Top Ten Cities in Italy

 

Italian Cities to Visit on Your Travels

By Martha Bakerjian

Italy has many beautiful and historic cities worth a visit. These are our picks for the top ten Italian cities to see on our travels in Italy. Check the distances between cities with our City Map and Distance Calculator.

1. Rome - Roma

Rome is the capital of modern Italy. Rome is full of history everywhere you look. It has many ancient monuments, interesting medieval churches, beautiful fountains, museums, and Renaissance palaces. Modern Rome is a bustling and lively city and has some excellent restaurants and nightlife. Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican City are also easily visited when in Rome.

Rome: Where to Stay in Rome | Rome Photos

Rome Travel Guide

2. Venice - Venezia

Venice is a unique city built on water in the middle of a lagoon. Venice is one of Italy's most beautiful and romantic cities as well as one of the most popular for visitors to Italy. The heart of Venice is Piazza San Marco with its magnificent church. There are many museums, palaces, and churches to visit and wandering along Venice's canals is interesting. Venice is in the northeast of Italy and historically was a bridge between East and West.

Venice: Best Rated Hotels in Venice | Venice Photos

Venice Travel Guide

3. Florence - Firenze

Florence is one of the most important Renaissance architectural and art centers. Its Duomo and Baptistery are magnificent but crowded with tourists as is their large piazza. Florence has several interesting museums with many famous paintings and sculptures. There are also Medici palaces and gardens. Florence is in Tuscany.

Florence: Best Rated Hotels in Florence | Florence Photos

What to See in Florence

4. Milan - Milano

Milan, one of Europe's richest cities, is known for stylish shops, galleries, and restaurants and has a faster pace of life than most Italian cities. It also has a rich artistic and cultural heritage. Its Duomo, with its beautiful marble facade, is magnificent. La Scala is one of the world's most famous opera houses.

Milan: Best Rated Milan Hotels | Milan Pictures

Milan Travel Guide

5. Naples - Napoli

Naples is one of Italy's most vibrant cities. It lies on the coast south of Rome and is the most important city in southern Italy. Naples has recently undergone some renovation but still retains much of its old character. It holds many historical and artistic treasures.

Naples: Best Rated Naples Hotels | A Look at Naples Historic Center

Naples Travel Guide

6. Verona

Verona is known for the story of Romeo and Juliet and for its Roman Arena, the third largest in Italy and the venue for a top opera festival. Verona has a good medieval center, Roman remains, and an interesting castle complex. It's the fourth most visited city in Italy and well worth a stop on a northern Italy travel itinerary.

Verona: Verona Travel Directory | Verona Photos

What to See in Verona

7. Turin - Torino

Turin, host of the 2006 Winter Olympics, is a major cultural hub with excellent museums, elegant shops, and good restaurants. There are also some very nice examples of baroque architecture and historic palaces. Turin has many historic cafes, artisan workshops, and arcades. Turin is in the northwest of Italy, between the Po River and the foothills of the Alps.

Turin: Best Rated Turin Hotels | Turin Photos

Turin Travel Guide

8. Bologna

Bologna is known for its beauty, wealth, cuisine, and left-wing politics. Its streets are lined with beautiful arcades, making it a good place to walk even in the rain. It has one of Europe's oldest universities and a nice medieval center. There are several attractive squares, lined with buildings with nice porticoes. Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy.

Bologna: Best Rated Bologna Hotels | Bologna Environs Itinerary

Bologna Travel Guide

9. Perugia

Perugia is a very cosmopolitan city and home to two universities. It hosts a world-famous jazz festival in the summer and its University for Foreigners is a great place to learn Italian. It's a walled city on a hilltop with great views over the valley and has several important monuments and a good central square. Its history goes back to the ninth century BC. Perugia is in the center of Italy and is the capital of the region of Umbria.

Perugia: Best Rated Perugia Hotels | Perugia Pictures

Perugia Travel Guide

10. Genoa - Genova

Genoa, on the northwest coast of Italy, is Italy's principal seaport. Genoa was a 2004 European Culture Capital; money flowed into the port city made famous by Columbus and now it's a better place than ever to visit. Genoa has a fascinating aquarium, an interesting port area, and a historic center said to be the largest medieval quarter in Europe, with a wealth of churches, palaces, and museums.

