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)

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

2017 September

AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter September 2017

Contents

AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 5
Astronomy News p. 11
General Calendar p. 14
    Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 14
    Observing p. 17
Useful Links p. 18
About the Club p. 19

Club News & Calendar.

Club Calendar

Club Meeting Schedule:
7 Sept
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Eclipse photos & videos
(A1/1735)
5 Oct
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Pizza Party & Online Video
(A1/1735)

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:  

Eclipse News.  All the long-laid plans by the eclipse committee (Mark Clayson, Marilee Wheaton, Bob Frueholz, Kirk Crawford) fell into place as we checked into the Pocatello hotel, and over 70 met Aug. 20 for a final preparatory meeting.  Out of caution for traffic concerns, some left as early as 4am the next day, arriving in Rexburg before sunrise, but traffic proved much lighter than worst case projections.  Favorably clear skies meant we would assemble & remain at our primary observation site reserved on the BYU-Idaho campus in Rexburg.  The site was a well-groomed grassy triangle adjacent to athletic fields & the LDS temple, on a favorable slope overlooking the Snake River Valley to the west, where the moon’s shadow would approach.  And as the 110 or so of us filtered in, some wearing our custom-designed T-shirts, we began to claim spots and set up our equipment, blankets, chairs, etc..  In a weedy field next to us were 250 Danish amateurs who’d arrived in 5 buses who were provided folding chairs. 

The new SolarScope and our 8-inch Dobsonian were set up by the sidewalk, and were heavily used by us & lines of passersby to observe the partial phases, with first contact right on schedule.  We monitored the progress also with eclipse glasses as the moon gradually covered the 3 sunspots visible in the center of the solar disk.  The sky hues and temperature didn’t notably (or rapidly) change until roughly 90%.  Crescent images below trees were observed, and by the many holes in a colander someone placed over the sidewalk.  And shadows began to be blurry rather than distinct.  In the last half hour or so before totality, the temperature was measured to drop 10 degrees, and some were putting jackets back on.  We watched to the west, and when the distant buttes some 20+ miles away went dark, we knew that totality was less than about 30 seconds away.  The sky near the horizon was going dark like sunset.  We began to watch the white sheets Marilee had laid out for the faint shadow bands, which some saw. 

Then, suddenly, it was as if the sun suddenly set, and the lights went low.  Taking off our eclipse glasses, those who glanced up caught the diamond ring as 2nd contact and totality began.  Gasps and oohs and ahs went up from the crowds.  Suddenly there was a black hole where the sun had been, surrounded by a beautiful, eerie white corona, visible by naked eye out to a few solar radii.  It was non-uniform.  The prominences were small and not visible to the naked eye, but under magnification.  There was a 360-degree sunset, and the sky was dark enough to see at least Venus in the short duration (2 min., 17 sec) of totality in which to become dark-adapted.  Then, all-too-soon, it was over, as the diamond ring again appeared on the opposite limb, and the lights came back on.  Applause and cheers went up from the crowds.  And a second chance to see shadow bands, crescent shadows, partial phases, etc.  But for most, these were anticlimactic, and many began to break out their box lunches, or filter out. 

Bob Frueholz & Mark Clayson were asked to do an interview by the local (Idaho Falls) ABC TV affiliate – both a recorded and a live one.  Here is a link to a story they posted online, which only had brief clips of our full interviews, and featured more of the Danes next to us, but did give Aerospace credit.  http://www.localnews8.com/news/eclipse/byu-idaho-hosts-thousands-of-eclipse-visitors/608093463

The worst traffic nightmares materialized for the return 75-mile trip to Pocatello, taking people 4-6 hours as everyone left not long after totality.  Although those who stayed for the star party at the same site that evening did have a much shorter drive that night.  But regardless, all agreed it had all been worth it, and we sent our sincere thanks to the BYU-I eclipse committee that had things so well organized.  And many were already talking about where to go for the next total solar eclipse crossing the U.S., in 2024.

We have begun collecting the various photos and videos the group took, and posting them to the club’s Aerolink site: 







Mai Lee:
I went to Madras, Oregon.  Below link contains selected pictures and a composite of a series of pictures that I took.

https://goo.gl/photos/sCfQ9Qmc6QCk4RQb6


Mt. Wilson.  Another group of 18 are anxiously looking forward to our night on the Mt. Wilson 100-inch telescope Sept. 23.




