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, October 3, 2015

2015 October

AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter                         October  2015

Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 4
Astronomy News p. 9
General Calendar p.12
    Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 12
    Observing p. 14
Useful Links p. 16
About the Club p. 17

Club News & Calendar.

Club Calendar

Club Meeting Schedule:


1 October
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Pizza party & Mt. Wilson Photos

D8/2340

AEA Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st  Thursdays at 11:45am.  For all of (except Aug. 6) 2015, the meeting room is A1/1735. 

Club News:  

Here’s the Orbiter & Facebook story submitted by our club member & Aerospace photographer, Walt Sturrock:

AEA Astronomy Club Visits Mt. Wilson
posted September 28, 2015
Docent Tim Thompson explains one of the Mt. Wilson telescopes to Astronomy Club members. (Photo: Walt Sturrock)

The AEA Astronomy Club recently took a tour of more than 100 years of history and technology at Mt. Wilson Observatory.

The club started its Sept. 18 visit at the Mt. Wilson Aerospace Facility for Integrated Optical Tests (MAFIOT), where they were treated to a behind-the- scenes tour by Dr. Renny Fields and Petras Karuza.

Afterward, club members saw historic telescopes and learned about landmark discoveries made at the Mt. Wilson Observatory on a tour led by veteran docent Tim Tompson. Highlights included the first dedicated solar telescope, the 60” Hale telescope, the 100” telescope, and discoveries made there such as the real nature of sunspots, the composition of the Milky Way galaxy, and the size and expansion of the universe.

After sunset the club spent a good part of the night using the massive 100” telescope to view and photograph a multitude of astronomical phemomena, such as galaxies, nebula, asteroids, planets, and star clusters.

More of Walt’s photos were posted to the Aerospace Facebook page:   

And here’s one I took thru the scope w. the new club DSLR -- of the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus. APOD description: "Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth." You can see the dust band on the right. 30 second exposure. The sidereal drive is not perfect, obviously. Could do better guiding on a star & w. longer exposures, but had to balance photography w. letting 18 people observe visually.


From Jim Edwards:  Congratulate me, boys!  My astrometric submissions have been deigned of sufficient number and quality to justify the granting of my own Observatory Code by the Minor Planet Center:  U73.  I'm so proud...
I thought you all might be interested in the result from my first spectrographic efforts from a couple nights ago.  Plz keep in mind that this first go-around was intended just to get me oriented and check out the new hardware, notto generate amazing results.  My image chain was very certainly not configured optimally for this work, due primarily to the focal reducer I have in place which speeds my system up from f/10 down to a svelte f/4.3 (which is desirable for the astrometric and photometric tinkerings that I usually do).
This said, the image was captured employing the Aerospace Astronomy Club's new SA-100 spectral grating "filter" and processed with its new RSpec software (together very reasonably priced at $300'ish for introductory level capabilities (remember, "the skill of the swordsman is more important than the nature of the sword")).  Its highly recommended to target a Type-A star for the first go around because their spectrum is very simple with prominent hydrogen emissions (visible light Balmer series lines).  The tutorials and examples used Vega (the brightest of them all) so I did the same.  Vega, however, was non-optimally low in the sky at 44° so there was some degradation as a result.  Still, for a first attempt, the results were pleasing.
As seen in the attached JPG, the Hydrogen-alpha, -beta, and -gamma lines are readily discernable.  The vertical blue lines are the true positions of these lines presented at the same horizontal scale.  Not too bad!



Future imaging of more interesting targets positioned near the zenith using hardware configured for spectrographic work and longer exposures and calibration are expected to generate much more detailed results.  Fingers crossed!


