Desert Skies Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association
Desert Skies Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Volume LIII,Volume Number LIII, 3Number 2 March,February, 2007 2007 Left: Hubble Space Telescope image of Sirius A, the brightest star in the night sky, and Sirius B (lower left), its white dwarf Sirius: companion. Sirius is also called Alpha Brightest Canis Major or the “Dog Star.” Above: Chandra X-Ray image of Sirius, which is 8.6 light years from Earth. Sirius B, its white dwarf companion, is the smaller Diamond bright object to the upper right which has 98% the mass of our Sun packed in a Astro Imagingdiameter that is 90% of the Earth’s! in the Sky Sirius A, the larger star, is twice the mass of our Sun and is 20 times as massive, while .. the white dwarf is 10,000 times dimmer than ue its host star. iss this de nsi • “Sirius: The Biography of a Star,” with Jay Holberg I �� School star parties �� Grand Canyon Star Party on March 2 at the Monthly Meeting (p. 3) �� Flandrau Saturn Opposition �� Equipment for Loan •�� MarchConstellation Madness: of the2007 month All-Arizona Messier Marathon! (p. 12) • Night Sky Network — Astronomy Essentials talk with Terri Lappin (p. 3) and activity kits information (p. 11) • Grand Canyon Star Party Update! (p. 4) • TAAA and Public Star Parties and Events for March (pp. 8-9) • Upcoming Levy “Sharing the Sky” Star Party on April 21 (p. 7) Desert Skies: March, 2007 -2- Volume LIII, Number 3 On the cover: Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, has intrigued humanity for thousands of years.
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