Podcast Episode Summary

This tool displays the approximate Moon phases for a given month(images are close approximations). For official phase times and dates for this month and past months are available from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Astronomical Online Glossary

Download this month's sky map!

Southern Hemisphere Additional Information

• Mercury- Visable in the Eastern morning sky for the beginning of the month. Views best for the Southern Hemisphere. Superior conjunction on the 28th 0.1 mag (1st) to -0.4 (21st)
• Venus- Beautiful in the western evening sky. -3.9 mag (1st) to -4.1 mag (21st)
• Mars- Fantastic! Western evening sky in Leo. 1.1 (1st) to 1.3 mag (21st)
  
• Jupiter- Morning sky in Pisces within 0.5 deg S of Uranus on the 26 -2.3 mag (1st) to -2.3 mag (21st)
  
• Saturn- Placed in the western evening sky and delightful to see. Visible before full dark. 1.0 mag (1st) to 1.0 mag (21st)
• Uranus- In the Eastern morning sky near Pices 5.9 mag (1st) to 5.9 mag (21st)
• Neptune- In the Eastern morning sky near the Aquarius-Capricornus border 7.9 mag (1st) to 7.9 mag (21st)

Astronomical Highlights for June 2010

Days and Times in UT: (help with time)
Observations are for 10 pm for Northern Hemisphere and 8 pm for the Southern Hemisphere.
Today's sunrise and sunset times or plan ahead using the US Naval Observatory Website

Occultation information can be found at the IOTA website!

Date information courtesy of: RASC Observer's Handbook, Skymaps.com, Astronomical Calendar 2009, CalSky, Skymaps.com. sunrise and sunset times for your home*
Comparative lengths of day and night

Image courtesy of Randy Brewer

Virgo Galaxies!

Start by arc-ing from the handle of the big dipper to Arcturus and then "Speed on" or "Spike" to Spica. Once at Spica work you way up the body of the Maiden to Porrma, her throat, and then up her outstretched arm to Vindemiatrix.

Another way is to start from the head of Leo the Lion wander west to Denebola and then across to Vindemiatrx.

43 Galaxies?!?!? Okay, here we go....

North is up

Object	Magnitude	Type	Notes
Section 1			The 'on ramp'.....
Epsilon Virginis - Vindemiatrix	2.8		Yellow giant 100 light yrs away
Bunsen Burner	9 and 10th		This asterism point away from Epsilon and in the direction we want to go
Struve 1689	7 and 9.5	29" apart.
NGC 4762 and NGC 4754	10.3 and 10.5	Sp	4754 is off by itself and 4762 is between a 9th and 10th mag star. Use averted vision or tap the scope to get 4762 to pop out
NGC 4694	11.4	Sp	Very hard to find 11.4 mag elongated NW-SE
NGC 4660	11.8	E	Tiny round cotton ball
M60	8.8	E	One of the biggest and brightest ellipticals in tonight's tour. At higher powers you can make out a slight halo as well as the companion galaxy 4647
NGC 4647	11.3	Sp	Close companion to M60, 3' to the NW a challenge to pick up unless you use averted vision. It is a spiral but looks much more like a smaller version of its elliptical companion
M59	9.6	E	Has a profile more like a spiral but this evening is all about being faint so- 0.4deg W not as bright as M60. Giant elliptical slightly elongated SE-NW
NGC 4638	11.2	Sp	Fainter and smaller depending upon your field of view (FOV) you can squeeze it in along with M60 and M59 making an isosceles triangle with the three.
NGC 4606	11.8	Sp	A toughie. Look for a fuzzy star with two stars on the south. If you have a larger scope you may have passed over 13.0mag 4607 an edge on spiral galaxy out of reach of our smaller scopes.

North is up

Object	Magnitude	Type	Notes
Section 2			The first 'fork in the road'....
M58	13.0	Sp	Spiral galaxy a little fainter and smaller than M59 a dark sky and larger scope (bigger than 8") will start to pick out its smoke like wisps of spiral arm. Take a good look at where you are because we will need to return back to M58 after a detour down the M90 (and friends)side alley.
NGC 4550 and NGC 4551	11.7 and 12.0	Sp and E	(Misprint in the MacRobert's narrative where they are referred to as 4450 and 4451) Heading NW from M58 these two sit very close together and are both very faint and tricky to find.
M89	9.8	E	A nice break from hunting around for the last two. It will seem to pop into view...strange how perspective does that to you. A round fuzzy blob with a brighter core.
M90	9.5	Sp	Just after M89 is a little "W" that runs to the NNW to M90 a giant spiral galaxy with a low surface brightness but it is very large. There is an unrelated 12 mag star sitting between the Earth and the center of this galaxy. Elongated N-S look for a darkened lane on the eastern edge.
NGC 4564	11.1		Backtrack to M58 and then 0.5 deg SW to a tall box asterism just off the NE corner is 4564.
NGC 4567 and 4568	11.3 and 10.8	Sp	Another pair of spirals that seem to be joined at the ends. They are nicknamed the "Siamese Twins" (Who am I to argue but they reminded me much more of amoeba from high school biology class)
NGC 4528	12.1	Sp	Very tiny and quite faint another candidate for power, aperture and dark conditions
NGC 4503	11.1	Sp	Off by itself and very diffuse on 10" or smaller scopes this might take DARK skies, tapping, averted vision...all of your faint fuzzy objects tricks.

