Astronomy, Vol. 51.05 (May 2023)

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ON THE COVER
The Milky Way should host millions
of stellar black holes. But we only
know about a handful. Are there
countless rogues? ESA/HUBBLE, DIGITIZED
SKY SURVEY, NICK RISINGER (SKYSURVEY.ORG),
N. BARTMANN
COLUMNS
Strange Universe 12
FEATURES BOB BERMAN
14 COVER STORY 30 44 Secret Sky 50

STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
On the hunt for Star Dome and How do we draw
rogue black holes Paths of the Planets alien planets? Binocular Universe 52
Some 100 million isolated RICHARD TALCOTT; With every big exoplanet PHIL HARRINGTON
black holes lurk within the ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY discovery comes a stunning
Milky Way. We’re finally artist’s rendition of a new
starting to bring them into the 36 world. Are these images 7
light. ASHLEY BALZER VIGIL Minor gems realistic? ALISON KLESMAN
QUANTUM GRAVITY
of the spring sky Everything you need
22 Faint but not forgotten: 54 to know about the
Revealing Venus See 20 lesser-known deep- Ask Astro
universe this month:
Earth’s sister world does sky objects this month. Fundamental forces.
Light pollution increases,
not give up its secrets MICHAEL E. BAKICH
neutron stars expand, we
easily to visiting spacecraft.
meet Andromeda’s close
MICHAEL CARROLL 40 neighbor, and more!
Target 10 galaxy groups
28 Take in a menagerie of
Sky This Month galactic sights in a single view.
A dusky Moon. ALAN GOLDSTEIN IN EVERY ISSUE
MARTIN RATCLIFFE From the Editor 4
AND ALISTER LING Astro Letters 6
Advertiser Index 51
New Products 53
Reader Gallery 56
Breakthrough 58
ONLINE
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FROM THE EDITOR
Those ubiquitous
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black holes
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ART
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be practically every- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

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Way Galaxy, you shouldn’t be Phil Harrington, Jeff Hester, Alister Ling,
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without hitting one. Stellar EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
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4 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

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WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 5
ASTRO LET TERS
Memorable viewing Launched Feb. 7, 1999, Stardust flew by asteroid 5535

Your January 2023 issue was excellent! Annefrank on Nov. 2, 2002. More than a year later, on
The bright comet list brought back Jan. 2, 2004, Stardust flew by Wild-2, collecting samples
pleasant memories of nights outdoors. I of interstellar and comet dust, and two years after that,
graduated from high school in 1957, and its sample-return capsule came to Earth in the Utah
that is the only year I remember seeing desert. Its samples are still being studied today. — George
two naked-eye comets: Comet Arend- Reynolds, Virginia Beach, VA
Roland and Comet Mrkos (formally
Comet Mrkos (photographed here in known as C/1957 P1). I recall hauling
1957), is characterized as a great comet
and had a magnitude of 1, brighter than
my small scope atop our high school Understanding comets
Halley’s Comet at its peak. DONN, BERTRAM; RAHE, building to watch them with members Walter Harris’ excellent article, “The science of comets”
JUERGEN; BRANDT, JOHN C. FROM ATLAS OF DRAWINGS AND of our science club. Your notes about (January 2023), discusses the current understanding
PHOTOGRAPHS OF COMETS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
comet photography correctly point out of comet formation and their physical properties. The
how digital photos are now easy to take; concept of amorphous water ice providing an internal
We welcome
your comments it’s too bad we only had a Kodak Hawkeye camera in energy source for comets was first proposed by me,
at Astronomy Letters, 1957. — Roger Grossenbacher, Lancaster, OH along with Georg Rupprecht and Donald Schuerman,
P.O. Box 1612, in 1974. I am pleased that the basic concept we put
Waukesha, WI 53187; forth has become the leading hypothesis in light of
or email to letters@ Missing mission the fact that it was not universally embraced by other
astronomy.com .
I am disappointed that your January 2023 special cometary scientists at the time. Comet research, as
Please include your
name, city, state, and
issue on comets failed to mention the historic Stardust well as other astronomical studies, can always produce
country. Letters may mission, which brought back samples from the coma surprises, so it remains a hypothesis until (hopefully) a
be edited for space of Comet Wild-2 and then went on to visit Comet direct core sampling of a comet produces the required
and clarity. Tempel 1. measurements. — Harvey Patashnick, Albany, NY
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QUANTUM GRAVITY
QG EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH
SNAPSHOT
HOT BYTES
HOMELESS STARS
Hubble recently showed
that light from stars that
SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, OLIVIA C. JONES (UK ATC), GUIDO DE MARCHI (ESTEC), MARGARET MEIXNER (USRA); IMAGE PROCESSING: ALYSSA PAGAN (STSCI), NOLAN HABEL (USRA), LAURA LENKIĆ (USRA), LAURIE E. U. CHU (NASA AMES).
are between galaxies within

clusters is present in both
old and young groups. This
means stars are lost from
RIGHT TOP: SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, STSCI, JAMES JEE (YONSEI UNIVERSITY); IMAGE PROCESSING: JOSEPH DEPASQUALE (STSCI). RIGHT CENTER: NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER. RIGHT BOTTOM: VIRGIN ORBIT
their galaxies as clusters

form, rather than stripped
away over time.
MOUNT MAGNETAR
A magnetar — a rapidly
spinning, highly magnetic
neutron star — suddenly
slowed its spin and began
emitting radio waves in
October 2020. Astronomers
MAKING ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO speculate a volcano-like

rupture on its surface might
be to blame.
A nearby nebula sheds that belongs in the 2-billion- to 3-billion-

year-old universe. This period corresponds
light on star formation to a time called cosmic noon, when stars
during the universe’s first began cropping up in droves following
the Big Bang.
cosmic noon. In the photo, the orange strands show
dense, cold clouds of molecular hydrogen FAIL BRITANNIA
NGC 346 — tucked in the Small Magellanic and dust feathering outward, creating an On Jan. 9, Virgin Orbit
Cloud (SMC), a dwarf galaxy close to the optimal environment for star and planet attempted the first ever
Milky Way — is one of the most curious star- formation. The fluffier pink areas, mean- orbital launch from the
forming regions in the nearby universe. while, highlight much hotter, more energetic United Kingdom. But
The SMC has an extremely low metallicity, clouds of hydrogen. the rocket’s upper stage
meaning it lacks almost any elements other The fact that this region hosts the build- suffered an anomaly, failing
to lift the vehicle into orbit.
than hydrogen and helium. As such, it looks ing blocks of both planets and stars means Virgin Orbit has previously
less like a modern galaxy and more like one rocky planets may have formed earlier made four successful
in the cosmic timeline than previously launches, all from California.
thought. — SAMANTHA HILL
QUANTUM GRAVITY
LIGHT POLLUTION INCREASING

FASTER THAN THOUGHT
Satellite data fail to capture the loss of the naked-eye night sky.
LIGHTS UP. As scattered light from skyglow

increases (from left to right), fewer stars
Finding dark nighttime skies become visible to the naked eye. NOIRLAB/NSF/
for observing is getting harder AURA, P. MARENFELD
— and the rate at which dark skies are

disappearing is faster than satellite- author Christopher Kyba of the German
based measurements might indicate. Research Centre for Geosciences in
This find comes from a Science paper Potsdam in a press release.
published Jan. 19 and based on more The find stands in stark contrast to
than a decade of observations from satellite observations, which suggest
around the world. skyglow — diffuse scattered light that
To determine how quickly the night affects the stars’ visibility — has been
sky is brightening, researchers devel- increasing at the more modest rate of
oped the Globe at Night citizen science 2 percent per year.
project. They gave 51,351 volunteers in There are two main reasons for the
19,262 locations a star chart showing difference, the authors say. Satellites
which stars are visible under varying THREAT ON THE HORIZON. Light pollution from largely see only light that is directed
Tucson, Arizona, has been steadily encroaching
levels of light pollution. The volunteers on Kitt Peak National Observatory for decades.
upward. However, light directed
then regularly reported which chart KPNO/NOIRLAB/NSF/AURA/B. TAFRESHI downward or horizontally — which
best matched the sky from their loca- constitutes the majority of new lighting
tion on cloudless, Moonless nights. of 9.6 percent per year. “If the develop- — is most responsible for decreased
Those reports showed the sky is ment were to continue at that rate, a night sky visibility from the ground.
growing brighter at a rate of 7 to 10 child born in a place where 250 stars are Additionally, the spacecraft currently
percent per year, averaging out to a visible will only be able to see 100 stars observing Earth for skyglow do not
global decrease in night-sky darkness there on his 18th birthday,” said lead measure bluer light, such as from LEDs,

QUICK
TAKES
which is more susceptible to scattering add roughly 22,500 more. These satellites
in the atmosphere and heavily affects operate at the edge of naked-eye visibility
NEXT-NEXT GEN
human vision. but still contribute to diffuse skyglow NASA has unveiled plans for the
The researchers do note that although and interfere with professional observa- Habitable Worlds Telescope, a
they have volunteers across the globe, tions. And in September 2022, AST 6-meter observatory capable of
coverage is patchy in some areas and most SpaceMobile launched a prototype satellite detecting signs of life on nearby
participants are in areas with the heaviest called BlueWalker 3, which at times can Earth-like exoplanets. Like JWST,
light pollution, such as North America outshine most naked-eye stars. A study it will operate at L2, some
and Europe. More data are needed from a in December 2022 in Monthly Notices 930,000 miles (1.5 million km)
wider range of locations, including devel- of the Royal Astronomical Society found from Earth — but unlike JWST, it
oping countries where artificial lighting is that of 28 observatories with telescopes will be designed to be serviced
likely increasing but going unmeasured. larger than 3 meters, some two-thirds now and upgraded by robotic craft.
experience light pollution levels of at least
BRIGHTER NIGHTS AHEAD 10 percent above the ambient dark sky. RED ERRING
These results come at a time when astron- Scientists argue that increasing skyglow The cores of active galaxies,
omers are voicing additional concerns not only diminishes ongoing research whose supermassive black
over losing the dark night sky, including and cultural heritage related to the night holes are gorging on material,
to megaconstellations of communications sky, but also negatively affects plants and may be more energetic than
satellites. (See “The satellite-streaked sky” animals. Understanding these impacts previously appreciated, says a
study of the galaxy NGC 5548.
in our March 2023 issue for more.) SpaceX and how to mitigate them is increasingly
Their dusty environments make
has regulatory approval to launch a total of a part of climate and cultural discussions.
them appear redder — and
19,500 Starlink satellites and is planning to — ALISON KLESMAN
dimmer — than they actually are.
A PERFECT STORM
Like storm systems on Earth that
merge and grow, ejections of
plasma from the Sun that cause
potentially harmful space
weather events can become
SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, KELLEN LAWSON (NASA-GSFC), JOSHUA E. SCHLIEDER
dramatically stronger if they

collide just before striking Earth,
according to new simulations.
10 AU
(NASA-GSFC). IMAGE PROCESSING: ALYSSA PAGAN (STSCI)
DINNER FOR TWO

The nearby galaxy UGC 4211 has
not one but two supermassive
black holes (SMBHs) at its core,
just 750 light-years apart.
They’re the closest SMBH binary
known. UGC 4211 is the product
N of a galaxy merger and lies
E
500 million light-years away

1" in Cancer.
INCREASED COOPERATION
Zooming in on a microscope The National Science
Foundation and SpaceX signed
The dusty debris disk of AU Microscopii, located a mere 32 light-years away, glows in an agreement, announced Jan. 10,
new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Using a coronagraph — an to continue work to reduce the
instrument that can block light from the central star (whose location is shown here by impact of Starlink satellites on
a white graphical star) — astronomers imaged the disk with two different infrared filters. ground-based observatories,
The blue image shows infrared light at 3.56 microns and reveals fine-grained dust. The including interference with radio
red image shows a wavelength of 4.44 microns and traces coarser grains. The blue image astronomy. The firm also waived
is brighter, meaning there is more fine dust than coarse. Astronomers were able to view its right to have lasers in
the disk down to about 460 million miles (740 million kilometers) from the star — roughly adaptive optics systems turned
the distance of Jupiter from the Sun. While that may seem far, it’s razor-sharp viewing for off when a Starlink satellite flies
distant star systems and bodes well for JWST’s ability to spot Jupiter or Saturn analogues in overhead, as is currently
other systems. Astronomers know from previous observations that AU Mic has two planets, required. — MARK ZASTROW
both located well within the coronagraph’s black-out zone. — KOREY HAYNES
QUANTUM GRAVITY
ROBERT FESEN
FREEZE FRAME.
When two neutron
stars spiral into
FIREWORKS
each other and
collide, as seen FLY FROM
in this artist’s
concept, they
produce both
SUPERNOVA
gravitational
waves and a short Planetary nebula Pa 30
gamma-ray burst.
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK/
was discovered by amateur
MARK GARLICK
astronomer Dana Patchik
in 2013. But fresh data from
astronomers Robert Fesen
Clues to hypermassive of Dartmouth University
neutron stars and Bradley Schaefer of

Louisiana State University
If you could freeze
using a Sulfur-II filter have
space-time as they spiral totally in tune, but you can
a film of two neu- toward each other. But make out some frequen- revealed stunningly sharp
tron stars just after they the current generation cies that are stronger than filaments of emission. The
collide, you would see an of detectors can’t see others. By determining the contrails appear to form
object so massive and ripples from the HMNS peak frequencies of this from debris driven outward
dense it shouldn’t exist: itself. To find signals from flickering, astronomers by the strong wind of the
a single neutron star spin- these objects, a team led can learn the size and central star, which may be
ning so fast it can briefly by Cecilia Chirenti of the spin rate of the HMNS.
a remnant of a rare type
hold itself up against University of Maryland The team analyzed
gravitational collapse. in College Park instead more than 700 gamma-ray
Iax supernova recorded
Just a split second later, dove deep into the bursts bursts and found QPOs in in 1181 by Chinese and
the star would be gone, of gamma rays that these two of them, designated Japanese astronomers. — M.Z.
sucked into itself and mergers give off. GRB 910711 and GRB
replaced by a black hole. Because an HMNS is 931101B. Both events had
17
These short-lived still “shaking and jiggling” been observed by NASA’s
objects — called hyper- from the violent merger, Compton Gamma-Ray
massive neutron stars Chirenti tells Astronomy, it Observatory in the 1990s.
(HMNSs) — offer a fasci- should produce a flicker Their analysis, published The number of hours
nating, fleeting glimpse in the gamma-ray burst Jan. 9 in Nature, found in a year for a pair
of the dynamics of a signal — an oscillation in that for both objects, the
neutron star merger and brightness that tends to strongest oscillations
of ultracool dwarf
the formation of a black repeat at a few frequen- were at a frequency of stars called
hole. But gleaning infor- cies. Chirenti compares roughly 2,600 hertz. This LP 413–53AB, which
mation about them is dif- these quasi-periodic suggests that the HMNSs
have the tightest orbit
ficult. Gravitational-wave oscillations (QPOs) to are spinning at least 1,300
detectors can observe hearing an orchestra tune times per second, nearly of any such binary
the pre-collision neutron its instruments before a twice as fast as the fastest system yet found.
stars etching ripples into concert: Not everyone is known pulsar. — M.Z.