Astronomy Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month
(from Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)
A Plutonian Landscape 
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Institute
Explanation: This shadowy landscape of majestic mountains and icy plains stretches toward the horizon of a small, distant world. It was captured from a range of about 18,000 kilometers when New Horizons looked back toward Pluto, 15 minutes after the spacecraft's closest approach on July 14. The dramatic, low-angle, near-twilight scene follows rugged mountains still popularly known as Norgay Montes from foreground left, and Hillary Montes along the horizon, giving way to smooth Sputnik Planum at right. Layers of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere are also revealed in the backlit view. With a strangely familiar appearance, the frigid terrain likely includes ices of nitrogen and carbon monoxide with water-ice mountains rising up to 3,500 meters (11,000 feet). That's comparable in height to the majestic mountains of planet Earth. This Plutonian landscape is 380 kilometers (230 miles) across.

Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse and Lightning Storm 
Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Antonio Hervás
Explanation: What's more rare than a supermoon total lunar eclipse? How about a supermoon total lunar eclipse over a lightning storm. Such an electrifying sequence was captured yesterday from Ibiza, an island in southeastern Spain. After planning the location for beauty, and the timing to capture the entire eclipse sequence, the only thing that had to cooperate for this astrophotographer to capture a memorable eclipse sequence was the weather. What looked to be a bother on the horizon, though, turned out to be a blessing. The composite picture features over 200 digitally combined images from the same location over the course of a night. The full moon is seen setting as it faded to red in Earth's shadow and then returned to normal. The fortuitous lightning is seen reflected in the Mediterranean to the right of the 400-meter tall rocky island of Es Vedra. Although the next total eclipse of a large and bright supermoon will occur in 2033, the next total eclipse of any full moon will occur in January 2018 and be best visible from eastern Asia and Australia.
Global Ocean Suspected on Saturn's Enceladus 
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Explanation: Do some surface features on Enceladus roll like a conveyor belt? A leading interpretation of images taken of Saturn's most explosive moon indicate that they do. This form of asymmetric tectonic activity, very unusual on Earth, likely holds clues to the internal structure ofEnceladus, which may contain subsurface seas where life might be able to develop. Pictured above is a composite of 28 images taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2008 just after swooping by the ice-spewing orb. Inspection of these images show clear tectonic displacements where large portions of the surface all appear to move all in one direction. On the image right appears one of the most prominent tectonic divides: Labtayt Sulci, a canyon about one kilometer deep. The magnitude of Enceladus' wobble as it orbits Saturn might indicate damping by a globally extendingunderground ocean layer.
The Flare and the Galaxy 
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Mark
Explanation: Is this person throwing a lightning bolt? No. Despite appearances, this person is actually pointing in the direction of a bright Iridium flare, a momentary reflection of sunlight off of a communications satellite in orbit around the Earth. As the Iridium satellite orbits, reflective antennas became aligned between the observer and the Sun to create a flash brighter than any star in the night sky. Iridium flares typically last several seconds, longer than most meteors. Also unlike meteors, the flares are symmetric and predictable. The featured flare involved Iridium satellite 15 and occurred over southern Estonia last week. In this well-planned image, a spectacular night sky appears in the background, complete with the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running vertically up the image center.
ISS Double Transit 
Image Credit & Copyright: Hartwig Luethen
Explanation: Not once, but twice the International Space Station transits the Sun on consecutive orbits of planet Earth in this video frame composite. The scene was captured on August 22 from a single well-chosen location in Schmalenbeck, Germany where the ISS created intersecting shadow paths only around 7 kilometers wide. Crossing the solar disk in a second or less, the transits themselves were separated in time by about 90 minutes, corresponding to the space station's orbital period. While the large, flare-producing sunspot group below center, AR 2403, remained a comfortable 150 million kilometers away, the distance between camera and orbiting station was 656 kilometers for its first (upper) transit and 915 kilometers for the second more central transit. In sharp silhouette the ISS is noticeably larger in angular size during the closer, first pass. Of course, tomorrow the Moon will transit the Sun. But even at well-chosen locations, its dark, central shadow just misses the Earth's surface creating a partial solar eclipse.
Astronomy News:
(from http://esciencenews.com/topics/astronomy.space)