North is up

Section 3			Back way in....
NGC 4452	12.0	Sp	This galaxy is a tiny little fuzzy. It is in between two rows of stars and there is a third row of stars below it housing...
NGC 4429	10.0	Sp	An easier find, still a fuzzy blob but easier than 4452
NGC 4440	11.7	Sp	Slid back up to 4452 and then to the NW corner of the three rows (or Arcs) of stars. It sits just SW of the Northern most star in the arc
M87	8.6	E	Now we begin to appreciate the "Ms" in front of numbers. After so many faint NGC an "M" gives us hope for something bigger and brighter. Not to disappoint M87 is .75 deg East of 4440 and a nice big bright giant elliptical. The bright nucleus is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky.
NGC 4478	11.4	E	Is M87's companion much fainter and again needing your faint object tricks
NGC 4476	12.2	Sp	Here we go getting super faint again, another target for larger scopes or darker skies (or sometime more experience) but give it your best because your rewards is...

North is up

Section 4			"The Grand Tour" or "Markarian's Chain"
M84-M86	9.1 and 8.9	E	We start with the 'face' of the Chain M84 and M86, both elliptical galaxies, make up the eyes of the face. M86 is distinctly brighter with its own little cluster on the NE corner.
NGC 4388 and 4387	11.0 and 12.1	Sp and E	Making an equilateral triangle to the South and forming the mouth is NGC 4388 and edge on E-W spiral galaxy and directly in the middle of the triangle finishing off the nose is NGC 4387 another elliptical galaxy.
NGC 4402	11.8		If the face had an eyebrow then it would be 4402. North 8.5ish' from M86 the E-W edge on spiral galaxy appears to have a slight dust lane and a North leaning bulge. Almost like a ladies broad brim hat.
NGC 4413	12.2	Sp	In the opposite direction 9'WSW of 4388, NGC 4413 is an almost face on spiral galaxy
NGC 4425	11.8	Sp	From 4388 make and equilateral triangle to the west with M86 and your corner will be roughly in the area of 4425 another edge on spiral galaxy brighter than 4413
			Now we can start moving up the Chain in pairs...
NGC 4435 and 4438	10.8 and 10.2	Sp	Draw a line WNW from M84 and M86 to the first pair in the chain, both spiral galaxies. Nick-named "The Eyes" 4438 is slightly longer with wispy arms reaching NW-SE and both galaxies mirror each other in orientation NW-SE
NGC 4461 and 4458	11.2 and 12.1	Sp and E	The next pair, fainter the elliptical 4458 is all but indistinguishable (for me)from the small 10.95 mag star to its NW. 4461 is slightly brighter spiral galaxy elongated N-S
NGC 4473	10.2	E	This slightly brighter elliptical lost her buddy (bad Scout) and lays E-W alone in the middle of the Chain. You may not have noticed but you are now in Coma Berenices.
NGC 4477 and 4479	10.4 and 12.4	Sp	About 12' NNW are another pair of spiral galaxies. 4477 is the brighter and Eastern most of the pair
NGC 4459 and 4474	10.4 and 11.5	Sp	A wider pair of spirals 4459 is very close to a 8.2 yellow star and look like an elliptical galaxy. 4474 is much fainter but has that familiar central bulge of an edge on galaxy.
M88	9.6	Sp	The last two links in the Chain are biggies and brighties! M88 is a partial face on spiral with a multitude of arms making a nice even frisbe disk.
M91	10.2	Sp	A particularly appropriate reward at the end. This face on barred spiral is beautiful with two large arms sweeping out on opposite sides.

Bright(er) Comets for May 2010

Look for a McNaught to brighten to just naked eye magnitude around mid-month in Perseus! For those watchin Epsilon Aurigae with me find McNaught near Capella on the 21st. More details here: Spaceweather.com and tracking maps here: Sky and Telescope

• C/2009 R1 McNaught: ~6 mag - on the Pisces-Pegasus border

Mark has developed his own website so let's all trot on over and see the pages of wonderful history he has for us this month!

Help us out by leaving a donation in the ol' PayPal hat

Music B.D. Lenz -"Lazy Bones"
Gred Federico- "Beneath the Stars"
Great Big Sea- "Eavesdropper's/Both Meat and Drink/Off We Go"

Great Astronomy Activities!

Citizen Sky

For those in Northern Hemisphere, Capella, the "She Goat" in Aurigae, is circumpolar. At my 47 deg North, Capella disappears behind the tree line, and into the light polluted horizon, but she pops up in a few hours and is easy to find. Also easy to find are epsilon Aurigae (al Maaz the Billy Goat) and "The Kids" which make a small, long, triangle of stars just to the Southwest of Capella.

For the next 21 months Epsilon Aurigae, usually the brightest of the trio, will start behaving quite differently than it has for the past 27 years. Epsilon Aurigae is a type of variable star called an eclipsing binary. Epsilon Aurigae and some unknown dark partner, rotate around a common center of mass and every 27 years that dark companion eclipses the giant F-type star. August marks the anticipated beginning for that eclipse which will last for 714 days, dimming from 3.0 mag to about half of its brightness.

So why am I calling this a great astronomy activity? Epsilon Aurigae has some definite quirks and more eyes are needed to help scientist figure out what Epsilon Aurigae's invisible partner really is! We need help...WE NEED YOU!! Anyone can participate; we need people to observe epsilon Aurigae, folks to look at the data for quirks, patterns, or voids, artist to help present the data to the public, friends willing to get the word out to others! To find out more visit:

• The Citizen Sky Project
• AAVSO page on Epsilon Aurigae