Starry Night Times

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Like most amateur astronomers, I am an avid life-long learner, continually challenged by the complex motions, size and scale of the universe, not to mention the math and physics! I didn't learn much about this stuff in school, and I wish I had. I do teach a couple of astronomy classes in my local school district - a rewarding and enjoyable experience - but it‘s always shocking to me to see how much time and energy goes into preparing for class. It's no small feat to keep kids engaged, be accurate, informative and of course make it all look easy. So it was fantastic news to me when the folks at Starry Night showed me their latest efforts aimed at helping Middle School and High School teachers take on this daunting task.

One of the first things I noticed was that these products are endorsed by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Rose Center Planetarium in NYC. I have heard Dr. Tyson speak on a number of occasions – he is a passionate and inspiring advocate for the vital task of teaching science in schools.

When they arrived, I was immediately struck by how massive these products are. The Middle School version of Starry Night comes with a 400 page teacher’s guide that includes 24 detailed lesson plans, each with interactive computer exercises, hands-on classroom activities, and even assessment tests. Best of all, it's written by teachers for teachers so it really makes the effort to fit into the reality of the classroom experience. (You can explore a sample lesson plan here.) Naturally, the package also includes the latest version of the world's most realistic planetarium software with SkyGuide content directly tied to the lesson plans.

I spoke with Herb Koller, one of the new education line's authors and a retired teacher himself. This product is clearly close to his heart: Apart from his work with Starry Night, he's also a volunteer astronomy teacher for kids in middle and high school.

"These days, you have to assume little or no understanding of astronomy concepts," Herb said, "and you need to get that information into their minds in a way that's as appealing and accessible as possible while staying true to the science.”

"It's a fantastic tool for all levels of teachers too. All the lesson plans match up with curriculum standards, but it's open enough that you can easily modify the lessons as you go. For example, you can assign additional work to students who want to earn extra credit. We're really proud of how each lesson moves from hands-on activities that really give students a physical sense of the material to group discussions of the subject to individual work on the computer. It's the right way to teach."

Starry Night Middle School and Starry Night High School are sure to spark students' fascination with astronomy and science.

Starry Night Middle School for grades 6-8 and Starry Night High School for grades 9-12 are available now at www.starrynight.com.

For lesson plans and correlation charts to national and state standards, visit the Starry Night Education mini-site at www.starrynight.com/education.

Sean O'Dwyer, Starry Night Times Editor

FREE Shipping on Select Gifts for Grads!

After years of study and hard work, your favorite grads deserve the best in—and out of—this world. Put the universe in their hands with a gift of Starry Night™ software or DVDs.

For a limited time, we are offering FREE* ground shipping for these great gifts:

*Free ground shipping offer is valid starting May 16, 2005 10:00 am EST and expires 11:59 pm EST June 19, 2005 and applies to US and Canadian addresses only. This offer does not apply to International orders. Please select US Mail or Canada Post at checkout to receive FREE shipping. FREE ground shipping does not apply to previous purchases.

Constellation Map: Virgo

Don't let the scale of the diagram above fool you. Representing the goddess of justice, Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky.

Spica, a first magnitude blue-white star, is easy to spot, shining as it does in a fairly dark part of the sky.

M49 and M60 are elliptical galaxies. Being one of the brightest ellipticals, M49 was the first member of the Virgo-Supercluster to be discovered by Charles Messier. M60 is some 60,000,000 lightyears distant and is as luminous as 60 billion copies of our sun.

Most of the galaxies in Virgo are part of the Virgo-Supercluster. Not so M104. At about 50,000 lightyears, this galaxy's dark dust lane and close to edge-on angle (just 6°) makes it look a little like a sombrero.

M61 is a lovely face-on spiral galaxy while NGC 5746 is an edge-on spiral galaxy that's best observed in small scopes.

Finally, Porrima is a fine doule-star worthy of a peek. On May 19, both the waxing gibbous moon and Jupiter will be right next to Porrima, and Io's shadow will be visible on the surface of Jupiter from dusk until about 21:50 EDT.

Sean O'Dwyer

A Super Virgo Cluster

This month’s winning photo submission is from Mel Martin. Mel used Starry Night and MaxIm DL to capture this image. Mel explained that he used Starry Night Pro Plus 5 to setup the guide stars and then imaged with MaxIm DL. The image was then imported into Starry Night, whose catalogs where used to identify all the faint objects on the image.

A Virgo Super Cluster

The image shows a galaxy cluster. M86 and M84 (labeled NGC4374 on the image) are two of the brightest galaxies in this rich region called the Virgo Cluster. Both galaxies can be seen in a telescope as hazy patches brightening towards their centers. M86 is a lenticular galaxy, which is a cross between a spiral and an elliptical. M86 is moving toward us at the rate of 400 km/s, faster than any other Messier object.

