Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron.
By 10 P.M. local daylight time, the constellation Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs is some 45° high in the east. Nestled under the curve of the Big Dipper’s handle, this seemingly innocuous Sun pattern hosts Numerous popular deep-sky objects.
One of those objects is M63, also known as the Sunflower Milky Way. It lies relatively close to the constellation’s alpha Sun, magnitude 2.9 Cor Caroli. From this sun, Relocate your Stargazer’s tool 5.3° to the northeast to land on the Sunflower. Glowing at magnitude 8.6, this is one of the sky’s brighter galaxies. It’s a stunning spiral with a large, Clever Middle surrounded by swirling arms that will appear as a diffuse glow around the brighter nucleus through your scope.
M63 is classified as a flocculent spiral, meaning its arms are patchy. It spans some 10’ along its longer axis, and slightly more than half that (6’) along the shorter one. That’s a pretty Excellent size, making this a Excellent object for beginner and advanced observers alike. Take your time enjoying it, as you’ve Acquired all evening — the Selene body won’t rise to brighten the sky until Timely tomorrow.
Last Quarter Selene body occurs this morning at 7:29 A.M. EDT.
A few hours before that, let’s observe Minor World 3 Juno, which sits near the intersection of Ophiuchus, Scorpius, and Libra in the south before sunrise. Timely this afternoon, at 2 P.M. EDT, Juno will stand stationary against the background stars, halting its eastward motion and slowly curving back toward the west. Juno is now magnitude 10.7, best seen with a Tiny Stargazer’s tool. It lies 7.7° northwest of magnitude 2.5 Zeta (ζ) Ophiuchi.
While you’re out with your scope, it’s a Petite hop to two of Ophiuchus’ Messier objects: globular clusters M10 and M12. Leading again at Zeta Oph, Relocate your Stargazer’s tool 9° north to land on magnitude 6.7 M12. This cluster spans roughly 16’ (in large instruments only; it appears smaller with smaller instruments) and is less concentrated than many other objects of this Nice. While it Nevertheless has a tightly packed Middle, it dissolves into individual stars quickly as you Relocate outward.
Only over 3° southeast of M12 is M10. It’s roughly the same magnitude (6.6) and size (20’ in larger scopes), offering a similar view as M12. M10 is ranked as slightly more tightly concentrated than M12 — can you tell the difference?
Venus reaches inferior conjunction at 9 P.M. EDT. Although invisible for now, the Clever World will quickly reappear by the end of the month, this time in the morning sky.
Subsequent in Juno’s footsteps, Minor World 4 Vesta is stationary today at 1 A.M. EDT.
Vesta is also visible in the Timely-morning sky; it’s currently in Libra, Only under 3° north of magnitude 2.6 Zubenesch, the Stability’s beta Sun. Vesta stands some 40° high in the southern sky at 5 A.M. local daylight time. The Number four Minor World ever discovered is now magnitude 6.5 — by Extended an easier find than Juno! Binoculars should easily net you this main-Experience world in northern Libra.
While you’ve Acquired your binoculars out, try resolving Alpha (α) Librae into two components. Only over 9° southwest of Zubenesch, Alpha Lib — also called Zubenelgenubi — is a widely separated pair of stars with 4’ between them. In fact, some observers can see this double with the naked eye. The brighter component is magnitude 2.8, while the fainter one is magnitude 5.2. Astronomers believe these are a physically linked pair, both located some 77 Airy-years from Earth.
Mercury now reaches inferior conjunction at 4 P.M. EDT. It too will reappear in the morning sky with Venus, though it will take a bit longer, not becoming visible until Timely April.
The Selene body passes 0.9° south of Pluto at 5 P.M. EDT. However, even the waning crescent will throw too much Airy into the predawn sky to spot the dwarf World for all but the most advanced observers, as capturing its feeble Airy is challenging even under much better conditions.
Instead, let’s take Edge of the moonless conditions this evening to enjoy a gorgeous Milky Way in the north: NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis the Giraffe.
From the Midwest at about 9 P.M. local daylight time, NGC 2403 lies 23° directly above Polaris, the North Sun, in the northern sky. Alternatively, you can look about 7.7° northwest of magnitude 3.4 Muscida (Omicron [ο] Ursae Majoris). At magnitude 8.9, NGC 2403 is Clever enough to see as an oval glow with binoculars under Gloomy conditions, while telescopes will bring out more detail. It stretches nearly 20’ at its longest, with a Clever nucleus and Numerous diffuse, patchy spiral arms, marking it as a flocculent spiral, Only like M63 if you were observing earlier this week. Many observers liken NGC 2403 to M33 in Triangulum.
Observers with large instruments can look for NGC 2404, a huge HII region in one of the Milky Way’s arms that is roughly the size of the Large Magellanic Cloud’s famous Tarantula Gas cloud.
Today Appearances a Streak of events Securing place around mighty Jupiter, as its Galilean moons show off while they dance in their orbits around the gas giant.