 


NASA Confirms Signs of Water Flowing on Mars, Possible Niches for Life

By KENNETH CHANGSEPT. 28, 2015
New York Times

Scientists have for the first time confirmed liquid water flowing on the surface of present-day Mars, a finding that will add to speculation that life, if it ever arose there, could persist now.
“This is tremendously exciting,” James L. Green, the director of NASA’s planetary science division, said during a news conference on Monday. “We haven’t been able to answer the question, ‘Does life exist beyond Earth?’ But following the water is a critical element of that. We now have, I think, great opportunities in the right locations on Mars to thoroughly investigate that.”
That represents a shift in tone for NASA, where officials have repeatedly played down the notion that the dusty and desolate landscape of Mars could be inhabited today.
But now, John M. Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science, talked of sending a spacecraft in the 2020s to one of these regions, perhaps with experiments to directly look for life.

Channels cut in the Martian surface as shot by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2011.NASA/Reuters

Although Mars had rivers, lakes and maybe even an ocean a few billion years ago, the modern moisture is modest — small patches of damp soil, not pools of standing water.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists identified waterlogged molecules — salts of a type known as perchlorates — on the surface in readings from orbit.
“That’s a direct detection of water in the form of hydration of salts,” said Alfred S. McEwen, a professor of planetary geology at the University of Arizona, the principal investigator of images from a high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and one of the authors of the new paper. “There pretty much has to have been liquid water recently present to produce the hydrated salt.”
By “recently,” Dr. McEwen said he meant “days, something of that order.”
Scientists have long known that large amounts of water remain — but frozen solid in the polar ice caps. There have been fleeting hints of recent liquid water, like fresh-looking gullies, but none have proved convincing.
In 2011, Dr. McEwen and colleagues discovered in photographs from the orbiter dark streaks descending along slopes of craters, canyons and mountains. The streaks lengthened during summer, faded as temperatures cooled, then reappeared the next year.

Streaks of Flowing Water on Mars

Images showing what scientists say is definitive evidence of salty liquid water flowing on Mars.