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


VIDEO:  Time-Lapse: A Total Solar Eclipse https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170820.html
Video Credit & Copyright: Colin Legg
Explanation: Have you ever experienced a total eclipse of the Sun? This time-lapse movie depicts such an eclipse in dramatic detail, seen from Australia in 2012. As the video begins, a slight dimming of the Sun and the surrounding Earth is barely perceptible. As the Moon moves to cover nearly the entire Sun, darkness sweeps in from the left -- the fully blocked part of the Sun. At totality, only the bright solar corona extends past the edges of the Moon, and darkness surrounds you. Distant horizons are still bright, though, as they are not in the darkest part of the shadow. At mid-totality the darkness dips to the horizon below the eclipsed Sun, created by the shadow cone -- a corridor of shadow that traces back to the Moon. As the total solar eclipse ends -- usually after a few minutes -- the process reverses and Moon's shadow moves off to the other side. Tomorrow afternoon's total solar eclipse -- visible as at least a partial eclipse over all of North America -- can be experienced at social gatherings, some of which are being organized by local libraries.

VIDEO:  Hurricane Harvey Strengthens https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170826.html
Video Credit: NASA-NOAA GOES Project
Explanation: A large and dangerous hurricane has developed in the Gulf of Mexico. The featured time-lapse video shows Hurricane Harvey growing to Category 4 strength over the past few days, as captured by NASA andNOAA's GOES-East satellite. Starting as a slight dip in air pressure, hurricanes swell into expansive spiraling storm systems, complete with high winds and driving rain. Hurricanes are powered by evaporating ocean water, and so typically gain strength over warm water and lose strength over land. Much remains unknown about hurricanes and cyclones, including details of how they are formed and the exact path they will take. Hurricane Harvey, accompanied by a dangerous storm surge, made landfall late yesterday in Texas.
VIDEO: Charon Flyover from New Horizons https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170814.html
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, SwRI, P. Schenk & J. Blackwell (LPI); Music: Juicy by ALBIS
Explanation: What if you could fly over Pluto's moon Charon -- what might you see? The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July as it zipped past Pluto and Charon with cameras blazing. The images recorded allowed for a digital reconstruction of much of Charon's surface, further enabling the creation of fictitious flights over Charon created from this data. One such fanciful, minute-long, time-lapse video is shown here with vertical heights and colors of surface features digitally enhanced. Your journey begins over a wide chasm that divides different types of Charon's landscapes, a chasm that might have formed when Charon froze through. You soon turn north and fly over a colorful depression dubbed Mordor that, one hypothesis holds, is an unusual remnant from an ancient impact. Your voyage continues over an alien landscape rich with never-before-seen craters, mountains, and crevices. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft has now been targeted at Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU 69, which it should zoom past on New Year's Day 2019.



The Crown of the Sun 
Image Credit & Copyright: Derek Demeter (Emil Buehler Planetarium)
Explanation: During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is an inspirational sight. Streamers and shimmering features visible to the eye span a brightness range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture in a single photograph. But this composite of telescopic images covers a wide range of exposure times to reveal the crown of the Sun in all its glory. The aligned and stacked digital frames were taken in clear skies above Stanley, Idaho in the Sawtooth Mountains during the Sun's total eclipse on August 21. A pinkish solar prominence extends just beyond the right edge of the solar disk. Even small details on the dark night side of the New Moon can be made out, illuminated by sunlight reflected from a Full Earth.


Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: The Inner Ring 
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope
Explanation: Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy have two? To begin, the bright band near NGC 1512's center is a nuclear ring, a ring that surrounds the galaxy center and glows brightly with recentlyformed stars. Most stars and accompanying gas and dust, however, orbit the galactic center in a ring much further out -- here seen near the image edge. This ring is called, counter-intuitively, the inner ring. If you look closely, you will see this the inner ring connects ends of a diffuse central bar that runs horizontally across the galaxy. These ring structures are thought to be caused by NGC 1512's own asymmetries in a drawn-out process called secular evolution. The gravity of these galaxy asymmetries, including the bar of stars, cause gas and dust to fall from the inner ring to the nuclear ring, enhancing this ring's rate of star formation. Some spiral galaxies also have a third ring -- an outer ring that circles the galaxy even further out.
A Total Solar Eclipse over Wyoming 
Image Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper
Explanation: Will the sky be clear enough to see the eclipse? This question was on the minds of many people attempting to view yesterday's solar eclipse. The path of total darkness crossed the mainland of the USA from coast to coast, from Oregon to South Carolina -- but a partial eclipse occurred above all of North America. Unfortunately, many locations saw predominantly clouds. One location that did not was a bank of Green River Lake, Wyoming. There, clouds blocked the Sun intermittantly up to one minute before totality. Parting clouds then moved far enough away to allow the center image of the featured composite sequence to be taken. This image shows the corona of the Sun extending out past the central dark Moon that blocks our familiar Sun. The surrounding images show the partial phases of the solar eclipse both before and after totality.


