The Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image (see description on the right, below)

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image
(10,000 galaxies in an area 1% of the apparent size of the moon -- see description on the right, below)

Saturday, December 21, 2013

2013 December

AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2013

Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 5
General Calendar p.7
    Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 7
    Observing p. 8
Useful Links p. 10

About the Club p. 11

Club News & Calendar.

Calendar

Club Meeting Schedule:

19 Dec 2013
Club Meeting &           Officer Election
Mars Exploration Concept
Matthew Eby
A1/1735
16 Jan 2014
Club Pizza Party & Presentation
“America the Beautiful at Night” Astrophotogaphy? Or Observing with the 16-inch Dobs.
Wally Pacholka? Or Jason Fields
A1/1735
20 Feb 2013
Club Meeting
A Tour of the new Aerospace E POD (A6) Telescope & Facility
Richard Rudy
Gather in A6 Lobby then to          E Pod

AEA Astronomy Club meetings are on 3rd Thursdays at 11:45am.  For all of 2013 except September, the meeting room is A1/1735.

News:  
 
Be sure to cast your ballot for 2014 club officers.  Election results will be announced at the Dec. 19 club mtg.

We are now taking orders for the 2014 Observer’s Handbook.  Discount price varies with the size of the group order:  $26.95 for 2-9, $23.95 for 10+ (normally $38.20).  Contact Alan Olson or Mark Clayson by Nov. 30.

We’ve received our $4,200 budget allotment from the AEA for FY14, and plan to spend most of it on a 5-inch refractor & GoTo mount (see below).  Also, a group membership in the Astronomical League.  For that, we need each member to provide their preferred email for League mailings.



Remember to start or renew your club membership for 2014 by sending the form (at membership form link ) along with payment ($12 per year made out to AEA Astronomy Club) to Alan Olson, M1-107.  This will give you all the benefits of membership, including free pizza, equipment & library borrowing privileges, great programs & activities, discounts, etc.

On Dec. 19, Matthew Eby will share his work on "... the exploration of Mars and a research project underway to develop and demonstrate an architecture for landing a small microprobe on Mars using a derivative of Aerospace’s small reentry spacecraft. "  See a story on his IRAD & balloon drop test at http://pages.aero.org/orbiter/pdf-archival-view-month/?d=2

Don’t miss our semi-annual pizza party Jan. 16.  And we hope to also have Wally Pacholka’s astrophotography presentation that had to be rescheduled from October.  Otherwise, hopefully Jason Fields on observing with the 16-inch Dobs.

For our Feb. 20 mtg., Rick Rudy of the Remote Sensing Dept. will give us a tour of the new in-house-built telescope in the A6 E Pod.   See the Orbiter story on the new telescope here: http://pages.aero.org/orbiter/2013/08/12/in-house-telescope-provides-new-capabilities/


Astronomy Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month

(from Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)

Comet ISON Rising http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131127.html
Video Credit & Copyright: 
Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (TWAN, Earth and Stars)
Explanation: Will Comet ISON survive tomorrow's close encounter with the Sun? Approaching to within a solar diameter of the Sun's surface, the fate of one of the most unusual comets of modern times will finally be determined. The comet could shed a great amount of ice and dust into a developing tail -- or break apart completely. Unfortunately, the closer Comet ISON gets to the Sun, the harder it has been for conventional telescopes to see the brightening comet in the glare of the morning Sun. Pictured in the above short time lapse video, Comet ISON was captured rising over the Canary Islands just above the morning Sun a few days ago. If the comet's nucleus survives, the coma and the tails it sheds might well be visible rising ahead of the Sun in the next few days or weeks. Alternatively, satellites watching the Sun might document one of the larger comet disintegrations yet recorded. Stay tuned!

Surprising Comet ISON http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131130.html
Image Credit: 
NASA, ESA, SOHO - Video Editing: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN) Explanation: After failing to appear for Sun staring spacecraft at perihelion, its harrowing closest approach to the Sun, sungrazing Comet ISON was presumed lost. But ISON surprised observers yesterday as material still traveling along the comet's trajectory became visible and even developed an extensive fan-shaped dust tail. Edited and processed to HD format, this video (vimeo, youtube) is composed of frames from the SOHO spacecraft's coronographs. It follows the comet in view of the wide (blue tint) and narrow (red tint) field cameras in the hours both before and after perihelion passage. In both fields, overwhelming sunlight is blocked by a central occulting disk. A white circle indicates the Sun's positon and scale. With questions to be answered and the tantalizing possibility that a small cometary nucleus has survived in whole or part, surprising comet ISON will be rising before dawn in planet Earth's skies in the coming days.

Comet ISON Before and After 
Image Credit: NASA, SOHO
Explanation: Sungrazing Comet ISON reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, November 28, at 18:45 UT. The comet passed just over 1 million kilometers above the solar surface, a distance less than the diameter of the Sun. These two panels follow ISON before (right) and after its close approach, imaged by the LASCO instrument onboard the Sun staring SOHO spacecraft. Overwhelming sunlight is blocked by LASCO's central occulting disk with a white circle indicating the Sun's positon and scale. The bright comet is seen along its path at the bottom of the before panel, but something much fainter exits near the top of the after panel, potentially a dust tail reforming from the debris left from ISON's perihelion passage.

