SLOOH Skylog

Scorpius is full of glowing star clusters and colorful nebulae.  The constellation resembles a scorpion, the deadly creature Hera sent to kill Orion the Hunter in Greek mythology. Nine of the celestial targets in this patch of sky are regular Slooh missions, including the Butterfly Cluster, the Cat’s Paw Nebula, Northern Jewel Box, and the Bug Nebula.

Heads or tails?  For this month’s Sky Safari, we will explore Scorpius during two mini tours: the scorpion’s “tail” on Sunday July 6 and the area of Antares and the scorpion’s “head” on Tuesday July 8. Both shows will be live at 9PM ET/1AM UT. 

Please join us as we explore the wonderful star clusters and nebulae of Scorpius.  And, don’t forget your road map.

Are the domes online? How’s the weather? Who’s on radio tonight? You may have noticed the mention of Twitter recently around Slooh, including here on the blog and wondered what it’s all about. Here are the answers to help you use this service to get more out of your membership.

Slooh uses Twitter to help keep members informed of observatory status, weather, special announcements, and current events. At minimum, Slooh members can receive this information on their computers by following the link to Slooh’s Twitter Page. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to work directly in your browser or through a reader.

That’s only the beginning. At its best, Twitter will help you get to know other Slooh members as well as other astronomy enthusiasts and services. To do this you need to join Twitter (it is free!), which you can do right from the Slooh Twitter Page.

Simply defined, Twitter is a service for friends, family, and coworkers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers (less than 140 characters) to one simple question: What are you doing? It is not instant messaging and it is not full-blown blogging (although some do call it “micro-blogging”). The content can include text and links to pictures and web resources.

The basic Twitter user interface is a web page where you can manage your account, send and receive “tweets,” explore and find other members and news feeds to follow. While this basic interface is a good start, to really enjoy the benefits of Twitter on your desktop you should consider installing Twhirl, a PC or MAC application (again, this is free). Twhirl gives you a self-contained application that makes using Twitter much more effective - it runs as a startup program and is available all the time whether your web browser is running or not.

You can use your cell phone to interface with Twitter as well. This allows you to receive all, or only selected updates wherever you are. (Note: please make sure you have an appropriate text messaging plan with your cell phone provider or this could get expensive). You can also post right to your Twitter account from your cell phone using SMS (text messaging). There are many other options available for interfacing with Twitter and new ones being added all the time.

Slooh chose Twitter to update members of timely information because it is safe and flexible. Twitter is a social networking application. By default, what you type is sent to those who are “following” you and is readable by everyone. However, many users easily opt to restrict their updates to only be viewable by those they approve. You are never forced to endure anyone you find unpleasant and your member identity and profile are based on what information you want to provide.

If you enjoy Slooh and want up-to-the-minute information on telescope operation and news give Twitter a try. Several members are already using it and you can search for Slooh related Twitter conversations on Summize, a tracking site. This is also good place to search for any keyword that interests you to find other interesting Twitter accounts (try @marsphoenix, tweeting from the surface of Mars:). I think you will also find it is a great way to participate in Slooh on your schedule.

Tonight on The Event Horizon, Michael Narlock & Marty Kunz will interview Mike Simonsen of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). Learn how you can get into this kind of astronomy and do real science. Here are the slides that will accompany the audio and live celestial targets through the Mission Interface.

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but for astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope, this is more than an expression. Scientists learn a great deal about our Universe from image data alone.

In spite of a much-needed servicing visit, the Hubble Space Telescope just delivered yet another stunning image. The latest target is the Coma Cluster, one of the densest galaxy groups known to astronomers. Scientists will use the image to learn more about galaxy formation & evolution, and to compare galaxies in different environments.

Containing more than one-thousand galaxies, the Coma Cluster spans twenty million light years and resides some three hundred million light years away. Together, these galaxies represent one of two major components of an even larger group, the Coma Supercluster. The Hubble image depicts a remarkable menagerie of size, shape, interaction, and galactic evolution that is of particular interest to scientists.

Many of the cluster’s individual galaxies are visible through the Slooh telescopes and members have already run several missions to observe the region. Join us this Saturday evening at 9PM EDT/1AM UTC, as we focus on this fascinating cluster. We will observe three main regions of the Coma Cluster LIVE, including that of the Hubble image, as we guide you through the intricacies of the individual galaxies. Here’s your chance to take your own picture of this new Hubble classic.

