AEA Astronomy Club
Newsletter May
2017
Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 7
General Calendar p. 10
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 7
General Calendar p. 10
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 10
Observing p. 15
Observing p. 15
Useful
Links p. 16
About the Club p. 17
Club News & Calendar.
Club Calendar
About the Club p. 17
Club News & Calendar.
Club Calendar
Club Meeting Schedule:
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4 May
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Pathways to
Exoplanet Formation: Insight into the Diversity of Observed Exoplanetary
Systems,
Niraj Inamdar, Aerospace
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(A1/1735)
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1 June
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Gemini
(Exo-)Planet Imager, Sloane Wiktorowicz, Aerospace
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(A1/1735)
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AEA
Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st Thursdays at 11:45 am. For all of 2017, the meeting room is A1/1735.
Club
News:
4
May Club Speaker: Pathways to Exoplanet
Formation: Insight into the Diversity of Observed Exoplanetary Systems
by Niraj K Inamdar, PhD
Abstract
For
centuries, our Solar System was the only means by which we could understand how
planets and planetary systems form and evolve. In the past 20 years, however, the
discovery of thousands of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems around other stars
has given us a genuine laboratory in which we can test our models of planet
formation and evolution and contextualize ourselves within the Galaxy at large.
The
Kepler space telescope and other
surveys have revealed planets and planetary systems that look significantly
different from our own. In particular, the most common type of planet in the
Galaxy is a planet with a radius larger than Earth’s and smaller than
Neptune’s, but with an orbital radius on the order of ~0.1 AU. These
super-Earths (SEs) and mini-Neptune’s (NEs) are without precedent in our Solar
System, and their origin remains a major outstanding question of not just
planet formation, but astronomy and astrophysics as a whole.
In
this talk, I will discuss what distinguishes exoplanetary systems from our own
and will review and highlight the important physical processes required for
planet formation to occur. I will construct a self-consistent formation
framework that can be used to explore the formation pathways that then lead to
potentially observable exoplanetary systems. I will close by discussing
degeneracies that exist in the inference of an exoplanet’s formation history,
and suggest means by which those degeneracies may be broken or mitigated.
About
the Speaker
Dr.
Inamdar joined The Aerospace Corporation in April as a Senior Member of
Technical Staff in the Space Architecture Department. Prior to joining
Aerospace, he earned his PhD in planetary science at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. While there, he worked on exoplanets and planet
formation theory, as well as in instrumentation, serving both as an engineer
and as Science Lead on the Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS)
instrument flying on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. He
earned his SM in mechanical engineering from MIT, and his BSE in the same field
from the University of Pennsylvania. More information about his work can be
found at nirajinamdar.com.
Astronomy Video(s)
& Picture(s) of the Month
(from Astronomy
Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
VIDEO: Two Million
Stars on the Move https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170417.html
Video Credit: ESA, Gaia, DPAC
Explanation: If you could watch the night sky for one million years --
how would it change? Besides local effects caused by the Earth's spin and the reorientation of the Earth's
spin axis, the stars themselves will move.
Combining positional data of unprecedented accuracy for two-million stars taken
over years by ESA's Earth-orbiting Hipparcos (now defunct) and Gaia satellites, a future extrapolation of star movements was
made over millions years. As shown in the featured video, many stars make only small angular adjustments, but some
stars -- typically those nearby -- will zip across the sky. Once familiar constellations and asterisms will become unrecognizable as the bright stars that formed them move around. Not shown
are many local nebulas that will surely dissipate while new ones will likely form in different places.
Perhaps reassuringly, future
Earth inhabitantswill still be able to
recognize the central band of our Milky
Way Galaxy.Video Credit: ESA, Gaia, DPAC
Explanation: Trillions have died in the Earth's seas. Calcified shields of the dead already make up the white cliffs of Dover. The battle between ball-shaped light-colored single-celled plants -- phytoplankton called coccolithophores -- and even smaller, diamond-shaped viruses dubbed coccolithoviruses -- has raged for tens of millions of years. To help fight this battle, the coccolithophores create their chalky armor by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This battle is so epic that coccolithophores actually remove a significant fraction of Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide, bolstering the breathability of air for animals including humans. Pictured in this 2012 image from NASA's Aqua satellite, the Black Sea was turned light blue by coccolithophore blooms.