Astroimagers nab nebula near Andromeda
A group of amateur 111 hours of exposure
astronomers has uncov- with a 4.2-inch Takahashi
ered a surprise lying refractor and a CMOS
next to one of the most astronomical camera.
venerable objects in the Working with profes-
night sky: a previously sional astronomers and
unknown emission nebula other astroimagers, the
just southeast of the trio verified the find and
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) published their results
and spanning half the in Research Notes of the
width of the galaxy itself. American Astronomical
The feature, seen at Society in January.
upper left in the photo, Researchers aren’t
was discovered in images yet sure if the object is
MARCEL DRECHSLER/XAVIER STROTTNER/YANN SAINTY

taken last year with an physically related to M31;
Oxygen-III filter by it could be galactic cirrus
French astroimager Yann in the Milky Way. Either
Sainty, who worked with way, it highlights the role
fellow observers Marcel that amateur astronomers
Drechsler and Xavier and imagers can play in
Strottner to process and astronomy — especially
analyze the data. The in discovering faint,
image represents over extended emission. — M.Z.
MIRRORS INTO THE PAST 8.4 billion years 8.6 billion years 8.7 billion years
NEW IMAGES from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

reveal two galaxies in the distant, early universe that sport long
bars stretching between their spiral arms, a first-of-its-kind find
for galaxies so young.
Barred spiral galaxies are not unusual in the modern universe.
Bars are a sign that a galaxy has reached maturity; nearly 70 9.6 billion years 10.7 billion years 11.0 billion years
percent of nearby spiral galaxies have bars, including our own

Milky Way. However, the barred spirals JWST spotted existed at
a time when the universe was just a quarter its current age.
The find is detailed in an article accepted for publication in
The Astrophysical Journal Letters. In it, researchers used JWST
data from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS)
Survey to identify six strong examples of barred galaxies that
BAR CHART. Researchers identified six barred spiral galaxies, seen
appear more than 8 billion years ago. The two most distant of here, in new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope. The
these galaxies — EGS-23205 and EGS-24268 — existed some time it took for light from each galaxy to reach us is shown at upper
11 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 3 billion left. NASA/CEERS/UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
years old.
Bars are important because they help funnel gas into the that make new products, a bar powerfully transports gas into
central regions of a galaxy, which both boosts star formation the central region where the gas is rapidly converted into new
and speeds up the growth of the galaxy’s central supermassive stars at a rate typically 10 to 100 times faster than in the rest of
black hole. the galaxy.”
“Bars solve the supply chain problem in galaxies,” Shardha Because astronomers have now observed these transport
Jogee, an astronomer at The University of Texas at Austin and structures in galaxies from the relatively early universe, they
co-author of the new study, said in a press release. “Just like we might need to update their theories and models related to
need to bring raw material from the harbor to inland factories galaxy evolution. — JAKE PARKS
STRANGE UNIVERSE
For your But what is the system’s starting point? Where is

zero?
reference It’s Vega, the brightest star of the great Summer

Triangle. Stellarium and some other catalogs list it as
magnitude 0.00, a zero right on the nose. Other refer-
There are plenty of celestial Post-its to use as starting ences place it a few hundredths of a degree higher, but
points in the sky. still exactly 0.0 when rounded to the nearest tenth of a
magnitude. But Vega goes beyond being a reference
point for stellar brightness. On the B-V star-color scale,
which drifts from higher positive numbers for redder
stars to negative numbers for blue ones, Vega’s B-V
color index is 0.00. Amazingly, Vega is a reference point
for star color, too! It’s like the platinum bar in France
once used to define the standard meter.
There’s even more. It’s hard to visually pinpoint the
zenith, the spot precisely overhead. Well, Vega comes
close to that position for everyone who lives between
35° and 42° north latitude, meaning much of the U.S.
For those many millions of observers, Vega sits within
2° of the exact zenith every single day or night.
But don’t get too comfortable — Vega is not the zero
point of every system. For instance: Let’s explore the
celestial equator, the imaginary line that’s straight
overhead for everyone on Earth’s equator. Only stars
on the celestial equator can be seen by everyone in the
world — even the Arctic and the Antarctic. To locate
this important celestial marker, whose declination is
zero, simply identify one of the bright stars that sit less
than a degree from it. Here, your reference stars are the
rightmost member of Orion’s Belt, Mintaka, which is
The bright star Vega less than a third of a degree below the celestial equator;
serves as the zero
point on many To astro-beginners, the night sky can seem and the brightest star of Aquarius, Sadalmelik, which
astronomical scales. like a funhouse of random dots. For those is also less than a third of a degree below the sky’s mid-
STEPHEN RAHN
starting out in the astronomy hobby — maybe point. And there’s even a third one: Zeta (ζ) Virginis,
you bought a cool telescope and suddenly want to know the Virgo star to the upper left of bright Spica. It hovers
the sky — there can seem little rhyme or reason beyond just over half a degree below that reference line.
the easy-peasy patterns like the Big Dipper Now, let’s talk motion. If you want to know
and Orion’s Belt. which way the Sun and Earth are zooming
Once you learn just a little more, you may Let’s through space, all you need to do is look back
start to realize that the sky can be cataloged. explore to Vega. Yep — let’s award that Summer
But while it can be simple to learn, say, the Triangle star yet another distinction. Our
stars and constellations, it’s harder to get rock
celestial speed toward that part of the sky is 1⁄13 of
solid when it comes to things like locating the reference the Sun’s 144 mile-per-second (232 kilometers
celestial equator or knowing the B-V star points. per second) orbital motion around the galactic
color system. It sure would be nice if someone center, so it’s like a bit of a sideslip as we par-
had stuck a few Post-it notes up there. take of the Milky Way’s rotation.
Well, guess what? Someone sort of did. Let’s end with something more local. How about our
BY BOB BERMAN Let’s explore celestial reference points using stars you orbital motion around the Sun? Which way is that carry-
Bob’s recent book, already know. Take the magnitude system, for example. ing us? That one’s easy if you’re vacationing in the tropics.
Earth-Shattering We’ve all gotten used to the counterintuitive fact that At dawn, simply look overhead, and you’re in the pilot’s
(Little, Brown and
the higher a star’s magnitude, the fainter it is. The dim- seat in our orbit, facing forward on Starship Earth.
Company, 2019),
explores the greatest mest naked-eye stars are usually listed as magnitude 6
cataclysms that have while the very brightest, Sirius, is magnitude –1.5, a BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE
shaken the universe. negative number. AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman

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LONE, OR ROGUE, black holes are not
bound to any other star and drift alone
through space. Without a ready food
Some 100 million isolated black holes
source, they have minimal accretion disks
and appear truly dark, making them
exceedingly difficult to find. However,
lurk within the Milky Way. We’re finally
their immense gravity warps space-time,
as seen in this artist’s concept, and can starting to bring them into the light.
give these objects away when they pass
in front of a visible star from Earth’s point
of view. ESA/HUBBLE, DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY, NICK RISINGER
BY ASHLEY BALZER VIGIL
(SKYSURVEY.ORG), N. BARTMANN
ON A COOL EVENING in a small village in India, Neither of them knew then that this fascination
a man sat with his son and stared up at the night sky, as would one day dramatically advance our understanding
was their habit after dinner. Since the village had no of the cosmos. A few decades later, in 2022, Kailash
electricity, the stars shone extra bright against the inky Sahu — the young boy from India — would lead a team
backdrop of space. The two spoke of stellar motions, to discover the first known “rogue” black hole.
and the young boy soon developed a fascination for Although it’s been more 50 years since the first
astronomy. detection of a black hole, these objects are still more
CYGNUS X-1 is a
stellar-mass black
hole in a binary commonly theorized about than
HOW MICROLENSING WORKS
system with the observed. Astronomers have iden-
star HDE 226868.
The pair resides tified just a few dozen stellar-mass
within the region black holes in our galaxy — and Observed star position Real star position
outlined in red
in the photo at only then because they are in
left, near Eta (η) binary systems, pulling material
Cygni. The artist’s from a still-shining companion
illustration at right
shows a close-up star. And these may be the
view of the black extreme exceptions, not the rule.
hole and its
accretion disk Most of the 100 million or so
(orange, yellow), black holes thought to exist in
formed as it pulls
material from its
the Milky Way drift through
companion star. space alone, quiescent, dark,
This disk is so hot and impossible to spot directly.
that it shines in
X-rays, giving But with Sahu’s discovery of Black hole
away its position. such a rogue black hole, astrono-
OPTICAL: DSS; ILLUSTRATION:
NASA/CXC/M.WEISS
mers have begun to uncover that
vast unseen majority, promising a
revolution in the field and insight
A MICROLENSING EVENT occurs when a massive object, such as a black hole, passes
in front of a background star. The foreground object’s gravity warps space-time around
into the objects’ origins. it, which both brightens and displaces the image of the background star. Measuring the
length of the event, the amount of brightening, and the apparent displacement of the
star can tell astronomers the mass of the foreground lens — in this case, a black hole
Black holes 101 some seven times the mass of the Sun. NASA, ESA, STSCI, JOSEPH OLMSTED
The idea of an object whose grav-
ity is so strong that not even light
can escape its grasp was first
introduced by John Mitchell in once said, “I think there should no return, inside which even the
the late 1700s. However, such be a law of nature to prevent a star speed of light isn’t fast enough to
objects were long thought to from behaving in this absurd way!” escape the pull of gravity. The size
be a mathematical quirk that It’s easy to see why astronomers of a black hole — i.e., the distance
had little to do with reality. took some time to get on board. of the event horizon from the sin-
Karl Schwarzschild, a German Black holes are some of the most gularity — depends on the mass
physicist and astronomer, further bizarre objects in the cosmos, of the black hole.
developed the mathematical con- throwing our earthly concepts of It gets even stranger. Einstein
cept of black holes in 1916 after space and time right out the win- taught us that space and time are
working through Einstein’s equa- dow. Each one packs the mass of interlocked; warping one warps the
tions of relativity. But for decades, an entire star (or many stars) into other too. As a result, time moves
most experts didn’t think they a vanishingly small space called a more and more slowly the deeper
could actually form. The English singularity. Surrounding it is the you get in the gravitational well of
astronomer Arthur Eddington event horizon — the boundary of any massive object, be it a star or a

black hole. But black holes are Confirming a massive star runs out of fuel and
uniquely odd: Once you reach the
event horizon, time screeches to
a halt, as viewed by an outside
THE ROGUE collapses into either a neutron star
or a black hole, the supernova
explosion it experiences may be
observer. (For the unfortunate A TEAM led by Casey Lam and uneven. “This black hole seems to
Jessica Lu of the University of
individual falling into the black California, Berkeley, published a
have gotten a natal kick at birth
hole, time marches on.) Because study including the same rogue that sent it speeding away” from
of this, some physicists originally black hole candidate in July 2022 any nearby stars, says Sahu.
called black holes “frozen stars” in The Astrophysical Journal
and presumed that such mind- Letters. They found the object Seeing the unseeable
was between 1.5 and 4 solar
bending objects couldn’t be real. masses — possibly light enough
This discovery was the culmina-
You might understand, then, to be a neutron star. However, tion of six years of observations
how physicists reacted with wide- another July 2022 paper in The and two different techniques.
spread skepticism when the first Astrophysical Journal indicated its First, Sahu’s team looked in the
black hole was discovered. The lack of X-rays disfavored a neu- galactic center for stars that grew
tron star. And an independent
journey began in 1964, when a analysis published in October
temporarily brighter because of
sounding rocket experiment 2022 in The Astrophysical Journal an effect called microlensing. We
detected an unseen object emit- Letters is consistent with Sahu’s know that massive objects warp
ting lots of X-rays. That fit the mass, further clinching the case the fabric of space-time around
profile of a black hole, around for a rogue black hole. them. When a heavy object passes
— Alison Klesman
which infalling gas grows in front of a more distant star
extremely hot — so hot that it along our line of sight, the back-
emits X-rays before ultimately ground starlight bends as it travels
falling past the event horizon. estimated 100 million such rogue past the closer object. This both
The object, dubbed Cygnus X-1, stellar-mass black holes drifting distorts the observed position of
or Cyg X-1 for short, was in a through our galaxy unseen. the star from our point of view and
binary system with a companion Located about 5,200 light- acts as a natural magnifying glass,
star. That binary nature allowed years away toward the center of brightening the star’s light.
astronomers to determine the our galaxy, the yet-to-be-named The phenomenon is called gravi-
mass of the unseen object by rogue black hole weighs in at just tational lensing, or microlensing
applying Kepler’s laws of motion over seven times the Sun’s mass. when the foreground object, or lens,
to the visible star. Based on the It’s also moving along at some is small (like a star, neutron star,
results, they realized there was no 28 miles (45 kilometers) a second, or black hole). Astronomers can
other alternative — it could only faster than nearly all the stars in roughly estimate the mass of the
be a black hole. Scientists were the region. lens by watching how long the spike
forced to accept that these ghostly That speed hints at how it in starlight lasts; heavier objects cre-
goliaths were real after all. formed. Scientists think that when ate longer microlensing events.
A ‘rogue’ black hole

Today, scientists think our gal-
axy is teeming with millions of Aug. 8, 2011 Oct. 31, 2011 Sept. 9, 2012 Sept. 25, 2012
black holes born from the col-
lapse of massive stars. But since
they’re invisible, astronomers have
only been able to detect a few —
around 20 to date — thanks to
the presence of companion stars.
May 13, 2013 Oct. 22, 2013 Oct. 26, 2014 Aug. 29, 2017
That is, until July 2022.
That’s when a team of scientists
led by Sahu, now an astronomer
at the Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore, published
the first-ever confirmed detection
of a stellar-mass black hole A PASSING BLACK HOLE left its telltale mark on a star in the galactic center (indicated in the first image
that’s completely alone. Their with an arrow), causing the star to brighten and shift its apparent position over several years. The shift
results, which appeared in The was so small, it could only be measured using the Hubble Space Telescope. By 2017, the star had very
nearly returned to its original brightness and location. SAHU ET AL. 2022, AN ISOLATED STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLE DETECTED
Astrophysical Journal, raise the THROUGH ASTROMETRIC MICROLENSING, DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/AC739E
possibility of finding more of the
THE OPTICAL
Gravitational Lensing
Experiment (OGLE) Two ground-based telescopes, confirmed by microlensing alone. during a microlensing event,
is one of two
telescopes that first the Optical Gravitational Lensing A small, faint star can masquerade astronomers can more accurately
detected the original Experiment (OGLE) in Chile and as a heavier object if it is moving determine the mass of the lens.
microlensing event, Microlensing Observations in slowly; it, too, would produce a The team spent six years watch-
called MOA-11-191/
OGLE-11-462, which Astrophysics (MOA) telescope in long signal due to its slow speed, ing and analyzing the astrometric
led to the discovery New Zealand, initially picked up and if it’s dim enough, astrono- signal, which in general can last
of the rogue black
hole. KRZYSZTOF ULACZYK/ the microlensing event, since cata- mers might only detect light from five to 10 times longer than its
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS loged as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11- the background star. microlensing counterpart. The
462. It lasted long enough — 270 That’s where astrometry — deflection of the background star’s
THIS GRAPH shows days over 2011 and 2012 — that making precise measurements position reached a maximum of
the light curve, or
change in brightness
astronomers suspected the lens of an object’s position — comes about 0.002" — some 30 times less
over time, that marks could be a black hole. in. By seeing how much the than the smallest Pluto can appear
the microlensing But a black hole can’t be background star appears to shift from Earth. Only the Hubble
event caused by
the rogue black
hole, as observed
by many ground-
based telescopes.
The narrow peak
magnification
occurred over a
MICROLENSING LIGHT CURVE OGLE
MOA
Tasmania 1.0m
CTIO 1.3m I
seven-day period, 13 Wise 1.0m CTIO 1.3m V
while the entire Danish 1.54m DFOSC Auckland 0.4m
Danish 1.54m LuckyCam Farm Cove 0.35m
event lasted some
270 days — already
MOA–2011–BLG–191 MONET North 1.2m Kumeu 0.35m
Faulkes North 2.0m Vintage Lane 0.4m
an indication it was
caused by a massive
OGLE–2011–BLG–0462 Liverpool 2.0m Weizmann 0.4m
14 SAAO 1.0m I Wise 0.46m
object, as more
Brightness (OGLE I)
SAAO 1.0m V
massive lenses
cause longer
microlensing events.
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY, AFTER
SAHU ET AL. 2022, AN ISOLATED 15
STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLE
DETECTED THROUGH
ASTROMETRIC MICROLENSING,
DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/AC739E
16
5600 5650 5700 5750 5800 5850 5900

Date (HJD — 2,450,000)
18 ASTRONOMY
Space Telescope is capable of
detecting a deflection that minute.
But it was large enough to indicate
THE STELLAR GRAVEYARD Black holes (gravitational waves)
Neutron stars (gravitational waves)
Black holes (electromagnetic)
that the foreground object was Neutron stars (electromagnetic)
“so massive that if it were a star, it 200
would be shining brightly; yet, we

100
detected no light from it at all,”
says Sahu. “That’s how we knew 50
Mass (solar masses)

we found a black hole.”
“It’s extremely gratifying to be
20
part of such a monumental discov-
ery,” he says. “I’ve been searching 10
for rogue black holes for more
than a decade, and it’s exciting to 5
finally find one! I hope it will be
the first of many.” 2
Those future finds may come
from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman 1
Space Telescope, planned to launch
by 2027. The observatory will stare
toward the heart of our galaxy,
THE MASSES of all the black holes (blue, pink) and neutron stars (orange, yellow) detected
via gravitational waves and electromagnetic observations as of 2021 are displayed here. At
where stars are packed close the highest-mass end are the few intermediate-mass black holes so far found. Arrows link
the two progenitors and end product of each merger, from bottom to top. (Note that this is
together, looking for microlensing a graphic, not a graph — there is no x-axis, and the data have been laid out to be visually
signals like the one Sahu’s team pleasing as well as informative.). LIGO-VIRGO/AARON GELLER/NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
spotted. This survey will reveal a
host of unseen objects, from plan-
ets orbiting stars to potentially
more rogue black holes.
Any additional detections will
help astronomers understand
stellar-mass black holes in ways
they can’t from just the couple of
dozen that are currently known.
Just as an online shopper gains
confidence from a high number
of product reviews, astronomers
want to gather a statistical sample
that more accurately represents
what stellar-mass black holes are
like as a group. M15 Mayall II
That’s especially important
because some astronomers think THE MASSIVE globular clusters M15 and Mayall II appear to host intermediate-mass
the ones found in binary systems black holes thousands of times the mass of the Sun at their centers, perhaps hinting
may represent a biased sample. at how such black holes form and grow. NASA/ESA, THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA) AND MICHAEL
RICH (UCLA)
Their masses only range from
about five to 20 times the Sun’s
mass, with most (including the
newly discovered rogue black hole)
weighing in at around 7 solar isolated, we’ll be better able to together the history of their more
masses. But the true range may understand what the true black massive counterparts, with con-
be much broader. hole population is like and learn sequences for the history of the
“Stellar-mass black holes that even more about the ghosts that universe.
have been detected in other galax- haunt our galaxy.” We’ve learned that nearly every
ies via gravitational waves are galaxy in the cosmos hosts a super-
often far larger than those we’ve Dark secrets massive black hole at its center. In
found in our galaxy — up to In addition to studying rogue the early universe, some of these
nearly 100 solar masses,” Sahu stellar-mass black holes, astrono- behemoths released torrents of
says. “By finding more that are mers are also trying to piece high-energy light as they gobbled
KNOWN BLACK HOLES XTE J1650
XTE J1118
H1705
V4641 Sagittarii
XTE J1550 GS 1354 GRS 1009
LMC X-3
4U 1543
LMC X-1
GRS 1915 V404 Cygni
GRO J0422 MAXI J1659

GRS 1124
Cygnus X-1 XTE J1859
GX 339-4
A0620-00
GRO J1655 MOA-11-191/ 30 million miles

