asset newsletter stargazer€¦ · dawn at ceres the dawn satellite has only just entered orbit...
TRANSCRIPT
STARGAZER ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH EAST TEXAS
P O BOX 654
BEAUMONT, TEXAS 77619
ASSET NEWSLETTER
President - Will Young
president@asset-astronomer. org
Vice-President - Kyle Overturf
Secretary - Brenda Tantzen
Treasurer - Courtney Young
Newsletter Editor - Howard Minor
WILL’S WORDS BRENDA’S MINUTES
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APRIL 2015 ISSUE THE CLUB WEB SITE:
asset-astronomer.org
NORTH ST.
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ASSET Meeting Directions
OVERFLOW
PARKING
ASSET APRIL MEETING Friday The 10th, 7:00 PM
You All Come Out For Our Pre-Meal FRANKIES 5:15 PM For Visiting and Telescope Talk
ROSETTE NEB.
ASSET Minutes March 13, 2015 Sharon reminded us about the NASA Celebrates the Hubble Space Tele-scope day on April 24. She would wel-
come anyone willing to help with this event at the planetarium, which starts at 6:00 p.m. Also, she will be hosting Scout Day on May 30. We’ll get more in-formation at the April meeting. Will used the term “rogue astronomy” when he was thinking about the phenomenon we see on YouTube and elsewhere about flash mobs popping up at malls, etc. Lonnie went further to explain that we could just show up at events—like fairs, car shows, etc.—and bring some telescopes. We would set up on the periphery of the event, probably near where people are enter-ing. Something to think about?? ASSET’s Rogue Astronomers. There will be a Martin Dies star party on April 18. If you want to attend and need a camp-ing spot, be sure and email Will to connect you with the right people to reserve it. Eddie gave us a solar report, and Justin was there with a comet report. Courtney is asking for help with some solar scopes at (Continued Under Will’s Words)
April is here and so is spring! I've been out doing some Lunar 2 ob-servations and exploring Jupiter and
Saturn. The skies have been fairly nice. I hope some of you are getting out and taking advantage of the clear skies. The Hodges Gardens Star Party happened and all I can say was it was a fantastic camping trip. It rained a bit everyday and there were only a few of us that showed up. Hopefully we get better conditions next year. Martin Dies Star Party is coming up on April 18th. That is always a great opportunity to get some outreach hours. Kyle will be running the meeting this month as Courtney and I will be in Boston. Have a great meeting and we shall see you May! Will
(Continue from Brenda’s Minutes) the Port Arthur Kids Fest, put on by Valero on June 20 from 10-4 p.m. It will be at the LUPA Carl Parker Multi-Purpose Building. Attendance: 28 April refreshments: Christy; May refreshments: Sharon
Brenda Tantzen ASSET Secretary
EAGLE NEBULA
LYRIDS METEORS 2
DAWN ON CERES 3
JPL ARTICLE 4
NATURAL BRIDGES 5
SOLAR SYSTEM 6
OBSERVERS’ PAGE
PAGE 2
A Hodges Gardens Star Party became a Hodges Gardens Wet Camp Out! So sad, the weather has not been good to us for a long time now. All the more reason not to miss those evenings when it clears. We all have to stay motivated with a prepared plan
for observing.
DID YOU KNOW! SNOW WHERE? HAWAII? High elevations on Hawaii’s Big Island – including its tallest peak Mauna Kea – got snow in early March, 2015. If your going to Hawaii and planning on going up Mauna Kea to the observatories, your need to check with the road conditions,
before you start! HA, HA! What the heck, go skiing!
Supermoon Total Eclipse On March 20, 2015 there was a larger-than-average “new supermoon” that swung right in front of the Sun to totally block out the solar disk. Although you had to be at the just right spot on Earth to witness this total eclipse of the Sun, which basically was Europe. The Moon turned new only 14 hours after reaching lunar perigee – moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit. Thus this moon is a supermoon – at the new phase, and having a larger-than-average effect on the Earth’s oceans. Photo of total eclipse by Tine Mari Thornes, in Norway.
