November 2015 First Light Newsletter

November, 2015 (Issue No.

AlachuaAstronomyClub.org

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Serving Alachua County since 1987

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How we know Mars has liquid water on its surfaceby Ethan Siegel

Space Place Feature article

Of all the planets in the solar system other than our own, Mars is the one place with the most Earth-like past. Geologicalfeatures on the surface such as dried up riverbeds, sedimentary patterns, mineral spherules nicknamed "blueberries," andevidence of liquid-based erosion all tell the same story: that of a wet, watery past. But although we've found plenty ofevidence for molecular water on Mars in the solid (ice) and gaseous (vapor) states, including in icecaps, clouds andsubsurface ices exposed (and sublimated) by digging, that in no way meant there'd be water in its liquid phase today.

Sure, water flowed on the surface of Mars during the first billion years of the solar system, perhaps producing an ocean amile deep, though the ocean presence is still much debated. Given that life on Earth took hold well within that time, it’sconceivable that Mars was once a rich, living planet as well. But unlike Earth, Mars is small: small enough that its interiorcooled and lost its protective magnetic field, enabling the sun's solar wind to strip its atmosphere away. Without a significantatmosphere, the liquid phase of water became a virtual impossibility, and Mars became the arid world we know it to be today.

But certain ions—potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, chloride and fluoride, among others—get left behind when theliquid water disappears, leaving a “salt” residue of mineral salts (that may include table salt, sodium chloride) on the surface.While pure liquid water may not persist at standard Martian pressures and temperatures, extremely salty, briny water canindeed stay in a liquid state for extended periods under the conditions on the Red Planet. It's more of a "sandy crust" likeyou'd experience on the shore when the tide goes out than the flowing waters we're used to in rivers on Earth, but it meansthat under the right temperature conditions, liquid water does exist on Mars today, at least in small amounts.

The measured presence and concentration of these salts, found in the dark streaks that come and go on steep crater walls,combined with our knowledge of how water behaves under certain physical and chemical conditions and the observations ofchanging features on the Martian surface supports the idea that this is the action of liquid water. Short of taking a sample andanalyzing it in situ on Mars, this is the best current evidence we have for liquid water on our red neighbor. Next up? Findingout if there are any single-celled organisms hardy enough to survive and thrive under those conditions, possibly even nativeto Mars itself!

Images credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona, of a newly-formed gully on the Martian surface (L) and of the series ofgullies where the salt deposits were found (R).

Newberry Star Parkby Andy Howell

SkySentinel Meteor Camera at Newberry Star ParkThe SkySentinel all-sky meteor camera at Newberry Star Park continues to record impressive numbers of fireballs andbolides almost every night. The camera has detected 95 events since June 17. That translates to about one event everynight or two. On October 23rd, SkySentinel captured its brightest meteor to date, one estimated to be about visual magnitude-11. This is nearly as bright as the full moon. Newberry Star Park's video and composite imagery, along with scientific data,are reported each day to the SkySentinel Network (http://goskysentinel.com).

In addition, we report results to the American Meteor Society, which collects data from around the world. The October 23rdbolide, designated 2015-2694, was seen by a total of six observers in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. It had three terminalbursts, possibly dropping meteorites. Brightness estimates ranged mag -11 to mag - 26. For more details of this spectacularevent, visit http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2015/2694

Meteors are scientifically important because the particles that produce them ("meteoroids") pose a collision hazard tosatellites such as the manned International Space Station that orbits the earth. The largest meteoroids are ones thatperiodically hit earth, producing meteor craters. Such an event happened two years ago in Chelyabinsk, Russia(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor)

Exploding Bolide October 23rd over Newberry Star Park. The moon is in the lower right corner (southwest), and the bolide is in the upper right corner (northwest).

Public Star Party and Outreach at Newberry Star ParkNovember 14, 2015

November's Public Star Party and Outreach at Newberry Star Park is scheduled November 14. Participants always have agood time, and residents of the Newberry area are especially invited. Register HERE for the event so we know you'recoming!