GS 2000 MAXI J 1820 OGLE-11-462
48 million kilometers
OF THE 23
KNOWN stellar-
mass black holes
in the Milky Way
and Large
Magellanic Cloud up surrounding material. that a supermassive black hole theory, the heaviest black holes
all but one (the Astronomers have detected more can play a major role in shaping its started out as lots of smaller ones.
newly discovered than 100,000 of these objects, galaxy’s properties, like the birth In this scenario, stars packed close
rogue, MOA-11-191/
OGLE-11-462) are called quasars — but these exist rate of new stars,” says Kristina together in clusters collided to
in a binary system only in the distant past, mostly Nyland, a radio astronomer at the form extremely massive stars,
with a companion
star. This provides 2 billion to 3 billion years after the Naval Research Laboratory in which ultimately collapsed and
the black hole Big Bang. There are none in our Washington, D.C. “But we don’t became intermediate-mass black
with a source of
material to form an
local (modern-day) universe. Thus, understand how that connection holes (a variety that falls anywhere
accretion disk that quasars appear to be a phase super- has changed over cosmic time, or between the stellar-mass and
glows in X-rays. massive black holes go through even how this type of black hole supermassive ones). The clusters,
All systems are
illustrated here early in a galaxy’s life, feasting originated in the early universe.” now full of both stars and midsize
at the same voraciously for a short time until The fundamental mystery black holes, would have fallen
scale, though the
black holes are
they exhaust the available food surrounding the origins of super- toward the center of the galaxy
represented by supply as the galaxy settles down. massive black holes is which came and merged to generate ever-larger
spheres larger than This brief period dramatically first — the supermassive black black holes.
their actual size,
scaled to reflect affects the evolution of a galaxy. hole or its host galaxy. Right now, it isn’t clear which
their mass. NASA’S Jets from a quasar can shut down One theory suggests that super- formation pathway is correct. “It
GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT
CENTER AND SCIENTIFIC
star formation in its host galaxy, massive black holes formed right could be that there are multiple
VISUALIZATION STUDIO. either by completely blowing away alongside their galaxies. As the ways to build a supermassive black
MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462:
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY,
material that would have formed material that filled the universe hole,” Nyland says.
AFTER T. MÜLLER (MPIA)/ESA/ stars or by heating any gas that’s began to clump up, the lumpiest Much of the uncertainty stems
GAIA/DPAC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
left (star formation requires parts could have collapsed directly from the fact that so far, astrono-
extremely cold temperatures to into black holes rather than myriad mers have only identified a hand-
kick off). But astronomers have yet new stars. ful of intermediate-mass black hole
to unravel the details. “We know But according to another candidates. Although astronomers

think they may be common near
the centers of dense star clusters
or small galaxies, their gravity
isn’t strong enough to influence
the way nearby stars move as dra-
matically as supermassive black
holes do.
Instead, astronomers have
largely had to rely on detecting
ripples in the fabric of space-time
when intermediate-mass black
holes form. The first unambigu-
ous detection came just in 2019:
The Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-wave Observatory
(LIGO) and Virgo interferometer
both picked up gravitational
waves created when two distant
black holes, weighing 85 and
66 solar masses, smashed into
each other. The resulting black NASA’S NANCY GRACE ROMAN Space Telescope will conduct a survey for microlensing
events in the galactic center. Astronomers expect it will find not only planets via this
hole was 142 times the mass of method, but also more rogue black holes like the one Sahu’s team spotted. GSFC/SVS
our Sun, placing it squarely in
intermediate-mass territory.
Unfortunately, based on the lack intermediate-mass black holes. where a stellar-mass black hole
of gravitational-wave detections (LISA will also see events such spirals into a supermassive black
of intermediate-mass black holes as two supermassive black holes hole.)
since, they don’t seem to be found merging, as well as instances The key to solving many of the
in binary systems very often, mysteries surrounding black holes
unlike nearly all the stellar-mass may lie in multi-messenger astron-
black holes discovered so far. And
Black hole omy, which pairs different types
PLANETS
relying on gravitational waves has of observations, such as light and
another disadvantage: These rip- gravitational waves. Such data
ples are affected by distance. The reveal far more than we could
farther we are from the source, the AMONG THE OBJECTS that
learn from any single type of
weaker the signal we’ll receive. NASA expects its powerful observation, giving us a more
That means any sample of black Nancy Grace Roman Space complete picture of celestial
holes we have is biased toward Telescope to reveal are not only objects and phenomena by looking
nearby sources, and some mergers rogue black holes, but maybe at how they behave in more ways
even planets orbiting black
are altogether undetectable. holes.
than just how they give off —
By the late 2030s, astronomers “The first exoplanets were or affect — light.
hope to be making even more discovered around a neutron “As is so often the case when
gravitational-wave measurements. star,” says Jeremy Schnittman, it comes to science, the more we
The European Space Agency is an astrophysicist at NASA’s learn, the more questions we seem
Goddard Space Flight Center in
leading the Laser Interferometer Greenbelt, Maryland. “So why
to have,” Sahu says. “There’s no
Space Antenna (LISA) mission, a not black holes? I think the most single discovery that’s going to
trio of spacecraft that will orbit the likely case would be a binary clear up all the open questions we
Sun 1.6 million miles (2.5 million system made up of a black hole have surrounding black holes, but
km) apart. This incredibly long and a ‘normal’ star companion, each small finding we make will
and then planets orbiting
baseline will allow astronomers around either the black hole, the
move us that much closer to under-
to study black holes in ways that star, or both.” If such a system standing the underpinnings of this
ground-based interferometers exists, he says, “detecting it beautiful universe we live in.”
can’t, by detecting gravitational would be relatively simple, just
waves with wavelengths too large like detecting and studying exo- Ashley Balzer Vigil is a science
planets transiting in front of their
(i.e., frequencies too low) for host stars, which we have done
writer for a contractor at the NASA
Earth-based observatories to pick for thousands of systems Goddard Space Flight Center. Her
up. This includes gravitational already.” — A.B.V. work focuses on bringing exciting
waves from the mergers of astrophysics discoveries to the public.
Earth’s sister world does not give up its secrets easily to
visiting spacecraft. BY MICHAEL CARROLL
f the exploration of the planets
has taught us one thing, it is that
Murphy’s law — “anything that
can go wrong will go wrong” — is
alive and well throughout the solar
system. But one planet in particu-
lar exhibits more than its share of
quirks: Venus.
It’s no wonder. Venus is a tough place to
study, let alone land on. The planet’s toxic
environment is seasoned with sulfuric acid
and pressurized at the surface to 90 times
the crush at Earth’s sea level, or roughly
equal to that of an ocean depth of 3,000 feet
(900 meters). Temperatures soar to 900 degrees
Fahrenheit (482 degrees Celsius). And every
four days, an atmospheric tsunami sends a front
of hurricane-force winds around the globe.
Despite those obvious challenges, the spacecraft
that have dared to land on Venus’ brutal plains have
revealed a planet much more complex and fascinating.
Although Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth by a
third, that alone cannot explain the dramatic differences
between our two worlds. And Venus’ massive ocean of air
and extraordinary environment are critical to our under-
standing of issues like climate change and extreme weather
on Earth.
Despite Murphy’s law — or perhaps because of it —
scientists are getting closer to understanding what makes
Earth’s sibling planet tick.
Iron pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, tops the peak of Akna
Montes like fallen snow in this painting by the author. MICHAEL CARROLL

Tesserae are regions of
deformed venusian terrain that
appear bright in this image,
winding across the center of
the planet’s disk. This
composite was constructed
from data from NASA’s
Magellan and Pioneer Venus
Orbiter missions. NASA/JPL-CALTECH
TOP: In 1975, the Soviet Venera 9 mission
returned the first images from the surface
of another planet.
near each other within the Sun’s forma-
ABOVE: The Venera 14 craft, which landed on tive solar nebula. The two worlds must
Venus in 1982, was unfortunate to have its lens cap have come from roughly the same build-
land right beneath the arm that was supposed to
take data on the soil. RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES/TED STRYK ing blocks. As astrobiologist David
Grinspoon of the Planetary Science
LEFT: Although Venera 14’s panoramic
cameras were mostly aimed at the nearby Institute in Tucson, Arizona, wrote in
ground, this reconstruction offers a realistic view the book Alien Seas (Springer, 2013),
of what the surrounding terrain would look like.
SOVIET PLANETARY EXPLORATION PROGRAM, VENERA 14; PROCESSING AND
“Unless some tremendously efficient pro-
COPYRIGHT: DONALD MITCHELL & MICHAEL CARROLL cess dried Venus out completely, it must
have started with more water, perhaps
researchers were able to carefully chart even an Earth’s ocean’s worth of water
the makeup of the droplet itself. — perhaps 10 times this much.”
They found it was rich with deute- Additional evidence for oceans came
Water, water rium — an isotope of hydrogen with an from the Soviet Venera 8 lander, which
everywhere? extra neutron. Deuterium is somewhat touched down on Navka Planitia in 1972.
The first probe to fly by Venus was rare, with about 1 for every 6,500 normal The spacecraft carried a gamma-ray
Mariner 2, in 1962. The scorching atmo- hydrogen atoms on Earth. That ratio tells spectrometer that took measurements of
spheric temperatures it found confirmed scientists about the history of that hydro- the air during descent, along with two
that the planet had been the victim of gen. On Venus, deuterium is about 100 precious-mineral readings from the sur-
a runaway greenhouse effect. But in times more prevalent than on Earth. face. The instrument detected potassium,
1978, NASA’s Pioneer Venus Multiprobe This indicates to some uranium, and thorium —
mission found evidence for something researchers that Venus a cocktail of elements also
that seemed unbelievable: The desic- must have once had vastly found in granite. Infrared
cated, desolate planet may once have had more hydrogen — most imagery from subsequent
oceans washing across its ancient face. likely in the form of water, missions has yielded hints
The groundbreaking discovery was and oceans of it. As solar of granite mountains, as
unplanned. As the large probe deployed radiation blasted Venus well. Granite forms in the
Venus and
by the main spacecraft descended over eons, the lighter, reg- presence of water, making
Earth arose
through the venusian atmosphere, a ular hydrogen drifted off this a possible sign of long-
near each
cloud droplet clogged the intake of an into space, leaving behind gone ancient seas in a more
other within
instrument. Although the droplet an overabundance of temperate era.
the solar
prevented many readings of the deuterium. Over the rest of the
nebula. The
environment over the rest of the descent, Venus and Earth arose decade and into the
worlds must
have come
from roughly
the same
24 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023 building blocks.
mid-1980s, the Soviet Union’s Space
Research Institute sent an armada of
landers and orbiters to further explore
this possibility. Many of these probes
saw Murphy’s law raise its fickle head.
The Venera 9 and 10 landers incorpo-
rated design improvements over earlier
spacecraft, but in both cases, their lens
caps jammed on one camera. (Both
carried a rear and front camera system,
so they were still able to transmit the first
dramatic images from the surface of
another planet.) Engineers crafted new
seals for the cameras on Venera 11 and
12. The seals worked too well: All the
camera covers jammed on, so the twin
landers returned no images. It turned out
that the air pressure outside was higher
than that inside the sealed cameras, so
the pressure difference simply held the
caps in place. Later designs had better
venting, allowing for spectacular full-
color 360° vistas.
But even properly working lens caps
caused mishaps. After landing on an Maxwell Montes is the highest mountain on Venus, at roughly 36,000 feet (11,000 m). Radar imagery
enchanting landscape of broken fine- from Magellan shows a distinct snow line that is about 11,500 feet (3,500 m) higher on the mountain’s
grained, layered stone, Venera 14’s lens northwest flanks than in its southeastern area. Evidently, winds from the southeast carry metallic vapor up
the slopes and deposit it as snow, creating a snow shadow on the northwest side of the mountain. NASA/JPL
caps successfully ejected. The rear pan-
oramic camera saw its cap resting atop
plates of interlocking rock. But in the rearticulate the arm, Venera 14 suffered be placed in the camera’s field of view
front view, the cap seemed to have van- the indignity of traversing the inner solar to calibrate the color images. In those
ished. Then shocked flight engineers system only to measure its own lens cap! days, the Soviet system was divided into
spotted it, lying directly beneath the Sometimes humans contributed some two departments: the engineers who
spring-loaded arm that was to probe bad luck of their own. During the design researched and designed the mission,
the soil’s firmness. With no ability to of the Venera 13 and 14 color cameras, and a different ministry that fabricated
Soviet researchers developed advanced the hardware. The latter’s industrial
paints that could retain their color even plants had “suggestion boxes” where
Some scientists think Maat Mons, rendered in the 900 F (482 C) heat. These would workers were encouraged to make sug-
here with NASA Magellan radar data, is an
active volcano. The elevation has been exaggerated gestions about ongoing projects. One
by a factor of 10 to show terrain. Here, the bright creative factory worker noted that the
regions correspond to rougher terrain and indicate
the presence of lava flows. NASA/JPL
ministry was paying incredible amounts surged through all four probes, even adequate for the wiring on the probes’
for exotic paint chips when cheaper paint though they were thousands of miles external sensors. But technicians decided
was readily available. Commercial paint from each other, some in daylight and to reinforce the external connections by
was substituted and the worker was some in regions experiencing night. This using Kynar, a type of shrink tubing not
rewarded for their contribution. Sadly resulted in bizarre readings of tempera- tested in the same manner as the Kapton
— as the engineers predicted — the paint ture and pressure. Many instruments had been. When this tubing reached
immediately lost its color in the furnace- failed completely, losing valuable data. 620 F (327 C), it could have released cor-
like venusian conditions. What was going on within those battery- rosive hydrogen fluoride vapors that
acid clouds? dissolved the Kapton insulation, shorting
An atmospheric anomaly Some engineers say the power spikes out the connections.
Perhaps the most intriguing instances of were due to the hardware design of the However, a hardware failure common
Murphy’s law befell both U.S. and Soviet Pioneer probes themselves. A 1993 to the Pioneer probes doesn’t explain all
probes. NASA researchers called it the NASA report found that “[a]ll anomalous aspects of the phenomenon. “What’s
Pioneer Venus 12.5-kilometer anomaly: events are now explained” by a failure of puzzling is that different spacecraft had
a strange occurrence that afflicted insulation material. Protective Kapton the same anomalies,” says Grinspoon.
the four probes in the Pioneer Venus tape had been tested in chambers simu- Soviet probes Venera 11, 12, 13, and 14
Multiprobe armada as they simultane- lating Venus conditions and deemed all experienced similar power spikes at
ously descended through Venus’ complex about the same altitude. And years later,
atmosphere. At an altitude of about the Vega 1 Venus lander may have pre-
7.5 miles (12.5 km), below the planet’s maturely triggered its landing sequence
known cloud decks, a power spike when its sensors indicated that it had
landed — some 11 miles (18 km) above
the surface. Vega 1 dutifully drilled and
sampled, but there were no rocks up
there to test. (Strangely, the sister craft,
How Venus Vega 2, had no ill effects at similar
altitudes.)
saved our In 1995, three Washington University
skin geochemists proposed a different possi-
IN THE EARLY 1970S, scientists bility for the Pioneer Venus anomaly:
were seeking to understand the metallic fog in the highlands. Evidence
dominance of carbon dioxide in the for this weather phenomenon came from
venusian atmosphere. Through this radar imaging of the planet, which
work, planetary scientists like Harvard revealed a strange pattern of brightening
University’s Michael McElroy became
aware of the importance of catalytic Ozone (Dobson units) on high ground. In radar imagery, bright
reactions involving chemicals like reflections usually mean a rough surface,
100 220 300 400 500
chlorine in Venus’ atmosphere, which but on Venus this shimmering veneer
reacts with and breaks down ozone. The size of the ozone hole over Antarctica blankets everything from craggy moun-
In April 1974, McElroy co-authored a paper peaked in 2006 but has slowly recovered
thanks to the landmark 1987 Montreal tains to high plateaus.
warning that the chlorine emitted in the
rocket exhaust of NASA’s upcoming space
Protocol, which limited CFC emissions. The To explain this, the team noted that
maximum extent of the hole in 2022, mapped
shuttle could threaten Earth’s ozone layer, here on Oct. 5, was slightly smaller than the
on Venus, as on Earth, temperatures
which shields us from harmful ultraviolet year before. The scale is given in Dobson drop with altitude. Low-lying plains on
radiation. units, which correspond to the equivalent Venus simmer at a blistering 872 F
Just two months later, a pair of chem- thickness of the ozone layer in hundredths
of a millimeter if it were isolated at 32 F (0 C) (467 C), while the radiant higher eleva-
ists at the University of California, Irvine,
Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland,
and 1 atmosphere of pressure. NASA EARTH tions cool down to a lovely 728 F (387 C).
OBSERVATORY IMAGE BY JOSHUA STEVENS
independently identified a much bigger And at Venus’ drastic pressures, certain
source of chlorine: chlorofluorocarbons metals that can exist as vapor in the low-
(CFCs), which were widely used in indus- that these chemicals could last for up to lands could migrate to higher terrain,
try as refrigerants, insecticides, spray can 150 years. condense as they cool, and even accumu-
propellant, and more. Their work was pub- We had unknowingly set the stage for
lished in Nature. turning Earth into a hot zone of skin late on the ground as “snow.”
At ground level, CFCs are stable and cancer and damaged crops. The result A variety of metals could be involved,
nontoxic. But as they drift higher into was the Antarctic ozone hole, which was including chlorine, fluorine, and sulfur.
Earth’s atmosphere, the Sun’s ultraviolet discovered by British researchers in 1985. Other intriguing candidates include lead
rays break them down and the resulting The good news is that governments sulfide, bismuth, the chromelike metal
chlorine destroys ozone through catalytic and industry took action to reduce the use
reactions — the same process that of CFCs worldwide and the ozone hole is tellurium, and iron pyrite (fool’s gold).
McElroy’s group had identified on Venus. now shrinking. A January 2023 report These metals also appear to condense at
Using atmospheric-mixing models that from the U.N. found Antarctic ozone levels
McElroy and his colleagues had developed are expected to recover to 1980 levels by
for Venus, Molina and Rowland concluded 2066. — M.C.
The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe spacecraft
(lower left) released four probes, shown in this
illustration. The so-called large probe (far upper
about the same altitude as the Pioneer and an atmospheric probe — the first right) was roughly 5 feet (1.5 m) across; the other
Venus anomaly. If they condensed on craft to venture into the planet’s clouds three were smaller and identical. The quartet
descended into the planet’s atmosphere Dec. 9,
the surfaces of all these probes, they since the USSR’s pair of Vega balloons 1978. NASA/PAUL HUDSON
could have triggered a host of break- in 1985. (VERITAS is an acronym for
downs and temporary electrical failures Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR,
— and would certainly qualify as Topography, And Spectroscopy; InSAR, from global warming to the depletion of
another arrow in Murphy’s quiver. or interferometric synthetic aperture the ozone layer. It serves as a climate lab-
radar, is a radar technique for map- oratory, an extreme-weather observatory,
Tale of two worlds ping terrain. DAVINCI stands for Deep and a cautionary tale — a bleak example
Fortunately, answers to this and other Atmosphere Venus Investigation of of what could happen to our fragile
mysteries may be at hand Noble gases, Chemistry, world. Through its inhospitality, Venus
in the coming years. and Imaging.) may help us to better manage Earth’s
Researchers and space To make up for its capri- resources and environment, and to avoid
agencies are preparing a cious ways, Venus has changing this temperate world into one
new wave of Venus mis- bequeathed to humanity more like that of our twin next door.
sions slated for launch information critical for our Though Murphy’s law may spare no
in the early 2030s. These own good. Scientists and spacecraft, it doesn’t have to apply to
include the European Sadly — as policymakers have come our own planet.
Space Agency’s EnVision the engineers to realize that Venus is an
orbiter; NASA’s VERITAS predicted — important mirror that can Michael Carroll is a science journalist and
orbiter; and NASA’s the paint help us understand some space artist. He has published over 30 books
DAVINCI mission, which immediately deep truths about our own and is a founding member of the International
will consist of an orbiter lost its color planet on issues ranging Association of Astronomical Artists.
in the
furnacelike
venusian
conditions.
SKY THIS MONTH
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