Forty-seven years ago, today, President John F. Kennedy stood before a Joint Session of Congress and announced the United States’ ambitious goal of sending an American to the Moon before the end of that decade. While he did not live to see that goal achieved, millions of others did, on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the lunar surface and uttered those famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

It is fitting that tonight, some four decades later, humans will once again turn their attention to space as NASA strives for another first, this time on a world much more distant than the moon. At 7:46 PM EDT, the Mars Phoenix Lander will enter the Martian atmosphere to attempt a touch-down landing that hinges on the success of a complex seven-minute series of events. The unmanned craft will set down in a region further north than any previous Mars’ missions, and it will sample a distant world like has never before been done – all in a quest that seeks an answer to the question, “Can Mars, or could it ever, support life?”

NASA expects that more than half-a-million viewers will tune into the live broadcast of this next major step in Mars exploration on NASA TV, not only as many people watch from their own home computers, but as dozens of museums host large-scale viewing events and Discovery Communications airs live coverage on their Science Channel, as well.

SLOOH, too, intends to tune into this momentous event. If missions are running, we’ll stream NASA’s live broadcast through SLOOHRadio, and we’ll even play that dramatic Kennedy speech, during the Phoenix broadcast’s quieter moments, or immediately following.

For most astronomers, vanishing moons are not especially extraordinary. If one knows when and where to look, and given a clear sky and the proper equipment, he or she could probably observe at least one disappearing moon each night of the year.

Without any visual assistance, we see our own moon disappear every month as it passes between us and the sun; a standard pair of binoculars easily reveals four of Jupiter’s moons regularly slipping in and out of visual range; and larger telescopes will unveil even some of the most distant known moons, like Titan, Oberon, or Triton, passing behind their giant hosts. When you think about it, disappearing moons really do seem rather ordinary.

There is one occurrence of vanishing moons, however, that is not so usual. It occurs just a few times each century and it typically lasts but a few short minutes. Fortunately, it is an event that is readily predicted and easily observed, and we will be watching it this week through the SLOOH telescopes.

At any given time, we can see the Galilean satellites accompanying Jupiter like tiny pearls on either side of a brilliant bauble. In fact, you really never see Jupiter without at least one of its four main moons nearby. Never, that is, unless you happen to be watching at just the right time, and one of those times happens to be this week.

Late on the night of May 21, all four of the Galilean moons will vanish from sight, and they will remain invisible together for nearly twenty minutes. For the first time in years, Jupiter will appear to be moon-less. SLOOH will feature this special event with a solid block of Jupiter missions, from 03:40 through 04:20, in Dome 2 on the Member Channel. We’ll also include live commentary from one of our SLOOH SkyGuides to discuss the recorded history of this special event and to explain more about exactly what’s happening with each of those four ‘invisible’ moons.

Last week, a bright asteroid Iris slipped passed the Sombrero Galaxy, and several members captured the event with the SLOOH telescopes. MaynardP. combined two images to create this animation; and EugeneM.’s image was published on the Spaceweather.com website.

While these two objects may appear similarly sized and close to each other, quite the opposite is true. 7/Iris is one of our solar system’s largest and brightest asteroids, a stony object measuring some 225 km wide and reaching 6^th magnitude at perihelion. Traveling at an average 20 km/sec, Iris’ distance can be measured in millions of miles as it orbits the Sun every 1,345 days. The Sombrero Galaxy, on the other hand, is an island unto itself – an immense region of gas and dust measuring tens of thousands of light years wide and home to potentially billions of Iris-type objects. It is some fifty-million light years distant and is moving constantly away from us at an average speed of 1,000 km/sec. So, Iris and the Sombrero are really two vastly different worlds simply sharing a tiny region of the sky for just a few nights, but much to our viewing delight.

Did you, too, image this event? Check your Sombrero Galaxy folder and share your findings in the SLOOH Forum. And remember — keep a sharp eye, because you never know what treasures you’ll capture through the SLOOH telescopes.

Hi folks,

I’m a bit new to the Slooh blog, but not to Slooh itself. So, I thought a brief introduction was in order. My name is Mike Narlock, or just Narlock to my friends. I’m the Head of Astronomy at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in beautiful Bloomfield Hills, MI. I received a B.S. in physics from University of Wisconsin – River Falls and an M.S. is astrophysics from Michigan State University. I’ve been happily married for 3, no wait, four years. And I have an 18-month old son named Oskar.

I’m also the host of Slooh Radio’s Friday night show every week. Anyway, enough of me.

I wanted to let everyone know that they’ll be a special broadcast of The Event Horizon on Saturday May 10. Why you ask? Well, why not?!?! Seriously, May 10 is International Astronomy Day so what better way to celebrate than listening to me? I can’t think of any better way personally. Also, famed astronomer and all-around neat guy Phil Plait “The Bad Astronomer” will be doing a talk at Cranbrook Friday May 9 at 7:30pm. I plan on recording Phil and airing some of it during our Saturday show. If you live near the institute, you can come see the lecture live. So, join me and possibly Jan Fiolka, one of my fabulous staff, from 1 – 2:30 EST on Saturday May 10 on Slooh Radio.

