1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:03,080 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,110 Hey Facebook, we're live from Goddard Space Flight Center. 3 00:00:06,110 --> 00:00:09,180 I'm Erin Kisliuk with the Hubble Space Telescope. 4 00:00:09,180 --> 00:00:12,310 Did you know that this weekend is the peak of the 5 00:00:12,310 --> 00:00:15,420 Orionid meteor shower? So if you go out and look up and happen 6 00:00:15,420 --> 00:00:18,460 to see a few shooting stars, which you're actually seeing is 7 00:00:18,460 --> 00:00:21,560 debris from Halley's Comet. 8 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,590 In the mid 1700's there was an astronomer named Charles Messier 9 00:00:24,590 --> 00:00:27,690 and he studied comets, but sometimes when he'd go out and look 10 00:00:27,690 --> 00:00:30,810 up, he'd catch these fuzzy images 11 00:00:30,810 --> 00:00:33,960 so he decided to categorize them 12 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,020 and make a list so he would never be 13 00:00:37,020 --> 00:00:40,140 distracted by them ever again. Thus began 14 00:00:40,140 --> 00:00:43,200 the Messier Catalog. Hubble just today released it's own 15 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,320 album full of Messier objects 16 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,600 taken by the space telescope and 17 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,640 we're going to talk about them here today with you. 18 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,690 Make sure to send in questions 19 00:00:51,690 --> 00:00:53,770 and we'll answer them at the end of the show. 20 00:00:53,770 --> 00:00:55,810 I'm going to introduce you to some very special guest. 21 00:00:55,810 --> 00:00:57,920 So today we're joined by Michelle Thaller 22 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,020 and Kevin Hartnett and thank you both for being here today. 23 00:01:00,020 --> 00:01:02,180 Hey, it's great to be here. 24 00:01:02,180 --> 00:01:04,260 All right were are going to jump right on into it. 25 00:01:04,260 --> 00:01:07,330 Who is Charles Messier and why is catalog so cool? 26 00:01:07,330 --> 00:01:10,440 Well Erin you just said, Charles Messier was an astronomer who was active 27 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,580 in the late 1700's and he was really interested in finding 28 00:01:13,580 --> 00:01:15,740 comets, he actually found many of them over 29 00:01:15,740 --> 00:01:17,760 the course of his career, but there was some fuzzy 30 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,850 little blobs in the sky that looked like comets 31 00:01:19,850 --> 00:01:21,950 but he could tell that they weren't comets 32 00:01:21,950 --> 00:01:24,040 because the didn't move with respect to the stars. 33 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,160 Comets appear and disappear 34 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,290 and they actually move with respect to the background stars 35 00:01:28,290 --> 00:01:30,330 but these little fuzzy blobs stayed right 36 00:01:30,330 --> 00:01:32,400 where they were. So he made a catalog 37 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,500 of basically things to avoid 38 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:36,660 that weren't comets and the thing that is a 39 00:01:36,660 --> 00:01:38,780 wonderful irony is what he actually had 40 00:01:38,780 --> 00:01:40,840 discovered were some of the dramatic and beautiful 41 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:42,890 objects in the entire universe. 42 00:01:42,890 --> 00:01:44,930 He discovered things like dead 43 00:01:44,930 --> 00:01:46,980 stars or stars being born 44 00:01:46,980 --> 00:01:49,080 or we know now are very distant galaxies. 45 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,140 So in fact Messier found 46 00:01:51,140 --> 00:01:53,250 some of the most fascinating things in the sky. 47 00:01:53,250 --> 00:01:55,390 Yep, what's very 48 00:01:55,390 --> 00:01:57,440 interesting is the first object 49 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,520 that we'll talk about, the Crab Nebula 50 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,610 he was looking actually for the 51 00:02:01,610 --> 00:02:03,730 return of Halley's comet himself 52 00:02:03,730 --> 00:02:05,860 which was predicted to show up in the 53 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:08,020 constellation of Taurus in that period 54 00:02:08,020 --> 00:02:10,080 and so he was scanning to find 55 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,160 Halley's Comet and came across this object 56 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:13,250 that we're going to talk about. 57 00:02:13,250 --> 00:02:14,290 So the catalog is 58 00:02:14,290 --> 00:02:16,420 numbered basically in the order that Messier 59 00:02:16,420 --> 00:02:18,540 discovered these things so we are going to 60 00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:20,580 start with M1 and just like Kevin 61 00:02:20,580 --> 00:02:22,700 said M1 is called the Crab Nebula. 62 00:02:22,700 --> 00:02:24,780 So we actually have a depiction here 63 00:02:24,780 --> 00:02:26,860 of where the Crab Nebula is in the sky 64 00:02:26,860 --> 00:02:28,970 and a little bit of what it looks like 65 00:02:28,970 --> 00:02:31,090 see it's actually in the constellation 66 00:02:31,090 --> 00:02:33,130 Taurus, it's going to be honing in on that 67 00:02:33,130 --> 00:02:35,190 and as this begins to pan in 68 00:02:35,190 --> 00:02:37,270 look there's a fuzzy little thing there 69 00:02:37,270 --> 00:02:38,370 and that is what he saw and that 70 00:02:38,370 --> 00:02:39,450 what he thought might me a comet. 71 00:02:39,450 --> 00:02:41,550 But as we pan into even more 72 00:02:41,550 --> 00:02:43,680 you see that there is wonderful dramatic 73 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,750 structure and what this turns out to be 74 00:02:45,750 --> 00:02:47,810 is an exploded star. 75 00:02:47,810 --> 00:02:49,870 It's what we call a super nova ruminant 76 00:02:49,870 --> 00:02:51,920 so there was a star long ago 77 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:53,950 that exploded and actually spread it's 78 00:02:53,950 --> 00:02:56,070 material over hundreds and hundreds of light years 79 00:02:56,070 --> 00:02:58,230 and in the middle there is the dead 80 00:02:58,230 --> 00:03:00,270 core of a star call a neutron star. 81 00:03:00,270 --> 00:03:02,340 Neutron stars are amazing 82 00:03:02,340 --> 00:03:04,430 they have the density of Mt. Everest 83 00:03:04,430 --> 00:03:06,520 pushed into every teaspoon full of 84 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,740 material and they rotate hundreds 85 00:03:08,740 --> 00:03:10,880 of times a second and I remember 86 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:12,940 you knew what year this star exploded. 87 00:03:12,940 --> 00:03:15,000 Yes. So historians 88 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,100 have figured out that this 89 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:19,200 is associated with 90 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,300 the Chinese siting 91 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:23,460 of a guest star they called it 92 00:03:23,460 --> 00:03:25,520 that was visible, so bright 93 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,590 it could be seen during the day time and 94 00:03:27,590 --> 00:03:29,660 that was 1054 A.D. 95 00:03:29,660 --> 00:03:31,710 So we are very sure when this star actually exploded. 96 00:03:31,710 --> 00:03:33,760 Now Kevin is an amazing 97 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:35,900 amateur astronomer, he actually takes pictures 98 00:03:35,900 --> 00:03:37,960 of these objects with his own telescope 99 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,020 so should we go to some of the images that you 100 00:03:40,020 --> 00:03:42,110 taken yourself? 101 00:03:42,110 --> 00:03:44,170 Sure why not. In this case 102 00:03:44,170 --> 00:03:46,280 I don't have one of M1 103 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,380 we'll see others but I wanted to show you 104 00:03:48,380 --> 00:03:50,420 both this chart and where M1 105 00:03:50,420 --> 00:03:52,480 can be found. Do you see 106 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:54,550 the constellation of 107 00:03:54,550 --> 00:03:56,620 Taurus here? 108 00:03:56,620 --> 00:03:58,710 This little cluster of stars 109 00:03:58,710 --> 00:04:00,800 called the Hyades is V shaped 110 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:02,920 and it marks the horns 111 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,090 of the bull of Taurus. 112 00:04:05,090 --> 00:04:07,150 He's up and to the right of Orion. 113 00:04:07,150 --> 00:04:09,230 Very easily spotted in the winter sky 114 00:04:09,230 --> 00:04:11,320 and you take the 115 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,410 lower horn and look at it 116 00:04:13,410 --> 00:04:15,550 with a telescope and your 117 00:04:15,550 --> 00:04:17,690 sure to find M1 118 00:04:17,690 --> 00:04:19,760 if you sweep around the field 119 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:21,810 of view with that 120 00:04:21,810 --> 00:04:23,910 star in it because it's very close 121 00:04:23,910 --> 00:04:26,020 to that star named 122 00:04:26,020 --> 00:04:28,140 Zata Tauri. 123 00:04:28,140 --> 00:04:30,230 I want you to 124 00:04:30,230 --> 00:04:32,240 know that in the Hubble catalog 125 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,320 that's been released 126 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,360 we have a star chart like this 127 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,460 for every Messier that's in the catalog. 128 00:04:38,460 --> 00:04:40,600 Even if you don't know 129 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,730 anything about the Messier objects 130 00:04:42,730 --> 00:04:44,780 you'll know basically where to find them in the sky. 131 00:04:44,780 --> 00:04:47,820 What season to look for them in 132 00:04:47,820 --> 00:04:50,900 what constellation they're in and 133 00:04:50,900 --> 00:04:54,010 we also tell you in the album what 134 00:04:54,010 --> 00:04:57,140 telescope is a good one to look for this 135 00:04:57,140 --> 00:05:00,230 object and what time of the month 136 00:05:00,230 --> 00:05:02,290 or what month of the year you should be looking for it. 137 00:05:02,290 --> 00:05:04,370 So keeping with the theme of 138 00:05:04,370 --> 00:05:06,380 dead stars there's another one of my 139 00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:08,440 Messier objects, it's one of my favorites 140 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:10,580 it's called the Ring Nebula. So we talked about M1 141 00:05:10,580 --> 00:05:12,730 being the first one, this is all the way M57 142 00:05:12,730 --> 00:05:14,770 Now the Ring Nebula is in the 143 00:05:14,770 --> 00:05:16,850 constellation Lyra and this is 144 00:05:16,850 --> 00:05:18,900 actually different, sort of dead star. 145 00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:20,990 The first on exploded violently 146 00:05:20,990 --> 00:05:23,090 in a super nova, this star is 147 00:05:23,090 --> 00:05:25,240 basically, generally unraveling itself 148 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,300 into space. It was a star that was 149 00:05:27,300 --> 00:05:29,370 more about the mass the of sun 150 00:05:29,370 --> 00:05:31,440 it's dying and losing shells of gas 151 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,520 around it. In the middle there's the 152 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,620 remnant of this tiny little star, 153 00:05:35,620 --> 00:05:37,750 which is cooling off and basically dying. 154 00:05:37,750 --> 00:05:39,850 The Ring Nebula is a beautiful object 155 00:05:39,850 --> 00:05:41,900 and you can see some of the complexity 156 00:05:41,900 --> 00:05:43,940 that the Hubble Space Telescope discovered 157 00:05:43,940 --> 00:05:45,970 when it took many different visuals of 158 00:05:45,970 --> 00:05:48,080 this Ring Nebula. 