BY MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND ALISTER LING
In the middle of
a penumbral
lunar eclipse,
one limb of our
satellite will
appear darker,
creating a slight
gradient across
the Moon’s face.
GIUSEPPE DONATIELLO
A dusky Moon
Venus puts on its best in the western sky. It glows at In the north
show of the year in the magnitude –4.1 at the start of
evening sky, visible until very the month and brightens by U RS A MAJOR
late. Mars also continues as an three-tenths of a magnitude by
evening object, while other May 31. You’ll find it nicely
planets congregate in the placed between the horns of
morning. Saturn is beginning Taurus the Bull on the 1st. Capella
to improve its visibility in the Venus exits Taurus a week
predawn sky and Jupiter, reap- later and moves to a point AU R IG A
LEO
pearing after solar conjunction, north of Eta (η) and Mu (μ)
Regulus C A NC E R Castor
takes part in a spectacular twi- Geminorum on May 9, when it Pollux
light occultation by the Moon. achieves its maximum declina- G EM IN I
Mars 10°
We start the monthly tour tion north (26°) and its farthest Venus
with Venus shining brilliantly point above the ecliptic. A
During the long twilight in Alaska this month, Venus is situated north — an May 15, 2:45 A.M.
unusual location. This chart shows the early-morning view specifically from Looking northwest
Anchorage. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

RISING MOON I Moon mounds
WHAT A SIGHT the Moon
Mons Rümker
must have been 3 billion years
ago: Lava surging from the
lunar interior and spreading
OBSERVING across huge basins! As the
HIGHLIGHT surface cooled and solidi-
fied, local upwellings over
THE MOON covers JUPITER in hot spots continued here and
an occultation that takes place
the morning of May 17. there. In contrast to the depth, Mons Rümker
violence, and superspeed of
impact cratering, the Rümker
hills rose relatively slowly and
reached only modest heights.
A good look at this Mairan
topographic mound
telescope will show a gibbous means observing on
disk 63 percent lit and 18" the 2nd. Its unusual
across. nature is eye-catching. N
This northerly extent places The eastern flank just
Venus in interesting parts of does not look like the E
the sky for northern tiers of the rim of a walled crater. It’s
U.S. and particularly in Canada as if the Moon had hives Mons Rümker is a striking volcanic feature north of Aristarchus and near
that day. the crater Mairan. CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/UA/LPL. INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
and Alaska. Normally visible in
the western sky after sunset, The gentle hills cast long
Venus is almost circumpolar shadows under the rising Sun, which then flooded with terminator. The terrain around
but a mere 24 hours later, they magma. Rümker returns to Aristarchus was also molded by
for Anchorage, Alaska, and is
have all but disappeared. We visibility late on the 31st. long-lived flows of lava. There is
visible at midnight in the
can’t know for sure that the Locate the fascinating so much to take in here! Farther
northwestern sky. Shortly
flat central part is a caldera, volcanic feature by starting at south lie the volcanic domes
before 3 A.M. local time, Venus
but it looks like the hole left the brilliant Aristarchus, then near the crater Marius and the
lies low on the northwestern slide north along the wrinkled huge bowl of Schickard.
from the collapse of the peak,
horizon, an unusual placement
for an inferior planet. During
the long twilight, Venus
remains situated north. From
Fairbanks, Alaska, Venus lies
METEOR WATCH I Halley’s leftovers
due north at sunrise, sitting 1°
above the horizon. Eta Aquariid meteor shower THIS MONTH’S ETA AQUARIID
Venus continues across SHOWER is active between April 19
Gemini and ends the month and May 28, peaking on May 6. The
south of Pollux, similar to the peak of the meteor shower is heavily
Scheat
affected by the Full Moon (May 5),
location of Mars early in the
Enif which remains visible all night. The
month. A telescope shows
typical zenithal hourly rate of 50 per
Venus close to half phase
hour on May 6 is severely reduced to
(dichotomy) on May 31, with Sadalmelik a trickle, with only the brighter mem-
a 52-percent-lit disk span- PEGASU S Radiant bers observable. The low altitude
ning 23". CAPRIC ORNUS
Saturn
of the radiant doesn’t help, either. It
Mars is 5° due south of Deneb
rises just after 2 A.M. local time on the
Algedi
Pollux on May 9. The Red morning of maximum and reaches
PISCES AQUA RIU S
Planet is magnitude 1.4; Pollux about 20° above the horizon as twi-
Neptune
shines brighter at magnitude 10° light breaks. Try observing during
1.2. Mars crosses into Cancer by the first few of days of May to catch
May 17 and drifts closer to any early shower members after the
the famous Beehive Cluster Moon sets (4:30 A.M. on May 2).
(M44). A crescent Moon ETA AQUARIID METEORS The Eta Aquariids are one of two
May 6, 1 hour before sunrise
arrives 3° north of M44 on Active dates: April 19–May 28 Looking east showers associated with Halley’s
Peak: May 6 Comet, whose dusty debris left over
May 24, with Mars stand- The Eta Aquariids’ radiant is highest just
Moon at peak: Full
ing 5° west of the cluster. before dawn. Try to catch it earlier than the from hundreds of orbits also results
Maximum rate at peak:
— Continued on page 34 50 meteors/hour peak date of May 6 to avoid the Full Moon. in the October Orionids.
N
STAR DOME `
P E IA
CASSIO
b
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RT
A f
HOW TO USE THIS MAP c
IS
This map portrays the sky as seen AL _
N
D
+ CEP PA R
E
HEU
near 35° north latitude. Located S ME
LO
a CA
inside the border are the cardinal _
directions and their intermediate `
points. To find stars, hold the map d
De
overhead and orient it so one of
ne
Polaris _
b
¡
the labels matches the direction
a
NCP
you’re facing. The stars above
b
CY
the map’s horizon now match MINOR
GN
what’s in the sky.
b
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M82
US
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The all-sky map shows RA
M2
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7
how the sky looks at: a

a
midnight May 1
i
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a
Ve
a
11 P.M. May 15
ga
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10 P.M. May 31
M57
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RS JOR
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Mizar
Planets are shown b
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A
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UL
at midmonth a
M
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AQUIL A
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MAP SYMBOLS
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b
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C O R O NA
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Open cluster E S
C
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Globular cluster C RE
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Diffuse nebula
NG
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Planetary nebula d
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Galaxy
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MAGNITUDES c
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SE
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Sirius
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0.0 3.0
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1.0 4.0 a LI _ Spica S

BR VU
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2.0 5.0 ` CO
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Path of the Sun (ecliptic)
An
ta
b
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re a ¡
s `
STAR COLORS m
_ M
/ m _
4
o
A star’s color depends /

on its surface temperature. SC
O M83
RP
•• The hottest stars shine blue IU
SE
S
Slightly cooler stars appear white LU
e
f
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
PU
S
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange

d a b
g d i
NGC 5128
• The coolest stars glow red ` + C E N TA
U RU S
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color

receptors, so they appear white unless you
¡
_ c
use optical aid to gather more light
S
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
MAY 2023
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
lla
pe
Ca
` _
1 2 3 4 5 6
W
A
` N
IG
e
R 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
U
A
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

14 15 16 17 18 19 20
us n
X
Ve
N
k LY
¡
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
r
sto
NI
Ca
MI
_
28 29 30 31
c
GE
f
llu x
b
Po
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
e
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.

g
h
Mars
h
CANIS MINOR
_
M44
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
` +
`
CANCE
LEO R
1 Mercury is in inferior conjunction, 7 P.M. EDT

O
Procyon
MIN
2 Pluto is stationary, 7 P.M. EDT

¡
_
`
W
c
5 Full Moon occurs at 1:34 P.M. EDT; penumbral lunar eclipse

_ Regulus
6
d
Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks

¡
a
LEO
b
9 Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun, 4 P.M. EDT

e
10 Mars passes 5° south of Pollux, 4 P.M. EDT

6
65
M6
11 The Moon is at perigee (229,449 miles from Earth), 1:05 A.M. EDT
M
12 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 10:28 A.M. EDT

_ S
13 Dwarf planet Ceres is stationary, 7 A.M. EDT

AN
_
XT
The Moon passes 3° south of Saturn, 9 A.M. EDT

SE
14 Mercury is stationary, 3 A.M. EDT

ER
T The Moon passes 2° south of Neptune, 9 P.M. EDT
A
b CR
i
17 The Moon passes 0.8° north of Jupiter, 9 A.M. EDT

R
A The Moon passes 4° north of Mercury, 10 P.M. EDT
D
Y
H 19 New Moon occurs at 11:53 A.M. EDT
23 The Moon passes 2° north of Venus, 8 A.M. EDT
_ IA 24 The Moon passes 4° north of Mars, 2 P.M. EDT
TL
j N
A 25 The Moon is at apogee (251,350 miles from Earth), 9:39 P.M. EDT
SW
27 First Quarter Moon occurs at 11:22 A.M. EDT

29 Mercury is at greatest western elongation (25°), 2 A.M. EDT
30 Venus passes 4° south of Pollux, noon EDT
Mars is at aphelion (155 million miles from the Sun), 5 P.M. EDT
PATHS OF THE PLANETS
AND
LAC
LYR HER CVn
PER CYG
BOÖ
TRI
CrB
ARI PSC
COM
Sun PEG VUL
Uranus SGE
Jupiter EQU
SER
TAU PSC
Mercury AQL SER
Celestial equator OPH
Neptune
VIR
E RI AQR
C ET
Saturn
LIB CRV
SCT
Pluto Parthenope
Eunomia Iris
FOR SCL CAP
PsA
SGR
MIC CrA
GRU LUP
SCO
Moon phases Dawn Midnight
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day
straight up to the curved blue line.
31 30
Uranus
THE PLANETS Solar conjunction
is May 9
THE PLANETS IN THE SKY
IN THEIR ORBITS These illustrations show the size, phase,
Arrows show the inner Jupiter and orientation of each planet and the two
planets’ monthly motions brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT for the dates
Neptune
and dots depict the in the data table at bottom. South is at the top
Saturn
outer planets’ positions to match the view through a telescope.
at midmonth from high
above their orbits.
Venus
Mercury Mars
Pluto
Jupiter
Mars
Aphelion
is May 30
PLANETS MERCURY VENUS
Venus Date May 31 May 15
Ceres Magnitude 0.4 –4.2

Earth Angular size 7.9” 19.1”
Mercury Illumination 42% 60%

Greatest western elongation
Distance (AU) from Earth 0.850 0.874
is May 28/29
Distance (AU) from Sun 0.431 0.720
Right ascension (2000.0) 2h52.0m 6h34.3m
Declination (2000.0) 12°52’ 25°58’

JULY
This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left). Arrows
and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month. MAY 2023
1 Io
UMa
Callisto
2 Europa
LYN
PER
LMi AUR 3
GEM Europa
oon Venus 4
o f the M Mars Sun
ath Io
P ptic)
LEO
u n (ecli 5 Callisto
S ORI
the
Ceres ath of TAU
P
6 Jupiter Ganymede
Palla CMi Ganymede
s
SEX 7
MON
CRT CMa
JUPITER’S 8
MOONS
LEP Dots display 9
HYA
ERI positions of
F OR
ANT PYX Galilean satellites 10
C OL at 6 A .M. EDT on
PUP CAE
the date shown.
11
Early evening South is at the
top to match the
12
view through a
2 1 telescope.
13
14
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19
15
16
S
Jupiter
W E 17
Saturn
N 18
19
10"
20
21
Ceres Uranus Neptune Pluto

22
23
24
MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO 25

May 15 May 15 May 15 May 15 May 15 May 15 May 15
1.5 7.9 –2.1 0.8 5.9 7.8 15.2 26
5.0” 0.7” 33.7” 16.7” 3.4” 2.2” 0.1” 27

92% 97% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
28
1.861 1.944 5.858 9.967 20.657 30.450 34.350
1.665 2.593 4.955 9.801 19.650 29.909 34.767 29
7h55.3m 11h58.0m 1h50.5m 22h33.2m 3h06.2m 23h50.1m 20h11.0m

30
22°27’ 14°26’ 10°13’ –10°41’ 17°09’ –2°22’ –22°38’
31
WHEN TO
SKY THIS MONTH — Continued from page 29 VIEW THE
PLANETS
In short order normally quiescent saturnian
atmosphere. EVENING SKY
S Saturn’s brightest moon, Venus (west)
Titan, shines at magnitude 8.7. Mars (west)
Io’s shadow
It stands due north of the planet
Io MIDNIGHT
W Jupiter
on May 4 and 20, and due south Mars (west)
on May 12 and 28. Other moons
Ganymede are fainter and closer in, while MORNING SKY
Iapetus, farther out, reaches Mercury (east)
May 26, 5:20 A.M. CDT 30"
its faint eastern elongation on Jupiter (east)
Saturn (southeast)
May 14. We will revisit these
Shortly before sunrise in the Midwest on May 26, Io and its shadow are Uranus (east)
crossing the face of Jupiter. Io’s shadow will slip off the disk moments before moons in the coming months Neptune (east)
Ganymede disappears in an occultation. Europa is behind Jupiter and not as Saturn’s visibility improves.
visible at this time; Callisto lies far east of the planet. Lying at the remote edge of
our solar system, the distant
Mars ends the month only show, spanning 17". It’s a planet Neptune can be spotted rises nearly an hour after
1° shy of M44: a beautiful pair- good time to look out for with binoculars. It shines at Saturn and remains low in the
ing setting up the first couple any storms brewing in the magnitude 7.8. The ice giant east an hour before dawn on
of days of June, when Mars May 1, a difficult object to spot.
26°
crosses the cluster. Note that Venus reaches its maximum declination Neptune’s visibility improves
Venus stands only 11° away, a by May 31, when it stands about
few degrees south of Pollux. north (26°) and its highest point above 20° high in the eastern sky at
Through a telescope, Mars the ecliptic this month. the onset of twilight. The dim
presents a tiny disk spanning
5", making it a challenge to
see any surface detail except
under perfect conditions. COMET SEARCH I Practice, patience, and power
The Red Planet, now passing
2 astronomical units from WITH A PAUSE in bright com- Comet 237P/LINEAR
Earth, sets soon after mid- ets, take advantage of milder
night. (One astronomical unit, spring nights to leave the rush
N g
or AU, is the average Earth- behind and push your skills in
Sun distance.) detecting faint structure over a
range of magnifications. 30
Saturn rises about 3:30 A.M. AQU IL A
Under a dark sky in the sec-
local time on May 1 and is up 25
ond half of the month, begin at Path of Comet LINEAR
by 1:30 A.M. on May 31. Its alti-
low power on the Lagoon Nebula
tude improves greatly in the E 20 NGC 6814
(NGC 6523) after midnight. Shift
hour before dawn throughout CAPRIC ORNUS
1.5° east-northeast to NGC 6559.
the month. It lies in mid- Imagine the 10th-magnitude star May 15
Aquarius and is by far the _1
at its center is the core of a i NGC 6835
brightest object (magnitude 0.8 Algedi j NGC 6836
comet, then push it to the side.
most of the month) in the S AGI T TAR I US
Slowly swoop the scope around,
vicinity. Fomalhaut in Piscis NGC 6818
keeping the star just outside the
Austrinus is the closest 1st- edge of the field. The uneven `
NGC 6822 1°
magnitude star. It lies about nebula should be rewarding
20° to Saturn’s south and rises because one side is long and Try to spot Comet 237P/LINEAR in the second half of the month — though
about 90 minutes later. narrow like a comet tail. note that unless it experiences an outburst, you’ll need a large scope to do
The hour before dawn is a Next, jump to northeastern the job. Fortunately, there are plenty of other targets nearby.
fine time to view the ringed Sagittarius and NGC 6822. Half
planet, when Saturn stands at the apparent diameter of the Moon, the dwarf elliptical galaxy can be seen in a 4-inch scope. Not even a
more than 20° elevation in the degree north lies a magnitude 9.4 version of Uranus: planetary nebula NGC 6818, also called the Little
southeastern sky. The rings are Gem. Crank up the power to extract shape and brightness differences from a starting estimate of round.
tilted by 8° to our line of sight, From there, some 5° north-northeast lands us at Comet 237P/LINEAR. If it is in outburst, an 8-inch
presenting a beautiful view. scope will do it, but more likely you’ll need a 12-inch mirror to see the 13th-magnitude fuzz. Use 150x or
Both northern and southern more to darken the sky background and make the small cloud of dust appear big enough for your brain
hemispheres of the disk are on to recognize it. To the south, the pair of magnitude 12.5 and 12.9 galaxies serve as a comparison. LINEAR
never crosses Mars’ orbit, but every 6.6 years loops out to Jupiter’s domain.
LOCATING ASTEROIDS I
Easy pickings
PERFECT FOR A SMALL SCOPE in the suburbs, magnitude 7.7
1 Ceres rides with Leo high in the south as darkness sets in. It’s
Meet me at the Beehive
only half a binocular field east (left) of the bright star Denobola.
Regulus (That name’s Arabic roots mean “tail of the lion.” Deneb of the
LEO
Summer Triangle is the tail of Cygnus the Swan, but over time its
full name was shortened to its current moniker.)
There are so few background stars here that our target will
M44 often be the brightest dot in the field of view. However, you won’t
Moon
Mars Castor see it shift during an observing session. The main-belt asteroid is
CANCER
Pollux just coming out of the western end of its retrograde loop as Earth
runs ahead on our inner orbit, making Ceres appear to move
HY DR A Venus AU RIGA
GE MI N I slowly. But plotting it against four other stars in a logbook every
third night will show the shift.
Procyon
Don’t bother when Moon is nearby — May 1 and the 27th
C AN I S onward — because the scattered light will make a sighting difficult.
M INOR 10°
A spherical 600 miles across, Ceres was the first asteroid discovered
and was later offered a spot in the dwarf planet club.
May 24, 90 minutes after sunset

