Our Local Cosmic
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LOST IN THE GLARE: DIY: `OUMUAMUA: 24 Lesser-Known Targets Light Barriers The “Comet” from Another Star PAGE 58 PAGE 72 PAGE 20 THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ASTRONOMY On the Edge of the Abyss: Our Local Cosmic PAGE 12 OCTOBER 2018 The Great Melbourne Rambling Through Telescope Restoration Autumn Skies skyandtelescope.com PAGE 34 PAGE 28 DeLiteTM Your Eyes, DeLiteTM Your Wallet! All the Tele Vue Technology, Performance, and Quality You Expect at a Price You Won’t: The 62° Dellechiaie-Designed DeLite Series. The heart of any Tele Vue eyepiece is full-field image fidelity born of superb sharpness and contrast, and produced using the finest methods and materials. The 62° DeLite eyepiece series, available in 18.2mm, 15mm, 13mm, 11mm, 9mm, 7mm, 5mm, 4mm and 3mm parfocal focal lengths, adds 20mm eye relief, adjustable-height eyeguard, and compact size to the performance mix, making them wonderfully comfortable for bino-viewing, perfect with Fonemate and for night vision, plus great per- formers in all types of scopes, on all types of objects. Call Tele Vue for recommendations or visit TeleVue.com. Excerpt from “Tele Vue’s New DeLite Eyepieces” S&T (Sept. 2015 p:64,65 — di Cicco, Dennis.) The DeLites offered superb views. Stars appeared as pinpoints across the entire field; there wasn’t a hint of false color...The DeLites are very easy to look through. You never get the feeling that you are struggling to get your eye perfectly aligned with the eyepiece. This comes as little surprise since Tele Vue acknowledges that the DeLite design evolved as a “smaller, more economical and lightweight version of the Delos.” Excerpt from “We Test Tele Vue’s DeLite Eyepieces” Astronomy (Mar. 2016 p:64,65 — Trusock, Tom.) Tele Vue has once again created a line of all-around excellent eyepieces, good for both planetary and deep- sky work. Selling points are long eye relief, a small and light design, and the relatively inexpensive cost. T e D linne hhoulld bee onon y ur mu t iew-t ro gh l t eye eeec s a t e eex s ar par . ® Tele Vue 32 Elkay Dr., Chester, New York 10918 (845) 469-4551. televue.com Visionary Star Adventurer Astro package The only thing nicer than being able to easily take a dramatic nightscape photo, is Star Adventurer saving money on the equipment that makes it possible. From Photo package September 1st through the 30th, you can save up to $60 on award-winning Star Adventurers and accessories. 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Specifications and pricing subject to change w This is the first time the Star Adventurers have been on sale. I’d take advanta Optional accessories Star Adventurer Astro Pack . Regularly $329 ......Sale Price $269 ......SAVE $60 Ball head adapter Star Adventurer Photo Pack Regularly $319 ......Sale Price $259 ......SAVE $60 Star Adventurer Mini ..........Regularly $299 ......Sale Price $249 ......SAVE $50 Latitude Base .....................Regularly $65 ........Sale Price $55 ........ SAVE $10 DecLbracket Counterweight Kit .............. Regularly $30 ........Sale Price $25 ..........SAVE $5 Latitude base Counterweight kit Ball Head Adapter ............. Regularly $10 ........Sale Price $5 ............ SAVE $5 Dec L Bracket..................... Regularly $40 ........Sale Price $35 .......... SAVE $5 Photographer: Carlos Guana Camera: Canon 5D IV Lens: Rokinon 14mm 2.8 Mount: Star Adventurer For information on all of our products and services, or to find an authorized Sky-Watcher USA dealer near you, just visit www.skywatcherusa.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! CONTENTS October 2018 VOL. 136, NO. 4 THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ASTRONOMY FEATURES Cover Story: 12 The Void Next Door An enormous region of near- emptiness starts on our doorstep, giving astronomers their best chance to probe one of these gigantic cosmic structures. By Ken Croswell 58 20 `Oumuamua’s Dramatic Visit The space rock from beyond the OBSERVING S&T TEST REPORT solar system has left us amazed and 41 October’s Sky at a Glance 66 Meade’s 70-mm Astrograph perplexed. By Greg Laughlin Alan Dyer 42 Lunar Almanac & Sky Chart COLUMNS / DEPARTMENTS 28 A Tourist’s Guide to the 43 Binocular Highlight Autumn Highlights By Mathew Wedel 4 Spectrum Ramble through the skies of fall and By Peter Tyson check in on some favorite targets. 