2013 November 2 


Jupiter's Triple Shadow Transit 
Image Credit & 
Copyright: Leo Aerts
Explanation: This webcam and telescope image of banded gas giant Jupiter shows the transit of three shadows cast by Jupiter's moons in progress, captured in Belgian skies on October 12 at 0528 UT. Such a three shadow transit is a relatively rare event, even for a large planet with many moons. Visible in the frame are the three Galilean moons responsible, Callisto at the far left edge, Io closest to Jupiter's disk, and Europa below and just left of Io. Of their shadows on the sunlit Jovian cloud tops, Callisto casts the most elongated one near the planet's south polar region at the bottom. Io's shadow is above and right of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Of course viewed from Jupiter's perspective, these shadow crossings could be seen as solar eclipses, analogous to the Moon's shadow crossing the sunlit face of planet Earth.


A Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse 
Image Credit & Copyright: 
Left: Fred Espenak - Right: Stephan Heinsius
Explanation: A spectacular geocentric celestial event of 2005 was a rare hybrid eclipse of the Sun - a total or an annular eclipse could be seen depending on the observer's location. For Fred Espenak, aboard a gently swaying ship within the middle of the Moon's shadow track about 2,200 kilometers west of the Galapagos, the eclipse was total, the lunar silhouette exactly covering the bright solar disk for a few brief moments. His camera captured a picture of totality revealing the extensive solar corona and prominences rising above the Sun's edge. But for Stephan Heinsius, near the end of the shadow track at Penonome Airfield, Panama, the Moon's apparent size had shrunk enough to create an annular eclipse, showing a complete annulus of the Sun's bright disk as a dramatic ring of fire. Pictures from the two locations are compared above. How rare is such a hybrid eclipse? Calculations show that during the 21st century just 3.1% (7 out of 224) of solar eclipses are hybrid while hybrids comprise about 5% of all solar eclipses over the period 2000 BC to AD 3000. Today's hybrid solar eclipse is most widely visible beyond the central shadow track as a brief partial eclipse from northeastern Americas through Africa, and along the track in an annular phase for only the first 15 seconds.
Astronomy News:

Figures of 8 and peanut shells: How stars move at the center of the Galaxy

Published: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - 12:37 in Astronomy & Space

Two months ago astronomers created a new 3D map of stars at the centre of our Galaxy (the Milky Way), showing more clearly than ever the bulge at its core. Previous explanations suggested that the stars that form the bulge are in banana-like orbits, but a paper published this week in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that the stars probably move in peanut-shell or figure of eight-shaped orbits instead. The difference is important; astronomers develop theories of star motions to not only understand how the stars in our galaxy are moving today but also how our galaxy formed and evolves. The Milky Way is shaped like a spiral, with a region of stars at the centre known as the "bar," because of its shape. In the middle of this region, there is a "bulge" that expands out vertically.

In the new work Alice Quillen, professor of astronomy at the University of Rochester, and her collaborators created a mathematical model of what might be happening at the centre of the Milky Way. Unlike the Solar System where most of the gravitational pull comes from the Sun and is simple to model, it is much harder to describe the gravitational field near the centre of the Galaxy, where millions of stars, vast clouds of dust, and even dark matter swirl about. In this case, Quillen and her colleagues considered the forces acting on the stars in or near the bulge.
As the stars go round in their orbits, they also move above or below the plane of the bar. When stars cross the plane they get a little push, like a child on a swing. At the resonance point, which is a point a certain distance from the centre of the bar, the timing of the pushes on the stars is such that this effect is strong enough to make the stars at this point move up higher above the plane. (It is like when a child on the swing has been pushed a little every time and eventually is swinging higher.) These stars are pushed out from the edge of the bulge.
The resonance at this point means that stars undergo two vertical oscillations for every orbital period. But what is the most likely shape of the orbits in between? The researchers showed through computer simulations that peanut-shell shaped orbits are consistent with the effect of this resonance and could give rise to the observed shape of the bulge, which is also like a peanut-shell.
Next month the European Space Agency will launch the Gaia spacecraft, which is designed to create a 3D map of the stars in the Milky Way and their motions. This 3D map will help astronomers better understand the composition, formation and evolution of our Galaxy.
"It is hard to look back into the past of our galaxy and know what was there, but simulations can give us clues," explained Quillen. "Using my model I saw that, over time, the resonance with the bar, which is what leads to these peculiarly shaped orbits, moves outwards. This may be what happened in our Galaxy."
"Gaia will generate huge amounts of data -- on billions of stars," said Quillen. This data will allow Quillen and her colleagues to finesse their model further. "This can lead to a better understanding of how the Milky Way might have evolved into the shape it has today."
Quillen explained that there are different models as to how the galactic bulge was formed. Astronomers are interested in finding out how much the bar has slowed down over time and whether the bulge "puffed up all at once or slowly." Understanding the distributions of speeds and directions of motion (velocities) of the stars in the bar and the bulge might help determine this evolution.
"One of the predictions of my model is that there is a sharp difference in the velocity distributions inside and outside the resonance," Quillen said. "Inside -- closer to the galactic centre -- the disk should be puffed up and the stars there would have higher vertical velocities. Gaia will measure the motions of the stars and allow us to look for variations in velocity distributions such as these."
To be able to generate a model for the orbits of stars in the bulge, Quillen needed to factor in different variables. She first needed to understand what happens at the region of the resonance, which depends on the speed of the rotating bar and the mass density of the bar.
"Before I could model the orbits, I needed the answer to what I thought was a simple question: what is the distribution of material in the inner galaxy?" Quillen said. "But this wasn't something I could just look up. Luckily my collaborator Sanjib Sharma was able to help out."
Sharma worked out how the speed of circular orbits changed with distance from the galactic centre (called the rotation curve). Using this information, Quillen could compute a mass density at the location of the resonance, which she needed for her model.
Quillen was also able to combine the new orbit models with the speed of the bar (which is rotating) to get a more refined estimate of the mass density 3000 light years from the Galaxy centre (about one eighth of the distance from the centre of the Galaxy to Earth), which is where the edge of the bulge is.
And there is not long now to wait now for Gaia to start collecting data. Gaia's launch time is set for 0912 GMT on December 19, and will be streamed live on the ESA Portal.