 

Genoa: Best Rated Genoa Hotels | Genoa Pictures

Genoa Travel Guide

11. Poll - Italy's Most Popular Travel Cities

Rome, Florence, and Venice are Italy's three top cities for visitors but each is completely different from the others. Here's a chance to vote for your favorite of the three cities or see how others voted.

12. Smaller Cities to Visit in Italy

If you've visited Italy's top cities or prefer to travel to smaller cities with fewer tourists, consider these recommendations for less-visited but interesting Italian cities.

Traveling by Train in Italy

Travel between big cities is best done by train as driving in Italian cities may be very difficult and the extensive Italian rail system is fairly inexpensive. Most city centers are well-suited to walking and parts of the city centers may be closed to transportation. Large Italian cities generally have good public transportation, too.

 

Ask Dr. Alex: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

 

 

 

This is the first in our series of questions for Dr. Alex Rinehart, our resident expert on all things related to wellness and holistic practices.

Do you have a question you want answered? Submit it to askdralex@zenfullydelicious.com, and we may choose it for an upcoming column. Note: He does like a challenge.

Dear Dr. Alex,

Do you have any nutritional/diet recommendations for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis? My mom’s been really sick for about 9 months, as first they thought it was a standard thyroid disorder, then they thought it was fibromyalgia, then rheumatoid arthritis, and now they’re positive it’s Hashimoto’s.

The medicine isn’t really doing much to alleviate the excruciating pain she’s in, and I’ve been digging around the net to see if I could find any alternative therapies online. So far I haven’t found much.

Thanks,
C.P.

Dr. Alex’s Response:

I’m really sorry that your mother is dealing with so much! The good news is that a lot of great information is available about the thyroid, but it’s not being talked about nearly as much in the media as it should be.

Most medical doctors simply look at Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) when testing for thyroid abnormalities. If your thyroid hormones are low (hypo-thyroidism), your TSH will be high, as your body is trying to make up the account balance. So most medical doctors measure TSH, and if it’s too high, they give you a synthetic thyroid hormone, which can be helpful, but can have its side effects as well.

However, the cause is still not addressed. Even more, taking synthetic thyroid has a natural feedback effect which communicates with your body, telling it to stop producing the natural thyroid — ultimately having you dependent on the medication for the rest of your life! I recommend requesting a natural T4 and T3 (porcine) hormone replacement prescription like Armour Thyroid, which if tolerated, can be very helpful.

When the doctors continue hitting a wall with clinical results, they will then look deeper by looking at thyroid antibodies (anti-TPO) and may finally give a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. My experience has shown that the treating doctor will either “watch and wait,” stick with the same plan (altering the dosage of current medications), or add anti-inflammatory or steroid drugs to reduce your immune response. All can be helpful symptomatically, but it’s really clearing the smoke instead of addressing the flames.

What research has been finding is that it comes back to — you guessed it — diet, environment and lifestyle. Here’s what the cutting edge science tells us:

Pesticide Exposure

• Pesticides in our produce interfere with hormone function by messing with the balance of T3 and T4, and also physically blocking thyroid receptors. Therefore you may be producing enough T3 and T4, but it’s just not being read by your body. High TSH along with normal T3 and T4 levels shows a low-level hypothryoidism that if let alone, may progress into more serious problems.

Food Sensitivity (especially gluten intolerance or celiac disease)

• Gluten, as well as other sensitivities, create a low-grade systemic inflammation that can cause your body to overreact to foreign antigens.
• Roughly 1% of the American population (3,000,000 people) have celiac disease. It is estimated that with better diagnosis and detection, up to 50-60% of the population may have some level of gluten sensitivity. This is likely because 95% of cases are misdiagnosed as other conditions or undiagnosed (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, 2010).
• A new concept known as molecular mimicry is a theory that suggests molecules in your thyroid may resemble molecules in foods you are allergic to, so your own antibodies become overactive, promoting autoimmunity (NEJM, 1999). This hyper-reactivity and autoimmunity may begin affecting hormonal activity. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, specifically, is an immune reaction to your own thyroid tissue!

Heavy Metal Toxicity

• Heavy metal exposure such as mercury poisoning can wreak havoc on your system. These toxins are stored in fat tissue, which when released actually start affecting your thyroid receptors, having a slowing affect on your thyroid. In addition, these metals promotes the production of little ricocheting bullets called free radicals, that wreak havoc on our cells, even when handled properly!