Turning tail
Looking west
N
The Moon and Mars congregate near the Beehive Cluster (M44) in late May.
As our satellite moves away, Mars inches closer to the young group of stars.
C OM A May 1
BERENICES 5
10 Denebola
bluish object lies within 1° of Coast), the limb of the Moon
20 Piscium, a 5th-magnitude approaches Jupiter, hiding the 15
M99 Path of Ceres
field star, forming a triangle giant planet around 7:11 A.M. 20
together with 24 Piscium. The EDT in Miami, 7:21 A.M. EDT E
25 LE O
three lie some 5° southeast of in Atlanta, 7:45 A.M. EDT in
4th-magnitude Lambda (λ) Boston, 6:29 A.M. CDT in 30
Piscium. From night to night, Kansas City, 6:36 A.M. CDT in
Neptune wanders east, farther Chicago, and 6:32 A.M. CDT in V I RG O
from 20 Piscium. Denver. It takes almost a minute
Jupiter sits about 10° above for the Moon to completely 1°
the eastern horizon one hour cover the planet.
before sunrise at the end of The first mutual Galilean Ceres skims just east of Denebola this month, moving through a region
relatively devoid of background stars.
May. The giant planet reappears satellite event that you can
in the morning sky among the easily observe occurs May 26,
stars of Aries the Ram, shining when Io and its shadow are
at an easy-to-spot magnitude of crossing Jupiter’s disk as the beyond reach for the first evening of May 5 for observers
–2.1. May is a good time to get planet rises. As twilight grows three weeks of the month. On in Africa, Asia, Australia, and
acquainted with Jupiter again across the Midwest, Io’s shadow May 23, it reaches magnitude 1 New Zealand. For most of the
after a couple of months of leaves the disk at 5:24 A.M. CDT. and is located 7° due east of eclipse not much is evident,
limited viewing. Check on its Ganymede soon disappears brighter Jupiter, which acts as a but during greatest eclipse
atmospheric activity to see if behind the same limb of Jupiter nice guide to finding the inner- (17:24 UTC), when more than
any new features have arisen at 5:27 A.M. CDT. most planet. Mercury is 4° high 90 percent of the Moon is
after solar conjunction. Uranus is too close to the 30 minutes before sunrise. Six inside the penumbra, the
Don’t miss the lunar occulta- Sun for observation during days later, it reaches its greatest northern limb will appear
tion of Jupiter the morning of much of the month. Catch it in elongation west of the Sun (25°) noticeable dusky. The eclipse
May 17. The exact timing of the the half hour before sunrise in at magnitude 0.5. Its location is not visible from the U.S.
event varies based on your loca- late May. south of the ecliptic keeps
tion. Watch the pair rise around Mercury reaches inferior Mercury hugging the eastern Martin Ratcliffe is a
4:30 A.M. local time and, as twi- conjunction May 1 and moves horizon while Jupiter pulls planetarium professional with
light brightens in the Midwest into the morning sky shortly away, higher in the sky. At the Evans & Sutherland and enjoys
(it’s already daylight on the East after, but remains faint and end of May, the two planets are observing from Salt Lake City.
separated by a dozen degrees. Alister Ling, who lives in
GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT A deep penumbral eclipse Edmonton, Alberta, is a longtime
www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek. of the Moon occurs on the watcher of the skies.
Faint but not forgotten: See 20
lesser-known deep-sky objects this
month. BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH
Draco Trio
This stunning
MANY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS start observing collection of
faint galaxies
with the Messier catalog, a list of “fuzzy” deep-sky targets that lies in the
constellation
present wonderful sights through a telescope. Although Messier Draco the
Dragon.
objects may be bright and well known, there’s so much more in DAN CROWSON
the sky to enjoy. The following list of beautiful globular clusters,

galaxies, and other celestial entities of the spring sky is for the Peer into space
dedicated amateur astronomer who’s ready to take the next step Once your telescope reaches ambient
in deep-sky observing. temperature, point it at globular cluster
NGC 5634 in Virgo. Of the 200 deep-
These targets aren’t too faint, but they some lesser-seen wonders. If you observe sky objects in this constellation that are
are certainly not standouts like M13 or each one in the order listed below, the brighter than 13th magnitude, this is
M8, and may not rise very high or at all latter items lie farther east (and rise the only one that’s not a galaxy. It glows
in northern latitudes. So, move away later), so you’ll have more time to at magnitude 9.5 and spans 5.5'. To find
from the crowd and treat yourself to enjoy them. it, look midway between Syrma (Iota [ι]

NGC 5907
NGC 5907, also
known as the
Splinter Galaxy,
tilts 3.5° from
Virginis) and Mu (μ) Virginis. Through Our third target is globular cluster several superimposed our line of sight
and has a long,
a 4-inch scope, you’ll spot a relatively NGC 5694 in Hydra. At magnitude 9.2, foreground stars will narrow center.
bright (8th magnitude) orange star that is this is a bright globular. It lies nearly 2° appear. ADAM BLOCK
not part of the cluster, and a hazy circle west-southwest of the 5th-magnitude star Slide back into
of stars that require a larger scope to 56 Hydrae at the far eastern end of that Lupus for open cluster
resolve them into individual points. constellation. The cluster spans only 3.6' NGC 5749. It glows at magnitude 8.8
The second stop on our list lies in and it contains faint stars that don’t and spans 7'. Center on Zeta (ζ) Lupi and
Lupus the Wolf. Barred spiral galaxy resolve well. If you crank up the power, then move your scope 4.2° southwest. A
NGC 5643 is 2.1° south-southwest of small telescope will reveal about a dozen
Eta (η) Centauri. A 6-inch scope reveals stars, the brightest of which shines at
a magnitude 10.4 disk that is fairly round magnitude 9.6. If you move up to an
(5.1' by 4.3') and evenly illuminated. If 11-inch scope, you’ll just perceive a new
you have access to a larger (say, an layer of indistinct background stars.
11-inch) scope, crank the power to Our next target, also in Lupus,
300x and see if the northern half rivals Messier objects in brightness.
of the galaxy looks brighter than Open cluster NGC 5822 glows at
the southern half. Then magnitude 6.5, which puts it in the
look for the bar, which range of naked-eye sightings by
NGC 5643
runs east-west. It’s not The barred sharp-eyed observers from a dark
easy to see because the spiral galaxy site. It also sports a diameter of 35',
NGC 5643 was
spiral arms are just home to
slightly larger than the Full Moon.
as bright. Supernova To locate it, point binoculars or a
2017cbv
(red arrow).
RICH HAMMAR WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 37
eyepiece and sweep back to point an 11-inch scope toward the area
and forth, searching for a and move back and forth. Use a medium-
Moon-sized glow that’s power eyepiece to see the gradual light-
ever-so-slightly brighter ening of the backdrop of space.
than the background sky. Our next object is planetary nebula
As you leave the dwarf NGC 5882 in Lupus; at magnitude 9.4,
elliptical, head south for it’s bright enough to appear blue-green to
the true elliptical galaxy: most observers. The most visible section
NGC 5846 in Virgo. is only 7" across, but an 11-inch scope at
You’ll find it 1° east- high power (250x and above) will reveal
NGC 5846 southeast of the magnitude its circular shell. To locate it, look 1.4°
Elliptical NGC
5846 (right) is 4.4 star 110 Virginis. It has a southwest of Epsilon (ε) Lupi.
often viewed slight oval shape, a small bright When you’re done with NGC 5882,
together with its core, and a wide halo. Through head north to neighboring Libra for that
close celestial
neighbor, the an 8-inch or larger scope at a constellation’s standout deep-sky object,
telescope 2.6° fainter spiral dark site, this becomes a 2-for-1 globular cluster NGC 5897, often
galaxy
south-southwest of NGC 5850. treat. NGC 5846 glows at magni- referred to as the Ghost Globular because
Zeta Lupi. Use a 4-inch scope ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT tude 10.1 and measures 4' by 3.7'. it resembles a ghostly image of the much
LEMMON SKYCENTER/
and an eyepiece that gives UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/
But glance just 10' to the east- brighter globular M5. That may be true,
medium power, and you’ll WIKIMEDIA COMMONS southeast and you’ll see spiral but with a diameter of 12.6' and a magni-
see roughly 50 stars. galaxy NGC 5850, glowing a tude of 8.6, this object is big (40 percent
Another nice object in bit fainter at magnitude 10.8. the diameter of the Full Moon) and rela-
Lupus is globular cluster NGC 5824. Next up is a personal favorite of mine, tively bright all on its own. You’ll find it
It glows at magnitude 9.1 and measures spiral galaxy NGC 5907 in Draco. It lies 8° southeast of Zubenelgenubi (Alpha2
7.4' across. You’ll find it 5° northwest of 3° south-southwest of Iota Draconis and [α2] Librae). The first thing most observ-
Phi1 (ϕ1) Lupi. Insert an eyepiece that glows at magnitude 10.3. But it’s not its ers notice is that the stars at the cluster’s
gives a magnification around 150x into an brightness that makes NGC 5907 cool. core are loosely concentrated. An 8-inch
8-inch scope. Look for a packed central Rather, it’s because this is a true edge-on scope at a dark site reveals only a dozen
region, an irregular edge, and a couple of spiral whose plane tilts a scant 3.5° from or so suns superimposed on a faint glow.
faint stars in the dim halo. our line of sight. It measures 11.5' by 1.7', Next, head to Serpens for barred spiral
For our next target, but through a 4-inch scope you’ll NGC 5921. It lies 5.7° west-southwest of
the Ursa Minor only detect half that length. Unukalhai (Alpha Serpentis). The galaxy
Dwarf Galaxy Bigger apertures won’t glows at magnitude 10.8 and measures
(UGC 9749), show more detail, but 4.9' by 4.2'. If you can view it through an
they will allow you 11-inch scope at a dark site, keep crank-
to see more of the ing up the power until the bar appears.
NGC 6124 galaxy’s length. At first, you might think the magnitude
The open cluster
NGC 6124 is in
As you move 11.6 star at NGC 5921’s southwestern
the constellation through this list, edge is a supernova. Sorry — it’s just a
Scorpius the you’ll undoubtedly foreground star.
Scorpion. It
contains some run across a few If your observing site is far enough
125 visible stars. objects that will be south, move east of Lupus to the faint
ROBERTO MURA/
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS moderately hard to constellation Norma and take a look at
see. I rank globular open cluster NGC 5925. It lies 3.3°
cluster Palomar 5 as
head to the far the most difficult. It lies
north. This dwarf in Serpens some 9° west-
elliptical galaxy lies northwest of Mu Serpentis.
4.7° south-southwest of Pal 5’s magni-
magnitude 3.0 Pherkad (Gamma [γ] tude, 11.8, is only
Ursae Minoris). It glows at magnitude part of what makes NGC 5634
NGC 5634 is a
10.9 but measures a staggering 41' by 26', it a tough catch. bright globular
which means it covers an area 40 percent With a diameter of cluster with a
magnitude 8
larger than the Full Moon. Because the 7', it’s large enough orange star,
UMi Dwarf has a low surface brightness, that its surface SAO 139967,
the bigger the telescope you point at brightness is quite to the
east-southeast.
it, the better. Start at a dark site on a low. The best strat- YU-HANG KUO/FLICKR
moonless night. Use your lowest-power egy for finding it is

Another factor making the view
NGC 5921 interesting is that NGC 6124 sits in front
A large target in
the constellation of a region of dark nebulae. This position
Serpens, makes it stand out well.
NGC 5921 is
some 75 million Although our next target, globular
light-years cluster NGC 6144 in Scorpius, glows
from Earth.
ADAM BLOCK
somewhat softly at magnitude 9.0, it’s
still pretty easy to find. Just center
Antares (Alpha Scorpii) and move your
scope 0.6° to the northwest. The cluster
southeast of Zeta has a fair diameter — 9.3' — but it’s a
Lupi, glows at magni- distant object, so stars near its core are
tude 8.4, and measures not easy to resolve. Use at least an 8-inch
14' across. A 6-inch scope cluster scope at 200x, and the outer members
reveals about three dozen 10th- looks irregu- should start to pop into view.
to 12th-magnitude stars. Step up to lar and mottled. The final object on our list is an aster-
an 11-inch scope, and you’ll see 50 more. Move up to an 11-inch scope, ism: the Mini Coathanger in Ursa
Good old Zeta Lupi also can lead us and you’ll resolve several dozen stars. Minor. Astronomy magazine Contributing
to our next target, globular cluster Travel across the border from Lupus Editor Phil Harrington named this aster-
NGC 5927. For this one, move 2.9° to Scorpius to find the nice open cluster ism because he thought it looked like
northeast of the star. This nice object NGC 6124, also known as Caldwell 75. the Coathanger (Collinder 399), which is
glows at magnitude 8.0 and sports a It lies not quite 6° southwest of Mu in Vulpecula. The Mini Coathanger lies
diameter of 12'. An 8-inch or larger Scorpii. Sharp-eyed observers can pick 1.9° south-southwest of Epsilon Ursae
scope will reveal a dense core with a out this magnitude 5.8 object with their Minoris. It’s formed by 10 stars ranging
in brightness from magnitude 9.2 to
10.8. This isn’t a tiny object. The Mini
NGC 5907 IS A TRUE EDGE-ON SPIRAL Coathanger measures 9' from the top
of its hook to its base, which itself spans
WHOSE PLANE TILTS A SCANT 3.5°. 17', more than half the diameter of the
Full Moon.
ragged outer edge. Larger instruments naked eyes. It’s big, too. With a diameter I hope these 20 under-observed celes-
will resolve more stars, but the core will of 29', it’s nearly the size of the Full tial wonders give you as much pleasure
look just as dense. Moon. A 4-inch scope at medium power at the telescope as
Our next target is actually a three- will let you count 50 stars. Insert a low- they have for me.
some of galaxies, sometimes called power eyepiece, however, and you’ll see Ursa Minor
the Draco Trio. To locate it, aim your that the cluster has a wedge Dwarf
The Ursa Minor
telescope 1.8° east-northeast of Iota shape that points Dwarf lies in the
Draconis. The galaxies lie in an east- roughly to the southernmost
part of the
west line only 14' long. None of the southeast. northernmost
objects are bright, so head to a dark site constellation.
URSA MINOR DWARF
and be patient. Spiral NGC 5985 regis- COMPOSITE PUBLIC DATA/
ters at a magnitude of 14.2, while the GIUSEPPE DONATIELLO/
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
elliptical NGC 5982 is magnitude 12.4,
and finally, spiral NGC 5981 comes in at
a magnitude of 13.6. Through an 11-inch
scope, the only one to show detail will be
NGC 5982, which measures 5.3' by 2.9'.
Crank up the power and try to detect
its smooth, disklike shape.
Next, head south one final time to
Zeta Lupi, then move 2.8° west to find
globular cluster NGC 5986. It glows at
magnitude 7.5 and has a diameter of 9.8'.
Through a medium-size scope, this
Michael E. Bakich is a contributing editor