Source: Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)



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.

6 Dec
SBAS Monthly General Meeting at El Camino College planetarium. 7:30 PM
Topic: “Observing Globular Clusters” Don Pensack, EyepiecesEtc.com http://www.sbastro.net/.  
Dec. 5 & 6  The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2013

The Planck Space Telescope: Revealing the Ancient Universe

Launched on May 14, 2009, the Planck mission studies the ancient radiation from the Big Bang, called the cosmic microwave background, to help answer questions about the early history and evolution of the universe. The European Space Agency mission, with significant NASA/JPL participation, produced its first all-sky image, and scientists continue to analyze and parse the various and complex elements. The first cosmology results from Planck revealed the most precise measurements yet of the age, origins and fate of our universe.
Speaker:
Dr. Charles Lawrence
Planck Project Scientist (U.S. Planck Team)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Locations:
Thursday, Dec 5, 2013, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium
at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions

Friday, Dec 6, 2013, 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.




9 Dec
Griffith Observatory
Event Horizon Theater
8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

19 Dec 2013
Club Meeting &           Officer Election
Mars Exploration Concept
Matthew Eby
A1/1735

Observing:
The following data are from the 2013 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2013 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 November:


Moon: Dec 3 new, Dec 9 1st quarter, Dec 17 full, Dec 25 last quarter                     
PlanetsVenus is visible after sunset in the SouthWest.  Jupiter rises about 8pm.  Mars, Saturn & Mercury are in the pre-dawn sky in the East.
Other Events:

30 Nov
SBAS out-of-town observing – contact Greg Benecke http://www.sbastro.net/.  

30 Nov
LAAS Dark Sky Night : Lockwood Valley (Steve Kufeld Astronomical Site; LAAS members and their guests only)

6 Dec Venus greatest illuminated extent.

7 Dec
Public  Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm

13 December Geminids Meteor Shower Peak
This is one of the best meteor showers of the year and never seems to disappoint observers. An
observer in the Northern Hemisphere can start seeing Geminid meteors as early as December 6,
when one meteor every hour or so could be visible. During the next week, rates increase until a
peak of 50-80 meteors per hour is attained on the night of December 13/14. The last Geminids are
seen on December 18, when an observer might see a rate of one every hour or so.

21 Dec Winter Solstice

21 December

SBAS Saturday Night In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 NortbBay Rd. RPV, Weather Permitting: Please contact Greg Benecke to confirm that the gate will be opened! http://www.sbastro.net/

22 December Ursids Meteor Shower Peak
The point from where the Ursid meteors appear to come from is located within the constellation
Ursa Minor, also known as the "Little Dipper". This meteor shower is active during the period
spanning December 17 to 25, but it peaks on December 22/23. At maximum, rates can normally
reach 10 per hour. The meteor shower is produced by the periodic comet 8P/Tuttle and can
occasionally experience short-lived outbursts of up to 100 meteors per hour.

27 December Comet ISON Closest Approach to Earth
Assuming it survives its pass around the sun, ISON will pass within 0.5 AU of earth.

29 Dec Saturn 0.9 deg N of Moon

Internet Links:

Link(s) of the Month

A weekly 5 minute video about what’s up in the night sky:  www.skyandtelescope.com/skyweek.

Telescope, Binocular & Accessory Buying Guides


General

Regional (Southern California, Washington, D.C. & Colorado)


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/

 
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, President & 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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