Our Solar System

For those of us who are Earth bound, we thought you might like a space traveler's view of the inner solar system.

The first solar eclipse of the new century cuts a narrow swath across the South Atlantic and southern Africa on June 21, 2001. Better start planning now, if you want to see it in person.

Mercury is currently lost in the glare of the rising sun. It won't be visible again until late in the year.

Neptune rises in the Eastern sky shortly after 2 a.m. and Uranus rises an hour later; a telescope is needed to see them.

Mars, still easily visible to the naked eye, rises in the ESE shortly before midnight. Pluto is almost directly above Mars, which is "surrounded" by M6, M7, M16, M20, M22, M23 and M25. Get those telescopes out!

Venus, rises in the east shortly after 4 a.m., getting a little higher, brighter, and easier to see each day.

Jupiter and Saturn, the evening stars, become visible as the sun sets in the Western sky. Saturn sets around 9:30 p.m. and Jupiter follows an hour later.

Launch?

Dennis Tito, American multi-millionaire, is due to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 28 aboard a Russian rocket. NASA is not pleased with the arrangements, but Russia insists Tito is fully qualified and is an important member of the team.

Sky Views

The following images were made using Starry Night software, with Los Angeles as the observing location for the Northern Hemisphere and Alice Springs, Australia for the Southern Hemisphere. These were created for April 22, 2001. If you are viewing the sky before or after that date, the planets (in particular) will be in slightly different places.

Evening Stars Northern Hemisphere	Evening Stars Southern Hemisphere

Eastern Sky Northern Hemisphere	Eastern Sky Southern Hemisphere

Western Sky Northern Hemisphere	Western Sky Southern Hemisphere

Overhead Sky Northern Hemisphere	Overhead Sky Southern Hemisphere

Northern Sky Northern Hemisphere	Northern Sky Southern Hemisphere

Southern Sky Northern Hemisphere	Southern Sky Southern Hemisphere

Morning Stars Northern Hemisphere	Morning Stars Southern Hemisphere

The Constellation Hydra

In the last issue we took a look at the constellation Hydra (The Sea Serpent). This time we are featuring The Southern Cross (Crux), the most familiar constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. This tiny constellation was once part of Centaurus, but was so compelling that it became a constellation of its own in the sixteenth century. Apart from the four bright stars that form the cross, the constellation's stars are generally fourth-magnitude. Acrux (alpha Crucis), is a binary, with both considerably larger than our Sun. Beta Crucis (Mimosa) is the brightest star of the group, a blue-white giant (nearly five times the Sun's size). Gamma Crucis (Gacrux) forms the top of the cross. Delta Crucis is the western arm, very similar in size and distance to alpha Crucis.

Thousands of years ago these four stars were an object of reverence in the countries of the Near East. In the Biblical days, two thousand years ago, they were just visible at the horizon. Over time, precession has brought the cross far to the south; it is no longer visible at latitudes north of 25 degrees.

The Southern Cross also contains several Deep Sky Objects. The best known are The Jewel Box (NGC 4755) aka the Kappa Crucis star cluster is composed of over a hundred stars, about fifty of which are a mixture of colorful supergiants: reds and blues intermingled with yellows and whites in a profusion of sparkling light. The Coal Sack is a large dark nebula just to the south of the Jewel Box, and is visible to the naked eye.

Until next time we wish you clear skies and unlimited viewing.