Chronic Stress

• Stress will make 95% of disease processes worse. Why? Because your body protects itself like a triage unit, focusing on immediate concerns first, at the expense of some long-term protective functions.
• There’s a system referred to as the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-thryoid (H-P-A-T) axis that shows the links between these systems and how dysfunction in one can drive a dysfunction in another (Neuroendocrinology, 2005). Overproduction of our stress hormone cortisol (which actually has some anti-inflammatory properties) is produced from the same precursor molecule as your sex hormones. Too much cortisol may lead to low libido, cardiovascular risk, fertility problems, delayed healing, and lack of energy!

Environmental Triggers

• Genetics provide the blueprint for healthy body function, but it’s the environmental triggers (diet, heavy metals, toxins) that turn certain genes on and off. Healthy food and environment speaks positive messages to our body, while unhealthy food and toxin exposure provides negative messages.
• Research looking at early exposure to dairy in infant formula suggests that wrongful exposure to antigens can lead to autoimmune reactions 10-15-20 years later in life (American Diabetes Association, 1999). So if a child is wrongfully exposed in infancy and young age, autoimmunity could be expected to appear in a person’s mid-twenties to mid-40s, which is when most autoimmune diseases are diagnosed.

Insulin Resistance

• Insulin resistance develops over time, and is not a black and white phenomenon like blood testing lets us believe. Insulin resistance is often part of a larger problem known as Metabolic Syndrome which includes other findings like high triglycerides and cholesterol readings. Interestingly, these findings frequently accompany hypothyroidism.
• Regarding infant formula and chronic disease mentioned above, exposure to dairy as an infant in formula is believed to induce pancreatic cell destruction, leading to higher risk of developing type I diabetes autoantibodies (JAMA, 2003). What happens is that in the web of human physiology, dysfunction in one hormone system causes dysfunction in other systems (like the H-P-A-T axis). The web is the common thread of diet and lifestyle, and the fact that organ systems work with one another, and not just as separate entities (that’s where the holistic part comes in!).

Vitamin Deficiencies

• Due to the Standard American Diet (SAD), many Americans are deficient in key nutrients like Selenium (high in brazil nuts), Zinc (high in meat, nuts, pumpkin seeds), Vitamin A (high in carrots, yams), Omega-3 fats (fatty fish), iodine (seaweed, kelp, iodized salt), and B vitamins (healthy greens and grains) which can all have a negative effect on your thyroid function, promote inflammation and immune dysfunction. For instance, Selenium not only helps with thryoid hormone production, but also promotes glutathione production. Glutathione is your body’s most powerful antioxidant, and helps clear out toxins and heavy metals that may lie at root cause of thyroid dysfunction. The good news is that your daily needs can be met by eating just 2 Brazil Nuts daily.

If anyone is looking to take a more holistic route, true holistic consultations take 1-2 hours in duration. Your health care provider needs to assess all of the possible triggers to your symptom-state and paint a story as to the cause. Despite the many causes of thryoid dysfunction, a provider can personalize recommendations based on your unique profile, with blood tests serving as a fall-back option to help direct more complex cases.

In the meantime, you can protect yourself by taking part in daily relaxation techniques, hiring a lifestyle coach, reducing toxin exposure in your diet and lifestyle, screening yourself for food sensitivities and allergies, promoting insulin and blood sugar control, and making sure you’re eating a nutrient-rich diet free from empty carbohydrates and unnecessary food chemicals and additives.

***
Dr. Alex Rinehart is a Chiropractor and Certified Clinical Nutritionist. Through his practice at CoActive Health, his commitment to mind/body/spirit integration is emphasized by working in partnership with his patients to achieve wellness, with specialized services to support chronic conditions.

 

Women: Victims of conflict or agents of change?

