Project: Feed The Shark
A New Activity for All
The night sky is full of possibilities for new projects to stimulate the curious mind. All it takes is a little creativity to invent them. By osmosis, a lot of astronomy learning can happen at the same time. The book I am writing, Projects For Smart Telescopes, is dedicated to providing everyone, especially children and youth, with new activities like this. Here is a sneak preview of one of these projects I call Feed The Shark.
On Wednesday, June 11, 2025, I put my 6-inch Celestron Origin Astrograph outside after dark to capture my pre-planned evening of objects: M104, Vesta, Pallas, M27, and NGC 7331. Since I have kept a logbook for every observing session since my Origin saw first light in July 2024, I can tell you the following:
- Location: Kempt Shore, Nova Scotia, 45°N
- Sky & Weather: Clear, light wind, 20°C at 9:07 p.m.
- Moon: Full moon (100%), moonrise 10:05 p.m.
- Technical: Power (line), wifi (home), filter (none), exposures (10 seconds)
Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy in the constellation Virgo, was captured for an hour beginning at 10:03 p.m. followed by the others. The session ended about 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Below is my capture of one of the best (near) edge-on galaxies in the sky.
Part 1: Sombrero Galaxy M104
Celestron Origin Astrograph Image
Two historic images of the Sombrero Galaxy in the constellation Virgo were included in the 3rd volume of Burnham's Celestial Handbook (see full reference). Both the Lowell Observatory photograph (p. 2095) and the Palomar 200-inch photograph (p. 2099) show the beauty of the two main features of this near edge-on galaxy: the dark dust lane and bright central bulge. Origin shows these features clearly as well. So, the first thing you can learn in this fun project is all about M104.
Reference
Burnham's Celestial Handbook, Volume Three, Pavo Through Vulpecula, Robert Burnham, Jr., Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1978.
Part 2: GAIA Catalogue
Celestron Origin Astrograph Image
It will be useful to know where the boundary lies between Corvus and Virgo in your field of view. The Preview application on my MacBook Air allows me to add many types of markups such as arrows, geometric shapes, text, and much more. By using lots of faint GAIA stars near, and on both sides of the boundary, it is easy to add a line separating the two constellations. In my example, I also use a different markup colour for each constellation; white for Virgo, orange for Corvus. Hence, two more things you will learn along the way - GAIA stars and simple graphic markups.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Apps
The apps I use to access many GAIA Data Release 2 stars are SkySafari 7 Pro and Stellarium Mobile Plus, the latter significantly the better of the two.
Part 3: The JAWS Asterism
Celestron Origin Astrograph Image
An asterism in this same Origin field of view, called Jaws by Philip Harrington (Refs. 1 & 2), is shown in my image. It is a hungry shark with its mouth wide open at the bottom, just waiting for prey to devour. I have done a bit of research to see what this dangerous predator likes to eat and discovered it favours asteroids! Yum! Three asteroids from the 1990s "swam" right into the shark's jaws: 111 Ate, 35 Leukothea, & 573 Recha. I think they survived though. When will the next one be munched? That is your fun project and while you are at it, learn more about asteroids and asterisms.
References
- The Deep Sky: An Introduction, Philip S. Harrington, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997, p. 101.
- Deep-Sky Wonders, Sue French, Firefly Books, Inc., Buffalo, New York, 2011, pp. 120-121.