AEA Astronomy Club
Newsletter April 2014
Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 6
General Calendar p.7
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 7
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. 2
Astronomy News p. 6
General Calendar p.7
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 7
Observing p. 11
Useful Links p. 12
About the Club p. 13
Club News & Calendar.
Calendar
Club Meeting
Schedule:
17 Apr 2014
|
Club Pizza
Party & Astronomy Fun & Games
|
Pizza
& Astronomy Fun & Games
|
All
|
A1/1735
|
15 May 2014
|
Club Meeting
|
A Tour
of the new Aerospace E POD (A6) Telescope & Facility
|
Richard Rudy
|
Gather in A6 Lobby
then to E Pod
|
19 June 2014
|
Club Meeting
|
"Zooming into the center of our Galaxy: Of
Black Holes and Gas Clouds".
|
Leo Meyer, UCLA
|
A1/1735
|
17 July 2014
|
Club Meeting
|
Helioseismology
|
Edward Rhodes, USC
|
A1/1735
|
AEA Astronomy Club meetings are on 3rd Thursdays at 11:45am. For all of 2014 except May, the meeting room is A1/1735.
News:
17 April will be our next club pizza party, combined
with some astronomy fun & games (trivia game, astronomy edition of
Monopoly, etc. Feel free to bring your
own. And any astronomy-related
show-and-tell items.
RSVP to Mark Clayson (mark.clayson@aero.org, x60708) with
your order by Monday April 14 (free
for members, $5 for others). Menu
options below (specify drink along with which pizza or wrap):
Menu options for
April 17 lunch
(give 1st & 2nd choices when you RSVP by April 14 –
we’ll have to share pizzas, so you may not get your first choice – hopefully at
least your 2nd):
Pizzas (order drink separate
(see below):
The Works Pizza
Three Cheese Pizza
Barbecued Chicken
Pizza
Margherita Pizza
with Fresh Basil, Tomato and Mozzarella
Grilled Vegetable
Pizza
Drinks:
Bottled or canned
juice, water or soda (specify)
Pitcher of water
Wraps (includes a
green salad or chips, choice of assorted cookies & sodas – please specify
your side choices along with which wrap):
Grilled Chicken
Caesar Wrap
Garden Vegetarian
Wrap
April
25/26 or May 2/3 Combined Astronomy & Camera Clubs star party. Stay tuned for final date and location. Many options are being considered – indicate
any preferences you have.
The
A6 E Pod telescope completion has continued to suffer schedule delays, and so
once again our tour is being put off to May
15, when 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/
The RTMC Astronomy Expo at Camp Oakes
Astronomy
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month
(from
Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)
VIDEO: The Cloudy Cores of Active Galaxies http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140224.html
Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, W. Steffen (UNAM)
Explanation: What
would it look like to travel to the center of an active galaxy? Most galactic
centers are thought to house black holes
millions of times more massive than our Sun. The spaces surrounding these
supermassive black holes may be far from dormant, however, flickering in many
colors and earning the entire object class the title of Active Galactic
Nuclei (AGN). Pictured above is a video illustrating how an active
galactic nucleus may appear up close. AGN typically sport massive accretion disks feeding
the central black hole, as well as powerful jets shooting electrically charged matter far into the surrounding universe. Clouds of
gas and dust seen orbiting the central black holes have recently been found to be so dense that they intermittently
eclipse even penetrating x-rays from reaching us. These X-ray dimming events, as short as hours but as long
as years, were detected in an analysis encompassing over a decade of data taken
by the NASA's orbiting Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE).Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, W. Steffen (UNAM)
VIDEO: The Sun Rotating http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140312.html
Video Credit: SDO, NASA; Digital Composition: Kevin Gill (Apoapsys)
Explanation: Does the
Sun change as it rotates? Yes, and the changes can vary from subtle to
dramatic. In the above time-lapse sequences, our Sun
-- as imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory -- is shown rotating though the entire month
of January. In the large image on the left, the solar chromosphere is depicted in ultraviolet light, while the smaller and lighter image to
its upper right simultaneously shows the more familiar solar photosphere in visible light. The rest of the inset six
Sun images highlight X-ray emission by relatively rare iron atoms located at
different heights of the corona, all false-colored to accentuate differences. The Sun takes just
under a month to rotate completely -- rotating fastest at the equator.
