UA News

Autumn is a unique time for science and stargazing on a sky island mountaintop.

Fall is arguably the most beautiful time of the year in the Sonoran Desert. 

And one of the best places in southern Arizona to explore nature by day and stargaze at night this fall is at the 9,157-foot-high Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. 

The SkyCenter, located at the summit of Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, is where the University of Arizona hosts special programs that connect people with the world around them and the heavens above.  

Expert UA astronomers and scientists guide visitors in the programs, "SkyNights" and "Discovery Days." Visitors can sign up for these programs on the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Web site or by calling its office at Steward Observatory, 520-626-8122.

The Mount Lemmon SkyCenter also registers visitors who want to tour the unique Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory.

SkyNights

SkyNights can be arranged any night throughout the year. 

Guided by astronomer and renowned astrophotographer Adam Block, visitors observe through the eyepiece of the SkyCenter's state-of-the-art, 24-inch reflecting telescope.

Clear nights at the SkyCenter's telescope afford striking views of celestial objects rarely seen by non-astronomers in such clarity and detail.

For example, few public observing programs highlight such objects as NGC 7814, an edge-on galaxy located more than 40 million light years away in the direction of Pegasus. But Block at the SkyCenter successfully does.

Visitors also might inquire about such special SkyNights programs as "Our Place in the Universe," which combines visual observing with CCD imagery.  

Right now, prominent night sky objects include Jupiter and the Andromeda galaxy, Block said. The Leonid Meteor Shower program on Nov. 17 promises to be another astronomical highlight this fall.

If clouds hinder observing, Block presents exhibits and demonstrations for the SkyNights program then, when conditions improve, begins the observing program.

As an example of what the 24-inch SkyCenter telescope can do atop its 9,000-foot mountain when conditions improved during the recent summer monsoon, Block acquired an image of the Iris Nebula, or NGC 7023.

"This nebula really does look like a space flower," Block said.

"The nebula is made mostly of dust grains that surround the region. The bright star's light is scattered and results in mostly bluish light," he added. "The reddish highlights of the nebula are called "extended red emissions."

Block also said that clouds of hydrogen gas typically glow due to radiation of stars

"But here there is not that much gas; instead, there is mostly dust," he said. "The star in the center is so hot that most of its light is emitted in the ultraviolet wavelengths, and the nearby dust re-radiates some of this formerly invisible light in the red part of the visual spectrum."

Fans of "Astronomy Picture of the Day" can check the archives and see several other images that Block has taken from Mount Lemmon with the 24-inch SkyCenter telescope.

Discovery Days

SkyCenter Discovery Days offer visitors opportunities to explore the Mount Lemmon "sky island" environment through science and art. 

Discovery Days are typically scheduled 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, but visitors are advised to check the times when registering, as other times may be offered.  

Discovery Days programs for the rest of 2009 are:

• Sept. 26, "Photography on the Sky Island: Differences Between Looking and Seeing," presented by John P. Schaefer, UA president emeritus and founder of the Center for Creative Photography.

Schaefer, a conservationist and avid birdwatcher, is author of three best-selling books on photographic techniques. His photographs also have been featured in Arizona Highways and other publications. In recent years, he has concentrated on photographing cacti, plants and flowers. During the lecture, he will share his photo expertise with participants, including tips on how to isolate a subject to capture its very essence.

• Oct. 10, "Sky Island Geology: Formation of the Santa Catalina Mountains," presented by Gary Huckleberry, a researcher with the UA geosciences department and co-editor of the international journal Geoarchaeology.

Huckleberry, who has consulted and conducted geoarchaeological research in the Southwest for more than 25 years, received his doctorate in geosciences from the UA in 1993. He developed a reputation as a geoarchaeologist working in western North America and coastal Peru while an anthropology professor at Washington State University from 1995-2004. His research interests also include geomorphology, soils and climate change.

• Oct. 24, "Living in a Celestial Shooting Gallery: The Hunt for Hazardous Asteroids," presented by Catalina Sky Survey director Ed Beshore of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Once the sun sets, it's open season for asteroids – objects that have significantly changed life on Earth in the past and could very well change life on Earth in the future. Beshore directs the Catalina Sky Survey, part of UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. This NASA-funded program inventories asteroids and comets that might pose threats to Earth, and it is the most successful survey of its kind in the world.

The Catalina Sky Survey has discovered about 70 percent of all near-Earth objects found in the past three years. Beshore is responsible for developing most of the computer programming used in the Catalina's hunt for asteroids. He also spends several nights a month at the telescope making sure the software programs work.

• Nov. 7, "Build Your Own GalileoScope," presented by UA Steward Observatory astronomer Donald McCarthy Jr.

McCarthy has a passion for combining astronomical research and inquiry-based science education. He pioneered techniques that have sharpened infrared images from both ground- and space-based telescopes. He developed new techniques and tools he's used to detect low-mass companions to nearby stars, study infrared emission around black holes, and to examine surfaces of asteroids, moons and Kuiper Belt Objects. McCarthy recently detected atmospheric waves on Pluto. 

McCarthy is internationally known for the UA Astronomy Camps he started in 1989. The camps have attracted teenage students, educators, schools and adults from around the world.  For his Discovery Days program, McCarthy will explain how telescopes have helped shape our view of the universe, and then guide participants as they build their own telescopes.