AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter February 2013
Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 5
Astronomy News p. 9
General Calendar p.9
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 9
Observing p. 11
Useful Links p. 12
About the Club p. 13
Club News & Calendar.
Calendar
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 5
Astronomy News p. 9
General Calendar p.9
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 9
Observing p. 11
Useful Links p. 12
About the Club p. 13
Club News & Calendar.
Calendar
Club Meeting Schedule:
21 Feb 2013
|
Club Meeting
|
Amateur PV Observatory + ?
|
A1/1735
|
AEA Astronomy Club meetings are on 3rd Thursdays at 11:45am. For all of 2013, the meeting room is A1/1735.
News:
The Feb.
21 club mtg. main presentation is still being finalized, but there will
tentatively also include a short presentation on a proposed cooperative
amateur observatory in Palos Verdes.
This has been postponed multiple times due to inaction by the board that
owns the property.
A survey of
interests in candidate club field trips for the year will shortly go
out. Ideas include: Mt. Palomar tour & star party/camping, JPL tour (or
open house in June), Griffith Observatory, Calif.
Science Museum
(incl. Endeavor, IMAX,...), the Columbia
Memorial Space
Center in Downey
Volunteer?
Leslie Wickman’s APU astronomy classes will be going to the Griffith
Observatory on Wed., Feb. 27 from 4:15 to 8:30pm. Would anyone be interested in taking one or
more of our telescopes for them to look through? We also need to confirm permission, as it’s
not the normal LAAS monthly public star party day. Could still catch the sun w. the H-alpha
scope before sunset, and for a large group, the videocamera displaying on a
laptop would be nice. Then switch to the
LX-200 (again w. videocamera) after dark.
Here’s Jim
Edwards’ report & photos of his new home-made observatory/dome.
“I
just cut the slot into the dome this afternoon. It will sit atop the
cylindrical base which has a "lazy Susan" like interface between
these two parts. Its coming along better than I had originally thought
but much slower as well (you know how lazy I am and too what a
procrastinator). Jeff laughs that he never thought I'd ever get anywhere
near this stage of development before giving the whole mess up as a bad idea.
“I'm hoping to move the whole thing up to the roof "soon" (like second coming of Christ "soon"). In fact today I just bought a "crane" from Harbor Freight that I'm going to anchor on the roof deck to affect this transport... don't nobody stand below it when its flying high overhead.
“I'm hoping to move the whole thing up to the roof "soon" (like second coming of Christ "soon"). In fact today I just bought a "crane" from Harbor Freight that I'm going to anchor on the roof deck to affect this transport... don't nobody stand below it when its flying high overhead.
[In
response to my request for more description]
“Lol... nothing propietary in my design, certainly not with all the
mistakes I've made along the way! Were I to start all over again I could,
naturally, duplicate my progress to date both much more quickly and
inexpensively.
“The dome is just a geodesic for which I found formulas on the internet. Its 7' in diameter, made of plywood triangles that were temporarily tacked together until the joints could be fiberglassed (don't be afraid of fiberglassing... if you've never done it, its real easy).
“The cylindrical base is of my own design with 15 facets (to match that of the dome at the interface). Made of 2x4s and heavier plywood, its about twice the weight of the dome. One of these facet's is hinged like a door... its a bit tight climbing in, especially since I seem to be expanding with time, but I figure that once its all set up and the equipment inside then I won't have to going in there too very often (fingers crossed).
“I went thru several iterations for the interface between the dome and the base before I came up with a "lazy Susan" design that I was satisfied with. Something that must be remembered is that the dome has to undercut the base in some fashion so as to not separate from the base and blow away in a strong wind.
“The whole thing is very sturdy, thank goodness. I'm still finalizing my process for getting both pieces up to my roof deck (above the 2nd floor) and think I have most of the details worked out. I'm using a crane that I got at Harbor Freight which is designed to be used in the bed of a pickup truck. I'll have to do a little bit of juggling as the dome ascends but it should be do-able... I really don't want to have to cut either the dome or the base in half to make them more manageable.
