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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!

There's a misconception that in order to do real science and make astronomical discoveries, you have to be a professional astronomer. With modern telescopes and cameras, not to mention the internet, this is no longer true (if it ever was true). How can you, the amateur astronomer, get your fingers into the vast, empty, cold pie of astronomical research? Read on!
Comets
Comets are perhaps the most well-known amateur discoveries, because the International Astronomical Union officially names comets after their discoverers. What stargazer doesn't dream of that kind of glory? While the first named comet was named for Sir Edmund Halley, the man who calculated its orbit and predicted its return, modern astronomers simply have to find a comet and confirm that nobody knew about it already in order to get their name on it.
The most successful comet-hunters are the ones who use photography in their searches. Carolyn Shoemaker has her name on more comets than does any other person, due to her participation in comet-hunting teams that use this method.
Visual comet-hunters are dedicated folks who know the sky very well and spend hours peering through telescopes and binoculars, to find faint fuzzy objects where there aren't supposed to be any. Those of you who were looking skywards in the late 1990s will remember the spectacular naked-eye comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp; Alan Hale, Tom Bopp, and the late Yuji Hyakutake all made their discoveries at the eyepiece.

Comet Hale-Bopp as seen over Croatia in March of 1997. (Philipp Salzgeber)
The age of amateur telescopic discovery may be winding down, as photographic and robotic surveys are much more efficient at finding faint comets long before they come within range of your average backyard scope. Still, visual comet-hunters are out there catching the few that fall through the cracks; as recently as March of this year a new comet was picked up by prolific visual observer Don Machholz.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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What, you may ask, is a “dwarf planet”? Basically it is a solar system object which is too small to qualify as a planet.
Interestingly enough, both Ceres and Pluto were, at the time of their discovery, considered to be planets. When Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres on the first night of the 19th century, he thought he had discovered a new planet circling in an orbit between those of Mars and Jupiter. Later Ceres was demoted to become the largest of the asteroids, but in 2006 was elevated to the status of a dwarf planet.
Ceres is named for the Roman goddess of plants, the same source from which our word “cereal” comes. It is a small world, just 940 kilometers in diameter.
Similarly, when Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930, he thought it was a new planet in an orbit beyond that of Neptune. However, its small size and peculiar orbit led astronomers to doubt its status and in 2006 Pluto too was reclassified as a dwarf planet.
Pluto was named by an 11-year-old English girl, Venetia Burney, after the Roman god of the Underworld. It is a little more than twice the size of Ceres, 2300 kilometers in diameter, slightly smaller than Eris, the largest dwarf planet. All of these dwarves are tiny compared to our Moon, 3500 kilometers in diameter.
Both these small objects are well placed for observation this month, with a bit of help from Starry Night.

To read the rest of this article, click here.
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In its yearly path around the ecliptic, the Sun reaches its maximum northern declination on June 21, 2010 at 11:28 UT. Astronomically, this point is known as the solstice.
New Yorkers also know it as the moment summer begins -- the summer solstice. Here the Sun reaches its maximum altitude, almost 73 degrees. Meanwhile, in Miami, 14 degrees further south, the Sun reaches an altitude of 87 degrees. This is only 3 degrees from the zenith or overhead point.
So it stands to reason that 3 degrees south of Miami, the Sun should be a the zenith.
The Sun, June 21, 2010, local noon

What if we went further south? For each degree we travel south, the Sun gains a degree in altitude. Thus at the equator (0 deg N) the Sun will have an altitude of 113 degrees. But wait a minute! The maximum altitude possible is 90 degrees. What happens now?
Let’s check it out.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Summer Constellations
The Summer Triangle dominates the summer sky. It crosses the hazy band of the Milky Way, which is split into two near the star Deneb by a large dust cloud called the Cygnus Rift.
The points of the triangle are three of the brightest stars in the summer sky, each the brightest star in its own constellation. The brightest is Vega, in Lyra; second is Altair, in Aquila; and third is Deneb, in Cygnus. Even city-dwellers with glowing, light-polluted skies can find the Summer Triangle.
Using the Big Dipper as the guide to the other stars and constellations, imagine a line extending 75 degrees of sky from the two bowl stars closest to the handle, to a point in the middle of the Summer Triangle. Stretch out your arm out at full length and measure about three spread hands from little finger to thumb. Each hand covers about 25 degrees of sky.
Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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Don't let the scale of the diagram above fool you: representing the goddess of justice, Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky.
Spica, a first magnitude blue-white star, is easy to spot, shining as it does in a fairly dark part of the sky.
M49 and M60 are elliptical galaxies. Being one of the brightest ellipticals, M49 was the first member of the Virgo-Supercluster to be discovered by Charles Messier. M60 is some 60,000,000 light years distant and is as luminous as 60 billion copies of our sun.
Most of the galaxies in Virgo are part of the Virgo-Supercluster. Not so M104. At about 50,000,000 light years, this galaxy's dark dust lane and close to edge-on angle (just 6°) makes it look a little like a sombrero.
M61 is a lovely face-on spiral galaxy while NGC 5746 is an edge-on spiral galaxy that's best observed in small scopes.
Finally, Porrima is a fine double-star worthy of a peek.
Sean O'Dwyer
Starry Night® Times Editor
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The Layered Earth
Be the first to receive our ground-breaking, Interactive Earth Science & Geology Curriculum. The Layered Earth will be released for pre-sale on 06/15/10.