Photo Notes: Shot April 26, 2005 with a Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor (ƒ5) on a Takahashi EM-11 mount. Camera: SBIG ST2000xm with CFW8 color filters from Astrodon. Exposure: 48 minutes luminance, 36 minutes of color. (Exposures cut short by the usual clouds in the Pacific NW). Processed in Maxim DL, Guider setup and identification of Galaxies in Starry Night Pro Plus.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH COMPETITION: We would like to invite all Starry Night users to send their quality astronomy photographs to be considered for use in our monthly newsletter. Featured submissions (best of month) will receive a prize of $25 USD. Please read the following guidelines and see the submission e-mail address below.

Format: Digital images in either JPG, GIF or TIFF format.
Size: 700 pixels wide maximum.
File size should be less than 2 MB.
Include a caption: Your full name, location where photo was taken and any interesting details regarding your photo or how you took it. Please be brief.
Important notes: We may edit captions for clarity and brevity. We reserve the right to not use submissions. In submitting your image or images to Imaginova, you agree to allow us to publish them in all media -- on the Web or otherwise -- now and in the future. We'll credit you, of course. Most important, you'll have the satisfaction of sharing your experience with the world!
Send images, following the above guidelines, to photo@starrynight.com (by sending an image you agree to the above terms, including Imaginova’s right to publish your photos).

May 2005




	Hubble 15th Anniversary Images Download the two Hubble 15th Anniversary images and view them correctly oriented in Starry Night version 5.0. • M51.pct – Place in Sky Data/Hubble Images Images folder • Eagle Nebula (Stellar Spire).pct – Place in Sky Data/Hubble Images Images folder • Hubble images.txt – Place in Sky Data folder To view these images in Starry Night, open the Find pane, click on the “Magnifying glass” to the left of the search box and select Hubble Images from the pop-up menu that opens. Scroll down the list in the Find Pane to magnify M51 and the Eagle Nebula.
	Download and unzip these files, placing their contents in the indicated folder. hubble_imgs.zip [188 KB] Trouble downloading? PC users, use a right-click to save the files to your disk. Mac users, use a ctrl-click to save the files to your disk. Don't forget to unZip the file before adding it to your Sky Data folder.



	Simulating Planet Fly-bys There are times when you may want to watch a celestial event from a fixed point in space. Using the elevation controls, rise above a planet and then switch to a fixed heliocentric location. To switch to a fixed heliocentric location, open the Viewing Location dialog box (Options-Viewing Location). The “View From” dropbox in the top left corner of this dialog box offers five options. Select the “Stationary Position” option. Increase the rate at which time flows and you can watch a planet fly past in its orbit. If you have elevated from the planet’s surface in the direction that it is traveling, you pass directly through the planet as it moves forward in its orbit! Tip: Noon or midnight is a good time to try fly-bys, since you are lifting off in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of the planet’s orbit. Pedro Braganca Content Director Imaginova™



	Saturday, May 14 Mars is 1.2 degrees south of Uranus (20:00 UT on May 14) Monday, May 16 First Quarter Moon (8:57 UT on May 16) Sunday, May 16 Double shadow transit on Jupiter (10:48 UT on May 16) Thursday, May 19 Jupiter is 0.4 degrees north of the Moon (22:00 UT on May 19) Occultation visible in the Caribbean, south Central America, north part of South America and the south part of South Africa Sunday, May 23 Double shadow transit on Jupiter (12:43 UT on May 23) Monday, May 23 Full Moon (20:18 UT on May 23) Tuesday, May 24 Antares is 0.8 degrees south of the Moon, Occultation (8:00 UT on May 24) Thursday, May 26 Double shadow transit on Jupiter (1:40 UT on May 27) Monday, May 30 Last Quarter Moon (11:47 UT on May 30) Monday, May 30 Double shadow transit on Jupiter (14:37 UT on May 30) Tuesday, May 31 Mars is 0.5 degrees north of the Moon (9:00 UT on May 31)



	Starry Night™ is the world's leading line of astronomy software and DVDs. Visit starrynight.com to see all the great products we offer for everyone from novice to experienced astronomers. You have received this e-mail as a trial user of Starry Night Digital Download or as a registrant at starrynight.com. Starry Night™ is a division of Imaginova™ Corp, formerly Space Holdings. To unsubscribe, click here. To subscribe, sign up here. Imaginova™ Corp. 470 Park Ave South 9th Floor New York, NY 10016