“As far as my investment, I haven't been keeping close track of my costs in building this beast (don't ask questions for which you don't want answers) but I'd confidently guess it to be less than $500... but I could be wrong, so don't hold me to it. This, of course, doesn't include the cost of the crane, for which I have other plans for using (including, perhaps, the lifting and lowering of the club's 16 inch Dob?). Too, this estimate includes "inefficiencies" for materials bought and then discarded or ruined while I fumbled along in building it... that's clearly a problem with a prototype.
I'll update you with progress and developments as (if?) they are made. Keep an eye on the newspaper headlines: "Unemployed Engineer Crushed To Death By His Own Poorly Designed Observatory". Feel free to share the pics and/or this write up in the newsletter or at the club meeting. And of course you can certainly email or call me whenever you'd like.
Wishing you and the crew a happy 2013!
“The dome is just a geodesic for which I found formulas on the internet. Its 7' in diameter, made of plywood triangles that were temporarily tacked together until the joints could be fiberglassed (don't be afraid of fiberglassing... if you've never done it, its real easy).
“The cylindrical base is of my own design with 15 facets (to match that of the dome at the interface). Made of 2x4s and heavier plywood, its about twice the weight of the dome. One of these facet's is hinged like a door... its a bit tight climbing in, especially since I seem to be expanding with time, but I figure that once its all set up and the equipment inside then I won't have to going in there too very often (fingers crossed).
“I went thru several iterations for the interface between the dome and the base before I came up with a "lazy Susan" design that I was satisfied with. Something that must be remembered is that the dome has to undercut the base in some fashion so as to not separate from the base and blow away in a strong wind.
“The whole thing is very sturdy, thank goodness. I'm still finalizing my process for getting both pieces up to my roof deck (above the 2nd floor) and think I have most of the details worked out. I'm using a crane that I got at Harbor Freight which is designed to be used in the bed of a pickup truck. I'll have to do a little bit of juggling as the dome ascends but it should be do-able... I really don't want to have to cut either the dome or the base in half to make them more manageable.
“As far as my investment, I haven't been keeping close track of my costs in building this beast (don't ask questions for which you don't want answers) but I'd confidently guess it to be less than $500... but I could be wrong, so don't hold me to it. This, of course, doesn't include the cost of the crane, for which I have other plans for using (including, perhaps, the lifting and lowering of the club's 16 inch Dob?). Too, this estimate includes "inefficiencies" for materials bought and then discarded or ruined while I fumbled along in building it... that's clearly a problem with a prototype.
I'll update you with progress and developments as (if?) they are made. Keep an eye on the newspaper headlines: "Unemployed Engineer Crushed To Death By His Own Poorly Designed Observatory". Feel free to share the pics and/or this write up in the newsletter or at the club meeting. And of course you can certainly email or call me whenever you'd like.
Wishing you and the crew a happy 2013!
Jim
310.480.3519
310.480.3519
Joe Cheng email 1/9/13:
I used the 8-inch Dobs and my iPhone to take this pic. [resolution degraded from original due to
JPEG format]
There’s a
good article on Observing w. Astrovideo Cameras in the Feb. 2013 Sky
& Telescope, p. 70. We await Alan
Olson’s report on his use of ours. It’s
been successfully used by me at both night & day star/sun parties.
We’re about
to spend our current $2,000 balance on priority 1 & 2 items in the wishlist
below. If you have any specific
recommendations for some of the options, please speak now. See also the “Hot Products for 2013” article
on p. 34 of the Jan. Sky & Telescope.
& the Orion catalog. Again,
we hope to get the remaining ~$2,500 of our 2013 AEA allotment if defense
budget cuts are not too severe.
Just a
reminder that for most of us, our club membership expires Dec. 31
(except those who joined in the last few months and likely paid also for 2012).
We invite you to renew for 2013 at your earliest convenience & in
time for the pizza lunch Jan. 17 (the first of 2 for the year) -- we must have
your $12 dues payment (& pizza order -- see the menu above) by Monday Jan.