They named the streaks recurring slope lineae, or R.S.L.s, and many thousands of them have now been spotted. “It’s really surprisingly extensive,” Dr. McEwen said.
Scientists suspected that water played a critical role in the phenomenon, perhaps similar to the way concrete darkens when wet and returns to its original color when dry.
But that was just an educated guess.
Lujendra Ojha, a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, turned to an instrument on the orbiter that identifies types of molecules by which colors of light they absorb. But this instrument, a spectrometer, is not as sharp as the camera, making it hard to zoom in on readings from the narrow streaks, a few yards across at most.
 “We had to come up with new techniques and novel ways to do analysis of the chemical signature,” said Mr. Ojha, the lead author of the Nature Geoscience article.
The researchers were able to identify the telltale sign of a hydrated salt at four locations. In addition, the signs of the salt disappeared when the streaks faded. “It’s very definitive there is some sort of liquid water,” Mr. Ojha said.
Dark narrow streaks, up to a few hundred yards long, are seen along many slopes on Mars including Garni Crater. The identification of waterlogged salts in these streaks fits with the idea that they are formed by the underground flow of briny water that wets the surface.Jet Propulsion Laboratory/University of Arizona/NASA
The perchlorate salts lower the freezing temperature, and the water remains liquid. The average temperature of Mars is about minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but summer days near the Equator can reach an almost balmy 70.
Many mysteries remain. For one, scientists do not know where the water is coming from.
“There are two basic origins for the water: from above or from below,” Dr. McEwen said. The perchlorates could be acting like a sponge, absorbing moisture out of the air, but measurements indicate very low humidity on Mars — only enough for 10 microns, or about 1/2,500th of an inch, of rain across the planet if all of the wetness were wrung out of the air.
That idea cannot be ruled out if the lower part of the atmosphere turns out more humid than currently thought.
“We have very poor measurements of relative humidity near the surface,” Dr. McEwen said.
The other possibility is underground aquifers, frozen during winter, melting during summer and seeping to the surface.
Liquid water is considered one of the essential ingredients for life, and its presence raises the question of whether Mars, which appears so dry and barren, could possess niches of habitability for microbial Martians.
Christopher P. McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., does not think the recurring slope lineae are a promising place to look. For the water to be liquid, it must be so salty that nothing could live there, he said. “The short answer for habitability is it means nothing,” he said.
He pointed to Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, which remains liquid year round in subzero temperatures because of high concentrations of calcium chloride salt. “You fly over it, and it looks like a beautiful swimming pool,” Dr. McKay said. “But the water has got nothing.”
Others are not so certain. David E. Stillman, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute’s space studies department in Boulder, Colo., said water for the streaks might be different in different regions. In some, they form only during the warmest times, suggesting that those waters might not be too salty for microbes.
“If it was too salty, they would be flowing year round,” Dr. Stillman said. “We might be in that Goldilocks zone.”
Even though recurring slope lineae appear to be some of the most intriguing features on Mars, NASA has no plans to get a close-up look anytime soon.
They are treated as special regions that NASA’s current robotic explorers are barred from because the rovers were not thoroughly sterilized, and NASA worries that they might be carrying microbial hitchhikers from Earththat could contaminate Mars.
Of the spacecraft NASA has sent to Mars, only the two Viking landers in 1976 were baked to temperatures hot enough to kill Earth microbes. NASA’s next Mars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020, will be no cleaner. Sterilizing spacecraft, which requires electronics and systems that can withstand the heat of baking, adds to the cost and complicates the design.
In selecting the landing site for the 2020 rover, the space agency is ruling out places that might be habitable, including those with recurring slope lineae.
That prohibition may continue even though two candidate streaks have been identified on the mountain in Gale Crater that NASA’s Curiosity rover is now exploring, a mile or two from its planned path.
NASA and the Curiosity team could decide to approach the streaks without driving onto them, or to simply observe from a distance. The rover is still probably a couple of years away.
NASA officials did not reject the possibility of a detour, although they said it would require analysis and debate.
In an interview after the news conference, Dr. Green of NASA said that if the streaks in Gale Crater turned out to be recurring slope lineae, the space agency would consider how great a contamination threat Curiosity, irradiated by ultraviolet light for several years, might pose to a potential Martian habitat.
“If we can go within 20 meters, we can zap it with a laser,” Dr. Green said, referring to an instrument that identifies material inside a rock by the colors of light it emits as it is vaporized. “Then we can learn much more about the details what’s in those R.S.L.s. If we can get closer and actually scoop it up, that would be even better.”

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.  . Click here for more information.
1 October
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Pizza party & Mt. Wilson Photos

D8/2340









2 Oct
Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS  Monthly General Meeting
in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw Bl. In Torrance)
Friday Night 7:30PM Monthly General Meeting
Topic:   “The Spitzer Space Telescope” Varoujan Gorjian
Speaker: Varoujan Gorjian


5 Oct
LAAS LAAS General Meeting.
Griffith Observatory
Event Horizon Theater
8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
October 8 & 9   The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2015

