ASTRONOMICAL EVENT

Doug Neufeldt sent us this amazing shot of the Venus transit earlier this month as it moved across the face of the Sun along with a passing airplane. Great picture Doug! Thanks for sharing.

Kevin Sheely from Woodridge shared this shot of the planets in the sky Monday evening. Our astronomer Dan Joyce describes the interesting astronomical alignment visible above Chicago:

Even in metropolitan lit skies the planets (and for a short while, together  with the moon) are putting on a show each clear evening for a couple of  weeks.  Jupiter is being passed by the moon over the next couple of nights  as dusk descends in the western sky as both hover over brilliant Venus,  which itself will make headlines early in June because it will pass directly  in front of the sun for the last time this century on June 5th.

By about 8:00 Mars is shining in its characteristic fiery color not far from  Regulus, the royal star of Leo, King of Beasts.  Just a couple of hours  later below and to the right of Mars will be Saturn near Spica, brightest  star in Virgo, largest of the zodiacal constellations.

Anyone with a clear western horizon looking low between about 6:15 and  6:45pm will also see Mercury, which is making one of its better apparitions  out of solar glare for about anothe week or so.  --Dan Joyce, Astronomer

Pam Humphreys shared these images of the lunar eclipse taken from Thailand by her cousin Ryan Ashlock. 

Thanks Pam!

Fall
2011 got underway astronomically Friday morning at 4:05 a.m.
 Astronomers calculate the times at which seasons begin using
astronomical benchmarks. In this morning's case, autumn began as the
sun's most-direct rays crossed the equator---the moment referred to as
the "autumnal equinox".

Astronomical smorgasbord
Our astronomy consultant Dan Joyce, astronomer at Triton College's Cernan Space Center was kind enough to share this spectacular array of photos with us. These shots were taken with the telescopes pictured below just south of Elizabeth, Illinois located in the far northwest part of the state near Galena. The crystal-clear dark skies of Jo Daviess County necessary to produce these great shots were provided by Dan's long-time friend Sheldon Faworski. Dan is currently building a new 12.5 inch telescope which is scheduled to be put into use in the next few weeks and should produce even more outstanding photos.

The 6 inch white scope and the 10 inch red scope

The 8 inch telescope

An emission nebula depicting a vast array of stardust glowing in the light of hydrogen excited by ultra-violet light of nearby stars known as NGC6820 about 1,500 light years out in the direction of the Cygnus-Cepheus border. This shot was taken by the 8 inch scope.

This is a picture of the star clusters of M38 (on the left about 4,500 light years) and NGC1907 (on the right about 14,000 light years out) in Auriga just north of the horns of Taurus. This photo was shot with the 6 inch telescope.

This photo shows the reflection nebula known as the "Ghost Nebula". vdB141 in Cepheus taken by the 10 inch scope and thought to be 2,500 light years away.
M38 is the 38th object in Charles Messier's catalog of objects not to be confused with comets.
NGC1907 and NGC6820 are those entries into Johann Dreyer's "New General Catalog" of objects including clusters, nubulae and galaxies. Finally, vdB141 in that entry into Sidney van den Berg's catalog of very faint objects.
Thanks again Dan for these great photos and accompanying explanations.

Posted by Steve Kahn WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

The astronomical community has been abuzz for some time regarding the remarkably low level of solar activity (sunspots) in recent months. Our astronomer Dan Joyce says the situation is truly abnormal--especially in a period in which the sun should be cycling into a more active phase as a new 11 year solar maximum approaches. This geomagnetic plot back to 2000 underscores just how anomalous the low level of solar activity has been. The sun is in a less energetic state when sunspots are so limited and there are some in meteorology and astronomy who believe this can have an effect on earth's weather. It's a situation which is going to be interesting to follow. Our thanks, as always, to Dan Joyce for his insight and expertise on this subject and for sending us this geomagnetic activity plot.
Tom Skilling

Graph courtesy of astronomer Dan Joyce, Cernan Earth and Space Center, Triton College