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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!

If you go out every day at the same time, and measure the altitude and azimuth of the Sun, you will find after a year that the Sun has returned to the position it was in when you started your measurements. It will also have traced out a shape or a pattern, known as an analemma, in the sky.
Since you probably can't see the Sun every single day from where you live (e.g. because of weather), you can use Starry Night to make an analemma. You don't have to go outside, and it'll only take a few minutes rather than a year! Here's how:
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Last time, we learned that the Sun reached its maximum northern declination around June 21 ushering in summer in the northern hemisphere. The northern latitude where the Sun is directly overhead at noon defines a great circle at about 23.5 º N known as the Tropic of Cancer.
But why “Cancer” when the Sun is actually in the constellation Taurus?

Summer Solstice 2010 AD
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Judging by the number of questions I see on Yahoo! Answers about this, it must be a popular exercise for teachers to assign their students. Properly implemented, it can teach students a great deal about the motions of the Moon and also the challenges of astronomical observation and research.
The idea is to observe and record the appearance and position of the Moon over a complete lunar cycle. This sounds simple, but students can find it a challenging exercise.
I have a suspicion that quite a few teachers assign the exercise without ever having tried it themselves, and are unaware of the difficulties which even a student with the best intentions may run into. So I urge teachers to try the exercise with your students.
Right at the outset, it seems that quite a few students will forget they have to do this project and, a month later, they will be on the internet frantically looking for pictures of the Moon for every night. So it’s important to remind them at some point every day, preferably at the end of the school day.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Give your kids an advantage! When you refer their teacher to our educational solutions, the school will receive 10% off their purchase and you'll receive 15% off your next selection at the Starry Night Store!
Here's how it works:
- Tell your school's science teacher or curriculum decision maker about Starry Night Education or The Layered Earth;
- Give them coupon code "Back to School 2010!" for their next curriculum purchase;
- Let us know that you've done so by submitting the school, grade, subject and teacher's name, here;
- We'll send your discount code to you, immediately;
- Pick out your next, great Starry Night product!
Let us know if you've any questions, and thanks again
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Solar System Boundaries
Press the Decrease Elevation button to fly through various solar system boundary layers. To identify the various boundary layers by color, click on the contextual menu button of the Sun in the Find pane and select Distance Spheres.
Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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NGC 6960 & NGC 6992, the West and East Veil Nebulas, are part of the Cygnus loop, the remains of a supernova that exploded over 100,000 years ago. Two other sections, NGC 6995 and 6979 are close by.
M29 is an unimpressive open cluster, notable only in that it was one of the original discoveries of Charles Messier.
NGC 6819 is a small open cluster with about two dozen stars from 10th to 12th magnitude within a 5' circle. Its discovery in 1784 is attributed to Caroline Herschel.
Deneb, which marks the tail of the swan, is one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. Just three degrees away lies NGC 7000, the North American Nebula, so-called because of its obvious shape. This is an active star forming region and quite large, though it's difficult to see without the aid of astrophotography.
M39 is an open cluster, and is a nice binocular object with 30 or so stars spread over its seven lightyear diameter. It's also "pretty close" to Earth, at "just" 800 lightyears.
Finally, NCG 6826, the Blinking Nebula, gets its name from an odd phenomenon: its central star appears to blink on and off when you look toward and away from it quickly.
Sean O'Dwyer
Starry Night® Times Editor
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Navigating A Lesson In The Layered Earth

Take a sneak peak at The Layered Earth in this video, a new Geology curriculum from the makers of Starry Night.
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Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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Below the Horizon
Objects in the Find pane that are below the horizon will be greyed out. You can still click on the object and Starry Night will give you the option to view the object when its above the horizon.
Pedro Braganca
Education & Content Director
Starry Night® Education
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• twitter.com/starrynightedu
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Observing Highlights
Sun., September 19, pre-dawn
Mercury greatest elongation west
This is the best morning of the year for observers in the Northern Hemisphere to see the elusive planet Mercury as a “morning star.”
Wed., September 22, evening
Jupiter, Uranus, and the Moon
Just after sunset, if you look to the east you will see the Full Moon rising. Soon it will be joined by brilliant Jupiter, just below it, one day past opposition with the Sun. Look closely with binoculars or a small telescope, and you will see the tiny planet Uranus, also just past opposition, a degree above Jupiter and its moons.
Thu., September 23, evening twilight
Venus at greatest brilliancy
As Venus draws closer to the Earth, it looms larger in size, but its crescent grows narrower in as it moves in front of the Sun. Tonight it reaches its greatest illuminated extent, and hence is at its most brilliant, magnitude 4.8.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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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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Education Minnesota Professional Conference October 21-22, 2010: Saint Paul, MN
NSTA Area Conference October 28-30, 2010: Kansas City, MS
Science Teachers' Association of New York State (STANYS) Conference November 6-9, 2010: Rochester, NY
CAST (Science Teachers' Association of Texas) Conference November 10-13, 2010: Houston, TX
Science Teachers' Association of Ontario (STAO) Conference November 11-13, 2010: Toronto, ON
NSTA Area Conference November 11-13, 2010: Baltimore, MD
NSTA Area Conference December 2-4, 2010: Nashville, TN
Details...
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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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Send us your feedback
Do you have a question, comment, suggestion or article idea to pass along to Starry Night® Times?
Click here to get in touch with us.
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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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11900 Wayzata Blvd.
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