159 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,190 The thing that I really love about the Ring Nebula 160 00:05:50,190 --> 00:05:52,230 is it's not very easy to see 161 00:05:52,230 --> 00:05:54,390 in a telescope, you have to use a special technique 162 00:05:54,390 --> 00:05:56,420 to see it, so tell us a bit about your 163 00:05:56,420 --> 00:05:58,520 observation and how you see an object 164 00:05:58,520 --> 00:05:59,610 like this. 165 00:05:59,610 --> 00:06:01,710 Ok, sure be happy to. 166 00:06:01,710 --> 00:06:03,840 It's one of my favorites, it's a great 167 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:06,000 summer favorite for amateur astronomer 168 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,040 it's high in the sky and it's 169 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,120 fairly easy to locate 170 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,220 in the constellation of Lyra 171 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:14,340 but as Michelle said 172 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:16,470 it's small and a little bit hard to find 173 00:06:16,470 --> 00:06:18,630 and when you a 174 00:06:18,630 --> 00:06:20,690 put in an eye piece that has more 175 00:06:20,690 --> 00:06:22,760 magnification it dims 176 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,850 It gets a little 177 00:06:25,850 --> 00:06:27,970 tricky to see especially the hole that's in 178 00:06:27,970 --> 00:06:30,110 the center. 179 00:06:30,110 --> 00:06:32,160 What you have to do and this a trick 180 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,220 that we amateurs use 181 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:36,290 is look to the side of the object 182 00:06:36,290 --> 00:06:38,380 because the edge of your eye 183 00:06:38,380 --> 00:06:40,500 is more sensitive to light then 184 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:42,620 the center is, oddly enough. 185 00:06:42,620 --> 00:06:44,790 You have rods and cones in your eye 186 00:06:44,790 --> 00:06:46,850 and the rods are along 187 00:06:46,850 --> 00:06:48,960 the edge so at night 188 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,000 your peripheral 189 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,090 vision is better then your 190 00:06:53,090 --> 00:06:55,240 center vision and you can see things 191 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,370 that move, so as a trick 192 00:06:57,370 --> 00:06:59,410 we get the object 193 00:06:59,410 --> 00:07:01,480 in the telescope and then 194 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:03,590 look to the side of the object 195 00:07:03,590 --> 00:07:05,720 and wiggle the telescope a little bit 196 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:07,870 and you can see it better when you do that. 197 00:07:07,870 --> 00:07:09,940 Especially the hole 198 00:07:09,940 --> 00:07:12,010 in the middle, it looks like a big smoke ring 199 00:07:12,010 --> 00:07:14,080 in sky when you use 200 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,110 those tricks. Now you won't see the center 201 00:07:16,110 --> 00:07:18,170 star because that's pretty faint and 202 00:07:18,170 --> 00:07:20,210 although I took this 203 00:07:20,210 --> 00:07:22,340 photo with just a 204 00:07:22,340 --> 00:07:24,380 general DSLR and 205 00:07:24,380 --> 00:07:26,440 modest telescope 206 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:28,520 the camera is more sensitive then your 207 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:30,590 eye and so it can pick up on this star. 208 00:07:30,590 --> 00:07:32,720 You'd need probably 209 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:34,840 a 14" telescope 210 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,000 to see that star. 211 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,060 So we are going from the theme of dead stars to something now 212 00:07:39,060 --> 00:07:41,110 very different and that is the birth of stars. 213 00:07:41,110 --> 00:07:43,210 Messier discovered things that represent all 214 00:07:43,210 --> 00:07:45,440 the different fazes of the life cycles of stars. 215 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,580 So we're going to start talking about young stars. 216 00:07:48,580 --> 00:07:50,630 Yeah, while we walk over to talk about 217 00:07:50,630 --> 00:07:52,710 the young stars over here, I wanted to remind 218 00:07:52,710 --> 00:07:54,840 everybody to continue to send in questions 219 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:56,960 we are really great ones. 220 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,100 Were still here at Goddard Space Flight Center talking about 221 00:07:59,100 --> 00:08:01,120 Hubble Messier catalog 222 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,180 and now we're going to be talking about young stars 223 00:08:03,180 --> 00:08:05,240 so take it away, I'll get out of your way. 224 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,330 Well that's right, these are stars that are being born. 225 00:08:07,330 --> 00:08:09,400 The next object we're going to talk about is one of my 226 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,510 favorites in the sky, it's like an old friend 227 00:08:11,510 --> 00:08:13,630 returning every time the fall sky rolls around. 228 00:08:13,630 --> 00:08:15,680 And that's M42, this is the 229 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,760 Orion Nebula and as you can see in this 230 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:19,790 wonderful animation with the Orion Nebula 231 00:08:19,790 --> 00:08:21,810 really is, is a giant 232 00:08:21,810 --> 00:08:23,890 cloud of dust and gas 233 00:08:23,890 --> 00:08:26,010 and inside it there are stars 234 00:08:26,010 --> 00:08:28,140 forming that are lighting us this cloud. 235 00:08:28,140 --> 00:08:30,180 There are 4 very bright 236 00:08:30,180 --> 00:08:32,220 stars at the very heart of the nebula called 237 00:08:32,220 --> 00:08:34,330 the Trapezium Cluster and these stars 238 00:08:34,330 --> 00:08:36,410 are larger then the Sun. 239 00:08:36,410 --> 00:08:38,430 More massive then the Sun and brighter 240 00:08:38,430 --> 00:08:40,600 and the light from them is lighting up the whole area 241 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:42,680 that we know of as the Orion Nebula. 242 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:44,720 To me this is one of the most beautiful images ever taken 243 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:46,780 by Hubble. It's not only beautiful 244 00:08:46,780 --> 00:08:48,870 but it's very dramatic when you think about 245 00:08:48,870 --> 00:08:50,920 this is a cloud of dust and gas 246 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,030 many, many hundreds of light years across 247 00:08:53,030 --> 00:08:55,080 and inside it there are 248 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,260 dozens, if not hundreds of new stars 249 00:08:57,260 --> 00:08:59,310 forming right now. 250 00:08:59,310 --> 00:09:01,390 So this is a beautiful object and I have to say the image 251 00:09:01,390 --> 00:09:03,430 you took of this is spectacular. 252 00:09:03,430 --> 00:09:05,530 I mean you are an amazing astro-photographer. 253 00:09:05,530 --> 00:09:07,590 Let's take a look at what you got with this on. 254 00:09:07,590 --> 00:09:09,760 Well it is one of one of my 255 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:11,810 better efforts, but they are all work 256 00:09:11,810 --> 00:09:13,820 and I want to really communicate 257 00:09:13,820 --> 00:09:16,900 that taking pictures 258 00:09:16,900 --> 00:09:19,990 is another aspect of astronomy that is 259 00:09:19,990 --> 00:09:22,000 enjoyable and has it's technical challenges 260 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,140 but I've spent most of my life 261 00:09:24,140 --> 00:09:26,280 observing these things with binoculars or a telescope 262 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,320 and it's as much fun 263 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,380 it's probably more fun then 264 00:09:30,380 --> 00:09:32,440 trying to take pictures of them which is just hard. 265 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:34,540 So here you see 266 00:09:34,540 --> 00:09:36,670 an image 267 00:09:36,670 --> 00:09:38,780 of Orion Nebula 268 00:09:38,780 --> 00:09:40,860 and I want to point out the contrast between this one 269 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:42,910 and this one. It took Hubble 270 00:09:42,910 --> 00:09:44,960 about 500 271 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:46,990 different pointing's 272 00:09:46,990 --> 00:09:49,050 mosaics stitched together to form 273 00:09:49,050 --> 00:09:51,110 this image because Hubble 274 00:09:51,110 --> 00:09:53,140 zooms in and has such 275 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:55,210 high magnification, it zooms in to 276 00:09:55,210 --> 00:09:57,320 a smaller part of the 277 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,400 object, this could all fit 278 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,500 in the field of view of my telescope. 279 00:10:01,500 --> 00:10:03,610 When you are looking at this object 280 00:10:03,610 --> 00:10:05,760 just with a telescope 281 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:07,780 and not worried about taking pictures 282 00:10:07,780 --> 00:10:09,940 you want to look for it beneath the 3 283 00:10:09,940 --> 00:10:11,980 stars that form Orion's belt 284 00:10:11,980 --> 00:10:14,110 the sheath for his sword 285 00:10:14,110 --> 00:10:16,200 if you will, right in that 286 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,330 area from a dark spot 287 00:10:18,330 --> 00:10:20,380 you can see a faint cloud 288 00:10:20,380 --> 00:10:22,400 and put a telescope on it 289 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,440 and you can see, right there 290 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,480 is an image of where 291 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,540 M42 is. 292 00:10:28,540 --> 00:10:30,630 Again, this is on our website 293 00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:32,720 so you can find 294 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:34,900 these for all the Messier objects there. 295 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:36,940 But you put a telescope 296 00:10:36,940 --> 00:10:38,980 on it and you can see this trapezium 297 00:10:38,980 --> 00:10:41,060 4 little stars in a 298 00:10:41,060 --> 00:10:43,130 trapezoid shape and 299 00:10:43,130 --> 00:10:45,230 enjoy the dark and light bands 300 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:47,340 of this nebula. It's truly spectacular. 301 00:10:47,340 --> 00:10:49,530 Messier found a number of examples 302 00:10:49,530 --> 00:10:51,600 of young stars, in the case of the Orion 303 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,660 Nebula the stars are still forming 304 00:10:53,660 --> 00:10:55,770 in this cloud of dust and gas 305 00:10:55,770 --> 00:10:57,870 but then there are other stars that are a little farther long 306 00:10:57,870 --> 00:11:00,020 that have moved out of the clouds they 307 00:11:00,020 --> 00:11:02,180 were born in. In many cases 308 00:11:02,180 --> 00:11:04,220 just the radiation and also the particle winds 309 00:11:04,220 --> 00:11:06,270 coming off these birth young stars 310 00:11:06,270 --> 00:11:08,340 blows away the cloud and so the next 311 00:11:08,340 --> 00:11:10,450 thing we are going to is an example of a young 312 00:11:10,450 --> 00:11:12,580 cluster of stars, stars that 313 00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:14,750 all formed probably in the least tens of millions of years. 314 00:11:14,750 --> 00:11:16,790 Doesn't sound very you to us but 315 00:11:16,790 --> 00:11:18,850 for stars that they are and this is a 316 00:11:18,850 --> 00:11:20,880 cluster called the Pleiades and the Pleiades 317 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,970 is a wonderful thing to see to see in the 318 00:11:22,970 --> 00:11:25,090 autumn and winter sky it's always 319 00:11:25,090 --> 00:11:27,250 wonderful for me that wonderful, beautiful 320 00:11:27,250 --> 00:11:29,270 autumn sky is rolling around. 