Star Partiesby Lisa Egar and Ivo Rabell

Big Shoals State Park StarParty/Public Outreach

October 17, 2015Wrap-up

After many weather cancellations during the past year, we finally got a "GO" for the Big Shoals Outreach / Star Party. Thefirst one we had in Big Shoals we had a GREAT dark sky, this time we knew that a crescent moon was going to be up forearly evening, so not so dark a sky.

Knowing this, we still had a few club members show up:

Don Loftus and his lovely wife Ermida with his gorgeous 6" Newtonian Dobsonian and 20 x 100 binoculars

David Liles with his hefty 13.1" Coulter Dobsonian (thanks to Don for helping to move the monster)

Lisa Eager with her trustworthy 10" Dobsonian

The first guests walked in and then the tractor pulled a wagon full just before it got too dark. We also got to see some batsthat the Rangers have for educational purposes. One is missing a left wing and the other a right wing.

Park Ranger Teri Graves was excited to have us out showing off the heavens to approximately 25 park guests. She is fairlynew to Big Shoals and plans on being there for awhile. She is also working on a Dark Sky designation for the Park.

The early bird special included the moon and Saturn in some wispy clouds. Main course had M13 in Hercules, M31 theAndromeda Galaxy, M57 the Ring Nebula, and the double star Albireo, which was straight overhead about the time I found itin my Dobsonian. So after standing on my head contorting myself to find the darn double, David thought it would be fun tohave guests ask me to go back to Saturn before it went below the tree line! He just wanted to see if my knees made as muchnoise as his when they bend....they do. For dessert we served up the Double Cluster in Perseus and attempted the DoubleDouble in Lyra. We got the first Double, and sort of the second Double. Where's Toomey when you need him?

The wagon packed up to leave and all the guests were very gracious, and many "thank you's" were given to us for comingout. We stayed and showed the tractor driver Park Ranger a bit of the sky before we packed it in ourselves.

All in all, not a great sky but a good outreach. And best of all, NO RAIN!

'Till next time, keep looking up!

Schools and Outreachby Mike Toomey

We had a terrific turn out at Hidden Oaks Elementary School last night, October 20. About 200

students and teachers were in attendance. Hidden Oak and our PTA host Kelly Bradley made

certain our volunteers were well fed and watered.

Temperatures were quite pleasant for the event but scattered/broken clouds kept us primarily

focused on the first quarter moon for most of the evening. Near the end of the event, we were

able to point out a few deep sky objects for the stragglers.

Last night's volunteers included Howard Cohen, Lisa Eager, Chuck Broward and myself. Also,

first time volunteers Kaleb and Ky (8th and 6th grade respectively) operated my telescope for

most of the program. On the way home, they told me how gratifying it was to hear all the 'oohs', 'aahs' and 'wows!' What

could be a better reminder as to why these programs continue to endure?!

Our next school star party is in northern Alachua County on December 15. We also have an after-school program on

November 18. Please visit the web site's calendar for details and signing up.

Howard’s email this morning. Please read on:

"The Moon was in a near-perfect phase to show many of her aspects. The lunar phase was almost exactly first

quarter, an ideal phase that shows many fascinating details of the lunar surface.

I set up my 3-inch refractor with a camera so students could see the Moon’s image on a laptop screen. This

should have made it easy to point out the myriad and spectacular features on the quarter moon.

Unfortunately passing clouds caused the Moon to come in and out making it difficult and frustrating to show the

many lunar features I hoped students would see.

The event concluded at 8:30 p.m., just as skies cleared! However, several people stayed including a parent.

They were fortunate. The Moon, now shining in a clear sky, gave them a much better view than others had

earlier in the evening.

Before they left, I took a few quick pictures of the Moon with my camera and telescope. Although the photos

were taken with only a 3-inch scope, the pictures show many features that one can typically see on a first

quarter moon even with a small telescope.

If interested, see the pictures below. I have included two versions, an unlabeled picture and a labeled picture.

The latter photo identifies many lunar features that were potentially visible. I have also sent copies to the

Hidden Oaks school contact person. It was too bad that clouds often made it difficult to point out all that could

have been visible."