Life-Enabling Plumes above Enceladus
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Explanation: Does Enceladus have underground oceans that could support life? The
discovery of jets spewing water vapor and ice was detected by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini
spacecraft in 2005. The origin of the water feeding the jets, however,
was originally unknown. Since discovery, evidence has been accumulating that Enceladus has a deep underground sea, warmed by tidal flexing. Pictured
here, the textured surface of Enceladus is visible in the foreground, while rows of plumes rise
from ice fractures in the distance. These jets are made more visible by the Sun angle and the encroaching shadow of night. A recent fly-through has found evidence that a plume -- and so surely the underlying
sea -- is rich in molecular hydrogen, a viable
food source for microbes that could potentially be living
there.Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Galaxy Cluster Gas Creates Hole in Microwave Background
Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Kitayama et al., NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
Explanation: Why would this cluster of galaxy punch a hole in the cosmic
microwave background (CMB)? First, the famous
CMB was created by cooling
gas in the early
universe and flies right through most gas and dust in the universe.
It is all around us. Large clusters of galaxies have enough gravity to contain very hot gas -- gas hot enough to up-scatter microwave photons into
light of significantly higher energy, thereby creating a hole in CMB maps. This Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect has been used for decades to reveal new
information about hot gas in clusters and even to help discover galaxy clusters
in a simple yet uniform way. Pictured
is the most detailed image yet obtained of
the SZ effect, now using both ALMA to measure the CMB and the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the galaxies in the massive galaxy cluster RX
J1347.5-1145. False-color
bluedepicts light from the CMB, while almost every yellow object is a galaxy. The shape
of the SZ
hole indicates not only that hot gas is present in this galaxy
cluster, but also that it is distributed in a surprisingly uneven manner.Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Kitayama et al., NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
Cassini Looks Out from Saturn
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute
Explanation: This is what Saturn looks like from inside the rings. Last
week, for the first time, NASA directed the Cassini
spacecraft to swoop between Saturn and its rings. During the
dive, the robotic spacecraft took hundreds
of images showing unprecedented
detail for structures in Saturn's atmosphere. Looking back out,
however, the spacecraft was also able to capture impressive vistas. In the featured
image taken a few hours before closest approach, Saturn's unusual northern hexagon is seen surrounding the North Pole. Saturn's B ring is the
closest visible, while the dark Cassini Division separates B from the outer A. A close
inspection will find the two small moons that shepherd the F-ring, the farthest ring discernable. This image is raw and will be officially verified, calibrated and released at
a later date. Cassini remains on schedule to end its mission by plunging into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15.Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute
The Holographic Principle
Image Credit: Caltech
Explanation: Is this picture worth a thousand words? According to the Holographic
Principle, the most information you can
get from this image is about 3 x 1065 bits for a normal sized computer monitor. The Holographic Principle, yet unproven, states that there is a maximum amount of
information content held by regions adjacent to any surface. Therefore, counter-intuitively, the information content inside a room depends not on the
volume of the room but on the area of the bounding walls. The principle derives
from the idea that the Planck
length, the length scale wherequantum mechanics begins to dominate classical
gravity, is one side of an area that can
hold only about one bit of information. The limit was first postulated by physicist Gerard 't Hooft in 1993. It can arise from generalizations from seemingly distant speculation that the information held by ablack
hole is determined not by its enclosed volume but by the surface
area of its event
horizon. The term "holographic" arises from a hologram analogy where three-dimension images are created by
projecting light through a flat screen. Beware, other people looking at the featured
image may not claim to see 3 x 1065 bits -- they might claim to see a teapot.Image Credit: Caltech
Astronomy
News:
Milky Way: Hydrogen halo lifts the veil of our galactic home
Astronomers find
missing mass in the hydrogen halo that surrounds our home galaxy
Date:
April 18,
2017
Source:
University
of Arizona
Summary:
Astronomers have reported the first detections
of diffuse hydrogen wafting about in a vast halo surrounding the Milky Way.