of Astronomy who often observes faint
objects from his home in Tucson.
Although your backyard
telescope can never
reveal a view of Stephan’s
Quintet quite like this
mid-infrared shot taken
by the James Webb
Space Telescope, the
interacting set of galaxies
is well worth tracking
down. NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI
Take in a menagerie of galactic sights in a single view.
BY ALAN GOLDSTEIN
AS A LONG-TIME
OBSERVER OF GALAXIES,
I have a saying: “Why look
at just one galaxy when
you can look at multiple
galaxies at the same time?”
By observing groups and
clusters, you not only 1 2
get treated to the glow of
potentially many trillions of
stars all at once, but you can cluster, meanwhile, contains a
larger number, typically hun-
same low-power telescopic field,
yet far enough from one another
1 LEO TRIPLET
The Leo Triplet
bursts into focus in
also survey the stunning dreds, of “regular” galaxies, each that they are minimally interact- this shot taken
diversity of galaxies without with roughly between 100 billion ing. M65 is magnitude 9.6, M66 is through a 5-inch
Astro-Physics
bouncing your scope and a trillion stars. Superclusters, 8.9, and NGC 3628 is a deceptive refractor at f/6 (no
flattener) using a
around the entire sky. in turn, are gravitationally bound 9.5. At 15' by 3.6', NGC 3628 is
Canon 7D camera.
collections of up to hundreds of the largest galaxy of the triplet. NGC 3628 is at top,
There is a hierarchy for galax- thousands of individual galaxies. Inclined edge-on and dimmed M66 is at bottom,
and M65 is at
ies and their groupings, and it The closer a galaxy group is to by a thick lane of light-absorbing bottom right. ALAN DYER
starts with singles. But true iso- us, the more widely its members dust, it’s much harder to spot,
lated galaxies are surprisingly
rare. Many galaxies — like our
appear scattered in the sky. For
instance, at 13 million light-years
despite its brighter magnitude.
M65 (8.7' by 2.2') and M66 (8.2'
2 M95, M96,
AND M105
This image, taken
Milky Way — have a few neigh- distant, the Sculptor Group — by 3.9') are classified as SAB April 15, 2021, shows
M95 (bottom right)
bors. Collectively, these are called home to the Silver Dollar Galaxy galaxies, which are intermediate and M96 (bottom
groups, and they are the smallest (NGC 253) — is sprinkled across galaxies that fall between normal center), both barred
spirals. Of the three
associations of gravitationally three constellations, too dispersed and barred spirals. galaxies at top left,
bound galaxies. Groups of galax- to take in all at once. But simi-
2
elliptical M105 sits
ies may be part of larger clusters, larly spread-out groups located M95, M96, and M105 farthest right. Moving
counterclockwise
and aggregates of those are called farther away will fit in a wide- might be called Leo’s sec- from M105, also
superclusters. field telescope and are easier to ond triplet, except there are visible are NGC 3384
and NGC 3389.
How do we distinguish a explore at higher magnifications. additional members in the area. ALAN DYER
group from a cluster? A typical The 10 galactic gatherings M105 has two apparent neigh-
group consists of three to five highlighted below include three bors: NGC 3384 and NGC 3389,
larger galaxies with a smattering or more bright galaxies in the located 33 million to 36 million
of dwarf galaxies in tow. Our same field of view. Some are light-years from us. M96 is an
Local Group, for instance, con- groups comparable to the Local intermediate spiral that is 6.9' by
sists of three major galaxies (the Group, while others are dense 4.6' across and, at magnitude 9.2,
Andromeda Galaxy [M31], the regions within larger clusters. is the brightest of the three.
Milky Way, and the Triangulum Nearby is M95, a magnitude 9.7
Galaxy [M33]) along with a rela- Choice galactic barred spiral that is 7.8' by 4.8'
tively large dwarf (the Large groupings across. M105 is a large E1 ellipti-
Magellanic Cloud) and several cal galaxy some 2' across, glow-
dozen small to tiny galaxies. Each
large member of the Local Group
contains significantly more mass
1 The Leo Triplet — M65,
M66, and NGC 3628 — are
all spiral galaxies located about
ing at magnitude 9.8; it consists
of older stars with a dearth of
dust. Neighboring NGC 3384 is
and stars than are found in all the 35 million light-years away. They a barred lenticular galaxy (SB0)
dwarf systems combined. A are close enough to be seen in the with characteristics of both
elliptical (old stars, little dust and
gas) and spiral (disk-shaped) gal-
axies. At magnitude 9.9 and 5.5'
by 2.9' in size, NGC 3384 is easy
3 MARKARIAN’S
CHAIN
Markarian’s Chain
to see flanking M105. Another
neighbor is NGC 3389, a back-
resides in the heart of ground Sc spiral (magnitude 12.4;
the Coma-Virgo galaxy
cluster. In this image, 2.9' by 1.1') with a compact central
which reveals galaxies hub and a diffuse disk.
down to about 15th
3
magnitude, the bright
galaxies M84 (farthest Markarian’s Chain
right) and M86 sit forms the core of the
right of center, while
Virgo Cluster. Members
M87 is visible at lower
left. ALAN DYER include M84, M86, NGC 4435, 3
4 PISCES GALAXY
NGC 4438, NGC 4458, NGC
CLOUD 4461, NGC 4473, and NGC 4477.
The Pisces Cloud (also This alignment of galaxies is edge-on galaxies NGC 4388, magnitude from 9.7 (NGC 1407)
known as Arp 331), a
tiny chain of elliptical beyond the usual reach of wide- which forms the point of a tri- to 13.2 (NGC 1391 and IC 343),
galaxies, is actually field telescopes, as its members angle with M84 and M86, and making this group easy to unlock
part of the Perseus-
Pisces Supercluster. stretch across about 3°. However, NGC 4402, located north of M86. with an 8-inch telescope under
TOM WILDONER/CC BY-SA 4.0 it is possible to see several galax- NGC 4458 and NGC 4461 form good skies. Four of the galaxies
6 DRACO TRIO
ies with low power. By scanning, another link in the chain. form a diamond, while the three
you can sweep the entire chain. outliers create a chain to the
4
The Draco Trio
sports three galaxies NGC 4435 and NGC 4438 are an The Pisces galaxy cloud north — an obscure but fascinat-
with different
morphologies all interacting pair known as Arp (Arp 331) is a great object ing winter target.
packed within an area 120, also called The Eyes. The for telescopes 10 inches and up.
6
half the size of the Full
Moon. NGC 5985 fainter NGC 4435 is a barred It is an apparent north-south The Draco Trio consists
(right) is a face-on lenticular galaxy while NGC alignment of eight galaxies: of NGC 5981, NGC 5982,
spiral. NGC 5982 4438 is a larger spiral, heavily dis- NGC 379 (magnitude 12.9), and NGC 5985, located some
(middle) is an elliptical
galaxy. NGC 5981 (left) torted with clumpy dust clouds. NGC 380 (12.5), NGC 382 (13.2), 130 million light-years away.
is an edge-on spiral. The apparent distortion is due NGC 383 (12.4), NGC 384 (13.1), With two spirals and an ellipti-
These galaxies lie
between 100 million to a somewhat edge-on ring of NGC 385 (13.0), NGC 386 (14.3), cal galaxy oriented at different
and 140 million light- blue stars. Not part of the chain and NGC 387 (15). Its faintest angles, this trinity has variety.
years from Earth.
BOB FERA
but still worth exploring are the member, NGC 387, requires a The group’s brightest two mem-
16-inch scope. In the same field bers are magnitude 11.1, making
but not in the chain are NGC 373 them visible through modest
4 (magnitude 13.1), NGC 375 (13.1), scopes. NGC 5982 is a class E3
and NGC 388 (14.3). With so elliptical with a slight oval shape
NGC 373 NGC 384
many galaxies crammed into a and sports a condensed nucleus.
NGC 388 relatively small field, this chain NGC 5985, meanwhile, with its
is the most dazzling part of the compact central bar and ring-
NGC 385 Perseus-Pisces Supercluster. like spiral arms, resembles M109
NGC 375
(NGC 3992) in images. On the
NGC 386
5 The Eridanus A Group,
part of the giant Eridanus
Cluster, lies between some
opposite side of NGC 5982 lies
the edge-on spiral NGC 5981. At
13th magnitude, it can be picked
NGC 387 75 million and 180 million light- up easily in an 8-inch telescope.
years distant. Centered around
NGC 382
NGC 383
a declination of about –18°30'30",
it’s an easy target for mid-latitude
observers. The core consists
7 Abell 2199 in Hercules
is dominated by the can-
nibalistic galaxy NGC 6166. This
of seven early-type galaxies. galaxy has several nuclei, which
NGC 1407 and NGC 1400 are are the leftover cores of galax-
class E0 ellipticals. NGC 1402, ies that it gobbled up in the past.
NGC 1391, and IC 343 are class Classified as a type cD2 peculiar,
NGC 380 SB0 barred lenticulars. NGC 1393 such mega-galaxies are only
and NGC 1394 are regular class S0 found in galaxy clusters and may
lenticulars. The galaxies range in contain a trillion or more stars.
NGC 379

6 7 9 10
(For comparison, the Milky Way

contains roughly 200 billion
stars.) NGC 6166 lies some
of two ellipticals and a warped
spiral galaxy that is nearly len-
ticular. NGC 7172 is a lenticular,
10 NGC 7769, NGC 7770,
and NGC 7771 form
another interesting group in
7 ABELL 2199
NGC 6166 (right)
features multiple
nuclei — the remains
of other galaxies in
450 million light-years away, so type 2 Seyfert galaxy with an Pegasus that is located some the cluster that it has
it appears just 2.1' by 1.7' in size. active nucleus surrounded by 200 million light-years away. This merged with over
time. ADAM BLOCK/NOAO/
In spite of its vast distance, this dust clouds. target flies under many observers’ AURA/NSF
magnitude 11.8 target is bright radar, often overshadowed by
enough see in modest telescopes.
With larger apertures, try to find
any of the five nuclei within,
9 NGC 7331, Pegasus’ bright-
est galaxy, lies in the fore-
ground of a larger gathering of
the galaxy groups mentioned in
the previous entry. Nonetheless,
it’s a cool collection of galaxies
9 NGC 7331
NGC 7331 looms in
the foreground of this
scene; the four other
galaxies are many
designated NGC 6166 A through galaxies. Unlike the previous to explore. NGC 7769 is a 12th- times more distant.
E. With a 12-inch or larger selection, none of these galaxies magnitude Sb face-on spiral (1.6' SERGEY TRUDOLYUBOV
10
scope, neighboring galaxies may are close to each other in space. across) with a dazzling nucleus. NGC 7769,
become visible, depending on NGC 7331, an Sb spiral galaxy, NGC 7771 is a magnitude 12.2 NGC 7770,
atmospheric transparency. In 16- is magnitude 9.5 — brighter SBb barred spiral that is highly AND NGC 7771
Spiral galaxy NGC
to 25-inch scopes, the number than many Messier objects. At inclined and just 2.3' by 1.1' 7769 (lower left)
of galaxies in the field increases 50 million light-years distant, its across. It is interacting with presents itself face-on,
while barred spiral
dramatically. If you are seek- dimensions are a generous 10.5' NGC 7770, a compact, distorted NGC 7771 (upper right)
ing a similar galaxy, track down by 3.5'. The background objects spiral galaxy that deep photo- is highly inclined. Just
above the latter is the
NGC 2832 in Lynx. It forms the NGC 7335, NGC 7336, NGC graphs reveal is comma-shaped compact companion
core of Abell 779, another major 7337, and NGC 7340 are fainter with an offset nucleus. At mag- galaxy NGC 7770.
galaxy cluster. (ranging from magnitude 13 to nitude 13.8, a 12-inch or larger ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKY
CENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
15), smaller (1.3' across or less), scope may be required to unlock
8 NGC 7172, NGC 7173,

NGC 7174, and NGC
7176 is a great group for observ-
and roughly six to eight times
farther than NGC 7331. They
are strung out from the closest,
it. Observing these two is to look
upon a freeze-frame of a galactic
ballet, with one galaxy in the
ers with a good southern hori- NGC 7340, an E3 elliptical gal- throes of merging with another.
zon view of the “tail” of Piscis axy about 294 million light-years The third member of the trio,
Austrinus the Southern Fish. away, to the farthest, NGC 7336, NGC 7769, is also an interacting
Each member is a respectable an Sbc spiral located about part of this group. Markarian 331,
size, ranging from 2.8' by 1.4' to 365 million light-years away. In a background magnitude 13.9 SBb
4.4' by 2.4'. And with magnitudes between are NGC 7335, a lenticu- galaxy to the north, may be seen
around 12, they can all be seen in lar galaxy, at 332 million light- with a 12- to 14-inch telescope
modest telescopes if atmospheric years, and NGC 7337, an SBb under good skies. All in all, this is
haze is minimal. For those in barred spiral some 348 million a busy group! Deep astroimages Alan Goldstein, a
the southern U.S., it’s an easy light-years distant. About half a may also reveal a filigree of dust longtime contributor
group to find, residing roughly degree southwest of NGC 7331 clouds throughout the field above to Astronomy,
12° west-southwest of Fomalhaut, lies the famous Stephan’s Quintet, the Milky Way’s galactic plane. dedicates this article
the brightest star in that part of a favorite galaxy group of many The next clear night, get out to his wife, Debbie,
the sky. NGC 7173, NGC 7174, observers. The only reason it’s there and see how many galaxies who passed away
and NGC 7176 are an interacting not on this list is because it’s on you can observe — it doesn’t take last year during
group (Hickson 90) consisting so many others! a group effort! its writing.
How do we draw
Lynette Cook’s favorite exoplanet is the gas giant HD 222582 b, whose 572-day
orbit takes it on a highly eccentric path around its star. This view shows the
planet as seen from the surface of a hypothetical terrestrial moon that
undergoes seasonal periods of melting and refreezing as the temperature
swings wildly with its host planet’s proximity to the star. LYNETTE COOK

With every big
exoplanet discovery
comes a stunning
artist’s rendition of a
new world. Are these
images realistic?
BY ALISON KLESMAN
ASTRONOMICAL WEBSITES AND PRESS RELEASES brim That may seem like only a basic
framework, but hidden within these few
with pictures of swirling gas giants, watery terrestrial worlds, and numbers is a wealth of information. Stars
strange planetary systems with exotic suns. But just how realistic with different temperatures put out their
are these artist’s concepts? Do they truly show newly discovered maximum light at different colors — cool
stars are red, middling stars are orange-
worlds, or are they simply fanciful pictures meant to draw you into
yellow, hot stars are blue — so the star’s
reading about the latest addition to the exoplanetary menagerie? type tells the artist its color. Its age deter-
mines whether it might have few or many
The process world for a publication or press release, starspots (what we call sunspots on the
“These aren’t just people slapping up a Cook says, starts and ends with conver- Sun) as well as how active it’s likely to be.
new exoplanet template every time that sations. The artist works closely with A planet’s mass dictates whether it
one is discovered. This is a real depiction, researchers to learn as much as possible is terrestrial or gassy, while its distance
if we can have one,” says prominent exo- about the planet or system they’ve been informs the size its sun appears in its sky
planet artist Lynette Cook, who has been tasked with depicting. The researchers and whether the world sits in the habit-
illustrating other worlds since 1995. “It’s may start by providing information able zone, and thus whether surface
based on scientific fact, as far as the facts about the star — such as age, mass, and water is liquid or ice (or likely not present
go that we have. And then beyond that, type (a proxy for temperature) — as well at all). And tidally locked planets —
it’s fact-based theory.” Even when artis- as the mass and distance of the planet. those with one side permanently facing
tic license is involved — which it often
is — “it is at least within the boundaries
of what seems plausible,” she says. ART AS HISTORY
But how do we even know what’s
plausible? Illustrating an extrasolar “ASTRONOMICAL PAINTINGS ARE OUR BEST RECORD of what human beings thought
other worlds were like, during different decades,” William Hartmann says — better even
This artist’s concept (below) of the tidally than scientific journals, where findings are published piecemeal as individual papers over
locked gas giant WASP-39 b was developed in time. “Scientists tend to be trained in one technique and so we have articles on one aspect
part from a transmission spectrum taken by the at a time: spectroscopy through telescopes, computer models of orbit evolution, meteorol-
James Webb Space Telescope (below right) as the ogy of atmospheres, geochemistry, petrology of rock samples, etc.,” he says. But to paint an
planet transited its star. The data show evidence alien landscape and sky, artists must combine all these details to create a complete picture of
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; other
telescopes have found water vapor, sodium, and
how we understand such places might appear, based on the available information at the time.
potassium. Astronomers believe the planet has Which is why, he adds, “I tell museum curators, ‘If you have older astronomical paintings
clouds but no Jupiter-like bands. BELOW: NASA, ESA, CSA, that are ‘incorrect’ according to current knowledge, for heaven’s sake, don’t throw them
JOSEPH OLMSTED (STSCI). GRAPHS: ASTRONOMY: KELLIE JAEGER, AFTER NASA, out!’ ” — A.K.
ESA, CSA, LEAH HUSTAK (STSCI), JOSEPH OLMSTED (STSCI)
WASP-39 B TRANSIT LIGHT CURVE

Relative brightness (percent)
100
Starlight
99
Wavelength of Starlight blocked
light measured as planet transits
98 3.0 microns
4.3 microns
4.7 microns
97
11 A.M. 12 P.M. 1 P.M. 2 P.M. 3 P.M. 4 P.M. 5 P.M. 6 P.M. 7 P.M.
Time in Baltimore, Maryland
July 10, 2022
Relative brightness (percent)
98.1 Planet’s atmosphere

blocks less of this color
98.0
97.9
97.8 CO2
97.7 absorption
in the planet’s
97.6 atmosphere blocks
more of this color
97.5
2:30 P.M. 3:30 P.M. 4:30 P.M. 5:30 P.M.
Time in Baltimore, Maryland
July 10, 2022