A large and active sunspot region rotates into view soon after the video
starts. Subtle effects include changes in surface texture and the shapes of active regions. Dramatic
effects include numerous flashes in active regions, and fluttering and erupting prominences visible
all around the Sun's edge. This year our Sun is near its Solar maximum activity of its 11-year magnetic cycle. As the video ends, the same large and active sunspot
region previously mentioned rotates back into view, this time looking
different.Video Credit: SDO, NASA; Digital Composition: Kevin Gill (Apoapsys)
VIDEO: Equinox on a
Spinning Earth http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140319.html
Image Credit: NASA, Meteosat, Robert Simmon
Explanation: When does
the line between day and night become vertical? Tomorrow. Tomorrow is an equinox on planet Earth, a time of year when day and
night are most nearly equal. At an equinox, the Earth's terminator -- the dividing line between day and night --
becomes vertical and connects the north and south poles. The above time-lapse video demonstrates this by displaying an entire
year on planet Earth in twelve seconds. From geosynchronous orbit, the Meteosat satellite recorded these infrared images of the Earth every day at the same local
time. The video started at the September 2010equinox
with the terminator line being vertical. As the Earth revolved around the Sun, the terminator was seen to tilt in a way that provides less
daily sunlight to the northern hemisphere, causing winter in the north. As the year progressed, the March 2011 equinox arrived halfway through the video,
followed by the terminator tilting the other way, causing winter in the southern hemisphere -- and summer in
the north. The captured year ends again with the September equinox,
concluding another of billions of trips the Earth has taken -- and will take --
around the Sun.Image Credit: NASA, Meteosat, Robert Simmon
Explanation: Spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 hurtles through massive galaxy cluster Abell 3627 some 220 million light years away. The distant galaxy is seen in this colorful Hubble/Chandra composite image through a foreground of the Milky Way's stars toward the southern constellation Triangulum Australe. As the spiral speeds along at nearly 7 million kilometers per hour, its gas and dust are stripped away when ram pressure with the cluster's own hot, tenuous intracluster medium overcomes the galaxy's gravity. Evident in Hubble's near visible light data, bright star clusters have formed in the stripped material along the short, trailing blue streaks. Chandra's X-ray data shows off the enormous extent of the heated, stripped gas as diffuse, darker blue trails stretching over 400,000 light-years toward the bottom right. The significant loss of dust and gas will make new star formation difficult for this galaxy. A yellowish elliptical galaxy, lacking in star forming dust and gas, is just to the right of ESO 137-001 in the frame.
Fresh
Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Explanation: Do
underground oceans vent through the tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus?
Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space,
creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating
Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from
the robot Cassini
spacecraft now
orbiting Saturn. Pictured above, a high
resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface
features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the
neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size,
appears quite dead. Most
recently, an analysis of slight
gravity deviations has given
an independent indication of underground oceans. Such research is
particularly interesting since such oceans would be candidates to contain life.Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Cosmic Microwave Map Swirls Indicate Inflation
Image Credit: BICEP2 Collaboration, NSF, Steffen Richter (Harvard)
Explanation: Did the
universe undergo an early epoch of extremely rapid expansion? Such an inflationary epoch has been postulated to explain several puzzling cosmic
attributes such as
why our universe looks similar in opposite directions.
Yesterday, results
were released showing
an expected signal of unexpected strength, bolstering a prediction of inflation that specific patterns of polarization should
existin cosmic microwave background radiation -- light emitted 13.8 billion years
ago as the universe first became
transparent. Called B-mode polarizations, these
early swirling patterns can be directly attributed to squeeze and stretch effects that gravitational radiation has on photon-emitting electrons. The surprising results were discovered in data from the Background Imaging of Cosmic
Extragalactic Polarization 2 (BICEP2) microwave observatory near the
South Pole. BICEP2 is the building-mounted dish pictured above on the left. Note how the black polarization
vectors appear to swirl around the colored temperature peaks on the inset microwave sky map.