44 Planetary Almanac 6 From Our Readers By Jerry Oltion 45 Under the Stars By Fred Schaaf 7 75, 50 & 25 Years Ago 34 New Life for the Great By Roger W. Sinnott Melbourne Telescope 46 Sun, Moon & Planets Australian groups are restoring what By Fred Schaaf 8 News Notes was once the world’s largest 48 Celestial Calendar 57 Book Review equatorially mounted telescope. By S. N. Johnson-Roehr By Monica Young By Trudy E. Bell 52 Exploring the Moon 70 New Product Showcase 58 Lost in the Glare By Charles A. Wood 72 Astronomer’s Workbench Some interesting objects await 54 Deep-Sky Wonders By Jerry Oltion imagers who can tear their cameras By Sue French away from the showpieces of the 74 Gallery night skies. By Ron Brecher 84 Focal Point Find us on Facebook & Twitter By Roger Sargent BRECHER RON ON THE COVER ONLINE SKY AT A GLANCE ASTROPHOTO GALLERY ONLINE MARKETPLACE Our popular column highlights celes- Enjoy readers’ best images and Browse personal used equipment tial delights for the upcoming week. upload your own to share with your and dark-sky lodgings and sell your Also available as an app — with sky fellow enthusiasts. Be sure to check own without paying a fee. charts included! out the Editor’s Choice picks. skyandtelescope.com/ skyandtelescope.com/ataglance skyandtelescope.com/gallery marketplace Matter’s l ow outlines SKY & TELESCOPE (ISSN 0037-6604) is published monthly by Sky & Telescope, a division of F+W Media, Inc., 90 Sherman St., Cambridge, MA 02140-3264, USA. Phone: 800-253- several voids in our 0245 (customer service/subscriptions), 888-253-0230 (product orders), 617-864-7360 (all other calls). Fax: 617-864-6117. Website: skyandtelescope.com. ©2018 F+W Media, Inc. cosmic neighborhood. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, Massachusetts, and at additional mailing offi ces. Canada Post Publications Mail sales agreement #40029823. Canadian return JOHAN HIDDING / UNIV. OF address: 2744 Edna St., Windsor, ON, Canada N8Y 1V2. Canadian GST Reg. #R128921855. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sky & Telescope, PO Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL GRONINGEN / KAPTEYN INST. 32142-0235. Printed in the USA. 2 OCTOBER 2018 • SKY & TELESCOPE % Now only $49.90 free shipping! % YOUR TRIP THROUGH THE UNIVERSE! 2017 Universe2go combines the view of the real night sky with the digital world. Look to the sky and discover constellations, planets, and galaxies. universe2go.com WHAT IS UNIVERSE2GO? Universe2go is an augmented-reality star viewer and smartphone app, which shows you the starry night sky in stunning detail! Place your smartphone in the viewer and observe the night sky with numerous, additional bits of information as well as sensational close-ups of various celestial bodies. Images of all 88 Close-ups of planets, More than three hours of Narratives of Greek Enjoyable exploration in constellations of the galaxies, star clusters and audio explanations mythology quiz mode heavens nebulae THE PRESS SAYS ERISEA-MAG.COM: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: ASTRONOMY NOW: “A unique and quite frankly “Doing augmented reality “For those at all levels of brilliant thing to have to this way is great, doing experience in astronomy, it hand for anyone who has a personal planetarium- is definitely the next leap in a keen interest in space, come-star-map this way is the evolution of interactive especially children as it is so inspired.” sky map devices.” easy to use.” Incl. Universe2go app unlock code. Now only $9.90 reduced from $99. www.universe2go.com Free shipping! Find more Omegon products at www.omegon.com! SPECTRUM by Peter Tyson The Big Empty The Essential Guide to Astronomy Founded in 1941 by Charles A. Federer, Jr. YOU MIGHT ASK WHY we would do a cover story on cosmic voids — and Helen Spence Federer thosestupendouslyvast,largelygalaxy-freeSaharasofspace.After EDITORIAL all, astronomy is all about observing things, not nothings, right? Editor in Chief Peter Tyson Even if you wanted to look there, as a zealous coterie of professional Senior Editors J. Kelly Beatty, Alan M. MacRobert astronomers does, it’s not a walk in the park. As one of these folks Science Editor Camille M. Carlisle wrylynotesinourarticleonpage12,“Observingemptyspaceisveryhard.” News Editor Monica Young Associate Editors S. N. Johnson-Roehr, Sean Walker Well, it turns out that cosmic voids play a key role in shaping the large-scale Observing Editor Diana Hannikainen structureoftheuniverse.Asgravitydrawsgalaxiestogether,soitluresthem Project Coordinator Bud Sadler away from voids. Take the example of our Local Void, as it’s prosaically known. Digital Content Strategist Janine Myszka This fantastically empty zone steepens the gravitational “hill” that our Milky Senior Contributing Editors WayGalaxyslidesdownatadizzying630km/s(1.4millionmph).