Sky & Telescope - July 2023 - 6

GEOTREE CENTER / UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA GEOGRAPHY
DEPT. / CAMPBELL HOFFMAN / JOHN DEGROOTE
FROM OUR READERS
Zeta Puppis culminating and deployed
15×63 binoculars downward along the
8-hour arc of right ascension from the
star's roughly -40° declination. A bit
to the left of straight down, just above
the horizon, I spied a reddish glow
that moved westward with time. It was
Gamma Velorum!
At -47.2° declination, even allowing
for atmospheric refraction, it was certainly
near the limit of visibility from
my latitude. I confirmed the observation
the following evening and two
more times in mid-March.
Two interesting things about objects
An Eclipse for the People
pThis map compares the population density
of the United States with the path of the total
solar eclipse in 2024.
Hurrah for Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson's
" Get Ready for Totality in '24 "
(S&T: Apr. 2023, p. 26). Right away they
get into what makes next year's total
eclipse of the Sun different from all others:
the number of Americans poised to
see it with their own eyes. Many people
will not have to travel at all. It's almost
as if this total eclipse " conspired " to
maximize the number of cities and highpopulation
areas along its path.
Thomas Hockey
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Thank you for running the detailed and
useful story about the 2024 solar eclipse,
which will be of great use to readers
traveling to the path of totality. For those
of us who work in astronomy education,
the eclipse represents a remarkable
opportunity and challenge for public
outreach. Some 500 million people could
see at least a partial eclipse and will need
reliable and safe viewing instructions.
A group of us have proposed and
obtained a grant from the Moore
Foundation to distribute 5 million
eclipse glasses and information booklets
through 10,000 public libraries nationwide.
Long before the day of the 2024
eclipse (and the annular eclipse this
October), these libraries will want to
offer public programs and " Sun parties. "
We hope that the many eclipse enthusiasts
among S&T's readers will volunteer
to help their local library by calling them
or registering at: https://is.gd/eclipsevolunteer.
The project is coordinated by the
Space Science Institute in Boulder.
Andrew Fraknoi
Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
at the limits of one's southern horizon
are the dramatic effects of atmospheric
extinction and Earth's rotation.
Gamma Velorum is a bright (around
magnitude 1.8), multiple-star system
with dominant O-class and Wolf-Rayet
components. Yet a half degree from the
horizon, the system appears to be a red
ocher color. And being so far south, this
distant object skims rapidly above the
foreground because it subtends such a
shallow arc from 42.5° north.
Schaaf's columns motivate me and
many others to get out at night and
explore the sky. And one never knows
what personal discoveries await. Keep
up the good work!
Ed Furlong
Walworth, Wisconsin
The Naked-Eye Cluster Quest
Fred Schaaf's excellent February Evenings
with the Stars column " A NakedEye
Cluster Quest " (S&T: Feb. 2023, p.
45) challenges readers to spot winter's
more prominent open clusters unaided.
I made several attempts on this winter's
rather rare clear evenings with my
mid-60s eyes. The results, from near
6
JULY 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE
the Illinois-Wisconsin border at 42.5°
north, were mixed. M44 was visible
every try, validating Schaaf's practical
definition of suburban skies, and both
M35 and M41 popped out on occasion.
But the Auriga trio and multiple targets
in Perseus were always bridges too far.
One very transparent February
evening, I noticed 2nd-magnitude
An Island to Call Home
I was amused to see our North Island of
New Zealand beautifully displayed on
the cover of the March issue, looking so
crystal clear. I should remind you that
our indigenous Māori society here calls
New Zealand Aotearoa, The Land of the
Long White Cloud. Despite that description
of our astronomical skies, we really
do have several thriving professional and
amateur observatories.
Michael Snowden
Christchurch, New Zealand
Unknown Flying Object
Identified
I enjoyed reading David Grinspoon's
" ET on Earth? " (S&T: May 2023, p. 12)
on the effort to determine how common
extraterrestrials really are. I noted
https://www.is.gd/eclipsevol-unteer https://www.is.gd/eclipsevol-unteer
Sky & Telescope - July 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - July 2023
