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Welcome
again
to
our
monthly
newsletter
with
features
on
exciting
celestial
events,
product
reviews,
tips
&
tricks,
and
a
monthly
sky
calendar.
We
hope
you
enjoy
it!
Astronauts
on
board
the
International
Space
Station
(ISS)
unfurled
a
new
pair
of
solar
energy
panels
that
sprout
out
of
the
end
of
a
new
17.5-ton
truss
section,
which
was
brought
up
by
the
space
shuttle
Atlantis.
They
are
the
largest
solar
panels
ever
taken
to
space;
fully
unfolded,
they
reach
a
length
of
240
feet
(73
meters).
They
are
designed
to
double
the
ISS’s
capability
to
generate
power
from
sunlight
when
they
go
online
during
a
future
shuttle
mission.
The
panels
are
made
of
layers
of
thin
gold
Mylar
plastic,
which
are
highly
reflective.
How
bright?
Like
other
satellites,
the
ISS
shines
by
virtue
of
sunlight
reflected
off
of
its
metallic
skin.
The
station
orbits
approximately
213
miles
(341
kilometers)
above
Earth.
Before
the
ISS
spread
its
new
pair
of
gold
wings,
it
was
already
the
brightest
of
all
space
vehicles,
at
times
appearing
to
shine
with
a
brilliance
equal
to
the
planet
Jupiter.
Now
skywatchers
should
notice
the
orbiting
outpost
glowing
with
an
even
greater
luster.
Nobody
knows
exactly
how
much
brighter
it
will
be,
but
there’s
a
good
chance
that
it
could
be
brighter
than
magnitude
-3,
approaching
the
glow
of
Venus,
the
brightest
planet.
On
this
astronomers'
scale,
smaller
numbers
denote
brighter
objects,
and
negative
numbers
are
reserved
for
the
handful
of
the
very
brightest.
And
the
ISS
will
likely
get
even
brighter.
The
solar
panels
are
only
the
second
of
four
planned
arrays
that
will
be
deployed
between
now
and
before
the
shuttle
fleet
is
retired
in
the
year
2010.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
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On
August
24,
2006,
the
International
Astronomical
Union
(IAU)
demoted
Pluto
to
the
new
category
of
“dwarf
planet”.
To
add
insult
to
injury,
the
Minor
Planet
Center
gave
Pluto
a
number
134340
just
like
any
lowly
asteroid.
But
before
we
get
too
emotional,
let’s
consider
the
following:
In
the
beginning
there
were
seven
planets:
the
Sun,
the
Moon,
Mercury,
Venus,
Mars,
Jupiter
and
Saturn.
Then,
in
1543,
Copernicus
upset
the
apple
cart
and
promoted
the
Sun
to
a
special
position.
The
Moon,
however,
became
a
mere
satellite
of
the
“new”
planet
Earth.
Alas,
poor
Moon!
So
now,
we
had
six
planets.
Herschel’s
discovery
of
Uranus
in
1741
made
it
seven
and
Piazzi’s
discovery
of
Ceres
in
1801
gave
us
a
total
of
eight
planets.
Admittedly,
Ceres
seemed
to
be
extremely
small
but
it
fit
nicely
into
the
empty
gap
between
Mars
and
Jupiter.
But
then
the
floodgates
opened.
By
the
mid-nineteenth
century,
fourteen
more
very
small
“planets”
were
discovered
in
addition
to
huge
Neptune.
This
was
too
much
for
astronomers.
Neptune
was
far
beyond
the
orbit
of
Uranus
and
similar
in
size
but
what
about
all
those
smaller
objects?
They
all
shared
the
space
between
Mars
and
Jupiter
and
more
were
sure
to
be
discovered.
Thus
in
1852,
Ceres
and
her
fourteen
siblings
were
demoted
to
“asteroids”.
Alas,
poor
Ceres
(and
14
others)!
The
solar
system
had
now
shrunk
from
23
to
8
planets.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
There's
a
saying
among
amateur
astronomers
that
if
you
buy
a
telescope
there
will
be
six
full
weeks
of
clouds,
thus
denying
you
of
any
use
of
your
new
toy.
I
purchased
a
telescope...
and
I'm
terribly
sorry.