321 00:11:29,270 --> 00:11:31,350 These images look very different, so here's 322 00:11:31,350 --> 00:11:33,440 image that you took of this young cluster of stars 323 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,520 and in fact the Hubble image 324 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,630 has so much resolution 325 00:11:37,630 --> 00:11:39,660 and so much focus that it's only a tiny 326 00:11:39,660 --> 00:11:41,810 part of your image here. Right. 327 00:11:41,810 --> 00:11:43,940 So compare the Hubble image that we have here 328 00:11:43,940 --> 00:11:46,030 with what you were able to see with the Pleiades. 329 00:11:46,030 --> 00:11:48,110 So it's a very tiny portion, the Pleiades 330 00:11:48,110 --> 00:11:50,230 is a naked eye object 331 00:11:50,230 --> 00:11:52,360 and it's somewhat 332 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:54,400 like 3 or 4 times 333 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:56,470 the size of the full moon. 334 00:11:56,470 --> 00:11:58,520 It's very big on the sky. 335 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,630 This image 336 00:12:00,630 --> 00:12:02,770 taken by Hubble 337 00:12:02,770 --> 00:12:04,830 of part of the gas and dust 338 00:12:04,830 --> 00:12:07,000 surrounding these stars 339 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,130 is right in between this bright star 340 00:12:09,130 --> 00:12:11,220 called Merope and these two little stars 341 00:12:11,220 --> 00:12:13,310 next to it, so it's a very 342 00:12:13,310 --> 00:12:15,370 tiny portion of 343 00:12:15,370 --> 00:12:17,520 the actual Pleiades. 344 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,570 Pleiades is also known as the 345 00:12:19,570 --> 00:12:21,620 Seven Sisters, a lot of people mistake it for 346 00:12:21,620 --> 00:12:23,690 the Little Dipper, cause it has this 347 00:12:23,690 --> 00:12:25,800 dipper shape. 348 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,860 With your eye you really only see six, there's 349 00:12:27,860 --> 00:12:29,920 this legend of the 350 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,970 missing Pleiad because you don't see 351 00:12:31,970 --> 00:12:34,030 seven but this 352 00:12:34,030 --> 00:12:36,100 cluster is also know in Japan 353 00:12:36,100 --> 00:12:38,170 as Subaru so when you look at the 354 00:12:38,170 --> 00:12:40,260 logo on the back of a Subaru 355 00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:42,350 you're looking at this star pattern, most people 356 00:12:42,350 --> 00:12:44,450 don't know that. 357 00:12:44,450 --> 00:12:46,610 It's a very, very beautiful cluster 358 00:12:46,610 --> 00:12:48,660 and best appreciated 359 00:12:48,660 --> 00:12:50,710 in binoculars or a small telescope 360 00:12:50,710 --> 00:12:52,750 where you can see just 361 00:12:52,750 --> 00:12:54,820 these diamonds 362 00:12:54,820 --> 00:12:56,960 on a black background. 363 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,110 So we're talking about families of stars 364 00:12:59,110 --> 00:13:01,170 and the type of cluster that the Pleiades 365 00:13:01,170 --> 00:13:03,230 is something called an open cluster 366 00:13:03,230 --> 00:13:05,320 these are stars that form relatively close to each other 367 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,410 in one of these big clouds 368 00:13:07,410 --> 00:13:09,510 but the sun was probably in a cluster like this billions 369 00:13:09,510 --> 00:13:11,630 of years ago, but over that time 370 00:13:11,630 --> 00:13:13,790 we've been around the galaxy so many times 371 00:13:13,790 --> 00:13:15,870 that just the gravitational interaction between 372 00:13:15,870 --> 00:13:17,940 the stars have peeled off all the other 373 00:13:17,940 --> 00:13:20,020 members of our star cluster, we don't really know 374 00:13:20,020 --> 00:13:22,180 where in the sky our brother and sister 375 00:13:22,180 --> 00:13:24,300 stars are. So an open cluster 376 00:13:24,300 --> 00:13:26,350 is a family of stars that all formed together 377 00:13:26,350 --> 00:13:28,380 and we're go over and talk a bit more 378 00:13:28,380 --> 00:13:30,490 about some different families of stars now. 379 00:13:30,490 --> 00:13:32,600 Yeah, once again while we're walking 380 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:34,720 over, I just want to remind everyone to keep 381 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,780 sending in your questions. I'm getting some really 382 00:13:36,780 --> 00:13:38,930 really great ones. 383 00:13:38,930 --> 00:13:40,980 We are here at Goddard Space Flight Center talking about 384 00:13:40,980 --> 00:13:43,070 Hubble's Messier catalog so continue 385 00:13:43,070 --> 00:13:45,150 sending in your question and I'll let you guys talk 386 00:13:45,150 --> 00:13:47,240 about clusters. 387 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,360 Here's another example of an open cluster 388 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,530 this is M11 Wild Duck Cluster. 389 00:13:51,530 --> 00:13:53,600 Open clusters are 390 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:55,640 stars that form together relatively 391 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:57,680 recently in the last millions or tens of millions 392 00:13:57,680 --> 00:13:59,800 of years and are slowly peeling apart 393 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:01,830 over time so this is another one that 394 00:14:01,830 --> 00:14:03,980 you have a very different image 395 00:14:03,980 --> 00:14:06,140 Hubble is taking sort of picture here of the heart 396 00:14:06,140 --> 00:14:08,190 of this cluster and you have picture of the larger 397 00:14:08,190 --> 00:14:10,320 cluster so people can see that. 398 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,450 Right, neither one looks much like a wild duck, do they? 399 00:14:12,450 --> 00:14:14,580 If you had a small 400 00:14:14,580 --> 00:14:16,620 telescope or a pair of binoculars 401 00:14:16,620 --> 00:14:18,630 and looked at this object which is in the summer 402 00:14:18,630 --> 00:14:20,670 sky in the Milky Way 403 00:14:20,670 --> 00:14:22,700 you'll see a V-shaped 404 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:24,800 grouping of stars 405 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,900 the brighter stars are V-shaped and 406 00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:29,060 reminded the early observers 407 00:14:29,060 --> 00:14:31,120 of a flight of ducks or geese that 408 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,170 are characteristically flying in a V. 409 00:14:33,170 --> 00:14:35,250 When I look at this 410 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:37,340 and this is one of my favorites too 411 00:14:37,340 --> 00:14:39,430 you notice right away and so did 412 00:14:39,430 --> 00:14:41,460 Messier, he wrote in his catalog 413 00:14:41,460 --> 00:14:43,580 about this that 414 00:14:43,580 --> 00:14:45,590 there is a very bright star 415 00:14:45,590 --> 00:14:47,640 in the center of the cluster. 416 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,710 Hard to make out here because 417 00:14:49,710 --> 00:14:51,790 it just gets lost with all the others. 418 00:14:51,790 --> 00:14:53,920 It's very, very noticeable. 419 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:55,960 When you look at it in a telescope 420 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:57,980 this amazing 421 00:14:57,980 --> 00:15:00,020 grouping of stars 422 00:15:00,020 --> 00:15:02,040 and this one bright one 423 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,090 in the middle. Now I found this 424 00:15:04,090 --> 00:15:06,160 cluster is particularly 425 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,240 fun to look at 426 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:10,340 in higher magnification 427 00:15:10,340 --> 00:15:12,350 and I like to use a zoom eye piece 428 00:15:12,350 --> 00:15:14,490 so I look at it 429 00:15:14,490 --> 00:15:16,650 at low magnification 430 00:15:16,650 --> 00:15:18,710 and the stars are really tight 431 00:15:18,710 --> 00:15:20,780 and then as you twist the eye 432 00:15:20,780 --> 00:15:22,820 piece it zooms in 433 00:15:22,820 --> 00:15:24,930 and you see hundreds more. 434 00:15:24,930 --> 00:15:27,050 It's a remarkable beautiful 435 00:15:27,050 --> 00:15:29,180 open cluster 436 00:15:29,180 --> 00:15:31,260 and there is 437 00:15:31,260 --> 00:15:33,310 something like, oh gee 438 00:15:33,310 --> 00:15:35,390 hundred of stars in the cluster. 439 00:15:35,390 --> 00:15:37,540 That's right an open cluster can have 440 00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:39,680 dozens or hundreds of stars but 441 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:41,740 there are much larger star cluster as well. 442 00:15:41,740 --> 00:15:43,800 Certainly the largest ones that are in our own 443 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,880 galaxy, the Milky Way, are called the globular clusters. 444 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,050 We have an absolutely spectacular 445 00:15:48,050 --> 00:15:50,160 picture of a globular cluster here. 446 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,190 This is the globular cluster M15 447 00:15:52,190 --> 00:15:54,230 the 15th thing on the list of things that where not comets. 448 00:15:54,230 --> 00:15:56,280 This is actually a cluster of 449 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,340 stars that contains millions of stars. 450 00:15:58,340 --> 00:16:00,400 Now, astronomers believe 451 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,490 that globular clusters are ancient clusters 452 00:16:02,490 --> 00:16:04,550 they probably formed very early on 453 00:16:04,550 --> 00:16:06,670 in the lifetime of our galaxy 454 00:16:06,670 --> 00:16:08,810 and if you think about the Milky Way galaxy 455 00:16:08,810 --> 00:16:10,850 we live in a spiral galaxy that is kind of shaped like a Frisbee. 456 00:16:10,850 --> 00:16:12,900 It's a disk of stars and gas 457 00:16:12,900 --> 00:16:14,950 and dust, but the globular clusters 458 00:16:14,950 --> 00:16:17,050 orbit around the entire 459 00:16:17,050 --> 00:16:19,150 galaxy almost like a swarm 460 00:16:19,150 --> 00:16:21,220 of angry bees. They are going all 461 00:16:21,220 --> 00:16:23,410 different directions around the Milky Way. 462 00:16:23,410 --> 00:16:25,460 In fact globular clusters were one of the 463 00:16:25,460 --> 00:16:27,550 first ways that we discovered our 464 00:16:27,550 --> 00:16:29,560 own place in the Milky Way. 465 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:31,620 It turns out we are nowhere near the center 466 00:16:31,620 --> 00:16:33,730 of the Milky Way, we live out in the suburbs 467 00:16:33,730 --> 00:16:35,880 about three quarters of the way out into the disk 468 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:37,940 from the center. So that's a long way from 469 00:16:37,940 --> 00:16:39,980 the middle of the galaxy. 470 00:16:39,980 --> 00:16:42,040 And all these globular clusters orbit around the center 471 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,090 of mass of our galaxy. 472 00:16:44,090 --> 00:16:46,170 Astronomer along time ago realized 473 00:16:46,170 --> 00:16:48,290 that most of the globular clusters were 474 00:16:48,290 --> 00:16:50,310 in one half of the sky 475 00:16:50,310 --> 00:16:52,470 fewer on the other half of the sky and that's 476 00:16:52,470 --> 00:16:54,530 cause we were looking from a vantage point of being very 477 00:16:54,530 --> 00:16:56,560 far out from the center of the galaxy. 478 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:58,650 When ever I see globular clusters 479 00:16:58,650 --> 00:17:00,750 I really aware of the 480 00:17:00,750 --> 00:17:02,880 place, the roll that they had in 481 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,020 giving us a map as to where we are in the galaxy. 482 00:17:05,020 --> 00:17:07,070 As really good 483 00:17:07,070 --> 00:17:09,120 thing that we're not on a planet inside 484 00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:11,210 a globular cluster cause we wouldn't 485 00:17:11,210 --> 00:17:13,460 see much of the sky at all right? 