October 2022

Welcome to Hank’s October Astronomy Photo Blog.  It has been warm and mild this October, but distant forest fires made viewing a little difficult during some weeks.  Darkness comes earlier and earlier this time of year, and I’m trying to take advantage of that.  Here’s what popped up on my telescope this month….

“Nebula” comes from the Latin word for “clouds”. In the night sky, nebulae are giant cosmic clouds of gas and dust floating around in space. Some nebulae are formed by stars blowing up and throwing dust and gas out in the explosion. Others are areas where new stars are being formed. The Universe is not empty!  There’s lots of stuff floating around.  There are 5 types of nebulae.

Planetary Nebulae are not related to planets. Back in the 1700 when they were first spotted in telescopes, they looked like they might be round planets, and somehow the name stuck!  Planetary Nebulae are an expanding, glowing shell of gas ejected from an aging star. The core of the star becomes a white dwarf. C 63, the Helix Nebula, is the closest nebula to Earth.

Emission Nebulae shine from their own light. They are clouds of gas where a star energizes the atoms in the cloud and causes it to glow.

Reflection Nebulas are created when light from a star is reflected off a neighboring dust cloud. The last of the three is one of my favorites—the Pleiades. If you haven’t learned how to spot the Pleiades, it is a fuzz-ball in the east you can see with your naked eye this season. It’s a fun one to spot. The Pleiades is also called the Seven Sisters, but it is actually about 100 stars that are surrounded by dust, and their reflected light makes the dust really shine blue.

Supernova Remnants form a couple of ways, but generally a giant star runs out of fuel, collapses and explodes. These two images and their starless companions are part of the Veil Nebula Cygnus Loop.

Dark Nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust that are so dense it hides light. You might guess that they are found where there is a lot of dust and light….such as in our Milky Way, and you’d be right. Dark nebula often don’t get much attention because, well, they are dark. But sometimes they can be spectacular. I got to thinking I had not spent much time looking for dark nebula, so on the 25th, when there was a new Moon and the sky was really clear, I did some hunting. I photographed about a dozen and below were the highlights of the journey. Look for the places where there aren’t many stars, and say to yourself, “Hey, maybe there’s something blocking the stars!” Bingo…Dark Nebula! I’ve been waiting for my favorite dark nebula to appear in the coming months…the Horsehead Nebula. Check out the last photo of my February 2022 blog if you want a preview. February 2022 blog

Two galaxies: The Fireworks Galaxy photo was taken when the Montana fires were filling the sky with smoke, which somehow seems appropriate. Both photos were taken with my wide angle HyperStar lens, that shows about 3 degrees of sky.

Here are three Globular Clusters seen this month. The last two were taken with my HyperStar lens, that really gives a wide field of view.

Three Moon photos: The first image shows a bright crater up in the northwest by the horizon. It caught my eye. It is called Aristarchus, after a 3rd century BC Greek astronomer who is reported to have lived 120 years! He figured out a way to measure the distance to the Moon and Sun! The Aristarchus crater is 24 miles in diameter and about 9,000 feet deep. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the crater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIaF-Etc9n4

The second is a full Moon taken 2 days later. The Aristarchus crater is still shining bright! Both photos were taken with my wide-angle HyperStar lens that can easily capture the whole thing in one photo.

The third shows Jupiter with its four moons: Europa, Jupiter, Ganymede, Io, Calisto (left to right). Europa, the largest moon in Jupiter’s orbit, is believed to be covered in miles deep ice, with liquid oceans and lakes beneath. You’ll be hearing about it in the news soon because in 2023 NASA is scheduled to launch the Europa Clipper mission, to study the water that covers the moon. It is a prime candidate for finding life in our solar system.

And finally, two planets: Jupiter and Saturn. The evening of the 17th was exceptionally clear for a time and allowed me to take great Jupiter and Saturn photos! Notice in Jupiter how you can not only see the Red Spot, but also how the band seems to go around it!!!! There are also a couple of other small features that are visible, too. The Saturn photo shows the Cassini Division in the ring, where the color changes.

Here’s a heads-up for November. In the early morning of the 8th there is going to be a total eclipse of the Moon. If you’ve not experience an eclipse, it’s worth the lack of sleep. This one will be lasting over an hour in our area. You can find viewing information for our Black Hills https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20221108_09_100 or go to In-The-Sky.org’s page In-The-Sky.org to get set up for your location.

Until next month, Clear Skies!

Hank