My
new
Orion
XT10
arrived
in
three
boxes,
the
biggest
of
which
would
only
barely
fit
into
my
Toyota
Echo
hatchback.
I
had
been
anticipating
the
arrival
of
my
scope
for
a
couple
of
days
and
was
delighted
to
have
received
it.
As
I
negotiated
the
stairs
up
to
my
front
door
with
the
largest
of
the
packages,
I
couldn't
help
but
consider
that
I
was
responsible
for
the
impending
downpour.
Rather
than
dampen
my
spirits,
I
looked
forward
to
assembling
the
base
of
the
telescope
and
putting
together
the
electronics.
It
is
widely
accepted
that
I
am
the
"Anti-Handyman"
with
only
minimal
assembly
skills.
My
wife
Gwen
usually
makes
herself
scarce
whenever
I
take
on
projects
with
screwdrivers
and
drills,
out
of
concern
for
her
delicate
sensibilities
and
her
respect
of
the
fact
that
I
have
to
win
in
the
battle
against
the
bad
thing
that
is
fighting
me.
Yes,
the
difficulty
level
of
my
attempted
projects
is
usually
measured
in
curse
words.
These
days,
with
a
nine
year
old
in
the
house,
the
curse
words
have
been
replaced
with
the
Flintstones
equivalents
such
as
"Frazamazta","Dookentoble"
and
"Krazellbatz".
The
hardest
projects
get
a
five
"Frazamazta"
rating.
Luckily,
the
good
folks
at
Orion
Telescopes
have
a
decent
set
of
instructions
to
follow
and,
being
a
long
weekend,
I
took
my
time.
Only
an
hour
went
by
before
I
had
a
telescope.
This
evening,
a
hole
opened
in
the
clouds.
I
hurried
down
the
steps
as
best
I
could
carrying
a
huge
telescope
tube
almost
as
big
as
myself.
Within
a
couple
of
minutes
I
was
good
to
go.
What
would
be
my
first
object?
My
skies
were
blocked
except
for
mostly
overhead.
I
opted
for
a
famous
double
star
called
Albireo.
As
I
swung
the
tube
around
I
relished
the
thought
of
the
ten
inch
mirror
catching
the
light
of
the
beautiful
pair
of
stars
-
one
blue
and
one
orange...
...I'm
still
looking
forward
to
seeing
them,
once
the
clouds
part.
Maybe
I'll
be
lucky
on
Thursday.
Steve
Bevan Steve
Bevan
is
an
avid
amateur
astronomer
who
spends
far
too
much
time
looking
up,
except
when
he
is
driving.
Steve
maintains
an
Astronomy
Blog.
Reprinted
courtesy
yorkregion.com. Originally
printed
September
5,
2006.
[Top
of
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Bogota
Park
Panorama
A
new
panorama
of
Bogota
Park
in
Colombia.
Courtesy
of
ANIC
(Asociación
de
Niños
Indagadores
del
Cosmos).
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SN
Pro
4.x
and
higher
users:
simply
download
the
archive,
unzip,
and
place
the
resulting
files
in
your
Sky
Data/Horizon
Panoramas
Folder.
Pedro
Braganca Content
Director, Starry
Night®
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Enabling
Animated
Horizons
and
Sky
Shading
in
Version
6
By
default,
animated
horizons
and
sky
shading
are
turned
off
in
Starry
Night®
version
6.
This
is
because
not
all
video
cards
support
these
features.
Selecting
Animated
Horizons:
Open
the
Options
pane,
expand
the
Local
View
layer
and
click
on
the
words
“Local
Horizon”.
This
will
open
the
Local
Horizon
Options
window.
Select
“Animated
Horizons”
from
the
options.
If
Animated
Horizons
is
grayed
out,
this
means
your
video
card
does
not
support
this
feature.
Selecting
Sky
Shading:
Select
Preferences
from
the
File
menu.
Macintosh
users
can
select
Preferences
from
the
Starry
Night®
menu.
Select
OpenGL
from
the
dropbox
on
the
top
left
of
the
dialog
window
that
opens.
Then
check
the
box
that
reads,
“Use
shaders
when
available.”
