Contact us at;

Dave Groski david.m.groski@usa.dupont.com

Hank Bouchelle hbouchelle@live.com (302) 983-7830

Program Schedule: Programs are at 7:30 at Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory 1610 Hillside Mill Road, Greenville, DE unless indicated otherwise.

February 12 Astronomy with Binoculars Speaker Lynn King – Anyone new to field astronomy will benefit from this program as the best way to learn the basics about the night sky. Even veteran observers may pick up a few tricks. Binocular astronomy lets you polish your skills before buying a telescope. Make sure you bring binoculars with you for some “field training” after the formal program . March 12 Mapping the Sky April 9 Stars and Constellations of Spring April 18 (Thursday)- Tentative! Joint Meeting, MCAG and Univ. of DE. PHYS 139 class Gore Hall, Univ. of DE, Newark Campus Topic: Light and Stars May 14 The Moon: Its Origin and Phases June 11 Stars and Constellations of Summer Contributions to “The Star” may be sent to Ralph Denlinger denlinger108@zoominternet.net

Observing from a Comfortable Chair… January featured yet another interesting evening for the Mt. Cuba Astronomy Group, with two topics featuring the Pacific! But we began the evening with Dave Groski’s report on coordinating the effort to refurbish the late Al Weber’s telescope and other projects for a fledgling telescope-making program. Lynn King reported on her outreach efforts on behalf of our group. Watch for further news! MCAO Manager Greg Weaver presented words and images from his trip to Australia to observe a rare solar eclipse. Total solar eclipses are invariably extraordinary events, and well worth a trip. While the weather was not as cooperative as it might have been, he was able to make observations and to share images with us. During his trip he met several astronomers of note. Greg also reported on current events in the lives of Australian blue penguins. And, yes, koala bears are every bit as cute as their reputation suggests, especially considering that their diet includes psychoactive (but non-pharmaceutical) compounds. MCAG Membership Chair Carolyn Stankiewicz shared her experiences on a tour

of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Yes, it was Hawaii, and still its mountaintops were cold with snow on them! Who would have thought that a parka and earmuffs would be de rigueur for a trip to the tropics? Delaware weather posed its own problems in the course of the evening, with clouds intermittently obscuring attempts to observe a shadow transit of Io, one of Jupiter’s satellites. Next time, definitely! We are looking forward to Lynn King’s program for February. Remember to bring your binoculars.

THROUGH THE TELESCOPE FEBRUARY OBSERVATIONS

(Adapted by Tom DeMott, MCAG Member from Astronomy Made Simple, 1955) Near the celestial meridian at about eight or nine in the evening are the constellations of Orion and Auriga:

ORION, is sometimes called The Hunter. Its

name refers to Orion, a hunter in Greek

mythology. Its brightest stars are Beta (Rigel)

and Alpha (Betelgeuse), a blue-white and red

supergiant respectively. Many other of the

brightest stars in the constellation are hot

blue supergiant stars.

The most remarkable object in this

constellation is, no doubt, the Great Nebula.

It is invariably thought to be the most

wonderful object in the sky; and it is visible

to the unaided eye. Its real beauty, however,

can only be appreciated with the aid of a

telescope. The larger the telescope, the

better. The Great Nebula in Orion is also

known by its catalog numbers M42 or NGC

1976. It is greenish in color and fairly irregular

in form. Its mass is estimated to be 10,000

times that of the sun, and is part of the larger

Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, which is

located approximately 1,500 light-years away

and is hundreds of light-years across. It is one

of the most intense regions of stellar

formation visible in our galaxy.

Orion is rich in double stars. Over seventy of these stars are in the constellation, among them Rigel and Delta Orionis. Rigel is a double star, B-type blue supergiant, that is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. Similar to

Betelgeuse, Rigel is fusing heavy elements in its core and will pass its supergiant stage soon (on an astronomical timescale), either collapsing in the case of a supernova or shedding its outer layers and turning into a white dwarf. It serves as the left foot of Orion, the hunter. Its bright component has an apparent magnitude of 1.0; its color is yellowish-white. The companion is an 8.0 apparent magnitude of orange hue.

There are also multiple stars. Theta Orionis appears to the unaided eye as a single star. The telescope reveals the object to be actually composed of four distinct stars forming a compact unit in the shape of a trapezium. The Trapezium cluster has many newborn stars, including several brown dwarfs, all of which are at an approximate distance of 1,500 light-years. Named for the four bright stars that form a trapezoid, it is largely illuminated by the brightest stars, which are only a few hundred thousand years old.

AURIGA, is the Latin word for Charioteer. It is associated with various mythological charioteers such as Erichthonius and Myrtilus. The alpha-star, Capella, itself is a binary, but this cannot be determined with the aid of a telescope alone. The binary character of Capella shows up in spectroscopic studies of the star: such double stars are known as Spectroscopic Binaries. The two companions of Capella are of about equal mass and are similar in their physical characteristics. The period of one revolution about their common center of gravity for each star is 104 days. Beta-Aurigae, too, is of special interest. It is an eclipsing Variable Binary. The two companions of equal size and brightness revolve in a plane that is only slightly inclined to the line of sight. They mutually eclipse one another at every revolution. The period of a complete revolution is 3 days, 23 hours, and 2.5 minutes. A particularly beautiful star cluster is to be found in Auriga. M38 or NGC1912 is usually described as having the shape of an “oblique cross with a pair of large stars in each arm.”

There are five stars with confirmed planetary systems in Auriga; there is also a white dwarf with a suspected planetary system. HD 40979 has one planet, HD 40979 b. It was discovered in 2002 through radial velocity measurements on the parent star.