Although statistically compelling, the
conclusions will likely remain controversial while confirmation attempts are made with independent observations.Image Credit: BICEP2 Collaboration, NSF, Steffen Richter (Harvard)
2014 March 22
Martian Chiaroscuro
Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA
Explanation: Deep shadows create dramatic contrasts between light and dark in this high-resolution close-up of the martian surface. Recorded on January 24
by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene spans
about 1.5 kilometers across a sand dune field in a southern highlands crater.
Captured when the Sun was just 5 degrees above the local horizon, only the dune
crests are caught in full sunlight. With the long, cold winter approaching the
red planet's southern hemisphere, bright ridges of seasonal frost line the martian dunes.Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA
Astronomy
News:
[from
AIAA Daily Launch]
Scientists Discover Evidence Of Gravitational Waves.
The CBS Evening News (3/17, story 6, 1:55, Pelley) broadcast that a team led by John Kovak of Harvard University, using a telescope at the South Pole, has discovered evidence for gravitational waves. Bill Harwood, a CBS News space consultant, said that this discovery, which helps prove the Big Bang theory, is an “amazing achievement.” Reporter Don Dahler said confirming the discovery would provide a “new tool” for researchers to study the entire universe.
The AP (3/18, Ritter) notes that researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were part of the team that made the discovery. Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University, who was not involved in the study, reportedly said that this could be “among the greatest breakthroughs in astrophysics over the last 25 years.”
USA Today (3/17, Rice) reported that even with this major discovery, there are “plenty” of important topics left to study, like the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
The Wall Street Journal (3/17, Hotz, Naik, Subscription Publication) highlighted that there are other experiments that raise questions about the new results, which is why scientists will now try to confirm them.
Reuters (3/17, Klotz, Begley) reported that with this announcement, some scientists who doubted the truth of the inflationary early universe could be convinced.
Also covering the story are the New York Times (3/17, Overbye, Subscription Publication), Los Angeles Times (3/17, Khan), U-T San Diego (3/17), BBC News (3/17, Amos), NPR (3/17, Frank) “13.7” blog, AFP, Popular Science (3/17, Main), Wired (3/17, Mann) “Wired Science” blog, SPACE (3/17, Wall), another SPACE (3/17, Wall) article,New Scientist (3/17, Aron), another New Scientist (3/17, Grossman) article, Discovery News (3/18, Neill), another Discovery News (3/18, Klotz) article, ScienceNOW (3/17, Bhattacharjee), Scientific American (3/17, Moskowitz), Science News (3/17, Yeager) “Science Ticker” blog, and other media sources.
The CBS Evening News (3/17, story 6, 1:55, Pelley) broadcast that a team led by John Kovak of Harvard University, using a telescope at the South Pole, has discovered evidence for gravitational waves. Bill Harwood, a CBS News space consultant, said that this discovery, which helps prove the Big Bang theory, is an “amazing achievement.” Reporter Don Dahler said confirming the discovery would provide a “new tool” for researchers to study the entire universe.
The AP (3/18, Ritter) notes that researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were part of the team that made the discovery. Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University, who was not involved in the study, reportedly said that this could be “among the greatest breakthroughs in astrophysics over the last 25 years.”
USA Today (3/17, Rice) reported that even with this major discovery, there are “plenty” of important topics left to study, like the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
The Wall Street Journal (3/17, Hotz, Naik, Subscription Publication) highlighted that there are other experiments that raise questions about the new results, which is why scientists will now try to confirm them.
Reuters (3/17, Klotz, Begley) reported that with this announcement, some scientists who doubted the truth of the inflationary early universe could be convinced.