Detailed View of a Solar Eclipse Corona 
Image Credit & Copyright: Miloslav Druckmüller (Brno U. of Tech.), Martin Dietzel, Peter Aniol, Vojtech RuÅ¡in
Explanation: Only in the fleeting darkness of a total solar eclipse is the light of the solar corona easily visible. Normally overwhelmed by the bright solar disk, the expansive corona, the sun's outer atmosphere, is an alluring sight. But the subtle details and extreme ranges in the corona's brightness, although discernible to the eye, are notoriously difficult to photograph. Pictured here, however, using multiple images and digital processing, is a detailed image of the Sun's corona taken during the 2008 August total solar eclipse from Mongolia. Clearly visible are intricate layers and glowing caustics of an ever changing mixture of hot gas and magnetic fields. Bright looping prominences appear pink just above the Sun's limb. A similar solar corona might be visible through clear skies in a thin swath across the USA during a total solar eclipse that occurs just one week from tomorrow.


Density Waves in Saturn's Rings from Cassini 
Image Credit & License: NASA/JPL/SSI; Digital Composite : Emily Lakdawalla (Planetary Society)
Explanation: What causes the patterns in Saturn's rings? The Cassini spacecraft, soon ending its 13 years orbiting Saturn, has sent back another spectacular image of Saturn's immense ring system in unprecedented detail. The physical cause for some of Saturn's ring structures is not always understood. The cause for the beautifully geometric type of ring structure shown here in ring of Saturn, however, is surely a density wave. A small moon systematically perturbing the orbits of ring particles circling Saturn at slightly different distances causes such a density wave bunching. Also visible on the lower right of the image is a bending wave, a vertical wave in ring particles also caused by the gravity of a nearby moon. Cassini's final orbits are allowing a series of novel scientific measurements and images of the Solar System's most grand ring system.



Astronomy News:
(from https://www.sciencedaily.com )


From Science And History, a Flipboard magazine by Kevin Myers
One of Our Fundamental Assumptions About Black Holes Was Just Overturned in The Lab

We have a problem.
PETER DOCKRILL
29 AUG 2017

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Black holes are the most intense and mysterious cosmic phenomena in the Universe, and new research shows we understand even less about them than we thought we did.
A long-standing assumption about the physics taking place in the space immediately surrounding these matter-consuming voids has been found to be incorrect, and the discovery could derail decades of scientific theory.

To be fair, studying black holes is really, really hard. For starters, they're pretty much invisible, given they pull in everything in their vicinity – even visible light, which is why we can't see them – plus other forms of radiation, such as X-rays.
But just because they're invisible to our eyes doesn't mean we can't tell they're there.
"Of course, emission directly from black holes cannot be observed," explains physicist Guillaume Loisel from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"We see emission from surrounding matter just before it is consumed by the black hole. This surrounding matter is forced into the shape of a disk, called an accretion disk."
That's because when matter gets pulled in to the accretion disk around a black hole, it becomes intensely heated and produces a bright glow that can be seen by instruments that detect X-rays.
This kind of technique is what's enabled scientists to discover things like matter wobbling around black holes, measure gas flows emanating from them, and record tidal disruption events – where black holes rip entire stars apart.

But there could be a problem with one aspect of the theory around black holes and their accretion disk emissions that might impact much research conducted in the past two decades.
"The catch is that the plasmas that emit the X-rays are exotic," says one of the team, Jim Bailey, "and models used to interpret their spectra have never been tested in the laboratory till now."
To physically recreate the conditions around a black hole as closely as possible, the researchers used Sandia's Z machine – the planet's most powerful X-ray generator.
Their aim was to test something called resonant Auger destruction – the notion that under a black hole's immense gravity and intense radiation, highly energised iron electrons don't emit light in the form of photons.
This assumption has been a mainstay of black hole theoretical physics for some 20 years, but in a massive five-year experiment at Sandia, the team found that resonant Auger destruction didn't occur when they applied intense X-ray energies to a film of silicon.
According to the researchers, silicon experiences the Auger effect more frequently than iron, so the tests should have demonstrated the phenomenon at work if the assumption is true.

