June 2010 Night Skies over Tanzania

We have a comet visiting from outer space. Comet McNaught (C/2009 R1) has been in the skies for the past year and has just become visible through binoculars and may even be visible with naked eyes since it is becoming brighter as it edges closer to the Sun. At the moment it is in the north eastern horizon rising just before the sun and about 15 degrees northwards from the sun’s direction. Over the next few days you may catch a glimpse of the comet through binoculars in the early morning skies. Make sure you DO NOT DIRECT YOUR BINOCULARS OR TELESCOPE TOWARDS THE SUN otherwise you will blind yourself instantly.

The comet is now at its closest approach to the sun, about one Earth-Sun distance away. In a couple of weeks it will have passed over to the evening sky and will be setting with the Sun. By then, that is, towards the end of the month and beginning July, it is expected to have become just visible to the naked eyes with magnitude 5. The limit for naked eye observation in dark skies is magnitude 6.

Comet McNaught is a huge iceberg hurtling through space, and as it comes close to the Sun its water vaporizes to form a huge gas ball the size of Jupiter. With cosmic particles and photons of radiation from the Sun hitting the dust particles in the comet’s gas ball, a long wispy tail one million kilometers long is pushed back from the comet. With this length the comet could extend a Moon-width in the sky. It should be worth searching for the comet soon after sunset in the north western horizon about 15 northwards from the sun. Once again when using any equipment, DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY TOWARDS THE SUN otherwise you will be instantly blinded.

This is the second comet discovered by the same Australian astronomer Robert McNaught who also discovered the last visible comet in 2006 and also named MaNaught (but with official name C/2006 P1). Visit this website for a very good animation of the comet’s orbit through the solar system: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009%20R1;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad

Venus is a brilliant beacon in the western skies and just can’t be missed, even by casual observers. It is already nearly 35 degrees above the horizon at sunset and still rising. Mars is now a faint red star, visible above Venus, at 65 degrees elevation and sits at the feet of the lion in constellation of Leo. Saturn is almost at the zenith at 80 degree elevation at sunset with a piercing steady shine. Moon is in half phase this Saturday, close to Saturn; and with the other two visible planets, Mars and Venus they form a distinct line called the ecliptic, along which we the apparent movement in the sky of all planets, the Moon and the Sun. After the end of this month, Jupiter will be rising before midnight.

The sky map shows us that we can see nearly 18 constellations and asterisms in the night skies this month. Marked alphabetically from A to R these are, from south to north, then east to west: A – Sagittarius the archer, B – Scorpius, C – Ara the alter, D – Triangulum Australe, the southern triangle, and E – the famous Southern Cross continuously pointing south. F – is the False Cross, G – is Vela, the sail, H – is the zodiacal constellation of Libra the scales of justice and I – is the long Hydra the snake. J is Virgo the virgin while K – is Leo the Lion. L - is Cancer the crab while M – is Hercules, N – is Bootes the herdsman and O – is the famous Big Dipper pointing north. P – is Ursa Major, the big bear while Q – is Draco the dragon. R – is the Little Dipper in Ursa Minor whose end star is the North Star but which we never see as it is below the horizon.

Among the bright stars marked ‘m’ to ‘s’ on the map are: ‘m’ – Alpha Centauri the closest star at a distance of 4.3 light years and ‘n’ – is Beta Centauri. ‘o’ - is red star Antares in the neck of Scorpius, ‘p’ – is Spica in Virgo while ‘q’ is the third brightest star Aructurus (the first and second brightest stars are respectively Sirius and Canopus will have set in the south west by 8 pm). ‘r’ – is Regulus in Leo while ‘s’ – is Procyon.

The full glory of the dense concentration of stars and dust can be seen in the Milky Way which stretches across the southern skies from southwest to southeast containing the constellations or asterisms C, D, E, F and G. It runs parallel to the zodiacal constellations A, B, H, J, K, L.

June 21^st is the Solstice, when the Sun starts its journey back towards the Equator after completing its journey north to the Tropic of Cancer. This day marks the beginning of northern summers and southern winters, though even Dar es Salaam is already in the grips of winter with chilling but crystal clear nights.

The International Space Station (ISS) is set to take us by the storm, being visible on consecutive nights from June 22^nd to June 26^th except for 25^th. On all days it rises in the south west at 19:58, 18:49, 19:17 and 18:35 respectively. On 22^nd it will disappear mid way after two minutes in constellation of Leo at 20:00, after rising to a height of 22 degrees. On 23^rd it will be the brightest, rising highest, to 51 degrees, and traverse across the eastern sky for 6 minutes, setting in the north east at 18:55. On 24^th and 26^th it will be seen for about 4 minutes, hugging the western horizon at maximum 20 degree elevation and setting in the north at 19:21 and 18:38 respectively.

You have an opportunity to send your face into space courtesy of NASA, who have set up a website http://faceinspace.nasa.gov where you can send your portrait into space on the last two Space Shuttle missions. Take this opportunity to go into space and you will get a certificate upon the return of the space shuttle.

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