Orders accepted here starting June 15.
Learn about the curriculum and features in The Layered Earth PDF. |
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Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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High Resolution Planet Images
Starry Night includes a ‘super’ high resolution image of both Mars and Earth. Zoom in and explore the surface of Mars and Earth in unprecedented detail. The Mars surface map is a 24 bit color map representing the Mars land mass topography above the sea. The Earth surface map has a 1 km (0.6 miles) resolution.
Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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Moon Phases
Fri., June 4
Last Quarter Moon, 6:13 p.m.
The Last or Third Quarter Moon rises around 1 a.m. and sets around 1 p.m. It is most easily seen first thing in the morning.
Sat., June 12
New Moon, 7:15 a.m.
The Moon is not visible on the date of New Moon because it is too close to the Sun, but can be seen low in the west as a narrow crescent the next night just after sunset.
Sat., June 19
First Quarter Moon, 12:29 a.m.
The First Quarter Moon rises around 2 p.m., and sets around 1 a.m.
Sat., June 26
Full Moon, 7:30 a.m.
The Full Moon of June is known as the Flower Moon. In Algonquian it is known as Strawberry Moon. Other names are Honey Moon, Rose Moon, Hot Moon, and Planting Moon. In Hindi it is known as Wat Poornima. Its Sinhala (Buddhist) name is Poson Poya. The Full Moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, the only night in the month when the Moon is in the sky all night long. The rest of the month, the Moon spends at least some time in the daytime sky.
Observing Highlights
All month
Three evening planets
Saturn, Mars, and Venus will be well placed in the early evening sky all month. They will gradually close in on each other during the month, heading towards a triple conjunction in August.
Fri., June 18
Ceres at opposition
The dwarf planet Ceres, formerly known as an asteroid, will be in opposition tonight in Sagittarius. It is the largest object in the asteroid belt. At magnitude 6.9, you will need binoculars and a star chart to identify it.
Fri., June 25
Pluto at opposition
The dwarf planet Pluto, formerly known as a planet, will be in opposition tonight in Sagittarius. However, with a nearly Full Moon nearby, this is not a good night to try to observe it; try a week earlier or later. You will need a fairly large telescope (at least 10 inches aperture) and a detailed star chart to locate it.
Wed., June 26
Partial lunar eclipse
The Full Moon will be partially covered by the Earth’s shadow in this eclipse. The eclipse can be seen at dawn in western North and South America, in the early evening in southeastern Asia, but will be at its best in Australia and New Zealand.
Planets
Mercury is not well placed for observation this month.
Venus is now a bright “evening star” visible in the west after sunset.
Mars is in the western sky at sunset, and sets around 1 a.m. Located in Leo, it is now dimming noticeably as it moves away from the Earth towards the far side of the Sun.
Jupiter rises around 2 a.m. and is visible the rest of the night in the southeast. It is in the constellation Pisces.
Saturn is visible all evening in Virgo, setting at 2 a.m. Its rings are still almost edge-on to us, and cast a thin shadow on the globe of the planet. Because of the narrowness of its rings, its many moons are particularly easy to see—use Starry Night to identify them.
Geoff Gaherty
Data for this calendar have been derived from a number of sources including the Observer's Handbook 2010 of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Starry Night® software, and others. Only events with a reasonable possibility for Northern Hemisphere observers, or those events with some other significance, are given. All times shown are U.S. Eastern Time.
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Prepare Your Students for NCLB Science Testing

Starry Night® gives you and your students engaging stimulations and easy-to-follow lesson plans that teach the critical space science concepts in the NCLB science assessments.
Written by teachers, for teachers, each unit includes interactive and hands-on activities that will spark your students' curiosity.
Click here to download full brochure.
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Educational Inquiries and Sales
Please contact Michael Goodman for all education inquiries. EDUCATION ORDERS 1-877-290-8256
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Starry Night® is the world's leading line of educational astronomy software and DVDs. Visit store.starrynight.com to see all the great products we offer for everyone from novice to experienced astronomers.
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