We now return you to regularly scheduled programming, already in progress.

A brief word of introduction is in order given that this is my first post to the Slooh SkyLog….. My name is Paul Cox and, besides other things, I design, construct and manage the Slooh Observatories at Mt. Teide, Chile and Australia - in the unlikely event that you’re interested, there’s more info about me here.

If you follow the Slooh Forums or the Twitter feed, you’ll know that I had to make an emergency visit to the Slooh Canary Islands Observatory on top of the 7,743ft high Mt. Teide on the island of Tenerife. I had hoped to post a “Beginners’ guide to Teide” today but I’ve run out of time - keep checking back here as I’ll post it soon but, in the meantime, here’s an update on my current visit….

We experienced very high winds at the Observatory last week - in excess of 50mph. Unfortunately, Dome 1 was open and consequently damaged. A few days later, the other dome (you guessed it - Dome 2) was damaged when we had to close it during some poor weather. However, the shutter was frozen solid which resulted in the mechanism breaking (see photo to the right). I was in Chile at the time, launching a very exciting schools access programme for the local students. Luckily, there was a last minute flight available to Tenerife for a few days. Thanks to a good inventory of spares, I was able to get Dome 2 ready for live Slooh operations the night after my arrival and Dome 1 followed the night after.

After my return to the Chile Observatory, the next Slooh project on my schedule is the replacement of the domes at the Teide Observatory. We’re replacing the existing “traditional” domes (they have shutters and rotate) with “clamshell” domes - similar to the one we installed at the Chile Observatory (shown left). There are of course pros and cons to both types, but we anticipate fewer vulnerabilities with the clamshell design. We also made the exciting announcement that this project would also include the installation of the new “Slooh Half Metre Telescope“! I’ll be taking the existing Teide Dome 1 equipment to the new Slooh Australia Observatory when the work at Teide is complete. At some point I hope to get back home to England - maybe in time to enjoy a Summer of flying!

Well, I’ll finish this inaugural post with some links to some new photographs I took during my visit to the Slooh Canary Islands Observatory:

• Photos of my latest visit here.
• Panorama views of Teide and from the inside of Dome 1 here.
• Probably the last photos of the existing domes before they’re replaced (I’ve tried to take some new views) here.

If you want to know what the view is like from the inside of Dome 1 (with the dome roof off!) then check out the Quicktime panorama movie below (click the image and then click/hold and drag your cursor - the panorama will move in the same direction - try it, it will make sense!):

 

 Panorama from Teide Dome 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Panorama movie from my fave spot at the Observatory.: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The second panorama movie above is taken from my favourite location at the very top of the observatory site - you look down to the coastlines on the East and West of the island as well as the obviously beautiful view of Mt. Teide (when you stand there, you’re also the highest person on Spanish Territory!). This is supposedly the spot where Brian May wrote a couple of Queen songs when he was working on his astrophysics dissertation here during the ’70s - just before he left Uni to join Queen full time. I wonder if he regrets leaving Uni
The view to the island of Gran Canaria from Dome 1 - it’s a heck of a view to have from your “office”!
I’ll be heading back to the Slooh Chile Observatory tomorrow - arriving late on Tuesday. Make sure you check back here on the SkyLog, on the Slooh Forums and my personal Blog for regular news updates!

See you all in Chile!

Paul

As many of you saw through the webcam today, Paul Cox was working steadily on the domes to get them back into service after high winds caused some damage last week. You could also hear him whistling and listing to music as he worked through the dome audio. We’ll get a full report from him on the SkyLog soon, but I know everyone is elated that Dome 2 is already back online! Looks like Dome 1 needs more care and feeding this week, and we’ll have an update for you as soon as possible.

Speaking of updates, many of you have asked for an RSS feed of the dome status, weather conditions, and radio programming. We’re happy to announce Slooh’s Twitter Feed! Twitter is a social networking site that allows you to “follow” the daily happenings of people and groups. You can either subscribe to the RSS feed at the bottom of the page for your news reader, or sign up for a free account. A Twitter account allows you to make your own profile and set notifications preferences (like email or even sms text messages to your cell phone) for each account you follow. There are other Slooh members already on Twitter sharing photos and experiences. Paul is also sending updates at chileastro and my account is here. This is a great way to get up to the minute Slooh operations & programming updates, and to spread the word to future members. Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions - and post your Twitter accounts in the comments so we can all follow each other and have a new online sandbox to play in:)