Beyond the towering clouds of a saturnian
evening, passing moons trundle back and forth. The
spectacular rings seem to bend as the light passes
through denser air toward the horizon. MICHAEL CARROLL
their star — can have vastly different fea-

tures than those that are not.
Astronomical artists take these seem-
ingly disparate bits of scientific data and
“synthesize all those aspects to show us
what it would be like to be in those
places,” says William Hartmann, a noted
planetary scientist and artist who has been
envisioning planets around other stars
since before any had been discovered.
Often, the artist will make several
mock-ups, going back and forth with the
researchers to determine which is best
and any details that might need adjust-
ment, Cook says. After all, many planets
look similar, so it is typically the small
details that differentiate one from another.
Those details increasingly require less
guesswork. Watching the way light filters
through an exoplanet’s atmosphere as the
planet crosses in front of its star can reveal
the structure and chemical composition of
otherworldly atmospheres. The presence
of certain molecules can dictate the color
the planet might appear — red and tan
like Jupiter, blue like Neptune, or perhaps
a hue absent from our own solar system
altogether, such as purple or pink.
And some researchers are modeling
the surfaces and climates of exoworlds,
showing what distant planets could look “scale is the hard thing to communicate
like based on different scenarios. By
tweaking factors such as ocean salinity ... you don’t have those visual cues that
and atmospheric composition on a watery
world, for example, such models can pro-
we do in nature here.” — Michael Carroll
duce simulated, generic global maps of
ocean, land, and ice, which artists can most challenging concepts to communi- something that an untrained person can
then turn into a stunningly realistic — cate in alien landscapes is a sense of understand,” Carroll says.
and scientifically plausible — image. scale, says longtime science writer and Cook agrees that sometimes a bit of
illustrator Michael Carroll, whose art artistic license is called for — and vital.
Artistic license often includes the worlds of our own For example, when showing an entire
With these details in hand, an artist can solar system as well as those beyond. system of planets from the perspective of
go about creating a compelling exoplanet Sometimes a planet, moon, or asteroid a distant ice giant, the innermost planets
surface view. For Hartmann, two things doesn’t have an atmosphere, “so you near the host star would simply look like
are most important: “What interesting don’t have those visual cues that we do in tiny dots, rather than visible spheres. But,
things might be seen in the sky, and what nature here.” But even then, “you can she argues, such a realistic depiction
sort of surface do we want to depict?” He fake it a little bit” for the sake of provid- would confuse the general public. A lay-
likes to imagine views from planets in star ing a familiar perspective the audience person might have trouble finding those
systems and situations unlike our own — can connect with, he says. inner planets among the background
for example, he says, a planet whose cen- After all, these stunning illustrations stars. “So, I would make [the inner
tral star has been thrown out of its parent are meant to educate. “The astronomical planet] a little tiny circle,” she says. “Now,
galaxy during a galactic merger. artist builds a bridge between that that’s artistic license, but it’s also part of
Regardless of the view, one of the abstract pile of information and the education process.”
This 1996 painting shows the view from a
hypothetical exoplanet whose central star was
ejected from its parent galaxy during an interaction
with another galaxy, both of which loom large in the
sky. Though no such planet has been found, these
events do generate forces that can send stars into
intergalactic space. WILLIAM HARTMANN
Neptune-sized Gliese 436 b is so close to its

bright parent star that the planet’s atmosphere is
evaporating away, leaving a cometlike tail trailing
behind the planet, as depicted in this artist’s
rendering. NASA, ESA, STSCI, AND G. BACON
“What interesting things might be seen

and even comets. “You have to be careful
in the sky, and what sort of surface do with analogues,” Carroll says, “but they’re
really the backbone of what informs us as
we want to depict?” — William Hartmann to what these exotic worlds will look like.”
And some might be truly exotic. In
In some cases, Cook adds, she’s given veritably exploded, with more than 5,000 lower gravity, “a tower of ice can be five
more latitude, such as setting the view of confirmed planets known today. times as tall,” Carroll points out. Or,
a known gas giant on the surface of a Still, many images found in news sto- Hartmann says, “a red and blue pair of
hypothetical moon to “put this really ries or press releases look similar. And stars in a double star system would create
gorgeous landscape in the foreground … it’s not despite the deluge of scientific shadows in different colors. The shadow
so it’s all gorgeous and you feel like data; it’s because of it. Although astrono- cast by the red star would get only light
you’re standing on it.” mers are still hashing out the details, from the blue star, hence be bluish, and
In other cases, researchers might only we do know that the overall process of vice versa.”
want to show what is known and nothing building planets is remarkably uniform With so many planets known, and
else, which can present its own kind of throughout the galaxy: All planets seem more to come, there are plenty of options,
challenge. “If you’ve just got a gas giant, to form from the disk of debris left over both exotic and familiar. So although each
then it’s a matter of, how do I make it after their parent star has ignited, though illustration comes from the imagination
look different from all the gas giants that even tiny variances can render vastly dif- of an artist, it is an informed, careful
I’ve already painted?” she says. “It has to ferent planets and systems over time. depiction of what could be reality that is
look like the thing it is, but you don’t That means our own solar system designed to both educate and inspire.
want to just totally recreate the same often serves as a jumping-off point. For
thing over and over again, so that example, ice crystals still form even in Alison Klesman is senior editor of
becomes more of an artistic challenge low- or no-pressure conditions, and fea- Astronomy and is fascinated by the artistic
rather than a scientific challenge.” tures like dunes can be found across the process, though she herself is unable to
Ultimately, it’s about not only educat- solar system, on planets, dwarf planets, draw so much as a non-lumpy circle.
ing, but also about creating something
new, Carroll says: “You can do a dia-
gram, you can do a painting that shows MORE ASTRONOMY ART
everything just great and is totally unin-
spired. Or you can try to bring a little bit THE JULY 2022 ISSUE of Astronomy is a special collector’s
of beauty into the world.” edition featuring an inside look at the space art genre,
written by prominent artists including William Hartmann.
Inside, you’ll find an exclusive gallery of space art not
Similar but different collected anywhere else. You can purchase a copy today
In the decades since the first discovery of at www.myscienceshop.com/product/ASY220701-C.
an extrasolar planet in 1992, the field has

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SECRET SK Y
High-flying glory your eyes, they do not explain how. The problem is that
water does not refract light by the correct amount to
achieve the required scattering angle of about 180°, even
Color and mystery surround this optical phenomenon. if a ray reflects off the inside of a droplet multiple times.
In the Sept. 20, 2005, issue of Applied Optics, optics
researcher Philip Laven offered an explanation based
on the possibility that light can propagate along the
surface of a droplet. (Polarized radio transmissions can
similarly propagate along the ground.) This means that
light rays entering at the edge of a water droplet could
repeatedly travel as a surface wave for a short distance
before bouncing back into the droplet, allowing the rays
to exit the droplet in the direction from which they
came. The colored rings of the glory, then, are an inter-
ference effect between “rays entering the
droplets at diametrically opposite
points.”
The view from above

You don’t have to be on an aircraft to see
ABOVE: European
Space Agency
the glory. Many people atop mountains
astronaut Alexander The next time you fly, be sure to have observed them against hillside
Gerst captured this secure a window seat opposite clouds or fog at lower elevations. But
glory on Sept. 14,
2018, while aboard
the Sun — and pray for clouds. those seen while flying in a plane are the
the International Under the right conditions, you just might most animated. Since the glory appears
Space Station. see a glorious atmospheric phenomenon at the antisolar point from the perspec-
ESA/A. GERST CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
known as, well, the glory. tive of the observer, if you sit in the back
CENTER: The glory The glory is an optical effect that of a plane, the glory will be centered on
(top) and an appears as a series of concentric colored the craft’s tail end. Walk down the aisle,
atmospheric corona
(bottom) appear rings on clouds or mist. In shape and color, it resembles and you can watch the glory follow your path in the
similar, but the glory the Sun’s atmospheric corona, and both are caused by plane’s shadow.
appears when looking the interplay of light and water suspended in the atmo- The glory’s size and appearance may also change as
away from the Sun,
not at it. STEPHEN JAMES sphere — either as tiny water droplets or ice crystals. the craft passes over clouds containing water droplets
O’MEARA (2) But unlike the corona, the glory appears opposite the of different sizes. Like atmospheric coronae, the glory’s
Sun, at the antisolar point. Since you look away from angular extent is inversely proportional to the size of
the Sun to see the glory, it is more comfort- the water droplets causing it: The larger the
able to observe than the Sun’s corona. water droplet, the smaller the glory, and
There are other differences as well. The Glories are vice versa. With large water droplets — say,
glory’s central aureole — its bluish inner a complex and 40 microns — the first-order ring will have
disk — is not as intense as the corona’s, a radius of about 1°. With water droplets a
making it appear more defined. And while not-yet-fully- quarter that size, the first-order ring will
the order of colored rings (blue on the understood have a radius nearly five times larger.
inside, red on the outside) is similar for affair. And while the aircraft’s shadow has no
both, the glory’s outer rings are usually influence whatsoever on the glory’s shape,
easier to detect. In fact, it is not uncommon size, or color, we can see it shrink or swell
to see three or more sets of colored rings in the glory. against the glory, depending on how close the clouds
This is rare with coronae, especially if the droplets caus- are to the craft. The farther away from the cloud deck,
ing them are all the same size, as tends to be the case in the smaller the craft’s shadow, and vice versa.
freshly condensed clouds or mist. Despite Laven’s confidence in his interpretation of
BY STEPHEN Coronae are produced by light diffracting around what causes the glory, there is still uncertainty. As
JAMES O’MEARA the edges of water droplets or ice crystals. Glories, how- always, send your observations (and interpretations) to
Stephen is a globe-
ever, are a more complex and not-yet-fully-understood [email protected].
trotting observer who
is always looking affair. Although Maxwell’s equations of electromagne-
for the next great tism can describe the pattern of rings when water BROWSE THE “SECRET SKY” ARCHIVE AT
celestial event. droplets scatter light from the antisolar point back to www.Astronomy.com/OMeara

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P39593
BINOCULAR UNIVERSE
Double duty paired with an 8th-magnitude star 14" southeast.

Although potentially challenging, it can be accomplished
with 10x binoculars.
Pair up these stellar companions this spring. But by shifting Tau toward the northwest corner of
your view, you’ll find three easier doubles arranged in an
X-shaped asterism known as the Double Cross.
East of Leo, the faint constellation Coma Berenices is
home to the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111). Swing your
binoculars to the two beautiful binaries within. First,
there’s 5th-magnitude 12 Comae, which is joined by a
9th-magnitude field star 60" to the southeast. If your 10x
binoculars are steadily supported, splitting the pair is
possible; higher-power lenses divide them easily, offering
a hint of 12’s yellowish tint.
The second duo in the Coma Cluster is 17 Comae.
Here, we find a 5th-magnitude primary sun accompanied
by a 7th-magnitude companion 145" to its west-southwest.
Both appear pure white and are easy to split.
Nestled below the bowl and handle of the Big Dipper
is the faint constellation Canes Venatici the Hunting
Dogs. The dogs’ brightest star, 3rd-magnitude Cor Caroli
(Alpha [α] Canum Venaticorum), lies about halfway
Iota (ι) Cancri, known between Phecda (Gamma [γ] Ursae Majoris) in the Big
for its blue and yellow
colors, is one of the
For many of us, light pollution has robbed our Dipper’s bowl and Arcturus (Alpha Boötis). Once you
many binary stars skies of once readily visible objects. That’s find Cor Caroli, itself a binary star suitable for 20x and
visible this spring. why many residential observers have turned higher binoculars, look to its northeast. You should be
able to see 17 Canum Venaticorum, a pretty pairing of
JEFFREY FISHER/WIKIMEDIA
COMMONS
away from nebulae and galaxies to pursue other targets,
such as double stars. 6th-magnitude white suns separated by 276".
This month, let’s enjoy a few of my favorite spring- Aim 5° northwest of Cor Caroli for the Hunting Dogs’
time binocular binaries. second-brightest star, Chara (Beta [β] Canum
We begin with a challenging binocular target, Venaticorum). By extending the line connecting the two
Iota (ι) Cancri. Often described as the Spring another 6° west-northwest, you’ll come to 5th-
Albireo for its colorful yellow and blue com- magnitude 67 Ursae Majoris. One look will
ponents, Iota’s two stars shine at magnitudes This month, show that 67 is not alone, but rather is accom-
4.0 and 6.6. But they are only separated by panied by three friends. The white primary star
30". That’s a little too close to resolve with let’s enjoy a is joined by a yellow 7th-magnitude secondary
handheld 10x50 binoculars, but doable if few of my star 5' to the east-northeast. A third golden
they are supported on a mount. Iota can also favorite 9th-magnitude companion is found 6' west of
be split in two with an image-stabilized 10x springtime 67, while the fourth star, a 9th-magnitude pale
binocular and is lovely through 16x70s. yellow point, is 15' northeast of the primary.
Now head to the constellation Leo the Lion.
binocular Detecting the subtle colors will likely take at
From the triangle marking Leo’s hindquarters binaries. least 70mm or 80mm binoculars.
and tail, follow an imaginary line southward If this survey piqued your interest in observ-
from Chertan (Theta [θ] Leonis) to 4th- ing double and multiple stars, point your
magnitude Iota Leonis and then to Sigma (σ) Leonis. internet browser to the Astronomical League’s Binocular
From Sigma, look for a four-star arc just 6° (about a field) Double Star Observing Program at www.astroleague.org.
southeast. The brightest star in the arc is 5th-magnitude Membership is required to earn a certificate of completion,
Tau (τ) Leonis. Tau forms a wide binary star with a but anyone can enjoy their list of 120 binocular targets.
BY PHIL magnitude 7.5 companion 1.5' to its south. In his 1909 Have a favorite double star that you’d like me to men-
HARRINGTON book In Starland With a Three-Inch Telescope, William tion in a future column? Contact me through my website,
Phil received the
T. Olcott described the appearance as “lemon and light philharrington.net. Until next month, remember that two
Walter Scott Houston
Award at Stellafane
blue.” If you defocus your binoculars, you may get a hint eyes are better than one.
2018 for his lifelong of those colors.
work promoting and Olcott also mentioned a “second pair in the field.” He BROWSE THE “BINOCULAR UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT
teaching astronomy. was referring to 83 Leonis, just 20' northwest of Tau. It’s www.Astronomy.com/Harrington

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ASK ASTRO Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
Neutron Proton Neutron changes

STRONG FORCE (SF) WEAK FORCE (WF) to a proton
The strong nuclear SF The weak nuclear
SF SF D U D U
force binds protons SF force is responsible
and neutrons SF for nuclear decay. WF
SF D U
together. Although SF Its range is
Down Up
the strongest of extremely limited, quark quark
the four forces, it encompassing Beta decay
acts over short Quarks about 0.1 percent WF
distances, about the diameter of
the size of an a neutron.
Atomic nucleus Carbon-14 Nitrogen-14
atomic nucleus.
6 protons and 8 neutrons 7 protons and 7 neutrons
Like charges repel

ELECTROMAGNETIC EF
+ + EF GRAVITATIONAL GF
Earth Moon
FORCE (EF) Proton Proton
FORCE (GF)
The electromagnetic The weakest of the
Unlike charges attract
force governs four forces, the Solar system
EF EF
interactions between Proton + - Electron gravitational force
charged particles. It between particles is
obeys an inverse Hydrogen Proton always attractive. Its Sun
GF
square law, but the atom Electron strength diminishes
EF
effects of opposite + - according to an
charges cancel out. inverse square law.
Of the four
fundamental forces,
gravity is the weakest
— but also the
farthest-reaching.
ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
Fundamental inversely proportional to the square of the distance
from the Sun, its flux — which is a product of this force
forces and the surface area — remains constant no matter

how large one imagines the sphere because the distance
terms cancel out. This constant flux is the reason for
the long-range effect felt at arbitrarily large
QI IF GRAVITY IS THE WEAKEST OF

THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES,
HOW CAN THE SUN’S GRAVITY AFFECT
distances.
This is not true in the case of, say, the strong nuclear
force, which is several orders of magnitude stronger
DISTANT AND LOW-MASS OBJECTS SUCH but whose influence falls sharply compared to the
AS THOSE IN THE KUIPER BELT AND inverse square and so does not have a constant flux.
Hence, it is short ranged, limited to the length scales
OORT CLOUD?
Neal Attinson of atomic nuclei.
Sonoma, California The second part of the answer is that gravity cannot
be screened. Think about how we can draw window
AI It is true that gravity is weakest among the fun-

damental forces. However, the effect of gravity
can be felt even at arbitrarily large distances for two
shades if it’s too bright outside, or how the metal mesh
on your kitchen microwave door keeps the microwaves
inside. We cannot do something like that to block grav-
reasons. The first is a consequence of the inverse square ity. Therefore, intervening matter between the Sun and
nature of the gravitational interaction, meaning the distant objects doesn’t lessen the effect of our star’s
force of gravity diminishes with 1/R 2, where R is the gravity.
distance between two objects. But we must consider Since the Sun is the most massive body in our solar
this alongside gravity’s flux, which is defined as the system, its gravitational field is predominant. Other
number of force field lines (which relates to its strength) massive objects in the Solar system also have gravita-
crossing a surface area. tional effects, but these are much weaker than that of
Let’s think of an imaginary sphere with the Sun at the Sun.
the center. The surface area of the sphere increases as Deep Chatterjee
LIGO Research Scientist, MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and
the square of the distance from the Sun where the
Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
sphere is drawn. So, while the gravitational force is