486 00:17:13,460 --> 00:17:15,600 It would be like daytime all the time. 487 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:17,660 Just look at all of those stars packed into 488 00:17:17,660 --> 00:17:19,730 that little area. 489 00:17:19,730 --> 00:17:21,820 Yes so it's very good for observing that we are 490 00:17:21,820 --> 00:17:23,940 where are. 491 00:17:23,940 --> 00:17:26,070 See you have another great image here. 492 00:17:26,070 --> 00:17:28,100 Yeah, this image is fun 493 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:30,150 because I took it two nights ago, right? 494 00:17:30,150 --> 00:17:32,220 495 00:17:32,220 --> 00:17:34,290 I took it with a very small telescope. 496 00:17:34,290 --> 00:17:36,410 497 00:17:36,410 --> 00:17:38,530 It's in the constellation 498 00:17:38,530 --> 00:17:40,650 of Pegasus. 499 00:17:40,650 --> 00:17:42,820 The flying horse, which if you go out 500 00:17:42,820 --> 00:17:42,860 in tonight 501 00:17:42,860 --> 00:17:44,920 in tonight's sky 502 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,030 it will appear as a square 503 00:17:47,030 --> 00:17:49,120 they call the square 504 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:51,280 Pegasus, very prominent square 505 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,400 in the sky and I like to 506 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,440 consider it like a baseball diamond. 507 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,520 Cause it's oriented that way. 508 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,620 This object is located 509 00:17:59,620 --> 00:18:01,710 off first base 510 00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:03,860 and there is a 511 00:18:03,860 --> 00:18:06,040 L-shaped string of stars 512 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,120 is right at the tip of the L. 513 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:10,130 It's very easy to find. Right there. There you go. 514 00:18:10,130 --> 00:18:12,250 So we've been talking about families 515 00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:14,360 of stars, the star clusters and in fact 516 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:16,480 the largest families of stars in the universe 517 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,520 are the galaxies. 518 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,590 These are families of stars that include hundreds 519 00:18:20,590 --> 00:18:22,670 of billions of stars. 520 00:18:22,670 --> 00:18:24,740 So let's talk a bit about some of the galaxies 521 00:18:24,740 --> 00:18:25,860 that we are looking at. 522 00:18:25,860 --> 00:18:27,960 While we walk over to the biggest 523 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,130 screen in the room, we'll talk about the biggest objects, right? 524 00:18:30,130 --> 00:18:32,180 I just want to remind everybody 525 00:18:32,180 --> 00:18:34,350 once again we're here at Goddard. 526 00:18:34,350 --> 00:18:36,440 We're talking about Hubble's Messier objects 527 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,540 and please continue to send in your questions, 528 00:18:38,540 --> 00:18:41,670 we've got a ton of good ones and I'll let you talk about galaxies. 529 00:18:41,670 --> 00:18:44,720 Sounds good, yes, right. 530 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:46,790 We're going to end with looking at some of these beautiful 531 00:18:46,790 --> 00:18:48,870 spiral galaxies and the first one we are looking at 532 00:18:48,870 --> 00:18:50,970 is something the Whirlpool galaxy which is know 533 00:18:50,970 --> 00:18:53,030 as M51 and the 534 00:18:53,030 --> 00:18:55,150 Whirlpool galaxy is a spiral galaxy 535 00:18:55,150 --> 00:18:57,210 about half the size of our own Milky Way 536 00:18:57,210 --> 00:18:59,280 and is at a distance of about 537 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,360 23 million light years away. 538 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,440 You can see here in this beautiful 539 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,530 Hubble image the detail on the spiral 540 00:19:05,530 --> 00:19:07,650 arms of this galaxy. 541 00:19:07,650 --> 00:19:09,780 The dark areas are actually lanes of gas 542 00:19:09,780 --> 00:19:11,820 and dust where new stars are forming 543 00:19:11,820 --> 00:19:13,920 inside that right now. In fact, 544 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,000 when ever you see red areas along the spiral 545 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,110 arm, that's active star formation. 546 00:19:18,110 --> 00:19:20,260 That's where young stars are still embedded 547 00:19:20,260 --> 00:19:22,260 in the dust and they are lighting up the 548 00:19:22,260 --> 00:19:24,310 dust and making glow red. 549 00:19:24,310 --> 00:19:26,340 It is an absolutely beautiful spiral. 550 00:19:26,340 --> 00:19:28,370 The thing that is amazing about 551 00:19:28,370 --> 00:19:30,490 this, is looks quite different 552 00:19:30,490 --> 00:19:32,530 through a telescope and some people might be 553 00:19:32,530 --> 00:19:34,640 disappointed but I still think it's a wonder thing to look at. 554 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:36,800 So tell us a bit about what it's like to observe 555 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,840 a beautiful galaxy like this. 556 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,900 I tell you, it's fun 557 00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:42,970 to glimpse these things 558 00:19:42,970 --> 00:19:45,030 even if you're not seeing them particularly 559 00:19:45,030 --> 00:19:47,140 clearly in the night sky. 560 00:19:47,140 --> 00:19:49,270 There's a 561 00:19:49,270 --> 00:19:51,440 connection with the universe 562 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,500 by looking at the light of 563 00:19:53,500 --> 00:19:55,560 these things with your own eye. 564 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,660 Just like Messier would have 565 00:19:58,660 --> 00:20:01,760 seen this, it was a smudge but know you know 566 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,870 what it really is and that's electrifying. 567 00:20:04,870 --> 00:20:08,070 If you're, at night, searching for these 568 00:20:08,070 --> 00:20:11,140 things with your telescope and finding 569 00:20:11,140 --> 00:20:14,220 it and realizing what you're seeing 570 00:20:14,220 --> 00:20:17,360 there is nothing really quite like it. 571 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,420 Messier would not have seen the spiral arms 572 00:20:20,420 --> 00:20:23,480 because you need a large a telescope 573 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,550 to do that and his telescopes where not 574 00:20:26,550 --> 00:20:28,630 very good, they weren't even made of glass. 575 00:20:28,630 --> 00:20:30,730 The ones that we use now 576 00:20:30,730 --> 00:20:32,790 with mirrors, the mirrors were made out of metal 577 00:20:32,790 --> 00:20:34,830 back then and we've 578 00:20:34,830 --> 00:20:36,860 looked at these globular clusters 579 00:20:36,860 --> 00:20:38,920 in M15 580 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,000 Messier noted he didn't see one 581 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,070 star in that globular cluster 582 00:20:43,070 --> 00:20:45,170 that we now know has 583 00:20:45,170 --> 00:20:47,420 millions of stars. 584 00:20:47,420 --> 00:20:50,470 So his view was very very different. 585 00:20:50,470 --> 00:20:53,510 This is an image I took, it took about 4 hours 586 00:20:53,510 --> 00:20:55,570 to layup that image. In a second 587 00:20:55,570 --> 00:20:57,650 I'll show you what one little frame looked like. 588 00:20:57,650 --> 00:20:59,740 But this object was 589 00:20:59,740 --> 00:21:01,860 not seen by Messier 590 00:21:01,860 --> 00:21:03,990 at the time, it's a neighboring galaxy. 591 00:21:03,990 --> 00:21:06,040 He only saw the very 592 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,070 core of this and it looked like a little blob. 593 00:21:08,070 --> 00:21:10,130 So the thing is 594 00:21:10,130 --> 00:21:12,200 even if your telescope image 595 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,310 doesn't look like this, it's still wonderful 596 00:21:14,310 --> 00:21:16,390 to think the lights your looking, even when you see a little 597 00:21:16,390 --> 00:21:18,520 smudge on the sky, in this case it's 598 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,570 23 millions years old. 599 00:21:20,570 --> 00:21:22,630 23 million light years away, means the light 600 00:21:22,630 --> 00:21:24,710 took that long to get to us so when you see 601 00:21:24,710 --> 00:21:26,830 this beautiful as just a smudge 602 00:21:26,830 --> 00:21:28,950 in the sky, that light left long before 603 00:21:28,950 --> 00:21:31,100 there were humans on the earth. 604 00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:33,160 You mention you were going to show us 605 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,250 so this is what you'd see through even a large telescope. 606 00:21:35,250 --> 00:21:37,340 Yeah, this was taken through a 8" diameter 607 00:21:37,340 --> 00:21:39,420 telescope and it took 608 00:21:39,420 --> 00:21:41,460 I'm trying to remember now, about 3 minutes 609 00:21:41,460 --> 00:21:43,480 or 4 minutes to layup this particular 610 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:45,560 image and you see you get 611 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,600 all the light pollution 612 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,630 right? The sky glow in the back 613 00:21:49,630 --> 00:21:51,670 too. The trick 614 00:21:51,670 --> 00:21:53,760 that amateurs use 615 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:55,840 is to stack 616 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:57,930 all these up, line them up 617 00:21:57,930 --> 00:22:00,040 and so I took, what ever, 4 hours 618 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,220 of 3 minute exposures 619 00:22:02,220 --> 00:22:04,290 and you can get software free off the web 620 00:22:04,290 --> 00:22:06,370 now to align them all and stack 621 00:22:06,370 --> 00:22:08,450 them up and you learn some about processing. 622 00:22:08,450 --> 00:22:10,550 Honestly, 623 00:22:10,550 --> 00:22:12,660 although I don't want you to think 624 00:22:12,660 --> 00:22:14,660 that your going to see these marvelous images, 625 00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:16,700 the pictures 626 00:22:16,700 --> 00:22:18,760 from Hubble or even my telescope 627 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:20,810 by looking through the eye piece. 628 00:22:20,810 --> 00:22:22,890 It is encouraging 629 00:22:22,890 --> 00:22:25,000 or it should be encouraging you that, I've only been 630 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,130 at astro-photography for maybe 4 years 631 00:22:27,130 --> 00:22:29,290 with a digital camera 632 00:22:29,290 --> 00:22:31,330 and so you can learn very quickly with a lot of 633 00:22:31,330 --> 00:22:33,390 resources on the web but 634 00:22:33,390 --> 00:22:35,490 start with the Hubble site. 635 00:22:35,490 --> 00:22:37,590 You can find out where the Messier's 636 00:22:37,590 --> 00:22:39,630 are in the sky 637 00:22:39,630 --> 00:22:41,790 and what instrument to use 638 00:22:41,790 --> 00:22:43,840 look at them and once you get more 639 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,900 familiar with the sky, like I've done over many 640 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:47,980 years then dabble in astro-photography. 641 00:22:47,980 --> 00:22:50,070 So we are going to wrap up our 642 00:22:50,070 --> 00:22:52,140 catalog of the Messier objects 643 00:22:52,140 --> 00:22:54,280 with one of the most beautiful things in the sky called 644 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,380 the Andromeda galaxy, this is M31 645 00:22:56,380 --> 00:22:59,450 and I have to say Kevin this your image. 646 00:22:59,450 --> 00:23:02,530 This is absolutely spectacular. The Andromeda 647 00:23:02,530 --> 00:23:05,740 galaxy is a galaxy very much like the Milky Way 648 00:23:05,740 --> 00:23:07,790 it's a distance of a little bit more then 2 million light years away. 649 00:23:07,790 --> 00:23:09,880 The thing that is amazing about the Andromeda 650 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,910 galaxy is that edge to edge this 651 00:23:11,910 --> 00:23:13,930 is as large on the sky as 652 00:23:13,930 --> 00:23:15,970 three full moons. 