 

Photo: Jodi Hilton/IRIN

Women often pay the heaviest price in disasters

DUBAI, 27 March 2014 (IRIN) - Women are the biggest victims in natural disasters and conflicts, yet they are also the most resourceful. Thus, aid agencies should do more to develop women as agents for change and development.
This is the takeaway message from this year’s Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD), where hundreds of delegates from UN agencies, NGOs, donor agencies, regional organizations and Red Cross and Red Crescent societies gathered on 25-27 March to discuss women and aid.
The importance of giving women real decision-making power and leadership roles was also highlighted, as well as the need to support gender equality policies with adequate funding that would enable delivery rather than just paper commitments.
“It is women who most often bear the crippling consequences [of crises] - be they physical, psychological, social or economic,” Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), told delegates.
The widespread use of rape as a weapon of war is just one indication that women are often targeted in conflicts.
In natural disasters, too, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men, according to academic research. Oxfam reported that the 2004 Asian Ocean Tsunami may have killed four times as many women as men.
This is often linked to the pre-existing vulnerability of women in many societies and women’s tendencies to care for children and the elderly.
“It is time to break the silence that hurts forgotten women in forgotten places,” Cousin said. “We can do this by actively listening to women’s voices, and recognizing their challenges, by paying attention to their capacities as well as their needs.”
Women’s specific needs in crisis range from protection from sexual abuse to support in playing new roles as heads of households.
“Women have different and unique needs and sometimes a markedly different perspective on how to go about meeting those needs,” said HE Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, United Arab Emirates minister of international cooperation and development.
Bint Khalid Al Qasimi was the first woman to become a government minister in the UAE. Instead of seeing women only as victims or recipients of assistance, she said, “we need to look beyond that and see them as agents of change, as brokers of peace and as deliverers of assistance.”
Maria Teresa Garrido, adviser for women and war at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), also cautioned against simple gender stereotyping.
“Women are associated with peace, tenderness… and men with war, to aggressiveness, to violence… but this is only a partial picture,” she said.
“These misperceptions really limit the way we express ourselves to men and women, the way we perceive them, and the way we work with them. Women are not only victims… they are also agents of reconstructing, of going ahead and finding answers to their situations.”
In fact, according to Claire Melamed, head of the Growth, Poverty and Inequality Programme at the Overseas Development Institute, women often have better survival strategies than men. In a January blog post, she described the argument that “women are always the most helpless victims in a disaster” as a myth.
Gender equality not just a human right
There are various reasons women’s needs and voices are often overlooked. Some aid organizations see themselves as “too busy” in an emergency situation to address women’s specific needs. Some argue gender is a longer-term development issue. Others say women-specific organizations are already mandated to deal with gender issues. Cousin also noted that much of the aid industry is driven by men.
But panelists argued gender is not just a question of equity: It is about increasing the chances of women and girls’ survival in moments of crisis. As such, Cousin argues: “Gender is everyone’s business.”
Several panelists focused on the role of women in tackling food insecurity, noting their important position as lead care-givers and, in many conflict scenarios, heads of households.
“Women are key to food security because their influence on the household livelihood is huge,” explained Mona Chaya, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)’s deputy strategic objective coordinator for resilience.
Six out of 10 farmers in Asia are women; yet “aid policies have long neglected women as food producers,” noted UN Messenger of Peace Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein.
Giving an example of a FAO-backed project in Chad, where women had been given resources to improve agricultural yield, Chaya insisted: “Gender is not a standalone issue. Rather it is an integral part of development work... It’s a tool for agricultural development and food and nutrition security in peace as well as in disasters.”
Mainstreaming
Fortunately, gender-targeted policies are increasingly becoming part of everyday programming, a point stressed by Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Response.
“In Europe our commitment to women and our commitment to aid come together… We are taking this issue of understanding needs of women very seriously.”
The humanitarian aid arm of the European Commission, ECHO, has recently adopted a new three-pillar policy on gender in humanitarian interventions, which includes mainstreaming gender awareness into all programming, targeted actions for women and capacity-building.
In practical terms, this includes everything from planning how to install lighting in refugee camps to cash transfers specifically targeted at women, as well as ways to build capacity among partners on gender issues and among women, so that they can better help themselves.

