1 / 71

Tour of the Milky Way

Discover the wonders of the Milky Way, our celestial home that contains over 200 billion stars and has been around for 13.7 billion years. Learn how to navigate through different seasons, identify familiar patterns, and use starhopping techniques to find your way to the stars. Explore the core, spiral arms, and colorful structures of the Milky Way and uncover the beauty and mysteries of our galaxy.

jacka
Download Presentation

Tour of the Milky Way

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tour of the Milky Way

  2. Vital Statistics • It’s our home! • Contains more than 200 billion stars, and a mass of ~1012 suns • It’s almost as old as the Universe itself! • 13.7 billion years old

  3. Structure The core and spiral arms are of different colors. Why?

  4. Us and the Milky Way An artist impression of our motion through space (start around 2:20 for the highlight)

  5. Us and the Milky Way • We orbit around the Sun… • But the Sun also orbits our galaxy • The planets DO NOT orbit along the plane of the Milky Way • Because we are inside the Milky Way, we get a very different view compared to outsiders

  6. A 360° view of the Milky Way Objects near and far all blend into a single view. There is very little sense of perspective!

  7. Tips to find yourself in space • Cardinal directions! • Are you near the plane of the MW? • Season? • Familiar Asterisms/Patterns (if any) • Bright stars and their plausible identity

  8. Asterisms and Familiar Patterns (Non-exhaustive) • Seasonal Markers: 3 Triangles and 1 Square • Winter Hexagon • The 4 Crosses • The Big/Little Dipper • The Teapot of Sagittarius • The Circlet of Pisces • The Keystone of Hercules • The W/M of Cassiopeia • The J of Scorpius

  9. Getting to the actual target: Starhopping • Know your FOV! • Is your image upside down/ laterally inverted? • Identify prominent shapes/connections of bright stars on the path to the target

  10. Getting to the actual target: Starhopping • Know your FOV! Finder 8” SCT

  11. Getting to the actual target: Starhopping • Is your image upside down/ laterally inverted?

  12. Getting to the actual target: Starhopping • Identify prominent bright stars/patterns on the path to the target

  13. Navigating the Milky Way For all four seasons

  14. Our View SPRING: MARCH to june

  15. Spring: Mar - Jun As we look down along the Centaurus Arm, many objects flood the zone

  16. Spring: Mar - Jun From our perspective, the Milky Way plunges from Canis Major and deep into the Southern sky. Let’s zoom in…

  17. Spring: Mar - Jun Now, we are looking directly along the Centaurus Arm. You can see this by the many bright stars in this area

  18. Spring: Mar - Jun If you are lost among the stars, never fear! The Southern Cross is here!

  19. Spring: Mar - Jun Gacrux Delta Crucis Beta Crucis Acrux However, be careful not to mix this up with the bigger False Cross…

  20. Spring: Mar - Jun Notice that the Southern Cross has a 5th star, unlike the False Cross.

  21. Spring: Mar - Jun Another way is to remember that the Southern Cross is next to two bright stars, called the Pointers

  22. Spring: Mar - Jun Alpha Cen Not only do they “point” to Crux, the brighter star (Alpha Centauri) is the closest star system to the Sun.

  23. Spring: Mar - Jun Gacrux Delta Crucis Beta Crucis Acrux We can use the stars of the Cross to reach three bright objects.

  24. Spring: Mar - Jun Gacrux Delta Crucis From Delta Crucis, extend a line past Gacrux into the stars of Centaurus to reach Omega Centauri

  25. Spring: Mar - Jun Beta Crucis Right next to Beta Crucis lies a wonderful gem called the Jewel Box

  26. Spring: Mar - Jun Beta Crucis From Beta Crucis, extend a line past the 5th star of the Cross to reach the Eta Carinae Nebula

  27. Our View SUMMER: JULY TO OCTOBER

  28. Summer: July-August This is the heart of the Milky Way: there is much to see here!

  29. Summer: July-August Two prominent constellations/asterisms dominate the field

  30. Summer: July-August Directions to M8, the Lagoon Nebula

  31. Summer: July-August Directions to M7, the Ptolemy Cluster

  32. Summer: July-August Directions to C76, the False Comet

  33. Summer: Sep-Oct Over months, our perspective shifts and other areas rise…

  34. Summer: Sep-Oct The Summer Triangle is made up of 3 prominent stars

  35. Summer: Sep-Oct Can you see a Northern Cross?

  36. Summer: Sep-Oct The Northern Cross connects the brightest stars in Cygnus

  37. Summer: Sep-Oct Directions to Albireo, a colorful double star

  38. Summer: Sep-Oct Made up of cold clouds of gas and dust, the Great Rift highlights the plane of the Milky Way From Cygnus, we can trace the start of the Great Rift

  39. Summer: Sep-Oct Trace out the constellation of Aquila the Eagle

  40. Summer: Sep-Oct Altair, the brightest star in Aquila, marks its beak

  41. Summer: Sep-Oct Its “tail” helps us locate M11, the Wild Duck Cluster

  42. Our View Fall: OCTober TO DEcember

  43. Fall: Oct-Nov As Summer ends, the Milky Way arcs to the Northern Sky. As we are looking outwards, there are less objects to be seen.

  44. Fall: Oct-Nov Cygnus remains for a little while longer. Can you see the Northern Cross?

  45. Fall: Oct-Nov Draw a line from the Northern Cross, and we’ll hitthe W of Cassiopeia. Lets zoom in!

  46. Fall: Oct-Nov A favorite fall object is the Double Cluster…

  47. Fall: Oct-Nov Can you also spot a special object in this image?

  48. Fall: Oct-Nov Cassiopeia points to the region around the Andromeda Galaxy

  49. Fall: Oct-Nov The Great Square of Pegasus is an easier way of getting there

  50. Fall: Oct-Nov The Great Square has a northern ‘leg’. That’s Andromeda!

More Related