653 00:23:15,970 --> 00:23:18,020 Think about lining full moon up 654 00:23:18,020 --> 00:23:20,140 across that galaxy. 655 00:23:20,140 --> 00:23:22,270 At night when this thing is up, there's this 656 00:23:22,270 --> 00:23:24,320 giant galaxy actually covering a fairly large 657 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,380 part of our sky but the reason we don't see 658 00:23:26,380 --> 00:23:28,440 it's very faint and in fact 659 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,490 Messier could only see the very very central 660 00:23:30,490 --> 00:23:32,540 part of the galaxy but this other objects 661 00:23:32,540 --> 00:23:35,710 in here as well that Messier saw 662 00:23:35,710 --> 00:23:38,760 in this gorgeous image that you took. Tell us about that. 663 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,810 Wouldn't we all had eyes to see this 664 00:23:41,810 --> 00:23:44,880 thing in the sky hanging 665 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,960 there in the autumn sky as big 666 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,060 as 6 full moons across, right? 667 00:23:51,060 --> 00:23:54,100 It's just an amazingly big object. 668 00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:57,250 It's faint because it's a long way away. 669 00:23:57,250 --> 00:24:00,320 So when you look at this in a telescope 670 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,380 or with binoculars, in fact you can see this object 671 00:24:03,380 --> 00:24:06,480 with the naked eye from a dark place. 672 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,620 You're really only seeing the very bright core 673 00:24:09,620 --> 00:24:12,750 but that is what you'll see in a scope 674 00:24:12,750 --> 00:24:15,810 or binoculars. Very fun to see. 675 00:24:15,810 --> 00:24:18,880 I remember dragging my whole family when I was maybe 15 676 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,980 and it was in the winter and 677 00:24:21,980 --> 00:24:25,100 I said, now that I found you have to see it so 678 00:24:25,100 --> 00:24:28,230 it was like 20 degrees out, drag all my sisters out 679 00:24:28,230 --> 00:24:31,290 to see this thing because it's just 680 00:24:31,290 --> 00:24:34,340 it's a classic. It's very spectacular. 681 00:24:34,340 --> 00:24:37,360 This object, Messier also found probably within 682 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:40,470 the same night that he looked at M31. 683 00:24:40,470 --> 00:24:43,520 This is called M32. 684 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,660 Again, very easy to see because it's so close to N31 685 00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:49,700 and it looks like a slightly out of focus star. 686 00:24:49,700 --> 00:24:52,740 Little harder to see is this on down here 687 00:24:52,740 --> 00:24:55,770 a companion galaxy, now known as 688 00:24:55,770 --> 00:24:58,890 M110 you have to use that 689 00:24:58,890 --> 00:25:01,930 little trick I mention earlier, looking to the 690 00:25:01,930 --> 00:25:05,090 side of M110 to see it more clearly. I like to 691 00:25:05,090 --> 00:25:08,180 take people out and show them Andromeda 692 00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:11,230 through the telescope, it's very easy to see this 693 00:25:11,230 --> 00:25:14,340 little harder to see this and they have to really work to see 694 00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:17,490 M110 so it's a great learning experience. 695 00:25:17,490 --> 00:25:19,550 Going to the Hubble image of Andromeda, 696 00:25:19,550 --> 00:25:21,630 this is something that is kind of mind blowing. 697 00:25:21,630 --> 00:25:23,690 Hubble is so powerful that it can see the individual 698 00:25:23,690 --> 00:25:25,790 stars in this galaxy 699 00:25:25,790 --> 00:25:27,880 2 million light years away. 700 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,950 Now this galaxy contains hundreds of 701 00:25:29,950 --> 00:25:32,100 billions of stars and when you look 702 00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:34,150 this image there is kind of graininess to the image 703 00:25:34,150 --> 00:25:36,230 and that is real. These are all individual 704 00:25:36,230 --> 00:25:38,300 stars that Hubble can pick out. 705 00:25:38,300 --> 00:25:40,410 Now the amazing thing, it Hubble over 706 00:25:40,410 --> 00:25:42,520 400 pointing's to stitch 707 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,670 together this giant mosaic of Andromeda 708 00:25:44,670 --> 00:25:46,680 and in fact Hubble only had the time 709 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,760 to image about 1/3 of the galaxy. 710 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,840 So think about that. More then 711 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,910 400 Hubble images all put together in a 712 00:25:52,910 --> 00:25:55,010 mosaic to cover just about 1/3 713 00:25:55,010 --> 00:25:57,130 of the Andromeda galaxy. 714 00:25:57,130 --> 00:25:59,200 That's amazing thing to see and an 715 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,270 incredible Messier object. 716 00:26:01,270 --> 00:26:03,330 Hopefully in talking about these wonderful 717 00:26:03,330 --> 00:26:05,420 objects you can see in the sky, things like 718 00:26:05,420 --> 00:26:07,460 dead stars, stars being born, 719 00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:09,720 galaxy, star clusters. You might want to 720 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,800 go out and look at them yourself and this is 721 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,860 where Kevin is the expert and he's going to talk to you 722 00:26:13,860 --> 00:26:15,910 a bit about what you can do, to go out 723 00:26:15,910 --> 00:26:18,010 and make your own Messier catalog. 724 00:26:18,010 --> 00:26:20,110 So you brought some telescopes here so let's go 725 00:26:20,110 --> 00:26:22,270 over here and take a look at this. 726 00:26:22,270 --> 00:26:24,420 727 00:26:24,420 --> 00:26:26,450 So I should probably start here. 728 00:26:26,450 --> 00:26:28,510 Because 729 00:26:28,510 --> 00:26:30,570 from a dark sky 730 00:26:30,570 --> 00:26:32,660 you can see 731 00:26:32,660 --> 00:26:34,760 most of the Messier 732 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,900 objects with a good pair of binoculars. 733 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:38,940 From the Washington, DC 734 00:26:38,940 --> 00:26:40,970 area maybe a 735 00:26:40,970 --> 00:26:43,050 quarter of them but if you're out 736 00:26:43,050 --> 00:26:45,140 in a dark spot you can see 737 00:26:45,140 --> 00:26:47,250 many of these so get yourself 738 00:26:47,250 --> 00:26:49,380 a star chart like this 739 00:26:49,380 --> 00:26:51,470 and find 740 00:26:51,470 --> 00:26:53,500 them or use the star charts that 741 00:26:53,500 --> 00:26:55,580 are on the Hubble 742 00:26:55,580 --> 00:26:57,740 site and you'll 743 00:26:57,740 --> 00:26:59,850 know where to look. 744 00:26:59,850 --> 00:27:01,890 It's good to use a set of 745 00:27:01,890 --> 00:27:04,060 binoculars at night that's, 746 00:27:04,060 --> 00:27:06,130 one like this. 747 00:27:06,130 --> 00:27:08,190 This is a 10x50 748 00:27:08,190 --> 00:27:10,230 10 is the magnification 749 00:27:10,230 --> 00:27:12,330 50 is the size and milometer 750 00:27:12,330 --> 00:27:14,380 of the glass up front. 751 00:27:14,380 --> 00:27:16,550 Most of us have 7x35 at home they're 752 00:27:16,550 --> 00:27:18,580 great for terrestrial viewing, 753 00:27:18,580 --> 00:27:20,670 looking at things in the yard 754 00:27:20,670 --> 00:27:22,720 or what ever. 755 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,820 But you want a little more power and you want to 756 00:27:24,820 --> 00:27:26,920 gather more light because the stars are faint. 757 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,040 You want this 758 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:29,200 lens to be as big as you can hold 759 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,270 lens to be as big as you can hold steady. 760 00:27:32,270 --> 00:27:35,340 That's the other caveat, right? 761 00:27:35,340 --> 00:27:37,380 So if you get to heavy of a binocular you can't hold it steady 762 00:27:37,380 --> 00:27:39,490 and you won't get a very good view. 763 00:27:39,490 --> 00:27:41,620 So just 2 other representitives 764 00:27:41,620 --> 00:27:43,660 scopes you might 765 00:27:43,660 --> 00:27:45,710 be fascinated to know that the 766 00:27:45,710 --> 00:27:47,750 beautiful that I took 767 00:27:47,750 --> 00:27:50,830 and the one of the Pleiades was taken with 768 00:27:50,830 --> 00:27:53,890 almost exactly this size, it wasn't this particular one 769 00:27:53,890 --> 00:27:55,990 but I had it mounted on the back 770 00:27:55,990 --> 00:27:58,120 of a larger scope and more 771 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:00,170 expensive mount that was tracking the star 772 00:28:00,170 --> 00:28:02,220 cause again I had to layup these time 773 00:28:02,220 --> 00:28:04,290 exposures. But you can enjoy 774 00:28:04,290 --> 00:28:06,450 the Pleiades and the Orion 775 00:28:06,450 --> 00:28:09,580 nebula and M31 776 00:28:09,580 --> 00:28:12,710 all as beautiful objects in a scope this size. 777 00:28:12,710 --> 00:28:15,780 Our website says 778 00:28:15,780 --> 00:28:18,860 for each individual object it's best seen or 779 00:28:18,860 --> 00:28:21,940 can be see with a large, medium, or small 780 00:28:21,940 --> 00:28:25,050 telescope. This is what we mean by small. 781 00:28:25,050 --> 00:28:28,190 Up to 3 or 4 inches. 782 00:28:28,190 --> 00:28:30,220 Medium would be more in the class of a 6 783 00:28:30,220 --> 00:28:32,280 to 10 inch diameter telescope. 784 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,360 The size of the 785 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:36,440 lens again is 786 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,530 the size of the 787 00:28:38,530 --> 00:28:40,650 it's what collecting 788 00:28:40,650 --> 00:28:42,830 the light so think of it as you eyeball. 789 00:28:42,830 --> 00:28:44,920 Imagine your eyeball being 8 790 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:46,960 inches wide, you'd collect a lot more light. 791 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,000 Then larger scopes, 792 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,120 we didn't have room on set to bring it in here, 793 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,260 can be 10, 12, 16 794 00:28:54,260 --> 00:28:56,330 some amateurs have 20 inch telescopes, 795 00:28:56,330 --> 00:28:58,370 great big things. But the get 796 00:28:58,370 --> 00:29:00,500 obviously difficult to move around. 797 00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:02,610 So 798 00:29:02,610 --> 00:29:04,640 each has their own price range 799 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,760 and pros and cons 800 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:08,910 read up on a web site that describes 801 00:29:08,910 --> 00:29:10,970 telescopes before buying one and really I 802 00:29:10,970 --> 00:29:13,040 recommend learning your constellations, 803 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,090 finding Messier objects 804 00:29:15,090 --> 00:29:17,150 with a binocular and then 805 00:29:17,150 --> 00:29:19,260 stepping up as your interest continues. 806 00:29:19,260 --> 00:29:21,400 Here's a zoom eye piece 807 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,440 that I was mentioning before 808 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,480 so you just twist it and it 809 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:27,530 magnifies so you don't have to keep 810 00:29:27,530 --> 00:29:29,630 reaching for different eye pieces. 