Phenomena… Hank Bouchelle A tremendous amount of information can be derived from careful observation of starlight. This is a fortunate circumstance. After all, stars are too distant to provide data in person. The casual observer may hardly be aware that stars can differ tremendously in their range of colors. In general, the color of a star reveals its temperature and suggests its luminosity. The Hertzsprung - Russell diagram provides considerable insight into the relationships among a star’s luminosity, color and temperature. (Visit http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/hr.html for further details.) Armed with this information, we may be surprised at how, in general, the population of stars seems to be in large part monochromatic. As a usual thing, we may note a few stars that appear somewhat blue, and stars fewer in number that appear vaguely red, or perhaps orange. Otherwise, stars seem to be for the most part monochromatic. It is worth noting here that when we approach a question in astronomy, it is frequently difficult to talk about just a single thing; and such is the case here. We cannot talk about the appearance of stars without talking about something else. In this case it is the nature of the human eye. The eye has two different light-detecting components. (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html) One of these, rods, is extremely numerous on the eye’s retina and they respond efficiently to light. In fact, were they just slightly more sensitive, we would be able to detect

individual photons, the elemental component of light itself! As an image moves across the retina its light encounters a changing series of rods in the process, resulting in a tendency, almost a reflex, for our eyes to be attracted to motion. In contrast, color is detected by “cones.” These are much less numerous than rods, and are concentrated at the major area of focus on the retina. They are also less sensitive to light. A cone requires more energy in a particular wavelength to respond. Thus, we find ourselves the victim of two circumstances when we observe stars. To detect the color (of a star), the cones require a minimum brightness. Dim stars may not provide enough energy in any particular wavelength to trigger a cone’s response. Further, since the relatively insensitive cones are concentrated at the retina’s preferred area of focus; dim objects may be difficult to see at all.

We are often encouraged to observe dim objects, even through a telescope, with “averted vision,” to look slightly away from the object itself. We can understand that the purpose is to cast light onto areas of the retina where rods are more densely packed and thus to make the object appear brighter. Unfortunately, these areas have relatively few cones, rendering any detail in color quite dim.

Optical chips and photographic films

can respond equally to differing wavelengths and shades of color and thus provide an accurate image of the true colors of stars. Ironically, to know what the sky “really” looks like, we first must take a picture of it to render the colors accurately!

Lum’s Pond State Park Event A Public Program will be held from 6:30 – 8:00 PM, February 9. A thirty minute talk will be followed by an observation session. Contact Lauren Illiano at (302) 368-6989 for details !

Brandywine Creek State Park has scheduled the following star events:

Saturday, Feb. 23 - 6 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 23 - 7:30 p.m Saturday, Apr. 13 - 7:30 p.m.

Out and About – Engaging Astronomy

Ms. Carolyn Stankiewicz, Mt. Cuba Astronomy Group (MCAG) Membership Chair, hosts an astronomy course on Wednesday mornings (11:30 AM to 12:30, February 6 to early May) for the Osher Lifelong Learning Academy at the U. of DE Wilcastle Campus. The course title is New Topics in the Heavens. You may contact the Osher Academy at 831-7600 or Carolyn at 302-475-2484 for more information. Register early and often!

The University of Delaware offers a one-credit Star and Constellation Identification (introduction to observational astronomy) course on Thursday evenings, 8:00 – 8:50 on its Newark Campus beginning in early February. Dr. Hank Bouchelle, MCAG Co-Lead, is the instructor. The course may be taken for continuing education credit or otherwise. The course requires no previous knowledge of astronomy or math, and investigates practical topics in astronomy and observing. For more information, go to: http://primus.nss.udel.edu/CoursesSearch/courseInfo?&courseid=024865&offernum=1&term=2133&session=1&section=010. You may request a course syllabus at hbouchelle@live.com.

Mr. David Groski, MCAG Co-Lead, is organizing a telescope-making group. Those who know David, or know of him, cannot help but be impressed by his knowledge and skill, and the excellence of his work. More information may be had from Dave at: david.m.groski@usa.dupont.com.

As some of you already know, the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory (MCAO) sponsors Public Nights on alternating Monday evenings

at the Observatory. These are of general interest and open to the public. (It is wise to make a reservation - 302-654-6407). For more information, go to: mtcuba.org.

Carolyn Stankiewicz, one of our two speakers for January, shares the following images from her trip to the Mauna Kea Observatory complex. Certainly worth the effort to get there.

Twin Keck Telescopes (USA) 10 meters diameter, optical and infrared, 8 stories high with the Suburu Telescope (Japan) - 8.3 meters diameter.

Dormitory Area - astronomers/mechanics/admin staff stay for several days so they do not have to go up and down the mountain daily (acclimation issues)

3.8 meter telescope (United Kingdom) - infrared scope

Carolyn standing in front one of the Very Long Baseline Array Radio Telescopes

Above the Clouds!

The Mount Cuba Astronomy Group has no membership fee at this time, but we are encouraging individuals to support our efforts by becoming members.

MCAG Co-Chair, Hank Bouchelle, has been an ardent photographer for many years. With his knowledge of the community and an interest in astronomy, Hank captured this view, entitled "Moon and Snow", at Rockford Park in Wilmington, Delaware. Taken in 2008, he used his Canon 7D digital camera. The story of the image does not end there. Hank entered "Moon and Snow" in a competition where it won the 2012 Merita Macmillan Nature Photography Award from the Cecil County Arts Council.

Our congratulations to Hank on this achievement and a special thank you for your contribution to this month’s MCAG member’s photo .

Certainly a fitting photograph for this time of year !!