Halloween Asteroid Rocks the EarthAlachua Astronomy Club member Annie Welch sent a photograph of herself as HalloweenAsteroid 31OCT2015.

Photo taken at geographic coordinates +10.46666667N, 84.9666667W (somewhere inNW Costa Rica). Annie is the space rock standing in sandals on right.

Upcoming Meetings

AAC Public MeetingTuesday, November 10, 2015 from 7-9 p.m.

Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida Cultural Plaza,

3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-2710

Speaker

Dr. Howard L. CohenAlachua Astronomy Club

Emeritus Associate Professor of Astronomy, University of Florida

Topic Where Will You Be on August 21, 2017?

New Members since September 1!

David CohenStacy Dreher

Steven FreymannEddie Hughes

James Thornton

PresidentAndy Howell

First Light EditorLaura Wright

Annual officer election will beheld at the November 10 publicmeeting. Please plan to attendso you have a voice in whoruns Alachua AstronomyClub. Following is the slate of

candidates.

President Andy Howell Vice President Lisa Eager Secretary Ivo Rabell* Treasurer Paul Coia Director Pam Mydock Director Jerry Cheney Director Chuck Broward

The purpose of the AstronomicalLeague solar program program isto encourage solar observing withan eye toward educating the

amateur astronomer on solar features andtheir evolution. By following this regimen theobserver will learn the various features ofsolar activity, learn how these change duringtheir passage across the disk, and learnhow to develop a regular observingprogram.

P.S. At the October 22 CSC school outreach at Williams

Schools Mike Toomey Public Outreach Ivo Rabell Public Programs Ivo Rabell* Star Parties Lisa Eager Webmaster Joe Uong First Light Laura Wright Newberry Star Park Andy Howell Hospitality JoAnn Stevener Sky Mentor Bill Helms Librarian Susan Sorrell

*Note: The Secretary and the PublicPrograms positions are available to theright people, so that Ivo doesn't have to doit all.

In addition, star party & school outreachvolunteers are desparately needed. If youhave borrowed a Club telescope, pleaseconsider yourself a volunteer and may becalled upon.

At the November 10 public meeting,Professor Howard Cohen will talk aboutthe 2017 total solar eclipse acrossAmerica. The title is "Where will you be onAugust 21, 2017?"

The November meeting is one you will notwant to miss!

Elementary, 5th graders were treated to a spectacular solarprominence seen through the Club's personal solartelescope.

The prominence they saw is the gaseous filament located onthe left limb of the sun. It looks small, but it's eight times thesize of earth!

(Image by the Mauna Loa solar observatory)

Best regards, Laura

The Night Sky this Month

from SeaSky.org

This astronomy calendar of celestial events contains dates for notable celestial events including moon phases,meteorshowers, eclipses, oppositions, conjunctions, and other interesting events. Most of the astronomical events on this calendarcan be seen with unaided eye, although some may require a good pair of binoculars for best viewing. Many of these eventsand dates used here were obtained from the U.S. Naval Observatory, The Old Farmer's Almanac., and the American MeteorSociety

November 5, 6 - Taurids Meteor Shower. The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10meteors per hour. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind byAsteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. The shower runs annuallyfrom September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the the night of November 5. The second quarter moon will blockout all but the brightest meteors this year. If you are patient, you may still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing willbe just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but canappear anywhere in the sky.

November 11 - New Moon. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in thenight sky. This phase occurs at 17:47 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies andstar clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

November 17, 18 - Leonids Meteor Shower. The Leonids is an average shower, producing an up to 15 meteors per hour atits peak. This shower is unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour canbe seen. That last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle,which was discovered in 1865. The shower runs annually from November 6-30. It peaks this year on the night of the 17thand morning of the 18th. The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving fairly dark skies for what could be agood show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but canappear anywhere in the sky.

November 25 - Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will befully illuminated. This phase occurs at 22:44 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the FullBeaver Moon because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze. It has also beenknown as the Frosty Moon and the Hunter's Moon.

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