2015 Lyrids meteor shower
The Lyrids are will peak on April 22, 2015. A waxing crescent Moon will create good viewing condi-tions. Those in Europe are best located to view the meteor shower. The best time to watch it, is after midnight on April 22. The Lyrids meteor shower are usually active between April 16 and April 25
every year. It will peak around Wednesday night, April 22 or Thursday morning, April 23.
Considered to be the oldest known meteor shower, the Lyrids are named after constellation Lyra. The radiant point of the shower - the point in the sky where the meteors seem to emerge from - lies near the star Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky during this time of the year.
The Lyrids are associated with Comet Thatcher, which takes about 415 years to orbit around the Sun. Many times during a year one can see hundreds of shooting stars lighting up clear night skies. Literally celestial debris.
Who Is Not Getting the Astronomical League’s REFLECTOR Magazine ? With new club members there has to be people who are not getting the REFLECTOR, and existing
members who are not getting it? Please let me know if you are not receiving it, as you are enti-
tled to it free. Jane and my gmail is, [email protected], and our Ph. No. is 670-9048.
Howard
HEY MEMBERS, TELESCOPE PROBLEMS? WANT A GOOD USED TELESCOPE?
"ADVANTAGE TELESCOPE REPAIR"
repair all makes and models & sell
new and used scopes
Clayton Jeter 713.569.7529 cell stonebloke@gmail
PAGE 3
MARCH 2015
IT IS FRANKIES ITALIAN, ON SOUTH I-10, FOR OUR PRE-MEETING MEAL!
Everyone is welcome to join in this fun time. We do it each month, and it adds so much to the evenings activities. Come about 5:15 PM, so we don’t have to rush to make the 7 PM meeting.
Dawn at Ceres The Dawn Satellite has only just entered orbit around the largest asteroid. It is in the early days for Ceres science, but what Dawn has seen so far is pretty exciting. Dawn has already observed the entire globe of Ceres at low resolution, and it is unlike Vesta, and the impact craters are different than Vesta. The bright 2 spots are located in the floor of a crater about a 30 miles in diameter and some think it might be some kind of plume. It seems that the globe rotates and if they find ports of outgassing on Ceres it would be ex-citing news. Dawn is orbiting Ceres in a high-altitude, slightly elliptical orbit. And at higher altitudes, the spacecraft has to make a larger circle around the planetoid, so the trip ends up taking more time to orbit. In April Dawn gets to 8400 miles of the surface and will make an orbit of Ceres in 15 days. By the end of this year, Dawn will orbit just 230 miles
above Ceres, and the pics will be 100 times better than anything we’ve seen so far.
Aurora and Mysterious Dust Cloud around Mars NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft – which arrived at Mars in September, 2014 – has observed two interesting and surprising phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and an aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmos-phere. MAVEN’s mission is to help solve the mystery of how Mars lost most of its atmosphere and much of its water. These new findings are unexpected! The picture is an artist’s concept of what scientists are calling the Christmas Lights Aurora on Mars, as seen by the MAVEN spacecraft. MAVEN observations show that the aurora on Mars is similar to Earth’s aurora, but has a different origin. Image via University of Colorado.
THE GALAXIES OF LEO & VIRGO ARE LED BY MESSIER OBJECTS There are many fine galaxies available for study within the constellations of Leo and Virgo. Many of the galaxies can be observed with smaller telescopes (a good dark sky location will help considerably). They can be seen with 8" or larger telescopes and with fairly low powers, under 100 being fine. Many experts recommend a 45 arc-minute field of view, which corresponds to a power of about 75X with a 55 degree apparent field of view eyepiece. So, for example, with an 8 inch f/10 scope, you should probably use an eyepiece with a focal length of about 25mm. It may be advantageous to use a wide-band light pollution filter. The narrow band filters are usually better for planetary nebula, since they are often 'tuned' to trans-mit only very specific, narrow, wavelengths of light. Galaxies usually emit light over a much broader spec-trum, so the wider band filters are usually best. There are 18 Messiers in this area of the sky alone. Also, there are just as many NGC objects that fit into Messier’s category of low power objects mixed in.