14 to get member credit. See the club
website for the many other benefits of membership. Please submit the renewal form (available on
Aerolink at https://aerolink.aero.org/cs/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=13659520&objAction=browse&viewType=1, or attached) with your payment ($12
check made out to AEA Astronomy Club) to Jim Johansen at M1-013.
New Regular
Mtg. Room. A heads up that we have secured a new, and
hopefully steady, meeting room for all of 2013 (beginning Jan. 17):
A1/1735. It is a large room w. large conference table seating 13,
and chairs for 25 more on the sides. It is located near the NE corner of
the bldg.: from the main lobby, turn right immediately after the credit
union entrance (thru the badge reader), and at the end of that hall turn left,
then right again, and it's on the right. If accessing from the door at
the NE corner of A1 (near the bridge to LAAFB), turn left after entering &
go thru the 2 sets of doors straight ahead.
Astronomy
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month
(from Astronomy Picture of
the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)
Best of
APOD 2012: Download a free 2013 calendar (PDF)
Video(s)
Namibian
Nights http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130204.html
Video Credit & Copyright: Marsel van Oosten; Music: Simon Wilkinson
Explanation: Namibia has some of the darkest nights visible from any continent. It is
therefore home to some of the more spectacular skyscapes, a few of which have been captured
in the above time-lapse video. Visible at the movie start are unusual quiver trees perched before a deep starfield highlighted by the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. This bright band of stars and gas
appears to pivot around the celestial south pole as our Earth rotates. The remains of camel thorn trees are then seen against a sky that includes a fuzzy
patch on the far right that is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. A bright sunlight-reflecting satellite passes quickly overhead. Quiver trees appear again, now showing their
unusual trunks, while the Small Magellanic Cloud becomes clearly visible in the background.
Artificial lights illuminate a mist that surround camel thorn trees in Deadvlei. In the final sequence, natural
Namibian stone arches are captured against the advancing
shadows of the setting moon. This video incorporates over 16,000 images shot
over two years, and won top honors among the 2012 Travel Photographer of the Year awards. Video Credit & Copyright: Marsel van Oosten; Music: Simon Wilkinson
Full
Moonrise Silhouettes http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130130.html
Video Credit & Copyright: Mark Gee; Music: Tenderness (Dan Phillipson)
Explanation: Have you ever watched the Moon rise?
The slow rise of a nearly full moon over a clear horizon can be an impressive
sight. One impressive moonrise was imaged two nights ago over Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. With detailed planning, an industrious astrophotographer placed a camera about two kilometers away and pointed it
across the lookout to where the Moon would surely soon be making its
nightly debut. The above single shot sequence is unedited and shown in real time
-- it is not a time lapse. People on Mount Victoria Lookout can be seen in silhouette themselves admiring the dawn of Earth's largest satellite.
Seeing a moonrise yourself is not difficult: it
happens every day, although only half the time at night. Each day the Moon rises about fifty minutes later than the previous day, with a full moon always rising at sunset.Video Credit & Copyright: Mark Gee; Music: Tenderness (Dan Phillipson)
Explanation: What would it be like to drive on the Moon? You don't have to guess -- humans have actually done it. Pictured above, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke recorded video during one such drive in 1972, with a digital version now available on the web. No matter which direction it headed, the Lunar Rover traveled a path literally covered with rocks and craters. The first half of the above video shows the rover zipping about a moonscape near 10 kilometers per hour, while the second half shows a dash-cam like view. The Lunar Rover was deployed on the later Apollo missions as a way for astronauts to reach and explore terrain further from the Lunar Module basecamp than was possible by walking in cumbersome spacesuits. Possible future lunar missions that might deploy robotic rovers capable of beaming back similar videos include those by China, Russia, India, and Google X-Prize contestants.