Share:
FULL STORY
What our
Milky Way might look like to alien astronomers: This image of NGC 2683, a
spiral galaxy also known as the "UFO Galaxy" due to its shape, was
taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Since trying to find out what the Milky
Way looks like is a bit like trying to picture an unfamiliar house while being
confined to a room inside, studies like this one help us gain a better idea of
our cosmic home.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Sometimes it takes a lot of trees to see the
forest. In the case of the latest discovery made by astronomers at the
University of Arizona, exactly 732,225. Except that in this case, the
"forest" is a veil of diffuse hydrogen gas enshrouding the Milky Way,
and each "tree" is another galaxy observed with the 2.5-meter
telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
After combining this staggering number of spectra -- recorded
patterns of wavelengths revealing clues about the nature of a cosmic target --
UA astronomers Huanian Zhang and Dennis Zaritsky report the first detections of
diffuse hydrogen wafting about in a vast halo surrounding the Milky Way. Such a
halo had been postulated based on what astronomers knew about other galaxies,
but never directly observed.
Astronomers have long known that the most prominent features of
a typical spiral galaxy such as our Milky Way -- a central bulge surrounded by
a disk and spiral arms -- account only for the lesser part of its mass. The
bulk of the missing mass is suspected to lie in so-called dark matter, a
postulated but not yet directly observed form of matter believed to account for
the majority of matter in the universe. Dark matter emits no electromagnetic radiation
of any kind, nor does it interact with "normal" matter (which
astronomers call baryonic matter), and is therefore invisible and undetectable
through direct imaging.
The dark matter of a typical galaxy is thought to reside in a
more or less spherical halo that extends 10 to 30 times farther out than the
distance between the center of our galaxy and the sun, according to Zaritsky, a
professor in the UA's Department of Astronomy and deputy director of the UA's
Steward Observatory.
"We infer its existence through dynamical simulations of
galaxies," Zaritsky explains. "And because the ratio of normal matter
to dark matter is now very well known, for example from measuring the cosmic
microwave background, we have a pretty good idea of how much baryonic matter
should be in the halo. But when we add all the things we can see with our
instruments, we get only about half of what we expect, so there has to be a lot
of baryonic matter waiting to be detected."
By combining such a large number of spectra, Zaritsky and Zhang,
a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory,
covered a large portion of space surrounding the Milky Way and found that
diffuse hydrogen gas engulfs the entire galaxy, which would account for a large
part of the galaxy's baryonic mass.
"It's like peering through a veil," Zaritsky said.
"We see diffuse hydrogen in every direction we look."
He pointed out that this is not the first time gas has been
detected in halos around galaxies, but in those instances, the hydrogen is in a
different physical state.
"There are cloudlets of hydrogen in the galaxy halo, which
we have known about for a long time, called high-velocity clouds,"
Zaritsky said. "Those have been detected through radio observations, and
they're really clouds -- you see an edge, and they're moving. But the total
mass of those is small, so they couldn't be the dominant form of hydrogen in
the halo."
Since observing our own galaxy is a bit like trying to see what
an unfamiliar house looks like while being confined to a room inside,
astronomers rely on computer simulations and observations of other galaxies to
get an idea of what the Milky Way might look like to an alien observer millions
of light-years away.
For their study, scheduled for advance online publication on Nature Astronomy's website on
Apr. 18, the researchers sifted through the public databases of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey and looked for spectra taken by other scientists of galaxies
outside our Milky Way in a narrow spectral line called hydrogen alpha. Seeing
this line in a spectrum tells of the presence of a particular state of hydrogen
that is different from the vast majority of hydrogen found in the universe.
Unlike on Earth, where hydrogen occurs as a gas consisting of
molecules of two hydrogen atoms bound together, hydrogen exists as single atoms
in outer space, and those can be positively or negatively charged, or neutral.