PAGE 4
This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway
By Ethan Siegel
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, winter brings long, cold nights, which are often excellent for sky watchers (so long as there's a way to keep warm!) But there's often an added bonus that comes along when conditions are just right: the polar lights, or the Aurora Borealis around the North Pole. Here on our world, a brilliant green light often appears for observers at high north-ern latitudes, with occasional, dimmer reds and even blues lighting up a clear night.
We had always assumed that there was some connection between particles emitted from the Sun and the aurorae, as particu-larly intense displays were observed around three days after a solar storm occurred in the direction of Earth. Presumably, particles origi-nating from the Sun—ionized electrons and atomic nuclei like protons and alpha particles—make up the vast majority of the solar wind and get funneled by the Earth's magnetic field into a circle around its magnetic poles. They're energetic enough to knock electrons off atoms and molecules at various layers in the upper atmosphere—particles like molecular nitrogen, oxygen and atomic hydrogen. And when the electrons fall back either onto the atoms or to lower energy levels, they emit light of varying but particular wavelengths—oxygen producing the most common green signature, with less common states of oxygen and hydrogen producing red and the occasional blue from nitrogen.
But it wasn't until the 2000s that this picture was directly confirmed! NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite (which ceased operations in Decem-ber 2005) was able to find out how the magnetosphere responded to solar wind changes, how the plasmas were energized, transported and (in some cases) lost, and many more properties of our magnetosphere. Planets without significant magnetic fields such as Venus and Mars have much smaller, weaker aurorae than we do, and gas giant planets like Saturn have aurorae that primarily shine in the ultraviolet rather than the visible. Nevertheless, the aurorae are a spectacular sight in the evening, particularly for observers in Alaska, Canada and the Scandinavian countries. But when a solar storm comes our way, keep your eyes towards the north at night; the views will be well worth braving the cold!
Auroral overlays from the IMAGE spacecraft.
Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory (Goddard Space Flight Center) / Blue Marble team.
CLUB NEWS: MARTIN DIES SP AND HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAY
Martin Dies Star Party is coming up on Saturday, April 18th. These events are always a great opportunity to get some outreach hours. If you want to attend and need a camping spot, be sure and email Will to connect you with the right people for reservations. Also, Sharon reminded us about NASA Celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope day, which is on Friday, April 24. She would welcome anyone willing to help with this event at the BISD Planetarium. It starts at 6:00 p.m. Will, Kyle and Sharon really need our help with these activities. If your schedule is free,
please come and support them and have the fun of camping and teaching the skies.
PAGE 5
DUES FOR 2015 CAN NOW BE PRORATED IF YOU LIKE, AND SENT TO COURTNEY YOUNG, AT PO
BOX 654 , GROVES, TX. 77619. Or come and bring it to the APRIL meeting on the 10th at 7:00 PM.
April: The Pink Moon - I didn’t know we had a Pink Moon.
It is when flowers begin to appear, including the widespread grass pink or wild ground phlox. Other variations indicate more signs of full spring, such as Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, and Fish Moon (common among coastal tribes). I don’t know
who decided this name?
The Moon Features of the Month
Craters Copernicus and Eratosthenes This area of the Moon is a showpiece to view, with so much detail that is seen easily. One day after 1st quarter and 1 day after 3rd quarter is the best time to view Copernicus & Eratosthenes. Copernicus is a young and isolated formation with hexagonal form. Bright rays all around. The crater has very steep terraced slopes and peaks in the center in an area called Mare Insularum. Three central mountains (5,000 ft) with a diameter of 56 miles. Eratosthenes is a circular for-mation situated at the end of the Apennines. Very steep slopes and high walls especially to the South with a central mountain with several
summits with wrinkled ridges hills and rilles. It is 35 miles in diameter with walls over 10,000 ft. Stadius is a large ghost crater that has been flooded with lava, but you can make out its ring as you look closely. Stadius is best seen just after 1st quarter
and is 42 miles in dia. Enjoy the Moon as it seems it is always up there to view in your telescope, right from your home.