THE TRANSIT METHOD
Star
Planet
QI WHEN CURIOSITY TAKES A SELFIE,

WHERE IS THE SHAFT THAT HOLDS
THE CAMERA? IT IS NEVER SEEN, LIKE
THE CAMERA WAS PLACED ON A TRIPOD
Star + planet
AND A TIMER SET. WAS IT EDITED OUT? Occultation dayside
Bob Found
Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia
Star+ planet
nightside
AI
Flux
To take a selfie (like the one on pages 24–25 STAR ALONE
Time
in our September 2022 issue), Curiosity uses
the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on its
Transit
multijointed robotic arm. The technique is roughly the
same as when a human takes a selfie: Curiosity holds STAR–PLANET SHADOW
out its arm to snap the pic.
There are two reasons why the arm holding the cam-
The transit method
era is never seen. First, think about how you take a selfie identifies planets by
with a phone: You do exactly as the rover does, holding into a final, single selfie, they can choose to use only looking for dips in
the camera out with your arm extended. Your arm portions of the images that do not include the arm. So starlight as a planet
passes between Earth
doesn’t appear in the selfie because it is outside the view yes, in cases where bits of the arm might appear in the and its host star.
of the lens (below or behind it). Similarly, in many cases image, it has been selectively edited out of the final However, this only
works when a star
Curiosity’s arm is outside the field of view of the lens. result. and planet happen
Admittedly, it’s a bit more complicated for a rover to Alison Klesman to line up as we see
Senior Editor them from Earth.
take a selfie than for a human, and this introduces the
Because stars and
second reason why the arm is not visible. For us planets are oriented
humans, selfies are a one-step process: Snap a pic and
QI SINCE THE TRANSIT METHOD randomly in space,
we’re done. But Curiosity’s camera can’t capture the not all planets have
RELIES ON DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT orbits that carry them
entire rover in a single shot, even from the end of its in front of their stars
7-foot-long (2.1 meters) arm. Instead, the rover must TO OUR PLANET, AND EXOPLANETS from our point of view.
take dozens of photos to fit its entire body and back- ORBIT WITH RANDOM ORIENTATIONS, ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
ground into the view. (This process can take an hour or HOW MANY EXOPLANETS ARE
more!) ESTIMATED TO BE UNCOUNTED USING
To do so, the arm moves around the rover to snap THIS METHOD?
images from many angles. In some of these raw shots, Edward Dean
small portions of the arm may be visible due to the angle Merritt Island, Florida
of the photo. However, the rover takes so many images
that when NASA staff on Earth stitch them together
AI This is a really important correction we have to
make when trying to calculate what fraction of
stars have planets. The probability of a planet transiting
its star from our point of view is proportional to the
radius of the star (the bigger the star, the more area
there is for the planet to potentially transit) divided by
the distance between the star and its planet (planets SEND US YOUR
that are farther from their stars are less likely to transit). QUESTIONS
This probability ranges from about 1 in 10 for hot
Send your
Jupiters — Jupiter-sized planets that orbit their stars in astronomy questions
just a few days — to about 1 in 200 for Earth-sized plan- via email to askastro@
ets that orbit their star with a period of 365 days. It’s astronomy.com, or
even smaller for more distant planets. Doing a quick write to Ask Astro,
calculation with the transiting planets we’ve discovered P.O. Box 1612,
Waukesha, WI 53187.
so far and examining their stellar hosts and their orbital
Be sure to tell us
Curiosity took this unique low-angle selfie shortly after drilling a distances, it looks like we’ve probably missed about your full name and
rock called Buckskin. A portion of the rover’s robotic arm is 110,000 planets for the 4,000 that we’ve found! where you live.
visible (of the three structures that stick up from the top of the Jessie Christiansen Unfortunately, we
rover, it’s the light-colored shaft in the middle), but appears oddly NASA Exoplanet Archive Project Scientist, Caltech/Infrared
cut off because the rest of the arm was not shown in the many cannot answer all
Processing and Analysis Center, Pasadena, California
images used to create this mosaic. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS questions submitted.
READER GALLERY
Cosmic portraits
1. GALACTIC SOUP
Two rock formations — known as
the Chicken and the Mushroom —
in Egypt’s White Desert lie under
the Milky Way and the Geminid
meteor shower in this mosaic. The
sky panels consist of three-minute
exposures at ISO 1000 with a zoom
lens at 24mm and f/2.8. The
foreground was captured just after
sunset with 1/13-second exposures
at ISO 200. • Osama Fathi
2. ONE OF A KIND
Jones 1 (also known as PK104–29.1)
is a very faint planetary nebula in
Pegasus discovered in 1941 by
American astronomer Rebecca
Jones. She joined Lick Observatory
in 1927 straight out of undergrad
and later worked alongside Harlow
Shapley at the Harvard College
Observatory for many years.
• Douglas J. Struble

3
4 5
3. WINTER TREAT
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) gave comet watchers a gift at
the end of 2022 and early 2023 — it reached perihelion
on Jan. 12 and made its closest approach to Earth on
Feb. 1, peaking at around magnitude 5. Its 3°-long tail
stands out in this LRGB image from Dec. 24, 2022,
representing 31 minutes of exposure with a 4.2-inch
scope. • José J. Chambó
4. ZTF’S ANTITAIL
C/2022 E3 sprouted an antitail (at right) as it
approached the Sun. Unlike the particles in a typical
dust trail, those of an antitail are too large to be blown
away by the Sun’s radiation pressure. By a trick of
perspective, they can sometimes appear to protrude
from the front of a comet (to the right of the comet
nucleus in this Jan. 24 image); in reality, though, the
dust mostly trails the comet, remaining in the path of
its orbit. This one-shot color image was taken over 7.13
hours of exposure with a 2-inch refractor. • Drew Evans
5. MARS FLYBY
Comet ZTF was beginning to fade as it made its closest
visual approach to Mars on Feb. 11. This image of the
encounter was taken with a 4.2-inch refractor and RGB
exposures of 12 minutes each. • Gerald Rhemann
6. ANSWER: FORTY-TWO
The Cosmic Question Mark in Cepheus comprises two
objects: the star-forming region NGC 7822 hovering
over the dot of the Little Rosette Nebula (Sh 2–170). This
image was taken in the Hubble palette and 17 hours on
a 2-inch scope. • Chuck Ayoub
SEND YOUR IMAGES TO:

[email protected].
Please include the date and location of the image
and complete photo data: telescope, camera, filters,
and exposures.
6 WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 57
BREAKTHROUGH
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
In a universe full of galaxies, you can’t expect them all to get along. Although it might look like the large spiral galaxy NGC 169
is extending a helping hand toward its smaller companion, IC 1559, its intentions are decidedly hostile. The massive galaxy
has started to strip gas, dust, and stars from its diminutive neighbor. This galactic tug of war won’t end until NGC 169 fully
cannibalizes IC 1559. Known collectively as Arp 282, the interacting pair lies 320 million light-years from Earth in southern
Andromeda. Astronomers created this image combining observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Victor Blanco
Telescope in Chile, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, J. DALCANTON, DARK ENERGY SURVEY, DOE, FNAL/DECAM, CTIO/NOIRLAB/NSF/AURA, SDSS

THE
STARS
OF THE
STAR PARTY
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Optics Planet – 800.504.5897 – opticsplanet.com Woodland Hills – 888.427.8766 – telescopes.net Agena AstroProducts – 562.215.4473 – agenaastro.com
SOUTHERN SKY BY MARTIN GEORGE
July 2023
Venus dazzles at dusk
If you tracked the fainter than the star. A tele- the planet’s golden disk, which every year, and not just on a
motions of Venus and scope reveals Mars’ 4"-diameter measures 18" across the equator single night. It’s the view of the
Mars during June, you noticed disk, which appears featureless. in mid-July, and the stunning Milky Way on a dark moonless
the distance between them By mid-July, Mercury joins ring system, which spans 42" winter evening from the
shrinking steadily. But Venus’ Venus and Mars low in the eve- and tilts 8° to our line of sight. Southern Hemisphere. Seeing
eastward motion relative to the ning sky. But the best time to A 10-centimeter or larger scope the central band of our galaxy
background stars slackens dur- look for the innermost planet also shows 8th-magnitude stretching from horizon to
ing July, and the two planets arrives during the month’s final Titan and three or four fainter horizon never grows old. And
never get closer than they do week. It passes 5° north (lower satellites. July marks the start of this
on the 1st. At the time of this right) of Venus on the 26th As Saturn climbs high viewing window.
so-called quasi-conjunction, and 0.1° south (upper left) of in the north after midnight, The first instrument I used
these worlds appear 3.6° apart. Regulus on the 29th. The best Jupiter appears low in the east for observing was my father’s
Venus stands out far more views of Mercury through a against the background stars of 8x25 binoculars. They opened
than its neighbor. The inner telescope also come late in the southern Aries the Ram. The my eyes to many beautiful star
planet reaches greatest bril- month. On the 31st, for exam- giant planet rises by 3 a.m. clusters, though my favorites
liancy July 7, when it shines at ple, the planet spans 6" and local time in early July and were the lovely open clusters
magnitude –4.7 — some 360 appears 63 percent lit. nearly two hours earlier by M6 and M7 near the tail of
times brighter than Mars. The Be sure to watch this area month’s end. Jupiter shines at Scorpius the Scorpion. They
two spend the month low in the July 20 and 21, when a thin magnitude –2.3, much brighter pass nearly overhead around
northwest after sunset against crescent Moon joins the scene. than any other planet or star 10 p.m. local time in mid-July.
the backdrop of Leo the Lion, The gathering of Mercury, once Venus sets. They look spectacular through
not far from that constellation’s Venus, Mars, Regulus, and the If you wait until morning 7x50 binoculars, as do many of
Sickle asterism. Moon makes quite the spec- twilight commences, Jupiter the other clusters that dot the
July proves to be the last full tacle — and presents a great appears high enough to deliver winter Milky Way.
month Venus remains visible in opportunity for astro-imagers. sharp views through a tele- Wonderful vistas await any-
the evening sky. Its altitude For the most memorable pho- scope, at least during those pre- one who scans this region with
decreases day by day as it pre- tos, scout for a location that cious moments of steady seeing. binoculars or a telescope. Still, I
pares to pass between the Sun provides a pretty foreground. The giant planet spans 38" in never tire of the naked-eye
and Earth in mid-August. Yet Saturn becomes a fine sight mid-July and displays a wealth view. M6, M7, and many other
its approach to both the Sun later in the evening. It pokes of atmospheric detail along treats show up nicely without
and Earth makes this a superb above the eastern horizon by with four bright moons arrayed optical aid. But I want to high-
time to observe the planet 10 p.m. local time in early July on either side. light a feature formed by dust
through a telescope. Watch and by 8 p.m. at month’s end. clouds in the Milky Way: the
week to week as its disk grows Magnitude 0.6 Saturn lies near The starry sky Emu. This huge structure
and its crescent thins. During the center of Aquarius the People often ask me what astro- stretches from Scorpius to Crux
July, Venus’ diameter swells Water-bearer, a dim group nomical sights have thrilled me the Cross. The Emu’s dark body
from 33" to 53" while its phase whose brightest star glows at the most during my decades of resides in the Scorpion while
dwindles from 32 percent lit to 3rd magnitude. Don’t confuse skywatching. The top spots his neck passes mainly through
just 6 percent lit. the planet with the slightly would have to go to the many the constellation Norma the
Mars continues its eastward fainter star Fomalhaut in total solar eclipses I’ve seen, Square. It then skims past
motion against the star-studded neighboring Piscis Austrinus followed closely by some won- Alpha (α) and Beta (β)
background this month. On some 20° to its right. derful auroral displays and Centauri before reaching the
July 10, it passes 0.7° north of You can expect spectacular Saturn’s occultation of the star Coal Sack in southeastern
1st-magnitude Regulus, Leo’s telescopic views of Saturn once 28 Sagittarii in 1989. Crux, which forms the head.
brightest star. The magnitude it climbs higher by late evening. But there’s one spectacular The Emu stands out well on
1.7 Red Planet glows slightly Even a small instrument reveals sight available to any observer any dark July evening.
STAR DOME
S
LMC NGC 2
070
SMC
VO H Y DRU S
HOW TO USE THIS MAP C 2 I NA
R
CA
NG NS
LA
MENSA
This map portrays the sky as seen 516 NG C
10 4
near 30° south latitude. Located
inside the border are the cardinal
SW
S
O C TA N
directions and their intermediate SCP
points. To find stars, hold the map
overhead and orient it so one of
the labels matches the direction
V
EL
you’re facing. The stars above C HA M
A
PY
AELE
ON
the map’s horizon now match VO
X
3 PA
IS NG372
what’s in the sky. C AU S T R A L E
T R IA N G U LU M
The all-sky map shows CR _ NG
AN
UX C4
how the sky looks at: 7 55
T
b
LI
M
U
A
`
9 P.M. July 1
a
PI
97
63
O
8 P.M. July 15
51 ` _
NG 39 C
CIRCINUS NG
7 P.M. July 31 C
Alphar
A MA
CE
Planets are shown AR NOR
NT
HYDR
NG
at midmonth
AU
d
C5
R
NG231
1 28
US
A
S
C
6
IU
US
P
P
OR
C O RV U S
LU
MAP SYMBOLS
M83
M6
S E X TA N S
SC
Antares
C R AT E R
W
Open cluster
_
M4
Globular cluster
Diffuse nebula
M104
Spi
ca
Planetary nebula
_
Galaxy
n (ecliptic) LIBRA
V
u
Path of the S
IR
G
H
O
M5 C
STAR IU
PH
MAGNITUDES O
M6
M6
Sirius
NS
5
De
SERPE
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3.0 CAPU
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bo
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tur
la
1.0 4.0 us
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2.0 5.0 64 _
C NG
BE OM
P
R A
STAR COLORS EN
IC
A star’s color depends ES C O R O NA
N
BO ÖTE BOREALIS
on its surface temperature. S
W
•• The hottest stars shine blue

Slightly cooler stars appear white CA
M1 3
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow VE NES

NA CUL
E
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange

TI
CI
M51
HER
• The coolest stars glow red

• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
use optical aid to gather more light
N
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
JULY 2023
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
A
AN C
TU
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SE
S
U
R
G
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

9 10 11 12 13 14 15
S
U
D
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
IN
IU P
CO S
RO
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
C
E L NA L I S
MI
RO RA
ST
US
ES
AU
30 31
S
RN
O
RIU
C
T
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
RIC
A
ITT
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.

AP
S AG
C
M7
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1 Mercury is in superior conjunction, 5h UT
M8
Neptune is stationary, 13h UT

M22
UM
M20
3 Full Moon occurs at 11h39m UT

M17
SCUT
4 The Moon is at perigee (360,149 kilometers from Earth), 22h25m UT

ILA
M11
M1 6
6 Earth is at aphelion (152.1 million kilometers from the Sun), 20h UT

AQU
7 The Moon passes 3° south of Saturn, 3h UT

S
INU
S Venus is at greatest brilliancy (magnitude –4.7), 14h UT

U
UD NS
H
PH
ir
_
Asteroid Eunomia is at opposition, 20h UT

CA RPE
Alta
A
DEL
8
SE
The Moon passes 1.7° south of Neptune, 14h UT

A
TT
10 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 1h48m UT

GI
SA
Mars passes 0.7° north of Regulus, 8h UT

11 The Moon passes 2° north of Jupiter, 21h UT
12 The Moon passes 2° north of Uranus, 18h UT
LA
U
17
EC
New Moon occurs at 18h32m UT

LP
19 The Moon passes 4° north of Mercury, 9h UT

U
V
20 The Moon is at apogee (406,289 kilometers from Earth), 6h57m UT

E
R A
N
LY
The Moon passes 8° north of Venus, 9h UT
_
Venus is stationary, 23h UT
ga
S Ve
21 The Moon passes 3° north of Mars, 4h UT
22 Pluto is at opposition, 4h UT
25 First Quarter Moon occurs at 22h07m UT
26 Mercury passes 5° north of Venus, 13h UT
29 Mercury passes 0.1° south of Regulus, 1h UT
30 Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks

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Enter this code at www.astronomy.com/code MAY 2023

14 COVER STORY 30 44 Secret Sky 50

be practically every- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

for comfort. CONTACT US

For reprints, licensing, and permissions:

4 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

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6 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

are between galaxies within

their galaxies as clusters

MAKING ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO speculate a volcano-like

A nearby nebula sheds that belongs in the 2-billion- to 3-billion-

LIGHT POLLUTION INCREASING

LIGHTS UP. As scattered light from skyglow

— and the rate at which dark skies are

8 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

dramatically stronger if they

DINNER FOR TWO

500 million light-years away

neutron stars and Bradley Schaefer of

10 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

MARCEL DRECHSLER/XAVIER STROTTNER/YANN SAINTY

NEW IMAGES from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

percent of nearby spiral galaxies have bars, including our own

For your But what is the system’s starting point? Where is

reference It’s Vega, the brightest star of the great Summer

12 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

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16 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

A ‘rogue’ black hole

possibility of finding more of the

5600 5650 5700 5750 5800 5850 5900

would be shining brightly; yet, we

Mass (solar masses)

GRS 1915 V404 Cygni

GRO J0422 MAXI J1659

GRO J1655 MOA-11-191/ 30 million miles

20 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

22 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

28 ASTRONOMY • MAY 2023

how the sky looks at: a

1.0 4.0 a LI _ Spica S

A star’s color depends /

• Lower-temperature stars appear orange

• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.

1 Mercury is in inferior conjunction, 7 P.M. EDT

2 Pluto is stationary, 7 P.M. EDT

5 Full Moon occurs at 1:34 P.M. EDT; penumbral lunar eclipse

Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks

9 Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun, 4 P.M. EDT

10 Mars passes 5° south of Pollux, 4 P.M. EDT