Pedro
Braganca Content
Director, Starry
Night®
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Wednesday,
October
4 Uranus
is
0.5
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Friday,
October
7 Full
Moon
Tuesday,
October
10 Moon
is
0.7
degrees
north
of
the
Pleiades
Friday,
October
13 Last
Quarter
Moon
Monday,
October
16 Saturn
is
2
degrees
south
of
the
Moon
Thursday,
October
19 Juno
is
0.3
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Friday,
October
20 Zodiacal
light
visible
for
the
next
two
weeks
in
the
eastern
sky
before
morning
twilight.
Sunday,
October
22 New
Moon
Tuesday,
October
24 Mercury
is
1.4
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Wednesday,
October
25 Antares
is
0.4
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Sunday,
October
29 Daylight
Saving
Time
ends
Sunday,
October
29 First
Quarter
Moon
All
times
shown
are
U.S.
Eastern
Time.
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Send
us
your
feedback
Do
you
have
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idea
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to
Starry
Night®
Times?
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us.
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Starry
Night®
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leading
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astronomy
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and
DVDs.
Visit
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With
pleasant
autumn
evenings
arriving,
many
people
may
be
thinking
of
buying
a
telescope.
There’s
a
lot
of
bad
advice
out
there;
here
are
some
samples,
counterbalanced
with
the
facts.
Myth:
Magnification
is
a
good
way
to
judge
a
telescope
Reality:
Any
telescope
that
has
interchangeable
eyepieces
can
produce
any
magnification.
The
useful
magnification
on
a
telescope
is
much
more
limited,
and
depends
on
the
size
of
the
telescope’s
aperture
(diameter
of
lens,
mirror,
or
corrector
plate).
A
telescope
with
60mm
aperture
has
a
range
of
useful
magnifications
from
about
12x
to
120x,
no
matter
what
the
advertising
on
the
box
may
say.
And
a
larger
telescope,
such
as
an
8”
reflector,
will
have
a
larger,
but
still
limited
range,
40x
to
300x.
Unless
you
live
in
a
place
with
very
stable
air,
such
as
Florida,
300x
will
be
your
upper
limit
on
magnification
no
matter
how
big
your
telescope
is.
The
best
way
to
compare
telescopes
is
by
their
aperture.
By
and
large,
a
telescope
with
a
larger
aperture
will
outperform
a
telescope
with
a
smaller
aperture
on
every
kind
of
object.
The
main
counterbalancing
factors
are
size,
weight
and
cost.
If
a
telescope
is
too
large
to
be
set
up
conveniently,
it
won’t
be
used
as
often
as
a
smaller,
more
convenient
scope.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
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Triangulum
is
well
placed
at
this
time
of
year
for
observations
of
M33,
a
spiral
galaxy.
However,
at
2.4
million
light
years
and
only
5%
as
massive
as
our
own
galaxy,
it's
a
dim
fuzzy
object
in
8"
scopes
and
requires
good
dark
skies
to
show
any
detail.
Follow
a
line
from
M33
through
Mirach
in
Andromeda
to
find
the
brightest
spiral
in
the
sky,
M31,
the
Andromeda
Galaxy
as
well
as
its
satellite
galaxies
M32
and
M110.
As
with
M33,
the
photons
from
M31
have
travelled
2.4
million
years
to
pass
through
the
pupil
of
your
eye
and
end
their
journey
on
your
retina.
The
Andromeda
Galaxy
is
also
one
of
the
few
galaxies
that's
blue-shifted,
meaning
that
is
traveling
toward
us:
almost
all
others
are
red-shifted
and
speeding
away.
Once
you've
found
M31
with
the
aided
eye,
you
can
practice
picking
it
out
with
the
naked
eye.
You
can
then
congratulate
yourself
that
no-one
can
see
any
farther
than
youthe
barely
visible
faint
smudge
you
can
just
make
out
is
the
farthest
object
visible
to
the
unaided
eye.
At
the
tip
of
the
constellation's
brightest
limb,
is
Almach
(Gamma
Andromedae)
a
very
sweet
orange/blue
double.
And
finally,
below
Triangulum,
in
Aries,
is
Mesarthim
(Gamma
Aries)
another
lovely
double,
orange/green,
sitting
207
light
years
away
with
an
angular
separation
of
7.5".
Sean
O'Dwyer Starry
Night®
Times
Editor
[Top
of
Page]
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