Also covering the story are the New York Times (3/17, Overbye, Subscription Publication), Los Angeles Times (3/17, Khan), U-T San Diego (3/17), BBC News (3/17, Amos), NPR (3/17, Frank) “13.7” blog, AFP, Popular Science (3/17, Main), Wired (3/17, Mann) “Wired Science” blog, SPACE (3/17, Wall), another SPACE (3/17, Wall) article,New Scientist (3/17, Aron), another New Scientist (3/17, Grossman) article, Discovery News (3/18, Neill), another Discovery News (3/18, Klotz) article, ScienceNOW (3/17, Bhattacharjee), Scientific American (3/17, Moskowitz), Science News (3/17, Yeager) “Science Ticker” blog, and other media sources.
Cassini Data Shows Existence Of Ocean On Enceladus.
The AP (4/3, Dunn) reported that an international team of researchers using data from the Cassini spacecraft has determined that there is a “vast ocean” beneath the surface of the moon Enceladus. The body of water located at the moon’s south pole is “as big as or even bigger than North America’s Lake Superior,” although it is unclear just how far the ocean extends. Cornell University’s Jonathan Lunine said this makes the moon “a very attractive potential place to look for life.”
The New York Times (4/3, Chang, Subscription Publication) noted that some scientists believe this is now an even better location than Mars to look for life outside of Earth. Christopher P. McKay of the Ames Research Center, who was not part of the study, said the finding “confirms in a really robust way what has been sort of the standard model.” He also thinks Enceladus is now the “best bet” to search for life. McKay added that “a sample return would be the way” to see if any possible life was making its way into the moon’s plumes. However, the article noted that there would be several “challenges” to conducting such a mission, including making it “fit it into the $500 million budget of one of NASA’s lower-cost planetary missions.”
The Washington Post (4/3, Achenbach) reported that Mary Voytek, senior scientist for NASA’s astrobiology program, said, “I love Mars, but I think” Enceladus and Europa “provide the highest probability of finding extant life,” adding she is “torn” between which of those two bodies would be better. Still, the possibility that life exists on Enceladus today is “highly speculative.” McKay said, “It’s the occupational hazard of astrobiology to jump to the conclusion that you want to be true. I have to constantly chide myself and my colleagues for doing that.”
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor (4/3, Spotts) reported that Caltech’s David Stevenson, a member of the research team, is now convinced of the ocean’s existence after initially being skeptical. McKay said, “His acceptance of an idea usually means that it’s achieved a high bar of credibility.”
Also covering the story are the Wall Street Journal (4/3, Hotz, Subscription Publication), Los Angeles Times (4/3, Khan) “Science Now” website, CNN (4/4, Landau), BBC News (4/3, Amos), Popular Science (4/3, Diep), Wired (4/3, Mann) “Wired Science,” SPACE (4/3, Wall), Science News (4/3, Kaiser), New Scientist (4/3, Grossman), Scientific American (4/3, Moskowitz), Nature News (4/3, Witze), and other media sources.
The AP (4/3, Dunn) reported that an international team of researchers using data from the Cassini spacecraft has determined that there is a “vast ocean” beneath the surface of the moon Enceladus. The body of water located at the moon’s south pole is “as big as or even bigger than North America’s Lake Superior,” although it is unclear just how far the ocean extends. Cornell University’s Jonathan Lunine said this makes the moon “a very attractive potential place to look for life.”
The New York Times (4/3, Chang, Subscription Publication) noted that some scientists believe this is now an even better location than Mars to look for life outside of Earth. Christopher P. McKay of the Ames Research Center, who was not part of the study, said the finding “confirms in a really robust way what has been sort of the standard model.” He also thinks Enceladus is now the “best bet” to search for life. McKay added that “a sample return would be the way” to see if any possible life was making its way into the moon’s plumes. However, the article noted that there would be several “challenges” to conducting such a mission, including making it “fit it into the $500 million budget of one of NASA’s lower-cost planetary missions.”