"If resonant Auger destruction is a factor, it should have happened in our experiment because we had the same conditions, the same column density, the same temperature," says Loisel.
"Our results show that if the photons aren't there, the ions must be not there either."
The end result may be a victory for showing the power of the black-hole-mimicking Z machine, but it's something of a whitewash for black hole science, because it could mean that some of the astrophysics research in the last two decades could be flawed.
As for what can explain the way we detect accretion disk emissions if resonant Auger destruction doesn't apply, the researchers aren't entirely sure.
"[One] implication could be that lines from the highly charged iron ions are present, but the lines have been misidentified so far," says Loisel.

"This is because black holes shift spectral lines tremendously due to the fact that photons have a hard time escaping the intense gravitation field."
With the lab work done for the time being, solving the puzzle will now fall back to theoretical models, which will need to accommodate or otherwise counter this implicit debunking of resonant Auger destruction.
Doing so might not be easy – nothing in theoretical physics really is – but the team is upbeat about our best scientists being up to the job.
"Our research suggests it will be necessary to rework many scientific papers published over the last 20 years," Loisel explains.
"We are optimistic that astrophysicists will implement whatever changes are found to be needed."
The findings are reported in Physical Review Letters.

Read it on sciencealert.com


 Star-formation ‘fuel tanks’ found around distant galaxies

Date: August 30, 2017
Source: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Summary: Astronomers have studied six distant starburst galaxies and discovered that five of them are surrounded by turbulent reservoirs of hydrogen gas, the fuel for future star formation.
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This cartoon shows how gas falling into distant starburst galaxies ends up in vast turbulent reservoirs of cool gas extending 30 000 light-years from the central regions. ALMA has been used to detect these turbulent reservoirs of cold gas surrounding similar distant starburst galaxies. By detecting CH+ for the first time in the distant Universe, this research opens up a new window of exploration into a critical epoch of star formation.
Credit: ESO/L. Benassi
This cartoon shows how gas falling into distant starburst galaxies ends up in vast turbulent reservoirs of cool gas extending 30 000 light-years from the central regions. ALMA has been used to detect these turbulent reservoirs of cold gas surrounding similar distant starburst galaxies. By detecting CH+ for the first time in the distant Universe, this research opens up a new window of exploration into a critical epoch of star formation.
Credit: ESO/L. Benassi

In the early universe, brilliant starburst galaxies converted vast stores of hydrogen gas into new stars at a furious pace.

The energy from this vigorous star formation took its toll on many young galaxies, blasting away much of their hydrogen gas, tamping down future star formation. For reasons that remained unclear, other young galaxies were somehow able to retain their youthful star-forming power long after similar galaxies settled into middle age.
Shedding light on this mystery, astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) studied six distant starburst galaxies and discovered that five of them are surrounded by turbulent reservoirs of hydrogen gas, the fuel for future star formation.

 These star forming "fuel tanks" were uncovered by the discovery of extensive regions of carbon hydride (CH+) molecules in and around the galaxies. CH+ is an ion of the CH molecule and it traces highly turbulent regions in galaxies that are teeming with hydrogen gas.

 The new ALMA observations, led by Edith Falgarone (Ecole Normale Supérieure and Observatoire, Paris, France) and appearing in the journal Nature, help explain how galaxies manage to extend their period of rapid star formation.

 "By detecting these molecules with ALMA, we discovered that there are huge reservoirs of turbulent gas surrounding distant starburst galaxies. These observations provide new insights into the growth of galaxies and how a galaxy's environs fuel star formation," said Edwin Bergin, an astronomer with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and co-author on the paper.

 "CH+ is a special molecule," said Martin Zwaan, an astronomer at ESO, who contributed to the paper. "It needs a lot of energy to form and is very reactive, which means its lifetime is very short and it can't be transported far. CH+ therefore traces how energy flows in the galaxies and their surroundings."