Neutral hydrogen constitutes a small minority compared to its ionized
(positive) form, which constitutes more than 99.99 percent of the gas spanning
the intergalactic gulfs of the universe.
Unless neutral hydrogen atoms are being energized by something,
they are extremely difficult to detect and therefore remain invisible to most
observational approaches, which is why their presence in the Milky Way's halo
had eluded astronomers until now. Even in other galaxies, halos are difficult
to pin down.
"You don't just see a pretty picture of a halo around a
galaxy," Zaritsky said. "We infer the presence of galactic halos from
numerical simulations of galaxies and from what we know about how they form and
interact."
Zaritsky explained that based on those simulations, scientists
would have predicted the presence of large amounts of hydrogen gas stretching
far out from the center of the Milky Way, but remaining associated with the
galaxy, and the data collected in this study confirm the presence of just that.
"The gas we detected is not doing anything very
noticeable," he said. "It is not spinning so rapidly as to indicate
that it's in the process of being flung out of the galaxy, and it does not
appear to be falling inwards toward the galactic center, either."
One of the challenges in this study was to know whether the
observed hydrogen was indeed in a halo outside the Milky Way, and not just part
of the galactic disk itself, Zaritsky said.
"When you see things everywhere, they could be very close
to us, or they could be very far away," he said. "You don't
know."
The answer to this question, too, was in the "trees,"
the more than 700,000 spectral analyses scattered across the galaxy. If the
hydrogen gas were confined to the disk of the galaxy, our solar system would be
expected to "float" inside of it like a ship in a slowly churning
maelstrom, orbiting the galactic center. And just like the ship drifting with
the current, very little relative movement would be expected between our solar
system and the ocean of hydrogen. If, on the other hand, it surrounded the
spinning galaxy in a more or less stationary halo, the researchers expected
that wherever they looked, they should find a predictable pattern of relative
motion with respect to our solar system.
"Indeed, in one direction, we see the gas coming toward us,
and the opposite direction, we see it moving away from us," Zaritsky said.
"This tells us that the gas is not in the disk of our galaxy, but has to
be out in the halo."
Next, the researchers want to look at even more spectra to
better constrain the distribution around the sky and the motions of the gas in
the halo. They also plan to search for other spectral lines, which may help
better understand the physical state such as temperature and density of the
gas.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Arizona. Original
written by Daniel Stolte. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
Journal Reference:
1.
Huanian Zhang, Dennis Zaritsky. The
Galaxy’s veil of excited hydrogen. Nature Astronomy, 2017; 1:
0103 DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0103
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. . Click here for more information.
Update: All tickets have
been reserved, however you can still join our live webcast at the following
link: Huntington Live Webcast.
The 2017 Astronomy Lecture Series
is organized by Dr. John
Mulchaey, Director of the Observatories.
Exoplanet Genetics
Dr. Johanna Teske
Carnegie Origins Postdoctoral Fellow
Carnegie Institution for Science
How do we find planets orbiting stars other than our Sun? How do
we know what they’re made of, or if they’re Earth-like? Dr. Teske will discuss
how exoplanets’ composition is “inherited” from their host star ‘’genes,” and
will highlight new exoplanet discoveries and the Carnegie Institution’s pivotal
role in understanding exoplanet formation and composition.
You can watch a recording of this talk by following this link.
Monday, May 15th 2017
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Now I See You as You Are: How We See Inside a Star With Sound
Dr. Jennifer van Saders
Carnegie-Princeton Fellow,
Carnegie Institution for Science
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Now I See You as You Are: How We See Inside a Star With Sound
Dr. Jennifer van Saders
Carnegie-Princeton Fellow,
Carnegie Institution for Science
We have sought to understand the internal workings of stars for
as long as we have done astronomy, with the Sun as our first and best-studied
star. Today, the technique of “asteroseismology” has revolutionized our view:
just as seismology here on Earth reveals the interior of our own planet,
asteroseismology of the stars allows us to view their central engines and
structures.