811 00:29:29,630 --> 00:29:31,720 If you do want to do that 812 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,750 there are many different types 813 00:29:33,750 --> 00:29:35,910 and 814 00:29:35,910 --> 00:29:37,950 it just makes it easier, I find it easier 815 00:29:37,950 --> 00:29:40,000 to just zoom in. Interesting 816 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,060 Charles Messier, he 817 00:29:42,060 --> 00:29:44,170 looked through about every telescope he could get his 818 00:29:44,170 --> 00:29:46,260 hands on and 819 00:29:46,260 --> 00:29:48,390 they were very good 820 00:29:48,390 --> 00:29:50,470 and they didn't have eye pieces 821 00:29:50,470 --> 00:29:52,550 The eye piece they had weren't 822 00:29:52,550 --> 00:29:54,580 replaceable, I should say 823 00:29:54,580 --> 00:29:56,650 they were a fixed magnification. 824 00:29:56,650 --> 00:29:58,770 Interesting different. 825 00:29:58,770 --> 00:30:00,810 Before we go on to some questions from the audience 826 00:30:00,810 --> 00:30:02,940 the question I have for you is how many Messier 827 00:30:02,940 --> 00:30:04,990 objects have you personally seen? 828 00:30:04,990 --> 00:30:07,040 Oh boy! Yeah so. 829 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,120 I've seen just about all of them. 830 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,180 We didn't talk about tonight but there's a 831 00:30:11,180 --> 00:30:13,290 large group of galaxies 832 00:30:13,290 --> 00:30:16,440 in the constellation Coma Berenices 833 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,510 off the tail of Leo and next to Virgo 834 00:30:19,510 --> 00:30:22,570 where there are just 835 00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:24,650 literally scores of galaxies. 836 00:30:24,650 --> 00:30:26,730 Some of them are Messier objects 837 00:30:26,730 --> 00:30:28,770 many of them are not. They didn't make his list. 838 00:30:28,770 --> 00:30:30,880 So I've looked at that cluster 839 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,030 and when you 840 00:30:33,030 --> 00:30:35,080 look through the field of view 841 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,150 you might see 2 or 3 Messier objects 842 00:30:37,150 --> 00:30:39,240 but 2 or 3 that are almost 843 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,320 as bright that he missed somehow. 844 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,450 I've seen 845 00:30:43,450 --> 00:30:45,490 them all, I haven't cataloged 846 00:30:45,490 --> 00:30:47,550 all but I'm starting to do that 847 00:30:47,550 --> 00:30:49,610 now, it kind of a bucket list thing 848 00:30:49,610 --> 00:30:51,650 for me. If you write 849 00:30:51,650 --> 00:30:53,730 down the day, time, and scope 850 00:30:53,730 --> 00:30:55,820 that you used and details 851 00:30:55,820 --> 00:30:57,930 about the sky 852 00:30:57,930 --> 00:30:59,990 and send that log 853 00:30:59,990 --> 00:31:02,000 to the Astronomical League 854 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,060 you can get a certificate. 855 00:31:04,060 --> 00:31:06,110 Which is really cool. Say you've seen all 856 00:31:06,110 --> 00:31:08,170 the Messier objects. So I'm now 857 00:31:08,170 --> 00:31:10,250 logging them all, I've probably seen them all. 858 00:31:10,250 --> 00:31:12,370 But I didn't log them all. 859 00:31:12,370 --> 00:31:14,430 Excellent! Before we go we have some 860 00:31:14,430 --> 00:31:15,450 time for questions. 861 00:31:15,450 --> 00:31:17,600 Yeah, we do and it seems like we have a couple 862 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,640 Messier collection 863 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,690 hopefuls in here. 864 00:31:21,690 --> 00:31:23,760 We have one question asking, 865 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,860 what is the best kind of telescope for 866 00:31:25,860 --> 00:31:27,990 a beginner? While we are over here we might as well 867 00:31:27,990 --> 00:31:30,110 start with the telescope questions, yeah? 868 00:31:30,110 --> 00:31:32,170 The best answer I've heard to that question is 869 00:31:32,170 --> 00:31:34,250 one that you use. OK? 870 00:31:34,250 --> 00:31:36,340 So it can't be to heavy, it can't be 871 00:31:36,340 --> 00:31:38,460 too complicated, 872 00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:40,570 can't be to expensive. 873 00:31:40,570 --> 00:31:42,700 Right? If you're just a beginner. 874 00:31:42,700 --> 00:31:44,760 Because you want to get your feet wet. 875 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:46,850 Right? 876 00:31:46,850 --> 00:31:48,920 Realize I really can find things. 877 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,020 Enjoy them and then 878 00:31:51,020 --> 00:31:53,160 move up from there. 879 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,190 I find ones that have this 880 00:31:55,190 --> 00:31:57,230 style of mount helpful. 881 00:31:57,230 --> 00:32:00,290 It's called a azimuth and 882 00:32:00,290 --> 00:32:03,340 elevation and so it's very intuitive to just 883 00:32:03,340 --> 00:32:05,440 swing it around and bring it up 884 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:07,550 and look for your object in the 885 00:32:07,550 --> 00:32:09,670 one of these types of telescopes. 886 00:32:09,670 --> 00:32:11,740 I think this a good choice 887 00:32:11,740 --> 00:32:13,790 not maybe this big but 888 00:32:13,790 --> 00:32:15,870 an azimuth elevation kind of 889 00:32:15,870 --> 00:32:17,940 mount on the telescope. 890 00:32:17,940 --> 00:32:20,040 Then similar we got a different question 891 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,160 from someone else asking, what are the best 892 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,200 kind of binoculars for back yard astronomy? 893 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,260 Yeah, well again a 894 00:32:26,260 --> 00:32:28,340 I would say shoot for something 895 00:32:28,340 --> 00:32:30,380 like a 10x50 896 00:32:30,380 --> 00:32:32,440 like these 897 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,480 and not to heavy. 898 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,570 If you get much heavier then this they 899 00:32:36,570 --> 00:32:38,700 sell stands you can put them on 900 00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:40,790 but you'll want something to steady them. 901 00:32:40,790 --> 00:32:42,850 I think a 10x50 is a 902 00:32:42,850 --> 00:32:44,900 pretty good size for most places. 903 00:32:44,900 --> 00:32:46,970 That's always my problem but I love using binoculars 904 00:32:46,970 --> 00:32:49,090 but it's hard to keep them steady in your hands. 905 00:32:49,090 --> 00:32:51,140 So people have techniques like resting your 906 00:32:51,140 --> 00:32:53,300 elbows on knees 907 00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:55,350 and steadying that way or actually going up against 908 00:32:55,350 --> 00:32:57,400 a wall. That's one of the harder things, learning to 909 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,410 steady the image. Right. 910 00:32:59,410 --> 00:33:01,590 Speaking of images maybe we'll come out here 911 00:33:01,590 --> 00:33:02,680 so we can see some more of these 912 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:03,780 images in the background 913 00:33:03,780 --> 00:33:04,910 while we take a few more questions. 914 00:33:04,910 --> 00:33:05,950 Watch your step. 915 00:33:05,950 --> 00:33:08,010 Kelly wants to know, what 916 00:33:08,010 --> 00:33:10,060 causes new stars to move 917 00:33:10,060 --> 00:33:12,240 away from the cloud that they were born in? 918 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,370 Well there are a lot of reasons for this. 919 00:33:14,370 --> 00:33:16,500 There an intrinsic movement of the stars. 920 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:18,560 That when stars form they pick 921 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,620 up angular momentum, they begin to spin 922 00:33:20,620 --> 00:33:22,680 and the clusters of stars spin in different ways too. 923 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:24,770 Over time this can actually spin some 924 00:33:24,770 --> 00:33:26,890 of the stars out of the cluster entirely. 925 00:33:26,890 --> 00:33:29,000 The other thing to remember is that star clusters 926 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,180 never live just by themselves. 927 00:33:31,180 --> 00:33:33,250 We go around the galaxy. 928 00:33:33,250 --> 00:33:35,310 Right now we actually flying around the center 929 00:33:35,310 --> 00:33:37,400 of the Milky Way galaxy at about a 930 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,420 half a million miles an hour. 931 00:33:39,420 --> 00:33:41,550 Good thing we don't actually feel that. 932 00:33:41,550 --> 00:33:43,600 As the Sun moves around the galaxy it has 933 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,640 very gentle gravitation encounters 934 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:47,700 with other stars. Over billions 935 00:33:47,700 --> 00:33:49,860 of years, over many passes around 936 00:33:49,860 --> 00:33:52,950 the galaxy, this spreads the cluster out. 937 00:33:52,950 --> 00:33:54,990 We've left probably some of our sister stars 938 00:33:54,990 --> 00:33:57,130 way on the other side of the galaxy. 939 00:33:57,130 --> 00:33:59,200 The star formed right near us but now 940 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,250 it's 100 thousand light years away. 941 00:34:01,250 --> 00:34:03,300 And that's just the regular gravitational attraction 942 00:34:03,300 --> 00:34:05,380 of the different stars as we move through the galaxy. 943 00:34:05,380 --> 00:34:06,920 Great! It seems like these clusters 944 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:08,970 kind of resonated with people. 945 00:34:08,970 --> 00:34:11,030 Someone else wanted to know, 946 00:34:11,030 --> 00:34:13,110 how far away are stars 947 00:34:13,110 --> 00:34:15,210 in a cluster? 948 00:34:15,210 --> 00:34:17,340 That's an interesting question. I don't have an exact number 949 00:34:17,340 --> 00:34:19,380 for some of the clusters that we've been showing you. 950 00:34:19,380 --> 00:34:21,480 But as Kevin mentioned, if you were in a globular 951 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,530 cluster. If you were in a planet 952 00:34:23,530 --> 00:34:25,630 around a star in the heart of a globular 953 00:34:25,630 --> 00:34:27,680 cluster, the night sky would be 954 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,780 brilliantly bright. So the closest 955 00:34:29,780 --> 00:34:31,900 star to us is about 4 light years away 956 00:34:31,900 --> 00:34:34,080 and in the heart of a globular cluster 957 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,150 it would be a lot closer then that. 958 00:34:36,150 --> 00:34:38,230 I don't have an exact number but I do know 959 00:34:38,230 --> 00:34:40,330 the night sky would look a lot different. 960 00:34:40,330 --> 00:34:42,430 4 light years is a long way. 961 00:34:42,430 --> 00:34:44,570 Right? And so 962 00:34:44,570 --> 00:34:46,610 I've read if 963 00:34:46,610 --> 00:34:48,670 you considered the volume 964 00:34:48,670 --> 00:34:50,730 of sphere 965 00:34:50,730 --> 00:34:52,830 this 4 light years in 966 00:34:52,830 --> 00:34:54,960 radius some of these globular 967 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,100 cluster there could be as many as 968 00:34:57,100 --> 00:34:59,140 10 thousand stars within that 969 00:34:59,140 --> 00:35:01,200 970 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,280 that sphere and so 971 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,310 imagine being on a planet around one of those 972 00:35:05,310 --> 00:35:07,420 973 00:35:07,420 --> 00:35:09,540 it would be just dazzling. 974 00:35:09,540 --> 00:35:11,700 And then another question. 975 00:35:11,700 --> 00:35:13,740 This one looks it's specifically 976 00:35:13,740 --> 00:35:15,800 for Kevin. How do you deal with light pollution? 977 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:17,880 Yes... Well 978 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:19,960 I cry a lot I guess is the answer. 979 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,000 [Laughter] 980 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,240 If you have a 981 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:27,290 portable telescope which some of my are. 982 00:35:27,290 --> 00:35:29,350 You get to a dark spot. In that way 983 00:35:29,350 --> 00:35:31,430 you can just enjoy the night sky and 984 00:35:31,430 --> 00:35:33,540 find things easier. 