COPERNICUS ERATOSTHENES
Carpatus Mtns.
Apennines Mtns.
Cra
ter
Ch
ain
STADIUS
Mare Insularum
NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT, UTAH
A few years back Jane & I vacationed to Utah; Bryce, Zion, Arches and Natural Bridges.
When we pulled up at the Monuments Visitor Center, there was an 18 inch Dob sitting there. We
learned that the park was an IDA, International Dark Sky Association park since 2007. The
ranger said, if you have good eyes you might see 7th magnitude naked eye? He conducted star
parties for park visitors when needed at the visitor center. IDA is a designation that recognizes
not only that the park has some of the darkest and clearest skies in all of the United States, but
also that the park has made every effort to conserve the natural dark as a resource, worthy of
protection. To date, Natural Bridges has the only night sky monitored by the NPS, Night Sky
Team that rates it a Class 2 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, giving it the darkest sky ever as-
sessed. Natural Bridges Nat’l. Mon. immediately went on my bucket list to return with my tele-
scope. I am afraid now this might not happen unless some of you would go with us, for a week of
camping and observing at such fantastic skies. Lets Go! Howard
PAGE 6
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN
THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
WHERE ARE THE PLANETS?
APRIL 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
1ST
NEW
3RD
FULL Moon farthest from Earth,
Apogee
Moon closest to Earth Perigee
ASSET CLUB MEETING 7:00PM
Moon farthest from Earth,
Apogee
VENUS - What is the 1st planet you see in the sky? Why Venus, of course as it shines at –4.1 magnitude high in the West.
The Moon passes Venus on April 21st and Venus passes the Pleiades on April 11th. Those nights will be good camera shots.
Venus is still in the gibbous phase at 16” diameter.
MERCURY - It is leaving the morning sky and rapidly coming up in the West. By the 19th if will be well placed for viewing at
-1.4 magnitude. A extremely thin crescent Moon will be just to the right of it, very close to the horizon.
MARS - Mars is in the same area, just above Mercury, on the 19th. The planets are just 1.3 ° apart on the 22nd and both are
very tiny at 4” and 5” respectfully.
JUPITER - Now that you have seen Venus in all its glory, overhead is bright Jupiter. During April it is about –2.2 magnitude
close to the “Beehive” star cluster (M44), in Cancer and closest on the 8th. Jupiter is getting farther away from us now, but still
at 40” in diameter. Be sure to watch the moons as they transit and are eclipsed by Jupiter.
SATURN - it is rising where it is visible close to 11 PM, but by the end of the month it will getting up by 10 PM. Saturn is
brightening to almost zero magnitude. Saturn is just above the head of Scorpius all month and is overhead in the morning
skies. Study the ring system and the 4 to 6 moons (depending on the size of your scope). It is the prettiest of all planets.
NEPTUNE AND URANUS - These 2 are just to close to the Sun to get a peek at them. Another couple of months for them.
PLUTO - Our Dwarf Planet is in Sagittarius and is possible to see right before dawn if you work at it. Won’t be easy!
COMET LOVEJOY - This one is still visible in Cassiopeia at 7th magnitude. I would say you can still get it with binoculars.
LYRID METEOR SHOWER - Again is in for the week of the 22nd. See the article on page 2.
TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE - Really won’t be able to see anything, as it is in the Pacific Ocean, or unless you're in Hawaii.
MARTIN DIES STAR PARTY,
NEED YOU
NASA HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
DAY
SHARON NEEDS US AT THE PLANETARIUM ON FRIDAY
THE 24TH AT 6PM
LYRID METEOR SHOWER