This is the Dudley Observatory Skywatch Line for Wednesday, June 18th and Thursday, June 19th written by Louis Suarato June 18 is the birth date of Allan Sandage. Born in 1926, Sandage co-discovered the first optical identification of a quasi-stellar radio source, or quasar. In 1960, using the 200-inch Hale Telescope, Sandage and Thomas Mathews identified a faint star-like object with a spectrum unlike any star. Quasars are the brightest and most distant objects in the known universe. A quasar’s luminosity can be 100 times brighter than our Milky Way galaxy. The luminosity of a quasar is derived from the energy emitted as its mass falls onto the accretion disk around a black hole. Quasars are billions of light-years away, and yet, can be seen from Earth! The brightest visible quasar that can be seen from Earth is 3C 273 in the constellation Virgo shining between magnitude 12 and 13. Quasar 3c273 is about 2.5 billion light-years away and can be seen with an 8-inch telescope approximately 5 degrees northwest of the star Gamma Virginis. Wednesday evening, Jupiter sets about 1 hour and 45 minutes after sunset. As Jupiter is setting, and the sky darkens, Mars will appear about 35 degrees above the southwestern horizon in the constellation Virgo and Saturn can be seen above the southern horizon at approximately the same altitude. Virgo’s brightest star, Spica, will be 10 degrees from Mars and 23.8 degrees from Saturn. Moonrise occurs at 11:44 p.m. EDT. Look for Neptune rising with the Moon 13 degrees to its south. Venus rises at 3:28 a.m. with the Pleiades star cluster 7 degrees to its north. The Moon will reach it Last Quarter phase on Thursday at 2:39 p.m. and rises at 1:02 a.m. Friday. Along the terminator of the Last Quarter Moon are Montes Alpes and Montes Apenninus. Montes Apenninus contains the highest mountain on the Moon, Mons Huygens. Mons Huygens is 18,046 feet above Mare Imbrium. Although it is the highest lunar mountain, Mons Huygens is not the highest point on the Moon. The highest point is located on a plateau on the far side of the Moon and is estimated to be 35,387 feet above the average lunar elevation. The Dudley Observatory and Albany Area Amateur astronomers invite you to join them for a Star Watch on June 20th at the Deerfield Pavilion in Grafton Lakes State Park. In the event of cloudy skies, the Star Watch will be rescheduled for Saturday night.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 21:04:14 +0000
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