telescope
shows Mercury’s 8"-diameter
disk and crescent phase.
The two planets that orbit
closest to Earth remain lost
in the Sun’s glare all month.
Venus passes on the far side of
the Sun from Earth, a configu-
ration known as superior con-
junction, August 14. It will
return to view low in the west
after sunset in late September.
Slower-moving Mars will be in
conjunction with the Sun in
early September and remains
out of sight until November.
The starry sky
Nothing quite compares with
the wonderful view we get of
the starry sky during the early
evening hours at this time of
the year. With the soft glow
of the Milky Way and the
magnificent constellation
Scorpius the Scorpion passing
nearly overhead, Southern
Hemisphere observers have an
unequaled view.
It is sometimes easy to for-
get that Ophiuchus the Serpent-
bearer tucks in neatly beneath
Scorpius. Although this large
star grouping is not one of the
12 official zodiacal constella-
tions, it actually holds a much
longer stretch of the ecliptic
than Scorpius.
On a moonless night away
from the city, take some time
to explore a remarkable area in
the southwestern corner of
Ophiuchus. The region, cen-
tered on the multiple star Rho
(ρ) Ophiuchi, is a favorite of
astroimagers as well. It lies some
3° north-northwest of Antares
in Scorpius and, this month at
least, 6° west of Jupiter.
Under excellent conditions,
binoculars reveal patches of
nebulosity in this area. (To be
truthful, however, it takes a
good image to see them well.)
Rho is embedded in a bluish
reflection nebula that spans
more than 1°, though this is
one of the more difficult
patches to detect visually.
Some of the most captivating
features of this region are sev-
eral tendrils of dark nebulosity
that run east of Rho. Amateur
astronomers have named one of
the more prominent of these
threads the “Dark River.”
The dark nebulae stand out
because few stars appear within
them. The great astronomer
William Herschel noticed the
lack of stars in this area and
referred to it as a “hole in the
heavens” or “an opening in the
heavens.” This was long before
astronomers realized that such
features are clouds of dust and
cold gas that block our view of
stars beyond.
Although the dark nebulae
are tough to see visually, Rho
Ophiuchi itself is a fine target
through small telescopes. At
first you will see three stars that
form a right-angle triangle. Use
a fairly high magnification and
look closely at the brightest of
this trio, and you’ll notice it to
be a lovely double. The two stars
glow at magnitude 5.1 and mag-
nitude 5.7, and are separated by
about 3". I love the view of this
pair through a 10-centimeter
refractor. Although the other
two stars in the right-angle trio
are also doubles, they are far
harder to split.
 STAR S
DOME 2516
NGC
NS
VOL A
NGC 2070
LMC
CA
THE ALL-SKY MAP A
RIN
SHOWS HOW THE MENSA
SKY LOOKS AT: ern
ar
9 P.M. August 1 ch
C HA M RU S A
HYD
8 P.M. August 15
AELEO
V N
7 P.M. August 31 A
EL
SMC
Planets are shown
at midmonth NG
C
SCP
104
33
72 NGC

A N
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Path of the Sun (ecliptic)

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MAGNITUDES TE AL
IS
S M 13
Sirius Open cluster
0.0 Vega
Globular cluster
N US
1.0
HERCUL C YG
Diffuse nebula ES
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
AUGUST 2019
directions: north, south, east, and
west. To find stars, hold the map Calendar of events
overhead and orient it so a
IX direction label matches the 1 New Moon occurs at 3h12m UT 14 Venus is in superior conjunction,
EN
O direction you’re facing. 6h UT
PH The stars above the 2 The Moon is at perigee (359,398
map’s horizon now kilometers from Earth), 7h11m UT 15 Full Moon occurs at 12h29m UT
match what’s
5 Mercury passes 9° south of 17 Asteroid Laetitia is at opposition,
in the sky.
Pollux, 22h UT 3h UT

7 Asteroid Psyche is at opposition, The Moon is at apogee

4h UT (406,244 kilometers from Earth),
10h49m UT
First Quarter Moon occurs at
US

17h31m UT The Moon passes 4° south of

hau S C I S N U S
GR

Neptune, 13h UT
9 The Moon passes 2° north of
RI

Jupiter, 23h UT 21 The Moon passes 5° south of

ST
AU

Uranus, 15h UT
PI

Mercury is at greatest western

t

elongation (19°), 23h UT 22 Asteroid Juno is in conjunction

al

with the Sun, 22h UT

Fom

11 Jupiter is stationary, 16h UT

23 Last Quarter Moon occurs at
12 Uranus is stationary, 6h UT 14h56m UT
MI

The Moon passes 0.04° south of 26 Mars is at aphelion (249.2 million

Saturn, 10h UT kilometers from the Sun), 1h UT
E The Moon passes 0.1° north of 30 New Moon occurs at 10h37m UT
Pluto, 22h UT
The Moon is at perigee
13 Asteroid Eunomia is at (357,176 kilometers from Earth),
US

opposition, 6h UT 15h53m UT
ARI
AQU
US
LE

Enif
UU
EQ

5
M1
S
U
IN
PH
EL
D

STAR COLORS:
Stars’ true colors
depend on surface
temperature. Hot
stars glow blue; slight-
ly cooler ones, white;
intermediate stars (like
the Sun), yellow; followed
by orange and, ultimately, red.
Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’
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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