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4 May
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Pathways to
Exoplanet Formation: Insight into the Diversity of Observed Exoplanetary
Systems,
Niraj Inamdar, Aerospace
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(A1/1735)
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5
May
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Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS Monthly General Meeting
in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw
Bl. In Torrance)
Topic: “Cassini at Mission End” Matthew
Ota, Telescopes in Education Foundation
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May 4 & 5 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2017
Going
out in a Blaze of Glory: Cassini Science Highlights and Grand Finale
The Cassini mission’s findings have revolutionized our
understanding of Saturn, its complex rings, the amazing assortment of moons and
the planet’s dynamic magnetic environment. Icy jets shoot from the tiny moon
Enceladus; Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes and seas are dominated by liquid ethane
and methane, and complex pre-biotic chemicals form in the atmosphere and rain
to the surface. What new puzzles will Cassini solve before it plunges into
Saturn’s atmosphere rather than risk crashing into one of Saturn’s ocean worlds
and contaminating it?
Come and hear the story of recent science discoveries and the upcoming excitement during Cassini’s final orbits. Dr. Linda Spilker, Cassini Project Scientist, will present highlights of Cassini’s ambitious inquiry at Saturn and an overview of science observations in the final orbits. Dr. Earl Maize, Cassini Program Manager, will discuss Cassini’s exciting challenges, ultimately flying through a region where no spacecraft has ever flown before.
Come and hear the story of recent science discoveries and the upcoming excitement during Cassini’s final orbits. Dr. Linda Spilker, Cassini Project Scientist, will present highlights of Cassini’s ambitious inquiry at Saturn and an overview of science observations in the final orbits. Dr. Earl Maize, Cassini Program Manager, will discuss Cassini’s exciting challenges, ultimately flying through a region where no spacecraft has ever flown before.
Speaker:
Dr. Linda Spilker is a NASA research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She is currently the Cassini Project Scientist and a Co-Investigator on the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer team and has worked on Cassini since 1988. Since joining JPL over 40 years ago she has worked on the Voyager Project, the Cassini Project and conducted independent research on the origin and evolution of planetary ring systems. She also supports proposals and concept studies for new missions to the outer planets. She enjoys yoga and hiking in National Parks, including her favorite park, Yosemite. She is married, with three daughters and six grandchildren.
Dr. Spilker has worked at JPL for over 40 years, her first and only job out of college. She received her B.A. from Cal State Fullerton, her M.S. from Cal State Los Angeles, and her Ph.D. from UCLA.
Dr. Earl H. Maize
Dr. Maize is the manager of the Cassini Program. He began at JPL working on the navigation and engineering teams for the Galileo mission to Jupiter. After Galileo’s final Earth flyby, he transferred to Cassini as the Spacecraft Operations manager and then Deputy Program Manager. He left the project for eight years to hold management positions in Guidance, Navigation, and Control and Avionics. He returned to Cassini as the Program Manager in January 2013.
Dr. Maize has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the past 32 years. He received his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and his doctorate degree in mathematics from the Claremont Graduate University.
Dr. Linda Spilker is a NASA research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She is currently the Cassini Project Scientist and a Co-Investigator on the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer team and has worked on Cassini since 1988. Since joining JPL over 40 years ago she has worked on the Voyager Project, the Cassini Project and conducted independent research on the origin and evolution of planetary ring systems. She also supports proposals and concept studies for new missions to the outer planets. She enjoys yoga and hiking in National Parks, including her favorite park, Yosemite. She is married, with three daughters and six grandchildren.
Dr. Spilker has worked at JPL for over 40 years, her first and only job out of college. She received her B.A. from Cal State Fullerton, her M.S. from Cal State Los Angeles, and her Ph.D. from UCLA.
Dr. Earl H. Maize
Dr. Maize is the manager of the Cassini Program. He began at JPL working on the navigation and engineering teams for the Galileo mission to Jupiter. After Galileo’s final Earth flyby, he transferred to Cassini as the Spacecraft Operations manager and then Deputy Program Manager. He left the project for eight years to hold management positions in Guidance, Navigation, and Control and Avionics. He returned to Cassini as the Program Manager in January 2013.