Huygens:
Titan Descent Movie http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130121.html
Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/U. Arizona; Music: Beethoven's Piano Concerto #4; YouTube Upload: djxatlanta,
Explanation: What would it look like to land on
Saturn's moon Titan? The European Space Agency's Huygens probe set down on the Solar System's cloudiest
moon in 2005, and a time-lapse video of its descent images was created. Huygens separated from the robotic Cassini spacecraft soon after it achieved orbit around
Saturn in late 2004 and began approaching Titan. For two hours after arriving, Huygens plummeted toward Titan's surface, recording at first only the shrouded moon's opaque
atmosphere. The computerized truck-tire sized probe soon deployed a parachute to slow
its decent, pierced the thick clouds, and began transmitting images of a strange surface far below never before seen in visible light. Landing in a dried sea and surviving for 90 minutes, Huygen's return
unique images of a strange plain of dark sandy soil strewn with
smooth, bright, fist-sized rocks of ice. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/U. Arizona; Music: Beethoven's Piano Concerto #4; YouTube Upload: djxatlanta,
Explanation: Sometimes, the Sun itself seems to dance. On just this past New Year's Eve, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence erupting from the Sun's surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the above time lapse video covering four hours. Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun. The scale of the disintegrating prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. As the Sun nears Solar Maximum this year, solar activity like eruptive prominences should be common.
NGC 602 and Beyond
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Explanation: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years
distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and swept back shapes strongly suggest that
energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have
eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's
center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture
spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies
are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of
light-years or more beyond NGC 602. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration
2013 January 26
Astronomy News:
Two
astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have firmed up our
picture of the Sun’s natal star cluster.
Radioactive-decay products in meteorites show that our solar system was
hit by fresh supernova debris during or just after its birth, implying that our
stellar cradle was a rich, massive cluster (S&T: March 2012, p. 30). But theorists thought that passing stars in
such a cluster would tug away the solar system’s outer planets. A more detailed analysis published in the
July 5th Astrophysical Journal finds that the gravitational pinball
effect is actually mild enough for the outer planets and Kuiper Belt to have
survived, thus removing the paradox. [Sky & Telescope, Jan. 2013, p. 18]
General Calendar:
Colloquia, Lectures, Seminars, Meetings, Open Houses & Tours:
Colloquia: Carnegie (Tues. 4pm), UCLA,
Caltech (Wed. 4pm), IPAC (Wed. 12:15pm) & other Pasadena (daily 12-4pm):
http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/seminars/
Carnegie astronomy lectures – only 4 per year in the Spring www.obs.carnegiescience.edu. Visit
www.huntington.org for directions. For more information about the Carnegie
Observatories or this lecture series, please contact Reed Haynie.
|
1 Feb
|
SBAS Monthly General Meeting at El Camino
College planetarium. 7:30 PM
Topic: Measuring Distance
in the Universe, Speaker: George
Nestojko
|
11 Feb
|
LAAS LAAS General Meeting.
|
Griffith
Observatory
Event Horizon Theater 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM |
Feb. 14 & 15 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2013
Geoengineering
and Climate Intervention: What We Need to Know
Concepts
for directly and deliberately manipulating Earth's climate system, collectively
referred to as "geoengineering," have been proposed as contingency
responses to global warming. Their consideration is motivated by accelerating
fossil-fuel use and growing evidence of rapid changes underway in our planet's
atmosphere, land, and oceans. While stabilizing and reducing greenhouse gas
emissions provides a direct, long-term solution to mitigating climate change,
establishing effective strategies and making substantive progress may take
time. Some forms of geoengineering in concert with mitigation efforts have been
suggested to avoid or reduce the risk of the most damaging climate impacts such
as abrupt and irreversible tipping-point events. Yet geoengineering itself is
complex and fraught with additional issues and risks that are still poorly
understood. Satellite observing systems can play a key role in improving
scientific understanding and risk assessments for geoengineering (including the
risk of geoengineering research itself) in a rigorous, open, and transparent
fashion. This talk will cover the motivations and risks of geoengineering and
what can be done to support informed decision-making.
Speaker:
|
Riley Duren, Chief
Systems Engineer, Earth Science & Technology Directorate Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Locations:
|
Thursday, Feb.
