GHOST HUNT EPISODE 1 PDF

About half an hour before sunrise on November 1st, the pair is 8В° high in the east and roughly the same distance (now 4.2В°) apart. Instead, wait until early tomorrow morning before dawn. EDT, Mercury passes 4В° north of the bright star Spica. Like the star, this galaxy appears orange or red in color, largely because itвЂ™s filled with aging, cooler stars.Д¬loser to home, asteroid 2 Pallas is stationary in the constellation Aquarius at 10 P.M. Thanks to its size and position, this tiny galaxy, which lies some 10 million light-years away, appears like an afterimage or lens flare effect of the bright foreground star, which is a mere 200 light-years away, well within our solar neighborhood. Turn your telescope on this star, however, and youвЂ™ll get a surprise: a вЂњghostlyвЂќ image less than 7' northwest of the bright star.

ItвЂ™s already visibly by sunset and climbs higher in the sky as the evening progresses. Mirach is a bright 2nd-magnitude star in Andromeda. Happy Halloween! LetвЂ™s continue our Ghost Hunt Challenge tonight with a strange sight: MirachвЂ™s Ghost, the galaxy NGC 404. See if you can spot this ghostly galaxy, and come back tomorrow for more challenge targets! This galaxy stretches about 10.5' by 9.5' across, with a small, bright nucleus and fainter spiral arms. Still, itвЂ™s magnitude 8.5 - bright enough for large binoculars or a small telescope to pick up, even if your eyes make take a while to spot it. M74 is a face-on spiral galaxy with a low surface brightness, which is likely why itвЂ™s dubbed a phantom.

YouвЂ™ll find it pretty easily - just look 1.3В° east of magnitude 3.6 Eta (О·) Piscium, and youвЂ™re there! LetвЂ™s kick off the holiday weekend in Pisces with M74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy. This weekend, the Moon is a waning crescent, meaning the evening skies are dark and Moon-free - perfect for some of these scary deep-sky objects.

GHOST HUNT EPISODE 1 PDF

(You can download a PDF with observing details on these 109 objects here.) ItвЂ™s almost time for Halloween! Start off your spooky weekend by checking a few targets off Astronomy columnist Stephen James OвЂ™MearaвЂ™s Ghost Hunt Challenge list. The MoonвЂ™s illumination is given at 12 P.M. *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40В° N 90В° W. Although the spot wonвЂ™t transit tonight, the Earth-sized storm will cross the face of Jupiter while the planet is easily visible tomorrow, reaching a midpoint halfway across the planet shortly before 9 P.M. Its large face features several alternating cloud bands and storms, including its Great Red Spot. The solar systemвЂ™s biggest planet, Jupiter currently appears 42' across. Still, Saturn is stunning through a telescope, showing off its famous ring system, which appears nearly 39' end to end.ДЇinally, 15.4В° east of Saturn is magnitude вЂ“2.5 Jupiter. As we move into November, the planet will remain bright, growing in angular size but shrinking in phase, appearing more crescentlike as the days go by.ДЇarther east along the ecliptic from Venus is Saturn, which sits 43.5В° east of the brilliant planet and glows a much more muted magnitude 0.5. Through a telescope, Venus spans 25' and still appears half-lit, having reached dichotomy (when it is exactly 50 percent lit) last week. YouвЂ™ll find the planet high in the southwestern sky after the Sun sets, blazing a bright magnitude вЂ“4.5. Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation (47В°) from the Sun at 5 P.M.

Ghost hunt episode 1