Dr. Maize has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the past 32 years. He received his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and his doctorate degree in mathematics from the Claremont Graduate University.
Webcast:
Click here to watch the event live on Ustream (or archived after the event)
Click here to watch the event live on Ustream (or archived after the event)
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Locations:
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Thursday, May 4, 2017, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA › Directions Friday, May 5, 2017, 7pm The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA › Directions |
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Webcast:
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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. |
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13 Feb
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LAAS
LAAS General Meeting.
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Griffith
Observatory
Event Horizon Theater 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM |
May 14 PROF.
KEVIN MCKEEGAN
THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE OF 2017
Location: Geology 3656
Time: 2:30PM
Time: 2:30PM
On Monday, August 21, 2017, a total eclipse of the Sun will be
visible in the continental United States for the first time in almost 40 years.
During a total eclipse the Sun is completely hidden by the Moon, the sky
becomes dark, and the faint atmosphere (corona) becomes visible - looking like
a beautiful halo. The eclipse will be total along a track stretching from
Oregon to South Carolina. In Los Angeles the eclipse will be only partial with
2/3 of the Sun being eclipsed. Kevin will discuss a few historically important
eclipses, some general eclipse phenomena, and where and how to view the total
eclipse. Photo credit: NASA
June 1 &
2 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2017
The
Golden Age of Exploration
JPL missions have visited every planet in our solar system. Over
the past 15 years, three rovers have explored Mars in coordination with a
number of orbiters. Samples have been brought to Earth from a comet tail as
well as the solar wind. Saturn and its moons have been studied extensively by
Cassini. Planets have been discovered around neighboring stars. Many new
insights in our planet’s environment have been acquired.
The speaker will describe, from firsthand experience, the excitement and impact of these discoveries and the challenges and risks for the next 15 years.
The speaker will describe, from firsthand experience, the excitement and impact of these discoveries and the challenges and risks for the next 15 years.
Speaker:
Charles Elachi Professor, Caltech JPL Director (2001-2016)
Charles Elachi Professor, Caltech JPL Director (2001-2016)
Location:
Thursday, June 1, 2017, 7pm
Click here to add the date to your online calendar
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Friday, June 2, 2017, 7pm
Click here to add the date to your online calendar
The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College
1570 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Thursday, June 1, 2017, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Friday, June 2, 2017, 7pm
The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College
1570 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
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1 June
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Gemini
(Exo-)Planet Imager, Sloane Wiktorowicz, Aerospace
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(A1/1735)
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Observing:
The
following data are from the 2017 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s
2017 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 April:
Moon: May 3 1st
quarter, May 10 full, May 19 last quarter, May 25 new
Planets:
Venus
at dawn all May low in east. Mars visible after dusk in the WNW all May.
Mercury
not visible all month. Saturn
dusk low WNW all May. Jupiter all
May dusk to pre-dawn east to west.
Other
Events:
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3,10,17,24,31
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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
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5 May Eta Aquarids
Meteor Shower Peak The meteors we currently see as members of the Eta
Aquariid shower separated from Halley’s Comet hundreds of years ago. The shower
peaks at about a rate of around a meteor per minute, although such rates are
rarely seen from northern latitudes due to the low altitude of the radiant.
5 May National Space
Day National Space Day is observed annually on the first Friday in May.
This day is dedicated to the extraordinary achievements, benefits and
opportunities in the exploration and use of space. The goal of National Space
Day is to promote math, science, technology and engineering education in young
people to inspire them to pursue a career in science, especially a career in
space-related jobs. Check it out at : http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-space-day-first-friday-in-may/
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6 May
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LAAS
Public Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm
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17 May Mercury at
Greatest Western Elongation
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20 May
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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/
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27 May
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LAAS Private dark sky Star Party
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27 May
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SBAS
out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Greg Benecke to coordinate a
location. http://www.sbastro.net/.
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Internet
Links:
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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
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