 The observed CH+ reveals dense shock waves, powered by hot, fast galactic winds originating inside the galaxies' star-forming regions. These winds flow through a galaxy and push material out of it. Their turbulent motions are such that the galaxy's gravitational pull can recapture part of that material. This material then gathers into turbulent reservoirs of cool, low-density gas, extending more than 30,000 light-years from the galaxy's star-forming region.
"With CH+, we learn that energy is stored within vast galaxy-sized winds and ends up as turbulent motions in previously unseen reservoirs of cold gas surrounding the galaxy," said Falgarone. "Our results challenge the theory of galaxy evolution. By driving turbulence in the reservoirs, these galactic winds extend the starburst phase instead of quenching it."

 The team determined that galactic winds alone could not replenish the newly revealed gaseous reservoirs. The researchers suggest that the mass is provided by galactic mergers or accretion from hidden streams of gas, as predicted by current theory.

 "This discovery represents a major step forward in our understanding of how the inflow of material is regulated around the most intense starburst galaxies in the early universe," says ESO's Director for Science, Rob Ivison, a co-author on the paper. "It shows what can be achieved when scientists from a variety of disciplines come together to exploit the capabilities of one of the world's most powerful telescopes."

 The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

 Story Source:
Materials provided by National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


 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.
7 Sept
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Eclipse Photos & Videos
(A1/1735)


8 Sept
Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS  Monthly General Meeting
in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw Bl. In Torrance)
Topic:  TBA

11 Sept
LAAS General Mtg. 7:30pm Griffith Observatory

17 Sept



PROF. DAVID JEWITT

FROM THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Location: Geology 3656
Time: 2:30PM
We have discovered that a new comet, C/2017 K2, is active at record distance from the Sun. It appears to be making its debut in the planetary region, following 4.5 billion years in the frigid Oort cloud. David Jewitt will discuss the new object and describe what we know about the outer realms of the solar system.

September 21 & 22 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2017

A Volcanologist’s Paradise

Volcanoes helped to transform the surface of the Earth, the other terrestrial planets, and the Moon. However, the biggest volcanic eruptions in the Solar System are taking place not on Earth, but on Io, a moon of Jupiter. This wonder of the Solar System is a fascinating volcanic laboratory where powerful volcanic eruptions result from tidal heating, a process that also affects the ice-covered moon Europa. Despite multiple spacecraft visits and spectacular new observations of Io with large Earth-based telescopes, some of the biggest questions about Io's volcanism remain unanswered. Getting the answers requires an understanding of the difficulties of remote sensing of volcanic activity; a new, innovative approach to instrument design; and ultimately a return to Io. Ashley Davies, a volcanologist at JPL, will describe how studying volcanoes on Earth leads to a clearer understanding of how Io's volcanoes work and how best to study them from spacecraft.
Speaker:
Dr. Ashley Davies is a Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – California Institute of Technology. He received a Doctorate in volcanology from Lancaster University, in the United Kingdom, in 1988 and has been at JPL for over 20 years. He was a member of the Galileo NIMS Team; is a Co-Investigator on the Europa Clipper Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE); has written over 100 papers on observing and understanding volcanic processes; and is the author of "Volcanism on Io – A comparison with Earth", published by Cambridge University Press. He continues to be engaged in research into volcanic eruption processes, spacecraft mission and instrumentation development, and field work on volcanoes around the world. He was a co-recipient of the NASA Software of the Year Award for the successful Autonomous Sciencecraft (demonstrating science-driven full spacecraft autonomy).

Every year he sends his Ph.D advisor a birthday card depicting a work of great art "improved" by the addition of a volcano.

Location:
Thursday, Sept 21, 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, Sept 22, 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

5 Oct
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
Pizza Party & Online Video
(A1/1735)



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 September:

  

Moon: Sept 6 full, Sept 13 last quarter, Sept 20 new, Sept 28 1st quarter             
Planets: Venus all Sept. dawn east.  Mars all month dawn, very low to low east.  Mercury visible Sept 6 to 26, dawn, low or very low east.  Saturn visible all month,  dawn, very low to low east. Jupiter all month, dusk, low to very low WNW.
Other Events:

6,13,20,27 Sept
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

6 Sept Neptune 0.8deg N of Moon

12 September Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation
12 September Moon Occults Aldebaran Occultation begins at about 4:30 AM and ends at about 5:53 AM.

 
16 Sept
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/

16 Sept
LAAS Private dark sky  Star Party

18 Sept Venus 0.5deg N of Moon, Mars 0.1deg S of Moon, Mercury 0.03deg N of Moon, occultation, Regulus 0.1deg S of Moon, occultation

20 Sept. Equinox

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

30 Sept
LAAS Public  Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm

30 September Astronomy Day

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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