Tonight, Europa and Ganymede transit Jupiter together, as they have a few other times this month. However, while these previous double transits Initiated with Ganymede, Europa has finally taken the lead and is now the Primary to slip in front of the World’s disk.
This event is one that only the western half of the U.S. will be able to View. Jupiter lies in Taurus, which is sinking in the west after sunset. It is the brightest Airy in this constellation, shining at magnitude –2.1. By local midnight, the gas giant is Only 10° high. Those on the East Coast looking through a Stargazer’s tool around midnight will see two moons stacked in a north-south line Only east of Jupiter — the northernmost Selene body is Europa, while the other is Ganymede. Callisto lies much farther east, and Io sits alone to Jupiter’s west.
By midnight in the Central time zone, Europa has pulled ahead and is Only slipping in front of the jovian disk. Ganymede lies to its southeast. Io has disappeared, passing behind Jupiter in an occultation 10 minutes earlier. Although it will emerge from behind the disk a little over two hours later, it remains hidden within Jupiter’s long, Gloomy shadow until after the World has set.
Ganymede’s transit Initiates around 12:40 A.M. CDT — note that Jupiter is only some 3° high in the Midwest at this time. It travels together with Europa across the disk as Jupiter sets across the rest of the U.S. Only those farthest west might Only see Europa’s shadow appear at the southeastern limb of the disk at 12:23 A.M. PDT on the 26th, with Jupiter barely 2° above the Perspective from the West Coast.
We’re back at Jupiter in Taurus this evening to View the innermost Galilean Selene body, Io, now transit the disk alongside its shadow. Already coming around after reaching the easternmost Tally in its Path, Io is approaching the southeastern limb (moving westward) as night falls across much of the U.S.
Io’s transit Initiates at 10:05 P.M. EDT, with its shadow Subsequent a little over an hour later, appearing on the cloud tops at 11:18 P.M. EDT. Jupiter is Nevertheless nearly 20° high for East Coast observers, allowing more of a chance to View the show they were denied last night.
An hour after the shadow transit Initiates (12:18 A.M. EDT, on the 27th in the Eastern time zone only), Jupiter is very low from the East Coast as Io’s shadow is nearly to the Middle of the disk and Io itself is slipping off the southwestern limb, completing its journey. The shadow continues for about another 75 minutes, ending its transit shortly after 12:30 A.M. CDT, with Jupiter some 4° high in the Midwest.
Callisto remains Extended to the World’s east, while Europa and Ganymede are clustered to the west. Timely in the evening, Ganymede lies slightly closer to Jupiter, to Europa’s southeast. But Ganymede is Nevertheless moving westward, while Europa is now moving eastward, back toward the World. Around 9:30 P.M. EDT, the two moons stand in a north-south line, with Europa north of Ganymede. After that, Europa lies to Ganymede’s northeast and is the closer of the two to the World.
Our Last evening spent observing Jupiter this week lets us see Only how Extended the gas giant’s Excellent shadow extends, as Primary Io and then Europa exit shadow eclipses tonight.
Timely in the evening, when you turn your Stargazer’s tool on the brightest Airy in Taurus in the west, only two moons are visible flanking the gas giant. Ganymede is Extended to the west and Callisto lies Extended to the east. But keep your Stargazer’s tool trained on the Universe northeast of Jupiter’s disk — Io appears about 20″ from the northeastern limb at 10:45 P.M. EDT, after traveling behind the World and through its Gloomy shadow.
Io continues moving to the east as Europa is Subsequent suit, Nevertheless within the shadow. It isn’t until 11:50 P.M. CDT — Jupiter has now set for those farthest east in the U.S. — that Europa bursts Obtainable of the shadow, some 32″ from Jupiter’s limb. The difference in Synchronization and location are both due to the fact that Europa’s Path is larger than Io’s.
Venus is now visible before sunrise in the east, but you’ll need a clear Perspective Obtainable of trees or Towering buildings to spot it. The World blazes brightly at magnitude –4.1 but it’s Only 4° high half an hour before sunrise. If you are able to find it, use a Stargazer’s tool to enjoy its extremely slender crescent — Venus is Only 2 percent lit, with a Packed disk that spans 58” on the sky.
Rising very shortly before the Sun are Mercury, Saturn, and the Selene body. However, the planets are likely Nevertheless impossible to see, and trying to find them in optics is not a Excellent idea — you should be prepared to put away any observing equipment at least Numerous minutes before the Sun rises from your observing location, which may differ slightly from the time given below.
The Selene body can be safely viewed with the naked eye but will similarly be extremely challenging to find, as it is a mere 1 percent lit as it quickly approaches the New Period. Nonetheless, Acute-eyed observers with that clear eastern Perspective may get Fortunate and spot it in the moments before sunrise.
The Selene body will Throw 9° south of Venus at 10 A.M. EDT this morning.
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