14, 2012, 7pm The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA › Directions Friday, Feb. 15, 2012, 7pm The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA › Directions |
Webcast:
|
We offer two options to
view the live streaming of our webcast on Thursday: › 1) Ustream with real-time web chat to take public questions. › 2) Flash Player with open captioning If you don't have Flash Player, you can download for free here. |
21 Feb 2013
|
AEA Astronomy Club mtg.
|
A1/1735
|
Observing:
The following
data are from the 2012 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2012 Skygazer’s
Almanac & monthly Sky at a Glance.
A weekly 5 minute video about what’s up in the night sky: www.skyandtelescope.com/skyweek.
Sun,
Moon & Planets for December:
Moon: Feb 3 last quarter, Feb 10 new, Feb 17 1st
quarter, Feb 25 full
Other
Events:
2 Feb
|
SBAS Star Party (weather permitting): RPV at
Ridgecrest Middle School 28915 North Bay Rd.
|
8 Feb
Mercury 0.3 deg N of Mars
9 Feb
|
LAAS Dark Sky Night : Lockwood Valley (Steve Kufeld Astronomical Site; LAAS members and their guests
only)
|
9 Feb
|
SBAS
out-of-town observing – contact Greg Benecke http://www.sbastro.net/.
|
15 Feb. Asteroid DA14 Close Approach
to Earth
Estimated to be about 45m in
size, asteroid DA14 will pass within 3.2 earth radii (i.e., well within the
geosynchronous satellite belt) on this date. Closest approach will occur at
19:26z or 11:26 AM PST. Closest approach will occur over western Australia and
the Indian Ocean and the asteroid will be moving rapidly south to north.
16 Feb
|
Public Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds
2-10pm
|
16 Feb Mercury
greatest elongation E (18 deg)
18 Feb Jupiter 0.9
deg N of Moon
27 Feb Leslie
Wickman’s APU astronomy classes at Griffith Observatory 4:15-8:30pm
Mid-March: Anticipate now Comet PanSTARRS,
the 1st of 2 bright comets for 2013 – the other will be ISON in
December. PanSTARRS is expected to “glow
at magnitude zero or brighter low (~ 10 deg. elevation 45 minutes after sunset)
in the western evening twilight around the middle of March for viewers
at mid-northern latitudes.” It should
persist, though fading, into April.
Internet Links:
Link(s) of the Month
Link(s) of the Month
A weekly 5 minute video about what’s up in the night sky: www.skyandtelescope.com/skyweek.
General
Mt. Wilson Institute (www.mtwilson.edu/), including status for visits & roads
About the Club
Club Websites: Internal (Aerospace): https://aeropedia.aero.org/aeropedia/index.php/Astronomy_Club It is updated to reflect this newsletter, in addition to a listing of past club mtg. presentations, astronomy news, photos & events from prior newsletters, club equipment, membership & constitution. We have linked some presentation materials from past mtgs. Our club newsletters are also being posted to an external blog, “An Astronomical View” http://astronomicalview.blogspot.com/.
Club Websites: Internal (Aerospace): https://aeropedia.aero.org/aeropedia/index.php/Astronomy_Club It is updated to reflect this newsletter, in addition to a listing of past club mtg. presentations, astronomy news, photos & events from prior newsletters, club equipment, membership & constitution. We have linked some presentation materials from past mtgs. Our club newsletters are also being posted to an external blog, “An Astronomical View” http://astronomicalview.blogspot.com/.
Membership. For information, current dues & application, contact Alan Olson, or see the club website (or Aerolink folder) where a form is also available (go to the membership link/folder & look at the bottom). Benefits will include use of club telescope(s) & library/software, discounts on Sky & Telescope magazine and Observer’s Handbook, field trips, great programs, having a say in club activities, acquisitions & elections, etc.
Committee Suggestions & Volunteers. Feel free to contact: Mark Clayson, Program Committee Chairman (& acting club VP), TBD, Activities Committee Chairman (& club Secretary), or Alan Olson, Resource Committee Chairman (over equipment & library, and club Treasurer).
Mark Clayson,
AEA Astronomy Club President
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