Photo: Kate Holt/IRIN

Women can play a crucial role in aid delivery

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), for example, has trained women in rural areas so that they can then create local disaster risk reduction mechanisms tailored to their own communities.
The UK Department for International Development is also introducing a requirement that all its development and humanitarian interventions - from drafting through to evaluation and monitoring - consider gender equality.
Others are also taking steps to mainstream gender programming. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Gender Marker, first piloted in 2009, is a tool that codes on a scale whether or not a humanitarian project is designed well enough to ensure both genders benefit equally from it.
Walking the walk
Georgieva added that it was important to “lead by example” and she said: “We need to see more and more women in the field… not only talking the talk but also walking the walk.”
Panelists stressed the importance of female staff at all levels of organizations, from the leadership down to the enumerators doing questionnaires with affected people.
A special effort must also be made to ensure the full participation of women in planning humanitarian responses, panelists said, as women often know best what their communities need.
“I don’t think we can afford to leave women out of decision making, learning, designing, budgeting - any of those steps,” said Farah Kabir, the executive director of ActionAid in Bangladesh, “because if we do, we are missing out on 50 percent of the perspective, 50 percent of the ideas, and we are not coming up necessarily with the practical solutions.”
This, however, must be done with care and with the simultaneous involvement of men. Otherwise, as Wendy Fenton, coordinator of ODI’s Humanitarian Practice Network pointed out, giving women power in the distribution of aid could actually increase violence against them.
Funding
As well as giving women meaningful leadership roles, consistent funding is also required.
“Everyone is talking about women’s empowerment, about gender markers, about helping women,” said Muna Abu Suliman, the founding secretary-general of Saudi Arabia’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, and now a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Development Programme.
“…In recent years there has been an increase in attention given to women and girls as agents of change and there are the commitments on gender equality. But the attention has not translated to funding for women’s organizations and actual wide-scale change.”
Funding is often fragmented and given in small sums, she said. Many organizations struggle to survive due to the short-term nature of their funding and even established women’s organizations with innovative models are unable to scale up their activities. Studies have also highlighted the need for more adaptable funding in complex emergencies, providing the flexibility to meet women’s needs.
Abu Suliman, an influential media personality in Saudi Arabia, urged Middle Eastern governments to direct their “very generous foreign aid and development work” towards “female causes and organizations”.
But Mukesh Kapila, a professor at the University of Manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, was quick to warn that funding for women’s programming and women in leadership positions would not be enough so long as the societal structures that propagate women’s vulnerability remain unchanged.
In one effort to address this, IOM has trained police to be better able to stop human trafficking of women.
Still, “despite the greater attention that we have given to gender over the past 15 years, there is still a long way to go to ensure that humanitarian responses fully reflect the capacities, resources and needs of women,” Cousin said.

 

Genetically Modified Frankenfoods.

 

 

 

 

Genetically Modified Foods

 

 

Cinco aplicativos para procurar emprego

 

Quem está em busca de melhores oportunidades no mercado de trabalho pode encontrar ótimas notícias pelo seu smartphone ou tablet.

Por Maino | Yahoo Contributor Network – qui, 13 de mar de 2014 18:52 BRT

Quem está em busca de melhores oportunidades no mercado de trabalho pode encontrar ótimas notícias pelo seu smartphone ou tablet.

Com o avanço dos aparelhos móveis, um mundo de aplicativos está disponível para facilitar nossa vida, inclusive no que diz respeito ao contexto laboral - programas voltados à busca de empregos ou à interação profissional são algumas ideias do gênero.

As propostas para o ambiente de trabalho podem ser encontradas e baixadas de forma gratuita em plataformas como Android, iOS e Windows Phone, por exemplo. Veja a seguir algumas sugestões bacanas.

LinkedIn

Plataformas: Android, iOS e Windows Phone

Preço: gratuito

Além de sua notória página destinada a reunir perfis profissionais, o LinkedIn também oferece a seus usuários um aplicativo para telefones inteligentes e tablets. O programa permite, entre outros pontos, conferir as atualizações de sua rede de contatos, buscar por pessoas em sua área de atuação, procurar por vagas de emprego, empresas e ainda pesquisar pelos mais distintos grupos relacionados ao mercado de trabalho. Uma vez feito o cadastro na página do serviço, o usuário já pode começar a usufruir das facilidades do aplicativo.

Infojobs

Plataforma: Android.

Preço: gratuito.

Página bem conhecida no mundo profissional, o Infojobs também complementa seus serviços de busca por vagas de emprego com um aplicativo disponibilizado para a plataforma Android. Quem não for cadastrado no portal pode fazer inscrição gratuita diretamente pelo programa. A interface móvel é bem intuitiva. Para buscar vagas, por exemplo, basta acessar o desenho de uma lupa logo na parte superior da tela. Por meio de outros ícones, o usuário pode ainda conferir seus favoritos, suas candidaturas, mensagens, recomendações e demais avisos relacionadas a seu perfil.