The Washington Post (4/3, Achenbach) reported that Mary Voytek, senior scientist for NASA’s astrobiology program, said, “I love Mars, but I think” Enceladus and Europa “provide the highest probability of finding extant life,” adding she is “torn” between which of those two bodies would be better. Still, the possibility that life exists on Enceladus today is “highly speculative.” McKay said, “It’s the occupational hazard of astrobiology to jump to the conclusion that you want to be true. I have to constantly chide myself and my colleagues for doing that.”
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor (4/3, Spotts) reported that Caltech’s David Stevenson, a member of the research team, is now convinced of the ocean’s existence after initially being skeptical. McKay said, “His acceptance of an idea usually means that it’s achieved a high bar of credibility.”
Also covering the story are the Wall Street Journal (4/3, Hotz, Subscription Publication), Los Angeles Times (4/3, Khan) “Science Now” website, CNN (4/4, Landau), BBC News (4/3, Amos), Popular Science (4/3, Diep), Wired (4/3, Mann) “Wired Science,” SPACE (4/3, Wall), Science News (4/3, Kaiser), New Scientist (4/3, Grossman), Scientific American (4/3, Moskowitz), Nature News (4/3, Witze), and other media sources.
General
Calendar:
Colloquia, Lectures, Seminars, Meetings, Open Houses & Tours:
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.
April
7, April 21, May 5 and May 19th, 2014.
All
four lectures this year will be held at A Noise Within, the theater located
at 3352 East Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107 (just North of the 210 Freeway; use the
Madre Street exit). There is ample free parking on site. Visit www.anoisewithin.org for directions and more information.
All lectures are free and open to the public, but seating is limited.
Please arrive early. Doors open at 7:00 PM and all lectures start at 7:30 PM.
Light refreshments will be served in advance of the lectures.
The
2014 Astronomy Lecture Series is organized by Dr. John Mulchaey,
Associate Director for Academic Affairs. For more information, please contact
626.304.0250 or visit www.obs.carnegiescience.edu.
Monday,
April 7th 2014
 Making Earth-Like Planets: Five Great Mysteries Dr. Linda T. Elkins-Tanton Director, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Carnegie Institution for Science
The
search for life within and beyond our solar system is one of today’s most
exciting directions in astronomy. Astronomers and scientists in other
disciplines are collaborating to discover how the processes of planetary
evolution combine to produce a habitable planet, as defined by one
indispensable ingredient: liquid water. Dr. Elkins-Tanton will discuss the
mysteries of planetary formation – where Earth’s water came from, whether our
solar system is average or unusual, how dust around young stars could accrete
into planets, and much more.
 Beyond Hubble: New Space Telescopes to Explore the Cosmos Dr. Alan Dressler Staff Astronomer, The Carnegie Observatories
The
Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of stars,
galaxies, and the nature of our vast universe, and has blazed a trail to
new journeys that lie beyond Hubble’s reach. Dr. Dressler will describe
several future space telescopes – some already in fabrication, others on the
technological horizon. These “virtual spaceships” will carry us to the end of
our journey to understand the birth of stars and galaxies – the dawn of the
modern universe – and will launch new quests to locate other worlds like
Earth that may be habitable, or even inhabited.
 The Biggest Eyes on Earth: Building the Giant Magellan Telescope Dr. Wendy Freedman Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair and Director, The Carnegie Observatories
High
in Chile’s Atacama Desert, construction of the largest telescope ever created
is underway: the Giant Magellan Telescope, ten times more powerful than
the Hubble Telescope. Dr. Freedman, head of the international GMT consortium,
will discuss the complex teamwork involved in building this
extraordinary instrument, and how the GMT will increase our understanding of
dark matter and dark energy, the evolution of galaxies, the exciting field of
exoplanets, and more. The GMT caps more than a century of leadership by the
Carnegie Observatories in telescope technologies and contributions to our
knowledge of the universe.
