SkyTips: November 2012
The Helix Nebula, which is the last gasp of a dying star, shows beautiful detail in this combined ultraviolet and infrared image from two space telescopes. The star was once much like the Sun, but as it neared the end of its life it underwent a series of dramatic changes.
Stargazing Summary
Taurus, the bull, charges across the sky on November nights, standing high overhead around midnight. Look for his V-shaped face, highlighted by the orange star Aldebaran, and his twinkling shoulder, which is the tiny dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster. Orion charges into the evening sky as well, rising in early evening by month’s end. A faint lunar eclipse rounds out the month.
More stargazing information
Radio Program Highlights
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November 1-4 - The Triangle: There are lots of prominent triangles in the night sky, but there’s only one that’s simply known as "the triangle" — the constellation Triangulum. Join us for the triangle's brightest stars, plus one star that's on its last legs.
November 5-11 - Dark Skies: You probably haven't noticed it, but the night sky is getting a little bluer — the result of changes in outdoor lighting. We'll explain what that means for skywatchers, plus talk about some places with really dark skies.
November 12-18 - Sugar Rush: Sugar is more than just a necessity for a sweet tooth — sugar molecules are key chemical building blocks for life. And astronomers recently found one of those building blocks near a young star.
November 19-25 - "Titanic" discoveries: One of the most intriguing worlds in the solar system is Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. We'll talk about some of its wonders, including a cold oasis, plus review the history of exploration of this frigid moon.
November 26-30 - Nukes in Space: While some rocket scientists were building the rockets to take astronauts to the Moon, others were working on rockets for the next destination: Mars. Join us for nuclear-powered rockets, including some modern-day interest in them.
November program schedule
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This Month in StarDate Magazine
In November/December, StarDate will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first spacecraft encounter with another planet: the 1962 Mariner 2 flyby of Venus. And freelance writer Nick D'Alto brings us the story of the earliest known globe, made by Renaissance astronomers and used by Christopher Columbus to prepare for his legendary voyage.
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News from the Observatory
World's Most Advanced Telescope Mirror Completed
The first mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), a major next-generation telescope in which The University of Texas at Austin is a founding partner, is now completed. Becoming operational in the next decade, GMT will lead a new generation of giant telescopes that will explore planets around other stars, star formation, galaxies and black holes in the early universe.
Understanding Cosmic Dust
Dust is an annoyance in everyday life, but an important building block of stars and planets. As such, astronomers need to understand how cosmic dust forms over time -- it's an integral step in figuring out the evolution of galaxies, and the stars and planets within them. UT astronomer Steven Finkelstein is pursuing one of the largest Hubble Space Telescope projects to date, studying dust in thousands of galaxies over a wide range of cosmic time.
Win a Dark Energy Poster
Take our new online quiz and win a printed poster for HETDEX, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment. All the answers can be found in the HETDEX web site, so you can catch up with the science of this cutting-edge research project.
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