Empregos Indeed

Plataformas: Android e iOS

Preço: gratuito

Disponibilizado para iPhone, iPad e para a plataforma Android, o aplicativo do serviço Indeed promete buscar vagas de trabalho em centenas de sites, agências e empresas de recrutamento. Na página inicial do programa, é possível fazer busca por palavras-chave, cargos, empresas e ainda especificar sua região de atuação. O programa também permite fazer cadastro de currículo e se candidatar diretamente às vagas. Entre outros pontos, o App ainda oferece facilidades como enviar vagas por e-mail ou salvar oportunidades para conferência posterior.

Trovit Empregos

Plataformas: Android e iOS

Preço: gratuito

O Trovit, aplicativo disponível para Android e iOS, oferece busca em diversas páginas de empregos. O programa permite indicar título da vaga pretendida, palavras-chave ou empresas desejadas. O próximo passo é sugerir sua localização favorita e clicar em "Procurar Trabalho". Uma lista com oportunidades disponíveis será aberta em seguida. Filtros como unidade federal e jornada de trabalho também podem ser acessados.

Careerjet

Plataformas: Android e iOS

Preço: gratuito.

Outra proposta bem bacana para aumentar as chances de um novo emprego é o aplicativo relacionado ao site Careerjet, que também possibilita pesquisa por vagas, empresas, palavras-chave e filtragem de oportunidades por localidade. Ao clicar em "Buscar", uma lista de vagas é ofertada ao usuário, especificando os nomes das funções, dados de atuação, localizações e sites referentes às aberturas.

 

Sea Serpent Eats Cosmic Diamond Ring – News Watch

 

 

Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula Abell 33. Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, this beautiful blue bubble is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetrical, appearing to be almost perfectly circular in the sky. Credit: ESO

A  cosmic diamond ring is the best way to describe the haunting beauty of a distant star in its final moments of life.

Located some 2,500 light-years from Earth within the belly of a mythical water snake, Abell 33 (also known as PK238+34.1) represents the final remains of a sunlike star that has thrown its atmosphere into space, releasing a vast bubble of gas and dust called a planetary nebula.

This stellar remnant is captured in striking detail never seen before, thanks to the Very Large Telescope in the high desert of Chile.

The chance alignment of the nebula and a brilliant, sparkling star together create the mesmerizing diamond-ring effect.

Look carefully to see, just off-center in the image, the tiny, Earth-size core of the nebula’s progenitor star. It still burns with enough energy to bellow copious amounts of ultraviolet radiation into surrounding space, which will make the bubble glow for tens of thousands of years before fading into darkness.

See for Yourself

Abell 33 belongs to a celestial catalog of 86 planetary nebulae put together by astronomer George Abell back in 1966. It is located inside the southern constellation of Hydra, the Water Serpent.

This sky chart shows the moon in the early evening of April 10, wedged between the bright star Regulus and the much fainter Iota Hydrae. The distant planetary nebula Abell 33 sits just below the orange star in the constellation Hydra. Credit: Starry Night Software/A. Fazekas

To catch a glimpse of the 12th-magnitude ghost bubble, you will require a medium-size backyard telescope with an 8- to 12-inch mirror and dark skies. Start your hunt in the southeastern skies and locate the faint (but visible to the naked eye) star Iota Hydrae, which represents the neck of the serpent constellation. This will act as the stellar guidepost to find the tiny cosmic bubble.

Some landmarks in the sky on April 10 include the gibbous moon, which will appear wedged between the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo, above Iota Hydrae. The much fainter orange-hued snake star will appear below the moon. The glare of the moon will wash out many faint stars, so use binoculars to pinpoint Iota Hydrae.

This wide-field view shows the sky around the planetary nebula Abell 33, which appears as the ghostly blue circle near the center of the picture. Many faint galaxies are also visible. The bright-orange star at the top is Iota Hydrae, which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin

Now that you know where Iota Hydrae is located, on an upcoming moonless night use a low-power eyepiece to scan 1.5 degrees (the width of three full moons) below the star to see Abell 33. Using high magnification—around 150x—will reveal the nebula as a very tiny, faint, gray disk.

While backyard instruments won’t produce a spectacular sight the way a giant observatory will, it is still awe-inspiring to witness the death of a distant cousin of our sun.

Follow Andrew Fazekas, the Night Sky Guy, on Twitter, Facebook, and his website.

 

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/blog/starstruck/