985 00:35:33,540 --> 00:35:35,630 Taking pictures, see 986 00:35:35,630 --> 00:35:37,740 is one of the strategies that I have 987 00:35:37,740 --> 00:35:39,780 to fight light pollution because 988 00:35:39,780 --> 00:35:41,840 you can play tricks with a digital camera. 989 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:43,910 Digital camera is very very 990 00:35:43,910 --> 00:35:45,950 sensitive as you've seen in these 991 00:35:45,950 --> 00:35:48,050 images and so 992 00:35:48,050 --> 00:35:50,160 you can play these tricks 993 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,300 about stacking up photos 994 00:35:52,300 --> 00:35:54,340 and processing them and get these 995 00:35:54,340 --> 00:35:56,400 amazing results. I live north 996 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,480 of Washington, DC where it's very 997 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,590 bright and yet 998 00:36:00,590 --> 00:36:02,690 you can play these tricks 999 00:36:02,690 --> 00:36:04,810 with a digital camera. 1000 00:36:04,810 --> 00:36:06,880 Some of the same tricks Hubble 1001 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:08,960 plays actually. 1002 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,040 Taking an image 1003 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,070 and then basically covering 1004 00:36:13,070 --> 00:36:15,170 the shutter 1005 00:36:15,170 --> 00:36:17,280 and putting up a black 1006 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:19,350 cover on the telescope 1007 00:36:19,350 --> 00:36:21,390 and taking another image. You'd say 1008 00:36:21,390 --> 00:36:23,470 why would you do that? You record the 1009 00:36:23,470 --> 00:36:25,540 noise in the camera 1010 00:36:25,540 --> 00:36:27,610 and then there is software 1011 00:36:27,610 --> 00:36:29,710 that you can use to subtract off the noise 1012 00:36:29,710 --> 00:36:31,830 so this is the way to fight light 1013 00:36:31,830 --> 00:36:33,960 pollution. You subtract it off with 1014 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,030 a digital camera. Can't do that with your eye. 1015 00:36:36,030 --> 00:36:38,110 But Hubble plays that same trick. 1016 00:36:38,110 --> 00:36:40,170 Not to fight light pollution so much but 1017 00:36:40,170 --> 00:36:42,290 just to get that noise that is 1018 00:36:42,290 --> 00:36:44,390 inherent in the camera because of it's 1019 00:36:44,390 --> 00:36:46,390 thermal qualities 1020 00:36:46,390 --> 00:36:48,550 and subtract that out. 1021 00:36:48,550 --> 00:36:50,590 It's amazing to me just how much we are missing with 1022 00:36:50,590 --> 00:36:52,670 light pollution. The most beautiful sky I've ever saw 1023 00:36:52,670 --> 00:36:54,750 was when I was in Chile, I was in the 1024 00:36:54,750 --> 00:36:56,850 Atacama desert where there were no lights around at all 1025 00:36:56,850 --> 00:36:59,000 and somebody pointed out that 1026 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,080 the Milky Way was so bright over head 1027 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,110 it was making me cry. It was so beautiful 1028 00:37:03,110 --> 00:37:05,190 I was getting tears in my eyes. I looked down 1029 00:37:05,190 --> 00:37:07,290 at the ground and someone pointed out that I was 1030 00:37:07,290 --> 00:37:09,380 casting a very dim shadow on the ground. 1031 00:37:09,380 --> 00:37:11,520 But there was no moon out that night, 1032 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,680 none of the bright planets were out that night 1033 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:15,730 I was actually a shadow being cast by the Milk Way. 1034 00:37:15,730 --> 00:37:17,780 That's how bright the Milky Way can get. 1035 00:37:17,780 --> 00:37:19,950 So get yourself 1036 00:37:19,950 --> 00:37:23,080 to a dark sky if you possible can. 1037 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,150 Wow! That's crazy. So we have a question 1038 00:37:25,150 --> 00:37:27,210 about Hubble specifically. 1039 00:37:27,210 --> 00:37:29,290 How does Hubble take so many sharp 1040 00:37:29,290 --> 00:37:31,350 images when it's moving so fast? 1041 00:37:31,350 --> 00:37:33,450 Pointing. I think 1042 00:37:33,450 --> 00:37:35,550 I'll leave this to the Hubble operation manager. 1043 00:37:35,550 --> 00:37:37,690 Absolutely. That's for you Kev. Yes no. 1044 00:37:37,690 --> 00:37:39,700 You don't think about it much 1045 00:37:39,700 --> 00:37:41,760 that would be more of a problem if 1046 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,810 the stars were closer but they're 1047 00:37:43,810 --> 00:37:45,870 so far away that the light 1048 00:37:45,870 --> 00:37:48,080 that's coming anywhere Earth 1049 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,210 is coming in parallel beams. 1050 00:37:51,210 --> 00:37:54,300 And so, yes Hubble is moving around the Earth 1051 00:37:54,300 --> 00:37:57,390 but it's still seeing these 1052 00:37:57,390 --> 00:37:59,410 parallel beams that come from these 1053 00:37:59,410 --> 00:38:01,510 distant stars. 1054 00:38:01,510 --> 00:38:03,540 If an object was closer like 1055 00:38:03,540 --> 00:38:05,660 the moon, 1056 00:38:05,660 --> 00:38:07,720 you don't see many Hubble pictures 1057 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:09,730 of the moon do you? See, 1058 00:38:09,730 --> 00:38:11,820 Hubble was never designed to look at the moon. 1059 00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:13,890 Now we've 1060 00:38:13,890 --> 00:38:15,930 over the years that Hubble's been operating 1061 00:38:15,930 --> 00:38:18,010 we know have modes that can but they are very 1062 00:38:18,010 --> 00:38:20,120 seldom used because you have a 1063 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,160 what they have a parallax problem. 1064 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,200 The moon is to close 1065 00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:26,250 and Hubble is moving to fast 1066 00:38:26,250 --> 00:38:28,320 that light beams aren't coming to you 1067 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,390 in a parallel fashion. 1068 00:38:30,390 --> 00:38:32,450 And so, the secret is 1069 00:38:32,450 --> 00:38:34,570 the stars are so far way. 1070 00:38:34,570 --> 00:38:36,630 Wow that fascinating. 1071 00:38:36,630 --> 00:38:38,760 Some asked, what is the best 1072 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:40,810 telescope for astro-photography? 1073 00:38:40,810 --> 00:38:42,850 OK.I don't know how to answer that 1074 00:38:42,850 --> 00:38:44,870 question, that's why I'm asking you. 1075 00:38:44,870 --> 00:38:46,930 [laughter] 1076 00:38:46,930 --> 00:38:48,990 There is different types of targets 1077 00:38:48,990 --> 00:38:51,070 what we've been calling 1078 00:38:51,070 --> 00:38:53,190 these ones would be classified as 1079 00:38:53,190 --> 00:38:55,290 deep space objects 1080 00:38:55,290 --> 00:38:57,350 (DOS's). There's also like the moon 1081 00:38:57,350 --> 00:38:59,400 and planets. You would 1082 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,480 want a different type of telescope 1083 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,540 to do lunar and 1084 00:39:03,540 --> 00:39:05,670 planetary work then you would 1085 00:39:05,670 --> 00:39:07,810 for deep sky objects. 1086 00:39:07,810 --> 00:39:09,840 And so that's part of the answer. 1087 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,880 For deep sky objects I think 1088 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:13,960 most web sites 1089 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,040 I would go to and people more 1090 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,150 experience then I at this would say 1091 00:39:18,150 --> 00:39:20,300 get medium size 1092 00:39:20,300 --> 00:39:22,350 refracting telescope. 1093 00:39:22,350 --> 00:39:24,400 It's the type that has the lens up front. 1094 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,480 With a 1095 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,540 fairly short focal length 1096 00:39:28,540 --> 00:39:30,650 and that will probably do the best 1097 00:39:30,650 --> 00:39:32,750 for you for these things. 1098 00:39:32,750 --> 00:39:34,800 Lot's of reason why 1099 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:36,850 those kind of telescope can 1100 00:39:36,850 --> 00:39:38,910 range from the $600 that I bought 1101 00:39:38,910 --> 00:39:40,990 to $6000 so 1102 00:39:40,990 --> 00:39:43,020 you kind of go with your budget too. 1103 00:39:43,020 --> 00:39:45,110 And so much of it appears to be in the way you process the images. 1104 00:39:45,110 --> 00:39:47,160 I mean you image of Andromeda was 1105 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:49,280 spectacular. I remember when I first saw it 1106 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,460 we were rehearsing for this, I said that was something 1107 00:39:51,460 --> 00:39:53,540 that the Mt Wilson telescope would have taken 1108 00:39:53,540 --> 00:39:55,600 a 100 years ago. That would have been the best 1109 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:57,680 astronomical image in the world but here you did this out of the 1110 00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,790 small scope. Yeah, there it is. 1111 00:39:59,790 --> 00:40:01,930 So that has to do a lot with what you do 1112 00:40:01,930 --> 00:40:03,980 with the imagery afterwards too. 1113 00:40:03,980 --> 00:40:06,050 So true. Yes 1114 00:40:06,050 --> 00:40:08,120 The more you stack the more signals 1115 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,220 noise you get and the more you learn 1116 00:40:10,220 --> 00:40:12,310 about Photoshop and 1117 00:40:12,310 --> 00:40:14,460 these other processing techniques. 1118 00:40:14,460 --> 00:40:16,520 They just 1119 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:18,580 the better you get at it. I really consider myself 1120 00:40:18,580 --> 00:40:20,660 a baby at it. 1121 00:40:20,660 --> 00:40:22,740 This one again was about a 4 hours exposure. 1122 00:40:22,740 --> 00:40:24,800 1123 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:26,850 Many many times more then 1124 00:40:26,850 --> 00:40:29,000 4 hours in processing. 1125 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,050 And you only have been doing this about 4 years. 1126 00:40:31,050 --> 00:40:33,130 Yep. It's because there's so many resources online. 1127 00:40:33,130 --> 00:40:35,180 We're bringing you the 1128 00:40:35,180 --> 00:40:37,220 Hubble Messier catalog 1129 00:40:37,220 --> 00:40:39,340 online with all its information 1130 00:40:39,340 --> 00:40:41,440 there's lots and lots of helpful 1131 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,480 resources out there about astro-photography. 1132 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,650 The Messier catalog is 1133 00:40:45,650 --> 00:40:47,720 such an inspiration to me, sort of wrapping 1134 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:49,810 it all up again, we talk about avoiding these things that 1135 00:40:49,810 --> 00:40:51,880 aren't comets but instead 1136 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:54,020 it turns out to be the catalog of wonders. 1137 00:40:54,020 --> 00:40:56,100 Everything from dead stars to baby stars to 1138 00:40:56,100 --> 00:40:58,140 these vast galaxies that you took a picture of 1139 00:40:58,140 --> 00:41:00,190 well in some strange way we have 1140 00:41:00,190 --> 00:41:02,260 Charles Messier even though 1141 00:41:02,260 --> 00:41:04,350 it wasn't what he was looking for. 1142 00:41:04,350 --> 00:41:06,470 Yes, he found 13 1143 00:41:06,470 --> 00:41:08,620 comets on his own. 1144 00:41:08,620 --> 00:41:10,800 Remarkable for the instruments he had and 1145 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:11,860 operating from the center of Paris. 1146 00:41:11,860 --> 00:41:12,960 Can you imagine it? 1147 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,060 In an observatory there and he 1148 00:41:16,060 --> 00:41:19,160 co-discovered 7 others with 1149 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,300 his friends. So the man found 20 1150 00:41:22,300 --> 00:41:25,360 comets in his lifetime. 