Monday,
May 19th 2014
 Seeing the Invisible: What is Dark Matter? Dr. Andrew Benson George Ellery Hale Distinguished Scholar in Theoretical Astrophysics, The Carnegie Observatories
Astronomy
tells us that most of our universe is made from so-called “dark matter” – an
invisible substance that holds together galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
But how can we study something that we can’t see? Dr. Benson will describe
the many ingenious ways that astronomers have found – and continue to find –
to understand the nature of dark matter, including looking at how light from
distant galaxies is deflected by gravitational lensing, and searching for the
smallest galaxies in the universe.
|
4
April
|
7:30PM
SBAS
Monthly General Meeting
Topic:
“New Products in the Astronomy Market”
Speaker: Daniel Mounsey, Woodland Hills Camera &
Telescope
|
April 10 & 11 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2014
"For the Benefit of All Mankind":
The JPL Technology Transfer Program
NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is known for missions that greatly impact our
understanding of the solar system and the universe. But the ground breaking
research and development done at JPL has also had many impacts on everyday life
on earth. JPL innovations can be found everywhere, from farms to hospitals to
our very own homes. The goal of the Technology Transfer Program at JPL is to
seek commercial applications for the inventions developed at the Laboratory.
Successful technology transfer results in new products for all, and can result
in new companies or even new industries. JPL's history is rich with such
examples, and shows how the space program can immensely benefit the quality of
life for all mankind.
Speaker:
|
Indrani Graczyk, Manager, Commercial Program Office,
JPL
|
Locations:
|
Thursday,
April 10, 2014, 7pm The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA › Directions Friday, April 11, 2014, 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. |
|
14 April
|
LAAS
LAAS General
Meeting.
|
Griffith
Observatory
Event Horizon Theater 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM |
17 Apr 2014
|
Club Pizza
Party & Astronomy Fun & Games
|
Pizza
& Astronomy Fun & Games
|
All
|
A1/1735
|
Observing:
The
following data are from the 2014 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s
2014 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 April:
Moon: Apr 7 1st
quarter, Apr 15 full, Apr 22 last quarter, Apr 29 new,
Planets: Venus is visible just
before dawn. Jupiter is up from sunset to after midnight. Mars is up all night, and Saturn around 9pm.
Other
Events:
5
April
|
Public
Star Party: Griffith
Observatory Grounds 2-10pm
|
6 April Jupiter 5deg N of Moon
8 April Mars at opposition
12 April Venus 0.7deg N of Neptune
14 April Mars closest approach for 2014
14 April Mars 3deg N of Moon
15 April total lunar eclipse Starting at about 9:50
PM PDT, the Moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow to emerge around 3:30 AM.
Along the way, a couple of reasonably bright stars (HIP65991 mag. 8, and
HIP66265 mag. 8.8) will pass along the north edge of the moon. With the moon
still in full shadow, one might get a glimpse of the star flashing in and out
as it cuts across the crater rims around the edge of the
moon.
17 April Saturn 0.4 deg N of Moon
19 April
|
SBAS Saturday Night In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 North Bay Rd. RPV, Weather Permitting:
Please contact Greg Benecke to confirm that the gate will be opened! http://www.sbastro.net/
|
22 April Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak
The Lyrid meteor shower is not one of the strongest of
the annual meteor showers, but it can be
enjoyable to those meteor observers thirsting for
something after over three and a half months of
weak meteor activity. The Lyrids generally begin on April 16 and end
on April 26, with maximum generally occurring during the night of April 21/22.
At maximum, hourly rates can reach about 10 meteors per hour. The Lyrids are
particularly interesting for two reasons. First, observations have been
identified back to
at least 2600 years, which is longer than any other
meteor shower. Second, the meteor shower
occasionally experiences an outburst of about 100 meteors
per hour and the reason is basically
unknown.
26
April
|
SBAS
out-of-town observing – contact Greg Benecke http://www.sbastro.net/.
|
26
April
|
LAAS Dark Sky Night : Lockwood Valley
(Steve
Kufeld Astronomical Site; LAAS members and their guests only)
|
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.
Telescope, Binocular & Accessory Buying
Guides
General
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, membership in The Astronomical League, 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