Unveiling an Alien World: Dawn at Ceres

Prior to Dawn's arrival, the dwarf planet Ceres was the largest unexplored world in the inner solar system. Ceres was discovered in 1801, the first object identified at a time when many were searching for a 'missing' planet between Mars and Jupiter. Initially Ceres was believed to be this 'missing planet' but once it was determined that there were many objects forming a 'belt', Ceres was demoted from planet to minor planet, then to asteroid 1 Ceres. The IAU reclassified Ceres as a dwarf planet in 2006. Regardless of its classification, the nearly 1000-km-diameter Ceres is an intriguing planetary body thought to have formed within the first few million years of formation of our solar system. Ceres is roughly 30% water by mass as evidenced by its density and consistent with its shape. The water likely formed a subsurface ocean early in Ceres' history, but now is mostly an ice mantle that lies near its surface. The surface of Ceres is warm compared to the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and this would have enabled convection within the ice and ocean shell, allowing transport of heat and material between the warm rocky interior and the surface. Recently, the Herschel Space Observatory observed water vapor coming from Ceres that appeared to be localized to certain longitudes. These observations, together with previous Hubble Space Telescope and other ground-based observations, tell us that Ceres is a unique object, straddling the boundary between the rocky bodies of the inner solar system, and the ice- and water-rich moons of the outer solar system, and that Ceres has a similar astrobiological potential as those other icy moons. Having completed its comprehensive investigation of protoplanet Vesta in September of 2012, the Dawn spacecraft travelled to Ceres, reaching it early in 2015 to finally pull back the veil on this mysterious world. Highlights from the first science orbits will be presented.
Speaker:
Dr. Carol Raymond, DAWN Deputy Principal Investigator, JPL

Webcast:
Click here to watch the event live on Ustream (or archived after the event)
Locations:
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions

Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, 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.


Oct. 10-11, 9am-4pm.  NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, invites the public to our annual Open House on October 10-11, 2015. The event takes visitors on a “ride” through the wonders of space. Highlights include a life-size model of the Curiosity Mars rover; demonstrations from numerous space missions; JPL’s machine shop, where robotic spacecraft parts are built; and the Microdevices Lab, where engineers and scientists use tiny technology to revolutionize space exploration.

The event and parking are free. No tickets or formal RSVP required. We recommend coming early for the best parking and shortest lines.

Observing:
The following data are from the 2015 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2015 Skygazer’s Almanac & monthly Sky at a Glance.

Current sun & moon rise/set/phase data for L.A.:  http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa/los-angeles

Sun, Moon & Planets for October:


Moon: Oct 4 last quarter, Oct 12 new, Oct 20 1st quarter, Oct 27 full                    
Planets: Saturn is in the SW for a couple hours after sunset.  Mercury, Venus, Mars & Jupiter rise and are visible in the East a few hours before sunrise.
Other Events:

 
3 Oct
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/

9 October Draconids Meteor Shower Peak The maximum rate typically reaches 1-2 per hour, but outbursts of hundreds or thousands per hour occurred several times during the 20th century.

10 Oct
SBAS out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Greg Benecke to coordinate a location. http://www.sbastro.net/.  

11 October Uranus at Opposition & Mercury 0.9deg N of Moon

16 October Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation

7,14,21,28 Oct
LAAS The Garvey Ranch Observatory is open to the public every Wednesday evening from 7:30 PM to 10 PM. Go into the dome to use the 8 Inch Refractor or observe through one of our telescopes on the lawn. Visit our workshop to learn how you can build your own telescope, grind your own mirror, or sign up for our free seasonal astronomy classes.

Call 213-673-7355 for further information.
Time: 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Location: Garvey Ranch Obs. , 781 Orange Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91755


17 Oct
LAAS Public  Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm

17 October Mars Passes 0.4 Degrees from Jupiter Look to the eastern sky before dawn to see these two planets close together.

21 October Orionids Meter Shower Peak Observers in the Northern Hemisphere will see around 20 meteors per hour at maximum, while observers in the Southern Hemisphere will see around 40 meteors per hour.

25 October Venus Passes 1.0 Degree From Jupiter, (& Mars 3 deg below them). Look for these two bright planets in the eastern sky before sunrise.

26 October Venus greatest elongation W (46 deg)

Internet Links:

Telescope, Binocular & Accessory Buying Guides


General


Regional (Southern California, Washington, D.C. & Colorado)
Southern California & Beyond Amateur Astronomy Organizations, Observatories & Planetaria
Mt. Wilson Observatory description, history, visiting


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, 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 
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