1151 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,420 Very remarkable for the instruments he had 1152 00:41:27,420 --> 00:41:29,510 and the place he was doing it from. 1153 00:41:29,510 --> 00:41:31,600 Try to discover one from the center of Paris right now. 1154 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,730 Pretty hard to do. OK. 1155 00:41:33,730 --> 00:41:35,880 Are you ready for another question? Sure! 1156 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,930 Alahondra wants to know what are your favorite 1157 00:41:37,930 --> 00:41:39,950 locations for stargazing? I guess I can ask both 1158 00:41:39,950 --> 00:41:42,030 of you that question. 1159 00:41:42,030 --> 00:41:44,110 Well I just mention the Atacama Desert but that's kind 1160 00:41:44,110 --> 00:41:46,220 hard to get to. So it is 1161 00:41:46,220 --> 00:41:48,360 amazing to me how much you actually 1162 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,420 can see from a relatively dark back yard. 1163 00:41:50,420 --> 00:41:52,480 If you can get yourself to a nice clear 1164 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,540 horizon. I've seen comets 1165 00:41:54,540 --> 00:41:56,620 through small binoculars. 1166 00:41:56,620 --> 00:41:58,710 I've seen small telescopes where you can see the rings 1167 00:41:58,710 --> 00:42:00,830 of Saturn. Saturn in particular 1168 00:42:00,830 --> 00:42:02,990 is an object a lot closer to us 1169 00:42:02,990 --> 00:42:05,050 then the Messier objects are but 1170 00:42:05,050 --> 00:42:07,110 this is one of the things where if you're a little disappointed 1171 00:42:07,110 --> 00:42:09,210 by the Andromeda galaxy just being a smudge. 1172 00:42:09,210 --> 00:42:11,300 When you see Saturn and it's rings 1173 00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:13,420 right there in front of you and the moons of Saturn 1174 00:42:13,420 --> 00:42:15,570 as well, that's something that just floored 1175 00:42:15,570 --> 00:42:17,630 me the first time I saw it. It looked like somebody 1176 00:42:17,630 --> 00:42:19,700 had taken a picture of Saturn from a textbook and 1177 00:42:19,700 --> 00:42:21,760 just kind of pasted on the end of the telescope. 1178 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:23,890 So some of these objects are very easy to 1179 00:42:23,890 --> 00:42:25,950 see, they are very bright 1180 00:42:25,950 --> 00:42:28,090 don't need a dark sky to see them. 1181 00:42:28,090 --> 00:42:30,130 Yeah that's right. 1182 00:42:30,130 --> 00:42:32,190 The moon and planets 1183 00:42:32,190 --> 00:42:34,220 in even a very modest size scope 1184 00:42:34,220 --> 00:42:36,330 can be a 1185 00:42:36,330 --> 00:42:39,360 unforgettable 1186 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,490 experience. 1187 00:42:41,490 --> 00:42:43,660 As you mentioned, seeing the rings of Saturn 1188 00:42:43,660 --> 00:42:45,710 I've been at so many 1189 00:42:45,710 --> 00:42:47,760 star parties, we call them, we have telescopes 1190 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,850 out and have fun with 1191 00:42:49,850 --> 00:42:51,940 the heavens. 1192 00:42:51,940 --> 00:42:54,060 It's so fun to see people 1193 00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:56,230 see the moon or the planets 1194 00:42:56,230 --> 00:42:58,360 Saturn or Jupiter with it's 1195 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,380 moons and bands for the first time. 1196 00:43:01,380 --> 00:43:03,380 They never forget it. I never forget it. 1197 00:43:03,380 --> 00:43:05,490 That's what got me into astronomy 1198 00:43:05,490 --> 00:43:07,600 many, many years ago 1199 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:09,740 seeing Saturn 1200 00:43:09,740 --> 00:43:11,800 there is connection with the universe 1201 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,870 that you feel and it's really 1202 00:43:13,870 --> 00:43:15,940 unforgettable. Where would I go 1203 00:43:15,940 --> 00:43:18,040 around here? I have a brother-in-law 1204 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,150 that lives down in Virginia in the mountains 1205 00:43:20,150 --> 00:43:22,290 and so that's a good spot to go 1206 00:43:22,290 --> 00:43:24,330 and the eastern shore is pretty 1207 00:43:24,330 --> 00:43:26,370 good dark spot with nice horizons. 1208 00:43:26,370 --> 00:43:28,420 So you can see things 1209 00:43:28,420 --> 00:43:30,510 from horizon to horizon 1210 00:43:30,510 --> 00:43:32,560 but if I were going to pay money and go some 1211 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,660 place it would probably Chile or someplace like that 1212 00:43:34,660 --> 00:43:36,840 or Hawaii 1213 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,910 to have, be on top of a mountain 1214 00:43:39,910 --> 00:43:42,950 where all the other great telescopes are 1215 00:43:42,950 --> 00:43:44,020 and observe from there. 1216 00:43:44,020 --> 00:43:45,200 One thing I have to say is take advantage of 1217 00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,320 your local amateur astronomy societies. 1218 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:49,380 Because pretty much where ever you are in the US 1219 00:43:49,380 --> 00:43:51,430 there is local club where if don't know what 1220 00:43:51,430 --> 00:43:52,480 sort of telescope you'd like 1221 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:53,570 or you don't know how to use a telescope 1222 00:43:53,570 --> 00:43:55,600 if you don't where the nearest dark sky 1223 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:57,710 areas are around you. Your local astronomy 1224 00:43:57,710 --> 00:43:59,840 club will know these things. And they are an 1225 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,010 incredible resource. As a professional 1226 00:44:02,010 --> 00:44:04,070 astronomer I would go to these large 1227 00:44:04,070 --> 00:44:06,140 observatories and people would type coordinates 1228 00:44:06,140 --> 00:44:08,230 in the computers and I would make my observations 1229 00:44:08,230 --> 00:44:10,350 I often feel that the amateur astronomy 1230 00:44:10,350 --> 00:44:12,650 community are the real astronomers. 1231 00:44:12,650 --> 00:44:13,710 They're the people who really know the sky 1232 00:44:13,710 --> 00:44:14,750 like the back of their hand. 1233 00:44:14,750 --> 00:44:15,800 Right. 1234 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:17,900 Amateur astronomy 1235 00:44:17,900 --> 00:44:19,990 groups will also 1236 00:44:19,990 --> 00:44:22,100 love to show you telescopes 1237 00:44:22,100 --> 00:44:24,250 and so you can try 1238 00:44:24,250 --> 00:44:26,320 before you buy. If you 1239 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:28,370 go to a club and that's 1240 00:44:28,370 --> 00:44:29,410 also helpful. 1241 00:44:29,410 --> 00:44:30,510 Great! 1242 00:44:30,510 --> 00:44:31,640 It's kind of like asking someone about 1243 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:32,760 their job, 1244 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:33,920 asking someone about their telescope 1245 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:34,970 they can talk for days. 1246 00:44:34,970 --> 00:44:37,010 So unfortunately we only have time for 1247 00:44:37,010 --> 00:44:39,110 one more question. 1248 00:44:39,110 --> 00:44:41,200 We're going to keep answering some of your questions on 1249 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:43,370 Facebook as they are coming in later on but 1250 00:44:43,370 --> 00:44:45,540 unfortunately we only have so much camera time so. 1251 00:44:45,540 --> 00:44:47,600 One more question. 1252 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:49,670 What is your favorite object you've view 1253 00:44:49,670 --> 00:44:51,740 through a telescope? 1254 00:44:51,740 --> 00:44:53,860 Awe, it's like choosing between your children. 1255 00:44:53,860 --> 00:44:55,910 Oh wow. OK so I guess. 1256 00:44:55,910 --> 00:44:57,960 We just mentioned Saturn 1257 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,100 so I think that actually is my favorite. 1258 00:45:00,100 --> 00:45:02,180 In the southern sky 1259 00:45:02,180 --> 00:45:04,280 there is something called the Carina nebula 1260 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,400 and the Carina nebula is an area where 1261 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,520 can see star birth and star death 1262 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:10,660 all happening at once. There are young 1263 00:45:10,660 --> 00:45:12,720 clusters of stars, then there's a star called 1264 00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:14,790 Eta Carinae which is very close 1265 00:45:14,790 --> 00:45:16,840 we think to blowing itself up in a supernova 1266 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:18,950 explosion. This part of the sky 1267 00:45:18,950 --> 00:45:21,090 has these vast bands of 1268 00:45:21,090 --> 00:45:23,270 dark dust and bright gas 1269 00:45:23,270 --> 00:45:24,310 and I have to say 1270 00:45:24,310 --> 00:45:25,360 those are some of the things that I've 1271 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:26,420 seen with my own eyes 1272 00:45:26,420 --> 00:45:27,540 when I was living in the southern hemisphere 1273 00:45:27,540 --> 00:45:29,790 that just blew me away. 1274 00:45:29,790 --> 00:45:30,930 I mean this is probably the closest thing 1275 00:45:30,930 --> 00:45:31,990 I've seen with my 1276 00:45:31,990 --> 00:45:33,100 naked eyes looking through a telescope 1277 00:45:33,100 --> 00:45:35,180 that looked like a Hubble image. 1278 00:45:35,180 --> 00:45:37,270 Eda Carinae would have to be one of my favorites. 1279 00:45:37,270 --> 00:45:39,300 Yeah and for me 1280 00:45:39,300 --> 00:45:41,410 It is like deciding between 1281 00:45:41,410 --> 00:45:43,560 your children I guess. 1282 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,590 I really love to look 1283 00:45:45,590 --> 00:45:47,630 visually at M11 1284 00:45:47,630 --> 00:45:49,690 that Wild Duck cluster. 1285 00:45:49,690 --> 00:45:51,780 Because when you first look at it in the scope 1286 00:45:51,780 --> 00:45:53,880 you can 1287 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:55,930 imagine how Messier 1288 00:45:55,930 --> 00:45:58,090 didn't see any stars in, they're very 1289 00:45:58,090 --> 00:46:00,130 very close and yet you 1290 00:46:00,130 --> 00:46:02,180 zoom in and 1291 00:46:02,180 --> 00:46:04,260 it's almost like the 1292 00:46:04,260 --> 00:46:06,460 fly through that we saw. 1293 00:46:06,460 --> 00:46:09,580 It turns into something else. 1294 00:46:09,580 --> 00:46:12,630 And it's in the heart of the Milky Way where 1295 00:46:12,630 --> 00:46:14,710 it's surrounded by hundreds and hundreds stars 1296 00:46:14,710 --> 00:46:16,790 to begin with and so it's just 1297 00:46:16,790 --> 00:46:18,900 it's 1298 00:46:18,900 --> 00:46:20,990 I don't know how to describe it. 1299 00:46:20,990 --> 00:46:23,140 It's just beautiful. I could look at it 1300 00:46:23,140 --> 00:46:24,310 a long time. 1301 00:46:24,310 --> 00:46:25,370 If we don't know how to 1302 00:46:25,370 --> 00:46:26,450 describe it, you need to try it yourself. 1303 00:46:26,450 --> 00:46:27,550 That's right. 1304 00:46:27,550 --> 00:46:28,630 So get out there and 1305 00:46:28,630 --> 00:46:30,760 find the Messier catalog yourself 1306 00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,900 and enjoy the absolutely 1307 00:46:32,900 --> 00:46:34,990 beautiful that the Hubble Space Telescope 1308 00:46:34,990 --> 00:46:35,590 has made of these objects. 1309 00:46:35,590 --> 00:46:36,760 Absolutely, like they said 1310 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:38,810 if you want more we've got 1311 00:46:38,810 --> 00:46:40,860 the catalog up on our web site at 1312 00:46:40,860 --> 00:46:41,920 nasa.gov/hubble and if you want 1313 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:43,000 to know anything about Hubble 1314 00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:44,010 at anytime you can follow 1315 00:46:44,010 --> 00:46:45,160 us on twitter 1316 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:46,310 @nasahubble 1317 00:46:46,310 --> 00:46:48,460 Thank you both so so much for being 1318 00:46:48,460 --> 00:46:50,540 here and thank you all for tuning into us 1319 00:46:50,540 --> 00:46:52,610 and we'll see you next time. 1320 00:46:52,610 --> 00:46:54,650 Bye 1321 00:46:54,650 --> 00:46:56,710 1322 00:46:56,710 --> 00:46:56,947